Madhur Jaffrey’s chicken tikka kebabs with spiced vegetables

September 25, 2014October 1, 2014Posted in Meat, Recipes, VegetarianTagged chicken, chicken tikka, courgette, green beans, indian, kebab, madhur jaffrey, sabzi, the spice trail, tikka, zucchini2 Comments

There are times when you try out a new recipe and you know the very instant it touches your tongue you’ve got yourself a keeper; that this dish is set to become a firm family favourite, an easy regular for the weekly meal plans.

And so it was with these chicken tikka kebabs from Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible. I thought it was about time I cooked a dish to enter into my own Indian-themed Spice Trail challenge, and this felt like a good excuse to try another recipe from Jaffrey’s classic curry tome. Continue reading “Madhur Jaffrey’s chicken tikka kebabs with spiced vegetables” →

Grilled salad of courgette, chicory, basil and mozzarella from ‘The Natural Cook’

August 17, 2014August 18, 2014Posted in Recipes, Reviews, VegetarianTagged barbecue, basil, bristol, chicory, courgette, mozzarella, poco, salad, the spice trail, tom hunt, zucchini9 Comments

The umming and ahhing is over. The decision has been made. Our house is now officially on the market and we’ll soon be leaving the sticks and heading back to the big city. Bristol, to be precise, which isn’t exactly a heaving metropolis and is actually one of the most laid back, greenest and coolest cities I know.

Bristol was home for us until our first daughter was about eight months old, at which point we decided family life meant a bit of the good life, the country life. And while we’ve loved it here and having space and green fields around us, a veg patch and apple trees, foraging in the hedgerows, picnics by the stream and drinking scrumpy at the annual village fete, it’s now time to crank the pace back up again with a bit of inner city living. You can take the girl of out of the city, but you’ll never take the city out of the girl, it would seem.

There are lots of things I’m looking forward to about being back in a city. One of them is not having to drive so much to get, well, anywhere really. I love the idea of being able to walk back home after a night in a restaurant, or at least being able to afford the taxi fare. And one of the restaurants I intend on visiting as soon as we’re in Bristol is Tom Hunt’s Poco on Stokes Croft, with its emphasis on seasonal ingredients, thrifty cuts of meat and sustainably sourced fish, most of which is sourced from within a 50-mile radius, and at the same time producing the minimum of food waste. Continue reading “Grilled salad of courgette, chicory, basil and mozzarella from ‘The Natural Cook’” →

Roast vegetable sauce for pasta

January 21, 2014Posted in Recipes, VegetarianTagged butternut squash, carrot, celery, courgette, Family Foodies, pasta, red pepper, roast vegetables, sauce, vegetables, zucchini15 Comments

I have been cooking this sauce, or versions of it, since I was weaning my two girls onto solids. They are now five and eight and still enjoy it just as much, although the portion sizes are considerably bigger now. Back in the early days, they would eat the sauce on its own and as they grew older I started stirring it into penne or fusilli to make a delicious pasta sauce. They still love it this way, especially with a huge heap of grated cheese on top, along with a drizzle of olive oil.

It’s one of the easiest sauces in the world to make. All the ingredients are simply roasted in one pan and then blitzed in a food processor with some stock. I don’t even bother to peel the garlic.

It’s extremely adaptable too and you can experiment with whichever vegetables take your fancy – or whichever vegetables you might be trying to sneak past your unsuspecting fussy eater.

I generally cook up a big batch of this sauce and freeze it in individual portions; perfect for a quick tea after school when the kids have clubs to rush off to.

Roast vegetable sauce for pasta

450g tomatoes
1 butternut squash, chopped into large chunks
1 red pepper, cut into large chunks
1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
3 sticks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 courgettes (zucchini), chopped
3 garlic cloves
glug of olive oil
500ml vegetable stock (low salt)

Preheat the oven to 220°C / gas mark 7.

Place the tomatoes, chopped vegetables and garlic into a large roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and give it all a good mix to make sure everything is thoroughly covered. Roast in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and beginning to char a little.

