Huevos Rancheros meets Ham, Egg and Chips

I really fancied huevos rancheros today, but as I'd already used my Hex B for my bacon butty at breakfast, I decided to substitute a thick slice of ham for the tortilla.

The advantage of serving it with a cooked salsa rather than raw, is that I could add plenty of onion to really up that superfree.

Husband requested chips, so I made him some black pepper jacket wedges. They're almost chips, and I can't be too compliant now can I?

So, this is what I did:

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy

2 thick slices of ham, all visible fat removed

4 potatoes, skin left on, cut into wedges

salt and coarsely ground pepper

8 tomatoes, de-seeded and finely chopped

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped

To flavour the salsa, I used the leftover spicy sauce from last night's tiger prawns, which consisted of:

a small knob of ginger, minced

a couple of cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 tbsp tomato purée

1-2 tsp paprika

Par boil the potatoes, shake well in a sieve or colander to rough them up a bit, place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt and cracked black pepper. Cook in the oven on a high temperature until nicely brown.

Meanwhile, make the salsa. Sauté the chopped onion, garlic and ginger in Fry Light until soft, then add the tomatoes. Continue cooking for a minute or two, then add the tomato purée and paprika. You may need to add some water if the mixture is too stiff.

Serve with the ham and a fried egg.

Leftover Meatloaf Hash

Mondays are nearly always leftover days, and today I managed to empty no less than eight containers when cooking our lunch – not bad going eh? 

 

This is not a recipe as such, more of an idea of what to do with leftovers. Using the remains of the meatloaf as a base, I added nearly all the leftovers I had in the fridge. The list looks like this:

meatloaf

cooked Jersey Royal potatoes

cooked carrots

cooked baby sweetcorn

cooked tenderstem broccoli

cooked sugarsnap peas

grilled cherry tomatoes

I also had containers with Oriental coleslaw and Vietnamese pickled vegetables which I mixed together, and half a box of salad leaves which I served alongside the hash. 

 

I started off by crushing the potatoes between two palms, then tearing them roughly with my hands. In a large pan sprayed with some Fry Light, I sautéed the potatoes for a few minutes before adding everything else. I found it to be a little dry, so I added some water to make it a smoother consistency and some chilli flakes to zest it up a little. 

I do love leftovers, and the challenge of creating something that tastes good.

Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs and Potato Rösti

The breakfast of (European) kings. They were selling smoked salmon at half price in Sainsbury's this week, so I allowed myself a little treat for breakfast this morning. I didn't want to use my Healthy Extra B for bread to go with this, so I decided to make some potato rösti instead. 

 

* I normally add a handful of chopped spring onion tops to my scrambled eggs, but today I didn't have any. I did, however, have some leeks and I did the same thing with the green tops of those and it worked out well.

Serves 2

Syn free on Extra Easy

2 potatoes, peeled and finely grated

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 eggs

spring onion tops (just the green bits), finely chopped*
smoked salmon
tomatoes for grilling, halved

lemon wedges to serve

Mix the grated potato with the cumin seeds and place in four well greased Yorkshire pudding tins. Place on the bottom shelf of the oven and cook at 210°C for 15-20 minutes until golden. 

 

For the last few minutes of the rösti cooking time, place the tomatoes on the top shelf.

Meanwhile scramble the eggs to your liking, using the spring onion tops, chives or even leek tops as I did.

Serve with lemon wedges and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Enjoy!

Dhal Masala Vadai

Vadai (also known as also known as wada or vade or vada or bara) is a south Indian savoury fritter type snack, which can be made from lentils (dhal), chick peas (channa), gram flour (besan) or potato (aloo). It is usually deep fried, but I decided to bake mine instead to make it fit in with the Slimming World regime.

I used leftover lentils and vegetables for this, but you can of course cook these especially for the vadai. I had green lentil mixed with onions, Chinese leaves and spring greens from Friday night's dinner; and also some leftover roasted vegetables from Saturday night which I added to the mix for extra superfree (red, green and yellow peppers, red and yellow onion and sweet potato). Add spices to taste – I used ground cumin (my favourite!), ground cinnamon, ground coriander, fresh and dried ginger, fresh garlic and red chilli flakes. Whizz it all up in a food processor, using the 'pulse' button to ensure it becomes paste-like but still retains some texture. 

