Specials Board: Courgette & Lentil Loaf

Courgette & Lentil Loaf and VeganMofo Day 28

Apologies for the photographs, I didn't finish cooking until it was dark and I was too hungry to set up a photo shoot! 

Before I get onto the recipe I just want to wish my sister a very Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!

I told you there would be more courgette recipes! My freezer is bursting at the seams with frozen courgette, so I didn't want to freeze a load more as they are. I'm not alone with the amazing courgette harvest this year, my gardening angel is exactly in the same position. She said that as soon as she turns her back on a plant it springs out courgettes! We're not complaining though, this vegetable is so versatile. Maybe next year my vegan mofo topic will be courgettes! That will really test me 30 days of courgette recipes, jeez that would be a tough one.

I'm going to freeze individual slices of this loaf, so I can have dinner on the table in minutes especially on those days when I get in from work late.

Ingredients 

1 Tbsp Flax seeds
3 Tbsp Water
300g Red lentils
900ml Vegetable stock
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
230g Courgette, grated
2 Tsp Mixed herbs
85g Wholemeal breadcrumbs (2 slices)
1 Tsp Arrowroot powder

Method

First make your flax egg, slowly pour the water over the flax seed, whisking as you do so, continue to whisk for a couple of minutes until the mixture starts to go a bit gloopy. Put the flax egg in the fridge so it firms up whilst you continue with cooking.

Add the red lentils and stock to a large saucepan and bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring at regular intervals so the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Towards the end of cooking you will need to stir more often so it doesn't stick. You will end up with what I can only describe as a thick porridge like consistency. I should have taken a photo for you, but it doesn't look appetising!

While the lentils are cooking sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil for 5 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Add the courgette and mixed herbs and sauté for another 5 minutes, the courgettes will lose some of their moisture.

Once the lentils are cooked take off the heat and add the onion and courgette mixture. Give everything a good mix and then add the breadcrumbs. Mix again before adding the arrowroot and then mix again.

Remove the flax egg from the fridge and add to the lentil mixture and give everything one final mix ensuring all ingredients are mixed together.

Spoon the mixture into an oiled loaf tin and bake for 60 minutes. Let cool slightly before turning out onto a board or plate so it firms up a bit more. If I'm honest, it wasn't as firm as I would have liked when I cut my first slice.


EDIT POST: I was far too impatient, when left to cool for 10 minutes the mixture firms up nicely. Yay!

Specials Board: Courgette Curry

Courgette Curry and Vegan Mofo Day 27

I am still over run with courgettes and there is still a few on my plants so expect more courgette recipes soon! As the nights are starting to draw in (has anyone else noticed that) and its getting darker a lot sooner than I'd like and its definitely got a little nippy, I thought a curry would warm me up and comfort me. So, courgette curry it was. 

I raided my spice cupboard and rather than use a curry powder, which I do use, I fancied making one from scratch. So out came all the curry type spices and I realised I had no ground coriander. I wasn't going to make a special trip to the supermarket just for that, so I used coriander seeds instead and ground them myself. Feel free to swap the seeds for ground if you make this.

Ingredients
1 Tbsp Groundnut oil
½ Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Onion, chopped
2 Garlic cloves
Knob of ginger (6g)
1½ Tsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Garam Masala
½ Tsp Coriander seeds
½ Tsp Hot chilli powder
¼ Tsp Salt
2 Tomatoes, chopped (225g)
680g Courgette
1Tin of coconut milk
1 Tsp Arrowroot

Method
Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, they will start to pop almost straight away. When the majority of them have popped add the onion and sauté for 5 mins or until the onion starts to go golden brown.

Using a fine microplane, grate the garlic and ginger and add to the onions.

Grind the coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar and add to the onion mixture along with the cumin, garam masala, chilli powder and salt. Cook for another minute.

Add the tomatoes and stir to combine everything. Sauté for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes start to break down.

Add the courgettes, give everything another good stir and sauté for another couple of minutes.

Add the coconut milk, stir again and bring to a simmer. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your courgette pieces.

If you're happy with the curry sauce thickness leave out the arrowroot, but if like me, you like your curry sauce a little thicker mix the arrowroot with a little cold water and add to the curry, the mixture will thicken slightly. 

Serve with rice.

Specials Board: Courgette & Lemon Spread

Courgette & Lemon Spread & Vegan Mofo Day 13

This really was a work in progress recipe! You know those times when you make something and it tastes good but it jut needs that something extra? Well, this was one of those times!

The recipe started out as a courgette houmous, which turned into a courgette butter, which finally transformed into the courgette & lemon spread it is today. On the plus side while I was tweaking the recipe I did have some good ideas of what else I could do with my courgettes, so watch this space......

