Made this traditional Scottish soup for the first time a couple of nights ago. Ma-a-n, is it BORING! It’s not bad, just pointless. I kept adding salt and pepper to it but to no avail. I like leeks. I like celery. Chicken is alright. Put it all together – zzzzz. I heated up the leftovers today for my lunch. I was starvin’ hungry but after two mouthfuls I wasn’t certain I could be bothered to chew anymore. I’ve eaten bland things before but this is just…. ennui in a bowl.

If you like boring ass food, here is the recipe. It makes a generous portion for one so just scale up accordingly.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken thighs, skin removed
• 1/2 onion
• 25 g. of pearl barley, cooked
• 1/3 stock cube
• 100 g. of leek, sliced
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 pinch of dried thyme
• 1 tbs of fresh parsley, chopped

Method

Place the chicken, sliced onion and barley in a saucepan and cover with 300ml (12fl ozs) water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

When cool enough to handle, discard the chicken bones, chop meat into bite-sized pieces and return to the pan.

Add the crumbled stock cube, sliced leeks and celery and thyme, and simmer for a further 30 minutes.

Stir in the chopped parsley just before serving.

Be careful not to lose consciousness directly over the bowl in case you drown in it.

by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

• 10-12 dried, hot red chillies (of the long, cayenne variety)
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 140g shallots, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon grass, thinly sliced crossways
• 3 thin slices peeled fresh galangal or ginger
• 1 thin slice of fresh kaffir lime rind (4cm x 0.5cm) or dried rind soaked in water for 30 minutes
• 6-8 fresh coriander roots, coarsely chopped
• freshly ground white pepper
• 1/4 tsp shrimp paste or 2 anchovies chopped
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp bright red paprika

Method

Soak the chillies in 5 tbsp of hot water for 1-2 hours. Put the chillies, together with their soaking liquid, into a blender, along with all the remaining ingredients in the order listed. Blend, pushing down with a rubber spatula as many times as necessary, until you have a smooth paste. Use half immediately and freeze the other half. Makes about 10 tablespoons.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 2
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 117.6
• Total Fat: 1.4 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 63.2 mg
• Total Carbs: 20.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.4 g
• Protein: 3.7 g

Ingredients

• 2 mackerel fillets
• bay
• thyme

On the side:

• potatoes
• peas

For the salad:

• an orange peeled and sliced
• a red onion cut in thin slices
• black olives
• vinegar

Method

Stuff the mackerel with bay leaves and thyme and grill. Boil the potatoes and peas. Make a salad out of the orange, onion, black olives and vinegar.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 2
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 591.0
• Total Fat: 26.9 g
• Cholesterol: 66.0 mg
• Sodium: 367.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 60.6 g
• Dietary Fiber: 9.2 g
• Protein: 29.1 g

Ingredients

• 2 cups romaine lettuce
• 1 medium tomato (chopped)
• 50g cucumber
• 70g feta
• 25g black olives
• 1/4 small red onion
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette
• slice of baguette

Method

Mix everything together in a bowl.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 1
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 498.5
• Total Fat: 26.9 g
• Cholesterol: 62.3 mg
• Sodium: 1,562.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 45.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.8 g
• Protein: 18.7 g

Ingredients

• 400ml coconut milk
• 3 tbsp ground nut oil
• 2 tsp brown mustard seeds
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 fresh green chillies, deseeded and sliced
• 5 tbsp Madhur Jaffrey’s Red Curry Paste
• 1.5 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp tamarind paste (or lemon juice)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 450g fish cut into 7cm pieces
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 4 fresh kaffir lime leaves (or 1 tsp lemon rind, julienned)
• 15 fresh basil leaves (or fresh baby spinach)

