Rocket and sun-blush vegetarian 'sausage' rolls

I am too tired to do some cooking from scratch, so it was one of those lets see what is in the fridge to use up.
D had picked up a packet of vegetarian 'sausages' on Friday for our weekend brunch, but we didn’t get round to eating them. There was also some limp looking rocket, half a tub of sun-blushed tomatoes and a packet of ready rolled puff pastry.

So like an episode of Ready Steady Cook, this is what I did within 30 minutes.
I made some plain looking vegetarian sausages, taste like some very good sausage rolls.
These were accompanied with some oven chips. So you can imagine how full we are right now.

Navajo Stew

My culinary experience of Native American cuisine is zero and experience of the culture and its people nil. Like many people people, my experience is limited to watching American cowboy films with actors like John Wayne playing the good guy and the 'Red Indians' being the bad guys, of course these biased depictions have since been redressed with blockbuster movies such as Dancing with wolves, and Last of the Mohicans. In my youthful naivety I was under the impression that there weren’t any historical links or experiences between the British and native Americans, but of course later I learned there were many connections. The first that came to my attention was in my student days when I moved to Glasgow for university. I clearly remember going to the Museum where they had exhibited a native American Indian ‘ghost shirt’. I remember finding this extremely moving and had actually been moved to tears. I learned at the time that members of the Lakota Sioux tribe and The Wounded Knee Association were campaigning to reclaim the ghost shirt and other artefact's that arrived in Scotland in 1891 with the Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West travelling show. The shirt is believed to have been taken from a fallen warrior at the 1890 Battle of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. The museum acquired it a year after and it had been there ever since. It was in 1991 when an American visitor realised the cultural significance of the shirt for the Sioux people that campaigning began to return it to its home. The Ghost Dance shirt was finally repatriated to the Lakota Sioux people in 1999.

Other historical links of Britain with native Americans were highlighted through various media sources, one of which was of Pocahontas not the Disney cartoon, but the movie The New World. Did you know that there is actually a statue depicting Princess Pocahontas in Gravesend near Kent.
Although I learned a little at college through American History, my real knowledge and appreciation of native American history was to increase through D. In the late 1980s, D went to Europe and the States as a fresh faced backpacker, D has had the fortune of going to many places, including New Mexico and this experience impacted on his worldview dramatically. He doesn’t have many souvenirs from his time there, except these two picture frames from a Reservation. Each is made from sand collected from the dessert and mountains of Southwestern United States, which he treasures to this day and the much popular dream catchers, which hangs in one of our cupboards, all dusty now. He also has a couple of well-read, dog eared books The Crazy Horse and Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
I don't know how authentic this dish is, but i've adapted it from the Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers. This one is inspired by a Southwestern Native American dish. The dish was substantial and packed with flavour.
Navajo stew
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 red and 1 green peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large onion, cut it stem side up and then into thin wedges
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of black pepper
1 x 400g can of tomatoes
1 tablespoon canned chipotles in adobo sauce
Generous handful of chopped coriander
1 x 400g can of black beans, drained and rinsed
Flatbread (tortillas, lavash or pitta)
Plain yogurt or sour cream to serve or vegan equivalent
Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 4-5. Lightly oil a baking sheet. In a bowl toss all the vegetables including garlic, oil, cumin, salt and pepper. Spread on the baking tin and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Turn the vegetables over and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are just tender. While the vegetables roast, puree the tomatoes, chipotles and coriander in a blender until smooth. Set aside. When the vegetables are tender, put them in a large ovenproof baking dish, stir in the tomato-coriander sauce and the beans, and put in the oven until hot about 20 – 30 minutes. A few minutes before serving, warm up the bread in the oven. Serve the stew in bowls topped with cream of your choice, with warm flatbread on the side.

Artichoke and mozzarella wraps

Its been a busy day of house-cleaning, so it was a quick lunch today with some store-cupboard and fridge ingredients.

I can hardly give you a recipe for this. So will just let you know what ingredients I used. You will need a panini press for this.

Artichoke, mozzarella and greens wrap

Ingredients

Some artichokes from a jar in oil, drained of oil

Greens such as rocket, watercress, spinach

Mozzarella cheese, the type used on pizzas

Tortilla wraps

Pepper to taste

Method

Put in required amount of ingredients into the tortilla, then wrap well and cook on a panini press till cheese has melted.

