Total preparation time 15 to 20 minutes according to quantity

Ingredients (serve 4)

• 1 can of peeled tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• 4 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil
• A pinch of salt
• 6 basil leaves
• Optional: 1/3 fresh red chilly for a spicy sauce (arrabbiata)

Preparation

1. Cut the onion finely (and the chilly if you are using it)
2. Put the oil in a pan with medium-low heat
3. Add the onion (and the chilly) and fry for 4 minutes
4. Add the tomato, a few basil leaves and a pinch of salt
5. Simmer for 15 minutes

The tomato sauce is now ready to be served on the pasta

Tips

Use a large shallow non-stick pan (30 cm) to cook your sauce and then pour the drained pasta into the pan to mix it with the sauce.

You can use half a can of tomatoes for two people, it will make it quicker to cook. You can still use 1/2 onion for 2 people if you like it.

Variations: you can use garlic instead of onion. 1 garlic clove it’s enough

Make sure you don’t burn the onion while you shallow fry it

Peppers and onions cut into slices (Picture 1)

Another tasty, healty, quick and cheap recipe: Chicken thighs with peppers and onions

Time for preparation 30 minutes

Ingredients (serve 2):

• Chicken thighs 500 gr. (£ 1.69)
• Bag of red-green-yellow peppers (£ 1)
• 1 onion
• Tomato pelati jar
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 red chilly (fresh if possible) – link

Total cost of ingredients: £ 3 circa

Preparation

Chicken thighs cut in the pan with the peppers

1. Cut down one onion in slices
2. Cut half chilly in thin slices
3. Sautee (read fry gently) the onion and chilly slices in a pan with a few spoons of extra virgin olive oil
4. Cut the peppers in thin slices and put them in the pan (Picture 1)
5. Stir fry for 5 minutes with medium-high heat
6. Add the content of a jar of peeled tomato to the onion and keep cooking medium heat
7. Prepare the chicken tighs: remove the skin, fat and cut them in chops
8. Add salt and oregan to the peppers
9. Add the chicken, stir and cover with a lid
10. Keep cooking for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is perfectly cooked inside at medium heat with a lid (taste it to be sure)

Cooking tips

Stir frequently when the heat is high and cover with a lid to maintain the right amount of juice in the pan. If it gets to dry simply add half a glass of water at the time

Ready to serve

As a general rule you can keep the heat quite up without a lid when cooking the peppers.

When you add the tomato use a medium fire without the lid

And finally, when you add the chicken, kepp the heat to medium and cover with a lid

Feel free to experiment with different spices:

• Cumin powder
• Black pepper
• White pepper
• Coriander
• Rosmary

Why is this healthy

It’s a plate made mainly of vegetables (peppers, onion and tomato), the chicken is white meat which is better then red meat for health

Pizza base shaped

Pizza is part of the so called ‘dieta mediterranea’, i.e. a diet typical of the countries of the Mediterranean region, thought to increase life expectancy and protect against heart disease and cancer.

Ingredients

• 1 packet Sainsbury’s Pizza Base Mix, Twin Pack 290g, £ 0.59
• Few spoons of passata
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 mozzarella ball
• Any other topping you like

Introduction

One thing to remember wen making pizza is that whatever topping you choose, you should use good quality ingredients and add them in small quantity.

A few spoons of passata and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on pizza base

Using a pizza base mix instead of buying a precooked pizza has its advantages:

1. Save a lot of money: the cost of 2 pizzas made from scratch is about 2 pounds, the cost of buying 2 good quality precooked pizza can be even 8 pounds;
2. Healtier choice: you know what goes in the pizza: it’s difficult to ensure the quality and control what you eat in a pizza bought off the shelf
3. It gives you a lot of satisfaction to eat the pizza that you made from scratch

Preparation

Put the pizza mix in a bowl and add half glass of warm water. Stirr until the dough start to form, use your clean hands if you like (recommended), and work on the flour to mix it with the water until the dough stops sticking to your fingers (yes, at the beginnning it will stick to your fingers).

Add a pinch of salt.

Spread the passata with a spoon

Cut a square of baking paper the size of a pizza and add a pinch of flour on it, put the pizza dough on it. (start to heat the oven at 220-250 C.)

Start working the pizza with your fingers giving it a round shape, keep rotating the pizza and turn it a couple of times.

Once the pizza is the size desidered add a few spoons of passata and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in the middle (see picture).

Spread the passata with the back of a spoon.

Add the mozzarella chopped in little cubes.

