WE WANT YOUR RECIPES!

Starting in Easy Food May, we are dedicating a feature to our readers. Each issue we will ask you to post recipes to our facebook page for a specific topic, for example, for the May issue we are looking for YOUR FAVOURITE STRAWBERRY RECIPES. The TOP 5 recipes we select each time will be cooked, photographed and printed in the following issue of the magazine.

This is your feature, we want your culinary talents and recipe ideas to inspire everyone and show the number of amazing homecooks in Ireland!

So find us on facebook – www.facebook.com/easyfoodmag – and if you haven’t liked us already, please do, and post your recipe.

Here is one of our current favourite strawberry recipes from March Easy Food – Enjoy!

Tangy Lime & Strawberry Meringues

Makes 12

For the lime curd:

80ml thickened cream

1 tbsp water

60g caster sugar

80ml fresh lime juice

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp lime zest, grated

15g butter

1 egg yolk

200g strawberries, stems removed and sliced

2 egg whites

115g caster sugar

1 Add the thickened cream, water, caster sugar, lime juice, cornflour and lime zest into a saucepan. Whisk everything together.

2 Place the saucepan over a low heat to cook, stirring constantly, for about 5-8 minutes or until the mixture thickens.

3 Stir in the butter, then remove from the heat and quickly stir in the egg yolk.

4 Pour the lime curd into 12 ramekins so that they are half full. Put in the fridge to chill while making the meringue mixture.

5 Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form.

6 Gradually add the caster sugar, beating until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is glossy.

7 Remove the ramekins from the fridge and top each with a few slices of strawberries.

Crunchie Chocolate Mousse

Serves 6

200g milk chocolate

2 x 35g Crunchie bars, roughly chopped

284ml double cream

250ml Mascarpone

1 Place 150g of the milk chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until melted. Remove from the heat.

2 Stir in the Crunchie pieces.

3 Then gently stir the cream into the Mascarpone.

4 Stir the chocolate mix into the cream and Mascarpone until just marbled.

5 Spoon into small glasses or cups and top with the rest of the chocolate, grated or shaved.

Oatcake Biscuits

Makes 12-15 approximately

200g butter

200g rolled oats

125g caster sugar

100g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

To serve:

Cream cheese

Smoked salmon

1 Preheat the oven to 180˚C/160˚C fan/gas mark 4. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

2 Add the butter to a saucepan and place over a medium-high heat to melt. Remove from the heat once melted.

3 Add the rolled oats, caster sugar, plain flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix together.

4 Pour the butter into the dry ingredients and stir together until you have a soft dough.

5 Tip the mixture onto a lightly-floured surface and roll it out to about 5mm thick. Cut into round shapes with a biscuit cutter and place onto the prepared baking tray. Depending on the size of your biscuit cutter, you should make approximately 12 biscuits.

6 Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve with some cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Pork and Almond Stir-Fry

Serves 4

400g pork fillet, thinly sliced

2 red onions, cut into wedges

1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated

½ tsp Chinese 5-spice powder

1 tbsp vegetable oil

60g almonds

1 punnet of baby corn, halved

125ml oyster sauce

200g thin egg noodles

1 Add the pork, onion, ginger and Chinese 5-spice powder into a large bowl and stir well to combine. Set aside.

2 Heat half the vegetable oil in a wok over a high heat. Add the almonds and stir-fry for two minutes or until golden. Transfer to a bowl.

3 Add one-quarter of the pork mixture and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat, in batches, with the remaining mixture until all of it is cooked.

4 Heat the remaining oil in the wok over a high heat. Add the baby corn and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until tender.

5 Add the pork, almonds and oyster sauce and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until heated through.

6 Meanwhile, place a large saucepan of water over a high heat and bring to the boil. Add the noodles and cook as per the packet instructions. Drain well.

7 Divide the noodles evenly among serving bowls and top with the pork stir-fry. Serve immediately.

Herbs are used in recipes frequently and there is no doubt that fresh herbs are more flavoursome than dried. To save money on buying fresh herbs and for convenience, why not grow your own? Herbs can be grown in pots on your windowsill or, if you have space, a little herb garden is easy to achieve. But if you do prefer to buy fresh herbs and you often find that you are wasting leftover herbs, here are some top tips for using up your pots and packs of fresh herbs.

