Posted in Food, Italian, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Food, Italian, Potatoes, Recipe, side dish, Vegetarian on 20 June 2012| 3 Comments »
Rosemary flavoured potatoes are available everywhere in Tuscany and we love them!
Patatine Novelle al Rosmario – to serve 4
Heat the butter and oil in a large pan, add the rosemary, garlic and new potatoes, then cover. Cook on a low heat until golden brown. Discard the garlic and rosemary and sprinkle with some sea salt to serve.
(Original recipe from The Silver Spoon, Phaidon Press Ltd. 2005)
Posted in Food, Vegetarian, tagged Aubergine, Cooking, Food, Recipe, Risotto, Vegetarian on 19 June 2012| 2 Comments »
Another delicious dish by Yotam Ottolenghi who recommends making some home-made stock which we duly did. Throw some aromatic vegetables and herbs into a large pot (we used carrot, celery, onion, parsley, garlic, lemongrass and fennel), cover with water and simmer for 30 minutes. This dish does take some time to make but is completely worth the effort and time with levels of flavour and texture that really make this risotto special.
Lemon and aubergine risotto – to serve 4
First you need to literally burn one of the aubergines. Pierce it with a sharp knife then put on a foil-lined tray and place under a hot grill for an hour, turning now and then. You need the aubergine to deflate and the skin to be burnt and breaking. Carefully spoon out the soft flesh without getting any of the burnt skin, then chop the flesh roughly and set aside.
Cut the other aubergine into 1.5 cm cubes. Heat 80ml of the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the aubergine in batches until golden and crisp. Transfer to a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave to cool.
Put the onion and the rest of the oil in a heavy-based pan and fry slowly until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the rice, stirring until it is well coated with oil. Fry for a few minutes, then add the wine and cook until nearly evaporated. Turn the heat down to medium.
Start adding the hot stock to the rice, a ladeful at at time, and wait until each addition is absorbed before adding the next and stirring all the time. When all the stock has been added take the pan off the heat. Add half the lemon zest, the lemon juice, grilled aubergine flesh, butter, most of the Parmesan and ¾ tsp salt. Stir well, then cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Taste and correct the seasoning with more salt and some black pepper.
Serve the risotto sprinkled with the diced aubergine, the rest of the Parmesan, the basil and the rest of the lemon zest.
Drink with: an Italian red to complement the earthy flavour of the charred aubergine and stand up to the acidity of the lemon. We drank a Chianti Rufina made by Selvapiana, where we visited in April, and it was superb.
(Original recipe from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, Ebury Press, 2010.)
Posted in Food, Healthy, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Healthy, Lunch box, Recipe, Vegetarian on 10 June 2012| 1 Comment »
We like to take these to work in our lunchboxes but it would also make a nice veggie main with some salad. Very easy to double the recipe too.
Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers – to serve 2
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Microwave the peppers on a plate on Medium for about 5 minutes or until they are almost soft.
Put the couscous in a bowl and cover with 125ml boiling water. Stir, then cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 10 minutes. Break the couscous up with a fork, then add the pine nuts, olives, feta, tomatoes and basil. Pile the stuffing into the peppers, put on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)
Posted in Food, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Food, Goat's cheese, Recipe, Soufflé, Vegetarian on 7 June 2012| 7 Comments »
Soufflés are not that hard to make despite their intimidating reputation. Maybe try it yourself first before serving at a dinner party, just in case. Ideally you need a 2 pint soufflé dish (ours was a bit bigger and it still turned out great – it just won’t rise up above the rim of the dish as much). Tastes fab!
Easy cheesy soufflé – to serve 4
Put a heavy baking tray on the shelf below the centre of the oven and preheat the oven to 190C/fan 180C/gas 5. Grease the inside of a soufflé dish with some soft butter. Put the egg whites in a large clean bowl, and the yolks in a small bowl. Finely chop the goat’s cheese.
Put the milk into a large saucepan, then add the bay leaf, butter and sprinkle in the flour. Put the pan over a medium heat and whisk vigorously continuously until the milk comes to the boil. Once the sauce bubbles and starts to thicken, continue to whisk for a further minute until it is very thick, then remove from the heat.
Throw away the bay leaf. Stir in the goat’s cheese and Parmesan, keeping 1 tbsp Parmesan. The mixture will look pretty lumpy but don’t worry about this. Stir in the egg yolks, one at at time. Snip in the chives using a pair of scissors, then season with salt and pepper. Stir well and set aside.
