Chickpea and butternut squash cheatballs

Okay, it's time to post some recipes for a change. Sorry about the posting break during my holiday, but I wanted a small break from blogging, just to be back with some new enthusiasm. So first of all I want to share a recipe with you that I cooked for my family at Easter. I made these vegan chickpea and butternut squash cheatballs for our vegetarian Easter meal and they seemed to disappear quite quickly, the balls not the family... I oven baked the balls, so they were quite effortless to make and also low on fat. I think that I got about 10 fairly chunky balls out of these ingredients.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash

1 can chickpeas

1 onion

1 cloveless garlic or 2 regular garlic cloves

Vegetable oil

Bunch of fresh coriander

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Peel the butternut squash and cut it into coarse chucks. Cook them in water until done.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking them in oil. Once they are soft, add the chickpeas to the pan.

Once the squash has been cooked, add it also to the chickpeas, take them off heat, season and mash. I liked leaving some of the chickpeas as whole, but you can also make a fully smooth batter, if you prefer.

Shape balls from the batter and cook them in the oven at 200 C for about 30 minutes or until the surface is slightly browned and firm.

Enjoy the cheatballs for example with potato mash, mushroom sauce and a selection of salads like we did.

Your VegHog

Butternut squash pasta

The other day I cooked this butternut squash pasta recipe and it was a beautiful dish. The original recipe is here: Nigel Slater’s butternut squash with orecchiette and tomato recipe. Frying the squash in butter and oil mixture just gives it such a great taste. Nigel really is on to something here. I love the warmth that comes from the cumin seeds and the slight heat from the chilli flakes. All in all this is a great vegetarian dish, and super easy to make! 

I made a few changes to the original recipe. Instead of orecchiette I used spelt tagliatelle, nice organic pasta that I snapped with me from the health food shop, and I'll have to buy it again. It stayed nicely al dente and added some nuttiness to the dish.

I added a clove of garlic to the dish, which wasn't in Nigel's recipe, but I don't think that it made things worse.

I had to use fresh basil instead of sage. When I shopped for this recipe, my shop unfortunately didn't have any fresh sage, so I opted for basil, which was also lovely, but I really hope to taste this dish with sage as well.

Have a good weekend!

Your VegHog

Chickpea and butternut squash Schnitzel with kohlrabi mash

For a change I made some vegan Schnitzel. I normally use eggs for Schnitzel binding, but this time I decided to go without them and cheese, so I created these chickpea and butternut squash patties. They were quite soft in texture, but they still stuck together. I served them with kohlrabi mash to have a change to potato mash and also some roasted purple carrots.

Here is my recipe.

Chickpea and butternut squash Schnitzel:

½ cup dried chickpeas

1 butternut squash

1 vegetable stock cube

1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

A bunch of fresh coriander

Salt

Pepper

Ground cumin

Smoked paprika

Breadcrumbs (if needed)

Vegetable oil for frying

Method:

Soak the chickpeas overnight and cook them until they are done.

Peel the butternut squash, cut it into pieces and cook with a vegetable stock cube until it's done. Then mash it.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and cook in olive oil until soft.

Combine the components and mash them a little bit. I still like having some whole chickpeas in there, so I don't make too smooth of a burger material.

Shape burgers from the mixture and cook on both sides in oil.

Kohlrabi mash:

2 kohlrabi

1 garlic clove

2 tbsp butter

Salt

Pepper

Method:

Peel the kohlrabi and cut it to pieces. Cook the pieces in water until they are soft and mash them.

Chop the garlic finely and mix it into the kohlrabi.

Add the butter, salt and pepper.

Combine the components on a plate and enjoy!

As it happens, the theme for the vegetarian cooking challenge Vegetable Palette is orange this month, so I would like to share this vegan Schnitzel recipe with the challenge. Shaheen from A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table, who hosts this challenge made a good choice with the colour, as this season is full of orange veg, at least in my kitchen with all the squashes, pumpkins and carrots.

Have a great week!

