Spinach Pasta Soufflé Bake

I am back from the horrible wilderness of exam time. I haven't posted anything in absolutely ages, but I honestly haven't produced anything that was even worth eating, let alone blogging! We have been living on convenience food while I frantically tried to learn how to do accounting in time to pass the exam. But it's over now, and what better way to welcome myself back into the kitchen but with a recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's wonderful Veg Every Day.

This is a tasty cross between a pasta bake and a soufflé, with the added bonus of spinach and a decent amount of cheese. Absolutely impossible to veganise though unfortunately, there really is no substitute that I'm aware of for the wizardry of beaten egg white.

We're still dieting too, I make this just under 400 calories a portion if you use semi-skimmed milk and low fat cheese, which is pretttty good for something involving the unholy trinity of pasta, butter and cheese.

For the original recipe and plenty more brilliant stuff besides, Veg Every Day is available here.

I also realised while photographing this that there is no way to make this food look good. Oh well.

Serves 4

What you need

1 onion, chopped

100g pasta of any shape - except spaghetti, that would be weird

200g fresh spinach

50g butter

50g plain flour

300ml semi-skimmed or whole milk

3 eggs, separated into yolk and white. Hugh suggests one extra egg white but that strikes me as unnecessary ballache, and problem of spare egg yolk. Up to you.

60g mature cheddar cheese

salt, pepper, nutmeg

What to do

Heat either a small amount of olive oil or some frylight, and fry off the onion until soft and golden. Set to one side.

Put the pasta on to boil, following the pack instructions for cooking time, then drain and again set to one side.

Wilt the spinach - easiest way is by putting it in a colander and pouring boiling water over it. Make sure to really squeeze as much water as you can out of the wilted spinach or you'll have a very soggy bake. Try either squashing it with a potato masher or putting it in a clean tea towel and squeezing (flush it with cold water first if you do that, or you'll burn your hands! Stating the obvious but you never know!). Use kitchen scissors to snip the spinach into pieces. 

Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. When melted, add the flour all at once and whisk furiously with a balloon whisk until any lumps have gone. Cook for one minute, then add the milk little by little, whisking all the time. Keep whisking until the mixture has come to the boil. You should have a thickish bechamel sauce. Turn the heat off, then stir in the onion, egg yolks, cheese, nutmeg, spinach, salt and pepper. Stir the cooked pasta into the sauce.

In a pristinely-clean bowl, use an electric whisk to beat the egg whites until they are at the firm peaks stage. Stir a spoonful into your spinach and pasta mixture just to loosen it, then carefully fold the rest of the whites in, taking care not to knock too much of the air out.

Transfer the lot to a baking dish and bake at 190 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until risen and golden brown. 

Have fun!

Spiced Aubergine and Lentil Filo Pie

We're still riding the healthy-eating horse, and doing pretty well too, but one of the things I've really been missing is pastry. Big, fat, buttery pastry. Definitely one to avoid for the moment. BUT there's hope yet - thank heaven for filo! At about 100 calories a sheet it means a pie is still a pie, but one that won't make me as wide as I am tall. So I've been doing some experimenting, and this recipe is one of the results.

This crispy, flaky, spicy aubergine and lentil offering came out at under 250 calories per serving if made with the dreaded Fry-Light (I've stated oil in the recipe because I don't hate you all, should only add about 350 cals for the whole recipe though if you measure out the 3 tablespoons). Pretty good going, and it's damn tasty as well. It goes well with Middle Eastern-type accompaniments - a tabbouleh or a fattoush salad for example, but equally well with just some green leaves out of a bag if you can't be bothered. And a glass of red.

It's also vegan! Check the packet of the filo pastry just in case, but most brands I've seen are suitable for vegans, including many supermarket own-brands.

Serves 4 - don't forget to leave time for the filling to cool! 

