Halloumi, pepper and tomato salad

It's so hot over here! I shouldn't be complaining, as summer finally seemed to arrive to England, but around +22C is more than enough for me. In such a hot weather a salad is a very satisfying meal, as there isn't much hunger generally. I always try to add a filling agent to salads as well, whether it's pulses, nuts or cheese. Halloumi is one of the most frequent ones, as it's just so delicious when properly fried or grilled. Nothing disappoints me more than get some uncooked halloumi served. In the summer it's nice to grill halloumi on a barbecue. For this salad I also quickly fried the pepper slices, but they could also be barbecued.

Here is my salad recipe.

Ingredients

250 g halloumi fried

1 red bell pepper fried

Vegetable oil for frying

Tomatoes sliced

Lambs lettuce

Olive oil + balsamic vinegar + salt + pepper as dressing

Method

Fry the halloumi on both sides until golden brown.

Also quickly fry the pepper slices in hot oil so that the pepper gets some frying marks.

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and dress with a light olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Stir fry with sprouts

I have been making vegan stir frys incredibly often this year. Today is one of those days. Now that I'm more confident with the spicing, it's an easy weekday meal to make after work and take for next day's lunch. It's a lovely and light, but filling meal and I've really grown to love these spices. For this one I had sprouted some mung bean and radish sprouts again. Have a look how easy it can be!

Ingredients

250 g hazelnut tofu

2 tbsp groundnut oil

1 red bell pepper

1 red chilli

1 shallot

3 garlic cloves

1 cm ginger (similar amount to garlic)

1 cup mung bean sprouts + radish sprouts

100 g buckwheat noodles

2 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

Method

Chop the tofu into small cubes and fry them in groundnut oil until firm and golden brown.

Chop the bell pepper into thin slices and separately fry the slices on a pan for a few minutes.

Chop chilli, shallot, garlic and ginger finely.

Cook the noodles in water al dente and set to side.

Start cooking the shallot and then chilli, garlic and ginger in groundnut oil.

Add the sesame oil, soy sauce and Shaoxing rice wine to taste.

Then add the noodles, peppers and tofu and cook for a couple of minutes together and check the spicing.

Stir in the fresh sprouts, serve instantly and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Roasted vegetable pasta

Here is a quick weekday pasta I made the other night. I have noticed that I'm making less pasta dishes at the moment, but now I have made one. This one is a simple and quick one, just a few ingredients tossed together. The roasting adds sweetness to the vegetables and makes their taste more intense. Now in the winter time I have been roasting a lot of root vegetables, so it's a refreshing change to roast more summerly vegetables. I also love what toasted pine nut kernels add to this dish. 

So here is the recipe, have a look how I made the dish.

Ingredients

150 g baby peppers

200 g cherry tomatoes on the vine

200 g asparagus

2 garlic cloves

3 tbsp olive oil

30 g pine nut kernels

125 g buffalo mozzarella

Fresh basil

Oregano

Ground black pepper

Sea salt

Pappardelle pasta

Method

Slice the baby peppers and roast them in the oven brushed with olive oil. Roast them until they are soft and have dark roasting marks.

Roast the tomatoes and asparagus a little shorter time, but also brushed with olive oil. I did all the roasting at 200 C.

Toast the pine nut kernels in the oven or on a dry pan.

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

Boil the pasta in water until al dente.

Combine the roasted veg with the garlic in the pan and quickly toss together and season.

Serve with torn buffalo mozzarella on the top and drizzle a little your finest olive oil onto the portions as well.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Bell pepper tart

There is no occasion where a savoury tart or pie isn't suitable, at least that's my humble opinion. Therefore also around Christmas there will be occasions when you might want to serve a savoury tart like this. I still have a few bell peppers on the balcony, the growing season is amazingly long this year! I used two of them for this dish together with a red pepper that was adding more colour. I took the easy way out and purchased a ready made shortcrust pastry, which made the preparation so easy.

Ingredients

3 bell peppers

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp oregano

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

100 g Cheddar and Mozzarella cheese mix

320 g shortcrust pastry

Method

Cut the peppers into slices and roast the slices in the oven brushed with olive oil.

Cook the finely chopped shallots and garlic in a pan in olive oil until soft and season them with oregano, salt and ground black pepper.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry thinly and place it into a pie tin.

