Another recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Veg Everyday! cookbook. One thing I’ve noticed about this cookbook is that it has no approximate cooking or preparation times in it (not that I ever take any notice of the preparation times; I’m so slow, I take about four times as long as it states). This is annoying as I like to know roughly how long something’s going to take so I know when to start cooking (or if it’s not a meal to make when I’m late back from uni) and if there’s something to go with it, what time to start making that. Reading the recipe doesn’t give you much of an idea either as he doesn’t often state timings in minutes (rather, giving instructions such as ‘cook until the liquid has evaporated).

Still, I didn’t really need cooking times tonight and so made this recipe, which I knew was nice and fairly faff-free, as I made it a week or so ago.

I’m not going to type out the method but I’ll give you the ingredients and you can probably work out what to do with them yourselves (by the way, it takes about 30-40 minutes to make).

Mushroom risoniotto (serves 2)

2 tablespoons rapeseed or olive oil
A knob of butter
500g mushrooms, thickly sliced
150g risoni or orzo pasta
2 garlic cloves, chopped
A few sprigs of thyme (leaves only)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
About 175ml dry white wine
About 50ml double cream or creme fraiche
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A good handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to serve

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The Meat Eater gave me a copy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s ‘River Cottage Veg Every Day!’ cookbook for Christmas and tonight I gave one of the recipes a try. It’s a great book, packed full of tempting recipes and gorgeous colour photos. After a week of wine- and cheese-based indulgence, I only wanted something light, so went for the pasta with greens, chilli and garlic recipe.

Hugh’s recipe called for spring greens, kale or Savoy cabbage, but my local Tesco had none of these in, so I used some spinach instead.

The following method and ingredients aren’t exactly as stated in the book, but this is what I used and how I did it.

Pasta with greens, chilli and garlic (serves 2)

100g spinach
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tbsps olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 onion
150g pasta shapes
salt and pepper

Fry the onion in the olive oil for about 10 minutes (put the pasta on to boil in a separate pan when appropriate for timing)
Add the garlic and chilli to the onion mixture and fry for a couple more minutes
Add the spinach to the onion mixture and fry until wilted
Season with salt and pepper
Drain the pasta and mix with the spinach and onion mixture

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This is simply cauliflower cheese with mashed potato and cheese on top, then baked in the oven. I used the BBC Good Food Cauliflower Cheese recipe (halved to serve 3), forked some mashed potato that we had leftover from the night before on top of it, covered it in grated cheese and baked in the oven at 200C for about 15 minutes.

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I made this last week but didn’t take a photo, which I should have done, because it was bare noms (that means ‘very nice’ in young person speak [don't worry, that will be the last time I use that phrase, honest]).

Today I made it again and did take a photo, and you’ll have to take my word for it that it tastes nicer than it looks. Actually, it looks fine in real life, I’m just rubbish at taking photos.

Anyway, the recipe:

Leek and mushroom stuffed peppers (serves 2)

2 peppers, any colour, tops sliced off and deseeded
3 mushrooms, sliced and roughly chopped
1 leek, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
75g Cheddar, grated
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
25g butter

1. Place the peppers in a baking dish and bake at 200C for about 20 minutes, or until just about turning brown
2. In the meantime, melt the butter in a frying pan with the oil and fry the leek, mushrooms and garlic for about 5 minutes, until soft
3. Take the leek and mushroom mixture off the heat, season with salt and pepper and stir in the grated cheese
4. Fill the peppers with the leek and mushroom mixture and put back in the oven for about 10 minutes

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I invented a game on Twitter a few months ago called Guess the Soup. It’s very easy to play. All you have to do is, um, guess the soup I’m making that day (or the soup someone else is making).

Today, Cassie started a new round of Guess the Soup. After I guessed incorrectly with combinations such as kidney bean and mango, and butter bean and blancmange, I finally won with cauliflower and butter bean. Realising I had some butter beans in the cupboard and a cauliflower in the fridge, I decided to copy Cassie and make it for my lunch too.

I’m not sure of Cassie’s exact recipe and I don’t know if she added chilli and cheese as I did but this is how I made it:

Cauliflower and butter bean soup

Ingredients
1 cauliflower
1 tin of butter beans, drained
1 red chilli
1000ml vegetable stock
100g cheese
chilli flakes
salt and pepper

Chop up the cauliflower
Put it in a pan with the butter beans, chilli and vegetable stock
Add salt and pepper and chilli flakes
Simmer for about 20 minutes
Add the cheese and blend

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Tideford Organics aren’t a wholly vegetarian company, but out of their six varieties of soups, five are vegetarian and four are vegan. They also produce a range of vegetarian sauces, puddings and jellies.

I tried five of their soups and they were all fresh and delicious (even the carrot and coriander one, which isn’t a combination I usually like) and heated up in their pots after just a few minutes in the microwave. The soups are designed to be drunk on the go and have a cardboard sleeve that keeps your hands from burning. The cardboard sleeve is removable, so you could use the pot for something else, after you’ve drunk the soup (might be best to wash the pot first).

Tideford Organics’ products are mostly sold to independent retailers but some of their range can be found in Sainsburys, Tesco or Waitrose.

