Egyptian Edamame Stew

This dish is described as "a riff on the Egyptian classic ful medames, a highly seasoned fave bean mash" in the planner/recipe-book where I found it. It's easy to make, and light but filling; I ate it first with quinoa for dinner, and later enjoyed the leftovers with some whole wheat pita bread.

Ingredients
About 3 cups shelled edamame (meaning, beans are out of the shell)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large zucchini, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped mint
3 tablespoons lemon juice
(optional: original recipe called for 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, which I did not add, but you may want to try)

To make
1. Cook the edamame according to package directions: bring a pot of water to a boil and toss in the beans, for about 5 minutes if the edamame has been thawed, longer if they are still frozen.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften (~3 minutes)
3. Add zucchini and cook, covered, until onions start to brown (~another 3 minutes)
4. Add garlic, cumin, and coriander (and cayenne pepper, if using) and cook, stirring, until fragrant (~30 seconds)
5. Stir in tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until slightly reduced (~5 minutes)
6. Stir in the edamame and cook until heated through (~2 minutes)
7. Remove from heat and stir in mint and lemon juice.

My first contribution: Thai prawn salad

My first add here: a healthy, tasty quick ’n’ easy summer dish which just uses the classic Thai flavours: lemongrass, limes and coriander.

For the prawns:
Raw peeled prawns (about 200g per person)
Red birds-eye chillies (to taste)
Spring onions (about 2 per person)
Lemongrass
Garlic (lots!)
Fresh coriander (lots and lots)
8+ Fresh limes

For the salad:
Green salad
Cucumber
Red pepper

Use fresh ingredients please; otherwise it ends up just tasting bland.

Prepare the salad first in a big bowl. I like to keep it fairly simple: just green salad with cucumber for a fresh lift and red pepper to add a sweetness to contrast with the spicy prawns. Lots of rocquet(/rocket for the American readers who can’t spell this, or racquet or cheque for that matter) is good for a nice peppery bite, particularly if you get organic which actually has flavour, as opposed to the bleached and bland supermarket stuff. If you want to make it look authentic, peel the cucumber. (This is fairly standard in SE Asia, where cucumber skins are thicker and somewhat bitter.) I also put some of the spring onions in raw or some finely-chopped red onions. Sometimes I add cherry tomatoes if I have any, but they’re not really necessary. Don’t dress the salad: the spiced-up lime juice from the prawns does this for you.

Next juice the limes so you have it ready. You need lots and lots of juice, so at least 8 limes. Go for pale green limes: these are the juiciest. By the time limes reach dark green they’ve shrivelled up a bit inside.

Now for the prawns. You must, must, must use uncooked prawns. Cooking with precooked prawns is an abomination: they end up flavourless and lose all their succulence. Start by frying on a medium heat the spring onions, lemon grass (slice it up small or — and this is the only place I will permit you to use non-fresh ingredients — use lemongrass purée) and the chillies. How many chillies you add is up to you: but I like this dish very spicy. Again, if you want to be authentic just chop up the chillies, seeds and all; but the seeds are slightly bitter (and the strip which attaches the seeds to the chilli is also, by the way, the hottest part of a chilli) so you may want to de-seed them first. Don’t add the garlic at this point: garlic burns and turns bitter very quickly if you’re frying and you should always add it later.

Once the onion has softened, turn the heat up high, and add the prawns and the crushed garlic. Prawns should be cooked very hot very fast to keep them as succulent as possible: by the time they’ve all turned pink they’re probably done.

Throw in the fresh coriander — and you need lots and lots of this; probably a whole bunch. It rapidly reduces down in size like spinach; when it has done so pour the lime juice over, let it sizzle away for a few seconds and then whop the whole lot on top of the salad. Mmmmm… quick, easy, and tasty-tasty.

Simple Carbonara

I know I promised to put my Sicilian anchovy pasta recipe up, but I just made some carbonara so I'll do that instead. There are so many carbonara recipes out there, but I'll put the version of mine that I like, which uses single instead of double cream since I don't like things too rich. I enjoy using flat pastas like tagliatelle for creamy sauces, since you get a larger surface area coated with sauce. You can also use pasta all'uovo which includes eggs for a richer texture. Feel free to add more cream or use more eggs if you want a richer sauce. Sometimes I use mushrooms or peas or whatever veg I have. You will need:

Simple Carbonara (serves 2; takes 15-20 minutes)
15-20g of butter
extra virgin olive oil
50g (or 4 rashers) of unsmoked bacon (or pancetta if you feel posh)
150-200g pasta
2 large egg yolks
10 tablespoons of single cream
25g fresh parmigiano-reggiano, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon fresh, coarse black pepper
2-3 springs of flat leaf parsley
pinch of salt

Optional:
4-5 large button mushrooms
1/3 cup of peas

To be most efficient:
1. Bring large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a deep frying pan on medium heat.
2. Chop up bacon, flat-leaf parsley and veggies.
3. Add butter and bacon to pan, give it a stir. Turn up heat.
4. Prepare your cream sauce: mix cream, egg yolks and cheese in a bowl.
5. When bacon is nice and crispy, add veggies. Pasta should be ready soon.
6. Add pinch of salt to bacon and flat-leaf parsley.
7. Drain pasta, add to pan. Mix well.
8. Take pan off heat, add cream sauce. Toss well, the heat of the pasta and bacon will cook the sauce. Serve immediately to prevent curdling.

Cranberry & chocolate quinoa muffins

I typically eschew muffins at breakfast, because let's face it, most muffins are basically cake, and cake is not a great way to start your day (well, nutritionally speaking). These hearty fiber- and protein-rich muffins, however, will take you through till lunch. The quinoa makes them chewy and dense, like bran muffins but tastier.
The recipe below is very slightly adapted from the one here from Martha Stewart Everyday Food (check out the site for a video of Martha and one of her minions making the muffins); I used dried cranberries instead of raisins, and also added chunks of dark chocolate.

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 small bar (40g) of dark chocolate
3/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To Make
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring quinoa and 1 cup water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, brush a standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil; dust with flour, tapping out excess.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cranberries and 2 cups cooked quinoa.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined.
6. Crumble chocolate bar into small chunks, stir into batter.
7. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
8. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.