Vegetable frittata with roasted baby potatoes

Well Christmas cooking this year has not been well represented on KitchenFairies.  There are a number of reasons for this … KitchenFairies HQ had more then its normal number of keen cooks, so the meal prep was shared … and I don't have details of all recipes;  a number of us were struck by the lurgy, so were not on top our game; we were too greedy to wait for pics to dive into the delicious food which was put in front of us … ho hum, normal service will be resumed.

This recipe is a great one for using up all sorts of vegetables and cheese which are loitering in the fridge - and any cheese which is hanging about.  I used mainly cheddar, but also some nice soft French cheese (I have forgotten the name - it wasn't brie or camembert … but along those lines …) and a little feta.

Olive oil
Potatoes
Onions
Leeks
Garlic
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Courgette
Parsley (optional, or use a pinch of dried herbs)
Leftover cheese (see above)
Butter
Eggs
Cheddar - grated

1.  Toss the potatoes in olive oil and roast (at 180ish) for about an hour.
2.  Chop and sautee onion, leeks, garlic … in olive oil - add chopped mushrooms, pepper, courgette … and whatever else needs using up in olive oil, until almost done.  Turn of the heat.
3.  Stir bit sized chunks of leftover cheese into the mixture and top with a handful of baby spinach.  Leave to wilt.  Stir in gently after a minute or two.
4.  Butter an oven dish - transfer the veg into it when the spinach is nearly fully wilted.
5.  Whisk eggs (8 in this case) vigourously to get some air into them.  Pour onto the veg mixture - prod and shake to get the egg into all the gaps.  Top with grated cheddar and bake for about 30 minutes.
6.  Serve, scoff

Mushroom and onion pasta, chopped salad - oh, and some steak

After making the carnivores suffer yesterday I relented and made them steak.  However, also needed the extras to be gluten free and go with salmon for the pescatarean.  So, I thought - some tasty mushroomy pasta for carbs and a fridge full of veg just begged to be eaten - best way, chop it all up and mix it togther, American's would call it chopped salad, so lets go with that.

It all went down extremely well.



Chopped salad

Celery
Cucumber
Radish
Carrot
Tomato
Frozen petit pois
Cress
olive oil
orange juice

Chop everything up into 1/2 cm dice - squeeze on juice of half an orange (I didn't have any lemons or limes) and a slosh of olive oil, season, stir.

Mushroom Pasta Salad

1 onion, chopped
6 large mushrooms, chopped
garlic
olive oil
pasta shells (gluten free, or otherwise!)
oregano

Fry onion in olive oil,  just as it is starting to caramelise add chopped mushrooms and garlic.  Fry until mushrooms are just soft.
Boil water, add pasta ... when cooked, drain.
Add splosh of olive oil, mushroom mix and fresh oregano and mix through.  Grind on plenty of black pepper.

Steak

Oil the meat, not the pan - grinding of black pepper.  Fry, in hot pan for a minute or so each side.

Scoff - one person had 4 helpings of the pasta!

Veggie curry, tarka dhal and brown rice

My Mum is here for a visit.  She very generously took me out for Tapas last night.  So the veggies were stocking up in the fridge, so I thought I'd rustle us up a veggie curry.  Halfway through making the curry I thought ... d'ya know I quite fancy some dhal.. so I made some of that too.  Dinner for 2 - tick - kitchen fairies lunches for 6 - tick.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek
1 red pepper
Mushrooms
1 cauliflower
6 medium potatoes, diced
curry spices (I used a ready mixed masala mix, could have been paste etc etc)
garlic - about 3 cloves, crushed
water/ stock
1 tin tomatoes
Big handful of spinach

Brown rice

red lentils
water
3 tbsp oil (neutral flavoured, I used mild olive oil)
1 tbsp urad dhal
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1 tsp fennel seeds (and/or cumin seeds)
1 tsp garam masala
2 (dried) red chilies

1.  Sautee leek in olive oil - when a little softenned add other vegetables, except spinach.
2.  Add garlic and spices, stir.  Add water/stock and tin of tomatoes ... simmer until veg are soft enough, sauce will have thickenned a bit.
3.  Boil lentils in water (about 20 minutes) for dhal.
4.  Cook rice (follow packet instructions)
5.  Heat 3 tbsp oil (neutral) and when hot add urad dhal, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, chilies, garlic and whatever other spices you want to add.  Heat for a couple of minutes, until the seeds start to pop.  Chuck into the cooked lentils.

Scoff.  Say yum.  Think - this is lots of my 5 a day, it must be good for me - scoff seconds :).

