Category: Love food

Caramelised garlic tart

This recipe introduced me to caramelised garlic – a new and rather special taste. Everything else in this tart is as you would expect (cheese, squash, eggs etc) but raised to a new level by the garlic. Congratulations and thank you to the Hemsley sisters.

Link to recipe.

For some, this tart also has the added advantage of being gluten free.

Tips:

Prepare your garlic, pastry base and roast squash ahead of time – the day before is ideal
Substitute feta for the goats cheese if preferred
I don’t bother rolling out the pastry but distribute small pieces around the tin then mould it into the case; I also don’t use all the pastry as I find it is too thick.
Any left overs freeze well.

Carrot pancakes

These are not really pancakes as you and I know them but more of a fritter. They are an amazing combination of flavours with an Indian vibe. The recipe is one by Maria Ella and genuinely very easy to make. I have served them exactly as Maria suggests for a classy looking starter but most commonly have them together with salads or other veg sides for a main course. I often make a double batch of these and freeze them. They reheat brilliantly in the oven, defrosted or straight from frozen.

One more feather in the cap of these wonderful carrot panackes/fritters is that they are totally vegan.

Recipe link

Love food Salads

Red cabbage, carrot & smoked almonds

Post author By Michele
Post date December 5, 2020
No Comments on Red cabbage, carrot & smoked almonds

As I promised last week, here is another winter salad for you to try out. This one comes from Nigel Slater’s Greenfeast book: autumn, winter. Winter can feel quite long and tedious, none more so than this year, so I am very pleased to have this book for fresh new ideas that use seasonal vegetables. This salad has a bit of a Scandi feel with the pickled onion and sour cream. It keeps pretty well in the fridge for a few days, good for lunches.

When you take a look at the recipe on the link below and compare it with mine you’ll notice it looks a little different. This I think that this is due to food photography not truthfully following the recipe instructions. In the official photography, the soured cream has not been folded into the salad. The photo may look better but I don’t like this playing with the truth. It’s like air brushing but for food.

Recipe link

Tip

When making this recipe you may find the pickled flavour a little strong so I recommend starting with half of the 4 tablespoons pickling liquor when making the dressing. Add the rest a little at a time to allow you to check the taste as you go – and stop when the flavour is just right for you.

Love food Salads

Roast carrot salad

My latest food challenge is to build up a collection of salads which are primarily made with vegetables and fruits that are readily available in the European winter (apologies to my overseas readers). I’ll add more recipes over the coming weeks but to remind you, already published recipes include winter apple, squash and kale salad; red cabbage & edamame salad; and grated salad.

Today’s salad is from Ottolenghi’s latest book, Flavour (page 187), together with Ixta Belfrage. It’s easy, tasty and can easily be made in advance. I halved the carrots but made up the whole chamoy as I thought it would be hard to half and Ottolenghi (oh great one) suggested it would keep in the fridge for a week, to be used for more salad or as a condiment to accompany roast veg.

Method

Preheat oven to 240C (fan)
In a large bowl mix the carrots with the oil, maple syrup, 1.25 tsps of salt & a good grind of pepper. Spread out as much as possible on a baking tin, lined with baking paper . If necessary spread out onto two trays to make sure they’re not crowded. Roast for 18 mins – the carrots should be browned but still have a bite.
Meanwhile, blitz the chamoy ingredients with 1/4 tsp salt in a spice grinder or mini food processor.
As soon as the carrots are roasted, transfer to a large bowl with the chamoy mix and leave for 20 mins for the flavours o develop.
Mix the carrots, herbs and apricots and transfer to your serving dish. Finish with the almonds, lime and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Breakfast/brunch

Chilli cheese toast

It is a rare Sunday that we don’t have eggs for lunch/brunch. We’ve built up a wide repertoire of different egg recipes, such as shakshuka, kimchi grains with egg and of course the standard avo and poached eggs. This recipe is a fairly new one for us, it is an Indian take on the traditional British Welsh Rarebit, with an egg on top. The egg can of course be omitted, it is just as good.

Recipe (serves 2)

1 tsp butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 thick slices bread
100g mature cheddar, grated
2 tsp English mustard
1-2 green finger chillies
Coriander or spring onions chopped
3 large eggs
tomato ketchup or other sauce to serve

Method

Melt 1 tsp of butter in a non-stick frying pan and fry the onions until soft. Don’t let them brown. Set aside to cool.
In a bowl mix together 1 egg, grated cheese, chilli, coriander/spring onion, mustard and cooled onions.
Lightly toast both sides of your bread
Spread the cheese mixture over your toast and place under a grill until bubbling and with some golden spots.
As the cheese goes into the grill fry your eggs
Tomato ketchup is apparently the sauce of choice for this snack in India. I’m not a ketchup fan but for those that are I am told by others in my house that ketchup really does compliment this dish..