 

Using wet hands so that the paste doesn't still to my fingers, I formed the mixture into little balls and placed them in muffin cups flattening them ever so slightly with my hands before spraying them with Fry Light and baking in the oven at 230°C for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned and crispy on the outside. 

 

In India, vadai is eaten as a snack (often for breakfast) or a side dish, never as a main course; and is found for sale all over the south at street food. I served mine with leftover coleslaw and potato salad from yesterday's picnic lunch; tomato salad made from chopped tomatoes (flesh only), onions, a red chilli and coriander with the juice of half a lemon and some salt and coarsely ground black pepper; mint raita (made from 0% fat plain yogurt, mint sauce and sweetener); and some rocket leaves to turn it into a complete meal. Garnished with red onion. 

 

Baking the vadai rather than deep frying them means that they do become a lot more crumbly when you cut into them, and it would be difficult to eat them as a street food snack with your hands (right hand only of course); but if you don't mind the texture, the flavour was superb. Even non-lentil-loving Husband enjoyed it so much he had second helpings. 

 

Czech Potato Pancakes

Nice and simple, I baked these potato pancakes in the oven rather than frying them in fat. 

 

Serves 4

Syn Free on Extra Easy

6 large potatoes, peeled

2 eggs, beaten

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram

salt and pepper to taste

Grate the potatoes and squeeze out as much water as you can. Mix with all the other ingredients and shape into pancakes on a large oven-proof baking tray, flattening them down slightly with the back of a spoon. Spray with Fry Light and bake for 15-20 minutes at 200°C or until golden and cooked through. Serve as an accompaniment or on its own with fromage frais (in place of soured cream).

Cod and Chips

By special request from Husband, I made 'fish'n'chips' tonight, the Slimming World way. He was very pleased with the result. I added some mange tout to the peas, in order to increase my intake of superfree.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the bread as your Healthy Extra B

2 cod loins

2 slices wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp thyme

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp celery salt

¼ tsp ground white pepper

3-4 potatoes, depending on size

peas and grilled tomatoes to serve

In a food processor, reduce the bread to fine crumbs. Spread out on a non-greased baking sheet and place in the oven on a fairly high heat. Bake for a few minutes – you need to keep a close eye on it as it can easily burn – then shuffle it all about a bit and bake for a few more minutes until crunchy and golden, but not completely brown. Mix with the thyme, garlic powder, celery salt and pepper. Dip the cod loins in the beaten egg and coat in the breadcrumbs.

Peel and cut the potatoes into chips. Blanch in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain well and shake the colander well to rough them up a bit. Husband loves doing this bit for me.

Place the chips on a baking sheet, and bake at 220°C for 20-30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes before of the cooking time, put the cod in the oven too. Serve with peas, grilled tomatoes or vegetables of your choice.

Cuban Mashed Potato

Having a conversation with a very dear Cuban friend about an accompaniment for the traditional Cuban dish of Ropa Vieja I was making for someone who doesn't eat rice (my dad), he suggested a mixture of mashed 'normal' and red sweet potato. Of course, my friend would use lots of butter in the mashing – as would I if I wasn't trying to lose weight – but I have adapted it to suit the Slimming World plan. 

 

Serves 3

250g sweet potato

250g white potato

2 tsp bouillon powder

Boil the potatoes separately until both are cooked, then mix in a large bowl and mash with the bouillon powder using a potato masher. This dish makes a nice change from the more regular mashed potato, and even Husband, who is not a great lover of sweet potato, enjoyed it served this way.

Potato Cakes with Baked Beans

The half a syn in this recipe comes from the fresh breadcrumbs – I made one small slice into crumbs and used maybe only 1/5 of it. You can of course omit the breadcrumbs to make it syn free. I added some leftover stir fry vegetables to try and get some superfree in – any cooked vegetables would work in this recipe I reckon.

Serves 4

½ syn on Extra Easy (see note above)

450g potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

1 large onion, chopped

3 tbsp fromage frais

2 egg yolks

1 egg, beaten

1 slice wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf

tin baked beans

leftover cooked vegetables

2-4 tbsp passata

Cook the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes until cooked through. Drain well and mash. Leave to cool a little. Meanwhile, sauté the onion in Fry Light until soft. Stir the onions into the mash with the fromage frais and a little water if necessary to get the consistency right. Mix in the egg yolks and season.

