Ross-on-Wye Yarn Bombing and Homemade Vegetable Pasta Bake

I think it must have been some time last year in July, that D and myself went to the market town of Ross-on-Wye.  Lockdown restrictions had eased and we were beginning to feel a tad comfortable going out and about again, playing tourists.

As we walked around, we noticed that post boxes, bollards, street signs and lamp posts in the town centre had  been yarn bombed by some local guerrilla knitters. 

Here are a handful that I managed to get photographs of. 

We had a poke around in some of the independent shops.  

We didn't purchase much, maybe a book that had vintage music posters.  To be honest, with a puppy it was proving difficult to go into shops.  When i did, the pup barked, when D went in the pup barked.  He just did not like be apart from either of us, even though there was only a door between us.

The town centre got considerably busy the longer we stayed; and our pup was finding it a bit overwhelming and to be truthful, so was I.    

So we took a gentle walk along the river Wye for the puppy to stretch his legs (but still on a lead). 

So now onto the homemade Pasta Bake.  

This is perhaps one of the easiest Vegetable Pasta Bakes to make.  

I made the tomato sauce for the pasta bake from scratch, but if you want you can use ready made or passata even.  Stir in the cooked macaroni pasta and chopped vegetables: mushrooms, red pepper and spring onions; and for some piquancy capers and black olives. Served like this, its good as a Pasta Salad: warm or cold; or Sprinkle the top with grated cheddar cheese and bake!  

I am sharing this Vegetable Pasta Bake with Souper Sundays for Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. 

Colourful Painted Pebbles and Caponata

Some time last year when we went exploring other parts of Wales around us, especially as we now had a growing puppy and always looking for more exploratory places to walk.

We stumbled upon these painted pebbles garden on one our forest walks. 

It was wonderful and i could have hung around this area a bit longer, and took time taking pictures of those that I favoured, maybe next time. 

I have always wanted to paint pebbles. I had hoped it to have been one of the hobbies i picked up during the pandemic, but no new hobbies, partly because of my four legged friend, but mostly for other reasons.  Maybe one day, i'll get to have a go at creating some of my own.  

Some recipes fall out of favour, either they become old fashioned or overtaken by other food trends. A bit like this Caponata that I made about four months ago when we had aubergines grown in the greenhouse.  

I was reminded of Caponata  a Sicilian dish made up of aubergine, peppers and olives after having seen it featured on some repeat TV celebrity cookery show and it got my mouth watering.  So much so that I was inspired me to make use of the homegrown aubergine this way.

 

It was worth making.  It was really good and made for a lovely light snack.  I especially loved how the vinegar penetrated the spongy white flesh of the chopped aubergine elevating it to something quite delicious.  Sweetness from the red peppers and tomatoes, and piquancy from capers and black and green olives.  

Sicilian Caponata

Serves 4 - 6 

Ingredients

2 large aubergines, cut into cubes

1 large onion, thinly sliced

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 x400g tinned tomatoes, crushed or blitzed

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 red peppers, thinly sliced

50g capers, minced

50 black olives, pitted

50g green olives, pitted

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Method

Saute the onion in the olive until soft and translucent. Stir in the aubergines and cook, stirring occasionally for a few minutes.

Then add in the the white wine vinegar over the aubergines, then add blitzed tomato puree, red peppers, capers, and olives. 

Cover and cook gently over low heat until the vegetables are tender.  

Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the parsley. 

Transfer the mixture to a serving dish and set aside to cool.  

Broccoli and Red Pepper Tart

Quiches and Tarts are so popular in my home at the moment.

I make the pastry from scratch and then the filling is made up of whatever vegetable we have laying around in the kitchen that has to be used up; and saved from the compost bin.

This time round, it was Red Pepper, Broccoli with stalks and all.   It was actually quite nice and quite pretty to boot with its red, green and dare i say yellow gold colouring.  The sweetness from the red pepper complimented the broccoli. I served it alongside some left over orzo pasta that in a funny way, it felt more like a buffet dish.  The recipe is adapted from here if your interested in checking it out. 

I am looking forward to my weekend.  I've signed up to two different classes this weekend, both educational for personal development and interest.  It won't feel like a weekend off, as the weekend will entail lots of screen time, reading and listening.  I was thinking about taking Monday off as annual leave, but i have a one to one with my Line Manager that i cannot cancel. So it will be a long working week.  

Anyway, what plans do you have for the weekend? 

Pea Shoots, Red Pepper and Potato Curry

Not the biggest harvest from the garden, but we are beginning to get some homegrown vegetables and fruit.

I don't think we are going to do well with the broad beans.  A lot of the plants were smothered in black fly. The climbing peas called Telephone and Champion - I am already pondering whether i would grow them again, as lots of height, but not much yeild, but they are growing. 

