The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight (3 page)

Instead of prawns, you could add some thinly sliced ham or fresh tomato quarters and a handful of spinach.

PAN-FRIED BACON WITH POACHED EGG AND BALSAMIC TOMATOES

Guess what? You don’t have to give up your bacon and eggs when you’re dieting – just slightly change the way you cook them. Poaching the eggs and dry-frying the bacon saves on fat and the whole dish tastes just as good. Choose good lean bacon and avoid streaky.

SERVES 2

1 tsp sunflower oil

4 rashers of rindless smoked back bacon

1 tsp white wine vinegar

2 large very fresh eggs (fridge cold)

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

good handful of watercress

drizzle of good-quality balsamic vinegar

freshly ground black pepper

264 calories per portion

Brush a large non-stick frying pan with sunflower oil, using the tip of a pastry brush. Place the pan over a medium heat and add the bacon. Cook for 2 minutes until lightly browned, then turn and dry-fry on the other side for another 3 minutes.

While the bacon is cooking, half fill a medium non-stick saucepan with water, add the vinegar and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low, so the water is only just bubbling.

Crack the eggs into the water, 1 at a time, spacing them well apart. Cook for 2½ minutes. The eggs should rise to the surface within a minute. If the egg white sticks to the bottom of the pan, lift it gently with a wooden spoon. Alternatively, you can use a hob-top egg poacher, lightly greased with sunflower oil.

Add the tomatoes to the pan with the bacon and season with plenty of black pepper. Cook the tomatoes for about a minute until just beginning to soften, turning them once. Put a small pile of watercress on each plate.

Place some bacon and tomatoes on the plates and drizzle with a dash of balsamic vinegar. Take the eggs out of the water with a slotted spoon and place them on top. Season with a little more pepper and tuck in right away while it’s all lovely and hot.

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH SMOKED SALMON

This is a treat – light but tasty and packed with protein. It takes next to no time to prepare and makes a really special weekend breakfast or brunch. Shows that you can breakfast like a king and still keep the calories under control.

SERVES 2

4 medium eggs

1 tbsp freshly snipped chives, plus a few extra to garnish (optional)

15g butter

4 slices of smoked salmon (about 75g)

1 English muffin, cut in half

flaked sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

354 calories per portion

Beat the eggs with a pinch of flaked sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Use a metal whisk and make sure you beat the eggs really well. Stir in the chives if you’re using them.

Melt the butter in a medium non-stick saucepan over a low heat. Pour the beaten eggs into the pan and cook very gently for 2 minutes, stirring slowly until the eggs are softly scrambled. Remove from the heat and stir for a few seconds more – the eggs will continue to cook for a while.

While the eggs are cooking, toast the muffin and put 1 half on each plate, cut side up. Spoon the scrambled eggs over the muffins, add the slices of smoked salmon and season with a little more black pepper. Garnish with extra chives if you wish. Serve immediately.

FRESH FRUIT COMPOTE WITH HOME-MADE GRANOLA

We find a bowl of this compote, topped with some of our special crunchy granola and a spoonful of low-fat yoghurt, sets us up a treat in the morning. It’s like sunshine for your insides.

SERVES 6

Home-made granola

300ml apple juice (we prefer the cloudy type)

150g jumbo porridge oats

15g flaked almonds

50g mixed dried fruit

Fruit compote

2 Bramley cooking apples (about 150g each)

4 fresh ripe plums, stoned and cut into quarters

75g golden caster sugar

200g strawberries, hulled

200g raspberries

200g blackberries

6 tbsp low-fat natural yoghurt (optional)

243 calories per portion (without yoghurt)252 calories per portion (with yoghurt)

To make the granola, preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment.

Pour the apple juice into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Continue boiling until the liquid has reduced by two-thirds and is syrupy. It’s really important to get this bit right, as the apple syrup needs to be thick enough to lightly coat the oats.

Add the oats and almonds to the pan with the apple syrup and stir until well combined. Tip everything on to the baking tray and spread out thinly. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven and scatter the dried fruit over the top. Turn and mix everything with a spatula or spoon and put the tray back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until the oats are crisp and lightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray, then tip the granola into an airtight tin or jar. This mixture is best eaten within 2 weeks.

To make the compote, preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5. Peel the apples and cut them into quarters. Remove the cores and slice the apples thinly. Put the apples with the plums and half the sugar in a shallow ovenproof dish – a lasagne dish is ideal. Cover loosely with a sheet of foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Take the dish out of the oven and add the whole berry fruits to the dish. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and toss lightly together. Cover with foil and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the fruit is soft and juicy but still holding its shape – it will continue to cook once you’ve taken it out of the oven. Leave the compote to cool, then tip it into a bowl and cover with cling film. It will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Serve the compote in bowls, topped with a couple of spoonfuls of the granola and some low-fat yoghurt if you like.

BAKED HADDOCK, SPINACH AND EGG POTS

Full of protein and really tasty, this is a luxurious weekend breakfast or brunch dish. We eat it with thin crispbreads, which only have about 20 calories per piece, so you can have a couple for dipping into the egg. Thinly sliced pumpernickel bread is also delicious but will add extra calories to the dish, so go easy.

SERVES 4

200g young spinach leaves

1 tbsp cold water

150g skinless smoked haddock, cut into 2cm cubes

125g half-fat crème fraiche

4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced

2 tsp cornflour

sunflower oil, for greasing foil

4 medium eggs (fridge cold)

grated nutmeg, for sprinkling (optional)

freshly ground black pepper

very thin rye crispbreads, to serve (optional)

187 calories per portion

Preheat the oven to 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7. Place 4 x 200ml ramekins on a baking tray. Put the spinach in a large saucepan with the tablespoon of cold water and cook over a medium heat until the leaves are wilted, stirring often. This will take 2–3 minutes.

Tip the spinach into a sieve and press it well with a ladle or the back of a wooden spoon to squeeze out as much water as possible. Transfer it to a bowl and add the haddock, crème fraiche, spring onions, cornflour and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Mix well and divide the mixture between the ramekin dishes.

Cover each dish with lightly oiled foil and bake for 15 minutes until bubbling. Take the dishes out of the oven and stir each one well. Make a dip in the centre of each haddock mixture with the back of a spoon. Break an egg into each ramekin and season with a little ground nutmeg if you like.

Cover with the greased foil once more and put the ramekins back in the oven for about 8 minutes or until the eggs are almost cooked. The egg white should no longer look transparent, but the yolk should be runny. Take the dishes out of the oven, leave the foil in place and allow to stand for a further 2 minutes or until the eggs are almost set. Serve hot with crispbreads.

SI AND DAVE’S WEIGHT-LOSS TIPS