[Vegetarian] Sarah Barr's Recipes

[Sarah Barr]

Thought I might as well have a thread of my experimental recipes that actually work so I can keep them all in one place instead of dispersed through my challenge threads. If you too are a fan of "put things in a pot and see what happens" cooking, feel free to follow.

 

 

Smoked Paprika and Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

- 1 mugful chopped onion

- 2 cloves chopped garlic

- 2 vegetable stock cubes

- 2 teaspoons of sesame oil (or olive oil. But mmm, nutty.)

- A big handful of diced bell peppers

- Smoked paprika, to taste

- Ground mixed spice, to taste

- 1 can chopped tomatoes

- 1 can mixed beans in water

- 1 can pumpkin puree

 

Method:

- Fry onion and garlic in sesame oil until browning and translucent in the bottom of a large saucepan. Throw in peppers, crumbled stock cubes and spices, mix well.

- Add everything else, mix well, and gradually stir in enough water to give it a lusciously thick consistency.

- Bring to a high simmer, then reduce heat and simmer on low for five minutes. 

- Salt and pepper to taste, serve.

 

Variation: Garnish with diced veggie bacon, tabasco sauce, and a big dollop of creme fraiche. 

 

 

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Mushroom and Beer Barley
 

Ingredients:

- 1 onion, finely chopped

- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

- 1 tablespoon of pine nuts

- 2 teaspoons olive oil

- 1 teaspoon butter
- 500g bag of quick-cook pearl barley (or soak some regular barley overnight)

- 2 vegetable stock cubes

- 500ml bottle of ale (Hobgoblin is good. Something brown, flavoursome, and not too hoppy.)

- 1 small box of chestnut mushrooms, diced unevenly (or another kind of mushroom with a bit of bite)

- 1 handful dried ceps/porcini, soaked in a mug of boiled water for 10 minutes.

- A mugful of peeled chestnuts, diced (you have no idea how much I love finding frozen chestnuts, I hate peeling chestnuts so much.)

- Dried thyme, rosemary and oregano, to taste

- Black pepper, to taste

- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

 

Method:

- Fry off the onion, garlic and pine nuts in 1 teaspoon of oil and the butter in the bottom of a large saucepan. (If you use oil and butter together, you get more flavour than with just oil and less burning than with just butter)

- In a small saucepan, fry off the fresh mushrooms until they release their juices. Drain your dried mushrooms (saving the water!) and add them to the fresh ones along with the diced chestnuts. Let the chestnuts toast a bit, until they're going golden.

- Dissolve your stock cubes in the mushroomy water you just saved. 

- Add your barley to the large saucepan, stir in. 

- Pour your stock into the barley, bring to a simmer.

- Now, you keep your barley simmering, adding a glug of beer whenever it starts to get too dry, until you have no beer left and your barley is tender. This'll depend on your barley, but with quick cook it might only be 10-20 minutes. If you run out of beer, you can use water. You want a consistency like risotto.

- Once your barley is tender, stir in the mushroom mix and the herbs/spices.

- Serve.

Variation: If you can only find boring white mushrooms, stir in a teaspoon of yeast extract for some not-actually-meaty goodness.

Other Variation: Use dried chanterelles, switch the herbs for French tarragon, add more butter and a whisper of cinnamon. Use white wine instead of beer. 

Do not: use cola instead of beer. It does not work, and I do not know why I thought it would.

[Sarah Barr]

Vegetable Curry:

(Mild, using warming spices rather than fiery ones)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 tsp olive oil

2 tsp butter

1 large white onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

A good handful of finely chopped red, green, yellow, and orange bell peppers (about two whole peppers' worth)

Eight fingers of okra, sliced into coins

One courgette, diced

One smallish aubergine, diced

A handful of frozen cauliflower florets

A handful of cashew nuts, roughly chopped

1/2 can of coconut milk, or a similarly-sized tub of natural yoghurt

200ml mango juice

A handful of frozen peas

The following spices and seasonings:

- 1 vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 400ml boiling water

- Turmeric (a rounded teaspoon)

- Cinnamon (a level teaspoon)

- Cardamom (about eight pods. Gently crack them a bit by pressing on them with a rolling pin.)

- Cloves (Go very easy on these. Maybe about five of them.)

- Ground coriander (about half a teaspoon)

 

1) Roast your peppers, okra, aubergine and courgettes on a lightly oiled baking tray for about half an hour at 180^oC. (I just buy frozen grilled vegetable mix and thaw it out in the microwave, because that is effort.)

