Vegetable and Bean Cheesy Gratin

OK OK so it's another variation on an old favourite but it tastes goooooooood!

For 4-6 servings you need
Leftover cooked veggies (we've got cabbage, broccoli and carrots)
1 tin pulses - black eyed beans here tonight
1 quantity thin cheese sauce (30g butter, 30g flour, 500ml soya milk, 1 cup grated cheddar)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
3 tbsp grated parmesan

Layer the veggies and beans in a gratin dish. Make up the sauce and pour over. Top with breadcrumbs and parmesan and then bake in a hot oven for 25 mins till bubbling, crispy and browned on top. Scoff with leftover roast potatoes and cold quorn roast. I love leftovers!

Pasta Mozzarella Tomatoey Thing

I am sure there is a better name for this, but this is the name it has had in our house for years! It's a simple tomato and garlic sauce, which pasta is added to and then it's topped with fresh mozzarella and baked in the oven till it's crispy and crunchy on top. Lovely.

For 2 people you need:
200g pasta, fusilli or rigatoni is best
1 tin chopped toms
pinch sugar
salt and pepper
fresh basil, roughly shredded
2 cloves garlic, crushed
125g mozzarella, diced
2 tbsp olive oil

Begin by putting the pasta on to cook. Meanwhile put the toms into a large, flat based pan and heat with the garlic and olive oil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar. When the pasta is cooked drain and add to the sauce. Stir through the basil then top with the mozz and maybe some fresh grated parmesan if you want. Bake in a hot oven for about 15-20 mins till the cheese has melted and the top layer of pasta has gone crispy. Serve with garlic bread and salad.

Steamed eggs with rice noodles and vegetables

This was my lunch today (Lex had his lunchbox as normal!).

For the eggs you need (per person):
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 mushrooms, sliced
handful chopped corriander
glug soya sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
ground pepper
1/2 onion, finely diced

Mix together and pour everything into a small heatproof bowl. Place in a steamer and steam for about 20 mins till cooked.

For the noodles and vegetables:
Soak 1 bundle of rice noodles per person in boiling water for about 5 mins.

Meanwhile stirfry some veggies (I used courgettes, onion, chinese leaf and sugar snap peas). Add some mirin and soya sauce to the pan to taste. Add the noodles once rehydrated and warm through. Serve with the eggs on the side.

Cheese and Onion Sausage Rolls

I've never made sausage rolls before, I'd always thought they would be tricky and fiddly. These ones aren't however, but they are divine. St Delia comes up trumps as per usual!

The original recipe can be found on St Delia's site.

But in case it gets moved you need:
1 block ready made puff pastry
275g fresh breadcrumbs
225g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
1 large onion, grated
3 tablespoons double cream
1 level tablespoon fresh chopped herbs (chives, parsley, thyme, etc)
1½ level teaspoons mustard powder
pinch cayenne pepper
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Make up the filling by mixing everything aside from the pastry together. Add some more cream if it doesn't bind well enough. Roll out the pastry then decide if you want dainty or chunder rolls. Place the filling in the middle of the pastry strips, brush beaten egg round the sides, roll over and then cut into slices. Brush with egg glaze and the snip the tops a couple of times. Bake in a hot oven for about 25 mins.

Thai Tofu 'fish'cakes

Ever since I saw the F Word a few weeks ago where two Thai restaurants took each other on I have been craving thai fish cakes. This is somewhat of a problem given that I don't really eat fish anymore... So I invented these. They're nothing like real Thai fishcakes of course but they hit the spot and even better everyone ate them. They're nice hot and cold.

For about 12 patties you need:
1 packet firm tofu
2 stalks lemongrass
4 fat cloves garlic
1 egg
about a cup of fresh breadcrumbs (depends on how sloppy the mix is)
1 fat chilli
2 inch piece of ginger
2 large handfuls fresh corriander
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp mirin

Lob everything into a food processor and blitz till mushy. Don't over process or it'll go too sloppy. Once it's done, place in the fridge for a bit to firm up. After at least 15 mins, heat some oil in a frying pan and then form patties about the size of an egg. Put these in the oil and lightly fry until crispy and golden brown. Turn over half way through cooking. Serve with a corriander salad and sweet chilli sauce/soya sauce to dip.

