Aubergine and pesto pasta

 

Gluten free with appropriate pasta

  

This recipe is very freely adapted from one of Jamie Oliver’s. Firstly I tweaked it so that it just made one serving, then I altered it again for this blog, to serve two, and then I adapted it for a voyaging locker, which probably doesn’t include fresh basil, but might and should, include a jar of pesto.  

 

Before going any further, not all jars of pesto are created equal. Some contain a ghastly green purée, while others look like something you’d be quite proud to make yourself and have a delightful texture, just like the Real Thing. When I first came across jars of pesto, I was inclined to believe what it said on the label about having to be kept refrigerated. However, my local supermarket sells small jars at a very reasonable price and as I wanted to try out different recipes for calzone, I thought I’d probably get through the jar quite quickly, anyway. I used most of it and then out of curiosity, left the near-empty jar in my locker. It kept for weeks.

 

I was also surprised how good it tasted: the one that looked the best value, “Pam’s” is not an expensive brand, so therefore there wasn’t much chance of it being made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Pine nuts or Pecorino cheese - all of which would be found in a traditional pesto. In fact the ingredients were: canola oil, 35% basil, sunflower seeds, cheese (unspecified), garlic, sugar :-(, salt and natural flavours, so it’s rather surprising that it does taste so good and implies that the best part of the pesto is the basil. My “Pam’s” Pesto also included three e-numbers in the ingredient list: E202 - potassium sorbate, E270 - lactic acid and E300 - ascorbic acid, and I thought that before suggesting that others put it in their lockers, I should see what these were. I try to avoid ultra-processed foods, and this certainly looked a bit like one. I had a look online and even the most hysterical of ‘health-food’ sites seemed pretty chilled about lactic and ascorbic acid (which is just another name for vitamin C). There was a bit more tooth sucking about potassium sorbate, although it is derived from sorbic acid, which occurs naturally in rowan berries. It is very commonly used in all sorts of food production and the worst that anyone had to say about it was that if it is consumed in high doses during pregnancy, it might effect the DNA. Personally, I feel quite happy about my jar of pesto: my only genuine reservation is that it contains cheese, and I prefer to eat a vegan diet. The reason I’m rabbiting on about this is because fresh basil doesn’t keep well at all - even if you have a fridge - and for something like this recipe, you wouldn’t want more than a quarter of a cup, which wouldn’t use up a whole bunch. However, by all means make your own pesto if you prefer!

 

The recipe calls for cherry tomatoes, but I find those miniature plum tomatoes are even better, if you can lay hands on them. If they are tiny, double the quantity.

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1 large or 2 small aubergine

olive oil OR olive oil and butter

salt

penne, pasta spirals or similar 

2 tbsp pesto

Pecorino cheese or "Parmegan"

6 cherry tomatoes

 

Method:

• Cut the aubergine in half. Rub it – particularly the flesh, with oil and put it on a well-oiled baking sheet. Roast it at 180° for 35 min. Or cook it in the pressure cooker until it’s tender, cut it in half, scoop out the flesh and briefly fry it in a little oil so that the flesh is lightly browned.
• While it’s cooking, cut the tomatoes in half. The original recipe says to remove the seeds, because of their bitterness, but I don’t bother. I generally find cherry tomatoes are quite sweet and the seeds not very intrusive. Then cut them into fine dice.
• When the aubergine is thoroughly soft, let it cool and scoop out the flesh. Chop it all up, put it into a bowl and keep warm.
• Boil a pan of hot salted water and add the pasta. 
• Pour the pesto over the aubergine and mix it all up. Add olive oil and/or butter for taste and texture.
• Now add a little bit of cheese.
• As soon as the pasta is ready, add some of the water to the aubergine mix, so that you have a saucy consistency.
• Mix in the tomatoes.
• Tip in the pasta and serve.

 

Pass round extra cheese, and maybe pine nuts, chopped almonds, or sunflower seeds at the table.

