Cheesy Baked Veggie Polenta

This week has a been a real eye opener over how people cope with restricted diets. I've had IBS for what seems like forever, along with long term functional dyspepsia, and I can be a bit picky yet at same time eating everything within reason but this week I had to follow 2 days of low residue ahead of a special MRI scan to see what was happening as its been driving me slightly crazier than usual. The leaflets only tell you so much, it was very unpleasant experience, and that was just the diet! My shoulder alone is still aching from holding it above my head for half an hour and my stomach has been so crampy, god knows what they inject you with but it did not go down well! Anyway, hopefully its one step closer to getting it sorted. And I have a whole new appreciation for anyone subjected to restricted diets! I missed veg so much! How do you cope?!!

Anyway, on a separate note I have learned to love polenta of late, prior to this week and had been debating whether to blog it but it is really lovely, just ignore the photos I took on my phone - golden yellow becomes big bird yellow!!

Previously I had always boiled polenta, and it was alright but I didn't really get it. was a bit too grainy for me. And then one day on some magical whim I baked it instead-and whoopee! Its a winner! The texture changes, and becomes fluffy instead and makes a great side on its own, or jazzed up with some roasted vegetables. Feel free to cook this without the veggies underneath, it makes a tasty alternative to mash or rice.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Veg:

1 red pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

1 tsp dried Italian herb seasoning

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

Polenta:

170g instant polenta (also known as instant cornmeal)

750ml veg stock (I used 1/2 tbsp veg bouilon powder)

50g grated extra mature cheddar cheese

1 tbsp good rapeseed oil or extra virgin olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 190o

1) Place the veg in a non-stick foil lined baking tray, toss with the oil and herb seasoning, roast for 25 minutes, or until softening and starting to brown

2) Meanwhile, heat the stock to boiling and whisk in the polenta, then using a strong silicon spatula stir until thickened -about 2 minutes - be careful its evil and will spit. Apron advisable. Remove from heat and stir in 30gof the cheese and 1/2 the oil

3) Remove the veggies from the oven, quickly splodge over the polenta, sprinkle over remaining cheese and drizzle remaining oil. Return to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and fluffy

4) Remove from the oven, slice into wedges and serve. Wehad ours with some lush pork and cider sausages and home made onion gravy

Enjoy!

If my dish has whetted your appetite for Polenta do check out these other fab blogger recipes - 

I really want to try these fab chunky alternative to potato chips - Polenta Chips from Recipes from a Pantry

This heavenly gooey looking Saucy mushroom and polenta bake from Family Friends Food is definitely on the make list!

I think I need to try again with sprout tops - this Maple glazed sprout tops with polenta from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary looks delicious and hearty, great winter food!

Last but by no means least are these fab looking Courgette & Basil Polenta Wedges from The Veg Space -they look like they would make a delicious snack too or for my lunch box!

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I have entered my dish in this months Extra Veg, from Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy

Sweet Potato Brownies

Yes, I did cross the naughty but nice brownie border and introduced them to vegetables. Surprisingly they made great buddies, resulting in that slightly gooey, soft yet dense brownie feeling but with a surprisingly stingy amount of chocolate! Therefore I can pretend they are very slightly healthier than your regular brownies... oh and for the record, no they do not taste like vegetable matter! I also used some extra virgin coconut oil, which really also you can pretend is a full blown health food in its own right... (I will leave you to draw your own conclusions, I have never pretended to be a nutrition expert!)

On the night I baked these brownies I hadn't actually intended to bake but halfway through grating what seemed like a never ending sized monster sweet potato to make our veggie burgers, I thought hmmm...lets bake something... there are after all only so many sweet potato burgers one can eat for dinner! I had baked once before with sweet potato, with not so great results but this time was a winner! Now I won't lie you must enjoy the flavour of coconut as due to the coconut oil it does give off the aroma - but if you enjoy that, then you will love these brownies!!

Next time I think I will try steaming and then mashing the sweet potato, as to be honest grating is my least favourite kitchen chore! Let me know if you try it the mashed way!

Makes one square pan:

Ingredients:

220g sweet potato, grated
2 large eggs
130g coconut oil
150g self-raising wholemeal flour
100g light brown sugar
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate
25g white chocolate chunks
100g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp coconut nectar
1/2 tsp sea salt


Method:

1) Place the grated sweet potato in a bowl, cover with cling film and steam in the microwave for  minutes.

2) In a saucepan melt the coconut oil and sugars, and simmer on a medium heat for 5 minutes, then add the coconut nectar - it should sizzle a little add the dark chocolate and put to one side, stirring until melted. Pre-heat oven to 180o. 

3) In a bowl sift the flour, salt and cocoa together. Lightly beat the vanilla with eggs, and mix gently into the flour mix. Fold in the sweet potato, then the prepared chocolate sugar mix until just combined.

