Summer nights: The Joy of Seeds

I picked up a hankering for seeds from my best friend Heather. The taste of that seeded bread I couldn't get enough of in Berlin followed me right back to London, so that when I returned I realised I, like many before me, had finally discovered THE JOY OF SEEDS.

No, I am not Gillian McKeith incarnate, I just think seeds are amazing; they're little but they pack a punch. You can top off most meals with them and they'll add protein, vitamins, fibre and iron to your food without you realising they're there.

I've tried munching on all manner of seeds at my desk before and it's ended in what a stranger would think were drawers full of abandoned bird-feed.  However, I've found that by adding a handful of different seeds to my meals each day, I've begun to crave them and now miss anything that doesn't include a bit of seedy goodness. So if like me, you're not someone who's easily wooed by seeds at snack time, I suggest adding some to breads, salads, porridge, museli, flapjacks, roast dinner stuffing, burritos.... well, anywhere. Here's a few of my favourite seed-embracing recipes for summertime. Yes, they're super easy, but it's a start...

For another summer night dinner I made a giant couscous salad with sunflower seeds, which are a good source of vitamin E, protein, and minerals, and broccoli with sesame seeds, which are a great source of calcium, magnesium and iron. Along with these two recipes I served marinate aubergine, toasted wraps, salad leaves, beetroot hummus and homemade falafel.

Giant couscous salad with grated carrot, spinach, radish and sunflower seeds
Makes enough for 4

Ingredients
300g giant couscous
Olive oil
1 large carrot
Handful of washed spinach
Handful of washed radishes
Handful of sunflower seeds
Seasoning
Juice 1/2 lemon (optional)

Heat the giant couscous in a pan with a little olive oil, before pouring in around 500ml of boiling water. Allow to simmer for around five minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the mean time, grate the carrot, chop the spinach if it is a larger leaf and slice the radishes. Once the coucous is softer (it has a totally different consistency to regular couscous, so instead you're just tasting to see if it is no longer hard as opposed to fluffy), drain, allow to cool a little, and mix in a bowl with the vegetables and the seeds. Top off with some seasoning and the juice of half a lemon if you like it.

Broccoli, sesame seed and soy sauce salad
Makes enough for 4 as a side dish

Ingredients
One medium head of broccoli
1 tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp sesame seeds

Chop the broccoli into florets, and boil in salted water until just al dente. Drain, then back in the pan add the soy sauce and sesame seeds and heat for about 30 seconds, just so the flavours can mix at a high temperature.

Summer nights: Two tarts, two pestos, easy dinner

Here's two different tarts with two different pestos as a base. Plus a recipe for vegan potato salad which isn't too late to change your summer. This post is dedicated to a friend of mine who has served as inspiration to me over the years to follow my own heart, and who told me yesterday she is going to try a vegan diet- I hope it goes really well! Xx

Grilled courgette, pepper and onion tart with spinach and garlic pesto
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 medium courgette
1/2 white onion
2 small or 1 medium red pepper
2 handfuls of spinach
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped small
Juice 1/2 lemon
Seasoning
160g Jus-roll Puff Pastry (half a pack of pre-rolled pastry)
10g plain flour (to aid rolling out)
10ml soy milk

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line an oven tray or dish for your tart and set aside.

Chop and prepare the courgette, onion and pepper so they're ready to use as toppings and set to one side. Remember to keep things like courgettes thinly sliced so they will bake easily and won't weigh down the tart with juice.

Using a hand blender or mixer, blend the spinach, garlic cloves and olive oil into a fine paste, adding lemon juice and seasoning to taste. (This smells AMAZING when it's just been done. I nearly stopped cooking and just ate this for dinner.)

Roll out the puff pastry onto the tray (you may need a little plain flour to aid this, especially in hot weather!) and add on the spinach pesto straight on to the pastry. Then top with the vegetables, a little more seasoning or maybe some more olive oil. Brush the edges of the tart with soy milk so it will brown and place towards the top of the oven for around 20 minutes.

Tomato, onion and caper tart with basil pesto
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 ripe onions
1/2 white onion
2 tbsp capers
Handful of basil leaves and stalks
Olive oil
Seasoning
160g Jus-roll Puff Pastry (half a pack of pre-rolled pastry)
10g plain flour (to aid rolling out)
10ml soy milk

Follow the directions as above, using tomatoes and onions as the toppings. For the vegan pesto, blend the basil, olive oil and seasoning together, and add anything extra to taste. I left out the garlic as I thought there were enough flavours with the onion and capers- but by all means add it in if you feel like it.

