Meat-free still? Well…sort of

Whilst I have been still maintaining my meat free outlook (avoiding ‘rubbish’ meat wherever possible), I did have some meat over the last week or so – strangely I didn’t really enjoy it though…?! I am proud that I had a veg curry when we went to a curry restaurant though – the fact that it nearly blew my head off is another story entirely. Note to self:  ’fairly hot’ means ‘sort of inedible’.

Anyway, this week I got a most awesome recipe card with my box so have followed two meat free recipes this week – delicious! The third one is coming tonight – Brocoli and Feta soup (though I may have to lie to Mr B and pretend it’s peas – he has some weird thing with brocoli…like him and Swindon really).

So, the recipes…

Spanish Potatoes with poached egg – essentially patatas bravas but easier (don’t bother peeling the potatoes).

Little Italian Courgette cakes – like carrot cake, odd sounding but strangely delicious and very low in fat.

Spanish potatoes with a poached egg

Little Italian Courgette Cakes

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Meat free week – Day two

Seeing as I completely forgot to take a picture of the lentil and squash curry Mr B cooked me as I was too busy wolfing it down, I thought I’d share a little peek at some of the things I’ve been making for my shop…felt flower brooches with vintage button centers.

Not long now! (yes, I am obsessed with pixlr o' matic!)

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Meat free week – Day one

Having eaten a little too much meat over the weekend and having lots of veg in our box, I thought I’d share our week of meatless meals…

Butternut squash and chick pea curry with grilled pitta

 

Courtesy of eatlikeagirl. Delicious – sweet, coconutty and peppery.

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Super spicy falafel, meatballs and copious amounts of salad

Although Mr B was slightly of the opinion that I was trying to kill him – after making a SERIOUSLY hot South Indian potato curry earlier in the week – with my second intensely heated dish of the week, it was actually delicious and a meal I would definitely recommend!

I’m not sure how many of you, like me, have been watching the new series of Masterchef? I’m a serious Masterchef nut, I watch all the versions including professional, celebrity and real…I even watch Australia (well, every other episode – why is it SO long as a series?!? And I really didn’t like the winner) but I still managed to miss the beginning of the new series It’s what comes with no longer watching adverts I guess…we missed the first episode of Hustle too…anyway, I digress! So Masterchef, what I have seen of it, has inspired me to get back into cooking a few new things…or new varieties of old things. Hence this recipe!

So with no further ado, the delicious recipe…

Super spicy falafel, minted meatballs, yoghurt dip, chopped salad and grilled pitta

Serves 2 (with a nice amount of leftovers for lunch the next day!)

Ingredients

For the falafel:

• 1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 red chilli (maybe don’t use a birdseye though like I did!)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 heaped tsps tahini
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• sesame seeds for rolling

For the meatballs:

• 150g pork or turkey mince (I’m unsure as to which mine was!)
• 5 tbsps chappatti/gram flour (though plain flour would work)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 white onion, roughly chopped
• 2 tsps mint sauce
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp ground black pepper
• extra flour for rolling

For the yoghurt dip:

• 1/2 – 1/3 tub of plain yoghurt
• 2 tsp mint sauce
• 1 tsp good quality olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the chopped salad:

• 1/2 red pepper
• 1 little gem
• 1/4 of a cucumber

Pack of wholemeal pitta breads

Method

1. Preheat the grill (I have a super rubbish oven so I guestimate the temp – maybe 200?). You need to make the falafel and meatball mixtures first…
2. Falafel – in a small blender put all the falafel ingredients – leaving out the sesame seeds. Whizz up until everything’s smooth and you’ve got no lumps of chickpea – I like to shake the blender whilst it’s whizzing to get all the bits out of the corners…though I’d make sure you have  a good grip on it…
   

   Falafel mix, ready for rolling into balls

3. Put this is a bowl and check the seasoning. Rinse out the blender.
4. Meatballs – in the blender put all the meatball ingredients (except the extra flour) and whizz until all smooth. put the mixture in a bowl, if it’s still quite runny (it wants to be starting to ‘bind’ at this point), add a little more flour.
   

   Pork/turkey meatball mix, ready for rolling

5. You know want to roll both the falafel and meatballs into small balls (think ping pong size) – rolling the falafel in the sesame seeds and the meatballs in the flour – alternatively you could throw sesame seeds everywhere as I did!
   

   Falafel ready for the oven

6. Put all the balls on baking trays, ready for being grilled.
7. Put the falafel under the grill for 10 minutes, turn and cook for another 10. Take out and replace with the meatballs. Cook the meatballs for the same time – 10 minutes one side, then 10 on the other. Put the falafel and meatballs on a big platter and put at the bottom of the oven (leaving the grill on) to keep warm.
8. Whilst these are cooking, prepare the yoghurt dip and the salad.
9. Dip – all you need is to bung all the ingredients in a bowl and mix – super simple
   

   Yoghurt dip (with a little Betty)

10. Salad – chop all the ingredients into roughly 1cm square chunks – though being precise is in no way essential. Toss together and put in a bowl.
11. You are now ready for the pitta, I did 2 per person but Mr B looked at me like I was starving him and had 3…maybe, I might have joined him Anyway, put however many pittas you are having on a baking tray and bung under the grill for 3-5 minutes, turning after 2.
12. Put the pittas on the serving platter with the meatballs and falafel and serve it all together.

Spicy falafel, meatballs with yoghurt dip, chopped salad and grilled pitta (plus fire)

N.B. A large glass of red wine and open fire seriously improve your enjoyment of this dish!

P.S. Who’s your favourite Masterchef contestant? The crazy Japanese lady is HILARIOUS!

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My weekend in pictures

A very ‘foodie’ weekend all in all, with a lot of lovely food – one disaster – moral of story if don’t make chocolate pudding at half twelve at night whilst drunk! On the plus side our oven smells of chocolate every time I turn it on

On Friday night we had sticky ribs with potato wedges – using the Sticky Baked Pork ribs recipe from here – I’d recommend a try! Then Saturday we went all out and (attempted to) cooked three courses – minus the fated chocolate pudding – RIP. This included a tapas starter of chilli and garlic squid, sesame and honey sausages, squash and halloumi frittata, Mr B’s wonderful bread and various bits and pieces. Main course was slow roasted pork – using this recipe – with braised red cabbage -  recipe I used before – a potato and celeriac gratin and herbed carrots. I will not talk about pudding…

It’s back to work though now and still feeling rubbish! This cold needs to end!

On the plus side we had a war council about the shelves in the lounge and we’re one step closer to finishing it all off!

Marinated sticky ribs – pretty tasty!

Marinate for the ribs, sticky!

Mr B’s Pain d’Epi

Mr B’s Fougasse – delicious!

Marinated olives with rosemary, garlic, chilli and lemon

Lovely slow roasted pork, potato and celeriac gratin, braised red cabbage and herbed carrots

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Roasted chicken breast with puy lentils and braised red cabbage recipe

I was also a little productive with food over the weekend – I got a MASSIVE red cabbage in my Abel and Cole box on Friday along with some cooking apples and loads of onions and a lovely recipe for red cabbage so it was inevitable. I did then have to think of something vaguely GI-like to have with it so the following was born…

First of all, follow this recipe for the cabbage – I’ve never actually followed a recipe for cabbage that took less effort so I’d definitely recommend it and the finished results were fantastic! Though there’s a lot of chopping to start with (cabbage, apple and onion), you can then just leave it in the oven and check on it every now and then. I did roast mine for longer than the 90 minutes they suggest as I like my cabbage super soft and almost treacley – I’ve now got 5 massive portions in the freezer that I reckon will last through till Christmas – can’t wait to have some with my Christmas ham…that I’ve been thinking about since September…sad I know

All chopped up and ready to go

I then decided to do some puy lentils to go with – using this recipe – except I halved it and added two finely diced carrots to the lentils whilst they boiled and left out the chorizo as I decided this might make it a little healthier! I also used balsamic vinegar instead of red wine as it was all I had…other than malt but it worked really nicely – make sure you season them really well before serving though!

Super rubbish picture of the lentils cooking

 

Red onions for the lentils

Whilst they were boiling away I put the chicken in a pre-heated oven (around 180 degrees C). The chicken was lovingly prepared by Mr B, who rolled a rasher of streaky bacon around each breast and held in place with cocktail skewers. You could also choose to stuff something inside the chicken but we went for simple…

Chicken roasting in the oven

The chicken takes about 25 minutes or until the bacon is crispy, just make sure it doesn’t go dry!

Then it’s a case of pulling the chicken, lentils and cabbage all together, hot, on one plate…et voila!

Roasted chicken with puy lentils and braised red cabbage

And it was delicious!!!! Try it and let me know what you think?

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Hoppin Toad in the Hole from Mr B

So Mr B cooked me an awesome dinner last night from Levi Roots’ Spice it Up, his Hoppin’ Toad in the Hole. I was a little skeptical of the idea of adding chilli to one of my favourite dinners but it was delicious and even looked a lot like it was supposed to! I’ve even got leftovers for lunch – I think there’s nothing better than having something delicious waiting for you in the fridge at work whilst you’re counting the hours till you can go home!

Hoppin' Toad in the Hole

Looking delicious!

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