Asparagus Spears with Pecorino Shortbread

From More from the Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2012.

Sometimes you have a dish that, though full of flavour and attractive to look at, is awkward to eat. This salad was such a dish.

I began by making the shortbread. Into the blender I placed 175g plain flour, 100g butter cut into cubes, and 65g grated pecorino cheese. I gave them a churn and then added an egg yolk and salt and pepper. Another quick churn and they had formed a dough. This was rolled out and cut into triangular shapes. They were cooked in the oven (180ºC) for about 10 minutes when they had turned golden. They were taken out and let cool.

The asparagus was placed into boiling salted water until cooked and while it was cooking the dressing was made.

Into the blender went an egg yolk, 2 teaspoons caster sugar, a teaspoon Dijon mustard, a tablespoon white wine vinegar and the juice of half a lemon with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. They were given a blitz and then olive oil was added slowly while the blender was going. I added oil until the dressing was a consistency that suited me. I then added some chopped tarragon.

The salad was put together with one piece of shortbread on the plate, then some asparagus spears, a little rocket, dressing dribbled over, then a shortbread to top it all. Some shaved pecorino was dropped over.

I did enjoy this. The flavours worked well together. The dressing was creamy and sharp, the shortbread crunchy and salty, and they went so well with the asparagus. I just found it a little difficult to eat with the shortbread needing to be chased around the plate a little. But it was worth the chase.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

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: ✔✔✔

Potato, Leek and Smoked Cheese Pies

From More from The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer, Mitchell Beazley, 2012.

We seemed to have a surplus of leeks so I headed to the recipe books to find things to do with them. I was tempted by this recipe as I always enjoy a good pie.

First a short pastry was made, wrapped in cling film and placed into the refrigerator until I was ready for the next stage.

Two reasonably large potatoes were peeled, cut up into cubes and boiled in salted water until cooked.

I chopped an onion, sliced two leeks and chopped a garlic clove. These were put into a frying pan and seasoned. They were then cooked until soft. Though butter was called for as a frying medium I used olive oil.

When the potatoes and the onion mix were cool they were mixed together. About 200g of smoked cheese was now grated and mixed with the vegetables. A tablespoon of Dijon mustard also was stirred in.

The pastry was now rolled out and placed into individual pie tins. In went the filling and a pastry lid went on. An egg wash now completed the task before they went into a 200ºC oven for 20 minutes.

This was a richly savoury pie, filling but ever so tasty. I am generally happy with cooking from recipes by Simon Rimmer. This is one to remember for future occasions.

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: ✔✔✔

Family dinner

The family were coming to dinner. This doesn’t happen often but it is always a pleasure when it does.

I needed to settle on a menu that would please all, be able to be got together without too much trouble and that suited the occasion with plenty to sample. I also decided to choose a menu from items on my blog site.

I decided to begin with a chickpea and leek soup (Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef) that is a favourite with us at home. In fact, of all the soups we eat, this one would be the one that we make most frequently. It’s easy to prepare, can be made a bit ahead of time and packs a heap of flavour to start people wanting more. With the soup we had an olive sourdough bread. Very tasty.

For mains I already had prepared the previous evening two individual casseroles of quick tomato macaroni cheese (Jamie’s Dinners). For the other dinner guests I prepared individual baked ricottas (Vegetarian, Alice Hart). I cooked these in the oven when the guests arrived while, at the same time, heating up the macaroni cheeses.

For vegetables I decided on broccolini with truffle butter, cherry tomatoes on the stem, green beans cooked in vodka (More from the Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer) and Pan Haggarty (The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer). The green beans did not turn out extra special as I had anticipated that they would but the Pan Haggarty was particularly good—far better than the first time I had made it.

For the dessert course I thought I would make two so that guests could choose one or the other—and they all chose to have both. One was cold, a papaya, blood orange and strawberry salad (Salades, Damien Pignolet), and the other was hot, Mother’s Roly Poly (Mrs Harvey’s Sister-in-Law and other tasty dishes, Margaret Dunn). I guess you could consider the sweets a great success. There weren't even any photos taken as they all went down too quickly.

We had a great night. Everyone was in a really happy mood. The food all went down well. It always helps when there is choice (even if everyone takes both of the choices).