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: Broadbean Pesto

Broad Bean Pesto & Vegan Mofo Day 2

The first recipe I'm sharing with you during Vegan Mofo 2014 is using broad beans from my garden. They're at their end now and this will be the penultimate recipe from my last harvest picked at the weekend. I'm going to miss them! Now I have a freezer I think I will grow twice the amount next year!

Broad beans are so easy to grow, you sow the seed, water and watch it grow! However this year I had a little visitor in the way of a field mouse, I named him Sammy. Now I don't mind sharing my veggies but this little munchkin was devouring all of the young plants night after night until I had none left! I kept sowing in the hope that he would get fed up of the broad bean plant but no Sammy just seemed to love them, he couldn't get enough! 

I started to sow each bean encased by a toilet roll, which acted as a barrier to my little field mousse friend and that seemed to do the trick. But as soft as I am I did plant a couple without the toilet roll just for Sammy! And yes he found them and munched his way through but he did leave the toilet roll beans alone, so we were both happy.

My last broad bean recipe, in a few days time, will give you some top tips on how to grow broad beans, when to sow, how to stop the usual critters and when to harvest. But for now on with this recipe.

Broad Bean Pesto (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients
235g Podded broad beans
3-4 Cloves of Garlic
10g Pine nuts
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
4 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Method
Remove the skin from the garlic and cook with the beans in boiling water for 5 minutes, I've noticed the beans float to the top when they are cooked so if your beans are small they might need less than 5 minutes.

Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and are cool enough to handle. Remove the outer grey skin to reveal the bright green bean! Transfer the bean and garlic to a food processor.

Add the pine nuts and pulse a few times to chop the ingredients. Add the remainder of the ingredients to the processor and blitz until you have the texture you prefer. I don't like mine completely smooth, I like a bit of texture.

The pesto is great spread on toast, used to make a dip (my fried green tomatoes recipe) or stirred through pasta, which is what I did for tea tonight. 

Suma Pizza

In honour of being part of the Suma Bloggers Network I have dedicated this pizza to Suma. All the ingredients can be bought from their shop bar the two fresh ingredients mushrooms and courgettes.

I apologise for the bad photographs, I didn't have time to set up a photo shoot as I was ravenous!

Ingredients - serves 2-4 depending on how hungry you are!

2 Pizza bases

6 Tsp Suma Organic Pesto Siciliano

1 Courgette, sliced

6 Mushrooms, sliced

Taifun Basil Tofu with fresh herbs, grated

Blue Stilton Style Cheese, grated

Mozzerella Style Cheese, grated

Mixed herbs

Method

Spoon 3 Tsp of pesto on each pizza base and top with the sliced courgette and mushrooms. 

Mix the tofu basil and cheese together and sprinkle over the courgette and mushroom slices. Top with a dusting of mixed herbs.

Cook in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes

Enjoy

Pasta with Wild Garlic Pesto

A few weeks ago I had a week off work and I was so looking forward to days out and lots of fun things with hubby and Marco, but no such luck, instead I was struck down with the dreaded lurgie. I had mixed with people who had the lurgie but I seemed to be fighting it off, which I put down to my vegan diet full of fruit and vegetables. But alas it wasn't to be and it seemed as soon as I stopped and started to relax after a very hectic week at work it struck. It was like it was waiting in the wings and waiting for its moment to pounce. 

We had gone out to celebrate my birthday on Good Friday and I was so looking forward to it, but half way through the evening I started to feel a bit sniffly which I put down to the dining room being a little stuffy. My symptoms gradually worsened and by the time I got home all I wanted was my bed. Typical! Absolutely typical! Basically I stayed there for a few days feeling very sorry for myself!

As soon as I started to feel better I needed to make the most of the last couple of days I had off before going back to work so I treated myself to a foraging expedition to find some wild garlic.

There are plenty of health benefits of wild garlic including its antiseptic and antibacterial properties and of course it's free! Remember to forage responsibly and never take all you find. For the recipe you don't need many leaves and flowers.

Ingredients 
240g Pasta of your choice
1 small tin of sweetcorn
8 mushrooms chopped
70g Wild garlic leaves
25g Pinenuts
¼ Tsp Herbamare
Good grind of black pepper
A good glug of olive oil


Method
Wash and dry the garlic leaves and shred before putting in a food processor. Gently toast the pinenuts in a frying pan being careful not to burn them and add to the food processor. Add the herbamare and black pepper and a little olive oil to get things started. Turn on the machine and gently pour in more olive oil until you reach your desired consistency.

Cook your pasta as per the cooking instructions. Meanwhile saute the mushrooms in a pan for 5 minutes then add the sweetcorn to warm through.

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water and add the pasta to the pan. Add the pesto and stir to combine everything. Serve straight away using the flowers as a garnish.

Mushroom Tart

Yesterday I made a summer vegetable pie and I didn't quite use all the puff pastry. I thought I'd used half in the pie but it appears that I'd used most of it as there was only a quarter of the pastry left. I still had some mushrooms and a jar of vegan pesto that needed using up so tonight dinner was an easy decision. Mushroom tart. This is a very simple recipe that relies on a good quality vegan pesto, in this instance I used zest.

Ingredients
80g Puff pastry
2 Tsp Zest pesto
200g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
1 onion, finely sliced
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Method
I rolled the pastry out a little thinner to make the base for the tart and scored about a centimetre in from the edge all around. The inside rectangle I brushed on the vegan pesto and popped it in the oven to start cooking. After about 5 minutes remove from the oven and rest whilst you make the mushroom topping.

To make the mushroom topping saute the onion in a little olive oil over a low heat, you don't want to brown the onion, just soften it. When the onion is translucent add the mushrooms and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

Add the pesto and stir to combine, add the salt and pepper to taste and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture to the middle rectangle of the pastry and put back in the oven to bake for about 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

As I slid mine of the baking sheet it broke in half! It was still delicious though.