Light meals

I love leftovers, they make my life so much easier at the moment. I am still at home a lot of the time, and as much as I am trying to look after myself and cook nice things I can’t always muster up the energy. Some days I can’t get out of bed or off the sofa. Not often, but it happens. Thats when the soup comes out, or something from the freezer that my Yiayia has made. Or, if I am really lucky, there are leftovers.

So last Sunday Pete and I treated ourselves to a homemade roast. Lemony thyme roast chicken, roast potatoes, honey glazed carrots, kale, cauliflower cheese, homemade cider gravy… the lot. Afterwards I took a lot of pride in packing up the leftovers and making stock with the chicken carcass. Normally I’d just turn the meat into a salad or broth the next day, but I’d also made a loaf of rye bread on the weekend and wanted to use that too: cue the chicken Caesar open sandwich. I had forgotten how much I loved chicken sandwiches! With shredded organic roast chicken, a delicious creamy dressing, some sort of crunchy element, what is not too like? I’d forgot the beauty of chicken Caesar too, a result of many bad pub meals with fake dressing I am sure…

So here you go, a perfect leftover lunch for one. Not too naughty and tonnes of flavour.

CHICKEN CAESAR ON RYE

This dressing could definitely take a fine grating of garlic, if thats your cup of tea.

Serves 1

A thick slice of rye, sourdough or gluten free bread
80g shredded cooked chicken, preferably free range or organic
An anchovy
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon English mustard
Parmesan
A heaped tablespoon of Greek yoghurt
Half a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
A spring onion, finely sliced
A few sprigs of parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cucumber

Using a vegetable peeler, shred the cucumber into ribbons. Place in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice (keeping some for the chicken) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss together and leave to one side.

If your bread is fresh simply lay on a plate and drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil. If it is a few days old, toast it first – you could even rub the toast with the cut side of a clove of garlic for a little added flavour.

Place the anchovy in a pestle and mortar and bash to a paste with a little pinch of salt and pepper (not too much salt though as the anchovy and parmesan are already very salty). Add the mustard and yoghurt and mix together well. Then squeeze in the rest of the lemon juice and finely grate in a little parmesan (just a few gratings, you won’t need lots) and stir. Spoon the dressing over the chicken, mix it all together and then pile on top of you bread or toast. Finish with the sliced spring onion and parsley, and serve.

With my fertility chat in mind, my first recipe is a squash and pumpkin seed recipe, of which I can’t take full credit. When we got back from holiday I came home to the new Ottolenghi book ‘Plenty More’, and was over the moon. I love Ottolenghi, I love his restaurants/ cafes/ books/ column, and I don’t think I have ever made a dud recipe written by the man (Jerusalem is our favourite, the fish chapter is already in tatters).

After a trip to our fabulous local greengrocers, where the produce is ridiculously beautiful and the service is rude and grumpy, I came away with a mound of autumn treats including a beast of a butternut squash. So with a little flick through my newest book I came across ‘Squash with cardamom and nigella seeds’, a delicious sounding recipe, which is packed with good stuff (if you ignore the knob of butter at the start).

So I made this for friends, and got thinking, if you omit the yoghurt this would make a wonderful base for a soup, with coconut milk and coriander… So here is a little tweak on Mr Ottolenghi’s recipe, resulting in an incredible soup for Autumn.

ROAST SQUASH SOUP WITH COCONUT AND PUMPKIN SEEDS

Serves 4 – 6

olive oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 large butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds, plus extra for serving
1 teaspoon nigella seeds
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 large cinnamon stick
1 green chilli, halved lengthways
400ml vegetable stock
A can of low fat coconut milk
Half a bunch of coriander chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g feta (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200/ 180/ Gas mark 6.

Place the onion and butternut squash in a large roasting tray, so they are spread out in one layer and add the pumpkin seeds, nigella seeds, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, chilli and a good pinch of salt. Drizzle with a good lug of olive oil and mix well. Pop in the oven and roast for around 30 minutes, tossing occasionally, until cooked through and golden. Transfer the tray to the hob and add the coconut milk and stock and gently bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Discard the cinnamon and chilli and stir in the chopped coriander, stalks and all. Blitz with a stick blender until you have a thick and creamy soup, adding a little extra water if needed. Then serve with the feta crumbled over the top, and a few extra pumpkin seeds.

NB: You can keep the recipe similar to the in ‘Plenty More’ by not turning this into a soup. Ottolenghi likes to serve his with greek yoghurt, or do as I did and serve with crumbled creamy feta.

Served as a starter instead, with crumbled feta

Chicken Caesar on rye

Roast squash soup with coconut and pumpkin seeds