Tag archives: veggie

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!

Butternut squash gratin recipe

I made this up so that I had something quick to reheat and eat the next day, the recipe might not be exactly how I made it! The breadcrumbs were a prize for coming joint first in a pumpkin carving competition at a Halloween party I went to 😀 I suppose you could even use pumpkin but the ones in the shops right now aren’t too tasty!

Ingredients

1KG butternut squash, peeled and diced into chunks

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced

Olive oil

1 free range egg

¼ tablespoon of salt

Freshly ground black pepper

5 tablespoons of mayonnaise

100g of vegetarian extra mature cheddar cheese

100g of vegetarian Parmesan style cheese

100g of breadcrumbs

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C (I’ve got a fan oven).

Place the butternut squash in a pan and cover with boiling water, place a lid on the pan and boil for around 10 minutes. You want the squash to still be a little firm.

Whilst the squash is cooking add a little olive oil to a pan and throw in the onion and garlic, sauté until soft.

Check the squash, if it’s done, drain it and set to one side.

Once your onion is done, take it off the heat and let it cool a little.

In a bowl, beat the egg and add the salt, a twist of black pepper and mayonnaise, half the cheddar, half the Parmesan, onions and most of the breadcrumbs (save a small amount to go on top at the end). Stir the mixture together and gently fold in the butternut squash without breaking it up.

Pour the mixture into an ovenproof dish, mix together the remaining cheeses and breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top.

Bake in the oven for around 1 hour, until the cheese on top has melted and is golden brown.

I made this in advance, only baked it for half an hour, removed it from the oven, allowed it to cool, covered it and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day I reheated it for 30 minutes at 180C.

Pasta with chili, garlic, ginger and tomatoes recipe

You’ll make sex noises throughout the whole time you’re eating this, I guarantee it! It’s quick to make and it’s got the got the right combination of heat from the chili & garlic and sweetness from the tomatoes.

Ingredients

150g of your favourite pasta

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 red chili, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

A piece of ginger bigger than a big thumb, peeled and grated

125g of baby plum tomatoes, quartered

Olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Bring a pan of water to the boil and get your pasta in there cooking away

In another pan, over a medium heat add a little olive oil and add the plum tomatoes, give them a stir and mush them up a bit. Cook for a few minutes.

Add the garlic, chili, ginger and chopped tomatoes. Add a twist of black pepper and give it all a good stir.

Let it bubble away whilst the pasta finishes cooking but don’t let it get too dry.

Drain the pasta and add it to the tomato sauce.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Haggis recipe

Can you call vegetarian haggis, haggis? Either way, I had some in Edinburgh when I was there last week and it was so tasty I decided to make it myself. Sorry for listing some of the measurements in cups, that’s how I got the recipe and I didn’t think to weigh out the ingredients once I’d measured them.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 carrot, peeled and finely diced

1/4 of a peeled swede, finely diced

1 onion, peeled and finely diced

6 mushrooms, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup of whole mixed nuts, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts

1/3 of a cup of red lentils

600ml of vegetable stock

1/2 cup of cooked kidney beans

1 teaspoon of dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary

1/4 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground cinammon

Freshly ground black papper

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 and 1/2 cups of pinhead oatmeal

The juice of half a lemon

Method

Heat the oven to 170C.

Spread the mixed nuts out on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 10 minutes, don’t over-roast.

Let the nuts cool and finely chop them, I put them in the chopper I got with a stick blender.

Add a little olive oil to a large pan and add the onion, sauté for 5 minutes.

Season with some black pepper, don’t add too much right now, we’re going to add more later.

Add the carrot, swede, mushrooms and garlic and sauté for another 5 minutes.

Add the lentils, 450ml of the stock and stir.

Add the kidney beans to the remaining 150ml of stock and give them a little mash, don’t break them up too much.

Add the nuts, soy sauce, herbs and spices to the stock, stir it all together and add it to the vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add some more black pepper, keep tasting so you don’t over do it but you want to be fairly heavy handed with the amount of pepper you put in for a more authentic taste.

Add the pinhead oatmeal and cook for another 5 minutes. Add a little water of it gets too dry, the mixture should end up moist but not runny.

Add the lemon juice and stir it in.

Spoon the mixture into two lightly greased loaf tins.

Bake for 30 minutes at 190C.

Serve with mashed neeps and tatties!

Leek and cheese pie recipe

Fairly quick and cheap to make, there’s enough for 6!

Ingredients

1kg leeks, washed and chopped into inch long pieces

2 free range eggs

100g of extra mature cheddar cheese, grated

150ml single cream

Freshly ground black pepper

Pastry, puff, shortcrust, whatever you like. Make your own or buy the ready rolled stuff.

Method

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the leeks to it, simmer for around 10 minutes until the leeks are just cooked.

In a large bowl add the eggs, cream, cheese and as much black pepper as you like, give it all a stir to mix in the eggs.

Pre-heat your oven to 180C.

Once the leeks are cooked, drain them in a colander and press them lightly to remove any excess water.

Add them to the eggy, cheesy, creamy mixture and give it all a stir.

Pour the mixture into a pie dish and cover with pastry, place in the oven for around 20 minutes.