Slow roast Ratatouille with Feta

Slow roast Ratatouille with Feta

I was faced with a minor conundrum the other day.  Friends were coming to stay, but would not arrive until quite late at night.  I didn’t want a meal that would require a lot of “last minute” work, drawing me away from my guests.  I wanted a meal that I could just pull together with ease when they arrived.

I went through a whole range of dishes:

• Paella, but the rice would have to be perfectly cooked.  Not ideal when you don’t know when your guests are going to arrive
• Thai curry, but I didn’t want to leave the curry simmering on the hob for hours on end, whilst I waited for them to arrive
• Gluten free Pizza, but there would be a lot of last minute work as I really don’t know how the dough would last (gluten free dough’s tend to go very soggy quite quickly)

A ratatouille I thought would be ideal for several reasons; 1 I haven’t made one for a LONG time; 2, I can still have fun creating my own version of it; 3, I could leave it in the oven for ages should my guests be later than expected, and the flavours would only enhance!

So here is my version of a ratatouille.  Not exactly classical, but it went down a storm nonetheless.   You will notice I haven’t included peppers in this ratatouille.  Peppers are a staple in this dish in my eyes, but due to dietary requirements of my fellow diners, I left them out on this occasion.  I don’t think it really impacted the dish at all as there was so much flavour and variety of texture in the dish with the peppers.

TOP TIP: Do you ever find that courgettes go soggy when cooked?  Well a way to reduce that is by choosing a courgette which is less than 15cm in length.  The longer they get, the more watery they tend to become.

The ingredients for the sauce:

3 fresh tomatoes (diced)

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 very small pinch of chilli flakes (maybe about 10)

1 tbsp Tomato puree

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

Salt and pepper

Splash of single cream (about 100ml)

Splash of red wine (roughly 100ml)

Splash of balsamic vinegar (about 2 tbsp)

The other ingredients:

1 large Red onion

1 large aubergine

2 courgettes

200g feta cheese

Fresh basil

 

The recipe:

1. Put ALL the ingredients for the sauce into an oven proof dish (one with a lid), stir together and put into the oven at 200 degrees (Celsius), uncovered.
2. Cut the red onion, aubergine and courgette into wedges.  Sprinkle the aubergine with salt (to draw out some of the bitterness) and leave for 10 minutes.
3. Grill the onion, aubergine and courgette on a lightly greased griddle pan in batches.  The red onion will take longer than the aubergine and courgette as you will want the onion to be translucent and to start caramelising.  As each batch is cooked, add it to the tomato sauce in the oven and stir in.
4. When all the vegetables are grilled, and stirred into the tomato sauce in the oven, add the lid to the dish and leave in the oven for anywhere up to an hour!  The flavours will only get more intense.
5. To serve, add chopped feta cheese and a few basil leaves.  I served this will long grain and wild rice, but if you have some nice crusty fresh gluten free bread, that will also work very nicely.

Lentil Dahl

Lentil Dahl

After a girl at work bought in some dahl for lunch, I just couldn’t get it out my head.  So I picked up some chilies on the way home and this is what I created.  I used a mix of green lentils and puy lentils (because that is what we had in the cupboard), but there is a whole world of knowledge behind the simple dahl.

In Indian, Nepali, Pakistani, Sri Lankan cuisines dahl is the cornerstone, a staple food that varies across the region, across the climates and throughout the seasons.  Yellow split peas are probably the most commonplace, the most well known, and have that recognizable yellow colour (obviously), but dahls can be made from a whole variety of split peas, lentils, beans and chickpeas.

I love a thick creamy dahl, as seen in the hilly and mountainous regions because of its high protein content.  But in the more tropical climates of southern India, you tend to see more watery dahls, to help cope with the dehydration and make a lighter meal.

Having said all this, my approach to dahls, is that almost any split pea or lentil will do.  Feel free to play around with the thickness by adding more water to get make a soup like consistency, or simmering off the excess water to get a thicker, more porridge-like viscosity.

