Tales from a Veggie Kitchen

This is a recipe that's pretty similar to where I lifted it from. Good old BBC Good food!

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4540/crispy-greekstyle-pie-

I did make a few adaptations though, so I'll outline those here and what I did. It was very tasty and probably actually better cold than hot, or at least eaten the next day. I'd never used filo pastry before so it was all new to me. This is a great recipe to make for friends because it really does look exactly like the recipe picture and I think it's very attractive. I served it with boiled potatoes in roasmary butter and a tomato and radish salad.


Greek filo pastry pie

Serves 4

Takes around 50-55 minutes


200g bag of baby spinach

125g sun dried tomatoes (preferably in oil)

125g feta cheese

1 small red onion

2 eggs

A pack of filo pastry (make sure you have at least 3 sheets)


* Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Break the eggs into a large bowl (big enough to fit the other ingredients in) and beat.

* Heat a large pan over medium heat. While this is heating, chop the onion into small pieces and cut or crumble the feta into small cubes. If you have time, slice the sun dried tomatoes into smaller pieces. Add these to the bowl with the eggs.

* Heat the spinach in the pan, covered, with a couple of tablespoons of water. When it's done, press the spinach down into a seive to drain the excess water and chop. Add this to the bowl. Once the spinach is out, fry the onions for about 5 minutes until softened.

* While the onions are cooking prepare the pastry. You can use a standard pie/flan dish. Take one sheet of filo pastry and brush one side with oil. Lie that sheet oil-side down into the pie dish and press into the dish, making sure there are flaps hanging over the side. Repeat with 2 more pastry sheets ensuring that they are turned so the overhanging flaps are not directly on top of each other.

* When the onion is done, add that to the bowl and mix everything together evenly and make sure everything is coated with the egg. Pour this filling into the prepared dish and close the overhanging flaps of the pastry until the filling is full covered.

* Bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden.

A baked gnocchi dish adapted from a recipe I collected at Waitrose. With the spinach and broccoli it gives a green, healthy hit and the tomatoes offset that nicely with their salty tang. You could use another creamy cheese if you don't fancy ricotta and add another strong cheese on top instead of Parmesan.


Gnocchi Al Forno

Serves 4

Takes around 30-35 minutes


400g chopped spinach (frozen is ideal)

800g gnocchi

250g ricotta cheese

A crown of broccoli

Several sun-dried tomatoes to taste

A handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

4 tbsp breadcrumbs

4 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper


* Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan. Chop the broccoli into florets and defrost the spinach. If not using frozen, then wilt the spinach gently then whizz in a blender. Frozen is easier though!

* Boil the broccoli for 1 minute, then add the gnocchi and boil for 2 more minutes, then drain.

* In the meantime mix together the ricotta, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and 1 tbsp of the Parmesan.

* In a large, oven-proof dish mix the spinach mix with the gnocchi and broccoli and smooth down. Season with the salt and black pepper.

* Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and the rest of the Parmesan evenly over the top. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

To be honest I don't quite remember the exact amounts in this recipe as it was very much a case of "chuck this in there" and pretty much anything goes. I based it on a bubble and squeak type thing, but actually turned out a lot like a Dutch "stamppot". I'm sure pretty much any vegetable can be used, and it makes a great easy, nutritious and filling meal for the closing Autumn nights.


Sausage and vegetable hash

Serves 2

Takes around 40 minutes including chopping time


A pack of 5 or 6 vegetarian sausages

1 leek

150g spinach (I really don't know exactly how much I used here, as I use pellets of frozen spinach up to a certain level in a jug, then defrost)

2 medium-sized potatoes, preferably waxy

A handful of cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp of some kind of seasoning sauce, such as soya sauce or a vegetarain worcester sauce. I used something called "mushroom ketchup", which really doesn't look or taste how it sounds

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1 tsp marmite/yeast extract (optional)

1 clove of garlic, chopped (optional)



* Cut the potatoes into small cubes, the leek into small pieces, the sausages into inch-thick pieces and the tomatoes in half.

* Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, then drain and set aside. While they are boiling, heat some oil in a large pan and fry the leeks and garlic for 5 minutes until soft.

* Fry the sausages for around 10 minutes, adding the potatoes and thyme in halfway through.

* Stir in the seasoning sauce and marmite if using, so it sticks to the potato-y bits

* Depending on the nature of your spinach, stir it through with the tomatoes and either leave to wilt or leave to heat through (fresh vs frozen).

* By the end the potato should have broken down a bit, leaving a lovely, mushy mash that sticks everything together. Serve with ketchup!

I have recently found out that American ramen is different to English ramen. We here in Britland call American ramen "supernoodles". For us ramen is just standard noodles in soup (although ramen noodles are best). I used Blue Dragon ramen noodles, and they were perfect. This soup is very dependent on the soya sauce and other condiments for flavour, as well as using the right kind of noodle. First attempt I tried with rice noodles, and it wasn't that good. Oh, and big pan alert!



