Easy recipes from Apple Tree
Authentic enough…
Fry gently. Add
Fry some more. add
Fry some more. Add a splash of water and ½ tsp salt, cover and let cook for 10 minutes until soft. Add
Continue cooking until wilted. Done!
You might think – for 90p a pack of six in Tesco what’s the point? But these are awesome.
Ideally, use a food processor. If not you may reconsider going to Tesco.
Pour the dry ingredients into the processor. Give it a whizz to aerate the flour. While the motor is running gently and slowly pour in the water. The mix will start to look like crumbs. Very gently add more water a splash at a time until the dough forms a ball. Whizz for another 40 seconds. Now take the dough out and let it rise in a warm place covered in oiled cling film or plastic bag. After about an hour when it has grown by at least 50% it is ready. Pull off a fistful of dough and roll thinly, about 4mm thick. Heat a heavy griddle or frying pan (no oil) , and cook the pittas on the dry pan turning once when the under surface has brown spots. When cooked through from both sides, keep warm in a kitchen towel while you make the rest. This mix makes about 6 large pittas.
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!
Trim off the peel and slice into sticks the size of French fries, or shorter chunkier pieces.
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.
Quick too!
Chop and sweat in a dash of olive oil for 10 minutes
Simmer 15 minutes
Add a small handful of fresh basil leaves and whizz with a stick blender. Adjust the seasoning and job done. Idea to table in 30 minutes. From a Jamie Oliver recipe. Great with our Irish Soda Bread recipe as you can see in the picture.
This is pretty simple if you have a food processor. Here are the steps.
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.
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.
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.
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!
After much searching and much eating we have decided that the scones in the National Trust cafes are the best. Luckily for us they printed the recipe in there member’s magazine. Here it is, and foolproof. This makes 8-10 scones.
Switch your oven on, 200deg C.
Whiz in a food processor or do it the hard way and rub into crumbs with your fingers. I have found a blender works well and is less faff too get out and put away (ours lives on the worktop). You may need to do this in two batches with a blender.
Mix in, better to use a bowl because a food processor blade may shred the sultanas
Beat your egg and add half the milk. Stir into your scone mix and make a stiff dough. If it is too crumbly add more milk.
Flour your hands and work surface and roll the mix into a large ball. Flatten with your hands to a disc 2cm thick.
Punch out scone shapes with a scone shaper-thing and place on a greased baking tray. Re-roll the off-cuts and you should get 8-10 scones out of it depending on thickness and size of your scone-thing.
Brush the top of the scones with beaten egg if you like a nice yellow glaze. You could use milk instead but the result is not quite as crusty.
Now bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR before 15 minutes are up. They should be perfect but if you have boobed with the temperature setting they may need a couple of minutes more.
Best served warm and eaten right then, but they will keep a day or two in a sealed tin.
Vegan version: Use Stork instead of soft margarine (100% vegetable fat), lose the egg and use Alpro milk instead of the egg and milk. Brush with Alpro milk before baking. Turns out very similar but not quite as rich.
Alternative vegan version without the dried fruit:
Exactly the same process as above but use these ingredients –
Mix well
Rub in to look like breadcrumbs or whizz in a blender/food processor
Start with less milk and add more if you need it. Roll out, punch out, brush with soy milk and cook as above.
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