Put the vegetables into a blender with the stock and blitz until smooth. Job done.

Simply stir into cooked pasta for an easy peasy supper.

Freeze the remainder of the sauce in individual portions. You should get around 12 portions out of it.

As this pasta sauce is an ideal way to introduce your children to vegetables and entice them to eat a few they might not be so keen on, I’m entering it into this month’s Family Foodies challenge, where the theme is ‘Hidden Goodies’.

Round Up: June’s Recipes for Life challenge

June 29, 2013Posted in Competitions and challengesTagged courgette, pasta, recipes, recipes for life, salmon, swallow charity, zucchini9 Comments

June’s Recipes for Life challenge has been making me very hungry. All month long, tempting images of delicious pasta dishes have been popping up on my Twitter timeline or arriving in my inbox.

The challenge this month was to cook simple, healthy dishes with salmon, courgette (zucchini) and pasta. So what did you come up with?

Martin, aka Spurs Cook, kicked things off with his attractive Salmon and Prawn Fishballs in a Tomato and Courgette Sauce . The fish balls are served in a rich tomato sauce, flavoured with basil and garlic, giving the salmon and courgettes some ‘show time’.

As ever the photography from Elizabeth’s Kitchen is just exquisite, and these pictures of her Foil-baked Shetland Salmon with Orzo & Courgette Ribbons are no exception. The courgette ribbons are a simple way to create a very sophisticated and elegant looking dish.

While it might feature smoked salmon, normally considered a bit of a luxury treat, Blue Kitchen Bakes’ Smoked Salmon, Courgette (Zucchini) & Dill Pasta is an economical and satisfying dish, featuring value brand smoked salmon trimmings which totally suit Jen’s student budget.

Another dish to make the most of these supermarket trimmings is this Smoked Salmon and Courgette (Zucchini) Pasta from JibberJabberUK. It’s a lovely light and summery pasta dish and I do like the idea of grating the courgette. Will be trying that tip very soon…

Helen from The Crazy Kitchen created these simply gorgeous Salmon Canneloni, despite not being much of a fan of fish herself. Helen’s husband was rather happy with the choice of ingredients though, and I’d be more than happy if this was served up for me!

Party nibbles weren’t really something I expected to see this month, but these Smoked Salmon, Raw Courgette (Zucchini) and Spearmint Cannelloni Bites from On Top of Spaghetti were a very welcome surprise entry. They formed part of an amazing birthday party spread prepared by Eleni for the The Mister, and I love the sound of the minty, lemony flavour combination.

Carbonaras are rather popular at Chez Foti. Here at Bangers & Mash, we’re rather partial to Louisa’s sausage and courgette carbonara. For this challenge, Louisa has come up with a Smoked Salmon and Courgette Carbonara, which looks all set to become another family favourite for us too.

Spurs Cook delivered another very tasty looking dish with his Angel Hair Pasta with Salmon and Courgettes. I like the idea of the salmon with the smoky pancetta – yum!

Next is this wonderful Warm Pasta Salad with Courgette & Herbs from Sarah at The Garden Deli. Now as you probably know, Sarah is vegetarian so salmon isn’t an ideal ingredient for her. So we agreed she could enter her salad featuring the other two ingredients, and I’d have a go at making it to ensure it worked with salmon too. And indeed it did. It’s a great mix of flavours, especially with all those fresh herbs. Above you’ll see Sarah’s version sans salmon, and mine below avec.

I had to play a little with the ingredients for my take on The Garden Deli’s pasta salad, as I’m allergic to avocado and my friend’s son, who was over for lunch, doesn’t like cheese, so I tried disguising it by grating it and letting it melt in, rather than serve as shavings on top. I also left out the chilli as I was cooking for kids, but next time it’s definitely staying in!

