Todmorden tapas

This glorious summer continues, and dinner needs to be less pie and mash and more colourful vibrant mixtures, but not just boring salads.  A few minutes and a scout around the market, and some chopping can bring you this …

Pepperonata
Garlic mushrooms
Jamaican jerk chicken
Halloumi
Vinci olives
Green beans
Baby spinach
Pitta


Pepperonata

Red peppers
Red onion
garlic
olive oil
white wine
Tomatoes

Sautee chopped onions and crushed garlic until soft, add chopped peppers and tomatoes and cook down, add a drop of water and some wine when it looks like it is going dry.  Cook until peppers are soft.

Garlic mushrooms

Gently fry mushrooms in olive oil and butter, add a splash of cognac and a grind of black pepper.

Jamaican jerk chicken

Mix together a spoonful of natural yogurt, a spoonful of olive oil and a spoonful of Jamaican jerk seasoning.  Toss chicken in the mixture and fry for about 6 minutes, turning frequently until cooked.

Fry halloumi, steam beans and toast pitta.

Done --- serve, and scoff … the beauty being that people can have exactly the mixture which they want.

Stuffed peppers

Stuffed peppers with a potato and green bean salad, with a bit of green salad too.

Easy peasy ... made a tiny bit harder because of the current dietary requirements at Kitchen Fairies HQ ... 1 veggie ...easy red peppers stuffed with mushrooms and onions, then mozarella, tomatoes and basil.  1 meat eater, but cheese and tomato dodger.  1 meat eater and tomato dodger.  1 eats pretty much anything, but shouldn't eat cheese.

So, basically, we all had stuffed peppers, but there was some variety in the fillings.

Potato and green bean salad dressed with garlicky vinaigrette.

Red peppers

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Musihrooms

Minced steak
Chili flakes
Cinnamon

Tomatoes
Mozzarella
Basil

1.  Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil, add mushrooms.
2.  Prepare peppers by cutting in half and scooping out seeds and connective bits.
3.  Boil potatoes, steam green beans.
4.  remove veggie portion of onions mix and stuff into veggie's peppers.
5.  Add steak mince, and a tiny pinch of cinnamon and chili flakes to onion and mushrooms, fry off.
6.  Slice mozzarella and tomatoes, add to veggie's peppers, with a few leaves of fresh basil.
7.  Stuff other peppers with appropriate collections of steak mince, mozarella, tomatoes ... Drizzle them all with olive oil, and put int the oven for 20 minutes or so.
8.  Make dressing for potatoes, add crushed garlic to olive oil and balsamic - drain potatoes, add wo dressing, with beans when still warm.
9.  Serve, scoff

Yorkshire pudding and lentil casserole

An interesting selection of vegetables left from the freezer and veg box, a glut of eggs from the chickens and a wish for something a bit comforting and wintery resulted in this .... which, as it was made with gluten free flour actually tasted a bit more like a pizza base and top, rather than the intended yorkshire pudding, but was delicious none the less.

6 tiny bantam eggs (or 3 normal sized eggs)
soya milk
GF self raising flour (could use plain and baking powder, or baking powder with SF to get more of a lift)
olive oil
seasoning

1.  Whisk together eggs and soya milk. 

2.  Mix together flour and seasoning.

3.  Pre-heat a baking tray with olive oil.

4.  When oil is hot - mix eggy liquid and flour together and pour into baking tray.

5.  Bake for about 25 minutes.

The casserole

Olive oil

onions

garlic

italian herb seasoning

celeriac

red lentils

peppers

1.  Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil, add italian herbs.

2.  Add small dice of celeriac sautee a little more.

3.  Add a handful of red lentils, and the chopped peppers.  Add water/stock and simmer.  

4.  Stir periodically, add more water/stock if necessary until lentils are done and all veg is soft.

Serve, add cheese if desired, scoff.

Potato with peppers, egg and paneer

Potatoes
Turmeric
Olive oil
cumin
2 onions
Red peppers
garlic
stock
peas

Spring onions
eggs
paneer

1.  Boil peeled and chopped potato with turmeric.
2.  Sautee onion in olive oil, add cumin seeds, turmeric and garlic.  Add peppers.
3.  Drain potatoes and add to softenned onions.  Add stock and simmer for a while.
4.  Tip into gratin dish and stir in chopped paneer and peas.  Crack eggs on top.
5.  Bake, covered with foil for about 15 minutes, until egg whites are set.

Delicious.  Adapted from something I saw in the Observer.

Pepper and kidney bean "risotto"

Not a very good picture - but a nice, comforting dinner.  Spicy rice mixture, creamy kidney beans and sharp pecorino.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek
2 celery stalks
1 large pepper (yellow today)
1 courgette
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp mixed herbs
pinch chili flakes
small mug of rice
1 tin kidney beans
1 pint water
1 tin tomatoes
50g pecorino

1. Sweat chopped leeks and celery in olive oil, add other chopped vegetables.
2.  After a couple of minutes add garlic, herbs and chili.
3.  Add rice, turn over in pan until each grain is separated, and all ingredients have a film of oil.
4.  Add about half a pint of water, simmer until it starts to be soaked in.
5.  Add tin of kidney beans (rinsed), simmer for 5 minutes, add more water if it looks as if its going to dry out.
6.  After about 5-10 minutes add tinned tomatoes (chop on back of wooden spoon in the pan, if they are not already chopped).
7. Keep simmering, stirring occasionally.  Should be ready after about 10 minutes.
8.  Turn heat off, allow to sit for 5 minutes.  Serve, sprinkled with cheese.

This has made about 5 portions.

Spanish chicken, with chorizo and peppers

Had a couple of mates here for tea, a bit bunged up with cold, so we thought something comforting, with a little bit of heat - but clean and not at all creamy might be best.  Some chicken breasts and some chorizo in the fridge and this spanish-ish stew was ready in 30 minutes.

Enough left for freezing for work too, so not a bad result.

Gathered victims declared delish and lush - so it can't be bad.

1-2 tbsps olive oil
1 onion chopped
About 10 cm piece of chorizo, skinned and diced
3 chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
pinch chili flakes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red peppers chopped
About 10 mushrooms, chopped
glass of white wine
tin of tomatoes
chicken stock
edame beans
Small cup of black olives, chopped.

1.  Soften onion in olive oil, add chorizo and fry so that it lets out spicy oil.
2.  Add chicken and fry for a couple of minutes.
3.  Add vegetables, garlic and chili flakes.  Turn around in the pan for a couple of minutes, until all the oil is coating the meat and veg.
4.  Pour in wine.  Allow to simmer for a couple of minutes, then a tin of tomatoes, and about a pint of stock.
5.  Simmer, chuck in edame beans (or frozen peas) cover and stick in oven (or on a lowish heat on the hob) for 20+ minutes.  If on the hob, check every now and then that it hasn't become too dry.
6.  10 minutes before serving stir in chopped olives.
6.  Serve with rice.

Prawn and pepper risotto

Gently fried chopped onion, runner beans and pepper.  After a couple of minutes added rice and stir until every grain is turned in the oil.  Then added crushed garlic, a pinch of herbs, a tiny pinch of chili flakes and a splash of white wine.  Added stock, a ladle full at a time at first... probably about a pint or so.  Stirred in thawed prawns and frozen peas.  Left on a low heat for about 10 mins until rice is done.  Black pepper to taste, in our case a lot.