Whip ricotta with roast veg

pack of ricotta
spoonful of yogurt
olive oil
lemon juice

aubergine
courgette
a few cherry toms
basil

Cut the aubergine and courgette into large dice. Leave the tomatoes whole? Roast them all in the oven. In a food processor, blitz the ricotta and yogurt with oil and lemon juice, scraping down the sides, until it's perfectly smooth. Salt to taste. Spread the whipped ricotta on a plate, and grate over some black pepper. Pile on the roasted veg and garnish with leaves of basil. Serve with tortilla chips. Upside down veggie nachos.

Rummy plummy apple cake

1 bramley apple, peeled and cubed

3 plums, cubed

113 g brown butter (start with about 140 g)

120 g sugar (half dark brown)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

133 g flour

4 tablespoons rum

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 170 on fan. Mix the brown butter and sugar. Add eggs, rum and flour. Add fruit. Pour in a 9-inch lined cake tin. Sprinkle over it 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Bake for 45 minutes.

Grits

 

50 g grits for one portion
300 g water
5 g butter
2 g salt

Cook covered for 1 full hour.

Kashk bademjan

4 aubergines

2 onions

2 garlic cloves

turmeric powder

teaspoon (?) of saffron threads

kashk

dried mint

Cover the saffron threads with a few tablespoons of hot water and let them steep. Cook the aubergines whole in a hot oven, turning once or twice, for 30-45 minutes until they are completely soft. Cut them in half and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Chop one onion and slice the other. Sweat the chopped onion in oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and turmeric powder and stir for 30 sec before tipping in the aubergine. Let this simmer for 10 min. Add the saffron and its liquid. Stir in a teaspoon of kashk, then taste and add more as you like. Put into a shallow dish and top with a few dollops of kashk, mint oil, crispy fried onions and walnuts. Serve with bread.

Quinoa

1 cup quinoa

1.75 cup water

Rinse the quinoa. In a small saucepan, bring the water to boil. Add the quinoa, lower heat and cover. Cook for 20 min until the water has been absorbed.

Eggy baba

6 aubergines
4 eggs
tahini
smoked paprika
vinegar or lemon juice

Roast the whole aubergines in a very hot oven, under the grill. Let the skin burn. Turn them once so they cook evenly and go completely soft. Allow at least 45 min. Split the skin and scoop out the flesh into a colander, and let it drain. Meanwhile hardboil the eggs for 10 min. Slice them and take out the yolks. Coarsely chop the whites. Put them into a large mixing bowl with the cooked aubergine and several giant spoonsful of tahini. Mash it all up and season with salt, pepper, vinegar and smoked paprika. In a separate bowl, pass the egg yolk through a sieve. To serve, put the aubergine mixture in a flat dish and cover with the sieved egg yolk. Garnish with flowers.

Feta stuffed peppers

4 romano peppers
200 g feta
50 g cheddar
4 slices bread
2 onions
4 garlic cloves
1 chilli, deseeded
fresh herbs

Gently simmer the peppers in a big pot of water until they are soft but not tender. If they split, you overdid it, damn it. Drain them and let cool. Cut the tops off and take out the seeds. Blitz the onions, garlic and chilli with a bit of oil to make a puree. Put this with the cheese and bread and herbs in a food processor and blitz. It should be a smooth paste. Stuff -- don't overstuff -- the peppers and bake at 180 for 30-45 min.

Inspired by My Greek Dish

Oatmeal cookies

230 g softened unsalted butter
200 g brown sugar
100 g granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon treacle
2 teaspoons vanilla
zest of an orange

190 g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

255 g oats
candied orange peel or raisins

In a food processor, blitz the butter and sugar until it creams. Then put in the eggs, treacle, vanilla and zest, and blitz again to combine. Sift together the flour, bicarb, spices and salt into a very large mixing bowl. Add the sugar-butter and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the oats and dry fruit and mix. Let it set in the fridge for 45 min. Preheat oven to 180. Roll the dough into balls of 50 g. Bake 8 at a time for 16 minutes.

Credit to Sally's

Coconut dal

1 onion

big spoonful ginger powder

little spoonful madras curry

1 tin coconut milk

1 tablespoonful tomato paste

1 star anise

bit of cinnamon

1 big handful red lentils

1 big handful urid dal

Chop the onion and sweat it in oil. Add the ginger and curry powder and fry for half a min without burning. Tip in the coconut milk, plus half a tin of water, and stir in the tomato paste. Put in the star anise and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer and then add the lentils. Cook 20-30 min till tender. Add salt.

Gazpacho

Weights after seeding...

