Sweet Potato, Sweetcorn and Red Pepper Soup

Again, its another soup made mid week for light lunch at home.

I also found a bag of sweetcorn in the freezer which is due to expire April 2020.  I have no idea how long its been there, but i am glad D went through the freezer contents last week to see what was buried there that had to be used up.  I also found some frozen cooking apple slices, so maybe a few apple crumbles and cakes will appear on the menu.  

This was a lightly spiced  Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn soup enhanced with red peppers. I like a bit of texture, so partly blitzed my soup with a handheld blender. It had a really nice flavour and colour.  The Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn Soup comes from Rachel Demuth Green Seasons Cookbook. you can find the original recipe link here. 

D really loved the flavours of this soup and said, he would be more than happy to eat it again - good job I thought, you have got it again tomorrow for lunch!

I am sharing this  Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn Soup with Soup, Salad and Sammies 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.  

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. 

Cheap and Cheerful Courgette, Corn and Mint Filling

The courgettes are dwindling, but that does not mean that I don't have many courgette recipes to share, I do still have some like this cheap and cheerful courgette, corn and mint filling.  Cheap because the ingredients are affordable and abundant this time of the year, and cheerful simply because of the carnival colours.  

If you don't want to use fresh sweetcorn scraped from the cob,  you can use tinned or frozen. Oh the mint is from my garden too. 

Zimbabwean Squash Stuffed with Pulled Jackfruit 'Pork"

One of the aims of Refugee Week is to promote positive encounters between asylum seekers and refugees and members of the receiving communities, as well as raising awareness.   The theme for Refugee Week for 2016 is Welcome.  As my blog is a vegetarian food blog my Simple Act is to Cook A Dish from Another Country and try and raise some awareness that way among some of my readers.

Today I will share a vegetarian Zimbabwean Butternut Squash recipe.  But before I share the recipe, I would like to shine a little light on Zimbabwe.  Since 2000, the scale of state violence, the political instability and economic deprivation  in Zimbabwe has seen the UK receive refugees from there. 

A refugee is someone whose asylum application has been successful and who is allowed to stay in another country having proved they would face persecution in their homeland.

Zimbabwe's human rights record under Robert Mugabe has been criticised by the international community, including the European Union, UN, US and other countries. Mugabe's authoritarian regime has used force and torture to oppress political opposition. But not all Zimbabweans in the UK are refugees.  The NHS has attracted many Zimbabwean doctors and nurses, so it is important to recognise and embrace the positive contributions made by Zimbabweans too. 

Zimbabwean cuisine is heavily meat based.  However there are some crucial vegetable based dishes, but they are staples and are often served as accompaniments such as covo, maize and sadza.   Sadza is made from maize.  It is described as a across between mashed potato and rice. Covo is a green vegetable similar to spring greens and is often served with sadza, meat and sauce.  

After speaking to two of my colleagues, both of Zimbabwean heritage, they both recommended a Pumpkin dish, a change from the traditional Peanut Stew known as Haku ne dovi, but like true African men neither cooks.  One relying on his mothers cooking ;and the other on his wife's, neither were not able to give me a recipe.  I did a little research and got their approval on the authenticity of a vegetarian dish made with Gem squash.  The only comment was that they had had this dish, but it wasn't filled up so much with additional ingredients.   I went ahead and adapted the recipe with the more readily available butternut squash in the UK.  The roasted butternut squash was really delicious.  It was cooked well that you could literally spoon it from the glossy skin like mash lifting upon your fork popping sweetcorn and melty cheesy goodness.  The original recipe states that you could make it with your choice of protein, instead of some cooked beans like kidney beans, I decided to add Jackfruit.  It was truly one of the best dishes I have made without the addition of spices, just some fresh herbs and seasoning.  This is made with cheese, but is very easy to veganize.  I am sharing this with Bake of the Week hosted by Casa Costello and Maison Cupcake; Cindy for Gluten Free Fridays 

and CookBlogShare hosted Hijacked By Twins;  

Super Loaded Sweet Potato Jackets

I was inspired to make these after I saw a fellow blogger make a vegetarian version of Shepherds Pie Jacket Potatoes with perhaps the most perfect piped mashed potato swirl topping I've ever seen.  She admitted the idea wasn't original and it was because there were a lack of vegetarian versions of Jacket Potatoes stuffed with  vegetarian Shepherdesss Pie filling, so she created her own.  I decided to do something similar, this time with Sweet Potatoes. 