1 Try stirring sour cream and snipped chives into mashed potato or serve new potatoes with a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt and chopped mint.

2 Add a combination of herbs to plain rice to inject some flavour – parsley and chives are delicious – or try mixing chopped mint into couscous for a Moroccan twist.

3 You can make simple pasta something special by stirring through olive oil and torn basil leaves or chopped dill.

4 Add some excitement to boiled veg by stirring honey and thyme through cooked carrots.

5 A classic basil and tomato salad is always a winner and oh-so-simple to prepare.

6 Roasting veg with rosemary and thyme is a classic, but try seasoning with tarragon, lemon and chives for something new.

7 You can make great soups by simply blending together leftover veg with a few fresh herbs to add aromatic flavour.

8 Add oomph to bland salads – try a mixture of chopped parsley and chives on a simple rocket and watercress salad.

For more information and recipes, visit www.fresh-herbs.co.uk

RECIPE OF THE DAY:

Spanish Rice

Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, sliced

1 red pepper, deseeded and diced

100g chorizo, chopped into pieces

150g paella rice

A pinch of saffron

400ml chicken stock, hot

200g cooked chicken

Juice of 1 lemon

A small handful of parsley, chopped

1 Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and pepper and cook for five minutes until softened.

2 Add the chorizo and cook for a couple of minutes until the oil is released.

3 Stir in the rice so it is coated in the oils.

4 Stir the saffron into the stock, then add to the pan and stir well. Cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes until the rice is tender and the stock has been absorbed.

5 Stir in the chicken and cook for a few minutes until heated through completely.

6 Add the lemon juice and parsley. Stir thoroughly and serve immediately.

Greens are the earliest vegetables of the year, from nettles to green beans, and they have some of the best health benefits as well, as Consultant Dietician Sarah Keogh discusses.

All vegetables will provide vitamin C and fibre, but only green vegetables have the extra benefits of nutrients like iron and folic acid. Furthermore, research on green vegetables have found that they can help prevent many types of cancer, boost the immune system and may even help prevent type-2 diabetes. It turns out that your mother was right all along!

Unfortunately, green vegetables are not to everyone’s tastes and fitting them in on a busy schedule can be a problem. Vegetables such as carrots tend to be very popular as they are very easy to cook and everyone likes them, and changing a family menu is easier said than done. Below are some ideas about how to include more green vegetables and some of the individual health benefits to show you why you should.

Spinach

If you are like me and would easily pass on a plate of soggy spinach, this can be a difficult vegetable to eat. It does have great health benefits though. Spinach is high in iron – 2.2mg per 100g, which is over 15% of your RDA. Spinach is also rich in the antioxidants lutein and zeathanin, which may help to prevent macular degeneration, the most common form of blindness in Ireland.

If you can’t face boiled spinach, try it raw in salads; it makes a great substitute for lettuce. Try mixing it into pasta sauces such as Carbonara or Arrabbiata. Spinach is also surprisingly good in smoothies. Add it to a banana smoothie or blend it with avocado and orange juice.

Cabbage and Kale

Cabbage is one of the most popular green vegetables in Ireland and with good reason.  New season cabbage is sweet and delicious and is rich in fibre, iron and folic acid.  Cabbage is traditionally boiled in the water used to cook the bacon – giving it a delicious salty, meaty flavour. Cabbage is also wonderful in vegetable soup or added into a stir-fry. If cabbage isn’t your idea of a good time, try kale crisps. Toss some curly kale in salt and olive oil and bake in the oven at 150˚C/130˚C fan/gas mark 1 for 25 minutes. It makes a healthy alternative to crisps and can be served sprinkled with soy sauce, honey or chilli flakes.

Asparagus

With its distinctive flavour and delicate texture, asparagus is rarely difficult to eat! Rich in iron and also selenium, a cancer-fighting antioxidant, asparagus has more to offer than just sensational flavour. Asparagus can be baked or lightly boiled and served in many ways. One of the best is with poached eggs for breakfast – the yellow yolk really compliments asparagus and it’s a great way to eat vegetables first thing in the morning.

