Rice + Parsley Pesto

I was at a friend's house a while ago and they had a rather large amount of parsley. And I hear parsley has a rake of vitamins. So, this happened.

 

I blended up the parsley in a pot with some garlic, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast and possibly a bit of balsamic vinegar. Some pepper also. Maybe you want to add salt, if you like it. I warmed it all up in a pot, but not too hot as I didn't want to kill the vitamins. I wanted to get that vitamin C in 2 me.

My friend made the rice part of the meal, first frying the uncooked rice in oil to get more flavour out of it (this was news to me). Then they added water to cook it. And also some onion, garlic, and bouillon powder.

The bread is there as I found a couple of loaves in a skip the day before, but it contrasted perfectly with the sloppy components of the meal.

- Dara

Spinach and Tomato Tart (Vegan Pizza)

I miss pizza sometimes. Friends in places like San Francisco do not understand this, as they have things as amazing as vegan pizzerias there. I was a bit shocked. However, I am in Ireland. So, I'll have to make my own. I'm reluctant to call things like this a pizza. Vegan-phobic people then pounce on it as a fake, a poor replacement for the real thing. 'Vegan pizza,' they'd say, 'No. You can't have a pizza without cheese because you just can't and if we start challenging everything where would we be? You'd drive yourself mad.' That kind of thing. So, that's why I'm calling it a tart, mainly, with vegan pizza in brackets.

 

Spinach and Tomato Tart (Vegan Pizza)

It's very easy to make. The prep time is about 5 - 10 minutes, and cooking time is about 10 - 15 minutes. I mixed some strong white flour with organic olive oil and water and made a nice dough. I was hungry, and so dispensed with the traditional addition of yeast and the subsequent hour or so for it to rise. I rolled the dough out thinly on a floured board, then placed it on a baking tray (a good trick is to put it on the tray before adding the toppings - it's harder to keep it all together when it's overloaded), and pre-heated the oven.

I made a quick tomato sauce from tomato puree, olive oil and oregano and spread it on the base. Then I made the thing that goes where the cheese would normally go (not a replacement, mind you). I blended up lots of baby spinach, some olive oil, nutritional yeast, capers and a bit of crunchy peanut butter. And I threw in some other things I had to hand till it tasted nice. I think there was carrot. There was definitely Frank's Hot Sauce. Always.

Being silly, I put all the toppings on before I added this spinach-sauce layer. Underneath it and unseen there sits; onion, pepper, sweetcorn, tomato, and thickly-sliced (cooked) beetroot, which gives it a nice bite. I threw on a few cashew nuts and a bit of rocket to top it all off, and threw it in a hot (not cold - fool me once) oven till I was satisfied and could wait no more (about 10 - 15 minutes). It was surprisingly good and I ate the whole tart (pizza) at once. I say surprisingly, as I often do in these entries, as cooking for me and Gwen is always an adventure. Generally it turns out pretty well. Rarely do you get lost in the woods without a map and get eaten by a bear. And certainly not this time.

- Dara

Caramelised Onion, Cabbage and Mushroom on Toast

An excellent brunch!

Thinly sliced onions were fried in a bit of sunflower oil, with a teaspoon of molasses sugar and a pinch of salt. When they were caramelised I added thinly sliced cabbage, then when that was cooked I added sliced mushrooms. That's really all there was to it. Well worth trying, and an excellent way of using up the ubiquitous cabbage in the veg box.

Creamy Lentil Curry

Another recipe that used some of my Christmas skipping haul. I washed and cooked up some red lentils till they started to go a bit mushy (I actually blended them as well for a smooth consistency). I fried up some various curry spices, onion, and garlic in a frying pan with lots of oil. I added this to the lentil mixture, along with some cooked chickpeas and some carrots and broccoli that I got from the skip and let it all mellow out together.

I don't eat dairy, but I had six cartons of skipped cream to use up, so I threw one in to the curry. It really set it off and gave it a lovely, well, creaminess. Coconut milk would give the same effect, but you don't often find that in the skip. Serve with some rice, or potatoes, or whatever you have lying around and you're done. It's pretty quick, and an especially good way of using up left-over veg, of which there is plenty at Christmastime.

Eggs on a bed of Chickpeas, Peas and Onion.

The base of this dish was originally soup. In it's first incarnation I fried some onion and garlic, added some water and veg stock, then chickpeas and finally frozen peas. The stock was so delicious I drank it all and was left with a solid base on which to place boiled eggs. Before I did this, I mixed it with my lovely fennel fronds in olive oil, and some herbs provençal. Looks a bit strange perhaps, but it's truly delicious.

Dara's Sandwich no. 5

Courgette, tomato, fresh onion, and caramelised onion houmous on Toasted Rye Bread

All of the vegetables for this one came from right here on the farm in Sweden where I'm working. Even the homemade sourdough rye bread is made from rye flour from the farm. Good lunch.

