Split lentil soup

Warming, filling, nutritious and comforting: lentil soup is one of my favourites. It’s also very quick to make and is ideal for lunch or as a starter when unexpected guests arrive and you have to spread your dinner further than anticipated!

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil OR butter
1 onion 

1 cup split red lentils 

4 cups water 

2 tbsp lemon juice 

salt and pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan or pressure cooker. Chop the onion and cook it for about 5 minutes until it has started to brown.
• Stir in the lentils, add the water and bring to the boil. If you are using the pressure cooker, cook it for 5 minutes; if cooking conventionally, simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Reduce pressure naturally. Using a potato masher or stick blender, purée the soup. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper and add the lemon juice. Serve piping hot.

• Variations: 
• Add 1/2 tsp cumin and a garlic clove with the onion.
• Chop a carrot and cook it with the onion.
• For a delicious, quick Curried Lentil Soup, add one garlic clove and some diced fresh ginger to the onion while it’s frying. Stir in 2 tsp curry powder/paste just before adding the lentils. Serve with chapatis.

 Note:

• You can make this soup thicker and more substantial by adding another 1/2 cup of lentils.
  

The (Very) Acceptable Ovenless Loaf

 

I came to realise that my vision of perfection (The Perfect Ovenless Loaf) might be difficult for others, as well as myself, to achieve.  Indeed, unless you want square slices of bread (and there are many good reasons for this preference), assembling the necessary hardware might seem more trouble than it's worth.  I've written this post to offer a couple of different options for those of us who want to make bread regularly and don't have an oven, one using a frying pan and one using a saucepan.  Oddly, they produce very different results.

First of all, let's make the dough.  You can use just about any dough recipe for either method.

For a 230 mm/9 in frying pan or a 2 l/1 qt saucepan

2 cups wholewheat flour 

½ tsp salt 

1 tsp instant dried yeast 

1 cup lukewarm water, no warmer than 45°C (110°F) 

½ tsp sugar/honey 

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten

Method:

• Make the dough, following the instructions for Basic bread.  I  recommend using the vital wheat gluten, if you have it, because the cooking process isn't ideal. 
• The dough needs to be a firm one: if it's to soft, the loaf will simply spread itself all over the bottom of the frying pan and that isn't what we are trying to achieve.
  
• Take it out of the bowl and form a roughly circular loaf, which covers a half to two-thirds of the pan base.
  

Frying pan bread

I use a heavy, non-stick alloy pan for this (not Teflon coated!)  But you can also use any really well-seasoned frying pan that you're sure your bread won't stick to.  If your bowl doesn't sit securely on the frying pan, it would be worth getting a lid that fits, preferably one that doubles the useable height of the pan. You also want a fairly deep frying pan, which are anyway more generally useful than a shallow one.

• Put the dough in the frying pan and cover it with your lid or bowl.  Let the bread rise.
• When it’s ready to cook, put the frying pan over a high heat on a flame tamer, and cook for 15 minutes. If you smell burning, reduce the heat, if you can’t smell baking bread, increase it. The flame tamer ensures that the heat radiates across the base of the pan and this avoids spot burning.  Again, use your bowl as a lid.  If the bowl seems precarious and you don't have a domed lid, put on our usual lid and accept that the bread will be flatter than you might have chosen.  This is, after all, an acceptable ovenless loaf.
  
• After 15 minutes, turn the flame down to moderate and cook for a further 20 to 30 minutes.  After 20 minutes, take off the lid and check the loaf.  If the top is still very soft, cook it longer, checking every 5 minutes.  You won't get a hard crust on it.  Once you've cooked it this way a few times, you'll get a feel for how long it takes.
  
• Once the bread feels pretty firm, ie almost cooked, you are now going to spoil this rather nice wee loaf by turning it upside down to brown what was the top.  Even though it's almost cooked, the weight of it will flatten the loaf.  There's not much we can do about that.
• Pop the lid back on, give it about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.  Rremove the lid and just leave the loaf in place until the frying pan is just warm.  Take the loaf out and cool it on a rack (I use my toaster).