 

Notes:

• If you have fresh basil, some leaves would be a lovely addition when the pasta is served.
• Another way to cook the aubergine, would be to ‘roast it’ in the frying pan.
• I like aubergine skin, so I generally just dice the aubergine, fry it in olive oil, and mix it with the pesto.

Variation:

• This isn’t particularly filling, so you might want to increase the pasta from what you normally would cook, or serve it with bread, or maybe even add some cooked white beans or chickpeas to the aubergine sauce.

You will find many more recipes for pasta dishes here

Black-eyed peas curry

Black Eyed Peas Curry

 

 

Blender alert *

Black-eyed peas are popular in India and they have the great advantage of not needing to be soaked, if you are going to cook them in a pressure cooker. This means you can make a curry with more substance than a dal, or even whole lentils (including Indian ones such as mung). They also cook in about the same time as whole lentils, so are ideal for when you’ve been out (or sailing) all day and want to get a meal underway as soon as you’re back on board, or have the anchor down. Their earthy taste is quite unlike any other legume I can think of and goes very well with curry spices.

This is also a quick and easy curry to put together. Although there is a blender alert, it isn’t really necessary to use one: you’ll just end up with a slightly different texture. In this black-eyed pea curry, no tempering is required after the initial cooking, so the whole thing goes together quickly. The beans are cooked in a sauce flavoured with onion, tomatoes, and coconut, along with seven other spices which, apart from asafoetida, you’ll probably have on board. It’s well worth adding to your standard repertoire and makes a change from chickpeas, which tend to be the obvious ‘go to’.

 

Because this recipe doesn't have that many ingredients, you don't have to be a dedicated curry cook to make it.  The only thing you are unlikely to have on board is asafoetida and possibly garam masala.  You can leave them both out and perhaps add a pinch of ground cinnamon, cloves and/or nutmeg and a tad more cumin. 

Servings: 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup dry black eyed peas

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1.5 tbsp shredded coconut unsweetened

1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 medium ripe tomato quartered

1/2 tsp ginger paste

4 garlic cloves

1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

pinch asafoetida (omit if GF)

1/8 tsp ground turmeric

1½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp salt divided

1 ½ cups water

Instructions

• *Blend cumin seeds, coconut, onion, tomato, ginger and garlic to make a smooth paste.
• Put the pressure cooker on the cooker and add oil.    When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and allow them to crackle. Add asafoetida and turmeric. Add the onion and tomato paste and cook for a minute stirring frequently.
• Add red chilli powder, cumin and coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well.    Cook on a low heat for 3-4 minutes.
• Mix everything once more, ensuring that there are no spices stuck to the bottom of the pot.
• Add black eyed peas and water. Give a quick stir.
• Put the lid on the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 10 minutes.    Allow pressure to reduce naturally.

Serve with rice or roti.

Notes:

• If you don’t have a fresh tomato, use a tbsp of purée.
• Any dried coconut will work in this recipe.

Variations:

• * If you don’t have a blender, use ground cumin, dice the onion and tomato and use ginger and garlic paste. Mix everything together in a cup or jug and use in the same way as the blended mixture. The curry will taste just as good.
• Add some chopped vegetables such as carrots or sweet potatoes, which will survive cooking with the peas, without turning into a mush.

 

  

You will find many more recipes similar to this here and here.

 

Leek and hazelnut pasta

This is a quick and simple recipe, but it’s not particularly filling. I sometimes precede it with bread and dukkah to ensure that there’s a good, filling meal. You could of course simply make more, or more pasta and there’s always the no-fail filler of adding some beans to the meal. I think white beans would go best here.

It is well worth taking the little bit more effort to toast the hazelnuts, it completely transforms them!

I’m very fond of Brussels sprouts and like to make them a feature of my meals, rather than a side dish. If you look through the blog you will see several recipes with sprouts as star of the show. I suggest adding them in my variations at the bottom of this post and would say that they make this recipe even more interesting.

