Saturday 25 April 2020

VEGGIE SALAD NICOISE



SALADE NICOISE
Hi and welcome to our Vegetarian Kitchen. Summer weather has arrived and our recipe is for a lovely salad, from Nice on the Mediterranean. A tasty salad with ingredients readily available.


SALAD NICOISE (Vegetarian style)
Serves 4 to 6


INGREDIENTS
3 hard boiled Eggs (cut into quarters)

1 Lettuce

1 Red Onion (cut into thin slices)

1/2 Cucumber (sliced)

3 Tomatoes (sliced)

1 Green or Red Pepper (sliced)

12 Black Olives

12 cooked French Beans (cut in half)

6 very small cooked New Potatoes (minute)

1 teaspoon chopped fresh Basil

sauce vinaigrette (recipe below)


SAUCE VINAIGRETTE
3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

salt & pepper

Put in a bowl and mix well. Whisk well.


SALAD NICOISE

METHOD
Tear the lettuce into pieces, put in a very large serving bowl, add all the sliced vegetables and toss. Add black olives, green beans, and new potatoes, stir in. Toss all the ingredients then add the sauce vinaigrette. SERVE IMMEDIATELY.

Lovely light lunch/supper on a summer day. Add wholemeal rolls or crusty bread. A glass of Rose' Wine, perfect.



 

Saturday 18 April 2020

COOKING WITH KIDS


 

VEGGIE COOKING WITH KIDS
Hi and welcome to our Vegetarian Kitchen. This week the recipes are for food children like to eat and which they can prepare themselves, with supervision.

Here are suggestions for pizzas, with their own toppings. Jacket potatoes and crudite (sliced vegetables to dip in humus, or salsa type dips). Give them free rein but use fresh vegetables.

Also a recipe for cup cakes and the kids can choose their own toppings.


PIZZAS
You can buy ready made pizza bases in most supermarkets.

The kids can assemble their own using any of the following:-

Grated Cheese, tomato puree, sliced tomatoes, sliced peppers, sweetcorn, pineapple chunks. mushrooms, ,jalapeno peppers, olives, vegetarian frankfurters chopped into small pieces. You could have 4 different cheeses - eg Mozzarella, Feta, Cheddar, Red Leicester. Any of these would be great or you could limit them to 3 toppings.


JACKET POTATOES
Prepare in the usual way - scrub and put in oven for about 1 hour.

Cut in half.

Top with grated cheese, baked beans, tinned chopped tomatoes, chilli non carne, soured cream and chives, or just plain butter.

CRUDITE (sliced raw vegetables for dips)

Sliced carrots in sticks, celery, cauliflower florets, strips of peppers, radishes.

You can buy humus in most supermarkets.


CUP CAKES
Kids love cup cakes, and you can make them colourful. If you don't want to use food colouring a teaspoon of any red fruit juice will turn the cakes pink or a teaspoon of beetroot juice. Chocolate flavour is always popular so use cocoa.


INGREDIENTS
4 oz (100g) Butter or Margarine

4 oz (100g) Sugar

4 oz (100g) Self Raising Flour

2 eggs beaten

1 tablespoon milk

NOTE To make chocolate cup cakes add 2 teaspoons cocoa to the flour. Or you could just add vanilla essence. Alternatively add, 4oz raisins or sultanas.


ICING
6oz ICING SUGAR

4 oz margarine or soft butter

water

Food colouring. You can add any colour to the icing mixture, red, blue, green

To make chocolate icing, melt 6 squares of chocolate in a bowl and add to icing mixture.


METHOD
Preheat oven to 375F(190C) (Gas Mark 6)

Place 24 paper cases on a baking tray.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs.

Sieve in the flour (and cocoa powder if using). Fold in with milk.

Put in cases and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

When cold, ice the cup cakes and allow kids to decorate with hundreds and thousands, or vermicelli, grated chocolate, or Smarties.

 ENJOY COOKING WITH THE KIDS. COOKING IS FUN!

