Aubergines are a vegetable that until quite recently I could take or leave. They were never top of my fav list until I started making aubergine parmigiana for my little boy and he couldn’t get enough of it. I tasted it and knew I had been missing out! After this little revelation, I’ve set out to use it in more dishes where I can, and in place of meat if possible and that’s where this dish was born.
Burger and Pasta…two of my favourite foods so surely the dream combo? The answer is yes, yes it is! I saw this dish on a restaurant menu months ago and thought I’ve got to recreate this at home myself. Not only is it delicious, it’s all done in the one pan so it’s really easy and creates minimal washing up. Not only that but it’s a perfect dish for kids as it combines all the lovely flavours of a classic burger and makes 6 portions. Perfect to feed the whole family and still have leftovers.
I adore Nduja. What is that, you ask? It’s the most wonderful spicy, spreadable pork sausage which comes from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. Having tried it for the first time at an Italian restaurant in Manchester, it’s an ingredient that until recently, I struggled to get my hands on regularly enough to cook with at home (now we are back in the North east). You can imagine my joy then, when I discovered that my local deli now sells it! Cue me always having a pack in the fridge, ready to add to dishes whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Some nights you need a dinner that you can throw together with minimal cooking but still enjoy the dish as much as if it took hours to make. This dinner is exactly that, provided you have all the ingredients in, you can have it on the plate within around 15 minutes.
This recipe is so quick to prepare but it’s really important you do everything at the same time so it’s nice and hot when you serve it. In the main recipe I’ve included my take on a traditional carbonara but below I’ve also included a couple of variations which you can try if you want to either mix things up or bulk the recipe out further. Continue reading
I’ve previously posted a recipe for kangaroo stroganoff but I thought, since beef is slightly more common, I should probably post my recipe of the more traditional version of the dish. You can serve the stroganoff with whatever you fancy, pasta, rice or potatoes, the worlds your oyster! I’ve pointed it with pasta here so just be sure to amend the points if you use an alternative.
Usually I would test a recipe two or three times before I post it but since I cooked this one on my Instagram stories the other night, I have been inundated with requests for the recipe, even in its draft form so I thought, since it was pretty delicious first time around, I’ll pop the first test here for you all for easiness if you want to make it this weekend!
I love a Chinese takeaway however they are usually very points heavy and so I’m always trying to convert new dishes into the perfect fakeaway. I cooked this one up in the week after realising I had most ingredients in already and I was over the moon with how quick, easy and absolutley delicious. Don’t be put off by the longish list of ingredients. Most of them are store cupboard staples (well they certainly are if you cook lots of my recipes) and it’s worth having lots of them in to add instant flavour to many dishes.
I always have a bag of frozen, raw king prawns in the freezer as they are so flexible and can be thrown into most dishes to make them extra special. This week I also had some left over harissa and so thought I would get the two ingredients together to make a quick and easy dinner. The result was lovely. Fresh and lively flavours, filling and best of all, so quick and easy to make.
At the very start of my maternity leave, pre all of this lockdown madness, a friend and I went out for lunch with the babies to a local restaurant. On the menu were the most delightful looking ‘pizza fries’ and, not being back on the WW wagon at that point, they sounded right up my street! Now I’m back at it however, I thought it would be the perfect thing to try and make WW friendly.
My hubbie LOVES a doner kebab. I’m more of a chicken kinda gal myself as I can’t stand all the grease that comes off the takeaway doner meat and the oddly crusty edges that rear their head from time to time. Now that we are both trying to reduce our takeaway intake I thought it was about time I tried to create my own fakeaway doner kebab recipe. The result surprised even my hubbie who said not only did it taste like the real thing, but he would happily eat it over the takeaway version of the dish! I’ve tested this recipe a few times now and each person who has tried it has agreed, it tastes like the real deal!
I get my lean lamb since in Sainsbury’s but if you are struggling to find 10% mince you could use 12% or 16% for 7sp per portion of Doner meat and 20% for 8sp per portion of Doner meat.