Christmas Fast Diet recipes

We appreciate that the words 'festive' and 'fast' aren't particularly complementary. But, if you're determined to eschew the chocolate coins and brandy butter this year - and are instead pondering whether goose fat roast potatoes can *really* be counted as one of your five-a-day - we've got the perfect recipes for you. Low in calories, delicious and suitably wintery, these Fast Diet treats will see you through the festive season without salivating over your grandkids' chocolate roulade. Whether you're 5:2ing, fasting or simply trying to get into a particular party dress, there's something here for everyone.

Warming winter stew - 385 calories

Serves 4

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• Handful of fresh sage leaves
• 400g good stewing steak or beef skirt, cut into chunks, fat removed
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tsps plain flour
• 2 parsnips, peeled and quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and halved
• ½ small butternut squash, deseeded and roughly chopped (no need to peel)
• 3 Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and halved
• 2 tbsps tomato purée
• 1 bay leaf
• 250ml red wine
• 285ml vegetable stock
• Zest of a lemon, finely grated
• Rosemary leaves

Method:

Preheat oven to 170°C/325°F.

Put oil in a casserole pan, add onion and sage leaves and fry for 3 minutes.

Dust meat with seasoned flour and add to pan with the vegetables, tomato purée, bay leaf, wine and stock. Stir gently and season.

Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, and cook in oven until the meat is tender and falls apart easily - about 3 hours.

Garnish with lemon zest and a scatter of rosemary leaves.

 
Beetroot and Bramley soup with horseradish - 116 calories

Serves 4

• 500g raw beetroot
• 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 Bramley apples, peeled, quartered and cored with a squeeze of lemon to prevent discolouration
• 1½ litres light chicken or vegetable stock
• 2 star anise
• Snipped chives
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp horseradish sauce
• 1 tbsp natural low-fat yoghurt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Place the beetroot in 1cm water in a baking tray.

Cook for an hour, or until a knife meets with little resistance, then take them out and run under cold water for a couple of minutes until cool enough to peel.

Heat the oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add onions and sweat over a medium heat with the lid on until soft but not coloured. Add apple quarters.

Roughly chop the peeled beetroots and add to the pan. Pour on the stock, add star anise and seasoning and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove star anise, then blitz the soup with a hand blender until puréed.

Serve with snipped chives and a swirl of yoghurt mixed with the horseradish sauce.

Spiced baby aubergine with pomegranate yoghurt - 298 calories

Serves 2

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 tbsp fresh root ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp harissa paste
• 2 tsps cumin seeds
• 2 tsps ground coriander
• 4 baby aubergines, halved
• 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• Squeeze of lemon
• ½ tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 200g tinned chickpeas, drained
• Fresh coriander leaves, torn
• 1 tbsp low-fat natural yoghurt
• Handful of pomegranate seeds

Method:

Soften onion in olive oil and add garlic, ginger, harissa, cumin seeds and coriander.

Cook for 3 minutes, then add aubergines, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, lemon, sugar and salt and pepper.

Simmer for 30 minutes and add chickpeas, plus 1 tbsp water if sauce is too thick.

Heat through and serve with torn coriander and drizzle with low-fat yoghurt, a scatter of pomegranate seeds and a side of nutty wild rice salad.
 

Allotment soup - 108 calories

Serves 4

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 500g non-starchy vegetables of your choice: courgettes, spinach, peppers, kale, cavolo nero, leeks – whatever you have a glut of, or whatever is cheap and plentiful in the shops
• 400g tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1,500ml vegetable stock, made from veg trimmings boiled for 20 minutes with bouquet garni, then strained
• Garden herbs of choice – perhaps chervil, marjoram, thyme
• Salt and pepper

Method:

Heat oil in a large pan, add chopped vegetables, garlic and smoked paprika, and sweat for 5 minutes.

Add stock, season, and allow to simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Cool slightly, then blitz half of the soup in a food processor, or with a hand-held blender, keeping the remaining half as it is.

Return blitzed half to pan with the non-blitzed half and reheat, stirring to achieve a semi-smooth soup.

Serve topped with a tangle of herbs from the garden.

If you'd like more Fast Diet recipes, pop over to Amazon and have a look at the Fast Diet Recipe Book, by Mimi Spencer with Dr. Sarah Schenker.

Images: Romas Foord

Other things you might like:

DIY Christmas presents

Fast Diet with Dr Michael Mosley