Roasted Aubergine and Mango Salsa with Black Rice Noodles

Posted on April 29, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

Apart from the vibrant contrast in colours, this dish is amazing. It has a wonderful array of textures and flavours; roasted red onions and aubergines, chopped coriander, mango and lemon zest – and then those wonderful noodles.

Black rice noodles look amazing don’t they. Amazingly purple. They taste amazing too. They aren’t readily accessible in supermarkets – I ordered mine from Amazon and they weren’t that expensive as long as you buy in bulk.

Black rice noodles are rich in minerals such as manganese, calcium and zinc. They are also high in fibre. They only took 5 minutes on a rolling boil and they were done. They just need rinsing and refreshing in cold water as the water gets rather gloopy.

I was initially disappointed that my mango was too firm and not very juicy – but as it turned out to add an extra crunchy texture to the dish. A ripe mango might have changed this dish completely; as I will find out next time I make it.

Also, I used baby aubergines rather than regular ones, and I think the bigger ones would have roasted up better. There was too much skin on the baby aubergines and the skin is much tarter than the flesh in my opinion. Again I’ll try changing that next time I make it.

This dish was drizzled with a Tahina dressing – which was a simple blend of tahini, tamari, garlic, coriander and sesame oil. It added a very nice twang to an already amazing dish.

I put this together in less than 30 minutes – so it’s quick and easy. Just as well given I only started making it at 9pm – having spent all day at the boat – making a wardrobe from scratch. Got to put those clothes somewhere.

Honestly Healthy for Life – Healthy Alternatives for Everyday Eating

Posted on April 28, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

For my birthday this year Freya bought me this book. Honestly Healthy for Life – by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson. She also got me some enamelware.

This book focuses very much on reducing acid intake – thus pretty much eliminating meat and dairy – and focusing on eating a lot more pulses, grains and vegetables – and in the correct proportions.

There are over 60 pages on dietary facts and how eating certain foods together will help you naturally lose weight, improve digestion and generally be healthier and have more energy and feel less bloated. Sounds good doesn’t it! Especially given I’ve been trying to do that anyway without any advice – cutting out meat and dairy, wheat and carbohydrates wherever I can.

I sat up in bed and worked my way through the book – and soon realised that these ladies use a lot of specialist ingredients you won’t find in any supermarket. When I was younger I remember watching Delia on TV and she’d say – ‘I’m using Mushrooms you can only find at the top of Mount Everest on 1st July – but you can use button mushrooms’ – and thought – yeh you can substitute things but where’s the fun in that – and how will you ever know what the dish was supposed to taste like. Besides it’s my birthday so I resolved to buy all the speciality ingredients – such as:

Black Rice Noodles
Umeboshi Plum Puree
Raw Cacao
Spirulina
Bee Pollen
Kuzu
Pumpernickel Bread
Chia Seeds
Coconut Oil
Hemp Seeds
Kombu Seedweed

to name but a few!

Recipes we’ve selected for this week include:

Chia Seed Porridge and Compote
Wild Mushroom Quinoa Risotto
Citrus Seaweed Salad
Granola Bars
Orange and Celeriac Soup
Tomato Tart
Raw Green Curry
Almond Berry Cake
Muesli
Green Smoothie
Quinoa, Lemon, Kale and Sesame Beetroot Salad
Puy Lentil, Brown Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

We’ve already made the Puy Lentil, Brown Rice and Sweet Potato Salad – as you may have seen. That was yummy – and I expect everything else will be too!

This is going to be an expensive weeks eating – the week’s shopping on Ocado was over £150 – and I spend another £60 on Amazon for the speciality ingredients!

I was so impressed with the first impressions of this book that I ordered their first book ‘Honestly Healthy – Eat With Your Body and Mind the Alkaline Way’ – shame that – my mother-in-law already had it and I could have pinched hers !

The day turned out to be a nightmare. We lost water to our house – the neighbours had cut through the pipe, and our boat became untied from our mooring on the Thames – when a storm caused the mooring to come apart. Our 20 tonne, 60 foot long, iron dutch barge was at 90 degrees to the Thames – hanging on with the tiniest rope and I had to pull it in – all 20 tonnes of it. It wasn’t pleasant at all. Very very scary – who knows what would have happened if the other rope would have given way.

Anyway – we got away with it – and we live to cook another dish !

Puy Lentil, Brown Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

Posted on April 27, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

I think I’ve just made the best thing I’ve ever eaten – and apparently it’s incredibly good for you too.

This recipe comes from ‘Honestly Healthy for Life’ by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson. This was my birthday present from Freya (the book not the meal) – and I’m really chuffed with it.

There are so many textures and flavours going on in this recipe. Brown rice and puy lentils, sweet potatoes, edamame beans, cashews, pumpkin seeds, spring onions and dill – hmm its just so yummy – and I know I’ll make this regularly. If I had a top 5 this would be in it.

