Mexican Tostada with homemade refried beans

I think tostada might be my new favourite word. The recipe also makes a very lovely dinner. Or if you're entertaining they'd probably make really nice canapes. Just cut out small tortillas with a cookie cutter. Not that I've ever made canapes...

The homemade refried bean recipe isn't a traditional one, it is my mums, but it is much more flavoursome than the canned cat food that you buy in the shops. If you want a more traditional style recipe, use pinto and/ or black beans. I like the colour that the kidney beans give though.

Great quick and cheap student style cooking that can be served up to friends to achieve smiles all round.

Mexican Tostada with homemade refried beans

Serves 4
 4 flour tortillas
2 400g cans kidney beans
1 tsp fajita seasoning*
1 tsp vegetable boullion powder/ vegatable stock cube
2 handfuls cherry tomatoes , quartered
½ tsp chilli flakes (or to taste)
1 avocado , halved, stoned and sliced (squeeze a little lime juice on it to keep it green)
Juice from 1 lime
2 spring onions, finely chopped
handful coriander leaves, to serve
Soured cream (optional)
Cheddar cheese, grated (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper

*Make your own fajita mix - can be kept in a tightly fitted jar until needed
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ - ½ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 vegetable bouillon cube, crushed

1. Place a saucepan on a medium heat.
2. Tip the kidney beans into the pan and add a small cup of water.
3. Add the fajita seasoning, boullion powder/cube, pepper and chilli to taste.
4. Keep stirring until the kidney beans have broken down and is a thick paste with about half the whole beans to add texture - about 5 minutes. Keep on adding splashes of water until you get this consistency.
5. Check seasoning is to taste, cover and set aside.
6. Heat grill to medium-high. 
7. Put the tortillas onto a large baking sheet, then grill on both sides for 2 minutes, or until the edges are crispy.
8. In a bowl, mix the refried beans and cherry tomatoes, then divide the mix between the tortillas. 
9. If you are using cheese, sprinkle the cheese on top of the tostada and grill for a further 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted.
10. Lift onto plates and top with the avocado, spring onions, a squeeze of lime and coriander.  
11. Serve with a dollop of soured cream and a big side salad.

Pineapple and passion fruit crunch

My friend asked me to bring a dessert to hers on the night of her dinner party. I was at work, so I had to think fast. I remembered I had some tinned pineapple rings in my cupboard at home, and there was an abandoned passion fruit in our fruit bowl at work, so I began to think up recipe ideas using those two ingredients. I had been munching on my homemade cookies I had brought into work all day, so I wasn't in the mood for something really heavy. So I came up with a healthier version of a cheesecake, without the cheese.

After eating this I have thought of other ideas to improve it, but ultimately it was a dessert that pleased everyone, cheap to make and took only 20 minutes to prepare.Winner! I think instead of plain Greek yogurt, using coconut Greek yogurt would work excellently. Also maybe flambeing the pineapple with rum could be yummy. It would then adopt the well suited name of Caribbean crunch. Please note I haven't tried this, they are just ideas in my head.

Pineapple and passion fruit crunch

Serves 6-8
Pack ginger nut biscuits, smashed into pieces (still chunky)
50g butter
300g Greek yogurt (or coconut Greek yogurt for variation)
3-4 tbsp honey
1 large tin pineapple chunks
1 passion fruit
(Variation: sot of dark rum)

1. Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the ginger nuts. Stir to cover and press into a dish about 10 inches by 6. Place in the fridge (or freezer to speed things up)
2. Heat a griddle pan on a high heat. Drizzle some of the honey over the pineapple rings and place the rings in the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until they brown where they touch the griddle pan. (For variation add rum to hot pan and simmer off). Place on a plate and place in the fridge (or freezer) to cool.
3. Mix the Greek yogurt in a bowl with the rest of the honey. 
4. Take the ginger nut base out of the fridge and pour on the Greek yogurt.
5. Place the pineapple rings on top of the yogurt.
6. Slice the passion fruit in half and drizzle over the pineapple. 
7. Ready to serve in under 20 minutes.

Quorn kale stir fry with tahini dressing

This post is more about the tahini dressing really. When I make stir frys, I usually use the usual flavours (garlic, chilli, ginger, sesame oil and soy sauce) but that can get a little boring. I have been experimenting with Szechuan peppercorns recently, which are great to add a different type of heat in meals. But that is for another time...

I think this dressing would be great on salads too if you fry the onion and garlic beforehand. If you don't have tahini, you could use natural peanut butter (preferably no sugar or salt) and make this into more of a satay sauce. Not much of a looker I know, but very tasty.  

