Veggie packed masala chickpea pilaff: Dairy free & vegan

This veggie packed chickpea pilaff feels a little like the answer to the unachievable - a quick, healthy, easy, and non sandwich based lunch that will keep me going until supper without raiding the biscuit tin!

One thing I have learned though, is that the key to said lunch, be it a pilaff, soup, noodles or pasta is to make it the night before - much like I do with M's packed lunch. That way, as soon as Harry's settled to his nap I can get on with sustaining myself for the afternoon's activities - be it a play date at the choo choo park, swimming lesson, nursery visit or just our errands.

This recipe mainly came about because of a really horrid cough, cold and sinusy virus (that's a medical term) that we've been stuck with for the last few weeks. It's hit Harry hardest and the poor love has been sofa bound with a rocketing temperature - thank heavens for Calpol. I really felt the need to put a stop to it via a nourishing bowl of something with a good kick of chilli and garlic.

There is so little faff with this recipe - the cooking can happen in one pan, and even the chopping is minimal, although I don't apologise for double podding the broad beans. Nearly all the veggies are from my freezer (sweetcorn, peas and broad beans being entirely out of season right now!) and I always have tinned chickpeas in.

Veggie packed masala chickpea pilaff
Serves 3 - 4 depending on portion size

Good spray fry light, or 2 tablespoons flavourless oil
60g bulghur wheat
300ml freshly boiled water
60g mushrooms, roughly chopped
60g peas
60g sweetcorn
60g broad beans
60g brocolli - broken into florets
1 tin chickpeas  2 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 red onion, diced

2 tablespoons curry paste - I used a tikka masala one that we had open in the fridge, but you could use any you like.
1/4 pint of water

Pop the bulghur wheat in a bowl and cover in freshly boiled water - I use 60g of bulghur wheat and 300ml of  water - leave to stand for about 10 minutes until most of the water has been absorbed then drain in a seive (not a colander)


Put the peas, sweetcorn and broad beans into a microwaveable bowl, cover with boiling water and ping for a minute at a time until the broad beans are cooked (2 and half minutes in ours) then drain- I always take these out of their wrinkled white pods so that you just have the vibrant, soft green beans


Add the drained chickpeas, and veggies to the pan and stir the mushrooms and brocolli through. Put all of this into a large bowl and add the drained bulghur wheat

Put the pan back on the heat again (add more oil or fry light if necessary)and add the chilli, garlic and diced red onion. Cook these over a low heat for a good 10 minutes. Sorry, but this time you do want to keep stirring as the garlic and onion go horribly bitter if they catch and you want them to be sweetly softened.

To this add your curry paste and 1/4 pint of water. Bring this up to a simmer and let it cook for somewhere between 3 and five minutes(ish)

Pour this into the chickpea and veg bowl and stir so that everything is coated in the curry mix

If you're doing this the night before then split into 3 medium tupperware tubs and once cool put in the fridge. It keeps easily for the next three days and you can either warm it through or have it cold.

Mexican Rice bowls: dairy free, syn free, can be veggie/ vegan

Midweek dinners can be a bit of a trial can't they? Toddlers hit grumpy o'clock (anytime from 4pm to bedtime in this house), husbands are hangry (an entirely new word to me - thanks Kat for introducing me to it as it defines M perfectly), and my thoughts are turning from caffeine to gin. Or something. These rice bowls, are quick, easy, and can be made with whatever is knocking around in your fridge as well as being personalised to your particular taste preferences - add coriander, or don't, add chilli, or don't, add avocado, or don't - you get the idea.

For us, these came about on spotting a box mix for this type of thing in Aldi - and thinking, to quote Jason Robert Brown - "I can do better than that." so, a home made spice mix, and some long grain cooked rice later we the basis of the dish. Adding veggies, a tomato based sauce, and some leftover roast chicken for the resident carnivore.  Surprisingly, as he's been a bit picky of late, Harry hoovered it up. Although we discovered he's no longer a fan of avocado. Which would be a shame if I didn't love it. Just don't mention Slimming World!

