When the weather warms up it is always good to have foods that are going to fill us up, be good for us and are simple, easy and fuss free dishes to create. This salad is just that, it ticks all those boxes and the great flavours are an added bonus. I cannot remember how I came about this combination, but I have been making this salad for some years and it is great as an accompanying dish as well as on it’s own for a light lunch. A few basic ingredients put together to create a dish that even children enjoy, as my son loves having this salad.

Greek Salad

I do not add salt to this salad as the feta cheese is very salty, however if you are not using feta cheese then you may want to add a little salt.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 10 mins                 Serves: 2

175 g baby leaf spinach

250 g  cherry or baby plum tomatoes (cut in half if too big)

1 cup black olives (pitted) split in half

1/2 cup feta cheese cubed

a big glug of olive oil

fresh crushed black pepper to taste

Method

1) Remove any large stalks of the spinach. Ensure that the spinach is dry and then place in a large bowl. To this add the remaining ingredients, mix well together and you are ready to serve.

Some years back we had enjoyed a dinner, made by one of my sister in-laws, of large shell pasta stuffed with ricotta cheese. It was a very enjoyable experience that I have recreated when ever I can get a hold of the large pasta shells.  I felt that the same filling would work well with the sweet pointed pepper, as the flavours would compliment each other and they did. Just to make it into a meal we ate it with some pasta with sun dried tomatoes & basil pesto, for a very heavy filling meal.  Although it could have also been served with some salad for a lighter option. Unlike the other recipe of pointed peppers, this is a more Italian style as opposed to Mediterranean.

Stuffed Pointed Peppers with Pasta

As mentioned before this same stuffing can be used to fill large shaped pasta or cannelloni and served with a tomato based. Another alternative filling to substitute the ricotta cheese is to use flavoured soft cheese, mixed with spinach.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 20 mins          Cooking time: 20 mins          Serves: 2

2 pointed peppers with the tops removed and de seeded

100g ricotta cheese

1/4 cup chopped spinach blanched

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

3 cups pasta (any shape you like or have)

hot water

salt

1/4 cup of sundried tomato pesto

olive oil

Method

1)Mix together to ricotta cheese, spinach and the spices, keep aside. Prepare the pesto as per this recipe and keep aside. Boil some water for the pasta with salt and a little olive oil, add the pasta and cook as per the instructions or al-dente. Drain and keep aside.

2) Cut the tops of the pointed peppers and remove the seeds with a spoon or knife. Fill with the prepared stuffing mixture and oil the outside of the pepper with a spray or brush. Place in a pre heated griddle pan or grill. Cook evenly all around and you are ready to serve the sweet pointed pepper.

3) Mix the pesto with the pasta and heat slightly before serving with the pointed peppers. Enjoy

I only started using pesto after marriage and used to buy ready made jars. It was a convenient thing to do, as at the time I was on an interior design course on Tuesday evenings, so that was a pasta day . It used to be a chore to find the vegetarian version of this classic Italian dish. Then about three or four years back I had bought a basil plant for the kitchen window sill and it had produces so many basil leaves, so I thought I should venture into making my own pesto. It was successful and so simple to make that I decided I would buy a basil plant each Spring and make my own pesto.

From looking at various TV chefs and other recipes, as well as a friend (who lives in Italy) telling me that I do not need to add cheese or pine nuts (as they are so expensive), just normal salted nuts are fine – I started making my own version as below. To make it more creamy I sometimes use almond, cashew, and pistachios nuts powder.

There are many uses for pesto, not only as a pasta sauce but also as a dressing for salads, for adding flavour to soups, a spread for sandwiches and roasted mushroom or eggplant. You can also create many different versions like I did by adding the sun-dried tomatoes. Other herbs and vegetables can also be added to give it an extra added flavour.

Sun-dried Tomato & Basil Pesto

I keep sun-dried tomatoes without the oil, if you have that then that is fine to use, you can even use the oil from it to give the pesto an extra tangy flavour. The pesto will store well in the fridge for 3 weeks and can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 10 mins       Cooking time: 10mins       Makes: about 1 cup

2 cups basil leaves roughly torn

1 cup sun-dried tomato (about 12) soaked in hot water for 10 mins

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp salt

Method

1) Boil some water and place the sun-dried tomatoes in 1 cup water, set aside. Pick the basil leaves, wash and tear them roughly and place in a blender.

2) Drain the sundried tomatoes and put in the blender with the remaining ingredients. Blend to a smooth paste, taste for salt and lemon juice, add if required. Hey presto your pesto is ready to be served as needed

On a recent visit to my local library I met a friend who was looking for ideas on hosting a dinner party for a few friends. She was thinking of a Moroccan theme so in my enthusiasm  I suggested serving Moroccan Style Vegetables with Couscous as it is so simple to make and would fit the theme she was thinking of.

I first saw a version of this recipe a couple of years back in a supermarket magazine where it was giving ideas on how to use a tagine and this was the vegetarian option. The vegetables were slightly different in the magazine so when I recreated it at home, I just used the vegetables that I had and it turned out to be really good. As I don’t have a tagine I just roasted the vegetables in the oven.

This recipe reminds me of the time when we went on a desert safari excursion on a trip to Dubai.  The desert  safari included a traditional meal and this dish was served as the vegetarian option. The vegetables were less tasty but the idea of the couscous I got from there so I mixed the two together to create this meal.

This dish of Moroccan Style Vegetables with Couscous works well for large gatherings where you want to try and have fuss free cooking plus it would be good to take on picnics as it tastes good when served cold. The best thing about this dish is the fact that not only is it simple to make,  especially for a large group, but it is vibrantly colourful, which to me is brilliant as half of the way we enjoy food comes from the visual impact.

I was told by Parita from Parita’s World about this event on Moroccan food hosted by Home Cook Recipes and originated by Holy Cow!

I look forward to seeing other vegetarian/vegan recipes from this event.

Moroccan Style Vegetables with Couscous

As mentioned before, you can use any Mediterranean style vegetables and you can add chillies if you want to make it more spicier. This mixture of vegetables also works well in wraps for an alternative lunch. I have found that the couscous requires a lot of salt in order for it to have a well balanced taste, I would say start by adding a little at a time to make sure it does not get too salty. The spice mix used to flavour the cous cous is a pre blended mix, however you can use either similar ingredients or any other spice mix that you feel will complement the flavours.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 20 mins          Cooking time: 1 hr         Serves: 4 to 6

For the vegetables

3 Courgettes (Zucchini) cut in chunks

4 red onions sliced

3 capsicums (Bell peppers) – one in each colour – red, green & yellow or orange

1 medium butter nut squash cubed into 2cm pieces

salt & pepper to taste

2 tsp each of ground cumin(jeeru) and cinnamon (taj) powder

2 tsp paprika powder

3 tbsp olive oil

For the Couscous

3 cups couscous

420 g canned chick peas drained and rinsed

3 tsp salt

2 tsp Arabic seasoning mix (cumin, coriander, black pepper, fenugreek, garlic, ginger, mint, onion, cloves, cinnamon, chilli and aniseed powder)

juice of 1 lemon

3 tbp olive oil

hot water

Method

1) Pre -heat the oven to 200′C. Chop all the vegetables into large chunks about 2 cm cubed pieces. For the zucchini/courgette I cut it half length ways and then chopped it into 1 cm semi circles. For the butternut squash I have learnt the hard way that you need proper sharp knife and peeler. Here is an excellent article on how to peel and cut butternut squash from SimplyRecipes.com

2) In a  large baking tray place all the vegetables, and pour the olive oil over the vegetables together with the spices and salt, mix thoroughly and place in the oven.

3) While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the couscous. Drain & rinse the chick peas and keep aside. Boil some water. In a large bowl, place the couscous, chick peas, seasoning and all the other ingredients. Pour boiling hot water, enough to cover the couscous and 2 cms extra and mix with a fork.  Making sure all the grains of couscous are coated with the spice, olive oil and lemon juice, keep on mixing at regular intervals just to make sure that the grains of couscous don’t lump together. Once the water has absorbed taste the couscous for the correct balance of flavours and to make sure the couscous is al dente, you can add a little extra hot water if needed and mix again with a fork.

4) Check on the vegetables and mix at regular intervals to ensure that the vegetables cook evenly and the spices mix well together. They should be cooked in about 30 mins, check to make sure, once cooked remove from the oven and you are ready to serve with the couscous, enjoy and let me know how you enjoyed the flavours.

