Summer Bean Salad

Summer Bean Salad

This recipe makes for a delicious lunch or a light dinner that is perfect for a warm, summery evening (not that we’ve had many of those yet in England). What’s more, it keeps for a few days in the fridge, so you can make lots of it and keep going back for more! It’s also a great one for using up ingredients that you’ve got left in the cupboard and the vegetable draw in your fridge, and can be adapted to suit the flavours and foods you like the most. I prefer to make this salad with a tahini dressing, rather than the usual French dressing, as I think this makes it much more interesting and adds great depth to the overall flavour of the dish. You should be able to buy tahini in your local supermarket, or if you happen to live near the Curry Mile like me, then you will be able to get hold of it very easily indeed!

Salad Ingredients (serves 4)

1 red pepper

1 aubergine

4 cloves garlic

1tsp paprika

1tsp ground cumin

Vegetable/sunflower oil

1 tin flageolet beans

1 tin cannellini beans

1/2 tin artichoke hearts

Handful of cherry tomatoes

4 spring onions

1/4 cucumber

100g feta

Handful of coriander

Handful of mixed seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin etc.)

Dressing Ingredients 

2tbsp tahini

3 tbsp virgin olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 garlic cloves

Pinch of salt and pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 190c. Dice the aubergine and pepper, and place in a large roasting tray. Squash the cloves of garlic with the flat side of a large knife, then add to the tray. Toss everything in vegetable or sunflower oil, and sprinkle with paprika, ground cumin, salt and pepper. Pop in the oven for 30 minutes.

Whilst the veggies cook, rinse and drain the flageolet and cannellini beans, and then add them both to a large bowl. Quarter the artichoke hearts, and halve the cherry tomatoes and then add these to the bowl too. Finely slice the spring onions, cucumber and coriander and chuck these into the same bowl. Finally, place the mixed seeds in a frying pan and dry fry for around 3 minutes, so they are warmed through and lightly toasted. Following this, sprinkle the seeds over the rest of the salad ingredients. Lastly, take the feta and crumble it finely over the ingredients in the bowl.

Next up is the dressing. Before measuring out the tahini, be sure to mix it thoroughly whilst it is still in the jar, as it often separates out. Once you’ve done this, take a jam jar or measuring jug and pour in the tahini and olive oil. Stir these together until combined, then add the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Finally, peel and crush the garlic cloves and stir these through the dressing until all the ingredients are combined. Taste to make sure it is as lemon-y and salty as you want it to be – everyone seems to have a different preference!

By now your veggies should be roasted to perfection, so take them out of the oven and tip them into the bowl with all the other ingredients. Pour over the dressing, and mix everything together. Season with some salt and pepper and then tuck in!

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Chocolate Guinness Cake

And so my degree is finished. 3 years of essay writing and philosophising comes to an end. And I can’t say I’m entirely thrilled at that prospect – I love being a student and I love living in Manchester, and I don’t really want either to ever come to an end. The thought of being in the real world is rather scary and not particularly attractive. So what better way than to drown my graduation sorrows than with an enormous chocolate guinness cake?

This is a well-loved Nigella recipe which I only discovered last year, when I learned that it was my boyfriend’s birthday cake of choice. Whilst it isn’t his birthday just yet, I had a feeling that this cake might help him get through all his revision and exams that he’s currently doing, whilst also providing me with some much needed comfort now that I’ve got to be a grownup.

If you haven’t made this cake before, go into your kitchen and make it this second. It is absolutely delicious – it is rich and dense and moreish and the deepest, darkest colour, without being sickly or sweet. The sponge, made using cocoa and guinness has a slight bitterness to it, whilst the cream cheese icing cuts through the richness of the cake perfectly. On top of that, it is incredibly easy and very satisfying to make – especially once you’ve iced it, and it really does look like a (mini) pint of guinness with the cream, frothy head on top.

Cake Ingredients 

250ml guinness

250g unsalted butter

75g cocoa powder

400g sugar

145ml sour cream

2 eggs

1tbsp vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

Icing Ingredients 

300g full fat cream cheese

150g icing sugar

125ml double cream

Method

Heat the oven to 180c and grease a 23cm springform tin. Pour the guinness into a pan and place on a low heat on the hob. Slice the butter and add this to the pan, stirring every so often as the butter melts. Once the butter is melted, add the cocoa powder and sugar to the pan. Stir the ingredients together – but don’t worry if it’s a bit lumpy, it will be mixed more later.

In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and sour cream until they combine. Then add the chocolate-y guinness mixture to the bowl and beat until combined. Finally, add the flour and bicarb and beat the mixture until there are no lumps left.

Cake mixture ready for the oven

Pour the mixture into the springform tin and then lick the bowl clean! Pop the cake into the oven for 45-60mins. I know this is a somewhat vague cooking time, but depending on your oven the cake will cook at different speeds. However, one thing I have noticed regardless of the oven, is that because of the relatively long cooking time, the top of the catch has a tendency to catch and burn slightly. To avoid this, keep an eye on your cake, and if you think it might be burning on top, make a tin foil hat for it, and place this over the springform tin, covering the whole surface of the cake. This way, the cake will keep cooking, but the top will not burn.