Without further ado, here's the recipe for our Mexican rice bowls

Mexican Rice bowls
Dairy free, syn free. Omit the chicken for veggie/ vegan option
Serves 4 (and 3 baby portions)

1 cup of long grain rice, cooked as you would usually. I use the absorption method as it's idiot-proof.
Flavourless oil for cooking - we used Fry light but rapeseed or vegetable would be great
1 red onion, finely diced
1 red and 1 yellow pepper finely diced
125g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup of sweetcorn (I used frozen)
1 red chilli, finely diced
Leftover roast chicken - or omit completely. I'd have been more than happy without it.
2 cloves of garlic
1 400g tin of back beans (or kidney beans, I just had a random tin of black beans in the cupboard)
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp oregano

For the sauce:

1 tin chopped tomatoes/ 1 carton passata - depending on if you prefer smooth or chunky
1 red chilli
Tomato puree
Paprika
Pinch of sugar
2 cloves garlic

Toppings (to taste):

Fresh coriander
Diced avocado
Quartered cherry tomatoes
Sriracha or similar chilli sauce
Grated cheese/ vegan cheese

In a large pan make the sauce, gently cook the chilli and garlic until you can smell them sizzling away, then add the tomatoes, paprika, tomato puree and a generous pinch of sugar (more if, like me you buy cheap tomatoes).
Bring to a simmer and bubble down until you get a thick, almost pulpy sauce

In a separate pan cook the onion, garlic and chilli in the oil until the onion is softened. This normally takes me about 10 minutes over a low heat.
Add the beans, peppers, mushrooms, and sweetcorn and cook for a few more minutes
Add the spices and continue to cook until softened
If you're adding leftover chicken stir it in now
Add the sauce, bring to a low simmer (you might want to add a glass of water if it feels too thick - but you basically want your dry ingredients covered in sauce, not swimming in it)
Add your rice and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes

Serve in bowls, sprinkled with any toppings you a) have in the house and b) fancy
Enjoy

It took me less than half an hour to cook, and the duration of an episode of Mr Tumble to prep. Which in my eyes is perfect!

Why not Pin this recipe for later?

Some other lovely bloggers have made similar recipes - why not have a look at theirs too?

A gorgeous looking Veggie miso soup noodle bowl from Foodie Quine

Similarly a beautiful Vegan rice bowl with Maple Tofu and and Smoked tomato sauce from Choclette at Tin and Thyme

Also from Choclette, a Quinoa bowl with roasted squash and broccoli that I am entirely sure a certain toddler would love

A sushi bowl that is already on next week's meal plan from Jane at the Hedge Combers

I'm linking this post up as part of this month's Credit Crunch Munch that's being hosted by Lisa from Lovely Appetite

Credit crunch munch is a joint challenge run by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours

I'm also linking up with A Mummy too and her Recipe of the week as well.

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Meal Planning Monday - 14th March

It's been weeks WEEKS since I meal planned, or blogged in any way shape or form. There's some very good and some less good reasons behind the hiatus. But in a nutshell, there has been lots going on and lots of it has been wildly stressful. I'm hoping and praying that the worst is behind us now, and one of my aims for this week is to get at least a couple of blogposts up to try and get myself back in the swing of things, and lets face it, this one is what's known as a quick win. 

Breakfasts: Harry's very much on a Weetabix kick at the moment, I've gone completely off porridge so am dithering around with toast or crumpets at the moment. I do need to find another cereal so that I can get some almond milk in me, but for now - toast, peanut butter and banana does what it needs to.

Lunches: Evidence of the recent stress is clear in the fact that I've been existing on sandwiches. It's unsurprising that my weight loss has completely stalled. That said, I was eyeing up some elderly looking carrots and half a swede in the cupboard yesterday and thinking about a big pan of my Spiced root vegetable soup.

Suppers:

Monday - tonight was a rather hopeless miss mash of leftover roast chicken, baked potatoes and veggies. A usual Monday night supper after a roast, but it really didn't sit well tonight.

Tuesday - Chickpea and sweet potato curry (post to follow at some point, possibly by next January at this rate)

Wednesday - Leftover curry

Thursday - Super speedy bolognaise.

Friday - Leftover bolognaise

Saturday - Sausages, sweet potato wedges and veggies.

Sunday - Chicken and butternut squash stew

Baking wise,  I'm yet to make our Simnel cake so that needs sorting this week and I'm desperate to make a batch of my Cherry and Almond buns

I'm going to pop on over to At Home with Mrs M to try and get myself back in the swing of things. Wish me luck.

Remembrance sleepover, batch cooked bolognaise

This weekend heralds Fourth Friern Barnet Guides annual Remembrance Sunday sleepover, seventeen girls and all 4 leaders will be parading on Sunday as part of the local Remembrance service. As I type I imagine (hope) neckers and t-shirts are being ironed, extra layers for under uniform being packed, school shoes being cleaned. And that's just me. 

As the girls are willingly giving up their Sunday to participate in something important, we have a sleepover the night before - we're combining our Confectioners badge with giant jenga, the chocolate game, and making poppy brooches. 

Tomorrow we'll be bag packing in our local Tesco to raise some much needed funds for the unit - we're in desperately in need of our own, lightweight Patrol tents, and other things like new baking equipment, sewing kits and some camp uniform as well as subsiding tickets for Wellies and Wristbands next year. We're hoping that bag packing will help us towards those targets, and we'll also be using the day as as opportunity to raise awareness of Guiding in the local area and with any luck, recruit some new Adult leaders. 

If you've got people being that busy then obviously you're going to need to feed them. We had a Guide chat with the girls on Tuesday and pasta seemed to be the general consensus - most are having it with a traditional bolognaise, some with a vegetarian version of the same, and a couple will have theirs with cheese and butter, but supplement that with carrot & cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes. 

This meant, that while running a temperature and fighting off a fluey bug I found myself in Asda this afternoon with a list, a trolley and a single minded ambition to get the food for the sleepover sorted. 

In case you're wondering, to make Spaghetti sauces for twenty one people, your shopping list looks like this:

8 tins chopped tomatoes
8 cloves garlic
4 onions
1 large box (750g) mushrooms
12 peppers
12 carrots
Half a butternut squash
1 parsnip
Tomato puree
Oregano
Marmite
2 kg lean minced beef

Vegetarian Bolognaise

Dice 4 carrots, half a butternut squash, parsnip, 4 peppers and about 250g of mushrooms
Blitz 1 onion, 2 sticks of celery and 2 cloves of garlic in a food processor
Add oil to a large pan and heat up gently
Add the onion, celery and garlic and cook gently for about 15 minutes
Add the carrots, butternut squash and parsnip with a splash of water
Put a lid on the pan and let the veggies steam for about 10 minutes
Add the rest of the veggies, stir in and let cook down for 5 - 10 minutes (until the mushrooms start to colour)
Add 2 tins of tomatoes a large sprinkling of dried oregano, a tablespoon of tomato puree and a tsp of marmite
Leave over a low heat for about half an hour until most of the liquid has reduced

After this, I've put the sauce in a large foil tray, let it cool and will reheat in the oven tomorrow. I wouldn't usually use root veg in a bolognaise type sauce, but courgettes and aubergine are out of season and we work on a budget of £5 per head per day for food. The sauce I made today works out at £0.88 per head £18.49 in total. If you add the cost of the pasta in, it's £1.02 per head.

Bolognaise

Split the mince into 4 portions - for each portion, use the following quantities

Blitz 1 onion, 2 sticks of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 peppers, 2 carrots and 100g of mushrooms
Cook down until softened
Add mince and cook through until browned
Add 2 tins of tomatoes, a large splodge of tomato puree and a teaspoon of marmite
Add a large sprinkle of oregano
Cook down until the sauce is thickened and the liquid reduced - for about half an hour or so

I did this 4 times, and working on the basis that one portion of that does 4-6 adult portions, I figure that we should easily accommodate 17 hungry guides and 4 hungry leaders. Please god let it, as there's now nothing else in my cupboards! 