Put in the oven preheated at 220 – 250 C. for 10 minutes.

Tips and tricks

Mozzarella on the pizza

To get a great crunchy and well cooked pizza I use a pizza baking stone from John Lewis, it’s not very expensive and it will last a long time. You can use the stone to serve the pizza and it will keep the pizza hot while you eat it.

Other nice combinations
- Tuna and onion
- Zola and egg
- Ham and mushrooms
- Anchovies

I like to add a bit of chili oil on my pizza. I make my own chilli oil by buying a 250 ml bottle of extra virgin and drop a few dried red chillies in it. It takes a week before the chillies sink in and the oil gets its spicy taste.

Video

Making the pizza

Prepare sage garlic rosmary on a chopping board

The italian roast beef is supposed to be served cut in thin slices, cold and still pink in the middle. The cooking sauce, made from olive oil, rosmary, garlic and sage is used as dressing tossed the slices of beef.

The preparation time of this plate is about 50 minutes but it is very simple and you can prepare it in the morning and serve it at dinner. You can keep it it the fridge for up to 4 days after being cooked.

It is a plain and healthy plate but keep in mind that red meat should be a small part of a well balanced diet. As a rule of thumb I eat red meat max twice per week.

Ingredients (serve 4 people):

• Rosmary (fresh if possible) – Link
• Sage (fresh if possible) – Link
• Garlic (fresh if possible) – Link


Popatoes are ready to be put in the pan

• 1 Kilogram beef – I used Prime silverside joint from Morrisons, 8.48 £/Kg
• White wine – I used Pinot Grigio from Italy (any good quality dry white wine on sale will work)
• Extra virgin olive oil

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Preparation

1. Chop some fresh rosmary sage and garlic cloves
2. Heat up the olive oil in the pan


Fry the spices for a couple of minutes then add the beef

3. Add the mixed herbs mix and sautee them without burning the garlic
4. Put the meat in the pan and cook on the 2 sides for 2 minutes each
5. Add salt and pepper and a glass of white wine
6. Put the pan in the oven and cook for 40 minutes at 180 degrees
7. Turn the meat every once in a while
8. Take it out of the oven and cut in thin slices
9. Serve cold with the cooking sauce on the side

To serve on the side
Fried potatoes with rosmary and sage

Ingredients

1. 1.5 Kg Baking Potatoes (30p from Morrisons)
2. 1 Litre frying (£ 0.98 from Tesco)
3. Sage and rosmary


Hold the beef with the left hand using some kitchen foil

4. Salt

Preparation

1. Peel potatoes and cut them into 1 to 2 cms chops
2. Heat up 1 litre frying oil (preferably use 1 seed oil not mixed seeds)
3. Add rosamary and sage to the oils
4. Add potatoes chops
5. Cook for 20 minutes
6. Take out the potatoes and dry the oil with paper tissues
7. Add salt and serve

A healtier alternative to fried potatoes is the Roasted Potatoes:

Just add them in the pan with the beef when you put the pan in the oven.

The roast beef slices are served with the potatoes

You will lose the cooking sauce as the potatoes will absorbe it but the potatoes will taste great!

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Cookware

Tefal Jamie Oliver Hard Anodised Sauté Pan, 30cm from John Lewis

• I used a Tefal Jamie Oliver Hard Anodised Sauté Pan, 30cm but any pan that you can use on the gas cooker and in the oven should do

• Chopping board and a sharp cooking knife

Octopus is a tasty mollusc with 8 feet as its name suggest to all of you latin speakers!

Octopus is cheap to buy, you can find it at the fishmongers and in supermarkets like Morrisons and like every other fish it’s rich in proteins, this means no fat and no carbohydrates. Good news for those of you who care about fat.

Let’s get to the recipe

1) boil the octopus for 1 hour (before you drop the octopus completely into the water, just put in the tentacles and pull them out for a second, this will give them the classic curly shape). The water must be added with a big spoon of salt and chillies

2) Take the octopus out of the water,

3) Chop the octopus on a chopping board and dress with extra virgin olive oil, thin slices of fresh chillies, thyme,

On the side you can can serve peeled and boiled boiled potatos or even mix the octopus and the potato chops together

Trick: buy fresh octopus and freeze. Defrost it in few minutes in the microwave.

The boiled octopus is on the chopping board, ready to be cut for the salad

The Octopus salad is dressed in a small bowl with extra vergin olive oil, fresh chilli thin slices and a little thyme