Thyme for tips and tricks

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VERYDAY FOOD should be quick and easy, using readily available ingredients and simple techniques. Over years working as a chef and as a mother of two, Emma Galloway has designed tips and tricks to make cooking simpler through planning ahead and using ingredients that are easy to swap out.

Emma says: “Dotted throughout Every Day, you’ll find my ‘anything’ recipes, with examples of how you can change things up to suit your tastes or what you might have on hand at different times of the year. My main goal is to create meals that are easy and totally do-able, every day of the week. I want people to feel confident in the kitchen and know that, by cooking at home, with simple real-food ingredients, they’re making one of the most powerful decisions we can make as humans: the decision of what goes into our bodies.”

Here is one of her recipes:

MUSHROOM + LENTIL SPAGHETTI

Youll probably notice I’m not the biggest fan of pasta. I much prefer to eat rice, gluten-free grains or vegetables … with the exception of this Mushroom + Lentil Spaghetti (and a couple of recipes in Chapter 8: Plan

Ahead). This is a riff on the lentil spaghetti recipe I grew up eating and shared in my first cookbook, My Darling Lemon Thyme.

There are so many more gluten-free pastas available now than when I started eating glutenfree, nearly 15 years ago, when they’d dissolve into a gluggy mess at the bottom of the saucepan! Gluten-free pasta sure has come a long way and many wouldn’t be able to tell the difference now.

Ingredients

115g (1⁄2 cup) puy-style lentils, rinsed

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

250g button mushrooms, trimmed and finely chopped

1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 tsp dried oregano

Pinch of dried chilli flakes 750ml bottle passata (tomato puree) Handful of black olives, pitted and roughly chopped

Fine salt and freshly ground black pepper Pinch of unrefined raw sugar Gluten-free spaghetti, cooked according to packet instructions

To serve: handful of basil/flat-leaf parsley leaves

Method

Place lentils into a small saucepan over medium heat and cover with plenty of cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until just tender. Drain well.

After cooking spaghetti, drain, drizzle with a little olive oil, cover and set aside until needed.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add onion and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often, until soft. Add garlic, mushrooms, thyme, oregano and chilli. Cook, stirring often, for a good 5 minutes or more, until the mushrooms are cooked and their liquid has evaporated. Add passata, cooked lentils and chopped olives, then season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 8 — 10 minutes, adding a touch of water if the sauce gets too thick. Serve hot over cooked spaghetti, scattered with torn herbs, if using.

Any leftover lentil sauce is delicious heated up the following day. Serve it over hot buttered toast, or add a couple of spoonfuls to a cheese toastie, if you eat dairy.