Cream Cheese, Beetroot and Truffle Tarts

From Pure Vegetarian, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2008.

If you have some cooked beetroot these are quick and easy entrée bites.

I used bought short pastry to make the tart cases. It was cut into 5cm circles, placed into tart cases and baked at 190ºC for about 15 minutes until golden.

The beetroot was cut into fine dice and cooked in a saucepan with 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons maple syrup until it had caramelised just a little—basically when the liquid had almost gone.

The cream cheese was mixed with some chopped chives and salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble, the cream cheese went into the tart cases first, followed by the beetroot on top with a little chopped chives. A sprinkling of truffle oil was added on top.

These worked well. They looked good, you could eat them in one bite, and they were quite tasty. I do feel that the cream cheese—perhaps the oniony chives—took away a little from the enhanced beetroot with its sweet and slightly tart flavour. Next time I would use something different from cream cheese.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔ 

Honey-Roasted Fruits with Rosemary and Pear Rosti

From Pure Vegetarian, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2008.

I don’t often make sweets but this one did look as though it might be worth trying. The idea of a pear rosti appealed.

Firstly I soaked dried apricots, about 150g in water for an hour. I also soaked a slightly lesser amount of dried prunes.

While they soaked I melted 3 tablespoons caster sugar in a saucepan with a teaspoon of water. When it was golden I added 20g butter and when it had melted added about 3 tablespoons blanched almonds. I cooked—or tried to cook them—until they had caramelised. Actually I think that the butter quantity quoted was too much and it didn’t work too well. I ended up with a caramel that was very oily and had to put it in the fridge to make it set. Even then it was not right. It was a poorly made caramel inside a butter coating. Not good.

I now made the rosti. Two pears were grated then squeezed tightly to remove any liquid. They were mixed with two egg yolks, maple syrup and a couple of tablespoons semolina. This made a rather loose mixture that made me unsure about how well it would fry. Anyway it was formed into four rissole shapes and fried in butter. The rosti did stay rather soft; they browned but did not crisp up as I imagined they should. I placed them in the oven to keep them warm.

Now 20g butter was placed in a frying pan and melted. About 50ml of honey was added and when it began to bubble the drained apricots and prunes, together with about 150g white grapes also went in. They were stirred around in the honey until coated. About 50ml cognac was poured in and lit. It soon burned out, at which stage the juice of half a lemon was added with a teaspoon chopped rosemary. The cooking now continued until the juices had thickened a little.

To serve a rosti was placed on a plate and the fruits spooned around. Some almonds were placed on top.

I did find this almost too sweet for my palate. The pear flavour of the rosti seemed to be almost lost in the sweet sauce of the fruits. I wasn’t overly excited about this dish.

Taste: ✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Addendum

We did not eat all of the dish that night but since I made the Tattie Hushie I have been making porridge each morning. I found that the fruits added to the porridge worked wonderfully. I didn’t place the rosti in the porridge with the fruits, but by itself. And now the flavour of the pear came through strongly making the porridge particularly good.

Grated Celeriac, Camembert and Prune Tarts

From Pure Vegetarian, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2008.

I saw some celeriac in the local greengrocer’s so knew it was time to make this tart.

A short pastry case was made and blind baked. While it was cooking I prepared the filling. A small celeriac was peeled and grated.  It was cooked in some butter for a few minutes when a little more than 150g crème fraîche was stirred in. It was now simmered for 10 minutes and then taken off the heat. Prunes (100g) were stirred in, 125g camembert cut into pieces went in and then 3 eggs beaten lightly. The recipe asked for 3 eggs and one yolk. I decided against the extra yolk. The mixture was now seasoned with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.

When the pastry case had cooled a little the filling was poured in. Now another 125g camembert was cut into pieces and were placed on top. It went into a 200ºC oven for 20 minutes until it was set.

In the meantime the salad was made. I cooked 150g puy lentils in simmering water for about 20 minutes until they were done. While they were cooking the dressing was made. One garlic clove, crushed, was mixed with a teaspoon Dijon mustard, a tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and 3 tablespoons olive oil. These were whisked together.

