Oven feta pasta

The weekend is finally here, and it's a weekend with a local Christmas street party. It's not quite on our street, but a lovely little street nearby with lots of small independent shops, and they always decorate so nicely for Christmas. So we will be heading there soon to enjoy some mulled wine and other Christmas goodies. Before we go, I want to share a recipe with you, as it has been a bit quiet on my blog lately.

It was Finland's 102^nd Independence Day yesterday, so today I'm taking inspiration from a Finnish food blog. The recipe is not traditional Finnish food though, but this recipe got trending very much in Finland earlier this year and everyone had to try it. I'm a bit late to the party, but better late than never. This oven feta pasta recipe is adapted from the Finnish Liemessä blog's recipe Uunifetapasta. I changed my version slightly by adding garlic and by adding the chilli and garlic at a later stage of the roasting. The recipe is in Finnish only, if you want to have a look at the original. I really like all the ingredients in this dish, and it's so easy to make for example on busy weekdays. The addition of chilli is a great way to add some mild heat to the dish. I loved it!

Oven feta pasta

Ingredients

200 g feta

200 g cherry tomatoes

½ green chilli

1 garlic clove

½ cup olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Spaghetti

Method

Put the feta and the tomatoes in an oven dish and pour in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and bake at 200 C for about 20 minutes.

Chop the chilli and garlic finely and add them to the oven dish. Roast for further 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta in the meanwhile.

Once the feta and tomatoes are done, mix them with the pasta and serve. Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Fried rice with cabbage

Happy weekend to everyone! I hope you are having a good and relaxing time. We had an eventful evening last night when it was culture night in Copenhagen with hundreds of events taking place all over town. We managed to visit quite a few of them, and they were all exciting. We got to climb on a railway control tower with a magnificent view over town, went down to the new metro tunnel which is under construction (new line and stations are due to open in July 2019), stumbled upon a camel and donkey in the middle of a street, saw light displays, visited quite a few galleries and ate the tastiest pumpkin soup from a street stand. Today we will walk some more and go for a countryside walk by the seaside and in a nearby forest.

Before we do that, I wanted to post a recipe with you. I've been enjoying many cabbage dishes lately, as it's in season, it's cheap and there are lovely variants available. This vegan dish contains cabbage two ways: stir fried and quick pickled. The pickled cabbage actually worked pretty well on the side to add something special to the dish. This is just a handy and quick weekday meal, but it's still quite special. There is of course also smoked tofu in the dish.

Fried rice with cabbage

Ingredients

125 g smoked tofu

Vegetable oil for frying

1/4 cabbage

3 carrots

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2 cm fresh ginger

1 red chilli

1 tbsp white miso

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 cup jasmine rice

Pickled cabbage on the side (optional)

Method

Cut the tofu into pieces, and fry them in vegetable oil until golden brown.

Cook the rice.

Slice the cabbage, onion and carrots, and chop the garlic, chilli and ginger finely.

Fry the onion and carrots in oil, shortly followed by the garlic, chilli and ginger.

Add the cabbage and the sauces to the pan, and let it simmer.

Also stir the tofu and rice into the pan.

Serve with the optional pickled cabbage on the side and enjoy!

Your VegHog

Fried potatoes with sausage

I got more of these excellent Snällkorv by Astrid och Aporna, when we visited Sweden again the other week. These are really nice juicy vegetarian sausages made from wheat gluten and soya. I also bought loads of other stuff there, which you will be seeing before long here on the blog. But now I felt like a veggie sausage dish.

For this dish I took inspiration from my childhood, from something that especially my father would frequently cook as a rather heavy evening snack: fried potatoes with fried sausage pieces. I of course made a vegetarian version of this dish, and added just some onions and garlic, salt and pepper, and fried the pre-boiled skin-on potatoes with the veggie sausage pieces. It was very nice grub for the winter.

This dish is also quite good for the cheap eats category, as I'm still trying to save some money when cooking. Actually veggie food isn't that expensive when you cook yourself, but sometimes I want to use just basic ingredients, and still make sure that there will be some protein in each dish. That reminds me that I want to write about the local vegetarian restaurant and café scene in Copenhagen soon. There are too many good options, so I'm only getting through them very slowly.

Your VegHog

Seitan sandwiches

How is everyone? It's quaint summer weather here in Denmark: it's quite warm in general, but often cloudy and rainy too. For example this morning 7:30 am was so hot and sunny, and in the afternoon by 2 pm we were in an extremely dark thick cloud and the rain started. There were no heatwaves or anything like that here yet, but I've been quite happy about the generally surrounding warmth. That's better than nothing.

My partner will join me here this weekend, so we can properly start our new life in Denmark. I very much enjoyed my initial familiarising period with the city on my own, but it's going to be even better now with someone to share. I can't wait to show him some of the places I've already detected. I will also soon get my own computer and cooking stuff here, which should improve the quality of life (and probably also this blog). However I'm not looking forward to all the unpacking.

Now to the sandwiches that I recently made, and that this post is actually about. I'm so happy that some of my nearby shops sell seitan products. I found that stuff so hard to come by in Britain (unless you would make it yourself), and now I can get it from normal small supermarkets! Only sky is the limit now with my seitan cooking.

