Jumbo Chickpea Burgers #TryTotal

It appears this year germ season started early, its claimed me, the boyfriend, mum and countless friends and colleagues. It certainly is thorough! Today thankfully at last is duvet day, the futon is down in the lounge and I am making my way through everything on the sky+ box! Great British Bake off next woohoo! Tissues are on standby and endless cups of tea!

There seems to be a lot of food pictures on my pc I have taken prior to lergy striking but the lighting here is awful and I've been loathe to blog anything... There is also the slight issue of not remembering what went into dishes, I feel I short change you all when recipes are a bit sketchy..however I know that does work in its own little way. I always hope to inspire people to cook and make them feel they can play around with recipes and discover things they like along their way..

So today I decided these pictures were the best of a bunch, and were quite fun to make so wanted to share with you. A few weeks backs Total, the yoghurt people sent me a box of goodies to make these Jumbo Italian Spiced Chickpea burgers and my lovely friend C helped to make and the eat them shortly after!

The first hurdle however was making the mixture....I don't own a food processor anymore but did have a blender thingy...so it got loaded as the below picture:

So far so good? Erm no. The bread got blitzed just fine but the rest refused to budge and the machine just made whirly noises..out came a a wooden spoon to try and push the mixture down. Nope. Fail. After many attempts, we put the mixture into a mixing bowl, converted the blender into a hand blender option and eventually we had burger mixture!

It was messy business but I managed to shape it into four burgers - these were certainly fitting the 'Jumbo' description!

So much so I could only fit two in the frying pan and had to cook in batches!

After being cooked, then carefully flipped over I.e. oh help me C its falling apart as the pan was too small cries, they turned out pretty good looking:

The burgers were definitely beasts to eat, and a little challenging as ours kept squshing out the sides, maybe the mixture was too soft from the hand blender perhaps but we did enjoy them, and the remaining two were eaten the next day. I would re-make them but shape them into perhaps six burgers next time!

With the burger recipe was also a relish but neither of us do raw onion so opted for the contents of the fridge including various chutneys and flavoured mayo's! Garlic mayo works well, as does sweet chili sauce! I also fried them in a little oil, as when trying the spray oil the pan got too hot and made unpleasant smoke smells!

Makes 4 burgers

4tbsp Total Greek Yoghurt
75g fresh breadcrumbs (approx 2 slices)
2x 400g drained chickpeas
25g fresh basil
2 tbsp sundried tomato paste
2 cloves crushed garlic
Pinch chilli flakes

Rolls to serve

If you have a food processor, blitz together the above, if not dig out your hand blender and see my notes above!

Shape into four patties, drizzle a little oil in a pan, heat moderately and fry the burgers for five minutes each side.

Serve with lots of salad

Many thanks to #TryTotal

Spicy Vegetable Chickpea Pancakes

A few weeks ago after a nice lie in and having done the Sunday morning excitement of cleaning the flat, lunchtime had arrived. However knowing we were going out for a all you can eat Chinese that evening, we needed something fairly light for lunch... The only problem being that the fridge was pretty bare apart from half a carton of tomatoes and 3 tired looking cauliflower florets leftover from the Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza and a few other odds and ends lurking in the salad draw...

So what to do....Fortunately my B has become quite tolerant of eating vegetables, and in general vegetarian meals so that seemed a fairly logical route as we had no meat or fish to hand. I had remembered seeing a while back a recipe for pancakes made with chickpea flour (known as Gram or Besan flour) that didn't require anything other than water and a little stock powder - result! They are also known as Socca but I find that word doesn't seem as attractive to me! Makes me think of American football!

I looked at a few different recipes, and after perusing No Bread is an Island's post about these pancakes made one of his versions. And they were delicious! I wasn't too sure how many pancakes we would end up with but this just made 3, in a 24cm frying pan, which was ideal. Mine is from Dunelm Mill, who accidentaly shipped me the wrong one a few months back and its been invaluable, I have been thoroughly testing it and its brilliant value for money, holding up to whatever I throw at it, so to speak!

