Cheese-onion-potato pie

 

I haven’t been a very productive blogger in September. I have been cooking plenty of nice dishes though, and I hope that I will have the energy to post them here soon. We have a new vegetable market close by, so I can get even more incredible local produce, which is motivating for cooking nice dishes.

I will be on holiday next week, but it will be another staycation. The Covid-19 situation got worse again in Denmark and we have more restrictions in place. We had to postpone our trip to Norway to next spring. Hopefully by then things will have calmed down. So now I’m just looking forward to a week filled with quiet walks in the surrounding areas, reading, cooking and possibly some home decorating.

Now to today’s dish. Cheese, onion and potato, what a match. They go so well together that I sometimes think that I don’t need to eat anything else. I made this shortcrust pie with softened onions and garlic, mashed local organic potatoes, thyme and Cheddar cheese. It was so good and comforting, just perfect for the autumn.

 What are your plans for the weekend? Have a nice one in any case!

Your VegHog

Cheese and onion pie

We've had a couple of chilly days here in Copenhagen this week. It hasn't been raining, so I'm quite happy with the dry yet chilly weather. The ground was frosty one morning, and that gave me a nice boost while walking to the train station at 7 am. I have about 15 minutes' walk to my train station with a lovely lake scenery and loads of sea birds, and that walk always wakes me up. Then a 30 minute train ride to work follows, which I spend by reading the news online and doing some Danish language exercises with an app. This all of course has nothing to do with the dish that I was going to share with you today, but sometimes it's nice to give little peeks to my everyday life.

Now to the warming dish. What would this season be without a hearty cheese and onion pie? Nothing, I tell you! I have made this classic again, and it's basically the same one as in this post, but of course it always varies a bit. This time I covered the pie with a crispy griddle of pastry, and it was very nice. I saw the pie recipe once in Simon Hopkinson's cooking programme on the BBC and have been making it ever since in a slight variation. You can find his recipe here.

I'm so glad that it's Friday tomorrow, as this week has been so busy. I have no plans either, so it will be nice just to relax. What are your weekend plans?

Your VegHog

Onion soup

When I was planning dishes for this ongoing theme week on my blog, The VegHog's Cheap Eats Week, I thought that at least one soup should be included in the recipes, as vegetable soups tend to be quite cheap to make, yet so tasty that I'm always prepared to eat a comforting soup. I thought that an onion soup would be very nice to make for a change before the colder period is fully over. I added dry cider into mine, so it was a bit more English than French style onion soup, and I served it with tasty cheesy bread on the side. You can veganise the dish by leaving out the cheese from the bread. It was so comforting and wonderful that I could dive back into it anytime. The only slight downside for making this is that you need a lot of patience in the first part of the onion cooking, as it can take a while before they are perfectly browned.

Here is my onion soup recipe:

Ingredients

3 large yellow onions

2 large red onions

25 g butter

4 garlic cloves

2 tbsp wheat flour

300 ml dry cider

3 bay leaves

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder + water

Fresh thyme leaves

Yeast extract to taste

Liquid aminos to taste (or substitute by soy sauce)

Sprinkle of salt

As a side: Baguette slices and cheese

Method

Cut the onions into half rings and start cooking them in butter in a large saucepan.

Cook them very slowly under the lid and stir occasionally until they have browned nicely, at least for about 45 minutes.

Chop the garlic finely, add to the onions and simmer further.

After a while stir in the wheat flour and add the cider and let simmer for a while.

Then add the bay leaves, vegetable stock, thyme, yeast extract and liquid aminos.

Let simmer under the lid until the flavours have blended and season the soup to taste.

Prepare the side by baking the baguette slices in the oven with some cheese on the top until it has melted and serve them with the soup.

Enjoy!

I'm sharing this recipe also with the No Croutons Required cooking challenge hosted by Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen and co-hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes. 

Your VegHog

Cheese and onion bagels

Good morning! It's always morning somewhere, isn't it. Here's what I had for breakfast today: a cheese, onion, tomato and rocket bagel. The tomatoes came fresh from my garden and many other components were just basically leftovers that I had bought for other dishes, and I had to get rid of them. This was a very good breakfast indeed, I don't have to have lunch for a while.

These are the ingredients I used:

Plain bagels

Tomatoes

Red onion

Salad onion

Emmental

Sussex Charmer cheese

Fresh rocket

Salt

Pepper

I halved the bagels and baked them at 180C for about 10 minutes with the red onion rings, tomato slices, salt, pepper and cheeses on them. Then I just added some fresh salad onion rings and rocket and put the halves back together.

I always need my morning coffee, and today I had it from a lovely Moomin mug.

Have a good day everyone!