Your VegHog

Cauliflower purée with barbeque glazed butternut squash and carrots

I have been meaning to make cauliflower purée for ages now, and only now got around to it. I decided to serve it with simple roasted barbeque glazed vegetables, and found that the cauliflower purée indeed makes a very nice change from potato mash. This is easy enough to make on weekdays and I'm sure I will make it again.

Ingredients

2 cauliflowers

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

10 g butter

1 small butternut squash

8 baby carrots

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh thyme

2 tbsp barbeque sauce

French breakfast radishes

Method

Wash the cauliflower and cut it into florets. Chop the onion and garlic finely. Cook the cauliflower florets in water with the chopped onion and garlic, the bay leaves and vegetable stock powder until they are soft. Remove the bay leaves and drain off any excess water. Purée the cauliflower and add the butter to it. Also add some salt to taste, if needed.

Peel the butternut squash and cut it into slices. Brush the slices and the carrots with olive oil and roast until done. Then glaze them with the barbeque sauce.

Serve all together and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Butternut squash speltotto

I have been a little bit disappointed with the squash offering in my local shops this winter and spring. It seems that mostly just butternut squash or coquina squash were available. Well, there's nothing wrong with them, but there are better squashes as well that I would have liked to cook again. However due to the squash variation shortage, I grew to like butternut squash more again. Today's recipe is just a basic speltotto (=risotto made with pearled spelt instead of arborio rice) that I cooked the other day from roasted butternut squash and pearled spelt. It was really tasty and the best kind of comfort food for me. Yesterday I ordered a new large batch of pearled spelt and I can't wait for it to arrive. If you have never tried it, I would really urge you to, it's really nice. And if you have tried, I would also love to hear your opinions, but now to the butternut squash speltotto recipe.

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash

3 tbsp olive oil

2 shallots

3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp butter

1,5 cup pearled spelt

100 ml white wine

500 ml vegetable stock

25 g grated mature cheddar

50 g toasted pine nuts

Salt and black pepper to taste

Fresh basil leaves

Method

Peel the butternut squash and cut it into small/medium cubes. Roast the cubes in the oven with olive oil.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and cook them in olive oil until soft.

Add butter and the pearled spelt into the pan and stir for a minute or so.

Add the white wine and let it mostly evaporate.

Then add about a third of the vegetable stock and let simmer.

Keep adding vegetable stock and stirring often until the spelt has cooked.

Towards the end, add the roasted butternut squash cubes and the grated cheese to the mix, season with salt, pepper and basil and serve with toasted pine nuts.

Your VegHog

Lazy Sunday lunch

I have been suffering from some winter tiredness lately. I have no strength whatsoever and that also shows in the kitchen. Last week and weekend were so hectic that I just couldn't be bothered to make a proper Sunday lunch this time. Normally that's my favourite time of the week to just dwell in the kitchen and cook for ages. Now I wanted to be quicker in order to get relaxing faster. I chose ingredients that had been lying around for a while without specific cooking plans and combined them in a lazy Sunday lunch.

 
This lunch consisted of:

Roasted sweet potato and butternut squash wedges – these were first roasted normally and then overbaked with cheese.

Broccoli and cheese Quorn escalopes – an easy ready meal, but nice to be combined with such dishes. I haven't been eating much Quorn for years, but now I have redetected it a little bit.

Mixed salad – just mixed salad leaves, pumpkin seeds and a pomegranate molasses dressing.

Fried onion rings – quickly fried shallot rings are a good addition to Schnitzel & co.

That was it. Next time I might be posting something slightly more inspirational.

Have a great week everyone!

Your VegHog

Butternut squash and pepper lasagne

This is a fine lasagne made out of homemade lasagne sheets and char-grilled vegetables. The freshness of it all can be tasted and it's oh so colourful. Butternut squash brings a certain sweetness to the table that works well with the contrast of the smokiness.

Here are the ingredients you'll need.

