Summer Swedish Balcony Salad

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This morning it was raining - tipping it down. A soggy July, hot on the heels of one of the wettest Junes on record! Then this afternoon the clouds parted and out came the sun. After work I headed to the park to take it in. On getting home I knocked up this quick, Swedish inspired salad with the fridge contents, and some fresh pickings from the balcony. The oak leaf lettuce, dill, parsley, and sprouts - are all the fruits of my semi attentive labour

Ingredients

Oak leaf Lettuce

Dill - finely chopped

Parsley - finely chopped

1/3 cucumber - seeded and diced

2 beetroots - diced

1 spring onion - thinly sliced

some fennel seeds

Some crumbled feta

Poppy seeds

a squeeze of lemon juice

a dollop of good olive oil

a drizzle of honey

To Serve - a hard boiled egg and some sprouted mung beans

Method

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil and honey in a small dish until blended. Put the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle over the dressing and toss. Top with sprout and boiled egg on the side. Hardly a recipe to change the world, but I had to start back somewhere.

Thick Minestrone Soup

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Mammy Minestrone

Yup so this is a minestrone I made with my mum while home over the bank holiday. I decided to make it when I saw how much lovely homegrown spinach that they had in their cupboard. Then I forgot to add it in - whoops- well it was still a great soup and a nice filling lunch that got me the whole way back to Dublin in the car without any belly rumbles.

Ingredients

 1 white onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic finely sliced
6 fresh tomatoes (chopped, skinned if you like)
3 carrots diced
3 sticks of celery finely sliced
big bunch of green beans cut into whatever size pieces you like
1 tin of mixed beans
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
3 handfuls of dry pasta (whatever shapes you like)
1 sprig of thyme
1 bunch of parsley
1 pint of vegetable stock
A couple of handfuls of basil leaves

To Garnish 

freshly grated Parmesan
basil leaves
 
Fry your onion over a medium heat for two minutes before adding in the garlic. Cook until the onion begins to soften, then add in the diced carrots and celery. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add in the sprig of thyme, the bay leaf, tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften. Then stir in all the other ingredients, except the basil, mix well and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 12-14 minutes until the pasta shapes are cooked. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving and garnish with a few leaves and a generous grating of Parmesan. Enjoy with some nice brie and a glass of good red wine.

I only used about 1/2 litre of stock in this and it turned out very thick, so I recommended more stock in the recipe to make for a more liquid soup. I love cooking with my mum, she ways things like 'what'll I chop next?' and 'I'll get that from the garden' the perfect cooking partner

Thanks Mum!

Very Full Tart - by Yotam Ottolenghi

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Very Full Tart - by Yotam Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi write the 'new vegetarian' in the Observer on Sunday, I love his recipes, they always full of flavor and colour. This recipe was good if a little time consuming - not quite sure why it took me so long! Maybe roasting the veg for differing amounts of time did it. The blind baking the case, the baking the whole thing.

I've just included the link to the recipe as I followed it pretty much to the T - except I used a large yellow squash that came in our Fruitfellas box - in place of the aubergine - either would be great I'm sure.

This tart was bursting with flavor - the thyme is essential to the overall flavor - and the nice mixture of the ricotta and feta is wonderful with a crumbly pastry casing. Perfect  to bring along to an outdoor Sunday spring/summer lunch. This pie once baked - it was carried bicycle style across the city to Delo who had been working hard on a college project all weekend - mobile dinner - could turn that into a business maybe - what do you reckon?

Paneer Tomato & Green Bean Masala

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So it's been a while since we went to the land of curry. I'm on a bit of an 'eat less meat buzz' right now, and I had some paneer lurking in my fridge for a week or two now. I think I should prob brush up on new Indian recipes, I've fallen into a rut with the spices and herbs I use - but hey they work - so why change!

Paneer is a lovely dense cheese, used in Indian cooking, like tofu, but much nicer. It comes in a block, and can be added to curries and cooked in the mixture, or I prefer to fry it a little to give it a nice golden brown colour and then allowing it to bubble away in the mixture to absorb all the depth and spice of your chosen curry. I made a Panner Butter Masala which is delicious, creamy and rich, make this if you feel like a treat, this however is a more healthy way of using this great cheese - inspired by the delicious food served at Govindas if you've never been it's well worth trying one of their three restaurants in Dublin City for a HUGE portion of healthy delicious food.