 

Ths recipe can be made gluten free with the appropriate pasta 

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

olive oil

I whole, large leek, thoroughly cleaned

1/2 tsp salt

up to 1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1 large garlic clove, crushed or diced

2 heaped tbsp thick yoghurt

4 handfuls of short pasta such as fusilli

a generous grind of black pepper

a handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

grated Parmesan*

Method:

• Heat a small frying pan or saucepan and then tip in the hazelnuts. Toast them until the skins darken and begin to shed. Shake the pan or stir the nuts frequently so that they don’t burn. Set aside and chop them when they get cool.
• Pour the olive oil into a larger frying pan, and while it’s heating, slit the leek down the middle and slice it into half moons. Use the dark green leaves as well (you may have to remove one or two and the discoloured parts at the top of the leek). Sprinkle the salt over and add the chilli flakes.
• Cover and cook over a moderate heat until the leek has softened. Check regularly to see that it’s not burning. Add the garlic and stir in the yoghurt. The leek should have produced quite a lot of juice, but if they look dry, add a little water, white wine or stock.
• In the meantime, cook the pasta to your taste.
• When the pasta is cooked, using a slotted spoon, add it to the frying pan and carefully mix everything together. Season generously with black pepper; taste and see if more salt is needed.
• Garnish with the parsley, should you happen to have some.

 Serve on heated plates or bowls, with

Notes:

• *If you prefer vegan food, use 'Parmegan' cheese.
• Substitute vegan yoghurt, if you prefer, or crème frâiche, or a similar product.
• If your leek seems really dirty, cut them about an inch below the first split leaf and take off the outer green leaves, one by one. Often you will only find dirt in the first few of them, which saves the tedious and unnecessary job of washing the whole leek. Unless you are a convinced vegetable washer, of course. I usually only give the a cursory rinse, if that.

Variation

• Add about a dozen Brussels sprouts, quartering the large ones and halving the smaller ones, in the frying pan with the leeks.
• Add 1/2 cup of white beans, soaked and cooked in the usual way, once the leeks have softened.
• If you have no parsley, use half a teaspoon or so of my mixed herb blend.
• Substitute walnuts for the hazelnuts.

 

You will find many more recipeslike this here and here

Broccoli, chickpeas and tomatoes

 

This is a quick light dinner, ideal for when you come home late, have had sundowners with lots of snacks or simply aren’t feeling very hungry. In spite of its simplicity, it’s really quite delicious: somehow chickpeas and tomatoes are an unbeatable combination

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked and cooked

1 small head of broccoli broken into florets, stalk trimmed and diced

olive oil

1 medium onion diced

2 cloves garlic, dice

1/2 tsp salt

4 medium tomatoes, quartered

pepper

Method:

• Briefly cook the broccoli until barely softened. Drain and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan and then add the broccoli stalk, the onion and the garlic and sprinkle over the salt.
• Cook over a moderate heat until softened, but not browned. Cover with a lid to speed things up a little; add a tablespoonful or two of water if it looks like burning.
• Once everything is softened and the onion translucent, tip in the tomatoes and cover once more. Cook for about five minutes on a medium flame until the tomatoes are heated through and starting to soften.
• Gently fold in the broccoli and chickpeas and cook until the broccoli has reached the right consistency. Grind over a generous amount of black pepper and serve hot on warmed plates.

Accompany the meal with thick slices of good bread, to mop up the juices.

Variation:

• You could also serve this over short pasta such as penne, or polenta.

 

 

You will find many more recipes like this here

 

Mushroom matar malai - Mushroom white curry

 

This recipe is so freely adapted from the more authentic ones, that I hardly dare to put it into ‘Curries for Cooks’. However, as it uses one or two spices/herb which only dedicated curry cooks are likely to have on board, that’s how I shall categorise it. (This, of course, assumes that anyone ever looks at the pages on this blog!)

