Pan-Bagnat: A rather extravagant sandwich - 2 hours to prepare, but worth it!

Confession time! I saw this recipe in a magazine and decide I'd embark upon it for lunch. This decision was made at about 11 o'clock. I'm not one for reading recipes from start to finish before I start, and it was only when I started it, I realised it was more likely going to be ready for tea time rather than lunch!!

So, warning for you....should you wish to make this (and I highly recommend it), make it the day before you need it and fridge it until the chosen point!

The recipe is based on a french dish called Pan-Bagnat. It's essentially a hollowed out loaf, filled with roasted vegetables and cheese and pressed in the fridge for several hours. This allows the flavours and juices to be absorbed by the bread and sliced in lovely chunks for a healthy, tasty lunch-time meal.

It's a great picnic dish and I think best served for crowds, this much effort invested in a sandwich deserves to be shared!

The key ingredients here are a decent loaf (I favour a multi-grain one as I think it holds the shape better) and fresh vegetables. Don't follow the ingredients too slavishly - if there is something you don't like just swap it for more of something you do!

....feedahappylife's selection of vegetables....

...preferred bread...

Pan-Bagnat (serves 4)

• 1 red pepper, quartered
• 1 yellow pepper, quartered
• 1 large courgette, sliced
• 2 portabella mushrooms, halved
• 1 aubergine, sliced length ways
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Handful basil leaves, torn
• Large, round, crusty loaf
• 3 tbsp caper puree (or olive tapenade or pesto)
• 125g mozzarella, drained and sliced
• Seasoning

Step 1: Place vegetables in a single layer, pour over a good glug of oil and grill for 10 minutes (turning half way through). You might need to do this a few times to get through all of the vegetables

Step 2: Make the dressing by mixing half the basil, a glug of oil, a glug of vinegar, seasoning and the crushed garlic in a large bowl. Stir together to combine and add the roasted vegetables to the boil and toss gently. Leave vegetables to cool.

Step 3: Slice of the bread 'lid' and remove all of the inner bread (leave a 1 cm shell). I keep the inner bread, shred and freeze for breadcrumbs for other dishes...

Step 4: Cover the inside of your bread with your choice of paste

Step 5: Take the cooled vegetables and squeeze them dry between sheets of kitchen roll (this is really important and will stop your bread going soggy). Slice the mushroom halves and put to one side.

Step 6: Layer up your cooled vegetables and press firmly into the bread. Alternative vegetables with mozzarella slices and torn basil leaves. Leave the mushrooms until last and add to the top.

Step 7: Place the lid back on the bread and wrap tightly in cling film. Place the bread between two plates and weight down with tins for two hours in the fridge

Step 8: Remove cling-film, cut into slices and serve

Hope you enjoy,
Helen x

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Gourmet salad for summer loving!

I would appear to be one of the few people who gets excited about salads.

For many people, salads are a superfluous plate dressing not made to touch the fork. To some, they have been tainted with all things 'diet' related or even considered a bit girly to be ordered for fear of mockery (applies to boys!).

To me, a good salad is a pleasure to view and to eat and one of my favourite meals.My perfect salads are not about low calorie and they are certainly not all vegetable. They are about taste, texture and creativity. If I was ever to write a recipe book, I think this would be what I'd focus on and it's generally what people ask me to make if there is a gathering!

Two of my favourite salads are:

• Roasted sweet potato, butter bean, chorizo and spinach
• Pan-fried courgette, balsamic raisin and toasted pine nut

Given I have a glut of courgette to get through (blog entry - the biggest courgette....ever) I've shared the latter with you below. This is such a lovely salad; sweet, tangy, crunchy and fresh. It's perfect on it's own or as a side. The courgettes can easily be grilled, making this a great BBQ dish too.

Courgette, balsamic raisin and toasted pine nut salad (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 2 medium courgettes
• 100g raisin
• 75ml balsamic vinegar
• 50g pine nuts
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• Olive oil
• Seasoning

Step 1: Slice your courgettes into chunky strips

Step 2: Heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan (or griddle pan) and add the courgette. Turn after 2 minutes and repeat until both sides are slightly browned but the courgette is still firm. Put to one side to cool

Step 3: Add balsamic and raisins to a saucepan and heat rapidly until all the balsamic is absorbed. Turn off heat and put to one side to cool.

