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Posts Tagged ‘vegetarian’

Roast vegetable and quinoa salad

26 Sep

This is one of my all-time favourite meals. It’s super easy and delicious and I thought it was a perfect lead up to National Vegetarian Week.

There are so many variations, so use whatever veggies you have available and are in season. So many roast well – that’s what makes this dish so versatile.

I highly recommend serving with some grilled haloumi, yum yum!

Ingredients:

  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks
  • 1 red onion, sliced into wegdes
  • 2 zucchini, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 1 red capsicum, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
  • 1 cup red quinoa (you can also use white quinoa of course)
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • Olive oil
  • Small bunch parsley

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 C
  2. Toss sweet potato in 1 tsp of olive oil and roast for 15 mins
  3. Toss the rest of the veggies in a tsp of olive oil and roast for a further 15 mins making sure they are in a single layer
  4. Meanwhile, cook the quinoa in 2 cups of vegetable stock for 12-15 mins until all water is absorbed. Let stand and fluff with a fork.
  5. Mix the quinoa with the veggies and stir through freshly chopped parsley.
  6. Season to taste and enjoy!
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Related posts:
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  3. Black bean and Quinoa chilli
 

Sweet potato, adzuki bean and quinoa patties.

07 Oct

I have had adzuki beans in my cupboard for ages. I bought them after trying an adzuki bean tart from Iku and loved it. Not wanting to use pastry I decided to make these patties. At the organic expo I picked up some handy recipe cards for using quinoa, (pronounced keen-wa) which is an ancient seed from the South American Andes. It is a complete protein, meaning it contains on the essential amino acids. This is great since I don’t eat red meat so try to get protein from other sources.

I made my spicy red capsicum hummous to go with these patties and together they were delicious. I also made a salad with the patties ,which was also just as nice.

The adzuki beans need to be soaked overnight so it is best to plan ahead when making these. They also need to be left for an hour after boiling for 2 minutes. I didn’t realise this and after about 30 minutes I used them and they were fine.

I only used 1/3 cup of quinoa but next time I would use more. At least ½ cup. I think this might help hold the mixture together better.

Sweet potato, adzuki bean and quinoa patties.

Makes 18

1 cup adzuki beans, soaked overnight

1/3 cup quinoa

1 cup vegetable stock

2 sweet potatoes, roasted and cubed

1 large egg

1/3 cup rice flour, plus extra for coating

2 green onions, chopped

1 handful of coriander, chopped

black pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 180C
  2. Rinse beans, place in a large saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stand covered for 30 – 60 minutes.
  3. Bake sweet potatoes for 30 minutes. I like wrapping mine in foil.
  4. In another saucepan, bring the vegetable stock to the boil. Add the quinoa, reduce to a simmer, covered for 10-15 mins until the water is absorbed.
  5. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and combine gently.
  6. Carefully form mixture into patties and coat each pattie lightly in rice flour.
  7. Leave in the fridge for 15 minutes.
  8. Spray some olive oil on a large frypan and cook patties for about 3 minutes each side.
  9. Serve with hummous or a salad with baby spinach and tomato.
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Related posts:
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  2. Black bean and Quinoa chilli
  3. Quinoa and aubergine salad to kick off National Vegetarian Week
 

Mildred’s Vegetarian Restaurant – London

03 Oct

I have been wanting to  go to Mildred’s for ages! It’s one of the oldest and most talked about veggie restaurants in London so I finally just scheduled it into my diary and even convinced the carnivore crew ( hubby, sister, and her man) to come.

It’s in Soho which is great as it means you can wander through Carnaby St and all the surrounding gems that make up the area. If only it wasn’t raining, I would have made a day out of it.

In short, my verdict – LOVED IT! As there was four of us, I was able to taste a bit of all the dishes we ordered. The thing I love most about a vegetarian restaurant is that each dish appeals to me. I don’t have to immediately cull the top X choices and just make a decision from a minor few (which actually does make decision making easier), but I can read into each item. My choice at Mildred’s was particularly difficult. But I surprisingly didn’t have a wealth of questions or possible amendments for the waitress as they all sounded awesome.

We ordered four starters between us and passed the plates around - kind of like our own tasting plate! We shared the buffalo mozzarella, slow roasted vine tomatoes with fresh basil, the gyoza dumplings with mirin and soy dipping sauce, the panfried cherry tomato, halloumi and wilted spinach dressed with balsamic, and the hummous and babaganoush with chilli oil and chargrilled flat bread. All amazing, but fave was probably the halloumi. No, the gyozas…no…the buffalo mozza which was fab. Ah geez it was all great!