4) Line the pan with parchment paper, pour in the brownie batter and scatter over the white chocolate chunks.

5) Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or so, or until cooked but still slightly springy to touch and a skewer comes out relatively clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before lifting onto a wire rack.

Cuts into 8 or so pieces depending on appetite!

My boyfriend gave them 10/10 and that was before he knew there was sweet potato in them!

As my brownies used a sneaky vegetable in the form of sweet potato I have sent them over to this months Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy's Extra Veg linky, held at Veggie Desserts this month:

If you fancy some extra veg check out these fabulous recipes from some great bloggers:

Butternut Squash & Spelt Cake from Fab Food 4 All
Carrot Cake Muffins and Apple & Custard Lasagne from Foodie Quine
Sweet Potato and Ginger Cookies from Rough Measures
Courgette Muffins from Recipes from a Pantry

Crispy Omelette Spaghetti

Sorry for the lack of blogging! After my kitchen disaster on Mother's Day involving my left index finger and my chef's knife, cooking, and typing is a bit more challenging than usual! Its healing nicely, the dressing was changed yesterday but its still having to be dressed, and all cooking involves CSI gloves! Its made our menu planning also a bit of a challenge as stuff I cook, my boyfriend doesn't know and so we have been having lots of quick, simple dinners. Also it blew out my food budgeting, we have spent roughly a third more than normal and April will be frugal month!

Making the most of our leftovers started today! Over the past few months we have pushing the traditional English breakfast boundaries and exploring other continents and cuisines.. my love of cooking everything and anything, a fabulous friend and her cooking skills and my boyfriend coming around to the idea of not having cheerios in his bowl for breakfast has resulted in some pretty epic breakfasts! Our overall favourite to date involved fried eggs, avocado and Filipino style fried rice but we are also very open to new breakfasts too!

This morning we had leftover cooked spaghetti, from last nights dinner (Creamy sausage and squash spaghetti) and I wondered if we could peruse another new breakfast with it! After a rummage in the fridge, I decided to make an omelette style mixture, add a little garlic as to be honest our breakfasts would not feel right without it nowadays and overall it was a resounding success! Its definitely a new base recipe to add to memory!

I admittedly used a cheat item for the topping - ready fried crispy onions! They give such a lovely savoury note to dishes and are soooo tasty! A definite cupboard cheat ingredient! B gave this breakfast a 7 out of 10 - nothing will beat the fried rice but it was a good 7! 

Serves Two
Easy

225g cooked spaghetti
2 large eggs
25g grated cheddar
2 spring onions, finely sliced
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
knob butter
1 large clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp crispy onions

Optional - hot sauce to serve

Method

Heat the butter in a non stick frying pan, add the white part of the spring onion, tomatoes and garlic, Saute for 2 minutes, turning regularly. Slice up the spaghetti roughly and add to the pan, breaking up with a wooden spatula.Fry for about 3 minutes or until lightly golden coloured.

Beat the eggs and cheese together, season with a little salt and pepper. Make the spaghetti mixture into a layer of sorts in the pan, and pour over the eggy mixture evenly. Allow to cook for at least a minute, then gently fold the mixture in on itself, slowly, allowing it to cook through and brown a little for a few minutes.

Spoon into warmed bowls, in the empty pan warm the crispy onions and green part of the spring onions for 30 seconds before sprinkling over the spaghetti mixture.

Courgette and Mozzarella Piadina

This recipe is one that's been loitering for the past few months - I think I made it even last year but had for some unknown reason not blogged it! The original recipe was taken from a Waitrose freebie magazine, no idea which one though as it was torn out a few months back! I've since made it a couple of times, changing the fillings each time and the base piadina is so easy to make its a handy standby!

Piadina meant absolutely nothing to me prior to making this but fortunately the picture helped to show us a nice, neat bread kind of thing stuffed with nice things. Frying bread is not something I regularly dabble in but I have made the odd doughy thing over the years that way.. and as our oven, is well temperately challenged and this recipe appealed as it didn’t involve it at all!

The piadina were fairly quick and easy to make and assemble, though having a second pair of hands also helps! Also reading the recipe from start to finish… Probably the best way of describing it is that its a cross between a pizza and pitta bread ! I didn't quite fully understand some of the instructions in the original recipe and I have changed it to how it worked for us. 

Serves two:

Ingredients:

2 courgettes
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 small garlic, crushed
½ red chilli finely chopped
1 lemon, finely grated zest only
250g self raising flour
125g mozzarella, drained. Torn into small chunks
20 basil leaves

Salt
Spray oil

Cut the courgette length ways into thin slices. Heat a frying pan and gently saute the courgettes until softened and golden. Remove from the heat and add the vinegar, garlic, chilli and lemon zest, season to taste.

Meanwhile place the flour in a large bowl, a pinch of salt and stir in 6-7 tbsp of cold water. Use a fork to mix it in and bring it together, then knead lightly until you have a soft dough.