I was pretentiously going to call these Super Loaded Sweet Potato Jackets - Rasta Jackets because of the Rastafari colours: Red (from the pepper) is for blood, green (from the coriander) is for the earth and gold (from the sweet potato and sweetcorn) is for the sun, but I wasn't completely swayed by the idea.  

There is also some facon bacon in these sweet potatoes.  I thought the sweetness would be overpowering, so decided to stir in some chopped facon bacon that imparted a subtle smokyness.  The coriander also  toned the sweetness adding that distinct herby zing.  And finally, a good drizzle of Blodyn Aur Rapeseed chilli oil which was warming.  I have been enjoying this oil, dousing it on whatever I think needs a little injection of warmth.  And then served with mixed salad leaves, sliced red onion and chopped cherry tomatoes.

Chipotle Chilli Sweetcorn Soup

I am back from my holidays and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, but like all holidays it comes to an end.  I have lots of photographs to share, but that will have to wait till later in the week.  

Today I share with you this Chipotle Chilli Sweetcorn Soup.

This soup may look a tad simple on the visual side, but the bold flavours totally blew me away.

Calabacitas - Courgettes, Sweetcorn and Butter Beans in a Tortilla Basket

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago when I was looking for inspiration to use up the last of my courgettes.  Apparently, the descriptive 'Calabacitas' is often used in Mexican restaurants to describe a vegetarian filling that usually contains squash, corn and spices.  

The recipe suggested serving this as a Taco filling, but I am not into taco's that much - Burrito being my first choice, always, but this time round I fancied a bit of crunch and decided to make some Tortilla baskets.

The calabacitas was utterly gorgeous, not just the colour: gold, green and cream, but also to eat, the sweetness from the sweetcorn, the buttery butter beans, the zing from the lime.  For me though, it was both the coriander and jalapenos that elevated the courgettes to a thing of sheer culinary delight. 

I served my portion of Calabacitas in a tortilla basket.  The crunch was amazing.  D insisted on having his burrito style with soured cream, grated cheese and salad.  I personally don't think it required cheese, but hey ho - each to their own tastes.  I am sharing this with Meat Free Mondays. 

Green (Runner Beans, Peas) and Yellow (Courgette and Sweetcorn) Minestrone

I made this Green and Yellow Summer Vegetable Minestrone a couple of weeks back with homegrown golden yellow courgette and runner beans, though I have to admit the sweetcorn and peas both at the height of the season have come from the freezer.  I know shame on me, call myself a seasonal cook. 

Anyway, this Minestrone was fresh and tasty. The courgettes had crunch, the runner beans imparted that faint beany flavour, the peas and sweetcorn were sweet and the broth light and fragrant from both fresh basil and min. But there is a but....

I was not convinced by the addition of rice, so maybe next time I would replace the rice by stirring in some baby pasta, but that is no criticism to the dish itself, it tasted alright and if presented wit it again, I would happily eat it especially on a breezy day like today.  

Sweetcorn and Pepper Quiche with Harissa Kick

We drove to the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmathenshire yesterday.  I will share photographs with you later in the week.  

Today has been a day of house-work, laundry and ironing.  And a little cooking: pasta lunch is made for tomorrow and so is our main, that only has to be reheated when we get in.  So as you can imagine, I am a little tired and and ready to plonk myself in front of the TV for a DVD movie.

Before I go, I will share with you these individual Bell Pepper Quiche.  I made these a couple of weeks ago.  Strips of red, yellow and green peppers, studded with sweetcorn and hidden within the creamy egg cheesy mixture there is green harissa, but you don't know about it until you bite into it. I preferred this quiche to the others I've made recently, perhaps because of the green harissa that was made with coriander, but you can use red harissa if you so wish, or omit it all together, its up to you - at home its your recipe.  I am sharing this with Helen and Michelle for Extra Veg. 

Baby Sweetcorn, Peas and Mint Quiche

It is with some amusement I note that my past few blog posts have been rather yellow, and to add to that I have another rather yellow - bronze tinged Quiche to share.  The difference with these are that they are smaller, individual ones.  I think sometimes they just look just nicer on a plate.

I am not a fan of baby sweetcorn or cornlettes.  To me they resemble a plastic pretend decorative vegetable, only good to garnish a salad plate or such.  Frankly, I find them quite tasteless, but I will put my hand up and admit that I do sometimes add it to Thai Red Curry, and only because D doesn't mind them. I actually prefer the baby sweetcorns bigger sister: sweetcorn on the cob,  Sweetcorn with more crunch and sweetcorn with more juice and sweetcorn with more flavour. 

