Leith's Thai Noodle Salad

So today was a bit of a big day.  First day back at work.   4am alarm call. New healthy eating regime (again).  Restarting the exercise thing (again!).  New boss (thankfully he's quite nice if you feed him cake - just not after midnight).  400-odd emails in my inbox after a two-week holiday (that excludes the fifty-odd I read and replied to whilst I was away, and I'm not even important!)  A mountain of washing that still needs to be conquered.

I had intended to make a low-fat turkey chilli for lunch, but then I realised I hadn't organised myself well enough for lunch at work (this was at 3.57am, just before the alarm call) so I decided to whack together a little prawn noodle salad, thus saving me from temptation at the salad bar in the canteen at lunchtime.

Healthy luncheon

Ordinarily, when I'm at my base site, I'll have a jacket potato and salad.  Trouble is, salad is about the only thing they do well and I usually end up with pasta or rice salad and coleslaw and all manner of other lovely salads, covered in dressings crammed on to my plate, meaning that I'd probably have done better to have something else.  But making my own instead, even if it meant cooking noodles before 5am, meant that I managed to stay relatively safe during day one.


Despite eating lots of rubbish on holiday, lugging around a 15kg toddler meant that I came home 4lbs lighter than when I went.  We walked several miles most days and this is a long way when you're only two.  When you're thirty-five and carrying a two-year-old it seems even further.  I now not only need to see a chiropractor about my hip pains (which keep interrupting my running) but also my bad back and neck from too many piggy backs.  I'm keen to keep up the weight loss momentum so healthy eating and low-impact exercise will be replacing cake and toddler carrying for the next few months.


The recipe today came from my Leiths Simple Cooking book.  I adapted it based on what I had in my fridge and it worked quite well for a lunch box meal.  The flavours were delicate, it was filling enough for me to miss out on my afternoon snack that the diet allows and it made me feel thoroughly virtuous.  Definitely a diet make-again as it's less than 300 cals.


Serves 1 (adapted from Leith's Simple Cookery)

• 1 nest medium egg noodles (I used Blue Dragon, 158 cals for the nest)
• 100g cooked and peeled King Prawns
• 3 radishes, finely sliced
• 3" chunk cucumber, cubed
• 2 spring onions, cut diagonally
• 1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp nam pla (fish sauce)
• a couple of sprigs of coriander, chopped
• a few mint leaves, chopped
• pinch of soft brown sugar
• splash soy sauce
• 1 lime

1. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.  Once cooked, drain then run under the cold tap.
2. Cut the lime in two.  Squeeze the juice of one half of the lime into a small bowl and stir in the nam pla, soy sauce, sugar, chilli, coriander and mint.
3. Mix the vegetables, prawns and noodles together then pour over the dressing.
4. Squeeze the juice from the other half of the lime over the dish just before serving.

Leith's Warm Sushi Salad

I lost my sushi virginity at the relatively ancient age of 23.  I was going through a difficult time and a good friend phoned me and told me he'd take me out for a swanky dinner in London to cheer me up.  I was cheered merely by his call because I had a little crush on him and the thought of dinner together made they dark day suddenly seem rosy.  He asked where I'd like to go and being completely indecisive and not knowing London very well, I said I'd leave it up to him.

He met me from the tube and walked me past many fabulous restuarants around Long Acre and Covent Garden before arriving at the doorway to a Japanese restaurant.  He asked if this was okay and not wanting to seem fussy/difficult/demanding I nodded a hesitant consent and stepped inside.

I'm not *that* old but I swear a decade ago, you couldn't buy Sushi in the local Tesco Express (did they even exist then??) so the concept was still novel to someone as green and naive as I was then.  He's a very traditional, slightly posh chap so I left the ordering up to him.  A nine course taster meal at £40 a head.  A lot of money in those days when you've not long left uni, have a huge student loan to pay off and can't actually afford to buy yourself a winter coat, let alone go Dutch on a meal (plus the drinks) like that.