This Smoked Salmon & Courgette Orzotto from Claire at Under The Blue Gum Tree really looks as pretty as a picture, and having made several of her dishes in the past, I know it will taste every bit as good as it looks. Risottos are usually fairly time-consuming, with all that stirring required, but Claire has used orzo pasta for a much speedier alternative. A beautifully delicious and healthy dish – I can’t wait to make it for my family.

Here’s another stunning plate, this time from Rich in Flavour with his Salmon and Courgette Ravioli. I’ve never made my own pasta before, but I think dish might just have inspired me. According to Rich, it’s not all that difficult and is really rather satisfying, plus he didn’t need a special pasta maker either – just a rolling pin. With its creamy salmon filling, this is one I’m definitely bookmarking.

Finally, I thought I’d better bring something to the table. So here are my Simple Salmon Croquettes with Courgette & Baby Leek Hollandaise. They really are very easy to make and a great one to get the children involved in making. They love rolling the little fish balls, and their hands are the perfect size. The main ingredient of the balls is tinned salmon, so it’s a fairly cheap and cheerful recipe too.

So who takes the winner’s medal this month? It was no easy task to select a winner this time and as ever I was grateful the decision wasn’t up to me. Tracey and the cookery club at SWALLOW had that unenviable task. So who did they choose…?

Well, they simply couldn’t decide between Blue Kitchen Bakes’ Smoked Salmon, Courgette and Dill Pasta and Spurs Cooks’ Salmon & Prawn Fishballs in Tomato and Courgette Sauce. Tracey and the team at SWALLOW loved both dishes and thought they’d make perfect meals for the group to have a go at in their cookery lessons. So well done to both Jen and Martin – some little prizes will be coming your way in the post very soon!

The three ingredients for July’s Recipes for Life will be announced very soon. In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about the challenge and the work of SWALLOW take a look here.

Simple salmon croquettes with courgette and baby leek hollandaise

June 24, 2013June 24, 2013Posted in Competitions and challenges, Fish, RecipesTagged baby leek, balls, courgette, croquette, fish, leek, pasta, recipes for life, salmon, swallow charity, tinned salmon, zucchini12 Comments

This is a pretty quick and easy meal to rustle up, particularly if you’ve got little children whose hands are the perfect size for rolling the little croquettes – a posh name for fish balls basically.

It’s also quick and easy if, like me, you cheat and buy a ready-made hollandaise sauce, rather than making your own from scratch. Clearly homemade hollandaise is what we should all aspire to, but when you’re working full-time like I am at the moment, it’s just not always possible. And there are some rather nice shop-bought ones around.

I served my croquettes with pasta and the hollandaise sauce combined with courgette and baby leek. Or you could simply serve the baked balls with dips as an appetizer, or perhaps with salad as an alternative to falafel for a tasty pitta bread filling.

Simple salmon croquettes with courgette and baby leek hollandaise

Serves 4

1 tin salmon (around 200g)
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 tbsp cream cheese
juice of half a lemon
large pinch of dried dill weed
½ tsp dried tarragon
salt and pepper
1 baby leek, finely sliced
1 courgette, quartered lengthways and sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
200g ready-made hollandaise sauce (I bought a Tesco own brand variety)
handful of fresh chives, snipped

Preheat the oven to 180°C / gas mark 4.

Drain the tinned salmon and flake into a mixing bowl. Combine with the spring onions, cream cheese, lemon juice, herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Using your hands shape the mixture into small balls and place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until slightly browned.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by gently frying the leek and courgette in the olive oil. When tender simply combine with the hollandaise sauce and heat through.

Serve with your favourite pasta. You can either mix the croquettes into the sauce (being careful so as not to break them) or pop the croquettes onto your pasta and pour over the sauce. Finally garnish with some snipped chives.

As this dish is so easy and uses the three key ingredients of salmon, courgette and pasta, I’m entering it into this month’s Recipes for Life challenge, which – as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now – I’m hosting on behalf of the incredibly fantastic charity SWALLOW.