Ingredients

I block of paneer - cut into small cubes 2cm squares

2 small red onions - finely diced

4 large tomatoes - chopped (skins removed if you prefer)

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 inch of ginger root grated

a handful of green beans cut in half

1 red chilli (seeds optional - I optioned them in!)

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 teaspoon masala curry powder

1 pinch of asa foetida (optional)

3 curry leaves (bay leaves will do)

3 cardamon pods

1/2 teaspoon of funugreek (ground)

1/4 stock cube

First dry roast the whole spices (mustard seeds, cumin and cardamon seeds) in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until fragrant. Remove to pestle and mortar and crush to release the flavors. The heat some oil in your frying pan and fry the cubes of paneer 10 or so at a time - till a nice golden colour on a few sides. Then remove to a plate and continue till they're all done.

Alternatively - use a pre-mixed spice - like garam-masala - or any type of curry powder/paste that you  have, don't let my extensive list of spices put you off!  

Add in the onion, cook for one minute before adding in the garlic and ginger. Cook these for several minutes until the onion is translucent. Then stir in your crushed spices and cook for a further minute or two, then add in the dried spices and stir. After this tip in the chopped tomatoes and stock cube add a little water and bring up to simmer, cover and leave o cook for about 20-25 minutes. Before you're ready to serve put the green beans on top of the curry - cover for two minutes, and then shy should be cooked but not mushy, stir well and serve.

I serve this with some jasmine rice and a side of aloo-gobi.

All veggies came from our box from Fruitfellas - I feel healthier just looking at this!

Migrated Minestrone

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Butternut Squash & Bacon Soup

This is wonderfully filling soup packed with lots of delicious ingredients - it’s almost a veg stew, or a migrated minestrone (via US, Mexico and the Wales).

I served this up to the Lunch club in work, one of the architects form the office came up with the idea. So a group of 4 of us are cooking lunch for each other on alternate days – what a great idea. The soup went down a treat or so the guys say

Ingredients
1 butternut squash
2 leeks – sliced 1inch sections
2 carrots – small cubes
1 stick of celery
1 cup of corn
3 cups of shredded cabbage
1 cup of bacon/rashers/lardons
4/5 cups of chicken/veg stock
1 stick of celery
2 cloves of garlic halved
4 sprigs of sage (thyme would be better but I didn’t have any)

Chop and skin your butternut squash and remove seeds, pop into pot with the leeks, celery, stock, garlic and sage. Bring to boil and simmer for 40 mins. While this simmers – fry or grill your bacon till crispy and prepare your other veg. After 40 mins – liquidise the soup.

Then add in the rest of your ingredients, return to the boil and simmer till veg is cooked – test the carrots they’ll take longest – about 12-15 mins. If you have a red pepper pop that in too in small pieces. Serve with some fresh bread and butter - Yum

Berlin Frankfurter Pottage

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Anne Wieland’s Soup

This recipe was cooked for use by the lovely Anne Wieland from Berlin who stayed with us at no.7 recently. For her leaving dinner she prepared us this wonderfully simple soup. Delicious, hearty and straight forward it was an instant winner. Here is a photo of her & our other lovely no.7 resident Sarah, she promises to share her recipe for homemade brown sauce soon - oh yeah!!

4 potatoes cubed – cubes 2cms
5 carrots sliced - thinly
Stock (the best you have – good stock cubes will do)
A packet of frankfurters
Parsley
Salt and freshly milled black pepper

Cover potatoes and carrots with stock, bring to the boil and simmer till tender. Meanwhile slice the frankfurters into little slices or chunkier if you fancy and fry in a little oil until the start to brown.


When the potatoes and carrots are done mash them gently with a masher – to get a nice consistency of veg and broth. Add in your sausage and mix and serve, sprinkle with a little chopped parsley, serve with beer, cheese, sourdough bread and a German friend.