A vegetarian pie with winter salads

OK, so a cheese-filled pie is probably not the healthiest start to the New Year, but this was for a special occasion when my brother- and sister-in-law and nephew came round for an after Christmas dinner.

However, I'm a great one for winter salads, and the 2 below are a nice way of using raw winter veg. I felt a little smug about the amount of vegetables I'd bought so thought I'd take a picture. 

 Before

Thanks to Nigella we all know that a messaluna means 'half moon' in Italian and is a semi-circular double blade for chopping herbs.

 Messaluna pie ingredients

• 1 pack filo pastry (approx 300g)
• 5 eggs
• A 200g pack spinach
• 2 leeks
• 1 stick celery
• 2 small handfuls rocket
• 1 large red onion
• 1 bunch dill
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 3 spring onions
• 150g ricotta
• 100g feta
• 75g cheddar
• Oil, for frying and brushing

2 things I forgot to put in this pie but should be added:

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 small bunch chives or 1 tablespoon freeze-dried chives

  How to make vegetable pie

1. Chop the red onion and celery finely and fry gently in some oil for about 5 minutes till beginning to soften without browning.
2. Meanwhile rinse the spinach in water.
3. Heat a large pan and add the spinach. Keep moving the spinach round till it is wilted down to almost nothing. 
4. Tip out of the pan into a colander and allow to cool.
5. Put the spinach into a clean cloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then chop finely.
6. Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat.
7. Crumble in the feta and ricotta into the eggs and grate in the cheddar.
8. Grate the lemon zest into the mixture. 
9. Add the chopped spinach and the rocket.
10. Finely chop the spring onions and add to to the egg and cheese mixture. 
11. If using, add the finely chopped chives and the dried oregano.
12. Chop the herbs and add these to the egg mixture.
13. Season well with salt and pepper.
14. Brush a baking tin which is slightly smaller than the sheets of filo pastry lighly with oil. I used a 30x20cm tin.
15. Lay a sheet of pastry in the dish so that the ends hang over the outside of the dish then brush lightly with oil. It doesn't matter if the pastry breaks; just patch it up so that the dish is covered.
16. Repeat till half the sheets of pastry have been used.
17. Pour the filling mixture into the pastry.
18. Fold the overhanging pastry from the pie bottom on top of the filling.
19. Top with the remaining filo sheets, brushing each with oil before laying the next on top. Brush the final layer of pastry with oil too.
20. Bake at 190 degrees C for 30-40 minutes or till golden. 

Serve with chilli jam.

After

Red cabbage salad

Do not be tempted to make a larger quantity of this salad as it takes a lot of chewing, so you will probably get bored halfway through your leftovers.

• 1/8 red cabbage
• 1 pear
• 1 small handful walnuts
• A few pieces blue cheese
• Walnut oil
• Lemon juice
• Chopped parsley
• 1 dessertspoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon yoghurt

To assemble the red cabbage salad:

1. Mix the mayonaise, yoghurt, lemon juice, walnut oil and chopped parsley in a bowl.
2. Shred the red cabbage finely and add to the mayo mixture.
3. Lightly toast the walnuts in a small frying pan over a low heat for about a minute.
4. Add the toasted walnuts to the cabbage.
5. Peel the pear and cut into thin slithers.
6. Add to the slaw and mix gently so the pears do not break but so everything is coated in the yoghurt mixture.

Leaf and root salad ingredients

• The rest of the rocket left over from the pie
• A handful watercress
• 1/4 grated raw parsnip
• 1/4 raw grated courgette
• A tablespoon sesame seeds, lightly toasted
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice

How to make leaf and root salad

1. In a bowl, dress the rocket and watercress with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
2. Arrange on a plate, and top with the grated courgette and parsnip.
3. Sprinkle the toaste sesame seeds over the top. 

Salmon noodle salad

We've moved offices to the middle of the A4 and there's nowhere to go for lunch except the on-site cafe and the World's Biggest Tescos. Now lunch for free at work is not just a philosophy but a necessity. 

I've become Salad Director for our newly formed Salad Club. Even though I hate the use of capital letters in job titles I take this role very seriously.

Salad club: Kate, Peggy, Courtney, Yuki, Danielle, me. Not in the photo: Leanne (taking the photo), Erik

 

Its amazing how many contraindications there are with just eight people: onions, Kosher, coriander (afflicts a surprisingly high proportion of Salad Club members), salad-intolerence...

We settled on salmon noodle salad with coriander as an optional garnish. 