What you need

1 large aubergine
1 400g tin cooked brown or puy lentils
As many sheets as you like of ready-made filo pastry - I used 6
2 medium sized onions (chopped)
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
thumb-sized nubbin of ginger (grated or just bunged through the garlic crusher)
1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp olive oil (or other weapon of choice)
2 tsps fennel seeds (plus extra to scatter over)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne chilli powder
salt and pepper to taste

What to do

Turn the oven on at 180 degrees. Chop the aubergine into smallish cubes, toss in 1 tablespoon of the oil and transfer to a baking dish. Put in the oven to roast while you carry on with the rest - it will want to be in for about 20 minutes, but keep checking it.

Heat the other tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan, and add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin and chilli powder. Put the lid on so that it all just sweats together rather than browning too  much.

Grab a frying pan and put on a high heat. Add the fennel seed to the dry pan and dry-fry them for a couple of minutes until they're brown and smelling all fennel-y, then add to the onion and spice mixture.

Once the onions etc. are translucent and starting to brown in places, add the chopped tomatoes and the lentils, having poured off the liquid from the lentil tin. Your aubergine will probably be roasted enough now, so slap that in too. Add the brown sugar, and season with salt and pepper.

Allow the pie filling to cook down over a medium heat until it's thickened. You can mainly just go off and do something else at this point, just come back every once in a while to give it a bit of a stir. It will probably take about 15 minutes for the mixture to reduce to pie-filling consistency. Once it's done, the filling will need some time to cool down. If you add the hot filling straight to the pastry, it will just go into a soggy mush. Spread it out on something so it cools quicker and it should be alright after about half an hour.

Grab a shallow baking dish and layer up 3 (or more if you like) sheets of filo pastry, brushing each sheet with some of your remaining tablespoon of olive oil (or spray with you-know-what). Spread over the filling, then finish up with a further 3+ layers of filo to form the top layer, still brushing each one with oil.

Scatter some fennel seeds over the top, and put in the oven for 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Courgette, Chilli and Pine Nut Tagliatelle

We're on a bit of a weight loss mission at the moment, scary stuff. Soooo where my normal way of eating pasta is smothering it in cheese and sauce, I've been experimenting with some slightly less artery-fuzzing options. I did the courgettes in Fry-Light (that stuff makes me shudder slightly but it's a necessary evil) and by my maths it works out at under 500 calories per person.

The flavours in this are a bit of a swan-song to summer - it's almost autumn, in fact as I'm typing there's even a Christmas re-run of QI on in the background which is just making me feel all wrong. So may I present some  happy summertime type food before we all plunge back into dark and cold and misery.

Dead easy to veganise, just make sure your pasta is egg-free (most dried varieties are) and leave off the cheese.

Serves 2
What you need

2  medium-sized courgettes
200g tagliatelle (or whatever pasta you've got!)
1 medium-hot red chilli (finely chopped and seeds removed if you don't want too much heat)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
a small handful of pine nuts (about 10-15g)
2 tbsps olive oil (or Fry-Light if, like us, you are a masochist)
juice of half a lemon (optional)
a few shavings vegetarian parmesan-style cheese
salt and pepper to taste

What to do

Courgettes first. Top and tail them then, with a potato peeler, thinly slice the two courgettes length-wise into ribbons.

Heat half of the olive oil (or depressing Fry-Light) in a ridged griddle pan. If you don't have a griddle pan, a normal non-stick frying pan will be absolutely fine but you won't get the dark ridge marks. When the pan is up to temperature lay out the courgette ribbons, turning when they are starting to brown. It won't take long because they're so thin! You'll probably need to do this in batches, unless you have a monstrous catering-size griddle pan, so pop them on a plate as they're done. It doesn't matter if they get cold, they'll warm back up when you eventually add them to the pasta.

In the mean time, heat a separate dry frying pan and add your pine nuts. Keep shaking the pan until they're evenly toasted all over, then put them on one side. At this point you should also start boiling a pan of water ready for the pasta.

In the same pan (no point creating extra washing up), add the rest of the olive oil, the garlic and the chilli. Keep a careful eye on it because you don't want it to brown, just to sweat slightly so you lose the harshness of the raw garlic. Put that on one side as well when done.

The pasta water will hopefully now be at a rolling boil, so add your tagliatelle and cook for however long the pack says, usually about 10 minutes. Drain it and put it back in the pan.

