Quorn Spaghetti Bolognese

26/70


Hello people, hope you have all had a good week. Just as a heads up, planned recipes coming up over the next week or so include the bolognese pizza, blue cheese mushrooms and steak supper in a flash. I have just ordered my groceries online for next week and so for once have been organised enough to decide ahead of time which ones to attempt and make sure I have everything in!


On to Spaghetti Bolognese - again, as with the cottage pie, this is a meal I frequently make but not to this specific recipe. To be honest I do not actually have a 'formal' recipe for spaghetti bolognese I just ad lib it with whatever is to hand and my husband loves it. The recipe for this was interesting because it seemed an unusual method of cooking off the sauce before adding the quorn.


Basically the base sauce is as you would expect, carrot, onion and celery softened with garlic, tinned tomatoes, puree and a splash of red wine plus some stock and herbs. Oh and unusually a tablespoon of tomato ketchup as well. The sauce actually smelled amazing while cooking and then once it has simmered for a while you bung in the quorn mince at the end (I used frozen).


The texture of the sauce was exactly as you might expect and tasted good while I was cooking and testing the seasoning. I followed the recipe's suggestion of cooking the pasta once the mince had been added and the timings worked well.


Here is a picture of the served dish:

So, what did it taste like? Well, I have to say we were both a bit disappointed that the flavour was no where near as exciting or vivid as we were expecting. It was *nice* but just not anything more than that. I almost felt like I must have screwed up the seasoning but I think it has more to do with the fact that I generally always add a pinch of chilli flakes to my own version and had not done so here. I could not really taste the red wine either and if I made it again I might increase that from 100ml to 150ml to see if it made a difference.


I would not go so far as to say this was bland, it was perfectly edible but just did not particularly inspire me. My favourite thing about this is the method of cooking which I will adapt in to my own recipe for the future.


Points wise, each portion of this has 12 propoints which includes allowing for a 60g portion of pasta and half a tablespoon of grated parmesan. This is therefore a pretty good deal in terms of points. They are broken down fully as follows: pasta (6), quorn mince (2), oil (2), red wine (1) and grated parmesan (1).


We gave this a 6/10, it is nice enough but we prefer my version - although the method of cooking is interesting and gives me a new way to try. If I made it again I think I would tinker with the seasoning and quantities in this one, but if you like your food less spicy then this may well be ideal for you.

Quorn Cottage Pie

25/70


So here we are, one third of the way through the Quorn Cookbook. I have to say I am really enjoying this project and finding that it is teaching me new and interesting ways of cooking with Quorn; this is not to say that every recipe is amazing but every recipe certainly seems to be providing new creative ideas. And some of the recipes are absolutely brilliant and will no doubt become regular features in our lives.


I was interested in this cottage pie recipe  because I already make my own version of this dish which we really enjoy. The main differences between my version and this recipe are that I tend to use half sweet potato mash (instead of half parsnip) and I do not add soy sauce to the mix. Other than this it is basically quite similar.


We really enjoyed this, although I was keener on the parsnip mash than my husband who says he prefers my version (looking for brownie points maybe!?). This is what it looks like when served:

You will see I have added sweetcorn to mine. This was for two reasons, firstly the recipe says 100g of frozen peas or other frozen veg so I decided to do half and half because I like sweetcorn. Secondly, the recipe asks for 350g of mince but I only had the frozen 300g portion, I therefore chucked in an extra handful of sweetcorn to make up for this shortfall.


I have to say it makes four portions but they are not the biggest. I would generally eat cottage pie on its own although this recipe suggests you serve it with fresh veg. I can see why it might benefit from a side portion of veg because the portions are not exactly generous. My husband was still hungry after finishing his.


It is great on the points front though, only 9 points per portion, split as follows: quorn mince (2), oil (1), sweetcorn (1), frozen peas (1), mashed potato and parsnip (4). Pretty healthy and yet enjoyable, this does not feel like a low fat recipe and does not taste like it either (in my opinion). This is pretty much a classic where the use of quorn mince works very well.


I like the addition of soy sauce to the cottage pie and felt that it gave it a bit more 'zing', because of the use of stock granules and soy sauce in the recipe I did not add further salt when seasoning and it did not require it either.


We liked this recipe and I would give it an 8/10, I would, in future serve it with some veg on the side though to make sure it provides a filling meal.