Love food Salads Vegan

Winter apple, squash & kale salad

Post author By Michele
Post date October 25, 2020
No Comments on Winter apple, squash & kale salad

I like this salad for its ability to be a meal in itself, great for a weekday lunch. Brownie points are earned too for being environmentally friendly, if making in the autumn all the main ingredients can be made with those grown in Britain.

The full recipe can be found on BBC Goodfood and below are a few tips from me.

You can cook the squash and apple in the evening before you need this, while you have your oven on anyway. The croutons can also be cooled in advance on a separate tray. If you do cook them in advance then I recommend warming them through again in the oven for 10 mins or so before eating, or at least take them out of the fridge an hour before eating.
The hazelnuts can be cooked in the oven as well but keep checking every few minutes so as not to burn them
Massage the dressing into the kale for a few minutes before adding all the other ingredients. This will soften the kale a little making it easier, and more pleasant to eat.

Love food Other Vegan

Romesco soup

In my last food post I mentioned one of the joys of winter being a lovely bowl of soup. Here is my first soup of the season. It is courtesy of the Minimalist Baker site, one which we have found to have very reliable recipes.

For this recipe, take note that you will need to roast your peppers, garlic and almonds a little while before you want to make the soup. The peppers will need to cool down sufficiently so you can peel the skin from them. When I’m organised I will do this the day before. Everything after that is very simple indeed. I put the peppers and the garlic in one dish to roast and the almonds in another. The almonds will come out of the oven first, then the garlic and then finally the peppers.

To smash the chickpeas, I put them all into the soup pan whole and then use a potato masher to crush them a bit.

For some ideas of breads/muffins to accompany the soup, take a look at some of my blog posts, including cornbread and feta and nigella seed muffins.

Breads, muffins etc Love food

Nigella seed & feta muffins

Post author By Michele
Post date October 17, 2020
No Comments on Nigella seed & feta muffins

We may not be looking forward to winter weather but the cold days do mean that we are likely to be enjoying some great bowls of soup. These tasty savoury muffins are a perfect accompaniment to any bowl of soup. They are packed full of flavour, are easy to make and freeze well. I recommend having all your ingredients ready before starting ie grate the parmesan, grate the sweet potato, crumble the feta and melt the butter. Putting it all together then will very quick. Before doing any of that though, brush some melted butter over your muffin tin.

Recipe link

Sweet Potato Nigella Seed and Feta Muffins Download

Love food Main event

Risotto cake

This is a great ‘make ahead’ dish, it freezes well and reheats in the oven very well. In fact I think it is possibly even better when not eaten on the day it is made.

While I have called this dish risotto cake, I should warn you that it will not deliver a creamy traditional risotto. As you can see from the pic, this results in a more solid baked slice.

Ingredients (serves 6)

325g arborio rice
350g courgettes, grated
5tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 medium eggs
150g cheddar
4 tbsp/60ml double cream
2 tbsp chopped rosemary

For the tomato sauce

80g butter
2 garlic cloves, chopped
675g ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
40g tomato puree
150ml water

Preheat oven to 180C and line or grease a 20cm spring-form cake tin.
Cook the rice in boiling salted water for 8 minutes and then drain.
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan and fry the courgettes and onion for 5 mins. Mix in a bowl with the rice, garlic and remaining 3 tbsp of olive oil. Leave to cool slightly.
Add the eggs, cheese, cream and rosemary and some seasoning to the rice and courgettes.
Spoon into the tin and level off to a smooth surface.
Bake for 25/35 mins until firm.
To make the sauce: melt the butter in a pan and sweat the garlic – don’t let it burn
Add the tomatoes, puree and water and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 15 mins, stirring occasionally.
Season. If you like a smoother sauce, blend with a hand blender.

Breakfast/brunch Love food

Veggy sausages

Sunday breakfast/brunch/lunch is probably the meal I most consistently enjoy and look forward to. A fry-up is on my list of old favourites, served with these very tasty veggy sausages. They also freeze brilliantly if you don’t eat them all.

Do take a look at some of my other favourite breakfast/brunch recipes.

Recipe (makes approx 16)

200g unsalted cashews, soaked overnight if you have time
200g cooked vac-packed chestnuts
250g firm tofu
1 small red onion, peeled and grated
1 red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
150g breadcrumbs
A few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked and roughly chopped
100g cheddar cheese, grated
1 tbsp soy or tamari sauce
1 egg, beaten

How to make

Put the cashew nuts and chestnuts into a food processor and blitz to a fine-ish breadcrumb texture.
Mash up or finely chop the tofu (depending on whether it is silken tofu which can be mashed or the other type) in a large mixing bowl
Add the rest of the ingredients except the olive oil and mix well.
Put a little oil onto your hands and shape the mix into sausage shape. Lay them on an tray and put them in the freezer to firm up for 5 minutes or so if cooking straight away. Otherwise put them in the fridge until you are ready to fry them.
If freezing, they can be reheated in the oven either defrosted or from frozen.