Janneke Vreugdenhil - Solo Food

Serve immediately with some kind of rustic bread, or just use whatever bread you’ve got on hand.

Spicy lamb pittas with hummus & garlicky yoghurt

You can make these lamb pittas in the time it would take you to go out and get a takeaway doner kebab – and these are much nicer!

Preparation Time

10 minutes

1 tsp harissa paste

olive oil, for frying

125 g lamb fillet

2 pitta breads

1/ 4– 1/ 2garlic clove, crushed or pressed

2 tbsp Greek or Turkish yoghurt

a pinch of salt

100 g hummus

a small handful of lettuce leaves

Place a griddle pan over a high heat. Mix the harissa with half a tablespoon of oil and brush this on to the lamb fillet. Set the fillet on the hot griddle and cook for a total of 2–3 minutes, turning regularly – the inside of the meat should still be pink. Place on a cutting board and let it rest.

Meanwhile, cook the pittas in the same pan and stir the garlic and a small pinch of salt into the yoghurt.

Cut the rested meat into thin slices. Slice open the pittas and fill them with hummus, meat, lettuce and a dollop of the garlicky yoghurt.

Miso soup with noodles, shiitake mushrooms, spinach & an egg

Preparation Time

15 minutes

100 g Japanese ramen (or other noodles)

1 egg

300 ml vegetable stock (from a cube)

100 g shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 scant tbsp red miso paste

soy sauce, to taste

a small handful of spinach leaves

1/ 2sheet of nori, cut into ribbons with scissors or a knife

Prepare the ramen according to the packet instructions.

Soft-boil the egg in a pan of boiling water for 4–5 minutes. Plunge the egg straight into a bowl of cold water to stop it cooking and leave until cool enough to handle. Once cool, peel and cut in half.

Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil in a small saucepan, add the shiitakes and boil for 1 minute. Put the miso in a bowl, stir in a small splash of the hot stock, then add this to the saucepan. Turn off the heat and stir in soy sauce to taste.

Place the noodles, spinach and the egg halves into a bowl, and pour over the stock and mushrooms. Garnish with nori ribbons to serve.

Ridiculously easy spaghetti caprese

Resist the temptation to add extras like garlic, balsamic vinegar, olives, capers and the like, this dish is all about simplicity and the contrast between hot and cold.

Preparation Time

15 minutes

125 g spaghetti

3 ripe medium-sized vine tomatoes

1 small ball of buffalo mozzarella

a small handful of basil leaves

a generous splash of olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper, to season

Cook the spaghetti until just tender in a pan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions.

Coarsely chop the tomatoes and mozzarella. Tear the basil leaves into small pieces. In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, a generous splash of olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper.

Drain the spaghetti and mix it into the tomatoes and mozzarella while it’s piping hot. And that’s it! Eat immediately.

Frittata with red onion, baby kale & goat’s cheese

Preparation Time

15 minutes

2 eggs

olive oil, for frying

1 small red onion, sliced into half rings

40 g baby leaf kale

few drops of balsamic vinegar

75 g soft goat’s cheese

salt and freshly ground pepper, to season

Preheat the grill. to high Beat the eggs together with a little freshly ground pepper and a small pinch of salt. Heat a small splash of oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat, add the onion and a small pinch of salt, and sauté for about 10 minutes. Turn up the heat to high halfway through so that the onion caramelises a little. Then add the baby kale and a few drops of balsamic vinegar, and let the leaves wilt for 30 seconds.

Add the beaten eggs to the pan and make sure the onion and kale are distributed evenly. Dot the goat’s cheese over the egg mixture and put the pan under the grill. Leave for a few minutes until the cheese has melted and the omelette is nice and puffy, and cooked through. Serve hot or cold.

Griddled white tuna with cucumber, avocado & ginger salad

Oh, what a wonderful solo supper this is. And what a salad! The spiciness of the chilli pepper, the heat of the ginger and the sour of the lime juice are nothing less than thrilling. The avocado acts as a cool and creamy foil for all of these intense flavours, and if your avocado is very ripe, give the salad a stir and it almost forms a sauce. It might not look all that great, but it tastes divine.

Preparation Time

15 minutes

juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp olive oil

coarse salt, to taste

a small pinch of chilli flakes

1 white (albacore) tuna steak, around 150 g

1/ 2cucumber

1/ 2red chilli pepper, sliced into thin rings

1 1/ 2–2 cm root ginger, minced or grated

1 ripe avocado, cut in half and sliced

soy sauce, to taste

Combine the juice of half the lime, the olive oil, the salt and chilli flakes, and marinate the tuna in this mix for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the salad. Halve the cucumber lengthways and pull a teaspoon down the middle to scoop out and remove the seeds. Cut the cucumber into thin slices and place them in a bowl. Add the chilli rings, ginger and avocado. Sprinkle with the remaining lime juice to taste. The salad should be quite hot and sour. Lastly, add a tiny bit of soy sauce (around a teaspoon) and a pinch of salt.

Heat a griddle pan over a high heat until it’s very hot, then add the tuna steak. Griddle for 1 minute on either side until griddle marks appear but the tuna is still pink inside.

Transfer the tuna to a plate and spoon the salad alongside.

Tagliatelle with prawns & smoky whisky–tomato sauce

Preparation Time

15 minutes

100–125 g (fresh) tagliatelle

200 g raw prawns, peeled (but with the tail left on) and deveined

olive oil, for frying

a splash of whisky

1 small garlic clove, crushed

a pinch of chilli flakes

2 vine tomatoes, finely chopped

a knob of butter

a small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to season

Cook the tagliatelle in boiling water until just tender, according to the packet instructions.

While the pasta is cooking, sprinkle the prawns with a little salt. Heat a small splash of olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the prawns over a medium–high heat for a few minutes until they’re pink and cooked through, then add the whisky to the prawns over the heat. Shake the pan a bit and if you’re using a gas hob the contents will ignite on their own. Stand back and let the flames die down, then turn out the prawns on to a plate.