The ingredient list is the full list of everything I used and I have described my tweaking at the end of the method. You could omit the garlic if you wanted a more sweet spread but I thought the garlic gave it the depth. If you're not a massive lover of garlic halve the amount.

You can see how much tasting I did as the top photograph shows the jar almost empty compared to the photos below. I must admit I did keep going back for another helping!

Ingredients
150g Courgette, halved and sliced (I used a yellow one)
1 Garlic clove
10g Cashews
2 Tsp Tahini sauce
½ Tsp Turmeric
½ Lemon, rind only
Juice of ¼ of Lemon

Method
Cook the courgette in 2 Tbsp of water over a low heat until you can just about pierce it easily with a knife. Don't overcook the courgette you need a little bite to it still.

Drain the courgette and pat dry with kitchen towel. Transfer to a blender and add the rest of the ingredients. Blend until you have a smooth spread. 

My first attempt just used the first five ingredients and although it was tasty, (I went back for seconds so it must have been) I thought it was missing that punch! Enter the lemon zest. I sprinkled a little zest onto bread topped with the spread and took a bite. That was getting close.

I took a quick snap and thought that the taste didn't match the colour, after all we do eat with our eyes, so I added a touch of turmeric. I didn't want to effect the taste too much so it was just a sprinkle at first. I liked what the turmeric did for the taste and the colour so I added a little more. The final touch was adding the lemon juice, this gave it that zing!

Normally I wouldn't share a recipe until I have finished tweaking but as it's vegan mofo I thought what the heck I'll give you a glimpse in to what I get up to in my kitchen.

As I was tweaking more ideas flooded my head and I can't wait to get back to the kitchen and start experimenting. Tomorrow is going to be one heck of a party in my kitchen!

Jar almost full of the courgette houmous/butter

After numerous helpings & a lot of bread eaten!

With a dusting of lemon rind. That gave me the idea for the finished recipe

The finished article - but look how much I had eaten!

Specials Board: Couscous Stuffed Vegetables

Couscous Stuffed Vegetables & Vegan Mofo Day 8

Yesterday I made a big batch of couscous with roasted courgettes and I told you to keep back 160g of couscous for another recipe. Well today I am sharing with you that recipe!

Because I didn't have my mammoth cooking session at the weekend I am making dinner each night by creating a different recipe just so I can post for Vegan Mofo. Now that's dedication for you. I like to keep mid week meals simple if I'm cooking from scratch and I'll double up when cooking certain ingredients so I have a base for the next days recipe. So yesterday I cooked more couscous than I needed so I could use it today.

Ingredients (Serves 4 - 8)

160g Cooked couscous from yesterdays recipe 

175g Courgette, grated

1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast

Salt & Pepper

50g Soft vegan 'cheese'

4 Field mushrooms, destalked and peeled

2 Yellow peppers, halved & seeds removed

1 Garlic clove, thinly sliced

Method

Place the mushrooms, gill side up on a baking tray and the peppers cut side up. Add a slice or two of garlic to each mushroom and half pepper.

Bake in a moderate oven for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms start to lose their juices.

Meanwhile mix the couscous and grated courgette in a big bowl, add the nutritional yeast, salt and pepper and mix again.

Add the soft vegan 'cheese' to a microwaveable bowl and heat for 20-30 seconds so that it becomes more mixable. Add the cheese to the courgette and couscous and mix well so that all the ingredients are well combined. The mixture should actually hold its shape if you were to roll into balls.

Spoon the mixture into each pepper half and pile on top of the mushrooms. Press it down so it keeps its shape.

Bake in a moderate oven for another 10 minutes or until the couscous is golden. Serve with a salad or just on there own.

Specials Board: Roasted Courgette Couscous

Roasted Courgette Couscous & Vegan Mofo Day 8

If you are a regular reader you will know that I planned a mammoth cooking session yesterday, but it didn't happen! I can only blame myself, it was self inflicted, one too many vino's at a friends wedding the night before!

I was so mad at myself all day long but the last thing I wanted to do was be near food, yes I was that bad. Terrible isn't it? But enough about feeling sorry for myself the show must go on, even if that means I've put myself under pressure and have to cook, eat and post a recipe each night. Things could be worse, at least this is fun :o)

I got up extra early this morning to make this so I could take it to work for lunch and I was so looking forward to it all morning. Only, when it came to lunch time and I went to the fridge to get it, I found out that I'd brought the wrong container! Arghhhhhh! I'd only gone and brought a container full of cooked plain couscous instead- not very appetizing! Karma? Thank goodness for Marks & Spencer houmous!