Serves 4

The ingredients:

250g lentils/split peas (I used a mix of green and puy lentils)
1 litre vegetable stock (gluten free)
2 cloves garlic
2cm root ginger
2 tsp turmeric
Salt
2 green chilies
50g butter (or you can use ghee (clarified butter) if you have it)
2 small red onions (alternatively you could use shallots)
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp crushed chili flakes
Juice of a lime (optional)
Splash of single cream/natural yoghurt/coconut milk (optional)
Fresh coriander

The recipe:

1. Wash the lentils/split peas thoroughly until the water runs clear. Put lentils/split peas in a large saucepan and cover with the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil and skim off any scum that rises to the surface (you can do this delicately with a ladle).
2. Peal and crush the garlic, grate the ginger and finely chop the chili and add to the lentils along with the turmeric and a large pinch of salt
3. Simmer for 40 minutes (or longer if the lentils/split peas require.  Check the packet instructions).  Add extra water/stock if you see the lentils are drying out
4. Whilst the lentils/split peas are simmering, finely slice the onions
5. Heat the butter/ghee in a frying pan and add the onions.  Sauté until golden and starting to crisp
6. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and chili flakes – BEWARE the mustard seeds pop and will jump out of the pan so have a lid to the frying pan to hand to keep the seeds in the pan!
7. Add the onions and spices to the dahl.
8. Add a squeeze of lime juice and stir
9. Add some chopped fresh coriander and a little splash of cream/natural yoghurt/coconut milk (to taste – this will also help tame the spice if you find this too hot) and serve with basmati rice (or gluten free naan bread)

Broccoli and Ricotta Quiche with a Potato Crust

Broccoli and Ricotta Quiche with a Potato Crust

I’ve seen a fair few recipes over the months detailing how you can substitute the pastry base in a quiche (fabulous news for us coeliacs!).  I’ve never had the occasion to try this myself, up until now.  Hosting a low key Saturday lunch seemed to be the perfect opportunity to debut my twist on this French favourite.

As I am playing with the crust, I decided to keep the filling to a firm favourite, and went for broccoli and ricotta.  I am pleased to say, it went down a storm.  Luckily I made 2, with the second quiche providing me my lunch for the next week.

The ingredients:

1 large potato

40g butter, melted

5 eggs

50ml milk

1 large onion

250g ricotta

1 large broccoli

50g parmesan

Salt and pepper

 

The recipe:

1. Put the oven on at 200 degrees (Celsius)
2. Grate the potato and leave to drain for 15 minutes
3. Mix the melted butter into the potato and push this mix into the base of a lightly greased cake tin/oven dish.  Make sure you have an even thin layer on the base of the tin. Pop this in the oven for 30 minutes.
4. Finely dice the onion and cut the broccoli into small florets
5. Whisk together the eggs and milk, and season with salt and pepper
6. When the potato bases have browned nicely and starting to crisp up, remove from the oven and distribute the onion, broccoli and ricotta evenly over the potato
7. Pour the egg mixture over the broccoli and ricotta and grate the parmesan over the top
8. Put the quiche in the oven for 40 minutes (or until the egg has set and the quiche is browning nicely)
9. Leave the quiche to rest for 15 minutes before serving

Vietnamese mushroom dumplings in a noodle broth

Vietnamese mushroom dumplings in a noodle broth

Now I tried making dumplings in broth before, and though it was really yummy, the dumplings had a tendency to disintegrate as I softened them in hot water.  This time, I softened them in cold water and they remained much more robust.

The little bit of crunchy peanut butter in the dumplings was (ah-hem, modesty alert), a touch of genius!  And in the words of my dining companion, it sent the “yum factor” through the roof!

It is a bit of a long list of ingredients, so don’t let that put you off.  This meal is worth it.

The ingredients (serves 2):

For the broth:

2 pints of boiling water

1 carrot

1 onion

2 sticks of celery

3 cloves of garlic

1cm ginger

1 small chilli (deseeded)

Gluten free soy sauce (to taste – I used quite a lot!)