Pizza with Quorn Italian Balls

24/70


Good evening Quorn fans! Tonight marked a complete change from the normal routine as my husband insisted on cooking the next recipe - Pizza with Quorn Italian Balls.


He had inferred that he intended on doing so when I mentioned this was one of the next recipes I fancied trying. I had duly bought all the ingredients in the weekly shop and low and behold, tonight he actually followed the recipe and narrated through it so I could still blog about it for you all. It is safe to say that our first quorn pizza has indeed been a success!


One of the great things about this recipe is that it is quick and easy. I have never attempted to put quorn on a pizza before, although we do frequently create our own at home. I think it has just never occurred to me. But we will definitely be doing this again. This is what the finished pizza looked like, quite impressive I think you will agree:

I bought a fresh stonebaked pizza base from the pizza counter in my local Asda and it was just right for this recipe. I tweaked it a little by buying low fat mozzarella to cut the points down but other than that Mr O followed the recipe, spreading the base with tomato pizza topper, quartering the microwaved quorn balls and scattering along with the combined mozzarella and grated cheddar, adding a dash of oregano and shoving in the oven for 15 minutes, eh voila!


Taste wise it was indeed very enjoyable, the quorn balls work surprisingly well in the topping (I used Swedish rather than Italian as that was the only choice in my local supermarket). 


Points wise this is a bit of a big hitter, even with the lower fat mozzarella. Half of a pizza with a large base is 16 points broken down as follows: base (7), mozzarella (3), tomato sauce (2), quorn balls (2) grated cheddar (2).


This is therefore a meal you would need to factor into your daily points or save/earn some extra for. But it is tasty and feels quite indulgent, you could even omit the cheddar and I reckon it would still be pretty good.


Lovely for me to have a night off from the cooking too, I give this an 8/10. Husband gives it a 9/10 but I think he might be just a tiny bit biased.

Steak Strips with Creamy Mustard Pasta

23/70


First of all I will point you to this page on the Quorn website where the full recipe details for this are.


This is a pasta dish using Quorn steak strips (which I do think are one of the best quorn products available). Unfortunately, I am not particularly enamoured with this recipe and I think (much like with the Lemon Chilli Linguine) that part of the reason is that it uses lemon in a savoury dish again and I am just not that keen on it.


Basically, the steak strips are fried off with onion, garlic and then the green beans and sweetcorn are added. The pasta is cooked alongside this so it is a fairly speedy dish to make. The 'sauce' as it were is a combination of creme fraiche (I used half fat), wholegrain mustard and lemon zest.


This is what the dish looks like when served:

You can probably tell from this photo that the dish is fairly dry (another similarity with the Lemon Chilli Linguine). But the flavours are quite strong. Unfortunately I found them a bit overwhelming and not in a particularly good way.


The recipe advises 1-2tbsp of mustard should be stirred into the creme fraiche, I generally quite like wholegrain mustard to I bunged in 2tbsp. Mistake. It was simply too strong. If I ever did make it again I would definitely err on the side of caution.


The lemon zest shines through as another very vivid element. I think I just do not really like lemon flavouring in anything other than cakes, puddings and pancakes. My husband likes it even less and proclaimed that he scored this dish 3/10. I was not that harsh, I give it a 4/10.


Points wise this is a fairly good bet. Based on the recipe serving 4, each portion contains 8 propoints, made up as follows: quorn steak (2), pasta (4), half fat creme fraiche (1), oil (1).


This is a nice simple recipe and the premise is good - I like the idea of using the creme fraiche as a base for a creamy sauce but for me the overwhelming lemon flavour stopped it from being particularly enjoyable. Oh well, you can't like them all!

Quorn Fillets Provencale

22/70


I tried this recipe midweek and have to say I quite liked it although the premise is very simple. Yet again it reinforced my newfound abilities with fillets and I do think the Quorn Cookbook has been particularly strong with this particular product, I wish I had been more imaginative with them long ago!


This is quite a basic dish really but the seasoning works well. I had never used Herbes de Provence before but duly purchased a jar for this recipe. The quorn fillets are then rubbed in a mixture of the herbs and oil and left to marinade until needed. The rest of the recipe is basically a pepper ratatouille which is virtually free on weight watchers apart from the oil. 


This is what it looks like at the end when the fillets (which have been browned off in a separate pan) are added to the cooked veg and allowed to simmer for a couple of minutes:

You can see the herbs have stayed attached to the fillets and this is because they have been cooked separately. I quite liked the flavour of this seasoning which is heavily thyme and rosemary based to my nose.