Your VegHog

Cheese and onion pie

I have already posted a previous attempt on this pie (have a look here), but as it's such a brilliant one, I've made it again. Back then I made the pastry myself, but this time I cheated with a ready made pastry in order to get a quicker pie. And quick it was indeed, amazingly so thinking of the great end result. Here you can find the original recipe by Simon Hopkinson My mother's cheese and onion pie, and below is my alteration.

Ingredients

3 large onions

25 g butter

150 g Cheddar cheese

150 g Red Leicester cheese

150 ml water

½ tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp salt

400 g shortcrust pastry sheet

2 tbsp milk

Method

Chop the onions coarsely and grate the cheese. Heat the butter in a saucepan and cook the onions for about 10 minutes at moderate heat. Add the water and cook the onions until the water has evaporated almost entirely. Then let the onions cool.

Place the thinly rolled out pastry into a baking tin (I used my Ø 20 cm cake tin) and then layer the onions and cheese into the tin, first a little onion mix, then cheese and so forth. Place a pastry lid on the pie, seal the corners with milk and press them firmly together. Brush a little milk on the top as well and make a few breathing holes on the top. You can make some whimsical decoration from leftover pastry like I made the ponies for the top with a cookie cutter.

Bake at 180C for about 40-50 minutes. Let the pie rest for 30 minutes after the baking and then enjoy the goodness!

Your VegHog

Vegetarian English onion soup

It has been little chilly lately even in England, so soups are in style again. I'm sure the summer season for light and fresh salads will arrive soonish, but now I feel more like making soups, broths and stews.

Onion soup is an especially wonderful and hearty winter dish, a very filling soup and easy to make. I have made an English style vegetarian onion soup instead of the typical French one. I used dry English cider and smoked cheddar, which make it rather English style. Give it a go, I'm sure you'll love it!

Ingredients for the soup:

4 large onions

25 g butter

1 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp flour

1dl dry English cider (for example Wyld Wood organic cider)

500 ml vegetable stock

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1 tsp black pepper

For the top:

Applewood smoked Cheddar

Rye bread slices (1 per a soup bowl)

Method

Peel the onions and chop them into crescent shapes. Heat the butter in a large pan. Caramelise the onions in the butter under lid at low heat until they are soft and browned. Season them with salt once little liquid has appeared. This stage takes anything from around 40 minutes to a couple of hours, so be patient and keep occasionally stirring.

Once the onions are turning brownish, mix the flour into the onions and then pour in the cider. Let it simmer for a few minutes and then also add the vegetable stock and the bay leaves. Continue simmering for around 30 minutes. Season the soup with soya sauce, black pepper and thyme and remove the bay leaves before serving.

In my mind rye bread with cheese is the best topping for this soup. Bake the rye bread slices with the cheese on the top in the oven and place the slices on the soup just before serving. Decorate with thyme leaves.

Enjoy the soup and feel the warmth!

Your VegHog

Nut roast with onion gravy

A proper homemade nut roast is a rather lovely thing to enjoy in this season. I was particularly inspired to make a nut roast by the Green Gourmet Giraffe, who is a great appreciator of nut roasts. I fully agree with her that nut roast isn't a dated veggie dish that should be avoided (it seems that some celebrity chefs have been bashing it publicly!), but a wonderful addition to vegetarian roast dinners or Christmas dinners. Have a look at the Green Gourmet Giraffe's blog for plenty of nut roast ideas and enthusiasm!

So I decided to make a nut roast of my own, an earthy chestnut roast with parsnips, porcinis and cheese, and served it with a wonderful shallot and cider gravy, cranberry jelly (see my recipe here) and simple roasted potatoes. This meal is a great Christmas main course, but you can also combine the components at will.

For the gravy:

400g shallots

1tbsp flour

50ml dry cider

1tbsp vegetable stock powder

50ml water (I used parsnip cooking water)

1tbsp soya sauce

Few fresh thyme leaves

Chop the shallots into half rings and sweat them at low heat for about 45 minutes by occasionally stirring. By then the shallots will have almost melted into a saucy texture. Then stir in the flour and the vegetable stock powder and add the cider. Cook for couple of minutes so that some of the cider evaporates and then add water (I used on this occasion the cooking water of the parsnips for the nut roast for a little bit of extra flavour). Let simmer for a while longer and season with soya sauce and thyme. And the gravy is done!

For the nut roast:

240g peeled and cooked chestnuts

1-2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

2 parsnips

1 carrot

25g dried porcini mushrooms

2tbsp olive oil

100g emmental cheese

1tbsp soya sauce

Few fresh rosemary leaves

Peel the parsnips and chop them to about 2cm long pieces. Boil them in water until soft, and then mash them. Save some of the water from boiling to make the mash smooth. I also used this parsnip boiling water in the gravy.

