Carrot and Lentil Soup

This is my favourite soup - very quick and easy to make, very tasty - and filling too because of the lentils.

Fry onion, celery and garlic in a little oil for a few minutes, then add carrot and fry for a bit longer until it's warmed through.

Pour in vegetable stock, red split peas and some pepper, and give a good stir. Bring just to the boil then simmer gently, covered for 20-30 minutes.

When the carrots are soft and the soup is pulpy, it's ready.

I ate mine with a slice of butter on top. Tonight I reheated some of the leftover soup (it always tastes nicer the next day) and added a blob of sour cream and some fried mushrooms. Very tasty!!!

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced or chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
70 g split red peas, rinsed
700 ml vegetable stock
pepper

Serves 2 generously

Cheese and Onion Omelette

I cooked myself lunch again! This is inspired by another Sophie Dahl recipe, and is nothing particularly adventurous, but I have to admit to never having before made a fluffy omelette with a filling.

The sprig of jasmine is in the photo because - hooray! spring must be on its way - the jasmine is blooming at last. I had to put it outside after lunch because I had started sneezing. Spring brings warmer weather, but unfortunately hay fever too....

Gently fry some chopped red onion in some olive oil, then remove it from the pan. I'm using my mini frying pan which I bought really cheaply at the supermarket.

Beat the eggs and add salt and pepper. Add a tiny bit of oil to the pan and pour in the eggs. Let them sit there for half a minute, then add grated or broken up pieces of cheese.

As the cheese starts to melt, add the cooked onion then carefully fold the omelette in half with a spatula.

Oops! not particularly successful, but never mind - I'll just turn it over again and cook the other side in a minute.

Cooking the other side now - I don't like runny egg.

Ready to eat - a hot and filling lunch.

Original recipe from Sophie Dahl...

Ingredients:

half a small red onion

2 large eggs

salt and pepper

50 g Red Leicester cheese or any sharp, hard cheddar

mustard to serve if liked

Tofu and Cabbage Stir-Fry

This was a day of 'firsts' for me - I cooked tofu for the first time, and I also cooked myself some lunch for the first time (I usually have a toasted cheese sandwich, but I don't think that counts as cooking!).

I used a Sophie Dahl recipe - Lily's stir fry with tofu - as a guide.

Heat sesame oil or other stir-fry type oil in a large pan or wok. Add shredded cabbage and onion and fry for a few minutes. I find sesame oil a bit pongy, and I have since used peanut oil with good results - maybe the dish loses a little flavour but I prefer the low-smell option.

Add chopped tofu, then a splash of soy sauce, another splash of mirin or apple cider vinegar...

...some grated carrot and some green veg - I didn't have any other vegies, so I used parsley instead.

Add some sesame seeds and some coriander if you have it.

I really enjoyed this - so tasty and quite filling too. It had never occurred to me to make a stir-fry without rice or noodles. A really quick and easy lunch.

Original recipe, serves 2...

Ingredients:
2 tbsp sesame oil/peanut oil
1 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup chopped onion
150 g firm tofu, cubed
1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp mirin or apple cider vinegar
1 cup coarsely grated carrot
i cup coarsely grated zucchini
1 cup snow peas or bean sprouts
1 tbsp sesame seds
handful of chopped coriander

Vegetable Pasta Bake

This is a good way to use up stray vegetables that you might have hanging around and that you don't want to waste, and also a good way to feed everyone quite a lot of vegetables without them really noticing.

Finely chop up an onion and fry it gently in some oil in a big pan. Add some garlic and then start adding any vegetables you have.

I finely diced some celery and added that (ssshhh! don't tell anyone about the celery, it's a controversial vegie around here! But no one noticed it was there...)

Add any other finely diced vegetables - I had some choy sum stalks and leaves, a red capsicum and a couple of carrots.

Normally I coarsely grate carrots, as they take a while to cook. This time I diced them and they stayed a little crunchy which I liked.

Add a jar of passata, a little water, some oregano, basil, salt, pepper and sugar. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently for half an hour or so.

In the meantime heat up a big pot of water and cook some ravioli or tortellini. I also cooked a little bit of dried pasta to make the meal go a little further. (Use a non-meat-filled pasta for a vegetarian version of this meal obviously.)

Drain the pasta and stir it into the sauce. I always reserve a little of the cooking water before draining, just in case the sauce needs a little extra liquid.

Put the whole lot into a baking dish and top with grated cheese. Put in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese has melted.

Ready to serve.

Our rabbit loves it when we have lots of vegies too!

Leek and Sweet Potato Quiche

I made this quiche the other day when our friends Lisa and Ailin were coming over for lunch. It uses the olive oil pastry (the easiest pastry in the world) that I always use for quiche, so it's really quick to make.

Sarah, my sister, has a friend who uses the recipe - and she says that instead of rolling out the pastry, she just presses it into the quiche dish with her hands. I tried this and it works well, so now it's even quicker and easier! It gives a slightly ragged-looking edge, unless you spend a little time tidying things up, but raggedy edges don't worry me.

I lined the dish with the pastry, then put in a layer of leeks that I'd sliced finely and softened in a little butter and oil. I was planning to use onion, but the leeks were very reasonably priced today.

Then I put over a layer of thinly-sliced sweet potato.

I scattered over some creamy fetta cheese - and a little cheddar too, as I wasn't sure I had quite enough fetta - and added some chopped parsley.

To the eggy/milky mixture I added a generous teaspoonful of wholegrain mustard and some salt and pepper. As usual I had enough to make a mini quiche aswell.

Then I poured the egg/milk over, and cooked it for 45 - 60 mins at 170 C.

It was very tasty, I thought - mildly flavoured but not bland, and quite filling.

The original recipe for quiche is here

Ingredients:
pastry:
8 heaped tbsp flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
8 tbsp olive oil
8 tbsp water
filling:
1 medium onion or leek
1 small sweet potato
fetta/cheddar cheese
eggy topping:
3 eggs
400 ml milk (approx)
wholegrain mustard
salt, pepper

Baked Agnolotti and Vegetables

Time for a savoury dish after all those sweet things. This uses bought fresh pasta, and you can use whichever filled pasta you like. Today I used ricotta and spinach agnolotti which works really well.

Cook a finely chopped onion, and any other vegies you have hanging around, in a medium pan. Depending on what they are, and how long they will take to cook, you can finely chop them (zucchini, sweet potato, broccoli stalks, bok choy, red capsicum, mushrooms etc) and add them to the onion, or steam them first before adding them (green beans, broccoli, chopped carrot etc). Today I had some sweet potato and broccoli.

Stir in a jar of tomato passata, add salt, pepper, a little sugar and some herbs. Meanwhile cook the pasta and drain it, reserving a cupful of the cooking water in case it's needed to thin the sauce. Return the pasta to its pan, stir in the tomato/vegetable sauce. Tip into a baking dish and top with grated cheese. Cook in a medium hot oven for about 15 mins until cheese is golden.