Quorn kale stir fry with tahini dressing

Serves 2
1 medium red onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
1 tbsp groundnut oil (i.e. peanut oil, or olive oil)
150g Quorn (or your alternative)
1 medium red bell pepper
1 medium green bell pepper
50g kale
Fresh or frozen coriander
1 tbsp tahini (or peanut butter)
1 lime, freshly squeezed
Chilli flakes, to taste
Soy sauce
Splash hot water
1/2 tsp honey

1. Heat half the oil in a fry pan over a medium heat and cook the onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Set aside in a bowl. Squeeze the lime juice over the onion and garlic and keep the squeezed lime.
2. Heat the rest of the oil and add the Quorn (or alternative). Cook for 10 minutes, or until the Quorn has cooked through and browned a little. Throw the squeezed lime into the pan. This will cook the lime and relese more juices, ensuring the Quorn does not dry out too much, and add lots of flavout.
3. Add the peppers and kale to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, add the tahini, coriander, lime juice, chilli, soy sauce and honey to the bowl containing the onion and garlic. Add a splash of water to loosen the tahini and mix well. Check seasoning and add more soy sauce or sugar if needed.
5. Once the peppers and kale are cooked but still with a crunch, tip over the tahini dressing to coat the stir fry and heat through. Serve immediately. 

I found this filling enough without any sides but rice or noodles would be lovely. If you added more water to the tahini dressing, or just made more, than it could coat the sides too.

Spicy carrot, parsnip and lentil soup

This is a really hearty warming soup, excellent for chilly weather. Really cheap and easy to make. The carrot and parsnips give it a really sweet earthy taste, while the lentils add protein, texture and thickness to ensure a well balanced, filling lunch.

Spicy carrot, parsnip and lentil soup

Serves 2-3
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
3 parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks
50g lentils
Good quality vegetable stock
1 inch piece creamed coconut (or 1/3 tin coconut milk)
1 tsp hot chilli flakes (or to taste)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprinkle paprika

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium heavy bottom saucepan over a medium heat and add the onion. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add the garlic, stir and cook for another 5 minutes. 
2. Throw in the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli, and cook with the onions and garlic for another 5 minutes, stirring, until the spices begin to give off an aroma.
3. Add the carrots, parsnips and lentils, and add enough stock to cover the vegetable by double. Reserve more stock, as the lentils will soak up a lot of water and thicken the soup. You can always add more stock/ water throughout the cooking process.
4. Add the creamed coconut/ coconut milk, cover and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally and adding more water/stock if it is getting too thick.
5. Blitz the soup with a hand blender (or a food processor in batches) to make a smooth soup. Check the seasoning, and serve with a sprinkle of paprika and black pepper. Great with chunky bread.

Macadamia and cranberry cookies, and chocolate chunk cookies

As with most offices, if it's your birthday or you get promoted (as in my case), it is etiquette to bring in naughty treats. Now, both my bosses are quite wonderful at baking, so I felt obliged to have a go myself. You may have noticed that I haven't posted any sweet recipes on my blog yet, and there is a very good reason for that. I'm very inexperienced when it comes to baking, but I'm willing to give anything a go, so I tried three (bit ambitious) types of cookie. One was a complete disaster. When trying to make cinnamon and raisin cookies I got through half of one recipe, realised I didn't have half of the ingredients, so swapped to another. I didn't however think to look at the difference in butter and sugar, or how many cookies it made, and my new recipe ended up having three times the amount of butter and sugar than it should have. They turned out rather flat and ugly, but funny enough they were the first to go at work. Human instinct once again makes us go for the most overly fatty sugary thing on offer.

Another couple of recipes inspired by BBC Good Food. I definitely lied in my first post when I said I don't follow recipes...
Macadamia and cranberry American cookies
Gooey chocolate cherry cookies
Neither look anything like the original recipe.... oh well, I tried

Macadamia and cranberry cookies

200g butter
2 eggs
100g light muscovado sugar
175g golden caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
350g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
100g dried cranberries
100g macadamia nuts , chopped

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Beat in the butter, eggs, sugars and vanilla, preferably with an electric hand whisk, until creamy. Stir in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cranberries and macadamias, to make a stiff dough.
2. Using a tablespoon measure or a small ice-cream scoop, drop small mounds onto a large baking dish, spacing them well apart, then poke in the nuts and berries. Bake in batches for 12 mins until pale golden, leave to harden for 1-2 mins, then cool on a wire rack.

Milk and dark chocolate chunk cookies

 Makes 20 cookies
200g unsalted butter , at room temperature
85g light muscovado sugar
85g golden caster sugar
1 egg
225g self-raising flour
100g plain chocolate , 50-70% cocoa, roughly chopped
100g milk chocolate , roughly chopped

1. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Beat the butter, sugars and egg until smooth, then mix in the flour, chocolate and ½ tsp salt. Spoon onto non-stick baking sheets in large rough blobs. Make sure they are well spaced as the cookies grow substantially as they bake. The raw dough can be frozen.
2. Bake for 12-14 mins until just golden, but still quite pale and soft in the middle. If baking from frozen, give them a few mins more. Cool on the sheets for 5 mins, then lift onto racks and leave to cool completely.

