Showing posts with label Vegetarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegetarian. Show all posts
We love Tex Mex style food in this house and these are my all time favourite enchiladas. I had not made them in a very long time, but when we were having lunch with our friends Jo and Colin a week or so back, Jo reminded me of them.
She said that she still uses the recipe I gave to her all those years ago when we were both working at the manor and that it is one of their favourites. I decided then and there that I wasn't going to let too much more time pass before I made them again!
They are a vegetarian type of enchilada in that there is no meat involved. The filling is a very simple one to make. You will need 2 to 3 pounds of butternut squash.
I love butternut squash. Of all the winter/hard squashes it is my absolute favourite.
You cut these in half, scoop out the seeds and then roast them in a moderate oven until they are really tender. I am not kidding when I say that cutting them in half is probably the hardest part of the recipe.
I have never used any other kind of winter squashes, but I am sure any would work well.
Once the squash are tender, take them out of the oven. I let them cool for a little bit, until they are somewhat comfortable to hold.
I generally wear an oven mitt and hold the squash in that hand, and then using a spoon, scoop out the flesh with the other hand into a bowl.
A portion of cream cheese is mashed into the butternut squash along with some spices.
You will want the squash to be a bit on the warm side so that the cheese melts into the mix. I could just eat this mixture with a spoon, its so delicious!
You also stir in a quantity of chopped spring onion, both the green and white parts.
I like to cut the in half (after washing and trimming) down the length of them and then cut them crosswise into thin slices. It makes them just the right size to my way of thinking.
After that you simply fill softened corn tortillas and then place them into a baking dish, seam side down. If you use corn tortillas you will need to soften them as they will crack when you roll them.
Today I used the tortillas that are a mix of corn and wheat and to be honest, they work beautifully. There is no cracking. I actually like the flavour of them better also. But you make your own choice in this.
Finally you simply pour a jar of salsa over top, scatter on some cheese and bake. Easy peasy lemon squeasy. Its really a no fuss kind of recipe. You can make them really spicy by using a hot salsa, or milder using a mild one. (My choice coz I am somewhat of a spice wimp!)
I have never used homemade salsa so I cannot answer to how that will work. I think the store bought variety that you buy near the tortilla chips and snacks department is the best as it is a bit saucier. I am sure you know the kind I mean!
*Enchiladas Calabaza*
Serves 6
Serves 6
I'm not sure where this delicious recipe started. I'm not even sure if it is authentically Mexican. I only know it's an incredibly tasty way to get some extra vegetables into the husband and children. These are fabulous!
2 to 3 pounds butternut squash
170g cream cheese (6 ounces)
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1/2 tsp mild chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp oregano leaves
1/4 tsp salt
a pinch of cinnamon
12 corn tortillas
340g of tomato salsa, spicy or mild as you wish (1 1/2 cups)
240g of grated sharp cheddar cheese (2 cups)
Pre-heat your oven to 200*C/400*F/Gas Mark 6. Butter a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and set aside.
Slice the butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.
Place on a baking tray and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes
until tender. Remove from the oven and then scoop the flesh out as soon
as you can handle them. (I hold them in one hand with a oven mitt and
scoop out the flesh with the other using a spoon to scrape it out into a
a bowl)
Mash the hot squash together with the cream cheese until the
mixture is fairly smooth and the cheese is melted all in. Stir in the
spices and the chopped spring onion.
Lower the oven heat to 180*C/350*F/Gas Mark 4. Warm the tortillas in a skillet until pliable. Fill each tortilla with ¼ cup of the butternut squash mixture and roll up tightly.
Lower the oven heat to 180*C/350*F/Gas Mark 4. Warm the tortillas in a skillet until pliable. Fill each tortilla with ¼ cup of the butternut squash mixture and roll up tightly.
Place into the prepared baking dish, seam side down. Pour the salsa over the
filled tortillas. Top with the grated cheese.
Cover with foil, tightly, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until heated through. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes until the cheese is all bubbly and starting to brown.
Remove from the oven and let sit for a few
minutes before serving. We like to have these with sour cream and more
chopped spring onions for sprinkling on top. Yummy!
I do really hope you will make these. They are fabulous! I serve them with a garnish of sour cream and chopped spring onion and with a salad on the side. Provecho!
