Tag Archives: vegetarian

Grilled cheese sandwich

24 Sep

Grilled cheese sandwich

Mum made two kinds of grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. The first was a crappy, open-face sandwich that involved slapping a plasticky cheese slice on a slice of bread and melting it under the broiler. This was always adorned with a  little ketchup smiley face.

The second kind involved two slices of buttered bread and real cheddar, and was cooked slowly in the electric frying pan until it transformed into crispy-melty-cheesy deliciousness. To my disappointment, we ate a lot more of the first kind… Continue reading →

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Summer blueberry tart

20 Sep

 

blueberry-tart-2

I wanted to slip this recipe for summer blueberry tart in before summer officially ends on Monday. We’re having a lovely September, but there’s no escaping the feeling of something ebbing away. The warning bite in the morning air, the lingering mists, the falling leaves. Even at midday, the sun no longer packs an espresso punch – it’s filtered coffee sunlight for us from now on… Continue reading →

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Sayonara baby

18 Sep

Sayonara baby

At the end of July, we decided to throw a party for my birthday in September. So we sent out a raft of invitations… and then pretty much forgot about it until last weekend when it struck us, “Ay caramba! We’ve got several dozen people turning up next Saturday!”

We had the first requirement for a successful party – lots of people – sorted. Which left the second requirement… a killer cocktail. Get lots of people drinking cocktails at the same time and a great evening is pretty much guaranteed. Continue reading →

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Gado gado

16 Sep

Gado gado

To my regret, I have yet to visit Indonesia. The closest I’ve managed to get so far is watching The Year of Living Dangerously – and eating delicious Indonesian dishes like gado gado.

Making gado gado is all about the preparation – boiling potatoes and eggs, steaming green beans, blanching cabbage and beansprouts, frying the tempeh, and achieving a perfect balance of flavours in your peanut sauce. After that, simply a matter of a few moments to pile everything on a plate and tuck in.

Continue reading →

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Black bean salad

14 Sep

Black bean salad

This black bean salad has a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a salad? A salsa? A filling?

When I worked in central London, I’d regularly pack this black bean salad for my lunch. It travels well and the  flavours improve over time. I’d eat it as it is, maybe with some crackers,  or use it to fill a wrap. It’s also good mixed with an equal amount of cooked quinoa or other grain.

Continue reading →

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Diced potatoes with spinach

12 Sep

Spinach potato curry
This potato and spinach dish is what I call a dry curry – there is no liquid used in the cooking, resulting in no sauce. It’s an easy weekday, store-cupboard meal. I prefer it with fresh spinach, but frozen also works.

The original recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, one of my all-time favourite cookbooks. Continue reading →

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Baking powder biscuits

8 Sep

Baking powder biscuits

My mother used to say, “use a new word ten times and it’s yours”. She applied the same method to teaching me to cook. When I was eight years old, she had me make baking powder biscuits ten times over a couple of weeks, until I mastered them.

Many years later, I still remember the recipe and adapt it to all sorts of things. I make them larger and smaller, thicker and thinner. I sometimes add cheese or herbs to the dough (cheddar and dill biscuits are particularly nice). I always save any bacon fat or chicken fat in the fridge, and it makes a delicious biscuit when swapped for the margarine. Continue reading →

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Spinach, date and almond salad

6 Sep

Spinach, date and almond salad

This spinach, date and almond salad from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook was all over the food blogs a couple of years ago. With good reason – it’s a stunner of a salad, and relatively straightforward to prepare.

Dates and onions are marinated in a little vinegar, chunks of pitta and almonds fried in butter and dusted with chilli flakes and sumac, before being tossed with baby spinach. I ottolenghed it up for my brother and his family when they  arrived visited from Canada. Continue reading →

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Butterbean and tomato soup

4 Sep

Butterbean tomato soup

I could live on soup, especially thick, puréed ones like this butterbean and tomato soup. Cooked butterbeans have a soft, floury texture, which makes them a great soup base, though I imagine cannellini beans would work here as well.

