This is not the prettiest of pictures, in fact its a little hazy (in other words blurry) but I sill share it as it was delicious to eat.
It is Sweet Paprika Mushroom Strogonoff that I made in December after work in the evening, another reason why its not well lit. The sweet paprika made a wonderful change form the smoked variety.
The Hungarian Paprika Mushroom recipe comes from Entertaining Vegetarians by Celia Brooks. Celia's recipe is made with Chanterelle mushroom, but it is not easy to find them fresh in my part of the world, so I used some dried chanterelle mushrooms in the cupboard and rehydrated them. I also added some mangetout to the pot as I felt it needed a bit of crunch and colour, but once it was served up I realised the mangetout was not necessary and the burnished red tones imparted by the paprika gave it a warming glow that only made me feel happy eating it.
This Autumnal Stew with Mangetout was made a few months ago on a bleak day and mangetout was in season, but I think it is okay to share today as the weather outside had turned proper cold. The raindrops have been icy and all week in the morning, D had been scraping ice off the car, but still no snow in this part of Wales. I am pleased for now, but I have a feeling that we will see it this year.
You will not normally find mangetout in stews, but this one has some as at the time I had some in the fridge crying to be used, otherwise it would have got overlooked and gone into the compost bin in the garden. I added the mangetout towards the end of the dish as I wanted it to retain its crunch. I do also love the autumnal colours in this stew and the belly warming flavours that include cumin, coriander and chilli.
There is still a week to go to share your vegan and vegetarian Eat Your Greens recipes. I have already received some made with seasonal vegetables and herbs, like chives and basil and I can't wait to share them with you all.
Well talking of EatYourGreens, here is a Broad Bean and Garden Peas Quiche with some yellow mangetout. All these came from my garden plot. If I had chickens, the free range eggs would have come from my garden too, but that plan is maybe a year away.
Anyway, I got carried away trying to make the garden vegetables look like an arty farty picture, that I forgot to put the shredded cheese on top, hence the reason it is looking so pale. I only realised this omission when I took it out of the oven. No worries, I chucked the grated cheese on top and bunged it back in the oven for a few minutes for it to melt.
Also its not the best Tart I've ever made, in fact its mediocre. It tasted alright, but how it looked was a bit disappointing. For the sharp eyed amongst you, you may have already noted it, but for those of you who need prompting, well if you look closely, first at the above image - in trying to remove it from the tin, I managed to snap the bottom right, and secondly, if you look at the image below - the real reason for this is that there was a crack in the pastry which caused some of the filling to leak out. Hey, these things happen even to the most experiences of cooks and this time it was my turn!
Its been lovely and warm, maybe just a little too warm that when you get home after work or whatever, you really just don't want to cook, or at least spend an hour or so over a hot stove.
Well here is a grain, pulse and vegetable salad of sorts, its actually Freekah Pilau made with homegrown yellow mangetout, garden peas and tinned chickpeas. As it was my first time cooking with freekah. I sought inspiration from my Middle Eastern cookbooks, and one book in particular gave me inspiration Seductive Flavours of the Levant by Nada Saleh.
This recipe has two ingredients that may be new to some of you, as they were to me a while back. These are freekah, also known as frik (burned green wheat); and Ajvar paste, a red pepper and aubergine paste. Freekah is available from Middle Eastern shops and health shops, this particular one is a brand called Artisan Grains.
The Freekah Pilau was lovely and made a pleasant change from plain bulgar wheat, couscous and even rice. Freekah definitely has more texture than ordinary bulgar wheat, but for some reason I had expected it to have smoky undertones and it did not. This is not a spicy dish at all. It is however nutty and well flavoured with plenty of wholesome texture and bite. We have a fair bit over as the recipe makes a large amount, so we will both be having it for lunch tomorrow.
If you want to make a Middle Eastern Feast of it all serve the Freekah Pilau with falafel, dolmas and marinated green olives.
