Vegetarian Living magazine was launched about a year ago. I bought the first few issues and loved it, but stopped buying it after a few months when my local Tesco stopped selling it. I did, however, keep all the back issues so I could try out their amazing looking recipes.

It’s taken a while, but I flicked through my old copies the other day and came across this aubergine lasagne recipe.

My picture isn’t very elegant (there’s a much better picture in the October 2010 issue) but it was cheesy and gooey and delicious.

Aubergine lasagne (serves 4)

2 large aubergines, sliced lengthwise into slices 1cm thick
6 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
400g canned tomatoes, chopped
1/4 tsp dried chilli
1 tsp dried oregano
200g vegetarian mozzarella, sliced
50g vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese, grated

1. Make the tomato sauce: heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and gently fry the onion for about 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chilli and oregano and cook over a very gentle heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt.
2. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a wide pan and gently fry the aubergine slices in batches until golden brown; you may need to add more oil. Drain on kitchen paper.
4. Layer the aubergine slices, tomato sauce and sliced mozzarella in an ovenproof dish 25 x 20cm, finishing with a layer of tomato sauce. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top and bake for approx 20 minutes or until lightly browned

NB: The original recipe called for salting the aubergines and leaving to drain for 30 minutes, but I never bother with that.

I also used Cheddar instead of Parmesan-style cheese (only because I didn’t have any).

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The basil I got from the greenhouse was a bit smeggy, so I threw it in the compost, the photo is rubbish, but this dish was lovely. Perfect for a summer’s evening in the garden.

For a better photo and for the recipe (which includes basil), go to the BBC Good Food website.

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A quick and easy dish from Food for Fitness by Anita Bean. I served it with Quorn Salmon Style Dill Crispbakes, from their new fish-free range, which I’ll blog about tomorrow.

Vegetable paella

Vegetable paella (serves 4 as a main dish, 6 as a side dish)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 celery sticks, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 tsp paprika
350g rice
1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
900ml vegetable stock
225g frozen peas (or mixed veg)
salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the onion, garlic, celery and peppers for 5 minutes.
2. Add the paprika and rice and stir for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed.
4. Add the peas, season to taste, and heat through for a few more minutes.

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While I was out running yesterday, I had the urge to make moussaka. I don’t know why, as I usually find it a bit of a faff and I’m not especially fond of faff.

I said to The Meat Eater that I was going to make moussaka and he asked why that reminded him of Demis Roussos. I said because it’s Greek? The Meat Eater said yes. I said I could put some Demis on if he liked but The Meat Eater said no. Then I said we could watch Abigail’s Party but The Meat Eater said no to that too.

Never mind, the moussaka was good.

Vegetable moussaka (serves 6)
Recipe taken from Low-Fat Vegetarian Mediterranean Recipes

450g aubergines, sliced
115g green lentils
600ml vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
225g fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
25ml olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
225g mushrooms, sliced
400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp dried basil
300ml natural yoghurt
3 eggs
50g cheese, grated
salt and black pepper

1. Place the lentils, stock and bay leaf in a pan. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are just tender. Drain well and keep warm.
2. Heat 10ml/2 tsp of the oil in a large, non-stick pan, add the onion and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Stir in the lentils, mushrooms, chickpeas, fresh and canned tomatoes, tomato puree, basil and 45ml/3 tbsp water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Heat the remaining oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the slices in batches for 3-4 minutes, turning once.
4. Season the lentil mixture. Layer the aubergines and lentils in an ovenproof dish, starting with aubergines and finishing with the lentil mixture.
5. Beat together the yoghurt, eggs and sale and pepper, and pour the mixture into the dish. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

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This is an adaptation of the halloumi stuffed peppers dish I made a couple of weeks ago, simply using an aubergine instead of red peppers. It was nice and a good use for the aubergine that came in this week’s organic veg box, but I prefer the red pepper version to be honest.

Ingredients
1 aubergine
25g couscous
100ml vegetable stock
125g halloumi, cubed
olive oil

Method
Cut the aubergine in half lengthways and score with a knife
Drizzle on some olive oil
Bake for 25 minutes at 200C
Meanwhile, pour the stock on to the couscous and leave for 10 minutes, then fork through
When the aubergine is ready, scoop out the flesh and chop roughly
Add the aubergine and the halloumi to the couscous, then pile the mixture equally between the two aubergine skins
Put back in the oven for 15 minutes

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I’ve been a bad domestic goddess over the past couple of weeks. I’ve only cooked one meal from scratch; the rest of the time we’ve either eaten out or been living on pie and chips, takeaway pizza, ready-made tortellini with ready-made pasta sauce and garlic bread, although peas did make a brief appearance on the plate yesterday next to the chips.

But now that we’re back in the real world after Christmas, and slacking must stop, I thought I’d better cook something. Trouble is, I couldn’t be bothered to look up any recipes and go shopping. Then I remembered the two red peppers that have been in the fridge for ages but still are remarkably ok and the packet of halloumi and the couscous I bought to make the halloumi stuffed peppers I’d seen on the BBC Good Food website a while ago.

So that’s what I made. Although without the mushrooms, as that would have meant leaving the house to go and buy them.

Delicious.

The Riverford veg box delivery resumes tomorrow, and healthy eating shall be restored.

