Aubergine, Pepper and Feta Quiche

It’s a hot one here today – 30C – and I’m bad tempered, tired, fed-up and thoroughly brassed-off! I absolutely hate hot weather, but I'm very grateful I live in a country where we only get a few days like this a year.

Nothing too strenuous today, it's too hot for fiddling about; quiche for lunch with a rather nice potato salad, made with the first ones we’ve dug from the garden this year, and a green salad.

a 20cm blind-baked pastry case (I used ready-made pastry)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small aubergine, chopped into 2cm chunks

1 red and 1 yellow pepper, chopped into largish chunks

1 red onion, peeled and cut into eighths through the root

4 cloves garlic, unpeeled

200g feta

3 eggs

250ml milk

½ tsp dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the prepared vegetables, garlic  and olive oil in a large bowl, mix well with your hands and turn the whole lot into a large roasting tin; roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the edges are beginning to char.

Once the veg are cooked, allow to cool then squeeze the garlic out of its papery skin and add it, along with the rest of the veg, to the pastry case; crumble over the feta then strain over the whisked eggs and milk and sprinkle with the dried oregano.

Bake at 200C for about 25 minutes until the top is puffed and golden.

Cool for 15 minutes before eating.

Courgette Soup

As you know, I love soup in all its guises; we eat it all year round but I like to vary the type of soup to suit the season. This is a nice summery variety which looks terribly green, worthy and ‘good for you’, but don’t let that put you off. It’s a little stunner and a very worthwhile recipe to have to hand when the garden gives up its usual glut of courgettes in July and August and you're tearing your hair because you don't know what to do with the blasted things!

I wonder why it is I can never grow just enough courgettes; why do I always get snowed under with them? It's one of life's little mysteries...

1 tbsp olive oil

500g courgettes, washed and chopped

1 large floury potato, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp thyme leaves

1l vegetable stock (Marigold Bouillon)

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp chopped chives

1 tbsp creme fraiche

Saute the courgettes, potatoes, onion, thyme leaves and garlic in the olive oil, without colouring, for 10 mins. Add the stock and simmer until all the vegetables are tender. Blitz with a stick blender until really smooth then stir in the chopped herbs and crème fraiche. Reheat gently and serve hot with a few garlic croutons and lots of crusty bread.

Serves 4 - 6

Homity Pasties

I’ve been thinking about picnic food; (that'll be the kiss of death, of course, in terms of the weather; it'll do nothing but rain solidly for the next three months, now!) in particular, I’ve been trying to think of a pasty filling that wouldn’t fall out all over me as soon as I took a bite and it also had to taste good eaten cold and be easily transportable. Well, it was so obvious, it was staring me in the face....Homity Pasties! Brainwave! 

I used shortcrust pastry to wrap up almost the same filling I use for Homity Pies and that was all there was to it. If I’m honest I should have sealed the edges a bit better or maybe I should have put a bit less filling in; you can see a bit of leakage on one or two of them, but I think it adds to the nice rustic feel of them and anyway, who expects perfect food on a picnic?

225gm potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks

2 large onions, peeled and chopped

1 cloves garlic, crushed

1tbsp olive oil

small handful of parsley, chopped.

75gm grated mature cheddar

ground black pepper

450g block of shortcrust pastry

1 egg, beaten

Boil or steam the potatoes until tender. Chop onions finely and saute in the olive oil with the garlic until lightly browned. In a large bowl combine the cooked potatoes and onions; add the parsley and the cheese. Mix well, season with black pepper and leave to cool.

Roll out the pastry to a large rectangle and, using a large saucer or small plate, cut out six circles. Put a heaped tablespoon of the cooled filling on one half of each of the circles then fold the pastry over and crimp the edges together with a fork.

Make three slashes in the top of each pasty then brush well with beaten egg. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 200C until golden.

Makes 6.

Roast Vegetable and Pasta Bake

If you happen to go out for a pub lunch or to any High Street chain restaurant there is always pasta and salad on the menu, usually at an exorbitant price! I mean…how much does a cupful of pasta and a few veg cost, for crying out loud! Do restaurateurs think we haven't noticed the outrageous markup? 

In fact, pasta and salad is a meal that I rarely cook – when we sat down to eat tonight the husband said “We haven’t had a pasta bake for ages”, which is quite true and it’ll probably be a while before we have another one. With the exception of the lasagne we had last week at my sister’s it’s at least a couple of months since I had a pasta meal of any description. I’d almost forgotten what to do!

Oh, I must mention the salad leaves were our first from the garden this year; I was so chuffed, hopefully they’re the first of many.

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small aubergine, chopped into 2cm chunks

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped into large pieces

1 red onion, peeled and cut into eighths through the root

125g chestnut mushrooms, halved

2 cloves garlic, crushed

100g penne

250ml passata

2 or 3 sprigs of basil, chopped
1 slice of wholemeal bread made into breadcrumbs

100g grated mature cheddar

Put all the prepared vegetables into a large roasting tin that will allow them to be cooked in a single layer. Add the crushed garlic, drizzle over the olive oil and use your hands to mix so the veg are coated in the oil. Roast at 200C for 25 mins.

Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and parcook the penne for 5 minutes. Drain and return to the pan, adding the passata and basil; mix well then add the roast vegetables, mixing carefully or the veg will break up.

