Category: Food - Richard Glover

Roasted chickpea and broccoli burritos

Makes 6-8

Shamelessly taken from Thug Kitchen because it’s so nice! If you think the spice blend might be a bit hot, feel free to leave out the cayenne or reduce the chili powder.

You will need:

2 400g tins of cooked chickpeas
1 large white onion
1 red pepper
A large head of broccoli
3 cloves of garlic
A large baking tray
6 – 8 tortilla wraps
1 avocado
Some mixed leaves
Anything else you like to put in burritos

For the spice blend:

2 teaspoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
Half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of olive oil

Stick your oven on at 220C, whilst that’s heating up peel the onion, deseed the pepper and chop them up along with the broccoli. Aim for chickpea sized pieces, fairly small, not too chunky.

Place all the chopped veg in a large bowl and add the drained, cooked chickpeas. Pour in the olive oil, soy sauce, give it all a good stir and throw in the spices, mix until it’s all covered.

Pour the mixture out onto your baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.

Either chop or mince your garlic then add it to the baking tray mix, give it all a good stir and return it to the oven for 10-15 minutes.

The broccoli probably looks burnt, but that’s the plan, it’s not really burnt, it’s just full of deliciously crispy flavour.

Now to make your burritos! Halve, peel, deseed and slice up that avocado, add some leaves or whatever else you want in your burrito, maybe some hot salsa!

Roll, serve and wait for the party to happen in your mouth.

Pasta with a creamy avocado sauce

Serves 4

How hungry are you? Can you wait 12 minutes, because that’s exactly how long it takes to make this simple and delicious meal.

You will need:

400g of your favourite pasta, I used linguine
2 ripe avocados
A few basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of lemon juice
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
A 200g tin of sweetcorn
A few cherry tomatoes
Some kind of food processor

Right, fill a large pan with boiling water, stick your pasta in it and cook it however it says on the packet.

Whilst that’s doing its thing we can make the sauce, halve your avocados, peel them and get rid of the seed, stick them in the food processor along with the basil leaves, peeled garlic and a twist of salt & pepper to taste.

Process it all together until smooth.

With the processor running drizzle in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil until the sauce emulsifies, you’ll see the sauce change in consistency and thicken. You might not have to put all of the oil in so see how you get on.

Drain your sweetcorn and quarter your cherry tomatoes.

Your pasta should be done by now (see it’s that quick), drain it and return it to the pan, stir in your avocado sauce, sweetcorn, tomatoes and serve!

Adapted from: http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/08/creamy-avocado-pasta.html

Roasted aubergine and red pepper couscous with halloumi cheese recipe

This is fairly quick to knock up and makes enough for 4 portions, it’s also easy to make vegan by replacing the halloumi cheese with sliced tofu.

Ingredients – Makes 4 portions

220g uncooked couscous

Olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

1 vegetable stock cube (I use a Knorr stock pot)

330ml boiling water

1 large or 2 medium red onions

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large aubergine

2 sweet red peppers

1 250g block of halloumi or 1 block of tofu

1 can of cooked green lentils (Lentilles Vertes)

A drop of truffle oil – Optional

Method

Right, heat your oven to 200C, I’ve got a fan oven.

De-seed your peppers, chop them into pieces, make them however big you want.

Chop the aubergine into slices and then into pieces, again, any size you want but bear in mind you want all this to roast fairly quickly.

Throw the pepper and aubergine on baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, add a twist of black pepper and mix it all together.

Put that in the oven to roast and grab the onion(s).

Peel and chop the onions, put them in a large pan with a drizzle of olive oil and a twist of black pepper, cook over a medium heat until they’re turning soft and almost translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook for a few more minutes but don’t over cook the garlic.

Once the veg has been roasting in the oven for 10 minutes take it out, give it a shake and a turn and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Slice the halloumi cheese into 8 slices, add a little olive oil to a frying pan and get it on a medium heat. Add the slices of halloumi and cook until golden brown, keep an eye on them, they can brown quickly. When both sides are done remove from the pan, cut into pieces and set aside.

Your roast veg should have had about 20 minutes now, check to see if it’s done, I like it slightly crispy and almost burnt, each to their own. If it’s done, turn the oven off and get started on the cous cous.

Dissolve the stock pot in 330ml of boiling water, add the couscous to the pan with the onions and garlic and place on a very low heat. Add the stock to the pan, stir to cover the couscous and put a lid on the pan.

After 2-3 minutes give the couscous a stir, it should have swollen up and taken on all the water, if it hasn’t, put the lid back on and give it another minute but keep checking.

Once it’s done, drain the lentils and add them to the pan along with the roasted veg and halloumi cheese.

Add the totally optional drop of truffle oil and give it all a good stir, I know it sounds really pretentious but I think it really makes a difference. If you’ve not got truffle oil and you’re tempted to get some make sure it’s a good quality oil with some real truffle, I’ve got some of the Truffle Hunter oils.

Borscht – Beetroot soup with feta recipe

A friend gave me some home grown beetroot so I decided to make a bit of Borscht, or beetroot soup!

Ingredients – Makes enough for 3-4

600g (3-4 large beets), peeled and grated coarsely

500g (around 5-6) of ripe tomatoes, halved (I suppose if you’re really lazy you could use a tin of chopped tomatoes)

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

A bit of olive oil

500ml of vegetable stock (I used 2 ‘Knorr Stock Pots’)

Freshly ground black pepper

Some feta cheese

Method

Place the halved tomatoes in an oven dish, pour a little olive oil over the top of them and throw on the chopped garlic.

Place in the oven at 190C (I’ve got a fan oven) until they’re soft, it took me about 30 minutes.

Place the tomatoes in a sieve and rub through into a bowl to remove the skins and pips.

Put a little more oil in a pan and sweat the onion with a twist of black pepper.

Add the stock and beetroot, give it all a stir and bring to the boil for about 10 minutes or until the beetroot is tender.

Stir in the tomato purée.

Using either a stick blender or a normal blender process the soup until completely smooth. If you’ve got white walls take care, it’s easy to spray the soup all over if you’re using a stick blender!

Transfer the soup to warmed bowls and crumble a little of the feta cheese on top.

Serve with crusty bread!

You might also want to…

Add a shot of vodka
Chill in the fridge and serve cold

Coronation butter beans recipe

Coronation butter beans, a delicious Coronation Chicken alternative for vegetarians. Pretty damn tasty!

Ingredients – Makes about enough for 8 people to dip into at a party!

4 tins of good quality butter beans, drained

1 large tablespoon of mango chutney

2 large tablespoons of Greek yogurt

2 large tablespoons of good mayonnaise

1 large tablespoon of madras curry powder (hot)

A sprinkling of flaked almonds

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

A handful of chopped coriander

You might also want…

Flat bread, pitas or naan

Method

Place the mango chutney, Greek yogurt, mayonnaise and curry powder in a large bowl, mix until combined.

Taste the mix to see if it’s to your liking, add a bit more curry powder if you like!

Add the butter beans and flaked almonds, stir until coated.

If you’re ready to serve now, then carry on, if you’ve got a few hours, cover and place in the fridge for the flavours to get into the butter beans.

Transfer the mixture to a serving dish, sprinkle on the grated carrot, sliced red onion and grated coriander.

Serve with flat bread, pitas or naan!