Main Meals

Summers almost here, time for some zucchini goodness!

Zucchini Boats:

Ingredients:

• 1 can tomatoes, organic preferably
• 1 Zucchini per person
• 4 mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1 clove garlic, chopped or crushed
• 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
• olives for the top
• a few fresh herbs, thyme sprigs, oregano leaves (or 1 tsp dried)
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Scoop the seeds out of a good sized zucchini.
2. Make a mixture of canned tomatoes, finely chopped mushroom, a garlic clove or two, chopped finely & some fresh herbs. 
3. Mix in a little nutritional yeast, then put the mixture onto the zucchini halves, with some olives on top. Any kind is fine. 
4. Bake in a moderately hot oven 180ºC (375ºF) for 40-45 mins until soft but not falling apart.
5. Serve on its own, or with plain cooked meat (lamb steak would be nice) or fish, chicken, pasta etc.

*I put the cooked pre frozen prawns on after I cooked the zucchini.


* If you have tomato mixture left over (I did) put it in the fridge in a sealed container & use in the next two days.



My first recipe for this page is risotto. Who doesn't love a warming, belly filling, comforting, risotto! If you can eat rice of course.
I used brown medium grain rice for this recipe, but you can use aborio equally well. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown medium grain rice, rinsed in cold water & drained
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2-3 Tbs olive oil
• 2 chicken thighs, poached in a large  pot of water for 2 hours on low heat. I added a bay leaf & sprigs of fresh thyme. Keep the water**
• 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• Juice of 1 lemon & zest of half of it. (Zest before cutting it)
• handful of fresh rocket leaves
• 2-3 Tbs parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions:

1. Warm the olive oil in a large pot (3-4 litres) 1 gallon
2. Add the crushed garlic & saute for one minute on medium heat
3. Add the washed rice & stir for 2-3 mins only.
4. Add the 'stock' from the chicken, removing the bay leaf & thyme sprigs. Add the fresh thyme sprigs & cook on a low heat, covered, until almost all the stock is soaked up by the rice. Approximately 30-40 mins. Stir occasionally. 
5. Add the shredded or chopped chicken, lemon juice & zest & fresh rocket leaves.
6. Season with a little sea salt to taste.
7. Add parmesan at this stage if you're able to have dairy.

This recipe will feed one person for about 3 days, or 3-4 people. Serve with a side salad & crusty bread to make it go further.