Category: Main courses (Page 9 of 13)

Lebanese Pickle

19/02/2017 / Neville / 0 Comments

If you buy a kebab from a genuine takeaway or van you will usually be offered (or find) some bright pink pickled vegetable with a nice crunch and a bit of a tang. These are surprisingly easy to make, and go well with your own kebabs at home. You will need some sort of glass jar, I used a Kilner but others are available. Wilco is a surprisingly useful source for these. There are other recipes available on-line. This one does produce good pickles though. Others appear to have more salt and less vinegar. Experiment!

1 large or 2 small turnips, 400-500g total
1 small uncooked beetroot.

Trim off the peel and slice into sticks the size of French fries, or shorter chunkier pieces.

175ml water
175ml distilled vinegar (white)
4 tsp salt
1 chilli stabbed with a knife (optional)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole.

Mix the pickling ingredients and stir until the salt has dissolved.

Pack a jar with the beets and fill with the liquid. Place in the fridge and check it each day to see the pink tinge grow! The original recipe advised swirling around every few days. After a week it will be ready to eat. Keep it in the fridge and it will last a few weeks I am told. It didn’t last that long here – it was eaten. The Lebanese call these pickles “lift”. Yes, you can see Rudi in the photo.

Burritos

12/02/2017 / Neville / 0 Comments

Easy Mexican. Serves Four.

1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped
400g lean beef mince

Heat a dash of oil in a pad and fry onion and garlic gently for a few minutes. Add the beef and continue frying and stiffing until all the pink has gone.

1 tbs chipotle paste
1 can red kidney beans
1 can chopped tomatoes plus a teaspoon of minced chilli or 1 packet of Passata and minced chilli or 1 tub of bought tomato and chilli sauce

Add to the pan, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Heat the oven to 200C

4 tortilla wraps
100g cheddar cheese (or more if you like cheesy)

Spoon a quarter of the meat mix into the centre of each wrap. Top with cheese. Roll up into a neat parcel and place in an oven-proof dish (like a lasagne dish). Sprinkle with more cheese. Bake 10 minutes until golden.

Serve with tomato rice, shredded lettuce, avacado, diced tomato, jalapenos, sour cream – in fact all the Mexican add-ons you fancy! Like a Sol…

Vegan Nut and Tofu Roast

08/01/2017 / Neville / 0 Comments

This is pretty simple if you have a food processor. Here are the steps.

Chop an onion finely in a food processor.
Fry in oil gently with two cloves of garlic.
Whizz 4 slices of bread to breadcrumbs – put in a bowl
Whizz 200g cashew nuts to crumbs. Put in bowl.
Whiz 250g plain tofu and 140ml vegetable stock to a paste. Add to bowl.
Whizz 200g mushrooms to a fine chop and fry in a little oil
Add the onion to your bowl, and mix in with half a teaspoon dried thyme and half a teaspoon dried rosemary
Grease a 2lb loaf tin or equivalent size pie dish and put half the mix in, pressing down.
Add the cooked mushrooms and spread out.
Add the rest of the mix and press down.
Cover with foil and cook in an oven at 180C for one hour.
Allow to rest ten minutes.
Turn out and carve.
Eat hot or cold.

Vegan “sausage” rolls

03/01/2017 / Neville / 0 Comments

As a non-vegan, I was surprised to discover that Jus-Roll pastry was vegan. Very useful. (So is Bisto gravy, can you believe that?) Quantities are a bit vague because we made this from leftovers so you may need to tweak a bit.

Half a pack of Jus-Roll puff pastry
Tin of Borlotti beans (or any beans really), drained
salt and pepper
Pinch of cumin
Small pinch of chilli powder
Large spoonful of Vegan Bolognese
Tablespoon of vegan milk

Mush the beans with a stick blender, fork, end of a rolling pin or a clean jam jar. Mix with the other ingredients. It should form a stiff paste. Roll out the puff pastry to about 4mm thick. Cut into rectangles about 200mm by 150mm. Spoon a “sausage” up the centre line of each pastry rectangle on the long dimension. Roll the pastry round the filling and glue the join with a bit of water. Roll over so the join is underneath. Place on a greased baking tray. Brush the milk over the top to make a glaze and slash at an angle across the top of the rolls to allow steam to escape. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200C for 20-25 minutes.

