Summer omelette

Here's my yesterday's breakfast, a summer omelette containing courgette served with tomatoes and toast. I only rarely make omelettes these days, but this one kept me going for quite a while yesterday.

Ingredients

1 small courgette

½ onion

Rapeseed oil

2 eggs

Dash of hazelnut milk (or other milk)

Salt

Ground black pepper

Fresh basil leaves

Method

Cut the courgette into thin strings with a vegetable cutter or spiraliser.

Chop the onion into thin half rings.

Start cooking the onion in the rapeseed oil until soft, then add the courgettes into the pan and cook for a few minutes.

In the meanwhile whisk the eggs with the hazelnut milk and seasoning and then add to the pan.

Cook the omelette on both sides and serve with fresh tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Courgette nuggets

These courgette nuggets are nice to be enjoyed as a snack, side or a starter. They are quick to make and consist of grated courgette, chilli, lemon and oak smoked tomatoes, so there's a hint of spice and smoke in them. These are quite similar to the courgette fritters that I normally make with a couple of more additions and also smaller. Have a look at my recipe.

Ingredients

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

1 courgette

Few oak smoked tomatoes

Squeeze of lemon

50 g grated cheddar

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 egg

½ cup breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Chop the onion, chilli and garlic finely and grate the courgette.

Fry the onion, chilli and garlic for a few minutes in a pan and let cool. Then add them to the grated courgette.

Chop the oak smoked tomatoes and add them to the mix. Also add the grated cheese and season with lemon, salt and ground black pepper.

Add the egg and breadcrumbs, mix and shape nuggets from the mixture.

Fry the nuggets on both sides in hot oil until nicely browned.

Enjoy for example with a nice chipotle ketchup like I did.

Your VegHog

Courgette and carrot strings with spaghetti

We are approaching the end of The VegHog's Cheap Eats Week. I think that I have definitely saved some money while cooking these dishes, and I hope that you have too. I will post one final recipe tonight, so in the meanwhile have a great Sunday and see you later!

This recipe is for courgette and carrot strings with spaghetti and tomatoes. I like the fact that the pasta hasn't been fully replaced by the vegetable strings. That's why this dish is a bit more filling and pasta is always quite an affordable option. There are only fairly small amounts of each vegetable in this dish, which can even be covered by some leftover vegetables. I need to confess that I used one yellow carrot in this, which may not be the cheapest, but it was the one that I had available. Generally root vegetables are very cheap at the moment.

I marked the vegetarian pasta cheese and fresh basil as optional, as they are a bit of “luxury” in this dish. However if you have a growing basil plant, it's sustainable and not very expensive, and also just a small drizzle of pasta cheese is enough to add something nice.

This dish should feed four adults for lunch.

Ingredients

100 g cherry tomatoes

2 courgettes

2 carrots

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

150 g spaghetti

Salt

Ground black pepper

Fresh basil leaves (optional)

Vegetarian pasta cheese (optional)

Method

Drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil and salt and roast them in the oven until they are soft.

Cut the courgettes and carrots into thin strings with a spiraliser or vegetable cutter.

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

Add the carrots to the pan and after a while the courgettes and tomatoes. Only cook these for a couple of minutes, especially the courgettes.

Cook the pasta al dente and add it to the pan.

Season, serve and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Teff and broad bean burgers and courgette fries in cider batter

I haven't made veggie burgers for a while and thought that I would try new kind of vegan burgers made from teff grain and an interesting dried broad bean crunch that I bought in Finland. That can be substituted by dried, frozen or fresh broad beans of course. Best thing would be puréeing them for the burger mix. I served courgette fries in cider batter and a tahini dip on the side and it was quite a feast altogether. Luckily I could freeze some of the burger patties to be enjoyed later.

The roll is a homemade wheat-spelt-carrot roll, also vegan, but unfortunately I didn't note down the ingredient amounts. I have posted similar roll recipes here before and will surely post similar ones again. So here is my recipe for today's dish.

For the burger patties:

Makes about 10 medium sized patties.

150 g teff grain

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

1 cup broad bean crunch

1 large carrot

2 onions

4 garlic cloves

Smoked paprika

Salt

Ground black pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

For the courgette fries:

3 medium courgettes

1 cup dry cider

½ + 1 cup spelt flour

Pinch of smoked paprika

Vegetable oil for frying

For the tahini dip:

1 lemon's juice

100 g tahini

Sprinkle of salt

Method

Cook the teff in 300 ml water with the vegetable stock powder until done.

Soak the broad bean crunch for about 30 minutes.

Grate the carrots and chop the onion and garlic finely.

Cook the onion and garlic in oil until slightly caramelised.

Mix all burger patty ingredients together once they have cooled and shape burgers from the batter.

Cook the patties in hot oil until golden brown.

Cut the courgettes into fairly thin strips.

