Spinach and smoked tofu pie

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! As a very new mother myself I haven’t yet got to the stage of trying to encourage my child to eat up their veg but I have seen the power of stories to help with this for other children. When my sister and I were small my parents got us eating carrots by reading us Watership Down which made us want to pretend to be rabbits, and over the years we’ve bought many copies of ‘Pumpkin Soup’ by Helen Cooper for friends which has got their children’s happily ploughing through bowls of vegetable soup without a fuss. One of the most famous examples of this is Popeye the sailor man who eats up his spinach to give him super strength. The popularity of the cartoon helped to boost spinach sales and a study suggested that watching it encouraged children to increase their vegetable consumption. Apparently spinach was chosen as the superpower giving vegetable based on its vitamin A content, and although I can’t promise that this recipe will make you super strong it does contain a nice dose of the spinach nutritional benefits. As a nod to Mother’s Day celebrations I have made this recipe a pie which always feels like a lovely treat to me, but there are also lower fat and gluten free options in the tasty twists.

Spinach and smoked tofu pie

Cooking time: 10-15 minutes prep, 20-30 minutes baking

Dietary info: vegan (gluten free option in the tasty twists)

Serves: 3-4

• 225g firm smoked tofu
• 200g sweetcorn kernels
• 250g puff pastry (make sure this is vegan for a vegan / dairy free version)

Spinach sauce

• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 300g finely chopped or pureed spinach, fresh or frozen
• Lemon juice to season, optional

1. Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in saucepan and simmer over a medium heat, stirring, until combined and slightly thickened (about 7-10 minutes). Season with a splash of lemon juice if wanted
2. Crumble the smoked tofu into an ovenproof dish and combine with the sweetcorn and half of the spinach sauce. Preferably allow to cool before adding the pastry
3. Roll out the pastry to the size and shape of the ovenproof dish and place over the filling
4. Bake at 160C fan for 20-30 minutes until the top is golden brown and slightly sandy feeling to the touch. Serve with the remaining sauce and steamed vegetables or a salad dressed in lemon juice

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A few tips to prep ahead:

• Make the sauce and keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days
• On the night, assemble and bake the pie, heat through the remaining sauce until hot and serve

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Some tasty little twists…

• Turn this into a fish pie by replacing the tofu with 150g white fish fillets such as coley, cut into bite sized pieces, and 150g mixed seafood
• Turn this into a chicken pie by replacing the tofu with 300g diced chicken. You could also use leftover roast chicken
• For a lower fat version turn this into a pasta or gnocchi bake rather than a pie: leave out the pastry and mix the cooked pasta (about 300-500g fresh pasta shapes or 150-200g dried before cooking) or gnocchi (about 500g) with the spinach sauce, sweetcorn and tofu
• You can also skip the baking stage for a quicker dinner and simply heat the pasta or gnocchi through with the other ingredients in a saucepan until everything is hot
• For a lighter pie, and gluten free option, top with a handful of grated sweet potato or parsnip (about ½ a small sweet potato or 1 small parsnip)
• Use the sauce as an accompaniment to grilled chicken, fish or tofu served with mashed sweet potatoes, parsnip or celeriac
• Try different vegetable in the pie, either in addition to or instead of the sweetcorn kernels e.g chopped baby corn, grated or diced carrot, sliced peppers, peas, diced celeriac etc.

Peanut noodles

I found that eating safely during pregnancy could be confusing at times. Not only do you come across a bunch of conflicting or scary advice if you Google many foods plus ‘pregnancy’ but the advice on what is and isn’t safe changes so even the recommendations from experienced mums can be out of date. An example of this is peanuts: the government previously advised avoiding these during pregnancy if there was a history of allergies in the child’s immediate family, but have changed this recommendation as the latest research shows no clear evidence that eating peanuts during pregnancy is linked to the baby developing a peanut allergy. Although eating nuts on their own made me feel nauseous for most of my pregnancy I tried ways of incorporating them into other foods due to their various health benefits. Luckily most nuts are very versatile, equally at home in sweet and savoury dishes. Here I used peanut butter to add depth to these simple vegetarian / vegan noodles, which were inspired by bang bang chicken, a street food from the Sichuan region in China with a lovely tangy sauce. There is a wide variety of peanut butter on the market but I usually try to buy one without added salt, sugar or palm oil if possible, and just let the natural taste of the peanuts do its work.