Step 4: Add the pine nuts to a dry frying pan and heat gently for 2-3 minutes (be very careful they don't burn) - put in a dish when they are toasted to prevent them continuing to cook

Step 5: Assemble dish. Add courgette to plate and scatter over raisins and pine nuts. Squeeze over lemon juice, season and serve

I hope I can convince you that salads are more than rabbit food!!
Helen x

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Potentially calorie neutral cakes?!

I wrote a few weeks ago that I was still trying to find my food love. It’s funny the amount of time I spend thinking, eating, cooking and writing about food that there isn’t one thing that comes to the fore.

When I look at a lot of the things I’ve been blogging about, the common theme appears to be vegetable dishes (e.g. Moroccan Vegetable Stew, Pea Soup) and cakes (e.g. Umbongo Cake, Afternoon Tea). I think I may subconsciously be off-setting cake calories with vegetable consumption! Seriously though, these are the things that time and time again I will cook for myself and others.

I love the freshness of vegetables and the ability to take an ingredient, that people regard as a side dish or force themselves to include in meals, and make something really delicious out of it. There is such variety that the recipe opportunities are never ending. With so many vegetables that I’m yet to cook (Samphire, Kohlrabi, Plantain to name but a few), there is some always something new around the corner willing me to experiment.

…and then there are cakes! Beautiful, moist, exciting, show-offy cakes! It’s oven-alchemy the way that a simple batter mix of flour, sugar, butter and eggs can be transformed into a golden sponge, filling the house with the smell of domesticity and a sense of safety and warmth. Most of my stresses can be soothed with a cup of tea and a slice of my favourite lemon cake (as featured in the Spring Feasting entry).

This led me to thinking about vegetables in cakes… I’ve seen some lovely recipes for chocolate and beetroot cake, pumpkin pie and of course the inimitable carrot cake but I’ve not really dabbled with them. Time to rectify things and combine my loves into easy, edible delights.

I decided to take my fail safe muffin recipe and experiment with the contents of my cupboard and vegetable basket….with the results as follows:

• Beetroot and Orange
• Courgette and Lemon
• Carrot & Nutty Nutmeg

I’m very happy with the results, particularly the carrot mix, and could happily scoff my way through the whole lot! I have a theory (this is grounded in no scientific fact and quite illogical), that the vegetable content offsets the calorie content, thus making thus a calorie neutral cake...so scoff away!

All of these can be happily enhanced with a flavoured cream cheese topping (see below) for a more elegant finish or just served as is!

....topping made from cream cheese and icing sugar....

Muffin Mix (makes 18)

• 350g plain flour
• 200g granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 large eggs (beaten)
• 120ml milk
• 120ml plain yoghurt
• 115g butter (melted)

Beetroot and Orange Mix

• 100g grated beetroot
• 1 Orange (zested and juiced - only 1/2 juice will be needed)

Lemon and Courgette Mix

• 100g grated courgette
• 1 Lemon (zested and juiced)

 

Carrot and Nutty Nutmeg Mix

• 100g grated carrot
• 50g mixed nuts (roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Step 1: Combine all muffin ingredients into a large bowl (do not over mix - it should be a little lumpy)

Step 2: Add the ingredients for your chosen flavoured muffin and stir through

Step 3: Pour mix into muffin cases (use paper cases or squares of baking parchment), fill 2/3 full and place into oven 190c/GM 5 for 20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch

Step 4: Remove and leave to cool before serving or icing

 

...Courgette and Lemon Muffins served warm with Greek Yoghurt...

 
Hope you enjoy this way of getting to your five a day!
Helen x

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The biggest courgette....ever!

Did you ever play the game of ‘grandma went to the supermarket and bought……..’?!

It was a childhood memory game, the sort that drives parents doolally. You took it in turns to add to the shopping list, recite it from start to finish and then pass the challenge over to your competitor, with the loser being the person who forgot first.

Well, I did play it and I loved it! Memory specialists say that the easiest way to remember lists is to create a story out of it. I can picture supermarket shelves, trolleys and bustle so clearly in my mind that it was easy for me to create stories to remember these long lists and win the game. This ability is restricted to food and shopping only though – I’m pretty hopeless at remembering most other things....

Anyway, the list of ‘Helen went to the supermarket and bought…..’ doesn’t really change much week-on-week. The contents of my trolley are pretty consistent, unless I’ve been tempted by a new ingredient or "unbeatable offer" on an unrequired product. There’s the normal milk, butter, yoghurt, cereal etc.. and then the fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish and that’s pretty much it (....so why does my bill cost so much?!)

