it's raining outside, but it's summer in the kitchen

I have had a lovely afternoon looking around open gardens in a community nearby - the weather was pants (again) but at least it wasn't raining all afternoon.  So, tonight we came home to some indoor sunshine.

Potato and broad bean salad with feta and olives, coleslaw and salad leaves.

Recipes:  ... well lettuce - cut, separate leaves wash and dry.

Potato salad:

potatoes - diced
red onion - very thinly sliced
broad beans (double peeled - thank you patient partner - this takes ages and you did a great job)
green beans
feta
black olives
olive oil
herbs

1.  Boil potatoes - chopped into even sized mouthfulls.
2. Steam green vegetables.
3.  Mix onions, warm potatoes and greens with cold olives, cheese and herbs and olive oil.

meanwhile

Grate carrots, shred white cabbage and finely slice spring onion - sprinkle in chili flakes, salt - splash in sherry (or other vinegar) and olive oil - mix.

SCOFF

Roast root vegetables, lentil casserole and cumin cabbage

End of veg box again - but this was really good.  Instructions are brief because I'm tired - but this was actually Sunday's dinner - tonight's was the leftovers made into a delicious shephard's pie thingamebob.

Roast root vegetables

Parboil prepped carrots, turnip and potatoes.  Put into oven proof dish, pour over vegetable stock with a teaspoon of grainy mustard.  Bake for 45+ minutes.

Lentil casserole

Sautee onions in olive oil, add chopped mushrooms and courgette.  Add crushed garlic and mixed herbs.  Add some lentils and some stock - simmer.  Then add some red wine, simmer.  Then add passata and lots of black pepper - simmer.

Cumin cabbage

When other stuff is about 20 minutes off simmer shredded cabbage and a teaspoon of cumin in a centimetre of water and a tablespoon of olive oil.

Deep filled pie and veg... leftover heaven

 It's Monday night, and the veg box arrives on a Tuesday... that means leftovers.

Well!  I impressed myself.

 Left over gluten free pastry (from Tuesday's red onion tarte tatin which I forgot to picture, but similar to this) tarte tatin with red onion and mozzarella; yesterday's   rice and mung beans and ratatouie(ish) made into a deep filled pie, baked for 30 minutes - served with boiled new potatoes and steamed green beans and spring greens

Red rice and mung beans, ratatouie(ish) and roast butternut squash

The veg box comes on a Tuesday - Sunday and Monday can get "interesting" - today became mediterranean with a little bit of moroccan and caribbean chucked in for good measure.

red rice
mung beans
fried onions
parsley
oregano
cinnamon

olive oil
butternut squash
red onion
garlic
rosemary
caribbean seasoning

onion
olive oil
red pepper
yellow pepper
aubergine
tomatoes
mixed herbs
black pepper
red wine

1.  Cook rice and simmer mung beans.
2.  When cooked, take off the heat and save until ready to serve.
3.  Five minutes before serving heat up with a little olive oil, with fried onions, sprinkle of cinnamon and chopped herbs.

4.  Peel and chop butternut squash
5.  Put into roasting tin with chunks of red onion, cloves of garlic, salt, caribbean seasoning and olive oil.
6.  Roast for about 45 minutes.

7.  Sautee chopped onion in olive oil.
8.  When onion is a bit soft and loads of garlic and diced pepper, aubergine and tomatoes.
9.  Splosh in wine, mixed herbs and seasoning.
10.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.

Really very nice!  Loads left of course.

Grilled endive, halloumi, red pepper; tomato and courgette bake with new potatoes

It's been pee-ing it down all day... AGAIN.  So, to try to inject a bit of summer into the day I did a bit of a mediterranean grill fest - with endive (chicory), red pepper and halloumi with a tomatoe and courgette back, with some simply boiled potatoes.

In the order of attack.  Turn on oven. Make marinade, chuck in chicory, peppers and cheese.  Chop tomatoes and courgettes and make the bake.  Boil potatoes.  Grill chicory, then add red peppers, then halloumi - the chicory takes about 12 minutes, peppers 6-8 and cheese 5ish.

Marinade

Olive oil
Crushed garlic
balsamic vinegar
chopped fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
chili flakes

Courgette and tomato bake

courgettes, chopped into slices about the thickness of a £1 coim
tomatoes, similarly chopped
olive oil
crushed garlic
salt

Drizzle oil into oven dish, arrange tomatoes and courgettes alternating.  Spinkle with salt and crushed garlic, drizzle with oil.  Bake for 20ish minutes.

I think that's it for recipes.  Was really very nice and brought some sunshine into an otherwise dull May Saturday.

Crispy fish and chips, "tartare sauce"

With a gluten free diet you sometimes miss the staples, like breaded fish - so - coat it in polenta, delicious.

The most "complicated" dish here is the vegetable dish.  Start with the potatoes, then do the "tartare sauce" - put it in the fridge.  Then the vegetables and finally the fish.


Potatoes
Olive oil
Salt

Natural yogurt
Garlic
Parsley
gherkins

Chopped onion
Celery
Green beans
Peas
White wine
Stock

Cod
polenta
salt and pepper
olive oil

1.  Boil potatoes until half done.
2.  Put olive oil in a baking tray and heat up.  Drain potatoes and toss int eh oil.  Roast for 45 minutes +
3.  Mix natural yogurt, crushed garlic, chopped parsley and gherkins, season to taste and refridgerate.
4.  Sautee onions and celery in olive oil.
5.  When onions are a bit soft add crushed garlic, chopped green beans and white wine.  Simmer.
6.  Check vegetables, add stock when it goes a bit dry.
7.  Coat cod fillets in seasoned polenta, a fry in olive oil - about 3-4 minutes per side.
8.  Just after you put the fish in, add peas to the vegetable mix.