Fresh coriander, chopped

1tsp vegetable bouillon (powder)

Sweet chilli sauce (~2tbsp)

Sesame seed oil (~1 tbsp)

Rice noodles (as much as you require, I used about 100g of dried noodles for 2 people)

The dumplings:

2 handfuls of mushrooms

1cm ginger, crushed

1 small chilli, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 carrot

Splash gluten free soy sauce

1 tsp soft brown sugar

1tbsp Rice wine vinegar

3 large tsps Crunchy peanut butter (I like to use whole earth peanut butter as it is pretty much 100% peanut)

3 Rice paper wrappers (I use ones about the size of a dinner plate)

The recipe:

1.       The broth:

Chop the onion, carrot and celery into large chunks and throw into a large heavy based  saucepan with the water.

Add the cloves of garlic (whole), ginger, 1 small chilli, chopped coriander, a very large splash of soy, and the vegetable bouillon.

Cover and leave to simmer whilst you prepare the rest of the meal.  We’ll come back to this later.

2.       The dumplings:

Take the cabbage leaves, cut out hard stems and discard, thinly slice the leaves and steam for 3 mins

Chop mushrooms into small pieces; throw into hot oil and sauté until lightly brown.  Add crushed ginger, chilli and garlic.

Add julienned/matchstick carrots

Lightly sauté for 5 mins

Add large splash of soy sauce, soft brown sugar, rice wine vinegar

Continue to sauté for another 5 mins.

Soften rice paper wraps in cold water until soft and pliable, place on chopping board and cut in half with a sharp knife.

Onto each hemisphere of the rice paper wrap add a little bit of cabbage, 2 tsp of the mushroom mix and ½ tsp of crunchy peanut butter

Carefully roll the rice paper wrap, tucking in the edges to make sure there are no holes in the dumpling

3.       The noodles:

Cook the rice noodles according to the packet

4.       Back to the broth:

Add a splash of sweet chilli sauce, the sesame seed oil and a bit more soy sauce to taste

Strain the stock to remove the vegetables etc

5.       To serve:

Place the rice noodles into serving bowls, sprinkle over any leftover steamed cabbage and place on the dumplings.

Carefully pour the stock over the noodles and dumplings

Vegetable Crisps

Vegetable Crisps

The ingredients:

Any root vegetable will probably suffice, but I used a potato and a parsnip

1 tbsp Butter, melted or olive oil

Salt and pepper

Smoked paprika

The recipe:

1. Using a mandolin, or your finest knife skills, thinly slice the vegetable (about 2 mm thickness)
2. Lightly grease an oven tray with butter/oil
3. Coat the vegetable slices with the melted butter or oil, using your fingers as the slices are quite delicate (and it’s always nice to get close to your food!)
4. Lay the vegetable slices out on the oven tray (careful not to overlap)
5. Pop in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (or until nicely browned.  Not burnt)
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack.  They will crisp up as they cool
7. Gently shake the crisps with the flavouring of your choice (salt and pepper, smoked paprika, toasted and ground cumin seeds… experiment away!)

Sweet Potato Chips

Sweet Potato Chips

• Have you ever felt the pressure of entertaining, knowing you really need to put something on the table with a bit of a “wow factor”?
• Have you ever thought you need something to add a bit of excitement to a meal but you’ve no idea how?
• Have you felt like you can’t be bothered to spend hours slaving over a hot stove, but dinner still needs to be on the table and everyone still expects to be fed?

Well this is my attempt to break through kitchen fatigue and to give you a recipe which is nearly impossible to get wrong.  I just hope you like it as much as I do (and as much as my willing subjects liked them).

The ingredients (this serve 2 people as a side dish):

2 Sweet potatoes (1 medium potato is probably enough for 1 person, so base your calculations on this)

½ tsp Smoked paprika (more if you’re like me and love a bit of heat)

1 tbsp Olive oil

Pinch of Salt and pepper

1 tbsp Polenta (either the coarse or the fine will suffice, it is just for a bit of extra crunch)

 

The recipe:

1. Put the oven on at 200 degrees Celsius
2. Slice the potato into thick chunky chips
3. Throw the potato into an oven tray and add the smoked paprika, oil, polenta, salt and pepper.  Toss, making sure the potato is nicely coated.
4. Put the potato in the oven for 25-30 mins.
5. Serve

Mexican Summer Salad

Mexican Summer Salad

As the weather has been anything but summery recently, I have taken matters into my own hands and decided to create summer on a plate.  This also nicely coincided with a craving for corn on the cob.  So here goes my attempt at a Mexican summer dinner (disclaimer alert: I have never been to Mexico so this may not be totally authentic!)

