Make a wish

Make a wish

I wish people would be more open. If only people could be more open to vegetables as more than a side dish.

Chef Chad Sarno.

Great article on the link below!

Jamie's Italian in Liverpool

When I eat out I like to have choice, I like to have a plethora of dishes to nibble and enjoy. On Thursday I had a girly evening out with my sister, we dined at Jamie's and ordered the polenta, the mushroom fritti, burrata (which was delicious with sliced chillies), stuffed courgette flower (the sauce with this was seriously lacking in flavour could have had more punch with chillies or smoked paprika), Italian breads which were divine and a gorgonzola and pear salad with chicory.

This style of tapas, mediterranean eating is my favourite, lots of delicious fresh bread, tasty olive oil for dipping and good cheese with a bottle of merlot is the perfect end to a busy working day.

The chunks of polenta here are fried to perfection, although I think they need a dipping sauce I used the garlic dip from the mushroom fritti. I am inspired to try using polenta in my cooking this week, I have seen Jamie use it in many of his Italian dishes.
Polenta is a ground maize that comes in two different styles, the traditional way is to cook it in a pot for over an hour or the instant polenta which you can buy for easier preparation.

The burrata was amazing, I am real fan of mozzarella cheese, but only the decent milky and creamy variety, any other cheaper version is a waste of valuable jaw muscles. Supermarket mozzarella in packet is mostly tasteless and reserved only for a chewy topping on a pizza. To have a deli version of mozzarella is what it should be creamy, soft and delicious.

" It is a semi-soft cheese. Due to its high moisture content, it is traditionally served the day it is made,[4] but can be kept in brine for up to a week,[5] or longer when sold in vacuum-sealed packages. Low-moisture mozzarella can keep refrigerated for up to a month,[6] though some pre-shredded low-moisture mozzarella is sold with a shelf life of up to 6 months.[7] Mozzarella of several kinds are also used for most types of pizza and several pasta dishes, such as lasagna, or served with sliced tomatoes and basil in Insalata caprese. "
Wikipedia.

Sorry I digressed, I just wanted to show the difference between fresh deli mozzarella and supermarket mozzarella.
Back to the burrata, it starts off with mozzarella but is mixed with cream, then pulled and stretched and shaped to whatever is desired. This was delicious in Jamie's as it was dressed with fresh chilli and olive oil. Perfect for dipping the Italian breads in.

Finally we finished with chocolate, cherry and butterscotch ice cream with fresh honeycomb.
Scrumptious!

Enjoy!

Fresh bhaji and chapati's from scratch!

I love chapatis as an alternative to naan bread or poppadoms, chapatis are Indian flatbread so perfect for soaking up sauces or filling with rice and curries. These were quick and easy to make, I followed the instructions on the packet of chapati flour!
First put two cups of the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle pour in enough water to make a dough and a touch of salt, I added tumeric and cumin to my mixture but I suppose you can leave them plain or add your own spices to make it even more tasty.
Knead the dough until it is smooth, here is where you should break into 8 even small balls, but as this was my first time I teared off pieces of the dough as I went making my chapati's un even in size.
I used a heavy based shallow pan, an indian recipe would suggest a skillet for cooking the flatbread so if you have one great if not a heavy pan worked for me. Grease the pan lightly, use a paper towel dipped in oil and cover the base of the pan.
Roll out your balls of dough and try to make a round shape to fit the base of your pan. Cook both sides of the chapati until you get little brown spots this shows they are done!
Enjoy!

For the onion bhajis I again followed the recipe on the back of the gram flour packet but added a few little extras!
I began by mixing thinly sliced onions, chopped spinach, fresh diced ginger, 35g of gram flour and spices; ground ginger, tumeric and cumin. You can add chopped chilli, curry powder also if you are after a kick in the taste buds! Add a pinch of salt and enough water to make a thick batter. I found the batter to be sticky and stretchy so if yours looks like that then its ok!
Heat sunflower oil in a wok enough to go up about 1" on the pan.
Drop tablespoons of the mixture into the hot oil and watch, spin these as they cook so every side is cooked. I made a mistake of not cooking them long enough, so maybe turn the heat right up on the oil or just have more patience than me!

