Spring pickings

Finally (whisper it) it looks like spring has arrived. Time then, for a round-up of some of the better vegetarian recipes that have featured in recent weekend supplements and more.

Quinoa Salad with Mint and Mango

As soon as light nights come around I’m all for leaving aside the root vegetables and spicy stews of winter and marching into the warmer weather with a light supper. This ‘salad’ from Paul Rankin over at the BBC could work, I suppose, as an accompaniment to a heartier dish – Rankin suggests grilled halloumi – but on a warm evening, or at lunchtime, the mix of zingy flavours and protein from the quinoa would do just fine on its own. The recipe is here.

Chard open omelette

Feta and greens is a favourite combination over at ETP Towers, so this ‘open’ omelette from chef Bill Granger over at the Independent is a winner for us. It shouts ‘lunch’ of course, but some hushed sweet nothings could tempt me to turn this into a brunch dish, especially with a little drizzle of chilli sauce. The recipe is here.

Japanese asparagus and duck’s egg omelette

Also over at the Indy is this rolled up omelette that gives us all something different to do with asparagus this season – the sweet and nutty spears chopped finely with spring onion. Not everyone will find the Nanami Togarashi chilli flakes that chef Mark Hix suggests, but I’m sure your common or garden chilli flak will suffice. The recipe is here.

Asparagus with pastry wafers and butter sauce recipe

Sticking with asparagus, this recipe from Rose Prince at the Telegraph keeps it simple, highlighting that ‘Best of British’ asparagus, while adding a more substantial, even luxurious, touch to a light lunch. It’s rare I’ll eat puff pastry. It’s equally rare that I’d complain about having to. And here it is, a precious airy pillow on which those asparagus spears can rest. The recipe is here.

Vegetarian mezze

Have you noticed how cauliflower seems to be making a comeback? Regular readers of Earth to Plate will know we love it here, but it’s good to see this often overlooked vegetable getting tome respect. It features here as one of three ‘small-plate’ mezze dishes by Yotam Ottolenghi: Fried Cauliflower with Pine Nuts, Capers and Chilli is followed by Honey Roasted Carrots with Tahini Yoghurt and Aubergine and Parsley Pesto. Just pass me some warmed pitta. The recipes are here.

So September has come and the days are suddenly a little cooler. Summer is gone – what we had of it. But between the rains of June and July and the collective moment of forgetting everyone took through the Olympics and Paralympics, there were some occasional sunny, warm days. Summer did happen. We have the evidence here in the shape of some pictures of a back garden barbecue.

But what do you cook for a vegetarian at a barbecue? Nothing? C’mon! Buy some frozen veggie burgers and heat them through? Ugh. Make them a salad? What, to soak up the beer and wine? Don’t invite them? Jeez.

It’s a shame that more people don’t realise how much can cooked on a barbecue. Grilling vegetables, fruit and even cheese is simple – much easier than cooking meat, from what I gather from watching others – and is pretty much a surefire way of welcoming non carnivores to the party.

My theory is that a barbecue involves two things: smoke and good quality ingredients – ones that you’d enjoy eating if they were cooked in another way. Simple.

For us at ETP Towers, that means grilling skewers of mixed vegetables over charcoal. Try florets of cauliflower, peppers, cherry tomatoes, artichoke and beetroot. Mix the veg with cubes of halloumi and fruit – my favourite, mango, or even a strawberry. We also grill flat mushrooms, strips of aubergine and courgette and, of course, corn on the cob, par-boiled for a few minutes first.

For a marinade we often use a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and a herb – thyme maybe, or rosemary – and chilli maybe, too.

Ella’s fab veggie burgers, here, would also go down a treat.

There are more spectacular things to barbecue – aubergine rolls with all kinds of fillings, chilli polenta slices, for example – but some of the above is so easy, so quick, that the question of what to feed a vegetarian at a barbecue should never need be asked again.

Last Night’s Dinner: Veggie burgers

…otherwise known as lentil, quinoa and halloumi burgers. These are our latest version of the humble veggie burger and they’re pretty good. Puy lentils and quinoa mean they’re packed with protein and therefore avoid the failure of many a sad veggie burger that comes out of the pan as a dull, soft mush of mashed carbs.