Whisk the bowl of egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed for 2-3 minutes until they stand in soft peaks. You should be able to hold the bowl upside down without the eggs sliding out. Careful not to whisk them past this point. Use a wooden spoon to stir two spoonfuls of the egg whites into the cheese sauce in the pan.
Use a spatula or large metal spoon to gently fold the remaining egg whites into the cheese sauce until they are evenly mixed in. Take your time and stop when a few streaks of egg white are still visible.
Pour the mixture into your soufflé dish and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. Run your thumb lightly around the inside edge of the dish to make a deep groove in the mixture. Gently place onto the hot baking sheet in the oven and cook for 35-40 minutes, until risen and golden. Shake the soufflé gently to check if it is cooked, if it wobbles a lot, bake for another 5 minutes. Serve straight away as it doesn’t keep!
Wine Suggestion: We suggest trying a rich, mouth-filling white from the northern Rhône. Try a Condrieu made from Viognier, or for something a little different we highly recommend Pierre Gaillard’s St Joseph Blanc made from 100% Roussanne.
(Original recipe by Jeni Wright, in BBC Good Food Magazine, June 2001.)
Posted in Food, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged Coleslaw, Cooking, Food, Jamie Oliver, Recipe, side dish, Vegetarian on 5 June 2012| 28 Comments »
This is really fresh and tasty and a million miles better than the gloopy shop bought stuff. It’s also really handy to make if you have a food processor; use the slicing attachment for the cabbage and onion and the julienne attachment for the carrots and apples. Great side dish for a barbecue.
My Favourite Coleslaw – to serve 6
Slice the cabbage as finely as possible or slice using a food processor. Then slice the onion in the same way and mix with the cabbage in a large bowl.
Julienne the carrots and apples with a mandolin or food processor or cut into matchsticks. Add to the bowl along with the chopped parsley, a few dollops of mayonnaise and the mustard. You can adjust the quantities of lemon juice and mayonnaise to how you like it. We just added the juice from one lemon and a few good dollops of mayonnaise. Season to taste and toss together.
Et voila!
(Original recipe by Jamie Oliver in, Cook with Jamie, Penguin Books, 2006.)
Posted in Food, Healthy, Soup, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Food, Healthy, Recipe, Soup, Vegetarian on 3 June 2012| 1 Comment »
Finally we have warm enough weather to stop thinking about soup so much. This is more of a warm weather soup. Nice and light with really fresh flavours. You can even eat it chilled if you like.
Pea and Mint Soup – to serve 4
Put the scallions, garlic, potato and stock in a large pot and bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the potato is very soft.
Blanch 3 tbsp of the shelled peas in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain, put in a bowl of cold water and set aside to use as a garnish at the end.
Add the rest of the peas to the pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the mint, sugar and lemon/lime juice, then blend until smooth. Stir in the buttermilk or soured cream and season and reheat gently if necessary (don’t let it boil though or it might curdle). Garnish with the drained peas to serve.
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)
Posted in Food, Healthy, Italian, Vegan, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Healthy, Italian, Salad, Vegan, Vegetarian on 31 May 2012| 2 Comments »
A delicious Tuscan salad which is usually made with stale bread – we think the bread in Tuscany may contain less preservative as our bread rarely gets a chance to go stale. This version uses baked croutons for a similar effect. Make sure you leave the salad for about 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavours to mingle.
Panzanella – to serve 6
Crush the garlic with a little bit of salt in a mortar, then deseed and chop up the chilli and crush with the salt and garlic until you have a coarse paste.
Add the vinegar and sugar and mix then tip into a large salad bowl. Add the olive oil and beat together.
Chop the rest of the salad ingredients into bite-size chunks or slices.
Tear the bread into small chunks and bake in a moderate oven until golden and crispy, then add the salad bowl.
Tear over the basil and add to the bowl with a bit of salt and pepper, then toss lightly and leave to stand for about 30 minutes. Toss again before serving.
Wine Suggestion: Wines from a region tend to complement the foods from that region (kind of like a chicken and egg thing). A glass of straightforward Chianti will have the right sort of acidity and rusticity to complement this perfectly.
(Original recipe by Alastair Hendry in Olive, June 2010.)
