Leek and Cheddar spaghetti

It’s a stormy and windy day here in Copenhagen, so it could mean a weekend spent mainly indoors. We do want to go for a little harbour stroll and to the supermarket today, but after that I will probably just cook for hours on end and we’ll have some cosy time inside. The lockdown rules have been relaxed here a bit more this week, so also shopping centres are now open. I might even return to the office next week. The feelings are mixed about that. On one hand I’m a bit sick of working from home, but on the other hand I will also need to take a train for 30 minutes to work, but we will see how that goes.

Now to the food. I often have a TV program running in the background when I’m cooking. I’m mainly listening to it and not always watching. One day I watched Jamie Oliver’s Meat-Free Meals programme while I was cooking, and got the inspiration for this leek and Cheddar spaghetti. Jamie made a Sweet Leek Carbonara, but I altered the recipe quite a bit. First of all, I haven’t been able to find a vegetarian parmesan equivalent here, so I used mature Cheddar. I didn’t use an egg either, I added a splash of white wine and wheat flour to thicken the sauce.

Leek and Cheddar spaghetti

Ingredients

2 leeks

1 onion

3 garlic

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp butter

Splash of white wine

1 tbsp wheat flour

150 g mature Cheddar

Salt to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

Spaghetti

Wild garlic

Method

Slice the leeks and chop the slices into even smaller pieces. Also chop the onion and garlic finely. Cook the onion first and once it’s soft, add the leeks and garlic to the mix. Gently simmer until the leeks are softened.

Add butter and mix in the wheat flour. Cook it for a little bit and then add the white wine. Then also add the grated Cheddar and let the mix combine.

Cook the spaghetti al dente.

Season the sauce to taste and mix it with the spaghetti before serving. Then enjoy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Your VegHog

One-pot spaghetti

I can't believe that I avoided making a one-pot pasta for this long, but now I have finally made it, I have joined the club of the one-pot cooks! This recipe by Anna Jones: Kale, Tomato and lemon zest one-pot spaghetti was the one that ultimately persuaded me. It turned out to be a really tasty pasta dish.

This dish was so convenient to make and such a revelation. My partner often makes remarks about how many pots and pans and bowls I usually use to make one dish, but now he was really surprised.

You can find the original recipe through the link, but I also made some small amendments of my own. I used kalettes instead of kale and only zest of one lemon, which I found to be enough lemony taste. Kalettes are pretty much my favourite greens of the season, they can go just anywhere. I also added some garlic to the recipe, as I simply don't seem to be able to cook without garlic. I chose spaghetti as my preferred pasta and it worked out very nicely. What a nice sauce the pasta cooking water shaped with the olive oil, tomatoes and other seasoning. It was really amazing and makes my other weekday pastas look quite lame.

What are your experiences with one-pot pasta dishes?

Your VegHog 

 

Mexican spaghetti

Oh how I loved this Mexican style spaghetti! I just wanted to make a chilli style sauce to be served with pasta and some tortilla chips on the side, and I really loved the combination I ended up with. There was a crunch from the tortilla chip, softness from the pasta and spiciness from the sauce – a nice combo!

I can't wait to make this again when I'll get the chance. Here's the recipe, if the idea tickled your fancy as well. You can also easily veganise this recipe by substituting the cheese and sour cream and by using vegan pasta.

Ingredients

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

1 red bell pepper

2 red chillies

1 tbsp vegetable oil

140 g sweetcorn

240 g black beans

5 large vine tomatoes

½ cup dried soya mince

Ground coriander to taste

Ground cumin to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

Smoked chilli paste to taste

4 tbsp tomato purée

Fresh coriander

1 lime's juice

Spaghetti

Grated cheese

Sour cream

Tortilla chips

Method

Chop the onion, garlic, bell pepper and chillies and start cooking them in vegetable oil.

After they have softened, add the sweetcorn and black beans followed by the chopped vine tomatoes.

Prepare the soya mince separately according to the instructions on the packet and add it to the pan.

Add the seasoning to the vegetables, stir through and let simmer.

Cook the spaghetti in water until al dente.

Serve the spaghetti with the sauce, cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips on the side.

Enjoy!

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

Stuffed yellow courgettes on a bed of garlicky spaghetti

Happy 1^st of May everyone! It's a big celebration in Finland, but not here, so I've just had a pretty normal day.

The stars of today's dish are these beautiful yellow round courgettes that travelled with me on the Eurostar from Paris to England. Such produce is quite hard to get here, and I loved the Parisian vegetable stands and markets. I just char-grilled these cute courgettes and stuffed them with a simple stuffing, and served on a bed of garlicky spaghetti. I cooked this dish about a week ago, but didn't get around to posting it yet, so here it goes.

For the courgettes:

4 round yellow courgettes

1tbsp vegetable oil for char-grilling

2 small shallots

1 garlic clove

125g halloumi grated

1tbsp olive oil for frying the stuffing

A small grind of black pepper

A sprinkle of oregano

Cut the round courgettes in half lengthwise and char-grill them on both sides to get distinct grilling marks. Let them cool and hollow them out with a spoon by leaving small courgette cups. Save the insides and chop them finely.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and grate the halloumi. Then cook them with the courgette insides in olive oil for about 10 minutes and season with black pepper and oregano. Add also salt to taste, if you want to. I decided not to add any as halloumi is a fairly salty cheese.

Stuff the courgette cups with the stuffing, sprinkle some extra halloumi on the top and bake at 180C for about 10-15 minutes until cooked soft.

For the spaghetti:

500g fresh spaghetti

3 garlic cloves

125g halloumi grated

1tbsp olive oil

2tbsp soy sauce

1tbsp truffle oil

2tbsp fresh tarragon

Cook the spaghetti until al dente while the courgettes are baking. At the same time cook chopped garlic cloves and the grated halloumi in olive oil and add a dash of soy sauce once they are cooked.

Toss the cooked spaghetti in the pan and finally add the tarragon and the truffle oil. Serve the spaghetti with the stuffed courgettes on the top. I also served some garlic bread on the side.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog