Category Archives: Starters

Globe Artichoke & Burrata Pasta

18 Tuesday May 2021

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A super simple dish today. Most of the tastiest pasta dishes have few ingredients, and this one is no exception. Good olive oil, garlic, fresh cooked artichokes and Burrata cheese are all that’s needed for the sauce. For the pasta I used my favourite dried pasta, Maccheroni al Ferreto, which I know is not always easy to get hold of. Any of the more substantial pastas will work, tagliatelle, penne, orecchiette or pappardelle.

Per person

tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic – finely chopped

3 globe artichokes

1/2 a Burrata cheese – roughly cut up

salt and freshly ground black pepper

50 grams dried pasta

Bring plenty of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Let cook at a fast simmer.

Prepare the artichokes by removing the tough outer leaves, then the top tough part of the flower and the stem. Cut into fine wedges.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and throw in the artichokes. Fry them over a moderate heat turning them as they cook.

After five minutes of cooking add the garlic. Continue frying until the artichokes are cooked.

If your pasta isn’t yet cooked turn off the heat under the artichokes and cover them.

Once the pasta is cooked drain it saving a little of the cooking liquid. Add to the artichokes and stir well to mix. Reheat the artichokes if necessary and add a little of the pasta cooking liquor.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add the cheese. Stir once to mix and serve.

Enjoy!

Sauerkraut Soup with Mushroom & Hazelnut Mash

01 Monday Feb 2021

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This is a vegan version of a traditional recipe that I had in a little Polish restaurant in Doncaster. The soup was a thin clear broth with sauerkraut in it, and on the side of the dish a pile of mashed potatoes that you mixed into the soup as you ate it to thicken it.
The original version was made with a meat stock, and the mash thickener had finely chopped ham in it and maybe some fried onions as well. The additions to the mash can be changed depending on what you have in your cupboard, just fried onions and or garlic would work well, finely chopped fried peppers too.

For 1 portion

250 – 300 ml clear stock

70 grams sauerkraut plus a tablespoon of its salty liquid

1 medium potato – peeled and cut into smallish cubes

1 medium sized strongly flavoured mushroom – chopped into small dice

1 clove garlic – finely chopped

20 grams hazelnuts – roughly crushed

1 tablespoon olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a small saucepan and once hot add the garlic and mushrooms. Fry stirring regularly for about 5 minutes.

Add the potatoes, stir to mix in, the add enough boiling water to only just cover the potatoes. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are cooked and soft.

While the potatoes are cooking, put the stock and sauerkraut in another pan and bring to a simmer. Check the seasonings adding salt and black pepper as needed.

Once the potatoes are cooked pour off any excess cooking liquid into the soup. Mash the potato mix. Add the crushed hazelnuts and mix in.

Serve the soup with a little mound of the potato mix to one side.

Mixed Vegetable & Soya Bean Stew

22 Friday Jan 2021

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A rich stew is just the food for this time of year, it’s warm and satisfying. The main ingredient in this stew is soya beans, high in protein, tasty and a good firm texture. As with all stews, making a small amount is impossible, so I’ve made this a little spicy but not overly so that on its second outing I can spice it up and add fresh mint, coriander and raisins to give it a more Moroccan taste and then serve it with Cous Cous.

For 4 portions

160 grams dried soya beans – soaked overnight in cold water

1/2 onion – sliced

2 cloves garlic

1 litre stock

Olive oil


1/2 onion – thinly sliced

3 carrots – peeled and diced

1 medium turnip – peeled and diced

2 slices butternut squash – peeled and diced

1 courgette – diced

100 grams flat green beans – cut into 1 cm lengths

1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout spice mix

jar of tomato passata/ tin chopped tomatoes

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soak the beans overnight on plenty of cold water.

Drain and put in a saucepan with the half a sliced onion, the 2 cloves of garlic and enough stock to cover.

Put on the heat and bring to a simmer, turn the heat down and cook for about an hour and a half until the beans are tender. Add extra stock if the liquid gets too low.