If everything has gone according to plan, you will end up with a loaf of smaller diameter but greater height than the frying pan.  In fact I often see 'artisan' rye breads that don't look very different from how this one ends up.   Regardless, it will be delicious bread, incredibly good value and better than anything a small income voyager can buy unless they're some place where wholemeal bread is subsidised (as it used to be in the Azores, many moons ago).  The major drawback of frying pan bread is that the narrow slices are not ideal for sandwiches. 

 

Note:

• You can make really first-class rolls in the frying pan.  Use the bread recipe above and form it into rolls.  Put them in the pan so that they aren't touching and let them rise.  Then cook as above.  They will spread in to one another, but are easily separated.

Saucepan bread

 

This produces a Very Acceptable Ovenless loaf, and is now my preferred method of making a loaf.  It comes out with a really good crust all round and is of a suitable size for sandwiches.  For this method, you need a high-quality, straight-sided, heavy-based pan that has no hot spots.  Be careful if it has a laminated base - it might not take kindly to being used as an oven.  Although you can use the saucepan lid, the ideal is to use is a non-stick, cast alloy, 150 mm/6 in frying pan.  I generally use this for roasting Indian spices, but have found it very useful for many other purposes.  It doesn't take up much room.  (Mine is made by Avanti - it's a great little pan, but is totally let down by the so-called enamel, which I suspect is powder-coating and stained, irrevocably, the first time I used it.  I wish I'd bought the black version.)  If you use the pan's lid, oil that, too.  The saucepan I think is a nominal one litre/quart pan, but I've given the actual dimensions for the avoidance of doubt.

 

For a 150 mm/6 in saucepan, 70 mm/3 in deep

1 1/2 cups wholewheat flour 

½ tsp salt 

1 tsp instant dried yeast 

1 cup lukewarm water, no warmer than 45°C (110°F) 

½ tsp sugar/honey

 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten

 

Method:

• Grease or oil your pan.  I was given some hemp oil and use that.  It's expensive to buy, but is very thick and is the best I've found for this purpose.  I suppose you could also line the pan with parchment paper to make it easier to turn out the loaf, but you probably won't get any crust on the sides of the loaf.
• Make the dough as above.  This time you can make it slightly softer if you want and I recommend using the honey - the slightly softer, well-rise loaf seems to suit this cooking best.  I always use vital wheat gluten if it's available.
  
• Put the dough in the pan and press it down to fit.  Put the lid on and let the bread rise.  One of the nice things with this method, is that you can easly put the pan in the sun! 
  
• When it’s ready to cook, put  flame tamer over a high heat and place the pan on it.  As soon as you smell burning, reduce the heat to moderate.  You want to be able to smell the bread baking, but you don't want to burn the base.  Condensation will form inside the lid - very apparent if you have a glass lid - which is why this loaf turns out quite differently: it is partly steamed.  The crumb will be quite a lot softer than that of the frying pan bread.  The same applies if you're using the frying pan lid.
  
  
  
  
• Cook for a total of 30 minutes and then take the lid off and gently press the dough to see if it's firm. If not, give it another 5 minutes and try again.  I can't really be much more specific because cookers (and pans!) vary so much.  Once you've cooked it this way a few times, you'll get a feel for how long it takes.
  
  
  
