Category: Low-fat

Lamb, Feta and Herb Pasta

This recipe is for a tasty but low-key meal that is quick, simple and cheap — perfect for those times when you want to eat well but just don't feel like going to a lot of trouble. It's also low-fat, which is always nice and all too rare in a pasta dish.

The anchovies give it a (necessary) depth of flavour, but they dissolve into anonymity and overall flavours of the dish are balanced, so even fussy kids will enjoy it.

Serve with a simple green salad.

Lamb, Feta and Herb Pasta

A simple, budget-friendly and kid-friendly weeknight meal.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 400 g tortiglioni or penne pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4-5 anchovies, drained, chopped
• 500 g lamb mince
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
• ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
• ¼ cup mint leaves, chopped
• ½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

Directions

1. Cook pasta following packet directions.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and anchovies. Cook for 1 minute or until anchovies dissolve.
3. Increase heat to medium-high. Add mince and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes or until mince is browned. Add lemon juice, tomatoes and salt and pepper. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until tomatoes soften. Remove from heat.
4. Drain pasta and return to pan. Add mince mixture, feta, mint and parsley. Toss.
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Posted by Vicki on Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 04:18 PM in Recipes and Lamb and Low-fat and Pasta.

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Bacon, Egg and Mushroom Bake

This was one of the first dishes from the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet (Book 2) that we tried when we started dieting back in January. The diet fell by the wayside a while ago but we have, this past week, revived it. Our plan for dinner tonight is to have leftover lamb curry with rice, raita and fresh tomato chutney — which you'll agree is lacking somewhat in the vegie department. So, I thought, to make up for such laxness, a brunch of Bacon, Egg and Mushroom Bake would be perfect to balance it out, being quite high in protein and low in carbohydrates, with lots of veg in the form of a green salad.

It takes a bit of time to prepare and cook, so this is great for a leisurely Sunday morning.

Bacon, Egg and Mushroom Bake

Low-fat but filling, "Bacon, Egg and Mushroom Bake" makes a perfect brunch for a relaxed Sunday morning.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ½ red onion, sliced
• 1 rasher of bacon, trimmed of fat, sliced
• 1 large flat mushroom, sliced
• 3 eggs
• 100 g low-fat natural yoghurt
• 1½ teaspoons mustard powder
• 35 g cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 heaped tablespoon roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 ripe tomato, sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 170ºC. Lightly grease 2 small (or 1 medium) shallow ovenproof dishes. I used 350ml individual casserole dishes and they were just right.
2. Heat oil in a medium non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and bacon and cook for 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. In a bowl, lightly whisk together eggs, yoghurt and mustard powder.
5. Add cheese and parsley, and stir to combine.
6. Spoon half of the mushroom mix into each of the prepared dishes, then pour over the egg mixture. Arrange slices of tomato on top.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden and the contents are firm. (One combined bake will need longer.)
8. Serve with a large green salad.

Notes

For a bit of flavour variation, try adding some herbs. Thyme, oregano or basil would all work well with this.

Posted by Vicki on Sunday, June 06, 2010 at 01:44 PM in Recipes and Breakfast and Low-fat.

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Mongolian Beef

I've been having lots of fun this last month or so with my new wok. I've tried several Asian recipes, experimenting with flavours. I've tried some recipes more than once, trying to get them just right (as ya do). I'm sure you too know what it's like when you try to make a dish for the first time, and you eat it and think, "That was yummy but next time I'll..." I've been doing a lot of that in the last few weeks!

One of the first meals I made in the wok was a Kylie Kwong recipe for Mongolian Beef. It was delicious made just as the recipe directs, though I do confess I substituted shredded rump steak for Kylie's recommended beef mince. (And don't forget to taste as you cook, to ensure you have a nice balance of flavours!)

This is a quick and simple family meal that's both tasty and healthy. It doesn't even have to be hot (as in chillies) at all if you leave off the suggested chilli garnish.