Divide into two balls, lightly flour the worktop and roll out to form an 18 cm circle. Repeat with the other ball.

Heat a large heavy based frying pan, spray with oil and place on of dough circles. Gently fry on both sides, greasing as needed for 2-3 minutes or until lightly risen. Remove from the pan and repeat with the other circle. If the pan gets too hot just remove for little bursts to stop it burning.

With the removed circle, carefully use a sharp bread knife to make a large pocket, fill with half the courgette mixture, chunks of mozzarella and basil leaves. Repeat with the other one. Return to the pan, place a heavy saucepan on top to weigh it down and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until cooked and lightly golden. Repeat with remaining piadina.

Slice into quarters and serve with a nice dressed salad and sauteed tomatoes.

Kale and Almond Pesto Spaghetti

Oh how I love thee Kale, I am sorry all those years I dismissed you..casting my beady eye across your green spiky leaves like you were something the cat dragged in... all that changed when I realised the magic was to cook it properly made all the difference! And it was love ever since! However this recipe turns that theory completely on its head in the fact the kale is not actually cooked! I was a little dubious prior to making it what it be like but it turned out rather delicious and made for a very tasty bowl of spaghetti! Make sure you don't eat it on date night unless you both like raw garlic - it can be a little pungent but maybe add less cloves if love is in the air!

The only real problem I encountered making this was lacking a actual food processor to grind and chop everything together. As much as I would love one again, I lack space in our stupidly tiny flat and manage to make do with a chopper thingy and a spice grinder and between the two of them I managed to succeed in turning it into pesto, so the moral of the story is don't be disheartened if you don't have the exact equipment - quite often other things will do the job too!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

50g whole almonds, toasted
25g parmesan cheese, grated (or a veggie version) + extra to serve
75g kale, leaves picked and stalks discarded
2 cloves garlic
160g spaghetti
100g sliced artichokes, from an antipasti jar - save the oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Method:

Using a mini chopper/ food processor blend the kale with the garlic, lemon juice, parmesan and season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile  boil the spaghetti in salted water as per packet instructions, when cooked reserve a cupful of the liquid and drain well.

If your machine is not up to the job grind the toasted nuts separately in a spice grinder and add to the kale mixture along with roughly ten tablespoons of the liquid from the artichoke antipasti and a good splash of the reserved pasta water to make the mixture slightly loose.

Gently toss the prepared pesto and artichokes with the kale mixture, serve in bowls topped with a little more grated parmesan.

Enjoy you glorious garlicky green bowl of goodness!

I am rather naughty at picking up random ingredients, and I had added a jar of Artichokes antipasti to the trolley at least six months ago with no specific intent other than to use in something at some point. Possibly I had seen something online or on tv that triggered me to buy them but I  don't have the foggiest now as to what it was! As they had hung around so long and I only found them having a root through the cupboard trying to find something else I am sending these into the No Waste food Challenge held by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary:

Sweet Potato and Mozzarella Bake

Finally my horrid germs, apart from last nights coughing- help-cough- I can't breathe - and stumbling in the dark and praying it was Covonia I was downing and not Liquid Senna (I know T.M.I!!) are packing their dirty bags, I am feeling marginally more human like and I am starting to finally work through writing up a few recipes jotted down before Christmas, which now seems like forever ago and I feel suddenly lazy! Where has the time gone?!

Anyway, a few months back I became part of the Happy Egg Co Taste 100 Blogger Network and I got to play with a few packets of lovely free range eggs and hopefully over the next few months I can bring you some egg-citing things on the blog! We go through a lot of eggs in our house as they are so versatile from baking sweet things to more savoury treats including glazing simple sausage rolls or even a simple omelette for dinner so a few eggstra packs of eggs was most welcome!

We only eat free range eggs at home and fortunately more and more people do use them and not ghastly battery farmed ones but its harder to tell when eating out, especially for breakfast. However I do try where possible to choose higher welfare and with free range eggs being easily affordable they play a big role in our diet and a lot of my meal plan! 

We also buy sweet potatoes on a regular basis and I love them fried, boiled, baked and especially turned into falafel but sometimes I buy them too often and I start to run out of ideas of what to do different to them... As a result half a bag was loitering in the salad draw and none of my regular options appealed on the particular chilly evening, whilst I rummaged through the fridge my eyes spotted the bright yellow egg boxes (hard to miss!) and I wondered what could I do with both...

 

From memory we were having a sort of Spanish night and I was frying off some heavenly Padron peppers and throwing together a large pan of my chorizo pepper rice dish and I really fancied something warming and bake like and I decided to make a bake with the eggs and sweet potato, added in some gooey mozzarella and ta dah a star was born!

