Quick Seafood Pasta

Ingredients

• 100g fresh egg tagliatelle pasta (or any pasta will do but dried pasta takes longer to cook)
• 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic
• teaspoon of smoked paprika (optional)
• juice of 1 lemon
• handful of fresh corriander
• 100g of mixed chopped fish (most fish shops do a chowder mix eg. salmon, cod, prawns, squid, etc.)
•  2 table spoonful olive oil and 1table spoonful flour, salt & pepper to your own taste
• 100ml cream OR milk OR tomato 
• 50g grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method

1. Chop onion, heat the oil add onion, salt and pepper saute until soft
2. Crush the garlic and add, stir well.
3. Put some water, a little oil and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil add the pasta when boiling
4. Coat the fish with the flour and paprika (if using),and add fish to the onion & garlic.
5. Add the milk or cream or tomato (which ever you prefer) & lemon juice & chopped coriander (you can chop the stalks and add them too - but only with coriander) heat but do not boil
6. Drain the pasta when soft, grate the cheese and add them both to the sauce, if the sauce is too thick add a little water or if it's too thin add some more cheese or a little tomato puree
7. serve with a fresh green leaf salad or some mixed vegetables eg. carrot, broccoli, green beans.

Safe Food Research

This was a very interesting event in Belfast during the week.


A summary report was launched on a research project that was funded by Safe Food it's called 'Food on a low income: four households tell their story'
The households that took part were; (1) Two parent two children; (2) single male living alone; (3) single older person living alone; and (4) lone parent with 1/2 children. It was found that all households lacked variety and many diets were restricted to food that are known and favorites; they preferred not to experiment with new types of food as this helped  to avoid wastage. The people interviewed said they knew about healthy eating but saw the things that got in the way of this - such as cost, convenience and taste as insurmountable. It is also possible that many people may lack the skills needed to have a healthy diet. The summary report is quite easy to read and you can find it at this link http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Food-on-a-low-income-%E2%80%93-Four-households-tell-their.aspx

Fish Stew (White sauce)

This is an option for the fish stew if you want to add calcium into the diet

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 carrots
• 4 sticks celery
• red pepper (optional)
• mixed herbs (or dill instead)
• 2 med pieces of haddock/other fish (tail end has less bones)
• fish stock cube
• 50g plain flour
• 50g margarine/butter
• 300mls milk
• sml amt olive oil, salt & pepper

Method

1. Peel and cut onion into small dice, heat oil in a saucepan (4) and add onion, salt & pepper saute on med heat (2) until onion is soft. 
2. Crush garlic, add this and the herbs to the pot, stir well.
3. Peel and cut carrots into thin slices add to the pot and stir well
4. Cut the celery into thin slices and add.
5. If using cut the red pepper in half length-ways then remove the pips and throw away, cut the pepper into small dice and add.
6. Add the marg/butter into the saucepan and allow to melt
7. Add the flour and mix well for 2 mins - don't let it stick
8. Add a third of the milk, crumble the stock cube into the pot and mix well until disolved, then  keep stirring until it becomes thick.
9. Gradually add the milk in the same way until all the milk is added. 
10. Cut the fish into bite size pieces and add to the sauce simmer for 10 minutes.
11. If it's too thick add more milk.
12. Serve with mashed/baked potato, rice or pasta.

Fish Stew (tomato sauce)

Ingredients 

• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 carrots
• 4 sticks celery
• red pepper (optional)
• mixed herbs (or dill instead)
• 4 med potatoes
• 2 med pieces of haddock (tail end has less bones)
• fish stock cube
• tin of tomatoes
• tomato puree
• sml amt olive oil, salt & pepper

Method

1. Peel and cut onion into small dice, heat oil in a saucepan (4) and add onion, salt & pepper saute on med heat (2) 
2. Crush garlic, add this and the herbs to the pot, stir well
3. Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks, add to the pot 
4. Peel and cut carrots into thin slices add to the pot and stir well
5. Cut the celery into thin slices and add.
6. If using cut the red pepper in half length-ways then remove the pips and throw away, cut the pepper into small dice and add.
7. Add the tin of tomatoes, crumbled stock cube and the puree, stir well and bring to the boil.
8. Lower the heat to simmer (2)
9. Cut the fish into bite size pieces and add to the stew (you can use more fish if you like) simmer for approx 10minutes.

Bacon,Leek & Mushroom Risotto

Here's the Risotto recipe that you wanted Grace......enjoy the making & the eating........


