Pieless leek and mushroom pie, with roasted potato wedges and steamed green beans

I think that sometimes half the reason for putting stuff in a pie is that of itself it doesn't look so gorgeous, even though it might taste great.  So, tonight, I thought ... leak and mushroom - they make a great pie, but we don't like pastry that much, so I just made a crustless pie ... it resembles a spoonful of swamp, but it tasted great.

Potatoes
olive oil
Leeks
Garlic
Celery
Mushrooms
GF flour
soya milk
mixed herbs
mustard
edamame beans
green beans

1.  Cup potatoes into wedges, roast in oil for about 45 minutes.
2.  Chop leeks and celery, crush garlic.  Sautee together until the leeks are quite soft, about 10 minutes.
3.  Add mushrooms in chunks.  Sprinkle on some mixed herbs, continue to fry for a few minutes.
4.  Sprinkle on a spoonful of flour, and mix through until it disappears into the mixture, then add soya milk and stir to make the sauce.  Add edamame beans and a spoonful of mustard.  Stir through.  Transfer to oven dish and keep warm until you are ready to serve.
5.  Steam green beans.
6.  Serve, scoff ... it's all vegan and gluten free, but still a comforting dinner.

Edmame and cashew nut chow mein

 Ringing the changes with a bit of oriental influence.  Dead easy, once you've done the chopping, grating and crushing.  A little bit of lots of ingredients and, ta dah ....

Cashew nuts
Peanut oil
Spring onion
Garlic
Ginger
Chili flakes
Carrot
Red pepper
Brocolli
Mushrooms
Soy sauce
Rice wine
Rice wine vinegar
Edemame beans
Beansprouts
Cooked rice noodles

 1.  Roast the cashew nuts for a few minutes, set aside.
2.  Chop veg into quite small bite sized pieces - they need to cook quickly, and at about the same rate.
3.  In a wok stir fry spring onion, crushed garlic and finely grated ginger.
4.  Add other vegetables and keep stir frying, sprinkle in chili flakes.
5.  After 5 minutes add soy sauce, rice wine and wine vinegar to steam is a little and coat the veg, you might want to add a little water too, it helps the steaming.
6.  Keep tossing veg about for a minuute or so, then add edamame beans, beansprouts and noodles.  Toss about until it's all heated through.
7.  Top with cashew nuts.
8.  Serve, scoff.

(Gluten free and vegan if you use gf/vegan soy sauce)

Deconstructed ratatoui bake, with roast anya potatoes and salad

I don't like aubergines.  I try to like them, but really I don't.  I can manage them if they are grilled first, and then incorporated into something - so, aubergine, courgette, onion and tomato - that sounds like ratatoui - but to make it more interesting I did it in layers in the oven, with loads of cheese on top (I'm not supposed to, but frankly ... sod it - I do like cheese).  Also, found some anya potatoes - and quite big ones so roasted them in thick slices - they're good, they are both crisp and chewy, yum.  Topped off with some mixed salad leaves.

Aubergine
Olive oil
Courgettes
Crushed garlic
Italian seasoning
Finely sliced onion
Cherry tomatoes
Cheese (chedder, gouda, gorgonzola, parmesan - but whatever is handy)
Anya potatoes
Salad leaves

1.  Thickly slice anya potatoes, toss in olive oil and roast for about 40 minutes.
2.  Thickly slice aubergine and courgettes.  Griddle on both sides in olive oil.
3.  Place in layers in an oven dish and top with crushed garlic and italian herbs, salt and pepper.
4.  Layer halved cherry tomatoes on top, and bung in the oven for about 30 minutes.
5.  Grate/cut into slices cheese, and spread over the top of the bake - back in the oven for 10 minutes.
6.  Toss together simple salad.
7.  Serve, scoff .... delicious

Celeraic, lentil and hazelnuts

Lovely autumnal vegetables all around, mix with with some tasty ingredients, and you can eat all sorts of delicious things - I think I read something along these lines by Ottolengi, but I wouldn't swear to it.  All ingredients available in Todmorden market (The Mediterranean Pantry, and the veg stalls)  Also, totally vegan.