The halloumi in the front with the gyoza dumplings at the back

I then had the burrito filled with black turtle beans, corn and red pepper topped with tomato lime salsa, guacamole, smoked cheddar and sour cream served with leaf salad. I did ask for it without the sour cream but they forgot and I was too hungry to get them to re-do it, so just scraped it off. It was yum! I hate it when burritos are filled with rice, so this was super. It was pretty massive (as were all the dishes), but luckily had two hungry guys to take care of leftovers!

Veggie Burrito

My sister Tinks loved her sunblushed tomato and buffalo mozzarella risotto cake which was served with wilted spinach, green beans and a grape mustard cream sauce with a crispy coating, while the guys approved of the burger and mushroom and ale pie.

Sunblushed tomato and buffalo mozzarella risotto cake

As full as I was, I couldn’t go past the raspberry chocolate truffle with poppyseed tuille. It was amazing! Such a rich, dark chocolate stack which oozed raspberry goodness! You may have heard me rave about the marriage of dark chocolate and raspberry before, but for good reason  - it’s fantastic! The tart raspberry-ness cuts through the dark chocolate perfectly, I just love it!

Raspberry chocolate truffle with poppyseed tuille

Chris loved his white chocolate and pistachio cheesecake, and Mick’s ice cream selection was a neapolitan bowl but would have been better with the shot of hot fudge which never arrived.

When restaurants focus solely on vegetarian food, the dishes are usually created around the vegetables ‘star’ of the show. I think Mildred’s does this really well and I hope I can make it down there one more time before I leave London. Our only gripe was the attitude of the staff which was a tad on the rude side and not as attentive and friendly as we would have expected from such a homely place.

We shared a nice bottle of the pale rose – Le campuget, syrah grenache which was nice and light, and also a side of sweet potato wedges and the bill came to £30 each which is pretty good value for all that.

Mrs Marengo’s shop a few doors down caters for all takeaway orders during the day with a similar menus and is worth a visit to ogle all the cakes on display. The sample of lemon and pistachio slice was incredibly moist. I will definitely have to re-visit, who am I kidding?!

You can find them at 45 Lexington Street, London , W1F 9AN and they are open noon to 11pm Monday to Saturday.

Mildred's on Urbanspoon

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Related posts:
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  2. David Bann Vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh
  3. The York and Albany
 

Lentil and veggie salad with sun-dried tomato dressing

15 Sep

I was inspired to make this when I saw a similar salad and dressing on Lisa’s Vegetarian Kitchen. The mention of Lentils cause some people to gag, but I think they are delicious! They are naturally high in fibre, contain high levels of protein, and are a great source of iron, especially for vegetarians (or non red meat eaters!)

Lentil salad

Lentil salad

This is a pretty easy yet tasty recipe and I’m pretty sure will become part of my regular repertoire! The dressing is genius and more like a sauce. It was quite tangy when I tasted it by itself, but once I mixed it through the salad it mellowed out. Also, I heated the dressing up which gave the salad a bit of warmth after a boot camp session in the rain, although it’s also great at room temperature. So fresh and healthy, enjoy!

Recipe for approx 4 servings:

Salad

  • 1 cup of Puy or dark lentils (I am being thrifty and used black lentils from Waitrose)
  • 1 small red onion, diced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 courgette/ zucchini, diced
  • small tin of corn
  • 6 – 8 sun-dried tomatoes (in olive oil), drained on kitchen towel and roughly chopped
  • approx 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 red chilli, finely chopped
  • handful of parsley leaves, chopped
  • handful of basil leaves, chopped


Dressing

  • 1/2 cup  sun-dried tomatoes
  • 1 clove of garlic, chopped
  • 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
  • freshly cracked black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/3 cup of olive oil


Method

  1. Cook the lentils according to the packet instructions. The lentils from Waitrose are covered with water, brought to the boil, simmered for 15-20 minutes, then drained.
  2. Use a blender or food processor to combine the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt, black pepper and parmesan. Drizzle in the olive oil while the machine continues to blend.
  3. Let the lentils cool a tad, then mix through the red onion, red pepper, zucchini, corn, sun-dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, chilli, parsley, and basil.
  4. Stir the dressing through the salad making sure it’s evenly coated. (Heat up the dressing in the microwave for 20 seconds if you want a warm salad – the lentils will be warm also).
  5. Pile into bowls and dig in!
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Related posts:
  1. Black bean and Quinoa chilli
  2. Quinoa and aubergine salad to kick off National Vegetarian Week
  3. Herb tabbouleh with grilled halloumi