Everyone enjoys a Guy Fawkes party, especially eating out of doors round a bonfire with friends, with sparkling fireworks lighting up the night sky, dispelling thoughts of the short days and long, cold nights ahead.
And Bonfire Night food needn’t just consist of greasy burgers and bangers, toffee apples and sticky ginger parkin. Here are a few ideas of healthier treats that you might like to try for this year’s celebrations: -
- Minestrone soup- finely chop a good mixture of vegetables – e.g. carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, courgettes, sweet potatoes and leeks – and sweat them in a little butter or oil in a big saucepan for a few minutes. Add a couple of tins of chopped tomatoes, 2 tbsps. tomato purée, a handful of tiny pasta shapes (stellette or broken bits of spaghetti), a can of cannellini beans and enough vegetable stock to just cover. Cook gently until vegetables are tender. Serve sprinkled with grated Parmesan and with a hunk of sourdough or wholemeal bread.
- Sweet potatoes washed and sprinkled with sea salt and baked in their jackets at 220°C until tender - they are very high in vitamins and have a low glycaemic index. Serve with a selection of fillings – e.g. grated cheese, guacamole, plain yoghurt mixed with a little curry powder and finely chopped onion, canned sweetcorn, hummus, cottage cheese and chopped tomatoes, low-fat sour cream and chopped chives or reduced sugar baked beans.
- Chicken kebabs - Soak 8 wooden skewers in water. Mix 15g low fat plain yoghurt with 2 tbsp. curry paste, add 4 chicken breasts, cut into cubes and marinate for 1hr. Thread chicken on to skewers, alternating with cherry tomatoes and cook under a medium grill for 20 mins until chicken is golden brown and cooked through. Remove skewers and serve in toasted pitta bread with salad.
- Vegetarian falafel wraps - see Jamie Oliver’s recipe for falafel-wraps-with-grilled-veg-salsa/
- Baked vegetables samosas – chop a medium waxy boiled potato and half a cooked sweet potato into small chunks. Gently fry a finely chopped onion and 1 clove of garlic in a little oil, add the potatoes, 50g of frozen peas, a little chopped coriander or parsley and 2 or 3 tsp. curry powder and leave to cool. Cut 8 filo sheets in half lengthways, re stack the strips and lightly brush one strip with melted butter; top with a second strip and brush again. Place a spoonful of the filling towards the end of the pastry strip nearest you, slightly on the left of the strip and just up from the bottom. Fold the bottom right hand corner up to cover filling, fold over wrapped filling to give a triangular shaped parcel. Brush completed parcels with melted butter and place on a baking tray. Bake samosas for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown; serve hot.
- And to finish with a reasonably healthy, sweet taste of Bonfire Night, why not try Sainsbury's recipe for pumpkin seed, black treacle and ginger squares? pumpkin-seed-black-treacle-and-ginger-squares
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