Planet Veggie

I asked The Meat Eater to get me some potatoes from the supermarket.   I didn’t write down exactly the type of potato I wanted as I just wanted one large-ish potato and wasn’t really bothered which type and the only type I didn’t want and didn’t expect him to buy was new potatoes. 

So he came back with new potatoes.  Sigh.  He asked what I was making and I said potato cakes with mushrooms and he said can’t he just have potatoes and mushrooms? and so I said no.

Still, we had some old-ish potatoes in the cupboard, so I cut off the sprouty bits and used them instead.

The recipe says it makes a substantial main course.  Which is rubbish.  I made it more substantial by serving it with sausages and something else now that I can’t remember.

Oven-baked potato cakes with mushrooms and thyme (taken from Leith’s Vegetarian Bible)
Serves 4

Oil, for brushing
450g/1lb floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper
55g/2oz butter
1 egg yolk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
Plain flour, for shaping
Chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley, to garnish

For the filling
450g/1lb mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
30g/1oz butter
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Lemon juice
1 tablespoon dry sherry

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.  Brush a baking tray with oil.
2. Peel and quarter the potatoes and cook them in boiling salted water until tender.
3. Drain the potatoes and return to the pan.  Mash over a low heat.  Remove from the heat and add the butter and egg yolk.  Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and beat well.
4. Divide the mixture into 8.  With floured hands shape into flat cakes about 10cm/4in in diameter.  Place on the baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Turn, using a fish slicer, and bake for a further 15 minutes.
5. About 10 minutes before the potato cakes are ready, make the filling:  Cut the mushrooms into chunky pieces.  Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan.  Add the butter and when foaming, briskly fry the mushrooms until tender.  Add the garlic, thyme and lemon juice to taste and season with salt and pepper.  Fry for a further 2 minutes.  Add the sherry and bring to the boil, scraping any sediment from the base of the pan.
6. Lift 4 of the potato cakes on to 4 individual plates.  Divide the filling between them and top with a second potato cake.  Sprinkle with the parsley.

I got an email from Graze telling me that they are no longer charging 50p extra if you want olives in your delivery.  HURRAH!  I love olives, so this is very good news to me.  And I even got olives in my first delivery after the no charge thing came into effect.

Yah.

And along with the pitted kalamata olives with herbs, came roasted pistachios, naturally infused pineapple raisins and some white chocolate coated peanuts (that lasted approximately 30 seconds after the photo was taken).

If you’d like to try Graze, you can get your first box free and the second box half price by going to www.graze.com and entering the code HQTGF3G

The Meat Eater made dinner tonight, as he’s in charge of cooking at the weekend (which actually means he only has to cook once as we usually go out Saturday nights) and he actually managed to make the dough in the bread machine all by himself instead of asking me if he was reading the instructions correctly like he usually does.

Toppings of choice this time were mushrooms, home grown tomatoes, home grown chili, onion, jalapenos, olives, spinach, cheddar and mozzarella.

I asked him if he would make me pizza every day, but he said no.

Bah.

Pre-oven pizza:

Post-oven pizza:

It’s a BBC Good Food week this week and tonight’s recipe says it’s a midweek curry treat but that was purely coincidental as I only decided to make this tonight to use up the egg in the fridge that was one day out of date.

I did wonder if it was going to be too hot for The Meat Eater but he said it was bordering on perfection.  As it has coconut milk in it, it was hot and creamy but not too spicy.   

Nice.

I don’t know who got the bad egg though.

Here’s the link to the recipe (and where you can see a better photo than mine).

I made the quantity for 4 as it states (and unlike some recipes it really does feed four), but as I was freezing two portions, only used three eggs not six, as frozen hard-boiled eggs defrost really rubbery and are rubbish.

Another one from my new favourite site – BBC Good Food – and tonight’s recipe didn’t disappoint, especially as it had the addition of a home grown aubergine fresh from the greenhouse (only one grew unfortunately but I’m going down the quality over quantity route).

I especially like this recipe as it’s a proper vegetarian recipe and lists parmesan-style cheese in the ingredients (and you know how much I hate recipes that say they’re vegetarian and then have parmesan in the ingredients).

I won’t list all the ingredients here as you can look at it on the BBC Good Food website and print it off properly or store it in a binder and stuff, but I will post you a pretty picture (they have a pretty picture too and looking at it now is reminding me I forgot to add the basil.  Oops.)

Tomato & chickpea bake

Another BBC Good Food recipe.  The Meat Eater said, after two forkfuls, that if I made this for him every night, he’d marry me.  I’m not sure if that’s reward or punishment? Hmm.

Green garden veg pie 
Easy
Serves 4
Prep 15 mins
Cook 35 mins

Ingredients
50g butter
2 tsp mustard powder
600ml milk
200g mature cheddar, grated
2 large potatoes, sliced into rounds
1 head broccoli, cut into little florets
200g frozen peas
small bunch chives, snipped
50g flour
1 head cauliflower, cut into little florets

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then stir in the flour and mustard powder and cook for 1 min.  Gradually stir in the milk until smooth with no lumps, then keep stirring until the mixture begins to bubble and thickens to a creamy sauce.  Remove from the heat, then stir in all but a handful of the grated cheese.
2. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7 and bring a large pan of water to the boil.  Cook the potato slices for 5 mins, tip in the broccoli and cauliflower for another 3 mins, then finally add the peas for 1 more min.  Drain all the veg and pat dry.  Reserve enough potato slices to cover the top of the finished dish, then gently stir the rest of the vegetables into the sauce with the chives.
3. Tip into a deep ovenproof dish, arrange over the reserved potato slices, then sprinkle with remaining cheddar.  Bake for 20-25 mins until the topping is golden and crisp, the serve straight from the dish.