Peanut noodles

Cooking time: 10 minutes preparation, 10 minutes cooking

Dietary info: vegan or vegetarian depending on the mince and noodles you use, dairy free if you use dairy free mince, gluten free if you use gluten free noodles such as rice noodles and gluten free soy sauce

Serves: 2

• 350g plant based mince e.g. soy, Quorn (check that it is vegetarian / dairy free/ vegan depending on what you want to make the dish)
• 2 peppers, any colour, sliced
• 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
• 1 portion noodles (egg noodles for a vegetarian version, rice noodles for a vegan and gluten free version)

Peanut sauce

• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar

1. To make the sauce mix the soy sauce together with the peanut butter on a bowl to make a smooth paste then add the balsamic and white wine vinegar
2. Put the mince in a non stick frying pan and cook, stirring until the mince is cooked according to the packet instructions (about 5-10 minutes), adding the carrot, peppers and peanut sauce for the last 3-4 minutes of cooking so that the vegetables soften slightly but still have some crunch and everything is coated in the sauce
3. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions then stir into the vegetable and mince mixture and serve

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A few tips to prep ahead:

• Make the peanut sauce and store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week
• Prepare (wash and chop) the vegetables the night before and keep in a sealed container or bag in the fridge until you need them
• On the night cook as detailed above from step 2 onward and serve

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Some tasty little twists and extras…

• Make a meat version by using pork or turkey mince instead of plant based mince
• Make a pescatarian version by using prawns instead of plant based mince
• You can also used crumbled tofu or cooked lentils instead of plant based mince as alternative vegan options
• You can vary the vegetables to suit your own tastes e.g. baby corn, tenderstem broccoli, bean sprouts, shredded Asian greens, squash slices, sugar snap peas etc.
• Make a lighter (and gluten free if you also use gluten free soy sauce) version by replacing the noodles with spiralized vegetables such as courgette, carrot or squash
• Another gluten free option (if you also use gluten free soy sauce) is to leave out the noodles and serve with steamed or boiled rice
• My husband always says there can never be too much sauce so below is a simple sauce for dipping or drizzling over the noodles. It is also good over steamed vegetables or salad of you want to serve some alongside of the noodles

Simple dipping sauce

Cooking time: <5 minutes

Dietary info: vegan, gluten free if you use  gluten free soy sauce

Serves: 2

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar

1. Mix all the ingredients together. You can heat if you want to help the flavours infuse but it is not essential

Torn lasagne tomato, gammon and cheese bake

This dish is very much inspired by my husband. A few weeks ago when I made a lasagne he asked if you could tear and lasagne sheets up into big flat pasta pieces and scatter them throughout the bake rather than have them as orderly layers. I couldn’t see why not so next time I made a lasagne we did just that and liked the result, somewhere between a lasagne and pasta bake. My husband’s favourite bits of pasta were the pieces at the top which had gone crispy, and which you can get far more of with the torn bake where the pieces can stick out of the sauce in a haphazard manner than the normal flat layers so I decided to use this method again the next time I was making a pasta dish. My husband is very tired at the moment as we have a small baby who is still pretty nocturnal. He is wonderful with her, getting up for at least several hours every night to calm her and give me a bit of rest, and then going off to work in the morning, not leaving him much time for sleep. Therefore I wanted to cook him some comfort food with some his favourite ingredients and decided on creating something slightly inspired by his favourite pasta dish, spaghetti carbonara, combining bacon or gammon, a creamy sauce (though in this case I used a white sauce rather than egg sauce) and cheese. I then added cherry tomatoes as I think their umami flavour goes very well with the saltiness of gammon, while their acidity nicely balances the creamy sauce, and combined everything using the torn lasagne idea to add lots of crispy pasta.

Torn lasagne tomato, gammon and cheese bake

Cooking time: 15 minutes preparation, 25-30 minutes cooking

Dietary info: dairy free (vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian and gluten free options in the tasty twists)

Serves: 2-3

• 2 gammon steaks (about 400g), cut into bite sized strips (you can also use bacon if you prefer)
• 150g fresh lasagne sheets, torn into pieces about 1-1.5 cm wide and the length of the width of the lasagne sheet
• 500g cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 25-30g vegan cheese, crumbled

White sauce

• 2 tsp cornflour
• ½ a vegetable stock cube
• 50ml boiling water
• 400ml unsweetened almond milk

1. Pour the boiling water over the stock cube and stir it until dissolved
2. Put the cornflour in a saucepan and gradually add about 100ml of the almond milk, stirring until the flour and milk make a smooth mixture then cook over a gentle heat, stirring, until it starts to thicken
3. Gradually add the stock and remaining almond milk to the sauce whilst you continue to stir and heat it until everything has been added and you have a sauce that is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon
4. Cook the gammon strips in a non stick frying pan for a few minutes until they are cooked all the way through
5. Remove the gammon from the heat and stir in the cherry tomatoes, cheese, ⅔rds of the lasagne pieces and enough sauce to coat everything and transfer to an ovenproof dish, adding the remaining lasagne pieces so they are mixed in near the top of the bake to make more crispy bits
6. Spoon over enough sauce to lightly coat any lasagne pieces on the top of the bake and cook in the oven at 160C fan for 25-30 minutes until the lasagne pieces are cooked through and the ones on the top are golden brown and crispy
7. Serve with the remaining white sauce and a salad dressed in lemon juice or steamed vegetables

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A few tips to prep ahead:

• The whole bake can be made and assembled then kept in the fridge in the ovenproof dish, covered, for up to 3 days, with the sauce for the side stored in a sealed container in the fridge
• On the night, cook the bake in the oven and heat through the sauce for the side until hot all the way through in a saucepan or the microwave

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Some tasty little twists…

• To make this dish lighter replace the lasagne sheets with ribbons of vegetable such as courgette, butternut squash or aubergine. This option is also gluten free
• For a vegetarian or vegan option replace the gammon with chopped vegetarian or vegan bacon or sausage, cooked according to its jacket instructions
• For a pescatarian version replace the gammon with cooked prawns, smoked salmon trimmings, canned tuna or cooked and flaked smoked mackerel
• You can make this a more traditional pasta bake by replacing the torn lasagne with pasta shapes, eg penne, fusilli etc,  of your choice
• You can  bulk this out by serving with garlic bread or dough balls on the side
• You can add extra vegetables to the bake e.g. diced peppers, sweetcorn kernels, shredded savoy cabbage, spinach, sliced mushrooms etc. adding these to the pan with the gammon to allow them to cook
  
• Make something closer to the original torn lasagne idea by doing this with a mince and tomato sauce rather than the gammon one. For a very quick and easy basic mince and tomato version:
  • Brown 400-500g beef, vegetarian or vegan mince in a large non-stick saucepan
  • Add 300ml passata, 100ml water, ½ a vegetable stock cube and 2 tsp mixed herbs, stir to combine, cover and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes then season with salt, pepper and lemon juice
  • To make a white sauce put 1 tsp cornflour and ¼ vegetable stock cube, crumbled, into a small saucepan and gradually add 150ml unsweetened almond milk, stirring to prevent the cornflour forming lumps. Heat, stirring until the sauce thickens
  • Mix the mince with 150g torn fresh lasagne pieces in an ovenproof dish and then pour the white sauce on top, scatter 30g crumbled vegan cheese over the sauce and bake for 25-30 minutes at 160C fan