The Butchers Cat

I was fond of Beryl the allotment cat (in my sidebar now removed) and I know many of you were too, playing with her as she purred, meowed and moved her paws. But as I no longer have reason to visit the allotment site, as I donot have an allotment plot. I have said my 'goodbyes' to her too.
In place of Beryl, there is now 'The Butchers Cat'. I know what some of you may be thinking, what a huge leap from a playful cat to one that can be a bit more claws, but this is a very good and creative awareness raising resource from the Vegetarian Society in the U.K. Please do go by and check it out the Butchers cat, she's actually quite playful, you'll see.

Polenta chips with garlicky chipotle beans

In my cosy home, garlic is an important ingredient. I always have some in the kitchen. I use it a lot in my cooking, a bit like onions. In fact, garlic belongs to the Alliaceae family of vegetables to which onions, shallots, leeks and chives also belong. Garlic is known for its distinct smell and unique taste. Garlic has been used throughout history, not just to ward of vampires but for medicinal and culinary purposes too. For me though, the most interesting thing about garlic is that it is rarely used in traditional British cooking, yet it is a common ingredient in Mediterranean Europe or cuisines of the Indian Sub-continent. One of the most common ways of consuming garlic without knowing it is when it is cooked with other ingredients such as ginger, onions and herbs as a sauce base, leaving a mellow background flavour. However, there are many other ways to eat garlic. It can be roasted, which sweetens the cloves. I have done this many times, once for a garlic and shallot risotto, or it can be crushed raw into hummus. The flavour can be either subtle or intense, it completely depends on you and how you like it. Of course, you may not like it at all.
I’ve grown garlic twice, the first time in my garden plot and they were small and I blamed the soil, and then last year at the allotment, they were still small and the cloves were such a pain to peel. I intend to plant them this month and due to circumstances grow them in pots and will leave enough space between them, let see if I have better luck with them this time round.

For this dish, I have used the last of my allotment grown garlic. I am submitting this recipe into WHB#219. This weeks host is Simona from Briciole. The weekly food blog event showcases information and recipes about herbs, vegetables, fruits and other plant ingredients. WHB initiated four years ago by Kalyn's Kitchen, it is now organized by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once.
I had some slabs of polenta left over from a meal early in the week, and decided to make some fancy chips and serve them with beans, but not beans as you know it. This was garlicky chipotle beans with polenta chips. To make more of a meal of this, serve it with a fried egg, if you wish. Who says vegetarian food is bland?! This was very, very tasty.

Polenta chips with garlicky chipotle beans
For the polenta chips
Ready made polenta, sliced and cut into chip pieces
1 egg, beaten
Breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil shallow frying
Method
Dip the polenta chips first in the egg, so well coated then evenly cover with breadcrumbs. Shallow fry in hot oil until golden on all sides. Leave in oven on low heat to stay warm if you wish.
For the beans
100ml olive oil
2-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 x 400g tin of Mexican bean mix, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
1 tablespoon tomato puree
½ tin, about 200g of chopped tomatoes
2 – 3 spring onions, chopped
A handful of rocket, watercress and spinach, roughly chopped (yes it was organically grown in the U.K)
salt to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a frying pan with the garlic over low heat until the garlic begins to turn translucent. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and chipotle pepper sauce and heat through for about 10 minutes, then add the beans and heat through for a few minutes. Add the spring onions and greens, cook until they wilt, then season with salt and pepper. Divide between individual plates.

Hungarian aubergine Stew served with Bulghur wheat

Okay, okay I put my hands up, I know I have been a tad naughty as I have eaten two vegetables that are out of season: peppers a week or so ago and aubergine today. However, I think your should be lenient with me and give me some credit as I have been pretty good most of the year.

It is generally over the winter season when fresh vegetables of my own are low. I tend to rely heavily only store-cupboard ingredients, some of my home-made pickles, preserves and chutneys, as well as my freezer and cold stored vegetables such as onions, potatoes and garlic, but even they are not going to see me through the 'hungry gap'. So I rely on othere sources, such as grocery stores, supermarkets (and in some cases, like now some of the veg will be out of season). Also in my defence, as someone who lives in a small flat near the city, I am not self-sufficient. I don’t have acres of land, a small farm with chickens; or poly-tunnels to grow my own salad all year round. I aspire to that green, self-sustainable lifestyle, but in truth like many I cannot afford that place in the countryside, therefore do what is realistic and feasible for me now. So yes, I will lapse and be tempted by out of season ingredients not grown in the U.K, namely peppers and aubergines. I know this is not a good enough excuse, but these are two vegetables that I can’t seem to grow well even during the growing season, aaahhhh I know, I know, what a poor excuse. But heck I enjoyed what I ate.
I have to admit I was a little sceptic of this dish as the aubergine is not one of my favourite vegetables, or is it a fruit – anyway, I was splendidly surprised at how much I enjoyed the flavours. This is a hearty stew enhanced with the deep robust flavour of paprika. This stew is accompanied with a bowl of nutty, chewy bulghur wheat.

