Vegetarian Cottage Pie

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Oh yum, this little dish was delicious! Looking to be more healthier this year, so I decided on a veggie pie rather than meat. Super delicious and filling too.

 

Serves 3/4

1 onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 tsp tomato purée
3 tsp plain flour, 1 tsp thyme
Vegetable stock pot, made up to 200ml
2 x 400g tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 x 400g tin adzuki beans
1kg Potatoes peeled and halved
75ml milk
25g butter
75g mature Cheddar, grated
1 tbsp English mustard
75ml milk

 

  1. To cook the Soffrito (A soffrito is a flavourful mix of diced onion, carrot and celery gently fried in oil. It forms the basis of many dishes, including soups, stews and sauces. Add chopped garlic or herbs for even more flavour, if you like.)  Heat a little oil in a pan and cook the celery, onion & carrot for a few minutes.                                                                              20200202_123904
  2. Cut a piece of baking paper the same diameter as your pan and lay on top of the veg, cook for a further 10 mins.  ( The circle of baking paper helps to keep the vegetables moist and retain their flavour as they cook. It’s also useful when cooking the base of curries, soups and stews, but you can do without if you don’t have baking paper.)                                                                                  20200202_123913
  3. Add the tomato puree and stir through the add the flour and combine.
  4. Pour in the stock, beans & thyme and bring to the boil then reduce and simmer for about 20-25 minutes.                                                                                  20200202_131045
  5. Transfer to an oven proof dish and allow to cool. Preheat your oven to 170deg fan.
  6. Meanwhile, to make the rarebit mash:- Boil the potatoes until tender and mash.
  7. Stir in 75ml milk & 25g butter
  8. In a separate bowl mix the 75g grated cheese and mustard together. Slowly stir in the 75ml milk, until smooth.                                                                      20200202_131059
  9. Stir in the cheese mixture to your potatoes.
  10. Spoon the mash over the pie mixture evenly. Note: (The bean mixture should have formed a thin skin while cooling. Don’t stir it before adding the mash because this helps keep the layers separate while the pie bakes).
  11. Sprinkle with some thyme and bake for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown. I have a browning setting on my oven and its great for things like this.

 

Carrot, Cumin & Coriander Soup with Bulgur Wheat

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Its definitely soup season, I woke to -5 deg this morning….very cold.   Using up some leftovers in my fridge, mainly carrot and onion I decided to make a warming soup. This was delicious and hit the spot right. I used my steampot, so steaming the vegetables made this even more nutritious and flavorsome.

 

Makes 3 Servings

4 large carrots

1 large onion

500ml Vegetable Stock

60g Bulgur Wheat

1 tsp garlic granules

1 1/2 tsp Cumin

1 1/2 tsp dried coriander

Salt & Pepper to taste

 

  1. Chop up the onion & carrots into chunks and place in the steam pot with 200ml of the vegetable stock and cook on steam setting for 8 minutes.                                  20191118_130805
  2. Remove steam pot lid and add in the rest of the stock then blitz with a hand blender until well blended and smooth.                                                      20191118_132702
  3. Stir in the spices/herbs and bulgur wheat and cook on microwave at 750w for 3 minutes.                                                                                                20191118_133322
  4. Remove and stir. Season and serve.

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20191118_134019 you can of course make a big batch and freezer for later.

 

Filipino Chicken Curry

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I recently purchased the new High Protein Handbook No. 5 from Scott Baptie, and this little recipe was my first one I tried, I have to say it was super tasty and very nutritious too.

 

Serves 2

1 tsp coconut oil

2 Chicken Breasts – chopped into chunks

1 sweet potato – chopped into chunks

1 onion – chopped

1 tsp dried garlic granules

1 tsp ginger

1 red pepper, chopped into chunks

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp fish sauce

200ml coconut milk

1 tsp chilli powder

Salt & pepper to taste

 

  1. Melt the coconut oil in a pan, season the chicken and add to the pan to brown then removed with a slotted spoon.
  2. Add the onion, pepper, sweet potato, garlic and ginger and brown.
  3. Add the chicken back to the pan and add the fish sauce, paprika, curry powder, chilli and coconut milk, reduce to a low simmer and cook covered for about 1-2 hours.
  4. Remove lid, turn heat up slightly and allow to cook uncovered for about 20-30 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
  5. Serve on its own or with some steamed wholemeal rice.