I’m giving you the know how to make the salad and the corn, but use your foodie wisdom to finish off the meal with something like tortilla chips (make sure they are 100% corn/maize, 100% gluten free), and maybe a fresh guacamole dip.

The ingredients…

…For the salad (I’m gonna leave the amounts up to you.  I trust your salad wisdom and judgement):

Gem lettuce

Cherry tomatoes

Cucumber

Capers

Sweetcorn (optional here really.  I just fancied max-ing out on the little yellow niblets!)

Sunflower seeds

Sundried tomatoes

Avocado

A little drizzle of olive oil (I used some of the olive oil I use to store my sun/oven dried tomatoes in so it is nicely infused with all that tomato-y goodness)

Shavings of Manchego cheese (or other hard cheese)

…For the corn on the cob:

2 ears of Corn (on the cob, stripped of the husks)

1 tbsp Mayonnaise

½ tsp Smoked paprika

Wedge of lime

The recipe:

1. Chop or tear the lettuce, slice the cucumber and tomatoes and toss together with all the other salad ingredients.  Voila!  Your salad.
2. Steam the corn ears for 7-8 mins
3. Mix the mayonnaise and the paprika in bowl
4. Serve the corn with a dollop of the mayonnaise and a wedge of lime
5. Serve

 

Post meal analysis:  Very tasty and a thoroughly enjoyable dinner, however it is still raining outside.

Dry roasted chickpeas

Dry roasted chickpeas

I saw a recipe for this months and months ago and thought “hmmm… that looks nifty”.  So here I am probably nearly a year later standing in the supermarket alongside the stacks of canned kidney beans, cannellini beans, black-eyed beans, baked beans…(I think you get the gist), and then I spotted the chickpeas and the proverbial light bulb appeared.

I suddenly remembered the roasted chickpeas recipe and realised another food-based experiment was afoot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The apparatus:

1 can of chickpeas

Salt

1tsp olive oil

Pinch of ground cumin

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of garam masala

Pinch of smoked paprika

Pinch of sugar

The methodology:

1. Wash the chickpeas well
2. Dry off thoroughly and remove shells (they come off really easily, just pinch the chickpea between your fingers.  It’s well worth removing all the shells as it will make a real difference to the “crunch” of the finished product)
3. Roast the chickpeas (without oil) in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees (Celsius).  If you leave them in the oven for 10 minutes more, you will get a crunchier chickpea, just make sure they are not burning.
4. Once out the oven, coat the chickpeas with the oil (this basically makes the spices stick to the chickpeas)
5. Lightly toast in a pan the cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika and garam masala
6. Add the toasted spices, salt and sugar to the chickpeas and toss until they are nicely coated
7. Eat!

The analysis and evaluation:

The chickpeas were served in a bowl and placed on the coffee table.  Whilst munching through the chickpeas, lengthy discussion was had over the potential improvements which could be made including:

1. leaving the chickpeas in the oven for 40 minutes to improve the “crunch” factor
2. double and triple checking the peas before roasting to ensure all shells have been removed
3. playing with alternative flavourings such as honey and cinnamon, curry powder, Moroccan spices, soy sauce, sesame oil and chilli powder….

The chickpeas were very more-ish and the entire contents of the bowl were demolished in a matter of minutes (and that is only because we were being very, VERY restrained).

The conclusion:

I would most definitely make these again.  They were so simple to make, a healthy and tasty snack, and were thoroughly enjoyed by all.  The tasting panel gave it the “thumbs up”.

