We haven't had a vegetable tian/bake for some time, in fact since we stopped using the oven due to vastly increased fuel prices. However, with fuel prices set to fall from April, Paul is looking at making a deep vegetable tian, or a vegetable bake. You can largely use whatever you have in the fridge - onions can be swapped for leeks, you could add garlic too, and potatoes could be swapped for sweet potatoes, carrots could be swapped out for swede, though I think it's always good to have cabbage in there for this deep baked dish. Have with whatever you fancy, though we love with veggie sausages and a gravy of some sort. Enjoy!! Ingredients 2 tbs Olive Oil 2 Onions, sliced 2 large Carrots, grated 1/2 small Cabbage, sliced thinly 4 large Potatoes, sliced thinly 3 tsps Mixed Herbs 1 tbs Vegetable Bouillon powder, stock cubes or just 2 tsp salt 100g Cheddar Cheese or cheese/cheeze of choice, grated (Optional) Method
In a deep ovenproof dish use 1 tablespoon of olive oil to oil the bottom and sides. Then add a layer of onions on the base, followed by a layer of cabbage, then another of carrots and a final layer of potatoes. Sprinkle over 1/3 of your dried mixed herbs... repeat these layers twice more meaning that your top layer is potatoes sprinkled with herbs. Mix your stock powder/cubes or salt with 100ml just boiled water and then pour over the potatoes. Finally, pour the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the surface. Cover with a tight fitting lid, or add a layer of greaseproof paper over the potatoes and then cover the top of the dish in tinfoil. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for 2 hours. After 2 hours, turn the heat up to 180c, take the dish out of the oven with oven gloves, remove the lid (or greaseproof paper and foil) and place back in the oven and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes to brown a little. If you're adding the optional grated cheese do this before putting backm in the oven and baking for this extra 30 minutes.
4 Comments
A quick lunch is always good to have in the bag, and this one is done in about five minutes from getting the ingredients together to putting on a plate. Occasionally, I'll do this for supper and use an extra egg and some leftover cooked potato, or microwave a potato earlier in the day and cut into chunks when cool. One of the benefits of using a microwave is that the eggy smell that sometimes lingers when cooking on a hob is eliminated. This recipe uses four basic ingredients, though you can change the vegetables to what you have - this dish is perfect for using up small amounts of leftover cooked veg too. We still eat cheese, though here I avoid it as we really are trying to reduce the amount of cheese we eat - to add a cheezy tang I use yeast flakes, which are an absolute boon for vegetarians and vegans as it gives that taste that most of us love, though without the animal fats! I've done various versions of this dish - the one here was using frozen spinach, peas and a tablespoon of leftover cottage cheese, and we had it with a salad and baked sweet potato for supper. For lunch, the vegetables I use are often from a frozen mix from Lidl, and I allow this to defrost and cut any beans or carrot battons into smaller lengths prior to microwaving. If I'm doing this as a quick evening meal (as above) I'll usually use three eggs and some chunks of pre-cooked potato - and I microwave for an extra minute or two. You want to top of the omelette to be moist though not wet. Of course, sometimes an indulgent omelette with caremalised onions, potatoes, vegetables and grated Cheddar cheese is what will really hit the spot - and when this happens, I leave the making of the omelette to Richard! I think one day I'll a version of this with gram flour instead of eggs to see if it works - Farinata style! I let you know how it goes! Ingredients 2 Eggs 4 tablespoons mixed frozen vegetables (defrosted) 1 tsp Marigold Vegetable Bouillon or 1/2 tsp Salt 4 rounded teaspoons Yeast Flakes Method
In a microwavable dish, place the vegetables and microwave on high for one minute - this will partly cook them. If you use green beans or carrots cut these into inch lengths before microwaving. Whilst the vegetables are cooking, break the eggs into a bowl or jug and give them a good whisk with a fork. Add the bouillon/salt and the yeast flakes and whisk until all is incorporated - it may look a bit gloopy at this stage though don't worry. Being careful, add the partly cooked vegetables to the egg mix and give a good stir. Pour the mix back into the microwavable dish and microwave on high for four minutes. Remove from the microwave, portion and serve. We do love our Christmas lunch, it's always a bit special, and not just because it's one of the very rare occasions when we now use our oven!! This was our plate for Christmas Day last year... nutloaf, steamed sprouts, kale and carrots, roast potatoes and... the pièce de résistance, Parsnips in Gruyère!!