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Two weeks ago, I ran the Folkestone Half Marathon (I might will blog about it later). Afterwards, seven of us went for lunch at Googies Art Café, a fantastic café bar in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter.

Most of our group opted for burgers (which Googies do in a wrap, rather than a bun) but as I’d had one of their burgers (halloumi and mushroom, served with spicy potatoes) a few weeks previously, I decided to try one of their weird-sounding pizzas. They sound weird because the base isn’t made of regular pizza dough, but two tortilla wraps, with cream cheese spread in between them.

I chose the Florentina pizza which is topped with spinach, red onion, olives, pine nuts, mozzarella and a free range egg.

Yes, it was as good as it looks.

I decided I would try and recreate it for myself and so last night, that’s what I did (although with different toppings).

Rich (Cassie’s lovely ginger husband (Cassie says everyone should have a ginger husband)) asked for step-by-step photos, so here they are.

A recreation of a Googies pizza (makes 2 pizzas)

1. Get four tortilla wraps

2. Get your toppings (in this case: tomato sauce, mushrooms, olives (for me), fresh tomatoes (for The Meat Eater), jalapenos, red chillis, onion, spinach, cheese

3. Spread cream cheese on two of the wraps (yes, I have pig-shaped chopping boards)

4. Cover with the other two wraps

5. Spread tomato sauce on the wraps and add your toppings

6. Bake in the oven at 200C for about 10 minutes

7. Enjoy!

My pizza (with olives)

The Meat Eater’s pizza (with fresh tomato)

Googies Art Café is at 15 Rendezvous Street, Folkestone  CT20 1EY. Be sure to eat there if you’re in the area, then pop across the road to Johnny Cotter’s gallery and check out his amazing artwork.

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I thought this was a bit bland, didn’t really taste of much and could be improved by adding cheese (then again, I think everything can be improved by adding cheese). The Meat Eater thought it was really nice and subtle and didn’t need anything else. Then again, he has tastebuds and can taste everything, whereas I can’t taste anything unless I pour chilli flakes all over whatever I’m eating.

I’m not going to post the recipe this time, as I’ll probably get into trouble if I keep posting all the recipes from the book, but you can find it in The Quorn Kitchen cookbook.

The original recipe calls for making your own pastry (not sure what type, just your average pie-pastry, I suppose) but I used ready-made filo.

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Quorn have a new fish range out.

In the past, I’ve eaten Redwood’s Fish Style Fingers quite a few times. The first time I tried them, I was immediately transported back to being 14 years old and getting home from school; they were – as far as I could remember – just like the real thing (although that was only the first time. On subsequent times I’ve had them, they haven’t seemed that authentic [which will be a good thing for many people]. I’ve also tried Redwood’s Thai Fish Style Cakes but they weren’t for me and after eating two of them, the rest of the packet went into the bin.

We gave Quorn Fish Fingers a go and they were ok, but a bit dry and bland and nowhere near the texture of fish (although, I don’t want them too ‘fishy’, just like I don’t want meatfree products too ‘meaty’. I like meatfree products like Quorn and supermarkets’ own range meatfree stuff for what they are, not because they’re ‘fake’ meat [but that's not something I'm going to go into on this blog]).

The new Quorn fishcake range that I’d seen in the supermarket had made me a bit squeamish. Quite a few times, I’d lingered over them but moved on without buying them. That’s probably because while us veggies have been used to burgers and sausages being around for ever, veggie (or vegan; all Redwood’s products are vegan [unlike Quorn that contains milk and egg]) fish products are relatively new. Still, I was brave and put some Quorn Salmon and Dill Fishcakes in the trolley and served them up for dinner.

Unlike a lot of breaded products that are oven baked, these came out nice and crispy. Perfectly crispy, in fact. They’re very thick and substantial – a lot thicker than I expected and that was a bit off-putting. Also a bit off-putting was the colour; a pale greyish pinkish colour. A faint taste of fish came through but not overpowering. On the whole, they seemed a bit weird at first, but perfectly pleasant, although not something I’d have on a regular basis.

Now then, when will I be brave enough to try the Quorn Tuna Style Melts that are currently in the freezer?

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After last week’s spicy enchiladas, I had some meatfree mince to use up, so had a looked through the Quorn Kitchen cookbook and decided on these. I thought they’d be like the enchiladas, but in a lasagne-style, rather than rolled up. It was nice, but not as nice as the enchiladas. The Meat Eater said they needed less cheese and more sauce.

Quorn Tortilla Stack

300g Quorn Mince (I used Sainsbury’s own)
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp mild chilli powder
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire or brown sauce
3 tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaves
4-6 flour tortillas
200g mature Cheddar cheese, grated

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C (400F/Gas Mark 6)
2. Heat a large, shallow, non-stick frying pan until hot and cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Then add the Quorn Mince, paprika, chilli powder, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, Worcestershire or brown sauce. Season to taste.
3. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Stir through the coriander.
4. Place a tortilla on a large non-stick baking tray and spoon over a portion of the mince mixture evenly and a handful of cheese. Repeat with the remaining ingredients and top with the remaining cheese.
5. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. Cut into quarters and serve.

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