Category Archives: Vegetable Dishes

Three Salads

02 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

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.

Falafel

27 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

There are so many recipes for falafel both in cookery books and online that it’s difficult to decide which to go for. Personally I’m not keen on the ones that use ready cooked chickpeas, for me the texture is too mushy and wet compared to the traditional recipes that start with dried chickpeas. The only thing with using dried peas is remembering to start soaking them the day before you want them, so a tad of planning ahead is needed, but otherwise they are simple and easy to make.

This makes 4 falafel

75 grams dried chickpeas

1/2 a small onion

1 large clove of garlic

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon of Garam Masala or 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin and 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped parsley or coriander

oil for frying

Start the day before you want to eat the falafel by soaking the chickpeas in plenty of cold water. Because it’s so warm here I changed the water every few hours so that it didn’t start to ferment, or you can put the container of peas in the fridge to keep it cool.

Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Put in the bowl of a small food processor and whizz to chop.

Add the drained chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients.

Whizz to chop up. You will have to open the processor and scrape the ingredients from the sides several times to ensure an evenly chopped paste.

What you are aiming for is a slightly rough mixture that will just stick together.

Heat a good layer of oil in a frying pan on a medium heat.

Form your mixture into four even sized rissole shaped cakes and gently put into the hot oil.

Cook for about 10 minutes before carefully turning the cakes. If they are not crisping up on the cooked side turn the heat up slightly, and if they are getting too brown too quickly turn the heat down.

Cook for 10 minutes again on the second side adding more oil if the pan is getting too dry.

Once cooked remove the falafel from the pan and blot any excess oil with kitchen paper.

Serve with salad and a sauce, I had mine with my Chill Jam, Tahini Sauce is good and also Yogurt with cucumber and mint.

Pomegranate & Buckwheat Salad

23 Thursday Jul 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

After the, for southern Spain, very wet spring that we have had, all the fruit trees have super abundant crops this year. The little pomegranate tree must have at least 70 fruits on it , the ripest of which are splitting open. With so many fruits they are small, I should have thinned them out earlier in the season, and the jewelled seeds are small and not so sweet but so tasty, and lovely for salads.

For 4 servings

100 grams buckwheat

seeds from 1 large or 2 small pomegranates

1/2 green pepper

2 large tomatoes

1 avocado

1/2 cucmber

1/2 sweet salad onion or spring onion

1 stick celery

chicory leaves – cut into thin strips/ watercress / mache salad

extra virgin olive oil

cider vinegar

good bunch of basil leaves

juice of 1 small or 1/2 large lime.

I like to soak the buckwheat in cold water overnight in which case it only takes five minutes to cook in salted water, but if you haven’t time to soak it, don’t worry, it will just take 10 – 15 minutes longer to become tender.

Once just cooked, drain the buckwheat and let it cool.

Peel the cucumber and cut into small dice.

Cut the green pepper, tomato, avocado, onion, and celery into small dice. Put into a salad bowl with the cucumber and cooled buckwheat.

Add the salad leaves and coarser chopped basil leaves. Mix well.

Dress the salad with the olive oil, lime juice and cider vinegar.

Gado Gado

18 Saturday Jul 2020

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

This Indonesian salad dressed with the satay sauce from my pervious post, is perfect summer eating. Like many salads its an assembly rather than a recipe. Gado Gado means mix mix, so there are core ingredients that make it typical, and then the variable ingredients depending on the season and what you have in your vegetable garden or fridge. 

 

The core ingredients –

Boiled eggs

Tofu or tempeh – lightly fried in sesame oil with garlic and ginger

potatoes or sweet potatoes – cut into long pieces and steamed

prawn crackers

The rest of the ingredients can be either cooked or raw, choose a variety for both their flavours and colour. Today I had –

french beans – steamed

green asparagus – lightly steamed

sweet corn slices – lightly steamed

edename beans – I buy these frozen and ready blanched

red and green peppers – cut into strips

cucumber – cut into strips

carrots – peeled and cut into strips

tomatoes – cut into thin wedges

Other ingredients that would work well together are –

bean sprouts

broccoli florets – lightly steamed

Any of the green leaves – pak Choi, mizuna, radicchio would add a nice slight bitterness, spinach

radishes

Fresh coriander and basil

Have your satay sauce on the side to spoon onto the salad and to dip into as you eat.

Salad Days

20 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Today the first of the tender summer beetroot were ready to pick……..and its hot! So a trio of salads for lunch…….