Olive oil
Lemon
Celeriac
Carrots
Hazelnuts
Onion
Celery
Garlic
Green lentils
Vegetable stock
Dry white wine
Bay leaves
Thyme
Mustard
Baby spinach

1.  Peel the celeraic and carrots, cut into batons, spritz with lemon juice (to prevent discolouration of the celariac), toss in olive oil and roast for 45 minutes.
2.  Spread hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for about 5-20 minutes.
3.  Put lentils on to boil with a couple of bay leaves and a spring of thyme.
4.  Sautee chopped onion and celery with crushed garlic in olive oil.
5.  When the lentils are nearly done (about 20 minutes), drain them and pick out the dry herbs.
6.  Toss the lentils into the onion mixture, with a splash of dry white wine and a cup of stock, simmer for a few minutes, so finish them off,  stir in a tablespoon of mild mustard.
7.  Turn the heat off under the lentils, stir in a big handful of baby spinach and let it wilt.
8.  Serve, put a bed of lentils on the plate, topple on the veg and sprinkle with roughly chopped roasted hazelnuts.
9.  Serve, scoff

Update - this made a fantastic soup zizzed up with some more veg stock then next day for lunch.

National curry week: Day 5: Fish and chips?

Well, potato wedges and fried fish - but I shall include it in curry week because I spiced up the batter with garam masala and turmeric - it was lovely.  (Batter - whisk egg, and add to spiced flour with some milk to form a batter - dredge fish through flour, then batter and fry).

National curry week: Day 4: Dhal and rice, with pepper and courgette curry.

Dead easy, dead cheap and dead good for you.

Brown rice
Red lentils
Onion
Garlic
Vegetable oil
Curry powder
Courgette
Red pepper
Tin tomatoes
Curry leaves
Cardamon pods
Chillies
mustard seeds
cumin seeds

1. Cook the rice.
2.  Put the lentils on to boil for the dhal.
3.  Make the curry - sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in oil.  Add curry powder.
4.  Chop courgette and pepper and add to the onion, then add a tin of tomatoes - bash them up and add a tin full of water - simmer.
5.  When everything is ready make the tarka - flash fry curry leaves, cardomon pods, chillies and cumin and mustard seeds in hot oil - sizzle onto the dhal.
6.  Serve, scoff.

National curry week: Day 3: Egg and pea curry with gf chapati

Dead easy this - but you need the right gf flour - the normal one for pastry etc simply will not work, you need the professional pizza version.

For the chapati:-

Flour
salt
cold water

For the curry:-

onion
garlic
oil
cumin seeds
fennel seeds
turmeric
chilli flakes
tomatoes
boiled eggs
peas

1.  Start the curry by sauteeing onions and garlic in the oil until soft, add spices and continue to cook.
2.  Chop tomatoes and add to the sauce, simmer until cooked, adding water to stop it going dry.
3.  Make the chapati dough - knead together flour, a tsp of salt and water into a soft dough.  Start with a splash of water, and add more as you get the consistency correct (if it gets too wet, add more flour).
4.  Divide the dough into balls, cover and set aside.
5.  Boil eggs - when done drain and peel - you could slit them to get more flavour in - add to the curry sauce and continue cooking for 10 minutes or so.  Then add frozen peas and heat through.
6.  Fry chapatis in a dry pan for a minute or so on each side, until they start to puff up.
7.  Serve, scoff.

National curry week: Day 2. Veggie curry with rice

A fairly disappointing start to this year's national curry week - with fish fingers and chips!  Well, it was a very busy day fo getting things fixed - tumble dryer, van (aka the moneypit) ... and domestic sorting.  Day 2 was not particularly inspired - though it was, infact, delicious ... it was basically cauliflower and potato curry, with some extras.

Olive oil
Garlic
Onion
Mustard Seeds
Cumin seeds
Coriander seeds
Chilli flakes
Potatoes
Cauliflower
Tomatoes
Baked beans
Garam masala
Spinach

Basmati rice

1.  Sautee onion and garlic, add spices.
2.  Chop potato into smallish dice, stir in.
3.  Split cauliflower into florets, stir in.  Add water and simmer.  Cook rice.
4.  Add chopped tomato.
5. Chuck in left over baked beans (optional ;p), and 1 tsp garam masala.
6.  Stir and simmer until just about done, add more water and seasoning as needed.
7.  Add shredded spinach.
8.  Serve, scoff ... it actually is very tasty.