The pumpkin seeds are especially interesting as they are roasted with tamari (soy sauce) and they end up with a lovely intense flavour that really contrasts with everything else.

There is also a dressing of sunflower oil, parsley, lemon and salt which keeps it all nice and moist and gives a nice citrus tang. The dill also really features well.

You really have to make this dish – we had it warm – but only because time was getting on and I was hungry and impatient for it to cool down. We only ate half so no doubt this will be lunch for tomorrow – and I can’t imagine it being any less awesome cold!

Ful Medames

Posted on April 10, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

Phew – the fava beans were fine! Not burned after all. It’s not like me to leave cooking food unattended!

I seem to have gotten into the habit of photographing my food as if it was meant to be a screensaver. Maybe I should plate more food – but then I’d need nicer plates. White ones don’t always cut it! Hmm – it’s my birthday soon – who knows!

Ful Medames are essentially cooked fava beans mixed with chickpeas and tahini, garlic, lemon juice, cumin and parsley. When you think about it – it’s not far off being a deconstructed houmous – all the constituent ingredients are there.

One thing we aren’t really sure about is the fava beans have quite tough skins. Even after 24 hours of soaking and 2 hours of simmering. Maybe I’ll try this again with shelled fava beans (I have some) – I don’t think it’ll look as pretty though as the end product will all be the same colour – houmous coloured! They might go mushy too! Like houmous!

I like salads with this sort of texture. But I’m not sure I’d make this again. It’s bit of a faff. Fava beans aren’t readily available in a regular shop. That said – neither are mung beans and I’d make the mung bean casserole any day.

We’re off to the boat tomorrow – hopefully this day off work will produce some sun and we can be a little more productive. This salad will keep us going for sure. Along with the leftover egg stuffed tomatoes!

Cheese-Baked Egg-Stuffed Tomatoes

Posted on April 10, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

This very simple recipe takes very little preparation at all – as long as your tomatoes are ripe. Hollowing out unripe tomatoes isn’t the best of fun – especially those really big ones that you need for this dish.

It’s a shame I invested the time in making these. I made these over the road at my mother-in-laws to keep her company and completely forgot that I’d left half a kilo of Fava Beans simmering in a pan in our cottage. Suffice to say they got a bit burnt once the water had all boiled away! Oh well! They look ok – maybe they’ll be ok – we shall see!

Anyway – back to the tomatoes. Once your tomatoes are hollowed you chop the contents of the tomato and add to some cooked onions. After spooning a little of this mixture back in the tomato you crack in an egg and top with grated cheese. The remaining mixture is spooned over some toasted pita breads – put the egg filled tomatoes on top and cook in the oven until the egg is firm.

This isn’t the most elegant of dishes and if I’m honest I’d probably change a few things. There needs to be more flavour somewhere – maybe with some fresh thyme or basil in the tomato mix, not sure yet. Also I’d drain off as much of the juice from the tomato filling as it was a bit too wet when you cut into it. Or you could reduce the liquid from the tomato juice to make the flavours more intense.

That said it was ok – and easy. Having the tomato on a bed of pita bread made the dish more complete. It would probably look quite fancy alongside some sausage and bacon in an all day breakfast! If you ate meat that was!

Maybe I’ve just gotten used to making something slightly more zingy and tasty and different. There are better dishes than this in Veggiestan. There are worse too – remember the fried eggs and dates!

Afghan Leek Pies

Posted on April 9, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

I don’t usually make this sort of thing as I’m not a big fan of shallow frying things in lots of oil. They just can’t be healthy. That said they caught my eye so I thought I’d give them a go.

These are pretty simple to prepare – but take quite some time to fry. I think the proportions are all off in the recipe too as I have over half the filling left over after using up all the pastry!

This is basically a flour, salt and water dough – cut into thin circles (I used a cocktail shaker which had a handy 9cm diameter !) and filled with a mixture of mashed potato, leeks and spices.

The recipe says you’ll make 20 but I made nearly 40!

They are quite nice and we tried them with an assortment of dips from Creme Fraiche to Ketchup to Garlic Jam (from the Isle of Wight Garlic Farm). I think keeping it simple with something like yoghurt or creme fraiche is best. Ketchup overpowered them even though they were quite spicy.

There is clearly a lot you could change here – any filling would probably work as long as it was quite solid.

It wasn’t the best choice of dinner as these are really better placed in a buffet or in the middle of the table in a meeting at work (that’s where the 30 left over ones are going). Eating five each was enough – and we usually eat much lighter food than this.

That said – if these were in front of you and you were distracted with a good film – or like we were with the first episode of Season 4 of Game of Thrones – then you might just munch your way through all of them without realising it.

I had another one of these before going to bed (just like Nigella might) and they weren’t as crisp as they were when they were freshly fried – but the recipe does say they keep well – so we’ll see tomorrow.

Roasted Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes with a Caper Vinagrette

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We were in a rush to cook something quickly before going Rock’n’Roll dancing and I realised when we got home that I was pretty much one ingredient short on almost all the recipes I wanted to make.

