4/70
Mmmmm. Very tasty this one!
Usually we find fillets pretty bland and only use them chopped up in other dishes like jambalaya, but tonight I made the Salsa & Nacho Crusted Fillets and they were actually not just tasty but quite a welcome and interesting change.
This is them during cooking, before the nachos and cheese were added:
The bag of fillets contains 6 and the recipe suggests that this serves 2 or 3, personally I find quorn quite filling so I only had two, I served them with some mashed sweet potato and they went very well with this but would equally work with a salad or wedges to make them part of a more or less substantial meal.
A couple of picky things about the book so far which were particularly noticeable on this recipe relate to the missing bits of information which basically mean you have to guess, assume and just wing it really.
For instance, on this recipe it does not clarify whether you are cooking these from frozen for this recipe or defrost first (in the back of the book it vaguely suggests that recipes work better from frozen unless there is a marinade - but the salsa here could be considered that). Also, no guidance is given on how best to crush the nachos or to what size, I went by the picture and ad libbed by putting them in a freezer bag and whacking them with a spoon. It also does not state which type of nachos to use, I chose lightly salted as they are my favourite but actually this recipe may benefit from a cheesy flavour.
Weight watchers points per portion (based on a portion being 2 fillets) are incredibly low again, the quorn equates to 1.5, the weighed out portion of cheese and nachos adds 2.5 points so provided you use a fresh salsa with no nasties in it (which is therefore zero points) overall the quorn fillets are 4 points for a portion.
When they came out the oven they smelled amazing and looked pretty good too:
The texture is really interesting and works surprisingly well with the cheese and salsa heated up, like proper nachos like you see on the TV. My other half adored them and actually ate the remaining four that I had cooked. Very tasty and certainly it jazzes up the fillets which soak in some of the salsa flavours.
I will definitely be making these again and will potentially try them with the suggested Monteray Jack cheese (I used mature cheddar today) and cheese flavoured nachos.
9/10 for this one from both of us, which was a surprise as I was not expecting to be that impressed!
3/70
I have just cooked Quorn Balls in Tomato Sauce for our tea. I was very impressed with the flavour of the sauce, I have to say, but am a bit miffed about portion sizes....
Here is the sauce as it finished cooking:
Now I used a whole pack of the swedish style balls for this and when I counted them there was 18 in the pack, this is meant to serve 4 people....but 18 does not divide neatly into 4 for a start, I guess maybe there is meant to be an average of 20 in a bag and therefore 5 per person which would be about right.
This sauce is very tasty although my other half thought it was a bit bland (but then he would put chilli flakes in everything given half the chance). It is a great base sauce which would be brilliant for adapting - I chucked in a handful of chestnut mushrooms, sliced up, which needed using and it worked fine.
The sweetness of the tomatoes works well with the chopped up carrots, which are not something I would generally put in this kind of sauce, they also gave it a nice and varied texture. I ad libbed with a bit of balsamic at the end where the recipe just said 'season to taste' and I think that suited the flavours well.
Weight watchers points wise this is an excellent choice, because most of the ingredients are zero points (tomatoes, carrots, herbs) the quorn balls are 1.5 and then you need to account for the small amount of oil and the stock, this makes the sauce an amazingly low 3 points per serving, added to a weighed out portion of pasta it makes for a tasty and very filling meal for around 7 points (more if you sprinkle on some parmesan).
I would definitely make this again as a base sauce but will probably always ad lib with what I have to hand, it is simple and tasty and very low fat so it gets the thumbs up from me.
6/10 from the husband, who thinks it lacks a bit of heat. I would personally give it 7/10. Much better than out of a jar containing god knows what.
I have just made and eaten Quorn Tikka Masala from the Taste of Takeaway section of the cookbook.
Mixed feelings but on the whole pretty positive. It is tasty but for us it could have done with a bit more sauce and a bit more spice. Here is a photo of it once cooked, it did not look too far off the picture in the actual book:
In terms of weight watchers points, it is pretty low which is great. The main points are from the pieces, I made it with low fat greek yoghurt (the recipe did not specify either way) so that bought the points in lower and there is a small amount of oil and stock which also needs counting along with the tikka paste, this means the points total, based on the curry making four portions is 4 points per portion.
If you then serve with a weighed out portion of rice for 3 points you have a pretty darn good curry for 7 points.
