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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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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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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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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I saw this recipe in the May 2011 issue of Vegetarian Living, then while I was looking to see if it was on their website, I saw the exact same recipe on Runner’s World, who credited www.wholegraingoodness.com. I asked Vegetarian Living on their Facebook page whose recipe it was, so I could credit the right people, and they said that it was www.allaboutoats.com’s recipe and they had given Vegetarian Living permission to use it. You can see the recipe here.

It may be a bit confusing as to whose recipe it is, but don’t worry about that, just go and make it as it’s very nice (and very healthy, too).

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The only enchiladas I’ve ever made before were the spicy bean enchiladas from Anita Bean’s Food for Fitness, which are made with beans. Going through another back issue of Vegetarian Living, I stumbled across this recipe which used veggie mince, so thought I’d give it a go. I’m glad I did, as I think I prefer it to the other one.

Vegetarian spicy enchiladas

Spicy enchiladas (serves 2)
Taken from the November 2010 issue of Vegetarian Living

400g canned chopped tomatoes
150ml tomato juice [I didn’t have any tomato juice, so swirled some water about in the empty chopped tomato can and used that]
50g tomato puree
1 large red onion, finely chopped [I used a white onion]
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried or frozen oregano
2 mild green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of unrefined sugar [I left this out]
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
150g Linda McCartney Vegemince^TM [I used Sainsburys own brand meat-free mince]
150g vegetarian mature Cheddar, grated
4 soft corn tortillas

1. Place the chopped tomatoes, tomato juice and puree in a medium-sized saucepan. Add half the red onion, cumin, oregano, chillies, lemon juice, sugar and coriander. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Heat the oil in a small frying pan and sauté the mince for a few minutes until lightly browned. Keep to one side.
3. Spread 4-6 tbsp of the tomato sauce in the base of an oblong ovenproof dish. Spread one of the tortillas with 2 tbsp of sauce, sprinkle with cheese, top with a quarter of the mince and sprinkle with chopped red onion, reserving some cheese and onion for garnishing. Roll carefully into a tube.
4. Place in the dish on top of the sauce, seam-side down. Repeat with the other tortillas and spoon over the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the reserved cheese and the chopped onion.
5. Bake the enchiladas at 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 for 15-20 minutes, when the cheese should be bubbling and starting to brown.

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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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