We experiment every time with these so I’ll just outline the recipe. The idea, of course, is to make a small pattie that will hold together in a frying pan and in the bread that will surround it. That means combining your cooked, cooled ingredients with egg and flour in a mixing bowl and forming the patties with your hands before frying. The amount of egg and flour you need will be dependent on how much mixture/patties you want to make. The mix should not be too dry and crumbly, but not oozily wet either. Once you get the hang of this part of the pattie-making process it becomes really easy to judge. You might have a few failures along the way.

Our ‘veg mix’ combines savoury flavours and textures. Puy lentils, simmered for 25 minutes in veggie stock, add an earthiness and some bite. Some handfuls of cooked quinoa add a mealiness and up the protein levels. Lightly fried halloumi, chopped into 0.5cm dice adds some fat, a bit of chew and requisite saltiness. A chopped and lightly fried onion adds savouriness.

When all of these are cooked and cooled, tip them into a large mixing bowl and add one beaten egg and a sprinkle of plain flour. Mix well. Now you’re into the pattie-making zone and need to carefully add a little more flour, or another egg, until that consistency starts to come together. I like to let the mixture sit in the fridge for 30 minutes after mixing as it seems to help the patties stick together. Then form the patties in the palm of your hand and fry in small batches in a little olive oil for around 5 minutes a side. We like to serve them in a bun with some cheddar and a dollop of kick-ass homemade chilli sauce. Rustic and good.

Last Night’s Dinner: Spiced halloumi with a warm Puy lentil, spinach and beetroot salad

Warm salads are the perfect choice for months when the seasons are changing. Maybe it’s the ability to take some veg from one season and lighten it up, or load it down, with some from the next.

This salad – I say salad, though it’s almost a stew, is a Denis Cotter recipe from For the Love of Food – a book we’ve used a few times in this blog. See it here, it’s great. Oh, and go and visit Denis’s restaurant in Cork – it won’t let you down. Have a look, here.

So, I won’t give the recipe in full but, basically… the slices of halloumi are marinated briefly in chillis, cumin and lime zest; the beetroot roasted, with a sprinkle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar; the lentils cooked with sprigs of thyme and garlic; serve with lentils on a bed of spinach with the halloumi on top.

And can you spot our variation? Yep, we had no spinach so we steamed some greens and ran them through the lentils. Twas fine indeed.

Last Night’s Dinner: Chilled fennel soup with halloumi croutons

Wednesday 17 August

As I type this the wind is rattling the windows and the skies are a deep grey – a kind that Elle Deco would probably say is very fashionable for an accent wall right now. Yes, the sky is all rather Farrow and Ball.

It was a lovely evening when I made this soup, however. Ella was late coming home and I was pottering about after a day’s work. The recipe, here, is by Yotam Ottolenghi and would also make a fab lunch – perhaps with a light glass of Vinho Verde. I made rather a lot of croutons, as you can see. But I do like halloumi! And I know, fennel, chilled, soup? Give it a go – especially if you’re fond of a hearty gazpacho or almond based ajo blanco.

Last Night’s Dinner: Kedgeree

Tuesday 10 May

Kedgeree? I hear you gasp? Fish?

Not a chance, mate. Kedgeree (khitchri, kitchari etc, to many people throughout culinary history, was never about smoked haddock or salmon – or even tuna. It was a rice and lentil (moong) dish, eaten throughout the Asian subcontinent, often for breakfast. Rice and peas, basically. This is where our take on kedgeree takes off. It’s so easy to do but does involve a few different pans.

The first pan is used to cook basmati rice until it’s tender but nutty. Once cooked it’s flavoured with dried spices – a little cumin, a little paprika, a little smoked paprika and a little cumin. The second pan is to boil some puy lentils until, again, tender but nutty. The third pan is to fry some halloumi – which for us replaces the smoky fish in most modern kedgeree recipes. The last pan is to hard boil a couple of eggs. If you don’t want to cook all these at the same time, start with the lentils, then the rice, then the eggs, then the halloumi.

Once everything is cooked, combine it all together in a large pan, chopping the egg and halloumi into small pieces. Mix it all through with a fork and then add some chopped flat-leaf parsely.

Finito!

Last Night’s Dinner: Quinoa, Halloumi and Rocket Salad

Wednesday 23 March

It was such a lovely sunny, spring day that a light evening meal was in order. I also had the taste for some griled halloumi cheese. The answer: a salad with peppery leaves with a mustardy dressing, salty halloumi and quinoa tossed in a little olive oil. Really tasty and surprisingly filling, it made me wonder why the pack of quinoa had been sat in the cupboard for so long.