Showing posts with label Vegetarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegetarian. Show all posts
I wanted to cook us something quick and light today . . . fresh, and healthy. I remembered seeing this recipe in the June issue of Food to Love and I had everything in the house to make it and so I put it on the menu!
Not only was it incredibly easy to make, but very quick to make also, using a minimum of ingredients
Courgettes (zucchini), asparagus, chicken stock and brown rice. Oh, and a bit of Parmesan cheese and some fresh parsley. Not a lot really!
I used the pre-cooked brown rice that comes in pouches that you can keep in your store cupboard. I always have some of that stored away. It always comes in very handy!
I prepped all of my ingredients . . . cleaning and chopping the vegetables, grating the cheese, and it went together very quickly. I am sure I had it ready and on the table in less than 15 minutes!
I used a gel pot stock, the kind you get from Knorr, and I used the vegetable one which meant that the dish was completely vegetarian. Well, except for the cheese. I know a lot of veggies don't use cheese because it is a milk product and they don't even use anything produced by an animal.
I've never quite understood that myself. I get the not wanting to eat meat bit, but not the not using anything that is produced by animals. Surely there is not a lot wrong with that, but I might not be seeing it in quite the same way as they do.
In any case this is delicious. With lots of colour and crunch along with a bit of nuttiness from the brown rice.
I love courgettes and I love asparagus, but if you didn't like those I am sure you could create another combination that would be equally as tasty . . . like green beans and peas . . . or, well, just use your imagination. I think almost any vegetable combination would work . . .
Except for maybe beetroot, that is not unless you want to be eating pink rice!
Some people don't mind eating pink food. I am quite fond of beetroot myself! I hope you will give it a go! It would make a lovely quick and tasty mid-week supper!
*Asparagus and Courgette Rice*
Serves 4
Extra Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on the finished dish
For the die hard protein fans in your life you could add some leftover chopped meat of course, but a lovely fried egg also goes very nicely on top. Just saying! Scrumpdiddlyumptious!! Bon Appetit!
This is a vegetarian take on a Spanish classic. I don't want any Spanish Purists having a go at me. Its a recipe which I adapted from a small cookery book I have had a while called Easy One-Pot, published by ryland peters publishers.
Its a compendium of one pan recipes attributed to a number of chefs and cooks. This recipe in particular is one that is credited to Ross Dobson.
I thought it was really colourful and would make the best of some of the early fresh vegetables we are finding in the market at the moment, and if you aren't then you soon will be.
Baby courgettes (that's Zucchini to you North Americans). The young ones are so tender and sweet . . . cherry tomatoes, also nice and sweet, and the short sautéing these gets really helps to enhance this.
Fine green beans . . . cooked just until crispy tender. Baby peas. Frozen are fine. In fact, having grown peas myself, frozen petit pois are the only ones I buy.
You would have to grow stacks of peas to make it worth your while and you would have to buy stacks of fresh peas also to make it worth your while. Frozen baby peas work very well.
Garlic and rosemary . . . fresh is great. I have a rosemary bush. I remember being very surprised when I moved over here and saw it growing in the hedges. Amazing.
Also you will need paella rice, which is a short grained rice and some saffron, which gives the rice that beautiful golden colour.
Saffron can be a somewhat expensive ingredient, but it really is necessary. You might balk when you see how much you get and at what price, but trust me when I say that a little bit goes a very long way.
Altogether this is a really great recipe that goes together in a flash. Especially if you have all of your ingredients assembled ahead of time and ready to go. A sprinkle of toasted almonds and some chopped parsley are the final garnish.
Mine got a little bit browner than I would have liked them as I got distracted, but they did lend a lovely nutty crunch to the dish. I think you will really like this!
*Vegetarian Paella*
Serves 4
5 TBS olive oil
200g red or yellow cherry tomatoes (1/2 pound)
Put the saffron in a cup with the hot water and set aside to infuse. Place half the olive oil in a large skillet (with a lid) and then add the cherry tomatoes. Cook, shaking occasionally, for about 2 minutes, until the skins just begin to split. Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon.