Make a raita to add to these south indian nibbles by chopping up cucumber and coriander, mix in some plain yoghurt, lemon juice and a touch of salt.

Enjoy!

Beetcheera pachadi.

Beetcheera pachadi as I said earlier in the blog is one of my favourite dishes from a south indian restaurant I go to.
I followed a recipe from the cooking index and here it is:

Recipe Ingredients
4 Fresh beet root (large)
3 1/2 oz 99g Fresh grated coconut
2 Green chiles - chopped
1 Fresh ginger - (1"), chopped
1 teaspoon 5ml Ground black mustard seeds
2 tablespoons 30ml Vegetable oil
2 teaspoons 10ml Mustard seeds
10 Fresh curry leaves
1 teaspoon 5ml Turmeric
1 teaspoon 5ml Chile powder
8 oz 227g Fresh spinach leaves - washed
1 cup 237ml Natural yogurt
Salt and pepper
Garnish
Fresh spinach - wilted
Tomato wedges
Fresh curry leaves
Recipe Instructions
Prep: Trim the beet root, peel and cut into 10 mm cubes

1. Cook the beet root in a pan of lightly salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes until tender. Meanwhile, using a pestle and mortar or a food processor, grind or process the coconut, chiles, ginger and black mustard seeds to a fine paste.

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the mustard seeds. Cook for 1 minute until they begin to pop. Add the curry leaves, beet root, turmeric, chile powder and salt and pepper and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in the coconut mixture and spinach and cook over a low heat until the spinach has wilted. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the yogurt. Serve garnished with fresh wilted spinach, tomato wedges and fresh curry leaves.

Recipes from "Rasa W1," Kerala Vegetarian Restaurant, 6 Dering St., London. Owners/chefs Das and Alison Sreedharan.

I loved this dish so
Enjoy!

Aubergine crisps.

Number 2 on the blog "interesting things to do with aubergines"
I halved these mini aubergines and placed them on an oven proof tin with lots of rock salt, tumeric and a dribble of olive oil.
Leave them in the oven for 40 minutes to an hour, timings depend on how crispy you want them. These are perfect for dipping in the raita or the sweet potato curry.
Enjoy!

Shopping List

To cook a south indian you need to have the right ingredients. The right cooking oil, herbs and spices and flour is essential. This isn't no ordinary meal.
Shopping list:
Tesco:
curry leaves
curry powder
cumin
tumeric
mustard seeds
chappati flour
red chillies
coriander
vegetable oil
beetroots
sweetpotato
coconut milk
What Tesco didn't have:
fresh coconut
baby aubergines

The Quorn Challenge.

Its that moment when you really fantasise about delicious casseroles, its raining outside and you are looking for a big comforting dish of wonderfulness.
I challenged myself to see if I could get the same rich texture and look of a beef casserole but using Quorn. I use quorn in my dishes but not very often, I have never eaten meat so I don't crave meat nor do I need it as a substitute. If you have ever bought packets of quorn, in this case the chicken style pieces, the pictures on the outside are not very creative and in my opinion not very tasty looking.

I began by making a base, I fried off the quorn pieces in a little oil and some flour, I wanted to coat the pieces as they coat the beef pieces. I then put a sliced onion, chopped butternut squash, sliced red peppers and garlic into the pan. I left these on a low heat for 30 seconds. I added half a tin of tomatoes and 250ml of red wine. I always believe in adding a little more of something if you want, so if you would like more tomatoes, go for it!
To this mixture I added 1/4 teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, 1/4 of a chopped chilli, a dash of tumeric and a stock cube. Plenty of salt and pepper to finish and leave to simmer for 40 minutes on a low heat.

I finished this casserole off with grated manchego cheese and it was delicious!