And after all that... what did I end up having for my supper? You've guessed it

And if you've ever wanted to know what the shopping for 21 people for a 24 hour sleepover looks like...

Meal Planning Monday: I'm still hurting

I can't believe it's that time already. Meal Planning. Last week, was a bit of a disaster in the Pantry. I had the treatment for the migraine, and although it's lessened the pain, it bruised the back of my head something shocking, and the migraine is nowhere near gone. Add that to M working late, and long hours and you have a recipe for disaster. Certainly not one meal planning will help.

Here's hoping this is a better week; less pain, fewer working hours and being a bit closer to a return to work would all be good. Especially as I turn 35. Dear God yes, I am finally Bobby from Company.

So here's this week's meal plan as it stands currently:

Monday: Leftover roast beef Cottage pie - using this recipe, with mashed swede, carrot and parsnips and savoy cabbage

Tuesday: Steak, baked potatoes and salad/ veg (well it is Valentine's)

Wednesday: Veggie burritos/ enchiladas with guacamole and salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Slow cooked tomato pasta (I don't think I've blogged this before. I will as it's gorgeous and tastes like it's taken a whole lot of work, whereas in fact once it's super easy)

M's packed lunches are being supplemented with sausage rolls and soups at the moment as it's just so cold. We've also got banana bread to add in there.

Lunches for me will carry on being soup - I've got two portions of split pea and frankfurter left in the freezer.

Breakfasts are porridge, with stewed fruit for me.

Baking - well every girl needs a birthday cake, and I've got some fruit that's been soaking in a lot of brandy since before I went into hospital.

Have a good week all, and don't forget to head on over to At Home with Mrs M to see what everyone else is up to

Easy Christmas stuffing

So it's now 5 days until Christmas, how are you feeling? Have the children broken up from school yet? Or did they break up last week and have already declared themselves as bored? This post is a recipe - shocker I know, and also a way to get ahead ready for the weekend that family can help with - both Guides and Brownies (so 7-14) really enjoy the ickiness of helping out with this. One more thing to tick off that to do list.

Stuffing. I love it, it's not a roast without it - which is how Mark feels about Yorkshire puddings. My lovely sister (the gorgeous one in the picture up top) is half of the inspiration for this recipe. Last Christmas she made a fruited stuffing from scratch and I really enjoyed it. She won't be with us this Christmas as she's at her inlaws, but when I pop this in the oven I'll be thinking of her.

However this version is becoming known as Division Commissioner stuffing. And to explain that I have to tell you a little story. Two years ago I applied for my Guide holiday licence, prepped a GFI Glamorama themed holiday and worked incredibly hard to make it a success. Alison, our Division Commissioner was our QM - who saw I had bought a leading brand of dried stuffing and promptly declared "we won't be using that!" At this point she knocked up stuffing for 20 people using 'stuff' lying around the Guide kitchen. I was slightly gobsmacked to say the least. And it was yummy, much wetter than packet stuffing ever is. Fast forward 2 years and the older guides in a much bigger Guide unit wanted to know if we were having Alison's stuffing? So I picked up the phone and got the recipe. Well I say recipe, it's more of a guideline.

Now for Guides I made this vegetarian, leaving out the sausage meat, however for Christmas in our house it is firmly carnivourous, and I used skinned lincolnshire sausagemeat to increase the herbed flavours, if you like  it peppery try cumberland, and if you prefer a simple flavour then any good pork sausagemeat will be great. I get mine from the butchers around the corner, as they make their own sausages and the quality is immense. If I were using one from a Supermarket it would be a Sainsbury's TTD as they are amazing quality (and gluten free)

I should say, that this is a really easy recipe for children to help with. Use the food processor if you're not happy letting them loose with knives. I would use the food processor with my Brownies, but with supervision my Guides are fine with knives. Make sure their hands are clean and get them to smush up the sausagemeat.

Division Commissioner's Stuffing (this quantity serves about 8, it doubles or even triples beautifully)

2 onions, blitzed in the food processor
25g butter
1 Bramley apple, peeled, cored and diced (I confess, I blitzed it with the onions)
800g Lincolnshire sausages, skinned and smushed up
Handful of sage leaves, chopped up
4-6 slices of stale brown/ wholemeal/ granary bread, crusts cut up and blitzed into breadcrumbs

Fry the onion in the melted butter until it starts to soften
Add the apple and cook for a little while longer
Leave the pan on one side to cool down (it need to be easily handle-able)
Mix with the remaining ingredients and seasoning - do this with clean hands in a big bowl
Make into balls and put on a buttered baking tray, and cook for about half an hour

If I'm doing this at home I then pack it into a foil lined 1kg loaf tin and freeze it until it's needed.
Take it out of the freezer on Christmas eve, and when defrosted, cook as above but for about 40 minutes.

If you want a veggie version, add extra apple and onion and breadcrumbs to make up the weight.

This is what we're having on Christmas Day with our turkey. Just think if you make it today (you could easily sub the apples for eating apples and use any sausagemeat you have in the house), freeze it you don't need to even think about it again until Saturday evening.

Nasi Goreng: add your own showtune here...

It's that time of year again when our thoughts turn to new shoes, a new pencil case, and of course - what to put in our packed lunch box. For me when I was at school it was always sandwiches - peanut butter and banana were my favourite - and one of my best friends Liz, taught me well that you add the banana at lunchtime so it's not brown! These days I really struggle with sandwiches - Mark has them every day, and when I try I just find them dull. As an alternative I tend to go for salads in the summer (this week, pea shoots, feta, prawn, tomato and sprouted seeds - also known as everything that was reduced in Sainsburys).

In the colder months, I have a lot of homemade soups, sometimes with homemade bread (when I'm watching what I eat, without), also leftovers. Now these aren't practical for a child's lunchbox unless you have a thermos - Lakeland do some pricy, but wide necked ones that I think would be amazing for my lunches, actually I look at them and think about ordering every time. There has to be a cheaper alternative for kids out there and I'll keep my eyes peeled.

With my lunch I have fruit - a lot of fruit, this week it's black grapes, plums, a banana and an apple and normally a Nakd bar. This allows me to graze throughout the day at work, which works for me if I don't have time for a proper lunch break. Mark has crisps, a sausage roll, peice of cheese, cereal bar, a banana and some dried fruit. We're quite different, but it's what suits us best.

 This week, I'm having a Pantry take on Nasi goreng - an Indonesian rice salad. Unusually for me,  I'm straying into the realms of cooking with tofu for the first time. Now, I had most of the base ingredients in my fridge and pantry, but had to buy the tofu, and edamame beans. However the amount of lunches this has made is extraordinary. There's definitely enough for the rest of the week, and I'll portion out the rest in the freezer for next week too. You could serve this hot - in a thermos or if your office has a microwave, or eat it cold as a rice salad.

 Penelope's Pantry does Nasi Goreng

Light olive oil
2 cups of brown basmati rice - cooked and cooled
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp lazy chilli
2 thumb size peices of ginger grated
4 spring onions finely chopped (all the way up - use the green parts too)
1 cup of chopped red pepper
1 cup of edamame beans (I used frozen)
1 cup of sweetcorn (again I used frozen)
200g tofu (I used smoked) finely chopped
2 eggs beaten
3 tablespoons of soy sauce

Cook the rice in double the volume of boiling water (I use Delia's infallible absorbtion method) and leave to cool down.
Heat up some olive oil in a big wok or large pan, and when it's hot, add the spring onions, garlic, chilli and ginger. Cook through until this mix becomes aromatic - stirring all the while
Add the rice, and stir through so that the base ingredients aren't stuck on the bottom of the pan, but are mixed through (this way your garlic won't burn and go bitter)
Add the pepper, edamame beans, sweetcorn and tofu and cook through, stirring for about 5 minutes
Make a well in the middle of your pan and add your beaten eggs. Stir them so that they scramble and then mix through the rest of the rice
Cook through for another couple of minutes and then add the soy sauce.

Now I've tasted this and feel it's missing something - thinking back to my Lifechanging soup (TM) I think it's the sourness that it needs an edge - a friend has recommended adding a tablespoon of the pickling vinegar from a jar of pickled veg. I don't have any in, so will go without but would add that as a change for next time.

