Potato & Courgette Flan

The Great Vegetarian Diet

The best vegetarian diets are diets where you don’t even realise meat is lacking from your diet.  I can go for months, even years without eating meat and not missing it because my vegetarian food is just so good and full of the nutrients I need to get by.  I find that meat eaters are worryingly obsessed with meat to the point that if there is no meat on the dinner table they literally freak out.  It is hilarious to watch, it’s like they are about to break out in hives or suffer serious palpitations if they are not allowed to exercise their canivorism.  It is okay to not eat meat.  Just try some of my delicious vegetarian recipes and see for yourself that you can have a lovely meal without meat.  So step out of your comfort zone and explore new ways of incorporating vegetables into your diet.  I used wholemeal flour to make the pastry from scratch, I really though it added a greater level of depth for my flan.  I used minimal seasoning and served this dish with a light salad.  It is excellent for a starter, lunch or a simple light meal.

This recipe was adapted from The Dairy Book of Family Cookery (Ebury Press, 1983).

Ingredients:

225g wholemeal flour, pinch of salt, 100g butter (chilled and cubed), 450g potatoes (peeled and diced), 225g courgettes (finely chopped), 1 small onion (skinned and sliced), freshly ground black pepper, 2 eggs, 300ml milk, 150g cheddar cheese (grated), a small handful of cherry tomatoes (quartered).

Method:

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.
2. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add 3 tbsps chilled water, mix until the the flour begins to stick together.
4. Collect the dough mixture together to form a ball.
5. Knead lightly for a few seconds to give a firm smooth dough.
6. Wrap in cling film and leave in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
7. Roll out on a lightly floured surface.
8. Line a 10 inch flan dish.
9. Bake blind in the oven for 20 minutes.
10. Cook the potato until tender in a saucepan of boiling water.
11. Drain.
12. In a frying pan gently fry the onion with the courgettes until soft.
13. Place the vegetables in the flan case.
14. Beat together the eggs, milk and cheese.
15. Pour over the filling and then scatter the tomatoes on the top.
16. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes.

Mini Vegetable Pasties

Woeful Wahaca 

So I finally visited Wahaca, the restaurant by Thomasina Masterchef winner and I was not happy at all.  The food was awfully bland and the service was poor.  Even the cocktails tasted like ash.  Frustrated by such a disappointing meal I decided to recreate a version of one of the empanada dishes which tasted like a Macdonald’s apple pie, it was disgusting beyond all reason.  Trust me it made no sense. And to think I wanted to go there for my birthday.  This pasty recipe is really unique and I think the presentation looked querky and fun.

This recipe was adapted from The Best of Sainsbury’s Vegetarian Cooking (Reed International Books Ltd, 1992).

Ingredients:

Homemade shortcrust pastry (courtesy of Kamaria’s Kitchen), 1 large sweet potato (boiled till soft and chopped in small pieces), 60g sweetcorn (cooked), 30g green beans (cooked and chopped), 50g cheddar cheese (grated), 1 tbsp caramalised onion chutney, salt and pepper, milk to glaze, parsley to garnish.

Method:

1. Mix the vegetables together with the cheese, chutney and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Divide the pastry into small circles.
3. Add the vegetable mixture in the middle of the pastry.
4. Create your cute and querky pasties.
5. Make sure the edges are compressed together and compact.
6. Use the milk to brush the top of the pastry.
7. Make slits at the top and place on a baking tray.
8. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes.
9. When the pastry has cooked garnish with some parsley.

Tomato and Bread

Uncreative much

This is the worst name for a recipe I have ever seen.  Yes it is literally tomato and bread but Silvana Franco couldn’t have come up with a more interesting name.  This food is good to keep people waiting for the main event,  and it’s also romantic.  Imagine your date is sitting at the table waiting for their meal and nibbling on their appetizer as the parfait sets and the rice fluffs up.

This recipe was taken with not much effort from Sivana Franco’s The Really Useful Ultimate Cookbook (Murdoch Books, 2007).

Ingredients:

1 ripe tomato, a thick slice of rustic country style bread, 2 fresh basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil, corse sea salt.

