Ratatouille with lemon and coriander cous cous

I’m was never keen on ratatouille… it’s a bit too much like nut roast in being very “vegetarian”. In the olden days before being veggie was acceptable, ratatouille was often the only offering on a restaurant menu, and it was awful.

However, times have changed (or is it me? or was it the film Ratatouille????). I went for a Delia recipe of oven roasted ratatouille. I started off cooking it on the hob, the moved my casserole pot to the oven to roast it off. I also missed off the coriander seeds because I forgot them but the results were great so I don’t mind. The first time, I cooked it with basil however, tonight I used crushed chili seeds instead. Both were equally yum.

On both occasions, I ate it with cous cous with a healthy squeeze of lemon and 1 tbs of finely chopped coriander stalks. It’s so delicious and a bonus for me is that it can be frozen as for some very mad reason Mr Plummy Mummy will not eat cooked aubergine or courgettes….more fool he.

As it’s a Delia recipe, I can’t copy it here. However,as the pictures I took were just so colourful, I cannot help but post them up.

    

Mushroom quiche

Nothing more vegie than quiche except perhaps nut loaf which I’ve never had, never going to, end of.  I love quiche in summer eaten cold with a salad, or straight out of the oven in autumn/winter with lots of oven roasted potato wedges or salad. Today I am rather pleased with myself as I made my little one two mini quiches, and a large seasoned one for hubby and myself. She felt very special having her own but funny little girl that she is, she ate the filling and left the crust.

I cheated. There I said it. My guilty secret is out – I used shop bought pastry but it was an all butter version and supposedly easier than making it myself. But what c**p – I had to let it defrost in the fridge for 24 hours, then leave it out for an hour before cooking. I could have just made my own pastry but I was busy, busy, busy (read that as lazy, lazy, lazy). This recipe is based on the mega delicious Louise Pickford’s Chickpea and Spinach Flan found in Vegetarian Cooking. Again, I normally blind bake the pastry to make it crispy but today I thought Nooooo, I shall Delia it and bung it in the oven, pricked over, brushed over with egg wash. It was fun, every now and again when the pastry rose, I opened the oven and pricked it to let more air out. It was fine. It worked.

Ingredients:

• 500g shortcrust pastry
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 small onion diced finely
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 150g organic chestnut mushrooms
• 4 free range or organic medium eggs
• 75g mature cheddar
• 1/2 pint full fat milk
• Butter to line pastry dishes

Cooking:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan oven)
• Grease the fluted pie dishes with butter and set aside
• Roll out the pastry and put into the flan dish (or dishes if your being a clever clogs like me)
• Cut off excess. And then gently push the pastry into the grooves. It’s going to shrink so let a little over the edge.
• Cover with egg wash ( break an egg, mix it up, take a pastry brush and brush a thin layer over the pastry)
• Bung in the oven and cook until it is crispy and golden. If it dares to start rising, just prick a few times more. Most therapeutic.
• Whilst the pastry cooks, prepare the filling.
• Heat oil in a pan and add onions, garlic and turmeric. Fry for about 5 minutes til the onions start to brown. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes until some of the moisture from the mushrooms starts to ooze out.
• While onions/mushrooms cook, mix the eggs and milk together. Season wth salt and pepper to taste.
• Now the fun part. Spread onion mushroom mixture on the golden pastry cases. Then layer with cheese (leave a tablespoon or two for later). Final step, pour on the milk mixture. I had a tiny bit left over, guess it depends on the size of the dish(es).
• Bake until the quiche is firm. As a final flourish, add a little bit of cheese on to create a thin crust.
• Serve with chips, salad, potato salad or / and coleslaw.

Tomatoes, fried rice, noodle soup and banana bread

Not all in the same dish but all scoffed today. I’ve been stuck at home waiting for a delivery. Apart for moaning rather loudly, I used the time to do home food. We picked two very red tomatoes off my daughter’s tomato plant. She was given the plant as a tiny thing from Greenslade nursery and over summer we have watched it grow. It survived the move to Scotland and has in fact flourished with many new tomatoes appearing on the plant even though I’ve not been feeding it. The tomatoes at the bottom appeared rather early but took forever to turn red – mainly as I had them indoors and didn’t know they need to be out in the fresh air and sun to redden.

Anyway, here we are – a tomato salad according to my daughter consists of errr, ummmm, tomatoes!

She nibbled one before reminding us that she in fact, did not eat tomatoes (unbeknownst to her she does as mummy hides tomatoes in sauces). So hubby and I ate the “salad” with a sprinkling of sea salt. Not the tastiest tomatoes we have ever had but easily the best if you know what I mean.

