Borlotti bean and cheese burgers, with potato wedges, sauteed cabbage and griddled courgettes

Following on from the batch of borlotti beans I made burgers from the mix I made yesterday vegan borlotti buritto mix , with some cheese in the middle to ooze out when cooked.  I served it with potato wedges, griddled courgettes, stir fried cabbage and the red pepper sauce - also from yesterday.  It was very good.  I used Pearl Wen, from the crumbly cheese, as it's my current favourite but you could use cheddar, mozzarella or pretty much any other cheese.  The stir fried cabbage came from an idea of a take on coleslaw - but no carrots ... so I thought I would soften it slightly and add some zest with the lime .. it works, I promise!

Borlotti bean mix (as above)
Porridge oats
Cheese (Pearl Wen, or other, as above)
Olive oil
Potatoes
Courgettes
Tuscan seasoning
Cabbage
Spring onion
Garlic
Lime

1.  Cut potatoes into wedges, toss in olive oil and roast for about 40 minutes.
2.  Mix the bean mixture with oats - about 1/2 the volume of oats to bean mixture. Mix well, chill in the fridge to firm up slightly.
3.  Cut 1 inch slices of cheese - one for each burger.  Form the burgers by wrapping a slice of cheese with the bean mix, place on a greased baking tray and bake for about 25 minutes, turning over half way through.
4.  Slice the courgettes and toss in Tuscan seasoning mix.  Griddle for a couple of minutes on each side.  Keep warm until everything is ready.
5.  Shred the cabbage and spring onion.  Crush a clove of garlic.  Stir fry the cabbage, onion and garlic, add a pinch of salt, for 2-3 minutes in hot olive oil.  Spritz with lime juice.
6.  Serve, with red pepper sauce (again, as above), scoff ... really delicious!

Vegan burritos, or something similar

I have soaked and cooked a batch of borlotti beans, so they will feature for a few recipes this week.  We start with this one .. a vegan burrito ... or basically yummy things in a wrap.  You could make it un-vegan by adding grated cheese or sour cream etc.  I just stuck to the bean, red pepper sauce and salad version.  If you are a hungry sort you might like to add cooked rice as a filler.

I soaked the beans overnight, and then boiled them for 20 minutes.  Once cool they become the ingredient ... you could also drain a tin!

Onions
garlic
Olive oil
cumin seeds
chili flakes
cooked borlotti beans

Roasted red pepper, in a jar in olive oil

Wraps

Salad leaves
Radishes

1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil until soft.
2.  Add a teaspoon of cumin seeds and about half a teaspoon (to taste) chilli flakes, cook briefly.  Add in the beans.  Add a little water at this point and allow to simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
3.  Make the red pepper sauce by chopping a couple of the peppers up and sauteeing gently in some oil from the jar, with a clove of crushed garlic for a few minutes - whizz in a blender - done.
4.  Throw together a simple salad.
5.  Heat the wraps - sprinkle with a few drops of water and either microwave for about 15 seconds, or heat in a warm oven for a minute or two.
6. Serve, put on your own mix ... could also add avocado, cheese, sweetcorn ... etc as you wish

Bring on summer - spicy hake with 3 salads

There was some sun today - hurray! So, I thought I would try to prolong the good sunshiny vibes with a salad dinner.  I had spicy hake, but also chucked a burger in for the victim ... just as well, as spicy fish was properly poo-pooed (silly! was delish).  OK - in order of cooking - beetroot, borlotti bean and mozzarella, coleslaw, waldorf (kind, sorta, ..ish) salads... spicy fish "goujons", green salad.

recipes - such as they are - beetroot, borlotti bean and mozarella salad.  I had beetroot and borlotti beans in the veg box this week, so made it from scratch - vacuum packed beetroot, and tinned beans would be proper tasty, and much less time consuming.  So, starting from the raw state... roast washed (but not peeled) beetroot in a tray with garlic, slosh of olive oil and splash of balsamic until beetroot is soft - I cover tray in foil and test after about an hour, knife should go in with very little resistance.  Meanwhile, pod and then boil borlotti beans - takes about 12 mins from boiling - but depends on beans.  Cool beetroot, cool and drain beans.  Skin beetroot (I always use gloves) and cut into bite sized pieces.  Mix together beetroot pieces, beans, chopped radish, mozarella - torn into bite sized bits, basil leaves, seasoning, olive oil - taste...yum yum - add splash of lemon juice/vinegar if needs a little sharpness.  Sorta waldorf ... well, as kids we hated walnuts, so Mum invented this with almonds... it may have morphed over the years, but it's proper simple, so morph it yourself.. Chop a fair bit of celery into small, but still chunky, chunks, add some chopped onion... chop apple - add - squirt with lemon/lime juice - mix up until all apple has touched acid juice, at this point I added chopped orange and red pepper.  Chuck in handful of almonds, small spoon of mayonnaise, good teaspoon of horseradish and about 2 tbsp of natural yogurt - season - taste, adjust... should be crunchy, savoury and refreshing.  Coleslaw... everyone has their own recipe - but finely shredded red onion, about 3 times as much red cabbage and white cabbage, grated carrot - lemon/lime juice or cider vinegar, and good pinch of rock salt... let sit for 30mins, cabbage will start to soften slightly.  Stir in splodge of mayonnaise and some natural yogurt (adjust proportions depending on whether you are trying to reduce fat (0% mayo lowest fat... all mayo if you are a skinny imp wanting to chunk up).

Spicy fish - was hake (could've been most white fish, tuna or salmon) - cut into strips and tossed in flour and fish curry spices - fried - hot and quick...

Delish.

Lettuce... OK - for completeness - I tossed it in lime juice and a whisper of olive oil.