Enjoy!

The Humble becomes the Great.

These little beauties are delicious!
I am trying to re-ignite my sister's love of the humble aubergine, so I have been experimenting with different ways of cooking the vegetable to make it exciting and tasty.
I made these little starters by slicing the aubergine and frying them in a little olive oil, some tumeric and cumin. Aubergines tend to soak up the oil so only use a really small amount. Fry them off both sides in batches and set to one side.
My dad baked some fresh bread for this dish, his recipe will be up very soon!
Slice up the bread into generous slices, and cover with alioli, I am hoping to make some fresh alioli so as soon as I do I will post the recipe. Slice up some Manchego cheese, this hard cheese is a delicious alternative to parmesan. Lay on the aubergine and some halved baby plum tomatoes and some grilled sliced courgette and another touch of alioli to finish!
Serve with a side of spinach tossed in lemon juice, olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Enjoy!

A trip to South India anyone?

Tonight I am celebrating my friend getting a job so I am going to try to cook a south indian meal. I love South Indian food and the Maharaja in Liverpool serves the most delicious Keralan food. The vegetarian options are flavoured with spices such as cinnamon, turmeric, cardamon and ginger.

"Kerala has a distinctive cuisine, totally different from the rest of India."

My favourite dish is Beet chera pachadi, this rolls of the tongue now as I must have the same dish every time I visit. Beet chera pachadi consists of spinach and beetroot cooked in herbs and spices. The colour is divine as you can imagine from the beetroot but its the interesting mix of herbs and spices which give this rich dish so sumptuous flavour.

The herb cupboard is lacking in some of the essential spices so a trip to the market is needed in my lunch break. I will update later on the progress!

Lovely Lunya Lunch.

Today's lunchtime delight,
Courtesy of Lunya Liverpool One www.lunya.co.uk
Lunya is a catalan and spanish restaurant with a great sandwich menu. I am sometimes incredibly indecisive when it comes to my lunchtime, back of the office feast. Dependent on how busy the shop is I either nibble or full on feast.
Today I treated myself to a grilled montgomery cheddar and red onion on sourdough bread sandwich and .. that's right there is an "and" a tortilla and homemade alioli sandwich, accompanied by a small bottle of apple and pear Luscombe Farm Organic fruit juice.

The bread is delicious and the sandwiche(s) incredibly filling. My aim is to try and make the perfect alioli and spanish tortilla this week. Apart from these two, spanish tapas is limited for vegetarians so I might try my take on the Catalan and Spanish dishes.
Manchego cheese here I come!!

Im so over Thyme.

So yesterday I was loving the Thyme now I am experimenting with fresh Sage. I always thought Sage was reserved for the meat eating society as they used it in Chicken dishes but no, it is for the vegetarian dishes too. I will endeavour to use it in more dishes in the future. I am quite fancying a sage butter... with something maybe gnocchi or risotto? More to come..

I have halved a butternut squash and scooped out the insides, don't throw this away just put to one side for the moment. Then make up a filling for the squash but frying off shallots, garlic, oyster mushrooms, baby spinach and some chopped sage. Fill the squash with this and place in a roasting tin with halved baby shallots, halved potatoes (skins left on!) the inside of the squash, some more chopped sage and a drizzle of olive oil.
Roast this all for a good 30 minutes on a medium heat, I like my roast vegetables really roasted but this is totally upto you.
Finish with plenty of black pepper.
Thinking on, the potatoes might have been really nice with a sage butter, must try this next time.

Inspiration lurks in the fridge.

I get inspired by opening the fridge.
Last night I discovered a mix bowl of Kalamata olives, green olives and feta cheese and I decided to blitz them with raw garlic, fresh lemon thyme (herb of the moment if you haven't noticed) fresh lemon, dried oregano and olive oil. This makes an olive tapenade with a kick. The impact of the raw garlic is my favourite part, I make tzatziki with raw garlic too. If you would prefer a smoother taste go for roasted garlic.
In a small frying pan fry off slices of halloumi in the tiniest amount of oil, this is an open discussion I am having with my sister about whether to add oil when frying halloumi, it's up to you how you do it!
Toast a thick slice of brown bread, I used a granary bread full of sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds to add a nutty taste.
Garnish with baby spinach leaves and a drizzle of olive oil!
Enjoy!