Next step was egg fried mushroom rice and tofu for daughter’s dinner – so yum that I had to have a small bowl too. A good way to use day old rice. Easily made by frying spring onion and ginger in a large frying pan, adding mushrooms and cooking until they reduce, add the rice and stir carefully to prevent it all sticking together but to make sure all the rice is covered with the mushroom mixture . Push mixture to the side and add in the beaten egg mixed with a little toasted sesame oil, scramble it then combine with rice mixture and cook for a few minutes more. I added a little dash of dark soy to improve the taste and colour. She scoffed a lot with a side dish of fried tofu.

Dinner for hubby and I was a noodle soup. It’s an impromptu dish I’ve made a couple of times with what was available in the fridge. Today we had spring onions and ginger fried, added a thinly sliced orange pepper, some pak choy, sweetcorn (kernels not baby sweetcorn as i find that tasteless) and mange tout. The soup was made with a big glug of Gourmet Garden Thai Fresh Blends mix and about a cup of water. I cooked this for about 5 minutes on medium heat then added in fried tofu, and some thick straight to wok udon noodles and dark soy sauce. Cooked until the pak choy had wilted. At first I didn’t really like the Gourmet Garden taste – it was too bland especially compared to the  Schwartz Lemon Grass, Ginger and Coconut tube I’ve used before. However, as it cooled, and with a dash of light soy sauce, it improved.

We would have had a lot more tofu for the soup but my little one loves the stuff straight out of the packet and just as much fried. She thought it was hilarious to sneak past me all afternoon nicking bits and stuffing them in her mouth.

The Gourmet Garden sent me hurtling back to my youth – while I was trying to google whether it is vegetarian, a restaurant came up called the Gourmet Garden in Hendon. I grew up in a flat that was directly opposite the restaurant and could see it and a lot more of the high street from my window. Silly things like this always bring a soppy tear to the eye.

This is turning out to be a long post and it’s not over yet. I’ve been promising to make banana bread for a few days. A lot of stay at home mums I know make banana bread and as long as you don’t have it every week, it’s bloody tasty. I’ve already scoffed a fifth of it – so a huge thankyou to my friend J.R. as she sent me her version of a Delia recipe. It’s fantastic. I’m going to have to work extra hard in the Zumba class tomorrow night!!

Plum and rhubarb crumble

In the past I have made Louise Pickford’s Rhubarb, Apple and Double Ginger crumble (in the Hamlyn’s Vegetarian Cooking book) with mixed results. I think the problem is that I use a smaller pie dish than the recipe calls for so it always feels like I have too much crumble topping. I also find the amount of ginger a bit heavy. So today I amended the recipe, making less crumble and adding some plums to the mix. Again the results were mixed. It was still very ginger-y and the plums got lost in the flavours of that and the tart rhubarb. But with a bit of custard, it was very tasty indeed and perfect for the kind of autumnal day we had today in Central Scotland.

Ingredients:

Filling

• 400g rhubarb trimmed and cut into 2inch pieces
• 1tbs chopped preserved stem ginger (was very strong, next time will use 1/2 tbs)
• 40g golden caster sugar
• 6tbs water
• 300g plums – stone and sliced

Crumble

• 100g plain flour
• 40g ginger biscuits – crushed
• 20g Scottish porridge oat
• 50g butter
• 3 tablespoons Demerara sugar

To make the filling

• Discard rhubarb leaves, wash the stems and cut them into 2inch pieces and place in a large pan
• Chop the stem ginger into tiny pieces (believe me you need them small as getting a chunk of ginger is not pleasant). Add to the pan
• Wash then stone the plums. Chop up the flesh (with skin on….oooh that sounds so gruesome!) and put into the pan with the rhubarb, ginger, sugar and water
• Simmer for 10 minutes
• Once cooked placed in a greased oven-proof dish.

Making the crumble

• Put flour in a medium-sized bowl, and stir in the crushed ginger biscuits and oats.
• Rub in the butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs
• Stir in sugar and combine well

Putting it all together

• Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees
• Spread half of the crumble mixture onto the stewed fruits and cook in the oven for 10 minutes
• Spread rest of crumble mixture onto the crumble/fruit and cook until the mixture is bubble and the topping is golden. About 40 minutes

Serve warm with custard, vanilla ice-cream or a spoonful of single cream

Leek and potato soup

Just made this for lunch and as hubby said it’s probably my best soup ever, thought I’d post it up. Unfortunately, didn’t take pictures of the soup before it was all gobbled up :0)

Ingredients:

• 10 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 leek, finely sliced (don’t forget to wash well to get rid of all the grit)
• 200 g new potatoes, washed, peeled and diced into 1cm pieces
• 1 inch fresh ginger grated
• 1 pint water mixed with a single of Kallo vegetarian stock
• 20 mls double cream
• 100ml semi skimmed milk

Cooking

• Heat the oil in a large pan
• Sweat the onions which takes about 2 minutes (i.e. cook until translucent but not brown)
• Add the leeks and ginger and cook for another 2 minutes stirring frequently
• Add the potatoes and again, stir for a few minutes
• Add the stock, bring to the boil and then simmer until the potatoes are soft
• Blitz with a blender so it’s all combined
• Stir in the cream and milk (do a bit at a time until you are happy with the consistency)
• Serve with cheese on toast.

