69/70
Ok, so Beef Empanadas then - I cannot find an online version of this recipe so will be explaining it with a bit more detail than normal. I knew this might not be one of our favourites as we are not too keen on shortcrust pastry in our household and that is probably why it got left so close to the end.
In terms of how they looked I was pretty impressed, this is the picture of the filling when ready to use:
And this is the finished empanadas:
Now, I must admit I cheated and bought ready-made pastry because I just did not fancy the hassle of making my own for a recipe I was not that keen on. It also made the whole thing a lot quicker and easier. The recipe calls for eight 6" circles of pastry to be cut out ready to make the pasty like empanadas.
Basically the filling is fried off steak strips, garlic, onion and peppers with some red wine, chilli and paprika. Quite a tasty filling. You then spoon a small amount into the centre of each circle of pastry, top with a small amount of grated cheese (the recipe asks for emmental but I used mature cheddar) and fold the pastry over into a semi circle before sealing and glazing with egg wash.
The empanadas take 20-25 minutes to bake in the oven and then they are ready to serve. I served them with potato wedges and it all looked a bit beige as you can see!
This recipe is labelled as a light bites/snack so I guess the implication is you would only eat one. I had one and found it quite substantial anyway due to the heaviness of the pastry. I would certainly not want to eat two. I also found it overwhelmingly salty - but I think this may be my use of mature cheddar instead of emmental cheese. I did not overly enjoy it to be honest.
And then there is the propoints. Of course the minute you wrap something in pastry the values shoot through the roof. Each empanada will cost you 11 propoints! This is because the pastry alone is 8 - the breakdown is as follows: pastry (8), quorn (1), cheese (1), oil (1). This is based on around a tbslp of oil to saute everything in and a very small amount of cheese in each empanada.
So pretty high values for a dish I was not overly keen on - but if you like pastry and these kinds of foods then it might be your bag! Personally I gave it a 5/10 and I don't think I would make it again but it is a new way to use quorn so fairplay to them for that.
68/70
Over the Easter weekend I did two of the final three recipes in the book, this is one of them: Spicy Coconut Noodle Soup.
It is another Thai inspired soup, using curry paste and coconut milk as the base but it is surprisingly quick and easy to sling together and quite tasty and filling too. I had no shitake mushrooms and used chestnut instead of button for the fresh but it was fine.
Here are some pictures of the dish served:
Please note that the recipe in the link above is double the quantities of that in the book - my version served 4 good portions and was half of all the quantities of ingredients.
Very easy to make, first you set the dried mushrooms to soak (I had picked up a big bag of mixed dried Asian mushrooms from Aldi the other week for a quid so this was great timing!). Then you literally fry off the paste in a big pan, add the coconut milk, water from the mushrooms and quorn pieces and simmer for five minutes then add all the other ingredients in two batches (mushrooms then everything else) simmer for another few minutes and Bob's your uncle!
As it contains noodles this is quite a filling soup and would actually make a great light meal on its own. I did find it rather hard to serve because the soup base itself is very watery but the noodles mean it drips a lot and hangs in clumps - the easiest way to get it from pan to bowl was with a spaghetti server and then a ladle!
Based on this serving 4, each portion totalled 10 propoints which seems quite high but then the noodles, coconut milk and paste all have values which needed adding in, this is broken down as follows: noodles (5), quorn (1), light coconut milk (3), paste (1).
I did find this quite tasty but I am not sure I would make it again in a hurry as it sits uneasily between a full meal and a soup to me and also it is SO hard to serve without making a mess! Nevertheless we gave this a 7/10.
67/70
Wow, this one was a real winner in our house! A hoisin quorn fillet rice salad with a zesty dressing. Filling, fairly healthy and pretty easy to throw together - although I have to say that (as usual) I tweaked it around our tastes and what I had in the house.
I cannot find an online version of this recipe at the moment so no link I'm afraid, but I will walk you through it. Firstly the fillets were marinaded in Hoisin sauce (just a shop bought jar). Now the recipe said to mix 3 tbslp with 1 tbslp of oil but I couldn't see the point of adding oil here so I simply used the sauce - and I didn't measure it either, I just slathered most of the jar over the fillets (which I had left to defrost in the fridge overnight first).
