Katriona MacGregor - Healthy Speedy Suppers: Quick, Nutritious and Delicious Recipes for Busy People

To my foodie parents and Grandmum; all serious cooks who got me started in the kitchen.

Healthy Speedy Suppers

Katriona MacGregor

First published in the UK and USA in 2016 by Nourish, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited 19 Cecil Court London WC2N 4EZ

Copyright Watkins Media Limited 2016

Text copyright Telegraph Media Group Limited 2016

For photography credits, see

The right of Katriona MacGregor to be identified as the Author of this text has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Managing Editor: Rebecca Woods

Editor: Becky Alexander

Design Manager: Viki Ottewill

Designer: Geoff Borin

Production: Uzma Taj

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-84899-299-3

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Typeset in Trade Gothic and Bradley Hand Colour reproduction by XY Digital Printed in China

Publishers note:

While every care has been taken in compiling the recipes for this book, Watkins Media Limited, or any other persons who have been involved in working on this publication, cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, inadvertent or not, that may be found in the recipes or text, nor for any problems that may arise as a result of preparing one of these recipes. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding or have any special dietary requirements or medical conditions, it is advisable to consult a medical professional before following any of the recipes contained in this book.

Notes:

Unless otherwise stated:

Use medium eggs, fruit and vegetables

Use fresh ingredients, including herbs and spices

Do not mix imperial and metric measurements

1 teaspoon = 5ml 1 tablespoon = 15ml 1 cup = 240ml

nourishbooks.com

CONTENTS

My Speedy Weeknight Suppers column in the Telegraph came about after a shameful slump in my diet following a return to London office Life. Despite being a trained cook, and fully-fledged food obsessive, I found myself returning home exhausted, my love of wholesome eating and good ingredients lost to the convenience of ready meals and boiled eggs with soldiers; a state of affairs that left me tired and unsatisfied.

Being a lifetime lover of flavours and fresh ingredients, I decided to take action, and the result was a collection of weekly supper recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, healthy, nutritious and affordable, often leaving something for lunch the next day. Each recipe has been put to the test at home after a busy day in the office, with the ingredients usually scooped up on the way home. The ingredient lists are as short as possible and the methods relaxed, often one-dish cooking. After a couple of years of devising weeknight recipes, it seemed the right time to bring the recipes together in this book, featuring old favourites alongside some new.

Having been diagnosed with a thyroid condition in 2014, I began to learn about the importance of diet in treating this disease, which affects millions of people worldwide. While my recipes had always been light and appetizing, the focus changed to include less wheat, cows milk, fat, refined carbohydrates and sugar, all of which can play havoc with auto-immune disease sufferers. The role of diet and eating well is incredibly compelling when it comes to health. For me, its about including a wide variety of freshly cooked foods, especially vegetables, in your daily meals; this has made a tremendous difference to how I feel over a surprisingly short time.

Cooking without some of our Western staples opened my eyes to a huge array of new flavours, ingredients and cooking methods, and showed me that you can cook delicious, satisfying food without a reliance on wheat and dairy. Take, for instance, the Chicken and Sweetcorn Broth (see ) use quinoa and cornflour/ cornstarch to bind them, rather than breadcrumbs and flour. A lot of the Indian-inspired recipes include coconut milk or no dairy at all, with the option to serve yogurt alongside rather than as an ingredient.

Many people include diary and wheat in their diet without any problem at all, and I do still use these ingredients, but where possible I use gluten- and ) would only be a shadow of what it should be if made with white rice rather than the lovely combination of red, wild and brown grains I suggest.

Were lucky to live in a country with an abundance of food at our fingertips and a huge range of international ingredients available, yet too often we rely on the offering of our nearest supermarket. While its almost impossible in the chaos of modern living to avoid supermarkets completely, it makes sense to me to use them for dry supplies and staples, leaving the fresh ingredients to be bought on the day you need them from local suppliers or markets. This way youre more likely to be able to support local food producers while making sure what youre buying is fresh and tasty. Locally bought, seasonal and, if possible, organic vegetables have far more nutritional value than the supermarket equivalent which has been ripened in transit, packaged in plastic and kept chilled in crates for weeks. Youll also find yourself avoiding a fridge full of ingredients bought in bulk that end up being thrown away once theyve passed their sell-by date.

All of the recipes take less than 40 minutes to cook, with many taking as little as 15 or 20 minutes. Each recipe is labelled with a time flash so you can see at a glance how long you have until your suppers ready. Asian soups and stir-fries are particularly quick, as are the raw salads, pasta and fish dishes. Doubling the recipe quantities is a great way to save time and stress during the week. Making a dish for eight people takes little more time than for four and means you have another meal for later in the week, or lunches to take to work. Many of the recipes also freeze well, especially the soups, curries and casseroles, so if youre only cooking for one or two you can easily stock up on frozen meals for time-pressed moments. Cheaper, tastier and, of course, a lot healthier than a mass-made, supermarket-bought ready meal.