About nellbymouth

Posts by nellbymouth:

Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

, , 0 Comments

I obviously love classic lasagna – I mean who doesn’t? But I also really love experimenting with different varieties and this one with spinach, feta, grated courgette and super savoury mushrooms is my current favourite to make. Obviously its not a healthy dish, but it’s healthier than traditional lasagna and its also hella delicious. Enjoy. 

 

Print Recipe

Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna

This is the cheesiest, most satisfying vegetarian lasagna ever. Way better than a fake mince variety with tomato sauce. This is creamy, savoury and delicious.
Like any lasagna, there are a few stages involved but its totally worth it!
Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

  • 1 Onion Red or White
  • 2 Courgettes
  • 200 g Frozen spinach
  • 1 punnet Mushrooms
  • 4 cloves Garlic
  • 1 block Feta cheese
  • 70 g Cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 pint Milk
  • 20 g Butter
  • 20 g Flour
  • Dried lasagna sheets

Instructions

  • Fry the mushrooms and onions in a wide bottomed frying pan until quite brown. For the last 2 minutes add the garlic crushed or minced – set this aside
  • Defrost the spinach in the microwave and grate the courgettes with a cheese grater.
  • Fry the grated courgette in the same frying pan for a few minutes until they are soft
  • add the courgette and defrosted spinach to a bowl and crumble in the block of feta 
  • Now make your white sauce – melt the butter and add the flour, frying for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the milk while whisking and cook together for 3-5 minutes until slightly thickened. 
  • Add half the white sauce to the feta, spinach, courgette mixture – keep the other half for the top of the lasagna
  • Layer up the lasagna adding oil to the bottom of your baking dish to stop it sticking – layer the feta spinach mixture then the mushrooms and onions on each layer. Finish with the rest of the white sauce and add the cheddar cheese to the top
  • Put tin foil on the top and bake at 170 for 1 hour

My New Favourite Yellow Curry

, , , , 0 Comments

I’ve recently got hugely into making my own curry paste – which is way easier than I thought. The proportions are easy and it means you can make the paste when you have time and throw everything together later in the day. 

 

Print Recipe

Yellow Curry

Vegan Sweet Potato, Lentil and Spinach curry which is creamy and spicy with a depth of flavour from the turmeric. 
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

For the paste

  • 1 Onion
  • 1 Thumb sized piece of ginger
  • 1 bulb Garlic
  • 5 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 small bunch Fresh or frozen coriander
  • 1 tbsp Turmeric
  • 1 tbsp Curry powder

For the curry

  • 350 g Dried yellow lentils
  • 2-3 Small sweet potatoes
  • Spinach Fresh or frozen – as much as you like
  • 1 tbsp Peanut butter optional
  • 1 tin Coconut milk

Instructions

  • Peal and roughly slice the onion, ginger and add it to an oven safe dish with the whole bulb of garlic – roast with the oil at 200 for 30 minutes
  • Afterwards, remove the garlic skins and add the whole lot to a small blender with the turmeric, curry powder and coriander, blend. Keep in the fridge until needed
  • Add the curry paste to a saucepan and fry for 3 minutes, siring all the while
  • Add 1 ltr water plus the dried lentils. Simmer for 1 hour
  • Add the cubed sweet potatoes and simmer for another 30 minutes
  • Lastly cook your rice or naan, add the frozen spinach until the blocks come apart, the peanut butter and the tin of coconut milk (adding it at the end ensure it stays super creamy)

Red Onion, Apple and Brie Tart

, , 0 Comments

This is an amazing lunch. Its sweet and sticky and goes amazingly with a crunchy salad. 

 

Print Recipe

Red Onion, Apple & Brie Tart

Easy, vegetarian lunch. Sticky sweet onions and melting brie
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time35 mins
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 3 Red onions
  • 1 Apple any variety
  • 2 tbsp Cranberry sauce
  • 1 tbsp Mustard grain
  • 150 g Brie or other soft cheese
  • 1 tbsp Sugar
  • 1 Ready-rolled puff pastry

Instructions

  • Slice the onions and fry for 10 minutes with a pinch of salt and the sugar until caramelised and sweet
  • Flatten out the pastry on an oven tray and bake for 10 minutes at 200 degrees 
  • When the onions are sweet and sticky turn off the heat and mix in the mustard and cranberry sauce. Slice the apples and brie
  • Flatten down the inside of the pastry which will have puffed up in the oven – add the onion mix first then the sliced apples and finally the brie. 
  • Bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted
  • Serve with a nice crisp green salad

Wild Rice Risotto

, , 0 Comments

I made this with a mixture of red rice, brown basmati and white basmati but you could easily use a bag of mixed wild rice. I think this would make a great vegetarian dinner party option because you can make it, leave it and reheat when you’re ready to serve.

The vegetables in the dish are 100% flexible. I used some gorgeous oyster mushrooms and a leek and shallot but you could easily replace with green veg or whatever you have in your fridge.

 

Nutty & creamy risotto
Print Recipe

Mixed Rice Risotto

Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time50 mins
Total Time1 hr
Keyword: risotto, vegetarian
Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

  • 170 g Mixed rice rice, brown, wild, white
  • 1 glass White wine
  • 150 g Mixed mushrooms
  • 1 large Leek
  • 1-2 Shallots
  • 2 tbsp Butter
  • 2 tbsp Olive oil
  • 2 cloves Garlic
  • 2 tbsp Yoghurt
  • 50 g Vegetarian hard cheese
  • 1 ltr Vegetable stock

Instructions

  • Finely slice the (washed) leeks, shallots, mushrooms (torn into small pieces) and fry with the butter and oil for 5 minutes
  • Add the garlic (chopped) and continue cooking for 5 minutes (the mushrooms will release some water so the garlic doesn’t burn)
  • Add the rice (you may need to add the harder rices first and the white rice after 10 minutes – make sure you follow the package instructions) and the white wine
  • Cook for a few minutes until the wine has evaporated 
  • Like any risotto, continue stirring and adding ladle fulls of stock at a time until the rice is cooked (20-40 minutes depending on the variety)
  • Turn off the heat and add the grated cheese, salt and peeper, the yoghurt and an extra drizzle of olive oil. Serve!