Crush the dried porcini small and soak them for about 10 minutes. Also save the soaking water for later.

Peel the carrot and chop it into very small cubes. Then also chop the shallots and garlic cloves and grate the cheese (cheese can also be cubed).

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sweat the onion, garlic and carrot cubes for about 5 minutes. After the initial phase add the porcini mushrooms and their soaking liquid to cook it all for a further 5 minutes.

Season with rosemary and soya sauce. I used peeled and pre-cooked chestnuts that can be bought in a can or vacuum pack. Crush them between your fingers and add them to the mix.

Stir in the parsnip mash and cheese to make a moist, sticky mixture.

Grease either a large loaf tin or several small loaf tins (this recipe filled nicely four of my small round tins) and put the mixture in.

Bake the nut roasts at 180C for about one hour. Then remove them carefully from the tins and serve as a part of a vegetarian Christmas feast.

Hoggy Christmas!

Your VegHog

 

Red onion Strudel cake

I like having all sorts of different snacks around Christmas time, so I wanted to make quite a savoury and winterly snack and came up with this idea for a red onion, thyme and cheese Strudel cake. It resembles a little bit a pull-apart bread, but then again is completely different. I wanted to call it Strudel cake because of the twirls it has. It can be served at any Christmas party and you can prepare it easily before the party as ready made puff pastry is used.

3 red onions

320g puff pastry

1 egg for brushing

Butter for greasing the cake tin

Olive oil

Sussex Charmer hard cheese (or another vegetarian hard cheese)

2-3 garlic cloves

Fresh thyme

Nettle salt (any other salt will do)

Black pepper

Heat some olive oil in a pan and sweat the chopped red onions there at low heat for about 20-30 minutes so that they already get slightly sweetened. After 15 minutes of sweating also add finely chopped garlic and continue the gentle slow cooking.

Season the onions and garlic with thyme, salt and black pepper. Set to side and allow to cool completely.

Spread out a large puff pastry sheet and place the onion mix evenly on it. This should be a fairly thin cover only. Grate the cheese and sprinkle it on the onions.

Roll the puff pastry into a firm long roll and then cut about 2cm long pieces of it. They can be cut diagonally.

Grease a cake tin with butter and place the small Strudel pieces in there so that they touch each other. Brush the cake with a beaten egg and sprinkle little thyme leaves on it.

Bake at 180C for about 40 minutes until the puff pastry is fully baked. Enjoy as a nice snack and pair with mulled wine!

Your VegHog

Vegetable chili

A spicy chili made with a variety of vegetables is a great dish, especially for this time of the year. It doesn't require much technical skill, you can just let it simmer and only need to remember to stir sometimes. I used black beans as the main component, and to make the chili even simpler I chose to use the canned ones. I like to serve my chili with rice to get a neutral taste to balance the spiciness out.

This is how to make a vegetable chili.

2 bell peppers

4 onions

2 cloveless garlics

800g black beans (2 cans)

140g tomato puree

450g santini tomatoes

1 yellow chili

Juice of one lime

Fresh coriander leaves

2tsp paprika

2tsp cumin

1tsp cocoa powder

1tbsp vegetable stock powder

1tsp salt

Olive oil

100g red leicester cheese

1 cup rice

First of all chop the bell peppers, chili, onion and garlic and heat some olive oil in a suitable large pot. Fry the onion until soft, then add the garlic, chili and peppers and fry for another minute or two. Add the cumin, paprika, cocoa powder, black beans, tomato puree and tomatoes to the mix.

Let it simmer under the lid at moderate heat for about 20 minutes and stir occasionally. At some point start boiling the rice as well.

Season the chili with the juice of a lime, vegetable stock powder and salt. Taste to check whether the seasoning is right for you.

When the chili is almost done, add the fresh coriander leaves and the grated cheese. Serve hot with the rice.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Pearl barley mushroom risotto

This risotto can be made very much like a regular risotto. The only difference is that we'll use pearl barley instead of arborio rice. Pearl barley is nutritious, healthy and it tastes brilliant. So it's definitely always a winner and delightful with mushrooms. I think pearl barley needs to simmer slightly longer than arborio rice, but otherwise I'm using my normal risotto method. Let's start cooking!

Ingredients

1 cup of pearl barley

250g chestnut mushrooms

1 large shallot

2 cloves of garlic

100ml white wine

A few dried procini mushrooms

Vegetable stock powder

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Parsley

Thyme

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

Butter

Method

Chop the shallot, garlic and chestnut mushrooms. Prepare a vegetable stock by mixing the vegetable stock powder with water, adding parsley and warming it up. Crush a few porcini mushrooms and soak them in water for about 10 minutes. Later you can add this mushroomy soaking water to the vegetable stock. Remember that we want to make this whole risotto extremely shroomy!

