Loaded Vegetable Tart

Every day is still a work day, but after I finished work.  I put my lap top away and find other ways to distract myself.  Ideally, I would like to read a book recommended by some colleagues, but after staring at the computer all day, the last thing I want to do is read more words. So I find comfort flicking through my cookbooks and looking for recipes and inspiration as to what I can cook at home with what we have to hand. Then I find my way to the kitchen and cook.

Today its this Loaded Vegetable Tart.

I say loaded as I piled the puff pastry with way more roasted vegetable than needed.  This was not a pick up and eat with your hands tart, it was very much a knife and fork one. I could have just been sensible and kept the additional roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots for another meal, but no I go in heavy handed. Still no harm, it was all eaten.

The only let down was the sliced tomatoes on top, they were pretty flavourless. I look forward to growing and eating my own.

Savoury Butternut Squash Scones with Pumpkin Seeds

Some of you will remember me writing  early in the month that I am trialling Riverford Organic Farmers Vegetable Box.   I chose the medium vegetable box which has eight organic varieties which was recommended for 2 - 3 people. 

The Riverford Vegetable box contained: seasonal Wild garlic, parsnips, onions, courgettes, spring greens, butternut squash, oakleaf lettuce, and plum cherry tomatoes.  The first thing to be cooked was the spring greens which I sautéed with in a little oil with garlic and served it as a side; and I made Parsnip Cake (adapted from my Carrot Cake recipe), but the recipe I want to share with you today are these Savoury Butternut Squash Scones with pumpkin seeds.   

I love the way the butternut squash is bursting out from the golden scones, as if its cheese bubbling to the surface, but these savoury scones are vegan.  

These Savoury Butternut Squash Scones are good with soup, but sometimes the vegetarian in me likes to indulge that's when I slice them and stuff them with cheddar cheese and a chutney and make it a Scone Sandwich!.  

If you live in the UK, have you ever considered signing up to a vegetable box scheme? Check out the Riverford website.  It has a extensive FAQ  to answer your questions in relation to having one delivered to your front door.  Riverford in South Wales is run by Jon and Janet Mier.  If you would like to keep up to date with news from Riverford South Wales, then please follow them on Facebook .  

Butternut Squash Scones with Pumpkin Seeds

Makes 12
Ingredients
400g butternut squash
Olive oil


500g self raising flour
11/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper
225g vegan margarine (or butter)
150ml plant based milk (or dairy milk)
60 g sunflower seeds
Method
Preheat oven to as mark 4/180oc.
Peel and chop the butternut squash into really small cubes.
Coat the butternut squash in a little oil and roast until soft, about 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, then stir in the salt.
Add cubes of the margarine into the flour mix, until all has been added.
Using your fingers, rub the margarine into the flour until crumbly.
Stir in the cooled butternut squash and half the sunflower seeds.
Then carefully pour in the milk in the centre of the flour to bring the dough together, if it seems to dry add a little milk, if its too sticky add a little more flour.
Turn onto a floured surface and roll to about 4cm high.
Using a cutter, cut out 10 - 12 scones.
Transfer to a baking sheet, coat with a little milk and then scatter over the remaining sunflower seeds.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until well risen and golden.
Best enjoyed on the day. Can also be frozen. 

Disclaimer: I was kindly given the medium vegetable box worth £14.85 by Riverford South Wales to trial, in return for a plant based recipe using seasonal and organic vegetables from the box.  All views and opinions are my own. 

Cheesy Kale, Butternut Squash and Potato Pot Pie

Every weekend the past couple of months have been rain heavy that we have stayed indoors.  This weekend was not different, it poured and with me, still not feeling 100% in good health, I was happy to stay within the warmth of my four walls called home.  Only thing, we were very low on fresh vegetables and the every day question 'what's for dinner?!' lingered on my mind for a moment, but it was for only moment as we were saved the hassle of going out to shop for some vegetables.

I had a butternut squash in my vegetable basket for a couple of months, we always have the odd potato or two lying around, but that was not going to be enough to magic up a hearty meal.  I wondered if the winter greens in the garden were still edible and then actually went out to investigate.  The Tuscan black kale has gone to seed, but the curly kale still seemed to be thriving, so I plucked a good handful of leaves and ran back indoors to make dinner. This is what I made: Curly Kale, Butternut Squash and Potato Pot Pie.

