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

Related posts:

1. Pasta with greens, chilli and garlic The Meat Eater gave me a copy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s...
2. Leek and mushroom stuffed peppers I made this last week but didn’t take a photo,...
3. Vegetable paella A quick and easy dish from Food for Fitness by...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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

Related posts:

1. Tomato and chilli soup Today’s soup was practically free, as it was made using...
2. Roasted aubergine, tomato & basil pasta The basil I got from the greenhouse was a bit...
3. Yellow courgette soup with chilli and cheese As courgettes are in season at the moment, I’ve been...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I got sent one of these

in this week’s Riverford box. After ignoring the old ‘Google is your friend’ thing, I posted a photo of it on Facebook and asked what it was. I got the following answers:

‘No idea – I’d probably draw it!’
‘Put batteries in it and sit on it…. ?’
‘Whatever it is I think u will be parping for a few days after u eat it!!’
‘Take acid, wait a bit, stare at it and if it gets scary … eat it.’
‘Put a pair of sunglasses on it first’

None of which, although amusing, were particularly helpful. But on investigating the Riverford website, it said I’d been sent a romanesco cauliflower and so I googled it and lo! lots of pretty pictures of bright green trippy alien optical illusion Christmas tree type vegetables appeared.

I also googled what the hell to do with it and found out – quite disappointingly really – that you treat it like a normal cauliflower.

So I made cauliflower cheese. Albeit a posh cauliflower cheese with spinach and pasta.

Here it is.

I used this cauliflower cheese and spinach pasta bake recipe from the BBC Good Food website and very nice it was too.

Next week in my Riverford box, I’m not getting an alien cauliflower, I’m getting brussel sprouts.

Bah.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There’s quite a lot of ingredients in this, although most of which should be in your store cupboard.  In fact, I only had to buy a carrot, so it’s kind of like a free meal.  Result.

What is even more of a result is that it’s delicious.  The Meat Eater ate a mouthful, declared it ‘yum’, finished before me for the first time ever and asked me to make it again.  Fine praise indeed.

It’s not the most lowest of calorie dinners, with it containing cheese, flour, milk, lentils and pasta, but I’m going for a run tomorrow and can therefore eat what I like.

I wish.

Macaroni bake (serves 4 – I halved the ingredients to serve 2)
Taken from Leith’s Vegetarian Bible

For the lentil layer
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 carrots, finely diced
110g/4oz red lentils
1 x 400g/14oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
a pinch of sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
a few drops of Tabasco sauce
2-3 tablespoons mango chutney

For the topping
110g/4oz macaroni
20g/¾oz butter
20g/¾oz plain flour
a pinch of cayenne pepper
425ml/¾ pint milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
wholegrain mustard
85g/3oz Cheddar cheese, grated
85g/3oz Parmesan-style cheese, freshly grated
1 teaspoon dried breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon mustard seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.
2. First make the lentil layer: heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion, garlic and carrots.  Cover and cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes or until the onion is softened and transparent.
3. Add the lentils, tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar, salt, pepper, bay leaf, Tabasco and chutney to the pan.  Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the lentils are cooked and the excess liquid has evaporated, leaving a thick but not dry mixture.  Discard the bay leaf and transfer the lentil mixture to a deep ovenproof dish.
4. Make the macaroni topping:  bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the macaroni and cook, uncovered, until al dente.  The water must boil steadily to keep the macaroni moving freely and prevent it from sticking to the pan.  Drain thoroughly and rinse under boiling water.
5. Melt the butter in another saucepan and add the flour and cayenne.  Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat, pour in the milk and mix well.  Return to the heat and stir until boiling, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
6. Add the cooked macaroni to the sauce and season to taste with salt, pepper and mustard.  Stir in all but 1 tablespoon of the grated cheeses and spoon the macaroni mixture on top of the lentil layer.  Mix the reserved cheese with the breadcrumbs and the mustard and sesame seeds, if used, and sprinkle evenly over the surface.  Place on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the topping is golden-brown.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As I’ve reinstated my organic vegetable box delivery, I needed some recipes to make use of the vegetables that I don’t usually buy, e.g. courgettes and other green healthy things like that.  I stumbled upon the BBC Good Food website and what a great site it is.  It has a search function that lets you choose what type of cuisine, dietary requirements, no. of servings, difficulty rating and more and photos of each recipe accompanied by user reviews.

Splendid.