This is one of those dishes that tastes like more effort has gone into it, which I attribute to the addition of sundried tomatoes. The recipe comes from Rose Elliot’s Vegetarian Fast Food.  Continue reading →

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Lime and Thai basil sorbet

31 Aug

Lime and Thai basil sorbet

I found this recipe for basil-lime sorbet in a magazine I was leafing through in the doctor’s waiting room. I thought it sounded interesting, and jotted it down. The first time I tried it, I didn’t much like it, but decided to try it again with Thai basil.

What a transformation… The liquorice-cinnamony Thai basil combines beautifully with the sweet lime syrup to produce a palate cleansing, mouth tingling, refreshing sorbet. I often serve it with strawberries, but blueberries also work really well. Continue reading →

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Grasmere gingerbread

29 Aug

Grasmere gingerbread

Grasmere gingerbread is something I make when supplies are running low. It has only five store-cupboard ingredients – and doesn’t even call for an egg. I came across the recipe in the Observer newspaper years ago, and remember they included two versions – one simple, the other slightly fussier. (I’ve since discovered the original recipes are from Jane Grigson’s English Food).

I tried the simple one first, and decided after only one bite that it was plenty good enough for me. The recipe is so easy, it sounds like the crust one might make for a cheesecake or square. But there’s definitely more going on here. The crumb is exceptional, with an initial give before you encounter a chewy resistance in the middle. Continue reading →

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Recoleta clericot

27 Aug

Recoleta clericot

The recoleta clericot is a clever cocktail, with a careful balance of tastes and flavours – bitter Cinzano, acid-sweet orange juice, delicate herbal notes and the alcoholic wallop of gin, the distinctive flat melon flavour of cucumber, and ginger ale’s dancing top note. I came across this recipe in Waitrose Food magazine a couple of summers ago, and we’ve been quaffing them regularly ever since. Continue reading →

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Mushroom piroshki

19 Aug

Mushroom piroshki

My mum would make these little mushroom piroshki at Christmas, where they were a welcome counterpoint to all the sweet treats. I have no idea where this recipe came from originally – I found it on a handwritten card in mum’s recipe box when I was gathering recipes for Fern’s Food. Continue reading →

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Macaroni and cheese with crispy topping

17 Aug

Macaroni and cheese

Somebody gave me a copy of Annabel Karmel’s Baby and Toddler Meal Planner when Nova was born. Once I got past the freezing purées in ice cube tray stage, I moved onto her recipe for macaroni cheese. I’m pretty sure it’s the only recipe I ever made from it, and have long since given the book away.

The squirt of ketchup in the cheese sauce is something I wouldn’t have thought of myself, and the crispy topping is a nice touch. I’ve always made my macaroni cheese with a good, strong cheddar – and all the many children I’ve fed this dish to have happily scoffed it down. I eat mine with a  good dollop of Dijon mustard on the side.

Continue reading →

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Blueberry crumb cake

15 Aug

Blueberry crumb cake

This blueberry crumb cake is the first thing I’ve baked in the new oven. While I’m obviously very happy to have a new appliance, I was used to the old one’s idiosyncracies and adapted my cooking to accommodate them. It’s going to take while to suss out this new kid in town… Continue reading →

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Butterbean dip

12 Aug

Butter hummus

I turned the too-soft butter beans from the other night’s dinner into this impromptu dip. You could easily make it with a tin of butter beans instead. Definitely one to make again – it will be a nice change from the girls’ regular lunch  of hummus-olive-pitta sandwiches. Continue reading →

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Pea and mint soup

10 Aug

Pea mint soup

I’m very surprised that we’ve made it to August before I made this chilled pea mint soup, especially as we’ve been enjoying such atypically sunny weather. This recipe is usually one of my summer staples.