The Cheesy Curly Kale, Butternut Squash and Potato Pot Pie was delightful to eat and very comforting. Sweetness from the butternut squash, a slight bitterness from the kale and neutrality from the plain potatoes.  I don't usually put cheese in my pot pies, they are very often vegan, but I wanted to ring the changes. This was super rich and very flavourful.

Part of me wished I had shared this recipe yesterday, when people worldwide were celebrating St Patrick's Day, I mean look at the colours in that pot just scream Irish flag.

Instead I am sharing this with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Happy Acres Blog, as this overwintered curly kale came from my garden allotment plot.  I also have some rainbow chard, so hopefully I will be able to join in again next week.

I am also sharing it with Eat Your Greens food challenge that I co-host with The Veg Hog.  Please do join in if you can, there still plenty of time. 

Three Coloured Pasta with Roasted Squash and Sage

I have had a manic week, so I am pleased to note it is Friday.

The weather is predicted to be overcast, but that has not stopped us from making plans to get out of bed early and drive somewhere new to explore.  What exciting plans do you have for the weekend? 

While you ponder my question, I will share with you a Three coloured Pasta Salad that I made early in the week for the working week.  

The three coloured pastas are: tomato, spinach and plain. It bulked up with roasted squash and sage and a good grating of vegan cheese. 

One Pot Curried Red Chard, Butternut Squash, Chestnut Mushroom with White Beans

April weather has been teasing us - a peek of sunshine, followed rather quickly by a burst of rain - I know its not called 'April Showers' for nothing.  The point is, its still not very warm and we are still tucking into autumnal coloured food.  In fact, let me forewarn you in advance, this week my blog will feature food that is mostly orange in colour.   

Here is my One Pot Curried Butternut Squash, Red Chard, Chestnut Mushrooms and White Beans.  Food that glows and food that warms the belly.

I really dislike using the word 'curried', as its used so lazily these days, but this One Pot Butternut Squash, Red Chard, Chestnut Mushrooms and White Beans recipe is actually curried.  The recipe is also inspired and adapted from Anjum Anand.  It was surprisingly quite good.  

Roasted Butternut Squash, Fennel, Orzo Salad

I lose track when exactly I made this Roasted Butternut Squash, Fennel Orzo Salad, but it was around the time I made Beetroot Orzo Pasta and Green Bean Salad for work.  This was made in the same week as I had cooked way too much orzo.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar wither Orzo, Orzo is Italian and translates as barley from which it was originally made.  These days, orzo is made from hard wheat semolina.  For people like me, orzo often means rice-shaped pasta. 

Talking of orzo translating as barley, a few months ago when we went to Swansea VegFest, we went into the city of Swansea and stopped at an Italian eatery for a light snack.  

I had a popular Italian drink known as Caffe d'orzo, an Italian caffeine free Barley drink often drunk as a coffee substitute. 

 It is an acquired taste and made for an interesting change from real coffee. 

Anyway, this  Roasted Butternut Squash, Fennel Orzo Salad is a very simple recipe.  To the cooked orzo pasta, I added roasted butternut squash and fennel, sliced black olives and red onion.  

Other Butternut Squash Salad Recipes
Farro, Feta and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad
Spiced Chickpeas and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad
Turmeric Pasta with Blood Orange Chilli Oil
Broccoli, Butternut and cranberry Couscous Salad

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

Butternut Squash, Chickpeas and Leek Stew

It certainly is getting colder, especially in the evenings and definitely time for soups and stews.

Many years ago, actually it was in 2004 when I lived in Scotland, I made Denis Cotters of Cafe Paradiso fame Squash, Butter bean and Leek Stew.  I ended up making this again, only after 
having paged through the cookbook Paradiso Seasons and was reminded of all those recipes I made before I began this blog. 

Over the years I have adapted the Squash, Butter Bean and Leek Stew recipe as I did not always have butter beans or enough squash.  My version is made with Butternut Squash, Carrots, Chickpeas and Leeks.

Sadly this time round I overcooked the vegetables, so this Butternut Squash, Chickpeas and Leek Stew was bordering more on chunky soup than stew, still very very tasty.

Harissa Butternut Squash Stew with Broccoli and Chickpeas

I don't know if he was just very hungry or being honest, but D complimented on how delicious this Harissa Butternut Squash Stew was, not once but twice with a Thank you Lady.  