  
• Once the bread feels almost cooked, take hold of both handles firmly, and invert the pan over the frying pan.  Now brown the top in the frying pan for 5 minutes or so.
• Alternatively, if you are using the pan lid: ease it off the loaf (hopefully, it won't have risen so much that the dough stuck to it) and lower the heat right down under the flame tamer.  We now want to brown the top of it.  Turn the pan upside down, carefully.   If your pan is non-stick, really well greased, or you've used parchment paper, the loaf will slip out of the pan.  Put it down carefully, return the pan to the heat and put the loaf back into the pan upside down. Put it back over the heat with the lid on for 5 minutes or so.  If, as usually happens to me, the loaf is still stuck to the pan, place the whole lot  over the flame tamer for about 5 minutes.  Hopefully, the loaf hasn't risen above the pan, because in this case it will burn.  If that's the case, you might want to put it on your toaster, or simply forgo browning the top. 
• Once the loaf is browned, shake it out of the pan and put it to cool it on a rack (I use my toaster).  If it's reluctant to come out, leave it to cool down a bit and try to persuade it out by running a knife, with a rounded end around the loaf.  If you leave it too long, the sides and bottom of the loaf will go a bit soggy.  Don't tear it up getting it out.  If the worst comes to the worst, you can always dry it out over the toaster.  Again, you will soon learn the way that suits both your pan and your cooker.

This loaf comes out much higher than the frying pan loaf and is more suited to sandwiches, and toast.

Onion soup

This is an old standby, always popular and can be used either as a filling, main-course soup or as a lighter starter, depending on how thick you make it. I give the main course version as standard.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves 2 as a main course

Ingredients

 

3 large onions

salt

2 tbsp olive oil OR butter

2 tbsp flour

1 litre water

1 tsp Marmite

pepper

Method:

• Slice the onions and heat the oil. Add about 1/4 tsp salt, which speeds up the browning. Cook the onions until they’re just on the edge of burning. The richness and flavour of this soup comes from this stage, so don’t be impatient. If you cover the pan, it speeds things up, but stir them frequently so that they don’t actually burn.
• Pour in the water and then add the Marmite, if you’re using it. This adds extra colour and flavour to the soup, but isn’t necessary. (Use Bovril instead – as Conor O’Brien recommends, in Across Three Oceans, but ensure it’s the vegetarian one; or any other yeast extract paste which doesn’t contain sugar.)
• Bring to the boil and then simmer for at least 20 minutes or pressure cook for 5 minutes.
• When the soup is about cooked, taste and season with more salt if it needs it, and generous amounts of black pepper. It can take a lot.
  
• Serve with plenty of bread.

Note:

• If you want to make this soup less substantial, use 1 less onion and leave out the flour.
• To make the soup gluten free, use 2 tbsp gram flour
  

Variations:

• Add a generous measure of brandy or sherry to the bowl when serving.
• Serve with grated (vegan) cheese.
• In France and Italy, the soup often has a slice of bread put on top and cheese grated over this.
• Add 1 cup grated (vegan) cheese and 1/4 cup (vegan) Parmesan cheese to the soup, just before serving. In this case, don’t add salt until the last minute, because the cheese will make it saltier; and don’t reboil – this could make the cheese go stringy.
• Substitute Dijon mustard for the Marmite.

Split pea soup

Split peas are more a cool climate food because for some reason, they don’t keep well in the tropics: after being on board for about a year, they completely refuse to soften, even with pre-soaking and cooked in a pressure cooker. Chana or toor dal might keep better, but I’ve never tried.   However, they would work well in this recipe, which, while pretty much the same as lentil soup, tastes completely different and makes a pleasant change when you’re eating a lot of soup.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 4 to 6 as a starter, 2 for a main course 

 

Ingredients

 

1 tbsp olive oil OR butter

1 onion

1 cup split peas

4 cups water

2 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan or pressure cooker. Chop the onion and cook it for about 5 minutes until it has started to brown.
• Stir in the split peas. Add the water and bring to the boil. If you’re using the pressure cooker, cook for 5 minutes; if cooking conventionally, simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Reduce pressure naturally. Using a potato masher, or stick blender, purée the soup. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and plenty of black pepper. Serve very hot, with warm bread and butter.

Variations:

• Dal Soup is a warming alternative. Chop 1 garlic clove and some fresh ginger and fry it with the onion. Stir in 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp coriander and 1 tsp cumin. Add 1/4-1/2 tsp chilli, if you want a soup with a bit of zing. Cook as above. Add 2 tbsp lemon juice just before serving with bread or chapatis.