Not just a curry

Impromptu Mushroom Biryani

I hadn’t really planned dinner tonight.  Actually, that is a lie, I had.  I just hadn’t had time to contemplate for hours about how I might craft the perfect recipe from a number of other recipes I can find through trawling the net.  So here is my recipe for a mushroom biryani.  I must admit you could perfect it by grinding some almonds in with the garlic and ginger, or sprinkling in some cashew nuts near the end, or throwing in other veggies such as aubergines, green beans, peppers, or even stirring through some freshly cut tomato just before popping the biryani in the oven.

Anyway enough chit chat, this is how I made it:

The ingredients:

200g mushrooms

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2cm ginger, grated/diced very small

2 tbsp vegetable oil/ghee

1″ stick of cinnamon

3 cloves

2 pods cardamom

5 peppercorns

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

½ tsp garam masala

1 cup yoghurt

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp Tomato puree

1 handful finely chopped coriander leaves

1 handful finely chopped mint leaves

Salt to taste

200g Basmati rice

The recipe:

• Dice the onion, crush the garlic and grate the ginger
• Wash the rice until water runs clear, then cook according to packet
• Heat oil in a pan; add the whole spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and peppercorns).  Fry for 2-3 minutes
• Add the onion and fry until translucent
• Add ginger and garlic.  Fry for a further 2-3 minutes
• Add all spice powders (coriander, cumin and garam masala) and mix well
• Add the mushrooms and sauté with the onion and spices for 3-4 minutes
• Pour in to the pan, the yoghurt, lime juice, and a splash of boiling water to loosen the ingredients
• Add the chopped coriander and mint leaves and salt to taste
• Combine the rice with the spice and mushroom mix.  Pour into an over proof dish. Cover and place in a preheated oven at 200 degrees (Celsius) for 20 minutes

Tandoori Aubergine Kebabs

I love the smells you get emanating from tandoori ovens when you walk past Indian restaurants.  It is quite a unique aroma, and delivers well known tasty treats such as Tandoori chicken and naan bread.  Obviously as a vegetarian and a coeliac, these are beyond thee realms of my diet.  Henceforth, this recipe is to try and take tandoor matters into my own hands.

The Ingredients:

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Ground coriander

1 tsp Ground cumin

Pinch Salt

Pinch Pepper

1 tsp Sugar

2 cloves

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds

3 Green cardamom pods

1 tsp Turmeric

½ tsp Ground nutmeg

1 tsp Garam Masala

2 cloves

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds

3 Green cardamom pods

150g natural yoghurt

1 large aubergine

The recipe:

• Put all powder spices into a large bowl (including the salt, pepper and sugar)
• Put the fenugreek seeds, cardamom pods and cloves into a pestle and mortar and crush.  Add to the powder spices
• Add the yoghurt to the spices and mix well
• Cut aubergine into large chunks and then stir into the yoghurt and spice mix until all the aubergine is coated.
• Leave to marinate for 1-2 hours – optional as you could cook it right away, but leaving it will allow the flavours to intensify
• Thread the aubergine onto skewers and place on a lightly greased oven dish
• Place into a preheated oven at 200 degrees (Celsius) for 20 minutes (or until starting to char)

I served both the Aubergine skewers and the biryani with a raita.  The raita was just chopped cucumber, a bit of natural yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon juice all mixed up.

Yummy!

Sunday Lunch Take 2: Bubble and squeak

Sunday Lunch Take 2: Bubble and squeak

After a Sunday spent slaving over a hot stove, making as delicious roast dinner, surely you want to milk the fruits of your labour for as long as possible.  What is the best thing to do with roast dinner leftovers? Bubble and Squeak!  It’s almost worth making extra just for this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ingredients:

Left over roast potatoes, and any other cooked veg (parsnips are an amazing addition, but essentially any vegetables you would put into a roast dinner would work)

Eggs (enough for 1 or 2 per person, depending on how hungry you are)

Butter

The recipe:

• Chop the veg into smallish pieces
• Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the veg,
• Sauté the veg for 10 minutes (or until nicely browned and crisping up slightly)
• Poach or fry the eggs

Serve ( I like to enjoy this with a bit of gluten free brown sauce on the side, but to be honest there will still be buckets of flavour in the roasted then fried veg and the oozing creamy yolk of the egg)