I first made this when I had been ‘off my food’ for a while and unable to face the thought of any Indian food. As I generally adore such recipes, this was a personal tragedy at the time. I had been sent a malai recipe in one of my blog feeds, and it attracted my attention as having not too many spices and looking like something might tempt my appetite. The recipe in question was for paneer, which I can’t obtain locally (and as an aspiring vegan, try to avoid), I looked to see if there were any more recipes on the Internet and came across a mushroom malai, with even fewer spices – perhaps too few - so I took a bit from both recipes.

When I came to look more closely, I discovered that these ‘white’ curries usually contain cashew nuts (this isn’t just a vegan spin on Indian food: a lot of Indian recipes call for cashews), which I don’t include and malai, which means cream, which I also left out. Vegan versions use cashew nut cream; vegetarian versions seem to use cream plus some yoghurt, which I think is because Indian cream is thicker than that which is available in most countries (the UK being – or was! - a notable exception) and sounds more like ‘double cream’. Anyway, this is all irrelevant, because I simply used a goodly amount of nice, thick yoghurt, bearing in mind that cashews might be a bit expensive for small income sailors.  However, if you want to use cashew cream, I give instructions in the Variations.

The onions, garlic and ginger are meant to be ground to a paste in a blender. I couldn’t be bothered (another side effect of the appetite loss) and simply diced them very finely. They certainly didn’t intrude, but the blender instructions are described in Variations.

Matar, by the way, means peas, so they are, strictly, essential. Otherwise it will be simply mushroom malai. I used freeze-dried peas – essential voyagers’ provisions. The curry, even with all my alterations, was incredibly good. I could have scoffed the lot – so obviously it also restored my appetite for Indian food!!

I have made it several times since and it has become one of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. I’ve been tweaking the spices to keep the curry mellow, but with lots of flavour and, having now got it about right, I feel I can finally post the recipe. If you’re not fond of too much chilli, leave out the chillies and simply use the Kashmiri chilli powder. I have even made this recipe without any cream, yoghurt or cream substitute and it is still delicious. I’m afraid the photos don’t show a white curry: the button mushroom that I buy locally, always turn any sauce brown. Oyster mushrooms would probably produce a lighter-coloured sauce. Use as many mushrooms as you think you can eat: this isn’t a particularly filling meal.  Moreover, as it is spectacularly delicious, it's difficult not to eat the full two servings oneself and I've taken to adding chickpeas to it.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1½ tbsp ghee or oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 small piece mace

1 or 2 green chillies, chopped

1 small onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp ginger paste

2 garlic cloves, finely diced or 1/2 tsp garlic paste

2 green cardamoms, seeds only

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp water

2 cups of white mushrooms quartered

1/2 cup yoghurt, thinned to pouring consistency, if necessary

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup freeze-dried peas

1/4 tsp ground white pepper or black, if that’s all you have

1/4 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

Method:

• Heat the ghee in a heavy-based saucepan and sizzle the cumin seeds and mace.
• Add the chilli and cook for a few moments.
• Now add the onion, ginger, garlic, cardamom seeds, coriander, chilli powder and salt. Cook for a couple of minutes, lower the heat and add the water. (This is to stop the vegetables browning). Cook until the onions, etc are soft adding a drop more water if necessary.
• Now raise the heat once more, add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, ensuring that they are well-covered in the ghee/spice/aromatics mixture.
• When the mushrooms are starting to soften, add the peas.  As my mushrooms never seem to give off any liquid, you might find that more water is needed.  
• Cook for another four or five minutes and then stir in the yoghurt and cinnamon and bring everything to a very gentle boil. Now turn the heat right down until the mixture is barely simmering and add the pepper.
• Put a lid on and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked. Remove the lid so that the sauce can thicken to the consistency you want, then add the methi and garam masala. Cook very gently for another couple of minutes.

Serve with roti, brown basmati rice, or cumin rice if you prefer.  

Notes:

• This recipe would be a good one for voyagers who make their own yoghurt.
• Whole mace, unlike the ground variety, has a surprisingly intense flavour. If you’re not used to using it, be careful how much you add. I broke off a piece about the size of a small cardamom pod.

