Sweet spicy almonds

Tasty snacking nuts! Great to have with drinks or as a low carb snack that’ll keep you feeling fuller for a longer as almonds are high in protein and fibre. Plus you get all these additional nutritional benefits:

• Vital antioxidants and Vitamin E are concentrated in almond skin (try to avoid blanched) - these protect your cells from oxidative damage which contributes to aging and disease.

• Magnesium rich, which helps to convert food into energy, lowers blood pressure, assists in the contraction and relaxation of muscles and regulates neurotransmitters.

• Almonds also help to lower the levels of LDL lipoproteins in your blood, or ‘bad’ cholesterol, which is a well-known risk factor for heart disease.

Ingredients

• 200g whole almonds

• 2 tsp olive or rapeseed oil

• 2 tsp honey or maple syrup

• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper

• A good pinch of salt

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

• Put the almonds on a foil lined baking tray.

• Drizzle / sprinkle over all the ingredients evenly and mix to coat well.

• Put in the oven for 6-7 minutes and then allow to cool, so they go crunchy.

Quick fish curry

This is a great healthy mid-week recipe that you can knock up in 30 minutes and hopefully you'll have most of the ingredients in your cupboard. Now I appreciate that not everyone will be totally stocked up, but if you like making curries then you probably have most of them below.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil

• 2 tsp mustard seeds

• 20 curry leaves

• 1 large onion, or 2 medium, finely sliced

• 1 clove garlic, chopped finely or minced

• 1 tsp dried chill flakes, or less if you don't like it hot

• 2 tins 400g tomatoes

• 3-4 tbsp coconut cream, or 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk

• 800g cod, or firm white fish

• 320g brown basmati

Method

• First heat up the oil in a large pan, add the mustard seeds and heat until they start to pop.

• Then add the curry leaves and warm through for 1-2 minutes.

• Next put in the onion and fry gently for about 10 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and chilli flakes, cook for 2 minutes.

• Pour in the tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes before adding the coconut cream and 200ml of water, or just the tin of coconut milk. Simmer for 5 minutes.

• Add the fish and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until it has heated right through.

• Serve with basmati rice, a squeeze of lime and yoghurt

spicy chicken marinade

I made this chicken over the weekend for an impromptu BBQ when the sun was shining, and even though I say so myself, it was really bloody good! Early in the afternoon, I had a look in the fridge and found chicken thighs, Greek yogurt, and all the spices I needed in my cupboard.  I even had some leftover BBQ coals from last year. A minor miracle to organise a spontaneous BBQ and find you have all the things you need without making a dash to the supermarket.

I decided to make a couple of marinades, one spicy and one the kids could handle. Having a massive pot of yoghurt in the fridge I made this the basis for both.

I love using yoghurt to marinade meat. Its natural active bacteria breaks down the protein making the chicken moist and tender. The lactic acid in yoghurt also acts as a gentle tenderiser. It is much milder than citric acid and works a little slower, but this means it is unlikely to act too strongly making the meat mushy. You can leave the meat in the marinade for longer to gain flavour, but not lose texture.

As you can see from the photo, I made a simple salad with a yogurt and dill dressing, red cabbage slaw, roasted red peppers, and a squeeze of fresh lime.

Ingredients

• 6 chicken thighs (mine were skinless, but it doesn’t matter either way)

• 5 tablespoons of plain yoghurt (I used greek-style)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 teaspoon Ras al Hanout

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (you can leave this out if you don’t like it hot)

• 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

• Juice of 1 lemon, slice up the remains

• Large pinch of black pepper

Method

Get a large mixing bowl and put all the marinade ingredients into it, mixing thoroughly, including the lemon slices. Add the chicken and leave to marinate in the fridge for up to 12 hours. The longer the better, basically, but after 3 hours mine was really good.

Either fire up the BBQ and grill these outdoors, or use an iron griddle or frying pan to cook indoors if need be. My chicken thighs were quite small, so they only took about 6 minutes a side to cook. To be on the safe side, I always slice open one piece of chicken to make sure it is cooked through.

Tip

Serve with a Moroccan roasted red pepper and a green salad, red cabbage slaw and some sunshine.

If the weather is bad, these chicken thighs can be cooked on an iron griddle or frying pan; this method works equally well. Cooking times are the same.