Amelie's potato salad
Serves 4
Ingredients
200g potatoes, chopped into quarters and boiled
Seasoning
100ml soy cream
Handful of dill, chopped

Boil the potatoes in salted water and drain. Once they've cooled a little, mix in the soy cream and dill, and serve with plenty of salt and pepper.

Superhero food: Roasted hazelnut, pomegranate and radish salad

Radishes make me really happy. There, I said it. I love the colour pop, I love the spicy crunch and I love their tree-trunk pattern. They're also a great source of that infamous vitamin B6 everyone keeps asking me about. I teamed up them with hazelnuts, which are also rich in protein and a load of other B vitamins, but mainly because I love the taste of hazelnuts that lingers between sweet and savoury, which is made even more apparent when toasting. Pile 'em on fellas and get crunching!

I made this salad for brunch with soft polenta, roasted mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. I also added some pomegranate molasses for a dressing but I think it works just as well left plain and extra refreshing.

Makes enough for four as a side dish

200g hazelnuts
1 handful of radishes
2 inches cucumber
Pomegrante seeds from half a pomegranate
Different types of salad leaves

In a dry pan, toast the hazelnuts on a low heat for about 3-5 minutes. You'll know when they are ready as they will start to brown and you will be able to smell the oil from the nuts toasting.

Keeping an eye on the nuts, slice the radishes and cucumber and arrange with the salad leaves. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top.

Roughly chop the nuts- leaving some whole, and place over the salad, mixing a little to make sure all the good stuff doesn't roll to the bottom if you're using a salad bowl.

Serve with warm polenta, juicy mushrooms or just the pomegranate molasses for a tasty wake-up call.

Man cannot live on pre-drinks alone: vegan stop-over snacks

 

Sometimes pre-drinks on their own just don't quite cut it (I speak from experience), and maybe you need a little something to soak up some of that tequila. These three dishes make the perfect stop-over food- for friends to pick at en route to somewhere else, or while you're waiting patiently for the hair dryer.

The herb almond recipe is originally from Martha Stewart, who suggests teaming it with sherry and manchego cheese, but I went with white wine and processo, then gin with the figs, although vodka would also be a good match. These recipes are all really easy to prepare an hour before anyone arrives so there's basically no excuse to still be in your dressing gown/towel/the bath (ahem) when the doorbell goes.

Makes enough for 4

Herb toasted almonds
4 tbsp olive oil
200g whole blanched almonds
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Salt, pepper

Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a large pan and add the almonds and cook for about 12 minutes, until they turn golden and fragrant. Tip onto a baking tray to allow to cool.

With the other tablespoon of oil, drizzle over the serving dish you are using and add the herbs and seasoning, then pour in the almonds and mix until everything is thoroughly coated.

Coarse chopped bruschetta
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped and still in bite size chunks
Handful of basil leaves
Half a red onion, chopped small
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper
1 loaf of ciabatta, cut into chunks

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir. Allow to sit for an hour so the basil can mix in with the oil and tomatoes. In this time, toast the ciabatta chunks under the grill dry, as the oil from the almonds and the fig dressing will flavour the bread, whilst stopping it from being too rich.

Fig and leaf salad
Salad leaves, washed
4 figs, cut 2/3 of the way to the base into quarters, but so they still hold their shape
Fig vinegar- I used L' Olivier fig vinegar just to cut against the fig texture and the almonds, but if you can't get hold of this, a simple French dressing would work too.

Place the leaves on a serving plate, then arrange the figs on top, with enough per each guest. Drizzle the dressing over the figs, making sure the flesh of the fruit gets the flavour.

To combat an endless winter

I must apologise. While searching through the archives of Guac on the hunt for a curry recipe I realised just how long winter has held centre stage here. Don't get me wrong, I love comfort food and hunkering down for the night probably a lot more than the next person, (got the personal best of six roast dinners in seven days to prove it) but I think my capacity for stodge has reached its limit.

Here's a lunch or even brunch to add a little colour to the end of the coldest March in more than 50 years. This salad is warm, filling and perfect for anyone totally sick of porridge. The garlic in the spinach and herb pesto is left raw so it really comes through against the lemon juice, cutting through the giant cous cous and the olive oil. You could make a more traditional pesto with basil leaves and pine nuts, but basically it was too cold and windy for me to leave the house so I went with something different! 