Method:

1. Cut the tomato in slices and place on the slices of bread.
2. Crush the bread slices down a little so the juice seeps into the bread.
3. Roughly tear the basil leaves and scatter over the top.
4. Drizzle over a tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Naan Pizza (Dream 8)

Cheating

I had a dream that the love of my life was cheating on me.  You can’t let a man go hungry… so… If your man cheats on you before he goes make him a  meal that doesn’t require much effort like this tasty but fake ass pizza.

This recipe was taken from Good Housekeeping Magazine (June, 2013).

Ingredients:

2 plain naans, 2 tbsps caramelised red onion, 50g soft cheese crumbled, 75g cherry tomatoes (quartered), 2 fresh thyme sprigs, small handful of rocket, extra virgin olive oil to drizzle.

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees C.
2. Put the naans on a baking sheet then spread over the onion chutney.
3. Dot over the goat’s cheese tomatoes and thyme and season with ground black pepper.
4. Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese has softened and the pizza is piping hot.
5. Garnish with the rocket and drizzle a little oil on top.

Creamy Kidney Bean Soup

Well and Truly Out

I had my tooth taken out.  I was not scared as I was put under anesthesia and to be honest I was so happy to have the tooth out I welcomed all the pulling and squeezing.   Having been swallowing my own blood for 24 hours the last thing I wanted was a red soup, but alas tooth pain means soft food only.  Tinned soup can become boring very very very quickly so here is a toned down version (less chilli) of a lively soup that hits the spot and requires little work.

This recipe was adapted from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2009).

Ingredients:

225g dried kidney beans soaked over night, 2 red onions (peeled and diced), 400g can chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 5 garlic cloves (peeled and halved), 5cm fresh root ginger (roughly chopped), 1 tsp chilli flakes, salt and pepper, 150ml single cream.

Method:

1. Drain the kidney beans and get rid of the soaking liquid.
2. Put the beans in a very large heavy – bottomed pan with 3 litres of water.
3. Add the onions, tomatoes, puree, garlic cloves, ginger and chilli flakes.
4. Cover the pan and simmer for about 3 hours until the beans start to break up.
5. Top the liquid up if required during cooking.
6. Once the beans have cooled slightly then liquidize.
7. Season well with salt and pepper.
8. Reheat and stir in the cream.

Potato and Coriander Soup

Poor Tooth

My tooth was hurting more by the day, it was becoming unbearable.  I have had this problem for 2 – 3 years and the pain just kept coming back no matter what the dentists did.  Complete con artists! Whatever will get them the most money! I cannot believe how expensive healthcare is.  Even if you are exempt from some fees you still have to pay for various procedures.  I understand that dentists need to be paid, but it really sucks that people have to endure tooth pain… any kind of pain for that matter longer than they should because they cannot afford it. This is a recipe for all my poor sick people.  And even if your not sick and poor cook it anyway and think about how  lucky you are.  This soup is lovely, full of flavour, easy to make if your’re sick and easy on the teeth. The high carbohydrate content helps food cravings.  Sweet potato can be added as well/

This recipe was taken from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2009).

Ingredients:

1 small bunch of fresh coriander, 2 onions (peeled and chopped), 2 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped), 3 tbsps olive oil, 900g British potatoes (peeled and cubed), 2 pints chicken stock, salt and pepper.

Method:

1. Cut the stalks from the coriander and tie them in a bundle with string.
2. Chop the leaves finely and reserve for later.
3. Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large pan and fry the onion and garlic.
4. Add the potatoes and coriander stalks, stir them and cover on a low heat for 5 minutes.
5. Add the stock, salt and pepper and then bring to the boil.
6. Simmer until the potatoes are very tender.
7. Remove the bundle of coriander stalks.
8. Liquidize the soup.
9. Stir in the coriander leaves and re heat gently.
10. Season to taste before serving.

Wholemeal Shortcrust Pastry

Inventive

Adding fibre to your diet doesn’t just mean eating more vegetables.  Boiled boring vegetables that could be oh so much better if smothered in fat which of course completely defeats the point.  So here is an idea I came up with.  Wholemeal pastry,  you do not have to only use the pastry to cook savoury meals but it can also be used to make desserts too.  The fat content from the butter is still there but it does add more fibre.  Yay! My pastry is really tasty and herbs can be added if (for example) you wanted to make something like a quiche.

This recipe was adapted by Good Housekeeping Cook’s Year (Ebury Press, 1995).

