Baba Ganoush

2 large aubergines, halved lengthways
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4tbsp tahini
25g ground almonds
Juice of ½ lemon
1tsp ground cumin
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Large handful of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

Preheat to 200c/400f
Brush the cut sides of the aubergines with some of the oil and bake them for about 35 min or until soft. Meanwhile, heat the grill to it’s highest setting.
Place the aubergines under the grill, cut sides up, and leave until they are black and blistered. This will take about 5 min. Remove and set aside to cool.
Scoop out the flesh, discard the skins, and place the flesh in a food processor. Add the garlic, tahini, almonds, lemon juice, cumin, and season with salt and pepper. Process to a smooth paste and check the seasoning.
Spoon into a serving dish, drizzle with the remaining oil and scatter over the mint leaves.

Can be made up to two days in advance and refrigerated.

From New Flavours of the Jewish Table.

What can I say about this except that it is Baba Ganoush. You have to have a recipe for it, because it is a staple (like Hummus). It’s great stuff, and this is a great recipe for it.

The aubergines need to be cooked, but that’s not hard to do, and other then that the food processor does the work for you.

Funny enough, it was my four year old that went totally over the moon for this one (though we all loved it). The first time I made it he kept pulling the bowl across the table and saying that the baba ganoush was his dinner, and we could all have the rest of the stuff. That is incredibly high praise from a four year old.

Moroccan Carrot Salad

This picture is awful, but this salad is so good! So Good!

75g flaked almonds
450g carrots
2 tsp clear honey
3tbsp olive oil
juice of ½ lemon
1tbsp rose water
50g raisins
1tsp ground cinnamon
salt and freshly ground black pepper

preheat to 200c/400f
place almonds on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven for 10 min, or until golden, set aside.

Grate the carrots in a food processor, or by hand, and place in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the honey, oil, lemon juice, rose water, raisins, and cinnamon. Season well with salt and pepper and mix well. Leave at room temperature for 1 hour for the flavours to infuse.
Stir in the toasted almonds just before serving.

I only recently discovered this recipe from New Flavours of the Jewish Table, but I’ve already made it three or four times (you’d think I could have gotten a better picture one of those times, but I’m always so excited to eat it that I forget).
I find it perfect because I always have carrots in the house, and I have a bottle of rosewater that I don’t use often enough, so it’s convenient in that respect. It’s also great because the prep is super quick, and although it has to sit for an hour (which could be a pain), it can also sit in the fridge for the day, or even overnight, making it the perfect make-in-advance accompaniment to whatever else you are having.

I have made this with the almonds toasted, with them un-toasted, with them added before serving, and with them added during the prep, and left in there while it infuses. The way it is done in the recipe gives the best results with the almonds giving it that subtle, almost but not quite - smoky flavour, but if you forget to toast them, or forget to hold them out, it’s no big deal, the salad will still be fabulous.

Easy, fast, delicious, exotic, and mostly made from ingredients that you could easily have to hand. This dish ROCKS!

Bread and Tomato Soup

Everyone who is growing tomato plants needs to have this recipe!



from Jamie’s Italy
500g/1lb2oz ripe cherry tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
a large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stems chopped
olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
2x400g good quality tins of tomatoes
500g/1lb2oz good quality bread, stale

Prick the cherry tomatoes, and toss with one sliced clove of garlic, and a quarter of the basil leaves. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, put in a roasting tray and bake at 180c/350f for 20 min.
In a large pot, heat the oil and add the remaining garlic, and the basil stalks. Stir for a minute till soft, add the tinned tomatoes, fill the tins with water and add that, break up the tomatoes with a spoon. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 min.
Tear the bread into thumb sized pieces, and add to the pot. Mix and season. Tear in the basil and sit over low heat for 10 min. Pour in the cherry tomatoes with all their liquid, and give it a good stir.

This is another recipe that I used to make all the time before the year long cooking challenge started. When I started making a new recipe every day, this one got left behind, so I thought I would revisit it, and see if it lived up to the memory after all the recipes that I have tried and all of the things that I have learned.

It did!

If you are growing your own tomatoes, then this has got to be the cheapest soup in the world to make, as all you’ll really need is some fresh basil, and some stale bread.

The texture of it is sort of thick and sticky like porridge, but also very silky and smooth at the same time. You could probably eat it with a fork it’s so thick, and the flavour is amazing. The fresh basil, and the fresh roasted tomatoes really make it taste summer-y, even though it is filling enough to be a winter dish (if you could get decent tomatoes in the winter).