Chestnut Roast

I adore nut roast and think it should be obligatory for veggies to have one at Xmas. None of that soggy filo pastry and goats cheese nonsense for me! A roast is all about a roast. And a good nutty one at that. This recipe is from my mum and it's delicious :) Amounts are loose as it depends on what you like in terms of balance.

You need:
6oz dried chestnuts, soaked overnight and cooked for 30 mins (am not sure on equiv amounts for vacuum packed ones, but I'd guess about 3-4 tins/packs)
8oz breadcrumbs
250g mushrooms, chopped small and sauteed in butter
1 onion, chopped small and sauteed with the mushrooms

Lob everything into a food processor and blitz roughly along with dried herbs, 1tbsp tom puree, a couple of cloves of garlic some stock powder and an egg.

Pop into a lined loaf tin and bake for about an hour at 180 degrees. Can be made up to 3 days before hand and kept in the fridge. Also works as a nice stuffing for meat eaters. If you're vegan then ditch the egg and maybe add some stock/wine/water to get it to the right consistency.

Yum yum.

Cheese and Onion Sausage Rolls

I adore sausage rolls, and cheese and onion rolls, so the thought of combining the two is pure genius imho. This is another St Delia recipe, taken from her Christmas book.

Defrost one 500g pack of puff pastry (or make your own but frankly life is too short...)
Meanwhile make the filling:

grate 225g cheddar
grate 1 large onion
mix together with 275g fresh white breadcrumbs, 3 tbsp double cream, 2 tbsp mustard powder, 1 tsp cayenne, 2 tsp oregano, salt and pepper. Squish into sausage shapes and leave to chill for a bit.

When you're ready to make the sausage rolls, roll out the pastry to about 35x40cms. Trim into 3 lengths and lay the filling on the pastry. Egg wash the sides and roll over to seal. Cut into bite size chunks, egg wash again and snip twice in each to let the steam out.

Place on a greased baking sheet and cook for about 20 mins in a moderate (180 degrees) oven till risen, puffy and golden. Leave to cool on a rack and try not to scoff in one go. Mine are currently residing in the freezer waiting patiently for Christmas Day...

Christmas Cake

I like a traditional, light Christmas cake. Full of fruit, yes, but not too dark and sticky. A lot of my friends rave about Nigella's black cake, and I admit I like the way she soaks her fruit for ages before hand. But I am not a fan of prunes or treacle or dark muscavado sugar all mixed together. I find the combination too heavy. My staple recipe recipe for Christmas cake is usually a last minute Sainsbury's one as I can't be faffed with feeding a cake either. But this year I have decided to try a variation of Delia's classic cake. I'm soaking the fruit for a week or so as per Nigella and using light brown sugar and golden syrup rather than the suggested treacle. The soaking fruit smells divine at the moment ;-)

250g sultanas
250g raisins
300g currants
100g glacé cherries cut in half
50g mixed candied peel
1/8 cup each of brandy, whisky and rum
225g plain flour
½ level teaspoon salt
¼ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ level teaspoon ground mixed spice
225g butter
225g soft light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 level dessertspoon golden syrup
grated zest 1 lemon grated zest 1 orange

Put the fruit and booze into a clean plastic tub, mix thoroughly and leave to soak for at least 24 hours, ideally a week or so. Stir every so often to ensure all the fruit soaks up the booze.

Soften the butter and then cream with the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, then the golden syrup, then the flour, spices, zest and finally the soaked fruit. Mix well and pour into a prepared 7" square tin (or 8" round one) and bake at 140 degrees for 4-5 hours. Make sure you place a double layer of baking paper on the top of the cake, with a small hole cut in the top to allow the steam to escape.

Once the cake is cooled, wrap in baking parchment, then foil and store in a cool dark place till you want to ice it. You can feed it if you want but I won't be bothering.

Swede Gratin

Had some swede in the veg box, and no masher to mash it with! So created a gratin to use it up and served it with bangers, potato mash and steamed veggies. Even Lex liked it.

