Saturday, December 7, 2013

Aubergine Salad with Pesto Spread

Aubergine (Eggplant) 
Cloves garlic, peeled 
Bunches scallions, white and green parts, roughly chopped
Coriander leaves chopped
Paprika sweet

Tomatoes
Onions


Spread
Blend scallions, garlic, paprika and coriander to a paste. (freezable at this stage)


Slice augbergines, drizzle with olive oil and salt. Grill both sides in oven.
Cover each slice with above spread and return to grill for a few more seconds.

Sauce
Fry chopped onions till soft.  Add tomatoes and cook till all soft and a thick sauce is made.  
Season with salt and black peper.

Add prepared aubergines to tomatoe sauce and carefully stir.
Enjoy!


Nut Roast


Ingredients

Onions - chopped
Celery - chopped
Carrots - grated
Mushrooms
Garlic
Chesnuts
Walnuts - chopped
Herbs: ie sage, rosemary, corriander, parsley, Thyme - chopped
Worchestershire sauce
Tamari Soy sauce
Dijon Mustard
Dried tomatoes
Corriander seeds - grounded
Breadcrumbs

Salt
Black pepper

Puff pastry

Start frying onions, celery, carrots, garlic

Fry mushrooms till soft, when cool puree in mixer.

Blend preserved chestnuts and walnuts in mixer till small bite sizes.

Mix all together.

Blend roughly parsley, coriander, rosemary (sage would be good here too)
Add soy, mustard, worchestershire sauce and ground coriander seeds.

Add fine breadcrumbs, no more than a cup.

Add oven-dried cherry tomatoes.  Fold carefully inorder not to damage the tomatoes.
Note: Original called for an egg, the mixture below was so moist I didn't need an egg.  If your mixture is dry then by all means add an egg.

Pat into lined-loaf tin.
In my second nut roast I buried some boiled eggs inside, which was nice but not necessary.

Bake for about 40 mins till brown on top

Just for fun and to make it pretty, I cut a lattice puff pastry around it.
After baking, I turned it upside down, carefully placed lattice on top and return to oven to brown.
Inspiration for lattice

First ever truly vegetarian meal, complete with nut roast, couscous salad, lentil-fennel-apple salad, roast veggies and of-course vegetarian gravy.

Second Nut Roast
Completely encased in puff pastry for impact as well as keeping ALL the flavour and juice inside.
It looked spectacular!  Think I found my Christmas centre piece.


Dark brown and moist inside, the flavours smells like a carnivore's dream.
This time round I added some of my Aubergine/Tomato salad leftover here.  It blended nicely, but don't make especially to put in here.
Note for self: Waterchestnuts, roughly chopped could go very nicely here, give it an extra crunch..

All carved up and covered in gravy like a good roast should.

Accompanied with some fabulous aspargus.
WhooHa!


Ingredients
Onions
Celery
Carrots
Mushrooms
Garlic
Chesnuts
Walnuts - chopped
Herbs: ie sage, rosemary, corriander, parsley, Thyme - chopped
Worchestershire sauce
Tamari Soy sauce
Dijon Mustard
Dried tomatoes
Corriander seeds - grounded
Breadcrumbs

Salt
Black pepper

Puff pastry

Gravy:
onions - chopped
garlic
thyme
flour
worchestershire sauce
Soy sauce
water/stock

Roast
Fry chopped onion, garlic, celery and carrots till soft.  Leave to one side
Fry separately mushrooms till soft.  Puree in mixer.  Add to onions mix.
Blend chestnuts in mixer for a few seconds till small pieces but NOT pureee.
Do the same to the walnuts.
Add to rest of mix.
Blend Herbs to small peices.  Add to mix.
Add breadcrumbs.  Mix.
Add mustard and grounded corriander seeds.  Mix well.
Add soy and worchestershire.
Carefully add the dried tomatoes
My mixture was quite gooey and sticky, but if yours is quite dry and needs wetting add an egg and mix.

Place in lined loaf tin and bake 180 for about 45 mins.
The smell will hit you as the roast begins to bake.  Bake till brown and crunchy on top.
Take out and cool.
Roll out pastry and either make lattice and place on roast or simply cover roast with puff pastry.
Return to oven and bake till pastry is crispy and brown.

Gravy
Fry onions, garlic and thyme till soft.
Add flour, stir.
Add stock or water, bring to boil.
Add seasonings such as soy and worchestershire for colouring
Wine and black peper - optional

Cook till nice thick brown sauce formed.
Serve pipping hot to be poured straight on to roast.

Source Link - Click here




Brownies - gluten free


Sweet potatoes and ground almonds basically make up this gooey Brownie with dates as sweetner.
I measured by using ratios one ingredient to another.  Not sure if this easier, if not please let me know I will try to measure in grams next time.

Ingredients

2:3 ratio Sweet Potatoes
1:3 ratio Dates - de-stoned
Banana - optional for extra taste
3/4 cup Ground almonds (mix in blender)

Cacoa (dark unsweetend)  4 tbps
Maple syrup 3-4 tbps
Treacle 3 tbps
salt
Walnut roughly chopped
Sesame White

Steam peeled yams till soft.
Process yams and dates in mixer.
Add salt, cacoa, syrups.
Taste, adjust
Hand mix carefully nuts.
Spread in tray and bake 180 for about 40 mins.
Leave to cool.  Cut into squares.
Coat with white sesame seeds for maximum visual impact.

Tastes great, sweet and moist, super rich and dark. The nuts and sesame adds a welcome crunch to the otherwise super soft 'brownie'.  No need to add even more sweetness so DO NOT sprinkle icing sugar

Note: If using 'Dutch-processed' Cacoa the brownies will come out incredibly dark with an insanely chocolately look without having any chocolate!
Very gooey and dense.


Source Recipe Click Here






 
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