Add the courgettes, beans and peas. Cook, stirring frequently
over medium high heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Scoop out into the bowl with
the tomatoes. Add the remaining oil to the pan. Add the garlic and the
rosemary. Cook for about a minute to flavour the oil.
Add the paella
rice and stir to coat, then pour in the stock and saffron water. Bring
to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook gently over low heat,
stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until all of the liquid
has been absorbed.
Scatter the vegetables over top and cover tightly.
Cook for five minutes longer. Season to taste. Scatter the almonds and
some chopped parsley over top and serve.
This would also make a really delicious side dish for more people if you wanted to use it that way with some grilled fish or chicken, or even red meats. I reckon it would serve 6 - 8 as a side dish. Bon Appetit!
I just adore spinach. If you had told me this would be so when I was a little girl, but I would never have believed you, but its true. I do love spinach. I think my hatred of it as a child largely had something to do with the fact that my mother tried to feed us tinned spinach, which was YUCK YUCK YUCK. There is just no comparison to the fresh spinach we have available for our use today and the tinned spinach from way back when . . . fresh is definilately better on ALL levels!
I love it in salads . . . crisp green baby spinach leaves . . . with its earthy mineral-like flavour. It is especially good with roasted chicken, toasted nuts, dried cranberries or fresh blueberries, some goats cheese and a fruity balsamic dressing.
I love it sauteed lightly with garlic, butter and salt and pepper. It does not take long to cook at all, and garlic goes very well with it.
It's great in omelets and frittatas, risottos, etc, but my favourite way to use it has to be this simple and easy Spinach and Guyere Tart. Its a recipe I got from my friend Audrey many moons ago. I fell in love with it and I can't tell you how many times I have baked this through the years.
It's quick and easy to make and so impressive when done. One thing which I really love about it is the free form crust . . . you just roll out a 12 inch circle and pile the filling onto that, folding the edges up around the outsides to encase the filling. So simple.
Another thing I love is the richness of the Gruyere cheese, which goes very well with that earthy flavour of the spinach . . . then there is the base of basil pesto which gets secreted beneath the filling before you pop that onto the crust. It's just enough to give you some flavour without overpowering the dish . . .
I also love that nutty crunch of the toasted pinenuts you sprinkle over the top of the tart before baking. Oh, I do love pinenuts . . . they are so moreish.
Actually, I think altogether you could say that I just really, really love this tart full stop!!!
*Spinach and Gruyere Tart*
Serves 4A delicious supper dish that can get even the most ardent of spinach haters to eat spinach! It's a free form tart and very pretty.
1 TBS olive oil
1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 pound of baby spinach leaves, washed
300g shortcrust pastry, thawed if frozen (enough pastry to make a 12 inch round)
2 TBS fresh pesto sauce
120g gruyere cheese, grated (1 cup)
1 large free range egg, beaten
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 TBS toasted pinenuts
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.
Heat the oil in a small pan and add the onion. Cook, stirring for about 4 minutes, until softened. Add the spinach and cook just to wilt. Drain all in a colander and press out as much water as you can. Set aside.
Roll your pastry out to a 12 inch circle. Place onto a flat baking sheet. Spread the centre, leaving about 2 inches all the way around free, with pesto sauce. Reserve 1 TBS of the cheese and place the remainder into a bowl. Add the drained spinach, onion, beaten egg, salt and pepper. Mix together well. Place this mixture in the centre of the pastry circle on top of the pesto. Fold up the edges of the pastry over the spinach, pleating it decoratively. You will only want to fold it up about 2 inches all the way around, leaving the centre open. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and pine nuts.
Bake in the heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Cut into 4 wedges to serve.
All you need to serve with this is a salad on the side. Bon Appetit!
After a really busy and full week last week, I found myself craving something simple for tea on Saturday evening. A store cupboard meal and something which would not take a lot of time to knock together. I have this recipe binder that I have had kicking around for a very long time and this recipe comes from that. It is perfect for those lacking in inspiration nights and for nights when you are feeling very lazy but still want to eat something delicious! Tex-Mex Bean Bake. I have no idea where the original recipe comes from, as it is hand written and I didn't make note of the source back when I was doing my binder. All I can tell you for sure is it is very tasty and very old . . . written on a page that is splattered and torn! A testimony to it's deliciousness!
