Spinach and Feta Pie (Spanakopita)

Even if you haven't looked out of the window for several days, you will probably have been made aware from social media alone that IT IS SNOWING. It's cold and wet and inconvenient, but never mind that! Shut the curtains, stick some pictures of hot countries on the wall, make some of this tasty Greek pie and imagine you're in the Mediterranean.

This pie is dead easy, and is really adaptable to whatever you've got in the fridge - if you feel like throwing in some fresh herbs, some ricotta, some mushrooms which'll be on the turn in a couple of days, or whatever you like - it'll be perhaps less 'authentic' (so watch out for the pretentious food police) but it'll be all the better for it.

Because it's so rich I only really serve it with something simple and acidic like a tomato salad, but if you want to go all out you could do a proper Greek mezze. You can find a nice idea for an Easter Mezze of 3 different dips here, courtesy of Vegetarian Living.

What you need

olive oil
500g fresh spinach
200g feta cheese (Tesco & Co-op own brand both veggie at time of writing)
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
a generous grating of nutmeg
black pepper
ready made filo pastry (at least half what you get in a normal packet is enough)
1 medium egg

What to do 

Firstly, for those who have not cooked with spinach much in the past, don't panic at what looks like a crazy amount of spinach - it will all wilt down to a manageable amount!

Chop the onion, crush the garlic and sweat them over a medium-low heat in some of the olive oil until soft. This will take about 7-10 minutes, so in the mean time, wilt your spinach.

I find the easiest way of doing this is to put it in a colander and pour a kettle of boiling water over it, then run the cold tap over it so it's cool enough to handle. Then you need to squeeze as much water out of it as you possibly can, or your pie will be soggy! It can help to get a potato masher and squash water out of it with that. You'll probably have to do this part in batches, unless you have one massive colander.

Transfer the spinach to a mixing bowl and add: your softened onion and garlic, the nutmeg, some black pepper (I don't add salt because the feta's quite salty anyway, but you can if you want), the egg, and the crumbled feta - then give it all a good mix. Get the hands in there, everybody likes mess.

Layer a few sheets of filo pastry in the bottom of your pie dish - as many or as few as you like, I normally do about 4 - brushing each sheet with olive oil. Then add your spinach filling and layer another few sheets of filo on top, again brushing with oil.

Pop it in the oven for about 30 mins at 200 degrees C.

Enjoy!

Weekend Brunch Buttermilk Pancakes

There are few better ways to greet the day on a weekend than a stack of thick, American-style pancakes slathered in maple syrup. We're a bit late for Mother's day now, but why not give these a try over Easter bank holiday? 

This recipe is based on Delia's - which can be found here - just veggie-fied (minus lard!). 

If you want to go REALLY American-style, accompany these with some grilled rashers of veggie bacon.

Makes 10 - 14 pancakes, depending how generously you dollop the mixture! 

What you need

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

3 eggs 

120ml buttermilk

75ml cold water

oil for frying

maple syrup to serve

- TIP - proper maple syrup is pretty expensive, so if it's bit beyond your budget Lyle's do a maple flavoured golden syrup. Not quite the same, but tastes pretty good and MUCH cheaper.

What to do

Weigh out your flour into a mixing bowl, then add the salt and baking powder.

Measure out the 120ml buttermilk into a jug, then add the 75ml cold water and stir to combine.

Add the buttermilk/water mixture a little at a time into your dry ingredients, whisking after each addition (electric or by hand). 

Add the eggs one at a time, again whisking after each one. To save time, you can just slop all the wet ingredients into the dry without all the little-by-little stuff, it just means your mixture is less likely to be lumpy. 

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over a high-ish heat. When it's hot enough, add a tablespoon-full of batter per pancake to the pan. 

Each side only needs a couple of minutes so keep a close eye on it. While you're cooking each batch, the rest will keep warm if you put them under the grill on its lowest setting.

Stack em up, drizzle a generous amount of maple syrup over, and enjoy!

