Vegetarian Lasagne with Stripey Tomato Salad

I haven’t blogged in a while and have no excuse other than I’ve been too busy.  It’s a bit like when you haven’t called somebody for a while and then the longer you leave it the harder it gets.  Anyways, I’m back now with a stonker of a recipe.

For those of you who have followed Foodie Foodie Nom since its inception, you’ll know I unsuccessfully attempted to turn veggie at the start of this year. Basically, my brain rebelled. I told it we couldn’t have something so naturally it was ALL it thought about… so I caved and had a steak (or several). That’s not to say I don’t love veggie food and here’s one of my favourite recipes.

Vegetarian Lasagne & Stripey Tomato Salad

I have to tell you how excited I was when I came across these tomatoes in Waitrose. We had green ones, long thin orange ones, green and red stripey ones…Je suis tres excitement! Clearly I need to get out more……tomato picking!!!

Ingredients:

Bunch of spring onions – finely chopped

Bunch of asparagus – finely chopped, reserving the spears

Small tin of anchovies (Omit if you want strictly veggie)

1 courgette (or Zucchini to you Americans) – chopped

4 cloves of garlic

100 g of frozen broad beans

150g pot of cottage cheese

150g of single cream

Good quality parmesan

1 ball of mozzarella (not the mini ones)

150 fresh lasagne sheets

1/2 a vegetable stock cube

Small bunch of thyme, basil and mint

A good selection of assorted, stripey looking tomatoes

1 red chilli

Extra virgin olive oil

White wine vinegar

Method:

- First chop up your tomatoes in a rustic unplanned fashion and add to a large bowl

-  Rip the top off the Basil and add it to a food processor with one clove of peeled garlic, a good glug of olive oil, a splash of white wine vinegar, the chilli and some salt/pepper.  Once blitzed, taste and add more of anything you think it needs.

- Poor the green dressing all over your tomatoes and chill in the fridge.

- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

- With a pair of scissors chop up four or five of the anchovies and put them in a pan with the oil they were sat in. If you don’t eat fish just use one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

- Add the spring onions, courgette, asparagus (not spears) and three cloves of garlic to the pan and cook until soft

- Add the  broad beans with a splash of hot water and stir now and again

- After a few minutes, add the cream, the mint and a good serving of salt and pepper to taste

- Stir half of the cottage cheese into the pan to warm through and add half a vegetable stock cube with just enough hot water to almost cover everything. Bring to the boil then turn the heat off

- Spoon a third of the mixture into a lasagne dish and sprinkle a good helping of parmesan over the top, followed by one layer of pasta. Repeat the process until you have used all of your yummy vegetable mix, finishing with the pasta.

- Pour hot water in the half-full cottage cheese pot and swill it around to take up all the cheese.  Pour over the top of your pasta with the asparagus spears, ripped up bits of mozzarella and the leaves from a few sprigs of thyme.

- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes and serve with the tomato salad and a nice glass of chilled dry white wine.

- Nom.

- Baked in the oven for around 30 minutes and serve with the salad

Huevos Rancheros – A Beautiful Brunch

Generally, I’m quite critical of my own food, so when I say something is yummy, it means it’s pretty damn good and Huevos Rancheros has to be one of the best brunches I’ve ever created.  Perfect hangover food…or not, I just love its whole being.

Also, I really like saying it repeatedly in a heavy Mexican accent…think Speedy Gonzalez style. It fits perfectly.

I’m not sure the addition of parmesan is “very mexican” but I was on a mission to use lots of left over items so in it went…and the people said nom!

Serves 2 ravenous pigs.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

4 medium free-range eggs

1 hot chilli

1/2 tin of plum tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 Teaspoon cumin

Juice of 1 lime

4 Soft tortillas

Parmesan for grating

Sea salt and black pepper

Method:

- Pre-heat the oven to around 150°C, sprinkle a tiny amount of water in between 4 tortillas to stop them drying out, then wrap in tinfoil and set aside

- Finely chop the garlic and chilli then fry in the olive oil until soft but not golden

- Add the cumin to the pan with the tomatoes, breaking them with a wooden spoon as you go

