Stuffed mushrooms with steamed veg and watercress sauce

This was delicious, the photo does not do it justice at all... I will be working on my presentation!

Anyway, I started with the rice and lentils, and got them on the way,  then I chopped the veg for steaming.  Then I prepped the mushrooms.  Then I made the watercress sauce.

When all that had happened -the rice was cooking gently in the oven, the lentils were 2/3rds cooked ... so I started off the mushrooms in the oven.

Brown rice
Lentils
Leek
Carrot
Green beans
Field mushrooms
basil
Rape seed oil
Crushed garlic
lemon juice
Watercress
Zatar spice
Spring cabbage
sesame seeds.

1.  Cook the brown rice, follow your favourite method - I do ... put in heavy pot, cover with water to 1 inch over the surface.  Bring to the boil.  Cover and leave in a medium oven for at least 20 minutes
2.  Boil lentils in loads of water for 20+ minutes.
3.  Chop veg (leeks, carrot, beans) and steam over boiling water for about 20 minutes.
4.  Drizzle rape seed oil in a baking tray, add mushrooms, stem side down, drizzle over a little more oil, grind over black pepper and bake for about 20 minutes.
5.  Chop an onion, and fry gently until golden brown, add garlic and zatar spice - stir in drained lentils and rice.
6.  Turn mushrooms over, layer in basil leaves and spoon rice mixture onto the top.  Pop back into the oven for 5 minutes.  At this point add the shredded cabbage to the steaming vegetables.
7.  Zizz together 1 small gherkin, large handful of watercress, 2 chopped garlic cloves, juice of half a lemon and good splosh of oil.
8. Serve ... sprinkling the vegetables with sesame seeds.

Scoff

Asparagus and green bean pasta salad with pine nuts

Yay!  Asparagus in the veg box! Yay!   oh, were you watching? How very embarassing!  But, frankly, I don't care - I was very very pleased to see the new season asparagus in the organic veg box - it's a late spring, and it's been a while coming.  I wondered whether to showcase the asparagus, as often happens, as a starter and then have our main dish - but I decided to go with our usual one dish dinner and to have asparagus as a delicious ingredient amongst others.

So, ...

Rape seed oil
Lemon
Chinese leaf
Lettuce
Watercress
Green beans
asparagus
Farfalle pasta
Pine nuts
basil
Parmesan (to serve)

1. Put water on to boil in a pan big enough to take the pasta, and hold steamers for the vegetables.
2. Remove the woody ends from the asparagus, chop the stems into 1 inch pieces, reserving the delicate spears.
3. Top and tail the beans and cut into bite sized pieces.
4.  Boil the pasta in water, after a minute or so put the veg pieces on to steam (not the spears, put them in 5 minutes later.
5.  Drizzle oil onto a serving plate, squirt on lemon juice and add some seasoning.  Chuck on the salad leaves .. whichever you are using.
6.  Lightly fry the pine nuts until golden brown - watch them, they WILL burn if you take your eyes off them.
7. Drain the pasta and veg, drizzle on oil and squirt with lemon, toss and add to presentation plate.
8. Liberally sprinkle on toasted pine nuts, shave on parmesan to date.

Scoff.  Bring on summer.

Lentil and spring vegetable casserole with spicy potatoes and grilled halloumi

Middle of May and still cold and windy.  So, something quite comforting it is then. 

Lentil casserole

Olive oil
Leeks, washed and chopped
Carrots, peeled and chopped
Sping cabbage shredded
Lentils
Crushed garlic
White wine
English mustard

Spicy potatoes

Olive oil
Potatoes, chopped
Blackenned Cajun seasoning
Italian herbs

Gilled Halloumi

Olive oil
halloumi

1.  Put the potatoes on to par-boil.
2.  Sautee leeks and carrots in olive oil, add crushed garlic.
3.  Add a handful, or so, of small lentils and some white wine and a teaspoon of english mustard, simmer.
4.  Drain potatoes and put in hot olive oil in an oven tray.  Turn them over in the oil, and sprinkle on speices and herbs.  Roast for about 45 minutes, in a hot oven.
5.  Simmer veg, add water if necessary for a while.  About 5 minutes before serving add in shredded cabbage.
6.  Fry the halloumi, at medium heat, in a tiny drop of olive oil, until golden on each side.

This was a fantastic finish to last week's veg box, the spring greens giving the casserole a nice sweetness at the end, balancing the warming earthiness of the lentils and mustard.

Todmorden tapas

Saw some nice looking Manchego in our local well known budget supermarket - it became the inspiration for this.

Potatas bravas
Garlic mushrooms
Garlic proawns and peas
Green salad
(Some pepper and cheese things from a jar)



1.  Peel and chop potatoes into chunks, boil.
2.  Peel and chop 2 red onions.  Sautee in 2 pans, one for the potatoes, one for the mushrooms.
3.  Add butter to the mushroom pan, garlic and chopped mushrooms, cook down.
4.  Add tomatoes, and a pinch of chili flakes to the onions for the potatoes, cook down.
5.  In a third pan, slosh olive oil, and handful of frozen prawns and frozen peas, crushed garlic and chili flakes, with a splosh of white wine.  Leave to sit and cook off hard when everything else is just about done.
6. Add cooked drained potatoes to onions and tomatoes.
7.  Dress green salad leaves with olive oil and lemon juice.

Scoff.

Roast cauliflower, jersey royals and vegetable medley

Once again the photo doesn't do it justice ... but this was lovely.  The cauliflower was roasted whole, the jersey royals were par boiled and roasted (yes, yes, I know ... should be boiled/steamed and served with butter .. but they were absolutely sweet and delicious roasted).

So, what did I do....?

1.  Take the big floppy leaves from the outside of the cauliflower.  Leave the nice cuddly soft leaves, they are delicious.  Drizzle with oil oil and sprinkle with salt, sumin seeds and sumac.  Squeeze on juice of half a lemon.
2,  Stick the cauliflower in a hottish oven - for an hour(ish)
3.  Boil the jersey royals, for 5 mins, and then stick in hot olive oil, in a roasting tray, in the oven.
4.  The veg ... in olive oil gently fry 1 chopped and washed leek, 1 celery stick, a small handful of green beans, a peeled and chopped carrot and some crushed garlic.
5.  Add some water to the frying veg and simmer until al dente ... add shredded spring greens.

Twas delish innit.