Quesadillia

Mmm.. the perfect snack and a great way to use up any veg lurking in the bottom of the fridge. Feel free to experiment with this recipe, its all about using up what you have. I didn't have tortillas so used pitta instead and it worked perfectly well.

Ingredients
Serves 4

Black Bean Paste
1 can black beans (borlotti beans will do), drained
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
1 bunch coriander, chopped, stalks and all
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp Maldon sea salt

8 tortillas

some spring onions, sliced
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 avocados, diced
125g cheddar, grated
2 handfuls spinach, finely sliced
1 small tub soured cream
Some jalapeño chillies in vinegar or sliced red chilli as garnish

To make the black bean paste, either blend or mash all the ingredients together. Preheat a griddle pan. To assemble the quesadilla, spread 2tbsp of the bean mixture on the tortilla, makingsure you leave a border, add a tbsp of the soured cream and spread also. Next sprinkle over some cheese, tomato, spring onion, avocado and spinach. Finally topping with the chilli. Fold the tortilla in half and carefully place onto the griddle pan, cook for a few mins on each time, until the cheese is bubbling and the filling is warmed through, cut into slices and eat with plenty of napkins! Read more...

Egg mayo sandwich

This is a slightly posher version of your standard egg mayonnaise sandwich. Use good quality bread, add some herbs and capers and you're onto a winner. Its also about boiling the eggs so they're just set and the yolk is still creamy.

Ingredients

makes 2 sandwiches

3 eggs
1tsp capers, chopped
1tsp chopped chives
4 slices sourdough
1tbsp mayonnaise
handful salad leaves
cucumber and tomato, finely sliced

Cover the eggs with water and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, cover and leave for exactly 7mins. Meanwhile toast the bread and butter lightly. Peel the eggs and mash, season generously and add the capers, chives and mayonnaise. Stir thoroughly and sandwich with the lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Enjoy! Read more...

Beetroot Cake

Don't be put off by the title, think carrot cake...

I've started getting an Abel and Cole veg box, which I really love. They also do lots of other products, so I've been getting eggs delivered every week and I've just ordered some mackerel caught off the coast of Cornwall, that's some sustainable fish. As lovely as it is having all these vegetables at my disposal, I am only one person and there was a lot of veg, I got through most of it, but was left with some sad looking beetroots at the bottom of the fridge. Now, I love beetroot and it can be used in all manner of ways, (I'm thinking beetroot and mackerel salad next week) but this cake recipe caught my eye and I do always like to have cake around. I added some oats to this too, so it is positively healthy eating.

Ingredients

200g raw beetroot, peeled and grated (about 2-3 medium beetroot)
100g sultanas, soaked in boiling water and drained
150g sugar
3 eggs
150ml sunflower oil
1tbsp baking powder
150g plain flour
100g porridge oats
2tsp cinnamon

Whisk the eggs, oil and sugar together. Then fold in the flour, oats, baking powder and cinnamon. Finally, fold in the beetroot and sultanas, Mix thoroughly and pour into a greased and lined cake tin. Bake for about an hour at 180°C. This worked well in a 20cm round cake tin, but I think would also make a nice loaf cake. Next time I think I will also try icing it with some sort of cream cheese icing. Read more...

Fatty Sandwich

This sandwich literally dripped with fat (well, oil) and therein lies the beauty. Thankfully, I wasn't eating this, I had the lighter cheese sandwich option, this was for my friend who incidentally is a boy and therefore has an insatiable urge to ingest calories. Anyway this came about by me frying everything that looked tasty in the fridge. Namely, onions, cooked slowly in thin slices, then bacon and finally a fried egg, sandwiched in a thick ciabatta roll, one side with melted cheese on. Like I said, a fatty sandwich, but amazing all the same, you could remove the bacon to make this veggie and lose none of the fatty goodness. It could probably have done with some salad, but we didn't have any, oh well...

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Sausage and Lentil Casserole

This is a classic from university when 5 of us used to take it in turns to cook for each other on a weekly rota. This is a rich, intense stew, lovely little puy lentils cooked in a red wine and tomato sauce with sausages. The lentils can easily be substituted for other beans, cannelini, butter, flagelot etc.The beauty is, you use cheap as chips ingredients to bulk out the more expensive sausages. (Make sure you buy good quality sausages)

Make up lots of this as it will improve the next day as well as freezing well should there be any left over. Have it with mashed potato, crusty bread, pasta, rice, couscous. My friend Jen came up with this and used to cut up potatoes into little cubes and roast them with rosemary. Possibly the best bit...

Ingredients

Seves 4

8 sausages, about 450g, sliced
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
A couple of sprigs of rosemary
a strip orange zest
½ glass red wine
450g puy lentils
2 cans chopped tomatoes

• Heat a little oil in a large heavy based saucepan, fry the sausages on a high heat until they begin to brown, they don't need to be cooked through, just begininning to colour and singed brown in places.
• Remove the sausages, and fry the onions in the same saucepan on a low heat until softened, add the garlic, rosemary and orange zest and fry for a few mins more.
• Pour in the wine, turn the heat up and allow it to bubble until half has evaporated off.
• Add the lentils and sausages back to the pan, stir thoroughly and add the tomatoes. bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20-30mins until the lentils are cooked through, top up with water or stock as necessary.

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