Put the shallot mix and cheese onto the pastry and the roasted pepper slices on the top.

Bake the tart at 200C for about 20 minutes.

And it's all done!

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

Pepper nuggets

This week I have been determined not to go food shopping yet, and just cook with the stuff I have in the fridge and my cupboards. My dry cupboard is quite well equipped, but I thought it's better to use these things more rather than to have the cupboards full. I also have some fresh veg and of those I wanted to use the romano peppers first.

I sometimes use this brainstorming approach to cooking and just dig a bit around in my kitchen to check what I have and what I could use. I'm still indecisive about today's dish, but yesterday I created rather successfully some pepper nuggets.

Most ingredients in this recipe are interchangeable, so this is a perfect dish to get creative with. The aim is only to get a dough firm enough in order to be able to create the nugget shapes. I chose baking instead of frying as the shapes can be maintained more easily and they are less fatty.

If you got curious, read the simple instructions to make no-nonsense vegetarian nuggets.

Recipe for about 10 nuggets.

Ingredients

2 pointy yellow romano peppers

3 tbsp soy flakes

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 shallot

2 garlic cloves

1 cup grated Cheddar

1 egg

1 cup semolina

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

Sprinkle of salt

Sprinkle of ground black pepper

Method

Grate the pepper and Cheddar with a cheese grater and chop the shallot and garlic finely.

Let the soy flakes moisten for a few minutes. The pepper should be moist enough to moisten the soy flakes, but also add some soy sauce on the flakes.

Simply mix all ingredients in a bowl. Add the semolina little by little to get the right texture.

Shape nuggets from the dough. I chose the triangle shape for mine.

Bake the nuggets on baking paper at 200C for about 30 minutes until the surface is crispy and browned.

Enjoy with a nice dip. I had again spicy tomato chutney powered by Jack Ratt cider.

That was all, so easy!

Your VegHog

Pepper fritters

It's about time for a new fritter recipe by me. You know how fond I am of veggie fritters, and I have now developed a new recipe. These fritters can be served as burgers just as well, but this time I combined them with salad and roasted potato wedges. Have a look how these are made.

This recipe makes about 12 fritters.

Ingredients

2 red bell peppers

1 carrot

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

50 g mature cheddar

1 egg

4-8 tbsp spelt flour (or wheat flour)

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

Grate the bell peppers, carrot and cheese.

Chop the shallot and garlic finely.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl into a fairly firm dough.

Add more flour if needed for the binding.

Fry the fritters in vegetable oil on both sides until golden brown.

This is how easy it is!

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Cool strawberry and bell pepper soup

I found this experimental summer soup recipe on the web pages of a Finnish newspaper. The combination of peppers, shallots and strawberries does sound a bit strange, but it also made me curious of what it would taste like. Of course we are all familiar with gazpacho, the classic of cold vegetable soups, and the principle of making this soup reminds me of gazpacho, but combines other, more exciting summer flavours. I must say that the taste of this soup is very interesting (as was my first reaction), but it's not too bad at all. This dish was a nice refreshment and a sufficiently filling meal on a hot day. 

I changed a couple of things from the original, and here is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

3 large red bell peppers

1 shallot

2 tomatoes

400 g strawberries

2 garlic cloves

½ tbsp rosemary

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Chop the fresh peppers, tomatoes, shallot and garlic roughly. Purée all ingredients, apart from the ground black pepper (that should be ground on the top of the soup before serving). Add a little water, if the soup seems to be too thick.

Let the soup rest one hour in the fridge before the serving. Then serve cool in glasses with ground black pepper on the top.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Lemon and courgette risotto

My courgettes are growing nicely on the balcony, which means that it's time to cook with own produce again – exciting! Now the courgettes start coming in bulk, so it's good to have many different recipe ideas for them. I love my yellow courgettes, but I also planted green ones additionally. As I haven't made a risotto for a while, I decided to make one and the courgettes should play an important part in it. Lemon is a good complimenting flavour to courgettes, so I used lemon infused olive oil and pressed lemon juice as seasoning.

Sense the taste of summer with my lemon and courgette risotto!