The recipe is simple and fast too. One thing I noticed is that it may not need to go a full 10 minutes in that last step, you don’t want it to start burning on the bottom.
This one was as good if not better then I remembered. I am not going to lose sight of it again.

Ratatouille

By Cookbad

I'm a big advocate of cooking in season, so this dish makes me a big hypocrite, but might inspire some garden choices, which it IS the season for.

So, here is a recipe for how to make Ratatouille, just like in the movie!!!

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 shallots, diced
1 1/2 cups canned diced tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes, peeled)
3 tablespoons grated carrots
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1 bay leaf
2 roasted red peppers, diced. Rinsed and patted dry if jarred
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Roma tomatoes
1 zucchini
1 Chinese eggplant
1 yellow squash
1 clove minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper

First you make a base sauce. In a skittle or cast iron pan add olive
oil, garlic and shallots over low-medium heat. Cook until soft, 7-9
minutes. Add tomatoes, carrots, marjoram, bay leaf. Simmer for 10
minutes. Lower heat and add peppers Cook just long enough to combine
the flavors. Remove from heat and discard bay leaf. In either the
skillet you cooked the sauce in, or a round/oval casserole dish (8-10
inches), evenly spread the sauce.

Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, slice tomatoes, squash, zucchini
and eggplant as thinly as possible. Less than 1/8 an inch if possible.

In you prepared sauce dish lay down a strip of overlapping or your
vegetables. Zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes then spring squash. Leaving
a bit of each layer exposed. This strip should start and end about an
inch from either end of the pan. Continue to layer in a spiral
formation around the center strip, slightly overlapping towards the
center. Keep going until either you have used all the vegetables, or
the pan is filled.

Cover with either the lid of the skillet, or a couple layers of foil
and bake at 300 for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Remove lid and return to
oven for another 10 minutes. This dish can be made a day ahead, so
either cover and store or broil for 10-15 minutes until it just starts
to brown. Serve from dish hot or cold.
Makes 4 servings.

Hoisin sauce, & some things you can make with it

These are the tofu snacks..

They were pretty good.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the amazing, wonderful, fabulous lamb chops, but the recipe is here if you want to try them.


Hoisin Sauce
½ cup dried adzuki beans, rinsed
2tbsp toasted sesame oil
1tbsp minced garlic
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
¼ tsp Asian chile garlic sauce, or ¼ tsp dried red pepper flakes, or more to taste

Place beans in a medium sized saucepan and add 5 cups of water. Bring the water to boil over a high heat, then reduce the heat to low. Let the beans simmer gently, uncovered, until they are very soft, 1.5 to 2 hours. Drain the beans in a colander and let them cool. Puree the beans in a food processor until smooth.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it is hot, but not smoking, add the garlic. Cook the garlic, stirring occasionally, until it is soft but not browned, 2-3 min.
Add the bean puree and the brown sugar, cider vinegar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and 2 tbsp of water to the skillet and stir to combine. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cook the sauce, stirring occasionally until it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 10 – 15 minutes.
Add the chili garlic sauce to the hoisin sauce and sir to combine. Taste for seasoning, adding more chili sauce as needed. Let the hoisin sauce cool to room temperature. It can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 10 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the refrigerator over night.

I was always under the impression that Hoisin sauce had plums in it, and this recipe has none to be found, but I really wanted to try the Hoisin tofu snacks, and I happened to have some adzuki beans lying around, so I gave this a go.

It’s from Food To Live By, which is one of my all time favorite cookbooks. The two recipes that follow are from the same book.

This was easy to make, and it made enough to make two batches of tofu snacks, and a lamb chop dinner, so it’s worth making.


Hoisin Tofu Snacks
14 to 16 oz extra firm tofu
½ cup home made hoisin sauce
2tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1tbsp hulled sesame seeds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350f/180c
Cut the tofu into rectangles, approx 1 inch wide by 2 inches long by 1/3 inch. Arrange the pieces in a baking pan just large enough to hold them in a single layer. To make sure the tofu get crispy all over, the slices should be slightly separated.
Combine the hoisin Sauce, tamari, and sesame seeds, if using, in a small bowl and pour this mixture over the tofu. Turn the tofu so that both sides are evenly coated.
Bake for 30 min. Remove the pan from the oven and use a spatula and a large spoon to flip the tofu pieces. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes longer. Then turn the tofu over again, and bake until deep golden brown, 10 min more. Remove from the oven and allow the tofu to cool for at least 5 min. The longer it sits out the firmer the tofu will become. Serve warm. The tofu snacks will keep, covered in the refrigerator for up to three days (although they will lose their crispness).


These were incredibly easy to make. I pressed the tofu first so that it would have a better texture. It’s easy, just wrap it in a clean towel, and pile an absurd amount of books on it, then wait. I thought they were fun, my husband loved them. I made a second batch by request.

Just to let you know, About halfway through they start to smell a little like they are burning. They’re not, they just smell that way. It happened both times, and both times they came out fine.

Grilled Lamb Chops with Mongolian Sauce
2tbsp grated peeled fresh ginger
2tbsp minced garlic
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
½ cup ginger vinegar, or balsamic vinegar
2tbsp firmly packed, light brown sugar
¼ cup toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
¼ cup hoisin sauce
1tbsp Asian Chili Garlic sauce
8 loin or rib lamb chops

To make the marinade, place the ginger, garlic, shallots, vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil, tamari, teriyaki sauce, hoisin sauce, and chili sauce in a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine.
Place the lamb chops in a large re-sealable plastic bag and add the marinade. Let the chops marinate in the fridge for at least 8 or up to 48 hours, turning the bag occasionally to distribute the marinade evenly.
Set up the barbecue grill and preheat it to medium.
Remove the chops from the marinade and transfer them to a platter. Strain the marinade through a fine mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Discard the solids. Bring the marinade to a boil over high heat and cook until it thickens to a sauce, 3-5 min.
Place the lamb chops on the hot grill and cook them for about 2 min on each side. Baste the chops with some of the boiled marinade. Cover the grill and cook the chops , turning once, until cooked to taste, about 6 min longer for medium rare. To test for doneness, insert an instant read thermometer through the side into the center of a chop without touching the bone. It will register 145f when the chop is done to medium rare.
Let the chops rest for 5 min, then serve them with the boiled marinade on the side.

These are amazing. I don’t make lamb chops very often, but I might start now. My advice to you is to make the hoisin sauce, portion it out and freeze it so that you can make these whenever you want to. Because once you make them once, you will want to make them again.

I used the grill in my oven because we don’t have a barbeque. It worked fine, though I had to cook them for 2 minutes longer then the recipe instructed. I think that the cooking time might vary slightly from one grill to another.

Try this recipe for yourself and find out.

Pad Thai

225g wide dried rice noodles
450g raw prawns (I used tofu instead)
2tbsp ground nut oil
3tbsp coarsely chopped garlic
3tbsp finely sliced shallots
2 large fresh red or green Thai chilies, seeded and chopped
175g fresh beansprouts
2 eggs, beaten
1tbsp light soy sauce
1tbsp lime juice
2tbsp fish sauce
1tsp sugar
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Garnish:
1 lime, cut into wedges
3tbsp coarsely chopped fresh coriander
3 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
3tbsp coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
1tsp dried chili flakes

Soak the rice noodles in a bowl of warm water for 20 min. Drain them in a colander or sieve.
Peel the prawns and discard the shells. Using a small sharp knife, remove the fine digestive cord. Wash the prawns in cold water with 1tbsp of salt, then rinse well and pat dry with kitchen paper.
Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat until it is hot. Add the oil, and when it is very hot and slightly smoking, add the prawns and stir fry for about 2 min. Remove the prawns with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reheat the wok, add the garlic, shallots, and chillies, and stir fry for 1 min, then add the noodles, and stir fry for another minute. Finally, add the bean sprouts, eggs, soy sauce, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and pepper, and continue to stir fry for 3 min. Return the prawns to the wok, mix well and stir fry for 2 min.
Turn the mixture onto a warm platter. Garnish and serve at once.

This was from Ken Hom Cooks Thai. Ken Hom is a Thai cooking god. You should buy this book. I have made a ton of recipes from it, and the worst of them have been good, the best of them have been all time favorites that will blow your mind they are so good.

This one was fabulous. It was as good or better then what you would get at a Thai restaurant. I love this recipe.

I made a couple of changes. For one thing, I used the precooked noodles that are meant to go right into the wok. The only reason was because it was all I could find on short notice that had the right shape to it. You really do want flat noodles for this dish. I used more then the recipe said, because dried ones would have expanded, whereas mine were already cooked. I think I used almost twice the weight, and it made just enough to serve four.

The other change I made, was using Tofu instead of prawns. Partly because prawns are so expensive, partly because I was looking for a tofu recipe, and figured this one would convert well. It did.

