Hearty Root Vegetable and Mushroom Casserole with Herby Cheese and Mustard Dumplings

This really is a cracking dish when you're craving comfort food, and makes a smashing Sunday dinner for vegetarians!

I wanted to make something for my meat-loving family (incuding me!) which wouldn't leave us feeling like something was 'missing' for a Sunday dinner, and I didn't want to do a nut roast! In the end, I decided upon some kind of 'stew and dumplings', and it was that tasty and filling it didn't even need anything on the side - although you could of course serve it with some steamed green vegetables, and maybe even a couple of roasted potatoes on the side, and you'd probably be able to feed a couple more people with it!

If you want a healthier option for a weekday meal (or fast day), you could skip the dumplings, and just serve with plenty of green vegetables, and a few new potatoes or some cauliflower mash on the side. I can't tell you how happy I am with the gravy, it's so tasty and rich, it's the best vegetarian gravy I've ever made - it's amazing, the power of umami (no offence to vegetarians, but I never thought a vegetarian/vegan gravy could actually taste this good)!

Turnips would also work well in this, if you wanted to substitute one of the root vegetables. Without the dumplings, this is a low calorie, vegan, gluten free and dairy free dish. To make the dumplings vegan, use vegan cheese (or omit), and leave out the egg and just bring together the dough with water.

Serves four, 167 calories per portion just for the vegetable casserole, plus 194 calories per dumpling (388 calories for a serving of two dumplings), so 555 calories for a quarter portion of casserole with two dumplings.

Cream of Celeriac Soup with Fresh Thyme and Truffle Oil (includes Thermomix method)

The delicious, earthy flavours of celeriac, thyme and truffles compliment each other perfectly in this beautifully smooth and sophisticated soup

There's just something about the flavour of certain root vegetables. They have a real, rich, earthy depth to them which is complimented by so many other flavours and celeriac is possibly my favourite of them all.

      

I chose to use fresh, young thyme leaves in this - adding most at the beginning to meld in with the other flavours during cooking, and then a few more leaves at the end to add that beautiful fresh-picked taste, together with just a little scattering on top, and a luxurious drizzle of extra truffle oil on the top (well, I do have a big bottle bought for me last Christmas by my children which I realised needs using up!). It would have been amazing to have shaved some fresh truffle over the top, and maybe a little blended into the soup right at the end, but one must save these luxuries for special occasions (or find an amenable pig and an appropriate area in the woods to find one's own truffles...still, there's nothing stopping you doing this if you want to impress your guests!).

I think crispy pancetta, would make a delightful topping too, sprinkled on right at the end. To be honest, I was *this* close to doing so, but I thought it might not look quite so pretty and refined in the photo - but go on... do it to yours, it will taste delicious! (Unless you're a vegetarian, of course!).

Makes around 2 litres of soup, hence 8-10 servings. From 63 calories per skinny portion (for a tenth using 300ml extra stock at the end instead of cream and milk), to 152 calories for an eighth of the full fat version. [Calories in square brackets].

Pan Roast Duck Breast with a Cherry and Port Sauce

Dark cherries in a rich, port and red wine sauce perfectly complement the flavour of tender, juicy duck breasts.

And the real beauty of this dish? For an indulgent treat, you can cook it with the skin on, until it's golden and crispy for a treat... or you can cook it without the skin, like you would a tender piece of fillet steak and enjoy a really tasty piece of meat which is actually quite low calorie once you remove the skin! Delicious served with fennel-roasted celeriac and leek, with simple steamed fine asparagus (see tips for how). Potato Dauphinoise would be rather nice on the side too (but that's a recipe for another time)!

 

And both ways, you've got an incredibly tasty meal with a rich and indulgent tasting sauce.

This serves two people with a generous amount of sauce, and is easily doubled. It would also go nicely with certain other game (the more flavoursome varieties such as wood pigeon, or venison).

If you're counting calories, and cook this with two skinless duck breasts, it will be 325 calories per serving, plus 74 calories per serving if you want to cook the suggested accompaniments with it (so 399 calories per serving. [Calories in square brackets]

If you happen to be counting calories and want to keep the skin on, you're looking at around 647 calories per portion for the duck and sauce. But you do get some tasty duck fat to pour off and use on your roasties another time...

Smoked Trout and Celeriac Remoulade with a Twist

Hot off the press!

While I'm busy trying to add the huge backlog of recipes I have, here's one I've just written up... whilst wandering around trying to decide what to have for dinner while the rest of my clan had decided on home-made burgers, I spotted some cold-smoked trout fillets, so decided to have them grilled with some celeriac remoulade. I added a little ground fennel seed to the celeriac, to complement the aniseed notes, and served it simply with some green leaves, for a quick and tasty treat.

You could just use some ready-to-eat hot-smoked trout, as you don't often find it cold-smoked, or use some lightly smoked salmon fillets if you see them. Or even some sliced smoked salmon (obviously, I doubt you'd want to grill that!). If you're feeling adventurous, you can buy fresh trout or salmon and give it a quick smoke yourself (see notes). If you're not counting calories, drizzle the leaves with some good extra virgin olive oil, and add mayonnaise to the celeriac to your taste - home-made is best, of course, but use your favourite if your wrist is feeling too tired to make your own...

Smoked Trout with a Lemony Celeriac Remoulade

Simple but delicious, choose which mayonnaise you use to determine how many calories are in your meal, if you're counting.

Serves 4, easily halved. Calories per serving: 217 if using extra light mayonnaise; if you use light mayonnaise it will be 259 calories per portion; and 339 calories per portion if using full fat mayonnaise – all within range, go for your personal preference!