If you're not familiar with seitan yet, it's wheat gluten that has a chewy texture and can be used in cooking in a versatile way. The flavour is mild, so it needs a bit of spice whatever it's served with.

These thin seitan slices were very handy to use and tasty for making such sandwiches. It was perfect quick weekday grub. To make these sandwiches, I took some seedy wholemeal buns and stuffed them with pan fried seitan pieces, fried onions, grated carrot, tomatoes, lettuce and chilli mayo. But I think that you can use basically any vegetables that you have available, and they would be tasty.

Your VegHog

Spinach pasta with sundried tomatoes and olives

I've been suffering of a horrible spring flu this week, and haven't been able to do anything much. My partner has taken good care of me, and cooked one of the best onion soups I've ever had. It was so savoury and intense that I could even taste something in my state. I've also been drinking plenty of green tea flavoured with peach, cream aroma, sunflower and marigold petals. I will miss this flavour combination once the tin is empty, it's my current favourite. Now I'm starting to feel better and thought I should write a little post.

I cooked this pasta dish the other week, and I just found the photos in my folder. This quick green pasta has become a household favourite of ours. The recipe was originally an invention by my partner, but these days I also sometimes cook my version of it. It's a spinach pasta with sundried tomatoes, garlic, pine nuts, green olives, pasta cheese and seasoning. The tomatoes, garlic, pine nuts and olives are just quickly cooked in some olive oil and then combined with the pasta and cheese. I normally season the dish with just sea salt, ground black pepper and fresh basil leaves. These flavours go very well together and it's easy to have all ingredients ready to go when there's less time for cooking. It's quite a nice option for a weekday meal.

How is your week going? I hope you're all well.

Your VegHog

Mexican mac'n'cheese

Mac'n'cheese is certainly one of my favourite dishes, and I also like when it's slightly altered at times. I like the fairly new M&S ready meal, mac'n'cheese with leek and smoked cheese breadcrumbs, and recently one of my local burger places had truffle mac'n'cheese on offer (really really tasty!).

So that's how I thought that I could also try a new version of the classic in my kitchen. I wanted to go with Mexican spices, and what could've been a better choice than Gran Luchito smoked chilli paste as the base for the spicing. Feel free to use other brands, but I really like Gran Luchito at the moment.

My partner doesn't like milky and creamy sauces, so I whisked the cheese directly into chilli seasoned vegetable stock. I liked the end result of this recipe, soft macaroni smothered in cheese with a hint of chilli, just perfect for me. Try it, if you are a fan of mac'n'cheese and/or Mexican food!

Mexican mac'n'cheese

One large oven dish

Ingredients

300 g macaroni

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 small chilli

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp smoked chilli paste

Sprinkle of smoked paprika

Sprinkle of salt

Sprinkle of ground black pepper

200 ml vegetable stock

200 g grated emmental

Method

Cook the macaroni and set to side.

Chop the onion, garlic and chilli finely and cook them in vegetable oil until soft.

Mix in the seasoning and the smoked chilli paste.

Then add the vegetable stock and let it heat through.

Gradually start whisking in the grated cheese so that it melts into the mix. Use about 100 g of the cheese at this stage.

When the cheese mixture is smooth, mix it with the macaroni and put into an oven dish.

Cover with the rest of the cheese and bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

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 

 

Spelt rigatini with sweet sprouting cauliflower and pattypan squash

Made it through Monday! Now hopefully also the rest of the working week will fly by, as I am already pretty drained. The weather was nice today, sunny but fairly cool, which made all the autumn colours shine brighter.

Here is a healthy, vegan and seasonal pasta, which can be made in less than half an hour. I was inspired to make this by the contents of my fridge and dry cupboard. It's often a good and economical idea to look through the cupboards and just plan a dish based on what's in there. So this one is full of veggies and has a hint of chilli to make it slightly more interesting. I really enjoyed this healthier pasta dish.

Ingredients

1 pattypan squash

6 stems of sweet sprouting cauliflower

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 small chilli

Olive oil

4 tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

200 g spelt rigatini

Method

Slice the pattypan squash and cut the sprouting cauliflower into pieces. Also finely chop the onion, garlic and chilli.

Start cooking the onion and then also the garlic and chilli in a pan until they are soft.

Add the cauliflower, squash and diced tomatoes and let cook for a while until the vegetables start softening. I like to keep a little bit crunch to the veggies so avoid cooking them too long.

Season the vegetable mix, cook the pasta, mix all together and serve.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Favourite kind of work lunch

I get very excited at work when it's finally lunch time. I look for a quiet corner somewhere to have my packed lunch in peace. When it comes to lunching I'm not the most social, I just want to concentrate on my packed goodies and refresh my mind for the rest of the day. I often also go for a walk outside. Lunch time is almost as good as getting to leave work in the afternoon.

I take my homemade lunch with me every day. I'm not too keen on our cantine food, as it tends to be more on the unhealthier side, chips etc. I guess that's quite typical for the British canteens, or have you made different experiences? And don't even get me started about the office cake culture!

