Fasoulia (or greek baked beans)

For a change, I did some forward planning yesterday and soaked some haricot beans.  Actually, to tell you the truth, I soaked a LOT of haricot beans.  I’ve been making fasoulia for years, it’s great comfort food when served hot, although the original recipe I had said serve it cold.  I have made enough to feed a small army for weeks, or me for several days.  If you cut all the ingredients below by a third, you could feed 4 people easily.

I was looking forward to eating it so much that I got up early and set wholemeal bread going in the breadmaker.

GENEROUS quantities of olive oil (I used about 300 ml)
Whole peeled cloves of garlic
4 medium onions
About 750 grams haricot beans (soaked over night)
3-4 bay leaves
1-2 tablespoons thyme
1 can tomatoes, or 3 big tablespoons tomato puree
2 or 3 lemons
Salt

Roughly chop the onions and gently fry in the oil until transparent.  Add all the other ingredients except the lemons, cover with water and either cook all day in a slow cooker or on cooktop or in the stove for about an hour.

It’s cooked when the beans still hold their shape, but are not hard.  Squeeze over the juice of the lemons and season to taste.

If you like, you can add celery and carrots.

This tastes great either hot with hunks of warm bread to mop up the sauce or cold with lettuce.

Lovely leeks and yummy yams for Sunday dins

Oh, it’s so cold here in Wellington.  So after emerging from Slava’s Snow Show at the St James on Sunday, I needed something easy to prepare  and comforting to eat while we all raved about this excellent performance.   (If you get the chance, go and see Slava, it’s GREAT)

So, apart from the standard roast root veggies (potatoes, yams, carrots, parsnips, garlic, onions, yellow peppers this week), I used two of my favourites to make a yummy, sloppy mix to warm my cockles.

2 leeks

2 medium sized eggplant (aubergine)

8 whole cloves garlic

2 red peppers

1 can tomatoes

Slice the leeks and spread over the bottom of a ceramic or glass dish and pop in the whole garlic cloves.

Slice the eggplant into half centimetre slices and spread over.

Thinly slice the red peppers and spread over the top.

Pour over the can of tomatoes (I used Watties mediterranean tomatoes with oregano).

Bake uncovered at 180 degrees for about an hour – if it looks as though it’s drying out, just stir it around a bit.

You could spread some breadcrumbs over the top and grill to get a crispy topping if you liked, but it’s great just as it comes.

Jeff’s silver beet and beans on toast

Silver beet
Cooked beans (haricot or other)
Tomatoes
Garlic
Onion
Turmeric
Olive oil

Saute all the ingredients in the olive oil and serve on wholemeal toast.

Jeff says “I use navy beans or butter beans (like baby limas). Add the Bragg’s all purpose when it’s done (one long squirt). Sometimes I add some fresh basil. When you serve it try a little Vegan grated parmesan on top. And always better if you prepare a day in advance!”

Thanks Jeff!  I’m going to try this one for lunch today!

Cornish pasties

Just the thing to warm the tummy on a cold Wellington night! and a great way to use up leftover potato. Use your favourite pastry (filo would be lovely, but shortcrust is easier!)

Filling

4 small-medium sized potatoes cooked (skins on or off, it doesn’t matter)
1 onion
About 100 grams string beans
2 zucchini
About 1 tbs oil
Tamari or other favouring, eg Braggs or soy sauce

Chop the onion and fry in the oil until transparent.

Chop the beans and courgettes into 1-2 cm long pieces, add to the onions. Roughly chop the potatoes and add. Continue to fry gently (or until your potatoes are warmed through).

Add Tamari, Braggs or other seasoning to taste.

Roll your pastry out, cut into triangles about 15 cms on the short side.

Put filling in centre and fold over, sealing with a little water.

Pop into the oven at around 180 degrees and bake til golden – absolutely YUMMY!

Apricot mousse – so easy!

Approximate quantities
200g dried apricots
Up to 200ml rice milk

Roughly chop the dried apricots (try to buy the nice plump juicy ones – I bought mine from Moore Wilsons).

Pop in the blender and whizz, slowly adding the rice milk, until the mixture becomes creamy.

