Place the fruit in a bowl, sprinkle over the icing sugar, lemon juice and elderflower cordial. Stir and leave to macerate for 1 hr.
Whisk the Greek yoghurt and crème fraîche together with the vanilla extract if using.
Mix the fruits and yoghurt mixture together and spoon into 6 serving dishes or glasses.
Serve topped with the almonds and some fresh fruit
Notes:
If you don’t have ripe fresh fruits, use frozen fruits from the supermarket.
Alternatively, try a passion fruit fool. Sieve the pulp of 2 passion fruits and whizz the juice with ½ a ripe mango. Mix with the yoghurt & crème fraîche mixture and spoon into the serving glasses and top with the passion fruit seeds.
Minestrone soup is a joy to make and although there are recipes, the beauty and fun part is that you can make it up as you go along using whichever vegetables you have to hand. The most important thing is to use a good olive oil and we always use Filippo Berio for perfect results.
Ingredients:
6 rashers streaky bacon, cooked
1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery stick, finely chopped
2 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large courgette, chopped
2 large mushrooms, chopped
1 tsp dried basil or herbs of your choice
1 400g tin cannellini beans
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
1.2 litre vegetable stock
Filippo Berio Olive oil
Fresh basil
Step by step:
Chop the bacon and fry until slightly crispy.
Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the rest of the fresh vegetables. For a thicker soup, stir through 2 tbsp of plain flour
Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and vegetable stock, bring to the boil and simmer until vegetables are cooked to your liking.
Add some dried basil
Add the cannellini beans without their liquid and cook for another 5 minutes
Serve piping hot with a good drizzle of olive oil and chopped basil
Notes: We like the vegetables with crunch, hence the short cooking times. If you prefer the vegetables softer just cook a little bit longer.
We haven’t used garlic or extra greens in this soup, but kale and cavolo nero go well added towards the end of cooking.
We also drained the cannellini beans as their liquid can be salty
Did you know, you can buy Filippo Berio products on line. Check out their Special Offers HERE
Packed with vitamins, this is the ideal way to get your 5 a day in one delicious soup.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
2 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tin tomatoes
1 tin cannellini beans
1 vegetable stock cube
100g pasta
large mug of peas or petit pois
fresh basil or parsley
4 tbsp grated parmesan
Quick and easy – only one pan to wash up!
Step by step:
Put 1 tsp olive oil in your pan, add the vegetables and cook for about 10 minutes. Rinse the cannellini beans and add them to the pan with the flour. Stir through well while you add the tomatoes.
Rinse the tomato can twice adding the water to the soup. Crumble in the stock cube and add the pasta. Simmer until all the vegetables are softened, then add your peas for the final few minutes.
Serve with a swirl of extra virgin olive oil and a good helping of chopped basil or parsley.
Notes:
We use Kallo® organic vegetable stock cubes and a splash or two of Maggi® seasoning.
£1.50 for 8 cubes – Waitrose Special Offer
£1.40 from Asda
Did you know, you can buy Filippo Berio products on line. Check out their Special Offers HERE
Peas, pesto and pasta with spinach and basil make this a tasty, colourful vegetarian dish. We have added some chopped bacon to the meat eaters portions.
Ingredients:
200g tagliatelle, or pasta of your choice
4 rashers streaky bacon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup of peas
50g pesto sauce
100ml single cream
1/2 bag baby spinach
handful fresh basil
2 tbsp parmesan
Step by step:
Step 1
Cook your pasta in a pan of well salted boiling water and grill or pan fry the streaky bacon.
Step 2
Meanwhile, add the olive oil to a sauté pan and fry off the onion until translucent. Add the peas and stir through the pesto sauce, add the cream, stir and cook until the peas are cooked. Now add and stir through the spinach.
Step 3
Drain off your pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve with the chopped bacon for meat eaters, plenty of chopped basil, and grated parmesan.
A quick, easy, and delicious salad with homemade vinaigrette.
Maille Wholegrain Mustard £2.75 – Sainsbury’s
Ingredients:
For your vinaigrette
125ml extra-virgin olive
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, 1 chopped or pressed
sea salt and black pepper
For your salad:
1 garlic clove, halved (optional)
1 bag mixed salad leaves
1 bag baby spinach
1 large ripe avocado, peeled and chopped
big handful of black grapes, halved
1/2 block feta (we used M&S Greek Feta)
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 slices streaky bacon, chopped
Step by step:
Step 1
Make your vinaigrette. Pour the extra-virgin olive oil into a glass jug or jar. Add the white wine vinegar and mustard.