Potato soup

Potato soup is a favourite of mine. It’s very quick to make, cheap, warming and filling, as well as being excellent cold weather food and delicious with herb bread. Although it’s a simple recipe, it’s full of good things: iron, protein, vitamin B6, potassium, and vitamin C. Potatoes are seriously underrated food. Unfortunately, especially in the tropics, they’re often not the easiest of vegetables to come by, nor the cheapest.   If you want to eat soup in the tropics, however, there are plenty of other recipes about!

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves 2 as a main meal, 4 – 6 as a starter

 

Ingredients

1 onion
1 tbsp olive oil OR 2 tbsp butter
4 potatoes, preferably floury ones
3 cups water
1 cup (vegan) milk
Annie's seasoned salt and (cracked black) pepper
freshly grated nutmeg

Method:

• Dice the onion and put it in a pressure cooker, or saucepan, with the olive oil or butter. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
• Peel the potatoes, if you want to (I don't usually bother, because I like potato skins) – the soup will look more elegant without the skins – and dice them. Add to the pan and stir for a couple of minutes.
• Pour in the water, bring to the boil and pressure cook for 5 minutes OR cook for a further 20 minutes.
• Mash the potatoes thoroughly, to produce a creamy purée. You’ll still have bits of onion (and maybe potato peel) floating around, but that’s the way it goes in low-tech living. If you have a stick blender, you can combine it all a lot more effectively.
• Add the milk and reheat to nearly boiling. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. Ideally, potato soup should be a creamy-white purée, but I don’t usually peel my potatoes, so don’t mind the ‛bits’ from the salt and pepper.
• Put into bowls and grate nutmeg over each.

Variations:

• If you have any fresh herbs, add them with the milk.
• Dried thyme and/or rosemary are also nice additions, but will detract from a white soup. 
• Mix in some cream just before serving.

Sweet potato/kumara soup

This is a pretty soup, with a West Indian feel to it.  I prefer to make it with orange or yellow sweet potato or kumara.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 2 for a main course, 4 for a starter 

 

Ingredients 

 

2 large or 1 very large sweet potato/kumara

1 onion

2 tbsp olive oil

2 red peppers

1 litre water

2 tbsp cream of coconut

salt and pepper

lime or lemon juice

Method:

• Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, dice the onion.
• Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and cook the kumara and onion over a medium heat, for about 10 minutes.
• Heat the peppers over a flame until the skins bubble and then peel them. Chop them and add the to the other vegetables and mix well.
• Add the water, bring to the boil and pressure cook for 10 minutes. When the pressure has reduced, mash with a potato masher or stick blender, until the vegetables are reduced to a purée.
• Return to the heat and stir in the cream of coconut. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and add lime or lemon juice.

 Variation:

• Add some chilli if you want a spicier soup.

Cream of tomato soup

Most of us were brought up with Heinz or Campbell’s soups, and their Cream of Tomato Soup is the standard by which all are judged. Fresh tomatoes make lovely soup, but if you are trying to achieve that almost-cloying sweetness of Mr Heinz’s comfort food, it’s best obtained via tins. As this makes the recipe particularly appropriate for voyagers, I include it with some satisfaction.

The following recipe is simplicity itself, and actually pretty wholesome, to boot, especially when served with large hunks of freshly-baked bread.

If you’re feeling particularly wealthy, the milk can be replaced with cream. Take care not to boil the soup once the cream has been added, because, particularly if it’s canned or UHT, it may well separate.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

 

Serves 2 for a main meal, 4 as a starter

Ingredients

 

1 small onion

1 large knob of butter OR 2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp gram flour

3 cups water

150 ml (5½ oz) tin of tomato purée

1/8 tsp dried, minced garlic

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp dill (weed)

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

• Dice onion and fry gently in the oil or butter.  
• Remove from the heat and stir in the gram flour. Gradually add the water until all the flour is blended; return to the heat.
• Bring to the boil, adding the tin of tomato purée and stirring to mix it in.
• Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and add the basil and dill, honey and salt. If you prefer to leave the honey out, do so, but it’s necessary for the Heinz effect. Add the milk and pepper.
• Simmer, very gently, for about 10 minutes. Ladle into warm bowls.