Now I will be honest in that the ingredients are not measured as since sharing a kitchen, I felt a bit odd writing things down with a stranger often present but have tried to remember it as best as I can! I also accidentally fried mine in oil, rather than in a dry pan but it made them so crispy it was a happy accident!

The filling for the pancakes was pretty much made up as I went along. After the discovering of grated cauliflower during the pizza recipe, I repeated for the filling as it cooks so fast that way. The grated mozzarella was also leftover from the pizza recipe, and stored in the freezer and it worked perfectly, is also suitable for vegetarians too. Though if you wanted to make it vegan just simply leave it out.

Makes 3 pancakes

Ingredients:

Pancakes-
100g chickpea flour
1tsp vegetable powder
225ml water
1 tsp oil + extra for greasing pan

Filling-
Approx 200ml passatta
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
3 grated cauliflower florets
1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves
3 tbsp grated mozzarella
2 sliced spring onions
1/2 diced red pepper
1/2 small green chilli
s&p

Start by heating a dash of oil in a small saucepan, fry the pepper, cauliflower and spring onions until softened, stir in the chilli, cumin and passatta and allow to simmer away whilst making the pancakes, it should be a fairly dry mixture.

To make the pancakes, mix the flour, water, olive oil and stock powder together until smooth - it will be fairly runny.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in the frying pan to a medium-hot heat. Swirl in the batter mixture and turn the pan to form a thin pancake. Cook for about two minutes or until golden brown and flip briefly to cook the inside for a further minute or less. Place on kitchen paper and repeat to make a further 2 pancakes.

Season the filling to taste, add the mozzarella and fill the pancakes. Serve immediately.

On the inside:

Meal Planning Monday 23/09/13

Monday Monday....sure there's a song with those words... but its not all down fortunately...despite being up to day 8 of my shift pattern I am still alive, though currently sustained to write this with a little glass of Soave, from Sainsburys #SoOrganic range - which I was sent to review for September Organic Month. I'm not big on white wine, quite hard to please and its not my most favourite white I've partaked in but right now its perfectly drinkable!

So onto the meal plan! As usual its a little hmm huh yeah but no but yeah..this week see's not only my darling boyfriends birthday, but my lovely neighbour and friend too so lots of cooking and eating to be done! Also around shifts its as always fun to decide between what I will cook vs what B will cook so its as always, subject to change! We have a fridge full of veggies but everything else is trying to clear the freezer of things that have been there too long..

Monday - ooh that's now! We are having flatbreads, customised into pizza style, topped with mozzarella, cheese and a little cherry tomato puree, served with salad

Tuesday - am working late...Plan is stirfry..but sometimes I am not that hungry after work so may just end up being another stab at the family sized carton of twiglets I recently bought!

Wednesday - Possibly either beef and spinach stew OR beef chilli con carne, May change altogether! Need to make B's birthday cake so need somethng simple that can just do its own thang on the hob..

Thursday - off for a Chinese to celebrate B's birthday - is proper old fashioned flock wallpaper but we love it!

Friday - My friend's birthday, the plan is to BBQ but so scared of recent chilly weather but the weather forecast looks promising...will be a mixture of Filipino and English food! Bring on the pansit and sausages!

You can see more meal plan's over at Mrs M's Blog

Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza

Now I'm not sure about you but its not everyday you see the words 'cauliflower' and 'pizza' used in the same sentence. But when its 3am, and your working nights the mind often starts to wander and whilst looking for some cauliflower inspiration, thanks to dad picking up a giant beast for me the other week, its amazing what you can stumble across...

One thing in particular that caught my attention was Cauliflower Pizza. I looked at several recipes and after consulting my B about trying it, though with some trepidation as him and cauliflower are not star crossed lovers and I'm not its no1 fan either, but we agreed to make it last week for dinner, on the basis that if all else fails then there's always the Chinese takeaway up the road...!

