Thai Beef Curry

Serves 2

1½ syn on Extra Easy

250g Beef, cubed

4-5 shallots, sliced

1 red pepper. chopped

small knob ginger, thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 Müllerlight coconut and vanilla yogurts

2 tbsp Thai red curry paste

stock

Fry the beef, shallots, pepper and ginger in Fry Light until the beef is sealed and the onion has softened a little. Add the carrots, squash and curry paste, with enough water to just cover the vegetables. Simmer until the carrots are cooked to your liking. To thicken the sauce, mash a few of the butternut squash pieces with a fork or potato masher. Take the saucepan off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before adding the yogurt, stirring well to incorporate.

Serve with rice. 

 

Sausage and Bean Casserole

Sausages are a good fall-back when cooking for my dad, as it's one of the things he really likes. I rarely cook just plain food such as sausage and chips, so I wanted to turn it into something a little more interesting without making it too 'exotic' for my dad's taste.

Serves 3

Syn Free on Extra Easy

6 Joe's Sausages (I used pork and leek)

6 slices bacon, all visible fat removed

1 cup of mixed dried beans, soaked overnight

2 onions

1 green pepper

1 tin tomatoes

1 pkt passata

bouillon powder to taste

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp marjoram

1 tsp sweetener

Drain the beans and place in a saucepan with plenty of salted water and cook according to packet instructions, usually between 1 and 1½ hours. Meanwhile fry the onions in Fry Light until soft. Grill the bacon until crisp, chop and add to the pan with the onion. Grill the sausages until crispy and cooked through. You can either slice the sausages or leave them whole as I did here. Add to the pan. Drain the beans, but retain the liquid. Add the beans to the pan with the passata, tinned tomatoes and seasoning. Add cooking liquid if required, in order to bring the casserole to your preferred consistency.

Serve with vegetables and potatoes of your choice. 

 

Boston Baked Beans

I love Boston baked beans, and this is the best recipe I have made to date. Even my dad said he enjoyed it, which is really quite rare!

This version is baked in the slow cooker and the meat will be very well done, falling apart at the touch. If you prefer your meat firmer, just add it half way through the cooking time.

Serves 4-6

13 syns for the whole casserole on Extra Easy

250g dried haricot beans

½ tsp ground cloves

2 onions

1 bay leaf

6 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp molasses sugar

2 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

250ml stock

small gammon joint

salt and pepper

Soak the beans for at least eight hours, preferably overnight. Drain, rinse and place half the beans in the bottom of the slow cooker dish. Cut each onion in eight segments and place on top of the beans. Remove all fat from the gammon and cut in one inch cubes; place in the pot with the beans and onions. Top with the remaining beans.

I a separate bowl, mix together the sugars, bay leaf, mustard, tomato purée and stock. Mix well and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the beans and meat, adding more water if necessary to almost cover the beans. Turn on the slow cooker to high and cook for 5-6 hours. Serve with potatoes and vegetables of your choice. 

http://www.slimmingworld.com/

Khoresh Ghormeh Sabzi

A good friend and colleague was married to an Iranian for over 20 years, and this was her signature dish when entertaining. I fell in love with the subtle flavours and have since cooked it several times myself at home. Visiting Iran in 2007 we were lucky enough to be served this in a private home, and being taught how to cook it by the hostess.

You can buy dried ghormeh sabzi mixed herbs at Bristol Sweetmart, but failing that, use a mixture of chives, parsley, turmeric leaves and coriander.

Khoresh Ghormeh Sabzi

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

300g lean stewing beef

2 onions

½ cup ghormeh sabzi

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tin of red kidney beans

flavoursome stock

Sauté the onion in a little Fry Light for a few minutes, then add the beef and cook, ensuring that the meat is nicely browned all over. Add the herbs and spices and enough stock to cover, then simmer over a very low heat for half an hour. Add the drained kidney beans and simmer for a further 30 minutes. Serve with rice and vegetables of your choice. 

http://www.slimmingworld.com/

Lamb Shanks with Barley and Root Vegetables

This seems to have been cooking all day, and I struggled to find a pot large enough to house all the vegetables, but it was well worth it for the finished product.

Served 2

2½ Syns on Extra Easy

2 lamb shanks

a couple of handfuls of pearl barley

bouillon powder to make stock

2 medium sized potatoes, diced

2 carrots, thickly sliced

2 leeks, thickly sliced

1 parsnip, diced

1 onion, diced

4 tbsp Bisto gravy powder

Place shanks and barley in a large oven-proof pot and cover with stock. Bake at 160°C for 1.5 hours. Add the vegetables and return to the oven for a further 1.5 hours. Remove the juices form the pan, keeping the meat and vegetables hot, add the Bisto powder to the pan juices and heat to thicken, adding more water if necessary.