We pre-cook the parsnips either by steaming in our steamer or the microwave, though you could boil them. The sauce is simply a delicious cheese sauce made with Gruyère cheese instead of Cheddar, and a grating of nutmeg. Once baked until golden, this dish is SO rich and gorgeous you will want to have Parsnips in Gruyère every week!! Ingredients 1 tbs Olive Oil 1 tbs Plain Flour 275 ml Oatmilk (or Milk or preferred milk alternative) 200g Gruyère cheese 1/4 tsp salt or bouillon powder 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg Method Peel and cut the parsnips into hearty chunks and steam until the core has some give in it - in our steamer this takes about ten minutes. You can cook the parsnips with a few tablespoons of water in a lidded / sealed microwaveable container and it will take about 8 mins on full power - stir after four minutes (watching out for the steam!). In you prefer to boil them they will take about seven minutes. Whilst the parsnips are steaming, you can make the sauce. You can follow Richard's video of him making a white roux sauce, adding the nutmeg and grated gruyere at the end, stiring until the cheese is melted and the sauce smooth, or... Add the olive oil to a pan on a medium heat, and once warm add the flour and stir with a spoon - it will begin to seize though keep stiring to 'cook out' the flour. This will take about a minute - be careful not to have the heat on high as this could burn the oil and flour mix, browning it which we don't want. Once the oil and flour is con=mbined, stir in milk a few tablespoons at a time, stiring all the time. Continue until all the milk is combined and the sauce is smooth. Add the salt and nutmeg and stir through, then add the grated cheese and stir until all is melted and the sauce is smooth. In an ovenproof dish place the steamed parsnips, preferably in a single layer, and top off with the sauce. At this stage the dish can be covered and cooled, or even frozen. To cook, place the overnproof dish into a preheated oven at 200c / 180c Fan. Bake for twenty minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and golden. If you are on our Facebook group Planet Vegetaria, you may know I fancied a curry last week... but a different one than those I usually make. I also wanted something creamy though without coconut milk (watching our weight and fat intake!). In the fridge I had a large red onion (given to me by a fellow plotter), and had brought back from the plot our own Uchiki Kuri squash (grown by me... one of very few this year!). I decided to add chickpeas, as they are a staple for us, and for the creaminess I wanted I added red lentils, a staple in much of our cooking - when these broke down I knew they'd give the creamy texture I wanted. Whilst cooking this dish I decided I needed something green, so a couple of handfuls of green beans from the freezer did the trick. I guess prep time and cooking was about 40 minutes. Eating was quite a bit quicker!! We often add a spalsh of Bragg's Liquid Aminos* to a finished plate - it adds a saltiness and a zing! This is very much a recipe creation in motion, though I have to say this one came together rather swiftly as it tasted so good! I think there are a few tweaks, though these will have to wait as we now have several portions in the freezer (the chickpeas and beans will help keep texture in the dish when defrozen). Having said that, this recipe is changeable - swap out the squash for deep-flavoured parsnips when they're ripe for harvesting, or use chunky leeks instead of the onion. This is the joy of cooking... it doesn't need to be exactly the same ingredients in your favourite recipes each time, though you do need to have some sense in what to swap for what! If you did want to use coconut milk then please do, maybe half a can instead of the same amount of water - though you may need to add an extra few tablespoons of water as coconut milk does thicken a dish a little. I think next time, when we've had a low fat day, to add another flavour dimension, I might add a tablespoon of peanut butter stirred through before the green beans are added; this would be for a treat and to have a different 'dish', though I doubt it will become our go-to recipe for this meal! I used canned chickpeas for convenience this time, though you could cook your own chickpeas and use those, replacing the liquid in the can with water. I often have portioned up cooked chickpeas in the freezer for convenience, though not this time! Obviously, if you have coriander leaf in your fridge or are growing it, or parsley if you prefer, feel free to chop it up not too finely and add a sprinkle to the finished dish... it will pretty it up nicely!! Ingredients 1/2 tbs Olive Oil (or lighter oil if you prefer) 1 large Onion, chunky slices 6 plump cloves of Garlic, crushed or chopped 3 inches (grated) / 2 frozen blocks Root Ginger, 3 tsp Cumin Seeds 6 Cardamom Pods, de-seeded (discard empty pods) 1 level tbs Madras or Curry Powder 2 cans Chickpeas, not drained (or 500g cooked & 250ml Water) 200ml Water 1 level tbs Vegetable Bouillon Powder or 2 stock cubes (crumbled) 1 medium Butternut or Kuri squash, deseeded and cut into bite size chunks 250g Red Lentils, washed and drained 300g Green Beans, frozen or fresh Method Place a large pan over a medium heat - make sure the pan has a tight fitting lid though don't use it yet! Add the olive oil and onions and fry gently, stiring with a heat proof spoon until softened and just starting to take on colour. Stir through the garlic and ginger and cook for a minute, then add the cumin seeds, cardomom seeds (NOT pods), and Madras powder and stir occasionally for two minutes. Add a tablespoon of water if the mix starts to stick. Add all the chickpeas, including the liquid in the can (it's called aquafaba), and 200ml water (450ml in total, if using your own cooked chickpeas), and with the lid on bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes. Then add the bouillon powder, stirring through thoroughly. Add the squash and stir through, then add the red lentils, stir them through, bring to the boil then lower the heat right down, pop the lid on and simmer for 10 minutes, stiring every few minutes so the lentils do not stick. If your mixture is looking a little dry then add two tablespoons of water at a time and continue simmering. After 10 minutes place the beans on the surface of the mixture and let them steam for about 5 minutes, again with the lid back on. The curry is ready when the squash is cooked through, the lentils all have softened to create a creamy sauce, and the beans are still al dente. Serve with brown rice or bulgur wheat, or spooned over crispy baked potatoes. * This is an affiliate link and if you purchase items through our Amazon Shop we earn a small commission.