That’s it! You can chill it, so it gets thicker, or you can just serve it immediately, as I’ve just done, sprinkled with some nuts and bit of grated chocolate to make it look pretty.

It’s so yummy!! I’m going to make it again tomorrow.

Dhal stuffed mini pumpkins

So easy!!!
All the supermarkets seem to have lovely little minikin pumpkins at the moment. Cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and fill. Bake for about 20 minutes on 180 degrees.
I was feeling lazy last night, so I filled mine with Taste of India dhal. They have a range of dhals in microwavable pots. I used the Moong Dhal, which is vegan.
One pot filled 3 minikins and preparation time was under 5 minutes!
I ate one last night and took another to work. 3 minutes in the microwave and I had a great lunch with little washing up, because the minikin skins are quite tough, so they work like little bowls.

Bottom of the vege drawer soup

I made this in the slow cooker the other day. It was cold outside and I didn’t have much in the house to cook with, plus I had an opened pack of real stock to use up.
Some of the veggies were pretty wilted and wrinkly, but they cooked into a great soup!
I used:
1 onion
2 sticks of celery
2 potatoes
1 yellow pepper
1 carrot
6 mushrooms
6 whole cloves of garlic
Vegetable stock or water
Garlic salt
Lemon pepper

Chop all the veges (not too chunky, but not too fine either). Put the veges in a slow cooker with the garlic cloves and vegetable stock and water to cover.

Switch on lowest setting and go to work or shopping or read a book.
Come back about 8 hours later, season to taste with garlic salt and pepper (I used lemon pepper which you can buy from the supermarket).

You can eat it lumpy or you can pop it in the blender or use one of those stick blenders to make a thick smooth soup.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, make it in a big saucepan and simmer until the veges are soft (about 30 minutes).

Eat with lots of lovely wholemeal bread and freeze the leftovers in one person sized potions for the next cold day when you don’t feel like cooking.

Lentil salad

I just made this is big salad to take to a pot luck dinner. It makes a huge bowlful. If you just want to make it for yourself, use 1 cup dry lentils (or open a can!) and add less veges.

500 grams or 3 cups brown lentils
1 red onion
1 stick celery
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
8 tomatoes
½ cup olive oil
Fresh mint
Fresh parsley
Garlic salt

Wash the lentils and place in large pan with plenty of water. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until cooked. Drain.

Chop the onion, celery, peppers and tomatoes – quite finely, because you want them to mix in with the lentils.

Finely chop the herbs.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.

Season to taste with the garlic salt.

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

This serves 2-3 people, depending on how hungry you are and whether you serve it with lovely green vegetables like broccoli or spinach on the side.

6 potatoes
Margarine
Soy milk
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic
1 stick celery chopped
1 cup sweetcorn
6 small brown mushrooms, chopped
1 tin or 2 cups cooked brown lentils
Handful savoury yeast
1 tsp mixed herbs
Vegetable stock or water

Peel and boil the potatoes in a pan of salted water.
Fry the onion a little of the margarine or oil until transparent. Add the garlic, celery, sweetcorn, mushrooms lentils and herbs and stir well.
Add the savoury yeast and stock or water bit by bit, stirring, until the mixture has thickened and you have a nice gravy. Season to taste
Pour into a greased over-proof dish.
Drain and mash the potatoes, adding soy milk and margarine to taste.
Pile gently on top of the pie mixture, spreading the potato out to the sides of the dish.
Bake at around 180° for about 40 minutes, or until potato is golden brown.

Food in a Flash – Vegan Dhal

This makes a mild dhal, enough to serve 2 people. If you want to jazz it up a bit, add additional curry spices.

1 tbsp oil
1 cup red lentils, washed
1 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
1 can indian flavoured tomatoes
vegetable stock or water
juice of a lemon (optional)

Chop the onion and fry in oil until transparent. Bruise the garlic cloves by pressing down on them with the flat of a knife blade and peel.

Add garlic and lentils to the onion and mix together.

Add the tomatoes and cook gently over a low heat until lentils get mushy (about 30 mins or so). If the dhal starts to dry out, add vegetable stock or water.

Squeeze in the lemon juice and serve with rice – if you want to get fancy, you could sprinkle some coriander over it.