Variations:

• If you want to end up with a smoother sauce, add the onion, ginger, garlic, and green chilli to a blender or food processor and blend to make a rough paste.  Add this paste to the pan, after you've fried the cumin and mace.
• To make cashew cream, put 1/4 cup of cashews in a blender and grind them to a powder.  Than add 1/4 cup of water and blend until you have a smooth liquid.  I usually find I need to add more water after adding the peas, so you rinse out the blender with a couple of tbsp water and add that to the pot.
• For a more filling meal, add ½ cup chickpeas or white beans, soaked, cooked and drained. Or a can.  
• This is quite a quick meal to make because you can just add everything in order, stirring to ensure that it’s all mixed as you don’t want the fried vegetables and spices to turn brown. 

 You will find more recipes like this here

 

White bean chilli with winter vegetables

As someone who really enjoys food with a dash of chilli in it, particularly in cold weather, this is one of my favourite dishes. If you make the recipe as shown, you will have sufficient for two hearty appetites. If you want to feed more people, serve with kumara or sweet potatoes or baked potatoes. 

 

The original recipe just used the lower part of the leeks, and this is what I’m following. I usually use the whole thing, because I find the green part is rarely tough or stringy. Besides, it’s going to be cooked in the pressure cooker! Split the leeks in four lengthways as far as the root, and rinse thoroughly in plenty of clean (sea)water, if they are full or soil or grit, before preparing them. One is always told to remove the ‘woody centre’ from parsnips: I have yet to find one. But if yours have a woody centre, then by all means remove it.

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

olive oil

1 medium leek, white and 1 inch of pale green part, diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 large carrot, peeled if necessary, chopped

1 large or 2 medium parsnips, peeled if necessary and diced

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

chilli flakes to taste (at least 1/4 tsp)

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup of dried white beans, soaked

1 avocado

fresh parsley 

 

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pressure cooker. Add the leek, garlic and 2 tbsp water. Cook until the leeks are softened: about 5 minutes
• Add carrots and parsnips; stir to coat. Cook, stirring often, until just beginning to soften: about 2 minutes.
• Add chilli flakes, cumin, oregano and salt. Stir until fragrant: about 1 minute.
• Add the beans, together with 11/2 cups of water. Bring up to pressure and cook for 10 – 15 minutes depending on the type of bean used. Let the pressure reduce naturally.
• Remove the lid from the pressure cooker. Check seasoning.
• Garnish with parsley and chopped avocado, if available.

Serve immediately. Any leftovers make a fine foundation for soup.

 

Variations:

• Use the entire leek. 
• If leeks are unavailable, use 1 large onion
• You can add other root vegetables, such as turnip, swede and sweet potato. In that case, the chilli is great served with bread.
• Add a tin of tomatoes and 1/2 cup less water.
• Use a fresh red chilli. 
• Try it with red kidney or black beans. 

 

 

You will find many more recipeslike this in Main-course dishes, vegetable-based

Lentil lasagne

Lasagne is generally served up sizzling hot from the oven, with a crisp top, and often crunchy bits of lasagne sticking out. I’ve read that some Italians prefer to pop it into the oven for only about a quarter of an hour and to eat it moist and soft. That being so, I think we’ll go for the latter ‘gourmet’ version, which means that instead of using an oven, we can use the pressure cooker. However, be warned that this may not work in a cheap pan because it’s likely to stick. (If your pressure cooker is a bit on the thin side, what you’ll have to do is to put the lasagne into something like a cake tin, that will fit in your pressure cooker. Put half a pint of water in the bottom of the cooker, with the tin on the trivet, loosely covered with greaseproof paper or foil. It can then be cooked at high pressure for 10 minutes.)

I specify ‘no-cook’ lasagne, but in fact I believe that nearly all lasagne sheets can be used without pre-cooking.  If you can find the right pasta, this recipe can be gluten free.

