Pasta with Black Beans and Kale

From a Reader's Digest cookbook that I've had longer than I remember, but which I never really use anymore. I came across this recipe a while back and the idea of using black beans in a pasta sauce intrigued me. They combine with the cheese to make a very tasty and creamy sauce. I bought a prepared bag of kale from my local supermarket, but if you can't find it then spinach would be a good alternative.

Roasted Pepper Soup

As the Starks would say: Winter is coming. And in my house that means one thing: soup!

This is a relatively simple soup recipe but it is still very tasty. I used shallots but you could just use onions instead. This soup uses a couple of potatoes to bulk it up; I cooked the potatoes in the stock to be included in the soup, so as to retain the starch for thickness. The resulting soup was very thick (how I like it) but if you prefer a thinner soup, or you want it less starchy, you could cook and drain the potatoes before adding to stock, or use slightly more stock.

Roasted Vegetable Spicy Couscous with Feta

This is a relatively quick and easy dish, which is great either hot as a side dish or cold as a lunch or side salad. I used red onion, courgette and butternut squash, which all roast up nicely, but you could vary the vegetables to suit your preferences.

Banana, Pecan and Apricot Loaf Cake

Since having a baby two weeks ago, as you might imagine I've not done a huge amount of cooking or baking. This was my first attempt at post-baby baking and it turned out very well, especially considering I made up the recipe as I had some dried apricots and yoghurt that needed using up. I wanted to make this banana cake distinct from my wholewheat banana nut loaf, so I didn't add any spices, but you could jazz this up a bit by adding a teaspoon of cinnamon if you wanted to. 

Creamy Mushroom and Butterbean Pie

This was an experimental pie filling of mine which turned out really well; in fact exactly as I imagined, which is always a bonus when cooking something without a recipe for the first time! Not many pictures of the final product as I served this when we had guests round for dinner, but suffice to say it was yummy. This uses pre-made puff pastry isn't actually that complicated to cook.

White Chocolate, Apricot and Oat Cookies

I had some dried apricots to use up and felt like doing something a bit different. I came across this recipe on Martha Stewart's website and it was fantastic. So good, in fact, that I made two batches in one week - the first were a bit large so I adjusted to make them smaller, but if you'd rather large cookies then just double the amount of mix per cookie. I haven't really adjusted the recipe much, except for translating it into weight (rather than volume) and British English rather than American English (i.e. oats vs. oatmeal). These are more like 'American style' chewy cookies than what I would view as 'English' biscuits. Because these are 'drop' cookies and spread during cooking, you will likely need to do them in a couple of batches.

 

Fennel Pasta with Peas, Lemon and Basil

I've never cooked with fennel before, but it recently came in a vegetable box and I needed to find a use for it. Luckily, I found this lovely recipe in one of my random vegetarian cook books. I was quite apprehensive about cooking this as the smell of fennel is very overwhelming and like aniseed, which I am not keen on. However, when cooked it loses much of it's pungency and instead just gives a nice flavour.

Potatoes, Green Beans and Olives

So we're coming up to the end of what I like to call 'the warm weather recipes'. Autumn is beginning to kick in now in the UK and so my attention turns to soups and stews. However, I wanted to share this lovely one pot recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall. Nothing fancy here really - just potatoes for carb, beans for veg, and olives and garlic for flavour. You could also add halloumi if you wanted a bit of protein/a heavier dish.

Garlic and Rosemary Cannellini (white kidney) Beans

A simple, quick recipe for tasty beans. You could serve these as a side dish or - as I did - as a sandwich filling, a bit like a very simple hummus. I ate them by themselves in a sandwich with a little mayonnaise, but you could accompany them with a leafy vegetable such as baby spinach if you wished.

 

Channa (chickpea) masala

In the past I found it hard to make 'proper' curry but with lots of practice I have gotten a lot better at it. My biggest tip for authentic tasting curry is to use fresh tomatoes, not tinned. Sounds simple (and may be obvious to some?), but it really makes a difference. That and cook your curry for as long as possible. This recipe was cobbled together from several I found online; I used cream because I had some in the fridge which needed using up, but you can omit if you'd like or substitute with yoghurt  You can use any vegetables you want in this curry (you could even omit them entirely) - I used sweet potato and a courgette and the sweet potato took a long time to cook, so if you're in a rush substitute for a vegetable that takes less time to cook. 

