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Or at least it was. Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty was perfect for our Christmas food. To start a Winter slaw.
Chopped caramelised macadamia nuts (with added chili flakes), crunchy cabbages, coriander, chili, mint, and sweet juicy mango. Used a simpler dressing, than that in the recipe, of a mix of soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, sesame oil and freshly squeezed lime juice. Delicious.
For a main, Brussels sprouts. After all, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas, without sprouts. Marinated tofu, peppers, spring onion, sprouts, in a sweet and spicy sauce.
Served with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and rice. A very tasty Christmas treat.
Sensible. Giant couscous, halloumi, parsley, tahini yogurt sauce, salad.
Silly. Sweetcorn, salad, potatoes and feta cheese teeth.
Salad including freshly podded peas, served with halloumi.
Fresh peas remind me of two things. Firstly, my grandad.
He had an allotment (as well as a greenhouse and plenty of growing space in the garden). I have memories of being round my grandparents house and being given a big bowl of peas to shell, to prepare for Sunday dinner. I think for every pea pod that got emptied in to the bowl, one or possibly two got emptied in my mouth! The second pea memory is Roskilde festival.
We went in 2006, it was ace, though super hot. The world cup was also on, and we spent much of the week buying a crate of Tuborg to sit on (and drink the contents), watch the football, and eat a bag of podded peas. Fresh peas go surprisingly well with Danish lager. Continuing the fresh theme, this morning I was up early to go to my local S'n'B, and made a fruity smoothie to kick start the day.
It contained a huge ruby grapefruit, half a honeydew melon, a lemon and plenty of ice cubes. Delicious. I was inspired by this amazing smoothie flowchart. Smoothies will never be the same again. Also check out the eating rules breakfast flowchart too - very cool.
This is becoming a bread themed blog! This time I used this recipe from Doves Farm, though made the flour 50/50 white and wholemeal, and added seeds during kneading. This recipe takes a little longer, as you leave the dough to rise twice, but I think this helps make the bread much lighter.
To go with this fresh bread I made three salads.
Firstly a tricolore salad - containing plenty of tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, topped with olive oil and pepper.
I served this in an amazingly kitsch bowl, which I found dumped in a box outside our building - don't worry it has been well washed!
Secondly a garden salad, including some lightly blanched broccoli.
And finally a salad of butter beans, red pepper, red onion and spinach, with a tangy dressing made of olive oil, juice of one lemon and a teaspoon of chopped red chili.
Very tasty indeed!
Last night we checked out Heavenly, a new vegan cafe/bar opened in Glasgow city centre. On a beautiful summers evening to discover they have Samuel Smiths wheat beer on tap is just a dream! The food was delicious and service fantastic. To start we had some brilliantly beetroot soup & a roasted stuffed pepper. Very tasty & great presentation.
For our mains we had a very creamy butternut squash risotto and tofu and vegetable kebabs with rice.
The tofu was smoked and tasted great, and pleasing the mushroom count in the kebab was low. Feeling pretty full & satisfied we skipped on dessert, in favour of more booze. However, we will be back to check out those sweets soon!
We are having our British summertime. My forehead is a bit pink, despite factor 30. And I have more freckles. Time for hot spicy food!
Stir fried veggies, which had been marinated in chili, garlic and paprika. Mixed bean salad with feta cheese. Shredded lettuces and cucumber. Topped with Mrs Renfro's habanero salsa and more jalapenos. Served with plenty of plain yogurt for cooling!
So the veggies were getting a little past their best. The carrots a little bendy, even the two greedy guinea pigs were turning their noses up at them! So my plan was to use them all up in a bake.
Firstly I chopped a bunch of carrots and left them to boil, this would create a mash topping. For the bake itself, I lightly fried chopped onion, a leek and a green pepper (all found hidden in the back of the fridge). To this I added some frozen quorn mince, frozen peas, a can of green lentils and some oxo stock. For seasoning I added a generous squeeze of tomato ketchup, black pepper and some mint & rosemary leaves that I had frozen in the freezer. Stir until the majority of the stock is absorbed or evaporated, then transfer to an ovenproof dish. Top with mashed carrot & put under the grill to brown.
Delicious, very simple and uses up all those veggies!
Apologies blog. I have neglected you. My problem is that during winter, the times of the day when the light is good enough to take reasonable quality pictures - is never when I am cooking! Note to self - must figure out the settings on the camera!
Anyways, this is the valentines meal that I made for Mister Crafty. His sister had brought him a lovely veggie cookbook for his birthday, which is a few days before V-day, so as a treat I said I would cook something from it for us. The surprise tatin was delicious, the sweetness of the caramel and roasted tomatoes, contrasted perfectly with the hard goats cheese.
The recipe was easy to follow and available on-line. My only problem was that I didn't have any fresh oregano, so substituted parsley & basil, but I don't think the meal suffered. Here is to Plenty more!!!
Chopped caramelised macadamia nuts (with added chili flakes), crunchy cabbages, coriander, chili, mint, and sweet juicy mango. Used a simpler dressing, than that in the recipe, of a mix of soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, sesame oil and freshly squeezed lime juice. Delicious.
For a main, Brussels sprouts. After all, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas, without sprouts. Marinated tofu, peppers, spring onion, sprouts, in a sweet and spicy sauce.
Served with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and rice. A very tasty Christmas treat.
