Beetroot Soup

There is something really beautiful about beetroots. Their colour is out of this world...and they also have the ability to make a right mess of the kitchen. Hubby went a bit mad when buying beets for the beetroot brownies so I had quite a few left over. I wanted to make a hot dish with only a few ingredients. After a bit of searching online I settled on a beetroot soup.

Hubby is obsessed with beetroot. As a child he was known to eat a whole jar of picked beetroot, which in turn caused concern to his poor mum when he started peeing purple...anyway that's another story. Today he reveled in his beetroot themed lunch of beetroot soup and beetroot brownies. Bless him. I promise this will be the last of the beetroot recipes for a while!

Beetroot Soup
Serves 3-4

knob of butter
1 onion, diced
500g beetroots, boiled and diced (approx 4 medium sized beets)
300ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp celery salt
150g pot of plain yogurt
black pepper

1)In a deep pan cook the onions in the butter until softened. Stir in the diced beetroot.

2) Pour in the stock, cider vinegar and celery salt. Bring to the boil. Take off the heat, blitz into a smooth consistency then stir in yogurt and a twist of pepper. Eat hot or cold

3-Bean Chilli

Poor Hubby, with a fridgeful of veg and lots of recipes I wanted to try I've inflicted a plethora of veggie dishes on him. First vegetable pie then next bean chilli. The familiar smell of chilli greeted him as he came from the front door and you could see his face literally drop when he noticed it was missing his favourite ingredient, meat. Without the soured cream it's vegan. Although it is a veggie dish the beans help to make it meaty (according to Hubby) I've promised him some proper meaty dishes for the rest of the week!

The recipe is cross between my chilli con carne recipe and a bean casserole recipe given to me by the lovely Fi on a foodie forum.

3-Bean Chilli
serves 3-4

1 onion, sliced
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 carrots, sliced
2 tins chopped tomatoes
100ml white wine
450ml vegetable stock
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 can borlotti beans
1 can cannellini beans
1/2 can kidney beans
salt & pepper

1) Fry onions for until they are beginning to soften in a small amount of olive oil, then add the garlic and carrots. Continue to cook for 3 minutes.

2) Add the wine and reduce for a few minutes. Add stock, spices, chilli. Simmer for 35 min, or until sauce has thickened. Add all the beans and seasoning. Simmer for a further 8 minutes.

Carrot & Lentil Soup

After a busy week in work and with Hubby being out today doing blokey things I've decided to dedicate today as "bake and watch great girly stuff" day. So far I've watched an sung along to Hairspray while making soup and then BBC's wonderful romp Casanova is now the soundtrack to the tart (no pun intended) I'm baking this afternoon.

The soup was an ideal way of using up a few vegetables that were about to go past their best. Next time to give it more of a warming kick I'm going to add a pinch of chilli powder. The soup and tart I'm baking will be perfect for a picnic at the beautiful Kedleston Hall tomorrow. Last time we were there they were filming The Duchess so didn't get to see inside of most of the hall.

Carrot & Lentil Soup
Serves 3-4

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp paprika
1 onion, sliced
4 small carrots, sliced
70g split red lentils
200ml orange juice
500ml vegetable stock
Salt & Pepper
2 tbsp plain yogurt

1) Crush the whole spices in a pestle & mortar and dry fry for a few minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (apart from the yogurt) and simmer for 30 min.

2) Blitz the soup until smooth then stir in yogurt. Serve.

Curry Monday - Mushroom Korma

As we've been away for the weekend I haven't had the opportunity to get to the butchers so tonight was a veggie curry. Knowing Hubby can be a bit reluctant when it comes to veggie dishes I was shocked when he came home and announced he had been looking forward to Mushroom Korma all day!

It wasn't like a thick super-creamy korma as I know it, but was still delicious. A quick googling of the word "korma" teaches me that a korma is just a pale, creamy and mild curry dish. As I'm getting better with different curries and their techniques I'm beginning to understand how I can create other curries. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to try a Chinese curry. The recipe below is based on a recipe from 30-minute Indian cookbook.

