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Vegetarian

Brit Abroad Beet(root) Soup - served hot

Looking at two week's worth of beetroots (beets in American) which I don't really like (too many salads covered with the chopped pickled things as a child) but they come in the veg box, I ask Iain if he has any bright ideas. He likes roast beetroots but requested beetroot soup as he'd had an interesting "spiced" beetroot soup recently. So I found a recipe in the first MORO book and amended it a little. Not that the original wouldn't be lovely but I have a thing about cardamom at the moment and I didn't have black cumin seeds, or good quality red wine vinegar. Now I have found a very delicious way to eat these red roots.

Preparing beetroots. Two options 1) stain your hands,  your beautiful white surfaces, chopping boards and anything within a 3ft radius bright pink forever, or 2) slightly unorthodox prep - I was desperate and had no gloves. Cover the chopping board (though I had to do this after I started but realised it was essential) and about a foot round it in several layers of newspaper. Then cover with cling film. Chop beets. You will slice the cling film but it keeps most of the beet juice off the paper & vice versa. Use disposable gloves or in my case two large plastic bags. Top and tail beets and just trim off the oldest bits of skin - the rest will cook down just fine. Then slice or chop or whatever the recipe needs. When done you just fold up the paper and bags and dump. Neat.

Paula from Pitt

• 4tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 large spanish onion

• 2 cardamom pods cracked

• 1tsp cumin seeds

• 1/2tsp charnushka (Nigella sativa) seeds* (whilst checking the spelling I find out something interesting...)

• 750g raw beetroot (I had roughly this before topping and tailing about 1.5lbs)

• 1 large potato finely diced

• 1L water (4cups) might need to up this depending on how thick you like your soup

• 1tbsp white wine vinegar +1tbsp wickedly good  Manzanilla sherry (because it was in the fridge) but any good dry sherry would work I reckon

• small bunch fresh flat leaf parsley roughly chopped

• plain yoghurt

Get a heavy based, med - large pan with a lid - I use my Le Crueset casserole, set on a low-moderate heat and add oil. Set cardamom, cumin & black onion seeds to crack in the olive oil. When you are starting to smell spice then add the onion and turn as low as low as you can get, cover and soften for at least 15 mins, til translucent-ish. Stir a couple of times. Add beetroot, potato and water and stir well. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20mins or so until veggies are soft. FISH OUT THE CARDAMOM.

Purée with handheld processor or in a food blender/processor til smooth. Return to pan. Add 1/2 parsley, vinegar & sherry. Add salt & pepper to taste. Add more water at this point if needed. Warm. Serve with blob of yoghurt and sprinkle of parsley. This is served hot but you could probably serve it cold if you liked.

*Now I find out that charnushka which I use a lot is in fact BLACK CUMIN SEED!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigella_sativa

Baked Barley with Shiitake Mushrooms & Caramelized Onions

From one of my good friends in the new life in Pittsburgh. Great as a main course or side dish.  For you barleyphobes (UK school dinner fear) - face it and think of the shiitake. Very, very good winter comfort food. Thanks to Cheryl.

Paula from Pitt.

Ingredients

• 2tbsp butter, 3 medium onions chopped, 1 tspn sugar
• 9oz sliced button or chestnut mushrooms & 8oz sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 1.5cups uncooked pearl barley (UK people a cup is 8floz so use 12floz in your measuring jug)
• 1tbsp soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste, pinch dried (or chopped sprig fresh) thyme
• 4cups (32floz) vegetable broth (stock)
• fresh thyme sprigs if you like

How to: Melt butter in a heavy bottomed casserole dish over medium heat, add onion & sugar, cover and cook for 25 mins or til golden brown, stirring frequently.

Add mushrooms, cook for 10 mins or until browned, stirring frequently.

Add barley, cook 2 mins, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat, stir in soy sauce, salt, pepper & thyme. Preheat oven to 350F (175C, Gas 4)

Bring broth to the boil, pour over mushroom & barley. Cover & put in oven for 1 hour-ish until barley is tender. Let stand 10 mins out of oven. Garnish with thyme sprigs.

