Silverbeet, Pea and Watercress Soup with croutons

First up, the croutons…

…really added a lot to this soup. They came about because I bought a loaf of DELICIOUS potato & rosemary bread from Central Baking Depot, but forgot about it and it went stale. Not one to waste, I ripped it into chunks (crust and all) and baked it in the oven til crispy.

Now the soup…

Ingredients (are as always not weighed or measured as I make these things for dinner and am usually tired and hungry)

• onion
• few cloves garlic
• silverbeet and water cress in equal amounts
• about 15Og peas
• vege stock
• 1 carrot
• sprinkling dried mixed herbs
• goats cheese or sour cream to serve
• lots chopped parsley to serve

1. 1. Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil to soften
2. 2. Add the chopped white stalks of the silverbeet and fry a little to soften
3. 3. Add the peas, herbs and stock and bring to the boil
4. 4. Add the green parts of the silverbeet and cook for about 15 minutes.
5. 5. Take off heat and stir in water cress leaves to wilt
6. 6. Blend
7. 7. Re-heat (but don’t boil extensively]
8. 8. Serve over croutons with a dollop of goats cheese or sour cream and a generous helping of chopped parsley

What do you do when all you have in the fridge is a fennel bulb and a can of lentils?

Lentil and Fennel Soup

1 can brown lentils
1 onion
Half a lemon juice
Teaspoon oregano
3 cloves garlic
vege stock
splash Tabasco
1 shallot

Fry onion in olive oil til softened. Add sliced fennel and sliced garlic and stir fry for a while. Squeeze in lemon juice. Add Tabasco and oregano then just cover with vege stock. Add lentils and serve.

Serve topped with sliced shallot.

more wasabi: Kale, Kumera and Tempeh with wasabi mayo

I'm trying to shop almost exclusively "in season" which means I am repeating a lot of ingredients here as they are what I can buy at Alfalfa House. Still it's nice to have options when you buy something in bulk, so here's my latest wasabi / sweet potato excursion.

Ingredients:

1 kumera / sweet potato

half a bunch or so of kale

2 carrots

1 packet tempeh (Alfalfa House sells amazing fresh tempeh, in a clear packet. If you live nearby GET SOME)

thumb-length nob of ginger, finely sliced julienne

3 large cloves garlic, finely sliced

2 spring onions, inc green parts

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 a lemon, juiced

1/2 lime, juiced (you could just use 1 lemon)

sesame oil for frying / roasting

water

wasabi mayo (which can easily be made by mixing wasabi paste and mayo - or vegan mayo - together to taste)

1. Cube the sweet potato and lay out on a sesame oiled baking tray. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, and toss around the tray to coat a little with the oil. Roast in the oven on medium heat.

2. Meanwhile, cube the tempeh (about 1.5cm square) and fry in sesame oil, chilli flakes and soy sauce til crispy and just starting to burn.

3. Add the tempeh to the oven tray and turn the oven down, leaving the tray in the oven to keep it warm.

4. Rip the kale into pieces and cube the carrot small.

5. Fry the julienned ginger and garlic in sesame oil for a couple of minutes, then add 1 tbsp water, stopping them from browning.

6. Add the kale, carrot, lemon and lime juice (plus a little splash more soy) to the pan and stir fry, further cooking the garlic and ginger and softening the kale and carrot. (I like my carrot really crunchy so I actually didn't add it til a few minutes in).

7. Slice the spring onion

8. Place some kale & carrot on a plate, then top with tempeh and sweet potato. Garnish with spring onions and pop a dollop of wasabi mayo on the side.

Eat!

Easy What's-in-the-fridge Quesadilla

I was hungry on the weekend and scanned an odd selection of ingredients in my fridge in the hope of inspiration. I had a party recently where I intended to make Mexican food, changed my mind at the last minute and ended up with a whole lot of tortilla. And so, my first attempt at a quesadilla (which doesn't really resemble a traditional quesadilla) was born. It was delicious so I blog it.

