Tarka dahl and kholrabi and okra curry, with rice

Eeking out the veg box after the festivities - today onions, 1 yellow pepper, 1 kholrabi, 1 red chili, some cavolo nero ... from the freezer some okra, and from the cupboard a tin of tomatoes ... some spices, some lentils and rice and tah dah....

So, in chronological order of preparation:-

Rice

Mix 1/3 red rice to 2/3 white basmati rice.  Put into cast iron casserole dish.
Cover with water - up to and inch above the rice.
Cover and heat on hob, until it boils.
When water boils, transfer to medium oven, and sit for at least 20 minutes.

Dahl

Lentils
Water

Tarka

Olive oil
mustard seeds
cumin seed
fennel seeds
garam masala
curry leaves

1.  Boil red lentils in plenty of water, for about 30+ minutes.  Stir now and again.  Add more water if you need to.
2.  Make curry....
3.  Just before serving, heat olive oil - when hot add seeds, toss, add leaves and garam masala.  Turn off heat.
4.  Pour spiced oil onto dahl.

Kholrabi and okra curry

olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 kholrabi, peeled and diced
Curry spice mix (I used a Bombay masala mix)
Crushed garlic
water
Shredded cavolo nero
Frozen okra
Tinned crushed tomatoes.

1.  Sweat onion in olive oil.
2.  Add other diced vegetables, stir round until a little soft.
3.  Add spice mix, garlic and water.  Simmer for 5 minutes or so.
4.  Add shredded cavolo nero and frozen okra, turn over a couple of times, then tip in tomatoes.
5.  Simmer until all coooked - adding water if it looks a bit dry.

... about now - return to tarka, and findish that off ...

serve, scoff, gloat

Veg and mac and cheese, green veg medley

Drizzle, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle ... not the dinner, the weather - it's all very tedious.   Lots of veg left in the veg box to use up.  Comfort food required.

So, two dishes...  if you can manage to juggle them, and start them more or less at the same time you could have them both on the table within 30 minutes - but I didn't - it was about an hour, but twas very tasty.


Veg and mac and cheese

kholrabi, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
cauliflower, florets separated, stem chopped into bite sized pieces
broccoli, florets separated, stem chopped into bite sized pieces
carrots, peeled and chopped - you guessed it - into bite sized pieces

Pasta (in this case gluten free)

soya milk (or ordinary milk, obvs)
mustard
corn flour
grated cheese (cheddar and cheshire today)

1.  Steam vegetables for about 12 minutes.
2.  Simmer pasta
3.  Boil soya milk, slake corn flour in water, add to hot milk to thicken sauce, whisk quickly over a low heat, to mix in until it thickens.  Season.  Add 3/4 of the grated cheese.
4.  Drain pasta, tip it with veg into an oven proof dish. (don't drain every last drop, some starchy water will help it remain moist). Pour over sauce, move about to mix in.
5.  Top with the remaining cheese and bake for 20+ minutes.

Green veg medley

leeks
olive oil
celery
garlic
white wine
chard

1. Chop and wash leeks.  Sweat down in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped celery and garlic, soften a bit more.  Add white wine and chopped chard stalks, cover and simmer.
3.  When veg are soft and nearly ready add shredded chard leaves, cover and  steam for five minutes.

Was lovely - have loads left for the freezer/ kitchen fairies lunches.  The gluten free pasta and the soya milk make the mac and cheese much lighter and fresher feeling.

mushroom, fennel, kholrabi and blue cheese risotto

Well, I was so hungry that I forgot to take a pic until I was half way through my bowl of risotto.  However, it was a success, so I think I'll bung it on the blog - as it were...

We had big scoffy bowls full, and there is loads left, so I think there is enough for 6 servings...

1 onion
1/2 bulb fennel
1/2 kholrabi
garlic
risotto rice
white wine
veg stock
cavolo nero
frozen peas
blue cheese
black pepper

1.  Sautee chopped onion and fennel in olive oil.
2.  Add peeled and chopped kholrabi and crushed garlic, turn over in the oil.
3.  Add a handful of risotto rice, turn over so that every grain is lightly coated in oil.
4.  Chuck in a glass of white wine - listen to it sizzle and boil off, then add a ladle of veggie stock (OK, I cheat - crumble in a stock cube, and then add water as the risotto cooks)
5.  Keep stirring and add more liquid as you need it.  it should take about another 20ish minutes.  Season carefully.  Stir in shredded cavolo nero.
6.  When rice is just off done add a handful of frozen peas and blobs of blue cheese.  Simmer a little longer.
7.  Turn the heat off, and let sit for 5 minutes - then serve.

