SUPER GRANOLA

Called 'super' because there are no 'chemical' additives or health-guru bugbears. I've been making this for ages, but decided to blog it now because of the sudden urging to be wary of breakfast cereals as some are quite highly processed. Also, the recipe requires no special skills other than weighing, chopping and stirring, and it's vegetarian and vegan.

The quantity here makes around 1kg of granola. It's quite rich, so a portion might be around 80g, which would provide very roughly 400 calories and should be sustaining as it has plenty of porridge oats beloved of dietitians. Unusually for me, this recipe has fourteen ingredients - eat your heart out, Yotam - but there are a number of options for omission or changes, mentioned at the end.

As the cooking time is quite short, the whole process takes about an hour plus cooling time. The oven will need to be at 130C. I have suggested the point at which to switch it on - pointless to have it up to temperature before you need it!

Just add milk!

Super Granola
Ingredients
80g dried soft apricots (about 13), roughly chopped or snipped with scissors
70g dried cranberries, snipped if large
80g sultanas
30g desiccated coconut

80g walnut halves or pieces
50g brazil nuts
40g whole almonds

30g pumpkin seeds
30g sesame seeds
370g porridge oats

5tbsp good oil, e.g. olive
4 tbsp maple syrup
5 tbsp golden syrup

65g pitted dates (about 12)

Method
1  Soak the first four ingredients in a little water to soften, and set aside.
2  Get out a large baking tin (mine is 24x32cm), and cut baking parchment that will cover 
          the base and sides. Transfer the parchment to a chopping board.
3  Place the 3 kinds of nuts on the parchment and chop to pieces no larger than peas. 
          A mini-chopper is the best way unless you have a grinder that can pulse (to avoid 
          over-chopping). Lift the parchment and pour the nuts into a large mixing bowl.
          This is a good time to switch the oven on, set to130C.
4  Add the pumpkin and sesame seeds and the oats to the bowl. Mix and make a well
          in the centre.
5  Add the oil and both syrups and mix very thoroughly. Place the parchment in the
          baking tin and pile in the mixture, smoothing over. (No need to wash the bowl yet.)
6  Cook in the oven for 9 mins. Meanwhile, drain the dried fruits and coconut.
7  Remove the granola, stir to break up any lumps, and cook for a further 9 mins.
          Transfer it back into the large bowl and add the drained fruit.
8  Chop the dates coarsely and add, mixing everything thoroughly. Leave to cool, then
          store in an airtight container.

Adjustments
The coconut, pumpkin seeds or dates can be omitted. If you've no maple syrup, then the quantity can be made up with more golden syrup, although maple has a really nice flavour. Proportions of the nuts can be adjusted, but best to end up with the same overall weight of them. As a change from olive oil, any nut or truffle oil could be substituted, although they are more expensive. It's a recipe that can be played with acccording to taste. I love it!

 

Cauli & Sage Risotto with Walnuts using a slow cooker - or not!

This is a dish that can be cooked on the hob, in the oven, or in the slow cooker; here is my slow cooker version, with notes on the other methods at the end. The recipe was inspired by an oven-bake version from Sainsbury's Magazine March 2017.

The resulting quantity would serve 4, and this method needs about 1h 40m from start to serving. The cooker comes on right at the start (I keep it on high setting throughout for this), and the cauliflower and following ingredients can be prepared while the onion etc is cooking.

Cauliflower and Sage Risotto with Walnuts

This is about half the complete recipe

Ingredients
30g butter
1 large onion, peeled and chopped fairly finely
3 good garlic cloves, peeled and crushed or pressed
150g risotto rice
450ml hot vegetarian stock
1 medium cauliflower, florets only, cut to ping-pong-ball size
leaves from 1 large stem of sage, finely snipped (8-10g)
50g walnut pieces, coarsely chopped
60g crumbled vegetarian cheese (I use 40g hard/Cheddar, 20g blue)

Method
1  Start the slow cooker on high, adding half of the butter and leave to melt while
          preparing the onion and garlic.

2  Add the onion, garlic and rice to the cooker, stir well, then leave for 5 mins.

3  Pour in about 400ml of the stock, keeping the rest in case needed later.
          Stir then leave for 45 mins. If the mixture starts to look claggy, stir in
          more stock bit by bit.

