tomato – Food That We Make

Green bean, chickpea and fresh tomato minestrone.

hannahnicklin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 23:31:23 +0000

I always thought minestrone was a meat-y taste, and I didn’t have much hope for a veggie version (vegan, in fact), but, it turns out, TOTES WRONG. This was amazingly minestroney-y. Proper stuff. Might be to do with the marmite modification, but still, that brill mix of really substantial pasta and veg, protein from the chickpeas, and the slightly brothy watery stuff that is instant comfort-taste to me. highly recommend, this, and keeps throughout the week pretty well if you don’t mind slightly swollen spaghetti.

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?

Aubergine and goats cheese bake

hannahnicklin — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:52:38 +0000

OK, you need this recipe in your life. Unless you’re a) vegan, or b) averse to goats’ cheese. Everyone else, you need this recipe in your life. Very simple. Very tasty. A carb-free version of lasagne. From the ‘200 Veggie Feasts’ book, I think. If you have a preffered tomato sauce method, feel free to experiment, a bit of onion, or a splash of red wine. You could also chuck in mushrooms to bulk it out if you want – I’d fry garlic & onions, add mushrooms (chestnut probably) until browning, then chuck in some red wine, reduce, then add tomatoes etc. and get back on track. Anyway, this is the simpler version. Try this before complicating it. Promise you’ll like it. If you’re not vegan and you like goats’ cheese. Oh and aubergine.

Prep Time: 5 | Cook Time: 25-35 mins | Serves: 4
Nutritional info: 429 kcal, 9g carbs, 36g fat, 18g protein

Ingredients pic:

Using half the oil, soften the garlic, then add the tomato, basil, seasoning, and a pinch of sugar, simmer.

Meanwhile… season and brush the aubergine slices on both sides with the rest of the oil. I salt and pepper first, then brush with oil. You don’t need much oil, and that mean the season rubs in and sticks. Grill for 2-3 mins on a high heat on both sides

And now, layer up! Preheat the oven to 200’c, and layer 3 times with aubergine, tomato, parmesan and goats’ cheese, finishing with cheese, and sprinkling with a touch of oregano if you like. Bake for 2o-35 minutes until the cheese is browned and bubbly.

Serve with a good lot of peppery salad. Rocket is recommended, and a strong good tomato. One of the expensive kind. Enjoy!

Mexican Tomato & Bean Soup

hannahnicklin — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:17:24 +0000

Something spicy to keep me perked up throughout the final weeks of the PhD, this. A very tasty, hearty vegan soup with a good kick to it. I used medium chillis, but adjust amount of chilli and strength of chilli to taste – a couple of medium hot as opposed to 3 medium ones would be pretty good. Quick recipe, too, easily cooked and eaten within a lunch break. Try it, it’s nice. Also, if you were to add some brown lentils to it, and remove the passata, it’d make a stonking vegan chilli.

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 15 mins | Serves: 4-6
Nutritional Info: (per 1/4 with 1 tbsp yoghurt): 211 kcal 27g carbs 8g fat 8g protein

Ingredients:

First off, gently soften the onion for 5 minutes or so

Then add the garlic, chillis, and cumin, stir for a minute or two

Then add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, beans (I used black eyed ones), passata, sugar, and season well. Simmer for 10 minutes

Just before serving, chuck in most of the chopped coriander, squeeze in the juice of 1 lime. Check seasoning.

And then serve with a dollop of yoghurt, and the last bits of coriander:

Close up!

‘mumbai potato wraps’

hannahnicklin — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:34:31 +0000

I was looking for an alternative ‘make in one batch and lunch on throughout the week’ to the soups that I always do, and came across this on the Good Food site. It’s what I’d classify as ‘cheating curry’ because, well, it uses curry powder, but I do realise that’s probably psychological, and if I was doing it I’d probably be putting in the same constituent spices. Anyway, this is a brill and very quick lunch that you can cook at the beginning of the week, and then have throughout, reheated or cool. Curried things only get better with a bit of time so it’s all good. Vegan, too. What’s not to love? Unless you don’t love carbs. In that case go make some lovely soup.

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:

mmm… carby.

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!

Italian Vegetable Soup

hannahnicklin — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:50:07 +0000

You may have noticed I’m a big fan of soup. When cooking for one they’re an ace way of making lunch really quick – make on batch at the beginning of the week, and just heat up and bake a part-baked bit of bread if you like and you have ace healthy food in a matter of 10 minutes, also totally freezable, and most soups get tastier with a bit of time, WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE? May not be everyone’s cup of tea in hot weather, but I’m favouring tomatoey and zingy flavours at the moment and I definitely reckon that makes them still feel refreshing. Also I’m working 7am-10pm days, and running or swimming 16/5k respectively each day. When it gets to lunch I am HUNGRY, this is packed with veg, pasta, and beans, filling as fuck. Brilliant stuff. Based pretty faithfully on a Good Food recipe, but with a couple of pinches of chilli flakes because I wanted to give it a bit more kick. Vegan if you forgo the cheese and find rice pasta mini shapes (you could always break up big pasta into bits).

Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 30 mins | Servings: 4
Nutritional Info: 215 kcalories, protein 11g, carbohydrate 30g, fat 6 g, saturated fat 3g, fibre 5g, sugar 12g, salt 1.06 g

Ingredients:

first things, chop all the veg. Pop 1tbsp of oil in a large pan and over a medium heat gentle cook the carrots, onions and celery until soft, about 15 minutes

Next, add the sugar, garlic, tomato purée, herbs (saving a bit of the basil to garnish with) and courgettes and cook for 4-5 mins on a slightly higher heat, so the courgettes might brown a little bit

Then pour over the tomatoes, stock, and beans, simmer for 15 minutes until all the veg is lovely and soft

It was at this point I seasoned it, tasted it, and decided it needed a bit more kick, I added two pinches of chilli flakes, which was good for me, this is up to you, add or don’t add to taste.

Add half the parmesan, the pasta, and simmer for 5-8 minutes more, until the pasta is cooked.

Serve sprinkled with 1/4 the remaining parmesan per person, and a bit of the chopped basil.

Tomato and Basil Soup

hannahnicklin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:35:57 +0000

A good simple recipe, this, perfect for a rainy spring day. I seem to have developed a cold, so something warm for lunch was a must, and this creamy tomato soup is quick enough to make with low energy levels, and awesome enough to perk you up. I’m beginning to sound like an advert. Vegan when you use soya cream (and you can double up soya cream and still keep the fat content the same) – a brilliant comfort lunch. Based on a simple recipe from Sainsbury’s online, and pretty cheap apart from the tomatoes (which are worth investing in, as it’s mostly all you taste!). Here we go…

Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins | Servings: 4

Nutritional info: (per 1/4, 350g approx) 138 kcal 18g carbs 6g fat 3g protein

Ingredients:

For a change, soften the onion in a large pan in the sunflower oil.

While this is happening, quarter all your lovely tomatoes

When the onions are softened, add the tomatoes, passata, and stock.

bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Then blend. Mmm. Blendy.

Add the sugar to taste (3 was just right for me)

Tear in your basil and simmer for 5 minutes more

Then, just before serving, stir through the cream.

Mmm… creamy.