Potato and Vegetable Frittata

I’ve been meaning to try something like this for ages, but somehow never got round to it, until tonight. I’ll definitely be doing it again, though, as it has a number of things going for it:
- it’s really tasty!
- I’ve pretty much always got the ingredients at home (you can vary any vegetables you like in it)
- I like to have at least one if not two vegetarian meals per week, and this fits the bill perfectly
- it was easy and relatively quick to do

Ingredients

• around 300 – 500g potatoes (the firm, waxy type, NOT the floury ones)
• about 6 eggs, beaten
• few spring onions or 1 small onion, sliced or diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 courgette, diced
• 1/2 tsp mixed herbs
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• a few tbsp milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• a bit of butter

Method

1. First prepare the potatoes by peeling and slicing them quite thinly (not paper-thin, but shouldn’t be chunky either)
2. Boil them until they are just on the verge of being done; they should have a bit of bite left to them (if you have one of those microwave steamer bags, just pop them in there, it’s much easier!)
3. While the potatoes are cooking, fry the onion, pepper and courgette (or whatever other veg you’re using) in a little oil (I use rapeseed) in a medium-sized non-stick frying pan which has a metal handle (you will need to put it under the grill, so you don’t want anything that will melt!)
4. Add the crushed garlic and herbs and keep frying until the onion is getting slightly brown and sticky (but not burning) and the pepper is completely soft. This takes quite a while, but the taste is fantastic and much more interesting than if you just quick-fry.
5. Heat the grill up to medium high.
6. Drain the potatoes and add them to the frying pan. Mix them all up together (the potato slices will break up), and add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Mix in the milk with the beaten eggs and then pour that into the frying pan.
8. Give everything a good stir and make sure it’s all covered in the egg mixture. Then cook on a medium heat until the underside is getting light brown (the sides should be cooked enough by this point so you can peek underneath). The top will still be runny.
9. Pop the whole pan under the grill for 5 minutes or so until the top is golden brown and all the egg is cooked.
10. Allow to cool slighty before slicing and serving with a nice crisp green salad.

Variations

• any in season vegetables can be used with the basic potato, egg and onion mixture
• grated cheese in with the egg or on top
• apparantly, it’s also very nice cold, but we didn’t have any left over to try!

 

 

Pasta Salad

I’ve tried various versions of pasta salads over the years, but I don’t think any one has ever gone down as well as this. My ds had it for lunch two days in a row and ate more than I did!

Ingredients

• 500g dried pasta shapes (I used fusilli, the twisty one)
• about 1 large tbsp mayonnaise
• about 5 – 8 large tbsp natural jogurt (the creamier the better)
• about 1 tbsp apple balsamic vinegar (use whatever vinegar you like)
• about 2 tbsp rape seed oil (use any veg. oil except olive, which I think would give it a wierd flavour)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 small can sweetcorn, drained
• same amount ie small can of frozen peas, blanched
• some chopped cucumber

Method

1. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack, then rinse in cold water and drain well.
2. In the mean time, mix up the dressing, adding a few tablespoons of cold water at the end. It should be fairly runny. Taste and add salt/pepper/vinegar etc as necessary
3. Mix into the pasta with the sweetcorn, peas and cucmber.
4. If you are making this a while before you need it, you may need to add a bit more jogurt and water before serving as the pasta tends to soak up the dressing and get a bit sticking.
5. Voila!

 

Tortilla Wraps

This turned out to be a huge hit, and as there are so many variations possible, I think we’ll be having it quite often.

Base Ingredients

6 soft tortillas / wraps
1 ball fresh mozarella, drained and sliced

Filling Ideas

• tuna (well drained) and sweetcorn
• mashed avocado and shredded cooked chicken
• mashed avocado and bacon bits
• tuna (well drained) and chopped, deseeded tomato
• crushed beans (eg kidney) and chopped, deseeded tomato
• equal amounts grated cheese and carrot (this was a HUGE hit!)

Method

1. Heat a large non-stick frying pan (no oil!)
2. Prepare your filling ingredients, making sure they aren’t wet ie drain stuff.
3. Warm a couple of tortillas slightly (I did it in the microwave for a nanosecond) to make them more pliable.
4. Put a large tbsp of filling in the middle.
5. Artfully drape some strips of mozarella over the filling.
6. Fold two sides of the tortilla over the filling, then the two open ends, to form a parcel.
7. Dry-fry it in the pan over a medium heat, seam-side down, for a couple of mins until light golden.
8. Turn and fry the other side. The filling should be warmed through and the cheese just melting.
9. Enjoy!

 

Mini Cornish Pasties

These were surprisingly easy to make, easier to eat than the regular-sized ones, and enjoyed by everyone!

