Vegetarian Easter Lamb

 Every now and then it's fun to make vegetarian versions of meat dishes. I decided to attempt an Easter lamb dish with soy mince and think it was pretty succesfull! I improvised with the recipe as well as the measurements, and the "meatballs" were really easy to make.

Vegetarian Easter Lamb "Meatballs" with Brussel Sprouts and Spinach

1 bag of frozen soy mince (I used Hälsäns kök färs)
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
Chili paste, to taste

1 pot of sour cream
100 g feta cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
Plenty of fresh mint, finely chopped
Crispy fried onion, 2 tbsp (the stuff you normally put on salad)
1 egg
1 dl almond flour

Brussel Sprouts
Spinach
1 Garlic clove, finely chopped
Butter
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper

1. Heat some oil on a frying pan. Sautee the onion until soft, then add garlic, chilli and the soy mince. Fry for around 5 minutes, season to taste.

2. Mix the sour cream, feta, lemon zest, mint and crispy onion together in a large bowl. Add the mince and mix together. Add the egg, mix again, finally adding the almond flour until the mix stays together to make the meatballs.

3. Make even sized meatballs from the mix on a sheet of parchment paper and bake for around 20 mins in 200C.

4. While the meatballs are cooking, clean the brussel sprouts by cutting the stem and removing outer and browned bits. Cut the sprounts in half or quarters according to size. Wash the spinach. Warm up the butter on a frying pan and fry the sprouts until slightly browned. Add the spinach at the end and cook until just wilted. Season to taste.

5. Plate and serve! Goes well with a soft red wine, yesterday we opened a bottle of Australian Shiraz/Cabernet that was a gift from a friend and had been waiting for while. What a tasty meal it was!

Pasta Vongole

 I made a trip to Anton & Anton in Kruununhaka yesterday and ended up buying a kilo of cockles. I have tasted them a couple of times in a restaurant I've worked at somewhere (Australia?) but never had I bought them or cooked them. Luckily I have my chef who knew what to do, and that was a creamy pasta vongole. The pasta should really have been linguine but we had pappardelle, and I forgot to get herbs - flatleaf parsley would have really nailed it here. But even without the parsley this must have been one of the best things I have eaten in a while - thank you chef!

 Pasta vongole
Serves 4, or two very hungry people in our case

1 kg cockles (sydänsimpukka in Finnish)
Garlic, 2 cloves, chopped finely
Celery, 1-2 sticks, chopped finely
Shallot onion, finely chopped
Olive oil
Dry white wine, 1-2 dl
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
Cream 2dl
Salt and Pepper

Pasta - linguine or spaghetti,50 g per person is enough

1. Cockles are full of gritty sand. To get rid of the sand place the cockles in a bowl of cold water in the fridge up to 24 hours before cooking. When you're ready to cook, remove the cockles carefully from the bowl and rinse under running water in a sieve. Discard all open cockles, which do not close when tapped (this means they should be alive before cooking).

2. Cook the pasta by the package instructions.

3. Heat up oil in a (very) large saucepan, sautee the garlic, shallot and celery until soft. (Fennel would work here as well). Heat up to high temperature again and add cockles and the white wine as well as the lemon zest. Place a lid on the pan, shake occasionally. Wait until all the cockles are opened, add cream, reduce for a 2 minutes. Finally add the drained pasta and some flatleaf parsley if you were smarter than me and bought some. Discard unopened cockles. Plate, eat and enjoy!

(There might still be some sand so try not to scrape the bottom of the pan or your plate and chew carefully!)

We had sparkling water with the pasta as we both are working for the evening but as a wine recommendation I would go with something dry and mineralic ; Chablis, Sancerre, Muscadet etc.

Ok, it was a huge amount of cockles for two people as you can see from the shells we ended up woth.. Almost didn't need the pasta!

Beetroot and Beluga lentils

I tend to shop interesting foods and then forget them in the cupboard until the best before date has long gone. Today I found a bag of fresh beetroot that really needed using and started to look for something to go with it and discovered some beluga lentils at the back of the top shelf. (After I'd chucked a few other "best before last year" products in the bin)

Never having used beluga lentils (aren't they pretty!) before, I googled and found a nice recipe at Ahmija blog. Only 20 mins cooking in veg stock, rinse and they're ready! Me, I am not a fan of overnight soaking business etc.

Marinade:
1,5 dl olive oil
2 tbsp honey
0,75 dl white balsamic
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt&Pepper
2tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Mix the ingredients and add to the lentils when they're still warm.

Beetroot was washed, peeled and chopped into wedges. In an oven dish, add olive oil, salt and pepper, and a few crushed whole garlic cloves. Cook in 200C for 20 mins, then add crumbled feta cheese, and cook another 25 mins or until the beets are cooked through.

Chop some fresh spinach and top with the lentils and beetroot. Enjoy!

The Heavenly Veggie Parcels

I will finally give you the recipe for those tasty looking parcels I already wrote about earlier. I already shared the recipe in Finnish on my friend Mari's blog Pumpkin Jam, as she asked me to do a guest post on there. She is a big inspiration to me and probably the reason why I ever got into blogging in the first place. She is an amazing writer, she should do it for a living in my opinion. There is a big blogger community in Finland but I haven't been very active so far, but I would love to get to know more people who love food as much as I do. I don't know if it is a problem that I write in English, I have been thinking if I should switch to Finnish just to "fit in" a bit more. However, for now writing in English feels more comfortable.

Anyway, here comes the recipe. It is a slightly altered version from The Modern Vegetarian cookbook by Maria Elia. I found it at the sales and while I was deciding if I really should own an another cookbook (need more shelf space!!!) I saw the recipe for these parcels and walked to the till with the book. I want to cook more interesting vegetarian food, not just the basic stuff. Today I have cooked one more recipe and will do another this evening, but more about them later. This  one really impressed me and my dinner guests, definately worth the little effort it takes!

 Parcels with Mushrooms, Spinach, Beetroot, Lentils and Mozzarella
 (4 big portions)

Ginger Vinaigrette Dressing
1 cm piece ginger
1 garlic clove, grated
30 ml rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
75 ml sesame oil
2 tsp dijon mustard

Lentils
225g puy or brown lentils (I used green as had it already)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt and pepper
4 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

Mushrooms
4 large portobello mushrooms (couldn't get any so used around 400g of button mushrooms)
2 tbsp olive oil (I used butter, always for mushrooms)
salt
pinch of chilli flakes

To put together you need
Fresh spinach
300g mozzarella, torn into small pieces
200g cooked beetroot, sliced into wedges
4 squares of parchment paper (38cmx38cm), scrunch and dampen under warm water, squeeze water of. this way they look prettier and are easier to work with
4 strips cut of parchment paper (2cmx38cm)

1. Prepare the vinaigrette by whisking all ingredients together.

2. Wash the lentils. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic, sautee until softened. Add drained lentils and just enough water to cover them. Simmer until tender, about 20 mins, adding water if needed. Drain and dress with ginger vinaigrette when still hot. Season with salt and pepper, add coriander.

3. Clean the mushrooms and remove the stalks. Drizzle with olive oil(or butter), season with salt and chilli and cook in a hot pan for 3 minutes on each side.

4. To assemble, preheat the oven to 190c. Place the spinach at the bottom of the parcel, top with mushroom(s), lentils, beetroot and mozzarella. Tie the sides of the papers together with thw paper strips. The parcels can be made in advance and cooked when everyone's ready to eat!

5. Place on baking tray and cook for 15-20 minutes or until throroughly heated.

I served a simple salad of rocket, fennel and parmesan with the parcels. A light red wine goes beautifully with this, really complementing the earthy flavours.

Vegetarian moussaka

 So, we have a pretty good selection of cookbooks but we rarely pick a recipe and follow it. I am on a mission to change this, and started with Jane Noraika's "New Food for thought". Food for thought is a lovely little vegetarian restaurant in Covent Garden of London, which I used to regularly visit when I lived over there in 2004-2005. It was also the first ever restaurant I took my meat eating boyfriend to, with success I think. He took me to Pizza Hut. :D

He gave me this book around 2006 (we can't agree on the year...) but not many recipes have been followed, as I said. I browsed through the book and decided to start on Moussaka, as it is most certainly apt food for the dark cold wintertime.

