Crispy Chick Pea and Mackeral Croquettes

This is another in the series of 'Simple Supper' recipes even though I actually ate it for lunch.

The name of this post is quite a mouthful but the croquettes themselves are small, flavoursome and beautiful. I made them, gulp, because now is the time to reduce the tummy fat and these are low gi food. They are tasty though. So you won't feel hard done by for eating healthily.

So, Simply take:

1 tin of chickpeas
1 small tin of mackerel fillets.
1 tbsp capers
1 small egg. If your egg is large, then don't use it all as the croquettes will be too soft
Oil for frying.
A salad to serve.

All I did:

Put the drained chick peas in the bowl of the food processor with the entire contents of the tin of mackerel fillets. No need to drain the oil. Pulse until semi smooth.
Add the capers and the egg and pulse again, This will  break up the capers and mix in the egg.
Turn out into a bowl and refrigerate for about 30 mins.
Fry large spoonsful until crisp on both sides and cooked through.
Serve with a dresses salad.

Simply Supper - Take 1 tin ot Tuna

Do you remember that many years ago there were adverts for Sainsburys that started with "Simply take...?" Well, this is my take on that. (Pardon the pun).

This recipe will serve 2 hungry people.

Simply take

1 tin ot tuna
1 dessertspoon on chopped capers
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tbsp of olive oil
250 g of dry tagliatelle. Don't waste your money o the so called fresh stuff.

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. When it has come to a good rolling boil throw in the pasta. stir and simmer gently until the pasta is cooked.

While the water is coming to a boil, warm some olive oil in a largish pan and add the chopped capers and quartered tomatoes. When they are warm through add the tuna that you have broken up slightly. Make sure that the sauce only heats rather than boils. This way you will retail the tase of the olive oil.

By this time the pasta should be cooked. Strain and add to the sauce. Toss ot all together and serve. Yum.

Simple Supper - Ham and Potato Soup

I thought that I would start a series of simple suppers for those days when you really don't know what to cooka nd it's a question of looking in the fridge and making quick decisions. However, like all quick decisions, there has to be some sort of planning beforehand. To this end, when you boil a piece of ham, keep the stock. It will keep for a few days in  the fridge or ages in the freezer.

This recipe is not precise, a bit like Nigel Slater's recipes at the moment, so make more or less according to how many people you are feeding and how much stock you have. I had about a pint of stock left in the fridge. So this made enough for 2.

Simply take

ham stock (there was onion and celery in the stock already)

1 carrot, chopped

about 8 small new potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces.

a fistful of ham chopped into bite size cubes

about 50g of frozen peas

Add the carrots to the stock and bring it to the boil. When the carrots and potatoes are cooked throw in the chopped ham and the peas. Simmer until the peas are cooked. Add about a teacup of milk and adjust seasoning. Enjoy.

Not only did i enjoy this soup, but it also gave me the opportunity to play around with photoshop too. The lighter edges are the result of this rather than light leekage in the camera.