Planet Veggie

I love mushrooms. I don’t very often make stuffed mushrooms because a) I think it’s going to be a bit of a faff and I try to make my life pretty much as faffless as I can; and b) I’m never sure what to serve them with and although I’d be happy to have them on their own, The Meat Eater would probably look at his plate and ask where the potatoes are.

But, while going through the Easy Vegan cookbook, I came across this recipe for baked stuffed mushrooms and thought I’d give them a go. I didn’t quite stick to the recipe as I didn’t read the recipe properly and have a spare mushroom for stuffing with and I didn’t use any celery as I’m not a huge fan of it. Also, I used a red chili (fresh from the greenhouse) and used white breadcrumbs (fresh from the packet of Kingsmill white sliced from the freezer).

And in case you’re wondering if The Meat Eater was left asking where the potatoes were, don’t worry. I served them with mashed potato and baked beans.

Well nice.

Baked stuffed mushrooms (serves 4)

5 very large portabello mushrooms or 10 large cremini/chestnut mushrooms
2-4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 rib/stick celery, finely chopped
1-2 large garlic cloves, crushed
1 fresh green chili, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup/50g fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons freshly snipped chives plus extra to garnish
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4

Select 4 portobello mushrooms or 8 cremini mushrooms for stuffing. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms. Put the caps stem-side up in an ovenproof dish. Finely chop the remaining mushrooms and all the stalks. Heat a non-stick skillet/frying pan and add 2 teaspoons of the oil. Add the chopped mushrooms, celery, garlic, and chili and saute, stirring frequently, until soft. Let cool slightly, then transfer to a bowl.

Add the breadcrumbs, tomato, and chives to the bowl, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix well, adding a little oil to moisten, if necessary. Fill the mushrooms with the breadcrumb mixture. Pour about 4 tablespoons of water into the dish, then cook in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft and the topping is crisp. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Credits:
Baked stuffed mushrooms
Recipe by Rachael Anne Hill, Easy Vegan, Ryland Peters & Small

After not being mightily impressed with the meals so far cooked out of The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook, I thought I’d choose what had to be a foolproof recipe. A recipe containing leeks and potatoes cooked in cream, milk and cheese can’t go wrong, can it? No, it can’t. It got a rating of ‘yum’ by The Meat Eater and didn’t get put in the bin.

Here it is pre-oven

and post oven

and on the plate.

The blurb said (yes, I know, why do I take so much notice of what the blurb says?) that it didn’t need much in the way of accompaniment other than a light salad but I had been tempted to have it with a burger but took a trip to the tip while it was cooking and had it on its own when I got back. A burger or sausage would have gone nicely with it, although, at 719 calories per portion, maybe stick to the light salad they suggest.

Potato and leek boulangere (serves 4-6)
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 1 hour
Suitable for freezing
Calories per serving (4 portions): 719
kj 2996
Protein 18g
Fat: 51g (saturated fat 32g)
Carbohydrate: 50g

Ingredients
25g (1oz) butter
500g (1lb) leeks, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
875g (1 3/4 lb) potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
4 tomatoes, sliced
300ml (1/2) pint double cream
300ml (1/2) pint milk
125g (4oz) smoked cheese, grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Use the butter to grease a large, deep 30 x 30cm (12″ x 12″) ovenproof dish. Put in half of the chopped leeks and garlic, cover with half of the slices of potato and season well.
2. Cover with a layer of the remaining leeks and garlic, then the remaining potato slices and season well again. Cover with the slices of tomato.
3. Mix the cream with the milk and pour over the top.
4. Cover with grated cheese and bake in a preheated oven, 180c, Gas Mark 4, for 1 hour or until the potatoes are cooked and the cheese well browned.

I’ve had courgettes in my veg box from Abel & Cole for the last four weeks but luckily, The Meat Eater says he’s not fed up with courgettes yet (unlike when he moaned about getting spinach twice in a week) and so I looked in my trusty Leiths Vegetarian Bible for another courgette recipe (they categorise everything by vegetable which is very handy) and found this one. I generally try to avoid pastry and especially pastry and cheese but this time I thought ‘sod it’.

The recipe here is adapted slightly as Leith’s recipe involved making your own pastry and rolling it out and placing it on a damp baking tray and pricking it with a fork and baking it on one side, then turning it over and baking it on the other and so I thought ‘sod that’ and bought some ready rolled.

I also used dried oregano, as I’ve never seen fresh oregano in my life.

While I was making it, I thought it might be a bit bland as it is just simply a layer of mozzarella and a layer of courgette and tomato, but it wasn’t bland at all. I froze the leftovers and heated them up a few days later and they were fine too.

Courgette and tomato tart

Ingredients:

225g ready rolled puff pastry
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
150g mozzarella cheese
6 ripe tomatoes
2 courgettes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
6 fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220c/gas mark 7.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cook over a low heat until soft and golden-brown. Add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes. Allow to cool, then scatter over the top of the pastry. Slice the cheese and arrange on top of the onion.
3. Cut the tomatoes and courgettes into slices 1cm thick. Arrange the tomatoes and courgettes in alternate overlapping rows over the tart. Scatter over the herbs, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the remaining oil. Bake for 20 minutes.