I did at least know that I'd be expected to eat raw fish, but nothing prepared me for the arrival of caviar the size of Maltesers and something that looked remarkably like fish eyes.  I did manage to enjoy some bits like the gorgeous tempura prawns and the vegetarian sushi.  But it was spoiled by him betting me that I could eat the rather odd ball of pea-green paste on the side of one dish without my eyes watering.  The deal was that if I won, he'd pay for us both.  And if he won I'd settle up.

Of course, I lost (I just about held onto my dignity before I had to dash off to the ladies to fix my mascara) and whilst I was gone, he proceeded to order a rather expensive bottle of wine to toast my first foray into the world of Japanese food.

Needless to say, the bill hurt more than the wasabi and maxed my previously just-shy-of-the-limit credit card right out.  I spent the rest of the winter without a coat.

Luckily, it didn't put me totally off sushi and I'd love to have that meal over again so that I could appreciate it.  And in case you were wondering, we are still friends.  We don't speak often and see each other even less, but I count him as one of those people you can call on in a time of crisis or happiness.  Life and work just gets in the way far too often.  Last time I saw him I accidentally locked him outside of a meeting room in the snow.  It wasn't revenge, honestly!

Sharing that tale makes me wish I could go back in time and give that me a hug and tell her that things got better and a lot different and that she'll become a survivor.  What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger!

Anyway enough of the deep stuff!  The Nori, sushi rice and the wasabi I used when I made my own sushi back in January has been clogging up my store cupboard and so this recipe seemed like the perfect alternative to all the faff of trying to make perfect sushi shapes.

When I made it, it didn't look like much but it was really filling.  It's probably double the amount of sushi you'd get in one of those pre-packaged lunch boxes.  And I bet if you found it in a restaurant it would be called something trite like 'Deconstructed Sushi' and come with an astronomical price tag.

Serves 4 - Adapted from Leith's Simple Cookery

• 225g/8oz sushi rice
• 4 tbsp sushi rice seasoning (I used Clearspring)
• Wasabi paste
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
• 225g/8oz smoked salmon, sliced (I used Waitrose Smoked Salmon Trimmings)
• 1 avocado pear, diced
• 2 sheets Nori - shredded
• Japanese Pickled Ginger to serve (I didn't have any of this so decorated with bits of salmon)

1. Cook the rice according to the package instructions.
2. Mix the sushi seasoning with enough Wasabi paste for your taste and mix with the rice.
3. Stir through the cucumber, avocado, smoked salmon and most of the shredded Nori.
4. Divide between serving plates and garnish with the shredded Nori and ginger

Leith's Spaghetti with Courgettes and Chilli

I had a couple of moments of madness recently.  The first was agreeing to the husband's request to extend our summer holiday to two weeks.  The second was signing up for the Olympic Food Challenge.  Tonight, I'll talk about the holiday problem.  I'll talk more about the OFC later this week (in the meantime, check out my OFC page and the official OFC website)

We'd booked a week in North Berwick.  Hubs is a keen wildlife photographer and we regularly visit north-east England and south-east Scotland this time of year to see the see the sea-bird breeding spectacles.  This year's cottage overlooks Bass Rock which is one of the Seven Great Nature Wonders of the World  He's very excited about that.  Pre-child we also used to spend a separate week in the Highlands to see the ospreys that nest around the Cairngorms.  Never ever two consecutive weeks.  I worry that we'll end up getting divorced after so much time in close proximity.  Even our honeymoon was only ten days long.

Not only do we have to spend so much time in each other's company, but we also have to contend with the demands of the 366 Recipe Challenge.  It's challenging enough doing this in my own kitchen, let alone someone else's.  And the second week, the nearest supermarket is at least 20 miles away.  And my foraging credentials suck (see this post) so I need to be prepared.

I figured that I'd make a list of twenty simple recipes that could be easily prepared with the minimum of ingredients and fuss.  That would be all well and good, if I had a family that wasn't 'discerning' in what they eat.  Miss A has now fixated on fish fingers, meatballs, and malt loaf - in addition to her favoured diet of bread, Babybel cheese and fruit.  The husband still only eats chicken.  Or ham egg and chips.  This isn't going to be easy.

The non-veggie version...