Serve the vegetables on a plate, topped with the lamb shanks. Serve the gravy separately, and mint sauce is desired. 

http://www.slimmingworld.com/

Lamb and Apricot Tajine

A tajine is a Berber dish from North Africa which is named after the earthenware pot it is cooked in. Of course you don't have to own a tajine to cook this dish, any oven proof casserole will do. I always think a large part of the enjoyment of any meal is the visual aspect of it, so I go to great lengths to ensure the table settings look good and the food is presented nicely. I collect plates and other crockery, much to my husband's dismay, as he can never find anywhere to put them. Maybe we need a bigger house?

Lamb and Apricot Tajine with couscous, harissa yogurt and pomegranate salad

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy providing you use the apricots as your Healthy Extra B

300g diced, lean lamb

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp paprika

120g dried apricots, roughly chopped

boiling water

100g couscous

1 carrot

1 courgette

125ml stock

1 tsp mint sauce

1 tub 0% natural yogurt

1 tsp harissa paste

1 packet of pomegranate seeds

½ red onion, thinly sliced

small handful of coriander leaves, chopped

juice of ½ lime

6g toasted almond slivers (optional) – allow 1 syn if using

Sauté the onions and garlic in a little Fry Light until soft. Mix all the spices together and add the lamb, making sure the meat is well covered. Constantly stirring, add the lamb to the onions in the pan and cook for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the chopped apricots and enough water to cover. Transfer to an oven-proof dish and bake at 150°C for 2.5 – 3 hours.

Grate the carrot and courgette and place in a pan with the couscous and mint sauce. The instructions on the couscous packet suggests 125ml water or stock, but I always find I need to use more. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring to ensure the couscous doesn't stick to the bottom (my husband always berates me for welding food to the pan – it makes the washing up doubly hard for him).

Lightly stir some harissa paste into the yogurt. I always use much more than a teaspoon, but it depends on your taste and the strength of the harissa – mine is home made and very hot!

Mix together all the ingredients for the pomegranate salad.

Top the lamb tajine with the toasted almonds and serve with the couscous, yogurt and pomegranate salad.

Bob apetit.

I find this is such lovely comfort food, perfect for a cold dark Saturday evening such as today. The seratonin in the chilli always lifts my spirits and I love the combination of flavours, colours and textures.


I bought the tajine in France and brought the mats back from Burkina Faso. The brown plate is from the Range and the red bowls from John Lewis. The gold plated wooden-handled cutlery was bought over the internet. 

http://www.slimmingworld.com/

Lentil and Sausage Casserole

I'm a great lover of lentils and have eight or nine different types of dried lentils in my store cupboard. I prefer to use the dried variety for several reasons – there are no added preservatives or salt, less packaging, cheaper and I can use the amount I want not the amount that fits into a can. And unlike dried beans, they don't have to be soaked, so there is no excuse about having forgotten to put them in water the night before. Although he is not so keen, I am lucky in that my husband will eat anything I put in front of him.

It was my Slimming World consultant who introduced me to Joe's Sausages, and I haven't looked back since. They come in a variety of flavours, and are syn free on the plan. I buy them in bulk and stock up my freezer with them. For this recipe I used the chilli and garlic ones.

Lentil and sausage casserole with chilli and garlic

4 sausages, grilled

400g lentils (I used brown)

2 onions

2 carrots

4 sticks celery

1 red pepper

4 cloves garlic

stock made from bouillon powder

1 red chilli

2 green chilli

handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

tub of Total 0% fat yogurt

Finely chop the carrots, onions, celery, garlic and pepper, and sauté in a little Fry Light for a few minutes until soft. Slice the sausages – I like to slice mine thinly as I always feel I am eating more if the pieces are smaller. Add the lentils, chopped chillies and enough stock to cover, and simmer for 30 minutes until the lentils are cooked, but still retain a little bite. You will probably want to check from time to time to ensure you have enough liquid. For the last few minutes of cooking, add the sausages and cherry tomatoes. Take the pan off the heat and add the yogurt. Patience has never been one of my strong points, and I added the yogurt just a little bit too early, and it separated. Oh well, the taste is just as good, and you couldn't really see the little white bits as the light was bad tonight. Sometimes I am grateful for grey days and dark evenings. 


Place mats brought back from Bali.