-One last thing- don't bother with sourcing giant cous cous from the posh bit of the supermarket- if you have any newsagents with a good food section or local shops they will usually sell it in packets at around a third of the price. 

Giant cous cous with spinach pesto, grilled tomatoes and puy lentils

Serves 2 for a big lunch

Ingredients

150g giant cous cous

Olive oil

1 handful spinach leaves

1 spring thyme

2 sprigs of parsley

Seasoning

1 garlic clove chopped small

Juice 1 lemon, half for the pesto, half for serving

2 tomatoes, chopped in half

2 inches cucumber, cut into slices

1 spring onion, cut into slices

125g cooked puy lentils 

In a medium pan on medium heat, gently fry the giant cous cous for about 60 seconds in olive oil, until it just begins to sizzle. Then pour in around 300ml of cold water and let it cook for around 15 minutes.

In this time you can make the pesto: in a small pan heat the spinach with just enough water for it to cook in, and take off the heat the minute it's wilted down. Drain the water away, and now blend the spinach in a jug with a handblender, a mixer or even a pestle and mortar, with the leaves from one sprig of thyme, 2 springs of parsley, plenty of salt and pepper and the garlic. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and half the lemon juice and check the seasoning. 

Give the cous cous a stir to make sure it isn't sticking to the pan, then either grill or fry in a little oil the tomatoes with plenty of black pepper. While all this is cooking you can chop the cucumber and spring onion ready for assembling the salad.

Once the cous cous is ready turn off the heat and add in the pesto to the pan so it takes on some of the flavour of the pesto at the very end of its cooking time. Then add the puy lentils and check the seasoning once more. 

Assemble on a large plate with the roast tomatoes, cucumber and spring onion on top, with any extra spinach leaves or olive oil for serving. 

Beetroot, fennel and blood orange salad with quinoa and bulgar wheat

Oranges aint my bag. Bananas and apples you can grab and go, no napkins, plates or tissues needed. But for someone that spends half their lunchtime spilling couscous over their office desk, oranges are never an obvious choice.

That is, except for blood oranges, which have got to be some of the most beautiful fruit in season right now. I love that supermarkets are afraid to call them blood oranges, I love that surprise when they get mixed up in the fruit bowl with regular oranges and I love how their colour seeps on to everything.

This recipe is inspired by Bon Appetit, although I decided to do away with the red onion- preferring to just focus on the delicious aniseed taste of the fennel against the earthy beetroot and tang of citrus. I added quinoa and bulgar wheat to make this into a huge lunch, which was easily enough for two.

Ingredients
1 orange orange, peeled and cut into segments
3 blood oranges, 2 peeled and cut into segments, 1 for juicing
1/2 fennel bulb, thinly sliced lengthways
Couple beetroots, washed and peeled
Salad leaves
Olive oil
Seasoning
Quinoa, bulgar wheat or couscous

Preheat the oven to 200 degress celsius. Slice the beetroot into discs and place in an oiled tray. Cover in foil, and roast in the oven for around 40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to see how they are getting on.

Meanwhile, prepare the oranges and raw fennel, remembering to keep everything separate until ready to plate up as the oranges and the beetroot will dye everything they touch.

Mix the juice of one blood orange with a few tablespoons of oil, and some seasoning to make a dressing. When the beetroot is almost done, prepare the quinoa or bulgar wheat, drain and set aside to plate up.

Once the beetroot is ready, begin to assemble the salad. I started with a base of quinoa to soak up all the juices- then layered on the fennel, beetroot and oranges, along with the salad leaves and salad dressing. You can use the green fennel tops to add extra flavour to the salad, along with some final seasoning. Messy yes, but bloody tasty too!

Baked beetroot with pistachios and green lentil salad

As much happiness as a jar of pickled beetroot can bring (I've been known to bring my own beetroot to barbeques so I don't have to share), their flavour alone, just baked in the oven with a bit of seasoning, can be just as moreish. I added a green lentil salad and spiced potatoes to make a huge mid-week dinner, easily enough for two lunches the next day, by which time the pistachios have taken on a bit of the beetroot dye and the lentils have soaked up even more of the garlic and onion flavours.

Ingredients
300g beetroot, peeled and chopped into discs
200g green lentils
1 onion, chopped
3 galic cloves, chopped
1 leek, chopped
Salad leaves
Olive oil
Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees celsius, and lightly oil and season a baking tray. Place the beetroot on the tray and bake for around 30-40 minutes. You will need to turn half way through to make sure one side doesn't dry out.