Today’s veg box arrived containing a cabbage and potatoes. Luckily enough, Leith’s Vegetarian Bible had a recipe containing both cabbage and potatoes and as it involved cooking it in garlic, double cream and cheese I thought that sounded like a winner.

And it was, as The Meat Eater declared it ‘very yum’ and gave me permission to cook it again. Maybe I’ll give him permission to cook it himself.

Potato and cabbage gratin (serves 4)

Ingredients
675g new potatoes
Butter, for greasing
1 clove of garlic, crushed
290ml double cream
225g Savoy cabbage, shredded
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
55g Gruyere cheese, grated
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Cayenne pepper
Dry English mustard

(I swapped Leerdammer cheese for the Gruyere as Tesco didn’t have any vegetarian Gruyere and I omitted the Parmesan as Tesco didn’t have any veggie Parmesan-style cheese either. I also swapped the fresh marjoram for dried as Tesco didn’t have any fresh marjoram.

Maybe I should start shopping at Waitrose.)

Method

1. Wash the potatoes and cook them in boiling water until just tender. Drain and cut into halves or quarters depending on size.
2. Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter.
3. Stir the garlic into the cream and mix together with the potatoes, cabbage and marjoram. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Spoon half the potato mixture into the base of the dish. Sprinkle the Gruyere cheese on top and cover with the remaining potato. Season the Parmesan cheese with a pinch each of cayenne and dry English mustard and sprinkle over the top.
5. Cover the dish with kitchen foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.

I recently reinstated my veg box delivery but opting for Abel & Cole for a change, instead of Riverford. Not that I had any problems with Riverford; I thought they were great, but the fact that you can skip any fruit or veg you don’t want appealed to me, as I used to end up with hundreds of mud-covered carrots which, not owning a rabbit or a carrot-eating cat, usually ended up in the bin.

The problem with skipping something in your delivery is that you don’t know what it’ll be replaced with and when I skipped potatoes one week, I received beetroot instead. What the hell was I supposed to do with that? (Well, actually I grated it and had it in a salad and it was fine with the added bonus of turning the feta cheese a nice pink colour.)

But wanting to avoid any more ‘what the hell do I do with that?’ vegetables, although I’ve had a delivery of courgettes for two weeks running, I decide to keep the courgettes and find a nice recipe for them. Having eggs to use up in the fridge, a frittata seemed to be the obvious choice. Although, having an oven with a grill that doesn’t work, it had to be an oven-baked frittata and the last time I made a frittata and put it in the oven instead of under the grill, it turned out to be a soggy mess.

Still, Google came to my rescue and I found an oven-baked frittata recipe which I can’t link to, as I just scribbled down some notes into my notebook and can’t remember where I found it.

I also used the cherry tomatoes that came in the box and it turned out perfectly, which is more than can be said for the home-grown potatoes that I overcooked into near-disintegration.

Oven-baked frittata (serves 2)

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 courgette, diced
75ml milk
1 tbsp cornflour
3 eggs
70ml single cream
25g cheese
70g cherry tomatoes, quartered

Method

1. Fry the courgette for 5 minutes
2. Blend a little milk with the flour, add eggs, cream and rest of the milk
3. Season with salt and pepper
4. Add the cheese
5. Pour mixture into an oven-proof dish
6. Add the courgettes and tomatoes
7. Cook for 25-30 minutes on 200c

More Quorn for dinner tonight.  Blimey, anyone would think I got sent some free samples or something.

Still, I don’t really need an excuse to eat noodles.  Especially chilli ones.  And these Quorn Chilli Stir Fry Strips are already marinated so you don’t need to add any spices of your own.  I usually end up pouring more chilli sauce onto my dinner but these were tasty enough but not too spicy for The Meat Eater who’s a bit of a wuss when it comes to chilli.

Here they are, along with the rest of the ingredients I added to the stir fry.  (They’re the bright orange things in the black tray.  The other things are vegetables, which can be found in all good supermarkets.)

Oh yeah, there’s a jar of Lazy Garlic there that I got sent to try.  It’s chopped up garlic preserved in white wine vinegar and when you sniff the jar, all you can smell is vinegar and not garlic.  Tasted fine in the stir fry but wouldn’t fancy trying to make garlic bread with it.  Personally, I think white wine should be drunk out of a glass, not used to preserve garlic. 

Anyway, back to the Quorn.  The finished result, served with egg noodles.

Quorn Sweet Chilli Stir Fry
(serves 2)

250g (1 pack) Quorn Sweet Chilli Stir Fry Strips
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red pepper de-seeded and sliced
1 red onion finely sliced
1 garlic clove crushed

stir-fry vegetables sufficient for two portions:
baby sweetcorn
mange tout sliced
pak choi

Rice or noodles to accompany the dish

Method

1. Pre-heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion, garlic and pepper for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the Quorn Sweet Chilli Stir Fry Strips, mange tout and baby sweetcorn.  Stir fry for 5 minutes.
3. Add the pak choi, stir through and allow to wilt slightly. 
4. Serve with rice or noodles.

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.

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:

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.)

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.