850 g tomatoes

400 g cucumber

160 g green pepper

75 g red onion

8 g garlic

ground cumin

45 g red vinegar

40 g olive oil

65 g uncrusted bread

salt and pepper

Seed the tomatoes. Peel and seed the cucumber. Seed the pepper. Peel the onion. Smash and peel the garlic. Splash the vinegar and oil. Uncrust the bread. Blitz the tomatoes first to make space, then tip in the rest of the veg and flavours. The blender is full. Blitz again. Put in the bread and let it soak a few minutes. Blitz again for a full minute. Check seasoning. Leave it overnight in the fridge to marry.

Credit to Gimme Some Oven

Egg mushrooms

1 egg
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and lemon juice

1 egg per person
2 extra eggs
1 big mushroom per person
fresh tarragon and chives

Put an egg, oil and mustard in a blender jar and blitz to make mayonnaise. Season with salt and lemon juice. Hard boil the other eggs. Shell them and dice them, saving the yolks of two eggs. Pass the reserved yolks through a sieve to use for garnish. Moisten the chopped eggs with mayo. Add chopped tarragon and chives. Check seasoning.

Clean the mushrooms and cut out the stems. Poach them in salted water for 10 (?) minutes until just tender. Drain them well and pat dry. Pile on egg salad and garnish with the sieved yolk and some chopped chives. Serve on a platter with parsley and flowers.

This lamb is a meatball

1 kg lamb mince
10 g salt
2 garlic cloves
fresh coriander and fenugreek
2 teaspoon (?) ground spices: cinnamon, cumin and cardamom
amchoor or lemon juice
2 eggs
2 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons milk

7 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons tamarind puree
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Mix up the meat and seasonings, etc. Check flavour by frying a micromeatball; correct seasoning. Roll into 40 g meatballs. It should make about 24. Put them in a lined roasting tray and bake at 200 for 10 minutes. Take them out and put a dollop of tamarind glaze on each meatball. Shake the pan to roll around the meatballs so they're evenly coated. Bake for another 5 minutes (?) until internal temp is 70. Maybe deglaze the tray to make sauce?

Saffron rice

3 cups rice
3 onions
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Steep the saffron in 1 cup of hot water. (Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water?) Chop the onions and sweat them in butter and oil in a saucepan. Add the rice and a tablespoon (?) of salt. Add the saffron water and another 3.5 cups water (less if rinsed?). Cover and bring to simmer on hob. Finish in oven at 200 for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the almonds. Fluff them in when the rice is ready.

Collard greens gratin

2 bunches collards
2 onions
5 cups milk
bay leaf
8 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon (?) keshk
1 pack feta
cream crackers
butter

Rinse the greens. Cut out the ribs and discard; slice the leaves in wide ribbons. Blanch in salted water until al dente, then shock with cold water. Drain well.

Dice the onions. Sweat them in butter in a large saucepan. Heat the milk with a bay leaf in a small saucepan. Add the flour to the onions and let it cook a few minutes. Pour in the hot milk and scrape up all the flour. Simmer for 5 minutes. In a small bowl, mix together the keshk and a spoonful of hot sauce. Pour this back into the sauce. Add salt and lemon juice to taste. It should be pretty punchy. Blitz with a hand blender.

In a big bowl, mix together the greens, sauce and feta chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Butter a large glass casserole and pour in the greens mixture. Crumble over the crackers and dot with butter. Bake at 200 until bubbly and browned. Serves 8-10 as a side dish.

Sauerkraut, mushrooms and dumplings

1 kg bag sauerkraut
2 sliced onions
half cup dried porcini
2 cups wine or sherry

caraway seeds
2 bay leaves
allspice
large punnet mushrooms, sliced

cheddar

smoked paprika

500 g sweet potato
350 g potato

200 g flour

1 egg

nutmeg

salt

Soak the porcini in hot water. Drain the sauerkraut. In a dutch oven on high heat, fry the caraway seeds for a few seconds, then add the onions and let them sweat on medium heat. When they're soft, add the kraut, chopped porcini with juice, wine, bay and allspice. Top up with water so that everything's almost covered. Simmer for an hour. Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms and set aside. Then make the dumplings. 

Peel and boil the potatoes as for mash. Strain, mash, let them dry and cool. The dough seems easier to work when cool. Mix in the flour and beaten egg. Add nutmeg and season well. Roll out on a floured surface like gnocchi. Boil for a few minutes until they float.

Mix together the dumplings, mushrooms and sauerkraut. Put in a deep baking dish and top generously with cheddar. Lots of smoked paprika all over. Broil.