Spaghetti Bolognese Bake

Suddenly I remembered a 1980s school dinner from Finnish schools, Spaghettipaistos, which is in essence a baked spaghetti bolognese. Of course the school version was quite stripped down version of mince meat in a tomato sauce baked with some spaghetti. However it wasn't bad and it got us filled. Finnish school dinners tend to be of good quality and quite versatile. We were always served a warm meal with salads and bread on the side. I'm not fond of everything that we were served, and will surely never again taste some of those dishes in my life, especially because many of them contained meat.

I was somewhat of an oddball as a teenager when I became a vegetarian in a quite meat-centric eating culture in a small town, but most people showed respect to my new eating habits. In the beginning I was mainly leaving off the meat, and didn't necessarily eat versatile enough, but I slowly read more about vegetarianism and got acquainted with lentils and other vegetarian essentials. Even at school I could get through fairly well with my new vegetarian diet.

Now back to today's recipe. As I remembered this Finnish classic, I wanted to make a vegetarian version of it, and also make it a bit more posh by making a proper vegetarian bolognese containing carrots and mushrooms as well. This dish turned out to be really nice, and it was also quite a huge portion. It would be good, if you have many eaters, or want to eat this on several days. I froze a part of this so that I can enjoy it later on a day when I'm too lazy to cook.

Do you have any special memories of school dinners, or have you cooked some at home for nostalgic reasons?

Spaghetti Bolognese Bake - Spaghettipaistos

Ingredients

½ cup dried soya mince

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

3 carrots

1 tbsp olive oil

100 g closed cup button mushrooms

500 g tomato passata

Fresh basil

Oregano

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

300 g spaghetti

150 g grated cheddar

Method

Cook the dried soya mince as per the packet instructions, or use fresh soya or quorn mince.

Chop the onion, garlic and carrots finely, and start cooking the onion in olive oil. Cook until soft and browned, and then add the carrots and after a while the garlic.

Slice the button mushrooms and also add them to the pan.

Then cover the veggies with tomato passata ans let simmer, until the flavours have blended nicely and the vegetables still have a nice texture.

In the meanwhile cook the spaghetti separately until al dente.

Season the sauce with basil, oregano, salt and black pepper.

Combine the sauce with the spaghetti and place them in an oven dish.

Cover with grated cheese and bake for about 20 minutes at 180 C until the cheese has melted and is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Potato and leek bake

Potatoes, leeks and cheese, what else do you need in this season? Probably nothing, at least I'm pretty happy with these ingredients. I decided to make a potato and leek bake, but a slightly different kind than normally. I mashed the potatoes and mixed them with cheese and leeks cooked in cider. It was such a good combination!

We are probably going to switch the Christmas lights on in our flat tonight, so I'm now off to tidy the balcony up. Then I'll prepare some snacks for the evening and there will of course also be mulled wine. What plans do you have for the weekend?

Potato and leek bake

Ingredients

1 kg potatoes (I used the Apache variation)

1 onion

1 cloveless garlic

25 g butter

2 leeks

100 ml dry cider

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

200 g Gruyere cheese

Method

Cook the potatoes and mash them.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking them in butter.

Slice the leeks and add them to the onion.

Let cook for a while until and then add the cider.

Cook until the leeks are soft and season with salt, pepper and vegetable stock powder.

Grate the cheese.

Mix the leeks with the potato mash and then add the grated cheese into them.

Stir into an even mixture and place in a oven dish.

Bake at 180 C for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Bean and sweetcorn nacho bake

Oh bliss, it's a long weekend and the weather seems to be fairly okay so far. I'm happy and have nice plans for the weekend, which will probably be revealed here later. But first I want to share a recent recipe of mine with you, which is another way to eat a vegetarian chilli and nachos. I baked the chilli with cheese and some nachos and served it with even more tortilla chips. This was a very nice dish, especially for a film night or Nordic noir night in my case.