I had originally planned to make a Spring Green Vegetable Quiche, but then when I walked past a packet of baby sweetcorn, my mind was changed.  So what changed my mind? Another colour was required on the plate.  Once made, the sweetcorn retained its crunch and there was slight sweetness from the peas and a hint of mint. I am sharing this recipe with Lavender and Lovage for Cooking with Herbs  challenge.

Mexican Inspired Pasta Salad

I am hoping to go to my secret wild garlic foraging spot this weekend, but this today I share with you an aromatic green flecked pasta dish.  

This is perhaps one of my favourite cold pasta salad dishes.  I've made it at least 6 time in the past two months, not just because I like it, but because I had picked up a bundle of coriander, of course I had to have a reason.

This pasta salad is based on this Jalapeno, Coriander and Avocado recipe,that I made a few years back,  It is enhanced further with sweetcorn and red peppers.  It has now also become a firm favourite of my nephews and nieces too, who often opt for those horrid claggy cheesy tomato pasta from the supermarket outlets.  

I often make a large batch, to last us for 2 -3 days during the working week; and sometimes to share with family and friends. While it sits in the fridge the jalapeno vinaigrette infuses the pasta further.  Just dig your fork in, you will find it flavourful and zingy. 

This pasta salad is essentially flavoured with jalapenos and coriander, however for bite and colour there is red pepper, spring onion (and sometimes red onion) and a little sweetness from the sweetcorn. To elevate this pasta dish further, I like to finish it off with some natural buttery ripe avocado slices, but that doesn't happen that often, as avocados are a bit of a luxury in our home. 

Cherry Tomato, Sweetcorn and Coriander Salsa

Oh I know Friday is the start of the weekend for many people, but this week for me its Saturday.

I am looking forward to tucking into this super easy Cherry tomato, Sweet corn and Coriander Salsa later on. 

Now all I have to do is try and decide what movie to watch?!  

Chocolate Habenero Black Turtle Bean Chilli

Another one pot dish and one that relies on store-cupboard ingredients, except of course for the chocolate habenero chilli that I picked up when I was in the big city a few months back, around the same time when I picked up dried marigold petals for my vegan Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake.  I had not intended to buy any dried chillies, let alone Chocolate Habenero but whilst staring at spice filled glass jars it just seemed to leap out at me and I was tempted.  

It does have subtle chocolate undertones, and an earthy and spicy chilli kick , but and here is the but, it did not blow me away as I had expected.  My chilli tolerance is quite high, my reasoning - I am of South Asian heritage and chilli runs through my veins - but I found this particular brand of chocolate habenero chilli was not overly spice hot.  The only thing that I can think was that the chillies were, perhaps on the shelf too long and therefore may have lost its vava voom, still the home-made chilli was very, very nice and I would a happily make it again. 

This was just going to be a straight-forward Black Bean Chilli made simply with black turtle beans so called because of the black shiny dark shell like appearance, but I also decided to throw in some winter greens (such as sprout heads, but any type of kale will do), and a can of sweetcorn for colour. It worked out lovely giving more body and texture to the dish.  

So far, we have had this dish with plain boiled Basmati rice.  D suggested that this would be good as an Enchillada filling, I agree but I don't have any tortilla wraps, so it will be more rice or perhaps even potatoes.  

I am sharing this recipe with Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary who hosts No Waste Food Challenge and  January's edition of My Legume Love Affair #79 which was created by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.  It is now run by Lisa of Lisa's kitchen who happens to be this months host too. 

Vegan Sweet Corn, Courgette and Red Pepper Cake

After enjoying participating last in Vegan MoFo. I have decided to do it all over again.   

For those of you who are not familiar with Vegan MoFo, it is short for 'Vegan Month of Food'.  Hundreds of vegan and vegan-friendly bloggers (like mine) sign up to commit to posting at least 20 posts in the month relating to vegan food.

Many of you will know that I am not a vegan, but a vegetarian, however a lot of what I do cook from scratch happens to be vegan friendly.  Therefore, September 2014 this blog will be free of all animal products such as cheese, dairy, eggs and  honey. 

I do not  have a theme for Vegan MoFo, but if there was going to be a theme it would be seasonal vegetables, of course and I might even throw in some recipes inspired by my Welsh roots too.

So let it begin  with this family and crowd friendly vegan Sweet Corn, courgette and Red Pepper Savoury Cake.  

I made this savoury chickpea cake at the weekend, it was sliced and served with vibrant leafy greens. 

