Minestrone - A nutritionally stellar soup

Soups are an actual necessity of warmth and comfort when the weather is cold.
Sadly, not many soups tick all of the nutrition boxes, which may mean one may start feeling hungry a short while after eating them.
Luckily, minestrone is pretty stellar.
It brings together an array of whole food ingredients, as well as the right combination of veggies and protein-containing beans to create a nourishing and warming bowl of food that’s perfect in winter. Or any season for that matter.

It ticks the box for:
- veggies - 3 portions
- antioxidants - thanks to the herbs, veggies and optional drizzle of olive oil
- protein - hello beans
- it is packed with gut-supporting fibre
- flavour
- comfort

Before you go on to the recipe, there is a small disclaimer: if you are of Italian heritage, please look away now.
This version of minestrone is far thicker than regulations permit and uses many shortcuts to make cooking this delicious soup much easier.
If you aren’t fond of thick soups, then feel free to add more water.
I quite enjoy the consistency being somewhere between a soup and a stew.

To the recipe:

Ingredients for 4 portions

1 medium onion
1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 bay leaf
1 little sprig each of rosemary and thyme
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2-3 sticks of celery, blend it into a paste if you don’t like celery, otherwise roughly slice it
120g pasta of your choice, I used small flower shapes
2 tins of any beans, I used butterbeans and white kidney beans
1 tin of plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1/2 small savoy cabbage, roughly sliced
Around 4 tins of water. I made a thick version of minestrone that was more like a stew so if you prefer a soupier soup, then add more water. Just remember: more water = more salt & pepper required.
Sea salt & black pepper to season
Olive oil for cooking & drizzling

Optional toppings (recommended)
Freshly chopped parsley
Parmesan cheese
Lemon zest from an organic lemon

Bread of your choice

Method

For a video explainer go here: Minestrone Reel
1. Grab a large pan.
2. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, the onion, garlic and herbs.
Turn the heat on to medium and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the carrot, celery and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Stir it every now and then to stop things from catching on the bottom of your pan.
4. Add the tinned tomato and a tin of water.
If you are using plum tomatoes, then break these up roughly by stabbing them with a wooden spoon as you are stirring the soup. It’s nicer to have a few chunks of tomato, so don’t go too wild with the prodding.
5. Add the 2 tins of beans and another 2 tins of water.
Stir well.
6. Add the pasta.
Stir well again.
7. Season the soup really well. Remember this is at least 4 portions and it contains a lot of water so it will need a decent quantity of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
8. Add the sliced cabbage and another tin of water.
9. Put a lid on the pan and allow everything to cook for 10 minutes.
10. Taste the soup to check the seasoning. Unless you went wild with the salt and pepper earlier then chances are it’s going to need a bit more seasoning. Season it, stir it and taste it again.
11. Serve with grated parmesan, lemon zest, parsley and chunky bread.

The soup stores well in the fridge for 3 days.
I haven’t tried freezing it.

Herby potato salad (maybe the only potato salad you'll ever need)

This potato salad is stellar on both the nutritional and flavour fronts.
It’s the perfect balance of herby-ness, umami, creamy mayo and nutty spuds with a salty kick from the capers.
Use it as a side for pretty much anything. 

Nutrition note: Watercress is one of the most nutrient-dense veggies, except we don’t really eat much of it.
This recipe incorporates quite a large amount thanks to the reduction in volume achieved via chopping it finely.
A bag of watercress turns into a few tablespoons when shredded.
It’s utterly packed to the brim with feel-good vitamins & minerals. 
Similarly, herbs get you a lot of nutrition points too.
Here is a small overview of the nutrient content:

Watercress - Vitamin C, Vitamin A, calcium, magnesium, folate, Vitamin B6, iron, antioxidants
Parsley - iron, Vitamin C, calcium, potassium, Vitamin A, biotin, folate, antioxidants

A couple of extra nutrition notes:
- A large proportion of Vitamin C is lost from food with cooking so this recipe capitalises on Vitamin C containing watercress and parsley by keeping them both raw.
- Cold potatoes (cooked & cooled), like the ones used in this potato salad are a superfuel for gut microbes. In a nutshell, when fully cooled, the carbohydrates in potatoes turn into resistant starches. We can’t digest these too well but our gut microbes thrive on it. Hence cold potatoes are fab for gut health.

