Assemble it all, put the oven on to preheat (180C, Gas mark 4):

Warm the oil in a non-stick pan. Chop the onion (medium/fine) and add it to the oil. Chop the chilli, or get a teaspoon of chilli powder/flakes (you know how spicy you like it), and add to the onion and oil. Warm on a medium-low heat for 5 – 10 minutes:

Meanwhile, drain and rinse the kidney beans, and then roughly mash them in a bowl with a fork or potato masher:

Add them to the onion and chilli, stir to combine. Heat for another 5 minutes:

Grate the cheese. On this occasion I used a combination of cheddar and mozzarella:

The refried beans will become a bit gooier (sp?):

Split the french stick lengthways, and cut into appropriate sized sections. The original recipe suggests tearing some of the bread out of the middle if your french stick is too fat, but on this occasion that didn’t seem necessary. Spread the refried beans evenly over the bread:

Add the cheese:

add more cheese…

Put them in the oven until the cheese is golden brown:

Serve with salad, guacamole, soured cream, salsa:

These go particularly well with a Portuguese red wine, preferably an Alentejo.

Aaaaaah, it’s been bloody AGES since my last recipe. Apologies. First I was finishing a PhD, then I was doing a residency where I was travelling to Yorkshire most weeks and cooking on the go, then I was POOR, and I couldn’t afford to experiment with food. And now I live in London. And am even poorer really, except the difference is I have less time because 2 hours of my day is commuting. But determined to get back on the food blog wagon. (WAGON). So expect a series of CHEAP EATS, for making in bulk and reheating for lunch or dinner. This week I have lentil chilli and this fine recipe; butternut squash and chickpea curry based pretty faithfully on a Good Food recipe. Served with rice in the evenings, or with a pitta for lunch.

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 35 mins | Serves: 4

Nutritional Info: 393 kcalories, protein 14g, carbohydrate 71g, fat 8 g, saturated fat 1g, fibre 9g, sugar 16g, salt 0.94 g

NB I got this info off the recipe and I’m too tired to work out if it includes the rice or not, so when I record it, I just add on 50g of basmati rice, which brings the meal to: 571g kcalories, 110g carbs, 9g fat, 18g protein, 376mg sodium, 16g sugar.

Chop up the butternut squash. This is the worst bit of the recipe. From here on in it’s plain sailing. I chop squash the lazy way: slice off sections horizontally, so you have a load of cross section disks, then chop the skin off the sides with it laying flat, you end up with octagon-ish bits of just flesh, which then I section into chunks. Top Squash Tip.

Add the oil to the pan, heat, then add the squash and sautee until browning, about 10 mins

Then add the onion and the garlic, stir, and soften for 5-10 mins more

Add the curry paste, pop it on a high heat, and get it all lovely and covered and fragrant

Then add the stock, stir well, and simmer until squash is almost perfectly soft. Pop your rice on just as it’s getting soft-ish. About 5 minutes for basmati, and 10-15 for brown, before you think the squash is at almost.

Add the chickpeas and tomatoes (I used tinned), stir well, and simmer for a last 5 mins.

Just before serving, stir through chopped coriander. Serve with rice and soya yoghurt. Or pitta. Or naan. Or chapati. You get it.

Hallooo! I’ve been itching to guest post this pie, because pies are excellent things for those slightly challenged in the fine motor skills and presentation departments, as I am (and as you’ll see from the photographs). I’ve been making it for around 10 years now and it’s never let me down (if you don’t count the times I burnt or dropped it), and several meat-devouring mates have asked for the recipe. And I know it wasn’t out of politeness because they then made it themselves. And my mates aren’t that polite. It was originally from a Tesco Vegetarian magazine, but I’ve tweaked a bit.

Anyway, that pie…

Obligatory pack shot (the greenfly got our thyme so I’m using dried here).

Preheat the oven to 220˚C/425˚F/Gas Mark 7. Divide the pastry into two and roll into 25cm circles. Actually, just roll it to what feels the right thickness and then cut round a large plate – it’ll be fine. Prick with a fork and chill. (You’ll notice below I have pastry rectangles: apologies, the shop only had pre-rolled last week. Circles look better).

Heat the butter and oil in a pan until it bubbles. Add the leeks and cook gently for 3-5 minutes, until they look softened but haven’t coloured.

Mix the creme fraiche, mustard, thyme and  nutmeg together. Season and add to the leeks. And FYI – a teaspoon of nutmeg takes about 5 minutes and slightly sore fingers to achieve.

Place the mixture in a dome shape on one pastry circle, leaving 3cm of space around the edge. (Again, looks way better with circles).

Brush the edges with water. Top with the other pastry circle (it doesn’t look like it’ll be big enough, but the heat of the leeks makes it stretch pleasingly), lightly press together, and make small vertical cuts around the edge with a very sharp edge (so as not to drag the pastry).  This helps the pie to rise more evenly.

Then make scores across the top of the pie in whatever pattern takes your fancy. Just don’t go mad or it’ll shrink or break. Finish by brushing with the beaten egg.