Ingredients

1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

1 romano pepper

Olive oil for frying

1 can black beans

1 can sweetcorn

Ground cumin to taste

Ground coriander to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

300 g organic peeled tomatoes

½ cup dried soya mince

Fresh coriander leaves to taste

1 lime's juice

175 g tortilla chips

250 g grated cheese

Sour cream to serve

Method

Fry the chopped onion, garlic and romano pepper in olive oil for a while. Add the black beans and sweetcorn. Season and add the tomatoes and let simmer.

Prepare the soy mince separately as per instructions and add it to the mix as well. Season with fresh coriander leaves and lime juice.

Place the chilli in an oven dish or several smaller ramekins. Put some tortilla chips around the edges and cover with grated cheese.

Bake at 200 C for about 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and the bake looks nice.

Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips on the side and enjoy!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your VegHog

Stuffed lumaconi in tomato sauce

I recently bought the chunky lumaconi pasta shells and thought that the first dish made with them should be a pasta bake, and that's what I made. I went with the classic combination of pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella and basil here. I stuffed the pasta shells with mozzarella cherries that had been rolled in pesto, covered them with a heirloom tomato sauce and a bit of extra cheese and baked in the oven.

The firm giant pasta stuffed with fragrant pesto, melting mozzarella and covered in fresh tomato sauce made a very good combination indeed. Here's my recipe.

Ingredients

Sauce:

3 large heirloom tomatoes

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp tomato purée

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Stuffing:

Handful of basil leaves

2 garlic cloves

10 g pine nuts

4 tbsp olive oil

200 g mozzarella cherries

Pasta:

12 lumaconi pasta shells

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Method

Make the tomato sauce first by cooking the finely chopped onion and garlic until soft and then adding the finely chopped heirloom tomatoes. Let simmer and season to taste.

Prepare the stuffing by puréeing the pesto ingredients together and mixing them with the mozzarella cherries.

Cook the lumaconi in water until al dente, cool them down with cold water so that they are easier to handle.

Stuff the lumaconi with the mozzarella cherries and pour the tomato sauce on the top.

Grate little vegetarian pasta cheese for the top.

Bake at 180 C for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Thrice-cooked potato and leek bake

Potatoes and leeks are the best produce of this season for me and I love combining both of them with cheese, it's an old yet proved combination. So I don't know what made me think of thrice-cooked potatoes, but I was intrigued to see how it would work out. The potato slices were briefly boiled, then fried in oil and finally baked in the oven. They were combined with a cheesy leek mix in a hearty bake. This is a perfect dish to warm up on a chilly dark evening.

Ingredients

400 g potatoes

Vegetable oil

3 leeks

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Vegetable stock powder

Fresh parsley

Salt

Ground black pepper

200 g grated Cheddar

Method

Slice the potatoes thinly. Boil them in water for about 5 minutes. Put them into a bowl and add some vegetable oil to them. Fry the potato slices for a few minutes in a hot pan until they get brown.

Slice the leeks and chop the onion and garlic finely. Cook them in oil until soft, then add a little vegetable stock powder and water. Season with parsley, salt and pepper and let simmer under lid by occasionally stirring.

Layer the leek mix, scalloped potatoes and cheese into an oven dish and bake for about 10-15 minutes.

I served the bake with steamed carrots and fried gem lettuce (too much Masterchef watching for me?). It was a nice dinner.

Your VegHog

Macaroni cheese with pepper

I made this quick weekday mac 'n' cheese a bit more special by adding a little dry cider, which goes really well with cheesy dishes, and a romano pepper (hiding under the cheese on the photos!). My partner doesn't like creamy sauces, so that's one reason for making more creative macaroni cheese dishes. Luckily he is fine with hard cheeses. So here is my quick recipe that can truly save a weekday.

Ingredients

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 romano pepper

Olive oil

A dash of dry cider

Salt

Pepper

Basil

300 g Cheddar and Mozzarella mix

400 g macaroni

Breadcrumbs

Method

Cook the macaroni al dente in water.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and cut the pepper into small cubes. Start cooking them in olive oil, then add a dash cider and the seasoning and let simmer a while.