I think it's worth mentioning that traditionally Nasi Goreng would have chicken and prawns added, but costs at the moment mean I'm reducing my meat intake again. The tofu worked out far cheaper for the quantity that this made. Whilst the eggs make this unsuitable for vegans, those could easily be left out, and if you're a hardened carnivore or pescatarian again, amend it to suit you.
So that's my packed lunches sorted for the forseeable. A tasty, veggie alternative to sandwiches.

Home is where the heart is meant to be: Couscous salad

The thing about working away from home and eating restaurant food is that I find I crave vegetables (yes I know I'm weird), food I can eat from a bowl on my lap, in my pyjamas. I just don't think they'd be down with that in a Harvester. Although I should say - Harvester for the win at being able to eat what you want as it suits you - sadly though, still not in your pjs.

So, it probably makes me something of a sad loser to admit that I spent a large part of Friday daydreaming about a couscous salad. Yes, I know. Something spiked with brightly coloured, fresh veggies, with lots of protein and flavour that tasted - wholesome. I know that's not a flavour, but that's what I wanted.

So Friday afternoon came and I popped up to Waitrose, as my fridge was almost completely bare - I would have added a picture here, but that would have entailed showing you the fact that it also needs a clean out with some bicarb in hot water and I'm not keen on my slatternly tendencies being on show for the whole world to see. I picked up some couscous and feta (both from their essentials range), working on the basis that I was sure I had odds and sods to use up in a fridge-bottom style...

However, the fridge wasn't completely bare - here's what I found in it:

A handful of dried up fresh mint
Two handfuls of equally dried up parsley
A tomato
Half a red romano pepper
Some spring onions that were only slightly wilted
Garlic
Lazy chilli
Half a cucumber that was looking very sorry for itself
A centimetre or so of homemade salad dressing in an old jam jar
And a bottle of rose with one glass left in it!

Also in the pantry I found the end of a packet of pine nuts, and some Marigold bouillon

I boiled the kettle and measured out 1 cup of couscous into a salad bowl
I added 2 teaspoons of bouillon and 2 cups of boiling water, stirred it all in, covered with a clean, dry tea towel and left for 10 minutes
Meanwhile, I chopped up the tomato, cucumber, pepper, spring onions and feta up into a small dice
I finely chopped the mint, parsley and garlic
I toasted the pine nuts in a dry pan until lightly browned

When the couscous was cool I added all the ingredients above, a teaspoon of lazy chilli and the leftover (shaken up) vinagrette. Everything was stirred in and served in a large bowl with the rose. It was exactly what I wanted - and made loads - which meant both Mark and I had it for dinner on Friday, and lunch on Saturday and Sunday.

On Monday I did a discount run around Waitrose, picking up a packet of prawns and a packet of feta, and a bag of peashoots - I added half of each of these to the remaining cous cous and had it for dinner on Monday. As an added bonus, packed lunches on Tuesday and today were the remains of all of those and some cherry tomatoes and alfalfa/ radish sprouts as an undressed salad. Yum.

I know it's not exciting to talk about those meals we make at the end of the month to make the budget stretch further, to use up the odds and ends from a veg box or a shop, and it's not a recipe per se as you could use anything languishing in your fridge but this is real life - we can't all be knocking up Jamie's 30 minute meals or Delia's suggestions every day - sometimes we just need something that nourishes us, that is tasty and that doesn't cost the earth. I know I do.

Coming up... Mark's mum sent me back a whole load of plums from their tree, mint from the garde and crabapples she was given, so for the cost of some sugar I'll be presrving madly this week. Also a long awaited foray into a nasi goreng inspired by something I saw on the Food Channel when I was off sick before I changed jobs.

Beans mean(s) risotto?

No, wait, that's not right. One of the reasons I'm drawn to the concept of a veg box is the way it pushes me to try new things, either vegetables I haven't cooked previously or ones I wouldn't necessarily buy if left to my own devices at the shops.

