Tuna, White Bean and Asparagus Salad

I used dried cannellini beans for this recipe, but you can use tinned if you prefer.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the olive oil as your Healthy Extra B. You can of course omit the oil completely if you like.

1 can tuna steaks in water, drained

1 cup dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight

1 bunch asparagus spears

4-5 shallots, finely chopped

a few fresh tarragon leaves, finely chopped

1 tbsp capers

½ tsp olive oil

½ tsp red wine vinegar

plenty of freshly ground black pepper to serve

Cook the cannellini beans according to the packet instructions, or drain if using tinned. Allow to cool. Cut the asparagus spears in one inch lengths and boil gently for a few minutes until cooked to your liking. Mix all the salad ingredients together and toss with the oil and vinegar dressing. Serve with black pepper. 

 

Lime Prawn Stir Fry

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

300g cooked king prawns

1 small courgette, sliced

5-6 baby sweetcorn, sliced

1 small carrot, sliced

4-5 asparagus, sliced

1 onion, chopped

pkt rocket, watercress and spinach

1 tbsp soy sauce

juice of 2 limes

1 small chilli, chopped

1 tbsp sweetener

Sauté the onion in Fry Light for a few minutes, then add the carrot, asparagus, babycorn and courgette. Continue stir frying for a few more minutes, then add the soy sauce, lime juice, chilli and sweetener. Stir well, then add the rocket, watercress and spinach. Stir until the salad vegetables are just beginning to wilt. Serve immediately. 

 

Chateaubriand with Pepper Sauce

We decided to have a date night in on Saturday night, and popped to Morrison's for a steak. I love their meat and fish usually, but this time they really excelled themselves – the steak was one of the best we've ever had! It was meltingly tender and beautifully tasty. Heavenly.

Chateaubriand is a lot of hassle and work, but oh so worth it in the end. I would usually make a sauce with lots of cream and sherry to go with it, but as that does not fit in with the Slimming World plan, I decided to try out the Coleman's Pepper sauce. It was nice, but I could probably make my own just as easily with just as few syns. Oh well, it was nice to have one less thing to do as the whole meal was quite labour intensive. 

 

Serves 2

3 syns on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the milk as part of your Healthy Extra A.

1 whole piece end fillet steak

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

½ tsp whole black pepper

1 tsp whole coriander

½ tsp garlic powder

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp celery powder

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1 pkt Coleman's Pepper Sauce

300ml skimmed milk

Grind all the spices to a fine powder using a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar. Spray the fillet with Fry Light and coat with the spice powder. Use your hands to massage the spices into the meat, making sure that all exposed surfaces are covered. Leave to marinate for a couple of hours or more. 

 

Heat a pan with Fry Light until very hot. Place the whole fillet in the pan and sear on all sides. The outside is supposed to be almost burnt and crusty, so don't worry if it seems overdone at this stage. Lower the heat and fry, turning regularly (you may have to support the steak with something when cooking the end sides) for around ten minutes or so. This may seem like a long time for a steak, and of course it does depend on the thickness of the meat, but the inside will still be pink after that time. My piece was rather large, and I cooked it for around 15 minutes, and it was still rare in the middle.

Meanwhile make up the sauce according to packet instructions.

Leave to rest for a few minutes before carving in thick slices and serve with the pepper sauce, potatoes and vegetables of your choice.

 

Asparagus Mimosa

This would make a very impressive looking starter for a dinner party. It looks really complicated, but it is in fact far easier than it looks, and only two ingredients. If you find it a bit dry, serve with mayonnaise or a Hollandaise sauce. We used the leftover shallot and garlic sauce from yesterday.

Asparagus Mimosa

Serves 2

Free on Extra easy.

250g asparagus spears

3 eggs

Boil the eggs for ten minutes. Put the asparagus in a pan of boiling water, then switch off the heat. Leave in the pan to keep hot.

Shell the eggs and separate the white from the yoke. Press the white through a sieve with the back of a spoon, repeating with the yoke. Arrange on top of the asparagus and serve any sauce separately. Voilà! 

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