Posted in Food, Healthy, Side dish, Vegan, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Healthy, New potatoes, Recipe, side dish, Vegetarian on 30 May 2012| 5 Comments »
My Dad keeps talking about these potatoes that I made before which he says I squashed a bit and then put them in the oven to crisp up. I had no recollection of these squashed, crispy potatoes until I came across these. Is this them Dad? If so I’ll make them for you next time I see you.
Crispy New Potatoes – to serve 4
Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Boil the potatoes for 10 minutes, drain and then put back on the warm ring to dry off. Spread the potatoes out on a baking tray and squash them a bit using a potato masher. Be careful here as you only want them a bit squashed and not completely smashed (though I smashed one or two and it just made them even more crispy so don’t worry too much).
Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle over a little paprika, salt and pepper. Now roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until nice and crispy.
Posted in Food, Healthy, Soup, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, cream of tomato soup, Easy, Food, Healthy, Recipe, Soup, tomato soups, Vegetarian on 28 May 2012| 4 Comments »
We’ve made a few quick tomato soups recently so we should maybe describe this as a slow one. This takes about 40 minutes but is worth it and gives a much more home-made flavour, super-healthy too.
Cream of tomato soup – to serve 4
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion, garlic and carrot over a low heat fro 6-7 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes, passata, stock, bay leaf and thyme, then bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf and thyme stalk. Season and add the basil. Whizz until smooth with a hand blender, stir in the cream and serve.
(Original recipe by Annabel Karmel in BBC Good Food Magazine, May 2004.)
Posted in Food, Healthy, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Courgettes, Food, Healthy, Recipe, side dish, Vegetarian on 24 May 2012| Leave a Comment »
This is a really simple courgette side dish. Don’t worry about cooking the courgettes at the last minute as they taste just as good at room temperature, so cook them a little in advance.
Fried courgettes – to serve 6
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then fry the courgettes for about 5 minutes or until starting to brown.
Add the chilli and garlic and fry for a further minute. Season with salt, then toss with the parsley and serve.
Posted in Food, Healthy, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Healthy, Japanese, Recipe, Vegetarian on 23 May 2012| Leave a Comment »
Healthy Japanese-style aubergines – this is really easy and has loads of flavour! Great when you feel like a veggie night.
Miso aubergines – to serve 2
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180c/gas 6. Score a criss-cross pattern into each aubergine half. Brush with 1tsp oil and season. Put on a non-stick tray and bake for 20 minutes (or a bit longer if they are not completely soft).
Mix the miso, mirin, sugar and lemon juice together to make a paste. Spread over the aubergine halves and sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Put under a hot grill for a few minutes until golden. Serve with the scallions and rocket.
Beer Suggestion: Miso is a strong flavour so you need something robust and yeasty. Try a richer style beer, such as Bombardier, or Kirin for a cleaner, lager style.
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)
Posted in Food, Potato, Side dish, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Potatoes, Recipe, side dish, Vegetarian on 16 May 2012| Leave a Comment »
These are yummy and give a totally different texture to new potatoes. Keep turning them regularly so you get them nice and brown all over.
Stoved potatoes – to serve 6
Melt the butter in a large frying pan with a lid. Wait until it foams before adding the potatoes. Turn the potatoes and make sure they all get coated in butter and are in a single layer. Sprinkle over some salt.
Cover and cook gently for about 30 minutes, shaking the pan regularly, until the potatoes are tender. Leave them in the hot butter until you’re ready to serve them and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
Posted in Food, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Food, Lasagne, Recipe, Vegetarian on 12 May 2012| 1 Comment »
We’ve made many veggie lasagnes but this is definitely our favourite; really tasty, moist and not too rich or heavy. We had to stop ourselves eating the 6 portions all at once despite only the two of us for dinner. We managed to resist, but only just! Serve with a green salad.
(Apologies for the imperial measurements – Julie doesn’t know the metric recipe for béchamel.)
Roasted Veggie Lasagne – to serve 6
FOR THE BÉCHAMEL
Heat the oven to 200ºC/fan 180ºC. Cut the peppers into large chunks and thinly slice the aubergines. Lightly grease two large baking trays with olive oil. Put the peppers and aubergines on the greased trays and toss with the olive oil and plenty of seasoning. Roast for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
Meanwhile make your béchamel sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, then cook for a couple of minutes. Gradually add the milk, stirring continuously stirring. When all the milk is added, keep stirring until the sauce comes to the boil. Turn the heat down and cook until the sauce has started to thicken.