Taste wise, I would have liked it to have a bit more 'oomph' and therefore when I make this again I will use hot chilli powder instead of mild and use more of it. I may also use even more water to thin down and expand the sauce - although I did already add extra water at the end with this version. It is not a particularly saucy curry, so to speak.
This is pretty easy to make and I chose to defrost the Quorn pieces before marinading which I think makes the quorn soak in the sauce much better than from frozen. This saw me defrost a bag of pieces in the microwave for the first time, two bursts of 3 minutes with a shake in the middle and they were indeed defrosted perfectly, as per the guidance in the back of the book.
Husband gave this 7/10 as a dish so not bad at all.
Hello!
Sorry, its been a week of birthday meals and social events which has meant not much cooking at home, but this weekend we have decided we are craving a curry so Quorn Tikka Masala is going to be the next recipe sampled.
On another note, I have been asked by my good friend Kelly (currently in hospital being induced with her first born - good luck Kells!) to share my red velvet cupcake recipe which is one I have been making for friends and family and various occasions for about a year now.
Whilst this is not a quorn thing, I reckon I may well post it on here rather than setting up another blog for baking. Hope nobody minds this! I will upload it over the weekend and also add the results of the Quorn Tikka Masala. Also intending to do the Quorn Balls in Tomato Sauce recipe during the next week or so, ingredients are on the shopping list for tonight (I must be insane to be doing my grocery shopping after work on a Friday but it's just the way it's fallen this week).
Back later with updates, ciao!
No 1/70
Just finished the Steak, Ale and Mushroom pie and it was VERY tasty indeed.
I had to make it in my small le creuset ceramic casserole but it turned out fine. Based on the ingredients this makes 4 portions of pie at 7 Weight Watchers points per portion. Please note this is based on my own calculations, most of the ingredients are zero points, only the steak pieces (1.5 points per quarter bag) and the puff pastry (5 points per portion) have a value. The other half point I have added is for the small amount of olive oil and pale ale in the recipe.
From start to finish this took about 40 minutes, half of which was in the oven. The end result was way more impressive than I was expecting, I served it with mashed potato and it worked well, see below:
The only things I will change if I cook this again will be to add more ale than the recipe suggests as personally we like more 'gravy' than this pie produced. Also, despite having longer than the recipe suggested the carrots were still a little on the crunchy side, I would consider cutting them into smaller chunks.
But - on the whole this is a tasty, filling and very healthy alternative to a steak pie, the seasoning works well and it is very appealing on a cold autumn night.
Monkey rating: 8/10 (from Veggie husband)
Bon appetit!
Ok!
Tonight I am going to make the Steak, Ale and Mushroom pie. I was very pleased to find that my local Asda had the steak strips in the frozen section so I did not have to traipse elsewhere to get them.
I have all the ingredients in to make this for tea and serve it with mashed potato. I also am going to make the crunchy salsa fillets over the weekend which I think is in the snack section, I reckon I will do this with a salad for saturday lunch.
Anyway, I will be back later with review of the steak pie recipe and points values.
Hurrah!
The book has arrived and I have had a chance to have a look through it - on the whole I am very excited about it and there are some great recipes to try, not as many as I was expecting but plenty enough to be going on with. The sections and recipe totals are broken down here:
Simple sharing snacks: 8
Light bites: 7
Super soups: 4
Midweek winners: 11
Comfort classics: 7
Lazy weekend: 13
Food with friends: 8
A taste of takeaway: 9
Little chefs: 3
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Total = 70
So, we have 70 recipes to go at. I intend on completing all 70 by the end of March which works out at roughly 3 a week. I figure based on my shopping and our eating habits this is doable. Some weeks I guess I may do more and some weeks less - but I will tackle all of them.
One slight disappointment I notice, is that there is no nutritional guidance alongside each recipe, I will be attempting to figure out the weight watchers points for each recipe as I follow this plan anyway so it should be easy enough - it is a shame that Quorn did not include this information as standard though, especially given that so many people choose Quorn as a healthy option in the first place.
So, this week I am going to attempt the Steak, Ale and Mushroom pie - provided I can find the steak strips needed, going shopping tonight so fingers crossed! Looks good in the book though. Will be back to blog after or during the completion of this dish and once I have figured out the points value!
