Recipes

INGREDIENTS FOR TWO PEOPLE

• 160 g wholemeal pasta (ideally fusilli)
• 300 g fresh or frozen peas
• Half an onion
• Pepper
• Salt
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Herbs (basil or mint)
• 20 g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
• One lemon, make sure the peel is edible

INSTRUCTIONS

Put a saucepan of lightly salted water on to boil, make sure there’s plenty of water, this is where the pasta will be cooked. While it comes to the boil, shell the peas (if they are fresh) and finely chop half an onion.

Warm a little extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the chopped onion, once it has started to brown add the peas and two tablespoons of the cooking water from the saucepan, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and leave to simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

Coarsely chop the pistachios, which will be used to garnish the dish.

Once the peas are cooked, remove just over half of them and blend with a few basil or mint leaves until smooth and creamy.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss in the pan with the remaining peas. Put the creamed peas on the bottom of the serving plates, add the pasta with the whole peas and complete the dish by adding the pistachio crumb, grated lemon zest, and two basil or mint leaves.

INGREDIENTS FOR TWO PEOPLE

• 160 g barley
• 150 g feta cheese
• 3 courgettes
• 150 g tomatoes
• 1 spring onion
• 20 g walnuts
• Basil
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Pepper
• Salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Put a saucepan of lightly salted water on to boil, make sure there’s plenty of water, this is where the barley will be cooked. In the meantime, dice the courgettes, warm a little extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and cook them for about ten minutes. Finely chop the fresh spring onion and basil, dice the feta, cut the cherry tomatoes into small slices and chop the walnuts. Once the barley and courgettes are cooked, leave them to cool for about ten minutes.

Put all the ingredients together in a bowl, season with extra virgin olive oil and pepper, mix well and serve. This salad is ideal eaten lukewarm, but you could increase the quantities and eat it cold the following day as a packed lunch or on a picnic.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 lettuce hearts or leafy green lettuce
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 fresh sweet cherry tomatoes, cut into pieces
• 250 g salmon fillets
• 6 anchovy fillets, cut into strips lengthways
• 16 pitted black olives
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons apple vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 fresh, chopped basil leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk the vinegar, oil, parsley, chives, garlic, salt and pepper together. Place the salmon in a shallow dish and pour over half of this dressing. Cover the dish and leave it to rest for 1-2 hours so that the fish can marinate. Heat the grill and a baking tray for 5 minutes, remove the salmon from the marinade and put it on the baking tray. Cook the fillets for about 2-3 minutes on each side, depending on how cooked you want them to be. Arrange the lettuce leaves on a large plate and add the onion, tomatoes and anchovies. Place the salmon on top. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and finish the salad off with the olives and basil leaves.

Instead of salmon, you can use tinned mackerel in extra virgin olive oil (well-drained), or tuna, either fresh steaks or tinned.

INGREDIENTS FOR TWO PEOPLE

•  160 g cornsalad (valerian)
• 1 cucumber
• 160 g sweetcorn
• 4 g fresh apricots
• 200 g fresh mozzarella
• Extra virgin olive oil to taste
• A handful of mixed salad seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

Wash the salad vegetables and the apricots; using a bag of ready-to-eat cornsalad is a good way to reduce preparation time. Dice the cucumber and mix with the cornsalad in a bowl. Cut the apricots into wedges, add to the bowl with the sweetcorn and the mozzarella cut into slices. All that remains is to season the salad with extra virgin olive oil and top it with mixed salad seeds to give it an extra crunch.

Serve with a couple of slices of bread, preferably wholemeal.

 There are lots of types of bread to start with:

• Bread made with durum wheat flour (think classic Italian bread fresh from the baker’s)
• Kamut flour bread
• Light brown or brown bread, made with semi-whole wheat flour or wholemeal flour
• Rye bread
• Buckwheat bread
• Multigrain bread (check that it’s wholegrain)

Then just add at least one vegetable and a source of protein (white meat, fish, cheese, pulses…) to build a healthy option:

Chicken breast, lettuce and tomatoes in a durum wheat flour roll.

Grilled courgettes and aubergines, sun-dried tomatoes and chickpea hummus in a wholemeal roll.

Cornsalad (valerian), a mini omelette with leek and courgettes, and olive pâté in a rye bread roll.

Mixed leaf salad, julienne carrots, mackerel or tuna and soy mayonnaise in a buckwheat roll.

Endive and brie, or grilled radicchio and fontina cheese in a multigrain roll.