I allowed myself to be tempted into buying a huge bag of cauliflower florets the last time I was at Costco. (I also bought a huge bag of broccoli!) There are worse things I could have been tempted by, let me tell you! That place is a veritable Aladdin's cave of scruminess. Don't get me started on the cakes, pies and muffins. I have never bought them, but boy oh boy are they ever tempting! Its only because there are only two of us and I have limited freezer space that keeps me from caving in and buying those! (Especially the muffins!) So anyways, I reckon buying big bags of vegetables is not all that bad of a temptation to succumb to in comparison!
I love skillet type of meals . . . one dish affairs that you can cook and bake all in one skillet. This Aubergine (Eggplant) Parmesan is a real favourite of ours. It's a meatless dish . . . just the aubergines, cheese and a delicious sauce in this one. It is also a bit lower in calories also as there is no breading and frying involved. The fact that there is no breading also makes it gluten free for those of you who are into that sort of thing.
You start off by creating a delicious tomato sauce . . . using tinned
chopped tomatoes, garlic, herbs, etc. and while that is cooking down,
you slice your aubergines, season them, drizzle with olive oil and roast
them in the oven until they are just beginning to soften and turn
golden brown on the edges.
The roasted aubergine and tomato sauce are layered in a deep skillet,
along with lots of grated cheese and then baked in the oven until the
whole dish is meltingly, oozingly, deliciously melded into something
quite, quite irresistible. I served it with some spaghetti for myself, and the Toddster had his with potatoes. You can lead a
horse to water . . . but you can't always make him drink. This
really is delicious people. I hope you will give it a go.
*Skillet Aubergine Parmesan*
Serves 4
This
is a delicious and easy version of the much beloved casserole. There
is no frying so it is a tiny bit healthier, or at least I like to think
it is.
olive oil
180g of grated Parmesan Cheese (1 cup)
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the garlic. Saute for several minutes until very fragrant. Add all of the herbs, spices and salt. Cook for a further minute then stir in the tomatoes, stock, vinegar, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a very low simmer. Cover and allow to simmer for 35 to 40 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Wipe the aubergine with a damp cloth and trim both ends off. Cut into 1/2 inch slices. Have ready a very large baking tray (or two smaller ones) Drizzle the aubergine on both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in a single layer on the baking tray (s). Roast in the heated oven for 30 minutes, flipping them over after fifteen minutes. Remove them from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.
Spoon one fourth of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a medium sized oven safe skillet. Layer on half of the aubergine slices. Spread with another fourth of the sauce and sprinkle with 1/3 the cheese. Top with another fourth of the sauce. Top with the remaining aubergine slices, then the remainder of the sauce and the cheese. Bake in the preheated oven on a centre rack for 35 to 40 minutes until the cheese is golden brown and the sauce is bubbly.
If desired serve with additional cheese, and plenty of crusty bread.
This is really, really good, and if you use low fat cheese, it needn't even be that unhealthy. I always use whole wheat pasta which I love. The Aubergine Parm and pasta together with a salad on the side make for a delicious meal! Bon Appetit!
I adore Lasagne. I know you must get tired of me saying that I adore things, but what can I say? I put my hand up! I am a foodie through and through and I like and adore lots of things!
Lasagne wasn't something I ever tasted when I was growing up. It just did not exist in my world. Spaghetti served with tinned Catelli meat Sauce was as "Italian" as my mother got!
My ex Sister in Law Linda made fabulous Lasagne. It was just wonderful and had a delicious filling of cottage cheese. It was made very much in the North American way, which had layers of meat sauce, cheese, and cottage cheese with a final topping of the meat sauce and some mozzarella. Not cheap to make by any stretch, but very delicious.
When I moved over here I got to experience a more authentically Italian type of lasagne . . . one layered with sauce (meat or otherwise), cheese and a rich bechamel sauce. Seriously tasty.
This vesion here today is a totally vegetarian version, consisting of a delicious tomato sauce, a rich bechamel, all layered with thawed frozen leaf spinach and cheese. Do make sure you squeeze as much water from the spinach as you can so you don't water down your lasagne.
I call it Italian Flag Lasagne because it contains all the colours of the Italian Flag. White, red and green! The tomato sauce is a simple one. Use a good Italian tomato for the best flavour. There is no meat in this sauce, so you want to use a tomato that will really shine!
I also like to use full fat milk for the bechamel. It adds a special depth of richness and flavour. This is lasagne and its supposed to be a treat. You can use whatever cheese you want, but I always use Parmesan and Mozzarella, and today I added feta and some sharp cheddar. The feta because it needed using up and the cheddar for the flavour. I find while it has great melting properties, Mozzarella doesn't really have much flavour. But that's just me. You may think something entirely different!
