This week, we have a lot of protein-rich staples from beef bourguignon to chicken with green quinoa. Our vegan meal is hearty and quick for an easy Monday night win, but the best comes on Thursday with spinach and ricotta stuffed shells, because filled pasta is even better than standard pasta...
Shopping list:
2 cod loins
400g diced beef shin or stewing steak
Approx 150g pancetta or streaky bacon rashers
2 chicken breasts or thigh fillets
250g ricotta (light ricotta is fine too)
1 large onion
6-8 baby onions or shallots
2 carrots
2 large courgettes
1 large bag spinach
Thumb sized piece of ginger
1 small bunch thyme
1 small punnet cherry tomatoes
1 punnet samphire
6 large potatoes
Fresh coriander
Garlic
1 small punnet button mushrooms
500g passata
Quinoa
Half a bottle red wine
1 tin coconut milk
1 tin green lentils (or half a mug of dried)
Conchiglioni (giant pasta shells – I found them in Waitrose)
Butter
Green cardamom
Ground cumin
Ground fenugreek
Chilli powder
Ground coriander
Nutmeg
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Monday – Coconut & green lentil curry, 25 mins
Vegan, hearty and veg-packed for an easy Monday night win.
Finely chop an onion and three cloves of garlic and saute gently in non-stick saucepan using a tablespoon of coconut oil until soft. Add in a teaspoon each of ground coriander, ground cumin and chilli powder, then half a teaspoon of ground fenugreek. Grate the ginger (no need to peel it) and one of the carrots and courgettes and add them to the pan, then a minute or two later add the lentils, drained. Add half of the tin of coconut and simmer for ten minutes with four or five bashed cardamom pods until the liquid is almost absorbed. Pick out the cardamom and serve with rice of your choice and lots of chopped coriander.
NOTE: If you’re using dried lentils, measure half a standard sized mugful and boil them with a mug and a half of stock until soft then proceed with the recipe. This freezes brilliantly.
Tuesday – Cod with samphire, tomato butter and potatoes, 35 mins
This looks and tastes like a lot of hard work, but it’s essentially a spruced up traybake
Preheat the oven to 200C. Dice two of the potatoes and place in a large oven proof dish with all of the samphire, the tomatoes and 50g of butter. Wrap the cod loins in about 5 rashers of pancetta each, then place on top of it all. Place a few sprigs of thyme on top then bake for 20-30 minutes when the potatoes are soft and the pancetta is starting to crisp up. Season to taste (remember the samphire and pancetta will give quite a lot of saltiness, so do taste it) then serve immediately.
NOTE: Any meaty white fish will do the job here, so if you can’t get cod try pollack or halibut. Can’t get samphire? Large Tesco and Waitrose stores stock it, or you could try a fishmonger. Otherwise, try asparagus, very fine beans or most green veg plus a handful of capers for that distinctive salty flavour. Vegetarians should of course leave the pancetta off.
Wednesday – Chicken with green quinoa, 25 mins
A protein-rich staple in our house and just as good cold for lunch the next day
Put half a mug of quinoa and a third of the thyme leaves in a pan and toast without oil or stock for a minute, then pour in the rest of the coconut milk and a splash of water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
Meanwhile, season a non-stick frying pan with plenty of salt and pepper then pan fry the chicken pieces on a low-medium heat in a tablespoon of coconut oil, starting skin side down if you’re not using skinless chicken. This should take around 7-10 minutes depending on the size of your chicken. Rest on a plate covered with foil once they’re done, then heat the pan up to medium-high and fry chunky slices of the last courgette until golden brown.
Finish the quinoa by adding half the bag of spinach to the pan and stirring in half a bunch of finely chopped coriander and the juice of a lemon. Season liberally.
NOTE: You can add nuts, seeds, chopped chilli and almost any veg you like to the quinoa.
Thursday – Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells, 35 mins
Because filled pasta is even better than standard pasta.
Gently wilt the rest of the spinach in a saucepan then add in the tub of ricotta and combine. Take it off the heat and grate in a few swipes of nutmeg then season with plenty of black pepper. Pour the passata into an oven proof dish and add a swirl of good olive oil, a third of the thyme leaves stripped from the stalks and a few grinds of salt and pepper. Stuff 16-20 shells with the spinach and ricotta mix then put them in the tomato sauce – it’s fine if they become submerged. Bake in the oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes when the pasta is just cooked and the sauce is bubbling.
Friday – Beef Bourguignon, 8 hours (slow cooker)
The classic French beef dish that is joyous to come home to on a cold day
Peel then top and tail the onions. Cut the pancetta into chunks. Heat a large non-stick frying pan and brown the beef and the pancetta over a high heat for about five minutes – you don’t need to add oil. Put the onions, whole, into the slow cooker along with a chopped carrot and all the mushrooms, also whole. Add in the browned beef and pancetta, then pour in half a bottle of red wine and the rest of the thyme – there is no need to pick the leaves off. Set to cook on medium for eight hours and simply pick out the discarded thyme stalks once it’s perfectly soft and sticky. Serve with mash using the remaining potatoes.