Showing posts with label Vegetables Vegetarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegetables Vegetarian. Show all posts
The weather today has been totally pants . . . showers, rain, showers, rain . . . and even more rain!!! With a bit of rain in between the showers! In other words . . . horrid.
The one day this week that we had nothing to do and too blah to go anywhere . . . It's even thundering.
It's even a bit chilly! brrr . . .
Soup weather. Definitely soup weather.
It's a good thing I have a vegetable drawer that needs emptying.
Soup on a rainy day? It's a good thing.
*Vegetable and Cheese Soup*
Serves 4
This is a delicious soup. You can easily make croutons by tossing bread cubes in oil and baking them for about 10 to 12 minutes in a hot oven, until crisp, topping with some cheese halfway through the baking time. Scrummy yummy!
1 ounce butter (1/8 cup)
1 TBS olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery chopped
1 pound 4 ounce of mixed root vegetables, peeled and chopped
(potatoes, swedes, parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes)
1 litre of Vegetable stock (4 cups)
5 ounces mature cheddar cheese, divided (see recipe)
(about 1 1/2 cups)
1 TBS wholegrain mustard
sea salt and black pepper to taste
cheesy croutons to serve
Heat the butter and oil together in a large pan. Add the onion and cook until golden. Add the other vegetables, give them a good stir to coat with the fat. Season to taste with some salt and pepper.
Reduce the heat and cover. Sweat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, just until tender.
Pour the stock into the pan and bring to the boil. Cover and then simmer for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender.
Using a stick blender, puree until smooth.
Grate half of the cheese and cut the other half into small cubes. Return the soup to the heat and stir in most of the grated cheese and all of the cubes, along with the mustard.
Heat stirring until the cheese begins to melt. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
Ladle into heated bowls and top with the cheesy croutons and the rest of the cheese to serve.
What can you do when you get home from work, and you are absolutely starving . . . you've had a long day . . . and the last thing you want to do is spend another couple of hours on your feet cooking ????
You want something tasty . . . and you want it NOW!
A Spanish Omelette is the answer. It uses really simple ingredients, and is quick and easy to do. If you have potatoes, onions and eggs, you have all you need to make a basic Spanish Omelette.
I have jazzed it up a bit by adding some sliced black olives here, and of course some chopped parsley. But you could also add some cooked and crumbled sausage if you were wanting something meatier, or some lightly sauteed sliced chorizo . . . bits of ham and cheese are good too.
Simple, tasty, filling and scrumdiddlyumptious!!! We like to have salad on the side with ours.
Ok, ok . . . "I" like to have salad on the side . . . Todd kinda, sorta "tolerates" salad on the side . . . meh . . . what does he know??? Everything he ate came out of a tin can before we met.
The nice thing about this is, the leftovers are really tasty for lunch the next day, and to take on picnics . . . not that we are doing a lot of picnicking just at the moment . . . but . . . you know, spring is just around the corner!
*Spanish Omelette With Olives*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
Tasty, tasty, tasty. Easy too!
Extra virgin olive oil
500g medium waxy potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
150ml water
3 medium onions, peeled, halved and sliced thinly into half moons
6 medium free range eggs
3 TBS coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
125g pitted black olives, halved
Heat 2 TBS of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the potato slices and cook, then for about 5 minutes or so, turning them now and again, until they are completely coated with the oil. Season with some salt and then add the water. Cover with a tightly fitted lid and turn the heat to low. Cook, covered for 10 to 15 minutes, giving them a bit of a stir halfway through the cooking time. Drain well, when tender. ( A knife will pierce them quite easily) Set aside in the pan, covered, until ready to use.
Heat another couple of tablespoons of the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook gently for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and silky. Stir frequently. Season and then spoon into a bowl. Set aside to cool.
Whisk the eggs with some seasonings in a bowl. Stir in the parsley and the sliced olives. Fold in the onions and potatoes.
Preheat the grill to high. Heat a 10 inch frying pan with a heatproof handle over medium heat. Add 1 TBS of oil. Once it is heated, tip in the egg and potato mixture. Level the surface and then cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until beginning to set. Drizzle with another tablespoon of oil and then place under the grill for 4 to 8 minutes until golden brown. There should still be a slight jiggle in the centre if you are eating it hot. It will firm up as it cools.