Warm potato salad dressed With olive oil and white wine vinegar. The sweet salad onions and dried dill I soaked in the dressing for half an hour before adding the warm potatoes.

A mixed salad of tomatoes, straight from the garden lettuce and radishes, cubes of bread and left over grilled vegetables.

And the lovely beetroot and it’s tender leaves in a lightly marinated raw salad.

2 small beetroot, peeled and cut into fine julienne.

1 tablespoon/ 15 ml green pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon / 15 ml balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon / 15 ml balsamic syrup

1 tablespoon / 15 ml extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and leave to marinate for an hour or so.

Patatas Bravas & Huevos Rotos

06 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

SPICY ROAST POTATOES WITH BROKEN EGGS

This recipe is super easy, a variation on the oven chips, the only special ingredient needed is Picante Smoked Pimenton or Paprika. The potatoes come out of the oven with a crispy, garlicky, spicy coating, and the eggs make a thick tasty sauce.

Put a large baking tray in the oven and warm it to 190 C or equivalent. The potatoes need to be in a single layer with a bit of space between each one so they can crisp up, so if you are making a largish amount use two trays.

Peel the potatoes and cut into bite sized chunks and put into a bowl.

Crush a clove of garlic per person with a pinch of salt, then mix into 2 tablespoons of oil per person. Add to the potatoes and mix well.

Spread the potatoes on the hot baking tray and put in the oven for 30 minutes by which time they should be almost cooked a a bit brown round the edges.

After the 30 minutes take the tray out of the oven and toss the potatoes with a fish slice. Sprinkle over the pimenton, about a teaspoon per person, and toss again.

Put back in the oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking.

Meanwhile poach 2 eggs per person.

Serve the potatoes with the eggs on top, cutting the eggs to let the lovely hot yolk dribble over the potatoes.

Spicy Aubergine Salad

02 Saturday May 2020

Posted by in Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Do you ever read a recipe and think how interesting it sounds, and then when you go back to make it the recipe some days later, what you have in your head and how you desire it to taste only bears a faint resemblance to the original recipe? This is what happened with this recipe, but I went ahead and made the recipe that I had imagined which turned out super tasty and delicious.

1 large aubergine

1 clove garlic

4 tablespoons / 60 ml of olive oil

1/4 teaspoon / 1.25 ml sea salt

2 cm cube tamarind paste

1 tablespoon / 15ml sugar/ honey / agave syrup

1 tablespoon / 15 ml cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon / 1.25 ml picante smoked pimenton or paprika

fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Break the tamarind paste into as small pieces as you can and put in a small container with about a tablespoon of boiling water. Leave to macerate.

In a pestle and mortar or a small bowl crush the garlic with the salt until you have a paste.

Add the olive oil and mix well.

Cut the aubergine into thickish slices and then brush with the garlicky oil. You can either grill them or bake them in the oven. As you can see I baked mine this time with a sweet potato at 190 C

While the aubergines are cooking and cooling, prepare the dressing.

To the leftover garlicky oil add the rest of the ingredients. The tamarind will need to be mashed into its water and any seeds removed.

Put your aubergine slices into a shallow salad dish, pour over the dressing and gently toss. Leave the salad for half an hour for the aubergine to absorb the dressing, sprinkle over the fresh coriander and enjoy.

Rosti

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by in Food for One, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Potato Rosti are so simple to make that this hardly counts as a recipe.

Peel your potatoes and grate them. Put in a bowl with a pinch of salt and mix well.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large thick based frying pan.

Take a handful of the grated potato and form it into a small round rissole shape, squeezing out some of the moisture as you go. Put into the hot oil.

Continue making cakes with all the grated potato.

Cook on a medium heat, adding more oil if needed, until a good golden brown on the first side.

Carefully turn the cakes over and cook on the other side.

Oven Chips with Mushrooms & Garlic

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

After the somewhat complicated Sarma recipe, here are a couple of super simple potato dishes.
Oven chips are so easy to make if you have a good powerful oven, a fan oven is best to get chips that are crispy round the edges.

Put a large baking sheet in the oven and set it to warm up at 200 C

Peel your potatoes and cut them into whatever chip shape is your preference.

Put them in a bowl with a pinch of salt and just enough olive oil the coat the chips.

Spread your chips out on the preheated tray, they do better if they are not too crowded and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and slice a clove of garlic, and slice up some mushrooms. It’s more tasty if you have more than one type of mushroom, I used shiitake and oyster.