Heat couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan and add the other half of the onion. Fry until translucent.

Add all the diced vegetables and fry gently for ten minutes stirring them well to coat them with the oil.

Add the Ras el Hanout and stir well to mix with the vegetables.

Add the tomatoes and mix well. Cover the pan and simmer slowly for about ten minutes.

Drain the beans from their cooking liquid, keep the liquid to either add to the stew if needed or for another recipe, and add the beans to the vegetables.

Mix in well and simmer for another ten minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve in shallow bowls, either alone or with some crunchy fresh bread.

Mushroom Dumplings in Clear Soup

18 Monday Jan 2021

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My plan when I thought about making these was to have little tasty high protein dumplings that I could add to a stir fry, but once I had poached them in stock the resulting soup with dumplings was so good I left it as it was. Next time I make this I will add some finely sliced spring onions and some shredded greens. Thinking about it, a few bean sprouts would be good too.

For 2 portions

10 grams dried mushrooms – I used oriental Camelia mushrooms but any dried mushrooms will have the depth of flavour needed for this.

1 clove garlic

piece of fresh ginger 1 cm square approximately

4 tablespoons / 60 ml powdered gluten

1 tablespoon/15 ml rice flour

1 tablespoon peanut oil

pinch of salt

500 ml light stock

Fresh coriander – finely chopped

Remove any roots from the mushrooms then cut up the mushrooms roughly. Put in a small food processor and blitz to a powder.

Roughly chop the garlic and ginger and add to the mushrooms. Process to cut and blend all together.

Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse to mix.

Add some of the stock teaspoon by teaspoon pulsing between spoonfuls until you you have a dough that holds together.

Form the dough into small dumplings.

Heat the stock and once simmering add the dumplings and simmer for 15 minutes. Check your seasonings adding salt and pepper as needed.

Serve with fresh coriander scattered over.

Seitan Dumplings

08 Tuesday Dec 2020

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For my second try with making seitan, I thought I would see if it would make little protein rich dumplings to add to vegetable soup. This time I’ve added olive oil to the mix to lighten the texture of the seitan, and added herbs and vegetable stock powder for flavour. I was very happy with the result.

Dumpling mix – enough for 2 portions – measurements in level tablespoons

4 tablespoons gluten powder

1 tablespoon chickpea flour

1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder – I like Maggi the best

1 teaspoon very finely chopped mixed fresh herbs/ 1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper and a pinch of salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoons stock or water

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl making sure you break up any clumps of the stock powder.

Add the olive oil and mix well to distribute.

Mix to a fairly wet dough with the water or stock.

Form into small dumplings.

Bring you soup to a simmer and gently drop the dumplings one by one into it.

After a few minutes of cooking, the dumplings will rise to the surface which indicates that they are cooked.

Enjoy your soup and dumplings!

Mushroom Samosas

17 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Snacks and Tapas, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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I’m not a fan of deep frying, preferring to bake these these Samosas or parcels in the oven. I know that this is not authentic for a samosa, but whatever you want to call them the crispy pastry with a lightly spiced mushroom filling is delicious.

For 8 samosas

1/2 onion – sliced

1 clove garlic – finely chopped

olive oil or butter for frying

300 grams oyster mushrooms

seeds of 8 cardamom pods – ground

salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

juice of 1/2 small lime

8 sheets filo pastry

oil or melted butter for brushing on to the pastry

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and add the sliced onions and chopped garlic. Fry gently until translucent.

Rip the mushrooms into strips and add to the frying pan.

Season with the cardamom, salt and pepper.

Cover and cook slowly, stirring from time to time, until the mushrooms are cooked. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Lay out a sheet of pastry and brush with oil or butter. Fold the top third lengthways over and brush this with fat. Fold the bottom third over and brush with fat. Turn the whole piece over so that the unbrushed third is uppermost.

Add a spoonful or two of the mushroom mix as below and fold the pastry first diagonally and then vertically until the filling is within a neat parcel.