I love cold soups, but I know they’re not for everybody. Happily, this soup tastes equally good served warm, and garnished with a sprinkling of fried pancetta cubes. Continue reading →

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Sri Wasano’s infamous rice salad

6 Aug

Sri Wasano's rice salad

Sri Wasano’s infamous rice salad featured regularly in my veggie years, when the Moosewood Cookbook was my go-to source of inspiration. The recipe sounded impressive, looked exotic, and tasted great.

I’ve always wondered who Sri Wasano was and whether the salad has any connection whatsoever to Indonesia. A two-minute web search uncovered an interview with author Molly Katzen. She revealed that the recipe was a version of a version of a dish someone she knew once ate in an Indonesian restaurant in the Netherlands – and that it had nothing whatsoever to do with anyone called Sri Wasano.

While the list of ingredients seems long, the salad comes together quickly, the dressing is sensational, and the texture contrast between the chewy rice, juicy pineapple, and crisp vegetables is interesting (in a good way). If you’re concerned about eating raw beansprouts, blanch them in boiling water for a minute or so, then drain and refresh under cold water before adding to the salad. Continue reading →

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Nachos

5 Aug

Nachos

Done well, nachos are a wonderful thing. And when it’s so easy to do them well, it’s frustrating how often they are a disappointment.

Here are some tips, based on my experience of making nachos at home:

  1. Chips: Use the right sort of tortilla chips – plain, triangular, no fancy flavourings or shapes.
  2. Layering. Build your stack of nachos in layers, scattering toppings each time you add more chips.  You want melted cheese throughout the heap fusing the chips together, not sulking in unappetizing puddles. And don’t overdress the top – this just steams the chips.
  3. Toppings: Grated cheese, sliced black olives, sliced green onions, finely chopped tomato, or pickled jalapenos – all good. Meat products not so much, and coriander leaves just burn, so save them for the salsa. Anything else is a no-go around here.
  4. Temperature: Don’t cook nachos at too high a temperature, or the top will burn before all the chips have a chance to crisp up. 375°F is about right. I’ve also used the gas barbeque, well heated then dropped to medium-low. Three or four minutes with the lid down resulted in perfect nachos.
  5. Dips: Salsa, guacamole, sour cream – either dolloped on top after taking the nachos out of the oven, or served on the side. You need to eat them more quickly with them on top – but that’s never been a problem…

Continue reading →

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Margarita

2 Aug

Margarita

Once I’d decided to make nachos, knocking up a batch of margaritas was a no-brainer. For the first round, I followed the family recipe in Fern’s Food – 3 parts tequila, 2 parts Triple Sec, and 1 part Roses lime cordial. Drinkable, but too sweet for my palate – and didn’t quite tick the margarita box either.

For the second round, I went 2:1 tequila to Triple Sec and replaced the lime cordial with freshly squeezed lime juice… and it was just right. Salud! Continue reading →

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Lemon ice cream

31 Jul

Lemon ice cream

This lemon ice cream is a stunner. It’s unanimously our favourite ice cream around here – and that’s including chocolate. The salt is absolutely key to this dish – creating a perfect balance between sugary sweet and lemony sour.

I was given this recipe by a friend, after she served it at a dinner party, so have no idea who to credit for this marvellous creation. It’s delicious with fresh strawberries. Continue reading →

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Asian slaw with citrus miso dressing

30 Jul

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I was going to steam some mange tout to accompany the salmon phyllo parcels, but decided to shred them into an Asian-style slaw instead. I just go with whatever vegetables I have on hand – cabbage, carrots, peppers, bean sprouts, celery, and daikon radish are all options.

