Celeriac and carrot soup recipe

Picked a bag of veg up from the farmers’ market for £1.50 and it made enough soup for a week. It’s easy to make and will keep in the freezer.

Ingredients

40g of unsalted butter (Recipe could easily be made vegan by substituting the butter for olive oil or vegan spread)

2 celeriac, peeled and chopped

4 large carrots, peeled and chopped

4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 medium onions, peeled and chopped

1 litre of hot vegetable stock (I used 2 Knorr stock pots)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

In a large pan, melt the butter then add the onion, carrots and celeriac.

Stir to cover the veg in some butter, put a lid on the pan and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add the potatoes and stock, make sure the stock covers all the veg.

Season with freshly ground pepper and a little salt, remember there’s probably already salt in the stock so don’t overdo it!

Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the veg is cooked.

With a stick blender, purée the soup leaving some lumpy veg.

Serve in hot bowls with a chunky wedge of bread!

Penne pasta with bechamel, broccoli and peas recipe

Left over béchamel sauce and some broccoli in the bottom of the fridge, throw it in a pan with some other stuff, quick food!

Ingredients – Serves 4

300g whole wheat penne pasta

680ml of béchamel sauce

1 head of broccoli, washed and cut into bite size chunks

A hand full of frozen peas

Freshly ground black pepper

As much vegetarian Parmesan cheese as you have to hand, grated

Method

Steam the broccoli for about 20 minutes.

Whilst that’s going on, pour some boiling water in to a large pan and add the pasta, cook for around 12 minutes or until it’s done!

Drain the pasta and add it back to the empty pan.

Add the béchamel sauce and heat through.

Throw in a hand full of frozen peas and cook for a few minutes.

Twist in some black pepper.

Add the Parmesan and broccoli and stir in gently.

Serve up!

Roasted butternut squash with spicy lentils

This recipe makes a lot of the lentils, you could add more squash or keep the leftovers and do something else with them, I had mine for lunch the next day! It could also be very easily made vegan by not using the butter!

Roasted butternut squash with spicy lentils

Ingredients

Olive oil

A little butter

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves of garlic, crushed through a press

1 large onion, diced

1 ½ tablespoons of curry powder (mild, hot, whatever you like) or garam masala

1 litre of vegetable stock

1 ½ cups of dried red split lentils, rinsed and drained

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 large butternut squash

Method

Heat the oven to 180C (I’ve got a fan oven).

Peel and quarter the butternut squash.

Place in a baking dish and drizzle over a little olive oil.

Dot a little butter on the squash pieces and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until the squash is tender and has turned brown in places.

Whilst the squash is in the oven add a little olive oil to a pan and add the onion.

Sauté the onion for a few minutes over a medium heat and add the garlic.

Cook for a few minutes more and add the curry powder, stir to combine and add half of the vegetable stock.

Add the lentils, stir and cover.

Keep checking to make sure the lentils haven’t taken on all of the stock, top up with some of the left over stock if needed.

When the lentils are almost cooked add the chopped tomatoes and stir to combine it all.

Your squash should be done by now! You did keep checking on it didn’t you?

Transfer the squash to some bowls and spoon over the lovely hot spicy lentil mix.

Enjoy!

Cannellini bean, artichoke and goat’s cheese salad recipe

I suppose it should be cannellini bean, artichoke, goat’s cheese, red onion and tomato salad really but that was a bit too long!

Cannellini bean, artichoke and goat’s cheese salad

Ingredients – Serves 3

Olive oil

½ teaspoon of English mustard

A pinch of sugar

1 red onion, thinly sliced

200g cherry tomatoes, halved

150g chargrilled artichoke hearts cut into pieces

400g tin of cannellini beans. drained

Juice of half a lemon

Your favourite salad leaves (I used spinach, rocket and watercress)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

150g of goat’s cheese

Method

In large bowl whisk together 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the lemon juice, the English mustard, a pinch of sugar and some salt and pepper.

Add the red onion to the dressing along with the cannellini beans, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes and give it all a stir.

Serve on top of a large handful of salad leaves with a generous helping of crumbled goat’s cheese.

 

Espresso, chocolate and hazelnut shortbread recipe

I don’t think you can really go wrong when you’re cooking with coffee, but when you add copious amounts of butter, chocolate and sugar it just gets even better!

Ingredients – Makes about 20

30ml of freshly made espresso (or a teaspoon of good instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons of boiling water)

250g of unsalted butter at room temperature cut up into chunks

125g of icing sugar

A small amount of caster sugar to sprinkle on top of the cooked shortbread

½ teaspoon of vanilla extract (Use real extract not “vanilla flavouring”)

300g of plain flour

200g bar of cold whole hazelnut chocolate chopped into small pieces (or just get some chocolate and add some chopped hazelnuts)

Method

Get your espresso ready, whilst you’re at it why not just make yourself a nice coffee to drink anyway?

Place the butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and beat for 3 or 4 minutes on a medium speed until smooth.

Add the vanilla extract and espresso, turn the mixer speed down to low and add the flour.

As soon as the flour has been incorporated into the mixture turn off the mixer.

Add the chopped chocolate with hazelnuts and fold in with a spatula.

Resist the temptation to eat the mixture right now, although it is pretty tasty at this stage!

Line a half inch deep baking tray with cling film, you might want to use a little butter to stick the cling film to the tray.

Spoon the mixture onto the tray and either flatten with a spatula or a rolling pin.

Cover the tray of shortbread with more cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Heat your oven to 160C (I’ve got a fan oven).

Remove the shortbread from the fridge, turn out onto a board and discard the cling film.

Cut up into 2 inch squares and place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 18-20 minutes, you don’t want to brown the shortbread so keep an eye on it.

Remove from the oven and place on a rack, dust with a little caster sugar and allow to cool (really, they’re hot, give them at least a minute!).

Nom!