Cottage garden pie with parsnip mash

My parents make a lovely roast dinner for special occasion, and when they do I always go for the roast parsnips rather than the roast potatoes. To me, parsnips have a stronger, more distinctive and interesting taste so I started wondering where else I could swap potatoes for parsnips. I wanted to make a cottage pie and thought this would be a good candidate for a potato to parsnip switch. Instead of the traditional meat version I opted for a vegetarian one, hence “cottage garden pie”, as a comforting but healthy dinner where the vegetables, including the parsnip are the star of the show. An advantage of mash topped pies, besides being lower in fat is that, unlike pastry mash won’t go soggy if assembled in advance. Therefore the whole thing can be made and kept in the fridge ready to just pop in the oven when you want it combining the benefits of a ready meal and home cooked dinner.

Cottage garden pie with parsnip mash

Cooking time: 25-30 minutes preparation, 20-25 minutes baking

Dietary info: vegetarian or vegan depending on the move you use, dairy free, gluten free

Serves: 3

• 300g vegetarian or vegan mince such as Quorn
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 150g peas
• 150g sweetcorn kernels
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 vegetable stock cube (check this is dairy free / gluten free if you want to make the dish dairy free/ gluten free)
• 2 tsp mixed herbs
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 300ml water

Parsnip mash

• 2 parsnips, chopped
• 2-8 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
• Salt and pepper to season

1. Put the mince, vegetable, cornflour and tomato puree in a non stick saucepan or frying pan and cook, stirring, for a few minutes over a medium heat to combine and cook the flour
2. Crumble in the stock cube then add the herbs, water and lemon juice and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is combined, the mince and vegetables are cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly
3. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the solids to an ovenproof dish. Reserve any liquid left behind to serve with the pie as gravy
4. To make the mash, steam the parsnips until soft, about 8-10 minutes, then mash or blend until smooth with enough almond milk to make a smooth easily spreadable consistency then season to taste with salt and pepper
5. Spread the mash on top of the mince mixture in the ovenproof dish, either smoothing with a spoon or scoring with a fork depending of whether you like a smooth or rough topped or (the rough to will have more crispy bits)
6. Bake the pie in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 160C fan until the mince mixture is bubbling and the to is golden brown and crispy then serve with any reserved gravy and stand vegetable or a salad

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A few tips to prep ahead:

• The mince mixture and mash can be made and assembled into the pie  then kept covered in the fridge for up to 2 days
• On the night bake the pie and heat any leftover gravy on the stove or in a microwave until hot all the way through before serving

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Some tasty little twists…

• Replace the vegetarian/vegan mince with 300g cooked lentils for another vegan version
• Replace the vegetarian/vegan mince with 300g beef, pork or turkey mince for a meat version, or use shredded leftover meat from a roast dinner (you can also use leftover roast vegetables instead of the parsnips to make the mash)
• Vary or add to the vegetables e.g. chopped broccoli, sliced leek or shredded cabbage, or you can use a bag of ready prepared fresh or frozen mixed vegetables as a quick and easy option
• Try different vegetables to make the mash e.g. potato, sweet potato, carrot, celeriac, butternut squash, or a combination of several of these e.g parsnip and carrot
• You can also replace the mash topping with half the amount of your chosen vegetable grated, for a crisper topping
• If you don’t have time to bake the pie you can serve it deconstructed: heat through the mince mixture (no need to separate out the solids and gravy) and mash separately in pans or the microwave and serve