I left the fillets in the sauce for a good few hours to marinade and meanwhile made the dressing for the rice. This consisted of a clove of garlic, chopped (I used 2), 3 tblsp of fresh orange juice, zest of two oranges and 3 tblsp of olive oil. This ready to pour into the rice I chopped all the veg.
Two peppers and a courgette were chopped into batons and the recipe called for a cucumber too but we do not like cucumber so I ignored this. I also chopped a handful of fresh parsley and a handful of fresh mint and put them to one side. Doing all this prep means that the dish itself is speedy to prepare.
Next I cooked the rice (200g - I used basmati) and then once it had cooled a little I stirred the dressing into it and left it for 10 minutes to marinade. Next you mix together all the raw veg and the herbs into the rice (the recipe also includes 2 segmented oranges but I left these out too as I can't have too much citrus due to migraines). This is what the rice salad section looked like when it was ready:
Next the fillets were put under the grill for about 6 minutes on each side, until I could be sure they were cooked through. I then served the fillets and the rice on top of a bed of salad leaves.
We both really enjoyed this meal and I thought it looked pretty appetizing too! The dressing through the rice was lovely and the flavours really worked well together, the sauce on the fillets had baked on and this was a nice touch, I will definitely use that method with cooking fillets again in the future.
In terms of weight watchers points each portion works out at 12 (based on the recipe serving 3 with 2 fillets each). This is broken down as follows: rice (6), quorn fillets (3), oil (2), hoi sin sauce (1). Considering this is a pretty filling and incredibly tasty meal I think this is pretty good.
I would definitely make this again and it is a great recipe to tweak to your own tastes too, top marks Quorn - I wish I had made this one earlier! We give this an 8/10.
66/70
I can almost see the finish line with this project! Only four more recipes to go!
Anyway, as the weather in the UK is akin to mid-summer at the moment (despite it being March) it was lovely to do another of the salads from the book.
This is a Thai salad and it does indeed involve many Thai flavours, it is also quite a filling salad as it is full of raw veg as well as the quorn pieces. It is easy to make and the dressing is lovely and light, as you will see below it also ticks all the boxes in terms of how healthy it is so a winner all round!
First things first, you need to marinade the pieces in green thai curry paste, I used a couple of tablespoons because we like it spicy. I left it for around an hour before doing everything else. The salad consists of shredded white cabbage, a sliced pepper, diced mango, blanched green beans and a couple of chopped tomatoes. The marinaded quorn pieces are then cooked off until the marinade has browned and the pieces are cooked through.
The dressing is simply garlic, ginger, soy sauce, lime juice and zest and a small amount of oil. This is why the salad is so zingy, the combination of lime, soy, ginger, garlic and the final coriander garnish is very Thai tasting and delicious. The veg and quorn mix, along with the dressing are then tossed with salad leaves to create the final salad dish.
It is also a very colourful salad, as you can see here:
I thoroughly enjoyed this salad (which is quite something as it is not a style of dish I particularly like). The mix of textures and the vivid flavours made it very enjoyable and I will definitely be making this one again - fantastic on a warm day.
In terms of weight watchers points, only the quorn, paste and oil in the dressing carries any points and therefore, based on this serving four, each portion is only 4 points as follows: quorn (2), oil (1), curry paste (1). An absolute bargain in terms of daily points!
We would give this salad an 8/10 and I think it is my favourite salad to date from the book.
65/70
Another soup from the book (only one more soup to do after this one!) and this is definitely more of a hearty broth. As this one contains noodles and is almost a main meal in itself I really quite enjoyed it - it reminded me of the ramen style dishes you can get in Wagamama.
Very quick and easy to make, the base of this is chopped ginger and garlic simmered in hot vegetable stock for 5 minutes. Before I set to creating the stock base I marinaded the steak strips in Chinese 5 spice powder and some szechuan sauce. The recipe calls for only a tablespoon of the sauce but I whacked in a full 'Blue Dragon' sachet and personally I liked the heat this gave to the soup.
Once your stock is simmered you drop in the marinaded pieces, chopped pepper (I used frozen) and chopped pak choi and cook for a few more minutes to heat through, then add in the noodles (cooked and refreshed in cold water) and heat the whole thing through, garnish with spring onions and fresh parsley and serve.