Add the garlic and whisk it all together in the jug, or shake it in the jar.
Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
The vinaigrette will keep in the fridge for a week.
Step 2
Make the salad. Take a large salad bowl and wipe the sides with the halved garlic clove. Tip in the salad leaves and baby spinach and toss the leaves so they pick up a hint of the garlic.
Add the avocado, grapes and feta cheese.
Meanwhile cook your bacon so it’s nice and crispy. Set it aside on kitchen towel.
Top the salad with the chopped bacon and serve with a drizzle of oil and your own vinaigrette.
M&S Feta Cheese £1.80
Notes:
Experiment with the dressing. Try red wine vinegar which will give a stronger flavour. Balsamic vinegar make a sweeter dressing and goes well with salads containing fruit.
The old classic of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped garlic with crusty bread for mopping up is hard to beat.
Just add radish, cucumber and celery to the salad if you want extra crunch
Inspired by the flavours of the famous Greek pie, this pasta is quick and easy to make. The spinach and feta are a great combination, simply double or quadruple the quantities of ingredients to feed more than 1 person.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the pack instructions. After 5 minutes, heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the garlic and salad onions over a low-medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring well. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, pop the lid on the pan.
Step 2
Stir in the soft cheese, basil and the lemon zest and juice. Gently heat through until piping hot and season well with black pepper.
Step 3
Add the pasta to the creamy spinach mixture. Spoon into a shallow bowl and crumble over the feta cheese to serve
This soup is made with leftover mushroom and celery pasta and has a fabulous flavour after being steeped in the pasta sauce.
Take the leftover mushroom and celery pasta, whizz it in a blender or, 10 seconds in a thermomix. Be careful not to over blend, you want to retain a chunky texture. Simply add a few chopped boiled potatoes and slices of chopped ham if you like.
1 x 250g jar Filippo Berio grilled vegetable pasta sauce
parmesan cheese
fresh parsley
Have your ingredients ready
Step by step:
Step 1
Add the olive oil to a pan and fry off the onions, celery, leeks and mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Meanwhile put your pasta in a pan of boiling, salted water and cook according the pack instructions.
Add 2 tbsp water to the vegetables and continue cooking for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly so they don’t stick.
Step 2
Add the pasta sauce, stir thoroughly and cook for another 5 minutes. Add extra water if you want to thin the sauce.
Step 3
When the celery is softening, add the olives and parsley and cook for another minute or so.
To serve
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir through well. Serve in one big preheated bowl for everyone to dive into, or individual bowls.
Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil £8.60 / 500ml
Add a good drizzle of olive oil over the pasta and have a bowl of parmesan on the table with some crusty bread for mopping up the delicious sauce.
Sainsbury’s Parmigiano Reggiano £3.40 / 200g
Notes:
The quantities in the recipe here are ideal for 4 people. If there is only 2 of you, keep the leftover pasta, it makes a wonderful soup and you get two meals for £5.
Filippo Berio pasta sauce is gluten and lactose free. Made using only natural ingredients with no artificial flavourings or preservatives, the sauce has a traditional Italian flavour and tastes just like homemade.
Add 1 tbsp Harissa and the tin of chopped tomatoes. Refill the tomato tin with water and add the stock cube and add that to the pot with the tomato puree.
Add the broad beans and cook for another 10 minutes
Add the butter beans and cook for another 5 minutes
Check your potatoes are cooked. Add the chopped parsley and mint (reserving a little for garnish) and stir
Serve in warm bowls with a good dollop of crème fraîche or greek yoghurt, if you like.
Tips:
Be sure to rinse your butter beans unless you want a thicker soup
We used Kallo organic vegetable stock cubes with excellent results.
Use a good helping of chopped parsley to garnish
Broad beans are added during the last ten minutes and assumes you are leaving the outer skins on them as we have done here. If you take the broad beans out of their skins, add them during the last five minutes.
Available in most supermarkets £1.80
What is harissa?
A hot chilli paste made with red chillies, peppers, garlic, oil and vinegar (or lemon juice). It is easy to make, but we have used a shop bought one in this recipe.
HEAL 