Apricot, Almond and Blackberry Cake

Last weekend was the wedding of a good friend of mine from secondary school and one of the requests was that guests bring a cake and the challenge was to have a slice of each cake at the reception (I don't think anyone managed this!). Rather than do the sensible thing and cook my tried and tested wholewheat banana cake, I decided to do that risky thing of trying out a new recipe the night before. I felt like doing something with apricots and scoured the internet until I came across this recipe. Then I decided to substitute some of the apricots for blackberries. The resulting cake turned out really nicely, and the two fruits complimented each other quite well.

I also made two cup cakes with this recipe mix, since of course me and Pete had to try the cake before taking it to the wedding, so if you wanted to you could make individual cup cakes instead. In this case, slice the apricots into quarters rather than halves and use one blackberry per cake.

 

Mediterranean Vegetable Rice with Cannellini (white kidney) beans

One of mine and Pete's favourite dishes to make is something we call 'blue cheese rice thing' (as in 'what should we have. I've been meaning to blog it for a while, but never got round to it, and now I'm pregnant (32 weeks!) blue cheese has been off the menu for the last seven months. Which makes me very sad, and as soon as I've had the baby (sometime in November) I plan to practically eat my own weight in blue cheese, so expect a lot of recipes containing it then!

Moving on to this recipe, it has a similar base (rice + cannellini beans) but no cheese. It was one of my 'I'll just throw some ingredients together and see how it turns out' recipe. Thankfully, it worked really well. The olives are entirely optional but do really add to the dish, so I'd recommend keeping them in, unless you dislike them, in which case go ahead and omit them. I've found in the past that dill can be a really over powering flavour, so if you want to omit it (or don't have it in your store cupboard) then go ahead; I added only half a teaspoon to add to the flavour of the dish without being too dominant.

The dish is sort of like a risotto but using basmati rice instead of risotto rice because risotto rice is a) expensive and b) a bit too much effort. I cook this using the 'reduction method' of rice cooking which basically means adding twice as much liquid as rice (in volume), putting a lid on the pan and leaving it to cook.

Chelsea Buns with Apricot Glaze

Over the bank holiday weekend I felt like baking something a bit different from my usual fare (i.e. cakes), and found this interesting looking recipe for chelsea buns on the BBC website. As ever, I made some minor modifications; I used different (and fewer) dried fruits. It also included orange peel which sounded lovely but I omitted as I had no oranges, and found out the hard way that you can't zest a clementine. Finally, I omitted the icing sugar as Pete doesn't like it, so you might want to add that if you like it. This recipe makes around 9 - 10 buns. They also freeze very well; me and Pete have been eating these buns all this week (although sadly we've now run out) and they still taste quite fresh.

This recipe does take a bit of time as you need to wait for the dough to rise, so it's a good Sunday afternoon/bank holiday recipe.

Roast Potatoes with Shallots and Rosemary

This was originally a recipe for potato wedges but I wanted to make some fancy roast potatoes as an accompaniment to my Tofu Nut Roast, so modified the recipe slightly. The recipe I used suggested baby shallots, and if using them, you can just use them whole. I used normal shallots and just sliced them in half. Of course, if you don't want to use shallots you can always use normal onions. A final tip: keep an eye on your potatoes so that they are not too overdone when you add the shallots/garlic; I haven't got the hang of my new oven yet so my potatoes were quite well done and I was unable to cook the shallots for as long as I would have liked.