Reduce the oven to 180ºC/fan 160ºC and lightly oil a large ovenproof dish (ours is 20 x 27cm and it fits perfect). Layer a third of the roasted veg on the bottom of the dish. Cover with a third of the tomato sauce. Top with a layer of lasagne sheets (break them to fit – don’t overlap them), then drizzle just less than third of the bechamel sauce over. Repeat until you have used 3 layers of lasagne.
Spoon the remaining sauce over the top, making sure that the surface is totally covered. Scatter the cherry tomatoes and mozzarella over the top. Bake for about 45 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown.
Wine Suggestion: The tomato sauce is acidic so you need to balance this with the wine. Perhaps a light and fruity white with good acidity – we had an off-dry Riesling from Western Australia already open and it worked surprisingly well.
Posted in Food, Vegetarian, tagged Chilli, Cooking, Easy, Food, Recipe, Vegetarian on 7 May 2012| 3 Comments »
We love finding new variations of Chilli and this one has made our list of repeatable recipes. This is really filling and at less than 500 calories per portion also suitable for us dieters. We promise we’ll go back to normal in a few weeks time!
Black bean chilli with guacamole and garlic ciabatta – to serve 4
Heat a tbsp of oil in a wide pan. Add the onions, crushed garlic and peppers, and cook for 10 minutes or until softened. Add the spices and some salt and cook for another minute. Tip in the beans, tomatoes and stock. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove the flesh form the avocados with a spoon into a bowl. Add the lime zest and juice, scallions, chilli and seasoning, and mix with a fork to lightly mash the avocado.
Cut the whole garlic clove in half and use it to rub all over the ciabatta toasts. Drizzle with olive oil and pile the guacamole onto the toasts.
Serve the guacamole and garlic ciabatta with the chilli.
Wine Suggestion: We really like beer with chilli. If your not a fan of beer a light, fruity Grenache would work.
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)
Posted in Food, Healthy, Soup, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Recipe, Soup, Vegetarian on 5 May 2012| Leave a Comment »
We’re officially on a diet 😦 but we’re trying to turn it into an opportunity and cook lots of tasty, healthy stuff. We can’t back out either as we’re in a little competition with some of our friends… a bit like weight watchers, just as humiliating but not as expensive! So for the next 6 weeks you can expect lots of low-calorie recipes. If you’re also struggling to fit into your summer clothes you might like to join us.
Spicy tomato soup – to serve 2
Put all the ingredients (except the coriander and yoghurt) in a pot, bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes until the lentils are soft. Add the coriander and cook for a minute. Use a stick blender to roughly whizz together. Stir in a little natural yoghurt to serve if you like that sort of thing.
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)
Posted in Food, Healthy, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Healthy, Recipe, side dish, Vegetarian on 2 May 2012| Leave a Comment »
This is an easy and absolutely delicious way to serve green beans. It even perked up ones that had flown from very far away as our local shop hasn’t got the new season ones yet…any day now we hope!
Green beans with shallots – to serve 6 as a side dish
Cook the green beans in boiling, salted water for a few minutes, until just tender. Drain and cool under cold running water. (You can do this up to a day before and keep them in a plastic bag in the fridge).
Heat the butter in a large frying pan until foaming, add the shallots and cook for 4-5 minutes, until soft but not coloured. Throw in the beans and toss to coat, then cook for a final couple of minutes until heated through, then season.
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)
Posted in Food, Irish Food, Potato, Soup, tagged Cooking, Food, Irish, Recipe, Soup, Vegetarian on 1 May 2012| 1 Comment »
Wholesome and heart warming lunch when family drop by. We like to only partially blend or soups sometimes as it gives a great smooth consistency and keeps some of the flavoursome lumps.
Leek and potato soup – serves 6-8
Peel and roughly chop the carrots and onions and slice the celery and garlic. Quarter the leeks lengthways and cut into 1cm slices.
Put a large pot over a high heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add all the chopped and sliced ingredients and mix well, then cook for 10 to 15 minutes, partially covered, until the carrots have softened and the onions have started to turn golden.
Peel the potatoes and cut into 1 cm dice. Add 1.8 litres of boiling water to the stock cubes, then add to the vegetables along with the potatoes.
Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on.
Season and serve or blend until smooth, or give it a half-hearted whizz like we did.