I thought it was going to one of those stews that would benefit from overnight rest in the fridge, but we had it within an hour of making it and it was most enjoyable.  The harissa and the smoked paprika offset against each other wonderfully.

Be careful with the cooking of the vegetables, especially the broccoli towards the end, you do not want it really soft, but still with bite, otherwise it would be more bordering on soup than stew, which is not a bad thing, but sometimes you want texture not bambino  food.

Cinnamon Spice Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry

Friday evening at last.

I share with you a bowl of Cinnamon Spice Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry.  I made it over the weekend,.  It served us well early this week for two easy warm up meals when we came in late from work.  

This Cinnamon Spice Butternut Squash and Chickpea curry recipe is actually from Prashad: Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Kaushy Patel.  All I did different was in place of some of the chickpeas I added some butternut squash to the pot. 

Prashad is one of my favourite Indian Vegetarian Cuisine cookbooks and I still have to get my own copy of their last cookbook Prashad At Home.  The copy I have been shamefully hogging has been from the library.

This is a mild curry, even D commented on that, but it made for a change from spicy ones that I make often.  I do think this Cinnamon Spice butternut Squash Chickpea Curry benefits from sitting and being enjoyed a day later, rather than on the day as the spices somewhat deepen the flavour of the dish.  We ate this on the first day with plain rice and on the second ...with more plain rice!   

Butternut Squash, Nutmeg, Raisin and Hazelnut Muffins

I had forgotten to pick up some rolled oats during our weekly shop to the supermarket.  It was on my shopping list but I managed to overlook it.  You know why?!  My husband has a tendency to squeeze in 'tiger nuts' on the shopping list - I have a rather knackered worn out tiger hot water bottle and he teases me that Ii should get it some tiger nuts which are real, so I am blaming him for my distraction and missing it on the shopping list.

So instead of making breakfast flapjacks for the working week I ended up making some Butternut Squash, Raisin and Nutmeg muffin.

Spiced Butternut Squash and Golden Raisin Chutney

This Mildly Spiced Butternut Squash and Golden Raisin Chutney was scrummy.

I don't really like sweet relishes or chutneys , but this one was very reminisce of the Red Chili Spiced Pumpkin Chutney I made a long while back and I loved it.   

I made this Spiced Butternut Squash and Golden Raisin Chutney over the weekend as I had picked up two squashes at a bargain price, after filling the sterilised jars I had a little left over - they call it cooks treat or cooks perks, but it was plenty for me to share with D.  We had it in the evening with cheddar cheese crackers that we had left over from Christmas and New Year.

Taking of  crackers, someone at a works bring and share food day bought in some homemade Iced Custard Square Slices, what some of you may call Iced Vanilla Custard Slices.  I've been wanting a recipe for this for a long while as its one of my Dads favourite sweet treats.  He has a thing for cold set custard, as his other favourite Sweet treat is Custard Nutmeg in Shortcrust Pastry Tarts.  I had a slither of one of these Ice Custard Square Slices and noted the pastry base was actually made from Jacobs Crackers, not puff pastry.  I was both amazed and bemused.  I do prefer proper pastry, but some people would not notice the difference.  I asked for the recipe from the person who made it and she laughed as she wrote it down for me.  Telling me it was one of the world's easiest and economical recipes.  I hope to make it soon for my father and see what he thinks.  

Anyway, back to this Spiced Butternut Squash and Golden Raisins Chutney, I also adored the colours so much: like golden embers from a log fire not only warming your cheeks but your belly too.  I am sharing this with #CookBlogShare hosted by Easy Peasy Foodie.
Other Chutney Recieps You may like
A Seasonal Veg Tables Spiced Apple Chutney
A Seasonal Veg Tables Fiery Scotch Bonnet Apple Chutney
Green Gourmet Giraffe - Tomato Kitchen Sink Chutney
Little Black Fox 's Carrot and Chilli Chutney
Little Black Fox's Mango Chutney

Light Fennel, Red Pepper and Butternut Stew

Did you know that there are actually two types of fennel?  This vegetable has been assigned a gender.  The curvy bulbous is the female and the slender one is the male.  