My lunches vary quite a bit from day to day. Most of the time part of it is previous night's dinner, which I then normally eat cold the next day. That usually takes the dish to a different level and it doesn't feel boring eating the same thing again. Then there can be sandwiches or homebaked rolls. Salads are also a popular choice, as I always prefer a lighter lunch. I often add fruit, berries, crackers or pieces of cheese to complete the lunch box.

This time my lunch box contains some fresh vegetables, hummus, croutons and nuts, and in my opinion it's just the perfect mix for the lunch time. What's your favourite work lunch like?

Vegetable garden pasta

The summer holidays are over for now and returning to work has been fairly painful as always. But the good thing is that I still have loads of veggies to harvest from my balcony and can make fresh weekday meals with them, like this humble vegetable garden pasta dish. All veggies in this recipe are home grown by me apart from the onion and garlic. I really like my flat summer squashes or courgettes this year. They look cute and make a nice addition to many dishes. Same goes for the chillies. It's an incredibly satisfying feeling cooking with mainly own produce. Late summer is so great going over to my favourite season autumn!

Have a look at the recipe below.

Ingredients

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 red pepper

2 small pattypan squashes

2 small chillies

4 tomatoes

Olive oil for frying

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Fresh basil leaves

Fresh courgette flowers

Grated cheese for sprinkling on the top

300 g fresh regular and spinach strozzapreti pasta

Method

Chop the vegetables into small pieces and cook them in olive oil in a hot pan for a few minutes. They should be a little bit cooked, yet still firm. Season the mix with salt, pepper and basil.

Boil the pasta until al dente and combine it with the veggies.

Sprinkle the fresh courgette flowers and cheese on the top and enjoy.

I'm sharing this recipe with Chris at Thinly Spread blog and the Pasta Please! cooking challenge.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Your VegHog

Gnocchi with heirloom tomatoes and burrata

Today has been a very crazy day at work and I just arrived back home, about five hours later than planned. I was obviously hoping to be able to post something a little bit earlier, but if I write this quickly, I might just be able to post this when it's still Thursday.

So, the other day I made once again a simple gnocchi and tomato dish. Gnocchi or pasta with quickly fried fresh tomatoes and garlic with some added mozzarella or burrata are normally my absolute weekday meal favourites. This sort of dishes are so quick to make, yet they are filling and contain all the good things. I added some burrata to it this time, although I normally use mozzarella.

For this dish I just cooked some shop bought gnocchi and quickly fried the tomatoes in a hot pan. I also added some lightly cooked garlic, fresh basil leaves and drizzled some good quality olive oil on the top. Then I served the tomatoes with the burrata and gnocchi. This was perhaps a bit more posh version of this weekday favourite of mine.

I really hope to be home earlier tomorrow to be able to post another tomato recipe. Today my only worry while getting home, was about my Tomato Festival!

Have a nice Friday!

Your VegHog

Rainy mac 'n' cheese day

Today started off nice and sunny over here, but by the time I was returning home from work, it was just a miserable rain wetting me through and through, even when trying to carry an umbrella. Oh well, sometimes it happens, and in Britain it tends to happen a bit more than elsewhere, but at least I could stop by the local pub for a pint and warming up.

Once I arrived home I just wanted to have a comfy evening in and remembered that I had frozen a couple of ramekins of homemade mac 'n' cheese. A while ago I made a larger batch of this “healthy” mac 'n' cheese, but didn't get around posting the recipe. I call it healthy only due to the wholewheat pasta used, lack of cream and only a small amount of cheese added. These photos are still from the time when I first made the dish, therefore they don't look too gloomy. Now it turns out that I never wrote down the recipe. It wasn't very special anyway, so I try to summarise it below.

I used organic wholewheat gomitini from Sicily instead of macaroni. I added a little bit of fried onions and garlic to the cooked pasta, then some vegetable stock and cheese and breadcrumbs on the top. I think I seasoned it just with salt, pepper and basil. It was quite a nice weekday meal after baked and served with salad, so I can't complain to have this “ready-meal” today either.

How is your week going?

Your VegHog

Quorn Escalopes in 4 meal variations

My weekday grub has been less inspired lately like I already mentioned the other day. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but there have just been less post-worthy dishes. I've been eating my favourite pastas and salads for the most part, but I have also occasionally had Quorn Mozzarella and Pesto Escalopes this and last month, which are a good protein addition to a meal. Here are four different variations how I have recently eaten these escalopes. I have to admit that these meals aren't that different from each other, but I noticed that I really enjoyed the escalopes together with pasta and salad.

When one component of the meal is a ready made escalope that only needs to be heated in the oven, it's easy to cook the other ingredients in the meanwhile, but still have a wholesome meal with several components in the end.

These are the additions to the quorn escalopes:

1. Pasta, tomato sauce, arancini and rocket
   
   
   
   
   
2. Chickpea and spelt fusilli with pesto and lettuce
   
   
   
   
   
3. Mung bean sprout salad, ravioli and tomato, garlic and herb mix
   
   
   
   
   
4. Mozzarella and tomato ravioli, pea shoots, spinach, roasted aubergine and tomato sauce
   
   
   
   
   

Have a good week!

Your VegHog