Tag: Main Course
Pumpkin Lasagne

Pumpkin Lasagne

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Did you know that 18,000 tonnes of pumpkin is wasted in the UK every year from pumpkin carving?! That’s a lot of delicious soups, lasagnes, and roast pumpkin salads in the bin. One of my first food memories is having pumpkin soup round one of my friend’s houses when I was at pre-school, and so I have a bit of a nostalgic fondness for pumpkin and it’s definitely not a veg to throw away. It’s a bit of a bitch to cut up and prepare as they’re so flipping massive when they’re whole, but roasting them before scooping out the filling can make it bearable! On the other hand, if you’re carving out the filling for lanterns anyway problem solved. These are a great vegetarian variation of the classic lasagne and is so much easier to make than the classic as the cheese sauce is just a ricotta mixture. So don’t throw your pumpkin away this year, use it!

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 1 hour, plus roasting time for the pumpkin

Ingredients

  • 1kg Pumpkin pieces (about 1 medium sized pumpkin)
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
  • ¼ tsp Ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp Dried sage leaves
  • 350g Ricotta
  • 1 Egg
  • 100g Cheddar cheese, grated, plus extra for topping
  • 8 Lasagne sheets
  • 80g Butter
  • 2 tbsp Chopped walnuts
  • 12 Fresh sage leaves

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Cut the pumpkin into quarters and then place it on a baking tray. Drizzle with the oil and the salt and pepper. Cover with foil and then roast for 20-25 minutes until tender.
  3. Put the pumpkin into a food processor and puree. Add the sage, nutmeg, and a lot of seasoning, and pulse until the mixture is smooth. Spoon the  mixture into a bowl and set aside for later.
  4. Now make the cheesy layer. Wash out your food processor and put the ricotta, egg and cheddar cheese into a food processor with some seasoning. Whizz together until smooth.
  5. Cover the base of a 24cm oven-proof dish with a layer of lasagne sheets. Spread over half the pumpkin mix. Then top with another layer of lasagne sheets. Spread over half the ricotta mix and then repeat the same layers again. Sprinkle the top layer with some more cheddar and then bake for 20-30 minutes until golden and the edges are starting to crisp.
  6. Heat the butter, walnuts and sage leaves in a pan and heat until the butter starts to bubble.
  7. Remove the pan from the heat, spoon the walnuts and sage over the lasagne and then serve with a side salad!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Canadian Salad

Canadian Salad

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Have you heard I went to Canada this summer? Yup, in case you didn’t already know, a few weeks ago I crossed the pond once more on a spontaneous summer get away. As my sister used to live out there she and I spent our three weeks staying with her friends, going to tones of insanely good BBQs, and generally soaking up the stunning landscape. There’s something so relaxing and creatively inspiring about the mountains and the rivers out there. I found myself sketching for the first time in years (ironic as I’ve been doing an art course the past year), voluntarily exercising, and actually stopping and thinking rather than just hurtling through life like I usually do when I’m at home.

I also found myself eating more creatively – partly because I was on a tight budget and also because I was doing a lot of cooking with my sister who’s a fitness fanatic and eats way more vegetables than I’m used to! Whilst I’ve called this Canadian salad I didn’t actually make it when I was over there because food was generally expensive and this has lots of components to it. The reason for the name is that I first came across a variation of this at restaurant up the side of a mountain in Lake Louise. I’ve never seen something like this before and it tasted amazing so I thought I’d make my own, e voila!

The reason I love this salad so much is that it’s relatively healthy but it’s also sweet enough to satisfy a sugar craving. The combo of the fruit, the spiced pecans and the cheese is one of those things that shouldn’t work but just does. If you’re not a sweet-toothed person I’d recommend coating the pecans in just the butter and cinnamon, and leaving out the sugar so that the only sweetness is coming from the natural sugars in the fruit. This also originally had daikon in it (I hadn’t heard of it either, apparently it’s a vegetable like a radish), but as I couldn’t find one in Aldi this one is daikon-less, but you could use radish if you want some peppery-ness in here.

Recipe

Serves 2

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 50g Pecans
  • 1 tbsp Unsalted butter (or soya margarine)
  • 1 tsp Brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 2 Handfuls of Baby spinach
  • Roughly 4 Strawberries
  • 1 Orange
  • 20g Dried cranberries
  • 20g Feta cheese
  • 1 tbsp Maple syrup
  • 20ml Balsamic vinegar

Method

  1. Begin with the candied pecans. Put the pecans, butter, sugar and cinnamon in a small pan and leave the butter to melt. Stir the contents a little so that the pecans are covered in the butter/sugar mixture and then leave to bubble up for 3-5 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside for later.
  2. Scatter the spinach across two plates, or one large serving dish if you’re making a salad to share.
  3. Hull and halve the strawberries and scatter them over the salad. Then halve the orange and cut one of the halves into 6 wedges. Cut the skin and any pith off the segments and then arrange them over the salad.
  4. Next scatter the dried cranberries, feta cheese and candied pecans over the plate.
  5. To make the dressing put the maple syrup, 1 tbsp orange juice (you can get this from the other half of the orange) and vinegar into a small bowl or jug. Mix together and then drizzle over the salad. Serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

 
Red Dragon: Thai Red Chicken Curry with Crispy Chicken Skin

Red Dragon: Thai Red Chicken Curry with Crispy Chicken Skin

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 A while ago my friend Macks recommended I read Red Dragon, the first book in the Hannibal Lecter series, for my book-themed month and so this fiery curry is an attempt at translating that book into a dish.  Now, I’m not a fan of thrillers or horror novels, so I confess I went back to my English student days and worked from the sparknotes summary of the book instead. Due to the action in the novel I wanted to make something with a good kick of heat and spice in it, and a Thai red curry is a fab spicy dish to work with. Ideally this would be a dragon curry, but as dragons don’t seem to exist I had to go another way – but lets be honest, if dragons did exist they’d probably taste like chicken anyway!