 

 

Puff pastry twists with rhubarb cream and sauce

Every now and again, as if by magic but more often by accident, I happen to create something that turns out to be utterly delicious. I had a bunch of rhubarb so thought I’d have a go at this Rhubarb tart which seemed fairly simple. As there are only 2 adults here and one little tot, I only made two tarts. The rest of the pastry was used to make puff pastry twists for the tot. Now, the tart is sitting in the oven and doesn’t look too promising though I’ll taste it in a bit to see. HOWEVER, the cream mix and rhubarb sauce (ever so amended and improved by me) turned out to be AMAZING, and tasted very good with the twists.

Ingredients:

For puff pastry twists:

• Jus rol all butter puff pastry pack
• 1 egg beaten in a bowl
• 1 tbs icing sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder

For the rhubarb sauce:

• 200 g fresh rhubarb washed, trimmed of horrid end bits, then cut into 2 cm pieces
• Juice of 1 large orange (fairtrade of course!)
• 2 tbs caster sugar

For rhubarb cream:

• 150ml double cream
• 2 tbs caster sugar
• Zest of 1 large orange

Cooking

The twists:

• Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees, 180 degrees for fan, gas mark 7
• It’s best to use puff pastry in a cold kitchen as it can quickly become unmanageable.
• Cut the pack into 6 parts to make it easier to roll out.
• Roll each portion out on a lightly floured surface until it is around 3 mm thick. Then cut these into thin strips
• Doing one strip at a time, pick up by both ends and lightly twist it. Place on the baking tray twisted.
• Once all the strips are done, I put them into the fridge for about 15 mins to make them keep their shape (not sure if this was necessary but it felt the thing to do)
• Remove from fridge, and light brush each strip with the egg wash.
• Cook in the centre of the oven until puffed up and golden brown (make sure the centres are cooked. Some of mine stayed raw as I was a bit too keen to eat them)
• Remove and allow to cool
• Once cool lightly sift over the icing sugar then the cinnamon powder.

Rhubarb sauce:

• While pastry is cooking, start on the sauce. Put the pieces of rhubarb, caster sugar and orange juice into a sauce pan and simmer until the fruit is soft. At this stage mash the fruit so that it’s all blended
• Let it reduce down a little to intensify the flavour, stirring frequently to prevent sticking
• Cook until it’s the consistency of jam
• Set aside to cook

Rhubarb cream:

• In a cold bowl, pour in the cream and sugar
• Whisk until it is thick and stands on peaks
• Now take 1 tbs of the rhubarb sauce and fold it into the cream to get a ripple effect

To serve

Serve the straws with a dollop of the cream and rhubarb sauce. Delicious!

Roasted veg potato cakes

These would work with left over roast veg but as I didn’t have any so roasted from fresh. Plus ideally I would have liked to bake them in the oven as it’s healthier but time was limited (tot was on way home for lunch) so I shallow fried them.  I liked them better than tot who like most [fussy] eaters of her age tends to treat all new things with a great deal of suspicion. That was was fine as it meant that I was able to scoff a load for my lunch as she nibbled on 3 for hers.

Ingredients

• 1 parsnip
• 2 medium-sized potatoes
• 1/2 carrot
• 10 g unsalted butter
• 25 g cheese
• 2 tbs plain flour
• Dash of soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• Season to taste
• 2 tbs olive oil for roasting
• 2 tbs Olive oil/15g butter for shallow frying

Cooking

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees
• Wash then peel parsnips and carrot. Cut them into cubes of roughly equal sizes
• Today I peeled the potatoes and cut them into cubes but in future I’ll leave the skin on as somehow the taste is better methinks.
• Put into a roasting pan and pour over olive oil
• Roast until the veg are soft
• Once cooked, put all veg into a bowl and mash to smithereens ensuring it’s all well combined. (You may want to peel the potatoes first if roasted in skins)
• Mix in soy sauce, ginger powder, cheese, seasoning if using and butter. Again combine well
• Add flour. Do this a little at a time until the mixture comes together into a ball. It will still be slighty sticky
• Divide into 12 equal portions and form into little handhold-able shapes
• Shallow a few at a time in the olive oil/butter mix being careful to turn frequently to prevent burning
• Serve with your tot’s favourite dip – we had ours with reduced fat soured cream and chives dip today.