Mongolian Beef

Mongolian Beef

Serves 4

Ingredients

• For the marinade
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon cornflour
  • 1 tablespoon ginger, finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
  • ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• For the beef
  • 600 g rump steak, shredded
  • 1 head chinese cabbage, finely shredded
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 50 ml vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine
  • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 1 teaspoon malt vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 small carrot, peeled and finely sliced
  • 1 small red pepper, finely sliced
  • 1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced
• To serve
  • steamed rice
  • sliced chillies

Directions

1. Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add in the beef and leave to marinate in fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Put the cabbage and salt into another bowl and mix well to combine. Leave to stand for 15 minutes then rinse under cold water and drain. Squeeze out any excess liquid with your hands.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok until the surface starts to shimmer slightly. Add half of the marinated beef and stir fry for 30 seconds. Remove from the wok with a slotted spoon and set to one side.
5. Add the remaining oil to the wok and cook the remaining beef for 30 seconds before returning the reserved beef to the pan.
6. Add in the rice wine, hoisin and oyster sauce, vinegar and sesame oil and cook for a further 30 seconds.
7. Toss in the cabbage, carrot and pepper and stir-fry for a further minute.
8. Stir through the spring onions, reserving a few for garnish and remove from the heat.
9. Spoon the beef into a serving bowl, sprinkle with remaining spring onions and serve with rice and sliced chillies.

Posted by Vicki on Friday, June 04, 2010 at 06:54 PM in Recipes and Asian and Beef and Low-fat and Stir-fry.

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Lamb with Roast Pumpkin Salad

This simple meal is bursting with flavour. The sweetness of the roast pumpkin is just gorgeous and it goes soooooooo well in a salad with spinach leaves, feta and toasted pine nuts. It is further enhanced by the dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic. It's a delicious combination that beautifully complements the natural flavour of the lamb.

You can start preparing this meal a bit ahead of time. When we had this a night or two ago, I prepared and roasted the pumpkin a couple of hours before dinner time. While the yummy, golden little wedges were roasting, I toasted the pine nuts (you can buy them already toasted but I love them when they are freshly toasted, which only takes a couple of minutes) and also prepared the other salad ingredients and the dressing. I then went to sit down for an hour or so until it was dinner time, and when it was time to eat all I really had to do was cook the lamb and let it rest before serving.

The original recipe uses a lot more salt and pepper than I did. I really don't think food needs to be swamped with salt and pepper, and the dressing here is already salty from the balsamic vinegar so I've omitted it from the dressing. I also took it very easy with the seasoning on the pumpkin and lamb — we only want just enough seasoning here to enhance the natural flavours.

Lamb with Roast Pumpkin Salad

Lamb with Roast Pumpkin Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

• olive oil cooking spray
• 6 lean lamb cutlets
• Roast Pumpkin Salad
  • 600 g butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded, cut into thin wedges
  • 50 g baby spinach leaves
  • 2 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted*
  • 100 g feta cheese, cut into small cubes (I used Danish feta — I just love its creaminess — but use your own favourite or even a reduced-fat version)
• Dressing
  • 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 230°C.
2. Line a baking dish with baking paper. Place pumpkin in a single layer in baking dish. Spray with oil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Turn pumpkin. Repeat with oil and salt and pepper.
3. Roast for 20 minutes, turning once, until tender.
4. Preheat a barbecue grill or chargrill on medium-high heat. Spray both sides of lamb with oil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes each side for medium or until cooked to your liking.
5. Transfer to a plate. Cover loosely with foil. Stand for 5 minutes.
6. Place spinach, pine nuts and feta in a bowl. Toss to combine.
7. Whisk vinegar, oil and garlic in a jug. Add to salad with pumpkin. Toss gently to combine.
8. Serve lamb with roast pumpkin salad.

Notes

The dressing is quite garlicky, so if you have to breathe on anyone later, you may want to tone down the garlic a bit!

*To toast pine nuts, heat a dry skillet on medium-low. Add the pine-nuts and shake and stir for a minute or two, until the nuts are lovely and golden all over and smell and taste divine. (Yep I always taste — I can't help myself!) Remove them from the pan immediately they're done to your satisfaction, as they will continue to brown for as long as they are in contact with the hot pan.

Posted by Vicki on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 11:18 AM in Recipes and Lamb and Low-fat.

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Pepper Steak with Red Wine, Parmesan and Chilli

It's time for another recipe blog post. "Yay!" I hear you cry. (Well, I can dream.)

We actually had this lovely, simple steak meal a few weeks ago, and I threw the photo up on Edible 365 and forgot about it. I'm shocked I could do that. It actually looked reasonably pretty in the photo, which makes it bloggable. Often my food photos are so bad (usually because the food presentation is — I'm still working on that!) I can't blog the meal because I don't have a supporting photo. Given that it has been so long since I put a recipe on Ozfoodie, when the photo caught my eye today I thought I would blog its recipe.