Serve... scoff

Whitebait! chips and cabbage

Well, with one thing and another its been an odd couple of days - and the absolute end of the veg box (there is a butternut squash in the fridge, don't tell anyone) and a raid on the freezer - look - we're in the '70s again!

Dishes in the order they were started.



Oven chips

Remove from packet, spread onto non-stick oven tray, put into pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes.

Cabbage .... thing..

Olive oil
Onion
Celery
garlic
spring greens

1.  Chop and sautee onion and celery in olive oil.
2.  When a bit soft add garlic and seasoning - add a little water to simmer down.
3.  Five minutes before ready to serve add shredded greens.

Whitebait

Polenta
Seasoning
White bait
Olive oil

1.  Toss whitebait in seasoned polenta.
2.  Fry, in batches, in hot oil for 2ish minutes, lift out and drain on litchen paper.
3.  Keep warm in oven until ready to serve.

Sing something from Abba and scoff.  Hurray for the '70s!

Tofu nuggets, pasta salad - to make lettuce boats

So, I understand, tofu is very good for you - and it's also very reasonably priced (from the right place).  But, it can be so bland ...really so,so, so bland.  So I had a scout about on the interweb - and a look at what was in the fridge, and this is what I came up with.  They were very nice - but I say "nice" because with the flavours behind them, without the tofu the mixture would have been hugely flavoured (over flavoured realy) - the tofu pulls it all down several notches.  So what you get is a crunchy "nugget" with a silky velvety, pleasant mouthful inside.  Served with (gluten free) pasta salad, home made mayonnaise (http://kitchenfairies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/veggie-paella-and-salad.html) and gem lettuce "boats" to scoop it all into.

Tofu nuggets

1 red onion
1 leek
Garlic
1 red pepper
mushrooms
sun dried tomatoes
chili flakes
cashew nuts
herbs
firm tofu
polenta
olive oil

1.  Saute onion and leek in olive oil until a bit soft.
2.  Add red pepper, mushrooms, crushed garlic, tomatoes and chili flakes and cook for a few minutes.  Leave to cool.
3.  In a food processor blitz tofu, vegetable mixture, a handful of cashew nuts and a fistful of herbs (parsley, oregano, marjoram).
4.  When blitzed, put in the fridge to solidify a bit (it wont change much unless you stick an egg in).
5. Take spoons of mixture and coat in polenta.
6.  Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side (I am sure deep frying for 2 minutes would be great).
7.  Drain on kitchen roll.

Pasta Salad

1 red onion
sweet corn
olive oil
pasta (gluten free pasta twists)
cherry tomatoes
gherkins

1.  Chop red onion and chuck in sweetcorn and good glug of oil.
2.  Meanwhile cook pasta according to packet instructions.
3.  Drain pasta and throw into onion, sweetcorn and oil - toss about so that all pasta has a film of oil on it.
4.  When cold add cherry tomatoes, shopped into halves/quarters - and chopped gherkins.

Serve with gem lettuce leaves.

Scoff.

potato, turnip and leek bake, steamed carrots and spring greens with grilled haloumi

A beautiful day today, and a quick ready steady cook rifle through the fridge - and ta dah!

Potato, turnip and leek bake

4 potatoes
2 turnips
1 leek
olive oil
garlic
stock

1.  Slice potatoes and turnips and par boil for about 7 minutes.
2.  Slice and soften leek in olive oil - add crushed garlic.
3.  Splosh a little olive oil in an oven dish - layer in a third of the potato and turnip, add half the leeks, the next turnip and potato, drizzle of olive oil, black pepper, the last of the leeks and the rest of the potato and turnip.  Drizzle with olive oil, pour in about a pint of stock and bake for 40 minutes or so.

Steamed vegetables

1.  Peel carrots and cut into batons, steam.
2.  Add shredded cabbage after about 8 minutes, steam for a further 5.

Halloumi

Grill halloumi in a dry frying pan from 1-2 minutes on each side.

Scoff.

veggie paella and salad

 The second asparagus of the season - the first was steamed and eaten with quails eggs.  Tonight we were after a bit of oomph, but also to appreciate the lovely flavour of asparagus, so I came up with this....

1 onion
Olive oil
Chopped celery
red pepper, chopped
Mushrooms

Risotto/Paella rice (arborio today)
White wine
Garlic
Mixed herbs
Tin of tomatoes
Stock
paprika
asparagus


1.  Soften chopped onion and celery in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped pepper and mushrooms, stir in and allow a minute for them to relax into the mixture.
3.  Add the rice and turn the mixture over so that every grain has a film of oil.
4.  Chuck in wine, crushed garlic, herbs, tinned tomatoes and a tin full of stock....
5.  Stir until mixed - then walk away, leave it to simmer over a low heat .. have a glass of wine and a chat..
6.  Check on it occasionally, you may need to add some more water/stock ... stir to stop it catching on the bottom.
7.  When rice is still al dente - but getting there - stir in chopped asparagus stems - NOT the tips.
8.  repeat stage 6... for about 5 minutes
9.  Add asparagus tips, and a pinch of paprika (taste and season too), check that it is not too dry (should still be gloopy sauce around) - simmer for a few minutes.
10.  turn off heat and leave to relax for at least 5 minutes ... if you can ... then

SCOFF

we had salad leaves and homemade mayonnaise.

Homemade mayonnaise

Egg
Oil (I used olive oil and almond oil)
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp grainy mustard
salt and pepper

Put all ingredients in a pot slightly wider than your stick blender blade.  Put blade in the bottom of the pot, before you turn it on - turn it on and lift slowly up the mixture and out of the container - it's magic, it works.

was delish