You need:

1 large swede, peeled and finely sliced
2 onions, finely sliced
salt and pepper
1/2 milk
butter for greasing
grated cheese

Begin by greasing an oven proof dish with the butter. Put one layer of swede into the bottom, then add a layer of onions, some salt and pepper and a sprinkling of cheese. Continue until everything s used up, finishing with a neat layer of swede and a sprinkling of cheese. Gently pour over the milk, cover with foil and bake in a moderate oven for 45-60 mins. Remove the foil, turn the temp up a a bit and finish off for another 15-40 mins until bubbling and crispy. Lovely and warming.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

I made this on Friday and thought it was worth blogging it to remember for next time I have a surfeit of cauli in the veg box.

Sweat 1 large onion in some butter till soft. Add a head of cauli cut into florets and 900ml light veggie stock. Simmer for 30 mins till very tender and then blitz to a puree. Add some milk/more stock if it's too thick. Re-heat with 100g grated cheddar and season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with nutritional yeast and some chopped chives. And lashings of bread of course.

Autumnal Beef Stew

Mmmm beef stew. Beef stew? Yes beef! I love all the veggie substitute meats you can get, and fancied something like Bœuf borgognone for dinner tonight. Unfortunately DH had drunk all the mini bottles of red wine I had stashed away for cooking purposes so I had to raid the beer larder instead! This is what I created, and by gum it was good! I challenge a meat eater to know the difference!

You need:
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
3 sticks celery, cut into inch long chunks
4 carrots, cut into inch long barrels, and then sliced diagonally
1 packet beef style pieces (quorn or asda or tescos sell them)
large handful frozen bacon style pieces (NOT dried bacon bits!!)
couple of good glugs of quality olive oil
1 bottle dark beer (I used Manchester Brown Ale)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried oregano
ground pepper
good glug light soya sauce
good glug mushroom ketchup
good glug henderson's relish
good glug mirin
2 tsp vecon vegetable stock (or marmite!)

Start by sauteeing the onions in the olive oil. Add the bacon bits once the onions are lightly browned. Then add the celery, carrots and beef bits. Saute for a few mins before adding everything else. Bring to the boil and then simmmer for 30-45 mins until the veggies are tender and the sauce had developed.

If you want to thicken the sauce I'd recommend using a beurre manié to avoid lumps. But I like a thin sauce to soak into flattened roasted potatoes. I served the stew with roasties and steamed romanesco cauliflower. Yum yum yum!

Vegetarian (or vegan!) Kedgeree

Fancied something different tonight to use up the dhal we had last night, and am in an I Love Lentils phase at the moment, so rustled up an inauthentic but very tasty veggie kedgeree. Leftovers will go down nicely for lunch tomorrow methinks.

You need:
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp curry powder (or you can use individual spices, but hey I said it was inauthentic!)
Leftover cooked rice - about 3-4 cups
Cooked green lentils - 2 tins worth, or again about 2-3 cups
Oil/butter for frying
Hard boiled eggs (1 per person) if you don't want to keep it vegan
Chopped corriander to serve

Saute the onion in the fat gently till it's caramelised. Then add the curry powder and cook for a further few minutes to take out the raw taste. Add the rice and stir thoroughly. Cook for 10 mins or so until the rice is heated through. Then add the lentils and cook for a further 5 mins or so. Serve with chopped corriander to garnish it and the hardboiled eggs (if using) cut in half on the top. If you leave the yolks a little soft/runny it's even nicer imho.

Veggie Tofu Burgers

I wanted a nice veggie burger for lunch. None of that pre-brought frozen stuff today, but rather the 1970's in a bun - all lentils and tofu and earnest-ness so I can pretend that burgers are good for you.

The recipe I came up with was based on something posted on an internet forum:
Ingredients:
100g oats
75g flour
250g tofu
3 carrots grated
1 small onion finely chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup
1 tbsp hendersons relish
1 egg, beaten


Directions:

Lob everything apart from the egg into a food processor. Blitz until it's the consistency you want (I like mine smooth to hide the scary bits from Lex!). Add the egg and mix till the mixture comes together. Sometimes you can omit the egg if it's moist enough (or you want a vegan version)

To cook place on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake in the oven at 180C till cooked (approx 10 mins).

Serve in a bun with salad (I feel that alfafa and cucumber and raw onion are obligatory here!) and relish and sweet potato wedges on the side. Sit back in a smug haze of healthy eating induced glow...

Vegetable and Cheese Gratin

A winter staple, also know as "what the heck do I do with all the root veggies that were in the veg box rather than use them to make compost again?!"...