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and when hot add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop, then add the fenugreek seeds & fresh green chillies. Stir and fry for a minute. Put in the curry paste. Stir and fry until the oil separates and the paste is lightly browned. Reduce the heat to low and add the fish sauce, tamarind, sugar and 175ml of water. Stir and taste the balance of seasonings. Cover and simmer on a very low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk. Lightly dust the fish pieces with salt and turmeric and then slide them into the sauce in a single layer. Bring to a simmer. Spoon the sauce over the fish pieces, cover, and simmer very gently for about 6 minutes until they just cook through. Just before serving, tear up the lime leaves or else remove the central vein and cut them into fine strips. Scatter these and the basil or spinach leaves over the top of the fish when serving.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 448.0
• Total Fat: 32.2 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 724.2 mg
• Total Carbs: 11.9 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g
• Protein: 3.8 g

by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

• 2 medium courgettes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• pinch asafoetida
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• small tin (227grams) chopped tomatoes
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.125 tsp cayenne

Method

Trim the courgettes then quarter them lengthways. Cut them crossways into 2.5cm chunks. Pour the oil into a frying pan and set over a medium heat. When hot, put in the asafoetida and cumin seeds. Stir once, then put in the tomatoes. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the tomatoes have softened. Add the courgette. Stir and saute for 2 minutes. Add the salt, cayenne pepper and 2 tablespoons of water. Stir to mix and bring to the simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring once or twice, for 5-6 minutes, or until the vegetables are just done.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 2
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 162.9
• Total Fat: 14.3 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 728.4 mg
• Total Carbs: 6.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
• Protein: 2.9 g

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 50g chorizo sausage sliced
• 2 onions chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 stick of celery chopped
• 1 leek chopped
• 3 anchovies
• bell pepper chopped
• hot chili pepper chopped
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 courgette chopped
• 2 small potatoes chopped
• 6 mushrooms chopped
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 twigs of thyme
• 200ml water
• pinch of salt

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the sausage, onion and garlic. Cook until the onion softens. Add the celery, leek & anchovies. Cook for a few minutes more. One by one, stir in the peppers, spices, courgette, potato and mushrooms. Add the tomato, herbs, water and salt. Reduce heat and simmer for a couple of hours.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 3
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 347.1
• Total Fat: 15.4 g
• Cholesterol: 16.9 mg
• Sodium: 503.4 mg
• Total Carbs: 45.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 8.9 g
• Protein: 11.4 g

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
• 1 small stick of celery finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper deseeded and choopped
• 1 courgette chopped
• 1 carrot (half chopped, half grated)
• 1 chorizo sausage chopped
• a handful of dried porcini mushroom (soaked in a few tbsps boiling water)
• 2 bay leaves
• a small sprig of rosemary
• a small sprig of thyme
• a few leaves of oregano
• a few leaves of margoram
• a few leaves of celery
• ground black pepper
• ground white pepper
• a pinch of salt
• a tin of whole cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree

Method

Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion begins to soften. Add the chopped carrot, celery and jalapeno and continue to fry for another minute. Add the chorizo and courgette and fry for another minute. Add the tin of tomatoes, the herbs (tied up in a muslin bag), the grated carrot, the porcini mushroom together with the water they soaked in, salt, pepper and tomato puree. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Meanwhile cook some pasta.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 2
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 324.8
• Total Fat: 21.4 g
• Cholesterol: 40.0 mg
• Sodium: 468.5 mg
• Total Carbs: 17.6 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.2 g
• Protein: 12.6 g

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 50g chorizo sausage sliced
• 1 onions chopped
• 1 clove of garlic chopped
• hot chili pepper chopped
• 5 mushrooms chopped
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 can cannellini beans
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 twigs of thyme
• 200ml water
• pinch of salt

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the sausage, onion and garlic. Cook until the onion softens. Add the mushrooms, beans, tomato, herbs, water and salt. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour.

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 2
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 217.7
• Total Fat: 9.8 g
• Cholesterol: 20.0 mg
• Sodium: 506.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 24.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.8 g
• Protein: 11.0 g