Fortunately I had all the ingredients for this – Roasted Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes.

Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to make it – so I had a choice – go dancing and not eat – or eat and not go dancing. Dancing won the day ! And it’s good we went everything seemed to fall into place and we started getting the moves right. Superwoman’s, flat hand pushes, and ‘the ladies rest’ all seemed to come together beautifully. Happy days. Now we have three moves – the sky’s the limit!

We got home around 11pm and I resumed the cooking – and finished it this morning – so we’re having it for lunch today.

Essentially you roast some parsnips, red onions and sweet potatoes in garlic, rosemary and thyme and towards the end throw in some cherry tomatoes. After a 90 minutes roast (from start to finish) you dress the roasted vegetables in lemon juice, olive oil and capers. It’s very easy – just takes time in the oven. Even the prep is easy as you don’t even need to peel the vegetables!

If you were a roast dinners kind of person this would be a very nice twist on some otherwise plainly roasted vegetables. I think it is a great dish in its own right – the lemon juice and capers really brings a whole new flavour to the vegetables.

You really can’t go wrong with Ottolenghi.

Pomegranate and Cucumber Salsa

Posted on April 7, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

Another late dinner for us. – way past 9pm. And there was a choice. More Mung Bean Casserole (see previous post) or something else. Something else won the coin toss.

This is another dish from Veggiestan by Sally Butcher.

Once I’ve made more than half a dozen things from a book and liked them I can safely recommend the book. Apart from the shocker that was Figs and Fried Eggs, everything else has been awesome – and there’s still half a dozen things I haven’t made yet.

The keen eyes amongst you will realise as I did that this dish could have been called anything – there are a lot of ingredients in this dish other than the two in the title. Pretty much every ingredient in this dish is in equal proportion. Pomegranate, cucumber, tomato, peppers, spring onions, mint, coriander – lots of very fresh ingredients. There is also a hot chilli pepper to give it some kick. I added a Scotch Bonnet. There’s even more zinginess from the juice of some limes.

This recipe is in the Meze section of the book and is supposed to be part of many other dishes. We had it on its own as it was getting late and I realised I had missing ingredients for the other things I wanted to make. It is very enjoyable on its own anyway.

I never feel bad eating salad late at night – it’s hardly going to pile on the pounds. In any case we can dance it off tomorrow night when we go Rock’n’Roll dancing!

Fattoosh

Posted on April 4, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

When it’s 9pm and you haven’t eaten yet you have a choice. Don’t eat, or knock up a fattoosh. I made this in less than 15 minutes!

I’ve made a number of fattooshes (fattooshi? not sure what the plural is). Ottolenghi’s fattoosh has a buttermilk dressing and is diced smaller. This one is very chunky – those cucumbers and tomatoes in the picture are 1.5cm dice.

Fattoosh belong to a family of dishes known as fattat – which tends to use stale flat bread as a base – which usually has sumac over it to give the dish a sour taste and it will usually have parsley in it.

Fatt means crush! oosh is just a suffix – so fattoosh I guess means crushed.

This dish – like a number of dishes in Veggiestan – has a lot of fresh herbs. This has a handful of parsley, coriander and mint (well it’s supposed to – I always put more – much better than throwing it away).

This is incredibly zingy, crunchy, fresh and tasty. The olive oil, garlic and lemon juice dressing really gives it a kick.

Also in the dish are peppers, black olives and spring onions.

And I really love the toasted bread in olive oil, dusted in sumac. Sumac is amazing – it always brings toasted bread to life.

The recipe calls for pitta – but I didn’t have any so I just diced a french stick and did it with that.

The other good thing about a fattoosh salad (we just decided the plural of fattoosh is ‘fattoosh salads’) is that – even at 9:30pm – you can stuff your face with this endlessly and never feel full up.

Eating out when you’re a Vegetarian

Posted on April 2, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

When I started dating Freya we would quite regularly go out to eat with Freya’s parents.

Now, at the time only Freya’s mum was a vegetarian and we would always try and find places to eat that had a good vegetarian menus. This was harder than we could imagine.

With the possible exception of ‘Incanto’ in Harrow on the Hill and ‘Vanilla Black’ in Clerkenwell (you really must go to these places once you’ve saved up the money) there really isn’t much to choose from. Apparently ‘The Gate’ in Notting Hill is good too but I’ve not been there.

We have been to so many restaurants and failed. There’s usually one starter, one main and of course all the desserts. But why? It just doesn’t make sense.

If you’ve looked at anything else on this blog you’ll see there is so much you can do with so few ingredients – so why is it always soup, souffle or some tart or other.

If I ever want a change of lifestyle – and win the lottery – I’ll be doing my best to stop this!

For now – we just stay in – and enjoy my cooking. Freya says she’d rather stay in and eat my cooking any day rather than go out. Unless it’s Vanilla Black. Eek !!!!