Serves 2

Ingredients

6 pieces ‘no-cook’ lasagne

1/2 cup whole lentils

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 red or green pepper, chopped

400 g/14 oz can chopped tomatoes

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

salt and pepper

cheese sauce, mixed more thickly, as shown in the Variations on that post

Method:

• Cook the soaked lentils as usual and set aside.
• Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onion, garlic and pepper and fry until the onion is golden.
• Add the tomatoes and mix in the sage, basil, oregano, cinnamon, chilli flakes, salt and pepper.
• When everything is mixed together and heated through, add the lentils. Cook gently for ten minutes or so to let all the flavours combine. Taste and check the seasoning.
• Pour half the sauce into the bottom of the pressure cooker. Add half the lasagne sheets. Unfortunately, these will not fit very neatly, but you will have to do your best. Now add the rest of the sauce and the remaining lasagne. Cover with the cheese sauce, pouring carefully, to ensure that all the lasagne is covered.
• On a medium heat, bring the pressure cooker up to pressure. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes and reduce pressure at room temperature. Ideally, leave it for a further five minutes so that if the lasagne has caught at all, it will lift easily from the pan. It’s impossible to serve this dish at all elegantly, but if you spoon it carefully from the pan, the layers should remain more or less intact.

Serve with a cooked green vegetable or salad.

Variations:

• Use 4 or 5 fresh tomatoes and 1/4 cup red wine in the sauce.
• Add extra grated cheese or "Parmegan"

Alternative cooking:

• Arrange the lasagne in a shallow oven-proof dish and cook it in a moderate oven for a quarter of an hour or so. I don’t find it needs the 45 minutes that most cookbooks recommend. In this case, you can substitute the cheese and yoghurt sauce for cheese sauce. It’s quicker and easier to make, and probably more nutritious, but due to the yoghurt, it might separate in the pressure cooker.
• Layer the lasagne into a deep frying pan, or wide saucepan. Heat over a low heat, using a flame tamer if necessary, to ensure it doesn’t catch and get burnt. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes, checking every now and then to see if the sauce has cooked, by which time it will be quite firm. In this case you can also use the cheese and yoghurt sauce.

 

 

You will find many more recipes for pasta on the page:  Main-course recipes - pasta based

 

 

Cheese sauce

Although I have a recipe under Basic White Sauce, I thought that as cheese sauce is so much used and loved, maybe it should have its own post.

I have two versions here: classic cheese sauce and vegan cheese sauce. Actually, it isn’t really a classic cheese sauce, because I suggest use cornflour instead of plain flour, because I don’t think most people can be bothered to make a roux, which involves very gently flying flour in butter and then gradually adding infused milk, stirring all the time, until the sauce is cooked. It takes quite a long time for white flour to alter its personality and you need to carry on stirring, or put the sauce under an incredibly low heat until you get your perfectly cooked white sauce. You can, of course, mix and match the recipes to suit your tastes.

If you have any choice, try to use a sharp, yellow cheese, such as (real) Cheddar, Double Gloucester or Red Leicester for a fuller flavour and a more attractive appearance. I am sure there are plenty of good vegan cheeses being made on this planet, but if they exist in New Zealand, they are unavailable outside the big cities. I therefore suggest nutritional yeast in the vegan version: the advantage of using gram flour, is that it makes the sauce a pretty pale yellow colour.

I say this serves two, but of course it depends what you’re doing with it: my assumption is that you are pouring it over something life stuffed pancakes. I make suggestions for using the recipe for lasagne in the variations.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 tbsp cornflour

1 cup milk

1 cup grated cheese

a good shake of *Worcestershire Sauce OR 1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Method:

• Put the cornflour into a small saucepan and add about a quarter of the milk. Stir well until the mix is smooth. Add the rest of the milk.
• Put the pan over a moderate heat and start to cook, stirring constantly. If you leave it even for a moment, once it starts to thicken, it will form lumps that are just about impossible to get rid of.
• Reduce the heat, add the cheese, Worcestershire sauce or mustard and season with salt and pepper.