The recipe (which I found on Cuisine.com.au) calls for fillet steak but I used scotch fillet. Scotch fillet steak kinda sprawls across the plate and doesn't look as neat as the more compact fillet, but I prefer it in terms of flavour. If it's just about anything versus flavour, I choose flavour!

If (like me) you enjoy a nice, thick steak and want a decent thickness with scotch fillet steak, it is likely to weigh in at more than the recipe's suggested 150g. However, taking the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet as a guide, with its recommendation of 200g of protein per main meal with little or low carbohydrates, a weightier steak in this meal is perfectly acceptable. Sadly, however, I never seem to be able to finish a piece of steak that big, and it makes for a man-sized meal, so if you have a smaller appetite you could consider cutting a very large steak in half for two people.

Pepper Steak with Red Wine, Parmesan and Chilli

Juicy steak on sweet potato mash, in just a spoonful of red wine sauce, topped with chilli and parmesan.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• For the mash
  • 800 g sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
  • black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • 6 tablespoons low-fat milk
• For the steak
  • black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons butter
  • 4 fillet steaks (about 150g each)
  • 100 ml red wine
  • 50 g parmesan, shaved
  • 2 large red chillies, finely sliced
  • 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley leaves

Directions

1. For the mash: Cook sweet potato in lightly salted boiling water (I left out the salt and didn't miss it) for about 10 minutes or until tender. Drain, add ground pepper, butter (I also used unsalted butter) and milk and mash until smooth.
2. For the steak: Grind black pepper coarsely on both sides of steaks. Heat butter in a large heavy-based pan until nut-brown, add steaks and cook over medium to high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until cooked as desired. Remove steaks from pan and rest in a warm place.
3. Add wine to pan and stir over medium heat, scraping the residue from the base of pan. Check seasoning and when slightly reduced pour sauce over steaks and top with parmesan, chilli and parsley.
4. Serve with mash and green salad leaves.

Notes

If you love garlic, you can add a sliced garlic clove to the mash water, and when the water is drained, retain the clove and mash it in with the sweet potato.

Posted by Vicki on Saturday, April 10, 2010 at 03:39 PM in Recipes and Beef and Low-fat.

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Grilled Snapper with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Don't you love it when you come across a new recipe that ticks all the boxes: quick, easy, tasty — and healthy?

We're not big fish eaters but this "experiment" turned out really well and left a lovely, lingering aftertaste. It's based on a recipe in the Women's Weekly Fast Healthy cookbook.

Grilled Snapper with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Snapper topped with a spicy tomato-based sauce on a bed of spinach.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 snapper fillets (about 200g each)
• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 2 teaspoons peanut oil
• Spicy Tomato Sauce
  • 2 teaspoons peanut oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3 shallots, finely chopped
  • 425 g can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon Shao Hsing (Chinese rice wine) or dry sherry
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sambal oelek
  • 2 teaspoons grated palm sugar

Directions

1. For the sauce: Heat 2 teaspoons of peanut oil in a small frying pan; cook garlic and shallots, stirring, about 1 minute or until shallots are soft. Stir in undrained tomatoes, Chinese cooking wine, sauce, sambal and sugar; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until liquid has reduced by half.
2. Meanwhile, spread the cornflour on a plate and lightly coat the fish with it. Heat a large frying pan, add 2 teaspoons peanut oil then cook, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until cooked as desired. When it's cooked the fish will have lost any transparency and be opaque and flakey. Careful not to overcook!
3. Place the spinach in a medium bowl with combined vinegar and remaining oil; toss gently to combine.
4. Serve fish with spinach salad and spicy sauce.

Posted by Vicki on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 03:31 PM in Recipes and Fish and Low-fat.

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Chicken in Balsamic, Orange and Rosemary Sauce

Since starting our diet (which is going really well, by the way) and joining the Edible 365 Flickr group where we have to take a new food/drink photo every day, I've been on the look-out for interesting but low-fat meals. We enjoyed our iteration of this recipe from Good Food magazine so much that I thought it would be good to share it.