This is what it looks like served:
Because of the noodles this feels like less of a soup and more of a main meal and we really enjoyed it. I think for us it would have been a bit bland if I had not bumped up the amount of szechuan sauce in the dish but obviously you can tweak this to suit your own tastes. The ginger and garlic and also the 5 spice come through really nicely and make for a very aromatic dish.
As the ginger and garlic are simply cooked off in the stock there is no fat in this recipe at all which is a real bonus. In terms of weight watchers points, using the recommended 50g egg noodles per person, each portion works out at only 6 points as follows: noodles (4) and steak strips (2). Everything else in this recipe is zero points!
I would personally make this again, the dish had a real vibrancy to it and the flavours were very distinct, it also has the added benefit of being healthy whilst also filling, we would give this an 8/10 and it is probably my favourite soup by a long chalk from the Quorn book.
64/70
Today I have tried another soup from the remaining handful of recipes, this time a chowder style using Quorn smokey bacon strips. I actually really did enjoy it too!
This is a pretty simple soup to make and full of flavour, the smoky bacon strips work really well in it and from start to finish it only takes about half an hour to prepare. To start cut about 4 bacon rashers into thin strips, I used the frozen ones and defrosted them for a minute or so in the microwave, you then fry these off in a tblsp of oil until lightly browned. Chuck in a finely sliced small onion (I used a red onion) and sweat for a couple of minutes until the onion is softened.
Next add one medium potato chopped into 1-2 cm cubes and ml vegetable stock, bring up to the boil and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Next mix 2 tsp cornflour with 2 tblsp milk (taken from the 350ml total you need for the recipe) to form a paste and add this to the pan along with the rest of the milk. The recipe calls for semi-skimmed but I used skimmed and it worked fine.
Now, simmer for another 6 or so minutes - until the potato is tender, then add 175g frozen sweetcorn and stir through until this has warmed. Sprinkle in a handful of chopped parsley and it is ready to serve.
This is what it looked like served up:
You can see this is quite a creamy looking soup and I guess if you used whole or semi-skimmed milk you would get a creamier result, I have stuck with skimmed as it's what we have in the house and in any event will bring down the points total per portion. This recipe makes 4 normal size portions.
The propoints total per portion is 6 broken down as follows: quorn bacon (1), oil (1), sweetcorn (2), potato (1), milk (1). This is of course based on using skimmed milk and the total would need to be adjusted if you choose to use semi or whole milk instead.
This is a very tasty soup and the smoky bacon flavour works really well with the sweetness of the corn and the creamy texture, it is a lovely idea on a cold afternoon and I actually found it quite filling - probably due to the potato. This is definitely my favourite soup from the Quorn book so far.
I would make this again and we give it an 8/10 - definitely one to try!
63/70
This is the first soup I have attempted from the Quorn cookbook. It's pretty easy to make but the recipe is not on the Quorn website as yet so I will talk through it in more detail than normal.
The method is the usual one for any soup base, a chopped onion is sweated until soft and then 2 cloves of crushed garlic are added, next 3 tblsp of tomato puree along with a teaspoon each of dried thyme and marjoram and a tbslp of fresh chopped rosemary are added.
Next the wet stuff goes in, a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin of canellini beans and 1.5litres of veg stock. Give it a good stir, season to taste and bring it to boiling point then turn down the heat and add the quorn pieces (175g) and simmer for 12 minutes (I chucked them in frozen). Lastly add the pasta shells (100g) and simmer for a further 12-14 minutes until the pasta is cooked.
What you end up with is a very hearty and thick stew like soup. The step I have missed out above is that is asks you to remove half of the soup before you add the quorn pieces and blend it until smooth and then add it back to the pan. This seemed like way too much hassle to me so I used a stick blender in the pan itself and just blitzed away until I judged that about half was liquidized.
This is what it looked like during the simmering:
And here it is served:
It was actually very tasty indeed and so thick and substantial that it felt more like a filling meal than a soup usually would. This was a nice way to use the pieces and I would probably use this as a base recipe for creating other soups with whatever I have in the fridge.
In terms of pro-points, if you base this on 4 substantial portions each one works out at 6 - this is broken down as follows: quorn (1), pasta (2), beans (2), oil (1). This is high for a soup but considering how filling this is it makes sense. I do think it is worth 6 points as it leaves you feeling very full!
We would give this a 7 out of 10, it's not the most exciting of recipes but it is easy to make and very tasty. Great on a cold winters day.
