Pasta, New potatoes, Olives and Green Beans with Pesto

I made this using leftovers from the fridge but it worked out very well;-


Pasta
New Potatoes, boiled and sliced
Green Beans, sliced
Red onion, sliced
Sun dried tomatoes, sliced
Olives, sliced
Mixed Salad leaves, roughly chopped (rocket, baby spinach etc.)
Fresh Basil, sliced
Garlic, finely chopped
Dried Chili, crushed
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Pesto
Parmesan

Put the pasta on to boil.
Fry the potatoes, beans, sun dried tomatoes and onion with garlic, oregano, chili, salt and pepper in olive oil.
Drain in kitchen paper to remove excess oil once cooked.

Once the pasta is cooked and drained, return it to the saucepan and add the fried mixture along with the olives, fresh basil, lettuce leaves a dollop of pesto and a drizzle of olive oil if its looking a little dry.

Turn onto a plate, crack some pepper over the top and some parmesan cheese and you're done.

Its quick, easy, tasty. :)

Ancho Chile Pizza Sauce

Ancho Chile Pizza Sauce

Can obviously be adapted into a pasta sauce. Or the chile can be omitted if you don't want a spicy sauce. Or you could add a variety of other herbs to suit the toppings on the pizza, thyme if you wanted caramelized onion and goats cheese pizza for example. This is a guideline recipe for a basic tomato sauce and is really very versatile. (Like every recipe)

1 Red onion, diced
4/5 Chopped Sun-dried tomatoes
1 Ancho Chile
Three cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 Bay leaf
Salt
Oregano
Fresh parsley, chopped
Balsamic vingegar
Olive Oil
2 cans of tinned tomatoes/a lot of fresh tomatoes
-Tomatoes chopped and juice reserved
Fresh Basil

If the ancho chile is dried prepare it by first soaking it in hot water for 20 minutes. Then, open the chile up and remove the veins and the seeds from the inside. This is easily done by simply scraping a knife over the flesh of the chile. If you wish, save the water used to soak the chile to add to the sauce to give it some extra spice. Dice the chile and set aside.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and add the diced onion, chile, sundried tomatoes along with the garlic, parsley, bay leaf, a teaspoon of salt and as much oregano as you feel is necessary. Once the onions are heated through add a dash of balsamic vinegar. Fry until the onions are soft, taking care not to burn them. Add the juice reserved for the tomatoes.

Using tinned tomatoes is obviously much more convenient but if you are using fresh you could perhaps roast them (to bring about a greater depth of flavour and a sweetness to the sauce) or grill them (to make them smokey) Once cool, peel them and remove the seeds but keep the juice. Chop them and set aside to use in the sauce.

Let the sauce simmer, about an hour is required for the tastes to really infuse.
Chop some basil and stir it in once you've taken the sauce off the heat.
Allow the sauce to cool before you add it to the pizza.

Lentil-Spinach Soup

A superb recipe from my much-loved "The Greens Cookbook".

This soup is very quick, very easy and very tasty. :)

The first time I cooked this I used Chard as I could not get spinach, any green leafy vegetable would suffice, depending on what kind of flavors you'd like in your soup. Also I'd like to try using other dried beans, I expect chickpeas would work well but I'm also thinking about butter-beans.

This soup is not blended so it is a good idea to chop your onion and celery up into the smallest bits you can- from an aesthetic point of view it looks better and from a culinary standpoint the larger surface areas allows the flavors to emerge better.

The Stock-

Use water plus any juice left over from the tomatoes

The Soup

225g Green/Brown Lentils - rinsed

1 Bay Leaf

1 Celery stalk, diced

1.75 liters of water

Salt

3 Tablespoons of olive oil

1 Large red onion, diced

2 finely chopped cloves of garlic

3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped

3 medium tomatoes, or canned tomatoes. Chopped and juice reserved

240g Spinach, stems removed and washed

Red wine vinegar/Sherry vinegar to taste

Pepper

Parmesan Cheese or cremé fraîche.

Put the lentils, bay leaf and celery in a soup pot with the water with reserved juice from the tomatoes and half a teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil, scoop off and foam that forms on the surface. (I forgot to do this, soup tasted great but it doesn't look so good.)

Slow cooking to a low boil.

While this is going on, fry the onion in a pan with oil and a dash of salt. Lower the heat as you then add garlic and parsley, neither of which you want to burn of over-cook. Cook until the onion is soft, then add the chopped tomatoes. Cook this for a further five minutes. Next add this mixture into the soup pot.

Cut the spinach/leafy green of your choice into strips 1cm wide. Once the lentils are soft, stir this in with the rest of the soup. Add more water if its looking a little dry, and salt to taste.

Let this soup simmer for five more minutes. Add the vinegar to taste. (It brightens the flavors of the soup)

Sever with pepper ground freshly on the top, and either parmesan or cremé fraîche.

Carrot and Orange Stir Fry

Carrot and Orange Stir Fry

Tomato puree,

Light soy sauce,

Ginger,

Garlic,

Fresh lime,

Honey,

Rice wine vinegar,

Leeks,

Carrots,

Cabbage,

Beansprouts,

Oranges,

Peanuts,

Noodles (of your preference, I used some from a Chinese supermarket and can't understand the writing on the front, have no idea what they are called)

Sesame Oil

Mixed seeds- whatever you preference. I used sesame and pumpkin seeds.

Sauce- equal amounts of tomato puree to light soy sauce, finely diced ginger and garlic, a squeeze of lime juice and rice wine vinegar and honey to taste. Mix it up, set it aside. I tried grating a little of the zest from the lime and also the oranges and adding it to the sauce. Depending on how many you are cooking for, you really don't need much sauce- you want to coat the vegetables lightly in it.

Cook your noodles, set aside. Lets hope they're not the kind that get sticky when you leave them, if they are you'll have to cook them while you're cooking the other stuff, which requires a little more concentration.

Shred some leek and cabbage. Grate the carrots. Grab a handful of bean-sprouts.

Peel and slice the orange into large segments, chop the peanuts. I like to leave them a little chunky to add texture.

Add some oil to a wok and fry. Groundnut oil would be wonderful in this dish but sadly is not something I can afford. Fry the vegetables until they are slightly soft, add the peanuts and sauce. Cook lightly and add the noodles. Fry again. Add the orange slices, being careful not to turn them into mush in the wok- stir gently!

Dish it up, garnish with sesame oil and mixed seeds.

Yum. Yum.

I'm pretty sure this recipe could do with some fine-tuning, but it was pretty tasty today.

EDIT:: 19th FEB

Tried making a carrot and orange broth to make a carrot and orange soup with an oriental twist. I used Miso Paste instead of soy sauce and watered it down a little. The noodles absorbed all of the broth, next time I'll try cooking the noodles beforehand first (instead of IN the broth) and also put less of/no cabbage in the soup.)