Month: Mar 2021

Sweet potato falafels

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Not real falafels, but falafel-shaped, nutty, gently spiced and very tasty. Perfect stuffed into a toasted pitta with a bit of lettuce, some smoked hummous and a couple of green olives

  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 2 handfuls fresh coriander, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • 3 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 125g gram flour
  • 100g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Prick the sweet potatoes and heat in the microwave for 5-10 mins until soft
  2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl
  3. Scoop the sweet potato flesh out of its skin and mix in thoroughly
  4. Scrunch the mixture together into a large ball with your hands, and then place in a covered bowl in the fridge for 30 mins
  5. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C) and line an oven tray with baking paper
  6. Take the falafel mixture out of the fridge and, with your hands, roll pieces into golf balls then flatten slightly into falafelly shapes
  7. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 18-20 mins until crisp on the outside. Of course you could also shallow fry these if you’d prefer, or of course deep fry
  8. Serve at room temp

Cauliflower cheese fritters

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Warm, cheesy and immensely comforting. And beautifully easy to make. A great Sunday supper

  • 1 small cauliflower
  • 4 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 100g mature cheddar, grated
  • 200g plain flour
  • 1 heaped tsp grain mustard
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • Milk
  • Half tsp salt
  • Veg oil
  1. Trim the cauliflower and cut into small florets.
  2. Steam the cauli over boiling water for 7 mins, leave to cool for 10 mins and then chop into small pieces (approx half a cm).
  3. Mix together the flour, mustard, eggs, salt and enough milk to make a stiff batter
  4. Mix in cauliflower, cheese and spring onions.
  5. Fry large spoonfuls in veg oil over a medium heat until brown on both sides and cooked through

Makes 6 fritters

Here’s a version with green beans too, as we only had half a cauli and there were green beans that needed using up

Thai sweetcorn cakes

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Delicious, spicy little splotches of sunshine to make your mouth sing.

  • 6 spring onions, trimmed and roughly chopped
  • 1 red birdseye chilli, roughly chopped
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
  • Bunch of coriander stalks
  • 3 tbsp coconut cream
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 3 heaped tbsp plain flour
  • 1 heaped tbsp cornflour
  • 2 heaped tbsp rice flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 large tin sweetcorn (325g), drained (keep liquid)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Veg oil
  1. In the bowl of a mini food processor, whizz up the chilli, lemongrass, garlic, coriander, spring onions to a coarse paste
  2. In a big bowl, mix together the 3 flours, baking powder, egg and salt, creating a thick batter by using some of the liquid drained from the sweetcorn
  3. Add the spice paste and sweetcorn and mix thoroughly
  4. In a large pan on a medium heat, heat up the veg oil and fry tablespoons of batter until golden brown on both sides and just cooked through

Eat immediately, ideally with friends, ideally standing in the kitchen with a beer, snaffling them straight out of the pan. Dunk them in this dipping sauce on the way to your mouth. It’ll knock your socks off!

  • Mix together 4 tbsp lime juice (roughly 2 limes-worth) with 2 tbsp caster sugar, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp finely chopped coriander, 2 finely minced garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped birdseye chilli. Ideally make about 20 mins before you eat

Stuffed red peppers

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A happy midweek dinner or Sunday supper. Feeds 2 with leftovers for lunch the next day. If you’d like to make it vegetarian, just leave out the lamb and maybe add a handful of black olives.

  • 2 red peppers, halved lengthwise through the stem and seeds removed
  • 8 cherry tomatoes, chopped
  • 4 tbsp tomato passata
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 packet cooked long grain rice
  • 300g lamb mince
  • 200g feta, crumbled
  • Handful parsley, chopped
  • Handful pine nuts, toasted
  • Small handful mint, chopped
  • Large pinch chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Heat oven to 160C fan (180C)
  2. Put the pepper halves cut side up in a baking dish that they fit into snugly. Bake for 15 mins
  3. In a small pan, heat the oil and cook the onions and garlic until soft and caramelised
  4. Turn heat up to high and add the lamb mince, stirring and cooking until browned
  5. In a large bowl, mix together the cooked rice, cherry tomatoes, passata, herbs and spices, cheese and nuts
  6. Mix in the cooked lamb, onion and garlic. Season well
  7. Fill the peppers with this mixture, piling it up high. Drizzle with oil and bake for further 20 mins

Serve with a spoonful of plain yogurt on top, a crunchy salad and a large glass of wine

Broccoli and blue cheese soup

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Happily simple and quick to make, softly green and deeply tasty. If you don’t like blue cheese, just leave it out – it’s still delish as a plain old broccoli soup.

  • 1 head of broccoli
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 stick celery, chopped
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp garlic oil (or 1 clove garlic, chopped)
  • Around 400ml stock
  • 200g blue cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Chop the broccoli into small bits, including the stalk
  2. Melt the butter over a low heat, add the garlic oil and dump in the onion and celery
  3. Stir together and cook gently for 7 or 8 mins until soft but not brown
  4. Add the broccoli and stir in
  5. Pour in the stock until just covering the vegetables, turn the heat up and bring to the boil
  6. Simmer for 7 or 8 mins until the broccoli is soft
  7. Take off the heat and use a wand blender to whizz up the soup until thick and mostly smooth
  8. Heat gently until piping hot, take off the hob and crumble the cheese in. Stir until melty but not completely blended – it’s nice to come across some slightly cheesier bits as you eat. Taste it and season. You probably don’t need salt, but black pepper is good.

