Speltotto with broad beans, spinach and purple sweet potatoes

The weekend is here, and not one second too early. I'm so ready just to chill and cook nice veggie food this weekend. Easter is also around the corner, and I will be going to Finland then. It's still full winter at my mum's place, so it will be quite nice.

Long time no speltotto, I thought, and started planning this dish. I wanted to make it quite colourful with a lot of veggies. I roasted some lovely and super sweet purple sweet potatoes that I got from the local market, and wilted fresh spinach for the top. I also used fresh broad beans, fresh onions and carrots in the speltotto itself. It was a tasty and comforting dish.

Here is my speltotto recipe.

Speltotto with broad beans, spinach and purple sweet potatoes

Ingredients

2 purple sweet potatoes (other colours also allowed)

Vegetable oil for roasting

200 g broad beans

200 g fresh spinach leaves

2 carrots

2 fresh onions with stalks

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil for frying

20 g margarine

1 cup pearled spelt

1 l vegetable stock

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Prep the broad beans first, as the removing of the pods and skins can certainly take a while.

Heat the vegetable stock and also chop the carrots into small pieces.

Chop the onions and garlic finely. Set the green onion stalk to the side, and add them to the speltotto towards the end and also some fresh bits as a decoration on the top.

Start cooking the onion in olive oil until soft, and then add the garlic, soon followed by the carrot pieces.

Melt the margarine in the pan, add the pearled spelt. Then start making some vegetable stock additions, and let the dish simmer. Add also the broad beans to the pan at this stage.

Let the speltotto simmer, until everything has cooked nicely, and the flavours have blended. Season with salt and pepper.

Cut the sweet potatoes into generous cubes, brush them with oil, and roast in the oven until tender.

Also wilt the spinach in a separate pan with a little garlic, salt and pepper. Serve the spinach and sweet potatoes on the top of the speltotto.

Enjoy!

It's good to see more Eat Your Greens entries coming in for March, and there is still a bit more time! I will share this dish with Eat Your Greens as well, which I'm hosting this month, and the event is co-hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen blog.

Have a great weekend!

Your VegHog

Porcini spelt risotto

I just love this mushroom season that's still very much going on over here. We are getting the most beautiful local fresh porcini mushrooms from our vegetable market. They are only quite pricey at the moment, so I have to plan the dishes carefully. But of course it's totally worth it. Porcini mushrooms are called Karl Johan svampe here and are quite popular in cooking. Last weekend we were served a lovely dish cooked with them when we went out.

As I bought a small batch of these lovely mushrooms, I decided to make this well-liked classic in our household, spelt risotto, with them. Most of the time I add dried porcini mushrooms to my risottos, but the fresh ones were so good. I also love their quirky looks with long stems and different shapes, and they tasted absolutely gorgeous. The dish turned out really great and I'll have to make this again while the mushrooms are still available. Have a look at my recipe below.

Porcini spelt risotto

Ingredients

150 g fresh porcini

1 large onion

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil for frying

1 tbsp butter

2 cups pearled spelt

1/2 cup dry white wine

500 ml vegetable stock

Generous amount of fresh parsley

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Method

Clean the mushrooms first. Don't wash them, just brush any dirt off with a moist cloth or a brush. Then slice them.

Also chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking them in oil. Once they are translucent, add the sliced mushrooms and fry them a little.

The add the butter, followed by the pearled spelt. Pour the white wine in the pan and let it absorb. Finally start making warm vegetable stock additions and let the spelt risotto simmer.

Cook until the pearled spelt is soft and season to taste with the fresh parsley, salt and pepper.

Enjoy as a warming and cosy autumn dish!

Your VegHog

Wild mushroom and asparagus speltotto

While I'm on holiday in Finland, I timed a couple of posts to be published in the meanwhile, as I may not be able to post so much from there. I will of course catch up later what I was up to, but here's just a basic recipe of mine.