Shape into rounds, then flatten to make approximately 16 patties about 5-6 cm across. Place the patties on a greased baking sheet and brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top (see note above) and bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes until nicely browned.

Heat the baked beans with the added vegetables. Add the passata and a little water to dilute the sauce and serve with the potato cakes. 

 

Sausages in Tomato Sauce with Tortilla

I had another delivery of Joe's Sausages this week, so wanted to try a recipe or two. I served this with the leftover tortilla from yesterday (you can find the recipe here), but you can serve them with any type of potatoes or even toast. They would also make a nice filling for jacket potatoes. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

3 Joe's Cumberland sausages

200ml passata

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp sweetener

½ tsp bouillon powder

Grilled tomatoes and tortillas to serve

Cut the sausages in slices, about 1.5 cm long. Sauté in Fry Light until cooked through, then add the passata, thyme, sweetener and bouillon powder. Stir well to combine and simmer for a few more minutes before serving with accompaniments of your choice. 

 

Polish Potato Cakes

Although not as widely used as cereals, potatoes feature often in Polish recipes. They were introduced during the reign of Jan Sobieski, in the 17^th century.

I substituted fromage frais for the soured cream in the original recipe, and omitted the butter and flour altogether for a low syn version. The half a syn in this recipe comes from the fresh breadcrumbs – I made one small slice into crumbs and used maybe only 1/5 of it. You can of course omit the breadcrumbs to make it syn free. 

 

Serves 4

½ syn on Extra Easy (see note above)

450g potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

1 large onion, chopped

3 tbsp fromage frais

2 egg yolks

1 egg, beaten

1 slice wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf

Cook the potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes until cooked through. Drain well and mash. Leave to cool a little. Meanwhile, sauté the onion in Fry Light until soft. Stir the onions into the mash with the fromage frais and a little water if necessary to get the consistency right. Mix in the egg yolks and season.

Shape into rounds, then flatten to make approximately 16 patties about 5-6 cm across. Place the patties on a greased baking sheet and brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top (see note above) and bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes until nicely browned. 

 

Tortilla de Patatas y Jamon

Continuing with this week's international theme, today's lunch is Spanish. The classis tortilla is literally just potatoes, onion and egg, but I had some ham leftover that I wanted to use up. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 large onion, sliced

2 eggs

100g cooked ham, cubed

Sauté the onion and potato in Fry Light for around ten minutes or so, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Add a small amount of water (around 5mm in the bottom of the frying pan) and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. You may have to do that more than once, depending on the type and thickness of the potatoes – I ended up adding three lots of water for my potatoes to be cooked properly. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs with a little salt and pepper and add the ham, potatoes and onions. Heat a frying pan with Fry Light and pour in the potato mixture. Cook very gently for 5-8 minutes until the mixture is almost set. You can then either try and invert it and cook the other side using a plate, or – if like me, you have never mastered that particular procedure - you can stick it under the grill for a few minutes to finish off. Serve with grilled tomatoes and a salad of your choice. 

 

Breakfast Slop

 

Husband was adamant he did not want slop for breakfast, stating that 'he'd get better food in prison'. Not that he meant it, or indeed knows what prison food is like. 

 

The dish was a combination of several leftovers – the Sloppy Toms turkey mix, the chilli sautéed tomatoes, some roasted vegetables and roasted potatoes, all topped with a fried egg. A great syn free start to the day! 

 

Potato Stack

Having got some new food presentation rings today, I was eager to try them out, so decided to create a tian, or layered, potato dish. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2-3 potatoes, peeled

1 red pepper

100g (ca) spinach leaves

Cut the pepper in half lengthways. Using a cook's torch, char the skin all over and immediately place the pepper halves in a sealed plastic bag. Leave until cool, by which time the skin should scrape off easily under running water. To make a good fit, place the pepper on the work top (it should be fairly pliable now that it is skinless) and using the presentation ring as a cutter, create a piece the same size as the ring.