Enjoy the lovely silky texture.  If, like me, you have LOADS left, let it cool completely before freezing.

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.

Veg box chowmein

This was delicious.  It is also vegan, gluten free and easy.  Oh, and cheap.

Recipe:  open fridge, take out whatever vegetables are there - chop them up, stir fry/simmer with tasty stuff from cupboard. Scoff.

Oh, OK, this is what I did:-


Vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
small knob ginger, grated
2 leeks, sliced and washed
1 kholrabi
2 carrots
1 red pepper
Biggish pinch of chili flakes
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp Soy sauce (check GF if GF)
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
splash rice wine vinegar
water
2 tbsp peanut sauce
Handful baby spinach
Rice noodles
Sesame seeds

1.  Prep veg - cut into smallish pieces.
2.  Soften leeks in oil, after a minute or so chuck in other veg, garlic, ginger and chili flakes.  Stir round.
3.  Add about a pint of water and tomato puree, soy sauce, rice wine and rice wine vinegar.
4.  Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, let the sauce thicken up, but don't let it go completely dry - just add more water as you need it until the vegetables are just done.  Add peanut sauce when the vegetables are nearly cooked.
5.  Meanwhile boil the rice noodles.
6.  Drain noodles, add to vegetables with baby spinach.  Take of the heat and stir together until spinach leaves wilt.
7.  Sprinkle on sesame seeds.

Veg box pasta with feta and salami

Yesterday my veg box arrived.  Now, I don't mind a challenge, but this is probably the oddest veg box I have ever had delivered.  (orange peppers, portabello mushrooms, broccoli, courgette, kholrabi,  green cabbage, runner beans, baby spinach) all separately really nice - but an odd mixture I thought - no onions, no spuds!  Anyway, had a leek, cherry tomatoes some feta and some salami - so....


1 tbsp olive olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and sliced.
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 kholrabi, peeled and chopped
6 runner beans, bite sized pieces
1 courgette chopped
1 tsp mixed herbs
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp chili flakes
500ml (+) stock
handful cherry tomatoes
1/2 pack feta, and some left over lancashire
8 slices salami
big handful baby spinach
200g (ish) pasta spirals

1.  Soften veg (leek, carrots, kholrabi, beans, courgette) in olive oil for a couple of minutes.
2.  Put pasta on to boil - follow packet instructions - boil for 2 minutes less than it says.
3. Add garlic, herbs, stock, chili, cherry tomatoes and seasoning to veg, stir, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or so.  (I would have added a glass of white wine if there was any knocking about).
4.  When pasta is cooked (almost) drain and add to veg, squish tomatoes down a bit.
5.  Add in chopped cheese, stir, lid on for a couple of minutes.  Add salami, chopped into pieces.
6.  Put spinach on top, lid back on for a minute, lid off stir spinach in until it is wilted.
7. Lift into bowl, season with more black pepper.
8. Scoff.

Prawny fried rice

If you have left over boiled rice this is an ideal use - but it's worth making fresh too.  Chop loads of veg - today - spring onion, red pepper, carrot, kholrabi, radish, celery, mushroom.. and fry in peanut (or vegetable) oil at top whack, add crushed garlic, grated ginger and finely chopped chili.  Splash in soy sauce. Keep stirring until cooked, but some bite left.   Add cooked rice, and frozen peas.  Keep stirring for a couple of minutes.  Stir in prawns (if frozen, they need to be thawed first).  Taste - adjust seasoning.  Whisk 3 eggs together - stir rice - and flatten about  a 3 inch circle in the middle section - pour eggs in a shallow layer, into the shallow layer of rice - leave,... leave a bit more, when it starts to set underneath like an omelette - turn into the rice mixture very gently.  Turn gently until egg is cooked and all rice mixture is hot -stir in more soy sauce and rice wine to taste.  You might want to add - soy sauce, chili, oyster sauce, coriander ....  Victim said "yum, yum, bear" ... which is praise indeed around here.