More bread and a bit of salad too...

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!

Surprise Tatin from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty

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!!!

Avocado & Mozzarella salad

Last week I bought a pack of 4 avocados, after waiting (for what seems like an age) for them to ripen, they are now super soft for eating. I'm now scratching my brain trying to think of uses for them, other than the traditional guacamole. The fridge was full of tomatoes today, so that led to this salad. It is very colourful and tasty!


Ingredients:

• Tomatoes
• Avocado
• Mozzarella
• Salad leaves
• Sweetcorn
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil

Firstly, roughly chop up tomatoes. I used cherry plum toms & some big beefy fellas. In a bowl add some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the toms, and leave to settle for a little while.
On a plate arrange some salad leaves (I used a mixed salad leaf pack and fresh rocket). To this pile on the tomatoes, chopped avocado, mozzarella and a sprinkle of sweetcorn. Drizzle a little more oil & serve. Yum!

The mother of all grains

A list of 12 things you should know about quinoa got me thinking about that bag of quinoa lurking at the back of the cupboard, hidden behind the rice & pasta. So today I roasted some baby potatoes, butternut squash, red onion, red pepper & cherry tomatoes, having been drizzled with oil, paprika & chili powder. Into cooked quinoa I added sweetcorn and fresh mint. And all topped with some delicious & chewy grilled halloumi.
Although I couldn't wait for the halloumi to brown (I was too hungry!), it was still very moreish. Now what to do with the rest of the bag of quinoa???

Ps) The title of this post is what the Incas called quinoa. A little fact for you :)

Aubergine, Tomato & Goat's Cheese Bake

nom nom nom... A summery dish of aubergine, tomato and goat's cheese bake. For this you will need:

• One aubergine
• Two peppers
• One red onion
• Tomatoes ( I used 6 large plum toms)
• Handful of spinach leaves
• 100g of hard goat's cheese chopped into chunks
  
• One garlic clove
• Handful of sunflower seeds
  
• Black pepper & fresh herbs (I used basil, oregano & rosemary)

Aubergine is a fickle beast, when it's good - it's very, very good & when it's bad - its awful. Who hasn't had some tasteless, watery aubergine spoiling their meal - yuk! This recipe requires some prep work with the purple fella - but it is well worth it, I promise!

Firstly chop an aubergine into slices, put in a colander over a bowl, cover with salt & leave for half an hour (don't worry the aubergine will not take on the salty flavour). Then rinse the aubergine well in water and put on kitchen towel to dry off. Once they are dry (about 10 mins or so) fry the slices in a little oil to brown them and leave aside.

Chop a red onion into slices, crush garlic clove and gently cook them till the onion is soft in a little oil. Then in an ovenproof dish layer the aubergine, onion, tomato and pepper slices, spinach leaves and goat's cheese. Season with black pepper and add fresh herbs as you go along.

The last layer should be lots of tomato slices, goat's cheese, sunflower seeds (for extra bite). Cover and put in the oven on 180 degrees for about 40 minutes.
Once cooked serve with some green salad and crusty bread. You could change the cheese to your favourite and add some courgette or squash chunks if you fancy it.

Lazy Summer Puff Pastry Tarts

Today the weather is hot, hot, hot. A summery, quick, easy meal is required.
Behold, Lazy Summer Puff Pastry Tarts...

Using pre-made puff pastry, roll out and cut into a rectangle and place on a lightly greased baking tray. You could make your own puff pastry - but then it wouldn't be very lazy then! Pierce the pastry with a fork, leaving a 1inch gap round the edge.



Spread some shop brought pesto (again, another lazy move) on the pierced section of the pastry. Add some chopped cherry tomatoes, basil leaves & soft goats cheese on the top. Season with black pepper. Put in the oven at about 200 degrees Celsius for about 15mins until the pastry has risen & is golden.


Serve with salads & scoff. Alternatively change the toppings to thinly sliced red onions, peppers, olives or sun dried tomatoes. Try using passata or tomato puree instead of pesto, and different types of cheese.