My take on The Garden Deli’s warm pasta salad

June 23, 2013Posted in Competitions and challenges, Fish, RecipesTagged courgette, fish, Garden Deli, pasta, recipes for life, salad, salmon, warm salad, zucchini4 Comments

You may have heard the three ingredients for this month’s Recipes for Life challenge are salmon, courgette (zucchini) and pasta.

Sarah from The Garden Deli has been an active supporter of the Recipes for Life challenge since it started back in February. Only problem is, sometimes the trio of ingredients include meat or, as is the case this month, fish. And as Sarah is a vegetarian that’s presented a slight problem. But because both SWALLOW and Bangers are inclusive types, and because Sarah asked so nicely, we’re happy to let her enter a vegetarian dish on the proviso that I test it out to see if it works with said meaty/fishy ingredient.

So that’s what I bring you here – Sarah’s Warm Pasta Salad with Courgette & Herbs, but with my addition of some oven-baked Scottish salmon.

I topped a couple of Scottish salmon steaks with lemon slices and a grind of black pepper and then wrapped them loosely in foil. I then baked them in a fairly hot oven for around 15 minutes until just cooked through, when the bright pink turned pale pink. At the final stage of assembling the salad, I flaked chunks of the salmon into the dish.

Unfortunately I’m allergic to avocado so I had to adjust Sarah’s recipe a little more by boosting the amount of courgette and adding half a green pepper to the recipe too. Because I was cooking it for friends and their children as well as our own, I decided to omit the chilli as I wasn’t sure if their kids would be able to handle it. I only had cherry tomatoes rather than plum, and I grated the parmesan rather than slicing it as I knew one of my friend’s children wasn’t too keen on cheese so I attempted to disguise it by mixing it in before serving. Oh, and the fresh herbs I chose to use were oregano as we have so much in the garden right now.

But other than those little divergences, I stuck to Sarah’s recipe, and very good it was too. We enjoyed it for lunch today, and I’ll be having the leftovers for supper once I’ve got this blog post out the way.

I would definitely recommend giving Sarah’s recipe a go. Next time I make it I will definitely add chilli. It was fine without but I think it would be all the better for that little chilli kick. Chilli and lime are a match made in heaven, as they say.

I’m hosting the Recipes for Life challenge on behalf of the charity SWALLOW. Based in Midsomer Norton in the South West of England, this incredible charity works hard to support adults with learning disabilities live life to the full. One of their popular activities is the weekly cookery club and this challenge aims to find simple, tasty and wholesome dishes SWALLOW users can recreate in their cookery classes. The best of these will appear in a new cookbook SWALLOW is planning publish later this year to help raise much-needed funds for the charity.

If you’d like to enter this month’s challenge, you’d better get your skates on as the closing date is 25 June – only two days away.

June’s Recipes for Life challenge: salmon, pasta and courgette (aka zucchini)

June 4, 2013June 24, 2013Posted in Competitions and challengesTagged blog challenge, challenge, courgette, pasta, recipe challenge, recipes for life, salmon, swallow charity, zucchini8 Comments

I’m still recovering from writing the round-up last night for May’s Recipes for Life, so I’m keeping this post short and sweet.

The three ingredients for June’s Recipes for Life are salmon (fresh, smoked, tinned or cured), pasta (dried, fresh, homemade, shop-bought, you can even use a tin of spaghetti hoops if you’re so inclined!) and courgette – also known as zucchini in certain parts of the world.

So get your culinary thinking caps on! What tasty creations can you come up with featuring salmon, pasta and courgette?

Through the Recipes for Life challenge, we’re looking for easy-to-follow, healthy dishes for members of SWALLOW’s cookery club to recreate in their sessions. Any other ingredients you use should therefore be readily available in most grocers or supermarkets.

SWALLOW is an amazing charity based in Midsomer Norton, which supports adults with learning disabilities to lead more independent lives.

The Recipes for Life challenge is running for six months and at the end, the best recipes will be included in SWALLOW’s new cookery book to help raise much-needed funds for the charity.