Sweet, sweet potato!

Sweet potatoes have only been in my life for about 2 years and now I can't live without them, this complex carbohydrate completes my dishes.
I have made a simple sweet potato mash by boiling chunky sweet potatoes and mashed them down with butter and black pepper. The key to a good mashed potato of any kind is to keep it soft and without lumps, you can add paprika, dried herbs, pesto or chilli flakes to make your mashed potato full of flavour and exciting to the taste buds.
To accompany the potato I have made a spiced tomato and vegetarian sausage dish. I have fried off one red onion and two cloves of garlic. I placed 6 vegetarian sausages into the heavy based pan and seasoned with paprika and dried chilli flakes, to this I added a tin of chopped tomatoes and let this all simmer for 15-20 mins. (This is dependent on whether your sausages were frozen or not)
For the courgette salad, I sliced up two courgettes and put them in a bowl with chopped sundried tomatoes, chopped rocket, torn fresh basil and chopped fresh lemon thyme. I made a dressing of fresh lemon juice, olive oil, a drop of white wine vinegar and salt and pepper.

I dished up the sausage and tomatoes from the pan first and then made small sweet potato shapes by turning two table spoons together to make them into oval shapes, then served some of the courgette salad on the side.

Perfect!

Heaven in a glass.

And Finally...

This amazing dessert can only be summed in one word .. Heaven!

Jessica my sister made this dessert and it was heaven in a glass.

Jessica searched the cupboards and found half packets of biscuits. She used chocolate hobnobs, plain digestives and butter cream biscuits. She bashed them up and put them to one side. In a pan Jessica put sliced nectarines and blackberries with a little water, some brown sugar and a cap of Amaretto (at your own discretion. Maybe more or maybe less?)

Don't over cook the fruit, cook for 5 mins to keep them firm and let them cool. Put them in the bottom of a large glass and cover with lemon yoghurt, finally sprinkle the biscuits on top and leave to chill.

Italian Herb dumplings with pumpkin seeds.

Dinner al fresco - Recipes!

Italian herb dumplings with toasted pumpkin seeds and roasted baby potatoes.

"Dumplings" as a word its not the most endearing is it? However this main meal is...
When I was searching the cupboards looking for ingredients for a comforting and filling dish I found a packet of suet in the cupboards. Dumplings are pretty easy to make and you can add your own herbs and spices to make them more interesting.

I began by making the sauce I cooked off an onion and a couple of garlic cloves in some olive oil and added three big juicy red peppers. I added some fresh basil and a tin of chopped tomatoes and let the sauce reduce.
In the oven I placed a tray of halved cherry tomatoes with a sprinkling of sea salt if you leave them in the oven on a low gas mark for 1 hour they make your very own sun blushed tomatoes.

In a bowl I made the dumplings using the packet of suet, some water and plenty of salt and pepper, dried herbs, chopped fresh oregano and a teaspoon of pesto. Mixed up with your hands so you have a soft dough and then split into as many small balls as you wish. You could keep your dumplings big or make them small mine were half the size of my fist.

In a heavy based dish I put the sauce with the peppers in first and then placed my dumplings on the top with slices of feta cheese and put in the over for half an hour.

Move the tomatoes to the bottom of the oven as we don't want them burnt just blushed.

Blanch the potatoes in salted water and drain. Put in a oven tin and cover in olive oil - this should make the potato skins crispy on the outside but keep the insides soft and fluffy. A little rock salt and some dried herbs and place in oven for 40 mins on the middle shelf.

Once the dish is golden take out of the oven and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds and enjoy with a glass of merlot.

S/S Soup!

