Bean-n-Sprouts
Posted by: fanfer on: October 20, 2009
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I really can’t think of a name for this so my husband came up with “Cheesy Sprouts with Nuts” which nearly says it all. It omits the chana dal but perhaps he wanted to.
I haven’t been blogging for some time because my job has had me on the road a lot and when I’m at home I’ve been too tired to do anything other than use recipes that are old and new friends from my extensive library of veggie cookbooks. I cull these every now and again but there are always have loads to fall back on – with wonderful ideas from fantastic cooks like Madhur Jaffrey, Ursula Ferrigno and Prue Leith and fabulous restaurants such as Cafe Paradiso and the River Cafe.
Anyway this dish isn’t out of a book. It’s not exciting and you would be disappointed to get it in a restaurant but it is warming comfort food for a cold and drizzly and wet and grey October day.
from the top...
...from the side...
You’ve pretty much got the ingredients from the top of this post. I soaked 2 ounces of chana dal in water for most of the day and boiled it until tender. While it was boiling I also boiled about 10 ounces of Brussels sprouts in salted water until they were tender but still a bit crunchy. Meanwhile I made a cheese sauce using half an ounce of butter, half an ounce of plain flour, half a pint milk, one and a half ounces of strong Cheddar, a sprinkling of mustard powder and some salt and pepper.
When the sprouts were done, I roughly chopped half of them and halved the rest. I mixed the chopped ones in with the cooked chana dal and the cheese sauce. This all went into the baking dish. I then topped the mixture with the halved sprouts followed by half an ounce of coarsely grated Cheddar mixed with one and a half ounces of roasted, salted cashew nuts (roughly chopped) – a topping I invented for this dish and will definitely use again.
...and on the plate
I had some parsnips roasting in the oven so the Cheesy Sprouts with Nuts went in the oven at Gas Mark 6 for about 25 minutes. By the end, my carefully arranged topping was half submerged by the cheese sauce that had bubbled up around the edge so, if/when I make it again, I will bring the temperature down a notch or two and cook it for 5 to 10 minutes longer.
Chilli con Quorn, eh?
Posted by: fanfer on: September 24, 2009
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Chilli without meat
You can tell it’s getting cooler again. Bring on the warm spicy food. This is a new invention, a hot-as-you-like-it, it-all-depends-on-the-chilli-you-put-in dish.
I don’t usually like Quorn because, um, it tastes of Quorn. This dish hides all its gruesome Quorniness and it doesn’t come over too much as a meat substitute. I often mutter madly to myself in a Grumpy Old Woman sort of way when I am walking round chilled and freezer cabinets of veggie foods that are all designed to feel, taste and look like meat. If I wanted meat, I’d bloomin’ well buy it. Calm down, woman! Back to the chilli.
The method is dead easy. Fry a large crushed clove of garlic and a finely chopped medium onion in a bit of vegetable oil until soft. Chuck everything else in and simmer for 30-40 minutes. The amounts here are enough for two if you just have a bowl of chilli or it serves three if you expand it with some creamy mash, which is what I did today.
The everything else that you chuck in is a loooong list of bits and bobs, starting with
a 300g packof Quorn mince, then…
half a 400g can of chopped tomatoes
a 400g can of borlotti beans (because they are more luscious than red kidney beans)
half a finely chopped sweet pepper (I used an orange one)
a finely chopped chilli pepper of choice (you pick the heat)
half a tablespoon of cocoa powder (for a dash of Mexican mole)
a teaspoon of Vecon (or similar dark veggie stock base)
a teaspoon of dark molasses sugar
2 whole cloves (boy, are they hard to find once this is cooked. Learn from my mistake and use ground cloves or pop whole ones in a muslin bag)
a dessertspoon of wine vinegar
a pinch of dried oregano
a pinch of cayenne pepper,
some salt and black pepper to taste
and, finally, half a pint of water.
Plum and almond tart
Posted by: fanfer on: September 11, 2009
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One of the things you get used to as a vegetarian is that you can design a meal so that the main protein supply is not in the main course which can be an array of vegetables cooked to show off their best features. Today’s meal was a case in point. The farmer’s market supplied some tomatoes that were the deepest red we have ever seen; they were small and packed with enormous flavour. We also had baby leeks roasted in olive oil then dressed in lime juice, sultanas (I think their called golden raisins in the States) and fresh ginger – both yummy but no protein to speak of.
Plum and Almond Tart
The protein was in the plum tart since the pastry contained the normal flour and an egg, the filling had another egg but it also contained an ounce of ground almonds that made complete protein when combined with the flour. As for the plums – again no protein but they were deeeelicious. They were a variety called Majestic, which I haven’t come across before: they were sweet and tangy. I certainly don’t regret choosing them over the more traditional Victorias that were on the same stall.
The tart is based on an Italian recipe for apricot tart. The pastry was pretty much the same but I definitely played around with the filling. Italy has the sun for luscious apricots but we have the cool summers that create fantastic plums so I modified the almond mixture to fit with their sharper juiciness.
I made the pastry by whizzing 4 ounces of flour, half an ounce of cornflour, a teaspoon of caster sugar and 2 ounces of butter in the food processor until it was breadcrumb-y and then added a beaten egg. I lined a 15 cm flan tin with this, pricked the base of the tart and then popped it in the fridge for about quarter of an hour. Then I baked it blind at Gas Mark 5 for 15 minutes and lastly dried out the base for another 5 minutes.
When the pastry shell had cooled down a bit, I poured in a mixture of one egg, 1 ounce of caster sugar, 1 ounce of ground almonds and the zest and juice of half a lime. Then I placed five halved and stoned plums cut side down in the mixture.
This went into the oven for about 35 minutes until the almond mixture had puffed up around the soft plums. We happily scoffed it down with a spoonful of double cream. Mmmmm!