Make the batter by whisking one cup of flour with one cup of dry cider and add some smoked paprika.

Roll them in spelt flour and then in the batter and deep fry in hot oil.

Mix the dip ingredients together.

Assemble the burgers. I put a couple of tomato slices and some lettuce into the bun with the patty.

Serve and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Courgette Baba Ganoush

This Courgette Baba Ganoush dip is brilliant served as a starter with a crusty bread and it can suit any kind of summer gathering. It's also fairly quick to make, apart from the courgette grilling time, but they can grill while you prepare other dishes. I have adapted this recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty more (p. 162-165). I skipped the goat's yogurt, Roquefort and egg in order to keep my dish more simple. I also scaled the recipe down a bit, as I only had three courgettes. My version is easy to veganise by replacing the butter with a vegan alternative. Otherwise I pretty much followed Ottolenghi's instructions and here is how the dish is done.

Ingredients

3 courgettes

10 g butter

15 g pine nuts

Pinch of chilli flakes

1 tsp lemon juice

1 small garlic clove

Pinch of za'atar

Salt & black pepper

Method

Grill the courgettes in the oven under the highest grill setting for about 45 minutes. Turn them a few times during the grilling. The aim is to get them scorched outside and soft and smooth inside.

When taken out, let them cool a little bit and then scoop the flesh out from the skins. Mash the flesh into a smooth paste and drain the excess liquid off.

Melt the butter and cook the pine nuts in there until browned. Add the chilli flakes and lemon juice.

Add the finely chopped garlic, salt and pepper into the courgette mix.

Drizzle the chilli butter and za'atar on top.

Serve with a lovely crusty bread, like the sourdough baguette I had, and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Cauliflower, courgette and tomato bake

Today was a really nice weather and I'm starting to feel like eating more spring vegetables and lighter dishes. Today's recipe is one of them. Although it's a bake, it uses cauliflower, courgettes and tomatoes as the main ingredients, which make it feel more like a spring dish. I also love it that I can start using my more cheerful napkins and tea towels, so exciting! I hope that the weather is good where ever you are!

And here is the recipe for my Cauliflower, courgette and tomato bake:

Ingredients

1 cauliflower

2 courgettes

200 g cherry tomatoes

1 shallot

2 garlic cloves

4 tbsp olive oil

100 g mature cheddar

100 g mozzarella

Fresh basil leaves

A sprinkle of salt and black pepper

Method

Cut the cauliflower into florets and steam them. Cut the courgettes into slices and roast them brushed with olive oil and the tomatoes with garlic.

Chop the shallot and garlic finely and cook them soft in olive oil. Season them with fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper. Add the cauliflower florets, courgettes and tomatoes into the pan and mix. Place the mix into oven dishes.

Grate the cheddar and tear the mozzarella into pieces and sprinkle them on the top of the vegetables. Bake for about 30 minutes in the oven until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown.

I served oven potato wedges on the side, but this bake can be combined with many dishes.

I'm also sharing this recipe with #VegetablePalette, which is a monthly food blogging challenge by Shaheen from the A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table blog. The theme of the challenge for March is Simple Spring Vegetables and I think that my recipe fits this category just fine.

Your VegHog

Blood orange, courgette and mozzarella salad

Please don't think that I'm crazy when you see this dish, as the ingredient combination of fruit, vegetables and cheese might seem strange. And believe me, I got some suspicious glances for this at home, but in the end it was all eaten and more was requested... These flavours went surprisingly well together, even shallot with blood orange was very interesting and it was almost like a promise of the spring. This dish came about when I wanted a fresh starter salad and these were the ingredients I had available. I've been especially happy about the juicy blood oranges that I've been able to get at my local store at the moment, they are so lovely. I certainly think I'll make this sort of dish again!

So here's how I made it. These amounts make small starter salads for two persons.

1 courgette

6-8 cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 blood orange

1 small shallot

Pomegranate seeds

Mozzarella pearls

I roasted the courgette slices and the cherry tomatoes in the oven in olive oil.

The shallot was sliced into thin half rings and the blood orange segments cut out.

Then I just combined all the ingredients on a plate and served.

What do you think? Is the combination too weird for you or are you willing to try?

Your VegHog

Freekeh salad with roasted courgettes and halloumi

Earlier this month I posted my first freekeh recipe on this blog: Smoky freekeh with peppers, beans and sweetcorn. Now I'm utterly freaking out for freekeh! At least I should get all my proteins and fibre at the moment, judging by the amount of freekeh I've been eating. This smoky freekeh is just perfect for different seasonal dishes at the moment and today I have made a warm and cold salad with it. The salad consists of roasted baby courgettes, halloumi, mixed leaves, pumpkin seeds and of course some freekeh. The fresh coriander added a wonderful flavour to this dish and as so often, I couldn't leave fried halloumi out of this salad.