Salmon noodle salad ingredients

Serves 8

• Salmon fillets, x6, marinaded and cooked (see below)
• 1 cucumber thinly sliced
• Grated carrots
• Red and orange peppers, thinly sliced
• Cashew nuts
• Beansprouts
• Spinach, 1 bag
• Vermicelli rice noodles 
• Salad dressing (see below)

Salmon marinade ingredients 

Marinade the salmon in the following for 20-30 mins

• 1.5 JOT* (ginger, peeled and grated)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce (I used dark, as this was all I had, though light would be better)
• 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
• Juice 2 limes

*Jamie Oliver's thum, the IM unit for ginger. 

How to cook the salmon 

1. Heat the oven to the Magic Number (190C fan assisted). Bake the salmon for 10-12 minutes.
2. I'm a bit fussy about slimy fish. After 10 minutes I thought the salmon was a little too opaque so gave it a couple more minutes.
   Bear in mind though that it will cook a little more once out of the oven, and also in the lime dressing. 
3. Once cool enough to handle, gently break the salmon up and flake into pieces.
4. Store in a tupperware container overnight.

Salad dressing ingredients

Add the following to a screw-cap jar and shake well. You will need to give it another vigorous shake before serving.

• Juice 2 limes
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon chilli jam or sweet chilli sauce
• Dash fish sauce*

*only needed if it tastes a bit too sweet 

How to make salmon noodle salad

1. Tell everyone to assemble at the allocated time with their ingredients already prepared. 
2. Help yourself to everything, add a little dressing, and eat at a communal table. 

NOTES:

• It is every member of Salad Club's responsibility to bring and prepare their own ingredient. 
• The Director and Deputy Director of Salad Club are happy to give prep advice if needed up to 5 minutes before the arranged salad club time. 

Roast lamb for a Stutterfest at Easter

Roast lamb for Easter 2012

No lunch for free in this post, just a really good Easter feast. 

A Stutterfest is a gathering of my partner’s family. This Easter we hosted a Stutterfest in our flat. There were 10 of us in total – three vegetarians and seven meat-eaters.

This year’s Easter meal was as much butterfest as it was Stutterfest. Everyone said the food was delicious but I think it could have been better. Here is the menu and my suggested improvements. 

Menu

• Cheddar biscuits 
• Savoury feta cheesecake
• Chilli jam
• Roast lamb stuffed with with olives and sundried tomatoes 
• Potatoes in butter
• Kale with lemon and garlic
• Confit garlic 
• Chocolate truffle cake 

To start: cheddar biscuits

The recipe I used for these savoury biscuits is based on the one in the Great British Book of Baking, from the popular TV series of the same name.

These are the quantities used in the book.

Cheese and chilli biscuits

Cheddar biscuit ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes, though I used more like 1 teaspoon
• 150g extra mature Cheddar
• 150g cold unsalted butter, diced into small pieces
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

The extra egg yolk is unnecessary in my opinion, and you will end up with 1 unused egg white. While you can freeze this lone egg white for use another time, chances are you will forget about it then throw it away in a few months. So just add a splash of cold milk if you think your dough needs more liquid.

  How to make cheddar biscuits

1. Put the flour, salt, chilli flakes and cheese into a processor and pulse to combine.
   
2. Add the butter and process till fine.
   
3. Keep the processor going while you add the egg till you have a stiff dough.


4. Turn out onto a flowered surface and work into a cylinder.


5. Cut into 3 to make it easier to work with, then roll each cylinder till it is about 15–20cm long.


6. Wrap each in greaseproof paper and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes.


7. The dough can be stored uncooked for 3 days in the fridge or for 1 month in the freezer.


8. Heat the oven to 200⁰C and lightly grease a couple of baking trays. You will probably end up with about 6 trays’ worth of biscuits, but unless you live in a Greggs you probably won’t have the capacity to cook these all at the same time. In my oven (my enemy) I can fit 2 trays at once.


9. Cut the dough into 1ch thick slices and lay them out on the trays, slightly apart.


10. Bake for 10–12 minutes till golden.
    
11. Leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

After 10 minutes the biscuits looked pale and undercooked. A nibble revealed they lacked salt and cheese. I added a sprinkling of salt and Parmesan before sticking them back in for another 10 minutes.

This recipe is a doddle to make and I like the fact that it can be stored in the fridge or freezer till needed. The cooked version, however, went soggy when I stored them overnight in a tupperware container, in a tin and in a kilner jar. However, another quick blast in the oven does revive them to crispness. (Thank you Kerry Gibson for that tip)

I don’t think the Great British Baking Book is that great. I’ve tried a few recipes from it that have disappointed – the Cornish saffron buns I made for my Not The Royal Wedding Party tasted of mould, and the shortbread biscuits were so inedible I threw them out before serving them. 