South African Bobotie

I tried to describe to my boyfriend exactly what we were having for tea, and the best description I could come up with was shepherd's pie.... but with no potato, more spice, and an egg on it. So, not shepherd's pie at all really, but bear with me.

This is a veggie version of South Africa's national dish, based on my mum's recipe. It's one of those that's sweet and savoury at the same time (think along North African lines) and is traditionally served with Yellow Rice - dead easy, just add a cinnamon stick and a tsp of turmeric to the cooking water of some normal basmati rice, then add a handful of sultanas when cooked.

The tomato's just there because it was starting to turn a bit and needed eating rather than any culinary reason.

Serves 4! ... Or 2 greedy people with leftovers for packed lunch next day - careful if reheating rice though, doesn't do your belly any good if not properly hot.

What you need

250-300g veggie mince (quorn, TVP etc.)
1 chopped onion
1 tbsp mango chutney
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 whole cloves
a few gratings of nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
3 tbsp sultanas
2 bay leaves (and 3 for the top if you want)
30g whole blanched almonds
2 large eggs
2 tbsps whole milk (& some extra to soak the bread in)
1 slice white bread

What to do

Soak the bread in the extra milk. Might seem like a pretty weird thing to do but it helps the texture of the mince-y bit. Leave it soaking while you do the rest.

Fry the onion in a couple of tbsps olive oil on a gentle heat, until softened. Add the garam masala, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and bay leaves and fry for another minute or so. Stir in the mango chutney, then add the mince, frying off until it's all cooked through. Add the sultanas, and salt and pepper to taste.

Toast the whole almonds (works well in a dry frying pan) until brown - make sure you watch them, they go from not done at all to burnt inconveniently quickly - then add them to the mince mixture.

Now pick up the milky bread and squeeze the liquid out of it - wet bread feels completely disgusting to touch, but it's easier than faffing around trying to squash it with a spatula or something - and beat it into the mince mixture. Pick out the bay leaves and try to fish out the cloves as well if you can find them. It doesn't really matter if not, as long as you don't mind finding a whole clove in your mouth!

Tip the mix into an oven dish. Now make the topping - beat the eggs with the remaining milk and pour over the top, laying the 3 bay leaves on top if you're that way inclined.

Bake at 180 degrees C until the top is set and golden - about 30 mins. It should look like this!

Dish up and enjoy! Hope you give it a try.

Pancakes!

You know what day it is tomorrow - pancake day! Fat-n-sugar-n-grease day! Mmm.

Pancake batter was one of the first things I was taught to make as a child, and it's definitely one of the best things to make with kids - messy, easy and fun!

Here's a simple recipe for thin, crepe-style pancakes. I got 8 out of this quantity but a lot depends on the size of your pan and how thick you're making them.

What you need

300ml full fat milk

4oz flour 

1 large egg

a small chunk of butter (optional)

What to do

Weigh out your flour, then add the egg and beat with an electric mixer until combined. Then gradually add the milk, beating again after each addition. Then melt the butter in the microwave and add that too, before giving it a final whizz. You don't have to add the butter. It makes it significantly more unhealthy but also significantly more delicious (same rule with all fat really. Sigh.)

If you're an impatient soul then obviously you can just slop it all together at once, but the above method makes it less lumpy!

It'll make quite a thin batter, but that's fine as it's for thin pancakes...

Then fry them up! You need a non-stick pan really, or they'll be a nightmare. 

We stuffed ours with cheese and leek, but there's tons of ideas online for veggie fillings, here's a few:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/feb/10/nigel-slater-pancake-recipes

http://www.vegetarianrecipeclub.org.uk/vegetarian-vegan-recipe-savoury-eggfree-dairyfree-light-versatile-easy-pancakes

http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk/recipes/pancake-recipe-1.php

http://wedonteatanythingwithaface.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/perfect-pancakes-and-fabulous-fillings.html

Happy pancake day!

Delicious Veggie Food at Mildreds, Soho

So, this weekend me and my boyfriend decided to go and have a jolly in our fair capital. I'm usually not London's biggest fan - sensory overload from all the noise, people, traffic, smells and adverts, and a touch of misplaced Northern resentment (grumble grumble Huddersfield would have made a great Olympic venue grumble).
However, not only did we have a brilliant time pootling round the V&A and so on, we also ate one of the best veggie meals out I've ever had.