Broad beans are just one of those veg - I love them (I'm a double podding fiend) they're so green, verdant in their freshness. Their presence introducing the start of the summer, yet even yesterday when pottering around Waitrose, I completely forgot to pick any up. Riverford had sent me lots so, on Wednesay evening I returned home from work and made a start on double podding the Elphaba-esque vegetable.

To cook these (at this stage of the season) I just add them to the dish late on, but towards July or even later, they will need bringing to the boil. Oddly, like gnocchi, once they're floating at the top of the water in the pan, they're cooked - normally it only takes a few minutes.

I love broadbeans, blitzed with some light olive oil and a grated clove of garlic as a side dish for any main meal, or spread on thick slices of french bread, lightly toasted as you would for  bruschetta. However, this week required more gutsy, warming food as the rain was pelting down as though it were still April. Comfort food was called for, and what is more soothing and comforting than risotto.

I always use the same recipe for risotto, just substituting the flavours and herbs depending on what way I'm going with it. If you think of a basic risotto recipe as a 'bianco' and then you change up what you add to it depending on what you fancy/ have in the fridge.

Risotto bianco

1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup/ 250g arborio rice
1 glass white wine, I use a fairly dry one
Olive oil
Chicken/ vegetable stock - 500ml(ish) I use chicken stock that I make myself - eeking out the frugalness of my roast chicken even further.
Parmesan
Salt and Pepper
Butter

Sautee the onion in a little olive oil, cooking until it goes translucent.
Add the white wine into the hot pan, and let it bubble down, stirring all the while.
Heat your stock through in a separate pan, bringing it to a gentle boil
Add the stock, ladle by ladle, stirring until each is absorbed, and only then adding the next
Once your stock is all absorbed, check that your rice is cooked, it should be soft with a little bite (not mush!)
Remove the pan from the heat and add butter, grated parmesan and pepper. Taste, and if it needs it add salt. Parmesan is quite salty so sometimes you only need a little.

For the Broad bean risotto, I added a little garlic to the cooked onion (if you add it earlier it runs teh risk of burning), and lots of shredded mint, a little thyme and then the broadbeans at the end, just with the last ladle of stock.

I didn't use pecorino, but whilst I was cooking I thought how well this would have gone with the broad beans. The sharpness of the sheep's cheese contrasting with the soft sweetness of the little beans. I also didn't have any white wine in, as I don't tend to have it in the house, I diluted half a glass of sherry with water and used this at the same point in the dish as I would the wine. Similarly you could just add an extra 250ml of stock.

I had intended to add bacon to this, as I think the salty crispness of well cooked, crumbled in bacon would have been lovely - but I think it must have evaporated as there was none in the fridge, instead, I chopped up a chicken breast that was leftover from the previous night's Guide Division BBQ. It wasn't quite the same, flavour wise, but did provide some extra protein, and an extra dimension texture-wise.

I made this risotto in less than an hour (and that includes double podding millions of broad beans) so it's a perfect midweek dinner; tasty, soothing and on a wet, cold June evening - just what the doctor ordered.

Enchiladas. Definitely enchiladas.

Just a quick post from me today - I have a mammoth one on an afternoon tea party I catered recently in the offing, but am waiting on other people's photos as I was quite literally up to my elbows in cake mix for the best part of 2 days.

Anyway, Jess of Dreaming Wide Awake tried her enchiladas from the last post... we tweeted through the process, as I panicked briefly about having forgotten to include garlic in the recipe and Jess kept me updated as to her progress. It was very exciting, a kind of mini cook-athon if you will. Anyway, here are pictures of her salsa and the finished enchiladas themselves.

Burrito, Enchilada, Fajita or wrap?

I once had a boyfriend. No, really I did! I once had a boyfriend who said, over a meal at a Mexican restaurant that he had decided (in his infinite wisdom) that actually all of the above were the same, just folded differently. Now, at the time being a mere baby at *cough*20*cough* I didn't really think much about what he said. However, one of the things I notice more and more as I cook others' recipes and develop my own, ,is the tiny differences that make a particular dish just that. So my enchiladas (above) are vegetarian, and baked with cheese inside, a salsa and more cheese on top, despite being folded in a mighty similar way to a fajita or burrito.