This Thai red curry is served with crispy dragon/chicken skins (which are way easier to make than I would have thought!) and lime leaf rice. I’ve cooked rice in other recipes like this and I always find it makes it a bit more exciting. You  basically add a couple of fresh lime leaves to the water when cooking the rice and then grate a little lime zest over the rice when it’s plated and it makes the rice super fragrant and a perfect pairing for a warm curry like this.

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp Root ginger, grated
  • 2 Garlic gloves, crushed
  • 1 Red chilli
  • 5-6 tbsp Red curry paste
  • 800ml Coconut milk
  • 8 Chicken thighs
  • 1 stick of Lemongrass
  • 2 tbsp Fish sauce
  • 1 tsp Brown sugar
  • A handful of Thai basil, plus some extra to serve

To serve

  • Jasmine rice
  • Zest of 1 Lime
  • 2 Fresh kaffir lime leaves

Method

  1. Begin by heating the oil in a pan. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for 2 minutes and then add the curry paste and fry for 1 minute. Add the coconut milk and bring the mixture to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and then leave until oil rises to the surface.
  2. Take the skin off the chicken thighs with a sharp knife, keeping it for later, and then chop the meat into chunks. Then take the lemongrass and bash the end with the flat of a knife to squash it. Add the chicken meat and lemongrass to the curry and leave to simmer for 12 minutes until cooked through.
  3. Meanwhile put on a pan of water for the rice. Once boiling add the rice and the lime leaves, stir once to break up the grains and then leave to simmer until cooked through.
  4. Now make the crispy chicken skins. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C. Take the skins which you took off the thighs and spread them out flat on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Sprinkle them with a little sea salt and then sandwich the skins with another sheet of baking paper and a baking tray.
  5. Cook the skins in the oven for 10-15 minutes until crispy and golden. Leave in the oven with the oven turned off until needed.
  6. Once the chicken is cooked add the fish sauce and sugar to the curry and then bring to the boil again. Then take the curry off the heat and add the Thai basil.
  7. Spoon the soup into serving bowls and top with a little more basil and the chicken skins. Drain the rice and then grate a little of the lime zest into the mixture and serve with the curry!

Note: If you have some leftover roast chicken it works really well in this!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Lamb Koftas with a Mint Yoghurt Dip

Lamb Koftas with a Mint Yoghurt Dip

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Here’s the final dish of the meze-fest, some delicious, meaty koftas served with a zingy yogurt dip! Working with the raw meat and shaping it into balls like this can feel a little odd, but its also super fun! Traditionally these are served on sticks, but a) I had no sticks at home when I made these and b) it’s way easier just to serve them as balls like this. But if you prefer you can get some skewers and pop a couple on each one before you pan-fry them.

Recipe

Makes 8 balls

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the Koftas

  • 1 Small white onion
  • 1 Garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying the koftas
  • 200g Minced lamb
  • 1 tsp Ground cumin
  • 1 tsp Zaatar spice blend
  • 1 tbsp Dried mint
  • Salt and pepper to season

For the Yogurt Dip

  • 2 sprigs of Fresh mint
  • 100g Greek yogurt
  • Salt and Pepper to season
  • ½ tsp Ground cumin

Method

  1. Begin by making the koftas. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Then put the oil into a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic to the oil and fry until they begin to caramelise. Tip this into a bowl and leave to cool.
  2. Add the lamb, cumin, zaatar and mint to the onion mix and mix together with your hands to bring the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper and stir again to combine.
  3. Divide the mixture into 8 balls. At this point, if you want to serve the koftas on skewers, take 4 skewers and push two balls onto each.
  4. Brush the koftas with more oil and then heat a large frying pan on a high heat. Add the koftas and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until they’re browned all over and cooked through.
  5. Meanwhile move onto the dip. Scrunch the mint into a bundle and then finely chop it with a sharp knife.
  6. Put the mint and Greek yogurt into a bowl. Add some salt and pepper to season, and then add the cumin and mix together.
  7. When everything’s ready tip the yogurt dressing into a pot and serve alongside the warm koftas!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Greek Salad

Greek Salad

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Next up as part of this banquet is this delish Greek salad. Traditionally a Greek salad is made up of the classically Greek ingredients Romaine lettuce, feta and olives to make a beautiful salty, sweet and refreshing salad all in one! This salad, like most, is very quick and easy to put together, and makes a delish light lunch on it’s own! In this selection of mezes though it acts as a great refreshing dish to pair with the warm, aromatic ones.

Recipe

Makes 1 Meze dish

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 Vine tomatoes
  • 5cm Length of Cucumber
  • 1/4 Red pepper
  • 2 Leaves of Romaine lettuce
  • 5g Feta cheese
  • A few Olives, halved
  • A Drizzle of Balsamic vinegar
  • A Drizzle of Olive oil

Method

  1. Take a sharp knife and quarter the tomatoes. Then slice the cucumber into quarters length ways, and then chop along the batons to make small pieces. Then dice the pepper into similarly sized pieces.
  2. Rip the lettuce into pieces and scatter the over over serving dish. Then scatter over the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber. Crumble the feta over the salad and then scatter the olives.
  3. Finish with a drizzle of the balsamic and olive oil and serve!

Thanks for reading!
Emma x