The Dwarf Purple beans called hestia are doing really well.  Of course, got to take into consideration they are a month in advance of the other climbing bean plants as it was given to us by our neighbour. We are gowing them in pots.

And first courgette. The courgette leaves are growing magnificently, they are huge like a fan, but the courgettes themselves have been a bit disappointing. I have had to cut of a number of the courgettes off as they were moulding.  I think the rain is to blame. I am sharing this very small harvest with Dave over at Happy Acres who hosts Harvest Monday every week.

I also made this Red Pepper, Potato and Pea Shoots Curry with pea shoots from the garden. 

It's not a bad follow on from the Pea Shoots and Asparagus Pasta Salad that I shared last week. This Red Pepper, Potato and Pea Shoots Curry is adapted from my Marrow Curry with Fenugreek, rich, buttery and mildly spicy. 

Pea Shoots, Red Pepper and Potato Curry
Serves 4 - 6
Ingredients
100g butter or vegetable oil
3 medium onions, minced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 inch of ginger, grated or minced
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 fresh green or red chillies, sliced or 1 teaspoon of chilli powder or to taste
1 x 400g tinned tomatoes
2 red peppers, chopped into cubes
1 large potato, peeled and chopped into small cubes
Bunch of Pea Shoots, leaves removed from the stalk
Method
In a large wide pan, heat the oil then add the minced onions, garlic and ginger and cook until transparent, add the spices and cook until the butter or oil rises to the surface. 
Add the tomatoes and cook until broekn down.  I tend to use a masher.
Then stir in the potatoes pieces and cook until beginning to soften, but still has some bite. 
Stir now and again to stop the sauce and potato from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Add a splash of water if necessary.
When the potato is nearly cooked, stir in cubed red pepper.
Cook for a few minutes, before stirring in the pea shoot leaves.  
Cook until the leaves have wilted properly, like spinach that they almost coat the vegetables.
Serve with rice, roti or naan bread. 

Red Yellow Green Macaroni Pasta Salad

We haven't had much of an appetite really, as we not expending much energy, but yesterday was different having spent much of it in the garden continuing with the digging and weeding that we had worked up an appetite.

I took me less than 30 minutes to put this dish  together and much of that was cooking of the macaroni pasta and lunch was served:  a big bowl of Red Yellow Green Macaroni Pasta Salad. 

The macaroni pasta is combined with colourful peppers, spring onions, black olives and then smothered in a Dijon Mayonnaise.  It really was one of the easiest lunches to put together and eat.  I served up and took my bowl outside to eat out in the sun, and I am not even a sun person. I am coming to appreciate my outdoor space a lot more than I have done so in the past. 

D enjoyed Macaroni Pasta Salad so much that he went back for a second helping.  I made a big batch that will serve us both for lunch today as well as tomorrow. I am sharing this  Red Yellow Green Macaroni Pasta Salad with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.

Vegetarian Philly Cheesesteak

Yes this is a vegetarian food blog and what I share below may look freakishly like 'meat', but I assure you these are homemade seitan slices peaking out of this Philly Cheese 'Steak' or cheesesteak. 

I was looking for ways to use up my rather large batch of homemade seitan and it was whilst flicking  Mama Cherry's Soul Food in a Bowl that I stumbled upon a meat version.  I of course decided to adapt it.  I am not that familiar with Philly Cheese Steak.  Momma Cherry writes 'Cheese steaks were invented in the 1930s at Pat's Steaks in South Philadelphia fondly known as Philly.  It should have American Cheese, Provolone or Cheez Whizz (a yellow processed cheese squeezed from the bottle) on it'.  However she recommends that a grated mild English Cheddar works well, so that is what I used here, though I did later stumble across a vegan recipe for cheez wiz - this recipe can easily be made vegan.

Momma Cherry slices steak as thinly as possible to ensure it remains tender.  I of course used thinly sliced seitan to be quickly sauteed it in hot oil, but before that before that I sautéed some thinly sliced onion and green pepper to caramelise, then added the slices of seitan to it before finishing it off with a little seasoning.

The hot dog style bread rolls were sliced.  D recommended putting the cheese at the bottom as the warm seitan, onions and green pepper would add warmth and melt the cheese beneath it (it didn't by the way). I generously piled in the filling and then for a final touch squeezed over French classic yellow mustard sauce. Straight into your mouth for a bit bite - well that part is not true, as we had to take pictures!

I am sharing these vegetarian Philly Cheese 'Steak' with Soup, Salad and Sammies Sundays hosted by Deb over at Kahakai Kitchen. 

Cajun Black Eyed Peas with Summer Vegetables

I  made this a couple of weeks ago on the weekend as we had no plans to go anywhere and it was pouring outside, very much like today.

I had soaked some black eyed peas the night before and boiled them the following day to use for some dishes, including this one - Cajun Black Eyed Peas with the last of the summer vegetables from my garden plot.  