Romanesco cauliflower cheese

We went along to a local Xmas fair on Sunday and I bought a normal cauliflower, a Romanesco one and some parsnips from the Kelsey Farm stall. We gobbled the normal cauli the same day and today I decided that the snow hitting London today with a passion justified more comfort food.

It’s such a pretty looking vegetable which makes it a hit with the tot, and as it’s packed full of vitamin C, it’s a hit with mummy too.

I used the same sauce as the Baked Mac and Cheese that I posted in October. To prepare the cauliflower, remove all the leaves and the hard white stem at the bottom. You should be left with the parts shown in the picture above.

Steam it for a few minutes until it starts to soften. Keep an eye on it as it goes from hard to soft VERY quickly

Take off the heat and set aside while you prepare the cheese sauce.

Place cauliflower in an oven proof dish and stir in the sauce. Cover with a small amount of cheese and bake until the top browns lightly and the sauce is bubbling.

Hubby says it would make a good accompaniment to gammon but we just had it with garlic bread. Yum, yum, yum!!!!

Baked mac and cheese

Bit of a chill in the air…Quick run for the comfort food!! And the best kind after chocolate has to involve pasta and cheese for me. This is such an easy dish to prepare and tastes delicious with a fresh tomato salad. The proportions below make more than enough for 3 greedy adults and one small child.

Ingredients

• 350g macaroni (dry pasta weight)
• Enough water to boil pasta
• 1 pint semi skimmed milk
• 1 small onion – chopped finely
• 1 large dry bay leaf
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 50g butter
• 3 tbs plain flour
• 1/2tsp fresh grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp Colman’s mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 250g mature cheese
• oil / butter to grease baking dish

Cooking:

• Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees centigrade (or 180 degrees if fan oven, gas mark 5)
• Boil pasta to al dente as per packet instructions and then drain
• In a small pan, bring milk to the boil. Then take off heat and throw in the onion, garlic and bay leaf. Leave for at least half an hour to infuse the milk. Strain out so that you only have the milk for the sauce. Discard the onion, garlic and bay leaf.
• In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Take off the heat and stir in the flour. Mix well so there are no lumps. For some reason, wooden spoons are best for this.
• Put the butter/flour back on a low heat and cook for 20 seconds, stirring to stop it sticking to the pan.
• Take off the heat and slowly add the milk, stirring all the time to avoid any lumps forming.
• Put the butter/flour/milk back on the heat and cook until it thickens, stirring to stop it sticking to the pan.
• Once it thickens, take it off the heat. Grate in the nutmeg, add the mustard and stir. Season to taste
• Add 3/4 of the  cheese and stir. The sauce should be quite thick now. DO NOT put back on the heat as the cheese will separate in a horrid nasty way
• Grease a large baking dish with butter or olive oil. Put in the pasta then cover well with the sauce. Mix it all up. Then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top
• Cook on the middle shelf of your oven until the top is browned and sauce mix is bubbling.
• Serve with garlic bread, a fresh salad with lots of tomatoes and a nice white wine.

P.S. Sorry about lack of picture. I managed to delete the one I had taken after we gobbled up the food

Cheese stuffed mushrooms

I like the earthy taste of mushrooms and these cheese stuffed mushrooms are very easy to do. They can be eaten as a light lunch, starter or accompaniment to steak (I gasp in horror being a Hindu vegetarian but hubby suggested this!)

Ingredients

• 4 large Portobello mushrooms – wipe clean and remove stalks. Chop up the mushroom stalks into small dice.
• 1 small onion dice very finely
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbs oil
• 2 blocks of frozen spinach – cook as per instructions on packet
• 1 large slice of day old bread
• 100g soft cheese. Take this out in advance and let it soften
• Sprig of fresh parsley chopped finely
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 15g butter for brushing

Cooking:

• Pre-heat oven to 185 degree centigrade (I have a fan oven. If you don’t then probably 200 degree is about right)
• In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium flame
• Add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are starting to caramelise
• Add the mushroom stalks and cook until they are reduced. Stir frequently to stop the mixture sticking to the pan
• Take the mixture off the heat and allow to cool on a plate
• Once the spinach is cooked according to the packet instructions, add it to the oil from the onions/mushroom and gently cook until the water evaporates. Allow to cool
• Put bread into a blender and whizz to tiny breadcrumbs
• In a bowl combine the spinach, mushroom/onion mix, breadcrumbs, soft cheese and parsley. Season to taste
• Brush the rounded part of each mushroom with melted butter and place on a baking tray gills side up. Then divide the mushroom mixture equally among the flat mushrooms. Place on a flat baking tray with some distance between each as they can sometimes flatten and spread.
• Heat in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes. The mixture should be browned on the top but the mushrooms should be firm
• Serve with a salad and new potatoes or with a beef steak – if you aren’t a veggie and really must