4  Meanwhile, prepare the cauliflower, sage, walnuts and cheese. Bring water to
          boil in a large pan then simmer the cauli florets for 5 mins. Drain the
          water from the pan, add the remaining butter and sautee the cauli very
          gently for another 5 mins. (I prefer this to adding it early on to the cooker
          as it gives better control of consistency.)

5  Optional - dry fry the walnut pieces for 3-4 mins. (Put in small dry pan over 
          medium heat and stir often, avoiding burning.)

6  After the 45 mins, add in the cauliflower, sage and walnut pieces, mix well
          and cook for 15 mins.

7  Then stir in the cheese and leave to cook for a further 10 mins.

     *                    *                    *                    *                    *                    *

To bake this in the oven, I'd suggest 160C. 
(a)  Sautee the onion and garlic in a pan.
(b)  Mix in the rice and stir for a minute or two.
(c)  Add the stock.
(d)  Pile into a large oven dish (leaving enough space for the cauliflower.) 
(e)  After about 30 mins add the cauli, sage, walnuts and cheese, mixing well.
(f)  Bake for a further 20 mins.
For more excitement, top with some grated cheddar for the last 10 mins!

For cooking on the hob, use a large pan. Follow (a) to (c) then (e), adding a little extra stock if needed as it cooks. Stir from time to time. Cook for a further 15-20 mins until you like the consistency.

No side dishes are necessary here, although some warm, crusty garlic bread would be great if that's not too much carb. Otherwise a side salad.

Substitutions
Broccoli, broad beans, peas all go well in this risotto. Instead of walnuts: hazelnuts, brazils or pecans would be good; almonds might stay rather too hard. Thyme leaves instead of sage? This recipe should be called 'Anything with Anything Risotto'.

Walnut, Three-Cheese and Apricot Strudel

Pretty pleased with this one: a savoury version of strudel that is easy to make and lovely with it. Though I say so myself!

The quantities given will serve four with large appetites or otherwise six as a hot main, or would make eight to twelve nice slices served cold - it's easier to slice more thinly then. The whole process from start to serving takes me about 70mins, including 35m cooking time. The ingredients can be prepared in advance, making the method itself very quick. The oven needs to be at 190C fan oven (200C otherwise) before the dish goes in. 

A large baking sheet is needed, lined with baking parchment, and a medium bowl.

Walnut, Three-Cheese and Apricot Strudel
Ingredients
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed in the fridge for a few hours
90g walnut pieces (or halves), chopped fairly small
70g soft goats' cheese
50g blue cheese, crumbled
40g cheddar, coarsely grated
70g dried apricots (about 10), soaked for an hour, then drained well & coarsely chopped
3 tbsp snipped fresh herbs (basil, thyme leaves, sage, coriander all OK) 
2 tbsp milk

Method
1  Unroll the pastry on its covering paper, then roll out a little to thin it slightly. It will be 
       the right shape (rectangular).

2  Put all the other ingredients except milk into a bowl and mix them very well.

3  Spread the mixture evenly over the pastry, leaving a 2cm space at each short end 
       and the farther long side. Dampen all these edge spaces with water.

4  Starting with a short end, roll the pastry up quite firmly, pressing down at the end, then
       place the strudel on the lined baking tray and brush with milk. Use a sharp knife to
       make slashes straight across the top: for 4 people, slash the middle, then three
       evenly-spaced slashes each side of the middle (for 8 slices) or for 6 people, up to 
       5 slashes each side of the middle (for 12 slices). Brush lightly with the milk.

Half-size version, oven-ready, with Sunday cocktail

 5  Bake towards the top of the oven for around 35 minutes, until well browned. Use a
       very sharp knife to slice the strudel.

And ... carve!

Alternatives
As usual, substitutions are fine. A different nut, or selection of them, will work just as well; pecans or brazils especially, and could include a few pine nuts. Instead of apricots, dried cranberries would work, no chopping required, and a festive feel. I've not tried this with capers, but that might be nice. As long as there's a mix of nuts, cheese and a little fruit, it would be hard to go wrong.

Serving
For info, I like to serve with buttered baby potatoes and a vegetable such as broccoli, cauli or tenderstem in a parsley sauce (lazily made from granules in a drum, just add boiling water or, better still, the boiling water from the veg when they're done). Red or dry white wine both go well; as it's nuts and cheese, quite strong flavours, I'd choose red. A dry cider would match, too, or apple juice.