Follow packet instructions to prepare the green lentils- you will probably need to boil them for around 10 minutes.

While this is happening, heat a little oil in a pan, and add the onion and garlic and let sautee for around 5 minutes so it all reduces. Once the lentils are ready, add these to the pan, along with plenty of seasoning as the lentils will often be quite bitter. You might want to add a little water or oil to stop the lentils from sticking as they heat through. When the lentils have reduced down, add in the chopped leek and cook slowly until the beetroot is ready.

Plate up with the salad leaves and pistachios, which will add a great texture to the soft lentils and leeks. I served with some lightly roasted curried potatoes, or this would be great with rice or cous cous.

Last meal of 2012

Heather and Rhys made the most delicious final meal for us on New Year's Eve before we set out for midnight. Ginger beer mojitos, spicy aubergine and tomato salad with Harissa paste, cous cous, chickpea and red onion salad and tomatoes and celery to boot. All from Deptford Market and amazing. Good friends, good food and that was it for 2012!

Summer Lovin'

A summer spent on fire escapes and roof tops that may or may not be yours is still a summer spent outside, and that's all that counts. Before departing for a few weeks in Scotland, I went with Nina to see Charlotte at her amazing flat in Brixton. Each armed with a chopping board and a mixing bowl, we somehow managed to whip up this roof top vegan picnic before 7pm, leaving as much time as possible to devour it before the sun went down!

Charlotte mixed a tin of chickpeas with two teaspoons of mint sauce, a handful of cherry tomatoes, half a red onion and a little fresh mint.  A combination I've never even heard of and absolutely delicious- perfect for cutting through a rich guacamole and oily olives.

 I made a rough and ready guacamole with avocados from Electric Avenue.

 We mixed tomatoes and artichoke for something to top our doorstop bread with.

Charlotte chopped herbs from her windowsill and mixed with olive oil, boiled potatoes and salt and pepper, for a quick, warm potato salad.

All eaten alongside the Brixton skyline.

Spicy bean burger leftovers

Spicy bean burgers made from this recipe, with giant cous cous and chick pea salad, gherkins and toasted pitta. I'm sadly not working from home, but if I was, this is my dream lunch. Yes, it's okay to have those.

Lemon and sesame seed falafel

When life gives you lemons... make falafel.

I had a not-so-great experience in Marks & Spencer the other week, whereby I tried to buy a huge stack of falafel for a garden lunch, only to find that they had decided to include egg and milk in their falafel recipe. There is no need for either of those ingredients in a traditional falafel. Here's the thing: protein makes things stick together. It's why people add egg to cake. Chickpeas are a great source of protein. They will also make things stick together. Which is why falafel is great, as it is a vegan food by default- my favourite kind. It's something you don't need to mess around with or alter- it should just be vegan.

HENNYWAY. They'll see sense eventually, I'm sure. In the mean time, here's a beautiful falafel recipe to sink your teeth into. I've seen recipes that don't use the flour, and if you wanted to keep this gluten free then by all means leave it out- but I prefer to roll mine flour first to make the outer edges a little crispier when fried.

Makes around 16 falafels

Ingredients
3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, chopped small
1 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
1 tsp cumin
1 large handful of fresh parsley chopped down small
Juice of 1 lemon
20g plain flour
4 tbsp of sesame seeds

Heat a frying pan with 1tbsp sunflower oil, and over a very low heat, spend 5 minutes frying the onion and garlic. You want them to remain soft and not at all crispy.
In a mixing bowl, use a hand blender or potato masher to mix the chickpeas, parsley, cumin, lemon juice and 2 tbsp of sesame seeds together, adding in the onion and garlic. The fresh parsley should give it a great green colour.

In a small bowl, add half the plain flour and half the sesame seeds. Mix these in, then taking a tablespoon size of chickpea mixture, roll in the flour and sesame seed mix and shape into a patty or ball. Once you've made four of these, heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry each side for around 3 minutes. Go slow- they are much better with less oil and less heat, than if you attempt to deep fry- as they will go soggy. After you've used up the first half of the flour and sesame seed mixture, add the second, and the same with the oil, until you have a plate full of amazing, vegan, falafel.