This reminds me of Sunday lunches at home when I was a child - mum would often use up the left over veg in a delicious gratin like this.

What we had:
1 cabbage
6 large carrots, roughly chopped into bite sized pieces
1 head broccoli

Steam the veggies to make them tender. Meanwhile make a mornay sauce from:
1 pint milk (I use soya milk)
2oz plain flour
2oz butter

Either make the sauce using the all in one method (lob it all into a pan and wait for the butter to melt) or use the traditional roux method. Once the sauce has thickened, add:
2 tsp english mustard powder
2 tsp french mustard
100g grated cheddar.

Add a drained can of butter beans to the mornay sauce then layer the veggies into a gratin dish. Pour over the sauce and beans and top with a little more grated cheddar and some Parmesan. You can add some breadcrumbs to it too to make it more crunchy.

Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees) for about 20-30 mins till browned and bubbling. Serve on it's own or with veggie sausages or just some crusty bread.

Vegetable curry, tandoori paneer and sweet lassi

OK that might sound like a veritable feast for a weeknight, but I guarantee you can make it all in 30 mins and then sit down and eat like a king!

Curry
1 tbsp oil
2 large carrots, sliced
2 onions, chopped
3 tbsp curry paste (home made or from a jar)
1 tin toms
175 ml water
2 tbsp veggie stock powder
good handful new potatoes, chopped roughly into bite sized chunks
1 head cauliflower

Start by sauteeing the onions in the oil till tender. Then lob in the curry paste, carrots and potatoes and fry for a few mins. Add the tin of toms, water and stock powder. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 25 mins till the carrots and potatoes are cooked. Add the cauliflower after 10 mins.

Tandoori Paneer
Half a tub of natural yogurt (the runny kind!)
3 tbsp tandoori spice powder
1 packet paneer, diced.

Mix the tandoori powder with the yogurt and then add the paneer. Leave to marinate for a few mins (you can do this the night before if you want). The spread out onto a nin stick baking tray. Roast in a hot oven (200 degrees) for 20 mins.

Serve the curry and paneer with roti or rice. Wash down with sweet lassi

Sweet lassi
Half tub runny yogurt
Equivilent amount of water
Good couple of handfuls of ice
2 cardomon pods, seeds removed
4 tbsp sugar

Put everything into a blender and blend till smooth. Check for sweetness and serve :)

Chocolate Fridge Cake / Tiffin

L wanted to do some baking with daddy today so they knocked up some tiffin which mummy then sat and ate far too much of!

Ingredients
200g chocolate digestive biscuits
110g dried apricots, roughly chopped
110g mixed vine fruit
10 glace cherries, rinsed of the sugar syrup and halved
150g butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
200g dark chocolate

Method
Break the biscuits into small pieces directly into a large bowl. Add the fruit and mix together.

Melt the rest of the ingredients then mix in the fruit.

Pour into a loaf tin lined with clingfilm and put in the fridge to set for a couple of hours. Eat and repeat!

Random Ingredient Lasagne

The veg box delivered a load of courgettes which I have to say are not one of my favourite veggies. So I thought I'd make a lasagne with them where they'd be semi-hidden and there was some ricotta to use up in the fridge too. The ricotta however was sell by 26 June 2009 (yes today *is* September 11th 2009), so despite it tasting OK I didn't want to risk it and ditched it in favour of some quark (which was also past it's sell by date, but only by 12 days this time!!).

I never used to be able to make a decent lasagne and after years of trying decided that maybe it was my lasagne dish that was letting me down. It was! Lasagne now tastes edible in my house and tonight's concoction was pretty tasty.

Tomato and courgette lasagne
Ingredients
Tomato sauce
2 medium onions, chopped
1 tin toms
1 carton passata
spalsh balasmic vinager
1 tsp veg stock powder
pinch sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Courgette layer
4 courgettes, roughly diced
3 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
1 tub quark (ricotta would taste better imho)

Lasagne
6 or so sheets lasagne
2 good handfuls of grated cheddar
1 good handul grated parmesan
either 1 roughly torn mozzarella ball or 10 or so mini mozz balls

First make the tomato sauce. Saute the onions in the oil and then add everything else. Simmer for 10 mins till slightly thickened.