Cream of vegetable soup

I created this soup in Greenland, where I used dried vegetables rather than the fresh shown in the following recipe. It was a lovely soup with dried; it’s wonderful with fresh. Should you be in my predicament, I give the dried vegetable version below. The resulting soup is thick and rich: ideal for a main course in cold weather.

There are more cans included than I would normally use, but the baked beans are an essential ingredient because their tomato sauce gives a flavour that is otherwise hard to obtain, while sweetcorn adds extra flavour and texture. The recipe makes loads – probably enough for four people, but like most soup, it only improves with keeping, and in the conditions in which you’d be eating it, there’d by no problems about its going off.

I've tagged this as gluten free - but some makes of baked beans might have flour in them.  Check the label.

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Ingredients

1 leek

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion

1 potato

1 turnip

3 carrots

1/4 cup gram flour

6 cups water OR stock

1 tsp sage

2 tsp parsley

6 juniper berries, crushed

1/2 tsp cracked black peppercorns

2 tsp seasoned salt

200 ml/7 oz can sweetcorn

400 g/14 oz can baked beans

170 ml/6 oz can cream

Method:

• Wash the leek carefully, slitting down the sides of it to ensure that all the grit and soil are removed.
• Heat the olive oil in a pressure cooker or large saucepan, over a low heat.
• Dice the leek, onion, potato, turnip and carrots and put them into the pan. Fry gently for five minutes until the vegetables are softened and well coated with oil.
• Stir in the gram flour, mixing well to remove most of the lumps.
• Pour in the water, turn up the heat and bring to the boil.
• Add the sage, parsley, juniper berries and cracked pepper and seasoned salt.
• If you’re using the pressure cooker, bring to pressure and cook for 8 minutes. Otherwise, turn the heat right down and simmer as gently as you can for 45 minutes.
• Add the cans of sweetcorn and baked beans and bring back to boiling point. Simmer for a further 5 minutes or so.
• Gently stir in the cream, mixing thoroughly. Heat until almost boiling and then serve with warm bread.

Variations:

• For the Greenland version, use 1/4 cup of dried onions and 1 cup of mixed dried vegetables instead of the fresh vegetables. Pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the onions and leave them to soak for 30 minutes before adding them to the soup. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the other vegetables and leave them for the same time.
• Extra zing can be added with a tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce, if you use this.
• If you don’t have any cream, mix ½ cup dried milk with ½ cup lukewarm water and add this to the soup.

 

Coconut bread rolls

These coconut dinner rolls are freely adapted from a recipe by Richa Hingle; freely adapted, because the ingredients have been altered to make fewer rolls and to bear in mind that while on boats we can carry all sorts of wonderful dried herbs and spices, we generally can’t just pop along to the local farmers’ market and buy fresh. These rolls, therefore, can be made on board, with the usual ingredients that (curry-loving) sailors have in their lockers.

 

Unlike most of the rolls that I make, these are soft and fluffy (well, relatively speaking), due to the inclusion of coconut milk and, I suspect, the addition of baking powder. I give them a double rising (but only about 20 – 30 minutes each time), starting them before the rest of the meal, when I soak the beans for the curry I have with them, and then making them into little rolls that could rise while I get said curry underway. (If you're not using beans that need soaking, try to remember this extra step!)  They’re supposed to be topped with a delicious tempering, but I felt that was a step too far! The turmeric makes them come out an attractive shade of yellow.