*Italian Flag Lasagne*
Serves 6 to 8
Serves 6 to 8
This is simple, uncomplicated, straightforward and delicious. A delicious tomato sauce, with some great cheese, spinach, lasagna sheets and a good bechamel.
For the Tomato Sauce:
2 TBS good quality olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and mashed slightly
3 14-oz tins of chopped tomatoes in their own juice
(I like to use a good Italian brand)
about a dozen or so torn basil leaves
salt and black pepper to taste
For the Bechamel:
125g butter (1/2 cup)
85g plain flour (1/2 cup plus 2 TBS)
2 pints of whole milk, warmed (5 cups)
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and black pepper to taste
Also:
12 ounces of fresh lasagne sheets
85g freshly grated Parmesan Cheese (3 ounces)
170g grated mozarella or a mixture of mozarella, cheddar, fontina, etc. (6 ounces)
(In other words which cheese you are in the mood to eat, or what you have on hand)
butter to dot or additional Parmesan to sprinkle (optional)
For the sauce, place the oil in a saucepan and heat it til fairly warm. Add the garlic and cook until it becomes quite fragrant. Add the tomatoes and a good pinch of salt. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes or so until it resembled a sauce. Add the basil and 1 cup of hot water towards the end of the cooking time. Puree until smooth with a stick blender, or very carefully in a regular blender. (You can either leave the garlic in, or remove it as you wish.) Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and some pepper if required.
To make the bechamel, melt the butter in a saucepan and then whisk in the flour. Cook for several minutes over low heat and then slowly whisk in the warm milk. Cook and stir until the sauce thickens and is smooth. Season with salt, pepper and a bit of freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or so on low heat, until you have a very thick and smooth sauce. Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a deep 8 1/2 by 12 inch baking dish. Drizzle the bottom with some of the bechamel. Put a slightly overlapping layer of the lasagne sheets over the bechamel. Dollop with some of the tomato sauce, spreading it out. Dollop another two hefty spoonfuls of bechamel over top and then a layer of the cheeses. Add a layer of the spinach. Add another layer of lasagne, and then repeat with the tomato, bechamel, cheese and spinach as before, and then again, repeating the layers one more time, finishing with a final layer of lasagne and a few tablespoons of tomato sauce and a good portion of bechamel. You can sprinkle with some additional parmesan cheese if you desire, or dot with some butter. Place in the heated oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until it is bubbling and golden brown on top. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.
A little more work than you want to put in for a weeknight supper, this is the perfect weekend or entertaining dish! Add a salad and some crusty bread and you have a meal fit for a King! Buon Appetito!!!
I am a HUGE fan of salads, and vegetables and pasta. Todd, not so much . . . but I am slowly converting him, and bringing him around to my way of thinking. Actually in all truth he loves my salads because, as he says, they are never boring!
Have I ever told you about the little old lady I boarded with when I left school and went out to work on my own before I got married? She made the most fantastic corn soup.
So delicious that forty some odd years later I am still thinking about it. I have yet to find that recipe, but I refuse to stop looking in the meantime on my quest for it, I came across this soup, which is equally as delicious, but in a much different way.
The recipe comes from a cookery book I have had on my bookshelf for a number of years now.
Entitled, From Our House to Yours, comfort food to give and to share, it is a compendium of favourite found recipes which are perfect for gifting, gleaned from a variety of chefs and authors. Its a great book if you can find it!
My little old ladies soup was more of a chowder in flavour, but rich and creamy. This has more of a Tex Mex savour to it, but is also rich and creamy.
It has a bit of a bite from the green jalapeno chili with goes into it, not much, just enough and a slight tartness from lime juice . . . other than those ingredients, everything else is fairly simple.
Vegetable stock (for the vegetarian), corn, celery and leek, with a knob of butter and a bit of seasoning. Simple ingredientd, but wow flavours!
Suggested garnishes were chopped fresh coriander or ripe avocado, but I come from a different school of thought . . .
For me a soup isn't complete unless there is something crisp and cheesy floating on top . . .
And so I baked some cheesy croutes to garnish this. Simply cut buttered slices of bread into whatever shape you want.
