Squash, Mushroom & Chick Pea Stuffing

Hi fellow bloggers, it has been a while since I posted, but I intend to post more regularly. Welcome to those who joined us since my last post. I wanted to share a variation of a vegetarian stuffing I saw in the Christmas edition of woman&home magazine. Theirs called for squash, goat cheese & cannellini beans - which I did not have, but I did have chick peas. So here's what you need:

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash
Fresh herbs (4 sprigs thyme, 6 basil leaves, spring onions)
1 large pod garlic

3 tbs olive oil
2 tsp dried italian seasoning (optional)
1 425g can Chick Peas drained & rinsed
8 oz button mushrooms washed & sliced
half small red & green bell pepper

Broccoli florets

Goat cheese crumbled as desired

1. Heat oven at 400 F or gas marked 6. Cut squash and season with fresh herbs and/or dried seasonings, drizzle with olive oil and roast until tender for about 20 mins.

2. Mash the chick peas roughly and add bell pepper and some of the goat cheese. Stir and season additionally if desired.

3. Place mixture in baking pan and top with broccoli florets, remaining goat cheese and a little goat cheese until brown.

(N.b The original recipe called for bread but I left it out because of my allergies, it was a little loose, but it made for a filling lunch.)

What vegetarian stuffing recipes are you making?

Broccolini, Chickpeas, and Harissa

Harissa is tossed with broccolini and chickpeas, giving this simple pairing of a vegetable and beans a spicy exotic flavor.

Broccolini, a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale, also has flavors reminiscent of asparagus.

Cook trimmed broccolini in boiling salted water for 4 minutes then add a can of rinsed drained chickpeas to the pot for 30 seconds more to warm them through. Drain. Toss with Harissa, olive oil, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Finish with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt.

This French brand of Harissa is made with hot chiles, tomato puree, onion, salt, coriander, garlic, cumin, vegetable oil. It has a good balance of heat to the other flavors and spices.

On My Desk

I just had to share these pretty roses from my garden.

• Bright Red/Orange: Wildfire Hybrid Tea Rose


• Yellow: Julia Child Floribunda


• Pink: David Austin Heritage Old English Rose

Like broccolini? Also try spicy broccolini with torn ciabatta croutons here.

Lori Lynn

Taste With The Eyes

where the image is meant to titillate and inspire the cook

High Fiber Pasta e Ceci, Soup-Style

Back in December we made Frank's recipe for Pasta e Ceci from his wonderful blog inspired by the home cooking of his Italian grandmother called Memorie Di Angelina. I had all the ingredients on hand; canned chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, pasta, vegetable broth, canned diced tomato, fresh rosemary, red chile flakes. Then in February we were equally impressed with Linda's recipe for Zuppa di Ceci from her absolutely delightful blog about food and travel, Ciao Chow Linda.

I've enjoyed experimenting with the recipe for Italian chickpea soups. It's high fiber and heart healthy, made with ingredients from the pantry plus fresh rosemary and garlic. The combination of these simple flavors produces an amazingly complex-tasting result. In about 15 minutes!

High Fiber Pasta e Ceci, Soup-Style

In a soup pot, sauté chopped shallot and garlic with red chile flakes in a good amount of olive oil (don't be shy) for a minute or two.

Add some chopped fresh rosemary. It must be fresh. On one occasion I tried this soup with dried rosemary and was disappointed with the result.

When the garlic is barely light brown, add some chopped tomatoes and their juice. The tomatoes are an accent, as this is not a tomato soup, so do not add too much. Simmer. Then add vegetable stock. Bring to a boil.

Add drained, rinsed chickpeas and slightly undercooked whole wheat pasta. Lower the heat and cook through. Taste the soup, add salt if necessary.

Serve with a sprig of fresh rosemary and toasted ciabatta bread, rubbed with garlic and brushed with olive oil.

Lori Lynn

Taste With The Eyes

where the image is meant to titillate and inspire the cook

North African Spiced Soup

This soup recipe I adapted from the book '400 Best Ever Soups' by Anne Sheasby I bought at Borders for a really really cheap price (USD 4.99, can you believe that?!). The attractive cover, glossy pictures  and tons of vegetarian recipes made this book a great find. I chose to make this North African soup because it was just prefect to use the groceries leftover in my kitchen. You know..... what can you make with one carrot, one potato, one celery? kinda evening. This soup turned out very tasty and the recipe is definitely a keeper.

Place 5 cups of vegetable stock in a large pot on medium heat.

Add 2 chopped onions. Bring to boil, and simmer for 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, make into a paste with 1 tbsp water- 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cumin powder (my addition), 1 tsp chilli/cayenne powder. Add to the pot. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 5 mins.

Now add 2 diced floury potatoes, 2 diced carrots, 2 diced celery, 1 cup of chick peas and 12 oz of canned diced tomatoes (or 2 large fresh diced tomatoes). Also add a few strands of saffron.

Season with salt and if required pepper.

Bring to boil and simmer for 20 mins. * I let my soup simmer on low heat for a good hour from start to finish, slow cooking makes it very tasty*

This last step is not a part of the recipe in the book. But this is what I did as I prefer thick but not chunky soup. I transferred half of the broth along with the veggies and beans into a blender and pureed it. If you have an immersion blender, feel free to use it.

Garnish with cilantro.  Serve hot.

Variations : You could add almost any vegetable or protein (tofu, kidney beans etc) in here. You could serve it clear or blend it to be a thick soup.

Sangeetha
I googled, I saw, I cooked

Hello, And What I've Been Cooking

Hi, I'm Sra, and I'm excited about joining this venture. I blog at When My Soup Came Alive and 365-1/4. You can read a little more about why I joined this group project here.

In this post, I will only guide you to the vegan and vegetarian food I've been making in the last couple of weeks.

Here's a link to a concoction of my own - couscous with chickpeas in a tomato-thyme sauce. Most of the ingredients come out of a packet and it's easy to put together.







Thanks to Cynthia's post, I discovered mallum/mallung, and have made a variety of mallums since. Pictured in this photo, at the back, is a cabbage-carrot-beans mallung I made recently. In the foreground are idlis, another vegan staple in India. You can also see a soup, that's chaaru/rasam, yet another staple.

Finally, here's another one I made yesterday. A broad beans recipe, from here. It looks nothing like the original, but it was well-liked. It's cooked in tamarind extract and tempered with garlic and curry leaf.