Serve straight away with some lovely fresh walnut bread to dunk in it

Muhammara

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

A little bit sweet, savoury, a bit sour, nutty and happily russet red. Such a delicious taste and texture combination. Dip all the pittas in it!

  • 3 red peppers
  • 50g fresh breadcrumbs
  • ½ tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 50g walnuts, lightly toasted and finely chopped
  • 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt

You can use a food processor or pestle and mortar to make this dip, but I quite love the chunkier texture if you chop it by hand.

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan (200C)
  2. Put the peppers on a tray and roast for 30-35 mins, turning occasionally, until they are cooked and the skin is blackened
  3. Put the quite-floppy peppers in a bowl, cover with a plate and leave for 15 mins
  4. Once they’re cool enough to handle, peel and discard the skin and seeds
  5. Chop very finely and scrape into a bowl
  6. Add the rest of the ingredients and a large pinch of salt and stir well
  7. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature, sprinkled with some chopped chives for a beautiful green contrast to the rusty red

Apple gingerbread baked pancake

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Autumn in a pancake. Sweet, spiced, puffy. Baked rather than fried, so I guess it’s really a kind of sweet yorkshire pudding aka Dutch baby. No babies were harmed in the making of this pancake. But they will definitely want to put it in their mouth.

  • 3 tart eating apples
  • 4 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 225ml milk
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 150g plain flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • Pinch of salt
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C). Lightly oil a non-stick ovenproof frying pan and place in oven to heat for 10 mins
  2. Peel the apples and cut into little chunks
  3. In a bowl, mix with 2 tbsp brown sugar and the cinnamon
  4. Make the batter before you cook the apple. Whisk together the remaining sugar, the eggs, milk, maple syrup, flour, salt, nutmeg and ginger
  5. Pull the hot pan out of the oven, tip in the sugary apples and shake to spread into single layer
  6. Cook over a low-medium heat for 5 mins
  7. Pour the batter into the hot pan and then get it into the oven immediately
  8. Bake for about 20 mins until puffed and golden
  9. Serve straight away. It wouldn’t be terrible if you popped some vanilla icecream on top

Chicken paprikash

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A favourite of my mum’s, a nod to (some) of my heritage and a great option for a family meal. Creamy, nourishing, lightly spiced, it’s so much more than the sum of its parts. Feeds 2. DELICIOUS.

  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
  • 1 heaped tbsp plain flour
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 1 tbsp veg oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1½ tbsp paprika
  • Pinch of hot paprika
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 300ml chicken stock
  • 3 tbsp sour cream
  1. Mix flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl and dredge the chicken through this mixture
  2. Heat veg oil in a deep frying pan over medium heat
  3. When the oil is hot, fry the thigh fillets on both sides until browned (but not necessarily cooked through) and then remove and put on one side
  4. Turn the heat down and melt the butter
  5. Add the onion and fry gently until softened.
  6. Throw in the garlic and give it another couple of mins
  7. Then add the paprika and chopped tomatoes, stir in and continue frying until the tomatoes start to soften
  8. Pour over the chicken stock and stir thoroughly to combine
  9. Bring to the boil and place the chicken thighs back into the pan
  10. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 mins
  11. Stir through the sour cream, turn off the heat and season

Serve on some nutty brown rice with long stem broccoli or cucumber salad. You will thank me.

Rocket and orange salad

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Tangy, peppery and fresh. The most summery of salads.

  • 60g rocket
  • 1 orange
  • 1 small bunch parsley, roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp tiny capers
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Prep the orange by cutting off the top and bottom and then cutting down the curve of the orange with a sharp knife, taking off all the pith. Then cut between each segment, leaving the membrane attached to the orange. Keep the juice that comes out and squeeze out the empty orange husk to get the last of the juice from it
  2. Lay the rocket on a platter, sprinkle over the parsley and capers, then add the orange segments
  3. Whisk together the olive oil and orange juice and season. Drizzle over the dressing just before serving and serve straight away

Jewelled rice

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

Beautiful steaming rice, studded with deep pink and green. A gorgeous combination of textures and flavours, and a great accompaniment to spiced chicken shawarma or aubergine.

  • 100g whole blanched almonds
  • Bunch of spring onions, trimmed and left whole
  • 300g basmati rice
  • Cinnamon stick
  • Salt
  • 1 lime, zest and juice
  • 100g pomegranate seeds
  • 2 preserved lemons, skins chopped finely
  • Bunch parsley, finely chopped
  • Small bunch mint, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp brown mustard seeds, toasted until they start to pop
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Roast almonds in a dry pan until golden, or spread on a baking tray and roast in the oven at 180C fan for 7 mins at 200C. Then roughly chop them
  2. In a hot pan, griddle the spring onions briefly and then slice into 1cm pieces
  3. Rinse the rice and boil a pan of salted water
  4. Tip the damp rice into the boiling water, add the cinnamon stick, stir and cook for 10 mins
  5. Drain and combine with rest of ingredients except pomegranate seeds. Check the seasoning
  6. Spoon out onto a platter and sprinkle the pomegranate seeds over. Serve straight away