Quinoa, Feta & Cauliflower Cakes

Quinoa, Feta & Cauliflower Cake

In anticipation of my imminent pescatarianism, I was bought Green Kitchen Stories for Christmas. Green Kitchen Stories is a wonderful vegetarian & vegan cookbook, written by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl, who are determined to make vegetarian and vegan eating inventive, healthy and tasty. I had discovered the blog previously and loved the recipes I came across and the ethos shared by the authors, so was thrilled to get the book. It seemed only fitting that, given my love of all things Scandi, and my newfound dislike of meat, this book act as an introduction to vegetarianism, and a source of inspiration for my own culinary exploits.

Today’s recipe is a Green Kitchen Stories recipe, and one that I tried for the first time last night. It takes a bit of time to make, but the end result is delicious – it’s fresh, filling, simple and has a wonderful combination of textures. I served these with a simple green salad, and some soy sauce to dip them in, but they would be just as delicious on a bed of garlic spinach, or in a wrap with some humous or pesto. What’s more is that the amounts I’ve provided here make enough for lunch the next day too, which is never a bad thing! One more thing, I think these would be even more delicious with a few pine nuts thrown in, although haven’t tried it myself as I can’t stomach the exortionate cost pine nuts go for these days, but if you can then give it a try! 

Ingredients (makes 6 cakes)

200g white quinoa

Large handful of fresh spinach

100g cauliflower

100g feta cheese

2 garlic cloves

60g rolled oats

2 eggs

Salt and pepper to season

2tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil

Place the quinoa in a pan with 1 litre of water and 1tsp salt then put the lid on and bring to the boil. Once boiling, take the lid off and turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Leave the quinoa to cook like this for around 15 minutes, or until little tails emerge from each piece of quinoa and you are faced with a pan of tadpole lookalikes.

Whilst the quinoa is cooking, wilt the spinach – place it in a bowl with enough boiling water to cover it and leave for 30 seconds. Drain the water out of the bowl, and transfer the spinach to a large mixing bowl. Once the quinoa is cooked, drain any excess water from the pan and place the quinoa into the same large bowl. Finely chop the feta and garlic cloves and add these to the bowl, followed by the oats and a dash of salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then add to the mixture.

Chop the cauliflower into small florets, making sure to remove all the leaves, and place in a food blender. Blend the cauliflower until it looks like uncooked rice, and then add this to bowl with all the other ingredients. Mix everything together, and place in the fridge to set for half an hour.

Whilst the mixture is cooling, how about watching this wonderful video of Doc Brown speaking to a group of London school boys about how uncool misogynism is, in order to get them talking about gender equality, and encourage them to challenge the stereotypes about men and women that they encounter in everyday life. Doc Brown is an ambassador for Great Men, which is a brilliant charity set up to promote gender equality, with the specific aim of getting men and boys involved in the discussion and action surrounding this hugely important issue.

Once half an hour is up, take the mixture out of the fridge, and using your hands, shape it into six equally sized patties. Heat up two tablespoons of vegetable/sunflower oil, and once hot, place however many patties you can fit in the pan into the oil, so that they can get sizzling! On a medium heat, fry the patties for about 3-5 minutes on each side, or until they develop a good brown crust. Flip over and fry on the other side once this is achieved! If you can’t fit all the patties in your frying pan, put the oven on a low heat and place the ones that you cook first in the oven to keep warm.

Uncooked patties

Once crispy and cooked, serve with some soy sauce and a green salad, and enjoy!

Chilli Tortillas with Homemade Guacamole & Salsa

Veggie Chilli Tortilla

This is my absolute favourite way of using up any leftover veggie chilli I have, as it is quick, easy and delicious, and a significantly different way of having the chilli which means I don’t mind having it twice in one week. I find meals like these really satisfying – having all the ingredients in front of you and using your hands to build them up into the perfect tortilla, with just the right amount of filling, so it is almost full to bursting but you can still fit it in your mouth!

The trick is to make a really good salsa and guacamole, using lots of fresh ingredients, as then these flavours will cut through the rich, density of the chilli and add a really fresh dimension to your dinner. If you haven’t got any leftover chilli, then you could make it again (if you’re that dedicated) or simply save the recipe for another day when you haven’t managed to eat it all in one go! Serve the tortillas with grated cheese, sour cream or yoghurt, and jalapeños and tortilla chips if you’re really pushing the boat out!

 

Salsa & Guacamole Ingredients

Guacamole Ingredients (makes enough for 4 tortillas)

1 large avocado, chopped

1/2 red onion

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, chopped

1tbsp olive oil

Pinch of salt and pepper

1 chilli, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped

Place all the ingredients for the guacamole in a bowl, and mix together. The acidity of the lime juice will help to break down the avocado, and make it easier to mush it all together. I personally don’t like my guacamole to be completely pureed, and prefer some chunks of onion, tomato and avocado to stick around. It makes for a more interesting texture, and means it doesn’t get lost in the chilli.