Ingredients 

400g Courgette
1 Red pepper
1 Onion
1 Tsp Oregano
Salt & Pepper
Drizzle of Olive oil
1 Tbsp Tomato puree
2 Tsp Garlic granules
2 Tsp Paprika
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Tsp Ground cumin
½ Tsp Chilli flakes
450ml Boiling water
300g Couscous
1 Tin of Sweetcorn, drained

Method
You don't need all the couscous for this recipe, but I cooked it all as I have another recipe in mind for tomorrow that uses couscous. Stay tuned! 

First cut up the vegetables and place in an oven proof dish. Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper and drizzle over a little olive oil. Toss the vegetables so that they are all coated with the herbs and oil. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.

Add the tomato puree to a measuring jug and top it with the herbs and spices. Pour in the boiling water and stir so that all the ingredients are mixed. Pour it over the couscous and give it a good stir. Leave for 5 minutes then break the couscous up with a fork. Transfer 160g of the couscous to a container and keep in the fridge for a different recipe. Or you could use it all but you will need a few more veggies, roasted mushrooms work very well in this dish.

Remove the roasted vegetables from the oven add the sweetcorn and give the veggies a stir. Tip onto the couscous and carefully mix through. Serve straight away or leave to cool and it as a salad.

I served mine with falafels and tahini sauce

I used one of my yellow courgettes for this recipe but regular green courgettes would work just as well. Look at my lovely mellow yellows I've picked!

Specials Board: Courgette & Chocolate Brownie Cakes

Courgette & Chocolate Brownie Cakes & Vegan Mofo Day 3

My courgette plants are still producing fruits, in all I have 3 different varieties, pattypan squash, eight ball courgette and courgette Atena Polka F1. The most productive have been the pattypan squash but a close second is the eight ball courgette, pictured below.

Eight Ball Courgette

This one was huge and I only used half of it for this recipe! When they get this big they do have a cavity like a winter squash where the seeds are growing. I normally scoop them out when the courgettes are this big! You can dry out the seeds and try planting them next year!

Now, I love courgettes, but when you have so many, you need to be creative on how you eat them. One can only eat so much ratatouille! Shaheen over at Allotment2Kitchen made a gorgeous looking chocolate and courgette loaf cake, (which I need to bake soon) but today I fancied something a little different. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted brownies or cupcakes so my recipe is somewhere in between, hence the name!

I'd still got a packet of unopened coconut sugar in my cupboards which was included in a past vegan kind box. I'd been meaning to try it for ages so I thought this might be the perfect opportunity.

Ingredients 

250g Plain flour

50g Cocoa powder

1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 Tsp Baking powder

½ Tsp Salt

165g Coconut sugar

80ml Light olive oil

250ml Soy yoghurt

1 Tsp Vanilla Paste

315g Courgette, grated

100g chocolate chips

Method

Set your oven to a moderate heat, as a regular reader you will know that I have 'cleaned' off my  oven temperatures from around my oven knob! 

Sieve the first 5 ingredients into a bowl and add the coconut sugar. 

In a separate bowl add the soy yoghurt and olive oil and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla paste and whisk again, then add the grated courgette and mix. 

Tip the wet ingredients into the dry.

Give everything a good stir until all the dry ingredients have been mixed into the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips and stir through so they are evenly distributed.

Pour the batter into cup cake cases and fill to two thirds up. I use silicone cake cases as they are easy to remove after baking. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you insert a skewer into a cake and it comes out clean. The tops should spring back too if you press them lightly.

Leave the brownie cakes to cool in the cases before removing, especially if you have used paper cupcake cases.

Enjoy! Now I have a freezer, I like mine served with a dollop of vegan vanilla ice cream and some melted chocolate drizzled over. Naughty but nice! 

Stuffed Courgette

When I put my Monthly Menus together I have created recipes which help celebrate different food holidays or what fruit and vegetables I need to harvest from my small kitchen garden. I very rarely have a recipe waiting in the wings!

Even though I have had courgettes coming out of my ears I didn't get round to stuffing one until earlier this week. As usual it was a case of sitting in front of the fridge deciding on what needed eating up first to create the stuffing mixture.

I had a packet of Cauldron Falafels that were fast approaching their use by date, which I'd picked up with the intention of speedy work lunches but never got round to using them. So they needed to be the main ingredient in the stuffing. After scanning the fridge I also picked out a few ingredients that also needed eating up and this is what I came up with.

Ingredients - Serves 2 on their own or 4 as a side
2 Courgettes
1 red pepper
4 Celery sticks
1 large onion
6 mushrooms200g Falafels
1 Tsp Dried parsley
1 Tsp Garlic salt
1 Tsp Vegan Worcestershire sauce

To serve
Cooked spaghetti
Handfull Fresh basil, shredded
1 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Method

Finely dice the onion, red pepper and celery sticks.