So far, my list runs to James Martin's Chicken Club with Bacon Mayonnaise.  Yes, that's right.  I'm going to attempt homemade mayonnaise without a food processor.  I will also be packing my loaf tin so that I can maybe make a loaf or two (recipes still to be sourced) and maybe my sandwich tins so I can make a cake - it is holiday, after all.  So that leaves me with about fifteen more recipes to find.  Or they'll be eating fish finger sandwiches every day so I can try something new by myself.

During an idle attempt to come up with some easy recipes, I scoured my copy of Leith's Simple Food.  It's got some recipes that I could use.  If only the husband didn't mind spicy things or meals with 'grassy bits' in.  As I said.  He's 'discerning'.

In doing so, I happened across this little recipe which is a great store cupboard tea.  Although I keep my courgettes and creme fraiche in the fridge.  But you get my drift.

Being even more lazy than the book gives the reader credit for, I forewent the expense of buying a whole pack of chillies when I only needed one and used chilli oil instead.  As this meant that there wasn't red in the dish to contrast with the insipid whiteness of the pasta and the bright green of the courgettes, I then topped it with some crispy prosciutto (thanks for making the decision for me, Twitter!).  The recipe suggests Parmesan shavings as it's a veggie recipe, but the colour and flavour of the crispy ham worked just as well.

One other minor change is that they say to drain the pasta really well.  I found it hard to then stir the courgette mixture through the pasta as it was dry itself.  So I used a top tip I picked up from Jamie O.  Adding a little of the cooking water to the mix to ease the combination of veg and pasta.

All in all, another really easy tea that I love.  I pretty much love anything that comes with spaghetti and this summery dish will help me get my fix rather than a huge bloaty bowl of spag bol or meatballs.  On the cook again list.

Recipe - Serves 2 (adapted from Leith's Simple Cookery)

• 200g dried spaghetti
• 1 large courgette, grated
• 1 tbsp chilli olive oil 
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp low fat creme fraiche
• 1 slice of prosciutto fried or baked until crispy OR parmesan shavings

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a low heat and fry the garlic for thirty seconds, taking care not to burn it (which I invariably do and then have to start again!)
3. Add the courgette and cook for a few minutes.  Take care to keep it moving round the pan or it will stick and burn (and you'll have to start again - see step 2!)
4. Add the creme fraiche and mix thoroughly.
5. Reserve 2 tbsp of the pasta water then drain the spaghetti.  Return it to the saucepan and add the courgette mixture.  Add a little of the pasta water at a time to ease combining the two.
6. Divide between two serving dishes and top with either the prosciutto or the Parmesan

Leith's Carrot and Coriander Soup

Today was one of those rare days when the 'rents take Miss A out, meaning that hubs and I get some precious peace for a few hours.  Of course, I made a lot of noise about welcoming the time to catch up on all the long overdue housework that I don't get time to address (most notably the epic mountain of clean laundry that lives on the bed in the spare room) but having successfully decided to bake some gingerbread butterflies to restock the biscuit barrel, made a fruit loaf and started the soup for my tea, I killed the hour that it took the husband to get organised so only had time to give the floors a cursory mop and off we went for a walk along the Wilts and Berks Canal.

What's up doc? Uninspiring soup, that's what.

A couple of hours later, we returned home to trade wellies and mud-spattered jeans for something a little more suited to an afternoon in Tetbury and let the dogs out for a while.  The spaniel was suspiciously loitering in the corner of the kitchen near a puddle of yellowy liquid and I assumed that he'd had a little mishap (he has a dodgy tummy so sometimes hews up on the floor).  Further floor mopping meant I'd done more housework in one day than I'd done in the last month so consoled myself with insisting we went for a club sandwich at the Blue Zucchini in Tetbury.

I love that place.  It's one of those really cool restaurants-cum-coffee bars where you should go to eat brunch and read the Sunday papers.  When it's sunny, we normally sit outside on the pavement tables and watch the world go by.  In fact, last time we were there, I was on day two of my blog and wondering what the hell I'd committed myself to.  In all honesty, I really didn't expect that I'd still be writing daily by now.  Or at least if I was, I assumed it would be a quick one or two lines saying 'I liked this recipe or this recipe was crap'.  Not boring the world to tears with the trivial details of my life.

