Aubergine, Chickpea & Spinach Curry

Aubergine, Chickpea & Spinach Curry

This is a delicious, simple and easy recipe, perfect for a quick weekday meal when you want to put together something tasty and healthy. The flavours are subtle but work really well together, especially with the nuttiness of the chickpeas, and the richness of the aubergine. I served this with a crispy paratha on the side to mop up the leftover juices, but it would work equally well with some rice. And if you’re trying to be healthy, or just want a lighter meal, then the curry is just as good on it’s own.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1kg fresh spinach

4tbsp sunflower/vegetable oil

1 large red onion

400g tinned chickpeas

2 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

1tbsp coriander seeds, ground

1tbsp cumin seeds

1 large aubergine

400g tin chopped tomatoes

Salt and pepper to season

Put a pan of salted water onto boil, and once boiling, add the fresh spinach and cook for two minutes. Once cooked, drain away the boiling water and pour cold water over the spinach. Drain the cold water then squeeze the spinach gently to remove as much water as possible from it. Chop finely and put to one side.

Next, finely chop the garlic, chilli and onion. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan, and once hot, add the onion, chilli and garlic. Following this, add the cumin and coriander seeds and the chickpeas, and leave to fry for 3-4 minutes. Once the onion is softened and transparent, add the aubergine and mix well. Leave this to fry for a further 5 minutes, until the aubergine is slightly softened and has taken on some colour. Finally, add the tomatoes, spinach and a pinch of salt and pepper, then bring to a simmer, cover with a lid and leave to cook for approximately 15 minutes.

Whilst the curry cooks, you could have a look at the wonderful No More Page 3 campaign. This campaign, set up by the brilliant Lucy Ann-Holmes, is trying to get the Sun Newspaper (a particularly unpleasant British tabloid for those of you readers fortunate enough not to be from this tiny island) to remove the topless pictures of women that feature on page 3. This campaign has gathered huge momentum, and gained support from Girl Guides, Mumsnet and several of the big teachers’ unions in the UK. Page 3 is a demeaning, and misogynistic feature of the newspaper, that objectifies women and teaches young boys and girls to see women as sexual objects rather than equal human beings. Moreover, boobs aren’t news! The campaign has a petition, with 135,748 signatures at the time of writing, and could really do with more. If you agree with the campaign (and you don’t have to be from the UK to do so) please sign the petition. Banning Page 3 is such an important step in fighting for gender equality in this country.

By now, your curry should be cooked and ready to eat. Serve it with your chosen side, and tuck in. Bon appetit!

Black Olive Tapenade with Crostini

Black olive tapenade with crostini

This is more of a snack than a meal, but I made it the other day as a starter and loved it, so thought I’d just do a quick post about it so that all you lovely readers can make it too should you wish to do so. It can be served as a starter or nibbles at a dinner party, or simply as an afternoon snack when you are feeling peckish and want something other than your usual biscuit!

I know olive tapenade is very easy to get hold of in the supermarket, but the cheap stuff isn’t that nice, and it’s much nicer, and still very easy, to make it yourself. That way, you can choose the type of olive you want, and can decide how much lemon and anchovy you want to put in, as well as the texture of the tapenade. I don’t like mine to be too smooth, and making it at home means I can achieve a slightly coarser texture which I think makes it more interesting.

This is delicious served with crusty white bread, which you can either thinly slice and warm in the oven, so that you get homemade crostini, or just have as it is. If you don’t want to have it bread, tapenade is also delicious on little biscuits or crackers, take your pick!

Ingredients (makes enough for 4)

1 crusty, white baguette or baton

2 garlic cloves

5 anchovy fillets

3tbsp capers

Juice of 1 lemon

250g black pitted olives

3-4 tbsp virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to season

Heat the grill in the oven to 180c. Finely slice the bread into thin rounds (about 1-2 cm thick). Lay the slices out flat in a large baking tray, and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and a dusting of salt. Once the oven is hot, place these under the grill and leave for 3-5 minutes. They should become hard and crispy, but shouldn’t take on any colour.

Meanwhile, finely chop the anchovy fillets and garlic cloves. Place in a blender, then add the lemon juice and the capers. Blend until combined and smooth. Add the olives and olive oil and blend once more. How long you blend it for this time around depends on the texture you want to achieve. Finally, taste and season with salt and pepper.

Once the bread is ready, take it out of the oven and spread each piece with the tapenade, and you are ready to tuck in!

One more thing – I am aware I haven’t followed my normal rule of giving you something to do whilst the food cooks, but this is such a speedy recipe that really there was no need to, so you can just concentrate on eating and enjoying it!

Roasted Vegetables with Harissa Couscous and Halloumi

The finished article!

This meal is such a treat, as it is the most fantastic and delicious combination of (many) flavours. There are hints of Spanish, Italian, North African and Greek food thrown in here, which is a giveaway sign that I made the recipe up as they are four cuisines of which I am rather fond, and which work together very well. And besides, the more the better.

This is another meal where you can vary it to suit your own tastes, particularly with the vegetables that you choose to roast. On this occasion, I roasted peppers and courgettes, but equally tasty are aubergines and cherry tomatoes. This is quite a bitty meal to make, as there are lots of different elements, but if you get your timing and planning right then it shouldn’t take too long, and won’t create horrendous amounts of washing up!

Ingredients (serves 2)

Vegetable/sunflower oil

1 large red pepper

1 large courgette

4 cloves garlic

Sweet paprika

175g couscous

125g halloumi

1 tin chickpeas

Handful of dried apricots

Handful of fresh coriander

1tsp dijon mustard

2tsp white wine vinegar

5 tbsp virgin olive oil

1 tbsp harissa paste (or more if you can take the heat!)

Salt and pepper to season

Heat the oven to 190c. Chop the pepper and courgette into small chunks, and place in a roasting tray. Squash the cloves of garlic with the flat of a knife blade, and then put these in too. Drizzle over some sunflower or vegetable oil, dust with sweet paprika, salt and pepper and put in the oven for 30 minutes.

Whilst the vegetables cook, finely chop the apricots and the coriander. Leaving aside a small handful of the coriander, place the rest, and the apricots, in a large serving dish or bowl. Drain the chickpeas and add these to the bowl too.

Next, make your dressing. Put the vinegar and the mustard in a jam jar (or mug or bowl) and mix together until combined. (My preference for a jam jar stems from the fact that once all the ingredients are in, you can screw the lid on and give the dressing a really good shake, which is the best way to properly combine all the ingredients, and leads to a lovely, thick dressing.) Add the olive oil, and a dash of salt and pepper and stir thoroughly. Taste to make sure it is not too vinegar-y (I for one like a very sharp dressing but I know that some don’t!), and then stir through the harissa paste. Again, if you can handle the heat, add some more harissa, or leave it as it is if you prefer a more mild dressing.

Weigh out the couscous into a heatproof bowl, and boil the kettle. Once boiled, add 300ml of water to the bowl of couscous, and cover with a tea-towel. Leave the couscous for a couple of minutes, then stir through with a fork to make sure you break up any lumps that have formed. Once all the water is absorbed, and the couscous is soft, add it to the serving dish, with the chickpeas, coriander and apricots.

Last job! Slice the halloumi to about 1cm thick, and heat up a frying pan. Once hot, place the slices of halloumi in the pan and leave to cook for 2-3 minutes. Give them a gentle prod every so often to ensure they don’t stick to your pan. Once pale brown and speckled, flip the slices over and repeat the process. Once it’s cooked, put the halloumi to one side.

By now your veggies should be almost done, but in case you have a few minutes to spare, have a look at this amazing earth wind map. Now before you presume that I am a weather geek (which I suppose I somewhat am) click on the link. It is a fascinating, real-time animated map of wind conditions all around the globe. Given how insanely windy it is right now in England, it makes for a pretty interesting picture. And even if you don’t care about the weather, or are jammy and sunning yourself on a beach somewhere/going helter skelter down a mountain, it is also just a very peaceful and beautiful graphic to look at and explore.