- Dara

Curried Potato, Aduki Bean Mix, and Beetroot Salad

Hej! I'm currently working on an organic vegetable farm near Björklinge in Sweden with some other friendly folk. We work hard, and it's pretty hot here, so the best bit is coming in to a big, well-deserved lunch. We take turns cooking and I volunteered for my turn the other day. It was my first time cooking for eight people, but luckily there was enough for everyone to have seconds! Oh, and all of the ingredients, apart from the spices and beans, came from right here on the farm.

Curried Potato, Aduki Bean Mix, and Beetroot Salad

First, I chopped and boiled up the potatoes. While they were cooking I diced and fried up up some onions in a big pot. I added some sugar, curry spices, and plenty of oil to the onion mix. Once the potatoes were done I added them in and stirred it all up.

For the bean mix, I chopped up some old tomatoes and fried them up with some of the chopped onions and oil. I added lots of lovely chopped courgettes and some water, cider vinegar, and a tiny bit of water with a stock cube. After this had simmered for a while I added in some aduki beans, that had been cooked and conveniently frozen, and left the whole thing to simmer a bit more.

I roasted some beetroot that was lying around and diced it up with some cucumber and tomato for the salad. As a dressing, I mixed some nice Swedish mustard, homemade cider vinegar, sugar, and oil.

And there you have it! Food for eight hungry farmers, plus second helpings!

Dara's Home-made Chips and Ketchup

Surprise a loved one, or indeed yourself, by making some lovely home-made chips and ketchup instead of frozen chips! It only takes about 5 or ten minutes to prepare.

Chips
Chop up some potatoes length-ways, or however you would like you chips to look. Spread them evenly on a baking tray and not on top of each other. Coat them with oil and any seasoning you like (we're getting into wedge territory here, but I suggest some chopped garlic). Place them in a pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, give or take, depending on how thick you cut the chips. Give them a shuffle around halfway through. While they're cooking, let's make some ketchup!

Ketchup
Most ketchups are unnecessarily loaded with salt, but if you leave it out you can have as much ketchup as you like without worrying about your ticker! So, put a good scoop of tomato puree in a dish, depending on how much ketchup you want to make. To this I add;

crushed garlic (or garlic powder)
crushed onion (or onion powder)
malt vinegar
cider vinegar
black pepper
unrefined sugar dissolved in warm water (or syrup/ honey)
and the secret ingredient - paprika!

The quantity is up to you, start small and taste as you go along to see which ingredients you want more of. Easy on the vinegar, as it's quite strong. Paprika really sets it off, though, so plenty of that. Add the sugar mixture to sweeten and thin out the ketchup as you desire. And there you go! Serve that with your chips and impress your guests, or yourself.

- Dara

Beer Broth

 

Beer Broth

I was in a rush the other day and needed a quick dinner, so I decided to see what I had. Cans of beer? Cooked adouki beans? Leek and onion? Bread? Eh, beer broth?! I think so! That's a thing isn't it? Well, if not it is now. It only took me about 20 minutes and it's dead easy. The hardest thing is not drinking the open tinnies before adding them in.

So, quickly then, fry up the chopped leeks, onions and garlic. Add a bit of sugar to the mixture and add the pre-cooked adouki beans (handy to keep some cooked ones in the freezer for quick meals like this). Then add - get ready- beer! Like so:
  

 

'Hey, this is fun!' said Dara.

I'm not sure how much I put in really. Probably about a can and a bit after all the sipping. I let it simmer for a minute, and added more beer gradually, so it didn't all boil off.  You can add some vegetable stock and seasonsing if you think it needs flavour. It should look like this or something:

And it's pretty much done straight away. Add salt and pepper to taste. Next time I'll do it with some barley and potatoes and carrots. Make it nice and hearty. Still, this was delicious. I topped it with some fresh parsley and served it with some nice bread. And a tinnie, if you've any left! Note: you may not want to make this meal before a matter of any importance.

- Dara

Quick Potato Filling

I love food. The sleuths among you can probably tell that. I cannot understand people who eat entirely for sustainance, begrudgingly and without joy. I feel very lucky to be able to eat delicious food every day. However, I do spend a little too much time cooking. Sometimes it is necessary to make a quick meal. So, I am always looking for ways to make quick food, without compromising on taste. And so, this is one I rustled up today in about 15 minutes:

Baked Potatoes with Leek and Tomato filling

(I assure you there are two large potatoes under that mountain)

I suggest throwing on a couple of extra potatoes on anytime you're cooking something in the oven. They are always handy to have in the fridge. You can heat them up and add a filling to them for a quick meal, or slice them and fry them up with some garlic and onions (mmmm), or even throw them in a curry or soup. They won't go to waste anyway, so you might as well throw a few on just to have!

With this in mind, I pre-baked some spuds yesterday when I had the oven on. So, today I popped the oven on to heat them up, while I worked on a filling. I chopped up and fried two small leeks, half an onion, and some garlic. I threw in some chopped tomatoes and more oil, and fried it all up for a minute or so. Then it was time to cut open the now-hot spuds, and load those bad boys up. Top it all off with some cheese and black pepper and stick it in the oven to melt the cheese. And then BAM - 15 minute feast, with no taste compromise (maybe a bit with the presentation alright -it makes me feel dirty looking at it).

- Dara