Recipe: Healthy Cottage Pie Two Ways

Cottage pie is the ultimate comfort food, but the usual recipe using white potato can make it pretty heavy on calories. Instead, you can swap the buttery mashed potato for either carrot and sweet potato or celeriac and leek. Both combinations are really delicious, but the sweet potato option is my personal favourite as I LOVE sweet potato. 

The following ingredients will make four servings (we usually cook this for the two of us and freeze half the portion to use another time, it comes in handy on a night when you can’t be bothered to cook!)

For the cottage pie:

250g minced beef (extra lean)

2 red peppers, diced

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

2 tbsps tomato purée

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper to season

300ml boiling water

2 oxo cubes

Celeriac and leek topping:

2 young leeks, trimmed and sliced           

500g celeriac, peeled and cubed

100g half-fat crème fraiche

Carrot and sweet potato topping:

300g carrots, peeled and chopped

300g sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

100g half-fat crème fraiche

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200C (400F), heat some oil in a large pan (or use oil spray to keep the calories down), brown the minced beef and set it aside. Pop the onion, pepper, celery and carrots in the pan and allow them to soften for 10 minutes. 

Then add the meat and stir in chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf and chopped thyme leaves, as well as some salt and pepper to season, water and oxo cubes. Bring it to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For the celeriac and leek topping, boil celeriac until tender, drain and mash it with crème fraiche until smooth. Heat oil in a pan and sauté the leeks, then add them to the celeriac mash and season.

For the carrot and sweet potato topping, put the carrots, sweet potato and garlic in a large pan of salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 12 minutes. Add the crème fraiche, mash until smooth and season.

Pour the beef into a shallow ovenproof dish and top with your mixture of choice. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Enjoy! x

Recipe: Healthy-ish Pizza

I think anyone who is passionate about food will understand the constant battle between wanting to eat a delicious meal and having a slim figure. As I’m not one of those lucky buggers who can eat whatever they want without putting on weight (damn you metabolism!) I’m always on the lookout for healthy alternatives that won’t blow my workout.

These healthy pizzas I’ve discovered are a super simple alternative to one of my favourite naughty treats. Pizzas can easily add up to well over 1,200 calories, but these can amount to less than 300 (as long as you go easy on the cheese…)

Prosciutto and parmesan pizza with fresh basil

Firstly, preheat the oven to gas mark 6 (200C/390F) and spread a tiny (about a half-teaspoon) amount of garlic paste over a wholemeal pitta bread.

You can make your own sauce by heating up a tin of chopped tomatoes and adding finely chopped chillis, a clove of chopped garlic, a squeeze of garlic purée and a squeeze of tomato purée, as well as some dried Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Or, you can buy Lloyd Grossman’s tomato and chilli sauce. I’ve tried both and they’re both yummy, it just depends how much time you have. 

Heat the homemade or Lloyd Grossman sauce on a medium heat for around 10 minutes then spoon some on top of a wholemeal pitta bread.

Now, the toppings are up to you, but some of my favourite combinations are:

• Parmesan, prosciutto and rocket with plenty of black pepper
• Caramelised onion, goat's cheese and fresh basil
• Goat's cheese and asparagus
• Roasted red pepper, cherry tomatoes and spinach

We tried to make a fiorentina pizza but the egg yolk just wouldn’t stay put, no matter what we tried (although the copious amounts of Prosecco *might* have hindered our abilities ever so slightly…)

Depending on your toppings, pop your pizza in the oven for around 12 to 15 mins – keep an eye on how crispy you want them, I like mine pretty crisp. When they’re done, sprinkle some rocket or fresh basil on top with some black pepper and voila! Healthy-ish pizza!

Goat's cheese and caramelised onion with fresh basil 

What are your favourite healthy recipes? x

Recipe: Homemade sushi is soy much fun!

A sushi night was something Tom and I had been meaning to do for ages, but we kept putting it off because it seemed like such a palaver. Then, last weekend, we discovered it was actually a lot easier than we thought it was going to be and definitely worth the effort.

We grabbed a bamboo mat, dug out some chopsticks and made a delicious selection of sushi: prawn maki, tuna maki, smoked salmon maki, and prawn & asparagus uramaki.

To make maki sushi, you will need the following ingredients:

• A filling of your choosing – e.g. prawn, tuna, smoked salmon, asparagus, avocado, peppers, cucumber, crab.
• A hairdryer (all will be explained…)
• A bamboo mat
• Cling film
• Nori – 3 sheets
• Sushi rice – three cups
• Water – three cups
• Rice vinegar – 120ml
• Sugar – 3tbsp
• Sea salt – 1 tbsp

The first step is to cook the rice (this is where the hairdryer comes in!) Pop the rice into a sieve and wash it several times until the water runs clear. Depending on the timescale you’re working to, drain the rice and soak it in cold water for an hour or two – if you’re in a rush, then half an hour is fine. Afterwards, put the rice into a pan with an equal volume of water and bring to the boil. Then, put it on the lowest heat, pop the lid on and let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. When the time is up, all the water should be fully absorbed. Put the rice into a flat-based bowl and add the rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Then (this is the odd part) plug your hairdryer in, put it on a low/cold setting and place it over the rice to cool it down.

