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

Balsamic glazed vegetables

The 1^st of May, Vappu with its eve Walburgis Night, is a big celebration and street carnival in Finland, other Nordic countries and Germany. Especially students love to celebrate it, but also children have their balloons and streamers. It's customary to eat nice finger food and baked goods, have lovely drinks and do picnics in the parks (weather permitting). These customs that I listed here are mainly Finnish and may be different in the other countries. 

I wasn't directly inspired by Vappu to make these balsamic glazed vegetables, but I thought that they could make a nice addition to a picnic or when having friends over for snacks. I can't believe that it's almost May, how quickly is this year actually going!? Anyway, this is how I made my balsamic glazed vegetables.

Ingredients

2 bell peppers

1 garlic clove

200 g baby plum tomatoes

200 g green olives

Fresh basil leaves

Oregano

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

Balsamic glaze
Pine nuts
Mozzarella pearls

Method

Cut the peppers into thin strips and chop the garlic finely. Cook them for a couple of minutes in a pan in hot olive oil.

Cut the tomatoes in halves.

Put the vegetables into a bowl and season them with the herbs, salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic glaze.

Cover the bowl with cling film and let rest in the fridge for at least one hour. I prefer leaving these overnight.

Serve with salads, pasta, couscous, bread, whatever you can think of!

Hauskaa Vappua! And have nice time even if you are not specifically celebrating any of the early May festivities!

Your VegHog

Stuffed portobello mushrooms with pearled spelt

I think that stuffed mushrooms are always a good idea and I have served them in a variety of combinations. I quickly came up with these ones stuffed with pearled spelt for a light weekday dinner.

Four stuffed portobellos make a neat starter for four people or a main for two people with some side dishes.

Ingredients

4 portobello mushrooms

1 shallot

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

½ cup pearled spelt

1 vegetable stock cube

50 g mature cheddar

Fresh sage leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

10 g pine nuts

Method

Remove the stalks of the mushrooms and chop the stalks finely. Also chop the shallot and garlic. Cook these in olive oil for a few minutes and then add the pearled spelt, vegetable stock cube and about 250 ml water. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the spelt is cooked and season the mix with salt, pepper and sage.

Grate the cheese and mix with the spelt. Stuff the mushrooms with the mix. Coarsely chop the pine nuts and sprinkle on top of the mushrooms.

Bake at 180C for about 15 minutes. Serve instantly and enjoy! Very easy!

Your VegHog

Spinach hedgehogs and hoglets

 

I think that November has progressed far enough to publish the first possible Christmas recipe! I got the idea for these puff pastry and spinach canapés in a recipe by Valio, but I added my own hog twist to it, and also changed the filling recipe slightly. These small snacks are a lovely item for example for your autumn and Christmas celebrations. Here is my version of the easy recipe. 

Ingredients

150 g spinach

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil

Ground nutmeg

Ground black pepper

Sea salt

50 g emmental

40 g pine nuts

2 eggs

500 g puff pastry

Method

Chop the garlic finely and cook it soft in the olive oil. Add the spinach to the pan and wilt them.

Season the mix with nutmeg, black pepper and salt to taste.

Purée the spinach with the grated cheese and toasted pine nuts. Add one egg to the mix.

Cut hedgehog shapes from puff pastry with a cookie cutter. Obviously any other shapes can also be made.

Brush them with beaten egg and place some of the spinach mix on the top.

Bake at 200C for about 15 minutes.

Done!

With this post I will also take part for the first time in Shaheen's Eat Your Greens Challenge from the A2K - A seasonal veg table blog - very exciting! I'm so happy that she pointed out that possibility to me.

Your VegHog

Spicy beanballs

I make veggie Schnitzel and fritters quite often, but now I thought I'd make vegetable balls. Veggie burgers are everywhere these days (luckily!), but vegetable balls aren't so easy to get in shops or when eating out. So why not make some myself.

I thought of a quite simple recipe for these. Believe me, they are not so much work, as they are oven baked. Black beans seemed like a natural choice as the main ingredient, and then I went a bit frantic and added all kinds of vegetables and spices that I could find in my cupboards, not to forget about cheese. I think these could be made with many different veggies. I really want to make a bean and sweetcorn ones as well. I could also imagine that a potato mash base would be lovely here. This is a dish where you can get really creative!

Ingredients

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 red bell pepper

1 carrot

2 cans black beans

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

½ tsp chilli flakes

½ tsp ground black pepper

150 g emmental

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs

Method

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and grate the bell pepper and carrot. The pepper can also be chopped finely.