Cut the courgettes length ways and scoop out the seeds. Put the two halves for each courgette back together and wrap in silver foil. Place in a moderate oven while you make the stuffing.

Fry the onion in a a little olive oil until translucent, add the red pepper and celery and saute for another 2 minutes.

Dice the mushrooms and add to the pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes or until the mushrooms have released their liquid.

Crumble the falafels into the pan and give everything a good stir to combine all the ingredients.

Add the parsley, garlic salt and Worcestershire sauce and give everything another good stir.

Remove the courgettes from the oven and unwrap, careful they will be hot! Spoon the stuffing mixture into the courgette troughs and pat down so the mixture is compact. Return to the oven on a baking tray for another 15 minutes or until the courgettes are cooked.

To serve toss the spaghetti in the extra virgin olive oil and shredded basil and sit the courgette halves on top.

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!

Specials Board: Courgette Carpaccio

The other day I posted my courgette risotto recipe and I said that my first courgettes of the season would be eaten in a raw dish - well here it is! 

Once I'd picked them I just wanted to take a bite out of them, like you would with an apple, but I resisted .....until I got to my kitchen!

I used an eight ball courgette and a pattypan for this recipe, if you can call it a recipe!

The fresh flavour of raw courgette is subtle but one I will never tire of and these two summer squashes were crying out for just a drizzle of dressing. My tummy was rumbling..............

Ingredients 

1 Eight ball courgette
1 Pattypan summer squash
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil*
1 Tsp Capers
Handful of basil leaves
¼ Tsp Mint sauce
Pink Himalayan salt
Black pepper
1 Slice Jalapeno pepper (optional) 
*The most expensive you can afford - you will taste the difference

Method
Slice the eight ball courgette and Pattypan thinly and arrange on a plate.

To make the dressing pour the olive oil into a small ball  Quarter the capers and place in the bowl. Finely shred the basil leaves and add to the bowl. Give the dressing a quick stir so the oil can be infused with the basil.

Add the mint sauce and a good grind of salt and pepper. If you're using the jalapeno, you really don't need much dice finely and add to the bow.

Give everything one more stir before pouring over the thinly sliced courgettes.

Devour!

Courgette Risotto with Fresh Garden Herbs

Yay, I've been picking my first courgettes of the season over the last couple of days! I was getting a little worried as we were fast approaching the end of July and I hadn't posted a courgette recipe. For my first courgette of the season I really wanted to taste and savour the flavour so I decided that my first courgette should be celebrated in style and eaten as a raw dish. But more of that to follow - watch out for the specials board.

Thankfully I managed to pick a few more since, my two 8 Ball courgette plants are growing their round courgettes so fast its amazing to see the start of one grow one morning to go back a couple of days later and find it ready to harvest. Yes, really they grow that quickly! My standard courgette plant seems a little slower but I've had a couple so far, hopefully it will pick up. My beautiful pattypan plants are growing their spaceship shape squashes too, they're just so cute!

For my courgette risotto I used the standard shape courgette, if you grow your own don't let them get too big as I think they lose their flavour.

Ingredients 

500ml Vegetable stock
1 Tsp Porcini powder
1 Onion, diced
3 Garlic cloves*
250g Arborio rice
100ml White wine
500g Courgettes
5 Sprigs fresh oregano
5 Shoots fresh chives
Handful of fresh parsley (large)
Handful of fresh basil (large)
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp Vitalite
* I used 1 clove from my elephant garlic, which was huge but I think it was probably the equivalent to 3 standard cloves

Method - Serves 3-4

First prepare your vegetable stock, either make it yourself or use vegetable bouillon and mix the porcini powder into it. Set to one side

Divide the courgettes up so you have 250g of grated courgette and 250g diced courgette. Put the grated courgette to one side. In a frying pan saute the diced courgette in a little olive oil until cooked through and starting to turn a golden brown. Remove from the frying pan and set aside.

Saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the rice and saute for another minute stirring all the time so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Pour in the white wine, the mixture will bubble furiously, keep stirring until the liquid had been soaked up by the rice. Add the grated courgette and stir through then add a little of the stock. Let the mixture soak up the stock before adding anymore. Continue adding the stock slowly and waiting till it has been absorbed before you add another ladle or two. 

Once all the stock has been used and the rice is cooked around 15 minutes add the diced courgette back to the pan along with the nutritional yeast. 

Remove the leaves from the oregano stalks and chop with the chives and parsley and add to the pan stir to combine.

Add the vitalite and carefully beat into the mixture to give the risotto a glossy shine. 

Shred the basil leaves and add to the pan and stir so everything is combined thoroughly. Serve straight away.

The risotto will keep if you have any left over, but you may need to add a little stock to 'loosen' the risotto.