Sometimes, events that happen in our lives can really impact our mood, making us feel a bit down, or without direction or motivation. Any day, though especially during these times we think it’s important to find a moment of joy, or two - those brief moments that make you smile and lift your mood or motivation level. In our inaugural newsletter, we asked subscribers to submit their own Moment of Joy, and below we share two of the many we received and read. Mary Ann Nute sent us this of her Moment of Joy: "My Moment of Joy was growing Pizza Thyme {a thyme with both thyme and oregano flavours}. It is thyme on steroids. Just a joy to smell and cook with. My veg garden was pathetic this year. The year before it was almost destroyed by rabbits, turkeys, chipmunks and everything else that runs around here. So regretably I did not put alot of effort into it this year. Next year I hope to continue to be encouraged by the results of fellow Planet Vegetarians." Thanks hugely for sharing Mary Ann. 🤗 Photo: plantrescue.co.nz The above is self-explanatory and goes to show how the simplest actions can bring that Moment of Joy. 🤗 And of course, if you're on Facebook do remember to subscribe to Vivi's Kitchen Garden... we're sure you already will be, though if not... 👍 What has been your recent Moment of Joy? Has there been more than one?
Email us and we’ll choose two of your Moments of Joy to share here next month. Guernsey Gâche Mélée (pronounced Gosh Mel Ahh) is a traditional Guernsey baked apple dessert, and one of the finest desserts ever in Paul’s humble opinion! In Guernésiais (Guernsey's local patois), gâche mélée simply means cake mix. It's made with apples, butter, sugar, flour, a bit of milk and sometimes spices (mum used a quarter teaspoon of mixed spice), all mixed and baked to a delicious golden brown. At this time of year, with apple harvests being brought in and the nights really drawing in, this is the perfect if somewhat rich dessert. It can be served cold (great for a picnic) though Paul loves it with a generous trickle of Guernsey cream or large dollop of custard. The recipe below was originally handwritten and gifted to cousin Tina by her mother-in-law. Mum's recipe was similar though with the addition of mixed spice. We haven't done a video on this yet... though I have a feeling we may!! Enjoy!! Ingredients 1lb cooking apples (weighted after paring and coring) 5oz Self-raising flour 5oz Sugar 2.5 oz Butter or Suet (vegan option) 3 fluid oz Milk or Oatmilk (vegan option) 1/4 tsp Mixed Spice (optional, and in mum's recipe) Good pich of salt Method Chop apples into small pieces (1/2 inch cubes). Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir well with a wooden spoon until toroughly miced. Place the mixture into a well-greased tin measuring 7" by 9" and bake on Gas 2 / 300F / 150C / 140 Fan for 1.5 hours, till golden brown and the apples are cooked. Add an extra 15 minutes if needed. Cut into squares and serve with cream. Dessert in photo baked by cousin Tina!! 🤗 Well, the weather has been really up and down over the summer and with us both having gone down with a lurgy last month eating well has been really important for us - it always is, though especially important during or when recovering from illness.