More seriously, I have just bought Thomasina Myers book Mexican Food and am looking forward to reading more and expanding my horizons as I'm aware that guacamole and some kick ass enchiladas do not a demonstrable skill in Mexican cooking make, and I hope to start to remedy that.

Anyway this post is really for Jess of Dreaming Wide Awake. A month or so ago she tweeted that a new Mexican place had opened near her work, and she was enjoying their burritos. Now caveat about not knowing my way around Mexican cooking aside, I wanted to post this recipe for her as it's one of my favourites, and it's vegetarian. When I post main meals I notice that it's rarely vegetarian, despite the fact that I actually eat very little meat, but those meals are my midweek, run-of-the-mill, chuck it in and hope for the best type dishes and I don't blog them, because even if I do make my own pesto, no one really wants to read that I cooked the pasta for 9 minutes, then added 2 dessert spoons of pesto and put half of the finished result in tupperware for lunch the next day.

Where was I? Oh yes Jess' enchiladas. These are based very loosely on a recipe that Sainsburys once did on a recip card. You may remember these, they were A5 sheets of card with the picture of the dish on one side and the recipe on the other, they had a wine/ general drink recommendation on them, and were normally seasonal. I had loads, I think they're up in my Mum's loft along with my extensive collection of books (if someone oculd tell me where my copy of Pride and Prejudicce has gone though I would be grateful). Anyway, this one I think was linked into the launch of a new cheese and I remember being in my early twenties and insisting I could only make it if I had all the ingredients. However I actually can't remember the last time I cooked something actually having all the ingredients and not having to be in the slightest bit creative. So, consider this a guideline. Adapt it so you love it. Even writing down how I last made it I want to adapt the spicing (that Thomasina Myers is invading my thought process I'll bet!)

Jess' enchiladas (surprisingly enough, not their original name)

Salsa

1 onion chopped finely

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 chilli (not mindblowingly hot, but so you can taste it) chopped

1 green pepper diced

Either 1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 1 small carton of passata

Splodge of tomato puree

Handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

Put a splash of olive oil in a pan and gently cook the onion and garlic until the onion goes translucent

Add the pepper, and cook a little just so it starts to soften

Add the tomatoes, and a little seasoning. You don't need too much salt as you're putting a lot of cheese on the salsa and in the enchiladas.

Stir everything in and add the tomato puree

Once it's cooked down to a thick paste, add the parsley and stir through before taking the pan off the heat. Pop the salsa into a bowl. I should say cooled this is lovely with tortilla chips, but if you can keep your hands off it, it goes on top of the enchiladas before baking.

Filling for the enchiladas

1 clove garlic crushed

1 red chilli chopped

1 onion chopped up

1 red and yellow pepper cut into strips

Mushrooms chopped up into slices

Tomatoes (I often use halved cherry tomatoes but the original recipe asked for sunblush ones)

Either a small tin of sweetcorn, or cut the corn from 1 cob

1/2 tsp of cumin

If you want extra heat add some chilli powder

2 big handfuls of grated cheese

Chopped coriander

Plus you'll need a packet of tortillas. Or if you're feeling particularly adventurous, nip over to Dinner Diary and have a go at making them yourself.

Again, start with some olive oil and cook the garlic and chilli down briefly until they start to soften (be careful not to burn the garlic as it goes horridly bitter)

Add the strips of pepper and mushrooms, cooking really gently for a few minutes

Add the tomatoes and sweetcorn and let the tomatoes start to cook down and release their juices

Add the coriander (You don't need bucket loads. I use a small handful)

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the grated cheese - you want the residual heat from the pan to start to melt it

Put spoonfulls of the filling in each tortilla and wrap them up in a sausage shape

Put these into an ovenproof dish - I use a square lasagne dish

Top with the salsa and the rest of the grated cheese

Put in the oven at 180 degrees for about half an hour or until the cheese is nice and brown and everything is heated through

Serve with guacamole, and salad.