Mushroom and onion pasta, chopped salad - oh, and some steak

After making the carnivores suffer yesterday I relented and made them steak.  However, also needed the extras to be gluten free and go with salmon for the pescatarean.  So, I thought - some tasty mushroomy pasta for carbs and a fridge full of veg just begged to be eaten - best way, chop it all up and mix it togther, American's would call it chopped salad, so lets go with that.

It all went down extremely well.



Chopped salad

Celery
Cucumber
Radish
Carrot
Tomato
Frozen petit pois
Cress
olive oil
orange juice

Chop everything up into 1/2 cm dice - squeeze on juice of half an orange (I didn't have any lemons or limes) and a slosh of olive oil, season, stir.

Mushroom Pasta Salad

1 onion, chopped
6 large mushrooms, chopped
garlic
olive oil
pasta shells (gluten free, or otherwise!)
oregano

Fry onion in olive oil,  just as it is starting to caramelise add chopped mushrooms and garlic.  Fry until mushrooms are just soft.
Boil water, add pasta ... when cooked, drain.
Add splosh of olive oil, mushroom mix and fresh oregano and mix through.  Grind on plenty of black pepper.

Steak

Oil the meat, not the pan - grinding of black pepper.  Fry, in hot pan for a minute or so each side.

Scoff - one person had 4 helpings of the pasta!

Tomato, red pepper and pesto crumble

Still got a bit of a glut of tomatoes and red pepper, but fancied something a bit mediteraanean - this worked - well, I thought so.  There were some bits of red pepper left on one plate - but I base this on young adult vegetable phobia... the crust was polished off by all.

So, for the crumble

olive oil
1 onion, chopped
chopped celery
crushed garlic
Chopped red pepper
6 large tomatoes, chopped
a little vegetable stock

Usual thing, sweat down onion and celery, then add garlic and other veg.  Simmer until soft, add water/stock if it's going dry/thick.

Crumble topping

rolled oats
grated cheese (I used cheddar)
2 big spoons of pesto
olive oil

Mix together.

Put the tomato mixture in an oven proof dish, top with crumble and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden.

Boil new potatoes, steaming the veg on top.

Ta-dah!  I though it was very tasty.  I think the meat eaters wanted a steak with it.

Red pepper, Tomato and Butter bean curry

No pic for this one - but it's dead easy.  A glut of red peppers and tomatoes after helping a mate cater for a 600 people bash led to its invention.

Sweat chopped celery in oil, add cumin, mustard and fennel seeds. Add crushed garlic, chopped red pepper, 4 diced potatoes and 6 chopped tomatoes. Stir around for a bit. Chuck in some turmeric and chili flakes, stir around a bit more. Add veg stock if it's going a bit dry. Drain a tin of butter beans and chuck them in too, season to taste. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Add garam masala simmer for a further few minutes - scoff.

Broad bean, courgette and petit pois risotto, with a green salad

Broad beans - what a labour of love! Fortunately, I had someone here handy who enjoys the peace of double shelling them - so I exploit it :).

So, recipe ...

Olive oil
2 spring onions, chopped
Crushed garlic
risotto rice
large bag of broad beans, double peeled to a small handful of green gems
1 courgette, diced
Italian herbs
white wine
vegetable stock
frozen petit pois
grated fontina and parmesan
lemon zest, juice of lemon
seasonning, specially black pepper

Salad

olive oil
garlic
lemon juice
salt and pepper
spring onion, sliced thinly
radish, sliced
cucumber (small amount, diced)
cos lettuce, sliced to about 1 inch pieces

1.  Put the salad dressing ingredients in the bottom of big bowl, whisk together.  Chuck on onion, radish and cucumber.
2.  Sautee onion briefly in olive oil.  Add diced courgette, crushed garlic, and toss in oil for a few seconds.
3.  Add risotto rice, and stir until each grain is finely coated in oil.  Shake in herbs.
4.  Add a glass of white wine and simmer.
5.  Add vegetable stock, simmer.  Keep adding stock and simmering for about 5 minutes - then add broad beans.
6.  Carry on adding vegetable stock and simmering until nearly dry until rice is nearly done.
7.  Add a handful of frozen peas and another ladle of stock.
8.  After 2 minutes, turn off the heat, stir in cheeses and let the rice suck up the final juices for 5 minutes.
9.  Sprinkle on lemon zest and squeeze in lemon juice.
10.  Serve, with a good grinding of black pepper.
11.  Chuck shredded lettuce onto salad and toss - serve with risotto.

Summery and delicious.  Made me feel better after a few days of grim viral bleaugh-ness.