Vegan Jamaican Patties Pies

I have to say when the sun is shining and the weather is hot hot hot, pastry pies do not appeal to me, they seem more suited to colder days, but these ones dyed yellow from the spice turmeric remind me of the sunshine glow.  I have also got to admit, I don't often go for curry powder or curried flavoured dishes, (which may be a surprise to some of you as I do like my chillies )but I've made an exception for these as they are completely different, as well as the fact these contain the headiness of cumin. These Jamaican Patties are well packed with well flavoured vegetables that sing summer-time: how can I resist. Its both sweet and mildly spiced, not heat hot, just lightly spiced. I hope traditionalists will forgive me for making these British style, compact and round instead of the typical half moon shaped ones you often see.  

I think these Jamaican Patty Pies are perfect to make and take on beach picnics.  Sit your bum on the sand, open up your picnic hamper and behold these golden hand pies.  Now to eat them, just hold them in your hands between a napkin , close your eyes and bite in.  Nice.

I know what you are going to say, we can't see whats on the inside. I am so sorry, sometimes greed comes first.  I promise the next time I make these to try and remember to take a photograph of the colourful filling: gold, red and green. 

Sweetcorn, Chickpea and Pepper Couscous Salad with Harissa Oil

It's not that often that D comes back with a bag of fresh fruit and vegetables, that is something that is often left to me being the one who primarily cooks at home, but he did at the weekend.  He came back with some very colourful seasonal vegetables (and some peach doughnuts).  The vegetables included red hot chilli peppers, some baby orange and yellow peppers and the first of the seasons sweetcorn on the cobs.  The sweetcorn he picked up was so sweet and ripe, that you could honestly eat it raw as it was. 

I tend to freeze chillies when I have too much, but I had decided to make some more harissa oil based on my harissa paste recipe.  It went wonderfully the last time I made it with my vegan Moroccan Tajine Flaky Filo Twist Pies.  One of the reasons, I wanted to make the harissa oil again was that it served as a ready to reach for store-cupboard fridge ingredient.  Perfect for spreading on pitta bread for a light snack when taking breaks between filling in application forms, but yesterday, I found it had come in handy for D's lunch.  The working man has to be fed too.  

Chilean Stew with Corn and Beans

What I love about cooking ethnically diverse and world wide cuisines is that I always learn something new, not just about the culture, country and its people, but about certain ingredients that I would otherwise not see or hear of.   Recently, I have been introduced to Calabaza squash, anasazi beans and pebre - a Chilean sauce.

This Chilean Stew which I am told is known as 'porotos granados' is recommended to be made with a Calabaza also known as West Indian Pumpkin.  Calabaza is popular through the Caribbean and South America.  There is an Afro-Caribbean grocers in Glasgow - Sollys African Village in the west end and I could have gone there and checked out there colourful selection of pumpkins and squashes, but I read that the flavour was similar to both acorn squash (and butternut squash), so that is what I have substituted here.   Acorn squash like carrots is rich in beta-carotene.  Another ingredient that was recommended was anasazi beans.  I have never seen them in my life, let alone heard of them.  These are apparently small purple and white kidney shaped bean from the same family as the pinto bean, so you can guess what I used for the recipe. And all these modifications still made for a good hearty stew.  Despite the large amount of paprika doused in this, this is not an overly spicy stew, not like Vegetarian Chillis!

Chileans like to serve this stew with a spicy herby pepper sauce called pebre. Well I have no pebre, in place of it though I made some salsa instead.  I wonder what my fellow blogger Chilean Woman will think of this recipe?!

UPDATE:  Ah I requested and Chilean Woman was happy to oblige.  Here is a link to her authentic Chilean Porotos Granados - go on, you must check it out!   And finally, I don't know how I missed it but my good friend Little Black Fox also made this dish - see here.

Thanks to Johanna at Green Gourmet Giraffe for introducing me, this is my first contribution to Ricki at Diet, Dessert, Dogs for her Wellness Weekend: 1-5th December . 

Chilean Stew with Corn and  Beans
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1½ tablespoons paprika
4 large tomatoes, cored and diced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
300g onion squash, peel and chopped into bite size cubes
1 x 400g tinned Pinto beans, or freshly cooked
150g corn kernels, fresh, frozen or canned
Method
In a large saucepan, heat the oil and add the onions and garlic and sauté until soft,  Then stir in the paprika and sauté for a couple of minutes before adding in the tomatoes and the rest of the seasoning.  Cook for about 10 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken.  Add the beans,, stock and squash and cook for 20 minutes until the squash is tender.  Stir in the corn and simmer for a few minutes more.  Serve with rice.  Adapted from Lean Bean Cuisine by Jay Solomon.