Mildreds is a long-standing, solely vegetarian restaurant in Soho, London - less than 10 minutes walk away from Piccadilly Circus. They don't take reservations (except for parties), so on a busy night you can end up waiting a while for a table. We were fool enough to go on a Saturday at 8.30 pm, which meant we were waiting for around an hour. There's a bar area where you can wait, getting progressively drunker and hungrier, but it's probably a better idea to go on a week night and avoid it!

Once you do get to the actual food stage, the amount of choice is amazing. I'm probably not the only veggie who has gotten so used to ordering the one vegetarian menu offering by default that it's now really difficult to choose when faced with actual options. There's plenty for vegans too, from mixed mushroom, porcini and ale pie to Sri Lankan sweet potato and cashew nut curry.

 I opted for a crispy polenta with cherry tomatoes and wilted spinach starter, followed by a delicious but none-too-healthy tomato and mozzarella risotto cake. I also went for a pudding, despite feeling like I was dying by that point (portions are pretty generous!) - a pineapple and chilli upside down cake with rum toffee sauce - which was absolutely delicious.

The bill came to around £65 for two of us - including the service charge, which is optional - for three courses and a couple of glasses of wine each. I thought that was pretty good value, especially for London prices!

Would definitely recommend to veggies, vegans and non-veggies alike - and hope some of you pay a visit next time you're in London!

Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup

Depending where in the country/world you are, you may have experienced some ridiculous levels of snow and ice recently. Team this with everyone still trying to get over the financial apocalypse of Christmas and it all starts to get a bit miserable. My proposed solution - soup!

This soup has so few ingredients that it ends up being really cheap which, in these frugal times, can only be a good thing! It's really warming and comforting, and incredibly easy to make. Apparently sweet potatoes are very good for you (something something beta carotene..?), and if you don't follow our pictured example and include a big wodge of bread and a cheese scone, this is overall quite a healthy meal. And it's vegan!

I based this on one of Annie Bell's recipes from her book Gorgeous Greens - which can be found here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gorgeous-Greens-Annie-Bell/dp/185626839X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359925315&sr=8-1 - not an exclusively veggie book but definitely enough meat-free offerings to make it a worthwhile purchase.

Serves 4, or 3 hungry people
What you need

olive oil (just a tbsp for frying)
3 medium-size sweet potatoes (cut into chunks)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
chilli flakes
a bay leaf
a few sprigs fresh rosemary (or dried will do if not!)
900ml vegan stock

What to do

Chop the onion, then fry in the olive oil over a medium heat until soft but not yet brown (7 minutes ish). Add the garlic and a pinch of chilli flakes, and cook for a further minute or two.

Add the sweet potato, bay leaf, rosemary and stock. I like to leave the rosemary in whole sprigs and then fish it out at the end, so that the flavour infuses but you're not chewing on the woody leaves.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sweet potato is completely cooked through. Fish out the bay leaf and the rosemary sprigs. Then blend - either a liquidiser or a stick blender thing. Leave some chunks in if you prefer.

Enjoy!

House Full of Cake!

My house is currently awash with baked goods! I had a birthday on Friday and three people made absolutely amazing cakes...

As much as I love cooking, cake decorating seems to be a completely different set of skills - every attempt from me seems to end in nothing but irrational rage and a big sticky mess - so naturally I am filled with wonder and awe at the following and had to share:

This stained glass-effect monster was made by my boyfriend...

 My mum did this one. Clearly the ability to make flawless marzipan roses is not hereditary, as I can definitely not do that.

My friend Glenn made this one - it's a mouse in a wheel of cheese, except he only had pink icing rather than yellow... actually better that way, as it looks a bit like a Clanger....

As about a third of my diet is cake at the moment, I think it would be best if the meals interspersing this cake-feast were as healthy possible... expect next few posts to be Very Healthy Indeed.