Pistachio and Lime Courgette Cake

I had lots of courgettes in the fridge and thought why not use it for baking. I must admit, that i haven’t really used vegetables in baking as i think it is strange! But i have seen alot of recipes ie beetroots, carrots etc and interested in how the bake would turn out.

I love looking at recipes in the book and i found a recipe called Pistachio and Lime Courgette Cake in Martha Collison’s Twist book (page 74) and decided to give it a go! I have baked a loaf cake with courgettes and lemons from Lorraine Pascale’s books and it turned out really tasty! You wouldn’t think courgettes can be used in a cake but it is actually really nice as it keeps the cake really moist!

For this cake, i really think the icing makes the cake delicious as it brings a nice sweetness to it as the limes are quite a subtle taste. You don’t need too many ingredients to make this cake and i didn’t use 250g icing sugar, probably around 150g is sweet enough!

The boys enjoyed baking it but when it came to eating it, they didn’t like the ‘green’ bits inside the sponge!! lol! The cake was really yummy!

Ingredients: Cake – Butter for greasing, 250g courgettes (2-3 small ones), 2 x eggs, 125ml vegetable oil, 150g caster sugar, 225g self raising flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 salt and zest of half a lime. I always add 1 tsp of vanilla extract into the cake mixture.

Icing – 100g full fat cream cheese, 150g or 250g icing sugar, zest and juice of half a lime, 30g chopped pistachio nuts.

Method: Preheat oven to GM4, grease a 20cm tin and line with baking paper. Grate the courgettes coarsely, don’t do it too finely as it will go mushy! Try and squeeze out the water from the courgettes or otherwise the cake would be really soggy. I have read in the past that you can put the courgettes in a table cloth and squeeze out the water. As it is quite a small amount, i just used my hands to squeeze the water out.

Put the eggs, sugar, old and in a bowl and beat until creamy. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir the courgettes and zest. The mixture will look quite dense like and not like a cake mixture! Pour the mixture into a tin and bake for 35-40 mins until golden on top and firm to touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin before decorating.

Make the icing by beating the cream cheese, icing sugar, lime juice together until smooth. Spread on top of the cooled cake and the sprinkle the pistachio nuts on top and the left over lime zest.

Japanese Curry Mix

I went to an Oriental Food shop and I love browsing all the different sauces and mixes as there are so many flavors to explore. Also, I especially love looking at their snacks and sweets. I can spend alot of money as I can’t help myself!

I only had a Japanese curry dish a handful of times in the past and remembered it being a sweet taste rather than a hot Indian curry taste which is spicy!

I brought this Japanese Curry mix for £2.50, I didn’t realise you had to use the whole block! I thought inside would be lots of cubes like when you buy your usual chicken/veg stock. It was a thick block so I guess it would be very flavorsome.

All you need is potatoes, beef, carrots and onions and serve it with boiled rice! I accidently threw the packaging away and I can’t quite remember the exact instructions!! But, it is written on the back of the packaging and from what I can remember, it was really easy to make! Just lots of chopping initially, frying the beef first and then adding all the vegetables with some water and then adding the stock right at the end. It probably took about 30-40 mins to make. It was strange though because I thought you would add the stock first to get the deeper flavoring but it was right at the end that you would do it! I didn’t add anything else to it at all!

The curry was very delicious and the sauce was not too thick or thin. The flavour tasted really authentic so am really pleased with this brand and definitely be buying this again!

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May 21 Veg Dish – Creamy coconut vegetable Karahi

It’s National Vegetarian Week this week so I thought it would be good time to learn a new vegetarian dish for this month. I saw a recipe in Lidl Summer leaflet which was a Creamy Coconut and vegetable Karahi. I have never really explored cooking Indian dishes, I have only made one Chicken Curry from scratch and that was using my friend’s recipe but many years ago! I guess, because i am not a huge fan of chillies and ‘hotness’ and the spices are really strong! I tend to buy the jarred sauces and add the meat in or get a takeaway! 🙂

This recipe seemed quite straight forward, it was just alot of cutting and chopping up all the vegetables. I eased off the chillies mixture because i don’t like it so hot! I am glad that i used a big pan for this, at one point when i tipped all the vegetables in, it wasn’t going to fit!! So, please make sure you have a big pan or you can cook it in 2 batches when making this!

Ingredients – 4 x tbsp oil, 2 x onions sliced, 2 x medium potatoes – peeled and chopped (I used a small bag of baby potatoes), 2 x carrots, peeled and chopped, 1 small aubergine chopped, 1 courgette chopped, 1 red pepper and 1 green pepper chopped, 250g frozen peas, 2 tsp easy chilli, 4 x tsp chilli flakes, 2 tsp easy garlic, 2 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 tomato diced, 5 x tbsp coconut milk, 4 x spring onions, 1 handful chopped coriander and some salt to season.