Toss the courgette ribbons, chilli, garlic and the lemon juice if using, as well as a decent amount of good-quality salt and pepper in with the tagliatelle - the heat from the pasta should warm the courgette etc. back up if it's gone a bit cold.

Plate up and sprinkle over the 'parmesan' shavings.

Now go and sit outside with a glass of chilled white wine and pretend we all live in Italy. Mmm.

Raspberry and Almond Tart

Firstly, sorry for the long silence! Lots of changes at work and similar busy-making life events has meant that by the time I get home, the last thing I feel like doing is anything in the kitchen. We've pretty much been subsisting on pasta, which is all I've managed to summon the energy to make, but I think it's time to emerge from the carb swamp and get back on the culinary horse.

I can't really say that my first re-entry to the kitchen is on a healthy basis - a great big tart full of fruit, nuts and sugar - however it is bloody delicious, especially with a big scoop of ice cream. Diet starts on Monday eh.

A brief note on pastry - I think that ready made pastry is one of the best time-saving inventions of modern times, and actually find home made pastry too rich in comparison. It's also vegan a lot of the time. Any pastry purists among you can feel free to make your own, but you can still find me kneeling at the altar of Jus-Rol.

The quantities in the recipe mainly come from a Peach and Pistachio version from a Sainsburys recipe card. Unfortunately the recipe doesn't seem to be on their website, but you can find plenty more suggestions here.

What you need

1 375g pack sweet shortcrust pastry
150g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 tsp almond essence
3 medium eggs, beaten and at room temperature
150g ground almonds
2 tbsp plain flour
250g frozen raspberries (you can get these in the freezer section of most supermarkets)

Ice cream to serve (optional)

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Roll out the pastry and use it to line a flan tin. Easiest way is to drape the pastry over a rolling pin, then lay it gently onto the tin, pushing it down into the edges and leaving some hanging over the side. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds this part a bit fiddly, so there's some helpful advice on lining tins with pastry here. My flan tin is 23cm, so that's the basis on which this recipe has been tested! I'm sure other sizes would also be fine. Prick the base with a fork so that air bubbles don't form.

Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans, uncooked rice etc, then bake for about 15 minutes. After the 15 mins, take the paper and beans out and bake for a further 5 minutes until the base is cooked. The timing here will depend greatly on your oven and how thinly you've rolled the pastry out, so keep checking it and give it more time if it still seems a bit squidgy. When done, put it to one side.

While the pastry's sorting itself out, make the filling. Beat the butter, sugar and almond essence together with an electric mixer (or a hand whisk if you've the stamina) until pale and creamy. Then add in the beaten eggs a little at a time. I've specified that the eggs should be room temperature because sometimes a mixture can curdle if the eggs are cold. I have been known to, when I've forgotten to get eggs out of the fridge enough in advance, wander round with them in my pockets until they're up to temperature! Sounds insane but it's one way around it, even if you do run the risk of a lovely pocket full of raw egg.

Once all the egg's in, fold in the almonds and the flour until thoroughly mixed in, then add the frozen raspberries. The reason I say to use frozen rather than fresh is firstly because they are cheaper, and secondly because frozen ones won't disintegrate when you stir them in.

Spoon the mixture into the tart case and bake for 35-40 minutes until set and golden. If you're worried about the edges of the tart case burning, you can cover just the edges with tin foil - fiddly but works.

Slice it up and serve it with a scoop of vanilla.

Italian Bean and Tomato Salad with Halloumi

The evenings are getting lighter and sunnier, which for me means two things - white wine consumption has gone up by at least 50%, and the stews and soups of winter have been replaced by salads. However, I'm training for my first 10k run at the moment after months without any exercise whatsoever, and my body is so alarmed by this sudden activity that I'm absolutely bloody starving all the time.

This halloumi salad was perfect this evening when I came home from a run feeling like I could eat a bear (a vegetarian bear obviously), as it's refreshing and summery while still being substantial and filling.