Heat olive oil in a pan and lightly fry the chopped shallot. Then add the chestnut mushrooms to the pan and keep frying for about 5 minutes. Finally add the garlic and the soaked porcini.

Add small butter bits to the pan and let them melt. Then add the pearl barley and stir everything on the pan for a couple of minutes.

Pour the white wine in and let it evaporate. Then add a cup or two of the hot vegetable stock to the pan and let simmer under a lid. Stir often and add more vegetable stock after a while. Keep this up until the barley is cooked.

Grate some vegetarian pasta cheese (vegetarian parmigiano) and add it to the risotto. Season with salt and black pepper. Add more wine, butter or parsley if needed.

Garnish with parsley, cheese and some thyme and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Refried beans

You might already have noticed that this week is Mexican themed with The VegHog. Today I'm making refried beans, which are a great and filling addition to any vegetarian Mexican meal.

Ingredients

1 cup dried red kidney beans

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

A few tablespoons of vegetable stock

Ground coriander

Pepper

Salt

Oil

Soak the beans overnight if you're using dried beans. On the next day then boil them until fully cooked. First boil them heavily for about 15 minutes and then boil them further at lower heat for about an hour. When the beans are cooked mash them. I keep also the bean skins but if you prefer you can press the mash through a colander if you want a smoother consistency.

Chop the onion and garlic and fry them lightly in oil. Then add the beans to the pan. Fry at low heat for about 20 minutes occasionally stirring. Add a little vegetable stock to make the mixture smoother. Season with salt, pepper and ground coriander.

Your VegHog

Tomato and grilled pepper salsa

This week we're going Mexican and every day I'm going to post a different stage to a vegetarian Mexican meal and the end product should be ”Homemade tortillas with char-grilled vegetables, refried beans and sauces”. Obviously it'll only be a humble hog style feast but with nice homemade tortillas and sauces. I decided to split the posts for a week as there were quite many stages preparing this meal and of course each component can be combined with other meals as well.

Today we'll start with a simple tomato and grilled pepper salsa. It can be combined with many dishes and eaten warm or cold.

Ingredients

250 g cherry tomatoes

1 red pepper

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1-2 red chili

Oil

Pepper

Salt

Char-grill the pepper and roast the tomatoes in the oven brushed with oil. 

Chop the onion, garlic and chili and fry them in oil for a moment. 

Mix everything together, season with salt and pepper and puree to a sauce.

Easy! And tomorrow we'll continue with making another sauce.

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog

Cheese and onion panini with basil

Here is a simple breakfast idea that gives the opportunity to use a griddle pan: cheese and onion panini with basil.

Take panini rolls and fill them with cheese, onion rings and fresh basil leaves. Then grill them on a lightly greased griddle pan at moderate heat until the griddle marks start to show. Press them carefully down on the pan. Flip over and enjoy hot. The cheese should melt and onions get slightly cooked and the rolls crispy.

Spätzle – Swabian egg noodles

Spätzle are a wonderful delicacy from the German Swabian region. They are hearty and filling egg noodles often eaten with cheese and fried onions, obviously also many meat variations exist. I have a slightly different version but I learned my Spätzle making skills directly from my Swabian friends. They taught me what the dough needs to feel like in order to produce the perfect Spätzle, firm but not too eggy. Therefore the quantities below are somewhat approximate.

You'll need:

400g wheat flour

4 eggs

250ml water

Salt

2 peppers

2 large onions

4 cloves of garlic

Grated cheese

Pepper

Oil

Do this:

First prepare the onions and peppers. Chop them and the garlic and fry them in oil until they are pre-fried but not yet quite done. Season with salt and pepper and set them to side. Grate the cheese, Emmental or Cheddar go nicely with this, and bring water to the boil in a large pot. Also pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Then start making the Spätzle dough. Put the flour into a bowl, add the salt and eggs and mix. Carefully add water to achieve a stretchy, bouncy and even dough. Scoop small amounts of the dough at a time into a potato ricer and press it straight into the boiling water. Use a large setting of the potato ricer with a hole diameter of about 5mm. The Spätzle are done when they float on the surface. They might want to stick together a little but that doesn't really matter. They'll still turn out tasty.

Place the fried peppers and onions into the bottom of a large oven dish. Put the boiled Spätzle on the top and then the grated cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and golden brown.

Serve with a fresh salad and a nice wine and enjoy the goodness.

Your VegHog