Summery Salad

I picked up some lovely organic pork meatballs from Waitrose (who can resist a 'reduced' bargain these days?), at the time I was thinking of a rich stew spiced with cumin, coriander and cinnamon to eat with a mound of cous cous and a dollop of yoghurt (serious comfort food) . Alas, the weather was having none of it, after sweating it home on the tube, the thought of cooking a stew and then eating was not appealing.

Off I went to the cookbooks and came back with this recipe from Delicious magazine. A fresh and summery salad of sweet peas, broad beans, crunchy radish and meatballs made by splitting open sausages and rolling them into balls. View this as completely open to interpretation - we used what we had in the fridge for ours, some thinly sliced fennel, peas, lettuce and red onion along with the lovey meatballs.



What brings the whole thing together is a generous scattering of mint and parsley and a deeply flavourful dressing made from (a lot of) anchovies, garlic and lemon juice.

Leave out the meatballs and this is a great side salad or try it grilled chicken or fish and here you could add capers for extra zing. I must admit I also mixed the leftovers with some bulghar wheat for my lunch - perhaps a little unorthodox but the extra carbs bulk it up and make it a little more exciting for lunch rather a leftover soggy salad.

Dressing
1 garlic clove
4tbsp olive oil
6 anchovy fillets, chopped
juice 1/2 lemon

To serve:
1 small bunch of mint and parsley, roughly chopped

To make the dressing, heat the anchovy fillets and olive oil gently until the anchovies melt, now add the garlic and lemon juice and some black pepper.



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Vegetable Curry

I spent the weekend visiting the family in Manchester. While I was obviously required to make brownies, we did most of our eating in some delicious restaurants. I came home yesterday to a rather sad looking romanseco cauliflower and was itching to get back into the kitchen. My knee-jerk reaction is generally to douse it in cheese sauce, instead I thought I'd try to re-create a very successful curry from last week.

Loosely inspired by the legendary Leon Gobi - this is rich in coconut milk and sweet from ground almonds, feel free to enhance this further with raisins; but I can't stand them in savoury food - especially curry. Of course, you can also use any vegetables you have lying around - I find this a really good way to use up root vegetables, the sweetness works perfectly; or throw in chickpeas, they're delicious in everything. The richness also means it goes particularly well with brown rice - making this an altogether virtuous meal.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 onion, sliced
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 chilli
1 2inch piece ginger
5 cloves garlic
2 tsp Madras curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
about 250g sweet root vegetables cut into chunks e.g. carrots, swede, sweet potato, pumpkin, squash
1 cauliflower, broken into florets
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
4 tbsp ground almonds
Juice of ½ a lemon
coriander, roughly chopped

Blend the garlic, ginger and chilli to a paste.
Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan with the oil, add the onions and fry until soft.
Tumble in the vegetables (apart from the peas) and sprinkle over the spices. Stir well.
Pour in the coconut milk, half fill the can again with water and add to the pan.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 15mins.
Add the ground almonds and peas, simmer for a few mins more.
Add the lemon juice and season to taste.
Serve with lots of chopped coriander. Read more...

Pea and Leek Tart

So, I've been a bit lax with the blogging, christmas seems to have come even earlier this year and time is just slipping away from me!

I have of course, still been cooking, dutifully storing up pictures to share... I've also really gotten into cooking lots at the weekend so there's always something tasty and filling at the end of the day. I made this tart in the same vein and it worked perfectly - leeks sweated down slowly and sweetly with peas thrown in, all encased in a cheesy, eggy custard and baked in flaky pastry ( although I did cheat and buy it from a shop!). Perfect for lunchboxes, or a little slither as a snack, not that is lasts that long...

