Colourful Beetroot Risotto for a veggie meal or side dish
If you’ve seen my Beet, Carrot and Barley Salad you’ll know that thanks Grigson’s Vegetable Book, my bible for all things vegetable, I now know how to prepare and cook beetroot! This recipe brings together the heavenly combination of beetroot and goats cheese with risotto.
Comforting fish pie with salmon, white fish, potatoes and cheese
The only fish and indeed the only pie I ate as a child was my mother’s fish pie topped with crumbled cheese and onion crisps. And not just any cheese and onion crisps: a very special brand called Tayto, which are only available in the 4 fair provinces of Ireland. It was such a special dinner. As a young girl I wasn’t a great eater and dinnertime was a bit of a chore. Fish pie day on the other hand was such a joy – who ever heard of having a treat like crisps with dinner??
We got a little peckish while at Kew Gardens (so beautiful!) recently and headed to the Pavilion expecting to tuck into one of their summer favourites from the grill and barbecue. But despite the warm English sunshine there was sadly no barbecue. We didn’t go hungry though: Peyton and Byrne’s indoor restaurant was serving. I went for the Indian veggie curry, which was really quite delicious and inspired me to try out my own. My version has more of a Thai than Indian influence, but its quick and easy to make. I’ll have to go back for the Full of Spice festival for further inspiration!
As well as being beautiful and great for picnics in this weather, there is also lots of fun for the kids. Following lunch we wandered along the Xstrata Treetop Walkway to view all the trees from above. A small warning: the walkway does sway quite a bit in the breeze so probably best avoided by those with Acrophobia! Next we headed to the Treehouse Towers playground: Lentil had a swell time climbing, sliding, walking ropes and of course getting very dirty in the process. Thank goodness for washing machines!
Anyway, back to the curry……here is my veggie version:
The what:
400g chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
80g peas
80g okra
4 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
400ml coconut milk
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
1cm ginger, finely chopped
200ml stock
For the Riata:
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 slice pineapple, chopped
4 tbsp natural / greek style yoghurt
1/4 tsp of ground cumin (optional)
a handful of mint, finely chopped
The how:
Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan and saute the cumin seeds, onion and garlic for a minute. Then add the remaining spices except the turmeric and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, turmeric and sweet potato, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the sweet potato is cooked. Add the chickpeas, peas and okra and cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are cooked, but still have a bite to them.
To make the Riata:
Put the cucumber, pineapple and mint in a food processor and pulse a couple of times so you have small chunks. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the yoghurt and cumin.
Serve the curry and Riata with some rice. I used brown basmati and wild rice, which works well, but any rice will do.
Enjoy!
If you’ve read Coco’s weaning diary, you’ll know I love asparagus: green and white. It would be one of my desert island foods! I do get slightly upset when I have to break off the ends and discard them – it seems like such a waste. If Mr Coco&Lentil gets his hands on the asparagus, half the stalks end up in the bin! I decided to put the woody ends to good use by making a stock for soup before I retire them to the bin.
The what:
400g asparagus (ends snapped off & set aside & remaining asparagus roughly chopped)
300g fresh or frozen peas
a large handful of fresh mint (about 30 leaves)
2 garlic cloves, one finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
60ml (4 tbsp) cream fraiche
black pepper to season
a squeeze of lime
Tip:
You can retain the asparagus and pea pulp (heaven forbid we through anymore asparagus out!) you get when you pass the soup through a sieve and mix it with some sweet potato and a little milk for babies. For children over one year you can add some toasted pine nuts (assuming there are no family allergies and you have ground the nuts to avoid any risk of choking) and mix with some spaghetti or other pasta.
The how:
Add the broken off asparagus ends (retaining the chopped asparagus for later) and one whole garlic clove to a saucepan and cover with 1000ml of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Drain the asparagus stock and discard the asparagus ends and garlic Set aside.
Meanwhile saute the onion, chopped garlic in the butter until the onions are soft (2-3 minutes). Add the asparagus stock and bring to the boil. Next add the chopped asparagus and peas and cook until tender (about 5 minutes).
Remove from the heat and stir in the cream fraiche and mint leaves and season with pepper. Blend the soup in batches, passing each batch through a sieve into a large bowl as you go.
Chill in the fridge. Add a squeeze of lime and mix the soup well before serving.
I’m really excited that this little dish turned out so well! It’s a great healthy alternative to fried chicken nuggets and equally delicious with sweet potato wedges. Lentil loves eating them with his hands too and dipping them in sauce.
Coco and I have been eating loads of beans, fruit, pasta, pulses and veg this week. Mummy says it’s in celebration of National Vegetarian Week. We’ve had some old favourites from Mummy’s very veggie like Speedy Gonzales Risotto and Flying Lentils.
Mummy and Daddy are also going all green and veggie. Tonight we’re all having pasta. Except Mia, she can’t eat the long pasta yet because she only has one tiny tooth. I made the pasta all by myself. Er, well, Mummy helped me put the tip of the pasta dough into the machine, but I did all the rest! It was a little hard, but although I’m only two, I’m very strong. I used my two hands to turn the lever and roll the pasta through the machine until it got really, really thin. Mummy has made a really quick sauce to go with the pasta using some seasonal vegetables.
Tip:
You can easily turn this into a weaning dish too. Just puree the asparagus and peas with a handheld blender before adding to the cheese sauce. Serve with tiny pasta stars or other very small pasta shapes.
The what:
400g asparagus, sliced (you may want to slice it into very small pieces for little ones, or larger if they are a little older)
a large handful of fresh mint, finely sliced
120g frozen peas
200ml Creme fraiche
50g grated mozzarella cheese
a little nutmeg, grated
pepper to season
The how:
Add the asparagus and peas to boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes, then drain and set aside.
Heat the creme fraiche in a small saucepan until it liquefies. Add the mozzarella and stir for 1-2 minutes until the cheese has melted. Then stir in the asparagus, peas and mint. Grate in some nutmeg and add some pepper to season.
Serve with your favourite pasta. Spaghetti and tagliatelle are great with this sauce.
To make your own pasta like me, look at Mummy’s The Italian Dream post (http://bit.ly/1FqigXO). It’s easy peasy!
“Here comes the airplane….open wide!”
Lentils are a great source of protein and this recipe is really easy and quite yummy! Makes about 3 portions.
CocoandLentil 