- Finely chop a small amount of coriander stalks and add them to the pan

- Place the wrapped tortillas in the oven to warm through

- Taste the sauce and add seasoning as required along with a drop of water if it seems to be drying out

- Make four holes in the sauce and crack in the eggs, then pop the pan in the oven for five minutes on the top shelf

- Keep checking the eggs, if you like them runny take them out sooner

- Fold the tortillas onto a plate (2 on each) in some kind of artistic fashion and place the eggs and sauce on top

- Sprinkle over chopped coriander with a squeeze of lime and some grated parmesan

- Serve with some hot black coffee. Double Nom

Sea Bream with Home-made Pesto and Aubergine Slices

First things first, let me get my failures out of the way:

1. I ate meat

2. I drank alcohol

However, ( and here come the excuses) I read an article in Stylist this week about how your brain works and apparently telling yourself you can’t have something, means all you will think about is said off-limits items. Therefore, rather than cutting out things I love altogether, I’m cutting down…much more achievable

In other foodienom news, last weekend, I rustled up a tasty little fish dish…

Now, it’s worth noting, both myself and the OH are fairly greedy, so whilst you’ll notice potatoes in the final photo, you don’t actually need them.  Instead, I would suggest an addition of watercress. However, if you are using potatoes, put them onto boil at the beginning as the rest of the meal doesn’t take long to prepare.

We’re really lucky in Ealing as we have lots of little great little shops, particularly around the Northfields area and Poisson is my favourite place to go for fish. It’s not the cheapest but everything is just so fresh…plus I really like to support local businesses, even if it means paying a bit more.

I love the little wheelbarrow of veg outside, it’s like being in old-fashioned times….

Ingredients:

For the pesto:

Handful of fresh basil

15g Good quality parmesan

15g Pine nuts

2 Cloves of garlic

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

For the rest of the dish:

4 Sea bream fillets

1 Lemon

1 Aubergine

1 Tomato

Extra-virgin olive oil for brushing

Sea salt

Black pepper

A handful of watercress

Method:

- Pre-heat the grill to a moderate level

- Pop all of the pesto ingredients in a blender for about ten seconds, then spoon about half into a bowl and set aside – it should be quite coarse

- Whizz the remaining ingredients until smooth and put it in the fridge for later

- Cut the aubergine slices to around 1/2″ thick, brush generously with olive oil and rub sea salt into both sides. Stick them under the grill until they are just cooked through, turning once throughout

- Spread the coarse pesto onto the aubergine slices and put them back under the grill for about 1 minute, then set aside

- Season and brush the bream fillets with the olive oil and put them under the  grill for about 3 minutes each side

- Whilst the fish is cooking, put the tomato in boiling water for one minute (making it easier to peel), take out the seeds and roughly chop

- Remove the bream from under the grill and place on the plates with the aubergine slices and watercress in some kind of stylish fashion

- Scatter over the tomatoes with a squeeze of lemon and dot the remaining smooth pesto around the plate

- Eat, preferably with a cold glass of dry white. Nom

Fennel and Leek Pasta with Tuna

Day four and I am still officially alcohol free…but wait, I can hear a faint cracking noise…oh right yes, that would be the sound of my will power breaking. I’ve been really good all week but now Friday has arrived, I’m pretty sure I’m going to fall off the wagon….or gently roll myself off.

In other news, I’m doing well with my new meat free way of living and made an excellent pasta dish this week.  As with most sauces, it benefits from being cooked the day before so the flavours have time to blend together.

I always think a good tomato sauce needs 1.5 – 2 hours as a rule, but obviously that’s not always practical when you’re working all day.  Therefore, I’d recommend making the sauce on a weekend and freezing it.  Then, once you’re ready to use it, add the tuna, rocket and cooked pasta to the sauce once you’ve warmed it through.

Serves 2 – Enjoy!