Place all the parcels on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes in a medium hot oven. 130 C in a fan oven, so around 140 C in a conventional oven.

I served mine with Steamed Broccoli and Cabbage with Whole Spices – recipe to follow – and a Tomato and Coriander Salad.

Creole Style Sweet Potato Soup

30 Friday Oct 2020

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This recipe came about with wanting to use up half a can of coconut cream and half a sweet potato that were lurking in the fridge, the resulting soup is so delicious that I have been making it ever since.

For 4 portions

750 ml light stock – either vegetable or chicken

500 grams sweet potato – peeled and cut into small cubes

80 ml coconut cream

1 teaspoon smoked picante paprika/pimenton

1/2 teaspoon coarsly ground black pepper

Juice of 1/2 a small lime

sea salt

Fresh coriander leaves – roughly chopped

Put the sweet potato, a little salt and the stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about ten minutes until the potato is cooked and soft.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Take the pan off the heat and purée the soup with a hand blender until smooth.

Reheat the soup. Check the seasoning adding more salt if necessary.

Serve the soup sprinkled with fresh coriander.

Three Salads

02 Sunday Aug 2020

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In this summer heat, lunch for your friends wants to be a light and fresh affair, Watermelon Gazpacho followed by three salads served with freshly homemade bread. To finish a small pot each of intense dark chocolate sorbet and crispy ginger biscuits.

BEETROOT & RADICCIO SALAD WITH PURPLE BASIL

The beetroot was roasted for an hour with whole cloves of garlic, a generous splash of balsamic vinegar, sprigs of fresh oregano and olive oil, season well with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Let the beetroot cool before mixing with shredded chicory and purple basil leaves.

LENTIL & POMEGRANATE SALAD WITH FRESH CORIANDER

His salad is cooked green lentils, a good amount of the little pomegranate jewels that I have plenty of in the garden this year, then finely chopped cucumber, tomatoes and celery. Add a generous amount of roughly chopped coriander leaves and dress lightly with lime juice and olive oil.

I’m a fan of soaking dried grains so that when you come to cooking the grains are already re moistened in the centre, and so require less cooking. Pour boiling water over the lentils and leave an hour or so to steep before cooking until just tender. Drain the lentils and let them cool before adding them to the salad.

SALAD OF FRESH FIGS, ROASTED RED ONIONS AND HAZELNUTS

This is a Yotam Ottolengi recipe which has a lovely contrast of flavours with the sweet roasted red onions and figs, and the peppery watercress and rocket. His recipe uses radiccio rather than rocket, but as I have both I decided that the more peppery rocket suited this recipe better. I was surprised to find that what I thought was weeds in my vegetable patch is actually rocket, and it hasn’t become overly peppery in the strong Spanish heat.
I haven’t used roasted red onions in a salad before, and I have to say, I’m a total convert. I shall be roasting a tray full regularly so that I have them at the ready in the fridge.

This amount serves 4

2 small red onions – peel them and cut each into 6 wedges

50 grams hazelnuts with skin / or ready dry roasted unseasoned hazelnuts

1/2 small head of radicchio / or a similar amount of rocket

good bunch of fresh basil – either the green or purple

bunch of watercress with the stems removed

6 ripe fresh figs, cut into quarters

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Roast the onions drizzled with olive oil at 180 C for 30 minutes. Leave to cool.

If you are roasting hazelnuts, turn the oven down to 140, and once it has reached this temperature, spread the hazelnuts in a shallow pan and roast for 20 minutes. Leave to cool then break up into pieces with a pestle and mortar. If you are using the ready roasted hazelnuts break these up as above.

To put the salad together, start with the leaves, rip them into pieces and put in a large bowl, add the onions and figs.

Dress with the oil and vinegar and gently toss. I like to do this with my hands as it’s more gentle than using implements.

Scatter over the broken hazelnuts and serve.