Ingredients

300g cooked baby/ salad potatoes, I used the anya variety, left to cool completely.
30g watercress
10g parsley
5g other herbs (I used chive & oregano but anything goes)
2-3 tbsp of good quality mayo, I used Stokes mayo
10 giant capers - don’t skip this, it adds all the umami
A generous amount of sea salt and black pepper - don’t be stingey, it needs seasoning well

Method:
Put the watercress and herbs onto a chopping board.
Finely shred them until they reduce in volume by half. Here is a short video of how I did this.
Slice your potatoes in half. I sliced them length-ways because the herby goodness sticks to them more efficiently this way.
Roughly slice the capers.
In a large bowl, combine the spuds, herbs, mayo and capers.
Season this really well with sea salt and black pepper.
Stir it really well to combine it. You want to coat the spuds well.
That’s it.
Finished.
Enjoy.

Transylvanian pea and spinach stew

Certain dishes evoke a great deal of nostalgia.
It’s a little trip back to your childhood, a holiday, your nan’s kitchen etc etc.
This recipe is a fully nostalgic one for me, taking me straight to my childhood home of Transylvania.
At the time of growing up, imported food was still exceptionally rare. (Post-communism had its merits, albeit none that I truly appreciated at the time.)
The lack of imported food meant we had to entirely rely on seasonal produce, preserve foods when there was a glut and make the best of every morsel of every foodstuff.
It’s a hipster dream now but back then it was, an often difficult, reality.

I always looked forward to spring.
Preserves (think A LOT of sauerkraut & similar items) were replaced by fresh, vibrant greens. Blossoms and berries added colour to the otherwise bleak landscape.
Pea season would soon be looming.
I loved fresh peas as a child.
I still do.
This recipe brings together the best of those greens that appear during spring and combines them with tasty peas.
The recipe works with any greens but spinach is perhaps the mildest. If you want to go wild with it, young nettles are a great alternative.
Give it a go.
I’m biased but it’s super tasty. (and very very frugal)

Ingredients to serve 2:

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of flour or gluten-free alternative
1 entire bag of spinach (200g approx)
1 mug of frozen peas
1 mug of milk or plant milk (it’s better with milk but you do you)
1 stock cube
A small bunch of parsley (10-15g approx)
Sea salt & black pepper to season
A drizzle of whatever oil for cooking

Toppings (entirely optional but totally recommended)
Creme fraiche - find it near double cream in supermarkets, it’s a cultured version of cream and is the traditional way to serve this dish. Almost everything has creme fraiche on it in Transylvania.
A boiled egg - for extra protein
A few extra herbs to sprinkle on top
Nuts or seeds for added crunch - I popped a few macadamias on top because I had some left over
Sliced avocado - entirely untraditional but it brings a different texture profile to the dish

Method:
Pop a saucepan on a medium heat.
Add the onion, garlic and a splash of oil.
Cook gently until the onion has softened.
Add the flour and cook for a further minute.
Time to add the spinach. You’ll likely need to do this bit by bit as the spinach wilts. Keep cramming it in there and cooking it down.
Once the spinach has wilted, pour in the milk and cook for a further minute.
Grab the parsley and pop it in a blender.
Pour the spinachey liquid over the parsley, season well with sea salt and black pepper and blend it until it’s mostly smooth (it doesn’t have to be perfect).
Return the green sauce to your saucepan.
Add the frozen peas and gently heat up it the peas are no longer frozen. Avoid boiling it too heavily because that’ll turn the vibrant green colours brown. It’s better to gently heat it and allow it to slowly bubble.
Check the seasoning and season again if it needs a bit more salt and pepper.
Top with any/ all of your chosen toppings.
Serve immediately.
The full video instructions are available here: Recipe video

Venison & red wine ragu

There are so many reasons to cook more wild venison.

First, it’s hugely nutritious, boasting higher protein levels than other red meat sources and more of the hard-to-find minerals zinc and selenium.
It is also very lean, meaning we don’t need to worry about saturated fats. (FYI - I don’t worry about saturated fats.)

Second, it is actually sustainable.
Yes, sustainable red meat exists. Venison is perhaps on top of that list.
The thing with deer in the UK is they don’t have a natural predator. Thanks to this, coupled with an abundant supply of food and the introduction of non-native deer species, we have somehow ended up with a few too many of them on our shores.
Sadly, they love to munch on trees which is damaging woodlands and all the lovely woodland-dwelling species that live in those environments.
In a nutshell, too many deer means fewer trees, which is bad news, so we cull deer each year.
Cue a supply of sustainable, highly nutritious protein.