For the lasagne sheets:

400g grade 00 pasta flour

4 eggs

A sprinkle of salt

For the sauce:

400g piccolini cherry tomatoes

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Fresh basil leaves

For the filling:

1 butternut squash

1 orange romano pepper

Grated mozzarella

Make the pasta dough first. It can rest in the fridge while you are making the other preparations. Mix the pasta flour and salt with the eggs and knead thoroughly. Add more flour if needed. Wrap the dough in a cling film and leave in the fridge for about one hour.

Then you can start preparing the sauce. Simply wash the tomatoes and heat olive oil in a pan. Fry the tomatoes under the lid until they start breaking apart. Then add the chopped onion and garlic and simmer for about 20 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and fresh basil leaves. You can puree the sauce if you would like.

Cut the butternut squash into thin slices and just cut the pepper in half. The pepper can be chopped into smaller pieces after the grilling. Char-grill the butternut squash and romano pepper in a griddle pan until they have distinct grilling marks.

Process the pasta dough through a pasta machine by making thin sheets. Cut them into smaller lasagne sheets with a pasta cutter. I left mine in more rustic shapes because it's more fun and they fit well into my oval shaped oven dish.

Then you can start layering the lasagne into an oven dish. First put a little bit sauce and mozzarella on the bottom, then some vegetables and then lasagne sheets. You can also add extra basil leaves. Repeat this until you reach the top of your dish. Put more mozzarella on the top.

Bake at 180C for about 45 minutes until cooked with golden brown cheese on the top. Serve with watercress and a fresh white wine, for example Riesling. I also added some of my radish leaf pesto to the side.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Butternut squash rye pie

This is a savoury pie with a crispy crust and soft hearty filling made with one of my favourites, butternut squash.

The crust:

4dl Rye flour

3dl Wheat flour

1 cup lukewarm water

25gr dry yeast

Salt

Oil

The filling:

½ Butternut squash

3 Spring onions

Leicester cheese grated

Rosemary

White pepper

Salt

For the crust mix the two types of flour, yeast and salt with lukewarm water. Knead it to a firm dough by adding more water or flour if needed. Towards the end add some oil and let the dough rise for about 40 minutes under a tea towel.

Slice the butternut squash. Boil the slices in water until they are soft and then mash them.

Chop the spring onions finely and grate the cheese. Mix these to the butternut squash mash and season with some rosemary leaves, salt and white pepper.

Once your dough has risen divide it into 1/3 and 2/3 parts. Roll both parts out thinly and place the larger one into a pie tin. I used a pie tin with 20cm diameter. Then scoop in the butternut squash filling and place the smaller dough part as a lid. Cut some breathing holes on the lid.

Bake at 190C for about 30 minutes until the crust is crispy and enjoy some hearty pie goodness.

Your VegHog

Char-grilled butternut squash and pepper risotto

I'm char-grilling again as I'm still excited about my newish griddle pan. I char-grilled the veg beforehand for my risotto and the result was rather spectacular if I may say so myself. There is a nice grilling flavour going through the dish that gives a twist to a normal vegetarian risotto. Making risotto from scratch isn't as complicated as people might think, you only need some patience and stirring strength.

Ingredients

1 Pepper

½ Butternut squash

A few dried porcini mushrooms

1 Cup arborio rice

1 Onion

2 Cloves of garlic

White wine

Vegetable stock

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Olive oil

Groundnut oil

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Parsley

Method

Wash and slice the pepper and butternut squash. The bits for the char-grilling should be much larger than those you put into the risotto. Heat the griddle pan, add groundnut oil and mark these vegetables so that they get grilling stripes on both sides. When the veg bits are grilled, chop them into smaller pieces and set to side.

In the meanwhile prepare the vegetable stock and soak the dried porcini mushrooms. Warm the vegetable stock up in a pan and add parsley into it. Chop the onion and garlic and grate the pasta cheese.

Heat olive oil in a pan and fry onions and garlic there for a while. Add the porcini and fry them for a while. Then add the butter and rice and fry until the rice is translucent. Then make a white wine addition. Let the wine evaporate almost entirely and put the grilled vegetables to the pan and stir through. Make a vegetable stock addition and let simmer under the lid.