D liked this dish a lot, mostly because it has sweetcorn in it. He likes sweetcorn. I haven't grown sweetcorn as in the past its not done well. However, I did see a number of gardeners who participate in Harvest Monday do very well with sweetcorn this year, but saying that I haven't seen fresh sweetcorn on the cob being sold at markets - so I guess it depends where you are.  I think we have had an interesting summer this year.  So I may give sweetcorn a go next year. The sweetcorn in this dish came frozen. 

The recipe is adapted from the American Soul Food Chef Charita Jones, also known as Momma Cherri.  I have written about Momma Cherri before on my blog - see here when I made her awesome Sweet Potato Pies and Southern Style Okra Gumbo.

I am sharing this dish with The VegHog who is hosting #EatYourGreens this month and this dish has homegrown courgettes; and Beth's Weekend Cooking.  

Oven Roasted Ratatouille

We are continuing to enjoy homegrown fruit and vegetables, because we know it won't last.

So with our homegrown courgettes and homegrown tomatoes, I made an Oven Roasted Ratatouille, and before some of you get all uppity and say its not made this way, blah blah blah...well this recipe comes from a  French woman, author of - if its good enough for her, well who am I to argue.

So who is this French woman, well she is Parisian and it is Clotilde Dusoulier author of the best food blog Chocolate and Zucchini.  She started her blog in 2003.  I can't remember how I stumbled across her originally but I did buy her cookbook also of the same name and from which the recipe comes from.  

For those of you who read my blog regular, will know that I am not that keen on ratatouille, so I am always willing to try different recipes that will encourage me to change my mind, well I think I am onto a winner here. 

Etsis Turlu - Rich Summer Vegetable Stew

I've been cooking quite a lot of Middle Eastern recipes recently.  It started with the  Iranian Pearl Barley Soup known as Ash-e Jo or Ash-e-Jow  early this year when we had freakish snow and with the unusual hot weather continuing, now I have Etsis Turlu.   

According to the cookbook author this Etsis Turlu comes from Turkey.

With the rain over the weekend, it was the perfect excuse to make a stew more suited for autumnal days and colder evenings, but i have lots of summer vegetables including courgettes, marrows and green beans coming from the garden that I wanted  to make the most of it, even if it is the height of summer.

This stew will last us good three days of the working week and we intend to eat it with couscous, bulgar wheat, rice or crusty bread.  

I am sharing this  Etsis Turlu Stew with Souper Sundays hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. 

Coriander Potato, Red Pepper and Corn Salad

I am quite pleased with myself today.  I feel like between the two of us, we have accomplished something.

We got up and spent all morning in the garden allotment plot while the summer sun was out for Springtime.  D tied back the unruly climbing and trailing rose stems.  He also transferred some of the herbs into bigger plots. I cleared a plot today and whilst I was weeding, I found myself  actually enjoying the weeding, removing the woven weeds from the soil was quite therapeutic.  My body will ache in a couple of days, but that's its way of saying - exercise more.  I will share progress later in the week as we intend to spend some more time in the garden allotment plot either later today or tomorrow (providing the heavy rain stays away).

I was also quite pleased  to have some left over salad in the fridge (a bit like this one) as I did not want to make something having spent hours in the garden toiling.  

This particular Coriander Potato, Red Pepper and Corn Salad was made a while back with what we had in the house having not been out grocery shopping that weekend.

I know some people are not that keen on coriander, my youngest brother being one of them - but I love it. So this Coriander Potato, Red Pepper and Corn Salad appealed to me.  The zesty coriander injected flavour into mediocre new potato's from the supermarket, the red pepper gave it crunch and colour and the tinned sweetcorn, burst of sweetness.  Once you took a forkful, your mouth is further teased by the popping of mustard seeds.  I liked it. 

I am sharing this Orzo Pasta Salad with Soups, Salads and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.  

Red Pepper Hearts and Butter Beans

I made one of my favourite and standby Chili recipes in readiness for the upcoming working week, but for a change I substituted the Black Beans with Butter Bean; and of course with Valentines Day being around the corner, I thought I would adorn the naked butter beans with some Red Pepper hearts.

Truth is though, we don't do Valentines - we never really have.  I just like any excuse to bring out my heart shaped cookie cutters and play with them for either sweet or savoury dishes.

Creole Split Pea, Red Pepper and Sweetcorn Soup

I made this Creole style Yellow Split Pea,  Red Pepper and Sweetcorn Soup last month, but I am seriously wishing that I was tucking into it this evening.

It is getting proper cold now.

This golden Yellow Split Pea and Sweetcorn Soup is enhanced with red pepper and a good dash of creole spice blend and fresh thyme from the garden. 

I am sharing this with Soups, Salads and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen.