GINGER BEEF with VERMICELLI NOODLES

Another vermicelli salad & meat dish; like I said in my last blog post I could eat this type of food for the rest of my life. You can swap the vegetables in the ingredients list around for what you have in your fridge; perhaps carrots, red cabbage, beans and / or radishes could make the list. I cannot eat vermicelli without a dressing of some sort, so here is my simplest, lowest calorie dressing for you. Again, this started out as a Michelle Bridges recipe, however it has been greatly adapted to fit the ingredients available in my kitchen and to lower the calorie intake.

Ingredients

• 60g vermicelli noodles
• 3cm fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons rice bran oil / sesame oil
• 400g lean beef fillet, cut into even strips
• 1 lebanese cucumber (150g), finely chopped
• 1 tomato (120g), finely chopped
• 70g bean sprouts
• 10g green shallots, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves (10g), finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce 
• 1 lime, juiced 

Cooking 

1. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and add noodles. Cook, breaking apart the noodles with a fork for a few minutes or until just tender. Remove from heat and drain under cold water. Set aside. 

2. Meanwhile, combine the ginger, 1 teaspoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon oil in a medium bowl. Add the beef strips and stir well to combine. Leave to marinate for 5 minutes. 

3. Whilst the steak is marinating, toss the cucumber, tomato, sprouts, shallots, coriander and cooked noodles in a large serving bowl. Make the dressing by stirring the 1 tablespoon soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice in a small bowl. 

4. Once the steak has been left for 5 minutes, heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add the other teaspoon of oil. Add the steak to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes or until the steak is rare. Turn off the heat and leave the steak to cook for a couple more minutes in the pan. 

5. Add the cooked steak to the noodles and drizzle the dressing on top. 

Serves / 2 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 15 minutes 

Total Calories / 459 a serve 

x Emily 

BEETROOT & CARROT RISOTTO

This beetroot risotto looked like a winner to me the moment I laid eyes on it. To greatly reduce the calories in this dish, decrease the amount of feta that you use. Michelle Bridges uses 70g reduced-fat feta, whereas if you use the lactose-free and stronger in flavour alternative goat’s cheese feta, you only need to use 25g to make an impact. With regards to 'low-fat' products, I am very wary of these as they usually mean ‘hidden with lots of sugar’. I used carrot instead of celery as I’m not a huge fan of celery in soups or rice dishes. Carrot and beetroot also seem to make more sense as a pair than celery and beetroot. You may also notice in all of my recent recipes that I avoid using onion. This is due to an allergy of my fiancée's, however you can certain add it into almost every recipe of Michelle’s. Just be aware that a medium onion (around 110g) is about 33 calories. 

Ingredients

• 220g beetroot, trimmed, peeled & cut into small cubes 
• 3 1/2 cups low-salt vegetable stock (840ml)
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil 
• 1 large carrot, peeled & cut into small cubes (120g)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 175g arborio rice
• 25g goat's cheese feta, crumbled
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (10g)
• 30g baby spinach leaves, washed 

*Please note that the quantities of beetroot & carrot were weighed after peeling.* 

Cooking

1. Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil over high heat. Add the beetroot cubes and boil until tender, around 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and drain the beetroot. 

2. Meanwhile, prepare the stock. If the stock is cold, pour into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce to a low simmer until needed, covered. If you are making stock from powder, the stock will already be hot as it needs to be made with boiling hot water. 

3. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add oil, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the carrot and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until garlic is soft but not burnt. Add the rice and stir well to coat the vegetables. 

4. Add 1/2 a cup of hot stock to the rice and stir continuously until the liquid is absorbed. Continue to repeat this process until all the stock has been absorbed by the rice and the rice is tender. (If the rice is not tender and the stock is finished, add 1/2 a cup of water at a time to the pan). This will take around 20 minutes. 

5. Remove the rice from the heat, add the cooked beetroot and cover. Let stand for 3 minutes, then remove the lid and stir through 3/4 of the feta and parsley. 

6. Divide the risotto between two serving bowls and sprinkle the remaining feta and parsley on top. Serve warm. 

Serves / 2 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 25-30 minutes 

Total Calories per serve / 425 approx. 

x Emily