Broccoli

Like all green vegetables, broccoli has iron and folic acid but is also renowned for its potential anti-cancer effects. Broccoli belongs to the cruciferous family of vegetables, and they have been shown to have strong anti-cancer potential. Broccoli is delicious steamed or lightly boiled, but comes into its own in a stir-fry or raw in a salad.

Nettles

Nettles are one of the first greens of the year. They were used traditionally in Ireland to help avoid scurvy after the long winter. In the days when winter meant no fresh vegetables, low levels of vitamin C were common in the spring. Nettles contain vitamin C and as one of the early vegetables, they were made into soup to restore this important nutrient. Nettles are also very rich in calcium –100g of nettles will give you half your daily needs for calcium. Try nettle soup – use leek and potato for a base and just swap the leeks for nettles, or simply add the nettles to the soup at the same time as the leeks for extra flavour.

Green vegetables, folic acid and homocysteine

Green vegetables are a good source of folic acid. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps to lower levels of homocystine in the blood. High levels of homocystine are linked to an increased risk of strokes and increasing folic acid has been found to reduce the risk of stroke by lowering homocysteine. One more reason to eat your greens!

Green vegetables and blood pressure

Green vegetables are very rich in potassium, which has been shown to reduce blood pressure. Including 1-2 servings of green vegetables everyday can help to reduce blood pressure and the risk of heart disease or stroke.

Type-2 diabetes – not all vegetables are equal

Scientists studying the effects of diet on type-2 diabetes found that people eating more green vegetables had a reduced risk of developing the disease compared to people eating any other type of vegetable or fruit. Although eating fruit and vegetables in general did reduce risk of type-2 diabetes when compared to eating none, those eating more green vegetables had a better result.

Consultant Dietician, Sarah Keogh

How to blanch vegetables

Blanching is a cooking technique used to keep vegetables crisp and tender. By boiling vegetables briefly, chilling them in water, then reheating them slowly, blanching preserves texture, colour and flavour. This works great with vegetables for salads such as broccoli, green beans and peas, or to keep vegetables crispy in stir-fries and bakes. After blanching, the vegetables will be cold so reheat them using any cooking method you wish, like sautéing, grilling, or boiling; just make sure to barely heat them up and not to cook them again.

1 Add enough salt to a large saucepan of water so the water tastes faintly salty.

2 Place over a high heat and bring to a rapid boil.

3 While the water heats, fill a medium bowl about three-quarters full with water and ice. Also, trim the vegetables to the size you need. With green beans, top and tail them.

4 Add the vegetables to the boiling water.

5 Boil the vegetables until they’re barely cooked through, but still tender. To test, remove one piece with a slotted spoon and eat it.

6 As soon as the vegetables are done, remove them as fast as you can with a slotted spoon or strainer.

7 Drop them into the bowl of water and ice to stop the cooking process. Transfer to another bowl with kitchen paper until needed.

RECIPE OF THE DAY!

Healthy Turkey Pittas

Serves 4

500g turkey mince

½ tsp dried thyme

Zest of 1 lemon

Salt and black pepper

1 tsp olive oil

4 large wholemeal pitta breads

A large handful of cos lettuce leaves

For the coleslaw:

3 tbsp low-fat plain yogurt

¼ tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp low-fat mayonnaise

½ white cabbage, grated

2 carrots, grated

½ onion, grated

1 Add the turkey into a bowl with the thyme and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper.

2 Using your hands, making sure they are clean, mix the ingredients together. Form the mixture into four burgers and place on a plate. Chill in the fridge until ready to cook.

3 To make the coleslaw, mix the yogurt, mustard and mayonnaise together in a bowl. Add the cabbage, carrots and onion into the bowl with the dressing and stir together. Keep in the fridge until needed.

4 Heat the oil in a griddle pan over a medium-high heat. Add the burgers and cook for six minutes on each side until cooked through.

5 To serve, heat the pitta breads in the toaster or under the grill, add some lettuce, coleslaw and a turkey burger. Serve immediately.