Ingredients

250 g arborio rice

3 small courgettes (or one medium)

100 g sweet baby peppers

2 shallots

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp lemon infused olive oil

1 l vegetable stock

250 ml dry white wine

25 g butter

25 g vegetarian pasta cheese

½ lemon's juice [add grated zest for more lemon flavour (optional)]

1 tbsp Herbes de Provence

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

Method

Cut the courgettes into thin slices and the baby peppers into small cubes. Also chop the shallots and garlic cloves finely. Warm the vegetable stock up.

Cook the shallots, peppers and garlic in one tablespoon of lemon infused olive oil for about 10 minutes, until they are pretty soft.

Add the butter and arborio rice and stir for a few minutes until the rice becomes translucent. Pour in the white wine and let it evaporate.

Add a few ladles of the warm vegetable stock and let simmer under lid. Stir often and add more vegetable stock when needed.

When the risotto is almost cooked, heat one tablespoon of lemon infused olive oil in a separate pan and cook the courgette slices in there for a few minutes. Don't cook them too long, as it's nice when they still have little bite to them. Add the courgettes to the risotto.

Season the risotto towards the end with grated vegetarian pasta cheese (vegetarian parmesan), lemon juice, Herbes de Provence, black pepper and salt. Add more white wine, if needed.

I served my risotto with a fruity halloumi salad (similar to the one in the previous post), which makes a great summer side dish.

What is your favourite vegetarian summer risotto combination?

Your VegHog

Pepper and black bean chilli with rye nachos

A good vegetable chilli is a nice thing to have, even in the summer. I have grown very fond of this combination of chilli and rye nachos that I'm also making today. The rye nachos are very filling and they add a hearty flavour to the dish. A chilli is a handy dish for me as I normally would have enough different vegetables and the seasoning in my cupboard. I happen to have black bean cans in bulk, so that's why I chose them as the main vegetable for the chilli. Here's my pepper and black bean chilli with rye nachos recipe.

Ingredients

3 shallots

4 garlic cloves

1 red chilli

2 bell peppers

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp paprika

250 g cherry tomatoes

400 g black beans (1 can)

140 g double concentrated tomato purée

200 g Oltermanni cheese (or any other)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 tsp vegetable stock powder

1 lime's juice

Rye or regular nachos for serving

Method

Chop the shallots, garlic cloves, red chilli, bell peppers and tomatoes small.

Cook the shallots, garlic, chilli and peppers in vegetable oil until soft. Then add the following seasoning: ground coriander, ground cumin and paprika, and stir for about one minute. Then add the chopped tomatoes, black beans and tomato purée, and simmer under lid for at least 30 minutes. The cooking time can be even longer to develop the flavours.

Season later with salt, cocoa powder, vegetable stock powder and lime juice. Add more of any of the spices to taste. Once you are happy that the flavours have blended nicely and everything is cooked, stir in half of the cheese. I used the Finnish Oltermanni cheese, which is my absolute favourite cheese.

Place some rye nachos in an oven dish, pour the chilli on the side and cover with the rest of the cheese. Bake at 180C for about 10 minutes and it's done.

Enjoy warm!

Your VegHog

Roasted pepper, tomato and tofu pasta sauce

I sometimes like to add tofu to my vegan pasta sauces, and here is a recipe for such a sauce. I have guests coming over soon and I might make a similar fresh tasting pasta sauce for them after their long journey. Now I was also inspired by the beautiful colourful selected tomatoes to make a special dish. This time I roasted the peppers and tomatoes first because the roasting gives a nice flavour to them.

Here is how I made this dish.

Ingredients

250 g baby peppers

500 g tomatoes

300 g tofu

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 shallots

4 garlic cloves

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

Fresh basil leaves

Method

Brush the peppers and tomatoes with olive oil and roast them at 180C for about one hour. In this time the tomatoes and peppers release tasty juices and get the distinct roasting taste.

Press the excess liquid off the tofu and chop it into small cubes. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the tofu until golden brown and firm. Stir often to make sure that the tofu cubes fry as evenly as possible.

Add the finely chopped shallots and garlic to the pan and cook for further 10 minutes.

Purée the roasted peppers and tomatoes into an even sauce after they have cooled for a while after the roasting. Add the sauce to the pan and let simmer a while.

Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and basil.

Serve with pasta and little pasta cheese on the top.

Your VegHog

Summer spaghetti

Make a fresh summer spaghetti like this to cheer up your day. I don't need much extra cheering up at the moment as the weather is wonderful and I have nice baking plans for later today. It can't get much easier than this recipe, have a look.

