Jamabalaya, traditionally made with spicy sausage, chicken and prawsns isn't something you'd see on a vegetarian menu. Considering there's no seafood, or spicy sausage in this version, it probably can't really be described as authentic creole cuisine. Yet I am currently trying to come up with more veggie dinners as Chayne is a vegetarian who doesn't like pulses much.
Vegetarian Jambalaya (Serves 3-4)
2 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp smoked paprika
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 celery sticks, sliced
2 red chillies, sliced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 vegetarian sausages, sliced thickly
350g Quorn pieces
250g long grain rice
1 litre vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 thyme sprig
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1) Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the paprika and cook for a coiple of minutes. Then add the onion, garlic, peppers, celery and chillies and cook for 10 minutes.
2) Next add the Quorn and sausages and stir around for a couple of minutes. Then add the quornmm and sauasges and cook for another few minutes before adding the rice and stirring everything around for another 60 seconds.
3) Now use enough vegetable stock to top the rice and simmer until the rice is cooked. You will need to top up the pan with stock every now and then. It is ready when the rice is light and fluffy and has absorbed nearly all the water.
I can't lie. This would have tasted nicer with prawns, chicken and chorizo but it is still a very good vegetarian mid-week dinner and I couldn't stop going back for another spoonful.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Celery Soup With Blue Cheese
This is another leftover dish. Stews and stocks often need the odd stick of celery but, of course, you can't just buy two sticks. So what to do with the rest of it. Well, I usually treat myself to a stick with salad cream. Then I made this soup with the rest. It's based on Delia recipe but I had a little blue cheese leftover in the fridge from lunch with my parents the other week. It takes 2-3 hours to cook but the best thing about it is that you don't need to fry anything. Just chop everything up, put it in a pot, stick it in the oven and forget about it for a few hours.
Celery Soup With Blue Cheese (Serves 4)
1 head of celery
1 small celeriac
1 onion
1.5 litres stock
2 bay leaves
80g any blue cheese (I used Norbury Blue from Norbury Farm near Dorking)
Handful of flatleaf parsley, chopped
1) Heat the oven to 140 then prepare the veg. Start by choping the celery into large chunks. Then peel and chop the celeriac into large chunks and do the same with the onion. Season with salt and pepper. Put it in the casserole dish with the stock and bay leaves. Bring to a gentle simmer on the hob and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.
2) Remove the soup from the oven, remove the bay leaves and blend it until smooth. You might need to do this in batches.
3) Pour the soup back into the casserole dish, bring it to a gentle simmer and crumble in the blue cheese. Then throw in the parsley at the last minute.
I'm not a big fan of cream in soup as while it makes for a smoother soup it usually takes something away from the flavour of the vegetables. Here though, the blue cheese does add the touch of creamyness to a robust soup. I continued the cheese them by having it with one slice of cheese on toast.
Celery Soup With Blue Cheese (Serves 4)
1 head of celery
1 small celeriac
1 onion
1.5 litres stock
2 bay leaves
80g any blue cheese (I used Norbury Blue from Norbury Farm near Dorking)
Handful of flatleaf parsley, chopped
1) Heat the oven to 140 then prepare the veg. Start by choping the celery into large chunks. Then peel and chop the celeriac into large chunks and do the same with the onion. Season with salt and pepper. Put it in the casserole dish with the stock and bay leaves. Bring to a gentle simmer on the hob and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.
2) Remove the soup from the oven, remove the bay leaves and blend it until smooth. You might need to do this in batches.
3) Pour the soup back into the casserole dish, bring it to a gentle simmer and crumble in the blue cheese. Then throw in the parsley at the last minute.
I'm not a big fan of cream in soup as while it makes for a smoother soup it usually takes something away from the flavour of the vegetables. Here though, the blue cheese does add the touch of creamyness to a robust soup. I continued the cheese them by having it with one slice of cheese on toast.
