Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook Time: 25-30 mins
Nutritional Info: 338kcal 26g carbs 22g fat 9g protein

Ingredients pic:

First off heat the butter and oil until the butter is melted. Then add in the chopped courgettes, onions, thyme, and a good amount of seasoning. Sautee for about 20 minutes

MEANWHILE. Rinse the Quinoa really well in cold water (anti gravity water pictured no required) then bring to the boil in a pan of water, and simmer. Cook both quinoa and veg for about 20 minutes.

About 5 minutes until both are done, add the garlic to the courgettes, and toast your pine nuts (in a dry pan over hot heat stirring quickly for about 1-2 mins)

When the quinoa is ready (tender but still firm… if you know what I mean. Al dente.) drain, then add to the courgette and onions with the parsley, a squeeze of lemon and season more if required.

Serve topped with the pine nuts. Very tasty, just the right amount for a hot lunch.

And pretty.

Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins | Makes: Serves 4
Nutritional Info: 200 kcals, protein 12g, carbohydrate 21g, fat 8 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 8g, sugar 7g, salt 1,05 g

Ingredients:

Heat the tbsp of olive oil in a large pan, then add and fry the garlic for a minute.

Add the quartered and sliced courgettes, cook for about 5 mins until just softening

Add the stock, peas and drained cannellini beans, and simmer for 5 mins until the peas are cooked

Add the pesto (to taste, make sure you don’t make it too salty) and then season if needed

Serve with some lovely crusty bread, and be aware that these are LARGE portions, this is my bowl about a third of the way through:

Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Servings: 4
Nutritional Info: 215 kcalories, protein 11g, carbohydrate 30g, fat 6 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 5g, sugar 12g, salt 1.06 g

Ingredients:

first things, chop all the veg. Pop 1tbsp of oil in a large pan and over a medium heat gentle cook the carrots, onions and celery until soft, about 15 minutes

Next, add the sugar, garlic, tomato purée, herbs (saving a bit of the basil to garnish with) and courgettes and cook for 4-5 mins on a slightly higher heat, so the courgettes might brown a little bit

Then pour over the tomatoes, stock, and beans, simmer for 15 minutes until all the veg is lovely and soft

It was at this point I seasoned it, tasted it, and decided it needed a bit more kick, I added two pinches of chilli flakes, which was good for me, this is up to you, add or don’t add to taste.

Add half the parmesan, the pasta, and simmer for 5-8 minutes more, until the pasta is cooked.

Serve sprinkled with 1/4 the remaining parmesan per person, and a bit of the chopped basil.

 

Grate the parmesan into a bowl, and then zest and juice the lemon, and add to the parmesan. Add two tbsp of the olive oil, plus some pepper:

Chop or tear a handful of the basil leaves, add to the bowl and mix it all up into a paste:

Slice the courgette into discs, no fatter than 5mm.

Warm two big glugs of olive oil in a frying pan, over a medium heat, then add the courgette:

Put the linguine on to boil in a large pan of water, with a pinch of salt or dash of oil, or whatever your own pasta technique is…

Check the courgette slices. When they start to brown, flip them over. Once they are done on both sides, take them out of the pan, and place on kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil.

Drain the pasta and return to the pan and then combine with the parmesan “sauce” and the courgette slices.

Separate the pasta into two bowls, and then add a handful of fresh rocket to each bowl to serve. (Alternatively, if you like your rocket a bit more wilted, you can add it to the pan and stir into the pasta before serving.)

Serve with some freshly baked ciabatta, if you need more carbs, and a decent red wine – such as a Portuguese Alentejo.

Prep Time: 10 | Cook Time: 10 | Servings: 1

Nutritional Info: calories: 332, fat: 12.3g, carbs: 50g, protein: 10.6g

Ingredients picture:

prep the veg, start the couscous, NOW! (keeping back a couple of tbsp of stock for later on)

heat the oil over a medium-high heat, and add the courgette and garlic, stir for 2-3 minutes

add the mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, basil and stock

stir fry for 2-3 more minutes, until the courgettes are ‘crisp-tender’

combine with the (fluffed) couscous and pine nuts, stir, season, drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil, and serve!

Mm.

Based on a modified version of a recipe from the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen.

