Category Archives: Vegetables

Chilled Cucumber Soup

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CHILLED CUCUMBER SOUP

During the summer months at the cortijo, I love making chilled vegetable soups to eat in the evening, and my favourites are salmorejo and gazpacho. I’ve recently been experimenting with other types of soup. We’ve got loads of cucumbers at the moment, so this is one I tried today.  

Chilled Cucumber Soup

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g ready-prepared cucumbers, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 small pot of natural yoghurt
  • 60g extra virgin olive oil
  • 20g cider vinegar
  • 60ml water
  • a couple of sprigs of mint leaves, destemmed
  • a pinch of salt

METHOD

  1. Put all the ingredients into a liquidiser and blend for 7 minutes.
  2. Pour into a bowl and chill well before serving.

Vegetarian Paella with Tofu and Hard-boiled Egg

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VEGETARIAN PAELLA

The paella is cooked over the flames shortly after the fire is lit. The idea is to use the heat from the flames to fry the onions, peppers and tomatoes before adding the rice and the stock and then cooking over a more constant heat once the fire has died down a bit.

We lit the fire at 13:00 and the paella was ready at 14:00.

One of the secrets to making a good paella is to get a beautiful layer of the caramelised socarrat on the bottom of the pan. You can see how much liquid is left and by cooking the paella for a final 10 minutes on a gentle flame when there is not much liquid left, you should get the socarrat of your dreams.

Vegetarian Paella

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 large red pepper, roughly chopped
  • 1 green pepper, roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • saffron
  • 1 block firm tofu
  • 4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • frozen artichoke pieces or baby artichokes
  • 60g paella rice per person
  • a couple of handfuls of cooked butter beans
  • a couple of handfuls of flat green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 2cm pieces
  • 3 vegetable stock cubes
  • 2 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced
  • water
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil

METHOD

  1. The day before, pound together the crushed garlic, saffron and a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar.
  2. Add the water and transfer to a small jar with a lid. Leave overnight, shaking hard every once in a while.
  3. An hour or so before you are ready to cook the paella, cut the tofu into cubes and marinate in a bowl with a good splash of soy sauce, some Tabasco and a drizzle of olive oil
  4. To cook the paella, heat some olive oil in a paella pan on an open fire.
  5. Add the onion, red and green pepper, season with salt and fry until soft.
  6. Add the chopped tomatoes and continue to fry.
  7. Sprinkle in the rice and stir well.
  8. Add a litre of water and the vegetable stock .
  9. Add the green beans and butter beans and stir well.
  10. Cover with a large lid and continue to cook over the fire for about 15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes to see that there is enough water.
  11. Arrange the tofu cubes on the top and pour over the marinade.
  12. Check the stock for seasoning, adding more salt if necessary.
  13. After about 30 minutes, check to see if the rice is cooked. Cook for longer if it needs more time, sprinkling water over the top if it looks as though all the water has evaporated.
  14. When the paella is almost done, arrange the sliced egg on the top. 
  15. Remove the lid and leave for another 5-10 minutes to caramelize the bottom of the pan for the socarrat.

Patatas a lo Pobre or Patatas Panaderas in the Oven

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PATATAS A LO POBRE

This popular Spanish dish slowly cooks sliced potatoes in olive oil with onions, green peppers and garlic. It is often served in restaurants, particularly in Southern Spain. Patatas panaderas is a similar version where the potatoes are cooked in the oven.

Rather than frying the sliced potatoes on the hob in a frying pan with lots of olive oil, I decided to cook them in the oven. They worked really well but I thought the times and temperatures suggested in the recipe I followed could be changed to cook them for slower and longer. Rather than using a glass dish covered with foil, next time I would use an iron lidded casserole. This recipe has the new times and temperatures.

Patatas a lo pobre


 

INGREDIENTS

  • 150g potato per person, peeled and cut into 4mm slices
  • 1 large onion, cut into thin slices
  • 1 green pepper, cut into thin slices
  • 5 (or as many as you like) cloves garlic, peeled
  • a splash white wine
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

METHOD

  1. Put the potato, onion, pepper and garlic into a casserole.
  2. Drizzle over some olive oil.
  3. Pour over the wine and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Put the lid on the casserole and place in the oven.
  5. Turn on the oven and heat to 180ºC.
  6. When it has reached its temperature, cook for 1 hour.
  7. Remove the lid and toss the potatoes.
  8. Turn up the heat to 200ºC and cook for another 30 minutes when it has reached the temperature.

Roasted Red Peppers

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ROASTED RED PEPPERS

We’ve just been given the most amazing red peppers by some friends who grow vegetables over in. They are massive and full of flavour so I’ve been experimenting with different methods for roasting them.

Roasting Red Peppers in the Air Fryer

METHOD

  1. Cut the peppers into 1cm thick strips.
  2. Put the strips directly in the air fryer basket and AIR FRY at 200ºC for 20 minutes.
  3. Open the drawer every 10 minutes and drain off the liquid. You can use this in other dishes and is good added to soup.
  4. At the end of the cooking time, drain off any remaining liquid and toss in some oil in a bowl.
  5. Put back in the air fryer and AIR FRY for a further 20 minutes at 200ºC.
  6. After 10 minutes, open the drawer and put the pepper slices back in the bowl with the oil from the drawer. Toss well before returning to the drawer for the rest of the cooking time.
  7. Season with salt and pepper and leave in air fryer with the drawer closed until needed.

 

Vegetable Samosas

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VEGETABLE SAMOSAS

These vegetables samosas use shop-bought empanadilla pastry that you can buy in Spain. They are filled with potatoes, peas and onion and flavoured with Indian spices.

Vegetable Samosas

The samosas are a bit fiddly to make but once you’ve got the hang of them, you can prepare them quite quickly.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 packet of Buitoni (16 obleas de masa para empanadillas)
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 500 g potatoes, diced
  • 50 g frozen peas
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp ground fenugreek
  • ½ tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp garam masala

METHOD

  1. Bring the diced potato to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain.
  2. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and fry the chopped onion until soft.
  3. Sprinkle over the spices and fry for 30 seconds or so.
  4. Add the frozen peas and stir well, heating through for another couple of minutes.
  5. Spoon in the cooked potato and salt and mix well, breaking down the potatoes with the back of the wooden spoon.
  6. It might be necessary to add a couple of tablespoons of water so that the mixture is not too dry.
  7. Open up the packet of empanadillas and arrange them on a tray. It’s a good idea not to remove them from the waxed paper. You can remove them from the paper just before cooking.
  8. Put a small spoon of potato mix onto each half of the empanadillas.
  9. Fold the empanadilla in half, rolling it between your fingers to spread out the filling. Imagine you are rolling a cigarette so use your fingers to press the filling towards to middle of the empanadillas and leave a space around the edge.
  10. Use the paper to foll each one in half.
  11. Gently peel back the waxed paper and use the tips of your three middle fingers to press the edges together.
  12. Use the prongs of a fork to gently press down and seal the edges .
  13. Brush each samosa with olive oil.
  14. Cook the samosas in the air fryer on 200ºC for 8 minutes, turning over half way through.