Spiced Tomato Soup

There is only one Tomato Soup and that is made by a firm that is not British (surprise!) but from Pittsburgh and comes in an Andy Warhol tin.  But with a surfeit of sun dried tomatoes one night I made this.  Pretty darn good we thought.  Very, very rich but based on what might be found in most store cupboards.

Paula from Pitt

Ingredients (Imperial as I now live in the Glorious Homeland - as an "alien")

• 3-4oz sun dried tomatoes soaked in 2 cups (= 16floz) hot water for about 1/2 hour, chopped
• 2 tbspn vegetable oil (or 1 each of veg & olive oil), chopped onion, 1-2 bay leaves, chopped celery stick (don't worry it will be blended later for those that avoid celery), 1/2 tspn chili powder, 1/2 tspn cinnamon (trust me I'm a doctor), 2 cardamom pods cracked
• 14oz(ish) tin tomatoes chopped plus juice
• 1 cup(ish) water, 1 tbsn shredded basil, salt to taste, good grind black pepper, yoghurt or sour cream

How to: put oil in medium sized, heavy based pan with lid, with chili powder, cinnamon, cardamom and medium heat for 2-3 mins til spices give off aroma and start to crack.

Add bay leaves, onion, celery, turn down heat very low and put lid on and soften for 20 mins or so till onion goes clear but not brown.

Add tinned tomatoes & juice and sun dried tomatoes & juice. Simmer for 20 mins or so.

Remove bay leaves & cardamom, liquidise soup (this really is better smooth). Add basil, salt, pepper and a cup or so of water to get to a thick but still soupish consistency (your choice).  Warm through.  Serve into warm bowls and add a dollop of sour cream or yoghurt if you like.  I'd suggest not cream as you need something sharp to cut through the rich sweetness of the soup.

NB if you want to make this ahead of time (soups are often better the next day) then stop before you remove the spices and liquidise.  Let it cool. Store for a day and then remove spices etc.

Witte Rijst met Krenten

This recipe may well make you believe that Dutch cuisine deserves the reputation that British cuisine has, but if you, like me, love rice and, like me, love currants, and, like me, have a sweet tooth, you might think this is the best dish in the world.

The other day I had eaten a big bowl of soup earlier on and neither fancied eating a complete meal, nor going out to the shops to buy a snack. Looking in our cupboards, I noticed all the ready-made snacks had already disappeared in our stomachs. My wife, who as always shared my predicament, decided to just boil some rice and snack on that. I would have gone along with that, had it not reminded me of one of the greatest dishes I had as a child.

Halloumi dressing

Finally the secret of the halloumi dressing of bbq & dinner party fame...

For 1 pack of halloumi: Juice of 1 lime, a teaspoon or two of red pesto.

Doubting Bro wrote "where is the rest of the recipe?"

OK so a grind of black pepper to taste.  Slap it on griddled/bbq'd/fried/raw... halloumi.

Sometimes the best things are simple.  Trust me I'm a doctor!

Paula

Plátano Fufu

This makes a great side dish with steak, rice and beans. Something of a mystery, it was prepared for me in the Colombian town of Armenia by a journalist from Bogotá who claimed it to be Cuban. When I later asked around in Cuba no one had heard of it, but anyway, it's a tasty dish.

Piere-Luigi's Pasta

This is based on a southern recipe which mixes sweet and savoury flavours to great effect for the ultimate summer pasta dish...

Spaghetti Sicilian Style

I was poor, she was poor, we lived in London and we ate the cheapest meal that you can make. It actually tastes great all the same. Are Italians geniuses in the kitchen? Clearly.

Tasty beefy mushroom sandwich

This is a great tasty pretty healthy vegetarian snack which is perfect for busy single people who get bored very quickly with cooking.

Spinach and Tomato Dahl

This is very filling, easy to do and can be cooked in large quantities and frozen for later. it is your basic dahl but with swirls of red and green throughout adding visual interest and more complex flavours to the dish.

The Hare Krishnas eat it so it must be the real deal...