Fortunately for the wallet (and waistlines) the Chinese did without our business last Friday, as the 'pizza' was delicious! Its a little random, yes, but is definitely worth trying if only for the fact its super healthy and you have more than enough calories leftover to indulge in wine and something decadent for pudding but without the usual guilt after!

Just as a quick overview to show how guiltless it is - according to wiki:

Cauliflower 100g = 25 calories

Plain flour 100g = 366 calories

The original recipe came from Karen at Lavender and Lovage, who kindly gave me permission to post for you. Owing to have marginally different ingredients due to me not giving clearer instructions to the OH whilst he was out shopping, there were minor tweakings but its a near enough match! The mozzarella was a slight cheat as B bought it ready grated and the garlic was from a deli type jar of garlic cloves in herby oil, so no garlic breath after! Or not that we noticed anyway... And I have a chilli and garlic grinder so used that in lieu of the chilli flakes.

Whilst it doesn't of course have the same texture of a bread dough base, it surprisingly holds together well, and has a lovely slightly cheesey flavour, and its something we would definitely make again. It was also nice to have something a little different and makes a perfect light but surprisingly filling dinner. And whilst I was slightly dreading grating so much cauliflower, as I don't like grating anything it wasn't actually that bad, and you end with a bowl of almost fake snow, which feels quite pleasant to touch..

Serves 2:

340g grated cauliflower
1 large beef tomato, finely sliced
75g grated mozzarella
2 heaped tbsp grated grana padano
1 large egg, beaten
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
Pinch dried italian herb mix
s&p
4 fresh basil leaves, sliced
Few twists chilli grinder or 1/4 tsp chilli flakes

Pre heat oven to 210o/ gas 7
Line a baking sheet with baking paper

1) Start by grating the cauliflower into a large bowl. Place in the microwave and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until softened

2) Allow to cool for a few minutes, then add the 50g of the mozzarella and the grana padano, dried herbs and a little s&p, minced garlic and the egg. Stir well to combine into a sort of dough - the cheese will melt and start gluing it all together.

3) Turn out the mixture onto the baking sheet, to form a large circle about 1/2 inch deep. Smooth over and spray or glaze with a little oil. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm to touch.

4) Remove from the oven, and place the tomatoes in a nice pattern, sprinkle over the basil, remaining cheese, chilli and garlic flakes and a little seasoning. Bake for a further 10 minutes or until bubbling lightly and the cheese has melted. Garnish with a little extra fresh basil on serving.

Serve with a nice green salad and enjoy!


Many thanks to Karen

Sweet Potato Bean Burgers

This week brings another veggie posting, apologies to my more carnivorous readers but these burgers might just convince you to try going meat free one night...not only are they so cheap to make but they are easy, delicious and leave you satisfied. We actually went out yesterday to a new burger chain, which come from my boyfriends home town of South Africa, and I found myself wanting one of these veggie bad boys as it just was so good. They were pretty tasty cold for lunch the next day too smeared with chilli pepper jam!

We have been eating a lot of veggie food lately, both vegetarian and vegan and its been not only purse friendly but a great way to discover that vegetables are not just a side dish but can be the main event, my recent post of stuffed aubergines proved that! Most of the dishes are healthier too which is never a bad thing either! My boyfriend B has been really happy with all the dishes too, which always helps! Clean plates everytime are always a good sign!

I had actually secretly been wanting to make my own veggie burgers for a long time, but when I lived alone seemed a bit much to make a batch of 8 or more, especially with a microscopic freezer but with B being a willing guinea pig, the planning began!

In the fridge I still had an assortment of vegetables from dad's recent visit, and a variety of tinned beans in the cupboard and so I tried to find something that would combine them and whilst working a night shift, around 3am on my break I was browsing the net and stumbled across several hundred recipes but one that stood out was this one involving black beans and sweet potatoes. I didn't have all the ingredients but near enough could make some good substitutions and following a nice long sleep me and B set about making them together...