Pumpkin, Bean & Potato Gratin

There must be loads of scooped-up pumpkin flesh languishing in fridges after the jack-o-lanterns are done, so here's one thing to do with it. The recipe would work equally well with flesh of a butternut squash.

This recipe should serve four as a vegetarian main, and takes just a little over an hour from start to serving, given that the pumpkin flesh is ready to be chopped. The potatoes can be par-boiled in advanced rather than 'during'.

The oven should be at 190C (fan), gas mark 5, shelf at the middle or just above. A large and a medium pan are needed, and a greased ovenproof gratin dish - I chose my dish once the main filling was ready, since it shrinks as it simmers. We didn't feel any side dishes were needed! If cooks want the dish just a little bit spicy, 2 teaspoons of ground cumin can be added at stage 4 - that's my choice.

Doh. Food eaten before I thought about a picture of it.

Pumpkin, Bean and Potato Gratin 

Ingredients 
2 tbsp oil
450g pumpkin flesh, chopped coarsely into cubes
3 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced quite thinly
15g butter
2 medium onions, peeled & quite finely chopped
4 good cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
200g chopped cooked tomatoes
400g tin of haricot beans, drained
220ml double cream
75g grated vegetarian hard cheese or Cheddar 

Method
1  Heat the oil in the large pan, then add the pumpkin and saute gently for about
       15 mins until tender.
2  Put the potatoes in the medium pan, cover with water, bring to boil for 5 mins.
       Then drain and set aside.
3  Add the butter, onions and garlic to the pumpkin, mix well and cook another
       5 mins.
4  Add the chopped tomatoes and haricot beans, mix and season well.  
5  Add the cream, stir and bring to the boil, then pour the mixture into the gratin
       dish and smooth over.
6  Cover with the sliced potato as a layer, then sprinkle the cheese evenly over.
7  Bake for about 35 mins until bubbling nicely. (If the dish is rather full, place a
       baking tray beneath it to catch any liquid spilling over.)

Alternatives
As mentioned, butternut squash flesh would be fine, though it might need a few more minutes to soften in the pan. The potato layer could be omitted, or the cheese omitted and the potatoes brushed with olive oil to crisp them up a little. Tinned butter beans make a good substitute for haricot.

Fresh tomatoes could be used, with a slit in each then plunged into boiling water for 3-4 minutes so that the skins can be removed. (Let them cool a bit first.) Alternatively tinned tomatoes are fine; I like half of a small carton of tomatoes from Sainsbury's.  

Any fresh herbs could be added at stage 4, such as snipped basil or sage. 
  

Candied Walnuts - you can't eat just one ...

Here's one of my favourite sweet nibbles, just right if you've finished the Quality Street, After Eights, liqueur chocolates and so on.

Ready in 20 minutes plus a little cooling time. Pecan nuts would work well too, and maybe macadamia, but probably not harder nuts like brazils or almonds.

Candied Walnuts
Ingredients
20g butter
20g caster sugar
200g walnut halves
pinch of salt

Method

1  Heat the butter and sugar gently in a medium pan, stirring at times, until the

       butter melts and sugar dissolves.

2  Add the nuts and salt and allow to bubble very gently for 12-15 mins, stirring

       often, until the nuts are well coated and starting to caramelise.

3  Tip onto baking parchment, separate the nuts, and leave to cool.

4  Store in a tin. 

Vegetarian Moussaka (that could be vegan)

This recipe is adapted from one by Anna Jones, featured in the Vegetarian Society's recent magazine. Anna has made it vegan - more on this at the end of the recipe* - but this version remains vegetarian and has some short cuts including the all-important sauce. It should take perhaps 1h 20m from start to serving; some ingredients can be prepped while others pre-cook. 

Although this recipe looks quite long, there are no special skills involved - only peeling, slicing, turning and layering, and possibly boiling a kettle for the sauce. The quantities given serve 2 to 3.

A medium-sized griddle pan gives a nice effect for the aubergine and potatoes, but otherwise a frying pan is OK. Also needed is a large roasting tin and a fairly shallow, lightly-oiled oven-proof dish - a round one especially suits the finished moussaka. I used a cast-iron frying pan 4cm deep and diameter about 20cm. Some kitchen paper is useful to blot the tomato slices.