I pressed the tofu first, which worked out really well. You just wrap it in a clean towel and put a baking sheet on top of it, and then weigh it down. I used four heavy cookbooks, and left it for a couple of hours (in the fridge). It gets rid of excess moisture, and gives the tofu a much nicer, more firm texture.

Because of the substitutions, I skipped the first couple of steps. I didn’t need to soak the noodles, or to precook the tofu, I just added it at the end, when you would have been adding the prawns back in.

I have to stress that this dish is all about the garnishes:



That is what makes it so super, crazy, unbelievable, over the top good. Also, it took about 10 min of chopping and measuring, and about 10 min of cooking. So if you make it this way, then in only 20 minutes time, you have a fabulous dinner, that is a little something different.

Goat Cheese and Squash Pie

500g shortcrust pastry
1 small butternut squash
1 red onion, chopped into bite sized wedges
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1tbsp fresh thyme
1 pack soft goat’s cheese
1tbsp chopped fresh sage
1 pack goat’s cheese with rind

heat oven to 190c. Roll the pastry out to the thickness of a 1 pound coin. Use to line a 23cm round tart tin. Blind bake for 15 min
Cut the squash into chunks and remove skin and seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, season and put in a roasting tray with onion, garlic and thyme. Roast for 20 min until the squash is cooked
Spread the soft goat’s cheese on the bottom of the flan case. Squeeze the garlic from it’s skin. Mash with ½ of the squash and the sage. Spread over base. Season, then scatter over the onion and remaining squash.
Slice the goat’s cheese with rind into rounds and place on top.
Bake for 20 – 30 min

I usually make my own pie pastry. It’s quick and easy, and I like doing it. Still, for this one I decided to try the store bought kind. I got the kind that comes in a block and you roll it out yourself. Sadly, I loved it. It was really tasty, great texture. I think I’ll still make my own most of the time, because I still like doing it, but it’s good to know that if I’m in a rush, the store bought is there as a reliable back up.
As for the rest of the recipe, from Good Food Magazine, it was not as good as I had hoped.

It could have been great, but it was a bit fussy to make, even with the pre-made dough, and the squash should have been cooked much longer. When I went to mash up the squash and garlic, I kind of guessed at that, but I thought maybe the cooking time of the assembled pie would solve that problem. If it had a really creamy texture, it would have been a beautiful dish, but it wound up with a bit of a grainy/undercooked texture. Not inedible, but not good either.

I’d be willing to guess that if you increased the original squash cooking time (or chopped it much more finely), it would make a really good pie.

Bean Cakes

2X300g cans of cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
100g Edam cheese cut into very small cubes
50g pine nuts, lightly toasted
5 spring onions, chopped
2tbsp sun dried tomato paste
75g fresh bread crumbs
1 medium egg, beaten
1tbsp sunflower oil

For the tomato relish:
4 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 red pepper, de-seeded and diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
3tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
1tbsp olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon

Put the beans in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher or fork. Add the Edam, pinenuts, onion, tomato paste and a third of the breadcrumbs. Season and stir to combine the ingredients.
Using your hands, shape the mixture into eight burgers. Coat each one with beaten egg and remaining breadcrumbs. Transfer to a plate, cover and chill for about 20 min.
Mix together the ingredients for the tomato relish in a small bowl and season.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large non-stick frying pan and add the burgers. Fry for 3-4 min on each side until golden and heated through. Drain on kitchen paper.

This comes from Good Housekeeping Magazine
. I was unsure about trying these because I love bean burgers when they are good, but so many of them wind up tasting bland and having a pasty texture. Still, I have had some good experiences with Good Housekeeping recipes in the past, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I’m glad I tried it. These were really good. They were just what you want from a bean burger. They had a good depth of flavor, I think that’s due to the sun dried tomato paste, and the edam (I love edam). They also had a great texture because the breadcrumb coating gave the outside a good crunch, while the inside had the melted cheese to keep it from being too uniform. Then there was the bonus of the tomato relish, which was sooo good.

I decided to use a food processor to mash the beans because I was in a hurry. I think that if you do it by hand it would have an even better texture, but I liked it just fine coming from the processor. I will probably use one again next time I make them (I’ll make them again). I also used sun dried tomatoes instead of sun dried tomato paste. I just ran them through the processor first to make them into a paste.

I had the left over one the next day for lunch, and it was just as good. This is a nice bean burger recipe. I recommend it.

