Frit Ta Ta! My skinny pizza....

A healthy, quick dish which can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or supper and served hot or cold. What is this wondrous creation you ask? The Frittata.

 

An Italian dish, seemingly similar to an omelette or quiche- but without the crust! The Frittata is usually packed with a multitude of ingredients such as meats, cheeses, herbs, spices and / or vegetables.

 

The difference from the Frittata to an omelette is that the omelette is usually folded in half, with half the filling on one side whereas the Frittata stays flat and is usually stacked with the ingredients all over it, making it thicker and slightly more indulgent!

 

The great thing about the Frittata is you can literally put whatever you want in to it. We decided to make our Frittata with the following ingredients:

 

2tsps coconut oil

10 eggs

10 large baby tomatoes

1 large onion

1 red pepper

Chorizo (we used about 10cm cut in to cubes of a normal supermarket chorizo)

3 large handfuls of Spinach

1 log of goats cheese (about 100 g)

 

Pepper and rock salt to flavour

 

Pan:

Best to use a deep frying pan, the smaller the pan, the thicker the Frittata etc - depending on how many ingredients you have and how many eggs you want to use. 

 

Oven:

Pre-set oven to 200degrees to bake the Frittata for 10 - 15 minutes once it has set in the pan. 

 

What you need to do:

• In the frying pan allow your coconut oil to heat up, then put in all your vegetables and fry off until softening

 

• Add in your chorizo and fry off for another minute
• In a jug whisk up your 10 medium sized eggs, add a pinch of salt and pepper

• Add your spinach and cover all the vegetables, then mix in. You will find that the spinach wilts very quickly- even though it may look like a lot when you put it in

• Pour in your egg and stir around until it begins to set. Leave for 5 minutes on a low heat to allow to set

• Add in your lumps of goats cheese and allow to melt slightly on top

• Once the goats cheese has melted, place in the oven (or under the grill) and allow to bake for 5 - 10 minutes until golden brown

• Take out of the oven and allow to cool - you will find that it shrinks slightly as it cools

 

• Season with some more pepper and serve hot - or allow to cool and serve cold with some salad. The Frittata can last up to three days in the fridge and as the flavours infuse the more the tastier it gets!

I am going to try this again next week with brocolli, sundried tomatoes, butternut squash and bacon, you can literally try it with anything! The "healthier" pizza, some could say!

Enjoy!

A Tip Top Trifle

So, with friends coming over for dinner and a rather busy week which seems to have disappeared in the blink of an eye I wanted to make a quick pud without any hassle. Wracking my brain for all of about 20 seconds it was an obvious answer - trifle!
With some homemade cake in the tin that had not all been demolished over the week I decided to utilise what I had around me and make up an alcohol free, fruity, cakey trifle- scandalous!

What you need-

Jelly
Fruit
Custard (tinned)
Whipping cream (or squirty cream)
Cake (anything you want)
Toppings (sprinkles,  chopped almonds, chopped fruit...etc)

What to do:

Cut the cake you have into bite-size cubes and place in to the bottom of a glass or bowl. I used about 6-8 cubes but you can use more or less.

Add fruit to your cake; I added strawberries, grapes, peach and cherries but you can use what ever you want. At this stage you would normally soak your trifle in some sort of strong alcohol i.e Sherry, however I was making a virgin trifle on this occasion. I do think that sometimes alcohol can ruin a pud and as much as I love a good glass of Chablis I'm not big on alcohol flavoured desserts. 

Cut the jelly in to cubes and dissolve in 100ml of boiling water. There are generally instructions on the back of jelly packs so I would usually follow these. I used the Robinson's strawberry jelly. You then fill the jelly solution up to 500ml with cold water and voila, you are ready to add the dissolved jelly solution in to your glasses / bowl. 

Pour the jelly solution on to your cake and fruit mix and place in the fridge to cool for about 2.5 hours. The more time you have to let your jelly set the better.

Once the jelly has set add custard on top. Again, it is your decision how much. I add about an inch and a half, leaving plenty of room for cream! 

In a bowl, whisk up some whipping cream- or alternatively you could use "squirty cream". Dollop on top of your trifle as neatly- or rustically (in my case) as you like.
Add sprinkles, chopped almonds, more fruit or anything else you can think of to the top and serve!

A simple, delicious dessert that doesn't break the bank with expensive ingredients! 

Enjoy!

Skinny Prawn Curry for Kings

This is one of my favourite winter dishes. A quick, simple, colourful and extremely tasty dish for all! 

What you need, to make for two.

Ingredients:

One pack of cooked peeled king prawns (you can use any type of prawn though, the larger ones just tend to be more flavoursome and soak up the juices better)

One red onion 

One tin of chopped tomatoes

1 clove garlic

4 tsps paprika (smokey paprika would also be amazing)

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 bag spinach 

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1tsp curry powder

With my dish I normally make Irish potato flat breads but you could also have, brown rice, (or whatever you want) pitta bread, couscous, a baked potatoe... Oh the list is endless with this one! 

To make:

Fry off in a wok your red onion with some olive oil.

When soft and browning throw in your garlic for about 40 seconds or until it starts to colour. 

Now put in your spices, salt and pepper so it covers all the onion and garlic. You may want to add a couple of tbsps of water incase it's sticking! 

You can now add your tin of chopped tomatoes and let it simmer away for 5 minutes to let the flavours disperse- giving a regular stir to check its not sticking. 

Now add the prawns, you don't want to over cook them, I usually let them simmer in the mixture for about 4-5minutes. The flavours will infuse the prawns quickly.

Serving:

In a wide or shallow bowl place a hand full of fresh spinach. 

On top ladle in your curry- as much as you want as this is a healthy one!

On top add a dollop of Creme fraiche with a sprinkling of rock salt (if you want) and a sprig of coriander.

For the flat potato bread follow this recipe: 

And voila, a delicious meal in around 25 minutes! What more could you ask for? It tastes pretty great too!