There are times when I am challenged by my dear husband to use  new ingredients and come up with a meal that meets his seal of approval . I sent him shopping one day and he came back with an extra item to the list – Curly Kale. As soon as I saw it I thought Oh NO ! I have tried to cook with curly kale before some years back but found it too irony in taste and it did not quite work with what I made. So this time I thought I will look for some inspiration and then try and create a dish. I did a search and looked at a blogger and from there to a site dedicated to curly kale, which had lots of recipe ideas and nutritionist information. Both the sites seem to talk about the curly kale with a lot of fondness and suggested to use it as a cabbage. So I thought, right, looked at the ingredients I had then added the ingredients to this dish until it was an aesthetically pleasing. Then I served it up and it tasted great, even my son enjoyed it – I removed the green pepper corns from his dish. I thought that something so good for us and tasty, can’t go wrong really. So I will not be avoiding this vegetable in the future. I got some more curly kale soon after and used it in a curry as well as in a pasta sauce, which also tasted good.

Curly Kale, Rice & Beans

I think that this recipe would work with pasta also, and if you like it to be a little bit saucy then you can add either coconut milk or chopped tomatoes. Instead of the green pepper corns you can use either whole black pepper corns or chopped green chillies.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 15 mins          Cooking time:30 mins          Serves: 2

3 cups cooked rice

3 tbsp of sunflower oil

2  cups shredded curly kale

1 small red capsicum diced

1 red onion diced

1 can washed & drained borlotti beans

1 tbsp green pepper corns

salt to taste

about 1 tbsp of lemon juice

Method

1) Wash and soak the rice in cold water for a while, boil the hot water for cooking. Cook the rice in boiling water with salt, for about 10 minutes or until done. Once cooked drain the excess water and keep aside until ready to be used.

2) Wash and chop all the vegetables, heat a large wok on high and add the oil. Place the onions and capsicum and saute for a few minutes. Once they become transuclent add the rice, curly kale and green pepper corns. Mix well and cook for a further 10 minutes, add the salt to taste and the lemon juice and you are ready to serve, enjoy it warm.

Sometimes it is good to think outside the box and try new flavours. As mentioned before, I tend to make either potato or bean burgers at home. However being vegetarian there are unlimited possibilities of the various different vegetables and pulses that can be used. Whilst visiting one of my favourite blogs recently I came across a broccoli burger recipe and thought I must try this. I modified the recipe slightly by adding sesame seeds and red capsicum peppers to give it a nutty and sweet tangy flavour. The result was wonderful and I got a lot of creative ideas and thoughts flowing for making different vegetarian burgers. So watch this space for a few more burger recipes ….

These burgers are also healthier because broccoli is high in vitamins C, K, and A, as well as dietary fibre and it also contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties. Broccoli is usually boiled or steamed, as per the old ways of cooking vegetables, however in recent years more research has shown that if eaten raw you get more of the benefits of the vegetable. Other methods of cooking are also good for cooking vegetables especially stir  fries as they cook the vegetables at a very high heat and quickly, hence a lot of the nutrients still remain intact. Although boiling has been shown to reduce the levels of suspected anticancer compounds in broccoli, other preparation methods such as steaming, microwaving, and stir-frying have been shown not to reduce the presence of these compounds.

Broccoli Burgers

I think the next time I make these I may have to add a little mashed potato to make sure that the patties shape stays better, as this was a little fragile, so perhaps add this when making your burgers. You can use more cheese if you want to give it a better depth of taste.
Ingredients

Preparation time: 45 mins          Cooking time: 30 mins          Serves: 2

4 wholemeal burger buns or sandwich rolls

200g broccoli finely chopped

1/2 red capsicum pepper chopped into cubes (about 1/4 cups worth)

1/4 cup grated Red Leicester cheese

1/2 tsp each of haldi (turmeric), dhana jeera (coriander & cumin), and chilli powder

2 tbsp natural yoghurt

2 tbsp gram (channa) flour

1 cup dried bread crumbs

4 tbsp sesame (till) seeds

3 tbsp sunflower oil

2 tomatoes sliced

2” piece of cucumber sliced

extra mature cheddar cheese sliced as required

Method

1) Pre heat the oven to 180 ‘C, chop all the vegetables, grate the cheese and in a large basin mix all the ingredients together. The consistency should be one which will hold the given shape.

2) Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts and shape into the shape of the burger bun. Place in the greased baking tray and place in the oven. After 15 minutes turn the side of the burger so as it browns evenly.

3) While the burgers are cooked prepare the burger bun by cutting in half and buttering the bun. Slice the cheese, tomatoes and cucumber.

4) Once the burgers are cooked and an even brown colour all over remove from the oven and assemble the burger, enjoy I strongly suggest you try this burger out it is great.

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