Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 30 mins | Serves: 2
Nutritional info: 691 kcal, 74g carbs, 35g fat, 23g protein

INGREDIENTS PHOTO: (I forgot the parsley)

So, first up, stick the walnuts in an oven on around 180’c for 6-8 minutes, so they’re browning but not getting hard or bitter.

Then chop off about 2cm of the end of the broccoli – the dried up bit, and then slice the rest of the stalk right up to the florets, chop it up a little if massively thick. Then add the oil to a large frying pan, and gently sautee the stalk sections for about 5 minutes.

Then add the broccoli heads, and keep them cooking until tender. 5-8 minutes. MEANWHILE. squash and chop the garlic, chop the parsley, zest and juice the lemon, and probably take the walnuts out already.

By the time you’ve prepped all the stuff, the broccoli should be about tender. Add all of the stuff apart from the ricotta and lemon juice:

heat this through for 5 minutes, and put the pasta on.

Then add the ricotta and lemon juice, stir around and heat very gently until the pasta is ready. Season well. Really well. Lots of salt (I like salt, please make sure it’s to your taste).

When pasta is ready, drain, combine, serve, enjoy.

Prep: 10 mins | cook: 20 mins | Serves: 4
Nutritional Info: 321 kcals, protein 9g, carbs 18g, fat 20g, saturated 10g, fibre 8g, salt 0.23g

Ingredients, mostly:

I used shallots. I didn’t know if that’s the same as ‘baby onions’. They’re little anyway. melt the butter, and then add the onions and gently cook for 8-10 minutes until soft.

Add the wine and the leeks and simmer until tender, about 5 mins

Add the peas and simmer for 5 mins more, if you’re doing pasta, start it here.

then add the lettuce and simmer for 3 mins

Start your couscous, if you’re doing that. Stir through the creme fraiche and herbs, season through and warm gently for 2-3 mins

Serve on a bed of couscous (well seasoned and stirred through with oil) or pasta. DONE.

Prep: 5 mins | Cook: 30 mins | Serves: 2

Nutritional info: 514kcal 63g carbs 20g fat 15g protein

Obligatory ingredients pic:

First up, set a pan of salted water on the boil. Then pop the oil and butter in a pan, melt together, add the mushrooms and fry until brown and yummy.

Add the pasta about half way through browning mushrooms

Add the thyme, garlic and balsamic vinegar to the mushrooms, cook for a couple of minutes

When that’s reduced, add the wine and do the same

Then add the cream and half the parsely

reduce until nice and thick, and add the pasta when al dente, keep cooking until it’s… well, risotto texture. Damn.

Serve with the rest of the chopped parsley on to. It’s not half bad. And tastes lighter than risotto.

So, how to:

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 25 mins | Serves: 4
Nutritional info: 494 kcal, 32g carbs, 28g fat, 12g protein

Ingredients pic (less the wine, and pictured for one)

Prep the onion, garlic, weigh out the other things, make the stock, and cube the butternut squash to approx 1cm cubes. Be careful not to slip with the knife on the squash. I do this all the time. Unfun.

And then, before you start, toast your pine nuts, watch them carefully in a dry pan and brown all over, then tip out.

Next, melt the butter in a large pan, add the onions, soften, and then add the garlic and stir for a couple of minutes. Here are some pictures in case you can’t imagine how that looks:

Next, add the cubed squash, stir around for a couple of minutes, then add a good splash per person of white wine. Let that reduce a little, then add the veg stock (it should just about cover the squash), add the nutmeg (to taste), bring to the boil, and simmer gently until the squash is soft. MEANWHILE

Start the water boiling for the tagliatelle, and about 5 minutes in chuck it in the water with a bit of salt. When the squash is soft and lovely, blend it with 1/3 of the chives, and return to the pan with the cream, stirring through. (NB. I later discovered it was better to blend with the cream and then heat through)

Once the sauce has warmed through, hopefully the pasta should be done, add it to the pan, with 2/3 of the pine nuts, and 1/3 of the chives. Mix together

Then dole it onto plates, scattering the remaining chives and pine nuts over the top.

Doesn’t look mega appetising, but it’s warm and filling and tasty. So, y’know, whatevs.

Serves: 6 | Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 30 mins
Nutritional info: 227 kcal, 35g carbs, 7g fat, 8g protein

Ingredienty:

Prep: get the stock boiling. Chop the onion, cube the tomatoes, crush and chop the garlic, break up the spaghetti, drain the chick peas, chop up the beans into 1-2cm pieces.

Get a big pan, put the oil and onion in it. Soften the onion. I have illustrated this in case you are uncertain.

Add garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes more.

Add everything that isn’t the rocket.

Bring to the boil, simmer for 15-20 minutes, until pasta is done.

When the spaghetti is cooked, stir through the rocket. Season to taste. Serve.

How easy?