Here's my salad recipe that is also my contribution to the 'Eat Your Greens' challenge by Shaheen from the A2K – A Seasonal Veg Table blog for the month January.

Freekeh salad with roasted courgettes and halloumi

Ingredients

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

2 tbsp olive oil

½ cup smoky freekeh

1 ½ cup vegetable stock

200 g baby courgettes

250 g halloumi

2 tbsp vegetable oil

½ tsp smoked paprika

Pumpkin seeds

Fresh coriander leaves

110 g mixed salad leaves

Olive oil + balsamic vinegar + salt + pepper drizzled on the top

Method

Rinse the freekeh. Chop the shallot and garlic finely and cook them soft in olive oil.

Add the freekeh to the pan with about one and a half cups of vegetable stock. More liquid can be added later if needed.

Let simmer under lid for about 30 minutes and season with the smoky paprika towards the end.

Cut the courgettes in about 1 cm long pieces and brush with olive oil. Roast them in the oven until they are soft with roasting marks.

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

Combine the components on a plate, drizzle olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper on the top and serve as a warm and cold salad.

Done! Easy!

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

Pasta with walnuts and roasted courgettes

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope, you've had a brilliant weekend. I had a good pub night on Friday and visited friends yesterday. Today just chilling is planned, and then I'm ready for next week.

Today's autumn pasta recipe consists of walnuts and roasted courgettes with chilli and cheese. I really do like this combination. I added a slight twist to the dish by putting some freshly sprouted alfalfa on the pasta before serving. It added a nice fresh and peppery taste. I'm almost constantly sprouting, and try to use the sprouts sometimes in other dishes than salads. Do you have any good tips for sprout usage, my dear readers?

Here are the ingredients and the method to make this easy pasta, which is very suitable as a weekday meal.

Ingredients

Fusilli pasta

2 medium courgettes

Olive oil

2 garlic cloves

100 g walnuts

50 g emmental

Chilli flakes

Salt

Ground black pepper

Alfalfa

Method

Cut the courgettes into cubes. Brush them with olive oil and roast in the oven. It's best to finish this phase before you start the other preparations, as the other parts cook quickly while the pasta is boiling. This is quite a fast dish to make, therefore a perfect weekday pasta!

Crush the walnuts a little bit smaller and toast them in the oven.

Chop the garlic cloves finely and cook them in olive oil. Then add the chilli flakes, roasted courgettes, walnuts, grated emmental, salt and pepper. Season to taste. I'm not so fond of too spicy foods, so I go quite easy on the chilli, but it's nice to have some. Salt is my bane and I usually use a bit too much. Just taste the mix, when the spicing is right for you.

Boil the pasta in salt water al dente.

Add couple of tablespoons of the pasta boiling water to the walnut mix.

Serve everything together with the alfalfa and enjoy! It couldn't be much easier!

Your VegHog

Veggie burgers with char-grilled vegetables and halloumi

A couple of weeks ago I posted my recipe for Lentil and pea burgers, and today's post is basically just a serving suggestion for those burgers. I don't know many things that are better than homemade veggie burgers with char-grilled vegetables and halloumi. I normally make a large burger batch and freeze the rest to have some homemade burgers always quickly available. It might be slightly naughty, but a veggie burger is also a great thing to have as breakfast after a long night out.

For these burgers I chose the following toppings and served them with a side salad:

- courgette

- pepper

- onion

- halloumi

Then you just need vegetable oil for grilling and a grill pan. Char-grill the vegetables and cheese on the hot pan until they have distinct grilling marks.

The burger Schnitzel itself can even be char-grilled. At least these lentil and pea burgers are very firm and hold their shape anywhere.

Also grill the cut sides of the buns. My buns were this time just granary buns from the shop.

Then just enjoy your burger!

What are your favourite veggie burger toppings?

Your VegHog

Couscous salad with roasted courgette

I really enjoy a couscous salad for lunch as it's such a versatile and filling thing. Today I combined couscous with a roasted courgette and onion, and also added some pomegranate seeds. This salad could be eaten either warm or cold, however you would prefer. I always like the freshness and colour that pomegranate seeds add to any dish.

Have a look how I made my salad.

1 yellow courgette

1 red onion

2 tomatoes

1 spring onion

1 dl couscous

1 garlic stock cube

3 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

4 tbsp pomegranate seeds

Roast the roughly cubed courgette and red onion at 220C for about 15 minutes. Brush them with olive oil before the roasting.

Cook the couscous. Bring one decilitre water to boil and remove it from the heat. Add the garlic stock cube and pour in the couscous and let it swell for about 10 minutes. Let the couscous cool.

Chop the tomatoes and spring onion. These will be added fresh to the salad.

Combine the components and season with olive oil, salt and pepper and sprinkle pomegranate seeds on the top. And the salad is done!

What is your favourite couscous salad?

Your VegHog