Unfortunately in my opinion this recipe notches up another black mark against the book – one more dud recipe and it will be consigned to the Oxfam shop. Dan Lepard does a cheese biscuit that uses equal quantities of flour, cheese and butter. He also includes additional flavouring with garlic and paprika, and added texture with almonds. I’ll give his version a go next time. 

Savoury feta cheesecake

This is a recipe I’ve been meaning to make for ages. Why I didn’t realise that this would mean serving a cold main course to my vegetarian guests I don’t know. 

This recipe is by Delia, and can be found online at:

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/party-food/cheesecake/savoury-feta-cheesecake.html

To my mind this recipe looks long and complicated but maybe that’s just because it involves gelatine. I’ve therefore edited the instructions to make it seem more straightforward, which it is, and have slightly altered the quantities for the sake of convenience. I hope she doesn’t mind.

Savoury feta cheesecake ingredients

For the base

• 75g white breadcrumbs (I used some leftover homemade bread)
• 40g Parmesan or Pecorino Romano. finely grated
• 25g melted butter

  

For the filling

• 200g pack of feta (recipe states 225g)
• 200g pot curd cheese (recipe states 225g)
• 200g pot fromage frais (recipe states 175g)
• 4 heaped tablespoons chives
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vegetarian gelatine powder
• 2 egg whites*

*Ah, could have added that egg yolk to the biscuits after all.

Now I have 2 spare egg yolks.

Method for savoury feta cheesecake

1. Preheat the oven to 200⁰C.
   
2. Mix the base ingredients in a bowl and season with pepper. As the cheese is salty you don’t need to add salt.
   
3. Lightly oil a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin then press the breadcrumb mixture down tightly onto the base of the tin.


4. Bake for 15 minutes till golden.


5. Break up the feta into a food processor and blend with the curd cheese and fromage frais till completely smooth.


6. Transfer to a bowl then add the chives and spring onions.


7. Put the lemon juice in a small saucepan with 55ml water.


8. Sprinkle in the gelatine and stir to dissolve.


9. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to the softy peak stage.


10. Bring the gelatine mixture to the boil then tip into the cheese mixture and combine quickly.


11. Fold in the egg whites a tablespoon at a time.
    
12. Pour the mixture over the base and chill in the fridge, preferably overnight.

Chilli jam

I thought chilli jam would make a good accompaniment to the savoury feta cheesecake, and as I forgot to order some from Ocado I made my own. The deep red colour was a pretty contrast to the white cheesecake, when I eventually remembered to serve it. 

Chilli jam ingredients

• 8 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 10 red chillies, roughly chopped
• Finger-sized (Jamie’s) piece root ginger, roughly chopped
• 8 peeled garlic cloves
• 400g cherry tomatoes
• 750g caster sugar
• 250ml red wine vinegar 

How to make chilli jam

1. Whizz the peppers, garlic, ginger and chillies in a food processor.
2. Add to a heavy-based saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil.
3. Skim off any scum and simmer for about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Once sticky, cook for another 10–15 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Cool slightly then pot into sterilized jars.

Refrigerate once opened. Can be stored for up to 3 months.

I used half the quantity above which made 3 small jars. I gave 2 away as gifts and kept one for myself. It goes lovely with the cheddar biscuits too. (Thanks again, Kerry Gibson. Actually, do you fancy being guest blog editor?)

Roast lamb with sundried tomato and olive stuffing

I bought jamie magazine about a month ago. I like the size, the matt pages and the typeface. So far, though, this is the only recipe I’ve tried. In the magazine, floury potatoes covered with lemon juice are cooked in the roasting tin along with the lamb, but I make a separate potato dish cater for both meat-eaters and vegetarians.

Lamb before it went in the oven

Roast lamb ingredients

• 2kg butterflied leg of lamb
• 150g drained sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped (280g jar)
• 150g pitted black olives, roughly chopped
• 100g drained capers
• 1 tbps finely chopped rosemary, plus 3 or 4 large sprigs
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp dried oregano

Confit garlic ingredients

• 6 garlic cloves
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Olive oil

  

How to make confit garlic

1. Put the garlic in a small saucepan with the thyme and bay leaves, and pour over enough oil to cover.
2. Cook over a low heat for about 20 minutes, till the garlic is tender, then remove the garlic with a slotted spoon.
3. The oil can be reserved for use another time.

You need to be very careful not to burn the garlic, even on the lowest heat, which is what happened at my first attempt. I ended up warming the oil for a few minutes then turning off the heat and letting it cool for a few minutes before repeating. It probably took about 30 minutes of careful heating and cooling.