It kind of feels thrown together rather than a recipe, but talking about it to my friends Zoe & Lou at Christmas made me think this was worth posting. Think of it as a guide rather than a recipe. It’s vegan until the grated cheese and sour cream are added later.

So, you will need: A lot of veg. It’s different every time I do it, but this is a (pepper-heavy) example.

Chop everything. Rinse the kidney beans in a sieve. Put three or four tbsp of olive oil in a large non-stick pan, over a low heat.

Throw in the carrot, then the onion, then the garlic. (If using fresh chilli, chop and add now.) Sometimes I put in mustard seeds here, too.

Stir round and fry for a few minutes until the onion is softening. Then add peppers, then courgette. (If not using peppers, I’ll put in more kidney beans, plus borlotti beans).

Turn up the heat, fry and stir for five minutes or so. Add the kidney beans.

Stir/fry for another 5 minutes. Add the oregano (I use a lot, as I like oregano – probably two heaped tsps), a handful of the basil leaves, torn, two bay leaves and the tinned tomatoes.

Add 4 or 5 big dashes of Henderson’s Relish (or a tsp of Marmite, or a stock cube), and the dried chilli or chilli powder. How much chilli/powder – depends on how spicy you want it and how strong your chilli/powder is. On this occasion, I used this much dried, crushed chillis:

But it was a bit old, so this wasn’t enough, and I added more later.

Cover, turn the heat right down, and simmer for at least 20 minutes.

After 20 – 30 minutes, uncover and cook for another 20 – 30 minutes (stirring occasionally) to let the chilli reduce. Basically, the longer you can cook it for, the better. I  prefer to simmer for an hour covered, then uncovered for at least 30 minutes. Allowed to cool then reheated the next day – it’s even better.

To go with it…

This is Madhur Jaffrey’s rice rinsing technique, and Nigel Slater’s cooking method. Weigh out the rice, then transfer to a measuring jug  – check what it is in ml. Then put the rice in a bowl (or pan). Run it under cold/luke warm water, and rub between your fingers until the water is cloudy. Drain the water and repeat the washing until the water is pretty clear. This should be 4 or 5 rinses.

Put the rice in a pan, along with double its volume in cold water. Bring the water to the boil, then turn the heat right down, cover the pan, and simmer for 12 minutes.

After 12 minutes, fluff the rice with a fork. If there is still water in the pan, cook for a minute or two longer, uncovered.

Warm the fajita wraps in a dry pan, or in the microwave, according to the instructions. Grate the cheddar, dish up the sour cream and guacamole.

Cunningly combine like so:

Or serve with chunks of bread, or fried potatoes, or salad. Or put in wraps, cover in cheese and bake in the oven to make it into an enchilada. Or have with chips the next day. (Yes, do that. Really.) It freezes well – I usually make far too much, then divide the leftovers into individual portions, put some in the fridge for a couple of days later, freeze the rest for the following week.

Serve with cold lager and/or a medium/full bodied red wine, preferably a Portuguese Alentejo.

Prep Time: 10 | Cook Time: 40 | Servings: 2
Nutritional Info: 232 kcal, 9g fat (1g sat), 29 carbs, 0.6g salt (without bread included)
What’s in it:

Makings:heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and cook for 5 mins until soft

Add the aubergine, mushrooms and courgette, stir to coat evenly and cook for 2 mins.

Add the chickpeas and stock, season well and bring to the boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 mins. Just before serving stir through the parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Rocket & courgette soup 

Prep Time: 15 mins  Cook Time: 25 mins  Servings: 4 (bollocks is it, I reckon at least 6, going on the Covent Garden soup portion size of 300g per person)

Nutritional Info: 101 kcal without the goats cheese baguette. With the baguette bits 233 kcal, protein 12g, carbohydrate 28g, fat 9 g, saturated fat 4g, fibre 4g, sugar 7g, salt 1.36 g

Ingredients:

Add the potato and cook for 5 mins

Then add the courgettes, rocket, stock, simmer for 5 minutes until the courgette is soft.  (I had to split it into two saucepans for this bit, it makes LOTS)

Return to the pan and keep warm, chuck in a couple handfuls of aforementioned peas.

Nom nom.