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Crispy Fried Onions

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Crispy fried onions are a great topper for a lot of dishes, I cooked these recently for my black bean taco dish. Just added that little extra crunch.

 

1 white onion

100g flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp smoked paprika

oil for frying.

 

  1. Combine flour, salt and paprika in a bowl.
  2. Slice the onion very thinly.
  3. Heat up a little oil in a fry pan to medium to high heat
  4. Coat the onions slices in the flour mixture, shake of excess and drop into the oil. Cook until browned and crispy.
  5. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

Rumbledethumps

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This is a Scottish Traditional Dish, made up of mainly Potatoes, onion & cabbage. I love this dish it is such a warming comfort food dish but healthy and nutritious.  It was chilly & wet here today, so this was the perfect dish to go with my chicken tonight.

 

Serves 2

250g potatoes – skin on and cut into small chunks

200g Turnip – cut into small chunks

1 white onion – finely sliced

1/2 green cabbage – finely sliced

Salt & Rainbow pepper (or black pepper)

1 egg yolk

40g low fat cheddar cheese

 

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 deg
  2. Place the potatoes and turnip in a large pan salted boiling water and gently boil until slightly softened.
  3. Meanwhile, spray a fry pan with low fat oil and cook the onion & cabbage until softened and slightly browned.                                                                          20190603_175245
  4. Once potatoes etc have softened, drain and add the the cabbage pan, mix and gently mash, not too much as your still want some chunks.                                            20190603_175644
  5. Decant into an oven proof dish and mix with the egg yolk, season with salt & pepper and sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top.                                                    20190603_180019
  6. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Serve. Yummy!  (A little splash of Worcestershire Sauce with this is amazing also)

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Harissa Spice Veggie Tray Bake

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Oh yummy…….I had some left over Harissa Paste and some veggies in the fridge, and yes, you guessed it……Harissa Tray Bake it was.    I have to say this was super tasty and also super healthy…..I even got my boyfriend to eat veggies, which believe me is no mean feat….lol!

Great as a main dish or a side dish. I decided a main dish and served with some of my homemade Chapati’s

 

Serves 2 (main dishes)

1 large sweet potato – cut into small chunks

1 large red onion – cut into wedges

2 Carrots – cut into small chunks

1 x red & 1 x yellow pepper – sliced thickly

1 Cauliflower – cut into small florets

2 Parsnips – cut into small chunks

4-5 asparagus

1 x 400g tin chickpeas

1 x 200g tin tomatoes

2 large heaped tbsps of Rose Harissa Paste

1 tbsp oil

Coriander

Salt & pepper to season

 

  1. Place all vegetables into a food bag or bowl, then add the harissa paste and mix thoroughly to coat all the veggies. (this can be stored in fridge for later if need be)
  2. Preheat oven to 200 deg and oil a baking tray.
  3. Empty the vegetables (except asparagus) from the bag onto the baking tray and make sure they are spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
  4. Now add the chickpeas and the asparagus to the tray and bake for a further 15 minutes or until evenly browned all over.
  5. In a microwave bowl add the chopped tin tomatoes with salt & pepper to season and warm thought for about 1-2 minutes.
  6. Pour tomato sauce into a serving dish, empty the vegetables from the baking tray into the serving dish and mix through.
  7. Serve with some sprinkled coriander. Yummy!

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Stuffed Peppers

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These were delicious and very healthy too. My Hotpoint oven has automatic cooking programmes, so I used the Stuffed Pepper setting and these baked to perfection.

 

Makes 3-4

2 onions – chopped

6 Sweet Peppers – chopped

1 can chopped tomatoes (400g)

3-4 large peppers – colour to your choosing.

200g kale

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

 

  1. Heat oil in a pan
  2. Add all ingredients to the pan except the large peppers and cook for 5 minutes  20181126_154609
  3. Cut the tops off of the large peppers and de-seed. Place in a roasting tin.
  4. Fill the peppers with the mixture and place the tops back on.                          20181126_155213
  5. Select Auto recipes, side dishes then stuffed peppers and bake for approx 35-50 minutes (depends on size of peppers)                                                  20181126_155425
  6. Serve. Yummy!