Salsa Ingredients (makes enough for 4 tortillas)

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, chopped

1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, chopped

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

1tbsp olive oil

Pinch of salt and pepper

As with the guacamole, place all the salsa ingredients in a bowl and mix them together, adding more salt and pepper if you feel it needs it. I personally don’t put chilli in this particular salsa, because the heat from the guacamole and the veggie chilli is enough for me, but if you like things extra spicy then go for it!

Salsa & Guacamole

Next, heat up your chilli on the hob, and heat the oven to 180c. Once the chilli is almost hot, put a couple of tortillas in the oven to warm them through.

If you have time whilst the chilli and tortillas are warming up, you could watch ‘How Animals Eat Their Food’. It’s very silly but also absolutely hilarious – a sketch about how different animals eat their food, very aptly portrayed by the two stars of the video. It’s only about 1 1/2 minutes long, so the perfect interlude to your cooking, and guaranteed to make it a much funnier process.

Once the chilli is heated through, and the tortillas are toasty warm, lay the tortillas on a plate and pile on the chilli, salsa, guacamole, and anything else you fancy. Wrap them up, and attempt to eat them without the filling going absolutely everywhere – especially all over your face and hands! Happy eating!

Vegetarian Chilli with Crispy Salted Jacket Potatoes

Vegetarian Chilli with Crispy, Salted Jacket Potatoes

This is a perennial favourite, which is most apt for this cold, wet and windy evening. It probably couldn’t be more miserable outside, but this dish is wonderfully warming and comforting, and very easy! When I was still eating meat, Chilli con Carne was one of my favourite meals, and I never thought I would like the vegetarian version as much. Luckily, I’ve proved myself wrong, and don’t find myself missing the mince in this recipe at all. A really important part of this is getting the balance of flavours right – you want the kick of the chilli, the smokiness of the paprika and the freshness of the tomatoes and pepper to all shine through. Topped with yoghurt or sour cream, grated cheese and a crispy jacket potato, you really can’t go wrong with this one.

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 baking potatoes

Sunflower/vegetable oil

1 large red onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 large red pepper

2 tins chopped tomatoes

1 red chilli

1tsp smoked paprika (or whatever paprika you have in your cupboard!)

1tsp ground cumin

1 tin green lentils

1 tin red kidney beans

Butter, to serve

Sour cream/yoghurt, to serve

Grated cheddar, to serve

Salt and pepper

Heat the oven to 200c. Wash all the mud off the potatoes, then stab them with a fork a few times in various places, so as to avoid any in-oven explosions. Take each potato and coat them in sunflower or vegetable oil, then sprinkle salt all over the skins. Once the oven is hot, place the potatoes on a piece of foil in the oven and leave to cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours (depending on how mammoth your potatoes are). Once they’re cooked you should be able to easily slide a knife into them, and their skins should be dark and crispy.

Once the potatoes have been in for about 20 minutes, start the chilli. Heat 2 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, and once hot add the onion and leave to fry until transparent and soft. Meanwhile, chop the garlic cloves, and add to the onion after 2-3 minutes, and fry for a further minute. Following this, chop the red pepper and the chilli and add to the pan, allowing them to fry for 1-2 minutes. (Tip: if your garlic or onion are getting a little too hot for your liking, add a splash more oil and this should stop them burning). Next, add the tinned tomatoes, paprika and cumin. Stir, bring to the boil and then turn down to a lower heat and leave to simmer for half an hour.

Whilst the beginnings of the chilli are bubbling away quietly, you could have a listen to Joe Pug’s latest album, The Great Despiser. Joe Pug plays a mixture of folk and americana, over which he lays his gravelly, older-than-his-years voice, and sings lyrics that speak of politics, heartbreak and his inner demons. An expert guitar and harmonica player (in combination!) Joe Pug creates beautiful, thought-provoking music, revealing his enormous talent as a song-writer and musician. This is one of several albums that Joe Pug has brought out in the last few years, and each is wonderful, and captures your ears in a way that very little other music can do these days. Both Pug’s voice and lyrics stand out on this new album, as he creates beautiful harmonies and melodies, yet retains a raw and invigorating feel to his brilliant songs. If you like the Great Despiser, then listen to every other song he’s ever produced, and you will love them too.

Once your chilli has been cooking for half an hour, drain and rinse both the kidney beans and lentils and add them to the chilli. Season with salt and pepper, and leave to cook for a further 20-30 minutes. Check on your potatoes to make sure that they are baking happily – if they seem a bit sad looking, whack up the temperature (and vice versa if they are cooking at speed)!

Once the potatoes are cooked, take them out of the oven and cut them in half. Place a knob of butter on each half and spread over the potato, allowing the butter to sink in as it melts. Put the potato halves on a plate, and help yourself to a hearty portion of the chilli to go alongside (or on top), topping it with a spoonful of yoghurt or sour cream and a tonne of grated cheese. Happy munching!