I sprinkled it with some Taco seasoning (see my side bar) and then toast in a hot oven. Top with a bit of cheese (I used Pepper Jack for more flavour) and then toast just to melt the cheese.
This was some good and a soup I will make again. It would be a great first course for a BBQ.
I can just imagine people sitting down and enjoying it beneath a leafed pagoda while the sun sets and the bees hum . . . ahhh summer pleasures.
It will be especially good when corn is in season. We don't get great corn over here, so I will never have that particular pleasure . . .
Creamy and delicious with just a bit of spark. You can use frozen corn if that is all you have, but fresh is always better.
2 TBS butter
the white part of 2 large leeks, trimmed, washed and coarsely chopped
1 large stalk of celery, trimmed, washed and diced
1 small green jalapeno chili, trimmed, seeds and veins discarded, and finely chopped
600g of corn niblets (4 cups)
660ml vegetable or chicken stock (3 cups)
the juice of two limes
440ml of whole milk (2 cups)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 ripe avocado, peeled and chopped to garnish (Optional)
chopped fresh coriander leaf to garnish (cilantro) (Optional)
Melt
the butter in a large saucepan. Add the leek, celery and jalapeno.
Cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat until softened without
colouring. Add the corn and sweat for several minutes. Add the stock
and lime juice. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer,
uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Carefully blitz until smooth
in a food processor, or blender, or using an immersion blender. (My
preferred method.) Return to the stove and slowly whisk in the milk.
Heat gently until heated through. Season to taste with salt and black
pepper. Serve hot spooned out into bowls with suggested garnishes as
desired.
Note - other nice garnishes are chopped chives, sour cream, chopped roasted peppers, salsa, guacamole. Choose as you wish!
You might think its too hot for soup, and maybe where you live it is. We enjoy a lovely temperate climate here in the UK, with very few days that are overly hot like that.
*Creamy Corn Soup*
Serves 4
You might think its too hot for soup, and maybe where you live it is. We enjoy a lovely temperate climate here in the UK, with very few days that are overly hot like that.
This went down a real treat today when it was cloudy and a brisk breeze was blowing. They say we may get some thunder storms. I haven't been treated to a good one of those in years. Bon Appetit!
I just adore Gnocci . . . those delicious little Italian potato dumplings that combine my adoration of potatoes and pasta in the most perfectly delicious way!
They are also very versatile. I like them simply boiled with some butter, salt, pepper and cheese . . . browned in butter like fried potatoes, with a tomato sauce and cheese, with vegetables, with meat, with gravy . . . you get the idea. I love Gnocci any way I find them!
You can get them in a few different flavours also . . . sweet potato, beetroot, etc. My favourites however are the basic old fashioned plain potato, coz I'm a simple girl like that.
This dish today is a simple vegetarian dish with a simple sauce that goes together very quickly, in a flash really. You could call this a 15 minute supper!
Sliced mushrooms get browned in a non stick skillet with a bit of cooking spray, or if you are feeling really naughty you could use a bit of butter and oil. (Just sayin!)
Once they are softened and beginning to turn golden, (It helps if you let them sit instead of agitating them, which makes them release their juices and you don't really want that) you add some garlic and cook until fragrant and then . . .
The piece de resistance . . . double/heavy cream . . . ohhh . . . so rich. So tasty . . .
You also add a nice amount of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a goodly amount of fresh baby spinch, letting that cream bubble up and thicken and wilt the spinach . . .
After that you toss in the gnocchi (which you've also been cooking. Takes literally seconds.), well drained of course and a nice smidge of salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Presto chango! Dinner is ready! I like to scatter some more Parmesan on top. I grate the garnish Parmesan a bit coarser so people can see it . . . sit back and wait for the ooohs and aahhs . . . and they will come. Trust me.
*Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Gnocchi*
Serves 4
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
salt and black pepper to tasteCook the gnocchi according to the package directions in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water. Drain well. While the gnocchi are cooking soften the mushrooms in a large skillet you have lightly spritzed with low fat cooking spray. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or so longer. Add the ream and spinach. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook until the spinach has wilted and the sauce thickend. Stir in half of the cheese and season to taste with salt, black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir the cooked and drained gnocchi into the mixture. Sprinkle on the remaining cheese and serve immediately.
You could also add a TBS of grainy Dijon mustard to the sauce if you wanted to. It adds a nice zip. I didn't do that this time. Break out the crusty bread because you are NOT going to want to miss any of that delicious sauce! Bon Appetit!
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