I find that, in many cases, the oil and butter components of recipes can be reduced without any ill effects, and I've done so below. A little oil or butter is fine on a low-fat diet as long as you track how you use it, and limit it sensibly. I don't use butter on bread or anywhere else throughout the day, so don't feel guilty adding a bit to the main meal. :-)

Chicken in Balsamic, Orange and Rosemary Sauce

Chicken for two.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• olive oil spray
• 1½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon light muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon butter
• orange segments and fresh rosemary sprigs to garnish
• steamed rice and green salad to serve

Directions

1. Put the chicken between pieces of cling film and flatten slightly by bashing with a pan. Unwrap and sprinkle on both sides with pepper.
2. Heat a non-stick pan over a medium heat, spray lightly with olive oil spray, then cook the chicken for 5 minutes, turning halfway through.
3. Pour 1 tablespoon vinegar over the chicken, add the orange juice and stock and sprinkle with the rosemary and salt. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and bubble gently for 5 minutes or until tender, spooning with the sauce frequently and turning chicken halfway through.
4. Remove the chicken from the pan, cover loosely with foil, and set aside to rest while making the sauce.
5. For the sauce, stir the sugar, butter and rest of the vinegar into the pan, then sizzle for a few minutes until reduced and glossy.
6. Put the chicken in a serving dish, spoon the sauce over and garnish with orange and rosemary. Serve with rice and a crisp green salad.

Posted by Vicki on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 04:16 PM in Recipes and Chicken and Low-fat.

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Low-fat Beef Stroganoff

There are many, many versions of Beef Stroganoff, which originated in Russia and is traditionally a dish of sautéed beef and sour cream. These days (but still depending on where you are) lean beef strips are often used and onions and mushrooms are usually added. Sometimes mustard and/or tomato paste and/or white wine are also added. Some recipes even use heavy cream instead of sour cream. Rich yumminess. Mmm. But, if you're watching your weight, Beef Stroganoff may not, perhaps, be the best choice.

At the moment, I'm watching my weight. The fact of it is that I always need to watch my weight as I'm prone to putting it on, especially as I enjoy indulging in yummy, rich, fattening meals like Beef Stroganoff. It would be a shame to miss out on it altogether, though, so I set about creating a version that wasn't high in fat but was still tasty.

I figured that judicious use of oil when browning the meat and frying the onions would help, but there was still the sour cream to contend with. Even sour light cream seemed very high in fat and energy. I compared it (using the CalorieKing online food database) with low-fat natural yoghurt, which I've been using a fair bit of in my cooking lately, and there was quite a difference. I thought the yoghurt worth a try and it actually worked quite well.

I also liked the idea of the addition of some paprika that I'd seen in some recipes, so decided to try that too.

Unfortunately for my waistline, I've never been impressed with Beef Stroganoffs that use lean meat. It invariably, in my experience, fails to be suitably tender. (Though maybe I just haven't tried hard enough? Or maybe it's because I'd normally eat lean meat medium to rare.) I did consider using strips of scotch fillet, which is a very tender cut of beef, but in the end I chose the much cheaper alternative of diced chuck, cooked slowly. Chuck is a tough cut that is sweet and delicious when slow cooked, so that's what I used, first trimming as much fat off as I could. It may not have ended up exactly low in fat, but at least I knew it was going to be meltingly tender.

The end result was indeed rich and tender and had great flavour, so much so that we figured — diet or not — we'd stick with this version in future.

Low-fat Beef Stroganoff

Not exactly traditional, but it tasted lovely.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 400 g chuck steak, trimmed of fat and diced into 2cm cubes
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 200 g button or other small mushrooms, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ¾ cup salt-reduced beef stock
• 2 teaspoons cornflour, mixed with 1 tablespoon water or beef stock
• 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 100 g low-fat natural yoghurt
• flat-leaf parsley leaves, extra, to garnish

Directions

1. Heat a large, non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil.
2. Add beef cubes in batches and cook for 3-4 minutes per batch, or until browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Add remaining oil then the onion, and cook for 2 minutes or until the onion starts to soften. Add mushrooms and cook a further 2-3 minutes, then add garlic and paprika and cook about a minute, until fragrant.
4. Return beef to the pan then stir in stock and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer over a very low heat, covered, for 2 hours or until beef is very tender. (At the start it may look like there isn't enough fluid but it does build up. You can add more stock if you think it really needs it.)
5. Add cornflour mixture and stir until gravy has thickened. Stir in yoghurt and parsley, and season to taste.
6. Serve with pasta or rice and garnish with the extra parsley leaves.

Posted by Vicki on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 04:50 PM in Recipes and Beef and Low-fat.

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