Sausage, Beans And Mash
The Oxtail Stew turned out to be a great start to my thrifty eating plan. Not only did it provide me with a dinner (Andy had some too) but I also got two lunches out of it and still had some of the sauce left over. Of course this had turned to jelly in the fridge but it gave me another dinner once I'd scarped the fat off and reheated it. I bought some beef and chilli sausages from The Ginger pig (not that frugal but I within my £20 budget for the week) and cooked them in the stock. I served this with mustard mash. You could, of course, just use normal stock but I'm not sure of the precise measurements as I just had what was leftover.
Sausage, beans and mash Serves 2)
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 beef and chilli sausages (You can just use normal pork sausages if you like)
1 can of pinto beans
2 tsp cumberland sauce
Leftover Oxtail and ale stew stock (you can just make up some using 250ml beef stock and 250ml of stout)
3 potatoes
2 tsbp wholegrain mustard
1) Easy this. First heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and add the onions. Fry for a couple of minuted before adding the sausages and browning all over. Next add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
2) Next add the beans and pour over the stock. When it melts from its gelatinous form, the stock shouldn't cover the sausages but come about half-way up the sides. Simmer fort 20 minutes
3) While this is cooking, make your mash. Mash it with warm butter and heated milk and stir in a couple of tablespoons of wholegrain mustard.
Again this was pretty rich, but the cumberland sauce made it sweeter and less intense. I love the way a simple Sunday dinner can provide almost a week of great lunches and dinners.
Sausage, beans and mash Serves 2)
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 beef and chilli sausages (You can just use normal pork sausages if you like)
1 can of pinto beans
2 tsp cumberland sauce
Leftover Oxtail and ale stew stock (you can just make up some using 250ml beef stock and 250ml of stout)
3 potatoes
2 tsbp wholegrain mustard
1) Easy this. First heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and add the onions. Fry for a couple of minuted before adding the sausages and browning all over. Next add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
2) Next add the beans and pour over the stock. When it melts from its gelatinous form, the stock shouldn't cover the sausages but come about half-way up the sides. Simmer fort 20 minutes
3) While this is cooking, make your mash. Mash it with warm butter and heated milk and stir in a couple of tablespoons of wholegrain mustard.
Again this was pretty rich, but the cumberland sauce made it sweeter and less intense. I love the way a simple Sunday dinner can provide almost a week of great lunches and dinners.
Oxtail Stew
I had an embarrassing meeting with a financial advisor in the bank the other week. It was embarassing as my bank balance turned out to be far lower Than I had expected. So I've had to start saving money on food. This means no more roast beef baguettes from Pret A Manger for lunch, no more AMT coffees every morning and no more expensive cuts of meat from The Ginger Pig butcher. However, being thrifty doesn't mean I have to eat poor food as, hopefully, I'm about to prove.
Oxtail Stew (Serves 4)
1 red onion, cut in half and sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 kg oxtail (it should already be cut into sections)
2 medium carrots, sliced into four chunks
2 sticks of celery, sliced into four chunks
500ml stout (I used Shoreditch Pitfield Stout)
450ml chicken stock
1 tbsp thyme leaves
1kg potato
2 tbsp horseradish sauce
1) Pre-heat the oven to 140c. Heat a tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of olive oil in a large casserole dish and brown the oxtail all over. Spoon it into a large bowl and set aside. Now fry the onion for five minutes, adding the garlic for the final two minutes. Throw the carrots and celery in the pan and cook fora minute or two.
2) Return the oxtail to the casserole, pour over the stout and chicken stock, add the thyme and bring to the boil. Remove the casserole from the hob and put in the oven for three hours.
3) With 20 minutes to go until the stew is cooked, peel the potatoes, cut into large chunks and boil in salted water. When they're cooked, mash with melted butter and warm milk. Season with salt and pepper and stir in a couple of tablespoons of horseradish sauce.
Oxtail might put some people off but it just tastes like beef and when it's slow cooked like this, it just falls off the bone. And considering this cost me just over £3 for a kilo of tail, you wonder why more people don't buy it. Actually when you eat it it does become obvious. It is quite fatty but this makes for a rich, gelatinous stew. Because it's so rich, you don't need much. I just had three bits of oxtail with my mash. It made enough for two dinners and two lunches, all for the same price as that aforementioned beef baguette.