I usually add grated ginger to the dressing as well, but I thought the fish had that base covered. Continue reading →

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Pesche ripiene (amaretti-filled peaches)

29 Jul

Pesche ripiene

I make these baked peaches every summer without fail. They take only ten minutes to prep, smell wonderful while cooking, and are delicious  warm or cold. I also enjoy the cleverness of adding an edible “pit”. Elizabeth David includes this dish in Italian Food, but my version is based on the recipe in Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. Continue reading →

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Tzatziki

28 Jul

Tzatziki

Tzatziki is something I’ve made ever since I left home for university – and something I’ve never tired of eating. My tzatziki is pretty stripped back – just Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, olive oil and salt, with maybe a squeeze of lemon juice if it needs brightening up. I have no interest in adding dill, mint, parsley, vinegar, sour cream, mayonnaise… or anything else I’ve seen in other tzatziki recipes.

Now that our cucumber vines are bearing fruit, I expect we’ll be eating a lot more tzatziki in the weeks ahead… Continue reading →

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Blueberry bran muffins

27 Jul

Blueberry bran muffins

We’ve been making these muffins pretty much every weekend since I included them in Fern’s Food more than ten years ago.These are known as Margo muffins around here – after the family friend who provided the original recipe.

The fruit varies with what’s in the house. Banana walnut with a slug of maple syrup is good, as is grated apple and cinnamon, chopped pear and ground ginger, or even a couple of handfuls of raisins.

We make a serious dent in them the morning they’re baked, then add any that are left over to packed lunches over the week. Continue reading →

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Cherry sorbet

25 Jul

Cherry sorbet

At the supermarket yesterday, I saw a pack of twenty cherries on sale for £3.99. That’s 20p a cherry! Growing up in British Columbia, we ate delicious Okanagan produce all summer long – especially Bing cherries, peaches and tomatoes. My grandmother’s cherry tree produced so much fruit she could scarcely keep up with it, and she dried bucketfuls of cherries each year.

Stopped at the Iranian grocers on the way home and picked up two kilos of cherries for £7 – a much more reasonable price. We scoffed half of them straightaway, after which I made this cherry sorbet. The recipe comes from David Liebowitz’s cookbook, The Perfect Scoop. Continue reading →

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Banana bread

23 Jul

banana bread

I think Adam must be the only person who eats bananas around here. Or at least who eats bananas that have a single bruise or brown spot. Which is why I always end up with overripe bananas sitting sadly in the fruit bowl, while the nectarines, flat peaches, grapes and kiwis disappeared around them.

I sliced up two and stored them in the freezer to add to smoothies or make banana “ice cream” with. The other two I mashed up and made into banana bread. This is the banana bread my mum made. The recipe comes from The All New Purity Cookbook, the bible of Canadian cooking – at least when I was growing up.

Now that school’s out for summer, I don’t have to worry about adding nuts to my baking. Like the nuts, the rum is optional. I like the way it works against the sweetness of the banana, and the kids don’t seem to mind… Continue reading →

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Basic white bread

21 Jul

Basic white bread

When I went to make Lyra’s packed lunch for her multisport club this morning, I found we were out of bread. Not even a freezer-burnt pitta or bagel that I could call into service… Instead of getting dressed and walking to the corner shop, I decided to bake something.

This basic white loaf is dead easy to make. It uses instant yeast, has a single rise in the pan while the oven preheats, and bakes in about half an hour. From a 7am start, I was able to pack her off with her sandwiches at ten to nine. Continue reading →

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French potato salad

20 Jul

french potato salad

Of the three or four potato salads I make regularly, this pared-back French version is my favourite. With only five ingredients, quality matters – small salad potatoes, a grassy olive oil, fresh herbs, and tarragon vinegar (though a nice white wine vinegar works too). The original recipe comes from Nigel Slater’s Real Food. Continue reading →

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Kiwi martini

19 Jul

kiwi martini

Martini, mɑːˈtiːni/, noun. A cocktail made from gin (or vodka) and dry vermouth, typically garnished with an olive or a twist of lemon. (Oxford Online Dictionary)

 So strictly speaking, this isn’t a martini at all, but a frosty glass of vodka-spiced fruit pulp. It is also delicious, and just the thing to mark the start of the school holidays. (For me, that is – Lyra had a J2O…) Continue reading →

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Pesto pasta

17 Jul

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This unaccustomed spell of hot weather has my basil plants growing like they’re in Italy. And with Adam and Nova both away, I had another good reason to make Lyra’s all-time favourite supper of pesto pasta.

