Really just an idea, but this was the nicest couscous I’ve made in ages… Be careful not to overdo the tahini though, it’s very calorific! Based my idea on this recipe. Serves 2
Couscous… I do about 50-75g per person
1 tbsp tahini
Lemon/ lime juice
Stock cube
Garlic powder
Mix of veg… I used onion, peas, sweetcorn, sugar snap peas, tomatoes
Fry the veg in spray oil
Make the couscous in stock, according to packet instructions
Mix in the tahini and other ingredients
I’ve heard a lot about this, as it’s good for dieters due to having very few calories. It definitely didn’t fool me into thinking it was couscous, but it did make quite a nice salad that we are having with a barbecue tomorrow, and that I would make again.
Put he basic idea is to chop cauliflower really small so it looks like couscous, apparently you can keep it raw for couscous, or fry it in a bit of oil for cauliflower rice. I figured the fried version would be loads more flavourful, although obviously a lot more calories, so I fried it in avocado oil, which was delicious. To make the salad I then added seasoning, Cajun spice mix and a tin of sweetcorn. It is pretty tasty, but not the same as a proper carb accompaniment. However, I would definitely include it as a barbecue salad again.
Nb. I chopped my cauliflower with the proper grater setting, and ended up with some big lumps. Better to use the normal chopper blade I reckon.
This sauce came from an olive magazine recipe for gourmet hot dogs (which in turn came from a cook book called gourmet hot dogs). Chris has made it for the hot dogs, using the milk bun recipe it goes with and frankfurter hot dogs, which was delicious, but I think we will probably use this part of the recipe more, it’s a delicious barbecue sauce, and if you need barbecue sauce it’s always best to make it yourself… Shop bought ones are really tangy, good for some stuff but not for pork buns!
Reckons to be the amount for 4 hot dogs
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp oil
3 tbsp tomato purée
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp mild mustard
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
2 tbsp wine vinegar
100ml white wine
100ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp molasses
Cook the onion and garlic in the oil over a low heat until softened
Add all the other Ingredients and cook for 45 mins
Purée with stick blender and store in fridge
I’ve had these on the to-do list for years, since they appeared in good food magazine. It’s basically just marinating chicken and then serving it in a burger bun, but it’s delicious. I marinated it all day, having prepared it in the morning, but you could also do it the night before. I just put it in a casserole dish and covered it with foil in the fridge. I served this with a kind of spinach and paneer dish, in which I actually replaced the paneer with feta which needed using up. Chips would have been nice but with the ciabatta bun would be a naughty carb overload for a weeknight! I made three with this amount.
1 chicken breast and 1 ciabatta bun per person
Marinade
1 tbsp tomato purée (I used ketchup)
100ml natural yoghurt
Thumb sized ginger, finely grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Lemon juice
Stir the marinade ingredients together in a casserole dish
Place the chicken in and mix a bit, so it’s fully coated. Then place in fridge to marinate
When you’re ready to cook it, you should ideally grill or barbecue it. However I was lazy and just ovened it
Serve in a ciabatta bun with lettuce, tomato, natural yoghurt and mango chutney, or a mix of these. The recipe suggests a chutney recipe to go with it, but I ignored this as it was too heavy on the onion for Chris.
In future I would scrape the marinade off Panther’s before cooking it, as the marinade itself was quite spicy and she said it burnt her tongue too much. But we loved it!
The Hoblog