The overwhelming feeling of the food we were making and eating last week was definitely fun. Some dishes were completely different from anything we’ve had before and others were small twists and none disappointed. I would honestly recommend every single recipe we tackled in the last week, but particular stand outs were the herby pork salad as a light meal, the cherry tomato pasta for an easy and delicious meat free option and the stromboli for those days when you might want a challenge or a dose of comfort food.

Chilli Turkey Stir-Fry

Thursday Lunch

Speedy chilli turkey stir-fry

A low calorie, high flavour, fast lunch option today, we really enjoy this stir fry with its mild chilli heat and crunchy tender stem broccoli. If you like things a bit spicier you could happily add a bit more chilli into the mix. I kept the slicing as written and seasoned my own with some chiu chow chilli oil as I like a bit more heat than my husband.

Would I recommend it? Yes, this was a recipe we’d made before and made its way into the family book, so hopefully you’ll want to come back to it again and again too!

Verdict? 4/5

Chicken Choyela

Thursday Dinner

https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/meat-and-poultry/nepalese-chicken-choyela/

I’ve never had anything quite like this before and I LOVE being able to say that about dinner. It certainly packed a punch and was absolutely amazing. It’s the type of food that, if you’d eaten it when you’d been on holiday, you’d talk about going back to that place so you could eat it again.
I toned down the spice (opted for 1tbsp of chilli flakes when it said 1-2 and only added one green chilli instead of the 2 stated) and it was still a bit much for my husband and fairly close to my limit. I describe my limit of ‘you can still enjoy the flavours with the spice’ as madras level spicy, in case that’s helpful to you when deciding how much spice to include.

Would I Recommend It? Absolutely- it was so different and really transporting. Also, it was really fun to make!

Verdict? 4/5

Spicy Spelt with Broccoli, Prawn & a Crispy Fried Egg

Friday Dinner

From October’s Waitrose Magazine. The recipe isn’t on their website but the magazine is free to download in their app.

This was a really fun dish to have for dinner. The zing of the dressed spelt cut beautifully through the richness of the egg, the sweetness of the prawns were shown off beautifully and the tender stem broccoli helped to freshen everything up.

Would I recommend it? Yes, especially if you want something a little bit different.

Verdict? 4/5

Roasted Cherry Tomato & Tarragon Spaghetti

Sunday Dinner

Roasted cherry tomato spaghetti with tarragon

A twist on the classic pasta with tomato sauce, this was that bit richer, that bit fresher and that bit creamier. In short, it was lush. Especially when paired with a bottle of Provence rose. The oven does most of the work and it is so quick, so easy and more than the sum of its parts.

Would I recommend it? Yes, especially if you’re tired but still want a home cooked meal or if you want to expand your meat free repertoire.

Verdict? 4.5

Herby Pork with Apple & Chicory Salad

Monday Lunch

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/herby-pork-apple-chicory-salad

This dish received the highest compliment from my husband- he described it as the perfect lunch dish. We often find chicory too bitter but combined with the flavours of the pork and sweetness of the apples it was delightful. It was light, the pork suited the flavours of the herbs perfectly and overall it was just a joy to eat. It was so quick and easy to make as well and has instantly gone into the family book so it can become part of our regular rotation.

Would I recommend it? Yes, and if you don’t eat pork I’d recommend experimenting with other proteins.

Verdict? 5/5, a rare full marks!

Stromboli

Monday Dinner

Recipe from November’s Good Housekeeping and not currently online. The issue is available to purchase on their app or to read on the Readly app.

This was made at the request of my husband- deli meats aren’t often my bag, particularly on pizza. I’m a vegetables on pizza kind of girl. I have to confess though, I couldn’t help but be intrigue as by what was essentially a cross between a pizza and a swiss roll and I have to confess myself won over. It was a challenge to make and time consuming but the recipe was well written and accurate so I didn’t meet any hurdles and, even though it took me slightly longer to make than stated, I don’t think I could actually fault it and the finished result looked and tasted amazing.

Would I recommend it? Yes, particularly if you’re looking for a challenge

Verdict? 4.5/5