PS if you don’t have any vegan bolognese you could enhanced the mix with some finely chopped and fried onion, and a contrasting type of bean (white or red). You could add more seasoning, garlic and herbs if you prefer.

Vegan Bolognese sauce

03/01/2017 / Neville / 0 Comments

In my opinion as a meat-eater, this is very nearly as good as the beef version! This makes a batch good for 4 meals at least.

400g dried green lentils
I onion, chopped finely
2 carrots, chopped finely
2 celery sticks, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 litres vegetable stock
Oil
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Salt and pepper

First cook the lentils in the stock for 45 minutes. Add more water if it threatens to dry out.

Meanwhile chop the vegetables or if you have one, pulse in a food processor. You need to consistency fine not chunky. Now sweat in a pan with the oil until soft. Add the tinned tomatoes, cooked lentils with their liquid and season. Cook another 20-30 minutes. Now for the clever bit. Use a stick blender or fork to mush half the mix into a paste and stir into the rest of the mix to make a thick gloopy sauce. If it is too dry add stock, if it is too runny, boil it away a bit with the lid off. Real vegans will add yeast powder to the mix.

Serve as a pasta sauce, or make a lasagne. The problem with a vegan lasagne is making the creamy topping. Vegetarians will be fine with a standard bechamel sauce and grated cheese! Vegans will have to improvise with tofu alternatives. Keep some back to use as an ingredient for vegan sausage rolls!

Swedish Fishcakes

01/01/2017 / Neville / 2 Comments

For four people you will need

200g fish per person (800g): any boneless white fish or a combo with some cooked prawns, salmon fillet, even a mackerel fillet or smoked mackerel. Great for using up belly flaps, cod cheeks, and that stray rockling
4 slices dry old white bread
1 lemon
Handful of fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
Oil for cooking – veg oil or sunflower

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe and couldn’t be easier because you don’t need to faff with potato or egg wash. It is 100% fish so the fishcakes will be fairly firm. If you like softer fishcakes, you can add in 25% cooked mashed potato to the fish mix.

You will need a food processor or be very diligent at chopping. Firstly take the crusts off your bread and whizz them to breadcrumbs. Set aside on a large plate. Take a tablespoon or two of the crumbs and put them back in your food processor. Chop the parsley and put it in the processor. Grate the zest off the lemon and add that too. Add salt and pepper, and your chosen fish combo. Whizz to a chunky gloop. Tip the lot onto a chopping board. Here’s a tip: to divide it easily mould it into a large round cake. Now slice your cake into four and four again like a Union Jack. Take each slice and mould it into a burger shape. You should have eight of equal size. Roll them in the breadcrumbs and pat them to stick. If you have time, put them all on a plate in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes, that helps stop them falling apart.

Now heat oil in a frying pan, about 1cm deep. Heat it so a cube cut from one of your spare crusts goes crispy golden brown in 30 seconds (but not burnt nut brown!). Now add your fishcakes. You may need to play with the heat controls so it cooks them without burning. After 5-8 minutes turn them over and give them another five on the other side. Hopefully the side you see will be not pale, not black but golden brown.

When cooked through, drain on kitchen towel and serve with your favourite accompaniments. In my opinion new potatoes and peas are hard to beat.

Tip:

You can make a nice starter by making mini versions of these fishcakes. Do exactly the same as above but make the fishcakes smaller, starting with a ball of gloop the size of a heaped tablespoon, and allow three per person. Cook them about 2-3 minutes a side. Serve with salad leaves and a flavoured mayonnaise. What’s that you ask. Here are two suggestions:

Rocket Mayo:

100ml good quality mayo
Juice of half a lemon
60g rocket (a small packet is 60g)

Zap your rocket into a paste with a stick blender. You may have to do this with the lemon juice to stop the rocket wrapping around the blades. Where did all that rocket go, you wonder. Mix with the mayo. Done. A spoon or two of rocket mayo can be blobbed onto the plate before serving.