Ingredients:

• 2 wholemeal tortilla per person
• 1 onion
• 1 clove garlic
• teaspoon chopped fresh dill
• sliced red capsicum
• a few chopped green olives
• handful baby spinach
• grated mozarella
• some goats cheese or Danish feta (Meredith Goats cheese is cheese of the Gods and worth the cash. Just sayin')

1. Fry the onions and garlic til soft and a little browned if you like 'em that way

2. Meanwhile, slice the other veges and grate the cheese

3. Take the onions and garlic out of the pan and place the tortilla in, on a low heat

4. Place all toppings on the tortilla, like you would a pizza. Start with half the cheese, then add veges, then add the rest of the cheese. NB: I recommend placing some mozarella around the rim of the tortilla as, when it melts, you can use it to stick the top tortilla to the bottom

5. Once your toppings are on, place another tortilla on top and press down with spatula or hands til the melting cheese sticks them together

6. Carefully flip the quesadilla with a large spatula (or in whatever way you can without all the ingredients spilling out)

7. Toast on both sides til toppings are warm and tortilla crispy

8. Remove. Cut into quarters. Eat.

The toppings I used really were delicious, but you could of course use anything you liked.

Summer Lentil Salad

Ingredients:
1 can brown lentils (or brown lentils you have soaked and stuff)
half a bulb of fennel, finely sliced
handful or two of sugar snap peas, blanched in boiling water then quickly run under a cold tap
half a red capsicum, roughly chopped
a cucumber, chopped into chunks
a handful or two of tiny cheery tomatoes or grape tomatoes
4 radishes, finely sliced
small handful of parsley, chopped
tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
small handful mint, chopped

half a lemon, squeezed
half a lime, squeezed
a good splash of olive oil
1 small chilli, desseded and chopped
1 small garlic clove, very finely chopped

slices of fried haloumi (optional. is still delicious without it for vegany joy! avocado slices would work too. or a dollop of humous)
or feta

You could also add baby spinach to bulk it up! or chick peas if that's your thing.

Chuck everything in a bowl and mix!
Serve topped with fried haloumi slices or feta or avocado or humous.

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tofu, leek and mushroom bake

Last night I had dinner at Yulli's a new(ish) vegetarian place on Crown St. The food was ok, not amazing, but filling and varied and tasy and most importantly, we were able to have an entire vegan meal for my brother's phd celebrations.

Anyway we had some mushroom, leek and ginger dumplings and they were good, but over-gingered. So tonight I decided to make something similar (as bake not dumplings as am tired after work).

and so here it is. it is neither exact nor measured as it is a thrown together dinner. and it is one of those chuck-in-what's-in-the-cupboard-and-see-wholefood type deals.

Ingredients:
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
a nob of ginger (about the size of two thumbs)
good splash of soy
dessert spoon of kecap manis
spices (i used about half a teaspoon of mild curry powder, cumin, paprika)
1 leek
about 12 mushrooms (button or swiss brown or field...)
cauliflower and/or broccoli (optional - I used cos I had some in the fridge, any veges would be fine)
250g soft tofu
a cup of breadcrumbs (i make my own with leftover bread)
sesame seeds
1 egg (optional. dish is vegan without the egg)

1. Fry the onion, ginger, garlic and leek in sesame or peanut oil (vegetable oil if you must)
2. Add mushrooms and other vegetables if using as well as sauces and spices
3. Stir fry for a while and crumble in tofu, stirring to combine flavours and cook a bit. You could eat it at this point as scramble tofu, but I wanted something different.
4. Oil a casserole dish and add vegetables
5. Mix bread crumbs with salt and a pinch of each of the spices and top the casserole with crumbs.
6. (optional) Whisk the egg and drizzle over.
7. Sprinkle over sesame seeds.
8. Bake until browned and crispy. Eat!


GF: to make gluten-free use gluten-free bread or skip the bread and use lots of sesame seeds. If you want carbs in there, mix through cooked brown rice or quinoa. Yum!

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