One of my most favourite of all vegetables is the humble cauliflower. I just can't get enough of it. If you have a cauliflower in the house, you have a wonderful meal, just waiting to be cooked . . .
Roasted, boiled, steamed or raw . . . there is no end to the ways you can prepare it. I love it in soups, or roasted until it is tender and slightly caramelized at the edges . . .
Laying beneath a rich and cheesy sauce, cauliflower cheese has to be my absolute favourite of all vegetable dishes . . . that is . . . until I discovered this little gem.
Cauliflower . . . humble no more.
*Cauliflower Rarebit*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
Imagine crispy tender cauliflower, laying on a bed of toasted ciabatta, gently flavoured with garlic, beneath a soft cover of cheesey rarebit and then tucked under the broiler until bubbling and browned. Yes, this is heaven, pure and simple heaven.
8 thick slices of ciabatta
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
(about 2 pounds)
1 cup grated gruyere cheese
1 cup grated strong cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated red Leicester cheese
1 TBS Dijon mustard
2 large eggs, beaten
2 TBS beer
4 TBS cream
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pre-heat the broiler. (Grill) Place the slices of ciabatta onto a rack and then lightly toast them under the grill on both sides. Remove from the grill and rub the cut side of the garlic over one side of each slice of bread. Set aside.
Bring a saucepan of slightly salted water to the boil and drop in the cauliflower florets. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until it is tender when you prod it with a knife. Drain very well.
Mix the cheeses, mustard, eggs, beer and cream together in a bowl.
Put the toasted ciabatta pieces onto a baking tray. Arrange some of the cauliflower on top of each one. Divide the cheese mixture amongst the pieces of toast, making sure you cover all of the cauliflower.
Place under the grill and toast them until they are golden brown and bubbling. Let sit for about 5 minutes before removing to hot plates to serve. Season with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
I love fennel. It's one of my favourite vegetables. I am a real licorice lover and so I love it's mild licorice taste. It's wonderful braised and roasted, but my favourite way to eat it is raw.
There are two types of fennel. One is grown for it's seeds, which are delicious in sauces, and the other is grown for use as a vegetable, the most common type being Florence Fennel, which has a bulbous base, stalks which closely resemble celery and feathery fronds on top.
Crisp and slightly sweet, fennel is wonderful served raw in salads, and meltingly mellow and soft when braised, roasted or grilled. It goes wonderfully with other crisp vegetables and is most delicious with fish. A whole salmon stuffed with fennel and roasted is absolutely wonderful.
The bulbs should be heavy and white, firm and free of cracks, browning, or moist areas. The stalks should be crisp, with feathery, bright-green fronds.
You can keep fennel for a few days in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic, but try not to keep it more than a day or two because the flavor diminishes as it dries out.
I made a delicious slaw yesterday with some fennel that I picked up at the local green grocers at the weekend. I think I'll have the rest of it for my lunch today. This was really good.
This delicious slaw makes a light and refreshing change from regular coleslaw. I use my mandolin to slice the fennel and my box grater to do the carrots. But you could use the slicing and grating discs in a food processor as well, which would make really quick work of it. I love the mustard in the dressing. It adds a lovely bite to it. Adjust accordingly if you don't like things with a bite. Make the dressing first so that the flavours have time to really develop.
1 small to medium sized fennel bulb
3 cups peeled, shredded carrots (about 4 to 5 large carrots)
1/2 cup of minced red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
DRESSING:
5 TBS fresh orange juice
1 TBS of White Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 to 1 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
2 TBS really good quality extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
Place all the dressing ingredients into a glass jar with a lid, and give it a good shake. Set aside.
Remove the top greens and stalks from the fennel bulb. Save the feathery greens for the slaw. Trim off any bruised or tough pieces. Quarter the bulb and then cut out the core. Shred half of it using a grater, mandolin or food processor. Reserve the other half for another use. You should have about 1 cup of grated vegetable.
Place it into a medium sized bowl, along with the carrot, onion, chopped fennel leaves and coriander. Toss together to mix. Just before serving, give the dressing a good shake and pour it over the slaw. Mix well and serve.
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