Tip the whole lot into a deep baking dish and sprinkle with the combined cheddar and breadcrumbs then drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake at 200C for 15-20 minutes until the cheese and breadcrumbs have formed a lovely golden crust.

Serve with a leafy salad.

Serves 2

Spring Vegetable Lasagne

Sorry about the poor quality of the picture, but I had to take it using my phone; the quality of the dish however was brilliant!

My lovely sister served us this gorgeous lasagne when we went to them for lunch yesterday. She and her husband aren't veggie but she always makes the effort to accommodate my dietary choice; I know I’m lucky and I'm very grateful.

This unusual spring veg lasagne is a veggie take on a Jamie Oliver recipe. I don't have the book but I think it originally had fish of some description as one of the ingredients. (Do you have any idea why anyone would want to put fish in a veggie lasagne? Nope, me neither!) Anyway, having tweaked and changed the recipe somewhat, this has now become my sister’s recipe which I have shamelessly appropriated for future use!

1 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch of spring onions, trimmed and chopped

3 cloves  garlic, chopped

1 bunch asparagus, reserve tips and cut stalks cut into 2cm pieces

2 mugs of frozen broad beans (or you could use edamame beans)

2 mugs of frozen peas

Grated rind of 1 lemon

1 tbsp freshly chopped mint

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

250ml single cream

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pack fresh lasagne sheets

500g plain cottage cheese

150g grated Bookham’s veggie ‘parmesan’

Heat the olive oil in a large deep frying pan and sauté the spring onions and garlic for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped asparagus stalks, broad beans and peas; cook over a medium heat for three minutes then add the lemon rind, mint and thyme; mix well then add the single cream and allow to bubble for a couple of minutes. Season well with plenty of black pepper then turn off the heat.

To assemble the lasagne (this sounds worse than it really is!):

Put a large flameproof dish or tin – sis used a roasting tin – on a low heat and assemble the lasagne whilst it is still over the heat; this will help soften the pasta sheets while you do the assembling.

Put a quarter of the veg in the tin, cover with a layer of lasagne then sprinkle with a third of the parmesan; add another quarter of the veg, cover with another layer of lasagne then spoon over half the cottage cheese; add another quarter of the veg, another layer of lasagne and another third of the parmesan; finally, add the last of the veg, cover with lasagne and the second half of the cottage cheese, arrange the reserved asparagus tips on top then sprinkle with the remaining parmesan. If there are any creamy juices left in the frying pan, pour them carefully around the edge of your assembled lasagne. Phew!!

Put the whole thing on a baking tray, place on the middle shelf under a pre-heated grill and leave for about 8-10 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Serve with a mixed salad and warm ciabatta.

Serves 6.

Mushroom and Chestnut Casserole

It’s been funny weather-wise this week, it started off sunny and warm, poured with rain yesterday and today things were very cloudy and chilly; if we'd had snow we could have had all four seasons in one week!

I hadn't intended to make this mushroom and chestnut casserole; it was a bit of a surprise, really. I fancied a curry to warm us up a bit, but I was having a rummage in the freezer (searching for some frozen coconut milk which I never actually found – I wonder what happened to it?) when I discovered a pack of frozen chestnuts left over from Christmas; I also had loads of mushrooms in the fridge so, together with a few other store cupboard bits and pieces, I made a rather unexpected dinner.

I love it when something delicious turns up by surprise; we’ll have the curry another day!

1 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped

2 sticks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

250g mushrooms, halved or chopped if large
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
2 tbsp plain flour

500ml veg stock

100ml red wine

1 dsp tomato puree
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dried thyme
200g chestnuts (vacuum-packed)

Mix the stock, wine, tomato puree, soy sauce and thyme together in a large jug and set aside. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onions, carrots and celery over a medium heat for five minutes; add the mushrooms, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and fry until the water from the mushrooms evaporates; stir in the flour then add the wine and stock mixture; bring to the boil, stirring, then add the chestnuts; put the lid on, lower the heat and cook over a gentle heat for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I served it with tenderstem broccoli and some decent bread to mop up the delicious gravy, but rice or mashed potatoes would also be nice.

Serves 2 with enough left for lunch tomorrow

Strawberry Jam

The house has been smelling like a jam factory this last week or so, not that I'm complaining, it's been delightful; rhubarb and raspberry was first, then strawberry, then a batch of the clementine marmalade I made at the end of last year. I remember saying we don't eat much marmalade....we do now!

The strawberry jam was so good, I went back to the market this week, stocked up on more fruit and sugar and made another batch! I'm squirrelling it away in the pantry, it'll be so lovely to have a taste of summer in the cold dark days of winter. Plan ahead, that's what I say!

Having never made strawberry jam before, and having read many times that it's sometimes difficult to get a 'set', I thought it best to follow this Good Food recipe rather than winging it as I usually do.

It worked out perfectly and has had rave reviews from family members. I will definitely make it again, although I think I could be making a rod for my own back because homemade jam is soooo much better than the commercially made stuff. Obviously jam has to be boiled, but why on Earth do commercial makers boil the guts out of it so that all you get is a generic taste of 'jam' rather than the taste of the fruit itself? Beats me.