Fresh pesto is so much nicer than the stuff in jars, and takes only a few minutes to make. I don’t bother measuring the ingredients. If I don’t have pinenuts, I’ll use almonds or hazelnuts, and am equally happy with pecorino or parmesan cheese.

The quantities below should make enough pesto for a pasta dinner for four. If you have pesto left over, store it in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil poured over the surface to keep it from oxidising. Continue reading →

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Strawberry water

15 Jul

strawberry water

It always makes me happy to find a culinary use for things – like strawberry tops – that would otherwise be wasted. And when you read that more than 500 British children a week are admitted to hospital to have teeth extracted as a result of too many sugary drinks and fruit juices, it makes me even happier that my girls seem satisfied to drink this strawberry water. I wouldn’t call it a recipe – I’m pretty sure I just saw a picture of this on Pinterest and worked things out from there… Continue reading →

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Strawberry ice cream

14 Jul

strawberry ice cream

This is what I feel like having for dinner tonight – but I’ll probably have some World Cup food leftovers first… I always make this ice cream when strawberries are in season. The recipe is David Lebovitz’s strawberry sorbet from The Perfect Scoop – I just add some cream before churning. Continue reading →

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Caipirinha

13 Jul

caipirinha

And with this caipirinha recipe, we bring 2014’s World Cup food project to an end. The whole family has enjoyed the variety it has introduced to our family meals – without it, we may never have shared a communal bowl of pounded yam for our lunch, or discovered the amazing deliciousness of those peanut-coated Nigerian suya or Colombian barras de limón.

That’s why we’ve decided that we are going to continue trying new recipes from around the world. Not at the same pace as the last month – more like once or twice a week. I’ll post them here for anyone that’s interested, and maybe by the time World Cup 2018 rolls around, we’ll have eaten something from every country that has competed in the qualifying rounds… Continue reading →

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Brazilian cabbage salad

13 Jul

cabbage salad

I served this cabbage salad along with the panqueqas de carne for our Brazilian World Cup dinner – something fresh and healthy to balance out all that meat and cheese. I found the recipe on the Two Little Chefs website. Continue reading →

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Brigadeiros

13 Jul

brigadeiros

Brigadeiros are little balls of chocolatey deliciousness rolled in sprinkles or shredded coconut. The girls were very happy indeed when I produced these a second time in just over a month. I followed a recipe I found in the June 2014 Waitrose magazine. Continue reading →

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Baleadas

12 Jul

baleadas

Made baleadas for lunch to represent Honduras in our World Cup cooking challenge. This dish was right up our alley – the tortillas were soft and fluffy, and delicious filled with refried beans, cheese, slices of avocado and topped with chismol – a fresh vegetable salsa. I followed the flour tortilla recipe on the This is Honduras website, but just made my usual refried beans. Continue reading →

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Chismol

12 Jul

chismol

I was surprised to notice that the recipe I’d found for chismol didn’t contain any chilli. But when I looked at a few others they had little or none, so I stuck with the version on the This is Honduras website. Nova loved this salsa, and polished off the leftovers with a spoon after we’d finished the baleadas. Continue reading →

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Pantzarosalata

11 Jul

pantzarosalata

This puréed beetroot salad is another recipe from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian cookbook that I’ve been making for years. We eat it with blini, and with oatcakes as an appetizer before our Burns Night haggis. Continue reading →

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Stamppot

9 Jul

stamppot

There are lots of recipes for stamppot, using different combinations of root vegetables and greens. I opted for “boerenkool stamppot”, mainly because it used up the rest of the kale I bought for the caldo verde. Most of the recipes called for bacon, but as I was serving the stamppot with slavinken, I left it out and added some diced gouda cheese instead. Continue reading →

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