Lemon and Lime Mayo:

100ml good quality mayo
Juice of one lemon
Juice of one or two limes depending on size.

Mix. The problem with this one is the resulting sauce is a lot more runny than mayo so it needs to be served separately.

Smoked Pollack Hollandaise

16/12/2016 / Neville / 0 Comments

This is a bit of a cheat but dead quick. You can use any smoked white fish or hot-smoked salmon. For two:

Two fillets of smoked pollack or equivalent, 400-500gms total
Half a packet of fresh spinach
Two thick slices of real bread – sourdough is excellent
Packet of hollandaise sauce
two eggs.

Get yourself ready, this is going to be on the table in five minutes. Make the sauce according to the packet. Wilt the spinach in a pan for three minutes. Poach the eggs until soft. Toast the bread. Heat the smoked fish in the microwave for a couple of minutes (it is already cooked). Assemble: base layer of toast, the spinach, fish, egg and sauce poured over. As an alternative to the toast I have also used sliced boiled new potatoes.

This can be a supper dish or a great brunch or lunch dish.

Cod and Chorizo Stew

10/12/2016 / Neville / 0 Comments

This is a really quick one-pot dish and one you could easily do camping or in a boat. You don’t need to be at all precise with quantities, but for two we used:

2 cod steaks or fillets
1/2 onion chopped
100g chorizo, chopped into small chunks
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin of white beans – butter, haricot, borlotti etc.
Chopped fresh parsely
Olive oil

Simply fry the chorizo and onion in a pan until the onion is soft and the chorizo makes everything red. Add the tin of tomatoes, cover and cook for five minutes. Add the cod and cook for another five minutes. add the beans, and cook for a final five minutes. Adjust seasoning, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsely and serve in a bowl with crusty bread.

Posh Fish & Chips

02/12/2016 / Neville / 0 Comments

Thank you Jamie Oliver. This can be based on any white fish but why not use pouting like Jamie does. This involves breaded fish strips, sweet potato fries and a very tasty basil mayo relish. Quantities can be scaled up easily depending on number fish and number of mouths.

Sweet potato fries:

Heat oven to 200deg C.

Wash but don’t peel some small sweet potatoes. Slice length-ways to make small wedges, about six per small potatoes gives you chip-sized wedges. Toss in olive oil with a sprinkle of salt, pepper and paprika. Place on an oven tray and roast for 35 minutes, turning occasionally. They are done when a knife point goes right in easily.

Basil mayo:

Per person (or multiply up): take about ten basil leaves and pound to mush in a pestle and mortar. Add juice from 1/4 lemon and add half a tablespoon of plain yogurt and a half a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Mix together, job done. This is very light and refreshing.

Fish fingers:

Heat cooking oil in a frying pan, about 5mm deep will do. Fry a clove of garlic in the oil first to flavour it, then remove. Take two pout fillets per person, skinned and boned. Slice down the middle to create four “fingers”. Dip in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs. Drop in the oil and fry each side until golden.

Serve with peas. Very good!

Lamb Keema (Balti)

30/11/2016 / Neville / 0 Comments

This is from “This Muslim Girl Bakes” and is an authentic Pakistani recipe. We tried it and want to try it again! Serves four with sides. Start with a frying pan or wok.

Oil
1 onion chopped

Heat the oil and fry the onion until just starting to brown

3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
2cm of fresh ginger, grated

Add to the onion and fry one more minute

500g minced lamb

Add to the pan and brown

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder (for mild, more if you want)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 cup water
2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped

Add these to the pan mix in a bubble away, covered for 30 minutes. Add more water if it needs it

handful of frozen peas

Add the peas and cook for another five minutes.

Serve with rice, naan or paratha and Josh’s Dhal like so: