Suma Bloggers Network-Mediterranean Pate

Well, it's been a while! It's been over two months since I last posted a recipe! I can't actually believe were in June already! I have been so busy this year I never seem to sit down, I've taken on the second half of my allotment which hadn't been used for years, and I mean years. It was full of couch grass and wild raspberries and so many brambles, its taken an age just to clear half of it but it is now done and potatoes are working the soil as we speak. As well as taking on a much larger plot (double in size) I have also gone back to college to become a qualified aromatherapist and boy did I not realise how much work was involved before I started! Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying it immensely but with working full time, taking on a larger allotment and going back to college something had to give. Unfortunately that was my blog! I'm still creating recipes (a girls gotta eat - right) but I just don't have the time to photograph, weigh all the ingredients and write a blog post - sorry. I'm hoping that over the next couple of months as I complete my case studies, write the last 4 assignments and do my final exam I will be able to get back into blogging and sharing my recipes with you. I'll also share some of my aromatherapy blends with you too. 

Anyway on with the recipe. One thing I will find time for is Suma Wholefoods I love being part of their Suma Bloggers Network. There is a network of 11 bloggers currently and every other month we receive a selection of complimentary products to create a recipe and share on our blogs. To carry on the theme of my last few posts and the International Year of Pulses (IYP) the recipe I'm sharing with you today is made with chickpeas. I find chickpeas extremely versatile and there is never a day you won't find either a tin of chickpeas, a bag of dried chickpeas in my cupboard. They are great to use for a last minute meal whether that is houmous or used in curries, chillies and stews. This recipe uses them as a base to the pate and adds flavours of the Mediterranean.

Ingredients 

1 Tin Suma Organic Chickpeas, rinsed
3 Tsp Suma Organic Vegan Pesto (heaped)
3 Suma Organic Sundried Tomatoes in Oil, thinly shredded
10 Green Oilves, cut into quarters
6 Basil leaves, thinly shredded
6 Chilves, thinly sliced
Black Pepper


Method

1) Mash the chickpeas into a large bow with a potato masher or fork

2) Add the pesto and stir through to combine

3) Add the shredded tomatoes and chopped olives and stir to combine

4) Add the basil, chives and black pepper to taste, giving everything one last stir

5) Serve on crusty bread as a pate or sliced bread as a sandwich filler

A perfect pate to take on a picnic, eating outside whilst soaking up the sun and enjoying the taste of the Mediterranean!

To find more pulse recipes, read my International Year of Pulses (IYP) post

Jasmine x

Specials Board: Three Cucumbers Salad with Basil & Lime Dressing

Three Cucumber Salad & Vegan Mofo Day 5

This year has been a mixed bag where cucumbers are concerned. I have tried to grow three varieties, and all three have had their difficulties. The Cucamelons took so long to germinate, I nearly gave up on them two times but I kept persevering and gave them the love and attention they obviously need and finally the little seedlings started poking through the soil. Once the plants grew stronger there was no stopping them. The plants didn't have a great deal of foilage but I have been lucky enough to harvest twice so far and I think I'll get one more harvest from the three plants that I kept. I gave a couple of plants away to, so out of the 10 seeds I was lucky enough to have 5 healthy plants. Not bad for something that I nearly gave up on twice! 

The other two varieties I grew weren't as good! The Lemon Crystal Cucumber variety the yellow ones in the picture below, were extremely stubborn! Unfortunately I lost 4 plants early in the season, I think I over watered if I'm honest, I was that worried about them being thirsty, with all the dry weather we were fortunate to get, but I probably gave them too much water. Thankfully I gave my Mum two plants and I managed to hold on to another plant. The two plants I gave my Mum have absolutely thrived and she has had lots of cucumbers on her plants. Mine? Absolutely none! Oh well that's the beauty of giving plants away at the start of the season, you get some of the produce back as a thank you!

The third variety I tried to grow, which I've had huge successes with in the past was Marketmore, which is a pretty bog-standard cucumber, but absolutely nothing this year. Even the plants didn't make it, let alone produce any fruit. I was gutted! Absolutely gutted!