Leek and potato soup

It's turning quite autumnal, so what better than a big hot bowl of soup?

Olive oil
Leeks
Onion
Garlic
Potatoes
Mustard
Mixed herbs
Vegetable stock

1.  Slice and thoroughly wash leeks, sautee in olive oil with chopped onion and crushed garlic.
2.  Peel and chop potatoes into small dice, add to the leeks.
3.  Stir in a spoonful of mild mustard and add a sprinkle of herbs, salt and pepper.
4.  Add stock and simmer.
5.  After 10-15 minutes, test the potatoes - when soft  zizzz
6.  Serve, scoff

Spiced haddock, with sweetcorn and black beans

It's Friday, so a pick of Paul's excellent fish.  Today, I went for haddock and some bang in season sweetcorn.  To give it a bit more body I mixed the sweetcorn with black beans, onion and red pepper, and to give it some zing I coated the fish with a paprika herby garlicky paste.  We had it with leftover mash with the leeks stirred through it.

Haddock

Corn on the cob

Tin of black beans

Onion

Red pepper

Paprika

Crushed garlic

Italian seasoning

ground cumin

salt & pepper

olive oil

1.  Strip the corn off the cob, rinse the beans, finely chop the onion and red pepper.  Mix together and layer in the bottom of an oven dish.

2.  Mix the garlic, herbs and spices into a paste with the olive oil.  Spread onto the fish.

3.  Layer the fish over the bean mixture and cover with foil.  Pop into a medium oven.

4.  Do what ever you want for 30-40 minutes ... drink wine and chat, watch Corrie, do a crossword etc etc

5.  Open oven door, take foil off the dish - serve ... scoff ... optional spritz with fresh lime.

Halloumi, with spicy tomato sauce

I don't suppose it qualifies as a recipe really, but some of the simplest things are the tastiest, and we certainly enjoyed this.

Potatoes
Onion
Garlic
Olive oil
Tin tomatoes
Chilli flakes
Leeks
Halloumi

1.  Peel potatoes, cut into chunks and boil.
2.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic until soft, add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a pinch of chilli flakes, and cook until saucy ... add a little water to loosen if you need to.
3.  Slice leeks and wash well, boil in water with a dash of olive oil.
4.  Mash potatoes and put in the oven to brown the top a little (optional).
5.  Fry the halloumi in a hot pan, for a couple of minutes each side.
6.  Serve, scoff .... yum

Roasted cauliflower with peanuts and gorgonzola

Cauliflower is such an under-rated vegetable, but it's bang in season.  I roasted it with lots of lovely flavours to give us a warming and delicious autumnal dinner.  Also, I love cheese, but I'm afraid it doesn't feel the same about me, so I added some small blobs of gorgonzola which gave me the savoury hit I wanted, with none of the unmentionable repercussions of a full cauliflower cheese (which I love ...), and some roasted peanuts for a bit of crunch.  Served it with potato wedges and wilted spinach.  Delicious.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Cauliflower
Polish mustard
Garlic
Italian seasoning
Chilli flakes
Spinach
Nutmeg
Peanuts

1.  Cut the potatoes into wedges, toss in olive oil and roast for about 45 minutes.
2.  Cut the cauliflower into 6 wedges.
3.  Mix together 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp polish mustard, crushed garlic, italian seasoning and chilli flakes - possibly a little water if its a bit thick.  Pour this over the cauliflower and move it around gently until all surfaces are coated.  Roast for about 40 minutes.
4.  Prepare spinach by removing thick stems, washing and cutting into thick ribbons.
5.  5 minutes before serving pop peanuts into the oven on a tray & wilt the spinach in a little water.  Grate a little nutmeg into the spinach to lift the flavour.
6.  Serve - dotting the cauliflower with gorgonzola (or other blue cheese) and sprinkle over peanuts, scoff.

Delicious.