Fennel & Leek Pasta with Tuna

Serves 2

Ingredients:

200g Wholewheat pasta

1 Leek finely chopped

2 Cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 Tin good quality chopped tomatoes

1 Teaspoon of fennel seeds

1 Teaspoon of dried oregano

1 Tablespoon of tomato puree

A handful of rocket leaves

Parmesan for grating

1 Tin of tuna

Sea salt and black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 Green chilli (deseed it you don’t like much heat)

Method:

- Heat the oil in a pan with the fennel seeds and oregano.  When they start sizzling, add the leek, chilli and garlic and cook until soft but not brown

- Add the tomatoes with the puree, baslamic and season to taste

- Turn down the heat, pop the lid on and and allow the sauce to cook for about 1.5 hours, adding water if it starts to dry out

- Taste the sauce, it should be sweet and just slightly acidic.  Now add the tuna and more seasoning if you think it needs it

- Add pasta to salted boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions

- When the pasta is ready, drain and add it to the sauce along with the rocket and stir well.

- Serve in slightly warmed bowls with plenty of grated parmesan and a bit of extra pepper for luck.

New Year’s Resolutions and Chilli Oil

Hello and Happy New Year!

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad Christmas is out of the way…there’s just too much food, too much alcohol and not enough sleep.  Not that I didn’t make the most of it you understand, I’ve just had enough now.  I’m looking forward to a healthier, lighter and fractionally wealthier me. And no, I’m not planning on winning the lottery, I’ve just given up drinking for January to give my body chance to recover.  For somebody, who doesn’t EVER make New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve made three this year:

1. Stop eating meat

2. Don’t drink in January

3. Be less of a potty mouth

The latter, is more of an effort, rather than a resolution. I’m not going to stop swearing altogether, but maybe just at people, under my breath…..on public transport. We’ll see…Rome wasn’t built in a day

As I have a whole month ahead of me on the wagon, I shall be occupying my time with food related activities and yesterday, I made my first batch of chilli oil.  It won’t be ready for another six weeks, but look how pretty it looks! I just added twenty dried red chillies to a sterilised bottle (because I like it hot) and topped it up with reasonably good quality extra virgin olive oil.

My next chore shall be to make garlic oil, pickled onions and possibly my own mayonnaise. Exciting times are ahead.

Let me know if you have any infused oil/pickling type ideas for me to have a crack at.

Thanks, Becky

Happy Veggie New Year!

January 2012 is a new chapter in my life, as I am stopping eating meat. Whilst that sounds drastic, it’s actually something I’ve been considering for a really long time but was scared I might feel like I’m missing out. Truth be told, I still am but the way I see it, I either need to stop feeling guilty or stop eating it.

Those who know me, know what a huge animal lover I am and I have a hard time dissociating what’s on my plate with our furry friends in the fields. I mean, come on….look at his little face!

I am however, going to eat fish, so officially I’ll be a pescatarian. I don’t have the same emotional connection with fish….

My cousin, Noo was a vegetarian for many years (until she ate a steak one day) and she recommendeds The Moosewood and Food From The Place Below by Bill Sewell.

Have you got any tips or advice you can share? Either to recommend a cook book or the best way to cook with quorn/tofu etc…

London Restaurant Festival

A citywide celebration of eating out you say? I’m well up for that.  Not just because I love the idea of raising the profile of lesser known, yet amazing restaurants, but because I like to eat. It’s also a really good opportunity to eat somewhere swanky without having to re-mortgage.

On Friday, my sister is coming to stay for the weekend and she’s into food just as much as me.  Neither of us know where we get it from as our parents aren’t foodies.  Maybe it came from eating less than exciting food as children and thinking ‘Is that it? I can do better’. It was in the days where vegetables were cooked to within an inch of their life and you put an oxo cube in everything (they still do that).

This two-week long celebration runs until the 17th October, so make sure you visit at least one restaurant. This weekend, we’ll be eating at Comptoir Gascon in Farringdon on a two courses for £14.50 deal. We’ll also be visiting Le Mercury in Islington (Do you think I like French food?) although I don’t think you can book that through the London Restaurant Festival website.

There are loads of great foodie events happening this week, including the Gourmet Odyseesy bus, which takes you on a whistle-stop tour around some great restaurants for a different course at each.  It’s always a sell out so if you fancy going you’ll have to be quick.

If you’re in the Capital this weekend and are visiting any of the restaurants taking part, let me know. I’d love to hear where you’re going and what you think of it afterwards.

And in the words of Arnie, I’ll be back next week to tell you all about Comptoir Gascon.

À bientôt

Becky