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I hadn’t planned anything for dinner tonight and didn’t want to get moaned at by The Meat Eater so thought I’d better rustle something up and so I had a look on the BBC Good Food website to see what they had involving cabbage, as I had some left over from last week’s Riverford vegetable box delivery (well, kale, anyway; same thing isn’t it? Sort of?) and came across their gratin of white cabbage & lentils in a Provencal sauce recipe.

I was a bit perturbed by the reviews, as they were mostly along the lines of ‘it was ok but wouldn’t bother making it again’ but it’s one of the nicest meals I’ve made in a long time and will definitely be making it again.

As I didn’t have a white cabbage and only had about 150g of kale, I made up the difference with brussel sprouts, which I cut in half. I also added a spoonful of chilli jam (that I made yesterday; I’ll blog it soon) but not sure if that made any difference to the taste.

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Ok, so introducing food slowly back into my diet probably doesn’t mean pour olive oil over an aubergine then melt half a block of mozzarella on top, but The Meat Eater was proud of the aubergine he’d grown and had requested it for dinner, so how could I resist? You must make this, it’s so quick and simple and totally gorgeous.

Ingredients

1 aubergine
1 block of mozzarella, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper
basil leaves

Method
Cut the aubergine in half lengthways
Score the flesh and drizzle over some olive oil
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 200c
Layer on the tomatoes and mozzarella, season and bake for another 5 minutes
Scatter over the basil leaves

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Another recipe adapted from the trusty old Good Housekeeping Step by Step Vegetarian Cookbook. According to Anita Bean, there’s no place for pastry in an athlete’s diet, but I haven’t been very athletic lately so I don’t care. And pastry’s nice, innit?

I’ll post the original recipe but my adaptation included mushrooms I needed to use up and some goat’s cheese and some other cheese that I’ve forgotten the name of that my mum brought me back from France. She actually brought it back for The Meat Eater but I stole it to cook with as there wasn’t any vegetarian feta in Sainsburys.

I was going to take a “before” photo but I’d brought my camera downstairs to the kitchen without the memory card and was too lazy to go back upstairs to get it before putting the strudel in the oven, so here’s what it looked like after it had been cooked.

Fresh out of the oven

And it didn’t fall apart when I cut it, hurrah.

An intact strudel

And here it is on the plate with some nice healthy vegetables that I made very unhealthy by smothering them with butter.

Slightly overcooked broccoli, yum

Spanakopitta strudel (serves 4-6)

5 large sheets filo pastry

1 red onion

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

10 ml (2 tsp) ground coriander

2.5 ml (½ tsp) each ground cumin and cinnamon

10 ml (2 tsp) dried oregano

450 g (1 lb) frozen leaf spinach, thawed

175 g (6 oz) feta cheese, crumbled

15 ml (1 tbsp) chopped fresh mint

salt and pepper

25 g (1 oz) ground almonds

25 g (1 oz) fresh breadcrumbs

1. Peel and finely chop the onion.  Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion, garlic, spices and oregano and fry gently for 5 minutes to soften.  Transfer to a bowl.
2. Drain the spinach and squeeze out all excess liquid, then add to the onion mixture.  Stir in the feta, mint and seasoning to taste; set aside.
3. Melt 25 g (1 oz) of the butter in a clean frying pan, add the ground almonds and breadcrumbs and stir-fry over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until golden.
4. Melt the remaining butter in a small pan.  Lay one sheet of filo pastry on a clean surface, brush with a little butter, then sprinkle over a quarter of the crumb mixture.
5. Repeat these layers, brushing each pastry layer with butter and finishing with the final sheet of filo pastry.  Brush the top sheet with butter.
6. Carefully spread the spinach mixture over the filo pastry, leaving a clear 2.5 cm (1 inch) border around the edge.
7. Roll up from a short end, like a Swiss roll.  Carefully transfer to a baking sheet, making sure the seam is underneath.
8. Brush with the4 remaining butter and bake at 200C (400F) Mark 6 for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp.  Leave to stand for a few minutes then cut into slices.

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Another one from the Good Housekeeping Step by Step Vegetarian Cookbook, and another attempt to stay away from those nice but full of fat cheese-based meals.  It was nice and The Meat Eater said “mmmmmmmmmmmmm”, so I think he liked it too.  Actually though, although it’s called Vegetarian Paella in the book, it is vegan.  Sssh, don’t tell The Meat Eater.

Vegetarian (vegan) paella

Ingredients (serves 4)
2 red peppers
90 ml (6 tbsp) olive oil
2 onions
4 garlic cloves
10 ml (2 tsp) paprika
5 ml (1 tsp) turmeric
2.5 ml (½ tsp) cayenne pepper
350 g (12 oz) easy cook Italian brown rice
1.2 litres (2 pints) vegetable stock
175 g (6 oz) French beans, halved
175 g (6 oz) frozen peas
30 ml (2 tbsp) chopped fresh parsley
50 g (2 oz) black olives
salt and pepper

1. Halve, core, deseed and slice the peppers.  Heat 30 ml (2 tbsp) of the oil in a large, deep frying pan.  Add the peppers and fry over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until well browned and softened.  Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Peel and chop the onion.  Peel and finely chop the garlic.  Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the onions, garlic and spices for 10 minutes until golden.  Add the rice, stir once and then pour in the stock.  Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, blanch the beans in boiling salted water for 1 minute.  Drain and immediately refresh under cold water; set aside.
4. Add the peppers, beans and peas to the rice and stir through.  Cook for a further 15 minutes until the rice and vegetables are tender.  Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley and olives.  Season well, cover with a lid and allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

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