Use immediately.

Vegan cheese sauce

Ingredients

1 tbsp gram flour

1 cup plant milk/water

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

Method:

• Put the gram flour into a small saucepan and add about a quarter of the milk. Stir well until the mix is smooth. This will take some time and you may prefer to use a whisk. You don't want to start cooking until you've got rid of all the lumps. Add the rest of the milk.
• Put the pan over a moderate heat and start to cook, stirring constantly. As the sauce starts to thicken lower the heat and stir vigorously. It will start to form alarming lumps, but if you keep stirring they will disappear.
• When the sauce is smooth, reduce the heat again and add the nutritional yeast and mustard and season with salt and pepper.

Use immediately.

Notes:

• * I ought to mention that Worcestershire sauce, at least the original and peerless product made by Lea & Perrin's, contains a very small amount of anchovies. Considering that you merely shake a few drops into the sauce, the amount of anchovies must be about homoeopathic, but if you take your vegetarian principles seriously, I suppose you should avoid it. Sadly, I have found all the alternative brands to be significantly inferior.
• I find the gram flour is sufficiently creamy that I don't need to add plant milk. However, you may well prefer the taste.
• You can, of course, use gram flour in the first recipe, instead of cornflour.
• If you are trying for an elegant result, use white pepper instead of black, to avoid little black flecks in the sauce.
• If you have any fresh herbs, chop them and sprinkle over the top.
• To use the sauce in a flan or lasagne, I suggest making more and making it thicker. So double the amount of flour and use one and a half times the liquid.
  
  

Spaghetti 'Bolognese'

 

When I was a little girl, one of our favourite meals was ‘spaghetti mince’; my father had been in Italy during the Second World War and had brought back a taste for their food. This was about the only ‘foreign’ food we ever ate. The spaghetti had to be bought from a speciality shop – an ‘Italian Warehouseman’ – and came in long lengths, which were doubled over and wrapped in blue paper so that each strand must have been about a metre long!  Usually, Mum patiently bent it into the boiling water, but when she was in a hurry, she guiltily broke it into more convenient lengths.

 

Over the years, the name changed to ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’ and garlic was included and a sprinkling of mixed herbs.  Eventually, my mother started to try different recipes, which included bacon or chicken livers or whatever the recipe writers of the day considered appropriate.  I suspect very few resembled 'classic' spaghetti Bolognese - if there ever was such a thing.  Parmesan cheese was sprinkled over the top, sparingly, from a shiny, green cardboard container.

 

By the 80s, spaghetti Bolognese had become a standard in most households and, for that matter, it was about the first meal most people learnt to make on leaving home. The recipe varied greatly and I doubt that many citizens of Bologna would have recognised it.

 

‘Spag bol’, as it was disrespectfully known, was, of course, one of my first attempts at cooking - an effort to reproduce a favourite, which I had seen cooked many times. My own recipe became firmly established when I created a vegetarian version, and I’ve used it ever since. I got the idea for using carrot and the dash of hot sauce/chilli flakes, when I ate spaghetti Bolognese in the Portofino restaurant in Lancaster. The recipe always goes down well, and because of its familiarity, many meat eaters enjoy it. Dressed up with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese – or, if you want to be really trendy, slivers of Parmesan – it’s certainly good enough for the proverbial dinner party, as long as your guests are used to eating spaghetti, that is!

 

The most pleasing sauce is made with the tiny brown lentils, (those which become red lentils when split), but any whole lentils will do and it’s fine made with split ones, too, although the resemblance to the ‘real thing’ is considerably less.  I have used  the sauce, or something very similar, in a number of iterations, such as lasagne.

 

You can make this recipe gluten free, using the appropriate pasta. 