Cook the shallots in vegetable oil until soft. Then add the garlic and bell pepper. Cook a while until you add the ground cumin, ground coriander and paprika.

Add the black beans and the grated carrot to the pan and let simmer slowly.

Once everything is cooked nicely, season with salt, chilli flakes and ground black pepper. And if needed, add more cumin, coriander or paprika. Let the mix cool.

Grate the emmental and add it to the bean mix with the egg and breadcrumbs. Mix it all into an even dough and slightly mash so that the beans break a little. That will help the balls to stick better together. Add more breadcrumbs if the mix isn't firm enough.

Shape balls from the dough and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Bake at 200C for about 30-40 minutes until the surface is crispy.

Enjoy with a nice dip and maybe a salad. I had an olive and roasted pepper salad and my Redcurrant and chilli jam with these, and it was quite a nice combination. 

Your VegHog

Rye crisp canapés

Yesterday I wrote a post of my rye whisky and rye gin tasting and the company behind these wonderful products, the Kyrö Distillery Company. These are the canapés I enjoyed during the tasting and still didn't have a rye overkill yet.

It's always nice to make colourful canapés to serve, and these are quite effortless to make. You can put any of your favourite vegetables and cheeses on them. Soft cheese always gives quite a nice and fresh contrast to these.

Ingredients

Rye crisps – Rye crisps can be obtained in well stocked supermarkets and health food shops or online. You might not get exactly the same ones as I had, but any thin rye crisp bread is good.

Olives – Olives are always a nice addition to a canapé serving.

Here are the different sorts I made.

Tomato and basil crisps:

Small tomatoes ( I used my own produce, Tomato Tigerella)

Fresh basil leaves

Chilli cheddar

Radish crisps:

Radishes

Plain soft cheese

Sea salt

Cucumber crisps:

Cucumber

Plain soft cheese

Chilli flakes

Pepper crisps:

Baby peppers

Olive oil (for roasting)

Smoky cheddar

There wasn't much preparation needed, mainly just chopping and filling. Fill the crisps just before serving as depending on the filling, the crisp can get soggy quickly.

The only thing that required a bit more cooking were the roasted baby peppers. Brush them with olive oil to get them extremely sweet, yet smoky. About 30 minutes roasting time is needed for these.

Serve these canapés at a party or just during a cosy film night. What are your favourite fillings for these?

Have further a nice week!

Your VegHog

Crusted baked heirloom tomatoes

I found these lovely heirloom tomatoes at the food market and planned a spontaneous dish with them. These crusted baked heirloom tomatoes are a great starter or side to any dinner and quick to make. The dish also has that summer feel to it. Have a read how easy it is.

Ingredients

3 heirloom tomatoes

1 tbsp basil infused olive oil

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp breadcrumbs

1 tbsp grated vegetarian pasta cheese

1 tsp oregano

¼ tsp chilli flakes

¼ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp sea salt

Method

Cut the tomatoes in halves, place them in an oven dish and drizzle basil infused olive oil on the top.

Chop the garlic finely and grate the cheese. Mix these with the rest of the ingredients and sprinkle on the top of the tomatoes.

Bake the tomatoes at 180C for about 30 minutes until the crust is crispy and the tomatoes are baked to a succulent state.

Serve the tomatoes on top of pasta, with crusty bread, as canapés or on the side of veggie burgers. They would compliment many things, so just get creative.

Your VegHog

Baked smoked cheese sticks

I absolutely love smoked Cheddar cheese, and any melted cheese for that matter. So today's dish nicely combines my two passions, as I made breaded smoked cheese sticks and baked them in the oven. I really could eat these all the time, but maybe it wouldn't be too healthy. These would also be wonderful on the side of a luscious veggie burger.

Follow these simple instructions to make this dish. Once again, no extra fats or deep-frying needed for making this.

You'll need:

370 g Applewood smoked Cheddar (2 packets)

1 egg

100 g breadcrumbs

50 g wheat flour

Do this:

Cut the cheese into small sticks, about 1 cm wide and 5 cm long, and beat the egg.

Roll the cheese sticks first in wheat flour, followed by the beaten egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. Take care that the coating covers the cheese everywhere, as that stops the cheese from running out of its crust.

Place the sticks in an oven dish and bake them at 200C for about 5-10 minutes until they have a crispy crust and the cheese has melted nicely.