 



 

Tuesday 14 April 2020

BEAN SALADS



BEAN SALADS
Hi and welcome to our Vegetarian Kitchen. This week we have recipes for two delicious Bean Salads. In many countries beans have always been an important part of the diet- high in protein, cheap and cheerful and low fat. These delicious recipes can accompany other dishes. You will notice we use tinned produce in both recipes. This is because beans are potentially poisonous if not cooked properly



KIDNEY BEANS & SWEETCORN SALAD

INGREDIENTS

400g Tin Kidney Beans (240g drained)

200g Tin Sweetcorn (165g drained)

1 Chopped Spring Onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Coriander (or Parsley)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt & Black Pepper to taste


METHOD
Drain the Kidney Beans, put in bowl, drain sweetcorn, add. Stir well. Add chopped Spring Onion and Coriander and stir well. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper.

 



CHICK PEA SALAD

INGREDIENTS

400g TIN CHICK PEAS (drained 240g)

1 Red Pepper (chopped into small bits)

1 Spring Onion (chopped finely)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh Coriander (or Parsley)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt & black pepper


METHOD
Drain the chick peas and put in a bowl. Add red pepper, spring onion, coriander and toss.

In a small bowl, mix lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour over the chick pea salad and stir well.

SERVE these salads with a green salad or, alternatively, serve them with Quiche. ENJOY!


 

Saturday 11 April 2020

VEGGIE MOUSSAKA




Hi, and welcome to our Vegetarian Kitchen. This week we are cooking the famous Greek dish "MOUSSAKA" - our own special vegetarian recipe. No meat, but nevertheless an authentic taste. We have fooled several of our meat loving friends. It is not a simple recipe but as usual, it is very economical. You could make it the day before and bake it in the oven on the day you wish to serve it.




"MOUSSAKA" made with Quorn (serves 4 - 6)
(You won't believe it is not meat)


INGREDIENTS
200g QUORN MINCE

2 Large Baking Potatoes

1 Large Aubergine (the huge fat one) or 4 small Aubergines (they have more taste)

1 small onion

2 cloves Garlic

2 Teaspoons Tomato Puree

1 Teaspoon Dried Basil

300ml Water (just over half a pint)

1 OXO Vegetable Stock Cube

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil or Sunflower Oil


CHEESE SAUCE FOR TOPPING

Ingredients
2 oz butter

2 oz plain flour

Half a Pint of Milk

3-4oz of MATURE CHEDDAR CHEESE GRATED

 


METHOD
First, peel and slice the potatoes lengthways into slices (about 1/2" thick). Boil gently in a pan until firm but cooked. (About 5 - 10 mins)

Next, slice the Aubergines into rings (about 1/2" thick) if you are using the small aubergines. If you use one large aubergine, this should be sliced, placed on a plate and covered with salt. The salt removes the bitter juices, and they will cook quicker and absorb less oil. Wash the aubergine slices thoroughly to remove all salt and juices. Fry in a pan until cooked thoroughly

Put 2-3 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan, gently fry the chopped onion, add garlic, Quorn mince, stirring all the time. Fry for about 2 minutes.. Add tomato puree, vegetable stock and Basil and stir. Bring to the boil and season to taste. Simmer gently until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Next, you assemble the ingredients by placing in a large Pyrex or Oven-proof glass dish. Do not use a tin as it will burn. First place a layer of potato slices in the bottom of the dish, now spoon over half of the mince mixture, next a layer of aubergines, the another layer of potatoes, the remainder of the mince, next a final layer of aubergines to cover the top of the dish. Leave to stand while you make the Cheese Sauce topping.


METHOD Cheese Sauce
Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan. Add the flour and stir and cook for a minute or two. Gradually stir in the milk making sure the sauce remains smooth. Bring to the boil stirring for a minute or two. Remove from heat and stir in most of the cheese, leaving some to go on the top.

Next, pour cheese sauce over the assembled Moussaka. Add grated cheese on top. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until brown and bubbling. 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6.

Serve with a Green Salad of mixed leaves and Greek Pitta Bread. ENJOY.

Lovely with a glass of red or dry white wine.