Rob’s Recipe of the Week: Dinner on the run | Canalside Community Food

I went to a very interesting sports food recovery workshop with a nutritionist called “whole food warrior” whilst at a running festival earlier in the summer. This is one of her recipes which should be pretty quick and simple, enjoy!

Chickpea, green bean & spinach curry (15-minute recipe)

Ingredients (feeds 2)
For the curry paste:
A handful of fresh coriander, stalks & leaves (10-15g)
1/2 green pepper (75g), roughly chopped
1 red chilli, roughly chopped
1/2 thumb size piece of ginger (15g), peeled and roughly chopped
1 small onion (55g), peeled and roughly chopped
1 turmeric root or 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1/2 lemon, peeled (you are using the actual lemon here, not the rind)
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Other ingredients:
150g of dwarf beans or green beans
1 tin of chickpeas
1/2 a tin of chopped tomatoes (200ml)
1/2 a tin of coconut milk (200ml)
4 large handfuls of spinach (approximately 120g)

Method:
Put all of the curry paste ingredients in a blender, season with a pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper and blend until smooth. Add a splash of water to make the bending easier if needed.
Put a frying pan on a medium high heat. Tip in the curry paste and cook until it thickens to a paste, approximately 5 minutes.
Pour in the chopped tomatoes and coconut milk, stir well, season with a little bit more sea salt and black pepper.
Add the green beans and cook for 5 minutes.
Tip in the chickpeas and spinach and cook for a further 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
Check the taste and season with more black pepper and sea salt if needed.
To serve, simply divide the curry between two large bowls. Sprinkle on some extra coriander leaves if desired.

Taken from: https://wholefoodwarrior.co.uk/blog/quickcurry

16th aug

Rebecca’s Recipe of the Week: Green Beans, Tomatoes and Saffron

Serve this lovely blend of tomatoes, beans and saffron-scented onions as a side dish, or alongside some polenta topped with a poached egg. It’s also tasty accompanying plain white fish.

Fagiolini in umido all zafferano
Serves 4 as a side dish.

Ingredients
10 medium tomatoes
60ml olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small pinch of saffron
650g green beans, topped and tailed

Preparation
Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water.
Score the bottom of each tomato with a X, using a sharp knife, and remove the core. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water a few at a time, and cook for about 30 seconds each, until the skin starts to loosen. Remove with a slotted spoon and drop into the bowl of ice water. Don’t discard the hot water: you’ll use it to cook the beans.
Fish each tomato out of the ice water and slip off the skin. Dice into small cubes.
Put the olive oil and sliced onions into a saucepan over very low heat. Add a pinch of salt and the saffron. Cook gently for 20-25 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent. Stir occasionally and make sure they don’t catch or burn.
Add the diced tomatoes and cook for 10 more minutes. Season with salt.
Bring the tomato water to a boil, salt, and cook the beans for 6 minutes, or until tender. Drain the beans and add to the onion-saffron-tomatoes. Simmer for 3 more minutes over low heat and serve.

Recipe adapted from Christopher Boswell and Elena Goldblatt, Verdure: Vegetable Recipes from the American Academy in Rome (2014).