Ingredients

2 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 red bell pepper

100 g cherry tomatoes 

1 courgette

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Handful of fresh basil leaves

½ lemon's juice

250 g spaghetti

125 g mozzarella (1 packet)

Method

Chop the shallots, garlic and bell pepper finely and cook them in olive oil until soft. Season them with oregano, salt, black pepper, basil leaves and lemon juice. Quarter the cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan.

Cut the courgette lengthwise with a special vegetable cutter into spaghetti like strings. Add the courgette to the other vegetables and cook only for a couple of minutes before adding the spaghetti. The courgette strings are so thin that they'll be done in no time.

Cook the spaghetti in salt water until al dente, drain and add it to the pan. Torn the mozzarella into small pieces and add them to the spaghetti.

Serve instantly and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Summer quiche

I made a really easy but tasty summer quiche with courgette, pepper and tomato. It's a nice savoury addition to the coffee table or a filling lunch and I really like it as holiday food. Have a look how simple it is to make.

Ingredients

300 g shortcrust pastry

1/2 courgette or one small one

1 small pepper

6-8 cherry tomatoes

1 onion

1 egg

1 dl cream

100 g emmental

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp basil

Method

Roll out the pastry thinly and place it into a pie dish. Pre-bake the pastry at 180C for about 10 minutes.

Slice the vegetables and lightly cook the onions, courgettes and peppers for about 5 minutes in a pan in rapeseed oil.

Whisk the egg with the cream and add the spices to the mix. Grate the cheese and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.

Place the vegetables on the pastry and pour the egg mix on them. Sprinkle the cheese on the top and bake at 180C for about 20 minutes.

Let the quiche rest for about 10 minutes before enjoying.

Your VegHog

 

Roasted red pepper and halloumi pasta

I made this pasta earlier this week when I had no clue what to cook, and had to do an invention test with whatever was available. So I decided to make a roasted pepper pasta sauce and add halloumi to it. It was a nice change to the typical pasta and pesto combination or regular pasta sauces. The dish came out very good indeed, and I especially liked the contrast between the soft pasta and the chewy, salty halloumi.

3 romano peppers

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp oregano

½ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

A few basil leaves

250 g halloumi

1 tbsp vegetable oil

500 g Messicani pasta

Roast pepper bits brushed with olive oil at 200C for about 20 minutes. They should get soft with dark roasting marks.

Chop the shallots and garlic cloves finely and cook in olive oil until soft. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Purée the roasted peppers with the shallots, garlic and basil leaves into an even paste. Add a little olive oil if needed to make it smoother.

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

Cook the pasta al dente and combine with the sauce, add the halloumi dices as well, and the dish is ready to be enjoyed.

Your VegHog

Zucchini, tomato and pepper spelt risotto

When I was writing about my balcony gardening yesterday, I started thinking the lovely veg I'm trying to grow and got an instant inspiration for this recipe. I'm currently growing all the main vegetables that are in this dish (peppers, tomatoes and zucchini), and with some luck can cook this same dish from own produce later in the summer. This is again just an easy pearled spelt risotto, but the making of it is such fun – I'd really want you to try it! I love the texture of pearled spelt and the taste is great as well.

2 yellow romano peppers

100g cherry vine tomatoes

1 zucchini

1 shallot

3 garlic cloves

1tbsp olive oil

25g butter

1-1,5 cups pearled spelt

150ml white wine

1l vegetable stock

50g Sussex Charmer cheese

A few fresh basil leaves

1tsp salt

1tsp ground black pepper

Warm the vegetable stock up at moderate heat.

Chop the peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, shallot and garlic finely.

Cook the shallot and garlic in olive oil until soft and then add the peppers, and soon after the zucchini and tomatoes. Cook for a while longer so that the juices start flowing.

Add butter to the pan and stir in the pearled spelt. Let the spelt absorb the liquid for a moment and then pour in the white wine. Let the wine evaporate and add some of the warm vegetable stock to the pan and let it simmer at low heat under lid. Make sure that the pan doesn't get dry at any time, so keep stirring and adding vegetable stock.

When the spelt in cooked, add the seasoning and grated cheese. Add any seasoning or butter or white wine more, if you prefer.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Your VegHog