Tomato and basil omelette

Here is my Sunday breakfast from earlier today and it gave me quite a nice start to the day. I don't have many plans for today and as usual I'm already planning what to cook for dinner and to prepare for Monday's work lunch. I hope that you are having a relaxing Sunday.

So into this omelette I put three eggs, a dash of almond milk (would've put normal milk, but didn't have any), a handful of homegrown mini tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, little grated Emmental cheese, ¼ onion, salt, black pepper and olive oil for frying.

First I whisked the eggs, milk, cheese, basil, salt and pepper together, chopped the onions finely and cut the tomatoes in halves. Then I started frying the onion in the olive oil and once they were soft, I added the egg mixture and placed the tomatoes. I turned the omelette in the pan once and enjoyed it with coffee and pineapple juice.

Your VegHog

Twice baked potatoes with leeks, cheese and cider

That's right my friends, the baked potato season is upon us and I often catch myself craving a baked potato with a cheesy filling. These twice baked potatoes with leeks flavoured with cider and oak smoked Cheddar are just a dream in the autumn. Have a look at how I made mine.

Ingredients

3 large baking potatoes

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp olive oil

3 leeks

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp butter

100 ml dry cider

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

Salt

Ground black pepper

100 g oak smoked Cheddar

100 g mature Cheddar

Method

Wash the potatoes and coat them with olive oil and sea salt, then bake at 180C for about one hour or until soft.

Cut the leeks into rings and chop the garlic finely. Cook them in butter for a few minutes. Then add the dry cider and let simmer until the leeks are soft. Season with vegetable stock powder (or cube), salt and black pepper. Add the cheese to the mix.

Once the potatoes are done, cut them in halves and scoop out the insides by leaving the skins. Mix the potato insides with the leeks and cheese and stuff into the potato skins.

Return to the oven for about 10 minutes until the tops get a bit of colour.

Serve with a side salad or like I did here with some tomatoes and baby kale.

Enjoy your weekend!

The VegHog

Halloumi, lentil and freekeh salad

Here is a very quick salad post for today. I made this salad last week, but didn't get around to posting it yet. I just came back from London, so I haven't had loads of time writing a post today. I thought a weekday salad could be a good post for today. The tomatoes in this salad are homegrown, which I guess makes it a bit more interesting. I have some proud bush tomatoes on my balcony with tasty produce, only some of them turned out to be very small.

I don't really have exact ingredient amounts for this salad either, as the size can be variable depending on for how many people you make it. The clue is again that there are some warm and some cold components, but it's equally enjoyable as a fully cold salad. I have made good guesses below, which catered for light evening salads for two people and for work lunches the next day.

Ingredients

½ cup green lentils

½ cup freekeh

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

250 g halloumi

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 gem lettuce

100 g cherry tomatoes

Basil infused olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Cook the lentils and freekeh in separate pots with a little addition of vegetable stock powder until they are done.

Cut the halloumi into cubes and fry them in vegetable oil until golden brown.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in halves and the gem lettuce into thin strips.

Combine the warm and cold components on a plate and drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Blueberry muffins

“These are the best blueberry muffins ever. Leave the mix to rest for as long as your willpower can bear…” This sounded like a promising description of a recipe to me and I decided to go with this one out of all the blueberry muffin recipes that are available online. It is by Paul Hollywood, published on the BBC Food page and you can find it here. I am not going to repeat the recipe here, as I followed it exactly (apart from enjoying the ready product with double cream). I even left the dough rest overnight. I think that it was a very nice dough, just right to my taste. 

After tasting these muffins, I totally agree that these indeed can be the best blueberry muffins ever! Try this recipe out, if you don't believe me. It's a simple one to follow and I actually found the overnight wait convenient. What if you have a party the next day and enough to prepare in the morning. Wouldn't it be great, if the dough would've been made on the previous night?

So here I present my muffins in a pink pony party setting, just because pink pony parties are fun!

Your VegHog

Grilled sourdough sandwiches

The weekend is finally here and I'm only going to do a quick post before I go to town. I want to do some shopping at the health food store and maybe eat out or sit in a pub relaxing.

I made these grilled sourdough sandwiches a while ago and it's about time that they come to the blog. I love sourdough bread, halloumi and oak smoked slow roasted tomatoes and they all came together in this dish or snack.

Sourdough bread slices

250 g halloumi

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 yellow romano pepper

1 red onion

1 garlic clove

1 tsp olive oil

Pea shoots and baby leaves

Oak smoked slow roasted tomatoes

Fresh oregano

Slice the halloumi and fry the slices in vegetable oil until golden brown on both sides.

Pan fry the sliced red onion and romano pepper and also cook the chopped garlic in olive oil.

Char-grill the sourdough bread slices.

Assemble the sandwiches with all components and enjoy!

Have a nice weekend!

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

Pattypan squash spelt risotto

Maybe you already saw this dish in my lunchbox on Tuesday and here is the full recipe of my pattypan squash spelt risotto. I love the look of pattypan squashes, their shape is so quirky. Unfortunately I don't often find them in my local shops, but now my local health food store had a few of them in a great condition, so of course I had to buy them. The taste of this squash is quite mild and I think that they are closer to courgettes by taste and texture. That makes them quite versatile to use. I found this pattypan squash spelt risotto quite tasty, have a look how I made it.

Ingredients

1 pattypan squash

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

1 red bell pepper

25 g butter

250 ml pearled spelt

100 ml dry white wine

1 l vegetable stock

50 g vegetarian pasta cheese

Sage

Basil

Salt

Ground black pepper

Method

Peel and cut the pattypan squash into small cubes. Brush them with olive oil and roast in the oven until done with darker roasting marks.

Chop the onions and garlic finely and also cut the bell pepper into cubes.

Start cooking the onions, garlic and pepper in olive oil, and once they are soft, add the butter and pearled spelt into the pan.

Add the white wine and let the pearled spelt absorb it. Then add about the third of the vegetable stock and simmer under lid. Keep adding more stock whenever needed.

Towards the end, add the roasted pattypan squash and grated pasta cheese to the pan, and season with sage, basil, salt and ground black pepper.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog