What to Simple recipes, tips and great food
Spring delights
COOK
With spring upon us, we still can’t ignore the slight nip in the air. Here are 12 dishes to warm your evenings, and prepare you for Spring.
1 Roasted butternut squash with soy balsamic dressing Serves 4 Prepare 5 minutes Cook 35 minutes • 2kg butternut squash100g Puy lentils • 100g rocket • 1tsp sesame seeds • 6 spring onions • olive oil Soy Dressing • 5tbsp olive oil • 3tbsp balsamic vinegar • 1tbsp soy sauce • 1 red chili • 1 garlic clove • 1 tsp clear honey
12 WAITROSE.COM MARCH 2011
1 Pre heat oven to 200c for fan, 180c or gas mark 6. Put the butternut squash on a baking tray, cover in 1tbsp of olive oil and season. 2 Roast for 20 minutes, shaking the tray a few times to separate the pieces.
3 Simmer the lentils for 15 minutes, then drain. 4Whisk all the dressing ingredients together. 5 Put the rocket in bowl, with the lentils and quash on top. Pour the dressing over everything, and add the sesame seeds and spring onion to finish it off.
3 Warm salad of spring
Serves 4 Prepare Cook
Serves 4 Prepare Cook
•500g boneless, chicken breast •300g small new potatoes •350g broccoli •350g spring greens •140g petits pois •1 onion •1tbsp essential Waitrose olive oil •a bunch of spring onions •2tbsp pesto
1 Heat the oil in a large pan for a few moments and add the chopped onion. 2 Fry until soft, and add in the chicken until browned.
14 WAITROSE.COM MARCH 2011
3 Add to the pan stock, potatoes and a generous shake of ground black pepper, and bring to boil. 4.Cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes so the chicken is cooked and potatoes are soft. Can be frozen at this point is desired. 5.Add the spring greens, petits pois, broccoli and spring onion and stir. 6.Cover, leave to cook for approximately 5 minutes. 7.Stir in the pesto and heat through for 2 minutes. 8. Then serve and enjoy.
•6 large lamb chops •1 bunch of asparagus •140g podded peas •140g broad beans •3 tomatoes •handful tarragon leaves •handful of mint leaves •6 tbsp olive oil •2 tbsp red wine vinegar •1 tbsp coriander seeds
1.Prepare a bowl of iced water. Bring to the boil a big pan of slat water. Cook the asparagus in this for 3 minutes, and the place into the ice cold water.
Cook the peas for 2 minutes in the same salt water, and place into the iced water. Cook the broad beans also for 2 minutes, place into the ice cold water for a few moments, and then remove their skins. 2.Cut across the bottom of each tomato, then plunge into boiling water for 10 seconds before putting into ice cold water. Peel, and dice tomatoes. 3.Heat oil and coriander seeds, then stir through all the vegetables and vinegar, whilst off the heat.
Image source: www.sxc.hu
2 Spring chicken pot
What to cook March
4 Thai prawn, ginger and
5 Crispy chili beef with
Serves 2 Prepare Cook
Serves 4 Prepare Cook
spring onion stir fry
•200g raw, peeled tiger prawns •8 spring onions •1 red pepper •100g bean sprouts •1 bunch of coriander •3 garlic cloves •1 green Thai chili •1 tbsp caster sugar •3tbsp fish sauce •2 tbsp groundnut oil •1tbsp soy sauce •3cm piece ginger •85g water chestnuts •1 lime
1.Put prawns in a bowl. Add half of the lime juice and the fish sauce into the mixture and pour over the prawns. 2.Heat a tbsp of oil in a wok.
Add ginger and spring onions and fry for about a minute. Add the red pepper and fry until softened. 3.Add the bean sprouts and water chestnuts and toss the wok to mix everything together, until the bean sprouts soften. Add the soy sauce and a generous amount of ground black pepper, and stir. Tip everything into a serving dish. 4.Use the leftover oil in the wok to cook the prawns in. Toss them for 2 minutes until they turn pink.
broccoli
•300g thin-cut sirloin steaks •2 garlic cloves •broccoli •5cm piece of ginger •1tsp dried chili flakes •1/2 bunch spring onion •4tbsp soy sauce •2 limes •oil
1.Heat some oil, 5cm deep in a wok. Fry the steak until dark and crisp, and drain off the excess fat. Leave some oil in the pan. 2.Fry the ginger, chili, garlic and broccoli for approximately 1 minute. Add the sweetened soy sauce and lime juice and cook all together for 2 minutes. 3.Put everything in a bowl, add some spring onions and serve.
MARCH 2011 WAITROSE.COM 15