Today was "Torture Todd with Pasta Day." I know, I am a really meanie. He is not fond of pasta. I love pasta. Sometimes I just need to indulge.
When I saw this recipe for a One Pan Farmers Market Pasta on The View from The Great Island, I knew it was something I wanted to make. It looked so fresh, delicious and healthy. Just one problem. Hubby loathes pasta and isn't overly fond of a lot of vegetables either. He was brought up on School Dinners and rationing and our modern vegetables/combinations/pasta dishes don't excite him in the least.
I love to watch shows on the Cooking Channel like Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, and You Gotta Eat Here. I often take notes and try to replicate what I have seen that sounds pretty delicious. This channel is a result of that, except that I lost my notes and so I had to try to remember what went into this delicious looking Panini I saw on the show last weekend. I can't remember where he was eating, but this sandwich looks fabulous and so I tried to make one here at home, with most delicious results!
I found the cutest little baby bell peppers in the store today and I just couldn't resist picking them up! I am such a sucker for baby anything . . . kittens, puppies, duckings . . . baby vegetables!!
What can I say about Ratatouille. Umm . . . it's not a rat that can talk. It's delicious. I love it. In all seriousness it is a very tasty dish, and other than all of the chopping of the vegetables, it's very simple to make!
I thought I better post this recipe before the weather gets too hot to enjoy a bowl of soup. This is a delicious soup we had for supper the other night along with some homemade scones. It went down a real treat on a cool and rainy day!
I make no secret of the fact. I love LOVE Tex Mex Flavours . . . . chili, cumin, coriander . . . cheese, olives, spring onions . . . beans, corn. Lime. Interestingly enough Tex Mex was not a part of my growing up life. I had never eaten anything even remotely resembling Tex Mex until my mother discovered Chili Con Carne . . . a recipe taken from the back of a tomato soup tin. haha . . . not really chili at all, but yes, different than anything we were used to.
When I was a child my family lived for a time in a small town situated on the shores of Lake Winnipeg about two hours North of Winnipeg city itself. I have really lovely memories of the time that we lived there. The first house that we lived in was a duplex bungalow. Our neighbors on the one side were the Dukemon (not sure about the spelling) family and Mr Dukemon often made this soup. Borscht. On the days that he made this the amazing aroma of it would waft over to our house . . . it smelled amazingly delicious. I never got to actually taste it, but the smell of it was pretty tantalizing to my tiny tastebuds. Yes. I was a foodie even then.
I have been taking a Cooking for Diabetes Class thru the NHS on Thursday afternoons for the past month. Today is my last class. I really wasn't sure if I would learn anything by taking the course, but I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised and I have really learned an awful lot. Plus everything we have cooked has been healthy, low in fat, high in fibre and quite surprisingly delicious!
One of our favourite suppers when I was growing up was my mother's homemade baked beans. Oh my but they were absolutely gorgeous. She would start the night before by soaking the dried beans overnight and then early the next morning, often even before anyone else was up, she began her magic with them . . . putting everything together and into her bean crock and into the oven, so that by the time we woke up we could already smell the deliciousness that was waiting for us later in the day!
In my later years I have developed a much more interesting palate and there are things I would cook and try now that I wouldn't have even thought of trying when I was younger. We also have such beautiful produce, eggs, etc. here in the UK, and such a wide variety . . . that I just enjoy cooking and eating with gusto! (And it shows blah . . . )
This is an easy Vegetarian dish I have had on my list of things to make for a very long time. I can't even remember where it came from now. I think possibly it was a Pillsbury recipe, but I can't say for sure. In any case it I finally got it made the other day and it wasn't half bad!
I think Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables, and cauliflower cheese is one of my favourite things to do with it . . . with a dish like that you don't really need any meat . . . rich and indulgent and very, very tasty.
Today I decided to kick it up a notch or two and added a puff pastry crust. Talk about good . . .
I love pies of any kind. If it's got a crust on top . . . I'm well ready to get stuck in!
Are you a fan of Artichoke and Spinach Dip? I know I am! It's one of those moreish dips you see on buffet tables during the holidays that you just can't get enough of. Usually served with torn bits of crusty bread it can be quite addictive!
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