with veg, promising to get you on your way to your five-a-day; think lentil and bean chilli with guac, one-pan pesto chicken with summer vegetables, and harissa fish with herby cauliflower cous cous. – Jessica Carter
STIR CRAZY
Ching-He Huang (Kyle Books, £19.99) Stir-fries often make for speedy, frugal and nutritious meals, but perhaps don’t seem the most exciting of dinners when you come home ravenous and hankering for something a bit indulgent. Here, though, Ching showcases a variety of enticing creations that will have you dusting off that wok in excitement. The book dishes out advice on the wok itself, as well as the basic rules of a successful stir-fry, common ingredients, and how to be well prepped for cooking. These building blocks put you in good stead for having a go at any of the 100 recipes – more than half of which are vegetarian and all of which can be on the table in a matter of minutes. You’ll find lots of carefully balanced aromatics – such as in the Taiwanese ‘three cup chicken’, spicy soy mushroom tofu, and sweet and sour baby squid with chilli and kumquats – and there are sauces, toppings and pickles to pimp your meal up with, too. – Jessica Carter
THE SEAWEED COOKBOOK
Caroline Warwick-Evans and Tim van Berkel (Lorenz Books, £15) Surfers, boaties and nature conservationists Caro and Tim run The Cornish Seaweed Company, Britain’s first commercial seaweed outfit, which counts the likes of Nathan Outlaw and Rick Stein among its fans. They evangelise this healthy, sustainable and (yes) delicious food source in this handsome book. Full of tempting recipe photos and pictures of the pair clambering over bladder wrackstrewn rocks and diving for kelp, it talks a lot about seaweed cultivation and foraging, and gives detailed info on a dozen of the most important types. Recipes run through starters (deep-fried kelp-wrapped brie with raspberry and chilli jam) and mains (sea spaghetti ‘tagliatelle’ with crab) to, rather unexpectedly, puds (blackberry, apple and dulse crumble); there are even seaweed cocktails. (Kelp Martini, anyone?) This is an accessible book that will challenge your current eating habits. – Matt Bielby
Recipe from Eat Happy by Melissa Hemsley (Edbury Press, £20); photography by Issy Croker USING STORE CUPBOARD staples and spinach from the freezer, this Seville-inspired stew comes together in under 20 minutes, and is a hit with everyone. You could swap the spinach for other greens such as chopped chard, or add extra bits and bobs, such as a few tablespoons of capers, olives or chopped sun-dried tomatoes. I love this as a stewlike soup in a bowl, but you could make it thicker and serve with a side of quinoa.
SPANISH STEW WITH ALMONDS SERVES 4
3 tbsp chopped or flaked almonds 1½ tbsp butter (or ghee) 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 large red or orange pepper, deseeded and chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 tsp ground cumin 2 tsp smoked paprika ¼ tsp cayenne pepper 1 large handful of fresh parsley, stalks finely chopped and leaves roughly chopped 1 tbsp tomato purée 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes 2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed 100ml stock or bone broth or water (optional) 250g spinach 1 tbsp lemon juice extra-virgin olive oil, to serve 1 In a large, deep frying pan, toast the almonds over a medium heat for just under a minute until golden, then set aside. Melt the butter in the hot pan, add the onion and pepper, and fry for 6 minutes until starting to soften. 2 Add the garlic, spices and parsley stalks and fry for 1 minute, stirring constantly to prevent them from burning, then add the tomato purée and cook for another 30 seconds. 3 Tip the tinned tomatoes into the pan, turn up the heat to a medium simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, uncovered, to thicken and reduce. Then add the chickpeas and cook for another 3 minutes with a lid on. If you want the stew to be more soup-like, add the stock. 4 Turn up the heat, drop in the spinach and cook for 1 minute, covered with the lid, then add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. 5 Serve each bowl with a good drizzle of olive oil and with the parsley leaves and toasted almonds scattered over.
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