Brussels & Bramleys

Autumn is here. This is my favourite season.
Today I had my first brussels sprouts of the season. Forever associated with Christmas dinners and flatulence, the poor brussel gets a bad rep. In Germany it is called rosenkohl, meaning rose cabbage. This is a much prettier name I think. Steamed brussels sprouts covered in gravy and mint sauce are just delicious!
McLaren, our new addition to the house, got to try brussels for the first time - I think he likes it!
Feeling autumnal, Bramley crumble is a must. With lashings of Birds custard. I am stuffed!

Organic legware...

This made me chuckle, though I did feel slightly bad taking a picture at the local fruit & veg shop. Luckily I didn't get caught doing it.
Back to the food, this is of course, a swede. However in Scotland they tend to call both a turnip & a swede, a turnip. Very confusing, especially when you start throwing in the term 'neeps' too! Fortunately this article straightens it all out, or does it?

Mutabbal & a new squeaky friend

I love the taste of Middle Eastern food, so when I saw Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East by Arto der Haroutunian, I knew I had to have a copy! Flicking through the pages causes my mouth to water! Some cheap aubergines led me to make mutabbal (which is similar very to baba ganoush - imagine hummus but with aubergine rather than chickpeas).
Delicious, especially with some roast onion, courgette & pepper spicy cous cous.
And to help eat the parsley stems, today we brought home a new beastie, perfect for the job!

Courgette Fritters

I have a bit of an issue with courgettes. I go through phases of really liking them, and then for no reason I can't stand them. It's the texture, I think??? When I saw this recipe on Craftster I just had to try it, to overcome my zucchini fear!
I didn't have an nutritional yeast, so skipped that. But added some chili powder, and served with rice & sweet chili sauce. They were delicious, very moreish! Thank you Calm Mind Busy Body!

Baked bean comfort soup

This week I have managed to chip a tooth and develop a sore throat. This makes chewing food is not so desirable at the moment! Feeling sorry for myself, I made soup, using the ultimate comfort food, Baked Beans!


Ingredients:

• A tin of baked beans
• One red onion chopped
• One carrot chopped
• Handful of pasta shapes
• Vegetable stock
• Salt & pepper to taste
• A little oil
• A generous squirt of tomato ketchup

In a large saucepan, lightly fry the onion, once soft add the vegetable stock. To this add the tin of beans, chopped carrot, tomato ketchup, pasta shapes & seasoning. Cover and leave to simmer. When the pasta is soft, it is ready to serve. Simples. Due to my sore throat I served this with super squidgy soft white bread (another guilty pleasure!).

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 :)