Serves: 4  |  Prep Time: 10 mins  |  Cook time about 30-40 mins
Nutritional Info: 593 kcal, 74g carbs, 25g fat, 15g protein

Ingredients pic!

weigh everything out, slice the leeks thinly, crush and chop the garlic, break the cauliflower into florets, taking off the thickest bit of the stalks. Set the stock on to boil. Heat the oil in a well big pan.

Add the garlic, leeks and cauli and soften over the heat for 5-10 mins

Add the risotto rice, stir through and cook for about 2 mins until the rice is slightly glossy

Add the wine, stir until absorbed

If you’re not in a mega rush like I was, add the stock a bit by bit until absorbed and the rice is al dente. If in a massive rush add it all and hope it’s the right amount. Reduce for about 2o-25 mins

When it’s reduced, add the butter and parmesan, stir through for a couple minute more

Then add the parsley, season to taste (loads of black pepper) and serve. Voila:

Prep: 5 mins | Cook: 15 mins | Serves: 2
Nutritional Info: 467kcal, 44g carbs, 27g fat, 12g protein

Ingredients:

Prep everything. Then pop the pappardelle on the boil in salted water

While that cooks, soften the onion and aubergine in the olive oil. This is when I’d chuck in some mushrooms if you feel like bulking it out a bit.

Meanwhile, gently toast the pine nuts (keep an eye on them and keep moving them around to keep from burning the damn expensive things, remove from the heat when almost-tanned)

After 8 minutes in, add garlic to the aubergine/onion and fry for 2 minutes more

Then add the artichoke hearts, capers and sundried tomatoes, and heat gently

When the pasta is al dente, drain, and add the aubergine mix to the still-warm pan. Combine.

Season, and serve sprinkled with torn basil and toasted pine nuts. Drizzle with a little oil, flavoured ideally. et voila!

Prep Time: 5 | Cook Time: 25-35 mins | Serves: 4
Nutritional info: 429 kcal, 9g carbs, 36g fat, 18g protein

Ingredients pic:

Using half the oil, soften the garlic, then add the tomato, basil, seasoning, and a pinch of sugar, simmer.

Meanwhile… season and brush the aubergine slices on both sides with the rest of the oil. I salt and pepper first, then brush with oil. You don’t need much oil, and that mean the season rubs in and sticks. Grill for 2-3 mins on a high heat on both sides

And now, layer up! Preheat the oven to 200’c, and layer 3 times with aubergine, tomato, parmesan and goats’ cheese, finishing with cheese, and sprinkling with a touch of oregano if you like. Bake for 2o-35 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbly.

Serve with a good lot of peppery salad. Rocket is recommended, and a strong good tomato. One of the expensive kind. Enjoy!

The only thing to mention before we start: soak the barley, that’s the key. Seriously, this makes all the difference. Chuck some water over it as you slosh milk over your cereal and leave it until dinner. I’ve always shied away from prep before you actually cook but this isn’t prep, it’s watering some grain. It makes the stuff edible. Please do it. You don’t need to make the same mistakes I did.

Prep time: 10 mins (1 of  which happens a few hours in advance) | Cook time: 35 mins | Serves: 2
Nutritional info: 297kcal 45g carbs 18g fat 12g protein

Ingredients pic:

First off, at least an hour before, and ideally in the morning, chuck some cold water over the pearled spelt. It will eventually look like this:

Then before everything else, pour boiling water over the porcini mushrooms and allow to rehydrate

meanwhile, prep all the veg. Then heat the oil over a medium heat, and add the onion and garlic and soften for 5 minutes or so.

Then add the mushrooms, and cook stirring often for 2-5 minutes more.

Then, drain the barley, and add to the mushrooms, stir for half a minute or so, then add the wine, stirring as it reduces

quickly pick out the porcini from the soaking liquid, and add 50ml or so to the mushrooms/spelt. Add more of this to taste along with the stock (next bit) if you like.

Then chop the porcini and add to the mix

Then, like you would with a regular risotto, add the hot stock in batches until it’s all been absorbed

Season, if needed. Then add the creme fraiche and a splash of soya cream (or just about 80ml pp soya cream if you’re vegan), then 2/3 of your chopped chives, stir through, serve.

garnish with the rest of the chives, and maybe a bit of veggie parmesan if you want. (Not included in nutritional info)

Look how simple:

Put water on to boil for the pasta, and melt the butter in a pan:

For this particular version, I added some dried chilli flakes to the butter at this stage.

Add the cream to the butter, then bring to the boil, and turn down to simmer for 4 minutes.

Put the pasta to cook as per the instructions on the packet.

Add the grated parmesan to the butter and cream, plus a good few twists of black pepper:

Stir the parmesan in, and it will disappear, as if by magic (or by melting, one of the two).

Drain the pasta, then chuck it into the cream sauce and stir in until covered.

For this version I then stirred in the rocket:

Serve with extra grated parmesan and a side salad. ‘Cos, you know, this meal needs some more vegetables, really.

A wine recommendation for this? A smooth, medium-bodied Portuguese red, like an Alentejo.