When your rice is done, the fun begins! If you are using a bamboo mat, cover it in cling film – do this carefully and make sure it is tight, as it stops the rice from getting stuck in the grooves of the mat! Place the nori along the bottom half of the mat. 

Scoop half a handful of rice with either a spoon or your hands (if you’re using your hands, have a bowl of cold water handy to stop the rice sticking to your fingers). Place the rice in a thin, even layer all over the sheet, but leave 5-7cm at the bottom of the sheet clear.

This is the part when you can decide which ingredients you would like in your maki. For our sushi, we didn’t have to do much prep, we only had to steam the asparagus and sear the tuna. When you have chosen your roll filling, cut it into thin slices and place it down the middle of the nori in a neat line.

Now you’re ready to roll, eek!

Start rolling with the mat from the bottom edge, do it slowly and carefully, little by little. Keep opening the mat to make sure it is rolled tightly, with no gaps. When you reach the end of the nori, remove it from the mat and pop it in the fridge for around 20 to 30 minutes. Then, take it out and place it on a chopping board. Cut six to eight pieces and remember to rinse your knife under the tap after each slice – this will help you cut through the rice and the nori.

You now have maki sushi! Hurrah! Enjoy with soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi. Yum! 

Recipe: My super-duper shakshuka!

Shakshuka is one of my favourite meals because it is...

• A classic winter warmer 
• Light on carbs and calories 
• Quick
• Easy 
• You can make it super spicy
• It involves poached eggs (I love eggs, which is a bit selfish of me considering my fiancé is allergic to them!)
• You can add lots of basil (I love/am obsessed with basil too)

I experimented this evening and added some frozen peas & chickpeas and it was peautiful! (Sorry, had to do it.) These are optional, so don't add them if you don't fancy them. The amount of spice also depends on your heat threshold, I like my food spicy so I added quite a lot. Because this dish is so fast and easy, you can just experiment with it and see what tickles your fancy. 

To make this dish, you will need:

• A tablespoon of olive oil 
• Half a red onion diced
• A couple of crushed garlic cloves
• Half a red pepper, either sliced or diced 
• One red chili pepper diced 
• A handful of frozen peas
• Half a tin of drained chick peas (approx 120g)
• Half a tin (approx 200g) of chopped tomatoes
• Two tablespoons of tomato purée
• One tablespoon of paprika
• Half a tablespoon of chilli powder (add more if you like spice)
• Half a tablespoon of cayenne pepper (again, add more if you like spice)
• Half a tablespoon of ground cumin
• Salt (onion salt works well) and pepper to season
• Two tablespoons of chopped basil (frozen basil works just as well)
• Two eggs
• Fresh parsley to garnish

Firstly, heat a medium-sized pan and pour a tablespoon of olive oil in. Add the diced onion, pepper and chili pepper, followed by the garlic. Keep the temperature to a medium heat and add the chickpeas and frozen peas. Cook them for around 5 minutes. 

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, add the spices and the chopped basil, then add the tomato purée before letting it simmer for another 5 minutes. Season the dish with salt and pepper, then carefully crack the eggs over the top of it. Cover it and let it cook for around 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of the eggs. Keep an eye on it though, you want the yolks to be yummy and runny! When the eggs are ready, dish up, sprinkle some parsley over it, probably take a photo for Instagram and enjoy! x

Recipe: Seared tuna steak with spicy mango salsa and steamed veg

A Sunday roast is a tradition in casa Manning-Owen-Jones, but today we were feeling a bit adventurous and fancied something a little different. So we ummed, we ahhed, we flicked through our favourite recipe books and studied our top foodie websites. We wanted something healthy and light as we're on a health kick after the naughtiness of Christmas and our very decadent holiday in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. After flicking through our 5:2 diet recipe book, we decided on a tuna steak, paired with mango salsa and some yummy greens. It was seriously yummy and even better, really light on calories.

To make it you'll need:

• Two tuna steaks, 150g each 
• One mango
• Two small red chilli peppers
• Half a red onion
• Half a red pepper
• Coriander 
• One lime 
• Pinch of salt
• Asparagus 
• Tender-stem broccoli 

The mango salsa is super easy. Simply dice up the mango, chilli peppers, onion and pepper. Chop the coriander and add it to the mix, along with a pinch of salt. Using a fine grater, add the zest and then the juice of the lime. Give the salsa a good stir. 

Place the tuna steaks in a bowl and pour a tablespoon of olive oil over them. Rub the oil into the steaks and add salt and pepper to season. Then, turn up the temperature on the hob and heat a griddle pan so it gets really hot. While the pan is heating up, pop the asparagus and the tender-stem broccoli in a vegetable steamer for 4-5 minutes.

When the griddle pan is hot enough, carefully roll the tuna over it to sear the edges, then place it on the griddle for just 30 seconds each side. Put the steaks on a plate and pop them in the oven to warm through. This will give you a rare (so rare it's practically still swimming!) steak - see pic below - but if you like your fish actually cooked then you could cook it for 2-3 minutes each side.

When the vegetables are done, plate them up with the tuna and spoon the salsa onto the side... enjoy! x