The oven is set at 180C and preps can begin as soon as it's switched on.

Vegetarian Moussaka
Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
250g large tomatoes (3-4)
2 medium red onions
1 small red chilli snipped finely or half tsp chilli flakes/powder
1 lemon, juice and grated zest
salt & pepper
300g small potatoes
1 large aubergine
500ml cheese sauce - ready-made or hot-water packet or granules
2 tbsp snipped fresh parsley

Method
1  Pour the oil into the roasting tin and place in the oven when you switch it on.
       While the oven heats up, slice the tomatoes to 1cm, blot with kitchen paper then 
       halve them. Peel the onions and slice slightly more finely; halve the larger rounds.

2  When the oven is up to temp, tip in the tomatoes and onions. Add the chilli and
       lemon zest, then season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat the ingredients
       well, then roast for 20 mins. Remove from the oven but maintain the temp.
       Meanwhile ...

3  Wash the potatoes and slice to about 1.5cm. Place in a pan with water, bring to the 
       boil and simmer 15 mins, then drain. Meanwhile ...

4  Heat the griddle pan (or frying pan) with a dash of oil. Trim the ends from the
       aubergine then slice to 1.5cm. Cook the slices in batches until browned both sides. 
       Set aside.

5  Griddle or fry the potato slices until browned each side, then arrange in the oven
       dish. 

6  Add the lemon juice to the tomato and onion and mix well, then pile on top of
       the potatoes, spreading evenly. Top with a nice arrangement of the aubergine.

7  Make up the sauce (if not ready-prepped) and pour it over the veg, covering
       all the aubergine. Bake for about 25 mins until bubbling and turning brown.
       Scatter the parsley over the dish just before serving. 

Alternative Ingredients
The main ingredients are basic and don't lend themselves to alternatives, but if the sauce isn't that strong, some crumbled blue cheese or Cheddar could be mixed in. Some thinly sliced mushrooms could be added as a layer between tomatoes and aubergine, and/or two pressed garlic cloves, but otherwise I would keep to the hymn sheet.  

Accompaniments
For wine I prefer red with this. A small side salad would go well, and perhaps some crusty bread if potatoes and bread are acceptable to your diners at the same meal. Or you could go mad and serve a couple of nice browned vegetarian sausages at the edge of the plate.

*Anna Jones's Vegan Version
The sauce is the issue. Anna recommends making a bechamel by melting 1.5 tbsp of coconut oil in a pan, adding same quantity of spelt flour, mixing to make a roux, then adding 150ml unsweetened almond milk gradually, whisking all the time to keep it smooth and continuing until it thickens.




 

A Christmas Tart with Crispy Pastry and Crunchy Feta

Around half of my close family are vegetarian or non-meat eaters, so one of our Christmas gatherings will probably include the usual poultry but definitely one of my vegetarian creations. The 'others' are kind and aware of the roast potato thing (separate, cooked in oil) and the rest of it, so all will be well.

This year, we expect that eight of us will meet up at my brother's for a pre-Christmas lunch, and I've been practising the main course that I'll bring for myself, Mr P, and any of the others who are tempted. It has eight ingredients and needs 25-30 mins baking. 

Best way is to make the pastry case first, to cover the base and sides of the dish, and leave it chilling in the fridge while prepping all other ingredients. If using frozen pastry sheets, leave in the fridge overnight to thaw or at room temp about 3h. Once the case is ready, 20mins should see the ingredients processed and the tart ready for the oven. Quantities can be halved, doubled and so on. If preparing in advance, don't fill the pastry case until it's time to bake the tart, otherwise the base could go soggy.

This quantity nicely fills a shallow 18-20cm diameter dish, and it's best to line the base with a circle of parchment to make sure the pastry won't stick to the dish.