Cook in the middle of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. I always check after 20 as we have an insanely fierce oven and I sometimes put foil over it for the last 10 minutes to stop the pastry singeing.

Serve with fresh veg of your choice and new potatoes smothered in butter and pepper.

And to drink?  I dunno, ask Alex. I’ve been pregnant or breastfeeding for the last 7 years, so I generally wash it down with a cup of decaf tea. [I always think a red Portuguese Alentejo works very well with this – Alex]

Variations: You can make the filling with just about any veg that goes with creme fraiche: mushrooms work particularly well but sweet root vegetables and others in the onion family are good too.

Footnote: this pie is pretty good the day after, cold or reheated.  Nice change from butties.

Serves: 6 | Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 30 mins
Nutritional info: 227 kcal, 35g carbs, 7g fat, 8g protein

Ingredienty:

Prep: get the stock boiling. Chop the onion, cube the tomatoes, crush and chop the garlic, break up the spaghetti, drain the chick peas, chop up the beans into 1-2cm pieces.

Get a big pan, put the oil and onion in it. Soften the onion. I have illustrated this in case you are uncertain.

Add garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes more.

Add everything that isn’t the rocket.

Bring to the boil, simmer for 15-20 minutes, until pasta is done.

When the spaghetti is cooked, stir through the rocket. Season to taste. Serve.

How easy?

Serves: 4  |  Prep Time: 10 mins  |  Cook time about 30-40 mins
Nutritional Info: 593 kcal, 74g carbs, 25g fat, 15g protein

Ingredients pic!

weigh everything out, slice the leeks thinly, crush and chop the garlic, break the cauliflower into florets, taking off the thickest bit of the stalks. Set the stock on to boil. Heat the oil in a well big pan.

Add the garlic, leeks and cauli and soften over the heat for 5-10 mins

Add the risotto rice, stir through and cook for about 2 mins until the rice is slightly glossy

Add the wine, stir until absorbed

If you’re not in a mega rush like I was, add the stock a bit by bit until absorbed and the rice is al dente. If in a massive rush add it all and hope it’s the right amount. Reduce for about 2o-25 mins

When it’s reduced, add the butter and parmesan, stir through for a couple minute more

Then add the parsley, season to taste (loads of black pepper) and serve. Voila:

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 35 mins | Serves: 4
Nutritional Info: 350 kcals, protein 16.4g, carbohydrate 68.5g, fat 3.1 g, saturated fat 0.3g, fibre 8.3g, salt 2.66 g

Ingredients pic: missing garlic and lemon, 1 too many potatoes, 1 too few tomatoes, and 2 two few chillies, because I made those changes as I went along:

First off (I’ve spared you the picture) pop 1 tsp of sunflower oil in a pan over a med-low heat and soften the onion, garlic, and chillies together for 5 minutes or so. Then add the chopped tomatoes, garam masala and tumeric, and fry over a medium high heat for a couple of minutes, to get it fragrant and stuff.

Then add the stock and lentils, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Then add the sweet potato chunks, simmer for 15 minutes or until tender (but not completely mushy)

I decided to blend mine a bit, but only a bit, and I think this was a really good choice, leave some chunks, but just give it a whizz. A bit of mashing would work too, if you don’t have a hand blender.

Then add the spinach, stir through until wilted.

Season to fuck. Seriously. LOADS of salt. Taste it as you go, but that brings out the flavour. Then add the squeeze of half of or a whole lemon to taste.

And serve. Mmmm…

Serves: 4 | Prep: 5 mins | Cook: 35-40 mins

Nutrition:  (I can’t imagine my tweaks have changed this too much) 241 kcalories, protein 9.7g, carbohydrate 39.6g, fat 6 g, saturated fat 1.6g, fibre 7.4g, salt 1.86 g

Ingredients pic: (I have been known to add a half a leek per person, too, works nicely)

add the oil to a pan and soften the onion and garlic

Then add the carrots, celery and parsnips, and continue to soften

when beginning to get tender, add the lentils, bay leaf, tomato puree, 3/4 of the stock, and a healthy dollop of marmite.

around about the same time, chunk your potatoes, put them into some salted water and start them off

the pie mix should be gently bubbling away, simmer for 25 minutes, or until lentils are tender. You can speed this recipe up by about 15 mins if you leave out the lentils, but they are worth it. Add more stock if it needs it. You want gloopy. Gloopy pie mix.

Just as the lentils are nearly cooked, hopefully your potatoes should be ready. Mash them.

To make the mash, once the potatoes are well cooked, drain, put about 1/2 a tsp of butter per person, a little seasoning, and a generous splash per person of alpro soya cream in (trust me on this, dairy consumers, its slightly vegetabley taste comes into its own in savoury dishes) and if you’re feeling posh a tiny bit of rosemary. Mash.

Then clean out that pan (or if you’re the kind of fancy person with more than 2 medium pans, just get a new one) and set some water on to boil ready for the green veg.

Hopefully your pie mix should be nice and thick now. Spoon it into a casserole dish.

