Author: Michele

Categories
Love food Main event Vegan

Aubergine cannelloni…

… with walnut pesto

This recipe was pubished in The Sunday Times back in 2016 and I have been making it ever since. This can easily be made vegan by omitting the cheese, it will still be yummy. I always serve this sprinkled with more parmesan on top as it comes out of the oven. Serve it with some roasted new potatoes and some green veg for a thoroughly delicious meal.

This meal can be made ahead of time and heated when needed.

Ingredients: this quantity is for 2, just multiply up as you need.

2 aubergines, ½cm-1cm thick
Olive oil

For the tomato sauce
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
300g tomato passata
1 tsp dried oregano

For the pesto
100g walnuts
50g fresh basil leaves
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
6 tsp grated parmesan
3tbsp olive oil


Heat the oven to 200C . Brush the aubergine slices on both sides with oil, place on a nonstick tray and bake in the oven until golden on both sides and soft enough to roll, but not so soft they fall apart.

For the sauce, heat a little oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt, and sauté until the onion softens. Add the passata and oregano and simmer for 12-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place all the pesto ingredients in a food processor, season to taste and pulse until coarse.

Place a dollop of pesto in the centre of each aubergine slice, then roll up.

Put the sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, add the rolled cannelloni on top and bake in the oven. If eating straight after preparation, you will need to heat for approx 15/20 mins. If you made ahead of time then it will take longer to bake. You may need to cover with foil during baking.

A sprinkle of parmesan as it comes out of the oven finished it off beautifully.

Categories
Breakfast/brunch Love food

Kimchi fried grains, and fried egg

This is one of our favourite Sunday lunch/brunch meals. I always make extra grains to use in a salad later in the week.

Ingredients: serves 2

  • 2 tbsp flavourless oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts separated
  • 1 carrot, cut into thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler
  • 2 heaped tbsp kimchi
  • 250g of cooked grains – you can cheat by buying a pouch of pre-cooked mixed grains
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 toasted nori sheet, crumbled togarashi, furikake or nori flakes, to serve (optional)

Method

  • In a frying pan or work heat some oil and over a high heat add the white parts of the spring onions, carrot ribbons and kimchi. Stir-fry for 2 mins
  • Add the grains, soy sauce and sesame oil, then stir-fry until the grains are hot; about 2 mins.
  • In a second pan, heat some oil until fairly hot. Crack the eggs in and fry until the outside edges of the white are crispy
  • Plate up with the grains, top with an egg and garnish with the green parts of the spring onions, the toasted nori sheet and the togarashi, furikake or nori flakes, if using. Togarashi, Furikake and nori flakes are all Japanese types of seasoning. Togarashi is a spicy mix, Furikake is a rise seasoning and nori flakes are nori flakes!

Categories
Love food Main event

Quick Broccoli & blue cheese quiche

This recipe comes from a recipe book called The Green Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer, bought for me by my lovely friend Tania. It was the combination of broccoli and blue cheese that spoke to me, and then I was sold on it when I read further and saw it used a ready rolled sheet of puff pastry. It is so quick and easy to make. Its a definite winner on all fronts.

Ingredients: serves 4

  • 320g ready rolled puff pastry
  • 300g broccoli florets, halved
  • 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 125g blue cheese, crumbled
  • 30g walnuts, chopped
  • 100ml single cream
  • 4 eggs
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 clove crushed garlic

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • Line a small deep roasting tin with baking paper and cover with the pastry
  • Scatter the broccoli florets, red onion, chilli flakes, walnuts and blue cheese evenly over the pastry
  • Beat the cream, eggs, lemon zest, salt & garlic together. Pour over the broccolli and cheese
  • Bake in the oven for 30 mins
  • Leave to rest for 10 mins before serving.
Categories
Fish Love food Main event

Tuna burger

This recipe comes from BBC Good Food Magazine. It oozes juice and tastes amazing. In fact the raw mix is so good I can imagine serving that as a starter in a bed of lettuce. We always have this with sweet potato fries. You can get me on the trade description act though here because I roast them not fry them., coated in some oil, salt, smoked paprika and then dusted with semolina.

Ingredients: for two people

  • 300g fresh tuna steak
  • 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
  • small knob fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • handful coriander leaves, chopped (of course I substitute for some parsley)
  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  • burger buns, lettuce leaves, sliced tomato and avocado, to serve

Method

  1. Chop the tuna into small chunks, then carry on chopping until the tuna is roughly minced. If you have one, a large rocker chopper (for herbs) is great for this.
  2. Tip the tuna into a bowl and mix with the garlic, ginger, soy sauce and coriander. Shape into two burgers, place on a plate, then freeze for 10 mins to firm up.
  3. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, then cook the burgers for 1-2 mins on each side or until done to your liking. To be honest though, I wouldn’t actually bother with this recipe if you want it to be cooked thoroughly all the way through. You will lose all the lovely juiciness.
  4. Serve the burgers in toasted buns with lettuce, tomato and avocado

Categories
Love food Main event

Quinoa cakes with wild garlic

When I saw that the wild garlic is ready for picking I just had to share this recipe with you. It is another Ottolenghi special. The quinoa cakes can be made gluten free by using gluten free breadcrumbs or gluten free oats instead of breadcrumbs. Don’t worry if you can’t find wild garlic leaves as spring onion can be used instead. I wouldn’t use the same weight though, unless you particularly like that flavour.