Christmas Tart - serves 4.  
Oven can go on at around the time the mushrooms start to sautee, at 180C.
Here's what mine looked like - any leftover pastry can be made into decorations and just placed on the top:

Ingredients
200g short pastry - home-made or as a frozen ready-rolled sheet, rolled out a little
          more thinly to make it bake to crispy and light
2 tbsp oil
150g interesting mushrooms, e.g. shiitake, oyster (straight whites OK too), trimmed
          and coarsely sliced
6 tbsp cranberry sauce, drained of loose liquid
1 egg
60ml double cream
150g vacuum-packed cooked chestnuts, halved
80g feta, roughly chopped

Method
1  As above, line the base of the oven-proof dish with parchment, set the pastry
          in it and leave to chill.
2  Heat the oil in a medium pan. Add the mushrooms and sautee gently 4-5 mins,
          stirring occasionally, then set aside to cool.
3  Spread the cranberry sauce evenly over the base of the tart.
4  Beat the egg and cream in a small bowl.
5  Scatter the chestnuts, mushrooms and feta evenly over the tart.
6  Pour the egg and cream mixture into the dish, aiming for it to top all of the
          other ingredients and fill any gaps.
7  Bake towards the top of the oven for 25-30mins until nicely browned. Remove
          from the oven and leave for 3 mins or so to finish setting before serving.
          
Serve with ...
... just a side salad for a light meal, otherwise roasted potatoes, boiled and buttered baby potatoes, broccoli or beans. I don't think this needs a sauce, but it could take a parsley sauce quite nicely.


Alternatives
Canned evaporated milk - maybe 100ml - could replace the cream if necessary. For a herby version, perhaps thyme leaves or snipped basil. Blue cheese could replace feta, and tastes great cooked, but here the feta ends up slightly crunchy which is delightful along with the crispy pastry.

What a Whopper! Courgette Longboats - Vegetarian or Vegan

Fritters, soup, stir-fried or baked, and still the courgettes come. When Mr P found one that had escaped his notice and grown to about 22cm, something had to be done with it. The result was a repeat of a recipe I devised for a competition a while ago; requirement was a cheap two-course meal and the prize was a set of kitchen white goods. Those were the days, when really good prizes were plentiful if you made the effort.

Courgettes stuffed with mainly inexpensive ingredients seemed worth a go, so I sliced them longways and scooped out the flesh to make a boat shape. Longboats seems a good title - really important in recipe competitions at that time. For info, the dessert recipe was for a butterscotch meringue mountain, which I still make quite often.

The recipe below serves two, or four for a starter as there are four pieces. It's vegetarian, but would be vegan if the bread is suitable (e.g. Everfresh Sprouted Rye Bread from Holland & Barrett; it's organic and free from dairy, wheat and yeast). Timing is under an hour from start to serving, and the dish is not diet-antagonistic! Quantities are approximate, depending on the size of the veg and how much you scoop out.

Courgette Longboats
Ingredients
1 very large courgette, or 2 medium, halved lengthways, & if large, across also
tsp of oil
1 medium onion, chopped fairly finely
1 large savoy cabbage leaf (or similar), spine removed, chopped
half slice of bread, preferably wholemeal, hand-crumbled or whizzed
juice (and optional grated zest) of half a lemon
3 tbsp cream cheese, pref lower fat
4 skinned, chopped tomatoes or 4 tbsp from a tin, drained of 'loose juice'
2 heaped tbsp walnut pieces
salt & pepper

Ready for the oven

Method
1  Using a teaspoon, hollow out most of the courgette flesh, leaving each piece in
          a boat shape and reserving the flesh.
2  Heat the oil and fry the onion gently 3-4 mins.
3  Add the cabbage (or whatever greens) and fry a further 3 mins.
4  In a small bowl place all the rest of the ingredients, add the onion mixture
          and about a quarter of the removed flesh, finely chopped. Stir well.
5  Judge whether the amount is enough to fill the boats; if not, add a little more 
          onion, cream cheese and/or chopped flesh.
5  Place the boats, hollowed side up, in a greased oven-proof dish and pile the 
          mixture into them, pressing down as you go.
6  Cover the dish with foil and bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 mins
          until the shells are soft when pierced with a knife.

Served up with sauce

Adjustments
To the mixture could be added chopped mushrooms, grated nutmeg, or light herbs such as thyme, sage or parsley. Spinach could replace the cabbage, and other nuts used instead of walnuts. Whatever you fancy!

Accompaniments
Here it's served with cheese sauce - I like Asda's packet sauce which requires only boiling water to make up. It tastes great and isn't high in calories. I also have a drum of non-dairy 'cheese sauce powder' which would go well too. Baby potatoes would be good, or some French beans or sugar snap peas. To drink, maybe apple juice or vegetarian/vegan dry white wine. OK, no contest there.

