Sundried Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Tart

From The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2010.

I always enjoy making pies or tarts and these simple tarts appealed to me.

I made a short pastry, lined some 7cm flan cases and blind baked them for about 15 mins. They were then taken out, the pie bean weights taken out and the flans returned for another 5 mins to crisp up the bottoms a little more.

The filling was made from finely chopping about 12 sun-dried tomatoes, and mixing them with 250g grated mozzarella and about 20 basil leaves which I tore into smaller pieces. This mixture was piled into the pastry cases, a dribble of cream added and they went into the oven until the cheese had melted and begun to brown a little.

I served these with a rocket, walnut, goat’s cheese and nashi pear salad. Tasty and refreshing, leaving you satisfied but not feeling bloated.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Goat’s Cheese and Mango

From The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2010.

I was intrigued by this recipe when I read it for it seemed to be an unusual mix. Now I am pleased I tried it.

To begin, I took a 7cm biscuit cutter and cut circles from slices of bread. These were brushed with a little oil and went into the oven to dry a little but not to brown.

I chopped a red chilli and some mint leaves finely. I roasted some sesame seeds and mixed them with the mint and chilli.

I pulped some tinned mango and mixed it with a pinch of salt and a touch of white wine.

I sliced some goat’s cheese and moulded it into rounds a little smaller than the bread rounds. I warmed a little honey and brushed it over the goat’s cheese rounds. These were then dipped, honey side down, into the chilli/mint/sesame seed mixture. They were placed on the bread rounds and put into the oven to heat until the cheese had softened.

To serve a smear of mango pulp went on each plate. Some rocket leaves were placed on this and it was all topped with the bread and goat’s cheese rounds.

I was well pleased with this. The flavours were varied and went together far better than I had anticipated. Peppery rocket over sweet mango and topped with tangy goat’s cheese—really tasty.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔ 

Panzanella

From The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2004.

I always like to have a salad to accompany a pasta dish and this is the one I made to go with the Penne with Tapenade. 

I put a red capsicum and a yellow capsicum in a hot oven until the skins had blistered. They were then taken out and placed into a plastic bag until they had cooled. They were then easily skinned. The seeds were removed and the capsicum cut into smaller pieces for the salad.

I now put two tomatoes into a pot of boiling water for a few seconds then took them out and peeled them. They were each cut into eight sections and the seeds removed. The seeds were put into a sieve and as much juice as possible squeezed from them. The tomato portions were added to the capsicum pieces, the juice kept for making the salad dressing.

I now took a portion of a ciabatta loaf, an amount suitable for the salad, and tore it into pieces. These were placed in a bowl while I made the dressing.

To the tomato juice I added a couple of tablespoons red wine vinegar and a little more olive oil. Salt and pepper were added and the mixture was beaten well, then poured onto the bread pieces. The bread was left to stand for about an hour.

To the tomatoes and capsicum I added a good handful of black olives (the recipe called for green but I prefer black), capers and a chopped red chilli. I went out into the garden and picked a few basil leaves and added these. Now the soaked bread was carefully mixed through the salad and it was ready to eat.

This was a salad full of zing. The dressing soaked bread, rich in strong flavours, highlighted all of the other ingredients: the tomatoes and capsicum, and the salty olives and capers—and the little chilli I added was an extra hot one.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Spicy Red Pepper Humus with Coriander Seed Flat Bread

From The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2010.

The humus for this was easily made. A can of chick peas was drained, rinsed and placed in a blender with 3 garlic cloves (3 rather than 4 in the recipe), the juice of 1½ lemons (rather than 3 in the recipe), 3 tablespoons of tahini paste, and 100g of red peppers from a jar of roasted peppers. These were all blended to make a paste. Some olive oil was now mixed in to soften the mixture that was a little thick. It was now seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the bread I dry-fried a teaspoon of coriander seeds and then pounded them in a mortar and pestle until they were broken up.

250g of yoghurt was placed in a bowl with about two teaspoons of dried yeast. Into this was mixed 100g of water brought to the boil with the coriander seeds in it. Though the recipe didn’t say to let the water cool down a little I did before I mixed it into the yoghurt and yeast.

Into this mixture went 200g of plain flour. It was stirred in well and then left for half an hour to prove. Now it was turned out on to a floured bench top and another 250g of flour mixed in with a little olive oil and some salt. This was all given a good kneading and was placed aside for another hour.

The dough was now divided into six portions and each one rolled out to a thin round. It was then fried on a griddle on both sides.

This all turned out to be a good casual dish to eat with the chick pea harira. The humus was a little different from the usual. It was a little strong on its lemony tang even when cut back a little and the flavour of the red peppers seemed to have disappeared, only serving to colour the humus. Nevertheless it was still an acceptable change to the normal humus.

The bread was quite light though perhaps if I make it again I will double the quantity of the coriander for it was a little too subtle, especially when taken with the strongly flavoured humus.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Pan Haggerty

From The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2010.

I just love crunchy, greasy potato dishes. While I had not heard of pan haggerty it sounded like my sort of meal. Though it really isn’t like bubble and squeak it does remind me of it because it is all cooked in a frying pan and largely has a potato base.

It was just a matter of frying some onions in butter. They were then taken from the pan and a layer of potatoes was placed in it and fried for a while. A layer of onions was placed over it, then a layer of potatoes, then onions, then potatoes. Each layer had some seasoning added. At the end some melted butter was dribbled over the potatoes and it was all placed in the oven for a good 40 minutes.

By now it was getting brown and crisp on the surface layer. Some grated cheese was sprinkled over the potatoes and it was melted under a hot grill.

Greasy, cheesy, salty crunchy bits, soft patches. Totally bad for you and a wonderful feast for down moments.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔ 

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Blinis with Soured Cream and Roasted Peppers

From The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2004.

While I’ve cooked pikelets on many occasions I have never ever made blinis. I guess I know why now. While pikelets are a simple, quick mix blinis are a yeast-based mixture so they need a lot more time to yield a result.

The batter is straightforward, a rich one with two eggs and one extra egg white. With the yeast added with sugar and milk it needed to be left for an hour to prove.

The topping was a little time consuming also. The peppers had to be roasted until the skin had gone black. They were then placed in a paper bag and left to cool. It was easy, though messy, to then peel them and cut them into strips.

The batter mixture had a beaten egg white folded into it before it was cooked on the pan. They cooked up easily and well.

They were served with a dollop of sour cream, a strip of the roasted pepper, an olive and a touch of seasoning. It was well worth the time spent on them. Great party food.

Another successful recipe from this book which I turn to quite often because I usually end up with something tasty.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

A Cheesecake to gorge on

Cherry Tiramisu Cheesecake

from The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2010.

I’ve been pleased with the results of my cooking from this cookery book. The recipes are reasonably easy to make and they have slightly different twists to them. That’s always pleasing as you are never totally sure what the cooking is going to turn out to be.

A cherry tiramisu cheesecake sounded as though it would be delicious.  The ingredient list indicated that it was going to be extremely rich: black cherries, mascarpone, chocolate (lots of it) and a chocolate sauce. Sounded perfect.

The base of the cheesecake was made with crushed water biscuits. This in itself was unusual as recipes I have used before have used sweet biscuits. The result was a better than usual crunchy base.

The tin of cherries had Kirsch added and was thickened with cornflour. Some of this went on the base and the remainder on the top of the cheesecake.

The cake itself was a mixture of ricotta and mascarpone with eggs and melted chocolate added. All of it was easy to make and as easy to cook.

I managed to ruin the sauce so ended up serving it with cream. Tasty and moreish—and rich—and filling.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