Tofu and Mushroom Nut Roast

I've never made nut roast before, but I thought I'd try my hand at a tofu based one and it turned out really well. I like tofu but I don't cook with it often because of the hassle of pressing all the water out; for this recipe I used silken tofu which you can just buy in the supermarket in the asian food section, and it doesn't need to be refrigerated or drained. I used eggs in my recipe but if you're vegan then just omit them (or you could always use an appropriate egg substitute). I cobbled this recipe together from various online recipes I found, so I was slightly worried I'd get the consistency wrong but it turned out perfectly. Not bad for an experimental recipe! I used walnuts, pine nuts, and sesame seeds but I'm sure you could vary the nuts to suit your preferences. 

This makes about 8 servings if cooking a roast dinner. Since there are only two of us (with a third on the way!) in our house, there were quite a lot of leftovers, but it works very well as a cold sandwich filling along with a bit of mayonnaise and lettuce (or whatever condiments you prefer).

 

Creamy Mushroom Bake

This dish is essentially like making a cauliflower cheese but using other vegetables instead, and topping with breadcrumbs, herbs and cheese. You could instead substitute the breadcrumbs for a flour and butter mix (like a savory crumble without the sugar); I was going to do this and then realised I had no flour, but the breadcrumbs were a nice alternative. My choice of other vegetables was dictated by those that were reduced in the supermarket, so by all means use other vegetables if you prefer. Essentially you cook all the veg and mix with a cheese sauce, before topping with breadcrumbs and more cheese. Yum. I served this with plain boiled potatoes but you could serve it with a simple side salad or anything else you fancy. I never measure out my butter/flour/milk when making a cheese sauce, so I've estimated it - you might want to keep an eye on how much milk you put in. Note however you can always thicken it up with more flour (just make sure you whisk it in to avoid lumps) or loosen it with milk.

How to make *amazing* jacket potatoes...

... if you like your potatoes soft and fluffy on the outside, and super crispy on the outside, that is :) No soft and wrinkly potatoes skins to be found here.

You might be wondering what the point is in writing a blog post like this, since jacket potatoes are easy right? Right, it's easy to make a jacket potato that tastes nice (it's also quite easy to mess up jacket potatoes and have some under cooked thing, but that's another story). But I'm talking about a jacket potato that tastes amazing.

The secret to making amazing jacket potatoes:

1. Time/Patience - this recipe does not involve any sort of microwave shortcut!
2. Oil (yes, I know it makes the meal less healthy but I don't care, oil really crisps up the outside nicely)
3. Kitchen foil to wrap, to avoid the skin getting too burnt (though I have cooked without when desperate)

This is not a 'get back from work and rustle up a meal quickly' kind of recipe. This is a 'I have a couple of hours before I need to eat' kind of recipe. Having said that, it involves the bare minimum of effort. Once you do the prep and put the potatoes in the oven, you pretty much leave them be. The recipe instructions may look long but only because I'm making them very precise.

Jacket potatoes are a perfect Sunday-kicking-around-the-house meal. Top with whatever you fancy, though my personal favourite is baked beans with cheese, and some mayonnaise and Encona hot pepper sauce on the side. Yum!

Feta Cheese Summer Frittata

This is my first attempt at making a frittata, and it turned out really well. I used feta cheese in this, but any cheese you fancy will do; goats cheese would also work well, I think.

For best results, you want to use a dish which can be used on the hob as well as in the oven (such as a cast iron ceramic dish), and I've written the instructions with this in mind. Don't panic if you don't though, as I actually didn't have one to hand when I cooked this, so I fried everything in a pan and transferred it to an oven dish. It turned out fine, but the bottom of the frittata was not as well set as I would have liked.

Goats Cheese, Courgette (Zucchini) and Cherry Tomato Pasta

This month will see a drop in the frequency of my blog posts as I wait for my house purchase to go through and live in temporary accommodation for the foreseeable future, but I'm hoping to be back on track with one blog post a week by the time August rolls around...

This is a relatively straightforward and quick pasta recipe; the vegetables are cooked at the same time as the pasta is cooking, so the whole thing only takes around half an hour. Soft goats cheese which has the consistency of cream cheese is best for this as it coats the pasta more evenly than goats cheese with a rind.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I'm moving house at the moment and trying to use up all my store cupboard ingredients, and these cookies were a perfect way to use up some leftover peanut butter. I took them to a BBQ and they seemed to go down quite well. The mixture is quite soft so they are cookies (chewy) rather than biscuits (crunchy).