I made a spelt risotto for a change. I haven't made one for a while although it's one of my main favourites. When the new season asparagus start appearing in the shops and markets, I always want to make a risotto or a spelt risotto with them. In this recipe I combined the new local asparagus with some dried wild mushrooms, chanterelles in my case. The wild mushrooms are so intense, and when you let them infuse the vegetable stock, even a small amount of them can add a lot of flavour to the dish. I added a bell pepper and carrots as additional veg to this dish, and I enjoyed it very much.

Here is my recipe that makes quite a nice spring weekday meal.

Wild mushroom and asparagus speltotto

Ingredients

1 l vegetable stock

20 g dried wild mushrooms

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 bell pepper

2 carrots

2 tbsp olive oil

20 g butter

1 cup pearled spelt

50 g grated vegetarian pasta cheese

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Bunch of asparagus

1 lemon

1 tbsp butter

Method

Heat the vegetable stock and add the dried mushrooms to it. Chop the onion and garlic finely, and dice the bell pepper and carrots.

Start cooking the onion in the olive oil, and cook until soft and a bit browned. Add the bell peppers and carrots and cook a while longer. Then also add the garlic.

After a few minutes, add the butter and the pearled spelt to the pan. Stir for a couple of minutes, and then make the first vegetable stock and mushroom addition.

Let the speltotto simmer under lid and keep making stock additions before the pan can dry up. When everything is nearly cooked, add the seasoning and cheese.

Prepare the asparagus in a separate pan by heating up some butter and cooking the asparagus spears there. Add juice of one lemon to finish. Serve the asparagus on top of the speltotto.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Spelt rolls

I made once again my regular spelt rolls, which I make in slight variations almost every week. This time I added some linseeds, oat flakes and sesame seeds to the rolls and even remembered to write the ingredient amounts down. Normally I just throw things in, as I know better by the feeling of the dough how much flour for example needs to be added.

Freshly baked rolls are always so nice to have, very tasty and also economical. These ones are also very easy and don't need any special attention. 

Spelt rolls – Recipe for about 8 rolls

Ingredients

3 cups spelt flour

2 tbsp dry yeast

2 tsp salt

2 tbsp linseeds

½ cup oat flakes

2 tbsp sesame seeds

300 ml lukewarm water

3 tbsp olive oil

Method

Combine the spelt flour, dry yeast and salt ingredients.

Soak the linseeds, oat flakes and sesame seeds briefly in the lukewarm water and then pour the whole contents to the dry ingredients.

Also add the olive oil and knead.

Let the dough rise for about one hour.

Shape rolls from the dough.

Bake the rolls at 250 C for about 15 minutes until done.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Spelt puff chocolates - Spelttisuklaat

The 80s were modest times in Finland and treats were always something special. We didn't always have chocolate, sweets or crisps around, so we had to get creative when the snacking hunger got ahold of us. Of course then homemade sweets had to be made and one of the absolute classics are these rice crispie chocolate cups. My grandmother made them quite often and they were so tasty. I think that most of the time just cocoa powder was used and not chocolate. The classic way is to make them in muffin cups, as it's so easy, but I'm considering making them as a bar as well.

I had a look for old rice crispie chocolate recipes online, but Fazer's one got my attention taking this treat straight to the 21st century. They didn't use spelt puffs, which were my own addition. I have made these with both dark and milk chocolate and both were very good, possibly the milk chocolate ones were slightly tastier. These had a hint of coconut flavour due to the oil and weren't too sweet, so they were just perfect for me. Here however are the dark chocolate ones with a hint of coconut depicted.

This recipe makes about 10-12 small spelt puff chocolate cups

Ingredients

150 g dark baking chocolate

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp icing sugar

8 dl spelt puffs

Method

Melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a water bath.

Then mix the sugar in followed by the spelt puffs. Mix thoroughly so that the chocolate covers the puffs.

Put the mixture into muffin cases and let rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

Enjoy as small snacks in between or as a dessert.

Your VegHog

Potato spelt rolls

I rarely leave any potatoes to spare, but here's a roll recipe for just those occassions when too many potatoes have been roasted. Of course the potatoes can also be roasted especially for these spelt rolls. I really like potatoes in different kind of breads and this is just one of my basic roll recipes, so easy to make and very economical and tasty.

