Quick summer salmon and crushed new potatoes lunch

Here is lunchtime on bank holiday Monday. Looking into the fridge what can I make quickly and efortless and of course what goes together well. So here it is salmon, potatoes and french beans - they certainly do not dislike each other:)

Salmon crushed potatoes and french beans quick assemble
Serves 2

Ingredients:

120g of smoked salmon - cut into smaller strips
150-200g boiled new potatoes
50g boiled and halved french beans
half a lemon cut into wedges
100g of cream cheese
3 tbsp of natural yogurt
dill
2 spring onions or chives
salt and pepper
1tsp of drained capers

Let's do it:
 
Mix cream cheese with yogurt, add some lemon juice, dill, spring onions, capers and season. Check if the flavours are to your liking. Using fork crush the potatoes with 2tbps of the cheese/yogurt mixture and transfer to a plate. On top of potatoes arrange the salmon and beans. Cover with the rest of the cheese/ yogurt mixture. Decorate with lemon wedges/ slices. Serve with bread.

Baked salmon with crushed potatoes, green beans and black olive tapenade

I think I fell into a time whole as I did not post anything for ages. Finally it's warmer in London and a kind of spring arrived;) 

Baked salmon with crushed potatoes, green beans and black olive tapenade
Serves 2

Salmon
Two frozen salmon fillets
 Butter
Oil
Slices of lemon

Preheat the oven to 200C (fan assisted). Pour a tablespoon or two of oil into a baking tray and put the fillets in. Top each fillet with a couple of small slices of butter, black pepper and slices of lemon. Bake for 35 minutes.

Crushed potatoes
250g of new potatoes/ Charlotte potatoes
Olive oil/ rapeseed oil
Salt and pepper
Chopped chives

Wash the potatoes and cut into smaller pieces, boil in salted water until tender for 15 - 18 minutes and drain. Pour over 2 tablespoons of olive oil or rapeseed oil, season and crush the potatoes with a fork.

Tapenade
This makes more tapenade than you need for your dinner but it's so delicious that can be eaten with anything! Can be stored in a sealed container in a fridge for up to two weeks.
180g black pitted olives
a juice of one small lemon
2 tbsp of capers, drained
6 anchovies fillets, rinsed
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped finely
 parsley
basil leaves
salt and pepper
2-4 tbsp of olive oil or rapeseed oil

Tip all the ingredients to a food processor and whizz briefly if you prefer a coarse texture or for longer if you prefer a smooth texture.

Serve as on the picture below:) Enjoy!

Roasted squash and potato soup

I'm even dreading to write this yet again but I will anyway - it's absolutely freezing out there!
So tonight yet another variation of a soup for a warm supper.

Roasted squash & potato soup with crème fraîche and roasted spices

Ingredients:
puree of roasted butternut squash or coquina squash - sliced, deseeded and roasted with rapeseed oil, salt and pepper for 40 minutes in 190C until tender and can be easily mashed with fork. Skin easy to removed after baking. I had about 500g before roasting
small knob of butter and a bit (1tsp) of sunflower oil
2 medium shallots peeled and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped potatoes peeled and boiled until tender - around 250g
milk - 100-150ml
1,5 ltr water but possibly more

Roasted coquina squash potato & dry fried spices soup

veggie stock
1tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
pinch of cinnamon
salt and pepper

Action:
Melt a small knob of butter with a bit of oil in a pan and fry shallots with garlic on a low heat for 5 minutes, add spices and fry for further 2 minutes. Next add squash puree, sliced potatoes, stock, water to cover vegetables and some pepper. Bring to boil and blend, add more water if needed, milk salt and pepper and check the taste. Serve with crème fraîche and roasted spices. 
For roasted spices dry fry on a medium gas 4 allspice berries, 1 tbsp of cumin seeds and 1 tsp of nigella seeds. When spices start being aromatic and cumin turns brown turn the gas off, transfer to mortar and bash with pestle ensuring that allspice turns into a powder whereas cumin and nigella seeds do not need to be powdered.
 

Veggie leftovers bake

Tonight I'm trying not to waste any food, so a waste prevention project is in order!
Out of this initiative supper quick and easy leftovers veggie bake was born.

Super quick & easy leek potato carrot and sweetcorn veggie leftover bake

Ingredients for 2 hungry individuals:
4 medium potatoes peeled and very thinly sliced
1 leek cut roughly "sliced"
2 medium size carrots thinly sliced
1/2 small tin of sweetcorn (drained)
small single cream
100ml of milk
spices: chilli flakes, 2 veggie oxo cubes, salt & pepper
quarter of feta cheese
grated parmesan, cheddar or any other hard cheese

Mix single cream with milk add all spices (make sure that oxo cubes are crumbled). In a flat baking tray put a single layer of potatoes and cover with half of leek and carrot slices. Then arrange the next layer of potatoes and cover with remained leek and carrot slices. Spread the sweetcorn evenly and pour over the creamy mixture. Crumble over feta cheese and sprinkle grated cheese (as little or as much as you like) I had smoked goats cheese which wasn't great on its own but tastes really well in the bake as it has a distinctive salty taste like feta. 
Bake for 30 minutes in 180C (fan assisted). Check with a knife if potatoes are cooked thoroughly.  This all was ready for consumption in around 45min. including baking time, if you have a helping hand (a husband or other contractually obliged individual) even in 40minutes:-)

The picture is rubbish but I only realised at the last moment that all the bake was wolfed down and the last bit I had to snatch away from the lion's den, I mean my husband's mouth;) Otherwise no record would exist:) It may not look that appetising from this but in fact it is very tasty...

Celeriac and potato soup for a rainy evening

It was a grey day and eventually started raining tonight, so I needed a comforting bowl of hot soup! In the frige were rooster potatoes and celeriac, let's marry them!
The soup has a gentle and mild taste. Serves 4 hungry individuals.


Celeriac & potato soup

1 onion peeled and rouglhy chopped 
1 fat clove of garlic peeled and roughly chopped
half a tsp of chilli flakes
1 tsp of cumin
500g potatoes peeled and roughly chopped
500g celeriac peeled and roughly chopped 
1 ltr of veggie stock
50-100ml milk
a knob of butter
1tsp oil

Melt the butter with oil in a pan on a low gas add onion with garlic and fry until onion is translucent, add spices (cumin and chilli flakes) and fry for another minute then add potatoes celeriac and the stock. Bring to boil and simmer for up 30 minutes, but make sure that potatoes and celeriac are tender, add milk and blend it in a food processor or with a hand blender until creamy.
Serve with walnut and parsley pesto and sprinkle over with some paprika. 
Walnut and parsley pesto is by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and was published on the guardian's website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/oct/27/recipes.foodanddrink 
It's delicious but there's loads of it, we're going to have it as pasta pesto for lunch tomorrow and still plenty in the fridge awaiting for me to come and use it:)