Recipes

Lovely friend, Louise, gave me this recipe, and it’s as reliably delicious as all her vegetarian suggestions.  Not sure where she found it, but it’s a winner for Christmas – or any festive occasion for that matter.
Be prepared for lots of ingredients so it’s not the quickest of recipes, but it’s fun to make, and the result is sooo worth it!
Allow time and put on some good background music.

Serves about 8.  Use a 18cm/7” spring form cake tin

Ingredients:

The Filling:
Olive oil for a gentle fry
3 large, or 5 small leeks, finely sliced
Leaves from 4 rosemary sprigs, chopped
leaves from 4 thyme sprigs, chopped
4 garlic cloves, squeezed or finely chopped
250g/9oz chestnut or Portobello mushrooms, chopped
8 sage leaves, torn
¼ tsp dried chilli (optional)
600g/1lb5oz raw pecans, cashews and almonds/hazelnuts
150g/5.5oz Gruyere cheese, grated
3 organic or free-range eggs
150g/5.5oz dried cranberries
125g/4.5oz frozen cranberries

The Pastry:
100ml/3.5floz water
80g/2.75oz butter
125g/4.5oz plain flour
150g/5.5oz wholemeal flour
1 organic/free-range egg, plus another egg for glazing

The Gravy:
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp yeast flakes
1 tbsp plain flour
some chopped rosemary
500ml/18fl oz vegetable stock
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

 Method:

Filling:
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and grease your 18cm spring form cake tin.
Heat the oil and gently fry the leeks, rosemary and thyme until the leeks are softened, stirring occasionally; about 10-15 minutes.
Add the garlic, then the mushrooms and sage.  Stir until the mushrooms are well coated and also softened.
Transfer to a large bowl and set aside, reserving 2 tbsp of this mixture to go into your gravy.
Roast the nuts for about 10-15 minutes until coloured,  but watch so they don’t burn.  Blitz them to a coarse powder in the food processor, then add these to your leek mix.
Mix in the grated gruyere cheese, then sea salt and pepper to taste.  Add the eggs and combine well.

 Pastry:
Such an easy pastry, and delicious!
Heat the water and butter in a small pan over ‘medium’ until the mixture just begins to boil.
Mix the flours, salt and egg in a bowl then add the melted butter/water and mix together very quickly until combined.  The mixture should be moist but not so it won’t leave your hands (so add a little extra flour if this is the case, but keep it moist).
Shape the dough into a ball and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Tear off about 1/5 of the pastry and set aside (I found this instruction a bit awkward; you need enough to be rolled into a ‘lid’ for your pie so you may want to do what I did and quickly do a rough start to rolling, to get a rough idea if it’ll be enough).

Knead the remaining pastry briefly and roll out onto a floured work surface until it’s a large enough circle to line your cake tin and sides.  Trim so it has about a 1 cm border as you will ‘pinch’ this with the ‘lid’ that you add later on.  Don’t fret if the pastry splits, just squeeze it back as it’s very forgiving.

Spoon half the filling into the tin, pressing down tightly, then tip over the dried cranberries and press down a little. Finish with the rest of the filling, pressing down well.

Roll the reserved pastry into your lid circle, again so it has a 1 cm border.  Place it over the top and crimp the lid onto the pie to seal, trimming any excess.

Cut a slit in the middle to let out any steam, glaze with the beaten egg and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until the pie is golden-brown.

Remove the pie from the oven, glaze the top again and top with the frozen cranberries (try to keep the cranberries in a neat bundle in the centre of the pie – you can see that mine didn’t ‘stick’ to the egg glaze, and they marbled around the top – still delicious!)

 Gravy:
Melt the butter and add those 2 tbsp of mushroom and leek that you put aside in the beginning.  Add the tomato puree and stir on a low heat until it changes colour to a deeper brown.

Make a paste with the flour and some water then add it, the yeast flakes and rosemary to the pan, gradually adding the stock.  Bring to the boil, then season with salt and pepper.

Simmer for about 10 minutes until it thickens, then either serve as is, or strain it for a smoother gravy.

I made this dish last week for the Leaf (Leukaemia) charity lunch, and was asked for the recipe – so here it is, ladies.  Tasty, and it also happens to be one of the easiest dishes to make (hooray!  More of those please everyone).

I think it began life as a Delia recipe, but it’s now well and truly Appleaday’s, because every time I make it I add something new to the mix.  Perhaps this last attempt was my best…I blitzed mixed nuts instead of the usual flaked almonds, plus added mixed winter berries since the blackberries alone just didn’t give enough colour 🙂

Warning: I was in a lotsa-fresh-ginger mood that morning.