Recipe for 10 rolls

Ingredients

6 roasted new potatoes

25 g butter

200 ml lukewarm water

1 tbsp dry yeast

300 g spelt flour

1 tsp salt

Method

Mash the potatoes and melt the butter.

Add the yeast, salt, water and butter to the potatoes and mix.

Gradually add the flour and knead.

Let rise under a teatowel for about one hour.

Shape rolls from the dough.

Bake at 250 C for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy warm or later on once cooled.

I want to share with this rolls recipe with Credit Crunch Munch hosted by Lancashire Food in July and co-hosted by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours, as this is quite a cunning way using a few left-over roast potatoes. All other ingredients in this recipe are basic and cheap as well. It really pays off baking your own bread and it's so wonderful to have fresh bread!

Your VegHog

Lambic rolls

I often make spelt rolls with cider, as it adds a certain fluffiness and a hint of lovely flavour to the rolls, but now I decided to use lambic beer for these rolls. I kept the rolls simple otherwise just wanting to keep the beer the star of the show. I really adore lambic beers with their sour taste. Lambic is a Belgian style of beer, where wild yeasts have been used for the fermenting, creating this sour taste.

The rolls were very nice and there was a noticeable lambic flavour in them. This recipe made six smallish but hearty rolls.

Ingredients

200 ml lambic beer

300 g spelt flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dry yeast

½ cup stoneground oats

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Mix the flour, salt and dry yeast in a bowl.

Gently heat the beer until lukewarm in a small pan.

Add the oats to the beer and then add them to the flour mix.

Knead to a dough, add some good quality olive oil to make the kneading easier. You can also add either more beer, lukewarm water or flour, if the texture isn't quite right.

Let the dough rise under a teatowel for about one hour.

Shape rolls from the dough and bake them at 250 C for about 15 minutes or until crispy on the surface and fully baked through.

These rolls are best enjoyed fresh, but they are also fine the next day.

Your VegHog

Spelt rolls

Thank you so much everyone for your comments, likes, tweets to The VegHog's Cheap Eats Week so far! I'm still trying to keep the theme week up throughout the weekend, so there should be couple of more cheap eat recipes.

Baking your own bread is always quite an economical choice, as the few ingredients needed tend to be on the cheaper side, and I do this regularly. I very often make this kind of spelt rolls in slight variations. I chose a fairly basic version for this post, yet featuring the sunflower seed bottom. I got that idea from German bakeries that offer very seedy rolls with a similar bottom part. Good other cheap additions to these rolls would be for example grated carrot and oat flakes.

This recipe makes 6-8 rolls.

Ingredients

400 g spelt flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dry yeast

2 tbsp sesame seeds

250 ml lukewarm water

2 tbsp olive oil

6 tbsp sunflower seeds

2 tsp poppy seeds

Method

Mix the dry ingredients together followed by the water and olive oil. There's no need to knead much, just make an even dough and let it rise for at least 30 minutes.

Shape rolls from the dough and tip the bottom onto a pile of sunflower seeds. Then sprinkle poppy seeds on the top.

Bake the rolls at 250 C for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy with butter and cheese. That is my preferred combination.

Your VegHog

Spelt tattie scones

Oh what a week this has been! It was so busy and tiring, but now it's finally weekend and time to relax and enjoy good food. I think that today I want to eat out, but haven't decided on the restaurant/café/pub yet. What are your plans for the weekend?

I have already once posted a recipe for this Scottish breakfast classic, tattie scones that can easily be made from left-over potato mash. Tattie scones are such a nice breakfast, even if you'll have to boil the potatoes extra for them like I did (I never have left-over mash, as I always eat all of it). This time I made the tattie scones with spelt flour, so they became a bit nuttier and more wholesome. I also left the potato skins in the mash. 

Ingredients

500 g floury potatoes

50 g butter

125 g spelt flour

Sprinkle of salt

Method

Boil the potatoes with the peels on and then mash them.

Mix the potato mash with the flour, butter and salt once it has cooled a little.