How to make stuffed lamb

1. Preheat the oven to 250⁰C.
2. In a food processor, blend the sundried tomatoes, olives, capers, rosemary, confit garlic and red wine vinegar.


3. I made the stuffing the day before I was cooking the lamb.


4. Bring the lamb out of the fridge at least an hour before you want to cook it to allow it to come up to room temperature.


5. Lay the lamb out flat, season well then spread the stuffing over it.


6. Roll it up tightly and secure with cooking string. You will need someone to help you with this unless you have 4 hands. Some of the stuffing was squeezed out of the sides of the roll so I smeared this over the top of the lamb.


7. Put the rosemary sprigs into the roasting tin and place the lamb on top. Sprinkle the dried oregano over the top of the lamb.


8. Roast for 30 minutes, then reduce the temperature of the oven to 180⁰C and cook for another 1–1 ½ hours.
9. Rest the lamb on a warm plate, loosely covered in foil, for at least ‘15 minutes before serving.

The lamb was delicious, if a little well done. The stuffing brought a deep savory flavour to the dish, but the quantity given in the recipe wasn’t necessary – I reckon about half the amount would have been ample.

Potatoes in butter

This is my name for what Nigel Slater calls ‘A thin cake of potatoes and Parmesan’. I love Nigel Slater, and Nigel Slater loves butter. For this reason he’s known as Tubby Slater in my house, although he is nothing of the sort.

Potatoes in butter ingredients

This is double the recipe found in his book Tender Volume 1

 

• 2kg waxy potatoes
• 250g butter
• 4 garlic cloves (this still seemed a lot, I used 3 small cloves)
• 60g Parmesan, finely grated 

 

How to make potatoes in butter

1. Heat the oven to 220⁰C
2. Peel then slice the potatoes so thin that you can see through them.


3. I bought a mandolin especially for this job, or rather, this gave me an excuse to buy a mandolin. I haven’t figured out why I need all of the attachments yet, as most of the functions seem to be pretty much covered by my cheese grater which, now I think of it, has a slicing function too.


4. Melt the butter in a small pan


5. Crush or finely slice the garlic.


6. I crushed, so as to distribute the garlic as evenly as possible over the potatoes. I actually used my garlic crush today – normally I don’t as I hate washing it up.


7. Brush a little butter on the base of a baking dish then start layering your ingredients: potatoes, butter, garlic, salt, pepper, Parmesan.


8. I started off by using a pastry brush to brush the butter over the potatoes but in the end found it easier just to drizzle it over with a teaspoon.
9. Bake for about 45—50 minutes till the edges are golden. Remove from the oven and let the dish stand for a few minutes before serving.

This dish was delicious, but very, very buttery, and I found the taste of garlic quite strong. As part of an Easter feast though it was spot on.

Kale with lemon and garlic

Another delicious recipe from Nigel Slater’s Tender Volume 1. I’ve meddled with the quantities slightly which seemed to work well.

Kale with lemon and garlic ingredients

• I large bag curly kale (probably about 250–300g)
• A knob of butter (probably about 15g, rather than the 30g Tubby suggests for 2 people)
• A splash olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of half a lemon

How to make kale with lemon and garlic

1. Wash the kale then cook in boiling water for 1–2 minutes. You’ll probably need to do this in batches.


2. Drain the kale and put in a large serving bowl.


3. Warm the butter and the oil in a pan and add the crushed garlic and lemon zest.


4. Once the butter starts to foam, add the lemon juice.
   
5. Tip the butter mixture over the kale, season and toss everything together.

Steamed purple sprouting broccoli was my final savory dish.

I normally misjudge the amount of vegetables people will eat and end up with tons left over. At the end of this meal, however, I was left with just 1 stem of purple sprouting broccoli – success!

Something sweet for after

I am not one of life’s chocolate lovers. I wouldn’t really be upset if I never ate chocolate again. But O asked that I make a chocolate dessert to round off the meal and this time I obliged. Dan Lepard’s layeredchocolate truffle cake is a stunning-looking, sickly-tasting mass of chocolatey goo containing over a kilo of chocolate. My teeth hurt just making it.

This recipe requires 3 separate layers to be chilled before the next can be made, so start making it well in advance of when you want to serve it.

This is my own cake, I promise

As directed I used a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin but found that I ended up with far too much of each of the chocolate layers – enough to fill 4 ramekins. A 23-inch tin would probably have worked better.

Removing the cake from the tin didn’t work quite as successfully as I had hoped (see photo) but it still looked impressive. I didn’t notice this at the time but when I came to clearing up found that the brownie base was pretty much still intact on the base of the tin, so I’d served the cake without the base. There were no complaints.

I managed to eat about one third of my slice.