Chicken hotpot

What do you call it when you chop stuff up and cook it in a pan, and it includes potatoes... HOTPOT... well that;s my excuse for pretending this is a recipe!

olive oil
1 leek
Celery
Carrots
garlic
green beans
chicken breast
water
stock cube
mushrooms
potatoes
brocolli
Chili flakes, pinch of herbs
salt and pepper

Veg box due tomorrow - chicken breast in the fridge.  Chop, saute briefly "hard" veg - ie. leek, celery and carrot in olive oil, add bite sized chunks of chicken, saute again briefly until edges of chicken catch, chuck in cruched garlic and stir together.  Add chopped green beans, potato and mushrooms.  Add stock, stir and simmer, the add brocolli.  Simmer again, adding herbs and pinch of chili flakes.  When cooked, scoff.

Chickpea curry

Cheap, cheerful, and everything in - no shopping required.  The veg is what I used - but could have been pretty much anything.

1 onion
tbsp olive oil
1 carrot
1 red pepper
handful of green beans
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp balti paste
2 potatoes
handful mushrooms
tin tomatoes
tin chickpeas
natural yogurt


1.  Chop onion and saute in oil.
2.  Add chopped carrot, red pepper and green beans, turn over in the oil.
3.  Add crushed garlic, 2 chopped tomatoes and curry paste, chuck in mushrooms and potatoes, turn over again for a couple of minutes.
4.  Add a tin of tomatoes, and a tin of water.
5.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, until veg are soft.  Taste, season...
6.  Drain and rinse chickpeas, chuck into curry, simmer again for a few minutes, add more water if it's drying out.
7.  Take off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes - chuck in some naatural yogurt.
8. Scoff, with rice.

Enough left for lots of work dinners... anyone want some?

Very lazy kedgeree

If you have read this blog before you will know that I have the privilege of living with an Aga.  I say "living with" rather than owning, because an Aga really does become a member of the family, as it greets you with warmth every time you come into the kitchen, but it has some idiosyncracies which you have to learn to live with.  If, like me, you are spoilt and have an aga ... this is proper, proper easy - you bring it to the boil on the fast plate, and then stick it in the simmering oven for how ever long... 20 minutes to 2+ hours.  In a kitchen with a hob and oven - put the oven on to quite low - about 140 I would think, as soon as you come in - faff with ingredients briefly - on the hob for less than 10 mins and in the oven for half an hour or longer ... ie. put your dinner on, go swimming, gym class, parent teachers evening etc ... and dinner will be ready when you step back through the front door.

You need a cast iron casserole - or other heavy saucepan with lid - basically it has to go from hob to oven, and be covered without any harm coming to it.

rice (I used basmati)
curry powder of your choice (I used organic balti mix)
spring onions
veg - I used spring onions, endame beans and mushrooms - was going to include spinach before the end, but forgot
smoked haddock


1.  Put rice in casserole, mix in curry powder/paste and cover with enough cold water to cover + about 1.5 cms above.
2.  When it comes to the boil add chopped veg over the rice.
3.  Place fish on the top.  The water/stock should still be slopping about at least half way up the fish fillets (unless you have really stuck shed loads of veg in, in which case perhaps just below the fish).  Cover, transfer to oven.  Leave in oven for 20 minutes at least.
4.  If adding soft greens (eg. spinach or frozen peas) add them 10ish minutes before serving)

Measurements are vague - timings are vague - as long as you get it to boiling before putting in warm oven, and as long as you leave it long enough this really is a very very easy, forgiving dinner.  Obv, if you want proper kedgeree you use cooked rice, a more complex spicing mixture and cooking processes .. oh, and some boiled eggs.  But - I was busy, and I loved it.

Vegetable soup with noodles

We are on a health kick.  What with the sponsored swimming and sensible food we should be skinny in about 10 minutes.  It's also turned a bit cold, so I thought soup might be in order... bit of a chili kick, and it hit the spot.







Serves: 4,  Calories per portion:  approx 270;  Price:  approx 75p per portion.


Vegetable soup with noodles.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 red pepper
2 carrots
150 g green beans
100g mushrooms
Good pinch of chili flakes
4 blocks of noodles
miso soup mix
2 pints chicken (or veg) stock
1 tsp marmite

1.  Sautee chopped onion in olive oil.
2.  Chop other veg finely and chuck into pot with onions.
3.  Add crushed garlic, chili flakes and stir.
4.  Add 1 sachet mixo soup mix, tsp of marmite and 2 pints of chicken stock.
5.  Simmer unit veg is soft, probably about 12 minutes.
6.  Add noodles and simmer for another few minutes.
7. Taste, season, scoff.

Prawny stir fry with noodles

An interesting day all round.  Victim may have the opportunity of an adventure of a lifetime, but we can't say much yet.  A mate has had an amazing invite to an International trade thingymajig... but not allowed to say anything about that either!  There was a traffic jam on the way to the pool, so swimming training was stalled for the day (only 160 lengths this week.. smug grin).  Then, we were going to go out for dinner, but couldn't decide where to go - and came to the conclusion that it is usually quite disappointing, so opted for a nice spicy prawny treat  instead.  Victim didn't say much - but I think that is mostly down to me insisting on a Corrie overdose rather than a reaction to the dinner - cos it was all eaten.