Courgette lasagne wouldn’t be my first choice, but I decided to trust the reviews and although The Meat Eater and I were both dubious as to how grated courgette would turn out, it was very nice.  Nicer than the photo would have you believe, it looks a bit minging in my photo, but there’s a better one on the recipe’s website.

Creamy courgette lasagne
Easy
Serves 4
Prep 10 mins
Cook 10 mins

Ingredients
9 dried lasagne sheets
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
700g courgettes (about 6), coarsely grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
250g ricotta
50g cheddar
350g jar tomato sauce for pasta

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7.  Put a pan of water on to boil, then cook the lasagne sheets for about 5 minutes until softened, but not cooked through.  Rinse in cold water, then drizzle with a little oil to stop them sticking together.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan, then fry the onion.  After 3 mins, add the courgettes and garlic and continue to fry until the courgette has softened and turned bright green.  Stir in 2/3 of both the ricotta and the cheddar, then season to taste.  Heat the tomato sauce in the microwave for 2 minus on High until hot.
3. In a large baking dish, layer up the lasagne, starting with half the courgette mix, then pasta, then tomato sauce.  Repeat, top with blobs of the remaining ricotta, then scatter with the rest of the cheddar.  Bake on the top shelf for about 10 mins until the pasta is tender and the cheese is golden.

Cooking notes

I used 4 courgettes (not 6, but I added mushrooms to it), 3 lasagne sheets (that I didn’t pre-cook first) and heated the tomato sauce on the hob (as I’m not a fan of microwaves).  Although the recipe says it serves 4, we ate it between ourselves, although it could serve 3 if you served it with a side dish.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Delia's Vegetarian Collection

Another Delia recipe.  She’s one of those annoying chefs who either a) think parmesan is vegetarian; or b) can’t be bothered to state parmesan-style cheese in their recipes.  This is one of my pet hates.  Parmesan is NEVER vegetarian.  If you eat parmesan, you are not vegetarian, unless you consider a dead calf’s stomach lining to be vegetarian that is.  Anyway, rant over and on with the recipe.

Ingredients (serves 2)

6 oz (175g) trofie pasta
120g pesto, bought or home made
3 oz (75g) dwarf or fine green beans, or fresh shelled peas
3 oz (75g) Anya salad potatoes
2 1/2 oz (60g) Parmesan-style cheese

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box.
2. Meanwhile, if you are using beans, trim and cut them into lengths, about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm).  Wash and slice the potatoes next, leaving the skins on; they need to be fractionally thicker than a 50p coin.
3. After the pasta has cooked for 10 minutes, throw the beans and potatoes in to join the pasta.  (If using peas, give them slightly less cooking time.)  Now give the ingredients another stir and bring the water back to the boil, then boil for another 8 minutes.
4. Drain the pasta, potatoes and beans (or peas) in a colander, not completely, as it needs a little water still clinging to it.  Then tip everything back into the saucepan, add the pesto sauce, and stir it pretty niftily to give everything a good coating.  Finally serve with the parmesan-style cheese in a bowl to sprinkle over.

Trofie pasta Liguria (with pesto, green beans and potato)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Woo hoo, don’t get too excited, but here’s a meal I made up myself, and not copied out of a book.  OK, so it’s only spinach and ricotta pasta, which is hardly new and original but I had leftover spinach and leftover ricotta from the spinach and ricotta soufflés I made the other day so I  thought spinach and ricotta pasta would do me just fine for lunch.  And very nice it was too.

Because it’s my own made up recipe, I haven’t got strict measurements.   So, what I did was to get about 100g of penne on the boil, then melt some butter (about 50g) in a frying pan, add spinach (it was about 100g I think) and garlic (1 clove) and fry until the spinach does that wilt down to nothing thing that it does so well.  When the spinach is all wilty, add some ricotta – I used about 3 really big tablespoons’ worth – and mix it up with the spinach.  Grate some Emmenthal or cheese of your choice and add some of it to the spinach and ricotta mix, along with some fresh basil (about 1 tablespoon) and freshly ground black pepper and salt.  When the pasta’s ready, add it to the frying pan containing the spinach, ricotta and Emmenthal.  Pour it into a bowl.

Spinach and ricotta pasta pre-cheese and basil on top

Sprinkle the rest of the Emmenthal on top, along with a few leaves of fresh basil to make it look pretty.

Spinach and ricotta pasta with cheese and basil on top

Nice.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.