Last but not least, venison is delicious.
I may be biased but this recipe is super tasty.
Think a rich ragu with chunks of meat that cooks in 30 minutes flat.
In fact, you don’t need to cook venison all that long full stop, thanks to its low fat content.

Top tip: check the recipe notes after the methods section if you aren’t familiar with “chefy” terms.

Ingredients to feed 2

300g of diced wild venison (it’s in many supermarkets now)
1 onion, finely diced
1 stick of celery, finely diced
5-6 chestnut mushrooms, roughly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or finely diced
1 large carrot, blended into a puree (blending the carrot makes a sweeter, thicker sauce)
1 bay leaf
300ml passata
1 glass of good quality red wine. I used an organic Italian Primitivo.
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning
Any good quality oil for cooking, I used cold-pressed rapeseed oil

Pasta & greens to serve.
I used pappardelle pasta and kale.

Method

1. Add a couple of tablespoon of oil to a large saucepan on a medium-low heat.
2. Pop in your onions & celery immediately and allow them to saute until they are soft. Approximately 10 minutes.
3. Turn the heat up to high.
4. Add the venison and cook for a couple of minutes until it is beginning to colour. You’ll need to give the pan a good stir to stop anything from catching.
5. Pour in the wine and let it cook until almost all of it is gone. It’ll bubble away quickly.
6. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic.
7. Turn the heat down to low, add the carrot puree, bay leaf and passata and season it well with sea salt and black pepper.
8. Let everything bubble away slowly on a low heat for 20 to 30 minutes until the sauce has reduced and the meat is tender. If the sauce is looking too dry then add a splash of water.
9. Taste the sauce and add more salt & pepper if needed.
10. Serve with pasta and a side of greens.

Recipe Notes

Finely diced onion & celery = the smallest squares you can humanly chop onions & celery into.

Passata is a “sieved” version of chopped tomatoes. Think smoother chopped tomatoes. Available from most supermarkets and usually lives next to chopped tomatoes.

If you need to feed more than 2 people, simply multiply the quantity of ingredients.

Pureeing a raw carrot adds natural sweetness to your ragu. If you can’t be bothered to wash a blender (or don’t have one) then dice the carrot and add it to your pan at the same time as the onions/ celery.

Waldorf(ish) trout, potato and walnut salad

Back in May, I was lucky enough to spend a day trout fishing.
Let’s just say trout fishing isn’t my forte (yet) but it was a beautiful day and in an ode to making the most of it, I took myself on a foraging walk around the lakes.
This Waldorf (ish) salad is a combination of ingredients that could be found in the vicinity of the fishing lake. (Plus some potatoes because carbs are a requirement.)
It’s a beautiful play on flavoursome ingredients that is reminiscent of Waldorf salad, except this version is clearly much better.

On a nutritional note, the salad is fantastic for Omega 3s since both trout and walnuts are great sources of this essential fat. Plus there are tonnes of vitamins, minerals and fibre to boot.
The science links Omega 3s to everything from skin health, cognition to cardiovascular health and much more.
Moral: we aren’t really getting enough Omega 3s and this recipe is a tasty way to capitalise on this much-needed nutrient.

Serves 2 as a lunch or 4 as a starter

Ingredients
2 trout fillets, steamed, poached or roasted
1 crispy lettuce such as little gem or cos, washed and separated into leaves
10 new potatoes/ small potatoes, boiled in salted water until soft then halved
1-2 sticks of celery depending on how much you like them, sliced
1 eating apple, cored and sliced
1 large handful of walnuts, 60g approximately
A large handful of a sharp fruit such as gooseberry, blackberry or 1 stick of rhubarb - halve the gooseberry or blackberry or if you opted for rhubarb then finely slice it
2 handfuls of watercress
Sea salt and black pepper to season

For the herby dressing
4 heaped tablespoons of Yeo Valley Greek Recipe yogurt, full fat (aka 5%)
1/2 teaspoon of wholegrain or dijon mustard
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon (optional)
Leaves from 2 sprigs of mint, finely chopped
Leaves from 5 sprigs each of tarragon and dill, roughly chopped
A pinch of sea salt

Method
Get your ingredients ready as per the cooking/ chopping requirements above.
To make the herby dressing, combine all of the ingredients aside from the lemon juice in a small bowl.
Season generously with sea salt.
Taste the dressing. If it needs more acidity then add the lemon juice, if you are happy with it then leave it as is.
To assemble the salad, pop all of your ingredients on a platter and flake the fish over it.
Season well with sea salt and black pepper.
Dot teaspoons of the herby dressing all of the salad.
Enjoy!