 

Serves 3-4 

Easy

 

Ingredients:

360g sweet potato
125g mozzarella, roughly torn up
4 large free range eggs
½ tbsp. dried oregano

Salt and pepper, to taste
½ red onion, finely sliced

1 tsp smoked paprika
Butter or oil spray for greasing dish

Method:

Slice the sweet potato into ½ cm discs, place in a steamer bag or similar device and steam in the microwave for 6 minutes or until a knife goes through easily or in a regular steamer for about 18 minutes.

 

 

Heat 1 tsp oil in a frying pan and brown the onion slices until golden. 

 

Beat the eggs with the oregano, salt and pepper. Place the cooked sweet potato slices in a baking dish - something like a pie dish will suit, alternating with the mozzarella, scatter over the red onion slices and pour over the prepared batter.  Sprinkle over the smoked paprika.

Bake for 40 minutes in a hot oven or until golden and bubbling

 

The finished bake was delicious and warming, whilst feeling nourishing with the gorgeous orange hue of the sweet potatoes and purple onion slivers adorning the top which adds a little welcome colour to a blustery wintery night!

 

 

I have sent my Sweet Potato and Mozzarella Bake over to this months Vegetable Palette challenge at Allotment 2 Kitchen:

 

 

 

Herby Black Eyed Beans

Sometimes, when deciding what to make as a side dish that doesn't involve either pasta, rice or potatoes it can get a little overwhelming or puzzling. Afterall I also have polenta, Kaska grains, bulgur wheat, couscous, toasted couscous and various tins of beans at any one time to choose from!   And this is where tinned beans are magic friends! I was a bit of a latecomer to tinned beans, I really disliked baked beans growing up, and thanks to my mum thought I didn’t like kidney beans either (yes I was that fussy fellow diner picking those red beans out, sorry, beans, please forgive me!) but a chance eating out of politeness at a family gathering I realised actually they are rather nice, and indeed edible and I started exploring things with beans… quite often they are just part of the fabric of a recipe – take chilli con carne as a prime example or within the spicy bean burgers I often make, with sweet potato but its not often they are a side dish in their own right – times are a’changin and beans are getting a new lease of life!

Black eyed beans were a random purchase, I think they had various beans & pulses on offer at 4 tins for one whole pound and I stumbled across the b-e-b’s and vaguely remembered that I thought I liked them, and I most definitely do! They are nicely creamy, savoury and overall very versatile bean. Definitely hoarding material friendly!

I loved this dish – in fact we both did and its something that will be on my repertoire of quick and tasty side dishes! The creamy beans, fragrant hints of mint and earthiness from the cumin, plus a little green chilli zing made for a very pleasant meal!

This works really well as part of a mezze type affair, served warm.

1 x 400g tin Black eyed Beans, drained

2 large salad tomatoes, quartered

½ red onion finely sliced

½ tsp dried mint

½ tsp cumin seed

½ green chilli, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Water, to loosen

Greek yoghurt with a squeeze of lime if you have some, to serve

In a shallow frying pan, heat the oil and fry the onion until lightly golden. Stir in the chilli, tomatoes, cumin, mint, reduce the heat and gently poke around for about 5 minutes or until the tomato chunks are starting to go squishy. Add a little water if its getting too dry but not enough to flood the pans contents either! Stir through the beans and gently cook, covered for a further ten minutes to fully heat through the beans and keeping the mixture moist. Stir occasionally, allowing the tomato to break down into the mixture.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve on the side of something nice and add a dollop of lime streaked yoghurt on top. 

Veggie Secret Sausage Kebabs

Whilst I can make a perfectly decent barbecue sauce, I was trying to have a raid on the numerous jars collecting in the fridge (there is one full shelf and stragglers in the door and lurking on other shelves! I really am trying harder to use them up!) and I stumbled across a neglected opened jar of Opies Smoked Garlic BBQ Sauce I think my dad had originally bought over back in the summer – it’s a really tasty sauce and had me scheming as to how I would use it up....

In the meantime I was sent some veggie friendly sausages – now in the past the thought of a veggie sausage had me running to the hills as I had never found a decent one and I've been subjected to some pretty insipid non-beast’s along the way! Whilst I have mastered a veggie sausage roll with excellent they are not actually sausage shaped or suitable to cook on the grill and this is where my Secret Sausages stepped in! Reading the blurb off the back of the packet I tried, they hare 90% less fat, 50% of the calories and 35% less salt vs a regular sausage. Oh and 3 sausages count as 1 of your 5 a day too! Sounding like a health food right? All quite impressive indeed….

…But how do they actually compare vs a pork versions you may wonder? Okay so succulent meaty pork they are not but in their own right they held their shape well after being diced up and cooked, had a pleasant, slightly coarse texture that resembled the nice vegetables inside, not some mashed pulp of gawd knows what! Whilst they were not exactly very exciting on their own, flavour wise, livened up with the bbq sauce they worked a treat and would be a very acceptable vegetarian offering say for example at a bbq or a family gathering. I do cook mostly from scratch but I am only human and use a handful of cheat ingredients for when time is short and these are definitely something that’s handy to keep in the freezer on standby!

This particular packet of Secret Sausage's were Rosemary and Garlic, and they are made with green beans, mixed peppers, rice and rosemary, plus garlic of course! They are vegetarian society approved product as well as being gluten free so are suitable for special diets.

Ingredients:
6 Rosemary & Garlic Secret Sausages
½ a large courgette
1 medium red pepper
BBQ sauce, to glaze - about 1 cup
Spray oil, to cook

Makes 4-6 kebabs

Using a sharp knife cut each sausage into 3 equal pieces. Halve the courgette length way's and again so you have four long quarters. Slice into 1 cm chunks.

De-seed the pepper and cut into half inch squares.

Thread alternate pieces of courgette, sausage and pepper onto the kebabs. Spray with oil and grill for about five minutes, brush over the bbq sauce and cook for a further five minutes, turn the kebabs over, grill lightly before glazing again until cooked through – about 5 minutes.

Serve with my herby beans (my next post) or a nice salad or as we are now winter mash is perfectly acceptable!

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As I finally used up the last of my neglected jar of Barbecue sauce I have entered my Kebab's into Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary's No Waste Food Challenge which is being held by Slice Off Me this November!

Disclaimer: I was sent a variety of Secret Sausage's for review. I recevied no payment for this and all images, text and opinions remain the property of Anne's Kitchen.

Spicy Mushroom & Bean Sausage rolls

Now calling these ‘sausage’ is a bit misleading as there's no Pork in them and the term parcels implies something much larger and I can’t think of anything smaller than rolls. Plus I was making alongside their meatier counterparts so I decided to keep the ‘sausage’ part…you understand I am sure what I am waffling on about!

I have never made a veggie version of sausage rolls before, see I am actually rather fond of properly made pork ones when not in veggie phase but some bought outside of home are often rather questionable in their quality and after trying a truly awful, dry and claggy vegetarian sausage roll from a health food shop, it was time to embark on my own.. plus I was making these prior to going to see my wonderful auntie in the west country, who also by chance is a vegetarian so I thought she wouldn’t mind at all being a guinea pig! So I lovingly made these up from scratch, parcelled up and took them for a road trip!

Considering they are my first ever attempt at a veggie friendly sausage roll, I am super happy with them, plus everyone loved them! The spicing was perfect – hints of chilli, cinnamon and more from the Baharat seasoning, which was randomly picked up last year on holiday in Jersey, the filling texture was chunky but still fine enough to munch without pulling half the filling out and the vegetables all complemented each other very well. Wrapped in a loving puff pastry blanket what more you can want?

This will make enough for 13 generous cocktail sized sausage rolls – simply double up the filling to use the whole pastry sheet up!

Ingredients:

1 puff pastry ready rolled sheet, halved down the middle to form two long rectangles (do this whilst still rolled! Mine was bought from Sainsbury's)

200g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ red onion, finely chopped

½ red romano pepper, diced

1 medium carrot, coarsely grated

100g cooked black eyed beans

1.5tsp baharat seasoning

1 egg, beaten

Poppyseeds, to decorate

Method:

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan, gently cook the onion until softened, stir through the mushrooms, carrot and pepper, and cook for about 10 minutes, sweating them down – be careful not to burn them, stir through the garlic, baharat, and the beans and heat through, press down lightly to gently mash the beans, season to taste with salt and pepper – the mixture should be fairly dry looking and well mixed. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.

Pre-heat the oven to I would approximate at about 200o - my oven has been on the blink for some time (and housing company apparently deny) so mine was 240o on the dial..

Open out the pastry sheet, brush the top and bottom halves with the beaten egg. Arrange the cooled mixture down the middle keeping it well together, to form a long sausage, pat down to form a column of sorts. 

Gently pull up the bottom half of the pastry over the mixture, brush the top with more egg and pull up the top side, gently teasing over – you want about a centimetre or so of overlap. Brush all over with egg and sprinkle with poppyseed's. Gently press the knife almost through to the bottom to form slices, on the nice sheet they provide with the pastry.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the pastry has puffed up and cooked through. Allow to cool on the tray for ten minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Serve warm. If they get the chance to cool that far! They can also be reheated in a warm oven for about 10-15 minutes. Oh and they travel well too! 

Perfect for picnics, late brunches..snacks and light lunches too! Pretty much no excuse needed really.

I am sending these over to Treat Petite for November held by Cakeyboi and this months host The Baking Explorer - as mentioned above I made these with my Auntie T in my mind - all through my up's, down's and frankly inside out stages she has been my rock and its lovely to say thank you in the best way I know how - baking something that tastes great!