Pan Cooked Savoy Cabbage

50g butter
3 potatoes, thinly sliced
½ Savoy cabbage, cored and cut into thin strips
1tbsp parmesan cheese, freshly grated
2 eggs
100ml milk
salt and pepper

Melt half the butter in a large frying pan an make a layer of half of the potato slices on the base, then top with the cabbage, and sprinkle with the parmesan. Beat the eggs with the milk and a pinch of salt and pour into the pan. Make a layer of the remaining potato slices on top, season with salt and pepper, and dot with the remaining butter.
Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and cook over a low heat for 1 hour.

This comes from The The Silver Spoon. Everyone should own this book. Everyone should try this cabbage too.

It takes a while to cook, but once you’ve got it set up, you just leave it there while you get on with whatever else you are cooking to go with it. It’s really easy. I would recommend using a non stick pan for this, because it is a long cooking time, and you can’t stir it or anything while it’s cooking, so if you don’t have a non-stick, then at least be sure to use a good one with a strong heavy base so that it conducts the heat well, otherwise you’ll wind up with burned spots.

This goes with so many things, and it is a potato and a green all in one so you don’t need to worry about making anything else. The flavor is really good because it just emphasizes the flavor of the cabbage itself instead of drowning it with other things.

I loved this so much that I have actually made it a few times (don’t worry, I always make something new to go with it).

Try this one!

Spinach sauce

800g spinach
40g butter
250ml milk
1tbsp plain flour (optional)
Salt and white pepper

Put the spinach in a large saucepan with just the water clinging to it’s leaves after washing and cook for 5 min. Drain, squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then puree in a food processor.
Melt the butter in another saucepan, and pour in the milk and the spinach puree. Season with salt. Cook over a medium heat, stirring the mixture occasionally, until thickened. If the sauce remains runny, stir in the flour and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add more salt, if necessary, and white pepper to taste. If this sauce is served with pasta, hand around plenty of parmesan cheese.

Serve with short pasta, or with poached eggs.

hint: don’t use frozen spinach, the texture won’t be right.
also, if you are going to use the flour, be sure to cook for the whole 10 min. so you don’t get a floury taste

This was really good, and really fun too. It was shockingly bright green, which the boys loved. It turned out to be an excellent way to get them to eat massive amounts of spinach without complaining.

I got the recipe from The The Silver Spoon. One of the most wonderful cook books to have.

This was fast and easy and well received by all. I’d make it again.

Green Beans in oil

2-3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200g onions, thinly sliced into half moon shapes
7 garlic cloves, cut into thick slivers
450g green beans, topped, tailed, and strings removed, and cut at an angle
1 ¼ tsp salt, or to taste
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of allspice
450g ripe tomatoes, peeled (optional), and thickly sliced
1-2 slices of green pepper (optional)
Heat the oil in a pan. When it is hot, but not smoking, add the onions and garlic, and cook over moderately high heat for about 2-3 minutes, or until golden in color. Add the beans and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, cinnamon, and allspice. Reduce the heat to moderately low. Cover and let the beans sweat for about 10 – 15 min. Stir them once or twice without disturbing the onions, or shake the pan. Gently stir in the tomatoes and pepper (if using). Cover and simmer over moderately low heat for about 20-25 min, allowing the beans to cook in the juice of the tomatoes.

I got this from New Flavours of the Lebanese Table .

This is a great way to make green beans. I don’t normally approve of cooking green beans for that long, but in this case it worked really well. In the end it’s really more like a green bean stew or something. With some bread it could be a good lite meal on it’s own.

Also, it’s the first time I’ve used cinnamon in a green bean recipe. That was pretty cool.

This was a really wonderful dish, and I highly recommend it.

Pumpkin dip

675g pumpkin, peeled deseeded and cut into 2.5cm/1inch pieces
1 garlic clove
1tsp salt or to taste
3tbsp tahini
3tbsp lemon juice
handful of finely chopped parsley or watercress leaves to garnish

place the pumpkin pieces in a steaming basket and set into a pan over 1 inch of boiling water, cover and cook over moderate heat for 10 min, or until tender. Meanwhile, in a serving bowl pound the garlic and the salt with a pestle until creamy.
Remove the pumpkin pieces, drain, squeeze out some of their excess water and puree them in a blender, or use a vegetable mill. Add to the garlic in the bowl. Add the tahini and lemon juice, mix well, taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve with cos lettuce, endive, or a mixture of orange, red and yellow pepper slices

One more from New Flavours of the Lebanese Table .

This was my son’s favorite thing ever. He loved it so much that we ate it for two days in a row, and when it ran out, he made me take him to the supermarket to buy more squash so we could make more and eat it for two more days. He never got tired of it, kept asking if he could have it for breakfast.