Recipes for Life: how to enter

Display the Recipes for Life badge (shown above and available here) on your recipe post, and link back to this challenge post.
You may enter as many recipe links as you like, so long as they are based on the three main ingredients selected for this month and accompanied only by everyday items.
Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Tuesday 25 June 2013.
If you tweet your post, please mention #RecipesforLife, @BangerMashChat and@SWALLOWcharity in your tweet and we will retweet each one we see.
Feel free to republish old recipe posts, but please add the information about this challenge and the Recipes for Life badge.
As entries come in, links to these will be added to this page and at the end of the month there will be a round-up of all entries received.
SWALLOW staff and members will choose their favourite recipe at the end of each month, and the winner will receive a small prize.
A selection of recipes entered each month will be featured in the SWALLOW cookbook to be published later this year, helping the charity to raise much-needed funds for its ongoing work.

Thanks to everyone who has supported and taken part in Recipes for Life so far. We can’t wait to see your entries for June!

June’s entries

Salmon and Prawn Fishballs in a Tomato and Courgette Sauce from Spurs Cook
Foil-baked Shetland Salmon with Orzo & Courgette Ribbons from Elizabeth’s Kitchen
Smoked Salmon, Courgette (Zucchini) & Dill Pasta from Blue Kitchen Bakes
Smoked Salmon and Courgette (Zucchini) Pasta from JibberJabberUK
Salmon Canneloni from The Crazy Kitchen
Smoked Salmon, Raw Courgette (Zucchini) and Spearmint Cannelloni Bites from On Top of Spaghetti
Smoked Salmon and Courgette Carbonara from Chez Foti
Angel Hair Pasta with Salmon and Courgettes from Spurs Cook
Warm Pasta Salad with Courgette & Herbs from The Garden Deli
Smoked Salmon & Courgette Orzotto from Under The Blue Gum Tree
Salmon and Courgette Ravioli from Rich in Flavour
Simple Salmon Croquettes with Courgette & Baby Leek Hollandaise from Bangers & Mash

Courgette and mushroom omelette with garlic and parsley

December 11, 2012December 11, 2012Posted in Recipes, VegetarianTagged Breakfast Club, brunch, courgette, Fuss Free Flavours, herbs on saturday, lavender & lovage, mushroom, omelette, zucchini6 Comments

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know I’ve only discovered my cooking mojo in the last few years. I spent a long time feeling out-0f-place in the kitchen. But I do believe I’ve arrived and earned my right to wear a pinny (although I generally forget to until it’s too late). Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never be a great cook and I won’t be entering Masterchef anytime soon, but I think I might be turning into a good cook. Indeed, in a restaurant the other evening, my husband told me he thought my cooking was better. I was ever so slightly on the chuffed side.

Omelettes were always one of those dishes I had trouble with. Well, rather I assumed I would if I actually plucked up the courage to try making one. Yes I know they’re quick and simple, but only if you’re a proper cook. Or so I thought. In recent months, I’ve made myself learn how to make a good omelette because I realise they are the ultimate fast food. After one or two duds along the way, I’ve worked out they’re not all that difficult after all. It’s all about trial and error and not being afraid to make a few mistakes. If you don’t make mistakes, how can you find out what works and what doesn’t?

We now eat a fair few omelettes in our house. Our life can get pretty manic, what with school and work and all the various out-of-school clubs and activities, not to mention some attempt at a social life; so it’s good to have a speedy and adaptable supper up your sleeve. They also make the perfect brunch dish, when you fancy something warm and tasty but don’t want to go to too much effort.

Now that I’m turning into a bit of an omelette fanatic, I was rather pleased when Littlewoods sent me a set of Russell Hobbs pans to test out – a frying pan and an omelette pan*. After many years, the non-stick coating on our old pan had given up the ghost, and omelettes aren’t so great when you don’t have a non-stick pan. At just £27 for the pair, they do seem a bit of a bargain. At first, when the pans arrived, I thought they were a little on the lightweight side, but having used them a few times now, I can confirm they are pretty decent pans. How long they’ll remain non-stick with the amount of wear and tear they’ll get in my kitchen remains to be seen, but for now they certainly turn out a good omelette.

