Charlie Bigham is best known as the king of ready meals, but his new cookbook Supper with Charlie Bigham (£26, Mitchell Beazley) is full of delicious ways to make side dishes the star of the show – and making getting your 5-a-day tastier than ever.
Broccoli with garlic & chilli
FEEDS: 6
PREPARATION TIME: 5 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 10 MINUTES
This recipe is super-quick and easy – and it’s one of the best ways to eat broccoli. Of course you can make it with regular broccoli (or the rather more expensive purple sprouting variety), but I’m a fan of Tenderstem, which is actually a hybrid of broccoli and kale. This is a great green veg dish to go with almost anything. If your family doesn’t like spicy food, just leave out the chilli.
Olive oil
500g (1lb 2oz) broccoli,stalks trimmed
5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1–2 red chillies, depending on your spice tolerance, deseeded and sliced into matchsticks
Salt and pepper
50g (13⁄4oz) flaked almonds
1 Heat a glug of olive oil in a large frying pan or wok over a high heat until it is nice and hot, then toss in the broccoli and cook for about five minutes. It’s fine if it chars a little bit in places, but don’t let it burn – keep it moving a bit in the pan.
2 Add the garlic and chillies and another splash of olive oil if the pan looks dry. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring.
3 Finally, add the flaked almonds and cook for two more minutes, until just toasted.
Green beans with hazelnuts
FEEDS 6
PREPARATION TIME:
10 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 5 MINUTES
This fresh, vibrant dish is good on the table as part of a selection if you’ve got a few people over. It can easily be prepared in advance.
500g (1lb 2oz) green beans, stalks nipped off
100g (3½oz) blanched hazelnuts
2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon or orange
Salt and black pepper
1 Half-fill a large saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Toss in your green beans. Cook for 5 minutes, then tip into a sieve or colander. Immediately run under cold water until the beans are stone-cold. Leave
to drain. Meanwhile, toast the hazelnuts in a frying pan, tossing them occasionally until they are lightly browned. Tip on to a work surface and roughly chop, or bash them up with a rolling pin.
2 Transfer the beans to a serving dish, toss with the olive oil, lemon or orange zest and juice, salt and pepper. Then finally, sprinkle over the toasted hazelnuts.
Courgette fritters with mint & feta
Simple and delicious, these are a great side dish to have on the table when you have a few people around and especially good if you have a vegetarian or two in the party. This is a hands-on dish to make, so be prepared to get covered in food and enjoy getting stuck in! Although best served just-cooked, you can make these fritters a little in advance and keep them warm in the oven covered in foil.
FEEDS 4/MAKES 12 SMALL FRITTERS
PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 15 MINUTES
3 courgettes (total weight about 500g/1lb 2oz)
1 egg, lightly beaten
3tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
100g (31⁄2oz) feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and black pepper
Chilli flakes (optional)
75g (23⁄4oz) chickpea (gram) flour
3-4tbsp olive oil
1 Coarsely grate the courgettes, then squeeze out as much water as possible by putting them in a clean tea towel and wringing them out as hard as you can.
2 Mix the squeezed courgette with the egg in a large mixing bowl with the mint, feta, salt and pepper, and a little chilli, if you like.
3 Once well mixed, add the chickpea flour until the consistency is such that you can form small sloppy balls of mixture, each roughly the size of a walnut.
4 Pour 2tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. As you form each patty, drop it gently into the pan and fry for 3–4 minutes on each side, until nicely browned and crisp outside and cooked within (you may need to press and shape each fritter a little with a spatula as you cook it). You should be able to cook around 6 fritters in each batch.
5 Keep the first batch warm on a plate covered with foil while you cook the rest, adding more oil as you cook, if you need it. Serve the fritters warm. Delicious served with yogurt dips.
Sweet potatoes with red onion and Greek yogurt
FEEDS 6
PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 30 MINUTES
A nice and simple dish that looks great, this makes a regular appearance if I’m cooking up a feast involving lots of dishes. Surprisingly, the sweet potato is not really a potato at all, merely a distant cousin, and more closely related to the leafy green vegetable “morning glory” that is used in a lot of East Asian cooking. They are considered highly nutritious, but I eat them because they are tasty.
4 large sweet potatoes (about 1.2kg /2lb 12oz)
5tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
Salt and black pepper
150g (51⁄2oz) full-fat Greek yogurt
Generous drizzle of pomegranate molasses
Big handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan (425F), Gas Mark 7.
2 Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into large chunks, each roughly 2.5–3cm. Scatter over a large baking tray or roasting tin, drizzle with 2tbsp of the olive oil and toss to coat. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until soft and starting to brown. (Toss halfway through cooking, to ensure all sides are cooked.)
2 Meanwhile, tip the red onions into a large, deep frying pan with the remaining 3tbsp of oil and cook over a low heat for 15–20 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned, adding the sliced garlic halfway through. Stir often, so they cook evenly.
3 Arrange the cooked sweet potatoes on a flat serving dish, season with salt and pepper, scatter over the cooked red onions, then spoon over the yogurt, drizzle with the pomegranate molasses and sprinkle with plenty of chopped parsley.
Fennel with honey and pine nuts
FEEDS 6
PREPARATION TIME: 5 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 35 MINUTES
I love fennel – in my view it’s an underused vegetable. This is my go-to recipe, it’s nice and easy to prepare with a wonderful sweetness and just the merest hint of aniseed. You can either serve it warm, or it’s equally delicious at room temperature. This goes especially well with slow-cooked lamb or roasted chicken.
4 fennel bulbs
4tbsp olive oil, plus more for the baking tray
Juice of 1 lemon
2tbsp runny honey
25g (1oz) pine nuts
Salt
chopped parsley leaves, to serve
1 Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan (425F), Gas Mark 7.
2 Trim the fennel – take off any excess root, being careful to leave enough to keep the bulbs intact. Trim off the green tops of the fennel and keep for later. Slice the fennel lengthways into pieces just under 1cm thick (each bulb should give around 6 slices).
3 Lay the fennel in a single layer in a very large, lightly oiled baking tray. Drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle with a small amount of salt. Bake for around 20 minutes.
4 Remove the fennel from the oven, carefully flip it over, taking care to leave it as whole pieces, then pour over the lemon juice and drizzle over the honey. Return to the oven for 10–12 minutes, or until softened and lightly browned.
5 Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a small frying pan, being careful not to burn them – something I’m renowned for!
6 Once cooked, carefully lift the fennel from the baking tray and place on a serving dish. Sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts, parsley and reserved fennel tops.
■ Supper with Charlie Bigham (£26, Mitchell Beazley) is out now