It’s basically Hummus, but with pumpkin (I used butternut squash instead). What a fabulous idea!

Next time you are thinking about having hummus, try this instead. It’s easy and quick to make, and it’s a really nice change from the usual.

Broccoli Fantasia aka Fabulous Broccoli

1kg broccoli, cut into florets
2tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 leeks, trimmed and sliced
1tbsp plain flour
100ml double cream
200ml white wine
25g butter, plus extra for greasing
6tbsp parmesan cheese, freshly grated
salt and pepper

Parboil the broccoli in salted boiling water for a few minutes, then drain and leave to cool slightly. Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and leeks and cook over a low heat stirring occasionally until softened. Remove and discard the garlic. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for 2 min until lightly browned. Stir in the cream, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Add the broccoli, pour in the wine and simmer for about 10 min. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200c. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter. Remove the pan from the heat, and transfer the mixture to the prepared dish. Sprinkle with the parmesan, dot with the butter and bake until golden and bubbling.

I got this recipe from The Silver Spoon, and with a name like that, I had to try it.

I’m making more of an effort to find new and exciting ways to prepare vegetables, it’s so easy to just serve them the same way over and over again, and even though that way may be a good way, it’s a shame when there is so much more out there. Hence, the Fabulous Broccoli.

It was, as the name said, fabulous. It’s a really high fat way to eat your greens, but it was so creamy, and tasty. As a matter of fact, my older son asked if he could have the sauce over everything on his plate, and then he ate his whole dinner (didn’t even leave room for dessert). Good stuff.

It was not hard to make, though it used a few dishes. One for blanching, one for simmering, and a third for baking. Still, it was totally worth it. It really dresses up a fairly plain dinner too, if you are just having a roast or chops or something.

It didn’t say in the recipe how long to bake it for, it just said, “until golden and bubbling”. Mine took about 15-20 min.

There is no doubt in my mind that I will be making this again.

Pasta with balsamic vinegar sauce

25g capers, drained and rinsed
½ bunch of flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
1 potato, boiled and coarsely chopped
about 150ml olive oil
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt

put the capers, parsley, boiled potato, and a pinch of salt in a food processor and process to a puree. Scrape into a bowl and gradually beat in the olive oil to make a thick sauce. Stir in the balsamic vinegar.
For short pasta or spaghetti

This was from The Silver Spoon. I got this book recently, and I love it so much. It’s overwhelming, and educational, and fabulous, and exciting. If you love cooking, this is one of those books that is absolutely required.

I tried this because I was fascinated by the idea of a pasta sauce made of potato. Definitely not Atkins friendly.

I give this a place in the category of the easiest fastest sauces ever (if you already have a cooked potato), and it was really good. The taste was really interesting, different from most of the pasta sauces that I make regularly. I wound up adding a little extra vinegar, I think that how much you need probably has to do with how good your vinegar is. The texture of the overall dish was not exactly sticky, but definitely thick and coated. Very high on comfort factor, and with a real balsamic kick to it.

We all loved this one, there were no leftovers.

Broad beans in oil

I thought I had a photo of these, but I don't. Sorry.

They were green, and broad bean looking.

3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1kg frozen broad beans
a good pinch of sugar (optional)
3-4 tbsp hot water
½-1 bunch coriander, leaves and tender stems only, finely chopped
juice of 1 lemon, or to taste

Warm the oil in a large frying pan, add the onions and saute them, stirring them occasionally, until they are transparent and yellowish in color. At this point stir in the beans, sprinkle with the sugar, if using, and cook for 3-4 minutes. From time to time give them a stir. Then add 3-4 tbsp hot water, stir and simmer covered for a further 2-4 minutes. Uncover, add the coriander and simmer for a further few minutes or until the beans are soft. Stir in the lemon juice and serve.

This is really handy because it uses frozen broad beans. It’s nothing earth shattering, but it’s a really tasty way to make a super quick green vegetable for the side. Let’s face it, as much as we want to focus on each part of the overall meal, sometimes, the side vegetable gets left as an afterthought. If it does, this is not a bad solution at all. It would also be really good for picnics.

I liked them, and I’m going to replace my stash of frozen broad beans so that I can make it again in the future.

It was fromNew Flavours of the Lebanese Table .