When the lentils were done, they were drained and the dressing stirred in. Also into the lentils went half a red onion sliced finely, a couple of handfuls of baby spinach leaves and a good handful of watercress. As the lentils still had a little heat in them the leaves were slightly wilted. Seasoning was added to taste.

This tart was one that is well worth remembering to have on more occasions. It has wonderfully mellow flavours, the camembert going perfectly with the tang of the prunes. Underneath was the hint of celery. The lentil salad was a good accompaniment. Another successful recipe from this book. I do enjoy using it as the results are generally worthwhile.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Roasted Butternut Pumpkin and Goat’s Cheese Risotto

From Pure Vegetarian, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Limited, 2008.

I’ll always try a different risotto. This one turned out to be not quite what one would expect. I suppose I should have been more suspicious before I began as while the recipe was called ‘roasted butternut squash’ there was no mention anywhere in the recipe itself about roasting the pumpkin. All it said (and this was in the list of ingredients) was that the pumpkin was to be peeled and cut into large dice. Anyway, taking my cue from the title, I roasted mine.

 A stock was put on to simmer and in was placed a few sage leaves, a cinnamon stick and a bay leaf. They were taken out after a few minutes and the stock left on to simmer very gently.

In a large frying pan I sautéed a finely diced shallot in olive oil until it had softened. I then added Arborio rice and stirred it around until it was well coated with the oil, at which stage the roasted pumpkin was added. White wine went in now and it was cooked until nearly all had been absorbed. Now the stock was added a ladleful at a time until it had been taken up by the rice.

When the rice was cooked a little cream was added along with a slice of butter and some crumbled goat’s cheese. This was folded in and it was ready to serve.

A crumble was made by placing a few amaretti biscuits with a slice of unsalted butter and a little cinnamon into a blender. They were mixed until they formed into crumbly lumps. This was sprinkled over the risotto when it was served in bowls.

This was an odd risotto. The moment the cream was added it suddenly began to look like a rice pudding. And then with the sweet amaretti crumble on top and the sweet butternut pumpkin it started to taste like a rice pudding. The first few mouthfuls were confusing. What was I eating? I adjusted to it after a while but I didn’t really take to it. The author claims it is his favourite risotto recipe; I put it at the bottom of the ones I have eaten.

Taste: ✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Roasted Tomato, Goat’s Cheese and Asparagus Salad

From Pure Vegetarian, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2006.

This simple warm salad called for some lavender oil to be made but the thought of lavender does not gel well in my mind to go with savoury food. It is too reminiscent of toilet soap and bathrooms. I didn’t include it in the dish.

I first made a thin basil puree by blitzing in the blender some basil leaves with a clove of garlic and some olive oil.

Tomatoes were cut in half and sprinkled with salt, pepper, a little sugar and some thyme leaves. The two halves of the tomatoes were then placed back together with a slice of goat’s cheese in between.

Asparagus and olives were placed on a baking dish and a little olive oil drizzled over them. They were put in the oven for about 5 minutes. The tomatoes were then added to the baking dish and a drizzle of red wine vinegar and also of balsamic vinegar added. They were cooked for a few minutes more. They were then served with a basil puree and the juices from the pan.

An easily made salad that went well as an accompaniment to pasta with mushrooms. I don’t think it missed the lavender oil.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Spelt Soup

From Pure Vegetarian, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Limited, 2008.

Finding whole grain spelt was quite a problem; finding spelt flour was no problem at all, but eventually I was able to come across a store that had the spelt grain so I was able to try out this recipe.

It called for the spelt to be soaked overnight. The next day an onion and a garlic clove were fried for a few minutes in butter before 300 g of sliced Jerusalem artichokes were added with a few sage leaves and a pinch of saffron. Vegetable stock was added and brought to the boil. At this stage in went the soaked spelt and it was cooked for about 20 minutes until the vegetables had become tender. The stick blender was then used to make it smooth. Some cream was added with salt and pepper to taste.

When it was served some reserved spelt was added together with grated pecorino cheese. A little extra virgin oil was drizzled over.

This was a thick creamy soup, very tasty. The Jerusalem artichokes have a distinctive pleasing flavour but, I guess, I’ll be using them with extreme care in future: they do cause digestive problems with some users and, apparently, I am one of those because severe stomach pains resulted after partaking of the soup.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