Ingredients:

225g wholemeal flour, pinch of salt, 125g butter.

Method:

1. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.
2. Add the butter into the flour.
3.Using your fingertips rub the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add 45 – 60ml chilled water and distribute evenly.
5. Collect the dough mixture together to form a dough.
6. Knead lightly for a few seconds to give a firm smooth dough.
7. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
8. To roll out the pastry sprinkle a little flour over the surface before rolling out evenly.

Farmhouse Brown Seeded Buns

Bringing the Camels to the lake

So when preparing dinner I made a batch of seeded buns so everyone could have a country restaurant style experience without the cost.  The smell of the baked yeast crested through the room and invited my guests to the table.  The bread was loved so much when I returned to the dining room the loaves had already been split and I forgot to take a picture.  But they sure did taste good.  This was the first time I had made bread from a Mary Berry cookbook and her loaves are just as stylish as Mr Hollywood’s.  However, you will have to wear an apron because these buns make an awful lot of mess.

This recipe was taken from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible (BBC Books, 2009).

Ingredients:

40g linseed, 150g porridge oats, 300ml boiling water, 450g strong white flour, 100g strong wholemeal flour, 50g sunflower seeds, 1 level tsp salt, 7g satchet fast – action yeast, 350ml warm water.  Plus, a little milk and porridge oats for the glaze.

Method:

1. Measure the linseed and porridge oats into a bowl, pour over the boiling water and mix.
2. Leave to absorb for about 10 minutes and cool slightly.
3. Add the remaining dry ingredients and the warm water and form to mix a soft dough.
4. Knead by hand on a floured work surface for about 5 minutes.
5. Put the dough ball into a large oiled bowl.
6. Cover with clingfilm and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours.
7. Knead for a few minutes and shape into mini wholemeal buns.
8. Place baking parchment on a baking tray.
9. Place the buns on a baking tray and slip onto a plastic bag.  Leave to prove for 30 minutes.
10. When doubled in size  glaze with milk and scatter over some oats then bake at 200 degrees C.
11. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 – 25 minutes, when tapped the bread should sound hollow.
12. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Petite Pea Soup

Green Eyes

This soup was inspired by one of my favourite songs which is about a woman who is denying her jealous and resentful feelings towards her crush’s new partner.  Badu sings, “My Eyes are Green/ ‘Cause I eat lots of vegetables…” I mean wow, simple lyrics incredible song.  She really got me! I had to make something which represented that song.  This pea  soup is a perfect food symbol for how I was feeling.  Eating lots of vegetables to justify my envious green eyes.  Perfect pea soup for poor and pitiful emotions.  The herby fragrance and sweetness of the peas cheered up my mood and warmed my throat thus allowing me to sing on.

This recipe was adapted from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley, 2009).

Ingredients:

40g butter, 1 onion (peeled and sliced), 1 large potato (peeled and diced), 300ml veg stock, 500g frozen peas, 2 handfuls basil, salt and pepper.

Method:

1.  Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over a medium heat.
2. Gently fry the onions until softened.
3. Add the potato and gently stir.
4. After 10 minutes add the stock.
5. Bring to the boil.
6. Add the peas and let simmer for 20 minutes.
7. Add the basil, season to taste.
8. Blend the soup.

Sopa Seca de Fideos

Monster 

When you gobble down on food and eat it as though you are a monster so hungry you could eat an Englishman, that is the sign of damn good food.  This soup is the bees knees,  I had double portions which is a big deal because I have a small stomach.  The soup should be eaten hot but there are recommended chilled elements to compliment the chilli.  Add a small amount of avocado and sour cream after serving.

This recipe was adapted from The Soup Book (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2009).

Ingredients:

1 tbsp chopped red chilli, 2 beef tomatoes (quartered), 2 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped), 1 onion (peeled and roughly chopped), 600ml chicken stock, 3 tbsps vegetable oil, 2 chicken breasts (diced), 225g thin noodles.

Method:

1. Blend together the chilli, tomatoes, garlic and onion.
2. Mix with the chicken stock.
3.  In a large pan heat up the oil then add the chicken.
4. When almost cooked add the chicken stock and other ingredients except the noodles.
5. When the chicken is cooked add the noodles.
6. When everything is cooked add your additions, season to taste and gobble down like a monster.