Makes 6 small rolls

Ingredients

1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

1 tbsp (coconut) oil

1 cup wholemeal flour, plus more for mixing

1/2 tsp instant yeast

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp baking powder

small green chilli finely chopped

1 tbsp shredded coconut

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp ginger, minced or paste

1/2 tbsp hemp seeds or sesame seeds

Method:

• Warm the coconut milk (see Note) then add the oil. If you’re using coconut oil, wait for it to melt and stir it in.
• Add 1/2 the flour and the yeast and mix everything well.
• Now add salt, turmeric, black pepper, cayenne baking powder, chilli, coconut, onion powder, ginger and seeds. Mix thoroughly so that everything is evenly distributed.
• Add the rest of the flour and mix again. Now you will need to start using your hands. Add a little more flour if the mixture is too sticky, but remember that this is a nice, soft dough so you just want to add sufficient that it no longer sticks to your fingers.
• Cover the dough and let it rise for about half an hour.
• Once the dough has risen, turn it onto a board and gently work it into a ball, flouring the board if necessary.
• Divide the dough into half a dozen evenly-sized pieces and then place them in a greased frying pan.
• Cover the frying pan with a lid and let the rolls rise for another quarter of an hour or so.
• Light the cooker, put on the flame tamer and then place the frying pan on the heat. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes. Take the lid off and gently press one of the rolls. If it’s firm, turn them all over and brown the other side for about 5 minutes. It it’s still soft, cook for another 5 minutes and try again.
• Serve warm with dal or curry.

Alternative cooking in an oven

• When you have divided the dough into 6 balls, grease a 230 mm/9 in pie dish really well, or line it with parchment, then place the rolls in the pie dish.
• Brush the top with some warm water.
• Cover the dish it with a tea-towel and let it rise in a warm place, for 15-20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven at this time to Moderate.
• When the oven is the right temperature, bake the rolls for 25 minutes.
• Take the rolls out of the oven, and let them sit in the pie dish for a few minutes, before shaking them out.

Variations:

• You could use a different milk if you wanted to, but then they wouldn’t taste so deliciously of coconut!
• If you ever use white flour, in this case the rolls would probably be an even prettier yellow colour.
• If you’re cooking for other people, who you feel might find this sort of ‛hot’ roll a step too far, leave out the chilli and cayenne.

Notes:

• I use coconut powder for the milk. You can bring this to perfect temperature in the usual way of boiling half of the water and adding it to the rest before mixing in the powder. This will stop it killing the yeast from being too hot, when you add it to the flour.

Butter bean spread

This is a very useful recipe if you have a few cans of ready-cooked beans on board, and is capable of a large number of variations. Many people refer to these spreads as ‛hummus’, but hummus means chickpea, so to do so is quite incorrect! If you don’t have any canned beans, you will need to cook 1/2 cup of dried beans to make the equivalent amount. 

 Serves 4 for a starter 

400 g (14 oz) can butter beans OR 1/2 cup dried, cooked

1/2 tsp dried, minced garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Drain the beans and put them into a bowl.
• Mash them with a fork, then mix in the garlic, the olive oil and the lemon juice, stirring and mashing until a smooth paste is formed.
• Add pepper. Taste and decide whether salt is needed.
• Serve in a sandwich, or on rolls, toast or crackers.

Variations:

• Substitute soft butter or mayonnaise for the olive oil.
• Use coconut butter. 
• Instead of lemon juice, use lime juice or balsamic vinegar. 
• Add some hot sauce to the mix.
• Try adding some Worcestershire sauce. 
• Add diced onion or pepper. 
• Try different types of canned beans. 
• Mix in some of Annie's Mixed Herbs when you put in the garlic. 
• Add a tsp of curry paste to the mix.
• If you happen to have some on board, add some fresh, chopped herbs to the spread.
• Use half a dozen chopped black olives instead of, or in addition to the garlic.
• Add a tsp chopped capers.
• Add some diced pickled peppers.

Butter bean and sun-dried tomato spread

Warning: blender alert!

 

Sun-dried tomatoes, especially those sold in oil, have a rich flavour that is far beyond that of mere tomatoes. This is a great spread or pâté, depending on how posh you feel! It also makes an excellent sandwich filling or goes well with thick slices of fresh, crusty bread for lunch. Use cannellinni beans of butter beans are unobtainable.