Oxtail Stew (Serves 4)
1 red onion, cut in half and sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 kg oxtail (it should already be cut into sections)
2 medium carrots, sliced into four chunks
2 sticks of celery, sliced into four chunks
500ml stout (I used Shoreditch Pitfield Stout)
450ml chicken stock
1 tbsp thyme leaves
1kg potato
2 tbsp horseradish sauce
1) Pre-heat the oven to 140c. Heat a tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of olive oil in a large casserole dish and brown the oxtail all over. Spoon it into a large bowl and set aside. Now fry the onion for five minutes, adding the garlic for the final two minutes. Throw the carrots and celery in the pan and cook fora minute or two.
2) Return the oxtail to the casserole, pour over the stout and chicken stock, add the thyme and bring to the boil. Remove the casserole from the hob and put in the oven for three hours.
3) With 20 minutes to go until the stew is cooked, peel the potatoes, cut into large chunks and boil in salted water. When they're cooked, mash with melted butter and warm milk. Season with salt and pepper and stir in a couple of tablespoons of horseradish sauce.
Oxtail might put some people off but it just tastes like beef and when it's slow cooked like this, it just falls off the bone. And considering this cost me just over £3 for a kilo of tail, you wonder why more people don't buy it. Actually when you eat it it does become obvious. It is quite fatty but this makes for a rich, gelatinous stew. Because it's so rich, you don't need much. I just had three bits of oxtail with my mash. It made enough for two dinners and two lunches, all for the same price as that aforementioned beef baguette.
Cheese Sausages With Beer Gravy
I made these about a year ago when my recipes were on my MySpace page. Some of my friends made them and they were a big hit. The only problem was that everyone kept saying "I loved your cheese sausages." So I want to set the record straight. They're not mine, they're SIMON RIMMER's. You can find the original recipe here. Still they are great for a special vegetarian dinner. This time Chayne was coming around for lunch to meet my parents for the first time. She's a vegetarian so I wanted to make something nice. I really don't know what my Dad is playing at in the picture!
Lancashire Cheese Sausages (Serves 4-6)
400g Lancashire Cheese, grated
225g mozarella, grated
200g white breadcrumbs
6 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped thyme
1 tbsp chopped basil
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 medium eggs and 3 medium egg yolks
2 garlic cloves, crushed
For the gravy
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 large onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp light brown sugar
25g plain flour
200ml brown ale
500ml vegetable stock
2 tsp Marmite
For the mash
1kg potatoes
150g butter
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
1) First you need to make the sausages, so put all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix it all together with your hands. Then split the mixture into 12 equal sized oportions and roll each one into a fat sausage shape. Refridgerate for at least two hours or overnight.
2) Next make the gravy. Fry the onions in the vegeetable oil for 10 minutes, then add the garlic, sugar and continue cooking for ten minutes until the onions are golden brown. Now sprink with the flour and cook for a further minute. Finally add the stock and the Marmite and cook until it has reducced to a nice gravy
3) Now start making the mash. Cut the potato into decent-sized chunks and cook in salted water for 15 minutes. Mash with the butter and mustard, put a lid on the pan and keep warm until the sausages are done. with five minutes cooking time to go, put a green vegetable on to boil - I went for broccoli - and boil for five minutes.
4) Now you need to heat enough oil for deep frying in a saucepan. When it's hot enough (test to see if it's working with a cube of white bread. If it turns golden brown in 40 seconds, the oil is at the right temperature. Now drop the sausages into the hot oil in batches. You'll know when they're done when they go golden brown - should be about three minutes
I think everyone, including meat eaters, should give these a go. I love the way the outside is crunchy and the inside soft but it's the addition of those herbs that really makes what could be something heavy and greasy into something fresh and tasty. The beer might not be to everyone's liking as it does give the gravy a slight bitter aftertaste.
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