Maccheroni al Piselli

13 Saturday Jun 2020

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Or pasta with peas…….and tomato sauce.

I’ve had a tray of peas sprouting on the kitchen windowsill for the last few days, and now the shoots are ready for cutting. The flavour of them is stronger than I expected, and stronger than that of the sweet peas I have, so I thought the two together would make a well flavoured sauce for the swirly maccheroni I have. And it did…….

For 2 portions

200 grams maccheroni

1/2 onion – finely chopped

2 cloves garlic – finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

250 grams tomatoes -either fresh or tinned – peeled and chopped small

120 grams tomato Frito or passata

400 grams sweet garden peas – either fresh or frozen

bunch of pea sprouts – cut in half if long

4 large sprigs of fresh basil – roughly chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

olive oil for drizzling

Heat plenty of water seasoned with salt and olive oil, and when boiling add the pasta.

Once back boiling, turn the heat down to a brisk simmer and leave the pasta to cook to al dente. For this pasta it was about 12-15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Fry gently until translucent.

Add the chopped tomato, Frito and peas. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes stirring from time to time. You want the sauce to have reduced, thickened and the flavour to have intensified, so if you are using fresh tomatoes that are watery, the sauce may need longer cooking.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta once it is cooked.

Add the pea shoots and basil to the tomato sauce and stir in, then stir in the pasta making sure that it is nicely covered with the sauce.

Serve with an extra drizzle of olive oil over the pasta, and enjoy!

Vegetable Thai Green Curry

31 Tuesday Mar 2020

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T and I treated ourselves to a bit of a Thai feast to commemorate our two weeks of lockdown. We are getting into the groove now – made much easier by the emergence of the sun!

We had Smoked Tofu with Crispy Ginger – you can find the recipe on this blog – Vegetable Thai Green Curry, rice noodles with sesame oil and a little pickle of finely sliced radishes and spring onions in sweetened rice vinegar.

For this curry you can use a ready made green curry paste, but they do contain shrimp paste, so if you are being strict with your vegetarianism, you will have to make your own. It is quite difficult to get all the ingredients outside of Asia, so I’ve given options where necessary.

It is almost impossible to make a small amount of curry paste, so this amount will make 150 ml, about enough for 10 to 16 servings depending on how spicy the chillis are and how picante you like your curry to be. I recommend that you divide the paste up into tablespoon size portions and freeze what you are not using straight away.
Once you have this paste handy, you will find all sorts of other uses for it, In my meat eating days I would use it for a marinade for grilled chicken. My current favourite is Indian spicy mashed potatoes, but more of that another day.

Green curry paste

45 grams fresh green chillis

30 grams lemon grass

15 grams fresh galangal/ginger

25 grams garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

grated rind and juice of 1/2 kaffir lime / 1 whole small lime

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 grams shrimp paste – optional

Cut the lemongrass, chillis, including seeds, and garlic into smallish pieces. Put these into a small food processor with the rest of the ingredients and whizz to a paste. Open the processor and scrape the pulp down into the bowl two or three times to ensure an even paste.

Vegetable Green Thai Curry

For 2 portions

300 ml coconut milk

1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons green curry paste

1/4 red pepper – cut into 1/2 x 3 cm strips

1/4 kohl rabi – cut as above

4 flat green beans – cut díagonally into small pieces

broccoli florets

small bunch mizuna/pack choi

juice of 1/2 a lime

As usual I’ve given you a list of the vegetables I used on this occasion, but these can be varied depending on what you have. In the vegetable garden I have a great oriental leaves mix, which contains Mizuna, Pak Choi, Red Kale and Mustard Greens amongst others, so that’s what I have used here. Also the very last of the kohl rabi, I probably won’t see another one of them until next winter.

Heat the coconut milk in a small wok.

Add the curry paste and stir well to mix in.

Add all the vegetables except the leaves and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down, cover and cook for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are just cooked.

Add the leaves and lime juice. Stir round for a minute or two to wilt the leaves.

Serve and enjoy!