I recommend a stick blender for this - the pâté ends up quite thick and it is difficult to move it around in a blender. I also prefer it to have a bit of texture.  You could finely cut up the sun-dried tomatoes and mash the other ingredients, perhpas pounding the beans with a mortar; I’m sure the spread would still be quite wonderful.

Serves 4 as a starter

6 halves of sun-dried tomatoes in oil

2 tbsp oil from the jar

juice of 1 lemon OR a few small pieces of salted lemon

400 g tin butter beans, or 1/2 cup dried beans, cooked

3-4 tbsp reserved water

5-6 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried

salt and pepper

Method:

• Tip the sun-dried tomatoes, oil, lemon juice and 3 tbsp water into a bowl.  Use the blender to chop up the tomatoes  
• Drain the beans, reserving the liquid, and add to the blender with thyme leaves (or dried thyme).
• Blend to a pâté-type consistency, as smooth as you want. Then taste and add salt and black pepper as required. Be careful with the salt: sun-dried tomatoes, canned beans and the salted lemon (if you're using it) might already have added enough salt.  
  If the spread is a little too thick, stiff, add some of the reserved bean liquid, or maybe a drop of wine. Blend again until you get the right consistency.

Serve with toast or crackers, in sandwiches, or with fresh bread.

Variations:

• Instead of lemon juice, use lime juice or balsamic vinegar. 
• Add some hot sauce or chilli flakes to the mix.
• Add diced onion or pepper. 
• Add 1/4 tsp dried, minced garlic
• Mix in some of Annie's Mixed Herbs as well as, or instead of the thyme.
• Use half a dozen chopped black olives.
• Add a tsp chopped capers.
• Add some diced pepperdews
• Use 1 tsp za'atar in place of the thyme.
  

 

Hummus (chickpea)

This is another very popular middle-eastern recipe that nowadays appears in almost every supermarket. I prefer to make it myself, because I don’t like hummus to be too smooth or light. Ideally, you make it with a very full-flavoured olive oil.

 

Serves 4 as a starter

 

1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked and cooked OR 400 g (14 oz) can chickpeas

1/2 tsp dried, minced garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

extra olive oil

paprika

Method:

• Cook the chickpeas for five minutes longer than usual and drain, reserving the liquid. If using a can, drain that and reserve the liquid.
• Put the chickpeas into a mixing bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher.
• Incorporate the garlic, olive oil, tahini and lemon juice. Combine thoroughly. You should have a thick paste. If it’s too thick, mix in some of the reserved cooking liquid. If you prefer a more commercial-style hummus, mix further with a wire whisk, adding extra liquid to produce a lighter, smoother purée.
• Season – carefully if you’ve used canned chick peas, which may already be salted.
• To present the hummus attractively, scrape it into a crockery bowl, smooth it down and then make little ridges with a fork. Dribble olive oil over the top and then sprinkle with paprika.

Variations:

• Add 1/2 tsp ground cumin when you mix in the garlic.
• Add 1/4 tsp cayenne or dried chilli flakes, when you mix in the garlic.

 

Egg spread

This makes a lovely filling for sandwiches and as long as they’re in a plastic box, works well for picnics, because it doesn’t make the bread soggy. It can also be used as a dip (although then you do need to chop the eggs very finely, pass them through a sieve or put them in a blender) or spread on crackers. However, serve these immediately or the crackers will go soft.

 

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 for sandwich filling

 

2 hard-boiled eggs

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp dried, minced garlic

a few drops of hot sauce

1/2 tsp tarragon

  Annie's Seasoned Salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Cook the eggs and once they are cool, peel and dice them and put them in a bowl.
• Mix in the mayonnaise, garlic, hot sauce and seasoning to make a firm spread.