This week, I started my visit as normal at the vegetable section, working through the mental list of must haves. Cherry tomatoes, check! Spinach, check! Sweet potatoes, check! Courgettes……………and there they were! The most ginormous courgettes I’d ever seen! Sold in Sainsbury’s value range, presumably because their marrow-like size was quite outside of EU regulation, I had to have them (I'm sure a less food obsessed person would not have been struck with this need to purchase).

....Wooden spooned use as a scale indicator....

I conducted the rest of the trip on auto-pilot, thinking what I could concoct with the colossal courgettes. Soup? Gratin? Salad? No! No! No! I then recalled a dish I cooked on a cookery course in Istanbul; courgette fritters. Fresh, crunchy, quick and flavoursome, this was the perfect recipe for these giants (I should state that normal sized courgettes work fine too).

You can make these start to finish in 15 minutes. I’ve served them stacked with a rich tomato sauce, but you could also serve them as a snack or side dish too.

Courgette and Tomato Stack (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 1 large (2 normal size) courgette
• 1 egg
• 1/2 red onion (sliced)
• 1/2 red onion (chopped)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 60g self raising flour
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• pinch chili flakes
• Olive oil
• Seasoning

Step 1: Pan fry the chopped onion in a little olive oil until softened. Add the tinned tomatoes and chili flakes and simmer for 15 minutes (whilst making the courgette fritters).

Step 2: Grate the courgette (including skin)

Step 3: Mix the grated courgette with the egg, cumin, flour, sliced onion and seasoning (to taste)

Step 4: Heat and frying pan with some olive oil. Drop spoonfuls of the mix into the hot frying pan and press down slightly to form the fritter shape (suggest 3 at a time - any more and you're liable to make a mess/burn them). Turn heat down to medium.

Step 5: After 4-5 minutes flip the fritters over (they should be golden on the reverse) and continue to fry

Step 6: Your spicy tomato sauce should now be thick and rich. Take 3 fritters and stack on top of each other, separated by spoonfuls of the sauce

Top Tips

• You can adjust this dish easily to your taste preferences. If you like it spicy add fresh, chopped chillies instead of the cumin. Or you could stir a heaped teaspoon of wholegrain mustard through the mix to add some bite
• If you're a cheese fiend, it will happily find it's way into this dish too. Pretty much anything goes but I'd favour torn mozzarella or some grated mature Cheddar (lovely with the mustard)
• Fillings are also flexible! I like chopped cherry tomatoes, feta and avocado or ratatouille
• Making for a big group of people? Cook in batches and keep warm in the oven. They can happily sit in their at about 140c for 30 minutes without spoiling. Alternatively, they taste great cold too!

Hope you enjoy,
Helen x

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'Tis the season to .... BBQ!

The British Bank Holiday mandates a barbeque.

Everywhere in the country, we are taken over by the urge to group together, gather round a fire and eat meat! It's almost primeval! I am no exception to the rule, and this bank holiday weekend I have enjoyed my barbeque in the delights of The Cotswolds....(thank you Mr and Mrs T)

Street after idyllic street of beautiful houses and rolling fields. Gorgeous!! We were graced with one sunny day and the barbeque duly emerged from it's hiding place.

I think there is a bit too much focus on the meat element of the barbeque and I'm on a mission to widen it's use to salads and puddings too! I've written two of the recipes we used below, both meat-free and barbeque utilising! If the summer allows it, I'll add more over the coming months....

Courgette, Asparagus and Pine Nut Salad

Serves 4

2 large courgettes

1 bunch of asparagus

50g pine nuts (lightly toasted in a frying pan - optional)

1 lemon

olive oil

• Diagonally slice the courgette and remove the woody ends of the asparagus
• Drizzle over olive oil and season the courgette slices and asparagus spears
• Place on BBQ for 5-8 minutes (turn half-way through)
• Pile up on a serving dish, drizzle with oil, juice of half a lemon and scatter with pine nuts

Strawberry and Marshmallow Kebabs

Serves 4

1 punnet of strawberries

1 bag marshmallows

4 wooden skewers

• Add strawberries and marshmallows to skewers
• BBQ for 5 minutes (turn once)
• Serve immediately!

The finished result.....

...the picture doesn't show however, that we were cold in about two minutes and migrated rapidly inside. Some things will never change!

Quick update on my audition for ITV's Britain's Best Dish.......audition was on Saturday and I think went well. I've made some amends to my dish and will find out if I've made it through to the Regional Heats (televised...argggh!) next week. Fingers crossed!

Helen x

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