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Quorn Fillets in Vermouth with Tarragon & Creme Fraiche

Serves 2, takes about 30 minutes (plus thawing if frozen). Easy recipe. From calorie-counting sites, this comes out at about 320 cals per serving, mainly because of the oil and creme fraiche. The latter could be replaced by yogurt for a lower count.

Not everyone likes to eat vegetarian food that looks like meat, and interestingly, Quorn are now calling their fillets 'Chicken Fillets' - it's Vegetarian Society approved though, and I guess they get away with it by making this clear on the front of the pack.

I've been a fan of Quorn for some time, in fact since they changed to free-range eggs in order to get Veg Soc approval for the whole range, and more customers. It's not that they look like meat - and have similar texture - but that they are enjoyable in their own right and, especially, versatile.

When we go to have lunch with rellies where we all have different likes, each of us chooses a meal and brings it to the occasion. I devised this recipe for mine and everyone commented how luscious it looked; I'm sure I had the best deal! But for the reason why there's no pic of the finished dish, see below ...

The quantity serves two, but of course can easily be doubled or - as in my lunch - halved! With this method, the cook needs to be on hand all the time, but if there's a need to leave the kitchen for a while, the recipe could be made up from steps 1 to 5 inclusive, and the food placed in a shallow oven dish and left in a moderate oven (say 150C) to finish cooking  for 15 minutes, with the creme fraiche added just before serving.


Quorn Fillets in Vermouth with Tarragon & Creme Fraiche
Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
4 Quorn fillets
half a leek, trimmed & finely sliced
75g mushrooms (about 6 medium), wiped & stalks trimmed, coarsely sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon (leaves only) or 1 good tsp dried
75 ml white vermouth (preferably dry)
150 ml hot vegetarian stock (e.g. scant tsp bouillon powder)
100ml creme fraiche

Method
1  Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a medium pan, medium heat, then saute the fillets gently
        for 5 mins, turning once during cooking, so that they are lightly browned.
2  Remove the fillets from the pan, add the remaining oil and saute the leeks for
        4-5 minutes, stirring at times, until starting to brown.
3  Add the mushrooms and saute gently for 2 mins, stirring at least once.
4  Return the fillets to the pan with the tarragon & vermouth, and cook 5 more mins.
5  Stir in the stock.
6  Simmer for 5-7 mins more, then stir in the creme fraiche to thicken the sauce
        just before serving. Place two fillets on each plate and spoon the sauce over.

Adapting
A medium onion could be used instead of leek. Dry sherry would work instead of vermouth, or this could be omitted and the volume of stock increased a little. Tarragon is the business here, but otherwise thyme leaves, coriander or parsley could stand in.

Serving
Suggest new or 'baby' potatoes and whole French beans. Rice at a pinch. To accompany, dry white wine, cider or apple juice.

Fessing Up!
When I rustled this up for the rellie meal, I forgot to take its picture, although it looked very appetising. Then, for the same purpose, made it again a few days later; remembered to have the camera at the ready, took the picture - sauce dark and forbidding since I'd forgotten to stir in the creme fraiche (which makes it paler and a better background for the fillets). Could my word do for this? 

Fennel Recipe - How to Make It Less Like Marmite

It's a strange one, fennel. Looks lovely, but tastes of aniseed if eaten raw as in shredded for salad. Not my favourite way. (Don't like anise drinks either, but aniseed balls always desirable.) Cook it in an interesting way, though, and its flavour is far milder and a little like celery in consistency as well as taste. It's not that cheap a veg compared with, say, carrots - I paid 85p for one bulb at the greengrocer's - but cheaper than a large aubergine!

It's the old Marmite analogy - instinctively you either love it or hate it. But this recipe makes it delightful for some, and 'quite nice' for others (e.g. Mr P). I really don't think anyone could dislike the result. (Stand by for contradictions.)

The recipe is a variant of one found in the Cook supplement of the Observer, devised by leftoverliz (http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk). It takes about 30 mins from start to serving, and is prepared on the hob. The quantities make 2 good portions as a substantial side dish.

Fennel with Garlic and Orange Juice

Ingredients  
1 tbsp oil - olive or rapeseed are good
1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed or finely chopped
1 tsp soft brown sugar (optional)
1 bulb of fennel, sliced fairly finely, slices halved (I remove fronds and base)
15g butter
120ml orange juice
Optional 10 pitted green olives, halved

 

Method
1  Heat the oil in a medium pan and gently sautee the onion and garlic with the
         sugar for 5 mins, stirring occasionally.
2  Add the butter and stir to melt.
3  Add the fennel and orange juice, and simmer gently for 20 mins, stirring at times.
4  If using olives, stir them in just before serving.