How your bowl should look once your cake goes in the oven!

Check your cake after 45 minutes, by placing a knife in the middle and seeing if there is any batter on the knife when you remove it. It may need an extra 5 minutes or so – but be careful, the joy of this cake is how dense and damp it is, so the last thing you want is to overcook it and dry it out.

Whilst the cake cooks, have a watch of this video of babies trying lemons for the first time. Their reactions to tasting the lemons are hilarious and this video never fails to make me smile – their facial expressions are priceless. It seems apt that such a happiness-inducing recipe should be accompanied by something as funny as this video.

Once cooked, take the cake out of the oven and remove the sides of the springform tin. Leave the cake on the side to cool completely – this will take around 90-120 mins.

Cake fresh from the oven

Whilst the cake is cooling, it is time to make the icing. Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and whisk (either by hand, or using an electric whisk) until the cheese is light and fluffy. Following this, fold in the icing sugar, and then the cream. Whisk once more until the mixture is combined – don’t worry about making it stiff, it should stay nice and creamy. Once the cake is cooled, spread the icing atop the cake, making it look as much like the top of a pint of guinness as you can! Finally, cut yourself a gigantic slice and forget about being a grownup.

Moroccan Tagine & Couscous

 

Moroccan Tagine & Couscous

Once more I must apologise for the Peckish Pescatarian’s silence over the last few weeks. I’m almost finished with my degree and so everything has been pretty hectic and essay-centred. The end is now in sight though, as I’ve begun work on my last ever essay, and finish my degree a week today, which is terrifying! And what better way to counter that terror of being a grownup with some delicious, warming food.

This recipe is adapted from a BBC recipe, as I wanted to select which vegetables made up the basis of the tagine. I opted for carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes but you can really chuck in anything that takes your fancy. The combination of spices and flavours in this recipe make for a really fragrant, delicious meal and an excellent leftover lunch! I served this with couscous, but it would also work with some crusty bread or just on its own if you’re not that ravenous.

This recipe uses a chermoula pasta, which is normally a marinade for fish, but in this dish, provides the basis of the flavour and acts more like a curry paste I guess.

One last thing – this recipe takes quite a while to prepare, but is really easy and so worth the time it takes. Once you’ve made the paste and fried the veg, you can simply pop it in the oven and go about the rest of your day!

Chermoula Ingredients (serves 4)

1 1/1 red onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves

Thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger

65ml lemon juice (normally about 2 lemons, if they’re juicy!)

65ml olive oil

1tbsp honey

tbsp ground cumin

1tbsp paprika

1tbsp turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder

Handful of fresh coriander

Tagine Ingredients (serves 4)

1tbsp olive oil

2 carrots, cut into medium-sized chunks

2 parsnips, cut into medium-sized chunks

2 red onions, roughly chopped

2 leeks roughly chopped

8 dried apricots, roughly chopped

Handful of raisins

1 vegetable stock cube

240g couscous

Handful of fresh coriander to serve

Method

Heat the oven to 200c. Chuck all the chermoula ingredients into a blender and whizz until you have a smooth paste.

Chermoula Paste

 

 

Take a heavy-bottomed pan and pour in 1tbsp olive oil and place it on the hob. Once the oil is hot, put the chopped carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, onions and leeks into the pan and fry on the hob for around 1o minutes, making sure to stir so none of the veg catches.

Veggies!

 

Add the chermoula paste, apricots and raisins to the veggies and pour in 280ml water. Put a lid on the pan and bring to the boil. Once the tagine is boiling, take it off the hob and put it in the oven for 45 minutes, with the lid still on. After 45 minutes, turn the oven down to 180c and cook a further 45 minutes.

Whilst the tagine is cooking, why not have a meander through The Dogist. This is a blog dedicated to documenting dogs, rather than people, that the photographer comes across when he’s out and about in the US. If you’re a dog lover like me, then you’ll love these photos and the assortment of furry friends found within them.

Once the tagine has about 10 minutes left of cooking time, make your couscous. Boil the kettle and make 450ml of stock. Put the couscous in a large bowl, and pour over the stock. Cover with a plate or tea-towel and leave for a few minutes. Check the couscous is cooked (if its not, just pour through a bit more stock). Finally, run a fork through the couscous to make sure it doesn’t all stick together in lumps.

Tagine bubbling away!

By now, your tagine should be ready to devour. Serve it with some couscous and fresh coriander and  بالصحة  (bon appetit in Arabic!)

 

 

Fried Gnocchi with Pistachio Pesto

Fried Gnocchi with Pistachio Pesto

This week I discovered a place near where I live that sells pistachios for very little money. I love pistachios, and bought rather a lot of them upon discovering what a bargain they are at this particular shop. Consequently, there is quite the pistachio theme to the next few recipes I’m going to post here, so I hope you like them as much as I do! However, whilst pistachios feature heavily in the upcoming recipes, they are all very different and delicious meals so I don’t think you will get bored. The pistachios I use in these recipes are of the roasted and salted variety, which I personally think are the only pistachios worth using, at least in savoury food. Although I am more than willing to be proven wrong, especially as this is the first time I’ve ever cooked with them!