Cooking notes
I used soya milk, didn’t have a pan as big as a house so cooked the potatoes separate from the broccoli/cauliflower/peas and didn’t bother to pat them dry.

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.

A few weeks ago I cycled past a house with a table bearing an array of vegetables and a box of eggs.  Next to these was a price list and a jar for money.  I didn’t have any money on me at the time but ever since going past this house, I’ve had a desperate urge to buy eggs from there but every time I cycled past (which was almost every day) there were no more eggs and I returned home disappointed.  I ran past there on Tuesday morning and THERE WERE EGGS THERE!  As I was running, I had no money on me but planned to go back later and hope that the eggs were still there.

They weren’t.

But yesterday when I cycled past, THERE WERE EGGS THERE and I had money on me and everything and so I threw caution to the wind and put all my eggs in one basket and put £1 in the jar and cycled home happily with my fresh out of a chicken’s bum eggs.  And so tonight I made a cheese, tomato and mushroom omelette.  And very nice it was too.

Fresh out of a chicken's bum omelette

Ingredients (serves 2):

4 eggs
1 green chili, chopped
150g mushrooms, sliced
100g cheese, grated
1 tomato, sliced

Fry the mushrooms in some butter and set aside.
Beat the eggs with the green chili.
Heat some butter in a large frying pan.
Add the beaten egg.
Cook until nearly set.
Add the mushrooms, tomato and cheese over half of the omelette.
Fold over the uncovered half over the half with the mushrooms, etc. on.
Slide onto a plate.
Slice into two.
Serve with jacket wedges and peas.
If you’re a wuss like The Meat Eater, pick out the pieces of green chili and leave them on your plate.

Ok, my last plug for Leith’s Vegetarian Bible for the time being.  I’ve used this book a lot in the last week, and this recipe is one I’ve used lots in the past.  Good carbo-loading food (not that I run much anymore).

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 leek, thinly sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g/11oz Quorn mince
1 x 400g/14oz can tomatoes
290ml/1/2 pint vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons mushroom ketchup

To serve

340g/12oz spaghetti
freshly grated Parmesan-style cheese

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, pepper, carrots and leek. Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook over a low heat for 10-15 minutes until softened.
2. Add the Quorn mince to the vegetables and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.  Increase the heat and allow the Quorn to colour slightly.
3. Add the tomatoes (these can be liquidized for a smoother consistency, if liked), stock, tomato puree and mushroom ketchup.  Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the liquid is well reduced.  Adjust the seasoning to taste.
4. Meanwhile, bring  a large saucepan of salted water to the boil.  Add the spaghetti and cook, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes until al dente.  Drain thoroughly and rinse the spaghetti under hot running water.  Drain well.
5. Place the spaghetti in a warmed serving dish and pour over the Quorn bolognese sauce.
6. Serve with Parmesan-style cheese sprinkled on toip of the sauce or handed separately.

Quorn and red onion bolognese

Hmm, seem to have had a Leith’s Vegetarian Bible themed week last week.  Here’s another.  This was really nice but I really should have served it with some new potatoes.  Ah well, there’s leftovers in the freezer so next time I will serve it with the potatoes from the garden which are very small and freshly harvested so near enough new in my eyes.

Ingredients (serves 4)

450g/1lb asparagus
6 tablespoons olive oil
450g/1lb leeks, trimmed and sliced
2 table spoons plain flour
150ml/1/4 pint dry white wine
290ml/1/2 pint vegetable stock
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon lemon juice
85g/3oz Emmenthal cheese, grated
3 tablespoons double cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large sheets of filo pastry
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
2. Trim the ends off the asparagus and using a potato peeler, pare off the tough outer skin at the base of the stalks.  Bring a large shallow pan of water to the boil.  Cook the asparagus for about 5-7 minutes, depending on the thickness of the spears.  Remove the asparagus from the cooking water, drain carefully and set aside.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large saucepan, add the leeks and sweat gently for 10 minutes or until softened.  Add the flour and cook for 30 seconds, then add the wine and bring to the boil.  Add the stock and bring back to the boil.  Lower the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce is thick.  Remove from the heat and add the thyme, lemon juice, cheese, cream, salt and pepper.
4. Cut the asparagus into 5cm/2in lengths.
5. Pour half the sauce into a shallow ovenproof dish.  Cover with the asparagus and pour the remaining sauce on top.
6. Brush each sheet of filo pastry with the remaining oil and place on top of the vegetables in layers.  Trim off the excess pastry round the edges; brush the top with oil and score with a lattice pattern.  Scatter with the sesame seeds (I used pinenuts instead).
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, lowing the oven temperature if the pastry shows signs of browning too much.

Just out of the oven

Asparagus and leek filo pie