Veggie Ramen

Serves 4

Takes 30-40 minutes


Ramen noodles in amounts as recommended on the packet (if using standard noodles, take about half the amount you would for a normal stir fry)

A crown of broccoli, chopped into florets

500g bag of fresh baby spinach

250g Shiitake mushrooms, chopped

300g silken tofu (the ready cooked kind) sliced into small pieces

8 Spring onions, sliced thinly

2.5 pints of good vegetable stock

8 tbsp soy sauce

2 tablespoons of other condiment, such as mushroom sauce, vegetarian worcestershire sauce, fish sauce if you eat fish. If you can't fnd any of these, then more soy sauce will do fine

4 tbsp Mirin

I didn't feel this recipe needed garlic or chilli, but add to taste if you like things spicy.


* Cook the noodles according to instructions, drain and refresh with cold water and set aside

* Bring the stock, soy sauce, condiment and mirin to the boil, then simmer gently for 5 minutes

* Add the broccoli to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes

* Add the mushrooms and simmer for another 5 minutes

* Stir in the spinach until wilted, then stir in the tofu and spring onions. Leave for another couple of minutes so it's all warmed through.

* Divide the noodles into serving bowls and ladle the soup on top.

Cauliflower with potato and spinach. There are many options here – you could use sliced large tomatoes instead of cherry toms (or none at all), frozen spinach instead of fresh, different types of potato… it’s a pretty forgiving dish. A note on the spinach – if you use fresh as I did, you will need to wilt it in a separate pan in a couple of batches most likely. I cook for 2 people (on 2 separate days) and I could barely stuff the fresh leaves into the pan. Also I didn’t fancy putting onion in it, which I don’t think detracted from the dish, but just about any Indian dish has onions so I’ll add it here.

Oh, and as usual I don’t put chillies in my curry. Feel free to add where you need.

Note: the idea for roasting the cauliflower first came from a Hairy Bikers’ recipe.

Gobi Aloo Saag

Serves 4

Time taken around 45 minutes.

1 head of cauliflower

500g potatoes

500g baby spinach leaves

1 onion

A punnet (around 20) of cherry tomatoes

Oil for frying and roasting

A few tablespoons of water

2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp kalonji (onion seeds) or poppy seeds

2 tsp each of fresh ginger and garlic

5 curry leaves

Seasoning

* Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and while it’s heating chop the cauliflower into florets. You will probably have time to chop the potatoes into 2cm pieces and chop the onion. Put the cauliflower into a roasting dish, sprinkle with oil and roast for 20 minutes.

* After the cauliflower is in the oven, heat some oil in a large pan or wok over a medium heat. When ready, add the onion and fry until the onion is translucent, then add the spices.

* When the spices are well mixed in, add the potatoes and mix so everything is coated with spices.

* Add the spinach, tomatoes, salt to taste and a few tablespoons of water sprinkled over to make it steam. Simmer for 25 minutes.

* Somewhere in that time the cauliflower will be ready. Tip it into the mix in the pan and stir well. Make sure everything is heated and spiced well. Your curry will be done when the potatoes are done (which should be after the 25 minutes stated in the previous step).

* Serve with rice or Indian breads. The curry itself is quite dry, so I’d recommend putting a dollop of yoghurt and mango chutney on top.

Orzo is a little pasta shaped like a rice grain. I had some left after using it in soup, so I cast around for a way of using it up. This turned out to be a very filling pasta dish; the packet on the orzo said use 75g-100g per serving and I used 100g. It made a bit much, so today I’ll stick to 75g. The dairy in the dish could be made using whichever you prefer: cream, crème freche, fromage frais… I made this after the indulgent Christmas period so I used 0% Total. Also any pasta could be used, although stiring this all into tagliatelle might be a bit tricky. Oh, and watch out, orzo goes really gooey!

Fennel and artichoke orzo

Serves 4

Took around 45mins to prepare and cook

2 fennel bulbs, sliced

350g drained and chopped artichoke hearts (can be marinated or tinned)

300ml cream

Generous splash of dry white wine

50g Parmesan cheese

125g Spinach (shredded baby spinach is best, but I used chopped frozen)

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

30g butter

Olive oil for cooking

Orzo pasta (allow 75g dry weight per person)

*Saute the fennel over a medium heat in the butter and olive oil until soft and caramelised (around 20 minutes should do it)

*Add artichoke and cook for a further 5-10mins

*Stir in cream, mustard, wine and parmesan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 5mins.

*Meanwhile cook the orzo in a large pan of salted water for about 8-10mins then drain well.

*Add the orzo and the spinach to the sauce and cook until spinach is wilted.

Additional notes: On the second run I added some pine nuts for a bit of variation on texture. I also sprinkled in some dried savory - it really brings out the flavour whilst still being extremely subtle.