Serves 2-3

What you need

A 225g block of halloumi cheese
A 400g tin of butter beans
200g small tomatoes (e.g. cherry or baby plum)
A large handful of fresh basil leaves
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
A pinch of chilli flakes
salt and pepper
A tortilla wrap per person (optional)

What to do

First make the bean and tomato salad. Empty the beans into a largish bowl and rinse off all the gungy can water. Next, blanch the tomatoes - cut a small cross shape in the base of each one, cover with boiling water for about 30 seconds, then plunge into cold water. The skins should then slip off really easily. Chop roughly into chunks and de-seed if you prefer. Add in with the beans.

For the dressing, roughly tear the basil leaves and add to the bean and tomato mix, before adding the olive oil, red wine vinegar, chilli flakes, garlic, salt and pepper. Give it all a good stir then refrigerate while you sort out the halloumi. It wants to be in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to allow all the flavours to mingle, so no rush.

Cut the halloumi into thick slices then either place under the grill or fry, as you prefer. I tend to grill them as then I'm not having to add extra fat to fry in and the heat's a bit more even.

Pile the bean salad on top of a tortilla wrap if using, then add the cooked halloumi.

Enjoy!

Asparagus Tarts

Asparagus is in season!! Although who knows, it's not really been springtime yet (not in Huddersfield anyway) so for all we know it might all be a trick and they've brought last year's lot out of the freezer.

These tarts are very loosely based on a recipe from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries II, which you can buy here.

They look quite pretty for how ridiculously easy they are - they use ready made puff pastry so minimal effort - ideal with a salad as a summery dinner.

Makes 4 tarts

What you need

A bunch of slender asparagus spears - 8 spears for 4 tarts
a 375g pack ready-rolled puff pastry
100ml double cream
a few sprigs lemon thyme - leaves only
40g grated mature cheddar or 'parmesan'
1 egg, beaten

What to do

First, cook the asparagus. Snap off any woody stems and get some lightly salted water boiling. Plop the asparagus in - they should only need 5 minutes. Have a bowl of icy cold water waiting to immediately plunge the asparagus into once you've drained them - this will keep them nice and fresh and green-looking! It's of course fine if they sit there getting cold as they'll go back in the oven anyway.

Unroll the puff pastry from the packet, and slice vertically into 4. Score a border about a centimetre away from the edge, without cutting all the way through. Egg wash it if you like, I never do - I always feel like it's a bit of a waste of an egg! Lay the pastry out on a non-stick baking tray and put in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes, just to start crisping the pastry before you add your filling.

While that's in the oven, stir together the cream, grated cheese and lemon thyme leaves, with salt and pepper to season.

When your pastry comes out from its first stint in the oven, lay the asparagus spears on - I did two per tart. Spoon over the cheese mixture, distributing evenly between the tarts. Return to the oven for a final 10 minutes, until the filling is starting to brown and the pastry is crisp.

Serve and enjoy!

Creamy Stuffed Peppers

This is ideal for when you're doing the what's-in-the-fridge maths of an evening, as you can pretty much add anything you feel like adding. Those tomatoes that have seen better days, the bunch of spring onions that are starting to shrivel - whap them in and they'll be delicious.

If you can't get the pointy Romano peppers then normal ones are fine, just the Romano ones are sweeter. I teamed with some sautéed potatoes and salad.

Serves 2

What you need

1 tbsp olive oil
2 pointed Romano peppers
a bunch of spring onions, chopped
a finely chopped green chilli
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic
a splash of white wine
2 tbsp cous cous
2 tbsp stock
3 tbsp double cream
50g grated hard cheese

What to do

First, prepare the peppers by halving and de-seeding them. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Fry the chopped spring onions, chilli, tomatoes and garlic over a medium heat until softened and just starting to brown.

Stir in the cous cous, the stock and the wine and remove from the heat, covering the pan with a lid. Leave lidded for around 5 minutes to allow the cous cous to absorb the liquid, then stir in a tablespoon of the cream.

Place the pepper halves in a gratin dish and fill them with the cous cous mixture. Drizzle over the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream, and sprinkle over the grated cheese.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is melty and browning.

Enjoy!