Ratatouille

Try this tasty, fresh dish as an alternative to regular vegetables on the side or as a great accompaniment to meat and fish. I love it as a meal in itself but it's also wonderful with white fish or steak. I like my ratatouille to be quite saucy -if you prefer it dryer, don't add the tin of tomatoes. I think i'll be making plenty of this in the run-up to summer - I tend to make it in big batches and eat it with a variety of things throughout the week. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 Aubergines
2 courgettes
1 red onion
2 red peppers (you can use yellow pepper as well if you wish)
4 plum tomatoes
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
oil
basil
Tsp caster sugar

1. Chop the aubergine and courgette lengthways and then into chunks. Chop the peppers into slices and place vegetables into roasting tray. Season with salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of oil. Place into oven on 180 degrees and roast for 40 mins or until soft. Stir occasionally.

2. Chop the onion and fry gently. Add the garlic and some chopped basil leaves.

3. Using a knife, make a cross on the bottom of each tomato and add to a bowl of boiling water. Leave for 1 minute and then remove and remove the skin (this should be easy, if not, place back in the water for a bit longer)

4. Chop the tomatoes and place into the pan with the onions and garlic. Add the chopped tomatoes and the sugar.

5. Once the vegetables are roasted remove from the oven and place into the tomato sauce. Season to taste and leave on a low heat for a further 15 minutes.

6. Serve with a sprig of basil.

Gazpacho

Determined to get beach-body ready (it will happen this year, it definitely will, it must) I have given up carbs... during the week... after 4pm (baby steps people!). In actual fact i've pretty much not eaten carbs so far this week at all apart from some noodles on Tuesday, but I'm not missing them that much. I'm allowing myself carbs on weekends because i'm not the sort of person who has enough will power to give something up entirely and I know i'll just crave them if I can't have them at all so weekends will be cheat days. 

It's making me more adventurous in the kitchen and i'm having to think of meals that I wouldn't normally make. God, I miss pasta, how easy is it?! So I thought I'd share with you my carb-free meals as I go. First up this week is Gazpacho, the spanish classic which is perfect for a hot summers day and is actually much more filling than you'd expect. This is a cold soup but is so tasty! 

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 kilo ripe tomatoes
1 green pepper
3/4 of a cucumber (peeled)
1 spanish onion
1 clove of garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of vinegar (red or white wine)
Salt
1 boiled egg (optional)

1. Roughly chop the tomatoes, pepper, 1/2 the cucumber, 1/2 the onion and the garlic. Leave a small amount of the green pepper aside.

2. Put the chopped vegetables into a blender or use a hand whisk and blend until there are no chunks of vegetables left and it is liquidy. 

3. Add the olive oil, vinegar (do this one tablespoon at a time and taste, if you want more add to taste) and salt. Mix together. 

4. Chop a small amount of cucumber, green pepper, onion and boiled egg and sprinkle over gazpacho.

A Spot Of Baking - Tomato Tart

For a quick lunch I love making this tomato tart. So easy, tasty and fresh. I have to admit I've been lazy today (give me a break, it's Friday!) so I didn't make my own pastry - so I suppose this is cheats tomato tart! I've also made mini ones of these to serve as canapes at Christmas, which always go down well. 

Ingredients

2 eggs
3 tablespoons of creme fraiche
Desert spoon of dijon mustard
6 on the vine plum tomatoes (you can use any tomatoes but I like ones on the vine because they have more flavour - I've also used cherry tomatoes)
1 or 2 Spring onions
375g Puff Pastry
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Cheese for grating (optional)


1. Take your puff pastry out of the fridge and set aside for 10-15 minutes. Line a baking tray with baking paper and roll out your pastry (you can get ready rolled pastry, which makes life very easy indeed). Fill the baking tray with the pastry and make sure the pastry is high enough on the sides. Using a fork pierce the pastry. 

2. Whisk the eggs and use a little to brush the sides of your tart. To the remaining egg mixture add the creme fraiche, mustard, thyme (in this one I used dried thyme but fresh is best), salt and pepper. Mix it and coat the base in some of the mixture.

3. Chop the tomatoes in slices (or half if you're using cherry tomatoes) and the spring onions finely. Cover the base evenly in the tomatoes (you can leave gaps between them) and then add the spring onions. Cover the tomatoes in the remaining mixture - there should be enough so it comes just about level with the tomatoes. You may want to grate some cheese on top to make it a bit cheesy!

4. Put in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden. 

5. Serve with a green salad and hey presto, lunch!