My veggie rolls are perfect for all the family - and for the great Family Foodies challenge, which has gone Vegetarian for November and so I have sent them over to the lovely hosts Eat Your Veg and Bangers & Mash

Roasted Chilli and Tomato Fusilli

Whilst I do at heart believe a sharp knife is the foundation of a smooth running kitchen, its also quite nice to play with new tools now and again as well! Over the years I have gone through a variety of herb choppers, including an Italian food mill that was mostly a nightmare to clean after use, 2 electric mini choppers that were also both messy to use and clean after, a blender – too big for the job and also a pain to clean, several chopping boards and possibly even more items but on this occasion I got to play with an OXO’s new herb mincer (RRP £12) which I was sent to review.

It was quite fun to play with apart from maybe being a little too flimsy in that twice I dislodged the protective cover whilst chopping, though admittedly I was using it inside a mixing bowl which was on the small side, which probably didn’t help! (On a chopping board this didn't happen) Overall it made light work of chopping the basil leaves and kept the pine nuts in quite nice sized pieces, so it was overall quite a success, when I was a bit more gentle with it! My other comment is that I had to use a knife to safely remove stray herbs that got inside the mincer but it was easy to do. I also decided to test it to chop the chilli – great as it meant no chilli burn fingers and good if you don’t want it too finely minced – my chilli was quite big and it kept it in largish pieces but no so large it would be a mega chilli hit in the mouth!

I also received OXO UK's little salad dressing shaker (RRP £10) which I used to make the marinade up in. The dressing bottle was very busy kitchen friendly, the lid screws off easily so its easy to fill with your ingredients, with convenient measures on the side of the bottle and its stopper is leak proof even with vigorous shaking! I used all my prepared dressing on the tomatoes but it would definitely keep air tight with other home made dressings and it’s far prettier than sticking the more usual ripped label jam jar on the dining table! It was easy to clean afterwards and I really like this item for both practical and aesthetic qualities.

In my kitchen I use a variety of oils and vinegars depending on both mood and cuisine but chose Filippo Berio’s extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to make my pasta dressing , they both work well together and complemented the tomatoes perfectly. Their balsamic is sweet enough to bake without being too acidic and the oil is pleasant on the palate without being too grassy or punchy like some of my other speciality oil’s. Whilst these were both sent for review, I do buy their extra virgin olive oil on a regular basis as it’s a good all rounder type of oil and stores well.

So whilst summer is seemingly vanishing fast, I captured the last of it in my simple pasta dish, containing some beautiful tomatoes I bought in the market, which apparently are salt water grown. Something new to me but they were bursting with juicyness and tasted so good! They were a glorious hue of scarlet and their scent was heavenly! I used to grow tomatoes a few years back on my old balcony and really miss their evening scent, happy memories!

Aubergine Jambalaya

When it comes to aubergines, they are honestly one of my most favourite vegetables and one that seems to have a big divide in opinion after the love/ hate of marmite! So many people I say the word aubergine to are of the opinion that it’s a rather unpleasant vegetable to eat and it takes a lot of convincing that its just a special vegetable – treat it well and you are rewarded with a succulent, silky almost meaty flesh like ingredient. Treat it bad and its like eating a bathroom sponge soaked in oil and deservedly so. Aubergine flesh is great for soaking up flavours and it works a treat in this gorgeous rice dish!

I first discovered this Aubergine Jambalaya recipe via a link in a food forum I belong to, and it was featured on the Guardians website as a top ten Vegan recipe, from a Leon Fast Vegetarian cookbook (which is on my wishlist once I manage to sneak another bookcase into the flat!) and they have very kindly given me permission to reproduce it on my blog!

Despite having a well stocked store cupboard, its not often I look at a list of ingredients for a recipe and realise I gave everything actually in for once and so I bookmarked it for later in the week. It made a fantastic, tasty and something new dinner – I love making big one pot rice dishes and this fitted the bill perfectly both for a tasty after work dinner and cool for lunch the next day. 

The recipe is stated as having Deep South; Creole roots, minus the meat – a whole new cuisine for us and now one I have a definite taste for and want to explore further! The smooth smoky chilli bite, with sweet peppers, silky aubergine chunks and little crunchy celery pieces and earthy herbs was a really good start to the week and even my meat loving man enjoyed this dish!

Serves 4 – generously
Easy

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bay leaf – mine are teeny dried ones, I used two
A pinch of dried oregano
A pinch of dried thyme – I used fresh from my neighbours garden
A pinch of dried chilli flakes
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
220g long-grain rice
1 medium sized aubergine, cut into 1cm dice
1 tbsp tomato puree – mine was a cherry tomato version
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
400ml vegetable stock – I used a tsp of Marigold vegetable boullion powder in boiling water
Salt and black pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large (lidded) saute pan and fry the onion, pepper and celery for about 5 minutes over a medium heat. Add the garlic, herbs and spices and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Stir in the rice, aubergine chunks, tomato puree and tinned tomatoes and stir well, season with a little salt and pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add the stock, bring to a simmer, then cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to steam for 5 minutes. Use a large spoon to fluff up the rice and if you like then serve with a green salad. We had leftover bhajis!

