A Modern Way to Cook: Over 150 quick, smart and flavour-packed recipes for every day. Anna Jones
as it conducts the heat evenly, so even though you are cooking quickly it’s less likely that your soup will catch on the bottom. Of course use what you have, but a good deep heavy-bottomed saucepan is a great investment.
If you don’t have spring onions, a normal onion will do fine – you may just need to cook it for a little longer.
SERVES 4–6
a bunch of spring onions
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1kg frozen peas
1 × 400ml tin of coconut milk
1 tablespoon vegetable stock powder, or ½ a stock cube
a bunch of basil or coriander (or a mixture of both)
1 lemon
TO SERVE
extra virgin olive oil
Fill and boil a kettle and get all your ingredients and equipment together. Put a large soup pan, one that has a lid, on a medium heat to warm up.
Chop the spring onions quite finely and put into the pan with the coconut oil. Turn up the heat to its highest and cook for 2 minutes, until softened.
Add the peas to the pan with the coconut milk, the stock powder or cube and 750ml of boiling water, then put a lid on and bring to the boil. Once boiling, simmer, still on a high heat, for 2–3 minutes.
Take off the heat. Add most of the herbs, stalks and all, and the juice of the lemon and use a stick blender to blitz the soup until super-smooth.
Serve ladled into bowls with a little olive oil and the rest of the green herbs.
Pour-over soup
10 MINUTES
This soup is the epitome of quick cooking. Finely sliced vegetables, delicate noodles and flavour-packed aromatics all come together to make a soup that’s ready in the time it takes to boil the kettle. Most of the cooking is done by adding the boiling water from the kettle, so no pans, just a couple of bowls and a bit of chopping.
You can mix and match the veg you use here for variety, but just make sure they are ones that will be edible with very little cooking – greens, finely sliced carrots, grated squash, sliced mushrooms all work well.
This is a great, healthy meal to take to work if that’s your thing; just keep it in the fridge and pour over the hot water at your desk.
SERVES 1
50g thin rice vermicelli (I use brown rice ones)
a small piece of fresh ginger
1 tablespoon creamed coconut
a good spoonful of white miso paste
a splash of sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
1 star anise
1 spring onion
1 fresh red chilli
a small handful of greens
½ a courgette
a small handful of sugar snap peas
TO SERVE
a few sprigs of fresh basil or coriander
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Fill and boil the kettle and get all your ingredients out. You’ll need two heatproof mixing bowls with a plate that fits on top.
Once the kettle has boiled, put the noodles into one of the mixing bowls and cover with boiling water. Leave to sit, covered with a plate.
Peel the ginger and grate into the other bowl, then add the creamed coconut, white miso, sesame oil, soy or tamari and star anise. Very finely slice the spring onion and the chilli and add most of them to the bowl. Shred the greens, cut the courgette into thin slices and slice the sugar snaps. Add them all to the bowl.
Once the noodles have had 3 minutes, drain them and add them to the bowl of green veg. If you’re making for lunch later, layer everything into a screwtop jar and finish the recipe when you’re ready to eat. Re-boil the kettle. Pour over hot water from the kettle until the noodles and veg are just covered, and mix well.
Garnish with the remaining chopped chilli and spring onion, a little basil or coriander and some toasted sesame seeds.
At your desk salads
Lunch on the run or at your desk can be dull and samey. Use this guide to make your own quick salads. Using a grain or pulse as a base will mean it is filling, and its hardiness means your salad will travel well.
Take one element from each column and stack in a wide jar or Tupperware, making sure you work in layers from the heaviest (grains) to the lightest (leaves).
Make a dressing in a small jam jar, or pour it into a small bowl lined with clingfilm, bring the ends together and twist to make a little dressing wrap. I mix one of the suggested dressing flavours with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper. The nutrition from salad leaves is actually boosted when we dress them, as the good fat from the oil makes it easier for our bodies to take up the nutrients.
Two favourite sandwiches
10 MINUTES
Sandwiches are unbeatable. They are super-quick, usually pretty cheap, and as long as you get yourself some good bread and stuff them with a bit of veg they can be super-good for you too.
Everyone has their favourite sandwich; these are the two that are made most in my kitchen. Both require 5 minutes’ work but you’ll be glad you took the extra time. These recipes have been written for one sandwich but can easily be scaled up for more. They both work really well on rye bread too.
KALE SMASH, HONEYED CARROT AND HUMMUS
MAKES 1 SANDWICH
a handful of kale
2 sun-dried tomatoes
1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
1 small carrot
a little squeeze of honey
2 slices of good sourdough bread
1 tablespoon hummus
a handful of lettuce leaves, shredded (I use Little Gem)
Get all your ingredients together.
Put the kale into a food processor with the sun-dried tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon juice, a tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blitz until you have a paste.
Next, peel and finely slice the carrot, put it into a pan with the honey, a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and cook until just softened and not too crunchy.
Toast your bread, then spread one slice thickly with the kale smash and one with hummus. Put the carrots on top of the hummus, add a little shredded lettuce and sandwich together.
SAGE AND LEMON PESTO, PECORINO AND HONEY
MAKES 1 SANDWICH (AND A SMALL JAR OF PESTO)
2 slices of multi-grain or sourdough bread
50g pecorino cheese (vegetarian)
1 teaspoon thick honey
extra virgin olive oil
FOR THE QUICK SAGE PESTO
100g raw almonds (preferably soaked)
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon and ½ the juice
2