 MOUSSAKA
(Serves 6)

Tomato sauce:
Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 sticks celery, sliced
1 carrot, grated
tinned chopped tomatoes, 400g
2 tbsp tomato puree
splash of soy sauce
bunch of fresh basil, chopped

White sauce:
50g butter
50g flour (2tbsp in the original recipe, found that it wasn't enough)
pinch of nutmeg
150 ml milk
100g cheddar (think I nearly doubled this...oops)
(original recipe adds a beaten egg white but I gave it a miss)

Vegetables:
100g green lentils (bought mine ready cooked)
675g potatoes, cooked and then sliced
2 aubergines (aka eggplant), sliced
275g mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced into thin strips
450g FRESH spinach, washed very well

 1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Cook lentils if didn't buy them ready cooked.

 3. Place sliced aubergine on a large oven tray with plenty of olive oil. Add pesto if you want extra flavour. I used the new Pirkka lemon pesto, which is nice and fresh. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until tender, stir every now and then.

 4. Stir-fry mushrooms and peppers, set aside.

5. Cook the spinach quickly in a saucepan in olive oil and butter (no butter in the original but I think spinach needs it) until it's wilted. Squeeze extra liquid out.

6.In a large saucepan fry the onion, garlic, celery and carrot in olive oil until soft. Add tomatos, tomato puree and soy sauce. Bring to the boil and season with basil, salt and pepper. Let it cool down for a while.Combine with lentils, mushrooms, peppers and spinach.

The best ever white sauce I ever made! (Might be the first one too...)

 7. In a small pan melt the butter with the nutmeg. Lower the heat and stir in the flour slowly. I needed much more flour than 2 tbsp like the original recipe suggested, almost the same quantity as butter. Cook until the texture of the roux changes to breadcrumb-like. Slowly add the milk and stir vigorously all the time to avoid lumps. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese is melted.

8.Cover a deep dish with half of the tomato mixture, layer half of the aubergines on top.Add half of the potatoes on the aubergines. Repeat, and cover the final layer of potatoes with the white sauce. Add extra cheese if you're as greedy as me.

9. Cook in the oven at 200-225C for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.

10. Serve with something green and ENJOY!

I look forward to making more yummy vegetarian recipes from this book. I really need to experiment more with pulses and stuff to get more vegetable proteins, I eat too much fish for my liking at the moment. I'd like to eat soups more regularly, so the next recipe might be a red pepper and almond soup. And we are hoping to visit UK at some point this year, maybe it's time to visit the good old Food for thought again...

Spicy Shepardess Pie

Friday night, and time for some serious comfort food!
This is a veggie version of the British dish Shepherd's pie, which normally has minced lamb in it. I saw a recipe of the meaty version on Maku magazine's Kevät 2/09 issue and was inspired to make it, maybe for the first time actually. I made up this slighty spicy version, perfect for the -21 degrees weather we're having over here at the moment. For the vegetarians this is an excellent filling and protein rich meal.

Spicy Shepardess Pie

4-5 Portions

For the mash:
Around 6 potatos
Cream
Seasoning

Filling:
4 dl Vegetarian Soy Mince
Veg stock
1 Onion, diced
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
1 Carrot, grated
~100 g Frozen Sweetcorn or Peas
Teaspoon of minced red chilli paste (Rajah)
Teaspoon of Paprika powder
Worcestershire Sauce to taste- LOTS in mine!
Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan Cheese

Heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Boil the potatos in salted water until cooked.
Mash and add cream, season to taste.
Prepare the soy mince according to the package instructions.
Heat some olive oil on a frying pan, cook the onion for a minute, then add garlic.
Add soy mince and some water if needed to prevent the mix from sticking to the pan.
Add carrot and sweetcorn/ peas.
Season with chilli paste, paprika powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.
Pour the soy mince mix on the bottom of a baking dish. Spread the mash on top.
Add lavish amount of parmesan cheese.
Place in the middle of the oven and bake for around 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

I have decided to find a drink match to all of my recipes and since this dish is really a pub classic I recommend you wash it down with some dry apple cider or a thirst- quenching lager. Since we don't really have the proper equilavant of a British pub here in Helsinki, this home version will do just fine!

Edit. I forgot the chilli paste earlier! Very important ingredient to make it spicy.