Grate the cheese and add half of it into the cidery onion mix and stir until it's a smooth sauce with melted cheese. Keep stirring thoroughly or even use a whisk like I did to keep the sauce smooth.

Mix the cooked macaroni into the sauce and pour it all into an oven dish. Cover it with the other half of the cheese and some breadcrumbs and bake at 200 C for about 10 minutes until the surface is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Roasted miniature new potato and leek bake flavoured with cider

I guess this is how most of my food photos are going to look now that the evenings are getting darker, the only time when I have time to cook on the weekdays. I do apologise for the darkness and hope to make some brighter looking photos on the weekends as well. I hope you'll like the food nevertheless.

I made this autumnal dish ultra savoury, just the way I like it. It's a bake made with roasted miniature new potatoes in a leek, cheese and cider sauce and here's the recipe.

Ingredients

500 g miniature new potatoes

1 tsp vegetable oil

½ tsp smoked paprika

3 baby carrots

3 leeks

3 garlic cloves

10 g butter

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

Salt

Ground black pepper

50 ml dry cider

100 g cheddar and red Leicester mix

Breadcrumbs

Sage

Thyme

Method

Wash the potatoes and roll them in vegetable oil and dust with smoked paprika, then roast them in the oven until done.

Chop the carrots and leeks into thin slices, also chop the garlic finely.

Start cooking the carrots, leeks and garlic in the butter. Cook them for a few minutes until slightly softened. Then add the vegetable stock powder, salt and ground black pepper and also pour the cider in. Let simmer slowly under the lid until all flavours have blended nicely.

Once the potatoes are cooked, mix them into the leeks. Then also add half of the grated cheese into the mix. Put it into an oven dish and cover with the rest of the cheese and the breadcrumbs, sage and thyme.

Bake in the oven until the cheese has nicely melted and golden brown. Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Broccoli cheese with creamy mushroom sauce and roasted potatoes

Sometimes I just need to have this sort of a meal, a cheesy vegetable bake, a creamy sauce and roasted potatoes. It's such comfort food for me, and surely for many others, but I don't make these kind of meals that often anymore. Normally I prefer lighter meals, but isn't it just nice to be a little naughty sometimes? Especially now when the weather is so rainy and gloomy.

I made quite basic versions of all components, so this is also a quite effortless meal and can be easily made fairly quickly when you're feeling blue.

Roasted potatoes:

400 g potatoes

1 tsp vegetable oil

Smoked paprika

Brush the potatoes with vegetable oil and sprinkle smoked paprika on the top. Roast in the oven until soft with a nice roasted skin.

Broccoli cheese:

1 broccoli

1 onions

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

Ground black pepper

Salt

100 g grated Cheddar and Mozzarella mix

Cut the broccoli into florets and steam them until they are almost done. Chop the onions and garlic cloves finely and cook them in olive oil until soft. Add the seasoning and combine with the steamed florets. Put into an oven dish, cover with cheese and bake until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown.

Mushroom sauce:

250 g baby button mushrooms

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 tsp olive oil

150 ml single cream

Ground black pepper

Salt

Fresh thyme

Slice the mushrooms and chop the onion and garlic finely. Cook them in olive oil for a few minutes and then add the cream. Season and let simmer until the cream has been infused with the flavours.

Serve the components together, a little salad on the side and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Brussels sprout and potato bake

We don't traditionally eat sprouts in my family at Christmas, as they don't really belong to the Finnish Christmas vegetables. Things are different here in England though, sprouts are considered to be very much Christmas vegetables. I wouldn't mind having them anytime though, and I'm planning to possibly adding them to this year's nut roast, maybe shredded. But that will remain to be seen, as I haven't fully decided on the nut roast yet. But even this Brussels sprout and potato bake could be a nice addition to a festive meal, or served outside the holidays as a stand-alone dish.

Here's how I made this bake.

