Tag: Vegetarian

Frittata, the best all day egg

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There is an important distinction in my house about two types of egg dish that I usually lump in the same group – tortilla versus frittata.

I concede that the tortilla is slightly different than the way I do my frittatas (fry and then under the grill), but they’re very similar and both delicious. For the sake of harmony, I don’t call anything I make tortilla, even when I’ve only used potato and onion.

As with many of these types of food, the best thing is that you can use whatever veg you have in the fridge – egg is the only vital ingredient. Also, this can be breakfast, lunch or dinner – not like the very breakfast focused versions of other egg meals (in my opinion – I guess really you can eat whatever you want whenever you want).

Kale and potato frittata with cheddar cheese

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 3-4 medium potatoes
  • Handful of kale
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 dl grated cheddar

Method

  1. Slice up potatoes and shallow fry until soft
  2. Toss in finely chopped shallots and garlic
  3. Turn the girl on high
  4. Chop the kale and toss in the pan together with everything else
  5. Beat the eggs and pour into the pan
  6. Cook on medium to low until some bubbles form and the edges are cooked
  7. Put grated cheese on top and then put under the grill
  8. Take out when cheese is bubbling and browned
  9. Eat on its own or serve with salad

Alternative mashed potato covered pies

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I was in the mood for something comforting, didn’t have any meat, didn’t want to go out of the house and also just felt like something vegetarian, so I made this twist on a classic cottage pie using black beans. It was super good and though I think it can easily feed four, the two of us inhaled it.

You could easily make this vegan, but this version is only vegetarian because of the feta and yoghurt which I think adds a nice tang to this recipe.

Black bean and sweet potato cottage pie (2 – 4 portions)

Ingredients

  • 400g black beans
  • 400g chopped tomatoes
  • 1 Vegetable stock cube
  • 3 brown button mushrooms
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp sage
  • 3-4 Sweet potatoes
  • 2 tsp Greek yoghurt (this is what I had in the fridge – use butter, cream or nothing as you see fit to make the mash)
  • Feta

Method

  1. Soften mushrooms in a medium sized pot
  2. Add in finely chopped herbs
  3. Add in stock cube (dissolved in about 1 dl of boiling water), tomatoes and black beans
  4. Stir in bay leaf
  5. Simmer until thickened (15 minutes minimum) and remove bay leaf
  6. While simmering, boiled cubed sweet potatoes until soft
  7. Mash together with Greek yoghurt
  8. Pour black bean mix into a 19cm oven proof dish then cover with masked sweet potato
  9. Crumble feta on top and pop under the grill until golden

Dead easy, one portion pasta (G.C.P.H. Fusilli Bucati)

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I didn’t take a picture of this one because I didn’t think it would be anything special, but it was a damn good little snack/lunch size portion so I decided to share it.

This one was made by me for me as a snack because it was a bit hungry but couldn’t be bothered with a faff. Pretty customisable so just use whatever you have lying about.

Garlic, Cheese, Pine nuts and Herbs Fusilli Bucati (makes enough for 1)

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 dl Fusilli Bucati (or any pasta you want)
  • 10-20g grated ossau iraty
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tsp pine nuts
  • 2-4 fresh basil leaves
  • 1-2 fresh sage leaves
  • 1 tbsp Creme fraiche
  • Salt/pepper

Method

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and then cook pasta per instructions on pack.
  2. Chop up the basil, sage, pine nuts and garlic and mix together with the cheese.
  3. When pasta is boiled drain, but keep a bit of the liquid in the bottom of the pan.
  4. Place pasta back in the pan and add the rest of the ingredients (including creme fraiche, salt and pepper to taste)
  5. Serve with a bit of grated cheese and cracked black pepper on top.

Two to four cheese mac’n’cheese

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I’ve had a real issue at not getting final images of the food because I’ve dived in before I think about it! This one is almost there, just in the need of a little time under the grill to make the top all nice and brown and crispy.

In the recipe below I use two cheeses, but I would use any strong cheese or a mixture of multiple strong cheeses to make this.

Inspiration for this one cane because I wanted to give my pregnant wife a ‘Hawksmoor’ at home with steak and some mac’n’cheese. For the cheese sauce, which I didn’t really know how to do I used a slightly modified version of this BBC Good Food recipe.

Two cheese baked mac’n’cheese (makes enough for 4 decent helpings)

Ingredients

  • 250ml almond milk
  • 25g butter
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 100g cheese cut into 1cm cubes (I used Parmesan and strong raw cheddar)
  • 5dl macaroni/pasta
  • Breadcrumbs and extra Parmesan
  • Chopped fresh basil or parsley

Method

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and then cook pasta per instructions on pack.
  2. Heat butter on medium heat in a sauce pan and when bubbling add flour. Stir to form the roux.
  3. When all combined, add almond milk, paprika and salt/pepper.
  4. Bring to a boil and then add cheese.
  5. Continually stir at low/medium heat until combined and smooth.
  6. Turn on the grill at a high temp.
  7. Place macaroni in the oven proof dish.
  8. Cover with cheese sauce, stir together with fresh chopped basil/parsley.
  9. Top with grated Parmesan and breadcrumbs until a later forms on top.
  10. Spray/drizzle a bit of oil.
  11. Place under the grill till golden brown and crispy.