Ingredients

Pastry

• 200g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 70g butter
• very cold water

Filling

• 200g minced beef
• 1 tsp mixed herbs
• 2 tbsp tomato puree mixed with 4 tbsp water
• 4 thin spring onions, chopped
• 2 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 large carrot, peeled and cubed
• 1/4 celeriac, peeled and cubed (OR 1 swede OR 1 turnip)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp worcester sauce
• rapeseed oil for frying
• a little milk

Method

1. Make the pastry first: put the flour and cubed butter into a food process and blitz until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add a little cold water at a time until it forms a dough.
3. Wrap in clinfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
4. In the mean time, make the filling: heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the mince until browned.
5. Lightly steam or boil the cubed potatoes, carrots and celeriac.
6. Add the onions to the mince and fry until beginning to soften.
7. Add the tomato puree, herbs, soy and worcester sauce.
8. Add the steamed veg and take off the heat. Allow to cool before continuing.
9. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
10. Roll out the pastry to 3-5mm thick on a well floured surface.
11. Cut out 8 – 10 circles approx. 8cm diameter (I used a large tin for this)
12. Put a large spoonful of the filling on each circle, dampen the edges with a little water or milk and fold together.
13. Crimp the edges with your fingers for form a frill.
14. Place on a lined baking tray and brush with a little milk.
15. Bake for 10 mins.
16. Reduce oven heat to 180°C and bake for a further 15mins or until very lightly golden.
17. Allow to cool a bit before eaten – they are VERY hot inside!!

 

Grilled Polenta Fingers

This turned out to be a real hit, and not only with ds. I usually make a trayful and we have it for lunch for a couple of days.

Ingredients

• a small onion, finely chopped
• clove of garlic, crushed
• approx. 50g fresh or frozen spinach
• approx. 25g parmesan, grated
• approx. 25g cheddar, grated
• 80g polenta
• butter or oil for frying
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat oil or butter in frying pan and fry onion until softened.
2. Add garlic and spinach and fry for a few minutes
3. Remove from heat and set aside
4. Cook polenta according to instructions (it should be thick rather than thin)
5. Stir in the onion and spinach mixture, the cheeses and pepper.
6. Line a small baking tin (mine is about 25 x 22cm) with baking parchement and lightly grease the sides with oil or butter
7. Pour the polenta mixture in and spread it out evenly
8. Leave to cool completely (I usually leave it in the fridge overnight and then continue the next day when I need it)
9. When cool, turn it out and cut into thick fingers or slices.
10. Arrange on a baking sheet, brush with a little olive oil and grill under a hot grill for about 5 mins on each side until light brown and crisp
11. Serve when slightly cooled down

These also taste great cold or heated up for a moment in the microwave.

Variation

• only using strong, mature cheddar
• finely sliced broccoli, mushrooms and onions
• leaving out the garlic, but adding a spoonful of whole grain mustard and some dried mixed herbs

 

Sandwiches Part 1

Part 1 because I’m sure there will be more coming, but for the moment, here are some ideas of what to put in them:

• cream cheese and thinly sliced cucumber (always a winner, this one)
• mushroom pate (see Toast post (!) for more details on this)
• cheese (slices)
• cheese (slices) and ham (this is also nice lightly toasted so that the cheese melts and helps stick everything together)

Acutally, that’s about it for us and sandwiches so far. The problem is that ds tends to pull apart the bread to see what’s in it (and to generally play around with it a bit), so whatever goes into our sandwiches has to have one overriding quality, and that is STICKINESS.

I usually use sliced bread (like for making toast), white or brown, but sometimes I’ll use normal loaf. Ds seems to like both equally well. I cut into triangles or small-sized sandwiches, easy for him to hold and take bites out of. The bigger the sandwich, the less chance there is of it staying together.

 

Toast

Yes, yes, of course you know how to make toast, I haven’t gone completely mad. Here are just a few ideas of what to put on it and how to serve it up, you know, for inspiration.

• cream cheese – an absolute favourite, even when teething and not wanting to eat anything else
• marmite and butter – for the ultimate savoury kick
• mushroom pate – we get a particularly tasty one from alnatura, so I’ve never actually tried making my own, but if I ever do, I’ll post the recipe here
• jam and butter - interestingly, ds has shown that he does have preferences when it comes to jam, sour cherry being the favourite
• fruit spreads - again, we were able to get a selection from alnatura, but basically is was just lightly cooked and pureed fruit, the apple and banana being the tastiest (also fab on pancakes!)
• avocado  – yes, really. Make sure it’s very ripe and then spread away. Also very nice in combination with cream cheese.

We cut the toast into triangles – perfect to hold, and not too much at once.
And we use both white and brown sliced bread, though we all prefer the white.