Brown bean salad with Chickpea salad

Brown bean salad
200g brown beans, soaked overnight, drained, rinsed and drained again
1tsp salt
5tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove
3-4 tbsp lemon juice
Juice o 1 small orange, or 2-3 Seville oranges (in season)
3tbsp chopped parsley, or coriander
½ tsp paprika (optional)
Place the beans in a pan with 1 pint of water. Add ¾ tsp salt and ½ tbsp oil and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, civer and simmer for about 40-45 min or until the beans are very tender.
Meanwhile, in a bowl pound the garlic and the remaining salt with a pestle until smooth. Add the beans, with the reduced liquid, and stir well, mashing some of the beans lightly to coat them with the garlic. Add the lemon and orange juices, stir and top with the remaining oil. Sprinkle with the parsley or coriander, and the paprika if using.

Prepare half of the amount of chickpea salad, and place on top of the brown bean salad


Chickpea salad
225g chick-peas, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
1 garlic clove, crushed
1tsp salt or to taste
½ tbsp tahini (optional)
½-1 tbsp lemon juice
3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or to taste
1tsp ground cumin
Place chick peas in a medium pan and cover with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, skimming the foam from the surface of the water. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the chickpeas are very soft, about 2 hours. Check the water level at intervals, taste a chickpea, and if necessary add hot water. Drain the chickpeas, reserving a few tbsp of the cooking liquid
Meanwhile, in a serving bowl pound the garlic and salt with a pestle till creamy. Add the tahini if using, and the lemon juice. Stir in the reduced cooking liquidand the chickpeas, crushing some of them lightly. Drizzle the oil over and toss. Season with cumin.

Serve with Lebanese bread, spring onions, and watercress

These two bean dishes go really well together. On their own, each one was very nice, but together they are even better. One of those cases of the whole being greater then the sum of it’s parts. The flavors work well together, but the textures do too. The chickpeas have less liquid then the more soup-y brown beans (by the way, I couldn’t find brown beans, so I used Pinto beans instead), together they are really hearty.

The beans take a long time to cook, but I cooked them in advance, and then just heated them up when it came time to make the dish. That worked really well. It turns this into a dish that can be made in minutes.

This was another from New Flavours of the Lebanese Table , and it was a wonderful thing to do with beans.

Pumpkin Kibbeh

500g pumpkin, peeled and cut into thick slices
175g fine burghol (cracked wheat) do not rinse
1 small onion, grated
1tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of allspice
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
45g unbleached white flour (or as necessary)

For the filling:
50g chickpeas, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed (optional)
90ml Extra virgin olive oil, plus 1 tbsp and extra for brushing
1 medium sized onion, chopped
75g walnuts, coarsely chopped
1tbsp pomegranate syrup
½ tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp salt or to taste
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 medium sized aubergine, cut into cubes and fried

Prepare chickpeas for filling, if using. Place in a pan, cover with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil, skimming the foam from the surface of the water. Cover and simmer over low heat for 2 hours or until tender. Remove and split chickpeas.
Meanwhile place the pumpkin pieces in the steamer basket and set into a pan over 1 inch boiling water. Cover and cook for about 8-10 minutes, or until just soft. Remove and drain the pumpkin and squeeze out excess water using the back of a jug.
In a bowl, place the burghol, onion, salt, cinnamon, allspice, pepper and pumpkin, and knead to form a slightly moist dough. Add the flour and mix well. Cover and leave to stand in the fridge for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the filling. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions until lightly golden. Stir in the chickpeas if using, and the walnuts, pomegranate syrup, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, and aubergine. Give the mixture a good stir and remove from heat.
Preheat the oven to 180c. Brush a 21cm diameter round baking tin with a little olive oil. Take just under half the dough, and spread evenly over the base of the tin. Cover with the filling. Then take small portions of the remaining dough and flatten between the palms of your hands, moistening your hands as necessary. Spread the pieces of dough out over the top, then smooth and drizzle over the 90 ml of olive oil. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the baking tin and cut into squares. Bake for 30-40 min or until browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This is from a new book I got called New Flavours of the Lebanese Table . It was written by one of the chefs from books for cooks
. Books for cooks is an amazing place, and they produced one of my favorite cookbooks too, so I was really excited about this one.

It does not disappoint Not a bit. I love it. It makes Lebanese food completely accessible, and the dishes themselves are so good. I have already made a ton from this book (which I will be blogging soon). What I have found out is that Lebanese food is not so hard to make and also, my kids love absolutely anything that has Tahini in it (they like to lick the spoon after I measure it out too).

This particular one is my favorite so far. It’s not the simplest thing to make, it takes a little time, and has to be done in stages, but it’s not rocket science either, so if you have time and you enjoy cooking, you won’t have any trouble with it.

I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin, because it’s what I can get. It works really well in place of pumpkin for any recipe. Also, I used Bulgur wheat which, I think is what I was supposed to use. I was worried because I wasn’t sure how the Bulgur wheat would manage to soften since there isn’t really liquid in the recipe, and I still don’t know how it did it, but it did. The consistency was perfect.

This dish was just so good. It’s vegan, and vegetarian friendly, but don’t let that stop you if you’re not vegetarian. The taste is such a beautiful mix of sweet and savoury, and the texture is very complex and it all works so well together.

This was just as good as leftovers, cold on the second day too. This recipe alone makes this book worth owning. This is really good stuff.

Stuffed Peppers with rice, pine nuts and dill

Olive oil, 2 tbsp plus extra for drizzling
1 Onion, finely chopped
4tbsp pine nuts
1tsp smoked paprika
1tsp ground cinnamon
125g cooked basmati rice
4tbsp fresh dill, chopped
100g feta, cubed
2 peppers orange, red or yellow, halved

Heat the oven to 180c
Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onion over low heat till golden. Add the pine nuts and brown lightly. Stir in the spices and cook for a minute. Add the cooked rice and dill and stir together. Season well. Fold in the feta.
Put the peppers cut side up into a roasting tin. Divide the mixture among them and drizzle liberally with olive oil. Cover with foil and roast for 40 min until the peppers are tender, then remove the foil and cook for a further 5 min.

This came from 101 Global Dishes.

These were very nice. I have to admit that I usually wind up liking stuffed peppers more in theory then in actual practice, but these were really nice ones. They were incredibly easy and fast to make, and the dill and feta combination is always a winner. I don’t know if I would make them again, but that has more to do with my feelings about stuffed peppers, then my feelings about this recipe. It was good.

Jerusalem Artichokes

600g Jerusalem Artichokes, peeled and cut into chunks
a few bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
a splash of white wine vinegar

Place the Jerusalem Artichokes in an oiled pan, and fry on medium heat until golden on both sides, then add bay leaves, garlic, and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and place a lid on top. After about 20-25 minutes they will have softened up nicely and you can remove the lid and the bay leaves. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes, to crisp them up, and serve straight away.
Good with meat or fish, or in a plate of antipasti, or in soups or warm salads

This is a Jamie Oliver way of preparing Jerusalem Artichokes. It’s sort of a base recipe. You do this, and you can either eat them this way, or you can go on to add other things. He gives a few other suggestions that look really good. I will definitely be trying them. Jerusalem artichokes are probably my all time favorite vegetable. They cook like potatoes, and taste like artichokes, what could be better.

Like I said, this is just a base recipe, but it is really wonderful, even left on it’s own like this. There were really tasty crunchy bits, and really soft bits. You couldn’t taste the vinegar, I suppose it just hi-lighted the flavor of the vegetable.

This was super easy. I will make these again and again, and I will also try the variations that he recommends. If you’ve not given this vegetable a try, now’s the time!

Root Vegetable bake

100g butter, softened
finely grated zest of 1 small lemon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3tbsp fresh thyme leaves
85g Gruyere, finely grated
750g waxy potatoes, peeled
225g celeriac, peeled
450g carrots, peeled
450g parsnips, peeled and cored
Vegetarian gravy to serve

Preheat to 190c. Use 25g butter to
Grease a 20cm cake tin (not loose bottom). Mash the remaining butter with the lemon zest, thyme and gruyere. Season.
Very thinly slice the vegetables. Layer one third of the potatoes, then celeriac, carrots and parsnips in the tin. Dot with the butter. Repeat the layers. Finish with black pepper and dots of butter.
Cover the tin with foil and bake for 45 min. Remove the foil and bake for 45 more minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Leave for 5 min. Invert onto a warm plate, place a plate over the top and invert again so the crispy side is on top,

This was from Good Food 101 veggie Dishes. The book said to serve this as if it was a roast, with vegetarian gravy.

This recipe was a huge disappointment.

It takes ages to do all the slicing. It’s a lot of vegetables, and they all have to be sliced really thinly. Still, that wouldn’t be so bad if it was a really wonderful dish, but it’s not all that. The flavor is pretty good, the gruyere cheese is a nice touch, but it does not hold together the way it is supposed to. It just falls apart into a pile. I think it would make a fine side dish to go with something else, but it cannot really stand on it’s own, as a main dish.