Creamy Polenta & Meaty Mushrooms

, , 0 Comments

This recipe ends up looking really elegant but is literally less than 10 minutes and only two essential ingredients. It’s vegan too!

 

Delicious
Print Recipe

Creamy Polenta & Meaty Mushrooms

Servings: 1 person

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup Polenta
  • 4 cups Water (or stock)
  • 1 handful Mixed Mushrooms Oyster if you can
  • 2 tbsp Olive oil
  • 2-3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme Optional

Instructions

  • Add the polenta to the water and whisk together for 5 minutes on a medium heat until creamy. 
  • Tear the mushrooms and fry on a high heat with the oil
  • Serve with additional fresh thyme, salt and pepper and olive oil drizzled on top

Crispy Polenta with Slow Roasted Tomatoes

0 Comments

This would make a great vegetarian or vegan (replace the feta with nutritional yeast) dinner party recipe. The recipe here meant to serve 4 but you could easily double the quantities and have enough for a meal for 8 in under an hour. 

The smoky crunchy polenta goes so well with the sweet tomato sauce and sharp salty feta – it’s honestly such an amazing combination!

 

Heaven on a plate
Print Recipe

Crispy Polenta with Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time50 mins
Total Time1 hr
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: polenta, slow roasted tomatoes
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce

  • 1 kg Tomatoes A mixed variety is best
  • 4 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 tbsp Fresh Rosemary or Thyme
  • 3-4 cloves Garlic
  • 2 tsps Sugar
  • 1 tsp Salt

For the polenta

  • 1 cup Polenta
  • 4 cups Stock
  • 3 tbsp Olive oil

Instructions

  • Firstly roughly chop all of your tomatoes and put them in a deepish oven safe dish with the sugar, salt, olive oil, garlic and rosemary (leave the garlic whole) – bake at 180 degrees for 50 minutes
  • Heat 4 cups of stock on the hob until boiling – add the cup of polenta and whisk for 5 minutes on medium heat until it has formed a thick creamy mixture
  • Pour the polenta into a dish to cool down for 10 minutes (it will firm up as it cools
  • Slice the cooled polenta into thick slices and fry on a high heat until golden brown on both sides – transfer to an oven pan and add to the oven for the last 10 minutes of cooking time
  • When the tomatoes are out of the oven, either mash them with a potato masher (if you like it a bit chunky) or blend in a food processor.
  • Serve with feta and fresh herbs of your choice (basil or coriander work well)

Sourdough Crackers with Rosemary

, , , 0 Comments

Like every millennial currently in lockdown, i’m obsessed with my sourdough starter. And because throwing any food away makes me feel guilty I needed to find recipes that would use up my sourdough discard that wouldn’t require making a loaf every day. It took a few attempts but I’ve finally adapted this sourdough cracker recipe and its perfect! I imagine these would last a week in a box but honestly none of these have made it past the first day because they’re so moorish!

n.b you need a nice bubbly starter – fed 3-6 hours before you make these

 

Print Recipe

Sourdough Crackers with Rosemary

Course: Snack
Keyword: crackers, rosemary, salty snack, sourdough
Servings: 12 crackers

Ingredients

  • 300 g Sourdough starter fed within 12 hours
  • 50 g Extra virgin olive oil
  • 5 g Table salt
  • Sprinkle Corse sea salt
  • 5 g Dried or fresh rosemary

Instructions

  • Measure out the starter, oil, table salt and rosemary
  • Whisk together until you can’t see any of the oil
  • Spread out evenly on a baking tray – it won’t cook evenly if its not even so take your time
  • Sprinkle crunchy salt and some extra rosemary on top
  • Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, pull it out and cut into squares with a pizza cutter or large knife (it will still be soft at this point don’t worry), bake for another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown
  • Enjoy with dips like hummus, salsa or spinach dip

Spicy Indian Potato Soup

, , , 0 Comments

During isolation I’ve been making lunch for my housemates. It gives me a break away from work and has also meant I’ve finally nailed soup-making! This one is so incredibly warming; sweet, spicy and creamy from the potatoes. The secret is the dollop of mango chutney which takes the harshness away from the spices. 

Print Recipe

Spicy Indian Potato Soup

Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Total Time25 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 Onion red or white
  • 3 cloves Garlic
  • 3 Potatoes any kind
  • 1/2 Courgette or some frozen peas for the hint of green
  • 1 Carrot
  • 1 Parsnip
  • 1 tbsp Curry powder
  • A few Curry leaves if you have them
  • 1 tbsp Mango chutney
  • 1 Stock cube veg or chicken
  • A splash Milk or plant based milk
  • 2 tsbp Red lentils to help with the texture

Instructions

  • Roughly chop the onion and fry it with 3 tbsp oil on a medium high heat with some salt to stop them from burning until soft
  • Add the chopped garlic, curry leaves and curry powder and fry for a further 2-3 minutes
  • Add the peeled and cubed potatoes, carrot and parsnip (you can use any combination of root vegetables you have
  • Add 500ml of water and the stock cube, the lentils and the mango chutney
  • Boil everything together on a high heat for 15 minutes – add the courgette 5 minutes before the end
  • Blend the soup with a stick blender and stir through a bit of milk or yogert for creaminess at the end
1 2 3