Stir often and add more vegetable stock whenever needed. Let simmer at moderate heat until the rice is al dente. Season with grated pasta cheese, parsley salt and pepper and you're ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Homemade butternut squash ravioli with pesto

Have you ever made your own pasta? Believe me it's a rewarding experience and fresh homemade pasta tastes extraordinarily good. I'm making today ravioli with butternut squash filling and pairing it with some homemade pesto. I don't have a pasta machine (however it's on my wishlist) so making the pasta sheets means a lot of hard rolling pin work, but I'm up for it!

For the pasta dough:

400g Grade 00 pasta flour

4 Eggs

Salt

For the ravioli filling:

¼ Butternut squash

Bread crumbs

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Rosemary

Salt

Pepper

For the pesto:

Large bunch of fresh basil

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Garlic

Pine nuts

Olive oil

And this is how it's done:

Make the pesto first as it can rest in the fridge until everything else is ready. Grate the vegetarian pasta cheese (parmigiano equivalent). Grind the garlic and pine nuts, add the cheese, basil and olive oil to it and grind to a smooth paste with a hand mixer. Put it into a sealable container and let rest in the fridge.

Then make the pasta dough. Put the flour into a pile on a table, break the eggs into a dent in the middle of the flour pile and add some salt. Then heavily knead until you have a firm dough. If the dough is too tough, add a little olive oil to make it smoother or if it's too runny, add more flour. Finally knead the dough into a ball, wrap into cling film and place to the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Now it's time to make the filling for the ravioli. Peel and slice the butternut squash quarter and boil the slices in water until soft. In the meanwhile grate more vegetarian pasta cheese. Then squash the squash and add the cheese, rosemary and bread crumbs to it and mix to an even paste. It must not be too moist, add more bread crumbs if needed. You can also lightly season with salt and pepper. This mix needs to be well cooled down before you put it onto the pasta.

Start rolling the pasta dough with either a pasta machine or a rolling pin and make thin sheets of it. Cut small squares or circles. Fill them, brush the sides with water and stick another pasta piece on it. The water helps them stick well together, but also press them firmly together with your fingers or a fork.

Boil the ravioli for about 8-10 minutes in salt water until the filling is warm and the pasta al dente. Roll them in pesto before serving and sprinkle cheese on the pasta.

Serve the dish with a fresh tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. Enjoy and be proud of your achievement of making ravioli from scratch!

Your VegHog

Butternut squash soup

It’s winter and a soup will make you feel nice and warm! And what could be a more suitable ingredient for a winter soup than the so called "winter pumpkin"? So it’s butternut squash’s turn to be transformed into lovely soupiness. The VegHog has only ever used butternut squash for soups and risottos but it also wants to try roasted ones soon. What meals have you cooked with butternut squash?

This soup is simple and quick and also vegan!

Ingredients

1 Butternut squash
4 small new potatoes
1 Onion
2 Gloves of garlic
1 Dried chili (from VegHog's own plantage)
A cup of red lentils
Vegetable stock
Oil
Chives

I’m not using the seeds of the butternut squash and am also peeling it. Check out the Wiki though that says that its all parts are edible.

Cut the butternut squash and potatoes into small squares. Chop the onions, garlic and chili. Rinse the lentils with cold water.

Fry the onions and garlic in oil. Add the potatoes and finally the butternut squash and chili to the mix. Glaze them a bit and then add vegetable stock into the hot kettle. Boil until the veg is soft, then puree and let boil for a while. Sprinkle cut chives on the soup and serve it hot.

 Let it boil, let it boil, let it boil...

This soup can be warmed up again the next day if you make a larger batch. Of course it's also suitable for freezing.

 Serve as it is, vegan...

... or add some cream or soft cheese before serving. For a bigger hunger, eat some warm rye bread with this soup.

During the wintertime at least I want to keep making different vegetarian or vegan soups and sharing the ideas with you here. Would you have any suggestions or own soup recipes to share?

Have also a look at The VegHog's Porcini mushroom soup!

Keep warm!

Your VegHog