(Original recipe from Jamie’s Ministry of Food by Jamie Oliver, Penguin 2008.)
Posted in Asian, Food, Healthy, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Easy, Food, Recipe, Thai, Vegetarian on 20 April 2012| Leave a Comment »
This is not a sophisticated Thai curry but is absolutely perfect for a quick mid-week meal. We loved it! We’ve been avoiding butternut squash this year it seems, which is no reflection on how yum it is. Serve with basmati or jasmine rice.
Thai red squash curry – to serve 4
Cut the end off the squash and quarter lengthways, scoop out the seeds, peel, then cut into smallish chunks. Halve the baby corn lengthways.
Heat the oil in a saucepan. Fry the paste gently for 1-2 minutes. Add the coconut milk, stock, soy sauce and sugar. Bring to the boil.
Add the squash and baby corn. Simmer, covered, for about 10-12 minutes. Add the lime juice and mangetout and simmer for one more minute.
Wine Suggestion: We didn’t have anything to drink with this (except water) but if we did it would probably have been a beer!
(Original recipe from BBC Good Food Magazine, April 2001.)
Posted in Food, tagged Cooking, Dessert, Food, Recipe, Rhubarb, Vegetarian on 14 April 2012| Leave a Comment »
Perhaps we don’t need to tell you how to make crumble but as we always use a Nigella recipe, we thought we’d share it with you. It looks particularly good if you use the bright pink forced rhubarb, available early in the year. You can make this well in advance but don’t put the crumble on top of the rhubarb until you are ready to cook it.
Rhubarb Crumble
Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190ºC, and put in a baking sheet .
Toss the rhubarb in a pan on the heat with the sugar, butter, vanilla and cornflour for about 5 minutes, or until the butter has melted and everything has come together. Tip into a pie dish (about 24cm wide and 4cm deep).
Stir in the sugars with a fork and pour over the rhubarb, cover completely so it doesn’t all bubble up through the crumbs too much. Bake for 35-45 minutes on the baking sheet. Some juice will bubble up and the top should be nice and brown.
Serve with cream, ice-cream or custard.
Posted in Food, Pasta, Vegetarian, tagged Cooking, Food, Lasagne, Mushrooms, Recipe, Vegetarian on 13 April 2012| 5 Comments »
We’re always on the lookout for a vegetarian lasagne and this one worked well and tasted great. It’s rich so a salad on the side is all that’s needed. Make on the weekend when you’re in no hurry.
Mushroom lasagne – to serve 8
MUSHROOMS:
LASAGNE
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4. Cover the porcini with the lukewarm water and leave to soak for 5 minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid.
Melt the butter in a large heavy-based saucepan. When foaming add the thyme, porcini and fresh mushrooms. Cook for 4 minutes, or until softened and have released their juice, stirring now and then. Take off the heat and stir in the tarragon, parsley and some salt and pepper. Tip into a bowl and set aside.
Use the same pan to make a béchamel. Put the butter and shallot in the pan and cook over a medium heat for about a minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes; the mix will turn into a paste but shouldn’t take on much colour. Gradually whisk in the milk and porcini soaking liquid, leaving any grit behind. Add ½ tsp salt and keep whisking until boiling. Simmer on a low heat, don’t stop stirring, for about 10 minutes, or until thickish. Take off the heat.
In a small bowl mix the ricotta with the egg, then fold in 3 tbsp of the béchamel and the feta. Add the Gruyère to the remaining béchamel in the pan and stir well to get your main sauce.
Pour boiling water over the lasagne leaves (a few at a time so they don’t stick together) and soak for 2 minutes; remove and dry on a tea towel.
To build the lasagne, pour one-fifth of the sauce over the bottom of an ovenproof dish (about 25 x 35 cm). Cover with lasagne leaves. Spread ¼ of the ricotta mix on top, scatter over ¼ of the mushrooms and sprinkle with ¼ of the fontina. Make three more layers like this, then finish with a layer of pasta covered with sauce.
Sprinkle the Parmesan on top and cover loosely with foil (so it’s not touching the sauce). Bake for 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling up around the sides. Lift off the foil and bake for another 10 minutes, or until golden. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Wine Suggestion: You’ve plenty of choices here. You could go for a Chardonnay to complement the rich mushroom sauce or if you prefer red go for something earthy like a Barbera.
(Original recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty, Ebury Press, 2010.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 