With thanks to Leon Fast Vegetarian, by Henry Dimbleby and Jane Baxter

Curried Roast Cauliflower with Yoghurt

For a long time I will admit to being a magpie for tearing recipes from magazines, in fact some of my favourite recipes have been discovered this way, and this particular one makes no exception. I have ring-binders stuffed to bursting with them, though organised quite neatly in sections and a running list on my pc... yeah I probably should get out more...!! Even with the internet nowadays and a wealth of bookmarked recipes I am still very fond of the old tear out's! I suppose its the same reason I have a few cookery books, there is magic to be found within them.

This recipe was everything it promised and more. I recently finally after two attempts received my new myWaitrose card (post here is a nightmare as our lease address differs from royal mail!), and in turn you get their free Kitchen magazine when in store.. of course I had to pick it up and quickly discovered I wanted to make most of the recipes in it but as I was planning a curry night with a girlfriend and after some deliberating over this recipe or the Cauliflower and cashew biryani in last months Sainsbury's mag, it was a close call though this won! The other one remains on the to make list for next time!

As part of our little feast we had my Aubergine Bhajis, a variation of my Spinach and coconut Dal, pilau rice, chapattis and my favourite carrot and sultana salad too! The most joyous parts is that it created plenty of snacks in the fridge with all the lovely leftovers for a few days!

Serves 2 as a main / 4- 6 as a side dish
Ingredients

1 x 800g cauliflower (roughly a medium to a large size)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 sliced small red onion
1 tbsp curry powder (I used madras)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp salt (at the most!)
1/4 lemon, juice (I used squirty lemon!)
100ml greek Yoghurt (mine was Turkish)
small handful coriander leaves, roughly chopped

1) Pre-heat oven to 180o / gas 4. Slice up the cauliflower inner core and the florets into 3cm pieces.

2) Place the cauliflower, all the spices, garlic, salt, oil and onion in a bowl. Tip into a roasting tray and cook for 25 minutes (unless your oven is as useless as mine - apx 45 mins!) until the onion has softened and the cauliflower is starting to brown slightly.

3) Remove from the oven and squeeze (squirt!) over the lemon juice and dollop the yoghurt. Scatter over the coriander.

This will keep a few days in the fridge and is also rather delightful smooshed into a leftover chapatti and eaten when alone. Hot or cold its soooo tasty, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! The fragrant spicing with the cooling yoghurt is quite divine for a humble cauliflower! Though it was a rather pretty cauliflower as cauli's go, a real creamy big beast from the farm shop!

Being honest with you I have my dear friend C to thank really as she did pretty much all the dish, whilst I cooked the dal and other things and just handed over the relevant spices! C had never eaten roasted cauliflower before nor the leaves which I convinced her to include, and it was a joyful discovery for all of us!

**I hope my wildfood friends enjoy this too, sorry for the delay in posting!**

Smoked Aubergine Puree AKA Baba Ganoush - for Random Recipes & Alphabake A

So this months Random Recipe and Alphabake entry was planned earlier in the week, in good time for the deadline - which is er today.. however I had a bit of a flare and spent two days in a zombie state...these new painkillers sure are strong but if they sort out my hip it will be worth it! It was already fun climbing stairs with a pair of dodgy knees but throwing in the hip is just no fun! I think this week I survived mostly on tea and ready to eat cocktail sausages which are kept in the drinks fridge (my weakness!). 

Fortunately this morning with the rain brought a brighter day after and I actually made it out of the house, albeit with my boyfriend driving and it was only to the garden centre but it was still nice to see daylight! Plus it has a great food hall and I picked up something for my dad's birthday which I better not write here just incase he reads this...

So enough of me rambling - I normally ask my boyfriend to choose at random but he was out and being unable to bend at the time I reduced my selection to the shelf at arm level and methodically counted to ten whilst moving my arm back and forth - the neighbours already know I am a bit special so hopefully just carried on by... the book turned out to be 'Just like mother used to make' which my mum actually did buy for me a few years back. Its full of homely recipes but seems to solely be used for drop scones so it was about time a new recipe was tried from its floury pages! I then as per the chosen letter of A for this months theme, then closed my eyes and moved my finger up and down the tiny A section for a further 10 seconds and out came Baba Ganoush - which is technically B but its made with aubergines and listed under A so it became the chosen recipe! For some reason I have always loved the name Baba Ganoush, it sounds so exotic like some foreign dancer or stage presence!

The recipe itself is a doddle to make, apart from that I have the slowest oven in the world so took double the time stated but it was delicious. B had never eaten it before and in all honesty I wasn't sure if I had but I love anything aubergine'y so really it couldn't be bad... its best eaten with loved ones, the garlic breath is entirely worth it!

