veggie2

At a close friend's wedding last week, I didn't have high hopes for the food, as, having told the waitress that I was a vegetarian, I was first brought a chicken dish to start, and when I politely refused, re-stating that I was a vegetarian, was then brought a chicken Caesar salad! As most vegetarians will know, this is an all-too common experience for the vegetarian diner.

However both myself & my vegetarian friend were both surprised by the deliciousness of the main course, a Carrot and Leek lasagne. So impressed, that I have spent the week trying to figure out the recipe. I think I finally cracked it today though! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

It's a cinch to make, and with not a sight of a tomato-based sauce for miles, is unusual enough to impress even your most tired vegetarian friends with this variation on a classic.

Ingredients:

• 5 medium-sized carrots
• 3 large leeks
• 50g Butter
• 1 box, easy cook/no-boil lasagne sheets
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar/mozzarella cheese

Alfredo Sauce:

• 1 cup cream Cheese
• 2 cups milk
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley/chopped
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

TO SERVE:

• baby new potatoes
• 25g butter
• lots of fresh, crispy salad

METHOD:

1. Peel the carrots & slice thinly. Boil carrots in lots of boiling, salted water until tender (approx 15 minutes).
2. Wash leek & slice thinly.
3. Melt butter in a large pot, add leeks & cover, cooking until tender (approx 10 mins)
4. For the Alfredo Sauce:
   

   (This version of Alfredo sauce is really quick & simple to make, and is significantly lower in calories than the traditional butter & cream version.)
   
   Blend together the cream cheese, milk, garlic, salt, pepper & Parmesan in a blender until smooth. Then place the mixture into a milk/sauce pan & heat, stirring continuously for between 5 - 10 minutes, until the sauce comes to the boil, then remove from heat.

5. Drain the carrots and add to the leeks, toss the carrots & leeks together.
6. Place a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a greased lasagne dish. Cover the sauce with a layer of lasagne, breaking to fit where needed. Spoon a layer of the leek/carrot mixture on top of this.
7. Repeat layering sauce, lasagne, carrot/leek mixture until all the carrot/leek mixture has been used. Finish with a layer of lasagne topped with plenty of Alfredo sauce, and top with the grated cheddar/mozzarella cheese.

This recipe would also work well as a comforting winter gratin by substituting sliced boiled potatoes for the lasagne sheets, and layering the vegetable mix with the potatoes, finishing by pouring over the Alfredo sauce & topping with grated cheese, before popping it in the oven.

I cannot get enough of this. I'm a sucker for any dish with coriander, also known as cilantro in other cuisines, that must be why. But something about this particular dish just turns me into a veritable pig...oink oink. I don't remember where I got the original recipe and this sure isn't it. I've adapted it to fit what's usually in my kitchen. I recall it may have used some other exotic oil in place of the olive oil I use, but this is how I do it and it tastes damn good to me.

Tofu Tikka Masala
serves 2

Get this:
1 block extra firm Tofu, cut into bite size pieces
6 tbsp tikka masala curry paste
1 medium onion, diced or sliced, depending on your onion preference du jour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp tomato puree
3 oz frozen peas
1 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp fresh coriander roughly chopped

**If you're pressed for cash: Curry paste can run a bit expensive, but Trader Joe's markets here in the states sells a jarred tikka masala simmer sauce that is very, very tasty and like a buck ninety-nine or so. =) If using this you would just omit the tomato puree and the curry paste and half the cream.
See if there's a Trader Joe's near you:
http://www.traderjoes.com/locations/index.asp

Do this:
1. Mix the Tofu in a bowl with the tikka paste. Leave to marinate for 1 hour or place in the fridge overnight.
2. Heat the oil over a medium heat, add the onion, saute until slighty brown and caramelized.
3. Add the garlic, tomato puree and tofu to the pan, cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add the cream, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally
5. Add the peas, cook 5 more minutes.
6. Remove from the heat, stir in the coriander and serve.

INGREDIENTS:

• Two tablespoons vegetable oil
• One large red onion, finely diced
• One teaspoon cumin seeds
• One large tin chopped tomatoes (425g)
• One teaspoon paprika
• One teaspoon chilli powder
• 200g white sesame seeds
• Two large tins (425g) butter beans, drained
• Two teaspoons sugar
• salt (to taste)

PUTTING THEM TOGETHER:

This dish is probably the quickest dish I know to make, and is also very tasty. As all the ingredients are basic store-cupboard ingredients, it's a really handy dish to prepare if you need to feed people unexpectedly. It's packed full of flavour, is nutritious, and vegetarian too!

Heat the oil in a large pot, add the cumin seeds and fry gently until the seeds begin to pop , releasing their natural oils. Add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes, until they have softened. Next, add the sesame seeds & fry for a couple of minutes. When all the seeds have been lightly toasted, add the tomatoes, paprika and chilli powder and cook for 3 - 4 minutes. Add the drained beans, and stir in the sugar & add salt to taste. Heat the beans through thoroughly and simmer for 3 - 4 minutes.

Serve with boiled basmati rice as a tasty and filling main course, or as a side dish to accompany a meat or vegetable stir fry.

INGREDIENTS:

5 cups (2 pints) vegetable stock

2 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 large red onion, finely diced

1 1/4 lbs. (20 oz) sweet potato, peeled & diced in 1/2" cubes

2 cups (16 oz) arborio rice

1 cup (0.4 pints/8.3 fl oz) dry white wine

220g (8 oz) young spinach leaves, washed and drained

1/4 lb. (4 oz) firm goat's cheese

1 tsp. salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

Cooking time: approx 20 – 30 mins from the first addition of stock. 1 hour total.

Serves 6 (generously)

HOW TO MAKE THEM TASTE GOOD TOGETHER:

Heat the stock to a simmer in a saucepan and keep it hot. Heat the butter & oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onions in the butter & oil mixture until soft.

Add the rice and cook, stirring, until all the grains for rice are coated with oil. Add the sweet potato & cook, stirring, to coat the sweet potato in oil too. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until it is almost completely absorbed.

Add the hot stock about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly & allowing the liquid to be absorbed by the rice before adding more. (Run your wooden spoon across the bottom of the pot, when you can create a path through the rice with your wooden spoon enough stock has been absorbed to add more liquid) Add the last 1/2 pint of stock 1 cup at a time.

When all of the stock has been added, taste the rice. The risotto should be creamy but the rice should be slightly al dente at the centre. Add more stock or water if necessary to complete the cooking, then add the spinach and the crumbled goat’s cheese. Cook until the spinach has wilted and the cheese has melted. season with the salt & pepper. Serve immediately.

If you cannot serve the risotto immediately, undercook the rice to begin with and return to the heat to absorb the rest of the cooking liquid right before you are ready to eat, so that when the risotto is reheated, the rice can then complete its cooking.

Risotto is traditionally served in shallow bowls, and eaten from the outside first, so that the main body of the risotto stays warm, while the risotto around the bowl’s edges is cool enough to eat.

Serve the risotto with a peppery tossed salad of rocket leaves with crunchy strips of red pepper, sweetcorn and cashew nuts.

Leftover risotto also tastes really good when fried up the next day. So let none of your hard work go to waste.

I have a tendency to have ‘old favourite’ recipes; ones that I have cooked for formal occasions a number of times to impress friends and relations. One of these recipes I cobbled together after ordering a similar meal in a restaurant many moons ago. It began as chicken parcels but for the last two years I have had to rely on other recipes to impress with due to my husband’s unfortunate dream about a cow.

The other night after a two for one deal for Camembert I thought I would try out this wonderful recipe with a vegetarian twist.

I have used chicken style quorn pieces in this recipe but you could use other chicken style meat substitutes or tofu or chicken or turkey for the meat people.

Serves 4
Preparation time: An hour or so
Cooking time: 20 to 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Medium
Level of impressing: High

Ingredients:

• 400 grams of quorn chicken style pieces.
• Cranberry sauce (in a jar but if you are feeling excitable make it yourself.)
• Bottle of white wine, slightly sweet and fruity works best.
• 1 medium white onion
• Two cloves of garlic, crushed
• Butter
• Filo/phyllo pastry, one packet
• One small wheel of Camembert, sliced.
• A sprinkle of dried Sage.
• Two tablespoons of pine nuts.

Extras:

• Sesame seeds
• Dried Cranberries.
• Lemon juice (this is good if you are not making your own cranberry sauce)

Method.

Remove the filo pastry from the fridge and set aside, but don’t unwrap it. It is easier to handle at room temperature and the plastic stops it drying out.

Chop your onion finely and crush the garlic or alternatively dice it finely.

Melt a little butter in the fry pan on a low heat and then put in the onion and garlic. Cook slowly until the onion is opaque.

Put in the quorn (or other substitute, quorn comes pre-diced so you need your alternative protein diced), turn up the heat a little and pour in white wine until you have almost covered the quorn. Then add four tablespoons of cranberry sauce and if using store bought cranberry sauce also add half a lemon worth of lemon juice. Add sprinkling of dried sage and if you have them a small handful of dried cranberries.

Simmer the quorn until most of the liquid has evaporated, you want the filling to be fairly dry.

Remove the fry pan from the heat. Time to begin the parcels.

Pour a glass of wine for yourself and anyone else who is in the kitchen to laugh at you in this bit.

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6

Melt enough butter to use for brushing the pastry.

Take your filo pastry and cut into rectangles about 17cm by 22cm. (This is not an exact science so go with the flow.) Place the first sheet down on your work surface, if they are not pre-floured you may find it easier to scatter some flour on your work surface; using the pastry brush liberally apply a thin layer of melted butter on the filo. Then place the next layer and smooth it down and apply butter. Repeat this process until you have four layers of pastry stuck together with butter. Repeat this process until you have four rectangles.

Add the pine nuts to the mixture and divide the quorn mixture evenly and place in the centre of the filo. Sprinkle some more dried cranberries if you have them. Now lay slices of Camembert cheese on top of the mixture. I tend to be very generous with the cheese because at this point with all the butter and wine the calorie count is high anyway. I also leave the rind on but this is a matter of personal taste.

Brush the inside edges with yet more butter and fold up the short ends first then the long edges over the top, pressing and buttering to seal it, forming a fairly liquid tight parcel. Brush butter over the top and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you wish. Place on a greased baking tray and place in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Serve immediately with a selection of seasonal vegetables or a fresh green salad. This will certainly impress the most snobby diners. The best thing about this dish is that a meat eater may not even notice the lack of meat as the quorn soaks up lots of juices. An alternative is to have duelling fry pans, a meaty one and veggie one and impress the vegetarian with your caring nature.