Cut the potato in very thin slices using a mandolin. Place the food presentation rings on an oven-proof baking sheet, and put a layer of potato slices in the bottom, then the pepper. Add a layer of spinach leaves, then top with a layer of potato slices. Spray the top with Fry Light and bake at 220°C for 20-30 minutes until browned on top and cooked through. Place a tian on each plate, then remove the rings.

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.

 

Ham, Egg and Mustard Veggies

Inspired by the piccalilli my mother in law always used to serve with ham, I created a mustard sauce to go with the vegetables for this dish. 

 

Serves 3

2 Syns on Extra Easy*

* Providing you use the milk as your healthy Extra A

3 slices lean cooked ham

4-5 potatoes

3 eggs

½ cauliflower

1 leek

4-5 shallots

1 pkt Coleman's White sauce

300ml skimmed milk

1-2 tbsp mustard powder

1 tsp bouillon powder

pinch of sweetener

½ tsp turmeric

Peel and slice the leeks. Peel the shallots and quarter. Break the cauliflower into small florets. Sauté the leeks in Fry Light until soft. Boil the shallots and cauliflower until done to your liking. I did mine separately as I wanted the shallots cooked for longer than the cauliflower, which I like to still have a bite to it.

Cut the potatoes in wedges and place on a baking sheet. Spray with Fry Light and bake at 230°C for 30-40 minutes until cooked through and nicely browned.

Make the white sauce according to the instructions on the packet. Add mustard, bouillon powder and sweetener to taste, and turmeric for some colour. Add the vegetables and heat through.

Fry the egg in Fry Light for a few minutes.

Place the ham on three plates, top with the fried egg and serve with the wedges and mustard vegetables. 

 

Sea Bream with Ratatouille

I don't think I have ever made ratatouille at home in the 35 years we've been married, nor have I prepared sea bream. Two firsts in one dish! 

 

Serves 4

Syn Free on Extra Easy

4 sea bream fillets

1 large courgette, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 small aubergine, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

2 large tomatoes

250ml passata

2 tsp bouillon powder

pinch of sweetener

a few sprigs of fresh thyme

potatoes for mash

Sauté the onion in Fry Light for a few minutes, then add the courgette, aubergine and red pepper. Quarter the tomatoes, then cut each segment in half again. Add to the vegetables with the passata, bouillon powder and thyme. Cook for 10 minutes or so, until the vegetables are done to your liking.

Heat a pan and fry the bream fillets for a few minutes each side, depending on the thickness of the fish.

Boil and mash the potatoes.

Place a layer of mash on each plate, then a spoonful of ratatouille. Top with the fish and serve. 

 

Middle Eastern Duck Salad

It is very difficult to calculate the syn value for this dish, as Slimming World says that orange juice is 1½ syns for 100ml. I am not using orange juice as such in this recipe, just the juice that is left in the orange after segmenting it. I measured mine and from 3 large oranges, I got 50ml leftover juice – that is ¾ syn between three people. Not really worth worrying about. 

 

Serves 2-3

¼ syn on Extra easy (see note above)

2 duck breasts

1 tsp sumac

3 oranges

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

150g spinach

½ red onion

100g pomegranate

400g anya potatoes

a few prigs of fresh coriander

2 tsp rose water

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

½ tbsp sweetener

2 tsp cumin seeds

Remove the skin and all visible fat from the duck breasts. Make several long slits in the flesh and sprinkle with sumac. Rub the spice in with your fingers and leave to marinate for an hour or so. Fry for around 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Thinly slice.

Dry fry the cumin seeds for a few minutes until fragrant, then coarsely grind using a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar.

Remove the skin and pith from the oranges and cut into segments. Squeeze the remainder of the pithy core into a bowl to get the rest of the juices out. Mix the orange segments with the parsley.

Mix the orange juice with the rose water, vinegar, sweetener and cumin seeds.

Cut the potatoes in fairly thick slices and boil until just cooked. Drain. Sauté in Fry Light over high heat until nicely browned. Add a tablespoon or so of the dressing and mix well, leaving for a couple of minutes to infuse the flavours.

Finely chop the red onion and mix with the pomegranate seeds and coriander.

Place the spinach in the bottom of a shallow salad bowl and add the potatoes, oranges, duck slices and pomegranate seeds, in that order. Drizzle over the rest of the dressing and serve.