Serve with rhubarb chutney, or any other nice spicy chutney or fruits, and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Stuffed heirloom tomatoes and red onions

Finally the weekend is here and time to write a blog post again. I was quite busy this week, so now I just want to relax and eat well. The weather is too interchangeable to make any outdoor plans, so I think I will be cooking and possibly baking. Today's recipe is for stuffed heirloom tomatoes (regular tomatoes will also do, if you can't get heirlooms) and red onions. I stuffed them with a pearled spelt mix that was prepared in risotto fashion. Have a look how easy it is!

Please note that the onion and tomato amounts can vary depending on the size, mine were pretty much medium size.

6-8 red onions

4 heirloom tomatoes

3 garlic cloves

1tsp vegetable oil

1tbsp olive oil

25g butter

1tbsp vegetable stock powder + 1l water

1 cup pearled spelt

200ml white wine

1tbsp sage leaves

50g emmental

1tsp salt

1tsp black pepper

Peel the onions and hollow them out by leaving about 2 layers of onion as a shell. The hollowing out should be doable by removing the lid, making couple of cuts into the middle of the onion and then by scooping the insides out with a spoon. Just take care that you don't pierce through the outer shell. Place the onion shells in an oven dish and brush them inside and out with vegetable oil. Cover with foil and bake at 180C for about 30 minutes.

Prepare the vegetable stock and warm it up. Wash the heirloom tomatoes and also hollow them out, keep the insides and the lids for later. Place them in another oven dish, brush with olive oil and set to side. There's no need to pre-bake these as tomatoes cook fairly quickly.

Start preparing the stuffing: Chop the onion insides and garlic finely and cook them in olive oil until soft. Add the butter, pearled spelt and after a while the wine. This method of making the stuffing is just like risotto (or speltotto) making.

Once the wine has nearly evaporated, add couple of ladles of the warm vegetable stock and let the stuffing simmer under lid. Add the tomato insides to the pan. Keep adding more stock, don't let the pan get dry, and stir often. Repeat this until the pearled spelt is cooked nicely.

Grate the cheese and add it to the pan, and also season the stuffing with salt, pepper and sage. Add more butter or white wine, if you think it's needed.

Stuff the onion shells and the heirloom tomatoes with the spelt mix and bake at 180C for about 25 minutes. Then enjoy!

This was my my 300^th blog post, thank you for reading it!

Your VegHog

Black bean hummus and aubergine canapés

Happy Sunday! It's actually quite warm here today, and I have spent some time on the balcony. When I felt peckish I made this quick afternoon snack with just a few ingredients. The black bean hummus can be combined with pretty much anything you can imagine. For tomorrow's work lunch I'm putting it into pitta breads with some vegetables.

Black bean hummus:

1 can black beans

4 tbsp tahini

1 garlic clove

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika powder

½ lime's juice

1 tbsp olive oil

Just blend all the ingredients together into a smooth paste and the hummus is done.

 

Aubergine canapés:

1 aubergine

Vegetable oil for grilling

Olive oil for roasting

1 halloumi

Slice the aubergine lengthwise into this slices. Char-grill the slices on both sides, then brush them with olive oil and bake at 150C for about 10-15 minutes. Also char-grill the halloumi pieces and let them cool. Wrap the halloumi with the aubergine slices and serve with the black bean hummus. Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Mini vegetable quiches

I'm visiting my family in Finland and we are celebrating my grandfather's amazing 90th birthday tomorrow. I made these mini vegetable quiches for the coffee table as a savoury treat for the guests. As we had so much to prepare, I cut a few corners and used ready made pastry, which meant that these quiches are hardly any work, have a look!

This recipe makes about 16 muffin case sized mini quiches.

Ingredients

400g shortcrust pastry or puff pastry

1 bell pepper

1 onion

250g mixed vegetables cut in matchstick shape at about 2cm length (carrot, potato, parsnip, swede, also a frozen vegetable mix will do)

100g emmental

2 eggs

2dl cream

1tbsp oil

1tsp salt

1/2tsp black pepper

Fresh parsley leaves

Method

Chop the vegetables, bell pepper and onion finely and cook them in little oil until all excess fluis has cooked off and the vegetables are soft. Let it cool, and then mix the grated emmental to it and season with salt, pepper and parsley.

Roll the pastry out thinly and cut small squares of it and press each of them into muffin cases. Pre-bake the crusts at 200C for about 5-10 minutes until the pastry becomes little bit puffy.

Beat the eggs and mix them with the cream, you can add the seasoning also to this mix, if you prefer.

Put the vegetable and cheese mix into the pastry cases and pour some egg and cream mix into each one, about 2 teaspoons.

Bake at 200C for about 20 minutes and they are done.

Greetings from Finland! Your VegHog