To make this three cucumber salad I had to use a shop bought cucumber too, but it was in the reduced items area so I didn't mind. Plus Marco LOVES cucumber so he got a treat too!

Now, I can hardly call this a recipe when all the dish consists of is three types of cucumber and some lettuce from my garden! So to perk it up I created a tangy and upbeat dressing to go along with it.

Basil & Lime Dressing

Ingredients - Serves 4-6 (depending on how much dressing you like on your salad)
100ml Soy yoghurt
20 Basil leaves
½ Tsp Dried parsley
1 Tbsp Lime juice
½ Tsp Lime zest, finely grated
10g Cashews
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method
Put all the ingredients into a blender and whiz up into a smooth dressing. Pour over the cucumbers and lettuce.

The cashews will thicken your dressing if left in the fridge but this is then great used as a dip or spread. If you don't want your dressing to thicken then omit the cashews.

Broad Bean "Cheese" & Olive Crackers

Broad beans. You either love them or hate them. They are the marmite of the vegetable world. I know so many people that hate these little beauties so I thought I would make something that didn't resemble the vegetable and teamed it with a herb to tone down their unique flavour. I have been taking this "cheese" to work as a snackage with the olive crackers and I've managed to tempt a few colleagues to try it, the result - "Ooooh that's nice", "That isn't made with broad bean is it?" 
So, if you're a broad bean hater give this Broad Bean "Cheese" a go you might be pleasantly surprised.

Ingredients

160g Shelled broad beans
1 Clove of Elephant garlic, equivalent to 2 large cloves
30 Basil leaves
1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
200ml Unsweetened almond milk
1 Tbsp Agar Agar flakes
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Method

Cook the broad beans and garlic in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Once cool enough to handle remove the outer skin of the broad bean, which can taste bitter.

Transfer to a blender and top with the basil leaves.

Add the almond milk and agar agar flakes to a saucepan and slowly bring to a rolling simmer. You need to simmer until the agar agar has melted, about 4-5 minutes.

Pour the milk and agar agar liquid into the blender and blend until you have a smooth liquid with no flecks of basil remaining. The colour should be a vibrant green!

Transfer to a glass or ceramic container and store in the fridge until set. I left it overnight before slicing. Serve with your favourite vegan crackers, I used olive crackers and the flavours paired up very well together. Enjoy!

I've submitted this recipe into "Shaheens Eat Your Greens" Recipe Challenge. Shaheen runs the fabulous Allotment to Kitchen blog. The idea behind this challenge is really simple, to make something with a green vegetable each month. Once you've posted a recipe you email Shaheen and a round up of all the entries will be posted on her blog before the end of the month.

I've also entered this recipe into the Simple and in Season recipe challenge, which asks you to enter recipes which use a product that is in season right now. Ren over at RenBehan.com is very busy right now with a new born so Elizabeth's Kitchen is hosting the challenge for August. 

Elizabeth's post that informs the entry details for this challenge states that she has just finished blanching and podding some broad beans, I wonder if she'll give this broad bean recipe a go?

I think this recipe also fits the bill for another recipe challenge, which I've only just come across and that's the "Extra Veg" Recipe Challenge. This event is run by Helen and Michelle and the August blog event is being hosted by Sarah over at Maison Cupcake.

The "Extra Veg" Recipe Challenge was set up to encourage everyone to a healthier start to 2014 and to set the course for the rest of the year. What a great idea, fill up on veggies and there's no room for the bad stuff.

Courgette Pasta with Basil Cream

I've been busy harvesting all this week, I can't believe how many courgettes I have collected, they just keep coming! Thankfully I will never tire of the courgette, and you will see lots more recipes showcasing this vegetable throughout the next few weeks.

I've also harvested more broad beans although I think these have come to their end now, which is a shame as I do love a broad bean pate! I'll be posting my recipe for a broad bean "cheese" soon too which I have been enjoying as a snackage at work!

Exciting times too as my asparagus peas have just started 'fruiting', and my runner beans are starting to grow, I've had one small harvest from my 6 plants so far, no doubt after the rain today these will start coming thick and fast!

OK, on to another courgette recipe, which is quick, simple and very very tasty! I cooked it for my sister and she loved it that much she left armed with courgettes to make it at home.

Ingredients - Serves 2-3

150g Pasta
Splas of Olive oil
1 Courgette, sliced and quartered
5 Field mushrooms, chopped to match same size as courgettes
100ml Water
100g Cashews
Large handful of basil
Salt and pepper

You could easily double of the ingredients if you were feeding more people. 

Method

Put your pasta on to cook, the rest of the dish can be made before the pasta cooks. Its that quick!

In a frying pan saute the courgettes and mushrooms in the olive oil for 5 minutes or until the courgettes are starting to brown around the edges but retain some bite and the mushrooms have released their liquid.

Meanwhile place the water and cashew in a blender and blend until you have a smooth liquid (I love my vitamix for this, its super speedy). Add the basil and salt & pepper to taste and blend again until you have a smooth green liquid. The smell is fantastic!

Pour the green sauce onto the courgettes and mushrooms. It will start to thicken as soon as it heats up, so keep stirring. 

Drain your pasta reserving the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the courgette mix and stir to coat with the sauce. Add as much of the reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce to your desired consistency and serve straight away.

Dinner is served in under 15 minutes! Who needs take away!

Basil Tofu and Garden Pea Cannelloni

The weather has been horrid today, rain wind and more wind! I work on the top floor of a 6 floor building and around 3pm today the building wobbled! Yes wobbled! My heart goes out to the areas that have been hit the hardest.

With all this horrid weather I needed cheering up and fancied a bit of sunshine. No I didn't book a holiday, I created a sunshine meal! Using summertime ingredients thanks to frozen peas and the gorgeous amazing basil tofu I purchased at Waitrose at the weekend I could do just that.

I've been meaning to try the Vegusto Cheese that was included in my vegan swap box for ages too, so that also needed to be included in my creation. So what can you do with basil tofu, garden peas and vegan cheese? Something Italian - cannelloni.

Ingredients
200g Basil tofu
185g Frozen peas, cooked and drained
½ Bunch spring onions, finely sliced
1 Red onion, finely chopped
1 Garlic clove, minced
500g Tomato passata
2 Tsp Paprika
2 Tsp Mixed herbs
½ Tsp Sugar
½ Tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Tomato puree
12 Cannelloni tubes
60g Vegan cheese, grated

Method
First cut the basil tofu into cubes and add to your food processor, next add the cooked frozen peas and the spring onions. If you don't have a food processor you can mash the tofu then add the peas and finely shredded spring onions and mash again.

Next make your tomato sauce, fry the red onion and garlic in a little olive for 3-4 minutes. Pour in the tomato passata and stir through. Next add the paprika, mixed herbs, sugar, salt and tomato puree and slowly bring to the boil. 

Stuff the cannelloni tubes with the basil tofu, garden peas and spring onion mixture. 

Spread a little tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven dish and place the stuffed cannelloni tubes on top. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle over the grated cheese.

Bake in a moderate oven for around 30-40 minutes, until the cheese has 'melted' and the food is piping hot.

Asparagus & Olive Pizza

Hubby fancied Pizza tonight, and was missing the take outs we used to get every now and then. He said he was actually craving pizza and nothing else would suffice. There was only one thing for it, we made pizza. I had bought a bunch of asparagus for a knock down price of 75p only the day before and I was wondering what I could do with it. Asparagus and Olive pizza was born.

I also had a tube of Cheddar style Teese in the fridge, which I wanted to try out and as the packet said it melted I thought it would be suitable for the pizza.

As you can see from the photograph it was very orange and it didn't melt particularly well. In fact I probably won't buy this product again. It tasted chemically almost plastic and it didn't have a very 'cheesy' flavour if I can remember what cheese tastes like!

The asparagus, chopped black olives, basil and onion worked a treat though, you should try this combination. I bet it would work well in a pasta dish to, which I might try as I have 4 spears of asparagus left.