Tomato and Cheese Rice

This is a relatively simple recipe from one of my random vegetarian cookbooks. It is basically a pasta bake but with rice, so nice if you're gluten free and fancy a comforting dish. The original recipe called for peppers, but I didn't have any so I substituted for green beans and sweetcorn; the dish would work with any mixed veg you prefer. The original recipe called for half a tin of tomatoes, which annoyed me, so I adjusted it and tried to adjust the stock as well. It came out ok, so my conversions must have been fine...

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas and Feta

This is a quite simple, throw some stuff together and roast it recipe, so it's minimal effort. I modified this recipe from a chicken based dish I found over on the BBC's good food site. I quite liked the idea of trying out roasted chickpeas and I would definitely recommend it as it turned out great. They become quite crunchy on the outside but are soft in the middle which adds an unusual (in a good way!) consistency to the meal. The recipe called for harissa pasta which I didn't have, so I found a substitute recipe online. It was very spicy however so if you like things less spice, tone down the chilli content. Finally, props go to Pete as on the day I planned to cook this, I was very ill, and he cooked it for me and even let me annoy him half way through to take a picture for the blog.

 

Penne all'Arriabbiata

A simple, quick, and tasty dinner. The trick to this sauce is to cook the chillies whole in the sauce as it imparts both heat and a lovely flavour of chilli. You can then either remove them once the spice has reached your desired level or - if you want it even spicier - you can remove from the sauce and slice before adding back to the sauce. I used regular medium chillies from the supermarket and it wasn't spicey enough for me, but you might want to keep an eye on the sauce if using other hotter chillies e.g. birds eye. I also made this sauce for two portions and it was very sauce-y, so you could always use this amount for four portions (for example).

Courgette (Zucchini) and Basil Risotto

It's been a long time since I've cooked a proper risotto, as I never buy risotto rice and usually substitute for normal rice (which gives a very different consistency). I came across this recipe in one of my many vegetarian cookbooks and felt like giving it a try. I was worried about the difficulty of making risotto and of having to stir it constantly for 20 minutes, but I found this wasn't necessary and I simply stirred it every few minutes whilst doing other things in the kitchen, and the consistency turned out lovely and creamy. The recipe itself called for dry vermouth, but I didn't have any vermouth or dry white wine (which you could substitute for) so I used half the amount in gin and it turned out well.

Chilli Broccoli Pasta

A recipe from one of my more underused vegetarian cookbooks (I have so many you see, that I tend to forget about some from time to time!) called 'The Vegetarian Bible'. It's a great little cookbook that has  some interesting recipes. I used frozen broccoli in this rather than fresh, as it's more convenient. I also added cheese but this is not necessary at all if you want to watch the calories or are vegan.

Pumpkin, Asparagus and Leek Quiche

Another sunny weekend, another quiche recipe. This was one I threw together based on what vegetables I found for sale in my local shops and what I felt would go well together. It was lovely. I found the pumpkin in an Asian food store on the campus where I work, and I believe it is known as 'Japanese Pumpkin' or Kabocha. You can substitute for any type of pumpkin or squash (or sweet potato if you like). I also put some mustard into the egg filling for a change, though this is optional.

Raspberry Cupcakes

Another recipe adapted from a Cook Veg recipe, these cupcakes are gorgeous. The raspberries are quite tart so I suggest a sweet topping; I put whipped cream on some, whilst on others I did a basic chocolate ganache (see here for an example recipe), but you could also do a sweet cream cheese topping if you like (as in the original recipe).

Lemon and Balsamic Roasted Carrots, Goats Cheese and Thyme Quiche

This recipe is a modified version of this one I found on the brilliant Cook Vegetarian website. If you haven't ever seen the Cook Veg website I'd strongly recommend it as it has lots of interesting and unusual recipes. You can create an account and favourite recipes you like the look of for later use; I've been revisiting my 'plan to cook' saved recipe from the site recently, so expect a few appearing on this blog in the near future. This quiche was lovely and quite unusual, and it was also great cold. The goats cheese flavour is very strong in this recipe, so if you'd rather tone it down a bit, you could substitute half for cheddar or other flavoured cheese.