Vegan Summer Raindance Rolls

Vegan Summer Raindance Rolls 


You've heard of a raindance yes? Well this is the opposite. I've decided to start cooking the most summer-synonymous dishes I can think of, hoping that big ball of burning gas in the sky will take note. 


Summer rolls are perfect for adding something different to a run-of-the-mill-midweek stir fry. They are similar to their less-jolly Spring roll cousin, but with a thinner wrapping that is also normally vegan. They don't need to be fried, instead serve at room temperature or slighlty warm, with chilli sauce or a peanut butter/hoisin sauce. I chose to keep mine simple with just a salad and leftover rice for the perfect Raindance lunch. 


Ingredients
(Makes enough for 10- which is roughly how many pancake wraps there should be in a single pack)
One pack of Blue Dragon rice flour pancakes
Handful of red cabbage, cut as thin as possible (julienned if possible, or just do it yourself)
Handful of julienned greens
One large carrot, julienned
Two handfuls of bean sprouts
One onion, cubed 
Soy sauce
Oil
Sweet chilli sauce for dipping


Prepare your vegetables first- cooking so they reduce a little and will be soft enough to easily use in the pancake rolls. Then drain away any extra liquid- you don't want this going into the wraps as they won't fold as easily.
One at a time, soak the rice pancake in a bowl of hot water for 15 seconds. Carefully remove and place on  a wet tea towel.  Using the corners of the tea towel, blot the pancake dry until it becomes sticky. This will make it easier to keep in place when folding up.
Take a tablespoon of stir fry mixture and place in the centre of the roll, in the same roll shape as seen above. Then fold both top and bottom ends into the middle of the wrap, take the right hand side of the wrap and fold over the mixture, then roll the whole thing towards the left hand side, making sure the pancake is tightly wrapped at either end. Leave on a plate while you do the rest.


A quick scan across Pinterest and other vegan blogs makes me so excited to try these out again- you could add coriander before putting any mixture on the pancake to give it a pretty translucent effect when wrapped up, tofu, alfafa sprouts, or keep the whole thing raw with radishes and magoes! The world is your summer roll.

Picnic time: Al fresco Wraps and Kelly-Marie's Sunnyday Salad

Chickpea burgers with chapati wraps and the most delicious salad ever to see a Sunday


I was lucky enough to spend last Sunday in Kelly-Marie's garden. She made me this gorgeous lunch and we drank about nine cups of Earl Grey each. (I 'm making nine sound like an exaggeration; it isn't). 


I think the best picnics are ones with just a few components, all made to perfection. A salad like this, some leftover chickpea burgers and some Earl Grey in a thermos? Let's go.

Kelly-Marie's Sunnyday Salad
(I haven't put any measurements- just add to your own taste)


Ingredients
Salad leaves
Dressing
Artichoke hearts in oil
Sundried tomatoes
Fresh plum tomatoes
Chopped Spring onions 


We popped a couple of my fix-all chickpea burgers in the oven, added some hummus for good measure and wrapped it all up in a chapati. Sit, sip, steep and enjoy a Sunday! 


Psst- Have a look at Kelly-Marie's blog for even more beautiful creations...

Chickpea and red cabbage box salad

Five day box salad with chickpeas and red cabbage

A great way to sort your lunches ahead of time is a Box Salad. You can eat this salad raw, as it is, or zap in the microwave for a few minutes- the red cabbage especially is amazing hot or cold.  

Spend twenty minutes making this on a Sunday evening and you'll be sorted 'til Friday! The lime juice will keep this salad tasting fresh, and by using a study green leaf like chard you can be sure it will hold up for a good few days in the fridge. The parsley is great in the place of an onion if you're eating this at work- I find it adds a similar savory tang to salads that raw onion does, just without the long-lasting onion breath to follow! Social eating at its best, but if you don't care, then I think this would be great with a little chopped red onion too.

Ingredients:
1 tin of cooked Chickpeas, drained
1/4 red cabbage cut into long shreds
1 grated carrot
Handful of peas
Handful of chard with stems chopped off 
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2 tbsp olive oil
Dash of white wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lime

Salt, pepper to taste

Grab a mixing bowl, or if you don't have one, just your largest saucepan or wok. 


Add all ingredients, bearing in mind that flavours like salt will intensify as the days go by, so always add slightly less than needed. Then decant into five different tubs- supermarket soup containers or former- margarine tubs are the perfect size. 


Lunch is sorted! You can add couscous or rice to this if you fancy a little variety, or just eat as is.