Chinese Noodles in mushroom & pork gravy

 Chinese noodles in Soy Mushroom Sauce using Leftover Roast Pork

Chinese noodles in a mushroom gravy...
There is a kind of noodle dish where the noodles are neither immersed in broth nor stir-fried in a sizzling hot wok.  Instead, the cooked noodles are tossed in a deliciously rich, usually soy flavoured sauce, with each strand of noodle glistening with mouth watering gravy.

I find this style of noodle the most comforting mid-week, when in the dark of the evening you arrive home, the mechanical hum from the long train journey still ringing in your ears and the ideas from an earlier brainstorming session still buzzing in your head.    

Chicken, Sweet Potato & Mixed Vegetable Lettuce wraps ("Sang Choy Bau")

Chicken Sang Choy Bau with Sweet Potato

HEALTHY SANG CHOY BAU with chicken and sweet potato...
Sang Choy Bau is a Chinese classic commonly served as a starter all around Australia, where I grew up.  It literally translates to "lettuce wrap" and in its traditional form, is simply a lettuce cup filled with minced pork and vegetables.  These days, you will find many variations of the original recipe, from minced beef or chicken to duck or even quail meat.

In creating this recipe, I was keen to fill my Sang Choy Bau with lots of different coloured vegetables, rather than simply with meat.  So, this healthy recipe brings together lean chicken breast and everyday vegetables like carrots, celery and peppers with soy and oyster sauce to create a quick and tasty modern twist to a Chinese classic.

Japanese-style soba noodles in ginger miso soup recipe

Japanese-style soba noodles in ginger miso soup with shiitake mushrooms, pak choi and leftover roast chicken

Leftover roast chicken and noodles in ginger miso soup
When I was growing up, my mother would make noodle soups all the time.  With four kids in the house, it was the perfect way for her to prepare a quick, easy meal and to use up whatever was available in the fridge.  Small quantities of a variety of vegetables like pak choi or choy sum would be thrown into steaming hot broth, along with any leftover meat that was available at the time. When I eventually left home and had to fend for myself, this was a dish that featured prominently in my weekly meal plan.  With my limited cooking skills, it was a fast, healthy hot meal that well and truly satisfied.

Edamame bean, seaweed & glass noodle salad with wasabi dressing

Edamame Bean, Wakame seaweed and mung bean vermicelli salad

Green food salad with edamame beans, seaweed & bean vermicelli
After all the indulgence over Christmas and New Year, it is time to detox by going veggie and loading up on green super foods.  So I have put together a salad combining some of my favourite foods: edamame beans, Wakame seaweed and avocado.  The beans are frozen ones which come straight out of the freezer and the dried wakame seaweed and glass noodles are store cupboard ingredients.

Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms on toast

Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms on toast

Wild mushrooms on toast on Sunday mornings...

As winter approaches, and the days are shorter, there is little that thrives in the garden. The large beech tree out the front has long shed all its leaves, and the Japanese maples, normally bursting with life with their delicate red orange leaves, are now twiggy and bare.

With the low temperatures, the loose compost in the vegetable patch is looking compacted and frosty, but a hint of green peeking out from the dark soil catches my eye. It's the parsley we put in months ago which has now grown long spindly stems and leaves. It could almost be described as lush, almost.  Hardy herbs like thyme and rosemary soldier on braving the cold winds, although now they appear sparser and a few forlorn leaves have begun to yellow.

I’m always grateful to have any garden produce during the winter months.  But never more than now, for picking herbs from the garden is peaceful and the tranquillity seems at odds with the chaos of Christmas shopping that is inevitable.  I snip a few sprigs of thyme and stems of parsley and hurry back into the warmth of the kitchen, where fresh shiitake and oyster mushrooms are waiting.

Kale crisps flavoured with honey and soy

Cavolo Nero crisps with honeyed walnuts

Kale crisps flavoured with soy and honey with a few honeyed walnuts thrown into the mix...

For a while now, I have been dreaming about kale crisps - ever since the day I stumbled across packets of these veggie crisps at an organic food store.  The thing with kale crisps is you either love them and crave them constantly, or you can't understand the concept of them and loathe the idea. Either way, at £3.60 a packet, these crisps don't come cheap.

Apple, Carrot & Chinese Cabbage Salad with Vietnamese dressing

Apple, Carrot & Chinese Cabbage salad

Fall in love with this Asian-inspired apple carrot salad recipe infused with coriander and limes

To celebrate National Apple Day this month, this salad recipe uses British apples as it's central ingredient.  I have chosen Jazz apples as they are tangy and crunchy.  To balance out the sweetness, carrots and Chinese cabbage, a crisp mild tasting, pale leaved cabbage (also known as Wombok), are added to it.

The dressing is inspired by the Vietnamese dipping sauce, Nước chấm, which combines the flavours of fish sauce, limes, vinegar and sugar with garlic and chilli.  A crunchy topping of fried shallots, is thrown over the salad, just before serving.

Swiss Chard, Walnut & Miso Pesto

Swiss Chard, Walnut & Miso Pesto 

A Swiss Chard Pesto recipe infused with Asian ingredients.

When it is overcast and grey outside, and large drops of rain have begun to fall from the skies, there is little motivation to tend the vegetable patch, and all I want to do is huddle up indoors with some nourishing, comforting food.  It is days like this that I dream of wholesome spaghetti drenched in warm, delicious green nuttiness.

Stir-fried Spicy Swiss Chard (Malaysian style) Recipe

Stir-Fry Swiss Chard with garlic, chillies for a tasty Malaysian style vegetable dish..

It is late Summer, and the kitchen garden is filled with a wonderful assortment of edibles awaiting harvest.  Amongst them, tall handsome golden stalks are interspersed with hot pink and creamy coloured stems, momentarily catching the eye of the beholder, in the sea of dark green glossy leaves.

Swiss Chard & Feta Parcels Recipe

With all this wonderful Swiss Chard growing in the kitchen garden, I am fast running out of recipe ideas to keep this spinach like vegetable interesting for the dinner table.  In our household, we usually stir-fry chard with garlic, but I found this Spinach & feta parcel recipe and adapted it for use with Swiss Chard.

Homegrown Swiss Chard is delicious stir-fried!

Fancy some bright sherbet coloured vegetables for dinner?  Try growing rainbow coloured Swiss Chard in your kitchen garden; it is closely related to Spinach, and has a similar, but more delicate taste.  It's stems grow in a variety of colours - pink, yellow, cream and orange, so very enticing, which makes me wonder why this vegetable is not more commonly found on supermarket shelves, as they make for a lovely change to ordinary green vegetables.  It is also a great alternative for Chinese/ Asian greens.