recipes - Essex
(rough and ready)

basic leek and potato soup
leeks
potatoes, washed and just boiled
1 tin butter beans, rinsed and crushed
soya milk
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Cut the leeks into chunks and saute in the oil, with the sea salt and black pepper. Cut the potatoes into pieces and add to the pan. Mix well. Add the soya milk and some water, and the crushed butter beans, and mix well. Simmer till ready, and serve in bowls.

chowder
Make the basic leek and potato soup, but using 1 clove of garlic, add 1 tin of organic sweetcorn, and stir in some paprika till the soup is pink. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle more paprika on top to serve.


simple green curry
Make the basic leek and potato soup but without the butter beans, and using a curry powder to coat and saute the leeks and potatoes. Add frozen peas and cook. Add chopped cabbage, stir in and cook for a couple of minutes. Serve in bowls.

































panzanella
This is an Italian bread salad - make it in the summer, when British tomatoes are ripe and in season, and use leftover stale bread.

8 large fresh plum tomatoes, washed
a good handful of real black olives, stoned
handful of fresh chopped basil
handful of fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
sea salt
freshly-ground black pepper
half a stale loaf - a rustic bread, or ciabatta, if you have it

Tear the bread into large chunks and soak in water. Drain off the water and squeeze the chunks until drier.
Roughly chop the tomatoes into large pieces, and place in a large bowl. Add in all the other ingredients, mix together, and season to taste with the salt and pepper.
Serve.


big saute mix
This is a good winter dish, and you can make it with anything that you like or have got. These are my favourite ingredients for it, and I use them in varying combinations (some or all!) - but it has to be a big, heaped bowl of food per person!

potatoes
egg-free pasta (penne, farfalle or conchiglie)
broccoli
chestnuts
red onions
frozen peas
1 tin butter beans
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Thai-style mushrooms with rice
(serves 4)
enough brown rice for four people
frozen peas
half a tin of coconut milk
big handful of fresh chopped coriander leaves
4 spring onions, topped and tailed
some fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a light vegetable oil
chestnut mushrooms
shitake mushrooms
oyster mushrooms
white cap mushrooms
(you need enough mushrooms to make a good dish for 4)
freshly-ground black pepper

Clean all the mushrooms, and trim as necessary. Peel a layer off the spring onions if necessary.
Start cooking the rice. Cook the peas.
Heat the oil in a large frying-pan, add the garlic and cook until softened. Remove the garlic from the pan. Add all the mushrooms and fry gently in the flavoured oil until just cooked.
Cut the spring onions finely longways.
Drain the peas. Rinse the rice in boiling water and drain. Mix the peas and rice together in a serving bowl, and keep warm.
Put the garlic, coriander leaves, lemon juice and pepper into the pan with the mushrooms, stir in, and add the coconut milk. Cook through for a few minutes.
Garnish the mushroom mixture with the spring onions and serve with the rice.


tomato stew/soup/sauce
1 tin chopped organic tomatoes
1 tin butter beans, roughly crushed
some Sosmix
olive oil
dried basil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
some sugar

Heat the oil in a pan, add the garlic and cook until softened. Add the dried basil and the sugar.
Add the tomatoes and all their liquid, and the water you use to rinse out the tin. Stir well over a gentle heat.
Add the mashy butter beans and some Sosmix and stir in. Season with the salt and pepper.
Simmer for a little while, and serve.



























leek and butter bean spaghetti
Serves 2.
enough egg-free wholewheat spaghetti for 2 people
1 leek, topped and tailed
1 tin butter beans, rinsed and crushed
olive oil
sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Heat up a saucepan of water and begin to cook the spaghetti.
Peel off a layer of the leek if necessary, cut the leek into 2-inch chunks, then cut each chunk longways into shreds. In a frying pan, gently heat the oil and saute the shredded leek, with sea salt and pepper, until softened. Remove from the heat. Stir in the mashy butter beans.
Rinse the just-cooked spaghetti with some boiling water, drain, and place in a serving bowl.
Pour on the leek and butter bean mixture, with all its liquid, and stir gently into the pasta.
Serve.


























leeks, mushrooms and potatoes in cheesy sauce


































jacket potatoes
Serve with mashy baked beans, or curry, or hummus, or chilli, or garlic mushrooms.


pommes Lyonnaise
4 large potatoes, washed but not peeled
some vegan sunflower margarine
2 large onions
a handful of roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
sea salt
freshly-ground black pepper

Parboil the potatoes, then cut into quarter-inch slices.
Preheat the oven to about 200 degrees C.
Peel and slice the onions. Melt the margarine in a pan and cook the onions until they are soft and beginning to brown. Remove pan from the heat and set aside.
Grease an oven-proof dish with margarine, then place a layer of potato slices in it. Add some of the onion and its liquid, salt, pepper, and some parsley. Add another layer of potato, and continue until all the ingredients are used up - finish with a layer of potato. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top of that, and dot with margarine. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for an hour or until the potatoes are cooked through; remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
Serve as a side dish.


cool green summer salad
cucumber
avocado
green beans
frozen peas
torn lettuce (or better still, rocket or pea shoots)
spring onions
butter beans
olive oil, white wine vinegar, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Top and tail the beans and blanch in hot water. Drain.
Cook the peas and drain.
Clean the cucumber and chop into chunks.
Tear the lettuce or other leaves into pieces.
Top and tail the spring onions, and peel a layer off as necessary. Cut into chunks at an angle.
Rinse and drain the butter beans.
Peel the avocado and cut into segments.
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together.
Mix together the oil, vinegar and sea salt and pour over the salad. Add the pepper, and serve.