Mushroom Korma
Serves 2-3

1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
400g button mushrooms, halved
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp ground coriander seed
2 tsp ground cumin
1 small can (220g) tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp single cream
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

1) Heat oil then grntly fry onion until soft. Stir in ginger, mushrooms then saute for 5 min.

2) Add spices, tomatoes and sugar. Cover and simmer for 10 min.

3) Stir in cream and coriander. Serve.

Curry Monday - Paneer

A few months back I tasted paneer in a curry for the first time and enjoyed it. Paneer is a non-melting, unaged cheese that is made by curdling hot milk with an acid (usually lemon juice). It has a mild flavour and like tofu has the ability to take on other flavours. For all you fellow science geeks out there, this is also the same process in which you make milk plastic

I used the curry base from Cashew Chicken, but replaced the chicken with paneer and chicken stock with water. It worked really well. Next time I will use Hubby's cheese press so it won't end up as thin, which in turn should mean it won't break up as easily during cooking. Interestingly different different parts of India have thier own paneer methods.

This Thursday I've been given the job of teaching some of the Junior kids all about Indian food. With only 2 hours and a microwave to hand I'm thinking of taking my range of spices in so the kids can smell them and we may make something like chutney or riata.

Paneer
Makes around 150g

1 litre of whole milk
2 tbsp lemon juice

1) Heat milk in a large saucepan until it is boiling. Add lemon juice and keep stirring. Eventually the milk will begin to curdle leaving you with curds (the solid) and whey (the liquid).

2) Sieve contents of saucepan through a fine sieve or muslin.

3) Turn out curds onto clean chopping board. Sandwich with another clean heavy chopping board and leave to set for 1 hour.

Curry Monday - Tarka Dhal

It's amazing how fast Curry Monday comes around! Due to us being away at the weekend I haven't had the chance to get to the butchers so a Veggie curry was called for. A quick flick through my cookbooks and I found Tarka Dhal. A Dhal is a lentil based curry that is one of the most popular dishes in India and Tarka relates to the process in which the curry is seasoned with spiced oil at the end. It turned out to be the perfect opportunity to try out some of the spices I picked up at Rafi's Spice Box.

It can be eaten as an accompaniment to a dry curry or on its own. We had it with just naan bread and I can now understand why it is described as the ultimate comfort food. It was gorgeous and filling. Also a great standby dish as it uses ingredients that are always available in our house. Even "I don't do veggie food" Hubby enjoyed it.

Tarka Dhal
Serves 2

125g red split lentils (Masoor Dhal)
500ml hot water
1/2 can (200g) chopped tomatoes
1/8 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp root ginger, grated
2 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp sunflower oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1/2 cumin seeds

1) Soak lentils in boiling water for 10 min then drain. Place in a saucepan, add hot water and simmer for 20 min. Drain again, put back in saucepan then blitz lentils until you have a puree.

2) Stir in tomatoes, turmeric, ginger, coiander and green chilli. Simmer gently.

3) In a non-stick frying pan, heat the sunflower oil then add mustard seeds, garlic, chilli flakes and cumin. Fry for 1 min. Pour the dhal into the frying pan with the tarka, stir then serve.

Courgette & Feta Fritters

It's SATs week at the moment so everything is very much up in the air and to throw another spanner in the works, Hubby has started a new job. When I get home from work I've been want something quick and easy to make without it being toooooo unhealthy. Hubby pointed out a recipe for courgette & feta fritters in Delicious a few days ago, so I took advantage of Hubby taking an interest in a veggie meal (which is rare!) and made my own version of the fritters tonight.

I'm not a huge fan of courgette as I find them boring and have slimy school dinner memories of them, but these fritters were really delicious and had a hint of onion bhaji to them. They must have been good as Hubby has requested them again soon!

Courgette & Feta Fritters
Makes 6 fritters

2 medium sized courgettes
1/4 tsp fine salt
4 spring onions, finely sliced
120g feta, cut into 1cm cubes
1 tbsp dried mint
2 eggs
40g plain flour
20g polenta
1 tbsp lemon juice
ground black pepper

1) Grate courgette into a bowl and stir in salt, this helps draw water out of the courgette. Put courgette into a sieve and allow to drain for 20 min. Squeeze courgettes to rid of excess water and drain on some kitchen paper.