 

 

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Spanish Omelette

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We decided to have a spanish afternoon and I was dying to try something different in my new Crisper Plate. Absolutely loved this recipe, healthy, tasty and only 12 minutes in my new crisper plate.

Perfectly served with some San Miguel…….we just needed the sunshine…lol!

 

Makes a 12 inch size – 4 portions

250g potatoes – sliced (I left skin on but it’s up to you)

4 eggs

1 tbsp butter or oil

Sliced onion (I used shallots – better flavour)

30ml milk

Salt & pepper to taste

 

  1. Preheat crisp plate for 3 mins. Place butter on a allow to melt
  2. Place potatoes onto plate.                                                                 20170624_134920
  3. Cook on Dynamic Crisp for 5 minutes.
  4. Place the onion on top of potatoes and cook further for 3 minutes. 20170624_135753
  5. Meanwhile beat the eggs, milk and salt & pepper together then pour over potatoes. 20170624_140307
  6. Cook further for 3 minutes
  7. Turn on grill and brown for about 2 minutes or until golden brown.
  8. Serve. Yummy!  20170624_14110120170624_141435

Empanadas with Soffritto Filling

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So Rio 2016 is upon us, to help celebrate I decided to try my hand at a Brazilian themed dinner. I was so pleased with my results, so tasty! Here you are, my recipes:-

Empanadas are little pockets of leftovers, I filled mine with Soffritto, Mince and Black beans filling.

Traditional Empanada dough is made a bit like an unsweetened tart crust: flour, salt (and any other seasonings), and butter are mixed to combine, then eggs and water are added until the dough comes together. However, I cheated for quickness and used shop bought ready rolled shortcrust pastry.

For the Soffritto:-

1 carrot

3 celery sticks

1 large white onion

1 tbsp olive oil

  1. Chop all the ingredients into very fine pieces (cubes).
  2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, cook until translucent and slightly browned. Then add in the carrot and celery, reduce to a low heat and cook for approx 1 hour until its all browned. The flavour that comes from the vegetables is amazing and almost caramelised like.
  3. At this stage you can eat it on its own or add any other meats or flavourings.

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For my filling for the Empanada’s I added to the Soffritto mix:-

200g Browned mince

200g Black beans

2 tbsp Chopped Chilli

1 tsp salt & pepper to season

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When the filling is ready, you are now ready to make your Empanadas

  1. Roll out your pasty into circular shapes, I used a 4″ pastry cutter.
  2. Take a dessert spoonful of the filling and put onto pastry
  3. Wet you finger and wet the edges of the pastry, fold over the pastry into a half moon shape and seal with your finger or a fork.
  4. Place on a greaseproof paper baking tray and brush with either milk or egg wash.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 deg for 25 minutes.

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Also check out my Brazilian Cheesy Bread here:- https://atomic-temporary-46532287.wpcomstaging.com/2016/08/06/brazilian-cheesy-bread/

 

 

 

Chicken, Chickpea and Spinach Curry

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I am always looking to make me meals healthier. By adding Chickpeas this dish certainly fills you up. Chickpeas are rich source of vitamins, minerals and fiber, they may offer a variety of health benefits, such as improving digestion, aiding weight management and reducing the risk of several diseases. Additionally, chickpeas are high in protein and make an excellent replacement for meat in vegetarian and vegan diets.

Serves 2

1 400g can of chickpeas

1 chicken breast – cubed

1 white onion – finely chopped

1 red pepper – roasted and chopped

100ml passata

100ml Chicken Stock

1-2 tbsp curry powder (depending on flavour of your choice) I used 2, we like it spicy.

1 level tbsp cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pepper taste

1 tbsp olive oil

2 handfuls of spinach

 

1. Brown the chicken in the olive oil for 5 mins

2. Add in the chopped onion and fry until brown, then add in chopped pepper

3. Add in the curry powder, cumin. cinnamon and pepper to taste, mix through

4. Add in tomato passata and chicken stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 mins.

5. Throw in the spinach and allow to wilt stirring through, cook for a further 5 mins.

Serve on it’s own or with some rice of your choice. Yum!