Wasabi beef stir stew

My husband loves food with lots of different spices but can’t take large amounts of chilli. I sometimes get around this by making a mild main dish with a hot sauce on the side so we can each tailor the amount we add to our own personal taste. The other way I make dishes with a bit more kick to them is use other ‘hot’ ingredients besides chilies, as although any dish with significant amounts of chilli needs to be accompanied by a glass of milk or spoonful or yoghurt for him, he can happily eat large amounts of pepper, mustard or wasabi. In fact he likes a lot more wasabi and mustard heat than I do so I often use them in my cooking when I want that slight hot tingle. However, this dish will not blow your socks off by any means – it is a mild wasabi tang rather than mouth numbing – so hopefully a nice taste of wasabi whatever your tolerance level is. I was originally going to make a beef stir fry but was struck by how good value some of the other cuts of beef were: these cheaper cuts often have a wonderful flavour and melting texture but cost much less because you have to cook them for longer to get them to soften. In order to use these but still keep the dish like a stir fry I stewed the beef first and marinaded it to infuse it with the sauce flavour, then added the cooked beef to the stir fry hence calling this a “stir stew”. You can also easily make this dish vegan or gluten free by using the variations in the tasty twists.

Wasabi beef stir stew

Cooking time: 30-60 minutes to stew the beef, 15 minutes for everything else

Dietary info: dairy free (see tasty twists for vegan and gluten free options)

Serves: 2

• 400g diced beef
• Water
• 1 head spring greens, sliced
• 1 portion ready to cook udon noodles

Wasabi sauce

• 4 heaped tsp wasabi powder
• 2 clove garlic grated
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• ⅔ tsp ground black pepper
• ⅔ tsp sweetener such as Stevia or sugar
• 4 tsp soy sauce

1. Put the beef in a saucepan with enough water to come about halfway up the meat and cook over a medium heat, covered, until the meat is tender (about 30-60 minutes depending on the cut of meat)
2. Drain the beef, reserving the water and set aside
3. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a saucepan to make a smooth paste then add enough of the reserved water from cooking the beef to make a sauce. Cook over a medium heat until simmering, then add more water or simmer (to evaporate excess water) to get to your desired consistency (I like it just thick enough to coat the other ingredients but thin enough to pour easily)
4. Stir 1-2 tbsp of the sauce through the cooked beef and leave to marinade, preferably overnight but if you are in a rush just give it however much time you have
5. Put the spring greens in a non-stick saucepan with a splash of water to help them soften and cook until just starting to wilt
6. Add the udon noodles, beef and enough sauce to coat everything and continue to cook for a few more minutes until the noodles are soft and everything is hot all the way through then serve with any extra wasabi sauce on the side to drizzle over

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A few tips to prep ahead:

• Make the wasabi sauce and keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week
• Stew the beef up to 2 days before using, mix with the sauce to marinade and keep in a sealed container in the fridge until it is needed
• Prepare (wash and slice) the spring greens the night before and keep in a sealed container or bag in the fridge until you need them
• On the night cook the as per steps 5 and 6, heating any of the sauce to serve on the side through before serving

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Some tasty little twists…

• Make this vegan by replacing the beef with 200g mixed oriental mushrooms (e.g. shiitake, enoki, king oyster, oyster) and 200g tofu, drained, cut into chunks and marinated in 2 tsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp wasabi dressing at least overnight
• You can also replace the beef with vegetarian or vegan meat alternatives such as Quorn, plant protein burgers or sausages
• Make this pescatarian by swapping the beef for strips of mackerel. You can either add the mackerel to the pan before adding the spring greens, or bake and mackerel at 160C fan for 15-20 minutes then flake intothe frying pan when you add the udon
  
• Vary the vegetables e.g. swap the spring greens for spinach, Asian greens, kale, cavolo nero or bean sprouts
• Add more variety and colour by using several vegetables e.g. throw a handful of sweetcorn, babycorn, sliced peppers or carrot batons in with the spring greens
• Make this dish lighter by leaving out the noodles or swapping them for spiralized vegetables such as courgette, carrot or butternut squash
• Make this dish gluten free by using a gluten free soy sauce and swapping the udon noodles for rice noodles or spiralised vegetables, or leaving out the noodles and serving with rice instead. Also check that the wasabi you are using is gluten free
  
• Use the wasabi sauce as a dipping sauce for other dishes such as sushi or tempura
• Use the wasabi sauce to brush over steak, vegetarian / vegan burgers or large flat mushrooms before grilling or BBQing them