Parsnip, cabbage, cannelloni bean and gorgonzola pie

You know that feeling - you know you have a glut of assorted vegetables, but they don't necessarily go together.  Well, I had parsnips, cabbage and some mushrooms - and some gorgonzola which needed using.  I remembered a recipe from Prue Leith using parsnips and cabbage in a pie, so I developed it from that.

Covered it in shortcrust pastry, and served with potato wedges and steamed broccoli.

Olive oil

Onion

Mushrooms

Parsnips

Garlic

Vegetable stock

Apples

Flour

Shredded cabbage

Cannelloni beans

Gorgonzola

Short crust pastry

Broccoli

1.  Sweat down chopped onion in olive oil.

**    chop potatoes into wedges and toss in olive oil - roast at 180 for about 1 hour.

2.  Add chopped mushrooms and peeled and chopped parsnips.

3.  Add crushed garlic and stock to cover the vegetables.  Simmer.

4.  Add chopped apples and cook until parsnips and apple are tender, simmer off most of the stock.  Thicken sightly with flour.

5.  Stir in shredded cabbage and simmer for another 5 minutes.

6.  Stir in a tin of cannelloni beans.

7.  Melt in gorgonzola.

8.  Cool a little and put mixture into a pie dish,

9. Cover with shorty crust pastry, stab steam holes in the top, and brush with milk/soya milk.

10.  Bake at 180 for about 35 mins,

** steam broccoli for about 12 minutes.

11. serve, scoff .... delish

Cauliflower, hazelnut and gorgonzola bake, roasted squash and tomatoes. Potatoes with onions and mushrooms

Bring on the autumnal flavours with all of these vegetables bang in season.  Cauliflower and hazelnuts go really well together, and this time I added some gorgonzola for extra smoothness and a slightly sharp flavour.  Roasted squash and tomatoes added an earthy sweetness - and you can't go wrong with sautéed potatoes, onion and mushrooms.  (Leave out the gorgonzola and the butter and it's vegan too).

Olive oil

Butter

Cauliflower

Squash

Cherry tomatoes

Gorgonzola

Red onion

Mushrooms

Cooked new potatoes

1.  Prep the squash, splosh over olive oil and roast at 180 … for about 45 minutes.

2.  Toss the tomatoes in a little olive oil and a pinch of salt, roast alongside the squash.

3.  Cut the cauliflower into "steaks" .. ie. slices top to core, about 2cm thick - there will be some larger florets which "fall" off - I cooked these in the same way as the steaks.  

4.  Fry the cauliflower in olive oil and butter for a few minutes each side - panne the steaks to keep them succulent (with a spoon, keep lifting the fats from the pan and pour them over the cauliflower).

5.  When the cauliflower is about half cooked - ie. still a little resistant to a sharp knife, but a bit golden brown around the edges - transfer to an oven dish.

6.  Add bite sized chunks of gorgonzola and roughly chopped hazelnuts to the cauliflower.  Put it in the oven with the squash and tomatoes.

7.  In the same pan, using the same oil, sautee chopped red onion, chopped mushrooms and sliced (precooked) potatoes.

8.  Serve, scoff … seconds

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.

Parsnip and beetroot burgers with gorgonzola, roast squash and red pepper - and sprout tops

All has been quiet at Kitchen Fairies HQ for a few weeks - it's not that food hasn't been cooked and eaten - it's that I am preparing for a new adventure - which will come into fruition in the New Year ... so watch this space.

The veg box was full of wintery wonderfulness, so, this is what happened ...

Parsnip and beetroot burgers

3 parsnips
2 beetroot
1 lemon
2 onions
porridge oats
olive oil
gorgonzola

1.  Grate parsnips, onions and beetroot - squeeze in the juice of the lemon to stop discolouration.
2.  Mix well, and mix in porridge oats - season.
3.  Shape into burgers and put on greaseproof paper.  (I wrap them individually in greaseproof for freezing - which works very well.
4.  Bake in hot oven, on a greased baking tray for about 10 minutes.  Turn, top with cheese and bake again until melted.

Roast squash and red pepper

1 squash
1 red pepper
4 fat cloves of garlic
Olive oil
chili flakes

Prepare veg - sprinkle with seasoning, turn in olive oil to cover all pieces, roast for about 40 minutes

Sprouts

Shred sprout tops and steam for 10 minutes.

Simple, delicious, vegetarian - gluten free - if you use the right oats.

Kholrabi salad with mushroom, spinach and hazelnut pasta

Well, much debate about what to call tonight's dinner - without just listing ingredients!  It is Monday - the veg box arrives on a Tuesday morning.  This is the time when you look at what you have got, and try to find something tasty, which is not just "chuck it in and hope for the best".

So, two dishes, either of which could have stood alone, but actually were delicious together.

Kholrabi, apple and watercress salad

Olive oil
1 lemon
1 kholrabi
2 small apples
2 carrots (mine were yellow, but that's because that was what we got)
1 onion, very finely sliced
cider vinegar
1 small bunch watercress, leaves picked off
salt and pepper

1.  Squeeze half a lemon to catch its juice in a bowl add about as much olive oil - this is to stop the kholrabi and apple oxidising and turning brown - so bear this in mind as you grate the other ingerdients in, and make sure you turn them over in the lemon juice and oil as you prepare the veg.
2.  Grate in kholrabi, apples and carrots.  Finely (as finely as you can) slice onions into half moons. I would have used red onions if I had some, but I didn't so VERY carefully finely sliced a white onion.
3.  Turn over to make sure veg and fruit have a film - you may wish to add more juice/oil - and/or a drop of cider vinegar to make a tangy, tasy mix.
4.  Strip watercress and gently stir in leaves.
5.  Taste, and adjust seasoning.

Mushroom, spinach and hazelnut pasta

Pasta (this is a gluten free version, so it was a corn rice mix penne pasta.. but any shortish pasta would be fine)
olive oil
8 (well, 8ish) mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
splosh of brandy (optional really, but does give a depth of flavour)
big handful of spinach leaves
3 tbsps creme fraiche
75g gorgonzola (or other blue cheese)
water
black pepper
a handful of hazelnuts

1.  Cook pasta in boiling water, according to packet instructions - don't over cook, as it will be heated through with the mushroom mixture.  Drain when cooked.  If a little while before needed, drizzle over a tiny hint of olive oil and stir so that it doesn't stick together.
2.  Chop mushrooms and sautee gently in olive oil (and butter, if you like butter).
3.  Chop spinach leaves into ribbons - not tiny pieces, just so that when they wilt they keep some shape but are not stringy.
4.  Add crushed garlic to mushrooms, stir in.
5.  Add a splosh of brandy - flame it (turn pan slightly into gas flame/ a match) to burn off the harshness of the alcohol but retain the flavour (this step is entirely optional, but does add a depth of flavour otherwise un-achievable)
6.  Add ribbons of spinach and stir/toss until wilted.
7.  Meanwhile roast hazelnuts, briefly, in a dry frying pan - about 2 minutes shaking much of the time.  Once roasted  - either pulse in processor or smash a bit in pestle and mortar.
7.  Chuck in pasta, remove from heat.
8.  Let cool for a minute, add crumbled cheese and creme fraiche.  Stir through until cheese is melted.

Serve - I sprinkled the hazelnuts on the pasta, and served with the salad - and we both had seconds... and thirds.