A Little Aside

When I’m cooking, I always find myself wasting time whilst water is boiling or dough is proving or fish is marinating, and so something I want to bring to this blog, as well as the recipes, is a way to fill all those random intervals of time with all sorts of interesting, funny, and thought-provoking things that I come across on my internet travels. Sometimes these will be a brilliant video I’ve seen, or a fascinating article I’ve read, or perhaps a song that has got stuck in my head. Either way, I hope that they will make cooking a more entertaining and fulfilling process, and lead you to sing along, laugh out loud or think about something in an entirely different light.

Homemade Square Pizzas

Homemade square pizza

After much time spent trying to decide what would be a good recipe to start with, I settled upon homemade square pizzas. These are the perfect weekend treat, and I love how diverse they can be, thanks to the infinite combination of toppings you can concoct. We make the dough and tomato sauce ourselves, and then pick a few toppings to go on top, which sometimes vary and sometimes stay the same (depending on the level of my obsession with artichokes on the day).

The dough can take a bit of time to get right, but keep at it, as good pizza dough is a joy, and will transform your pizza! When it comes to cooking the pizzas, the trick is to turn your oven as high it goes, so as to ensure a crisp crust and a thoroughly cooked base – nothing worse than a soggy bottom.

As for the toppings, you can really put anything you like on top of a pizza – although I can’t say I’ve ever understood the appeal of ‘crispy duck pizzas’ or ‘paella pizzas’. If you can splash out, then a sprinkling of fresh basil and rocket, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (or chilli oil), are the ultimate way to finish off your pizza as it emerges sizzling from the oven. I buy these as a treat every so often, but mostly make do without them – and still love the finished article.

I won’t profess to having my own dough recipe, and instead rely on the prowess of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The rest is all me though, so I hope you find these as delicious as I do!

Pizza Dough Ingredients (makes 2 large pizzas)

200g strong white bread flour

200g plain white flour

5g dried, powdered yeast

10g salt

325ml warm water

1 tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl, mix the flours, yeast, salt and water together to form a sticky dough. I find it easiest just to get your hands dirty here and not faff about with wooden spoons or other fancy instruments. Next mix in the oil to the dough, and then sprinkle your work surface with plain flour, before tipping the dough out onto the surface and kneading it until it is smooth, stretchy and silky (which sounds worryingly like an advert for anti-ageing cream). Everyone has different kneading techniques, but I tend to find that the heel of the hand works pretty well. If you’re unsure, then Paul Hollywood offers some great kneading tips in this short video. Keep kneading until the dough reaches the right constituency (and you are embarrassingly tired and your arms are aching far more than you care to admit). Shape the dough into a round, then place in a bowl, cover with a tea towel or clean plastic bag and leave it to prove somewhere warm and toasty for approximately an hour, or until satisfyingly doubled in size.

Pizza dough

Tomato Sauce Ingredients

1tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil

1 small red onion

2 large cloves of garlic

1tsp balsamic vinegar

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1tsp dried basil

Salt and pepper to season

Whilst the dough is proving, make the tomato sauce. Heat the oil in the pan, and finely chop the onion and garlic cloves. Add the onion to the hot oil, and fry for a couple of minutes until soft and transparent. Add the garlic and fry for one minute, before adding the balsamic vinegar and frying for a further 30 seconds. This is a new trick I’ve discovered, and gives the sauce an extra richness and depth. Next add the tinned tomatoes and dried basil, and leave to cook for half an hour. Stir occasionally, and season with salt and pepper. You want the sauce to be fairly reduced, so as to ensure it doesn’t seep off the edges of your pizza base and leave you with the dreaded soggy bottom.

Heat the oven to 220c in preparation for cooking the pizzas, and whilst the sauce cooks, you could watch this Tedx Talk from Laura Bates, the founder of The Everyday Sexism Project. She’s completely brilliant, and watching her talk is a wonderful, mind-improving use of your time (or at least it will be if you are as good at time wasting as I am). This brilliant talk, and the Project itself, are both really important  factors in raising awareness of how both sexism and harassment have become commonplace in the lives of so many women, and some men too. The Project is a place for people to come together and share their experiences, thereby enabling others to realise just how bad things have got, and to work together to change this aspect of many a woman’s life. It’s so important that this side of our culture change, and Laura Bates is doing excellent work to make that happen.

Pizza Toppings

2 mozzarella balls, sliced

50g black olives, pitted and halved

1tbsp capers

1 large red pepper, sliced

1/2 tin of artichoke hearts, quartered

1/2 red onion, chopped

Pizza toppings

Once your dough has doubled in size, tip it out onto the surface and divide it into two equal pieces. Roll out the two pieces into squares, about 2-4mm thick. Take out a tray from your oven, and carefully manoeuvre the dough onto the tray.  Spread half the tomato sauce evenly across the pizza base, before adding your toppings of choice. I’ve gone for artichoke hearts, black olives, capers, red pepper, red onion and mozzarella. Also delicious are mushrooms, jalapeños, ricotta, and anchovies – but really the toppings are entirely up to you, and are the most fun, inventive part of it. Your pizza is now ready to be cooked, so slide it into the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the crusts are golden brown, and the mozzarella is bubbling away. Drizzle with olive oil, chilli oil or sriracha and tuck in! Happy munching!

Perfectly cooked toppings!