Burgers

One for the meat lovers, the inspiration for this one came from Sonny's Fit Nut class at school, the reason I think he loves eating them so much is that he gets to make them. We make them in the food processor which makes them so easy but you could do them by hand.

Makes about 20 small burgers
500g organic minced beef
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
half red pepper & half yellow pepper
2 good handfuls of spinach
few florets of broccoli
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

1. Put the onion, garlic, peppers and broccoli into the food processor and process until all the vegetables are cut very fine, but not mushed.
2. Add the minced meat, spinach, egg and a pinch of salt and pepper. Process until all the ingredients are well mixed.
3. Take golf ball sized amounts of the mixture and flatten into mini burgers.
4. Put a spot of olive oil into a heavy based frying pan and heat on a gentle heat, put the burgers in about 6 at a time, and fry without burning. I often only cook half the batch and freeze the other half, separating the burgers with greaseproof/baking paper.

We had these tonight served with carrot and courgette sticks and brown rice noodles with sweet chili sauce.

Peperonata

I like to serve this with pasta, however its also good on its own as a starter or served with fish, excellent with swordfish.

4 peppers - i use a mixture of red, yellow and orange as i find the green too bitter.
2 red onions
extra virgin olive oil
2 gloves of garlic, crushed
2 handfuls of fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1. Half the peppers and put them under a hot grill until the skins turn black. Once they are blackened put the peppers into a plastic bag straight away. Tie a knot in the bag and leave the peppers in there until they cool down. Take the peppers out, peel off the skins and de-seed.
2. Put a big glug of olive oil in a heavy based pan, add onions and fry gently until softened. Add the peppers, garlic and parsley with a pinch of salt and cook for a further 20 mins.
3. Add the vinegar, which will sizzle and give it a good stir. Serve with pasta and a big handful of parmesan cheese.

Tofu

I recently did a Tofu cooking course, which was great, its good to have a few more ideas of how to use it. The top tips that I picked up from tee course - due to the high number of phytoestrogens it should not be eaten in huge quantities every day, for children about 100g a week is good. Also it is one of the most genetically modified foods - so if this is a concern to you, try to buy Organic. You can buy silken tofu - which is great for adding to sauces or dips to bump up the nutritional value - great in guacamole, or the firmer tofu which is more widely available.

Tofu and herb omelette

150g tofu
4 eggs
1 cup chopped, mixed, fresh herbs (parsley, coriander, chervil, dill, chives, oregano etc)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
spice mixture (optional)
30g hard goats cheese

1. Mash the tofu with a fork until crumbled.
2. Mix in a bowl with the remaining ingredients except the cheese.
3. Fry in a lightly buttered pan until golden on both sides.
4. Just before serving grate some goat's cheese on top. Serve with salad.

This is also good served cold in pita bread with salad.

Easy Peasy Fish Cakes

I use breadcrumbs instead of potatoes as it makes the cakes a bit lighter and somehow easier to eat for little ones, if there's a wheat alergy then oatmeal is a good alternative.

Mackerel, haddock, salmon and tuna are all high in Omega-3 so are good choices here, but really any fish will do, fresher the better.

3 fish fillets, de-boned and skinned about 500g
handful or two slices of brownbread crumbs
1 egg
juice of a lemon
few sprigs of fresh parsley or coriander
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

1. Put all the ingredients expect the olive oil into a food processor and mix thoroughly, taking care not to over do it as you will end up with mush. Alternatively put all the ingredients in a bowl and use a hand blender to process.
2. Make into round patties a little smaller than the size of a burger.
3. Cook them in the olive oil until they are golden brown and a little crispy on the outside.

Great served with green beans, broccoli or other favourite veg. If your children like it, these are also delicious served with sweet chili sauce for dipping into.

Mini Quiches

When using flour for baking I try to use wholemeal or if it doesn't really work i try half and half - this is one that works well with half and half. These are extremely easy to make if you use a food processor.

90g plain flour, 90g wholemeal flour sifted
pinch of salt
90g of unsalted butter,chilled and diced, 15g for the filling
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp cold water
1 leek washed and finely chopped
1 courgette or red pepper finely chopped
50g cheese - gruyere, emental or hard goats cheese
sprig of rosemary
2 large eggs beaten
200ml full fat milk

1. Chill a muffin tin - makes them so much easier to eat in this size and great for lunch boxes. Put flour, salt and butter into the processor and mix until it looks like breadcrumbs.
2. Add the egg yolk, and if necessary the water, until the pastry draws together into a ball.
3. Roll the pastry to about 2.5mm thick and cut into circles to line your muffin tin with. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 180/gas mark 4. Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and sweat the leak for 5 mins. Add the courgette/pepper and fry for a further 5 mins until browned. Spoon the mixture into the pastry cases and then sprinkle with cheese.
5. Chop the rosemary leaves. Whisk the milk and eggs together, then add the herbs season with black pepper. Pour over the filling in the pastry cases. Cook for about 20mins or until golden and fluffy.

Tattie and Leek (Potato and Leek) Soup

Again another that I do from eye and not measurements.

2 large leeks
8-10 medium potatoes
knob of butter
glug of olive oil
1 litre of veg stock

1. Slice leeks, make sure they are washed really well.
2. Melt the butter in a big soup pot, add the olive oil, warm up then add the leeks and cook on a very low heat for at least 10 mins, being careful not to burn.
3. Peel (or not) the potatoes and chop.
4. Once the leeks are soft and almost caramelized, add the potatoes then the stock. Bring to the boil and then turn down low and cook for about 30 mins. Enjoy.

Leeks are a natural anti-biotic so this is a good one to use when your feeling a bit under the weather.

Carrot and Lentil Soup

This one I make without using measurements but from my eye so I will give rough guidelines and you can make to the consistency that you like.

1 and a half onions chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
glug of olive oil
5 large carrots
16 oz of veg or chicken stock (add more or less stock to suit the desired result).
Half to 3/4 cup of red lentils (no need to pre-soak, just give a good rinse)

1. Add the onion and garlic to the olive oil and let them sweat over a low heat.
2. Peel and chop the carrots (you could also add any other veg that you like here, i often put in red peppers), add to the onions and coat in the oil.
3. Add the stock and the lentils, bring to the boil and then simmer on a very low heat for 30 mins.
4. Enjoy with some homemade oatcakes or a big hunk of bread.

You can add any fresh herbs you like to this. You could also add a teaspoon of a mild curry powder a the end of step 1 to give the soup a different slant.