2) In a bowl mix all of the ingredients, including the courgettes until thoroughly mixed.

3) Heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil in a non-stick saute pan on a medium heat. Blob a tbsp of the fritter mix into the pan and flattern slightly. Cook 2-3 min each side until golden. Drain on a piece of kitchen paper.

Mushroom and Spinach Pancake Bake

With spring ever so slowly emerging, the pots lined with vegetable seeds are beginning to sprout and open fire is being lit less and less. With this spring excitement Hubby has come all Hugh F-W (again!) and has had a go at curing his own pork and making nettle beer. The pork is still drying and the beer still brewing so in a week or so I hope to write about Hubbies Foodie Adventures...but don't get too excited about the nettle beer. We had a sip of the beer tonight and in Hubby's words "it isn't nasty, but it isn't exactly nice" ...hmmmm I think I'll be staying away from this slightly carbonated home brew that looks worryingly like dirty dish water.

The week of dinners from Delicious continues. I've recently become a fan of the magazine and switched my subscription for GFM to Delicious. The recipes are far more inspiring and don't use as many cheat ingredients as GFM does. Saying that tonight's recipe did call for ready-made pancakes. Me being me, refuses to buy ready made pancakes so made my own. The dish turned out really well. Hubby commented on how meaty the mushrooms were. It's so simple and I'm surprised I hadn't thought about it before. In the future I'm going to try it with different fillings. Sorry for the not so perfect pictures. I forgot to switch the kitchen light on while taking the photo so have had to do some serious photoshopping to get the colour as best as I can.

Mushroom and Spinach Pancake Bake
Serves 2-4

Pancakes
Makes around 6 pancakes

115g plain flour
300ml milk
pinch of salt
1 egg

For the main dish
7 large field mushrooms
1 tsp garlic paste (or 1 garlic clove)
225g spinach, wilted and the water squeezed out
25g butter
25g plain flour
300ml milk
nutmeg
40g Gruyere, grated

1) Sift the flour for the pancakes and salt into a bowl. Crack egg into well then gradually whisk in pancake milk. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour (optional).

2) Heat non-stick frying pan to med-hot. Pour a ladle of batter into the frying pan, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. As bubbles begin to appear under the batter flip the pancake over. Once cooked pile on a plate with a piece of greaseproof paper between each pancake. They can be made in advance.

3) Preheat oven to 180oc. Fry the mushrooms for around 5 minutes, add the garlic then fry for a further minute. Put to one side

4) In a medium saucepan melt the butter then stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook for 2 min then gradually whisk in the milk. Keep stirring as it begins to simmer. Keep simmering until the sauce has thickened. Take off the heat and stir a small pinch of nutmeg and 1/2 of the cheese.

5) Roll up each pancake with some of the spinach, mushrooms and a small amount of sauce. Place in a baking dish. Repeat with the other pancakes. Pour the remaining sauce over the pancakes in the dish and bake for 20 min, until bubbling and golden.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli Pot Pie

I'm on my little lonesome for most dinners this week so have taken the opportunity to eat veggie and try out some new recipes, so expect a lot of updates this week! I'm renowned for eating badly when I'm cooking for 1 so I've planned my whole menu for the week and already have most of the ingredients in. I don't have an excuse not to eat well.

This morning I took the chance to check out the market in town where I managed to pick up lots of lovely veg. Just a shame the people who served me on both stalls were miserable so-and-sos, I won't be visiting their stalls again and sticking to my usual veg provider.

Tonight I made a delicious (if I must say myself!) purple sprouting broccoli pot pie. I was worried the PSB may bleed into the sauce, but it kept it's colour beautifully. I had the pie with some peas plus roasted baby potatoes and radishes, as inspired by The Great Big Vegetable Challenge. The pie is based on the cauliflower and bacon pie I made back in October. I've submitted the pie to The Mini Pie Revolution for their pot pie blog event.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli Pot Pie
Serves 1

handful of purple sprouting broccoli
2 spring onions, chopped
100ml creme fraiche
50g mature cheddar (I use Quickes cheddar)
seasoning
120g puff pastry
egg, lightly beaten

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. Fry spring onions until they have softened. In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients together (apart from pastry) then spoon into the pie dish.

