A recipe, my menus and a few bits-and-bobs

I thought I'd share a recipe with you today ...this is what I'm baking for supper tonight. We'll have it with potato noisettes from the freezer and some green beans, peas and carrots.

Autumn Tart

Ingredients:

1 potimarron. Now, I have no idea what potimarron is in English. It's a type of pumpkin/squash. Here is a picture of a potimarron

                                                           Any idea what you call it in English?

Anyhow, you need one of these. Plus:

• 1 onion
• 200g diced ham
• 3 eggs (separated)
• 100g grated gruyère cheese (or similar. I'm actually going to use Comté)
• seasoning
• ready made shortcrust pastry (or home made, if you prefer.)

Preheat the oven to 160°C (GM6)

Method:

 So, you peel and chop the potimarron and cook it with the onion for 25 minutes. The recipe says steam it, but I’m thinking I may sweat the onion in a little oil, and then add the potimarron to that for the 25 minutes. NOTE: I forgot to say that I added water to the mixture to cook it, as the pan was getting burned!!! In fact I think that's what the translation means, rather than "steam". Just don't forget to drain it!

Purée the mixture, and add the egg yolks and the ham. Season. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and carefully add to the mixture. Add half the cheese.

Line a flan tin with the pastry, and put the mixture in it. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Bake for 35 minutes.

This is what it will look like:

On Monday: it did look like this and it was quite tasty. Quite a lot of washing up though - pan for pumpkin,(which needed an extra scrub because I burnt it!) food processor, bowl for egg whites, bowl for mixture, etc etc. But generally, I think it was worth it.

For the rest of the week, I'm going to try to start cutting down on serving sizes, eating a salad before the main course, and trying some lower fat (but hopefully not lower taste) recipes. I want to get the Hairy Bikers Diet recipe book, I think, but at the moment Amazon has sold out. But I shall use their website for some ideas. I also have a book called "Fat Girl Slim"  by Ruth Watson, which works on a similar prinicipal to the Hairy Bikers - big taste, small calories - so I will use that. 

Mind you, having said that, it has occurred to me that we're away for a short break around Lyon next weekend, so we'll be eating well then. Mr F-D will be taking his bike and I may do some walking...I've got to have new inner soles made for what the foot surgeon described as my "difficult feet", so that's why we have to go to Lyon. Mr F-D likes the thought of going further west towards Chamonix for a couple of days then driving back to Lyon for my Monday appointment. 

Still, that doesn't mean I can't try to eat more healthily during the week, does it?!

MONDAY: Lunch: potimarron tart, cucumber & mint salad, a little bit of bread.

                    Dinner: Hairy Biker Chilli Salad bowls (all Hairy Biker recipes are on this link)

TUESDAY: Lunch: as Monday

                     Dinner: warm mushroom and prawn salad, plus a small jacket potato

WEDNESDAY: Scrambled eggs on toast

                     Dinner: Hairy Sweet & Sour chicken + rice

THURSDAY: Lunch: minestrone soup, small portion of bread, cold meat

                     Dinner: seared cod with green olive crust, spinach salad, new potatoes

FRIDAY: Lunch: As Thursday

                  Dinner: Hairy Skinny lasagne - only I'm making it with aubergines rather than leeks. It may change the calorie count, but not too much, I suspect. 

Actually, looking through the Fat Girl Slim book, it was less use than I remembered. There weren't many recipes that appealed to me, and lots of them used either ingredients that will be difficult to find in the local supermarkets (mirin, anybody?) or will blow the budget within days (scallops, squid, lobster...) Never mind, I'll order Hairy Bikers ASAP from Amazon, and wait for that to arrive.

You may have noticed the plethora of posts at the moment. Well, it's only until work starts again the week after next. Then I'll be back to once or twice a week.

Have a good week, folks, and don't forget the Giveaway over on this post.