I scaled the original recipe down slightly - I always find aubergines vary so much in size - my dad actually picked it up for me as he lives near lots of great little ethnic grocers and was coming around for lunch - and assumed mine was a medium to large sized one and I have scaled the recipe accordingly. I also subbed the extra virgin olive oil for extra virgin rapeseed oil, mainly as the EVOO I have is very tasty but also very peppery and I wanted to taste the aubergine and the latter oil is nice and buttery tasting....mmm butter! And the lemon juice was from a bottle shh!

Also whilst it says to use a food processor, I am lacking this one essential piece of technology and used the liquidiser which worked a treat - if using a food processor don't worry about chopping things up before hand. I finished it off with a little smoked paprika as it made the smoosh a bit more attractive and a little more smokier too!

Makes one bowl of lovely dip/ puree/ smoosh

Easy

1 med/ large aubergine

1 clove garlic

2 tsp tahini

1 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil

1/4 tsp salt (I used himalayan)

few twists black pepper

2 tsp lemon juice

Smoked paprika to garnish if desired

If you are lucky enough to have a gas hob, sear the aubergine all over until skin is wrinkled. If like me you don't, place the whole aubergine in the oven, on its highest setting until the skin has wrinkled. The book claimed 20 minutes. Mine was more 45 minutes.. and it burst, guessing that was a good sign it was ready.. place in a bowl and cover, leave to cool.

Once cooled, remove the skin and discard the stalk, chop roughly and place in the blender with everything else. Blitz to form a smooth puree. Taste and adjust accordingly - I added a little bit more lemon and salt to mine to taste. It says to leave it 30 minutes to thicken but my cooked aubergine had been left whilst out for a good few hours and I served it up after about 5 minutes and was perfect for us! 

Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl and sprinkle over a little smoked paprika if desired.  

I served ours with a little fridge raid feast - toasted pitta breads, olives, rosebud beetroots and carrot sticks. B loved it, he did comment that this meal would be something he would never had considered before meeting me. I guess thats a good compliment! It was clean plates all round after!

Overall verdict? A resounding yes to enjoying it now and yes to having it again! I loved its silky smooth texture and little hum of lemon and garlic, definitely a keeper. 

Many thanks to this months hosts for the inspiration to give some love back to the cookbooks: 

Dom at Belleau Kitchen 

Caroline Makes 

The More Than occasional Baker 

Beetroot Bhaji’s

Since first tasting Indian food many, many years back I have always loved onion bhajis and over the last few years gone a bit more experimental with making my own – we all adore my aubergine bhaji’s and they are a regular make in our house but sometimes its nice to try something new and I’d had a packet of beetroot in the fridge lurking in the hope of a sunnier today but as the weather has been so utterly vile this winter, salad has not been on the menu and I found myself looking for alternative uses..

These really were made up essentially as I went along and a nod towards the aubergine ones I make, and despite making a separate batch of red onion bhajis for beetroot hating dad – he actually ending up enjoying the beetroot ones! You can make them gluten free by using an alternative flour to the plain flour - I've used Dove's farm in the past with excellent results.

The beetroot is earthy and sweet but given a lift with the aromatic mint and spices and the crispy batter makes them rather moreish! You have been warned! Bhaji’s are very easy to make, and you can re-heat them in a warm oven so are handy to make ahead of your meal. They are also very cheap to make and are a great, easy little starter or a side to your dinner!

Makes about 18 bhaji's depending on your spoon size!

Ingredients:

260g diced cooked beetroot

½ red onion, diced

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp yellow mustard seeds

S&p

1 tsp dried mint

150g gram flour

50g plain flour

250ml ice cold water

Sunflower oil for frying

Method:

Dice the beetoot and onion into 1/2cm cubes, place in a bowl with all the spices and toss together.

Seperately sieve the flours together, and mix in the water to form a batter, whisk well and mix in the vegetables.

Heat 1 inch of sunflower oil in a deep saucepan (or deep fat fryer) and once a little drop of batter browns within 30 seconds, place spoonfuls of the mixture carefully into the hot oil. Ideally wear an apron as they can spit! Fry them for about 3 minutes, then gently flip over for a further 2-3 minutes or until bubbling and the batter has cooked through. Use a heatproof spoon to occasionally spoon the hot oil over the bhajis to help cook through but very carefully - it will be very hot!

If the oil starts getting too hot and the mixture is burning then turn down the temperature a little. Place the cooked bhaji's onto kitchen paper and repeat with the remaining mixture.

Serve with raita to dunk into.

I have sent my recipe over to the 'Inspired Fakeaway's #Recipe of The Week' post held at A Mummy Too this week:

And over to Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary 'No Waste Food Challenge' held by London Unattached this month - as the Beetroot literally had one day left on the sell by date when I used it! What a waste if I had not made the bhaji's!