Barley and Sage Soup

Well I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here in the west of Scotland it is pouring, literally.

So I turned to my kitchen cupboards for some ingredients to make a warming soup, namely pearly barley, some tinned beans and sweetcorn.

The sage is fresh from my garden. Originally, I had it growing in a pot, but it didn't seem that happy and hardly showed much leafy growth.  A couple of months ago, I transferred it directly  into the garden plot, in the corner with hard clay soil, and guess what?! It has been thriving.  The leaves are as big as my fingers.

Sage is not a herb that I cook with often.  In the past I often associated it with meat dishes and having very little place in vegetable dishes.  I also found the flavour of soapy and pungent, however in the past few years I have started using it in my cooking sparingly.  One way I enjoy cooking with sage is making a sage butter sauce to coat pasta, or in a cabbage polenta dish (see my blog header).    

This soup was a bit like a 'Vegetarian Chilli Bean' dish, best a day later when the flavours develop and deepen.  The sage gives the soup earthy undertones.  We have so much of this hearty soup leftover, that I know we will be tucking into it for a few more days.  I am submitting this recipe to Chris of Mele Cotte for this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB) #297. WHB is overseen by Haalo from Cook Almost Anything; and Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes.

Barley and Sage Soup

Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients

200g pearl barley, soaked in cold water for 2 hours

40g butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 bay leaves

10 - 12 sage leaves, chopped

1 onion, finely sliced

1 carrot, grated

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small can of sweetcorn, drained and rinsed

1 x 400g can of kidney bean, drained and rinsed

Method

Melt the butter wit the oil, bay leaves and sage in a wide pot.  Add the onion and carrot, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until onions begin to soften.  Add the garlic and the tomato paste.

Drain the barley, add it to the pot with 2 pints of vegetable stock and salt to taste.  Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to simmer, then cover ad cook until the barley is tender about 35 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Then stir in sweetcorn and kidney beans and simmer for a few minutes to heat through, before serving.  NOTE: If you leave this soup overnight, you will see that the stock will have been absorbed by the thirsty barley, so you will have to top off with more stock on reheating.  Adapted from Deborah Madisons Vegetable Soups.

Marmite Brown Rice

When we arrived back home in Scotland on Sunday, there was not much to eat in the freezer, no back up pizza or frozen chips. 

We could have easily stopped at the supermarket; or ordered a takeaway, but too be honest having been spoiled by my mother and sister-in-laws all week with rich buttery food, I was happy to cook that evening.  Except of course, we did not have much in the way of fresh produce, so it was a question of turning to my so called pantry.  Plenty to choose from there, but I picked up: the kilner jar containing brown rice, a can of sweetcorn and Marmite.

I've used Marmite in a number of my recipes where yeast extract is required.  Early this year I made some Marmite Roast potatoes.  So I was quite curious to try out this Marmite Brown Rice recipe.  Its a cross between a Pilaf and Risotto - Savoury undertones from the yeast extract and sweet overtones from the sweetcorn.  I liked it, but D wasn't so keen on it.

Fellow blogger Ms Marmite Lover, founder of one of the original and successful Underground Supper Clubs in the U.K* has posted a recipe for making Marmite from scratch. I have to be honest, as much as I like the idea of making my own, I will probably be sticking to this brand.  I do like having Marmite in my kitchen cupboards, when I am feeling poorly: drinking a hot mug of Marmite does me the world of good.  

Marmite Brown Rice with Sweetcorn
Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely sliced
180g brown rice, washed and drained
1 tablespoon Tamari or soy sauce
1 generous teaspoon Marmite, or similar yeast extract
400ml water
Small tin of sweetcorn
Optional: A handful of parsley, minced
Salt and black pepper to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan. Add the sliced onion and fry until softened.  Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes.  Then add the water, Tamari or soy sauce and Marmite to the rice and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to simmer for 20 minutes.  Add the sweetcorn, salt and pepper to taste and simmer for a further 15 -20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through and tender.  Stir in the parsley and adjust seasoning if necessary.
*In the U.K a Supper club is an underground restaurant run by home cooks.  Supper Clubs are not supposed to be exclusive or private posh eateries.  Supper Clubs are home bistros, pop up home restaurants and namely anti restaurant.  Sadly the idea of Supper Clubs as some of us know it is changing, as established restaurants are wanting a piece of this cherry pie. I wrote a little of my observations at the time about Supper Clubs aka Home Bistro', if you interested see here.