This particular recipe is ridiculously easy, quick and delicious, so is perfect when you’re in a hurry and want something filling and tasty. I must admit to not having made my own gnocchi – I have done so before, and whilst it was delicious, it was also insanely time consuming and quite fiddly. On this occasion, therefore, I used shop-bought gnocchi, as while I’d rather spend more time cooking and use homemade ingredients, unfortunately my dissertation must take priority at the moment. That said, if you do decide to make your own gnocchi for this, then you deserve a large pat on the back for the commitment and effort!

As for the pistachio pesto, I personally think it is ingenious. I love pesto, but never make it because pine nuts are so damn expensive. Pistachios, on the other hand, are not! And handily, they work wonders as a substitute for pine nuts, and make the pesto slightly lighter and saltier, which suits me down to a tee. It also occurred to me that this pesto would be really nice, and a bit different, if you popped in a couple of anchovy fillets to the mix – another thing to try!

In this recipe, I’ve just given the amounts to make enough pesto for 2 people but you could easily make much larger quantities and keep it in the fridge, so you’ve got some handy if you need a meal at the last minute! I didn’t serve the gnocchi with anything this time around, but I do think it would go splendidly with a simple rocket salad, so maybe give that a try if you fancy it.

Ingredients (serves 2)

50g butter (salted or unsalted)

500g gnocchi

25g fresh basil, plus a few extra leaves to serve

25g pistachios, shelled

25g parmesan

4tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, peeled

Juice of half a lemon

Salt and pepper to season

Melt the butter in a large frying pan, and once melted, pour in the gnocchi. Give the gnocchi a good stir to ensure that it all gets a good coating of butter – this will help it to crisp up during cooking!

Whilst the gnocchi is cooking, put the shelled pistachios, parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic into a blender and blend until you have a smooth, pesto-like consistency.

Give the gnocchi a stir every so often to ensure it cooks evenly all over. Whilst the gnocchi finishes cooking, you could have a look at these photographs of Maskull Lasserre’s wood carvings.They are quite unlike anything I have ever seen before, and the intricacy and delicacy of the detail is mindblowing, especially when you see the upclose shots of his carvings, and how they fit within the work as a whole. I thought they were real skeletons for a while, so for him to have carved them out of wood is really quite incredible.

Perfectly crisp gnocchi

Once the gnocchi is crisp on the outside, with patches of golden brown, it is cooked! Stir the pesto through the gnocchi, and serve with an extra grating of parmesan, and some fresh basil leaves. Happy eating!

Chocolate and Walnut Brownies

Chocolate & walnut brownies

These brownies are deliciously moreish, and my go-to baked goods. I’ve tried many a brownie, and many a brownie recipe, over the years, but this one belongs to the lovely Nigella, and is far and away my favourite. These are not cake-y brownies (if you can even call cake-y brownies, brownies) and are not for the faint-hearted. These are dense, gooey and rich, with a crisp top and a moist, intense middle. The walnuts provide the perfect crunchy contrast to the soft brownie, and the nuttiness compliments the richness of the chocolate wonderfully. If you can stop yourself eating all of the mixture out of the bowl before it’s cooked, then these brownies are a quick and easy treat to whip up, and will never fail to please anyone who happens to pop one in their mouth.

Ingredients (makes 48 small brownies)

375g unsalted butter

375g good quality dark chocolate (70/80% cocoa)

6 large eggs

1tbsp vanilla extract

500g caster sugar

225g plain flour

1 tsp salt

300g chopped walnuts

Heat the oven to 180c. Line a large baking tray (33 x 23 x 5cm) with greaseproof paper, or foil which you then need to grease with butter or oil. In a large, heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and the chocolate on a low heat. Stir frequently to make sure it doesn’t burn. Once melted, take off the heat and leave to cool.

In a separate, large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla extract and the sugar together. Measure out the flour and salt, then add this to the egg and sugar mixture. Once cooled, add the chocolate and stir until everything is combined thoroughly and there are no lumps of flour of sugar. Finally, add the chopped walnuts and make sure they are evenly distributed throughout the mixture. Pour the mixture into the greased baking tray and pop into the oven for around 30 minutes.

Sometimes, and I don’t know why, these brownies take much longer to cook, so check on them after half an hour, and if they are still ridiculously gooey (yes there is such thing as a brownie being too gooey) then put them back in. If you are worried about the top of the brownies catching, you can lay a sheet of tin foil over the tray so they don’t burn.

Whilst the brownies cook, you could have a look at this man’s beardtastic blog, which is one of my new favourite things. It is a mad and fantastic idea – a man with a more than brilliant beard takes various items and puts them in his beard and photographs the effect, and then sometimes shakes his beard so they all come flying out, and captures this all on camera, in slow motion. It sounds silly and absurd, but don’t mock it till you’ve seen it – it’s hilarious and somewhat genius.

Brownies ready to eat!

Once half an hour is up, or your brownies are cooked, take them out of the oven. Leave them to cool for a bit, and then lift them out of the tray, and onto a cooling rack where you can slice then into (giant) portion sizes and then tuck in. Happy eating!