Melanzane alla Parmigiana with butterbean salad

I'm going away to Snowdonia this weekend. We are staying in  place called Trigonos. It has its own organic farm, with space for workshops, conferences and classes, overlooking a lake and surrounded by the most beautiful mountains. I can't wait! The food is all vegetarian, unless specially requested, which is a welcome change. I have heard amazing things about the food at Trigonos so I am really looking forward to eating there. My next post I'm sure will be raving about the quality and standard of the place.

But more to the present, I cooked Melanzane alla Parmigiana for my lovely friend Erin who came around last night. The translation means aubergine, tomato and Parmesan bake, and the recipe was taken from the BBC Good Food website.

The topping looks like all cheese but in fact it is an egg with a sprinking of Parmesan. This meal is also unintentionally wheat free.

Melanzane alla Parmigiana with butterbean salad

Serves 2
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
Splash of olive oil
1 400g carton passata
1 aubergine, cut into long, 5mm thick slices
Large handful of spinach
 85g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), freshly grated
20g pack basil , leaves torn
1 free range egg , beaten

1 400g can butterbeans
Half red onion, finely chopped
Half red bell pepper, finely chopped
Half lemon
Fresh basil leaves, torn
Fresh spinach, chopped
Splash balsamic vinegar
Splash olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Salad leaves

1. Heat oven to 200C. In a shallow pan, mix together the garlic and the olive oil. Cook over a high heat for 3 minutes, tip in the tomatoes, then simmer for 8 minutes, stirring every now and then.  
2. Meanwhile, heat a griddle pan until very hot. Brush a few of the aubergines with a little oil, then add to the pan. Cook over a high heat until well browned and cooked through, about 5-7 mins. Turn them halfway through cooking. Lift onto kitchen paper and do the next batch.
3. When all the aubergines are cooked, lay a few of them in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then spoon over some sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan, spinach and basil leaves. Add seasoning, then repeat this process with the remaining ingredients. Finally, pour the egg over the top, sprinkle over a little more Parmesan, then bake for 20 minutes or until the topping is golden. 
4. Meanwhile, mix the chopped onion and lemon juice together (this will take the edge off the onion).
5. Mix in the rest of the ingredients below and set aside.
6. To dress the salad leaves, make extra dressing out of the lemon, basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and seasoning, or use a little from the butterbean salad. 

We also had really good Ecuadorian dark ginger chocolate, and white needle, lily and jasmine blooming tea for afters, mmmm

Lemon, spinach and tomato spaghetti with homemade garlic bread

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog, life has suddenly got very busy and I have had little time to cook let alone write about it. Last weekend I made this spaghetti dish, which was very simple but very flavoursome, cheap and satisfying. This is a great crowd pleaser, and is great for the more novice cooks as it is simple but tasty. And you win bonus points because you make your own garlic bread (sooo much better than shop bought).

Lemon, spinach and tomato spaghetti with homemade garlic bread

 Serves 2

140g spaghetti
1 onion, finely chopped
Handful fresh cherry tomatoes
Large bunch spinach
150g Quorn (or meat substitute)
Juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon
Olive oil
Drizzle sundried tomato oil (from jar of sundried tomatoes)
40-50g sunflower seeds
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
French stick
2 cloves garlic
Large knob butter
Salad leaves

1.  Heat a dry frying pan and add the 2 cloves of unpeeled garlic and the sunflower seeds. Allow the sunflower seeds to toast and brown, then place in a bowl for later. Let the garlic cook in its skin for 4-5 minutes, then set aside. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the frying pan and add the onion. Fry for 4-5 minutes, then add the Quorn (or substitute). Fry the Quorn for 8-10 minutes, stirring. If the pan becomes very dry, add a splash of water or stock to stop the Quorn from drying out.
3. Meanwhile, heat a pan of salted water and bring to the boil. Add the spaghetti and cover. 
4. Place the butter in a bowl, crush and finely chop the garlic, and mix. Add plenty of black pepper and a little salt. Cut the garlic bread into slices, ensuring you don't go all the way through, and spread the garlic butter on each side of the slices. Place in the oven on a baking tray for about 5 minutes.
5. Chop the cherry tomatoes in half and roughly shred the spinach. 
6. Once the spaghetti is al dente add the cherry tomatoes, spinach, lemon, sundried tomato oil, Quorn, sunflower seeds and plenty of black pepper. Place on a very low heat to heat the ingredients.
7. Plate up the salad leaves, drizzle with a little olive oil and lemon juice.
8. Serve the spaghetti and the garlic bread. 
9. Add cheese if you wish.