Wild garlic leaves can be used in other ways too – to make soup, in salads, or wilt as you would spinach, In fact I think of wild garlic as garlic flavoured spinach leaves. You can use the flowers to decorate your salad plates as they too are edible. There is a photo below to help you spot wild garlic while out and about, usually found in shaded slightly damp areas. A few spots I know you can find it is Arandene Open Space, Darlands Nature Reserve (Totteridge), Scratchwood open space and the Riverside Park Walk in Woodside Park. You don’t need to worry about the possibility of picking the wrong leaf as its smell is very distinctive.

After I posted this, I noticed this recipe for cheese scones with wild garlic. I couldn’t help myself, I had to do a quick update. I’ll be trying these out tomorrow. Can’t wait…

Categories
Love food Main event

Aubergine cheesecake

I know it sounds weird but trust me this aubergine cheesecake is amazingly delicious. If my word is not enough, I know that when I tell you that its an Ottolenghi recipe you will believe me. As well as being delicious it is also quick and easy to make. You do need to leave it to rest when it comes out of the oven so factor that into your timings.

You can find the recipe on the Guardian website.

I always use more aubergines than the recipe suggests – 3 medium to large aubergines – leaving the filling quantities as per the recipe.

Categories
Love food Main event

Chestnut & cashew nut roast

Nut roast was traditionally the only food ever made as the vegetarian alternative and so it got a bit of a bad reputation. Unfairly in my opinion, especially for this particular recipe. It really is very tasty. If not all eaten straight away it can be sliced into portions and frozen. If freezing, portion out the sauce proportionately and freeze that too.

I have to admit that chopping everything is a bit of a faff but I really do think it is worth it.

Ingredients (8 servings)

Method

  • Heat the oil in a fairly large pan, add the onion and fry for approx 5 mins until softened and just lightly browned.
  • Stir in the carrots & celery and fry for a few more mins, stirring well
  • Remove from the heat and add everything except for 2 tbsp of cashews and 1 tbsp parsley. Mix well.
  • Place everything into a lined loaf tin. Press down flat and then sprinkle on the reserved cashews and parsley
  • Bake for 1 hour on 170C. You may need to loosely cover the top part way through to stop the top burning.
  • While the roast is cooking, make the sauce: heat the oil in a pan and add the mushrooms and garlic. Fry for a few minutes until softened.
  • Stir in the sherry and bubble briefly. Add the cream, season and bring to the boil. You can have the sauce as it is or blend, as we do, using a hand blender.
  • I find it’s best to let the roast rest for a little while before cutting it otherwise it can fall apart. Also, to get fairly even slices, I cut in half and then cut each half into four slices.
Categories
Love food Salads Vegan

Red cabbage salad…

… with nori and ginger

As with many salads, its the dressing that makes it. This one with ginger, sesame oil, mayo and light soy sauce is really quite special. You can have a play with the salad ingredients themselves but I recommend sticking to the dressing recipe exactly as given.

Recipe link

Categories
Love food Other Vegan

Falafel

Falafel is obviously not a new dish for anyone but I guess that these are mostly reserved for a takeaway or as a ready meal. In my humble opinion, these are definitely better than the shop bought falafel. Although, I readily admit that nothing beats those bought on a stand in Israel or from Pilpel in London – my favourite place for lunch. I am sincerely hoping that it can ride out the Coronovirus crisis.

Recipe – makes enough for 6/8; any spare freeze well

  • 450g dried chickpeas
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/4 cup parsley
  • 3-5 garlic cloves
  • 1.5 tbsp flour
  • 1 3/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • pinch of ground cardamon

Method

  • Soak the chickpeas overnight, you’ll need a big bowl for this, they always swell more than I expect.
  • Put all ingredients into a food processor
  • Refrigerate for 1-2 hours
  • With slightly oiled hands, shape the mix into balls ready for frying; or you can do this as you go along as I do
  • Find a pan that you can heat a good amount of oil in; they don’t have to be deep fried, they can be turned but the oil will still need to be a few cm high. I fry mine in a wok and turn over with a metal slotted spoon.
Categories
Love food Vegan

Miso aubergines

or Nasu Dengaku, the Japanese name for this amazing dish. This is one of my two favourite dishes whenever I go to a Japanese restaurant. My second favourite is Black Cod, another miso marinated dish.

Ingredients for the miso glaze (for 2 halves of an aubergine)

  • 1.5 tbsp white miso paste
  • 1.5 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tbsp mirrin
  • 1/2 tbsp sake

Garnish

  • Spring onions
  • Sesame seeds

Method

  • Half the aubergine and score through (without going through the skin) diagonally in one direction and then in the other. Each scored line should be approx 1 cm apart.
  • Put some oil in a frying pan, one you have a lid for, and fry skin side up until the flesh has turned golden.
  • Turn over, turn the heat down to low and place a lid on top. The aubergines are now steam cooking through and are ready when the flesh is completely soft all the way through. This stage will take at least 15 mins but it can take longer so be patient.
  • While the aubergines are cooking, mix the miso glaze ingredients.
  • Once fully cooked, spread the miso glaze evenly over each aubergine half
  • Up to the previous stage can all be prepared in advance: when ready to eat pop in a hot oven for approx 10 mins
  • Serve sprinkled with spring onion and sesame seeds