Method:

1. Blitz the tinned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and leave it aside.
2. In a large pan, heat the oil and fry the onions until soft, add the potatoes and carrots and fry for 5 – 8 minutes.
3. Tip all the other vegetables and all your spices to your liking and season.
4. Cover the pan and cook over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are par-cooked but not mushy. Make sure your potatoes are cooked.
5. To finish the curry, add the add the tomatoes into the vegetable mix and cook for 2 – 3 minutes before stirring in the coconut milk. Simmer for approx 5 minutes, serve with rice and garnish the dish with chopped coriander.

I would definitely make this again although my hubby said, ‘why don’t you add some meat to it next time!!’ I think i would prefer this dish without the meat.

With the left over coconut milk, i used this to make a coconut pound loaf cake which i will share this with you next week! 🙂

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Vegetarian Dishes 2020 – Feb

As mentioned, we have been having 1 veggie day once a week. So, in Feb, I cooked Pea and Leek Open Lasagna. I have always used the dried lasagna in the box as you just pop it on top of your lasagna mixture and you don’t really need to do anything with it. This recipe uses fresh lasagna sheets so it was my first time cooking it.

This recipe is so simple, fresh and taste really healthy! I added mushrooms and courgettes, you can add as many veggies as you wish! I initially thought 4 x lasagna sheets so that’s 2 sheets per person, that’s not going to be enough but actually this dish is quite filling!

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp oil and abit of butter
• 2 leeks, washed and sliced into half moons or you can buy a packet sliced up already
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped100g kale, mushroom sliced, courgettes and any other veggies you want to add
• 100g kale, mushroom sliced, courgettes and any other veggies you want to add
• 250g frozen peas
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 2 tbsp low-fat crème fraîche
• 1 lemon, zested
• 4 fresh lasagne sheets

Method:

1. Put a frying pan over a medium heat. Pour in the oil and add the leeks, garlic and a pinch of salt and a bit of butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until collapsed and soft. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to the boil.
2. Tip the peas, kale, mushrooms and any other veggies into the pan with the leeks and add a splash of water. Cook until the veggies are soft and peas are defrosted. Turn down the heat to low. Stir in the mustard, crème fraîche and ¾ of the lemon zest. Add enough water to make a sauce. Give everything a good mix and season to taste.
3. Drop the lasagne into the water and cook following pack instructions, then drain well. Put one lasagne sheet on each plate, top with half the leek and pea mix then layer up the second lasagne sheet and the remaining greens. Scatter over the remaining lemon zest and add a good grinding of black pepper.

Vegetarian Dishes 2020 – Jan

My brother in law decided to go vegetarian late last year as he wanted to be more heatlhy and cut out meat in his diet. I seriously thought he wouldn’t be able to keep to it as he is such a meat lover but amazingly he stuck to it!!

So, for 2020, my husband and I decided that we will have one ‘Veggie’ day once a week as we didn’t want to cut out meat from our meals. I have always cooked with meat and then have a side dish of vegetables to go with it so it was really strange to make the ‘vegetarian’ dish to be the main meal. Not saying it’s a challenge but cooking vegetarian dishes is really out of my comfort zone so i am having to look in advance of the recipes online and buy the ingredients. I really enjoy our once a week veggie day because it makes you cook food that you would’ve cooked before and trying out different vegetables. I will be posting my veg dish of the month of what i have made and sharing it with you all. Slightly behind in my veg posts so will try and catch up on these and be on time for the month!

In Jan, I made an Italian veggie cottage pie from BBC Good Food website.

It is an Italian twist on an English classic, with sundried tomatoes, spinach and aubergine. I used these three ingredients as a basic and then add more vegetables to it such as mushrooms, courgettes or what ever i have got in the fridge. This recipe is so easy to make, it is just the mashing up of the potatoes that times time but very delicious! I didn’t use the ready mash potatoes as i prefer to make it from scratch, i think it always taste better than pre-made ones or from the packet, it doesn’t have the same texture. Ingredients and method is below so hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 aubergines, cut into chunks
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 16 sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped, plus 1 tbsp of their oil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 400g spinach washed
• 50g plain flour
• 400ml milk
• 125g cheddar, grated, plus extra to top
• 800g ready-made mashed potato (fresh not frozen) or you can make up your own batch of mash. I tend to add milk and butter, salt, pepper and mixed herbs when i mash the potatoes.
• Feel free to add any other vegetables you might have in your fridge – mushrooms, peas, carrots etc

Method:

1. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large, lidded frying pan or flameproof casserole dish. Cook the aubergine, in two batches, over a high heat for 4-5 mins until golden, adding extra oil as you need to. Return all the aubergine to the pan with the garlic, tomatoes and 1 1/2 tsp oregano and cook for 1 min. Stir in the spinach, put the lid on the pan and leave for a few mins to wilt.
2. Add the flour and stir through until combined. Pour in the milk, stir gently and bring to the boil. Bubble for a few mins, then stir in the cheese and season. Cook until the cheese has melted and the sauce has thickened.
3. Mix the mash with the remaining oregano and spread over the filling. Scatter over a little more grated cheese and bake for 10-15 mins until golden.