So, prawny stir fry with noodles:-

Serves 2:  Takes:  about 20ish mins - start to finish - 10 mins cooking time: Approx calories per serving:  395  approx price per serving: £1.90

Ingredients (indicative, not exhaustive - use veg you have available, amounts approximate to say the least)

1 tbsp peanut oil
Vegetables: spring onions, orange pepper, carrot, courgette, mushrooms, green beans, radish, beansprouts
handful of prawns
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger puree
1 finely chopped chili
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp rice wine
2 "cakes" of dried noodles
pinch of sesame seeds

Method:

1. Chop veg, and mince garlic and ginger, finely chop chili.
2. Put water on for noodles, heat peanut oil in large frying pan/wok
3. When the oil is hot chuck all veg in and toss around a bit.  Add garlic, ginger, chili and toss around a bit more.
4. After a couple of minutes add tomato puree, soy sauce and a splash of rice wine - and about half a cup of water.
5. When noodle water boils chuck noodles into it - and chuck prawns into veg (if you are using frozen prawns thaw them out in boiling water first - boil kettle pour onto frozen prawns, swirl about, leave for 30 seconds or so, check they are soft - then chuck into veg).
6. Chuck veg about happily, and a minute or so later add beansprouts.
7. Drain noodles and add to stir fry.
8. Toss energetically, sprinkle on sesame seeds, and more soy sauce if you think it needs it.
9. Scoff

Mushroom and broccoli soup

Victim number one wanted mushroom soup, but I knew we had other veggies to use - so invented leek, mushroom, broccoli and parsnip soup.  Recipe is not complicated - start by softening onions and/or leeks with/ or without celery.  Add crushed garlic.  Add chopped veg - mushrooms, parsnips and broccoli in this case - and a splash of brandy (entirely optional - just adds a little zing).  Add water/ stock, season - enough to cover... and a little bit extra - it is soup you know! - simmer until all veg soft (20 mins?).  Zizz.  Plate up and splash of cream (optional) mine sank... scoff ... victims had seconds :)

Chicken and vegetable noodle soup

OK Victim nearly had a soup refusal today - and then admitted having soup for lunch too (smoked haddock chowder).  So, I had to persuade with one of current favourites... well-ish... it could have been more chinese, but it was declared "yum" when every last drop was gone.  So, sautee onion, ginger and garlic in peanut oil,  add chopped chicken breast - then toss in chopped carrot, red pepper, green beans, mushrooms, radish and chili.  Add about 2 pints of chicken stock and liberal splashings of soy sauce and rice wine.  When veg is almost done add egg noodles, simmer for a minute add handful of frozen peas, sprinkle of chili flakes and good squeeze of lime, simmer then add handful of chopped kale.  Tasty, hot and sour, clean tasting and nutritious.  Victim declared yum. 

Keema curry

Shed loads of mince in the freezer - and not really feeling like spag bol or chili, or any of the usual mince stand-bys - I remembered at Uni when we used to have Keema curry at about midnight after a pub crawl - it was called keema curry - but really it was mince and peas - with assorted levels of firey heat.  I remember some of the assembled rabble would show off and order it so hot it made their eyeballs sweat!  Anyway, this was my much tamer version - which has a lot more veg in it.
Chop and fry onion, celery and carrot - brown off minced beef - add garlic, ginger paste and chili flakes and a good shake of curry powder/paste (biryani mix in this case) - add chopped mushrooms, red pepper, courgette and green beans.  Add big squirt of tomato puree, another big squirt of tomato ketchup and about a pint of stock.  Simmer for 30 mins.

Chinese(ish) chicken casserole

It started off as a stir-fry - but when it came to it I just didn't fancy stir fry and brown rice.  Far too virtuous!  So, stayed virtuous, but with more sauce.  Sauteed spring onion, garlic, ginger and chili in peanut oil.  Added bite sized chicken pieces, chinese five spice and a good splash of soy sauce.  Added assorted chopped vegetables - red pepper, courgette, mushroom, celery, soya beans, sliced sugar snap peas.  Fry until soft(er).  Add 2 tbsp tomato puree, some rice wine and black pepper.  Add a cup or so of water and simmer for 15 mins.  Add some greens - we had curly kale, so chucked that in - could have been cabbage or spinach, but we had kale so in it went (chopped quite finely to avoid victim grumps) - and another handful of chopped spring onion for freshness.  Also, steamed some brown rice.  After 30 mins the casserole was still quite sweet from the five spice, so added more black pepper and soy sauce.  Yum - victim had seconds - noted addition of greens but admitted that they weren't so bad.... result!  When I do similar again I will add bean paste (black or yellow) at the start for depth.