...And they were near perfect! A little spicy, nicely textured, held together well and we thoroughly enjoyed them! Depending on how big you make them, you will probably get between 5 and 8 burgers, we used a chef's ring to mould five of them and then the last was a giant burger that B had! Alongside the burgers, we had for the first time 'red rice' which I bought recently yellow stickered, and a spicy vegetable kinda stew, which was delicious but I only have a vague recollection of its ingredients! Certainly got most of our 5 a day I think anyway!

Ingredients:
Makes 6-8

350g grated sweet potato
1 tbsp (a glug) of vegetable oil
1 tin kidney beans
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds
5 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
1 beaten egg
s&p

Prepare a grill pan by lining with foil and greasing - spray oil makes this easy!

1) Start by getting your assistant to grate the potatoes. Meanwhile heat the oil and gently soften the spring onions, garlic and chilli.

2) Drain and mash the beans, stir into the sweet potato mix, along with the cooked onion garlic mix and seasoning.

3) Shape into patties, about 1.5cm deep and place on the prepared tray. Grill on a medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, or until they are going nice and golden brown, gently turn over and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve immediately with your desired accompaniments. We also had a tub of ready made allioli, which we are completely addicted to!

Baked Olive and Herb Stuffed Aubergines

Whilst I have flirted along since my teenage years with going veggie I never quite follow it through, something always draws me back, convenience perhaps or maybe a sausage roll wafting its evilly delicious aroma! However, I still frequently tread the veggie path as I just adore my vegetables and love to try out new vegetable based recipes, and fortunately my boyfriend B, a former meat and token veg man is most willing guinea pig and we both really enjoyed this dish last night and with very minor tweakings is definitely on the keeper list.

I do think sometimes making veggie food stand out can take a little more effort than for example cooking a chunk of meat but is so worth it, these baked aubergines were full of flavour with great texture and enjoyable to make too. They look good as well on the plate, always a bonus as they do say we eat first with our eyes!

When it comes to recipes I am a bit of a magpie, collecting them from papers, blogs, and frequently in-store magazines, sometimes they get filed away and forgotten about but I had kept this one out on purpose to remind me to make! The inspiration for these came from a little Tesco magazine but tweaked to what we had in etc. The original recipe calls for chunks of sourdough to be used but a while back I picked up from Sainsburys reduced a tub of Pistachio and herb laced chunky breadcrumbs and they did a great job, I think anything similar would suffice.

Keeping it simple, alongside I roasted baby new potatoes and these gorgeous beefsteak tomatoes, which work perfectly, providing juice. My oven is a nightmare and the only real change is longer cooking time but for a regular oven I would just stick to the recipe!

Serves two

Ingredients

1 medium sized aubergine

2 tbs olive oil

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

Half an onion, diced

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

2 heaped tbsp herby breadcrumbs

6 green olives sliced

2 tbsp grated grana padano (or veg equivalent)

1/2 lemon zest

1 heaped tbsp fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

Pre-heat oven to 180/ gas 4

1) Slice the aubergine lengthways, and using a small knife and spoon remove most of the flesh from the bulbous end. Brush the shells with olive oil and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until softening nicely and going golden in colour. If they are quite wobbly, take a small slice of the outer shells to give stability.

2) Finely chop the removed aubergine flesh. Heat the remaining oil in a large saute pan, and gently fry the flesh, celery, onion and garlic for about 15 minutes, add a splash of water if it looks too dry. Cool slightly and combine with remaining ingredients

3) Stuff the mixture into the aubergine shells, return to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cooked through and golden brown.

With autumn gently arriving, now that awful heat of our short summer has passed, the colour of aubergine always makes me think of darker nights drawing in and also that being they are perfectly in season, I have sent my dish over the Four Seasons Food who's current theme is Sliding into Autumn.

As this recipe came from a stashed magazine cutting, its also going into Tinned Tomatoes Bookmarked Recipes #28 challenge