Variations:

• Use yoghurt instead of the mayonnaise. 
• Leave out the tarragon and – possibly – the hot sauce and add 1 tsp curry paste to the mix. 
• Use fresh herbs if you have any available. 
• Add diced green or red pepper, avocado, cooked mushrooms, cooked asparagus, diced onion or chopped spring onion. 
• Add diced cucumber – this will, however, make the mixture much wetter.   
• Substitute crushed green peppercorns for the normal pepper. 
• Add 1/4 tsp celery salt instead of the seasoned salt.

Lentil and harissa pâté

This is a really good pâté, that I invented one Christmas. The harissa gives it an unusual flavour, without making it too overpowering.

Serves 4 or more as a dip or starter

 

1/2 cup split lentils

1/2 onion, diced finely

1 cup water

chilli flakes to taste

1/4 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp harissa seasoning

1 tbsp ground flax seed 

salt and generous grind black pepper

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

Method: 

• Add the lentils, onion, water, chilli and garlic to a pan. Cover and cook over a low heat until the lentils are soft and the water absorbed.
• Remove from the heat and add the harissa and the ground flax seed. Mix thoroughly. The flax seed adds a bit of body: if you prefer the pâté to be softer, omit it.
• Add the tomato purée and lemon juice and let the mixture cool before serving with bread or crackers.

Lentil spread

This is a simple, basic spread for when you want something for sandwiches or crackers and have nothing more special to hand. Like most basic recipes, it’s capable of many variations. This can also be used as a filling for a pasty.

Serves 4 

 

1tbsp olive oil

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

1/ 2 cup split red lentils

1 cup water

1/2 tsp sage

2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil in a small saucepan and dice the onion and garlic.
• Add them to the pan and cook until softened – about five minutes.
• Add the lentils, stirring them until they’re covered in oil, and then add the water.
• Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes until all the water is absorbed.
• Remove from the heat and beat in the sage and lemon juice until you get a smooth purée. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool.

Variations:

• Substitute cumin for the sage.
• Leave out the sage and add 1 tsp curry paste.
• Beat in 1/2 cup of finely grated cheese, while the mixture is still warm.
• Add some hot sauce to the mix.
• Add 1 tbsp tomato purée and try various other herbs.
• Add a little chopped, fresh ginger with the onion and garlic.
• Add half a diced green pepper with the onion and garlic.
• If you have some fresh mushrooms, add three or four of these with the onion and garlic.

Red kidney bean spread

With more than a few similarities to chilli sin carne, this makes a substantial lunch with crackers, rolls or bread. It can also be used to fill a pasty.

Serves 2 for lunch 

 

1/2 cup red kidney beans, soaked and cooked OR 400 g (14 oz) can

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tbsp tomato purée

salt and pepper

Method:

• Drain the beans into a bowl, reserving the liquid, and mash them.
• Dice the onion and garlic and cook in the oil until softened.
• Mix into the beans and add the oregano, chilli, cumin, tomato purée, salt and pepper, stirring until a thick paste is produced. Add some of the liquid if the paste is too stiff.
• Taste and add more sesoning if required.  Eat once it has cooled down.  

 Variation:

• This can also be made with black beans.
  

 

Yoghurt and herb dip

Serves 4

 

1/2 cup Greek-style yoghurt

1 tsp Annie's Mixed Herbs

salt and pepper

Method:

• Simply combine the yoghurt, herbs, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Let them stand for at least a quarter of an hour for the flavours to combine. Check the seasoning and serve with crudités.

Variations:

• Use fresh herbs if any are available.
• Use half-and-half or all mayonnaise, especially if it’s home-made.
• Use 1 tbsp Dijon mustard instead of the herbs.
• Leave out the herbs and combine with finely grated cheese.
• Try all of the above ideas together!
• Leave out Annie’s Mixed Herbs, and add 1 tsp sun-dried tomato purée and 1/2 tsp basil.
•  Substitute mint for Annie's Mixed Herbs and chop in a small cucumber.
• If you have any on board, dice a few pepperdews and mix those in.  Leave out or reduce the amount of herbs.