Pasta Liguria
Enough egg-free dried spaghetti or linguine for 4 people, or easier to eat with penne! (wholemeal pasta is even better for you)
whole new potatoes, washed
green beans
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
vegan pesto
parmazano, if you like it

Cook the potatoes and the pasta until just cooked. Blanch the green beans. Rinse the pasta with boiling water and drain. Put the pasta and potatoes in a large serving dish, and add the green beans. Add as much pesto as you like, and gently mix together. Grind some black pepper over the top, and serve hot or cold. Add some parmazano on top if you like it.


easy pasta primavera
Enough egg-free dried tagliatelle for 4 people
broad beans
green beans
fresh spinach
frozen peas
olive oil
soya cream
freshly ground black pepper
'Primavera' is Spring, so use new green vegetables, but they can be fresh, frozen or tinned. Cut the beans into 2-inch lengths. Wash, prepare and lightly steam or blanch the vegetables, except the spinach. Cook the pasta until just cooked, rinse with boiling water and drain. Put the pasta in a large serving dish, add the cooked vegetables and the spinach, and stir gently together. Pour over the soya cream and grind some black pepper over the top. Serve!


Pasta with peas and soya beans



























snow pea shoots































baked red peppers
[serves 2]
1 red pepper
some stoned black olives
some capers
some plain firm tofu or soya 'melting mozzarella' or 'mozzarella' cheese
brown breadcrumbs
some olive oil
freshly ground black pepper...

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Cut the pepper in half longways, and cut out the core and seeds and discard them. Oil an oven-proof dish with some olive oil, and lay the red pepper halves in the base, open side up. Fill the peppers with the olives and some capers, and either crumbled tofu or soya cheese. Top with the breadcrumbs, grind over the black pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for about 20 minutes. Crisp up the breadcrumb topping under the grill if necessary. Serve with a green leafy salad.




cous-cous with peas




























mock duck with some yeast extract



























pasta with cherry tomatoes



























chestnut pasta



























oyster mushrooms

























braised tofu with broad beans



























mushrooms with spinach




























red onion risotto



























tempeh































salad soup


























raspberries with soya cream



























aubergine stack
















































mega risotto































mujadarra
enough brown rice for two people
1 tin green lentils
1 big onion
olive oil
Maldon sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Cook the rice. Peel and slice the onion, separate into rings, and fry gently in the olive oil until soft. Rinse and drain the lentils, and add to the onions. Stir together and heat the lentils through. Add plenty of salt and pepper. Stir in the cooked rice and mix well. Serve hot - delicious with a big dollop of soya plain yoghurt, some yellow cherry plum tomatoes, and roasted red peppers out of a jar.



oven-baked mushroom risotto
carnaroli rice
mushrooms
porcini mushrooms
garlic
olive oil
white wine
Maldon sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper



quite fancy mushrooms
This is a dish of big flat mushrooms served with cannellini pate piled on top, topped with green lentils, with red wine gravy poured over the lot, and served with steamed spinach.
Serves 3:
4 big flat mushrooms, olive oil, 1 clove garlic, 1 tin green lentils, 1 tin cannellini beans, a load of fresh washed spinach, black pepper, 1 big red onion, cut into wedges; and for the gravy -
2 tsp olive oil; 1 medium onion, finely chopped; 1 tbsp flour (optional); tomato puree; 1 cup dry red wine; 1/2 cup vegetable stock; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Rinse and drain the cannellini beans. Peel and crush the garlic, fry gently in a little olive oil, and add the garlic and oil to the cannellini beans, with some black pepper. Blitz the cannellini beans to a rough pate and set aside.
Fry the finely-chopped medium onion in some olive oil until softened, add the stock, tomato puree, red wine, salt and pepper, and flour if using, and stir together. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes or so, until the gravy has thickened in consistency.
Fry the red onion wedges in some olive oil until softened. Remove from pan. Clean the mushrooms and cook gently in the oil until just cooked through.
Rinse and drain the lentils, and heat up in a pan.
Steam the spinach above the lentils.
Place the mushrooms on two plates. Spoon a peak of cannellini pate on top of each mushroom. Pour the lentils on top. Add spinach to the plates, and use the red onion wedges as a garnish. Pour the gravy over each mushroom heap and serve.



'apple-bobbing' punch
ginger ale
real apple juice
orange juice
small red apples
a pink grapefruit

Wash and dry the apples, then cut them in half and remove the pips and stalk. Pour the orange juice, apple juice and ginger beer into a large bowl, and stir together. Wash the grapefruit, cut in half and slice. Add the grapefruit and apples to the bowl. Chill and serve.