Most vegetables work well in this quiche-like set up, try this Swiss Chard and Onion Tart, or Potato, onion and Goat's cheese. Combinations on my list to try are:

Bacon, cheddar and tomatoes

Smoked mackerel and dill

Roast tomato, pesto and mozzarella

Broad bean and goats cheese

Asparagus, Lemon and Ricotta

Broccoli and blue cheese

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry
2-3 large leeks, finely sliced
50g butter
200g frozen peas (or fresh peas when in season)
3 eggs
400ml cream
175g cheddar, grated
1tsp dijon musard

• Line a 24cm tart or flan tin with the pastry and bake blind
• Boil a kettle and cover the peas in boiling water. Leave to sit for 5mins, then drain.
• Meanwhile fry the leeks gently in the butter for 5mins until completely soft and pour in the defrosted peas, seasoning well.
• Whisk the eggs, cream and mustard together with plenty of seasoning.
• Once the pastry is cooked, tip the pea and leek mixture in and spread out across the whole pastry base, sprinkle over the cheese and pour over the eggy custard.
• Bake at 190C 25 mins until the top is golden and firm to the touch.

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Superfood Salad

I'm not going to lie, in an attempt to eat a bit healthier, I was trying to recreate the delicious superfood salad at Leon. Anyway, writing this, I discovered there's already a recipe online!

The key is lots of lovely fresh green things, paired perfectly with feta and crunchy seeds. Oh and sprouts and quinoa, possibly the healthiest things ever, hence the 'superfood' title.

Ingredients
(makes enough for your lunch for several days)

1 cup quinoa
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 handful sprouts
1 handful toasted pumpkin seeds they taste sooo much better toasted)
1 brocolli, cut into small florets
½ cup frozen peas
1 avocado, sliced
250g feta
1 bunch chopped mint and parsley
½ lemon
olive oil

Add 1½ cups water to the quinoa, bring to the boil, simmer for 10mins until the water is absorbed. Meanwhile, boil the brocolli and peas for a few mins, drain and refresh under cold water. Mix all the ingredients together, except the avocado, place this on top when serving and feel virtuous. Read more...

Special Rice

This is the best recipe for generic 'egg fried rice' that I've come across. It came courtesy of my good friend, and has thai overtones, but I make no claims of authenticity. Basically, its just tasty, comforting rice in a bowl. Apparently ridiculous amounts of fish sauce and chilli are compulsory.
The idea is use up any left over vegetables you have. Mushrooms and peas work particularly well here as do any type of greens. To be honest, most things go.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 cup brown rice, cooked
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 3cm piece of ginger, grated
2 chillis, finely chopped
3-4 cups assorted vegetables, cut into similar sized pieces
2 eggs, whisked
sunflower oil
fish sauce

Heat the sunflower oil in a wok until smoking hot, add the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli. fry for a few mins. Add the vegetables and cook for few mins more, stirring constantly. Now add the rice and fry for a few mins. Make a well in the centre, pour in the eggs and fry, stirring all the time until the egg is absorbed. Finish with a liberal slug of fish sauce. Feel free to add more chilli and fish sauce. Read more...

Leeky Chessy Pasta

Yes, this is the title, I can think of none better. This is based very loosely on a recipe from Cranks Bible, my favourite vegetarian cook book ever. Although, really, it is borne out of my desire to eat cheese and pasta most days...


Start by finely slicing some leeks and cooking really gently in butter and a little oil until soft and sweet. Meanwhile cook your pasta until al dente. Add some finely chopped garlic to the leeks a sprinkling of bouillon powder and a handful of frozen peas with enough water to just cover the peas, simmer for a few minutes until the water has reduced and the peas are soft. Then, depending on how decadent you're feeling, stir in either a pot of creme fraiche or mascarpone, mascarpone being the richer, (much) fattier version of the two. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, ½tsp dijon mustard and seasoning to taste. Stir in the pasta with some grated cheese and enjoy sans guilt, think of all those vegetables!

Whilst making the version pictured and enjoying a mid-week bottle of pinot, I thought it would be nice to add some to the peas. I'm still undecided, it was nice, but I'm not sure whether I add added too much wine, didn't boil off enough alcohol or it just didn't work. Hmmm... Read more...