Ingredients

• 1 onion & 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 leek
• 5 smoked rashers
• large punnet of mushrooms
• 150g Risotto rice (can be called aborio rice)
• chicken stock cube
• 60g Parmesan cheese (optional)
• Half teaspoon of chili powder
• Half teaspoon of smoked paprika
• Olive oil, salt & pepper

Method

1. Peel and cut the onion into small dice and crush the garlic.
2. Heat 50mls olive oil in a saucepan and add the onion, garlic, rice and plenty of salt & pepper, lower the heat and saute until the onions are soft. Stir well and add more oil if it's too dry.
3. Wash and trim the leek, cut into small dice and add to the saucepan, stir well.
4. Cut the bacon into bite size pieces and add to the saucepan, stir well.
5. cut the mushrooms into quarters and add to the pot, add the chili and paprika powders.
6. Add 200mls of water to the saucepan, it speeds up the process if you use boiling water. Stir well until the water is absorbed.
7. Add another 200mls of water and crumble the stock cube into the saucepan. Stir well and again the water will absorb into the rice. You may need to higher and lower the heat as need be.
8. Add another 200/300mls of water and stir well as before.
9. Taste the rice and if it's soft enough and the mixture is nice and moist then it's done. If the rice is done but it's very dry then add a little water (50mls) and heat. If the rice is not done and the mixture is dry then add 200mls of water and stir until the rice is cooked.
10. Grate the Parmesan cheese and add to the mixture (you can leave out the cheese if you like), stir well and Serve, you can garnish with more grated parmesan and chopped parsley. 

Fresh fruit salad & smoothie

Every fruit contains different vitamins and we need them all of them in small quantities, so it's better to eat a plate of mixed fruit than to have one full fruit, which may only provide one/two types of vitamins. If   fruit is eaten raw it provides more nutrients because the vitamins can be unstable in heat and therefore destroyed.


Ingredients

• 1 lemon & 1 orange
• 1 red apple & 1 pear
• 8 red & 8 green seedless grapes
• 2 kiwis
• 1 banana
• 1 mango  & 1 papaya & half a pineapple (optional these can be hard to find)
• half a melon
• handful of mint (optional)

Method

1. Squeeze the lemon & orange and put the juice into a bowl.
2. Wash the apple cut in half and then quarters and remove the core. cut into small dice (leave the skin on for the fiber), put immediately into the juice and mix well - this is to stop the apple going brown (must be fresh lemon juice to do this, the bottled one won't work)
3. Cut the banana if using and put mix well into the juice for the same reason as above.
4. Cut the pear in the same way as the apple and put into the bowl
5. Cut the melon in half and remove the pips then remove the skin and cut into small dice and add.
6. Wash the grapes, cut in half and add.
7. Take the skin off the kiwis and cut into thin slices or chunks and add.
8. Take the skin off the mango & papaya if using and cut into slices around the dense centre (they don't have a stone as such in the center, but you can't cut right through it and don't use the center). then cut into small pieces and add to the bowl.
9. If you think there is not enough liquid in the bowl you can squeeze another orange and add the juice to it.

As long as this doesn't sit out of the fridge for too long it will stay fresh in the fridge for a couple of days as the lemon juice acts as a natural preservative. Don't just have this as a dessert, it's a lovely change for breakfast for a snack during the day and easy to transport in a well sealed Tupperware.

Smoothie

You can put a couple of table spoons of this mixture into a jug and add a small natural yogurt and some orange juice (or any other juice eg. cranberry, apple etc). Then liquidize well with a hand blender. This is good to do if the fruit salad doesn't look fresh enough to serve on it's own

Tomato & Broccoli Salad with French Dressing

Ingredients

• small head of Broccoli
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes
• 100mls sunflower oil
• 50mls olive oil (or you can use a full 150ml olive and leave out the sunflower oil)
• 50mls white wine vinegar
• 3 table spoons of hazelnuts (optional)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 3 teaspoons wholgrain mustard
• 3 table spoons of honey
• 1 teaspoon soya sauce 
• Salt & pepper

Method

1. If using the hazelnuts, place on a flat baking tray and roast in the oven 180oC, for approx 20mins, take out and cool, rub in a teatowel to get the outer skins to break off.
2. Meanwhile put the two oils, vinegar, garlic, mustard, soya sauce and honey into a container (a measuring jug is good as it doesn't splash) Blend them all together with a hand blender until well mixed and slightly thick.
3. Wash and cut the thick stalks off the broccoli then break into small florets, put into a bowl.
4. Wash and cut the tomatoes in half, add these and the hazelnuts if using to the bowl.
5. Put french dressing over the vegetables in the bowl, the amount you use depends on how moist you like the salad, there is no set amount, so perhaps add it little by little (it's easier to add more than take some out!!!). If this amount is too much for this salad the dressing keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge, the garlic acts as a natural preservative for approx 4 weeks.
6. Season with salt & pepper