Dinner al fresco - recipes!

Spring/Summer Soup.

This soup takes minutes and is a delicious starter for outside dining.

Fry off an onion and garlic in a little olive oil, add chopped potato and stock. I really like the vegetable stock pots as they are full of flavour and not too salty. Add chopped courgettes and fresh herbs, lemon thyme is flavourful and smells gorgeous, but you can use dried herbs like oregano, thyme or mixed herbs.

The potato takes longer to cook than the other vegetables, to keep the crunch in your beans and peas add them last. I used green beans halved and chopped and mange tout whole.

You can use green peas or string beans but make sure they are fresh so they stay crunchy and tasty, this soup isn't going to be blended.

You can add fresh mint for a kick or to give your guests a little surprise and garnish the soup with edible flowers. I have used the flowers from the herb garden. The lavender colours looks so gorgeous against the luscious greens of the vegetables.

Fashion Fraise Cupcakes

These delicious cupcakes are courtesy of Lunya Deli in Liverpool One. They rescued me from a fate worse than death. After a long day of working I sneaked into the back room and devoured this delicious cupcake with a cup of strong black coffee!
This is inspiration enough to try stepping into the world of cakes and desert recipes.

The underestimated boiled egg.

Happy Eggs.
Boiled eggs are a huge source of protein for Vegetarians and they are pleasantly satisfying for a Sunday morning Brunch. Pair with some chunky wholemeal toast and lather with butter. Perfect!
I used the simple method of placing the eggs into 1" of boiled water in the saucepan and simmered for 2 minutes and then turned the gas off and covered the saucepan with a lid and left for 6 minutes. This method made me some perfect eggs for dipping. Season with cracked black pepper and sea salt.

 Crazy eggs. Have fun!

Tuesday afternoon deliciousness.

No soup is complete with croutons. On a rainy Tuesday afternoon we sit down to enjoy a delicious soup of sweet potato and tomato soup with chunky croutons and pumpkin seeds lightly fried in a drop of olive  oil and black pepper. 

The soup was a perfect lunchtime meal. It was rich in flavour, bright in colour and smelled wonderful. I made this chunky soup by frying off two small red onions, in a little olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. I added a chopped butternut squash and a sweet potato peeled and chopped into chunks. I had a small bunch of lemon thyme with a cotton round it to keep it together and placed this, a tin of chopped tomatoes and half a packet of passata in with a jug of vegetable stock. I wanted a little something else so I added some italian dried pasta swirls, I wanted it to have a rustic minestrone texture, this can be your choice if you would like to add the pasta or not. The soup was meant to be thick but if you want it less so, add more stock. 

The final touch to this lunchtime feast in a bowl was grated gruyere cheese. I must say I am a huge fan of this sweet and rich cheese, it can be used on a variety of dishes such as pasta (my open mushroom lasagne was amazing as it had a three cheese sauce with the gruyere being prominent in the taste. More to come on this...) a luxury cheese on toast would be amazing with a home made red-onion relish and chunky wholemeal bread.
Enough about my new cheese love.
Enjoy!

Welcome to my blog.

This is something I have been meaning to do for a long time. My love of cooking is what de-stresses me, calms me and makes me happy. I have been a vegetarian since I was born and I love good food.
I love to experiment with different cultures and hopefully through this blog it will encourage me to try new ideas and experiment with flavours and ingredients.

Having a blog and talking and discussing vegetarian cuisine might also put a stop to all of the questions "so what do you actually eat?" A question I have been asked many times, as if we would exist on a rabbit like diet of lettuce and carrots. I want non-vegetarians to be excited by dishes which are without meat or fish and feel they could conjure something similar up in their kitchens.

This is a mini project for me something a world away from what I do on a day-to-day basis. I own a womenswear store and I design all of the pieces we hold in our flagship shop. After a long day in the store there is nothing I enjoy more than cooking for friends and family. It is the nicest thing you can do for someone, to fill up their bellies with one of your own dishes.