Having planned to starve all day to allow me to eat one of their gorgeous clubs, I was....erm....mightily disappointed to see that they've changed the way they serve things and you now get double the amount of chips in a little bucket on the side.  In fact, there were so many that for once, I couldn't finish mine (of course, hubs managed to help out!) and now I feel like I won't eat again for about a week.

Blue Zucchini Club Sandwich Sept '11

Blue Zucchini Club Sandwich May '12

Returning home, I went to put the cooled gingerbread into the biscuit barrel and noticed that the worktops were covered in sticky, wet liquid.  And then it hit, that the dog hadn't made the floor messy - he was cleaning up the liquid part of the soup.  In a vain attempt to be tidy, I'd poured the soup into the blender ready to liquidise later and the stock had seeped out of the jug and run everywhere.  Grrrrrr!  Another black mark against my Kenwood Prospero!

Luckily I managed to salvage the soup by just adding more stock and blending it.  But still being full from lunch, I only had a spoonful to test the seasoning was okay and it's now gone into the fridge for a meal tomorrow.

Wilts and Berks Canal

So the verdict on one spoonful of soup?  Well the recipe is from my Leith's Simple Cookery book.  When I first got the book, I flicked through and was disappointed that a book by an institution such as Leith's should use lots of pre-prepared sauces and the like in their recipes so I've barely looked at it since.  But now I'm so short on time I realised that there can be compromise.  And if some of the recipes call for a shop-bought tomato sauce, there's no reason that I can't make my own if I feel so inclined.  So you will see more Leith's inspired recipes as I crawl towards the finish line of this year.

And of course, soup isn't exactly known for being a complicated thing to make.  I picked Carrot and Coriander because I bought a giant bag of value carrots for a cake I promised one of my colleagues I'd bake this week and needed another way to use them up.  I normally only use one or two carrots a month (hubs doesn't eat veg and Miss A doesn't like carrots - yet) but had a fit of thrift and bought the 1.5kg bag for 50p as it sounded like a good deal.

The flavour was good and nice and light for springtime; although I think I overdid the herbs a bit and consequently, it tasted like a sweet chicken and coriander soup, such was the subtle flavour from the carrots.  I think I would probably make it again if I had a need to use up a massive bag of carrots, but I wouldn't go out of my way to make it if I didn't have any carrots in.

You can find the recipe on this website.

Baked Breakfast Mushrooms

So I'm off home for a few days and with a fridge full of odds and ends that I'd normally use up over the weekend, I figured I should try and make something interesting for breakfast.

Earlier in the week, I'd been pondering what to do with the couple of field mushrooms I had left after Monday's Baked Mushrooms with Parmesan Polenta and some streaky bacon from Sunday's Bacon Brownies (yep, that's right, bacon and chocolate); and had wondered if it would be possible to bake an egg in one.  Thumbing through Leith's Simple Food, my thoughts were confirmed and thus today's breakfast was born.

As I've struggled to perfect the art of the baked egg - getting the perfect moment when the white has set and the yolk is still runny is a bit of an art form - I decided to cheat a little here and poach my eggs and serve them inside the baked mushroom.  That way I knew I'd have perfect eggs.

Definitely something I'd do again if I was making breakfast for guests or as a meal if I had some leftover field mushrooms to use up.  

Sorry for the short blog this morning - packing to do, child to organise yadda yadda.  A Dan Lepard cake and roast Lamb to deliver over the weekend then blogging service will resume as normal on Monday with yet another cake for my first foray into the world of Clandestine Cake Clubs.  Just a little bit excited!