2) Roll out puff pastry to size of dishes then place on top. Pinch around the edges to help seal. Then use a knife to put 2 slits into the piece of pastry to stop it getting soggy underneath. Brush with a small amount of egg. Cook for 25-30 min.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Goats Cheese Tart

The chicks have gone back to school and the house seems very quiet without them. However it was nice to get our dining table back!

Purple Sprouting Broccoli is one of my favourite vegetables and whenever it's in season I make a concerted effort to eat as much as possible. After seeing David at Book The Cook's Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Sheep's Cheese Tart I decided to have a go at making my own version using some of the leftover goat's cheese from the Mother's Day Feast.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Goats Cheese Tart
Serves 4

9-inch baked shortcrust pastry base (do a Delia and cheat with a ready-made one or make your own)
3 eggs
200ml milk
50g goats cheese, broken into small chunks.
handful of small purple sprouting broccoli florets
a couple of twists of black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 160oc. Whisk together eggs, milk and pepper.

2) Sprinkle broccoli florets and goats cheese over the base then pour egg mix over. Bake for 30-40 until golden. Allow to cool for 10 min before eating.

A Big Hug in a Bowl - Creamy Mushroom Pasta

Tonight I'm cooking for one as Hubby is on his way back from Ireland. I hate and I'm useless at cooking for one. Too often do I end up having a bowl of cereal because I don't have the motivation to make anything else. Well tonight I decided I should make an effort. With some mushrooms and creme fraiche in the fridge I set about making a creamy mushroom pasta dish. I really enjoyed it and it was like a big hug from inside while I wait for Hubby to return.

Now, should I leave the remainder pancake batter for Hubby when he gets back, or do I whip up a batch of pancakes now?...the Nutella is calling...

Creamy Mushroom Pasta
Serves 1

splash of olive oil
handful of mushrooms
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 tsp parsley
1 huge big dollop of creme fraiche
80g spaghetti, dried

1) Get pasta on the boil. Gently fry the mushrooms in the olive oil until softened. Stir in garlic and fry for another minute. Stir in creme fraiche and parsley.

2) Once pasta has cooked mix it in with the sauce and serve.

Mini Eccles mince pies

I first saw these mini Eccles mince pies in GFM a few months back. I love Eccles cakes and knew this version would be perfect to take into work for the last few days of term. Like most of my Christmas baking the gold lustre made an appearance.

For pudding later on Hubby and I are going to "taste test" a few of the pies with some Brandy Butter ice cream from a local producer, Needwood Ice Creams. We've had ice cream from Needwood before and it is delicious, even better than Ben & Jerrys!

Mini Eccles mince pies
Makes 30

2 packs of ready rolled puff pastry
500g suet-free mincemeat
1 egg white, lightly beaten
golden caster sugar
gold lustre

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. Lay out pastry on a lightly floured surface. Using a 9cm round biscuit cutter cut rounds out of the pastry.

2) Place a tsp of mincemeat in the middle of the circle. Brush around the edges with egg white, then gather the edges until the mincemeat is completely encased (I became a pro at this by the end!).

3) Place on the lined baking tray, so the sealed edges are underneath. Squish slightly.

4) Brush pies with egg white. Mix sugar with some gold lustre then sprinkle over the pies. With a knife cut 2 small slits. Bake for 15 min, until golden.

A Kind of Bubble & Squeak

I'm more or less back to my foodie self and itching to get back in the kitchen. My appetite is a bit further behind, but I'm getting there. Tonight's tea was a kind of bubble & squeak, it was just the kind of thing I fancied. I did toy with the idea of making it non-veggie for hubby by adding bacon, but decided I have to keep up with the 1 veggie meal a week to prove to him veggie food can be just as good. We had it was salad and crusty white bread. I really enjoyed it and the cauliflower helped give it texture.

Tomorrow I'm making biscuits and decorating them with the kids in school as part of maths. Think weighing, working out quantities etc... It has the potential to go great or horribly wrong, and this will probably happen when the inspector is watching!

