Saturday 28 November 2015

Vegetarian Recipe: Vegetable Soup w/ Haggis & Poached Egg topped w/ Black Sesame and Sesame Oil


We’ve had a few requests for vegetarian banquets recently so there’s been some extra veggie menu development going on. 


Result? I’ve been getting into me veggie food! Anyhoo my house mate made a very nice vegetable soup which I rather fancied including in my lunch!! 

Luckily me house mate was only too happy to tell me how she made said vegetable soup so I made a note of it. 

The nice thing is that all the components can be frozen so it’s easy to make a batch and bust ‘em out for lunch or tea when ever you fancy!

ingredients (serves 1 for quick light bite)
for the vegetable soup (makes 2.5L)
1.5L chicken stock (or veg stock)
1tsp curry powder
‘herbs de provence’ (dried herbs)
good glug worcester sauce (to taste)
2 onions (diced)
4 bacon (fried & chopped - optional bacon crumbles for veggies)
1 celery (diced)
150g dry lentil 
1 red pepper (diced)
1 kabocha squash (peeled)

for the lunch!
250ml home made vegetable soup (above)
125g veggie haggis (cooked)
5g coriander sauce
5g mayo
1 poached egg

for the garnish
1 spring onion (sliced into rings)
black sesame seeds
ponzu 
sesame oil

method
poached egg
Does any one know why you’re supposed to put vinegar in the water? Err . . . well, it helps the protein coagulate.
Vinegar is optional! It’s much more important to have a really fresh egg since it will hold together better in the water.
Add some salt and vinegar and get the water boiling then turn the heat to minimum to minimise bubbling. Stir with a spoon to create a whirlpool and add the egg to the centre. Let the egg keep spinning, leave it for 4 minutes. Then take it out and put on some kitchen towel to remove the excess water. 

vegetable soup (what bacon? I didn’t see any bacon!)
And I quote “Fry off the spices, onions and bacon first, than add the rest. Then add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until it . . . ” there was a pause for thought. I think the gauge how to judge readiness, possibly determined by the right smell wafting from the kitchen? All very vague!!  (Simmer 30 minutes to an hour)
“Then you whiz it” The resulting soup is rather nice!

haggis 
As I said I’ve been experimenting with vegetarian food so - bizarrely - I happen to have some haggis! Vegetarian haggis!
It’s really rather nice, nuts, beans, oats, I added a little spiciness in with a little chilli and coriander sauce. (Ahem and a touch of mayo)

to serve
Heat the haggis and soup, pop the poached egg on top and garnish with spring onions, black sesame seeds, and a touch of sesame oil season with a touch of ponzu or light soy sauce. Serve immediately.

Friday 20 November 2015

Recipe: Ham Quiche for whole family (15mins to make)


Quick note: please excuse the photography on this post, I was just making notes really, but the recipe is so good and so simple I had to share it! 

On that note . . .

I’ve never really liked quiche, I think the reason is that I’ve only ever had rubbish quiche. I think that’s a fair bet, cold quiche always reminds me of crap buffets, you know, all cold and tasteless, rubbery egg, sad pastry, a suicidal looking pie basically! Yeah that’s my experience of quiche . . .

Well not so long ago I popped into a coffee shop in White Chapel (I always go in if I’m in the area and I have a minute. The coffee is genuinely good.) I hadn’t had anything to eat yet and it was already 2pm so I thought I’d take 5 minutes and refuel, and for who knows what insane reason I picked their quiche to try.

The thing is, all of the food there looks spectacularly well turned out, (as do the staff, always so pleased to see you! That in itself perks up your day as much as the coffee!) so it was very difficult to choose. I guess on some level I thought, well if they can get a quiche to taste good . . . and it looked kinda nice.

When it came, accompanied by a smile, I gave it a once over and tucked in. Big chunks of juicy ham, in no way over cooked egg, nice pastry, not undercooked. It put me in such  good mood for the rest of the day.  Anyway if your in the area Aldgate East / White Chapel check out Exmouth Coffee Company (83 White Chapel High St)

The quiche I had that day was in the back of my mind when I was making this: it delivers on flavour but it’s no where near as pretty. Nowhere near. But every bit as juicy, tasty & comforting!!




























Here goes . . .

ingredients (serves 4)
for the quiche
350g flakey pastry (or short pastry if you prefer)
2 tbsp garlic onion reduction (recipe here / or caramelised onion)
1 yellow pepper (pips, removed, coarse dice)
1 large onion (coarse dice)
100g soft cheese
4 eggs (beaten)
200-300g good quality ham
200g mature cheddar (grated)

apparatus / equipment
16x22cm pie tin / pyrex dish

method
Pre-heat your oven.
Dust the pie dish with flour, then line it with pastry, cover that with baking paper and line that with ceramics or coins.
Blind bake for 15mins @ 200C


While it’s baking sweat off the yellow pepper and onion. 
Add a little garlic at this point if you’re not using the garlic onion reduction.

The veg should finish soft but not coloured - no tough bits!
When the pastry comes out, remove the paper and ceramics and return to the over of another 5 mins to dry out the bottom a little more.
On it’s second return from the oven brush the bottom with garlic onion reduction.
Mix the pepper, onion and soft cheese and pour them into the pie case.


Next add the chucks of ham and pour in the beaten egg leaving at least half a cm to the top of the pastry.


The egg mix will rise a little during cooking so it needs a little space!


Top with cheddar cheese and grated black pepper and return it to the oven at 180C for 20min or until golden brown.
Take it out and let it cool for 15mins before serving.
Juicy, tasty, lovely!


to serve
Serve with a little of your favourite salad. Or not!! ; ) 

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More Techniques, Basics and Corker Recipes

More Techniques, Basics and Corker Recipes
If there's something you've tried at ferdiesfoodlab or a technique you want to know about drop us a line at bookings@ferdiesfoodlab.co.uk and I'll put up a post about it!!

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