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1/2 cup whole lentils

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 carrot

1/2 green/red pepper

4 fresh OR 400 g/14 oz can chopped tomatoes

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cinnamon

a good shake of hot sauce OR 1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

 

25 mm (1 in) column spaghetti

 

Method:

• Cook the lentils as usual.
• Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Dice the onion and garlic and fry until starting to brown.  This will add more colour to the sauce.
• Dice the carrot and add. Cook until it’s slightly softened  Now add he diced pepper.
• Dice the tomatoes and mix in the sage, basil, oregano, cinnamon and chilli (sauce). If you’re using fresh tomatoes and the sauce seems too thick, it can be thinned by the judicious addition of a little wine. This also improves the taste. Water can be substituted in extremis.
• Now add the salt.  When everything is mixed together and heated through, add the lentils. Cook gently for ten minutes or so to let all the flavours combine. Taste and check the seasoning – the hot sauce should just give it a slight ‘lift’. If the tomatoes have produced too much liquid, simmer a little longer, with the lid off. The sauce should be fairly thick, when it’s ready.
• While the sauce is simmering, cook the spaghetti. Check that it's cooked to your taste, and toss it in olive oil and cracked black pepper. If people are to help themselves, it’s easier to put the spaghetti and sauce into separate dishes. Freshly grated - or shaved - Parmesan cheese is the ideal accompaniment; have a small bowl of 'Parmegan' for vegans. 

Note:

• Italians don't serve their pasta and sauce separately and you might prefer to tip the spaghetti into the sauce before serving it.  Remember to save some pasta water in case the sauce looks too dry.  The only issue with serving it this way, if you are giving it to guests, is that it's really difficult not to flick bits of sauce around while dishing up the food!
• In heavy weather, however, it's probably worth mixing it first and serving in bowls.  You might want to break the pasta into shorter lengths, too. 

Variations:

• Use linguine, fettucine or another long past, instead of the spaghetti
• If you’re fortunate enough to be in the land of cheap red wine, a dollop in the sauce improves it immensely.
•  In really hot weather, when appetites are failing, the sauce is still quite delicious without the lentils.  
• Use a cup of mixed, finely chopped nuts, instead of the lentils. They will not need water, of course and you would add them after frying the vegetables. 

 

You will find more pasta, main-course recipes here.

Chickpeas and wild rice with tomatoes

 

This is one of those really great recipes.  It tastes wonderful, but it’s simple, inexpensive, easy to cook and uses food that you - or at any rate I - always have to hand.  To me, it’s so delicious that it’s fit for a celebration or to give to guests. I love it, and every time I make it, I only wish that I’d made twice as much!  

 

If you don't have wild rice on board, or it's beyond your budget, substitute your normal brown.  It will still make a lovely meal.

 

serves 2

 

Ingredients

 

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil (preferably from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil)

1/2 cup rice

1/4 cup wild rice

2½ cups water

1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked

1 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs or a handful of chopped parsley

 1/2 tsp (heaped) Annie's Seasoned Salt

400 g/14 oz can tomatoes*

1 garlic clove

 cracked black pepper

 

Method:

• Heat the oil in the pressure cooker and add the chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes until softened and transparent.
• Add the rice and wild rice and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the grains of rice become opaque.
• Pour in the water and bring to the boil. Add the chickpeas and the dried mixed herbs (if you're using fresh parsley, keep this until the end). Stir well and put the lid on the pressure cooker. Bring up to pressure and cook for 15 minutes.
• Reduce pressure at room temperature. Add the salt. Dice the garlic and add to the pan.
• Drain the tomatoes and put the juice aside for another recipe. Add the tomatoes to the pressure cooker and chop them very roughly with your spoon – they should stay in big chunks.
• Season generously with pepper, check the salt and reheat, with the lid on, over a low flame. 
• If you are using fresh parsley, chop this finely and mix it through before serving.

Note:

• *If you're somewhere that tomatoes are affordable, this is a good meal to use them, so that you don't have to store the juice.  Peel them first, if you want to and cut them in quarters or eighths, depending on how big they are.  I can't suggest how many to use, but cut up, they would measure a generous cup and a half.
• Fresh parsley truly enhances this dish.

You will find many more rice recipes here