*               *               *               *               *

Mains that would go with this include vegburgers or sausages, pasties, and pasta. We had a quick dish of cooked penne, cheese sauce (yep, from a packet), grated Lyburn's Old Winchester cheese (like Parmesan), Dijon mustard, chopped walnuts and black pepper. Started at the same time as the fennel, took 20 mins, then into a hot oven for the last 10 mins to heat through so both ready at the same time. Thinking as a main dish, addition of a drained can of chick peas?

Cauliflower, Stilton & Tomato Tart, a pub favourite

While thinking of dropping into a chain pub/restaurant, I checked their menu online, probably like countless other skeptical vegetarians. Only two choices appeared, a simple pasta dish, or - cauliflower, cheese and tomato tart. That'd be good. But then again, it sounded so simple that I decided to make it at home. Cauliflower, cheese, tomato, pastry?

The freezer already contains portions of various tarts, but since I enjoy making them to eat straight from the oven, we forget to forage for them. Accordingly, I make this dish for just two portions, especially as there was half a rolled sheet of puff pastry in the freezer just asking for it. Hence the picture which looks as though the tart is topped with giant tomatoes. 

The quantities here would make four to six helpings. Once the pastry is thawed in the fridge, the tart takes about an hour from start to serving and there are no complicated manoeuvres. The step of brushing the pastry with egg and baking an initial five minutes before filling isn't vital, but it helps to form a barrier to prevent the base from becoming soggy.

Cauliflower, Stilton and Tomato Tart
The oven will need to be at 175C, middle shelf. A baking sheet ready lined with parchment will make sure the pastry doesn't stick while cooking. The pastry should be thawed, preferably overnight or for a few hours in the fridge. If you like pastry to be thin, the sheet can be rolled out to a slightly larger area.

Ingredients
1 sheet of frozen rolled puff pastry
1 medium cauliflower trimmed into small florets (leaves can be saved to use later)
1 tbsp oil
1 large onion (or 2 medium), peeled and coarsely chopped
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100ml double cream
100g Stilton, crumbled (or another blue cheese or Cheddar)
Half tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

Method
1  Unroll the pastry and place centrally on the lined baking sheet. Turn up about 15mm
         all around the edge, pinching the corners to help keep the turn-up in place. Prick
         the base a number of times with a fork to help prevent it rising in the oven.
2  Put the oven on about now!
3  Boil a good amount of water in a large pan. Add the cauliflower and simmer 6-7 mins
         then drain well and leave to cool a little.
4  Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small pan, then saute the onions gently for 5 mins.
5  Brush the pastry case very thinly with a little of the beaten egg; put it in the oven
         for 5 mins to help seal the base, then remove from oven.
6  Add the cream to the eggs and mix well. Stir in the crumbled cheese and the salt &
         pepper.
7  When the tart is out, press the base down gently if it has risen. Spread the onions 
         over the base and arrange the cauliflower florets over them. Pour the egg mixture
         carefully on top, then arrange the tomato slices over the tart.
8  Bake for about 25 mins until the pastry is golden and the filling looks set.

We served this with only a heap of buttered Jersey Royals sprinkled with chopped fresh coriander. And a dry white wine.

A chopped herb of choice could be sprinkled over the tart before cooking, or sliced mushrooms added just before baking. 

An alternative presentation is to make individual tarts, either on a baking sheet using the 'turn-up' way, or using a tray of individual Yorkshire pudding tins. In this case, slightly less filling would be needed. The tart is nice at room temperature, but if there are leftovers, I think they're nicest given about 5 mins in the oven to crisp up the pastry. Shortcrust pastry would be OK and perhaps more traditional, but I'm seduced by the golden flakiness of puff pastry and always have it in the freezer. 

I keep two files of recipe cuttings and scribblings. One has ideas which sound great but are yet to be tried, but the other is the tried-and-tested collection, separated into lots of categores in a really nerdy way, e.g.starters not soup, soup, mains with pastry, mains with pasta, veg sides, biscuits/cakes.This recipe has gone straight into the latter.