Mediterranean fish stew (with veggie and kid friendlier options!)

This is a great meal for using up onions, tinned tomatoes and many different types of fish and it only takes 25 minutes from chopping to serving.  The addition of the olives and capers give an unmistakable Mediterranean taste and the more unusual flavour of the fennel seeds (optional) compliments the fish beautifully.  I had a feeling my kids were not ready for fennel seeds yet so took out their portions before adding them, and replaced the fennel seeds with familiar peas (which I had cooked separately).

To make the dish more adult you could add a splash of white wine with the tinned tomatoes and use fresh parsley instead of dried herbs.  And if you don’t eat fish you could use chopped halloumi cheese or a tin of (drained) chickpeas instead.  Eat the stew on it’s own as a light meal or alongside some rice, pasta, salad or jacket potato!

Mediterranean fish stew (serves 2 adults and 2 kids)

1 white/red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Shake dried mixed herbs

Tin chopped tomatoes (value are fine)

200g fish fillets, skin removed and roughly chopped e.g. trout/salmon/coley/cod/haddock

10 green/black olives, chopped

tbsp capers (optional)

1/2 tsp fennel seeds (optional)

1 veggie stock cube (I like OXO as it crumbles easily)

Salt and pepper

Fry the onions, garlic and dried herbs in oil for about 7 minutes until the onions have softened.  Add the chopped tomatoes, fish, olives, capers (if using), fennel seeds (if using) and crumble in the stock cube.  Simmer for about 10 minutes until the fish is flaky and cooked through.  Season with salt and pepper and serve!

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Kale crisps (4 mins prep/15 mins cooking)

People have been raving about kale as a source of low-calorie goodness for a while.    It is only about £1 for a big bag so pretty cheap too.  If you sprinkle some kale with a little olive oil, lemon zest, cumin seeds and salt and pop them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes they become tasty and crispy.  Great as a snack or as part of a meal for adults and (certain!) children.

My two year old loved them (watching him stuff fistfuls in to his little mouth was very satisfying!) while my four year old thought it was a big joke to call them ‘crisps’…

For an alternative kale recipe this kale and almond gratin from Nigel Slater is brilliant: https://katielovescooking.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/kale-and-almond-gratin-a-unique-and-sumptuous-dish/

Kale crisps (serves 2 as a snack or part of a meal)

120g kale (I left the stalks on as I don’t mind a bit of crunch)

Zest of 1/3 lemon

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Small drizzle olive oil

Pinch salt

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3/160 degrees.

Put the kale in a baking tray, add the other ingredients and mix up with your hands.  Bake in the oven for around 15-20 minutes, checking and giving the tray a good shake/stir every 4 minutes.   You want the kale to be a little singed around the edges to ensure they are crispy enough, but only around the edges.  Serve quickly while they keep their crispiness.

Mushroom roast – rich and sumptuous (20 mins prep/35 mins cooking)

This mushroom roast is the standout recipe of my childhood.  Rich and sumptuous thanks to the mushrooms and marmite, and with a little crunch from the onions, it is best eaten in an old fashioned way with veg and gravy, but is also great cut in to wedges as a cold snack the next day.  My poor mum had to be creative with her meals when I was a kid as I was the only vegetarian in our family, but this recipe was a winner with all of us, and the taste still makes me feel nostalgic!  It is from the lovely Vegetarian Cook Book by Doreen Keighley, which is simple and unpretentious in the way that cookbooks used by our parents seem to be (or am I being nostalgic again?).  It was written in 1985 when people looked frightened and cooked you a fried egg if you said you were a vegetarian, so at the time the book must have been quite revolutionary!

Use as little butter as possible (draining it once the mushrooms and onions are fried) and press the ingredients tightly in to the baking dish/loaf tin to help it bind.  Don’t worry if the mushroom roast breaks up a bit when it is cooked and you are taking it out of the tin.  Mine has never stayed all in one piece but it still tastes great!

Mushroom roast – serves 2 hungry people or 4 as part of a lighter meal

200g mushrooms, chopped small

Large knob of butter

1 onion, finely chopped

150g grated cheddar cheese

90g breadcrumbs (I just blend some slices of bread)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp marmite

Salt and pepper

Butter your baking dish/loaf tin.  Fry the mushrooms and onions in the butter for approx 10 mins. Drain the butter away.  To the mushrooms and onions add the grated cheese, breadcrumbs, marmite, beaten egg, salt and pepper, and mix.  Place the mixture in a greased baking dish/loaf tin, pressing it tightly together.   Bake at 190 degrees/gas mark 5 for approx 35 mins, until nicely brown. Leave to cool for 10 mins before getting it out.  Don’t worry if it falls apart a little!  Delicious served with veg and gravy or cut in to wedges and eaten cold the next day.

Chocolate and peanut butter cups (4 minutes of effort and no cook!)

These chocolate and peanut butter cups require about 4 minutes of effort, no cooking and taste divine, so are brilliant to share with friends (or keep to yourself!).  They are basically two rounds of smooth, sweet milk chocolate with crunchy, salty peanut butter in the middle.  The combination of sweet and salty and the texture of the cups as you bite in to them are a little bit special.  Just don’t even THINK about using smooth peanut butter!

I was inspired to try my hand at these after spending the last 2 months eating the wonderful chocolate and peanut butter bites at our lovely local cafe, Wynwood Art District, in Walthamstow, London.  Mine are definitely not as good as their’s and I am told that they use a particularly good peanut butter (I am afraid I don’t know which).  Wynwood also do lots of other delectable cakes (their lemon squares are gorgeous), great coffee and tasty, interesting savoury meals such as chickpea and tahini soup (unusual and beautiful), feta and spinach pie (my favourite) and bean and chorizo salad (the perfectly delicious hangover cure according to my boyfriend).  The fact that it is a family business where the sisters, mum and dad are all involved in cooking what they love and running the cafe warms me.  More details re Wynwood are at the bottom of this post!

But back to the chocolate and peanut butter cups.  Allow an hour to prepare them as the chocolate needs time to set in the fridge once melted – you can come and go throughout the day as they only involve 2 x 2 minutes of actual work.  You can use silicone or paper muffin cases or a silicone tray if you have them.  My boyfriend even made them in his work kitchen.  My version was a little chocolate heavy so I have changed the chocolate/peanut butter ratio slightly for the recipe.  Enjoy!

Chocolate and peanut butter cups (makes 6 cups using 6 muffin cases)

200g milk chocolate (any kind)

6 tsp crunchy peanut butter (I used Whole Earth but reckon any brand would work as long as it is crunchy!)

Melt half of the chocolate in a pan or in the microwave in 20 second bursts, to avoid burning.  Use a spoon to divide the chocolate in to each muffin cup, then put in the fridge for at least 20 mins to set.  Once set, take out and put around 1 tsp peanut butter per cup on top of the chocolate.  Then melt the remaining half of the chocolate and spoon on top of the peanut butter in each cup.  Pop in the fridge for a further 20 mins or until fully set, then carefully peel off the muffin cases and serve!  Keep at room temperature as long as it is not too warm.  Great with coffee!

Wynwood Art District in Walthamstow can be found at http://www.wynwoodartdistrict.co.uk, as ‘Wynwood Art District’ on Facebook and @wynwoodartd on twitter