Fennel is still not used much in British cooking, but it is slowly making an appearance mostly in raw salad dishes because of its crunch and  its flavour reminisce of aniseed, star anise or even licorice flavour.  Unlike the British, the French and Italians are very fond of this feathery frond stemmed vegetable.   So I was pleased to pick some up again  to make a Light Fennel, Red Pepper and Butternut Squash Stew infused with caraway seeds.  

I describe this Fennel, Red Pepper and Butternut Squash Stew as light as the sauce is not thick, its almost like a clear broth, like a consomme. It is also mildly spiced to warm your cheeks. 

This is my contribution to Food 'N' Flix this month  hosted by hosted by Heather at All Roads Lead To The Kitchen.  The movie chosen this month was French Kiss.  I watched it on youtube.  I saw the trailer and obviously the cheese plate on the train was influencing my decision to make a cheese dish, but then about 8 minutes into the movie I spotted some colourful vibrant fresh vegetables in the kitchen on the table including tomatoes, carrots and fennel.  This is just before the character Kate receives a phone call from her fiancee Charlie breaking up with her as he has fallen in love with someone he has met in Paris. 

I do like fennel, but we don't eat it much as we want as it is a bit of a luxury vegetable in our home, so I incorporated it in this light Red Pepper and Butternut Squash Stew.  I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but it is quite nippy in Wales and stews are very welcome, even light ones.  I am also sharing this broth stew with Soups, Salads and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen;  as it can be eaten with a spoon like a chunky soup too. 

Eritrean Injera Burrito and Berbere Tajine

The Sweet Potato recipes are still coming.  I told you I run with an ingredient.

Actually I made this Berbere Sweet Potato Tagine a little while back.

This is a Ethiopian Eritrean inspired Tagine is filled to the brim with reddish, yellow, green vegetables  and chickpeas then cooked slowly, really slowly.  You can see the sweet potato, the butternut squash, the carrot and nutty chickpeas, but the faded  shredded cabbage is hard to see, but you will detect it when you start eating.

This Berbere Tagine is adapted from my Moroccan Tagine with Spiced Seed Confetti.  I changed some of the vegetables and the spices for Berbere spice blend.  I had made so much of this dish, that we had it over 3 days, twice with rice and once wrapped up in Injera - yes I made a Injera Burrito.

Curry sauce and chips, Saag Aloo in pies and Korean Kimchi Toasties -  fusion food is the rage, so I thought I'd try and be original and make an Eritrean Burrito with injera and the filling from the Berbere Tagine.  It worked fine, the only issue was handling the injera burrito by hand. The sensation of rolled up injera in my hands was interesting.  I think those of you who have had injera will concur as the texture of injera is somewhat unusual.  Unfortunately due to poor lighting in the evening, I never got round to taking a photograph of it, but it shouldn't be difficult for you to imagine what it looks like.  

I was quite pleased with myself and thought I had created something new with my Eritrean Injera Burrito.  I couldn't wait to tell my Eritrean acquaintances at work this, he smiled at me through his perfect white teeth choosing not to comment.  I don't know if this was out of politeness or bemused that someone messing with their cuisine. I wanted to push him for his honest opinion, but never got the chance - but I will see him again.  I do hope he approves, it made for an interesting meal. 

Vegan Eritrean Berbere Tagine
Serves 6-8
Ingredients

5 tablespoons olive oil

1 large white onion
1 small red onion
1-1½ Berbere tablespoon2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon of tomato puree4 large sweet potatoes, cut into even sized cubes
½ butternut squash, peeled and cut into even sized cubes

About 4 carrots, thickly sliced

60g dried apricots, cut in half
20g raisins
1 x 400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
A large bunch of coriander, finely chopped
Salt to taste
MethodHeat the oil in a wide pan. 

Add the onion and cook gently until the onions are softened and translucent. 

Stir in the Berbere, cook for a couple of minutes, before stirring in the tomatoes and tomato puree and cook for 15 minutes. 

Add the butternut squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. 

Continue to cook for 40 - 45 minutes until the vegetables tender. 

Add the apricots, raisins and chickpeas and stir to combine. 

Simmer until sauce is thick, stir in coriander and season to taste.

I am sharing this with MLLA My Legume Love Affair that was started by The Well Seasoned Cook and now run by Lisa's Kitchen.  this month is is hosted by The Big Sweet Tooth;  Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition; and Farmersgirl Kitchen and Baking Queen Slow Cooked Challenge; Slow cooked Challenge.