Serves 6-8

3 cooking apples, (Bramleys but others work too), cut into chunks
3 pears (I used Conference pears), cut into chunks
10 stoned soft prunes
10 halved dried figs, soaked overnight
10 dried apricots, soaked overnight
250 g fresh or frozen mixed berries
Juice from 1 orange
200 ml pure apple juice
4 cm finely grated ginger – or less if you’re not a big fan
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
½ tsp cardamon
200g mixed nuts, crushed or briefly blitzed OR flaked almonds
zest of a lime… or two
Optional, plain yoghurt (or a non-dairy like coconut yoghurt).  I had the Collective’s delicious plain Straight Up yoghurt (current favourite) as well as Rachel’s Greek yoghurt with shredded coconut – because I had them in stock!) 

Method:

Use organic fresh fruit where possible; peel the skins if not.  Try to find sulphite-free dried apricots as this preservative (spec. sulphur dioxide) can cause allergic reactions if you’re sensitive to it.

Soak the dried fruit overnight to soften and discard the water (however, if you’ve forgotten to soak, this recipe also works with the firmer dried fruit – a matter of taste).
Give the unsalted mixed nuts a quick blitz in the blender, or a bash with your rolling pin, so they are smaller, but still a little chunky, however, definitely not ground.

Place all the fruit in a large casserole dish.  Add the spices and zest to the two juices and pour over the fruit.  Cover with a lid or foil (ensure the foil isn’t touching the food).  That’s more or less it!
Bake for one hour in a medium hot oven, about 160 degrees, then remove the lid/foil, scatter the unsalted mixed nuts or the flaked almonds on top.  Place under the grill for 5 minutes until the nuts start to colour.  Keep a watchful eye and on no account leave the room.  Nuts love to test your mettle and can blacken in a split second.

Serve as is, or with a dollop of your favourite yoghurt.  And leftovers can go on your morning oats, muesli, or be a dessert for another night.

This is a creamy, hearty soup – with no cream!  The blend of celeriac, apple and butter beans gives you protein, fibre and a deliciously smooth all-in-one meal.

Serves 4

1 celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped
1 leek, washed and finely sliced
3 cooking apples – we used our home-grown no-name apples however Cox would be delicious
1 tbsp thyme leaves (plus a little more for decoration)
1x400g tin of organic butter beans, drained and rinsed
1.5l vegetable stock
olive oil for a gentle fry
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 tbsp roasted slivered almonds

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the leek over a medium heat until softened.  Add the chunks of celeriac, apples as well as the butter beans, thyme and the stock.  Stir then simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes (the celeriac should be tender).  You can either blend until it’s completely smooth or leave a few small chunks for added interest.  A quick and easy meal.

Serve and sprinkle with the roasted almonds, and add a little more thyme for decoration.

I’ve been on a foodie (and scenic!) magic trip recently, and came upon this fabulous salad in the SW of the island, namely in Ortigia, the old part of Syracuse.  I fell in love with this beautiful spot, and also in the restaurant, Porta Marina in Via dei Candelai.  We went there twice in three nights…says it all!

Here’s a version of their Sicilian salad: fennel, orange, olives and so much more….

Serves 2:

1 fennel bulb
1 orange
12 small black olives, pitted (we found the slightly shriveled ones the tastiest)
a generous handful of rocket
2 tbsp capers, well rinsed  – if they are small capers you may want to add some more
about 10 large raspberries; keep 3 for decoration
optional: anchovies; the original had them, but for vegetarian purposes, I left them out

Dressing: virgin olive oil, some lemon juice, the above mentioned raspberries and juice of half the orange

Method:

Using a mandolin, shave the fennel, saving the fronds for decoration.  If you don’t have a mandolin then try to slice it as finely as possible – makes all the difference.
Halve the orange.  One half will be juiced for the dressing.  Peel the other half, ensuring you don’t have any pith.  Cut this half into slices, then into small quarters.
Halve the black olives, removing the stones.
Rinse the capers well as they can be just too salty for this dish (although a bit of salt with the sweetness of the berries and orange is great.  Hence if you love anchovies, chopping a few into the dish would be tasty).

For the dressing simply mash the 7 large raspberries, adding the orange juice and olive oil to make it more liquid.  Be careful with adding salt, but freshly ground pepper is delicious.  Some lemon juice will add more interest, and you may want to add a dash of water if it’s too thick.

Carefully mix all the ingredients together with the rocket leaves, and add the dressing.  Dot the remaining halved raspberries on top.
Buon appetito!

This creation came about when I was trying to think of a new recipe for our vegetarian son’s birthday.  I wanted to include his favourite tastes: chili, goat’s cheese, fried onions and roasted butternut.  I also wanted it to be special, a little showy!  Hence it became a two recipe meal: the portabello mushrooms with tomato/basil/garlic topping,  and the butternut slices with red quinoa, onions and goat’s cheese.
(The photo only shows one mushroom instead of two, apologies!  I forgot to take a photo in time 🙁

Serves 4

150g red quinoa
8 portabella mushrooms
4 small red onions, finely sliced
1 tsp red chilli, finely chopped – or dried chilli
1 garlic clove, pressed
long neck of a butternut squash (the rest can be tomorrow’s veg)
250g tomatoes, finely chopped
fresh basil, about 8 leaves
150g goat’s cheese,  grated or crumbled
200g mixed leaves – watercress, rocket, any other fresh salad greens
coconut oil for cooking
Marigold broth powder or broth cube
sea salt, freshly ground pepper to taste

Method:

Cut the neck of the butternut into 4 even slices.  Place in a moderately hot oven – 150 degrees (300 F or gas mark 2) – and drizzle with oil.  Roast until your tester fork says it’s cooked.  This will naturally depend on the length of your butternut neck and therefore the thickness of your slices, but 40 minutes normally does it for mine.  Don’t forget to turn halfway through.

Note: Charred edges are tasty and some recipes require caramelising but do keep to a minimum.  Burning your food forms HCAs and PAHS – heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are potentially carcinogenic.

The 8 mushrooms can go in the same oven.  Brush to clean them, then drizzle with a little oil and add freshly ground pepper.  Take them out of the oven after about 15 minutes (approx the same time you finish cooking the quinoa) otherwise they may be too floppy and not hold your tomato mix.

Place the finely sliced onions in a pan on the stove with 1 tbsp coconut oil and gently fry until soft.  I leave it on a low heat for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse the red quinoa thoroughly, then place in a pot and cover well with water (about 1.5 inches).  Boil for approx 10 minutes until the white tails appear.  Al dente is what you want.  At this point stir in 1 tbsp Marigold broth powder for taste and turn off the stove.  Leave for a couple of minutes before removing excess water and placing it in a bowl.  Add the cooked onions and put aside – covered, so it stays a little warm – until the butternut is ready.  This quinoa mix will be the topping for the butternut slices.

Whilst the quinoa is cooking, the butternut and mushrooms roasting, you can chop the tomatoes and basil.  Place them in a second bowl.  Add chilli, garlic, sea salt and pepper.  This mixture will be the topping or filling for your mushrooms.

Putting it all together:

On a bed of your mixed greens, place two mushrooms and fill them with the tomato-basil-chilli-garlic mixture.  I drizzled some of the delicious juice on the greens.

Meanwhile place a round of the hot cooked butternut slice on your plate and top with a generous spoonful – and more – of the quinoa/onion mix.  Crumble goat’s cheese on top.

And that’s it, your rainbow plate of delicious food.

There are loads of variations on this meal, just replace and add, eg. puy lentils or chick peas instead of the quinoa.   Try to keep the separate flavours.  Often,  vegetarian dishes can become vegetable stews or just one big mixed lump of food which doesn’t do justice to the unique flavours and colours.

This must be one of the easiest desserts I’ve ever made – and it’s delicious.  The only thing you have to remember is to soak the chia and dates at least an hour before you make the dish (don’t soak them together!) 

The chia gives it ‘body’  and the frozen blueberries make it like a soft ice cream – cold and refreshing.  Add the other berries fresh, once you’ve blended, to add even more great anti oxidant support.

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This is one of those quick and delicious recipes which looks impressive with not a lot of work. It’s a short-cut of a recent new recipe I tried that had kale pesto glueing it all together.  In my opinion it was too gluggy, and not worth all the pesto work.  Instead I’ve relied on spicing up the lentils – you could add chopped coriander or basil for more taste if you like.  It’s one of those dishes that can become Thai or Indian or Italian, depending on the spices and herbs you like to use.

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I’ve been trying out a few gluten-free options for pizzas this week, changing the recipes I’ve found to suit our taste-buds, and then doing a taste-test with the family and some friends. This quinoa one is delicious and quick to prepare.
Next week I’ll post a buckwheat/almond version!

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This breakfast granola is all about avoiding grains.  I could’ve called it a ‘Paleo muesli’ or ‘Anna’s granola in Mon major’ or ‘Gluten-free granola’ or a ‘Nutty breakfast’… and all would be correct.

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