The colours of this dish are bright and appealing and it looks quite mouthwatering on the plate, this is it when served (I chose to serve it with crusty bread as per the recipe suggestion):

The recipe makes 3 portions at 2 fillets and plenty of veg each. Based on 3 portions the points are quite low at 6, made up of only two elements - the oil (4) and the fillets (2). There is a lot of oil in this recipe because the herbs are mixed with it to use as a marinade and then both pans (for the veg and browning the fillets) require an extra tablespoon.


Although it is a lot of oil to use, it is still a low point recipe and so I did not attempt to slice anymore off it. You could, I suppose, use fry light for the veg and browning if needs be. 


Healthy and very tasty, full of great flavour and very simple to make, this is a dish I will be repeating. It is not fantastically exciting but it is enjoyable and satisfying and yet again does something interesting with quorn fillets.


We gave it a 7/10.

Quorn Pieces with Broccoli & Sweetcorn

21/70


Hope you all had a great week. I am so glad it is the weekend, I have had a particularly busy few days so am very glad of the break.


I made this recipe midweek and served it two ways, once with garlic mashed potato and once with pasta. In the book it suggests that it goes well with potatoes, pasta or noodles, we thought it was ok (but nothing special) with the pasta and slightly more appealing with the mashed potato. The recipe works and is fairly low fat (made my way) but it just is not one I will rush to make again.


Basically you cook the quorn pieces, broccoli and sweetcorn in a milk based creamy sauce with mustard for flavouring, thickened with cornflour. It is fairly quick and easy to make and produces a sauce which is fairly tasty. This is what it looks like while cooking:

You can see the mustard seeds because I used wholegrain mustard (which I prefer) rather than the dijon mustard that the recipe suggests.


The other tweak I made was using skimmed milk which cut down the points somewhat and worked just fine. I guess the sauce would have been creamier if you used the semi skimmed suggested but you would need to amend the points balance.


This is the dish served with pasta:

I found it quite bland with the pasta, whereas when we had it with the mashed potato it just seemed to be more enjoyable and less stodgy.


Points wise, it is a fairly good bet with each portion (the recipe makes 4) being 7 points. This equates to quorn pieces (2), milk (1), sweetcorn (1), oil (1), cornflour (1) and cheese (1). This means that served with two scoops of mashed potato with margerine you have a complete meal for 11 points or with pasta it is 13 points.


I was not particularly excited by this recipe and although I like the method and it has made me consider creating sauces for quorn pieces, I will not rush to make this again. My husband really did not enjoy it with the pasta at all.


We give it a 6/10.

Pizza Topped Quorn Burgers

20/70

Hello all, over the weekend I made this recipe with Quorn Burgers, a product we eat quite a lot of but with no variations whatsoever. We really like Quorn burgers in all their varieties, in particular the sweet pepper and red onion ones are very nice, perfect for barbeques in the summer and jazzed up in a bun with cheese, ketchup and maybe some onions. I was intrigued therefore, by this recipe which does something quite different with them.

Basically you split an English muffin in half and use each half as a base for your 'pizza', you then toast it lightly before spreading it with pesto and topping with a (pre-cooked) burger - I used normal, plain frozen ones for this recipe, a slice of beef tomato, some basil and mozzarella cheese and then grilling until the cheese melts and bubbles.

Simples as the meerkat would say.

Simple - yes , but delicious! This is such a lovely way to eat the burgers and works really well, its also quick. I cooked my burgers in the microwave while I toasted the muffins - this has the added benefit of using no fat to cook them and meant that the grill was still hot when I needed to put them back under. I used lower fat mozzarella to keep the points values down and do not think you can tell the difference.

This is what they looked like when finished:

In terms of points values, the recipe serves 2 with a portion being 2 burgers each. This is quite substantial and I would probably serve it with a salad or something for a lighter option. Each portion of 2 burgers is 11 propoints broken down as follows: burgers (4), muffin (4), pesto (2), mozzarella (1). Obviously if you use full fat mozzarella the value will be higher and you could probably shave it down a little using low fat pesto.

My husband absolutely loved these and actually made himself another two once he had finished his own (he does run marathons so can annoyingly get away with putting away a lot of food!). Both of us thoroughly enjoyed this recipe and it is definitely one I will make again.

We gave it a 9/10 for innovativity and being so enjoyable - nice one Quorn for giving me something different to do with quorn burgers!