After the chips have had their 20 minutes of cooking, take the tray out of the oven and with a spatula turn them over. Strew over them the mushrooms and garlic, then put the tray back in the oven for another 20 minutes by which time everything should be brown and crispy and gorgeous.

Serving this with a poached egg on top is lovely.

Sarma – The Original Meat Recipe & A Vegetarian Version

19 Sunday Apr 2020

Posted by in Main Courses, Vegetable Dishes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

This recipe comes from my Bosnian father. It would be made in the winter when tightly packed white cabbages were in season. The cabbage leaves are used to wrap a filling of meat and rice, which is then cooked in tomatoes and stock and finally thickened with a brown roux. We always made Sarma a couple of days before wanting to eat it as the flavour is so much richer after time.
Now that I no longer eat meat I have been experimenting with vegetarian fillings for the cabbage rolls, after a couple of tries which tasted good enough but didn’t hold together like the consistency of the original versión, I turned to textured soya, which is a bit on the sweet side, but with the addition of seasonings and an egg to bind it, it worked well.

For 2 servings

1 large white cabbage

400 gram tin peeled or chopped plum tomatoes

1/2 red pepper – chopped into small cubes

1 – 2 litres vegetable stock

salt and freshly ground black pepper

MEAT FILLING per person

150 grams minced beef or lamb

1/4 onion – finely chopped

1 clove gárlic – finely chopped

50 grams long grain rice

salt and freshly ground black pepper

VEGETARIAN FILLING per person

50 grams texturised soya – soaked in water for 20 minutes and then drained, or as instructed on the packet if different from the brand I used.

50 grams long grain rice

3 sun dried tomatoes – chopped into medium chunks

1 teaspoon/ 5 ml marmite

1 teaspoon / 5 ml Maggi Wurze

1 small egg

salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE SAUCE

2 tablespoons / 30 ml plain flour

2 tablespoons / 30 ml olive oil

You need to start with the cabbage. Put a pan of water on to boil in which the cabbage can fit whole, bear in mind that you are going to submerge the cabbage, so not so much water that it will spill over once the cabbage is in it.
Remove any dirty or damaged outer leaves from the cabbage. Make a cut in the base of the stem of the next outer leaf to release it from the main stem, then the following one. You may find that the first few leaves will come off the cabbage easily without being damaged, if not put the cabbage in the boiling water to blanch them and separate the leaves. One by one cut the leaves at the base to loosen them and then put the cabbage in the boiling water to remove them without any damage. You are wanting 2-3 leaves per person.

Once you have enough leaves, and maybe a spare or two, put them two or three at a time in the boiling water for about three minutes each until they become slightly translucent and a more pliable texture, then drain them and let them cool.

Next, to help the leaves roll nicely, get a potato peeler and shave off the outer ridge of the leaf base until it’s thin and flexible.

Now prepare your fillings. Whichever version you are making put all the ingredients for it in a bowl and mix well. Form your mix into two or three fat sausage shapes per person, squeezing the mix together so that it holds its shape.

Put each sausage into a cabbage leaf and roll the leaf around the filling.

To secure the rolls, tuck the ends inwards starting in the centre and tucking in round and round until you have a neat roll.

Put all your rolls into a pan where they will fit in one layer. They don’t want to be too tightly packed as they will expand.

Add the chopped tomatoes, red pepper and enough vegetable stock to cover the rolls.

Bring to a simmer, turn the heat down very low and cook slowly for an hour and a quarter. Check the liquid level from time to time and add more stock if needed.

Let the dish cool for half an hour, then carefully take out the parcels and transfer them to another dish leaving the sauce in the pan. I put mine into an ovenproof dish in which I was going to reheat them the next day.

To thicken the sauce you are going to make a brown roux. Put the oil and flour in a small frying pan, mix together to blend, then on a medium heat cook the roux stirring all the time until it caramelises and turns a medium nut brown.

Turn off the heat and add the tomato sauce from the Sarma a bit at a time and mix well to blend. With the first spoonful the roux will go thick and dry looking, don’t worry, keep adding the sauce and all will be well.

Once you have added enough of the tomato sauce to have a liquid, tip this into the pan of tomatoes in which you cooked the Sarma and heat the sauce to thicken it stirring all the time.

You can now replace the cabbage parcels, reheat the dish for 15 minutes and serve it, or pour the sauce over the parcels in an ovenproof dish and leave to cool, to be then reheated in the oven the next day or the day after that.