I enjoy trying out new fillings for my omelettes. This latest concoction was simply a way of using up a few bits and bobs in the fridge. It worked out rather well so I think I’ll be adding it to my tried-and-test list.

Courgette and mushroom omelette with garlic and parsley

Serves 2

olive oil, a couple of glugs
1 courgette, halved lengthways and sliced
handful of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
knob of butter
4 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with pepper

Heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and gently fry the courgette until softened. Throw in the mushrooms and soften these too before adding in the garlic and parsley. When the garlic is golden, take off the heat and keep warm to one side.

In your omelette pan, heat another glug of olive oil with the knob of butter over a fairly high heat. Pour in the beaten egg and leave for a few seconds to give it time to ‘catch’.

Then using an implement that won’t scratch your lovely non-stick pan (my weapon of choice is a rubber spatula!), start dragging the edges of the eggy mixture into the middle, going round and round, and letting the runny egg fill in the gaps you are leaving. As the omelette starts to firm up, tilt the pan to encourage the uncooked egg to flow into the spaces.

When the only runny egg left is on the surface, leave it for 30 seconds or so to continue cooking, and then it’s time to add your filling.

Pour the mushroom and courgette mixture over one half of the omelette and carefully fold over the other half. Cut in half and slide out onto warmed plates. Enjoy!

As a good omelette is a perfect lazy brunch dish, I’m entering this recipe into December’s Breakfast Club, a blogger challenge created by Fuss Free Flavours and which this month is being hosted by – oh yes, it’s me! If you’d like to enter a dish you can find out more here.

And because it features lots of lovely fresh parsley, I’m also linking up with Herbs on Saturday hosted by Lavender & Lovage.

* Disclosure: I was provided with two complimentary Russell Hobbs pans for review purposes and no money exchanged hands.

Pappardelle with courgette and basil

April 27, 2012Posted in Recipes, VegetarianTagged basil, courgette, family recipe, Jamie Oliver, lemon, papparedelle, parmesan, pasta, recipe, tagliatelle, zucchini4 Comments

In the last year we have dramatically reduced the amount of meat we eat in the Bangers & Mash household. Don’t get me wrong, I could never give up meat entirely. I enjoy it far too much.

But there is no getting away from the fact that meat is expensive, both on the pocket and as a global resource. Good quality meat that has been responsibly reared and farmed is not cheap to produce. And I refuse to buy cheap meat because I dread to think what conditions the animals have been kept in.

So a major part of reducing the cost of our weekly meals has been to reduce the amount of meat we consume: less of it but good quality stuff when we do. I’m sure this must be much better for us from a health point of view too.

At first it was difficult, especially I think for my husband who has taken a little while to convince that you can have a fully satisfying meal without any meaty component. But for me it’s turning into quite an adventure, discovering a whole new world of vegetarian cuisine.

This pasta dish, pappardelle with courgette (zucchini) and basil, is one we eat quite often, particularly in the summer when courgettes are in abundance. I have actually been making it for years – it has been my staple dish whenever veggie friends came over for a meal. Now we eat it with or without the vegetarian guests.

It’s based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. He makes it with tagliatelle but I tend to use whatever pasta happens to be in the cupboard. Pappardelle is my favourite for this. Oh yes, and I use much more garlic than Jamie.

Pappardelle with courgette and basil

5 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 courgettes, sliced very thinly
juice of 1 lemon
handful of fresh basil, torn
400g pappardelle (or pasta of your choice)
salt and pepper
100g parmesan cheese, grated

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

Gently fry the garlic in 4 tbsp of olive oil for a minute, then add the sliced courgette and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and basil and cook for a few more minutes until the courgette is tender.

When the pasta is ready, drain and combine with the courgette. Season to taste, add most of the parmesan and remaining olive oil and mix well. Serve with some more torn basil and a sprinkling of parmesan.