This is not the most photogenic of dishes either and to be honest looking at the texture brings back memories of when I really disliked both aubergines and mushrooms, thankfully those days are gone and I no longer hold a grudge towards these two particular ingredients.
Hungarian Aubergine Stew served with Bulghur wheat
Serves 2 – 3 (it could stretch up to 4)
Ingredients
For the bulgur wheat
200g Bulghur wheat
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
1½ cup or 300ml boiling water
For the Hungarian aubergine Stew
2 medium onions, finely sliced
2 - 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 medium aubergines
100g mushrooms or thereabouts (I used Portobello)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon of smoked Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
4 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 x 400g can of chopped tomatoes
Plain yogurt or vegan alternative (for serving)
Method
In a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, cook the bulghur and salt in the oil over medium heat, stirring constantly, for a couple of minutes to lightly toast the bulghur. Add the boiling water, reduce the heat to low and cook covered for about 12 – 15 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. When the bulghur is done, turn off the heat and let it sit covered until ready to serve.
While the bulghur cooks, prepare the vegetables. Cut the onion into thin slices. Crush the garlic. Cut the aubergine in half length ways, then into sticks about 2 inches long and ½ inch thick. Slice the mushrooms.
In a large pot, over medium heat cook the onion, garlic, paprika, oregano and red pepper flakes in the oil. Stirring often until the onions begin to soften. Add the eggplant, sprinkle with the salt and cook, stirring constantly for a couple of minutes. Add the mushrooms, increase the heat and continue to cook, stirring frequently for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes, cover and cook on low heart for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. The dish should be thick and saucy. Serve on the bulghur, topped with yogurt. Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers

My letterbox part 4

After our visit to the West End on Saturday I opened the door to find a small packet on the doormat. It was addressed to me. I looked at it with curiosity thinking another package, I don’t remember ordering anything. Then I opened it to find this elegant book called friendship and a little note attached to it. It was a gift from Nic of Nip it in the bud. She had bookmarked a poem for me to read.

‘Shared joy is double joy, and shared sorrow is half sorrow’

Thank you so much Nic for bringing a smile to my face to end a disheartening week (last week). Your warm thoughts are, and were truly appreciated. Also last week, Kella of Kella's Musings on Growing her own listed me as one of the people to participate/contribute a favourite photograph meme. I don’t usually participate in these schemes, but this one is different, designed to reflect. This also uplifted my spirits, the question for was what to showcase and I have been thinking about it. I don’t have many childhood photos, as my parents would always forward them on to family overseas, so I don’t have many to share. Then I had decided that I was going to showcase the other men in my life, not my father or brothers, but my two dearest nephews but then thought ah this is a meme, so it should be about me. I chose this one.

This is me on Harlech Beach, North Wales when I felt my most free and where I met my husband D. We were friends a long time, before we became a couple. Now I have to pass it this Favourite photograph meme and I wondered who would I like to know a little more about and is still a mystery to me, so I chose.

FlowerPowerGirl of Plot 35
Fran of A Taste of Tottenham
Mrs Costello of Reap what you grow
FlowerPowerGirl, Fran and Mrs Costello have grown with me, I mean this in the sense we started blogging around the same time and somehow found each other.
Sarah of Our patch of earth, before I started blogging, this was one of allotment blogs I really enjoyed reading.

Debbie of Maple Spice one of my favourite vegan blogs with many innovative recipes; and finally Felicity of Thrifty Living another vegan blog and a source of inspiration and information.

Now onto something for your eyes and your belly.

Parsnip cakes with garlic borlotti beans
Recipe for the parsnip cakes
Garlic borlotti beans
100ml olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 x 200g tin of borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon of sun dried tomatoes in oil, sliced
A handful of lettuce, ripped up (yes it was grown in the U.K)
salt and pepper to taste
Method
For the beans
Heat the oil in a frying pan with the garlic over low heat until the garlic begins to turn golden. Add the beans and sun dried tomatoes and heat through. Add the lettuce, cook until it wilts, then season with salt and pepper. Divide between individual plates.