For the courgettes fry them in the oil for a few mins then add the garlic and salt and pepper. Saute for 10 mins or so until tender. Add the quark/ricotta and stir till mixed. Take off the heat.

Assemble the lasagne by putting 2 sheets pasta in the bottom of a dish and then adding a half the tom sauce. Add more pasta then the courgette layer. Add more pasta then the other half of the tom sauce. Top with the cheese and bake in a hot oven (180 degrees) for 30-45 mins till cooked and bubbling.

Serve with salad, crusty bread and lashings of wine. Rather superb for a friday night supper, and at least 4 of your 5 a day portions!

Sweet Potato and Chick Pea Curry

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I couldn't really make a curry as DH wasn't that keen on them. He'd tolerate them politely, but it wasn't something I felt I could do that often. Thankfully after an extended trip to Pakistan, curry is back on the menu, which is pretty good seeing as where we live we have access to a huge variety of Asian ingredients.

I'd been playing about with the idea of making a nice chickpea and sweet potato curry for yonks, so threw some bits and bobs together and was very happy with the result. So here it is in order for me to make it again next time I fancy it.

Ingredients
Veggies etc:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1 tin toms, whizzed to a puree
75g ground almonds
75g butter (or oil for vegan version)
1 tin drained chickpeas or equivalent frozen/freshly cooked peas

Curry paste
6 cloves garlic
3 small chillies
3 inch piece ginger
5 tbsp veg oil
2 tsp tumeric, garam masala, corriander, cumin

Whizz all the paste ingredients to a puree.

Fry the onion in a little oil for a few mins then add the curry paste (about 4 tbsp, freeze the rest or leave in the fridge and use within a week). Add all the other ingredients aside from the butter and almonds and simmer for 20 mins or so till the potatoes are tender. Add the butter and almonds and stir through. Add a little more liquid if you want more of a gravy.

Serve with cucumber salad and roti. Beware the stinky farts that will ensue ;-)

Butter Masala Paneer

Ever since eating this at a local vegetarian place in the centre of Bradford (Tulsi for those of you local!) I have become addicted to the buttery yumminess of this dish. I wanted to create it at the weekend but after doing some serious googling decided I couldn't be bothered with the whole faff of blanching and pureeing onions or frying off paneer etc. So I cheated. DH called this a heart attack in a pan, you are warned!

Mumtaz (another curry palace local to Bradford) have a great range of cooking sauces, which unlike some of the others on the market, only contain normal ingredients and no fillers. So I experimented with a jar of tikka masala sauce and created something pretty yummy.

I used:
1 jar Mumtaz tikka masala sauce
2/3 jar water
a big fat lump of butter (probably about 100g, eek)
1 fresh tomato, skinned and finely chopped
75g ground almonds
200g cubed paneer.
Fresh chopped corriander to garnish/serve

Dump the sauce into a pan and add the butter and water. Let the butter melt gently into the sauce, stirring to make sure it doesn't catch. When the butter has melted add the ground almonds, tomato and paneer. Cook for about 15 mins or so until the sauce has reduced a little. I needed to add some sugar too as the sauce was a little bitter. Serve with roti and lots of fresh corriander.

Rice Pudding

Ahhh a childhood staple. I adore rice pudding. Sometimes only a can or carton will do when I am in a trashy junk food mood. But other times I crave rich, luscious, creamy home made rice pudding. My mum taught me the trick of using a can of evaporated milk in with the normal milk to give an instant richness and creaminess to it. Recently I've also started to add cardamon and other spices to liven it up a bit. The recipe below is my all time favourite.


What you need
2.5oz of pudding rice or risotto/paella rice
2 tbsp sugar (I use vanilla)
1 pint milk - use one large can of evaporated milk and top up with semi-skimmed to the pint
3 cracked cardamon pods
grating fresh nutmeg
few strands of saffron

Mix all of the ingredients together and then place in a lidded casserole dish into a pre-heated 150 degree oven. Stir after the first 30 mins and then leave to slowly cook for 90 mins or so until the rice is cooked. I think it's better fridge cold the next day after the rice has plumped up a bit and the flavours have mingled, but DH thinks it's best eaten hot straight from the oven. Either way it makes a luscious pudding or breakfast.