Pasta-less carbonara

I love using courgettes (zucchini to our stateside and Aussie friends) in place of pasta these days. Creating super thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler means they take no time at all to cook, and absorb the flavour of whatever else is in the pan. It’s a little bit of effort for wonderful results, and completely primal. Good basis for any meal I’d say.

Ingredients (to serve two):
2 large courgettes
200g king prawns or diced fish
Med sized red onion (finely chopped)
Clove of garlic (crushed)
100g mushrooms (quartered)
100g broccoli florets
2 red peppers (deseeded and cut into thin strips)
Tbsp olive oil
Tbsp tomato purée
Salt & pepper

Method:
– top, tail and peel the courgettes. Make thin ribbons out of them with a vegetable peeler, they should look something like this:

– heat the oil in a wok or large pan, and fry the onions and garlic until soft. Add the mushrooms and broccoli, season to
taste and cover with a lid

– cook on a low heat for 5-10 mins, which will allow the natural juices to come out of the veg creating a sauce. Add the tomato purée at this point

– stir in the fish/prawns, courgette and peppers, combining well with everything else in the pan. Cook for a further 5-10 mins and serve immediately

 

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Super fast meal for one little person

I get really upset when I hear people say they ‘don’t have time to cook’ and give their kids processed food. This healthy, nutritious, tasty meal took about two mins to prepare and five to cook. Are you really telling me you can’t find seven minutes for your most precious asset?!

Ingredients:
– whatever veg you have in your fridge! I used half a carrot, a tomato, two small mushrooms, half a courgette, 3 florets of broccoli and a handful of frozen peas
– one inch piece of chorizo, a cooked sausage would also work well or any other left over meat you have lurking in the fridge
– tsp olive oil, cooking fat or butter

Method:
– peel (if necessary) and chop your veg really small

– melt the fat in a small pan over a med heat and add the veg

– turn the heat to med/low and cook with the lid on for 4 mins

– chop the chorizo/meat up into bite sized chunks and add to the pan, cook for a minute with the lid off

– serve immediately (tip: if you add the frozen peas once everything else is cooked it should cool it down enough to eat pretty much straight away)