Most of the changes I made to this recipe were quantity based as they were all wrong (in my opinion) on the original website. I also added balsamic vinegar on a whim, and used double cream. I've put instructions for making the pastry from scratch, but if you don't have the time/inclination, just buy ready made shortcrust pastry.

Cottage Cheese and Chive Pie

This is an old readers digest recipe; I got it from my boyfriends mother years and years ago (pre-vegetarian) after eating it at his parents house one weekend. It's essentially a cheese and onion pie, but using cottage and cheddar cheese alongside onions and chives. Fresh chives work really well if you have them; we used to grow chives in the garden of our old house but since moving, I've had to rely on dried chives and it works just fine. I tried to make things easier by using pre-rolled puff pastry, but it was the wrong shape and I had to roll it out anyway, so you may as well just buy the block puff pastry which is often a bit cheaper.

 

Leek and Cannellini Bean Soup

This is a light, simple and tasty soup, perfect for the spring weather (which has unfortunately yet to arrive in the UK yet). It's a relatively hassle free recipe which takes very little effort. This is another Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe which I've adjusted slightly - he used fresh herbs but I substituted dried, and he also suggested using chilli oil, but since I didn't have any, I just used olive oil instead.

Carrot and Coriander (Cilantro) Soup

Well here in the UK the winter seems to be sticking around for a bit longer and generally overstaying it's welcome. This is a lovely warming soup that is perfect for heating you up on a cold evenings. The nutmeg and lemon juice add a nice edge to the soup, but if you prefer to omit them, please do. Similarly, the cream is simply there for for consistency, so if you'd rather leave it, feel free.

Spiced Apple, Pear, and Ginger Loaf

It's been a busy few weeks and I've had no time for blogging recently; hopefully with the end of term looming I will have a bit more time to blog in the near future. This is a recipe for a marvelous cake that I made recently; I wanted to make a pear/apple ginger loaf but struggled to find a suitable recipe, so I did what I usually do and combined several. It took a few tries before I got the recipe right but this one turned out lovely - the golden syrup really gives a lovely moist consistency to the cake, and the stem ginger tastes fantastic.

Red Onion, Tomato, Pesto and Mozzarella Tart

I tend to think of tarts as spring/summer dishes, but recently had an urge to make a puff pastry dish. This is a pretty straightforward tart to make and tastes great hot or cold; I was lazy and bought pre-rolled puff pastry so all I had to do was assemble and cook. I added the mozarella after the tart had been cooked, as I really love uncooked mozeralla, but you could just add it to the top before baking if you prefer. I also used a mixture of large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes; cherry tomatoes have a nicer taste, but take a lot more time to prepare.

Naan Bread

I tried out making naan bread for the first time recently and was very pleased with how they turned out. Different recipes seem to suggest different methods (and different ingredients) and I'm quite pleased with this recipe, though I cooked the naan in a frying pan and I think it might have been better to grill them instead, so you could try that. I stuck with plain naan bread for now but it would be relatively straightforward to make garlic/coriander naan by adding the extra ingredients at the cooking stage. This recipe makes a lot of naan bread, but it does take a little bit of time to cook them, so it's worth making lots as you can wrap the naan bread in foil and freeze them to eat at a later date. This recipe uses yeast, but if you'd rather use a recipe without, you might want to try this one.

Broccoli, Stilton and Walnut Pasta

This is a relatively simple and easy to make dish; the recipe came out of one of those evenings when I got back from work and there was not much 'fresh' food in the house and I couldn't be bothered to go shopping. I had some Stilton that needed using up and some frozen broccoli in the freeze so thought I'd combine them in a pasta sauce. I normally have some walnuts in the baking cupboard and I thought for a change I'd try adding it to this pasta sauce. It worked really well, adding a lovely flavour and texture.