A kind of bubble & squeak
Serves 2

400g potatoes
200g sprouts
6 spring onions, slices
leftover cauliflower
2 knobs of butter
seasoning

1) Peal and boil potatoes for 10 min then bash to break the potatoes up slightly. Boil cauliflower and sprouts for 4 minutes.

2) Lightly shred sprouts (I pulsed them for a couple of seconds in the blender) then mix all the ingredients together. Fry all ingredients until it is beginning to brown.

Spinach & Potato Omlette

After the disaster of my lasagna (even though I've made it loads of times before), I decided to make something tonight that couldn't possibly go wrong. Until just under a year ago I had convinced myself that I didn't like omlette/quiche/egg based meals apart from scrambled eggs. I don't know why. As I'm not really an meat eater I decided I really should begin to like eggs. Tonight's most recent veggie dish was spinach and potato omlette. Both hubby and I liked it, but next time I'll add a bit more seasoning. The leftovers will be in my bento tomorrow!

Spinach & Potato Omlette

250g spinach, wilted
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 medium potatoes, finely sliced
8 eggs
olive oil

1) Slowly fry onion and potato in non-stick frying pan until potato is softened. Stir in spinach.

2) Whisk eggs and season. Pour over potatoes, stir until it begins to firm. Once the omlette is almost set put until a high grill to set top. Turn omlette over and put back onto the hob for a couple of minutes.

We're working for my brother at a big sailing event this weekend as photographer/dogsbody/chief biscuit maker and I'm planning to make custard creams and chocolate caramel nuggets . In the coming few weeks hubby wants to attempt Créme Brûlée Bubbles

Veggie Sushi

As I don't really eat seafood I've never eaten sushi. Veggie sushi is quite hard to find so I decided to make my own. They were easier to make than I thought. I put cucumber and pepper in the center of mine, whereas hubby is putting salami (?!?) in his.

The recipe for them was on the back of the sushi rice packet so I'm not going to post it here as I think it varies depending on what rice you use.

I really enjoyed them and will probably make them for lunches. Although the wasabi was probably the spiciest thing I have tasted in my life, I liked the taste.

Tomorrow we're having a BBQ and I'm really looking forward to it. I like being a hostess, plus it means hubby & I can drink and not worry about having to get home!

Veggie Bolognaise

I'm continuing my quest to get hubbie to eat less meat and more veggie. This time it was an interesting recipe I found online for veggie bolognaise. I really enjoyed it and the texture was quite a bit different to other veggi bolognaises. It made a huge portion and have frozen half of it.

Veggi Bolognaise

Serves 4 hungry people

1 onion

1 carrot

1 stick of celery

1 red pepper

1 glarlic clove

2 tbsp olive oil

100g red lentils

1 can chopped tomatoes

400ml vegetable stock

2 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp ground cinnamon

salt & pepper

parmesan

1) Blitz onion, carrot, celery, pepper and garlic in blender. Fry in olive oil for about 7 min, or until soft.

2) Add tomatoes, lentils, veg stock, herbs and cinnamon. Simmer for 25 min.

Veggie Burger

Hubbie is very much a typical bloke who only thinks a meal is a meal if it contains meat. I'm trying to get him to realise that veggie food can be just as delicious! Here is one recipe he really likes as they have quite a meaty texture.

Bean Burgers
(makes 4 small or 2 large burgers)

50g pine nuts
425g can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
85g fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried
1 eg, beaten
sunflower oil, for frying
2 ciabatta rolls for serving in


1) Lightly toast the pine nuts for 2-3 mins or until golden. Remove from pan and set to one side.

2) Put the borlotti beans into a large bowl and mash well. (the more you mash the better the burgers will stick together.) Add the pine nuts, onion, tomato paste, half the breadcrumbs, the thyme and egg. Season to taste, then gently mix together until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

3) With slightly wet hands, shape the mixture into 4 burgers. Coat the outside of each burger with the remaining breadcrumbs. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins. (you don't have to do this, but it helps to keep them together.)

4) heat a thin layer of sunflower oil in a large frying pan and fry for 3-4 mins each side until golden. Drain on kitchen paper, then serve in ciabatta and home-made chips.