Once your veg is roasted, take it out of the oven and put it in the serving dish with all your other components. Pour the dressing over the top and mix everything together. Scatter the remaining chopped coriander over the couscous, and place the halloumi slices on top, and then you’re ready to tuck in. Happy eating!

Halloumi on top of the couscous!

Mozzarella & Mixed Vegetable Puff Pastry Tart

Mozzarella & Mixed Vegetable Puff Pastry Tart

Now, I know the puff pastry tart is a fairly standard vegetarian option in most restaurants, and that a lot of vegetarians are probably quite sick of it, but, being new to the vegetarian scene, I haven’t yet reached that point and still think that this is a delicious meal, and an incredibly versatile one, which is part of the reason I love it so much, the other reason being how quick and easy this is – and therefore how perfect it is for a weeknight dinner when you’re short for time.

In this recipe, I have used pepper, courgette, red onion and mozzarella, but there are countless variations of this, using feta, ricotta, spinach, olives, capers and the rest, so if you don’t like one of my ingredients you can simply substitute in something else and try all manner of combinations!

I haven’t made my own pastry here, as doing so isn’t always feasible midweek when you’re writing a dissertation and a billion other essays, so I bought ready-rolled puff pastry from the supermarket, but if you have more time on your hands then I would recommend making your own as homemade is always best, let’s be honest.

I picked these ingredients fairly at random, but they worked a treat together, as the creamy mozzarella complemented the tart pepper and onion perfectly, and the softness of the vegetables was a lovely contrast to the crisp, flakey pastry. I served this tart with a green salad, but it would go equally well with spring greens, or sweet potato chips if you are feeling particularly ravenous.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 medium courgettes

2 red peppers

1 large red onion

A few sprigs of thyme

375g ready rolled puff pastry, defrosted

6 cloves of garlic

2 large mozzarella balls

Vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to season

Heat the oven to 180c. Finely slice the peppers, courgettes and red onion. Pour 1 1/2 tbsp of vegetable into a frying pan, and once hot, add the onion. Fry the onion for a couple of minutes, or until soft and transparent, then add the peppers and courgettes. Take the thyme leaves off their stalks and stir through the vegetables. Fry for a further 5 minutes on a low heat, until the vegetables are soft. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper.

Lightly grease a large baking tray with vegetable oil, then unroll the puff pastry along the bottom of the tray. Don’t worry if it doesn’t all fit, as you can trim off any edges that are overflowing! Scatter the fried vegetables evenly over the pastry, leaving a 2cm border around the entire thing – this will allow the pastry to puff up and form a delicious crust around the edge. Take the garlic cloves and squash them with the flat edge of a knife. Scatter the cloves over the vegetables, and then place the tray in the oven. If you’re not as much of a garlic fiend as me, you can finely chop the garlic and stir it through the vegetables. However, this is my preferred way of cooking it as you get a gooey, roasted whole clove to dig into once you eat! Leave the tart in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the crust is puffed and browning.

Vegetables ready to go into the oven

Whilst the tart is cooking, thinly slice the mozzarella balls, and once the tart has been in for 10 minutes, remove it from the oven and scatter the mozzarella across the surface of the tart. Put the tart back in the oven for a further 10-15 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown and the mozzarella is bubbling and sizzling away, having spread across the vegetables.

Mozzarella added to the top for the final cook

Whilst the tart finishes cooking, meander through the wonderful world of Bookshelf Porn. Similar to Cabin Porn, this lovely website features an ever-expanding collection of photos of beautiful, innovative, quirky and creative bookshelves and book arrangements. It’s a brilliant place to feed your imagination, and to get ideas for that library you’ve always planned to build but never quite got round to it – maybe you could just make a spectacular bookshelf instead? Bookshelf Porn always reminds me of just what amazing things books are, and how clever and creative people can be in creating bookshelves, libraries and shops to exhibit that fact!

Once your tart is cooked, serve it with your chosen side dish, and happy eating!

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!