With the warmer weather creeping in, it’s time to change up our diets and add some colour with lighter, brighter dishes.
Re energise your midweek meals with these delicious spring recipes that will add colour and zing to meal times, whatever the occasion.
Delicious Spring Recipes – Aubergine, Tomato and Shallot Pide
Make your own pizza dough or use a packet mix if you’re in a hurry!
Ingredients
- Pizza dough made from a 145g packet
- 2 echalion shallots, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp chilli flakes
- 1 aubergine, chopped
- 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3 tbsp yoghurt
- A squeeze of lemon
- 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- Pomegranate seeds
- Fresh mint
- Salt & pepper
Method
- Make your pizza dough as the packet instructions and set to one side.
- Preheat the oven to 200⁰c.
- Sauté the chopped shallots in the olive oil for ten minutes until golden, add the garlic and spices and cook for another two minutes.
- Add the chopped aubergine and tomatoes, stir, cover and cook for ten minutes or until the aubergine is soft.
- Divide the dough into four and roll each ball into a long oval shape. Pinch the ends together to make a boat shape. Transfer to an oiled baking sheet.
- Divide the vegetable mixture between the four pides, rolling the edge over a little to hold it in.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile combine the yoghurt, lemon, mint and garlic to make the dressing.
- Remove the pides from the oven, leave to cool slightly, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and mint and serve with the yoghurt dressing.
Delicious Spring Recipes – Avocado Toast with Blue Cheese, Radish & Walnut
The ever-popular brunch dish is given a crunchy twist by topping with pretty, peppery French breakfast radishes and walnuts.
Ingredients
- 1 slice of sourdough bread, toasted
- ½ ripe avocado, mashed
- Squeeze of lime
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 French breakfast radishes, sliced
- 20g Danish blue cheese, crumbled
- 4 walnut halves roughly chopped and toasted
- Drizzle of olive oil (optional)
Method
- Combine the mashed avocado and lime juice and season well with salt and black pepper. Spread on the toast.
- Lay the radish slices over the avocado then crumble the cheese over the top, scatter with walnuts and season.
- Drizzle with olive oil if desired.
Delicious Spring Recipes – British asparagus, sweet potato and tomato shakshouka
This wholesome brunch dish is packed with nutrients and energy thanks to the asparagus and sweet potato. An easy one pot that will keep hungry crowds happy.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2-1 tsp chilli flakes, to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm chunks (about 400g total weight)
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 400g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 bunch British asparagus, trimmed and chopped into bite size pieces
- 2-4 eggs, depending on hunger
- a small handful coriander, chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
- a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
- a dollop of Greek yogurt
Method
- Add the cumin and chilli to a frying pan and set over a medium-high heat to toast for a couple for minutes. Once the spices are fragrant, pour in the oil and add the sweet potato cubes, stirring well to mix. Reduce the heat to a minimum and cover the pan with a piece of tin foil (or a lid if you have one). Leave to cook for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the sweet potato is just starting to soften.
- Remove the foil, add the garlic and stir through, then fry for a minute. Turn the heat up a little, add the tomatoes and a little salt and pepper and fry for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir through the asparagus, recover loosely with the foil and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Use a wooden spoon to push the vegetables aside to make 2-4 wells in the asparagus mix, cracking an egg into each. Recover loosely with the foil and leave to cook until the eggs are done to your liking, about 5-8 minutes for a set white and a runny yolk.
- Season with salt and black pepper, scatter over the coriander, top with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately with plenty of crusty bread.
Delicious Spring Recipes – Crispy Topped Vegan British Asparagus Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 250g British asparagus
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp vegan red pesto
- 1 tbsp grated vegan Parmesan cheese (we like Violife)
- 350g short rigatoni (or another chunky pasta shape like penne)
- 4 tbsp Flora plant butter
- 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp plain flour
- 700 – 950ml unsweetened soya milk
- 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 75g vegan Parmesan cheese (we like Violife)
Method
- Wash and trim the asparagus and blanch it briefly in boiling water and then refresh in cold water. Set to one side.
- In a small bowl, mix the crushed garlic, olive oil, breadcrumbs, red pesto and vegan Parmesan and mix together. Set to one side.
- Put the pasta on to cook in a large pan of salted, boiling water.
- In a separate pan on a medium heat, melt the Flora plant butter and add the garlic and fry for a minute. Add the flour and cook for one more minute, stirring as you go.
- Now slowly whisk in the soya milk, start with 700ml and see how much your sauce thickens – you want it to be about the consistency of a thick bechamel, so add more soya milk if necessary. Now take off the heat and mix in the nutritional yeast, vegan parmesan and plenty of salt and pepper to taste.
- Preheat your grill on medium-high, then mix the pasta with the sauce and the blanched asparagus and transfer to a large oven proof dish. Crumble over the breadcrumb mix. Put under the grill for around 5 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
Delicious Spring Recipes – French Lentil Salad with Hard Boiled Eggs
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 stalks celery, finely diced
- 1 large carrot, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 400g tin cooked green lentils, rinsed and drained
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- Salt & pepper
- 2 eggs, hardboiled to your liking, peeled and halved
- 100g goats’ cheese
- 30g roasted salted almonds, roughly chopped
- Small handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
Method
- Heat 1tbsp olive oil in deep frying pan or casserole, add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic and cook until softened. Turn off the heat, add the lentils, stir through and set to one side.
- Make a dressing by shaking together the lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, honey and seasoning in a jar and then add the dressing to the warm pan and stir through.
- Divide the mixture between two bowls, top with two halves of egg, some crumbled goats’ cheese, almonds and chopped parsley and serve.
Delicious Spring Recipes – Beetroot Hummus
Ingredients
- 1tsp cumin seeds
- 300g cooked beetroot, drained
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2tsp of dill, leaves picked
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
Method
- Firstly, toast the cumin seeds. Place them in a large frying pan on a medium heat, stirring occasionally until their aromas are released and they start to crackle. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- Place the beetroot, chickpeas, garlic, ground coriander, half the cumin seeds, dill, olive oil and lemon juice to a food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as you go.
- Add some salt and pepper, whizz again and then check the seasoning, adding a little more salt, pepper or lemon juice if needed.
- Serve the hummus with, with the rest of the toasted cumin seeds sprinkled on top, with crudités or enjoy it with toast.
- The hummus will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days
Delicious Spring Recipes – Butternut Pilaf with Almonds and Greek Yogurt
The wonderfully fragrant smell of the onions and spices cooking at the beginning of the recipe will really get you in the mood for food with this delicious pilaf.
You’ll need:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp black onion seeds
- 400g basmati rice
- 400g pumpkin diced
- 800ml hot vegetable stock
- Salt and pepper
- 100ml Greek yogurt
- 100g radishes sliced
- 100g roasted almonds crushed
- Small bunch mint roughly chopped
- Small bunch coriander roughly chopped
- 1 chilli chopped
Method
Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan with a tight fitting lid, add the onion, garlic, cumin, fennel and black onion seeds, cook for 3 minutes, stirring every now and then until the onions are translucent. Now add the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes until the rice has also turned translucent, stirring the rice all the time. Add the pumpkin and stock, bring to the boil and turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Season and place the lid on the pan and leave to cook without stirring for 10 minutes, or until all the stock has been absorbed, turn off the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes to finish cooking.
Remove the lid and give a gentle stir. Top with a spoonful or two of Greek yogurt and scatter the sliced radishes and remaining ingredients over the top. Serve at once.