And using a spoon and fork, very thinly spread the mashed potato on top, it never goes as far as you think, so be sparing to begin with. The technique I use is teaspoon of mash, and sort of spread it from the spoon onto the pie using the reverse of the fork. Leaves a nice texture, too.

Your water should be boiling now, chuck in the broccoli (and about 3 minutes later the green beans). Pop the gardener’s pie under the grill when you start the greens. Dunno what heat, mine just seems to have an ‘on’ or ‘off’ mode. Put it on ‘on’.

I totes have a gas oven now. I sort of haven’t gotten used to it yet. Much more unpredictable.

Anyway, all being well, veg and pie should be done at the same time. Drain the veg, serve with the pie which should be lovely and crispy on top. That’s it. Tasty, easy, cheap, vegan. Yes.

Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 5 mins | Cook time: 15 mins
Nutritional Info: (I think this includes chapatis) 452kcal, 45g carbs, 4g fat, 8g protein

Ingredients:

First off, use the oil to soften the onion and garlic

Add 1/2 a tbsp of the curry powder to some salted boiling water, and then boil the diced potatoes until tender

meanwhile, add the remaining curry powder to the onion/garlic, stir for a minute or so, then add the tomato, season, and simmer.

meanwhile 2: add the tsp of mint sauce to the yoghurt and stir in, another cheaty thing, but tastes well nice, actually. You might want to grate in some cucumber too, that would be nice.

Once the potatoes are tender, add to the tomatoes with 2 tbsp of mango chutney, stir and heat through

heat the chapati as per instructions, then serve the potatoes (2 wraps per person, about 350g of potato mix for 2 wraps) on a bed of shredded lettuce, or maybe some spinach, or just on their own. Scatter with chopped coriander, drizzle with minty relish and a bit more chutney if you want, fold and eat!

I think you get that I’m ready for Autumn. Sorry, it’s my favourite season.

Anyway, that’s mostly why I made this. It’s part of operation ‘pretend it’s Autumn and maybe, eventually, it will be’. This is ridiculously hearty (but also healthy) rich and vegan. Cheap, too. Cheap as hell, which will be important if you make my ‘mazing mushroom soup in the same week. Quite a few tweaks for this one, which is one of Simon Rimmer’s, whose recipes I tend to find a little uselessly complicated. Also, where on earth do you buy Madeira? Not found it anywhere yet. Subbed with some medium dry sherry, because they didn’t have dry, or port. Rubbish alcohol section is rubbish.

Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 45 mins | Servings: 4 hearty servings (2 pictured)
Nutritional Info: per 1/4 396kcal, 5.8g fat (0.9g sat), 61.7g carbs, 9.6g fibre, 6.6g protein, 8.9g sugars

Ingredients:

I might also be tempted to add a box of white mushrooms to the sauce from the onion softening on in, if you’re wanting to bulk it out even further, and have them soak up some of the ace sauce. Anyway, yes, soften the onion and garlic in the veg oil.

Add the tomato puree and cook for a minute or so

Then add the first lot of stock (200ml if cooking for 4), the sherry/Madeira, splash of soy sauce, bring to the boil, and then add the barley. Bring to a simmer and cover to cook for about 20-25 minutes until the barley is tender & cooked (this is sped up if you soak it beforehand, for about a 10-15 minute reduction on cooking time). Keep an eye on this, you’ll probably need to top up the water in it if it begins to boil dry before the barley is done.

Meanwhile, chop the veg and slice the potatoes very thinly. Parboil the potatoes for 5-10 minutes in salted water. Drain and set aside.

Bring the second lot of stock to the boil, and add all the veg. Cover and cook until tender. About 10 minutes.

Hopefully that will be done about the same time as the sauce. Add the thyme to the sauce…

And then combine the sauce and the veg in one pan. I added a tsp of marmite here. And a little more tomato puree, and a drop more water. Season well (to taste, anyway).

Then transfer into a deep (very deep) casserole dish, take the potato slices, and lay across the top in layers, each layer I sprinkled with salt and brushed with a little olive oil. You might also like to crumble a last bit of thyme leaves over it. You could also sprinkle a bit of cheese if you wanted to un-vegan it.

Stick under the grill for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are crisp and awesome looking. Stick some green veg on when you put it under the grill and serve with something like green beans…

Comme ci. Le om le nom.

Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 15 mins | Serves: 2 (1 pictured)
Nutritional Info: 271 kcals, protein 12g, carbs 18.1g, fat 17.2 g, sat fat 1.4g, fibre 7.5g, salt 0.85 g

Ingredients pic:

soften the onion and garlic for 3 minutes or so

Add the curry paste, stir for 2-3mins until fragrant

Add the cauliflower, stir to coat, then add the chopped tomatoes and water, stir to mix

Then cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Put the rice (50g per person, well rinsed, 120ml water per person, cover and DO NOT UNCOVER, heat until all the water has boiled away and then set aside, still covered, to steam until the rest is ready)

Then, when the cauliflower is cooked, or about 10 mins in, stir in the spinach, and just before serving, the chopped coriander:

Serve with rice, or a naan or pitta instead. Tasty, quick, cheap. Awesomeness.