Shape round scones of the mixture.

Fry the scones in butter on each side until golden brown.

Serve warm, and add some extra butter on the top.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Spelt, cider and seed rolls

Is there a better way to start a day than with freshly baked healthy rolls? I think not! I made these lovely rolls, but didn't write down the ingredient amounts. I'm very sorry about that, but they were so good that I'm going to bake them soon again and then post the full recipe here.

The main ingredients of the dough were spelt flour, in dry cider soaked oat flakes and sunflower seeds. This mix made very sturdy and filling rolls. They were so great with some butter and cheese.

Here are couple of my older similar recipes: Spelt and cider rolls & Spelt flake and cider rolls 

Enjoy your weekend!

Your VegHog

Heirloom tomato, mozzarella and pearled spelt salad

Today's dish is very easy, as it's only a salad. However I tried to make it slightly more filling with a pearled spelt addition and mozzarella balls. Of course tomatoes are an important ingredient here again, like in all my dishes this week, since I'm celebrating The VegHog's Tomato Festival. Have a look at the two previous posts and share your tomato recipe, if you feel like it. 

This one is quite a basic summer salad, but still a little alteration from the normal tomato and mozzarella salad.

Ingredients

6-8 tbsp pearled spelt

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

2 large heirloom tomatoes

½ red onion

50 g rocket

150 g mozzarella balls

Olive oil

Fresh basil

Salt

Pepper

Method

Cook the pearled spelt in water with the added vegetable stock powder until they are done.

Slice the tomatoes and the red onions. Quickly fry the onion slices in olive oil in a pan.

Assemble all the components onto a plate and drizzle olive oil on the top and season with basil, salt and pepper.

That's how simple it is, enjoy!

Your VegHog

Potato pies in spelt crust

I'm back home in England again, but of course my Finland holiday is influencing my cooking more than usual. I brought some lovely Finnish products with me and will be using them in my cooking. Today's recipe is my take on traditional Finnish potato pies.

I have already posted a similar recipe for these pies under the title Finnish potato pies, where you can read the detailed instructions. Only this time I made slightly different pies in spelt crust and unpeeled potatoes, but the making principle is the same. The potato mash maintained such a strong potato flavour as the potatoes weren't peeled and the spelt crust was basically just one of my easy spelt pizza doughs (similar recipe is here). Another difference was that I made these pies a bit bigger and rounder than usual. 

I always think that these pies take a long time to make, but in fact they can be quick especially due to some of the alterations I made this time. Even left-over mash can be used to make these. I'm only saying this to people, who might sometimes have left-over mash. I personally never have that, I love it too much and always eat all of it.

Anyway give these pies a try, they are wonderful served warm with butter!

Your VegHog

Watercress rolls

Watercress is in season at the moment and I like adding it to salads, but now I made something slightly different with it. I baked spelt rolls with added watercress and they turned out to be quite good. I spontaneously invented this recipe, as I wanted to eat some rolls and at the same didn't want the excess watercress go to waste.

I also want to share this recipe with the Eat Your Greens vegetarian cooking challenge involving green vegetables. This challenge is hosted by Shaheen from the A2K - A Seasonal Veg Table and I thought that a watercress recipe could be a suitable one for April. 

Here is how I made my Watercress rolls:

Ingredients

250 g spelt flour

1 tbsp dry yeast

100 g spelt flakes

200 ml lukewarm water

1 tbsp olive oil

60 g watercress

Poppy seeds for the top

Method

Soak the spelt flakes in the lukewarm water for a couple of minutes.

Combine the dry ingredients.

Add the water with the spelt flakes to the dry ingredients.

Mix and knead to an even dough and also add the olive oil.

Then add the watercress (larger stalks removed).

Knead some more and let the dough rise in a bowl covered with a tea towel for about one hour.

Shape rolls of the dough and sprinkle some poppy seeds on the top.

Bake them at 220C for about 10-15 minutes until crispy and golden brown.

The rolls are at their best when fresh, but can still be consumed a day or two after the baking.

Your VegHog