Ingredients

500 g miniature potatoes

550 g brussels sprouts

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp hazelnut oil

50 ml dry cider

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

Ground black pepper to taste

Ground nutmeg to taste

300 ml vegetable stock

250 g cheddar and mozzarella mix

3 spring onions

Method

Clean the potatoes and sprouts and cut them in half. If you are using a bit bigger potatoes, cut them into even smaller chunks.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and cook them soft in the hazelnut oil. Add the sprouts and potatoes to the pan. Then also add the dry cider, rosemary, thyme, paprika, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

After the cider has evaporated a little, add the vegetable stock and let simmer until the liquid has almost absorbed and the potatoes are cooked. I even preferred the potatoes to be quite soft already before the baking. But if you want firmer potatoes, don't cook them too long in the pan, as they are going to the oven as well.

Mix half of the cheese to the potatoes and sprouts in the casserole. Then fill an oven dish or dishes with it and layer cheese into the middle.

Bake at 200C for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese has melted and the flavours come together. Chop the spring onions and sprinkle them fresh onto the bake and it's ready to be enjoyed!

This dish is also my contribution to December's Eat Your Greens challenge by A2K – A Seasonal Veg Table. I linked a recipe there for the first time last month, and now I'm determined doing so every month. It's a great challenge and so is Shaheen's blog, check them out through the links! I found this dish quite suitable as the December contribution as it can be an addition to a festive meal or just a plain seasonal weekday meal (+ it's green!).

Your VegHog

 

Vegetable slice bake

Today's dish is a very experimental vegetable bake. Originally I had the idea of layering vegetables in a way like almost making a lasagne without the pasta sheets. However when it came to the layering stage, I just put the slices standing up on their sides instead. It kind of worked, but maybe next time I will try that pastaless lasagne version as well. This bake is full of veggies and only low on cheese, and I think it's very suitable as a weekday meal. I added a pesto type rocket sauce on the top to add more flavour to the bake.

Ingredients

2 aubergines

Olive oil for roasting

3 courgettes

8 tomatoes

25 g mature cheddar

Rocket sauce:

50 g fresh rocket

4 garlic cloves

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/3 tsp ground black pepper

Method

Try to select vegetables that have approximately the same diameter as then the bake looks more even in your oven dish. I didn't quite plan to make this dish long enough, so my vegetables were a bit variable in size. Cut the aubergines, courgettes and tomatoes into thin slices.

Soak the aubergine slices in salted water for 30 minutes to remove the bitterness. Then drain and roast them brushed with olive oil. They don't have to be fully roasted, as they will return to the oven, but just a bit softened and soaked in olive oil. I decided to pre-roast them in order to avoid them being chewy.

Let the aubergine slices cool a little, so that you are able to handle them. Then layer the aubergines, courgettes and tomatoes next to each other into an oven dish.

Make the rocket sauce by puréeing the ingredients together into an even paste. Pour the sauce on top of the vegetables and also sprinkle the grated cheese on the top.

Bake at 180C for about 40-50 minutes until all vegetables are nicely cooked. Done!

Your VegHog

Potato and leek bake

Potato + leek + cheese = BLISS!

I'm not sure, if I would ever get tired of this combination. It works so well in soups, stews, bakes... A cheesy potato bake is a life saver especially in the autumn and winter.

I already made one to practise for the cold time, so here is my recipe for a simple potato and leek bake. As a contrast I served a fresh fig salad on the side.

Ingredients

3 leeks

500 g potatoes

300 g Red Leicester and Cheddar cheese mix

3 garlic cloves

25 g butter

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Nutmeg to taste

Method

Slice the potatoes. I didn't peel mine as the skins were very thin on them, but you can peel them if you prefer.

Parboil the potato slices in salt water for about 10-15 minutes.

Chop the leek into rings and the garlic finely. Grate the cheeses. Cook the leek and garlic in the butter until soft and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Layer the leek mix, potato slices and cheese into a oven dish. Cover the bake with cheese.

Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes until the potatoes are fully baked and the cheese is crispy and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Macaroni cheese with a twist

First I wanted to call this dish an English macaroni cheese, but then I realised that I had used Herbes de Provence and crème fraîche, so it probably wouldn't have been appropriate. Then I planned to name it the European macaroni cheese (Italian, English, French components), but that didn't quite sound right. In the end I had to settle for the name Macaroni cheese with a twist. The twist are my English ingredient additions, dry cider and Cornish Cruncher cheese that made the macaroni bake very savoury and special tasting. Have a look how easy the making is.

Ingredients

1 shallot

1 tbsp olive oil

250 g macaroni

200 g Cornish Cruncher cheese

150 ml dry cider (Black Fox)

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp sea salt

2 tbsp crème fraîche

50 g breadcrumbs (I used lemon and pepper breadcrumbs)

Method

Chop the shallot finely and cook in olive oil at moderate heat until soft. In the meanwhile also cook the macaroni in salt water. Leave them a bit more al dente than usual as they will keep cooking in the oven.

Grate the cheese. Add the herbs, black pepper and sea salt to the shallots and then pour the cider in. Add 2/3 of the cheese and the crème fraîche. Let cook for a few minutes more and then also mix the macaroni in.

Place the mix into ramekins or a large oven dish. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese and the breadcrumbs on the top and bake at 180C for about 15 minutes.

Serve with a salad and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Cheese and shallot Spätzle bake

I have already shared one of my Spätzle recipes here, and here comes another one. To the first recipe I added some bell peppers, but today I'm just making my basic shallot Spätzle bake. Maybe I'll have to explain again what Spätzle is to those who aren't familiar with it. Spätzle is a German dish, Swabian egg noodles or small dumplings, mostly eaten as a side. I however feel that Spätzle can make wonderful stand-alone dishes and therefore use it as the main star of these recipes. It's great weekend food as well.

Spätzle dough:

400g wheat flour

4 eggs

1tsp salt

250ml water

Bake ingredients:

4 shallots

4 garlic cloves

1tbsp olive oil

150g emmental cheese

First caramelise the shallots in olive oil, and also fry the garlic.

Make the Spätzle dough by whisking the dough ingredients into an even batter. It should be fairly moist, yet elastic. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and press the Spätzle dough through the largest setting of a potato ricer straight into the heavily boiling water. Do this in small batches, but make sure that the water is always boiling, otherwise it could lead into dissolving of the dough structure into the water. After a couple of minutes the Spätzle start floating on the surface, and then they can be taken out.

Add the cooked Spätzle to the shallot and garlic pan and mix. Put the mixture into an oven dish, you can make one large dish or several smaller ones. Grate the cheese and place it on the top of the bakes.

Bake at 200C for about 20 minutes until the cheese topping is golden brown.

Enjoy with a lovely Riesling and a fresh side salad!

Your VegHog

Bread and pumpkin fondue

When I saw this recipe for a bread and pumpkin fondue by Yotam Ottolenghi I instantly knew that I would have to make it at some point. And here we are, I have made my own slightly different version of this dish and it turned out to be the perfect dinner for a chilly day. It's nice and tasty, cheesy and savoury and very simple to make. I love the combination of sage and pumpkin.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin

2 small turnips

120g gruyère cheese

120g emmental cheese

3 slices of sourdough bread

350ml dry white wine

200ml vegetable stock

2 garlic cloves

½tsp nutmeg

10g sage leaves

Butter

White pepper

Salt

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190C. Cut the pumpkin and the turnips into small chunks and place them into an oven dish.

Gently fry the garlic in butter in a pan. Then add the chopped sage leaves, grated nutmeg, pepper, salt and the vegetable stock and finally add the wine. Pour 2/3 of this liquid on the pumpkin and turnip chunks into the oven dish.

Toast the bread slices and place them on top of the vegetables. Place the grated cheese on the breads and pour the rest of your seasoning liquid on the top.

Cover the dish with a foil and bake for about one hour. Then remove the foil and bake the gratin for further 15 minutes.

Serve with lovely dry white wine or cider and keep warm!

Your VegHog