Stir-fry Prawns with vegetables and noodles

A really easy and colourful dish!  Serves 3. 

Ingredients

• 250g jumbo king prawns
• Small brown onion, chopped
• 2-3 florets of broccoli, split into small pieces
• 8 button mushrooms, quartered
• Yellow pepper, sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• Tablespoon of mirrin.
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• Tablespoon of sunflower oil.
• Noodles

Note: The timing for this recipe is the crucial element. You need to ensure that the prawns go in to the pan to coincide with the noodles cook time. Pre-cooked prawns only need 3 mins cooking time, so if you have 3 minute fine noodles, it is easy to set them going at the same time. Raw prawns will need 4-5 minutes, so put them in just before you start the noodles. 

Method

• Chop all the vegetables, and put in a small frying pan with the oil. Stir fry for around 4-5 minutes until the onions start to soften, but the broccoli and carrots still have some bite. 
• Put the noodles into a pan of boiling water and cook according to instructions. 
• At the same time, add the prawns to the frying pan vegetables with the mirrin and soy sauces. Put on the pan lid and lift it off to move the prawns around once or twice. 
• If the prawns are raw (grey coloured) then cook gently until they just turn pink, but no longer. (Usually 4-5 minutes).
• If they are pre-cooked (pink), then cook the prawns gently for 2-3 minutes to heat them through. 
• Season with salt and black pepper, serve with the noodles, pouring the resulting light broth from the bottom of the pan over the top.

North African Friday night chicken

So-called because it takes a bit longer than my usual mid-week 30 minute meals, so I tend to cook it on Friday night when there’s a bit more time to spend in the kitchen. Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

600g chicken breasts, cut into 3 or 4 pieces
Small onion, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 or 2 carrots, cut into chunky slices
2 courgettes, cut into 2cm wide slices
Tablespoon sunflower oil

Herbs and spices:
teaspoon ground turmeric
teaspoon ground cumin
teaspoon ground cinnamon
Coriander leaf, dried
Parsley, dried
Pinch of saffron threads

Couscous:
Packet of lemon-flavoured couscous 110g
55g plain couscous
Dried chilli flakes.

Method

• Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown the chicken pieces.
• Add the chopped onion and cook until it begins to soften.
• Add the turmeric and cumin.
• Pour in 350ml water, add saffron strands, ground cinnamon, a good shake of coriander leaf and parsley and the chopped tomatoes.
• Bring to the boil, add the carrots and courgettes and simmer for 25 minutes.

While it simmers, prepare the couscous:

• Boil the kettle.
• Tip the couscous from both the packet and the extra plain portion into 300ml of boiling water in a small pan. Add a shake of dried chilli flakes. Bring to the boil and immediately remove from the heat.
• Cover and leave for at least 5 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

Serve:

Serve the chicken and vegetables on top of the couscous. There will be a chicken broth which can be either served on the side or a cupful of it can be poured over the chicken and couscous.

Note about the image:

This is a variation which I cooked recently, still in the pan! I had run out of carrots and substituted them with a  small yellow pepper sliced up instead.

Catalonian Patatas Bravas - potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce

I’ve just come back from a holiday in sunny Spain, so you might notice a few recipes from there making their way onto this site. Patatas Bravas can always be found in Spanish tapas bars - we definitely found time to eat this dish almost every lunch time!

The portion size for this recipe is for a single tapas dish - usually served either as a starter or with other small tapas dishes.

Ingredients

300g potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
100g tomatoes
Olive oil
Small onion
1 garlic clove
Pinch cayenne pepper
Teaspoon paprika
Crushed chillies
Pinch of sugar

First, prepare the potatoes

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 C.
• Drop the potatoes into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
• Heat olive oil in small frying pan and sauté the potatoes until they start to brown on the edges.
• Tip the potatoes and any remaining oil into a shallow dish and put in the oven for 20 minutes

Next, prepare the sauce

• Skin the tomatoes. Do this by cutting a cross into the skin on the top of each tomato, then dropping them into a bowl of boiling water and leaving them there for five minutes. Lift the tomatoes out of the water - the skins should peel off easily.
• Chop the onion and tomatoes into small pieces.
• Fry the onion in the small frying pan for a couple of minutes with the garlic and a large pinch of crushed chillies.
• Add a good shake of paprika and a large pinch of cayenne pepper, along with the chopped tomatoes, a pinch of sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water.
• Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.
• If you prefer your sauce to be smooth, blend the resulting sauce for a few seconds.

Put together and serve!  

• Serve the potatoes in a warm bowl, with the sauce poured over the top. Tapas bars in some parts of Spain also serve some aioli, or garlic mayonnaise, either on the side or on some of the potatoes.

NB: the image with this recipe is a stock image - as soon as our patatas bravas last long enough on the table to be photographed, I’ll add one of my own.

Valencia-style pork chops with peppers and beans

This recipe comes from the east coast of Spain, and it is a great way of spicing up some ordinary pork slices. Serve with a glass of red wine and a salad or rice. Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

450g thin cut boneless pork chops
Medium onion, chopped
Red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
Handful of small chestnut mushrooms, quartered
60g frozen soya beans
Tbsp paprika
Salt
Coarse ground black pepper
Tbsp sunflower oil

Method

• Cut the pork chops into big pieces, I tend to cut each of them into four.
• Sprinkle the pork pieces with liberal amounts of paprika and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion, pepper, mushrooms and add in the frozen soya beans when the onions are part-way cooked.
• Remove the vegetables from the pan, and replace with the pork (don't add any more oil), turn up the heat under the pan and cook the pork until the edges are browned.
• Return the vegetables to the pan and, moving the contents regularly, fry until the meat is browned and cooked through.
• Season with salt and pepper, then serve.

Spaghetti, pork meatballs in a tomato and pepper sauce

Another mid-week favourite in my household, this takes around 30 minutes to cook. I use shop-bought pork meatballs to save time and effort - Ocado and Tesco both do good versions for this recipe.

Ingredients

420g pork meatballs
3 x large tomatoes, chopped
Small sweet red pepper, chopped
Squirt of tomato ketchup or concentrated tomato puree
Medium sized onion, chopped
Heaped teaspoon of dried rosemary
Half a cup plain flour

Dry spaghetti - approx 70g per person.

Method

• Roll the meatballs in flour and fry them in a tablespoon of sunflower oil, to seal their surface and partially cook them through.
• Remove from the frying pan and tip in the chopped onion and tomatoes. Cook for five minutes, adding up to half a cup of water to 'let down' the sauce if it looks as if it is too thick.
• Add the red pepper and the meatballs back into the pan with the sauce, season with salt, pepper and dried rosemary and cook on a low heat for 15 minutes.
• While the pan contents are simmering, cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions.
• Drain the pasta, divide among three bowls, serve the meatballs and sauce on top.