Recipe - serves 2

• 2 field mushrooms - ensure you pick ones that have a nice lip to the edge
• 2 eggs
• 1 clove of garlic, finely diced
• 2 rashers of streaky bacon, snipped into small pieces
• olive oil
• a small handful of parsley, chopped.
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/180c fan.
2. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and chop finely.   Place the mushrooms skin side down on a baking sheet.
3. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle the bacon, garlic and chopped mushrooms stalks into the bowl of the mushrooms.  Season well then bake for 20 mins or until the mushrooms have softened.
4. Five minutes before the end of the cooking time, either crack the eggs into the centre of the mushrooms and return to the oven to continue baking or poach the eggs in a pan of simmering water (check out Kitchen Bitching for the best way to poach an egg).
5. Remove the mushrooms from the oven, place on a serving plate and if using poached eggs, slide an egg into the cup of the mushroom.  Garnish with the parsley.
6. Serve with hot buttered toast.

Parmesan Asparagus with Soft Boiled Egg

The best laid plans never go smoothly.  With the weather being positively Baltic, I'd decided that I'd give Carrot and Coriander Soup from Leith's Simple Cookery a whirl today.  And because the soup is so low in fat and uber-healthy, I thought I'd make a lovely fresh Tiger/Giraffe loaf to go with it (thus undoing most of the soup's virtuousness).

Of course, I'd not bargained for losing an entire night's sleep thanks to the cold; my husband then getting into bed just as I was falling asleep and doing Miranda's "Cold Bed Dance' (can't find a video of it though - the Miranda version, not my husband's); my toddler daughter waking up feeling poorly and wanting the entire Maisy Mouse back catalogue read to her; returning to bed and just dropping off to sleep only for the husband to shout 'Boo' in my ear (he reckons he was having a nightmare); Miss A reawakening after the Calpol wearing off and wanting to watch back-to-back episodes of Justin's House on the Sky Box and then eventually ending up not being able to prise myself away from her limpet-like, poorly girl needs in order to make said soup.

I did manage to make the loaf one-handed (thank goodness for my Kenwood).  I have muscles like Popeye in my left arm now after holding a 15kg toddler whilst making said bread.

So when I finally got her into bed for a nap, I figured that I had better find something quick and easy to cook - especially as I'd not eaten at all by 2pm and I was hungry.  Flicking through Leith's again, I picked the very first recipe in the book - simple, healthy and supposed to be served with a wedge of crusty bread which I had plenty of.

Is that a Tiger or Giraffe in the background?

The recipe calls for a soft-boiled egg cooked in a pan of water from cold and boiled for three minutes.  I came unstuck here.  Unlike the shell on my egg, which wouldn't come unstuck.  As I was trying to peel said egg, the shell just wouldn't come off, and I ended up ripping the egg apart and the middle ran out.  So after cooking the asparagus, I quickly poached an egg instead.  Similar result as the soft boiled egg in the end dish - much less faff in my opinion.

This is a really simple and tasty dish although not really one to be serving in the depths of winter.  If I was a good girl, I'd only cook it in May when asparagus is in season.  It's a variation on another recipe I'd been promising myself I'd try from Nigella Bites - Soft Boiled Eggs with Asparagus Soldiers.  But this is a bit posher.

It would make a really good breakfast or brunch dish on a special occasion.  If I was serving it to a non-veggie, I'd consider adding a little crisped prosciutto to the plate too.

I bought a box of Maldon Sea Salt for the first time yesterday and now understand why it could seem special.  But regular sea salt would work just as well too.  Would also advise warming the serving plates if making this mid-winter as mine was cold by the time I'd finished faffing with the photograph.  It still tasted good though.

Recipe - Serves 2

• 150g asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed
• 2 eggs
• Parmesan shavings
• Maldon sea salt and black pepper
• Crusty bread to serve

1. In a deep pan, cook the asparagus for 2-4 minutes until tender.  Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, dry on kitchen paper and keep warm.
2. Using the same pan of water, poach the two eggs.  My thoughts on the best way to poach an egg can be found here.
3. Just before the eggs are ready, divide the asparagus between two plates and arrange so the spears all point in the same direction.  Scatter the Parmesan over the asparagus.
4. Remove the eggs from the water using a slotted spoon.  Pat dry with kitchen paper and place on top of the asparagus.  
5. Season with salt and black pepper.  Serve immediately with lots of crusty bread.