Lim - Easy Healthy Meals

Using good-quality sausage meat is a clever cheats way of making really good meatballs they need a bit of fat in them to be nice and moist, not dry. Apple, porks best friend, is grated and added to the meatball mixture to make them even tastier. The fennel is slightly caramelised to intensify its sweet aromatic anise flavour it adds a nice twist to a tomato pasta sauce.

ENERGY: 2673KJ (630 CAL); CARBOHYDRATE: 59G; PROTEIN: 35G; FAT: 29G; SATURATED FAT: 7G

1 teaspoon fennel seeds, toasted and crushed

teaspoon chilli flakes

3 sprigs thyme

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 large red onions, sliced

4 large fennel bulbs, chopped, fronds reserved

cup olive oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

cup apple cider vinegar

450g good-quality raw pork sausages or sausage meat

2 apples, e.g. Granny Smith, Braeburn or Temptation, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme, sage, marjoram or oregano

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons sugar

salt and freshly ground black pepper

250g dried linguine or spaghetti

freshly grated parmesan cheese to serve, optional

Preheat oven to 200C.

In a roasting dish, mix together crushed fennel seeds, chilli flakes, thyme, garlic, onion, fennel, olive oil, brown sugar and vinegar. Roast in oven for 1520 minutes.

Snip ends of sausage casings and squeeze out sausage mince. Transfer to a bowl and, using your hands, mix well with grated apple and chopped herbs. Roll into 1618 meatballs, the size of ping-pong balls. Squeeze out any excess moisture from meatballs when you roll them. Heat oil in a frypan and lightly brown meatballs on all sides. Set aside.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste and sugar to roasted vegetables. Stir until combined and season with salt and pepper. Add browned meatballs and return to oven for a further 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in plenty of boiling salted water until tender. Drain and toss with a drizzle of olive oil.

To serve, divide pasta between four bowls and top with the sauce and meatballs. Garnish with chopped fennel fronds and serve with grated parmesan if desired.

Sometimes you just crave a hearty pub-type meal that goes hand in hand with a pint of good stout. Good old steak and fries will do the trick! These fries are golden and crispy, yet are baked not fried. A pinch of turmeric is the secret to their golden colour. Season chips with salt and pepper after they are cooked as adding salt before cooking draws out moisture from the potatoes and they wont crisp up as well. Use whatever type of steak you like personally, scotch fillet is my all-time favourite. This is a meal the whole family will love and it even wins over non-mushroom eaters.

Serves 6

ENERGY: 2007KJ (473 CAL); CARBOHYDRATE: 24G; PROTEIN: 33G; FAT: 28G; SATURATED FAT: 13.5G (+IRON 4.7MG)

GOLDEN FRIES OR WEDGES

800g potatoes, approximately 6 medium, peeled and cut into chips or wedges

1 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons flour

teaspoon turmeric, optional

flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

STEAK WITH MUSHROOM PEPPERCORN SAUCE

6 x 120g beef steaks, e.g. sirloin, eye fillet or scotch

salt and freshly ground black pepper

20g butter or 2 tablespoons olive oil

450500g mix of mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon green peppercorns, roughly crushed

cup cream or sour cream

Preheat oven to 200C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Drizzle chips with oil and toss (using your hands) to coat well. Put flour and turmeric in a plastic bag and shake to combine. Add oiled chips and shake to coat chips well. Lay chips in a single layer on prepared tray.

Bake in oven for 4550 minutes until golden and crispy. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat butter or oil in a large frypan and cook steaks for 23 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Season while in the pan. Remove steaks and rest.

Saut mushrooms in same pan for 45 minutes. Add soy sauce, peppercorns and cream. Cook for a few more minutes until slightly thickened.

Serve steaks with mushroom sauce spooned over the top, Golden Wedges and rocket salad or mashed peas.

Sweet, juicy pork chops go so well with roast kumara, apple and celery. The crispy crackling straws are a nice touch instead of leaving the rind on the chops which doesnt have time to crisp up. You can flatten the crackling straws by threading them through a wire rack if you want to stop them from curling up.

Serves 4

ENERGY: 2312KJ (552 CAL); CARBOHYDRATE: 42G; PROTEIN: 32G; FAT: 29G; SATURATED FAT: 1.2G

2 large kumara, cut into chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

4 pork loin chops

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 slices sourdough bread, torn into chunks