This nutritious red cabbage salad is full of excellent vitamins and minerals with a good punch of protein from seeds, pine nuts and lentils. It has a zingy dressing and a distinctly crunchy bite. This serves two as a delicious and nutritious lunch, and would be perfect to have with Richard's Simple Pitta Breads from his Cheap, Tasty and Filling YouTube series - add some homemade hummus for extra protein and deliciousness Ingredients For the salad: 300g red cabbage, cored and shredded 2 large carrots, grated 1 medium onion, finely diced 1 pear (or apple), cored and sliced 2 celery sticks, sliced 100g dried puy lentils* (or 200g pre-cooked) 2 tbsp pine nuts 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds 2tbsp sultanas 1tbs liquid aminos / soy sauce (if using dried puy lentils)* For the dressing: 1 tsp clear honey 1 tbsp lemon juice 1/2 tbsp olive oil Salt Pepper Method If using dried puy lentils, rinse the lentils in a sieve then place with 250g of water and the liquid aminos/soy sauce in a saucepan, bring to a boil then cover and simmer for fifteen minutes or until just al dente. The liquid should all have been absorbed by the lentils when cooked, if not drain the excess liquid away. If using tinned lentils tip them into a sieve and leave to drain for 30 minutes, discarding the excess liquid. Whilst the lentils are cooking/draining, prepare all the other ingredients, except the dressing, and add to a large bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or cup, adding salt and pepper to your taste. When the lentils are cooked let then cool for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the dressing and stir through thoroughly. Pour the lentil and dressing mix over the salad and toss until all ingredients are fully mixed and coated with the dressing. Photo by Richard Leighton Hammond The fifth in my series of articles of A Guernsey Gardener in London was published on 26th March 2022 in the Guernsey Press, my homeland newspaper. This month I am talking of how I plant and grow our early potatoes, and the memories that I have of growing potatoes in Guernsey with my dad in his garden and my uncle in a huge field beside his house. The first two paragraphs of the article are copied below, and to read the full article for free click on the link under the paragraphs. Enjoy!! 👍 "For me, March is the month that really kick-starts my growing year. While we already have garlic, onions, broad beans and overwintering brassicas in the ground and growing well, this month is the one where our planting of seed potatoes begins, and if the weather is warm enough carrot and parsnip seed packets will be to hand, waiting for just the right sunny day.
Throughout most years of dad growing at Martyndale in St Peter’s and Le Pignon in Castel, he earnestly followed the traditional way of planting and growing potatoes. When seed potatoes arrived, usually around early to mid-February, dad would place them in used tomato trays in the greenhouse, nestled in newspaper so they didn’t touch each other; at Martyndale they were placed by the window in the garage as this was sheltered though got good sun. Tucked in their trays they’d get the light they needed, though not the cold they didn’t. Slowly, over the next six weeks or so, chits would form… dark and green and strong." To read the full article for free click the link below: https://guernseypress.com/news/features/2022/03/28/kick-starting-the-growing-year/ The fourth in my series of articles of A Guernsey Gardener in London was published on 26th February 2022 in the Guernsey Press, my homeland newspaper. The article looks at soil fertility, and how seaweed throughout the years has been a staple soil additive, especially in Guernsey. The first two paragraphs of the article are copied below, and to read the full article for free click on the link under the paragraphs. Enjoy!! 👍 "With all seeds now sorted and stored for this year’s sowings, February is a good time to turn my mind to one of the most important yet often overlooked elements of gardening and growing – the soil! There’s little point in nurturing seeds to seedlings and then on to healthy plants to then transplant into soil which is ill-equipped for the growing on and blooming or harvesting of the bounty. Soil needs to be healthy and rich in goodness, whether that comes from our own homemade compost, from bought in bags of peat-free growing medium or from well-rotted cow or horse manure it doesn’t really matter, as it’s all good food and structure for our soil.
One lesser-known soil additive (certainly where I am in London!) is one that gives a broad spectrum of micro-nutrients as well as the big macro-nutrients of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Additionally, this soil additive has important carbohydrates which together with the other nutrients it releases are essential building blocks in the plants we grow. This lesser-known soil additive – seaweed!" To read the full article for free click the link below: https://guernseypress.com/news/features/2022/02/28/a-storms-gift/ My third in the series of articles of A Guernsey Gardener in London was published on 31st January 2022 in the Guernsey Press, my homeland newspaper. The article looks at how January is the perfect month to sow plans for this year's growing season, and sort our seds of what you want to grow. The first two paragraphs of the article are copied below, and to read the full article for free click on the link under the paragraphs. Enjoy!! 👍 "JANUARY is always a quiet time at the plot, as it was always at our home gardens in Guernsey… summer’s sun is a distant memory and now warming cups of tea, a slice of cake and a roaring fire are a very welcome treat.
Outside, the weather is damp and cold, the soil the same – and sometimes frozen in London. Growth rates across the board are negligible, though there were and are always a few shards of bright green growth erupting from some Bunyard’s Exhibition broad bean plants or early sown Meteor peas. At the allotment just now, the broad beans are struggling against critters trying to munch them – signs, I fear, of the climate crisis and recent milder winters. This year’s shards of life that dazzle lime-green in bright winter sun are coming from our three types of garlic – Thermidrome, Messidor and Primor, together sounding like a trio of Mexican bandits." To read the full article for free click the link below: https://guernseypress.com/news/features/2022/01/31/summers-sun-seeds-and-sowing-of-plans/ |
We are......long term partners. Archives
February 2024
Categories
All
|