2) Heat the oil and butter together in the bottom of a large saucepan. Fry onion, cashew nuts and garlic till translucent and golden.

3) Add the rest of your vegetables except for the peas; fry for another minute or so to give them some colour.

4) Pour in your stock, add the rest of the spices, mix in well. 

5) Add your coconut milk/yoghurt and mango juice, stir in well. Boil the kettle, and keep it on standby.

6) Bring it to a simmer, adding water as necessary when it starts to get dry, and continue to simmer for ten minutes.

7) Throw in your frozen peas, simmer for another five minutes. 

 

Serve with rice. The leftovers are good fillings for pasties. 

[Sarah Barr]

Planning recipes I can make using only things I have in my cupboard and vegetables with no packaging.

 

Curried Carrot Soup:

 

Ingredients:

 

- 2 white onions

- 750g carrots, washed, peeled, topped, tailed, finely diced.

- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced

- 1 tsp butter and 1 tsp olive oil, for frying

- Mild curry powder, to taste

- 2 vegetable stock cubes, dissolved in 500ml boiling water

- Optional: 1 tbsp cashew nut butter

 

Method:

- Fry off onions and garlic in butter and oil till translucent and golden, in the bottom of a large saucepan

- Toss in carrots, stir to coat

- Just cover carrots with stock and however much extra boiling water you need

- Cover with saucepan lid, let simmer till carrots are tender

- Add your nut butter and curry powder, plus however much salt and pepper you like; stir well to combine

- Blend (Optional. Sometimes I just take a potato masher to it. Carefully.)

- Serve, with a swirl of cream if you're feeling fancy. (Secret: to swirl cream onto soup, pour it into the cap of the bottle first, don't pour it straight from the bottle.)

[DrMobius]

Awesome! Thank you for posting these. I also like to post recipes as I've only recently discovered that I evidently really enjoy cooking. I have a few vegetarian friends that I was planning to have over for dinner at some point so I was in the market for vegetarian recipes. These look fantastic!

[Sarah Barr]

Thankyou! I like vegetarian cooking in particular because the main part of the dish can be quite varied, and if I mess up I'm less likely to get food poisoning I suppose.

 

Mushroom and Stilton Burgers:

 

Ingredients:

- 12 chestnut mushrooms, finely minced

- 1/2 a white onion, diced in a fairly chunky fashion

- A small quantity of diced shallot (I'm thinking about half a tablespoon)

- A couple of cloves of minced garlic
- Olive oil, for frying
- 1/2 a bramley apple, finely diced

- Maybe 200g stilton, crumbled finely

- 1 egg, beaten

- To taste: black pepper, thyme, rosemary
- Flour, for binding

Method:
- Fry off shallot, garlic in just a teaspoon of oil till tender and goldening. Not your onion yet, we want that to add some crunch.
- Now fry off your mushrooms and apple in the same pot, until they release all that water they're holding, and continue to fry until they're fairly dry. 

- Transfer your fried ingredients to a large bowl, let them cool enough for you to get your hands in them. Add your dry ingredients and cheese, mix well with a wooden spoon. 
- Now, tip in your egg, and mix it through with your hands, making sure all the dry parts are combined. Hopefully you'll be able to mould it into burgers. If they don't hold their shape, gradually add just a little flour, a dessertspoon at a time, until they do. Mould the lot into burgers in a size you want. 
- Shallow fry in pan until they're browning and the egg is cooked.

Variation: If they don't hold together and you don't want to add even more flour,  add five more beaten eggs, bake them in a greased cupcake tray for 20 minutes at 200C, call them egg muffins.

[Sarah Barr]

Not my own recipes, these lot, but from a stack of quietly biodegrading papers in my desk that I'm trying to get rid of. I had three carefully handwritten copies of the same recipe for hawthorn jelly. I don't even like hawthorn jelly. Decluttering feels good. 

 

Black - Eyed Bean Cakes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 110g dried black-eyed beans
• 110g dried green lentils
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 level tsp fresh thyme, plus two sprigs
• 5-6tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 1 small red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 level tbsp tomato paste
• 2 level tbsp wholewheat flour
• Salt and pepper

 

Method:

1. Soak pulses in 2x their volume of cold water and leave overnight.
2. Add beans and lentils to a medium - sized saucepan and 1 pint of water, with herbs, simmer and cook for 40 - 45 mins, by which time all the water should have been absorbed and the pulses soft. Drain any remaining liquid away. Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs. 
3. Mash to a pulp, season and cover to prevent drying.
4. In a really large skillet, fry onion, carrot, pepper, chilli and garlic in 1 tbsp oil. Saute fror 6 minutes. 
5. Mix veg into beans, add tomato paste, then mould into 12 cakes with damp hands. Refrigerate for at least one hour on an oiled tray. 
6. Coat lightly in flour. Heat 2 tbsp oil. When oil is really hot, reduce heat to medium and fry cakes in two batches; three minutes on each side till crisp and golden, adding more oil if needed.
7. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with onion marmalade and watercress. 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Pasties

Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

• 225g peeled pumpkin, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• 50g cheshire cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds
• 1 small can garden peas, drained
• 2 tsp chopped sage
• 1 1/2 tbsp creme fraiche
• 225g shortcrust pastry
• 1 large egg, beaten

 

Method:

1. Steam pumpkin over a pan of boiling water for 3 - 5 minutes until tender but not disintegrating. Set aside on a plate to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 180C, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. 
3. Mix onion, garlic, cheese, sage and creme fraiche, and season with salt and pepper, then add the pumpkin and peas. 
4. Roll out the pastry and cut into 4 x 20cm circles. 
5. Place a spoonful of filling in the centre of each circle. Brush the edges with beaten egg, fold the pastry over to make a semi-circle, seal the edges and crimp with a fork or your fingers. 
6. Brush the outsides with egg and decorate with seeds,
7. Place on the baking tray and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

[Sarah Barr]

Derp. Double post.

[Sarah Barr]

Triple post! Do I get a prize for that?

[kingw364]

Thank you for sharing, i should try one of those soon.

[Sarah Barr]

Behold, my infernal desiccated concoction! Lightweight backpacking shall be my oyster!

 

DRIED SOMETHING

(six weeny little portions that rehydrate to more food than you'd think)

 

Ingredients:

- 150g couscous

- 150g dried soya mince

- 1 sachet Coleman's spaghetti bolognese sauce powder

- 1 sachet Coleman's chilli con carne sauce powder

 

Method:

- Combine, divide into six boxes.

- When ready, rehydrate by adding 300ml boiling water per box, let sit for 5 minutes.

- Look over at the guys in the next tent eating barbecued sausages

- Weep softly. 

 

 

Edited to add: Nope. Nope. Nopenope. This was bad. Are you surprised?

[Sarah Barr]

Made this on Sunday, and oh look, it's another vegetable based stew. But wait! This one has wine in it! Yes!

It's good enough that I'm probably going to live off this for most of this coming challenge. 

 

 

Root Vegetable Stew:

 

Ingredients:

 

- A pint-glass full of assorted chopped root vegetables (carrot, swede, potato, turnip, parsnip. In my infinite laziness I just use prepared frozen root veg from the supermarket)

- Two large handfuls of frozen onion

- Two large handfuls of veggie mince

- 2 tsp olive oil

- 1 handful dried red lentils (the kind that take 20 mins to cook rather than the soak-overnight kind)

- 1/3 bottle white wine (I used pinot grigio but anything red or white will do, really)

- 2 tbsp vegetable gravy granules and 1 tsp vegetable bouillon, made up with 500ml boiling water

- 1 tbsp tomato puree

- 1 heaped tsp mixed herbs

- 1 tsp black pepper

- Spare kettle of boiling water, on standby

 

Method:

- In the bottom of a large non-stick saucepan (mine's about a gallon), fry off your onion and mince in the oil until the onion is golden brown. 

- Add your vegetables and lentils, stir to coat and fry until they get a little colour

- Add rest of ingredients except the wine, and add any extra boiling water so the vegetables are covered. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer on medium for 15 minutes. 

- Add the wine, simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the biggest chunks of vegetable are cooked through. Add water from kettle if it starts to get too dry (i.e. if it starts to hiss rather than bubble.)

 

Serving: Good enough on its own, doesn't really need a separate side, but a slice of decent bread and butter wouldn't go amiss if you're so inclined. 

 

Variations: Add in some peas five minutes before the end. Swap the potato for sweet potato. Add sausage slices or meatballs. Use it as a repository for any leftover bits of quick cook barley or split peas, to go along with the lentils (remember you'll need extra water, and maybe a little extra oil to stop it sticking). Use beer instead of wine. This, like almost all of my recipes, will happily absorb that can of weird miscellaneous beans you have in the back of the cupboard. Butter beans would go great with this. 

[Sarah Barr]

Attempted pumpkin cornbread the other day but it didn't work so well. Further experimentation needed on cooking times and consistency. The pumpkin guts turned out wonderfully, though:

 

 

Tabasco Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:

 

Ingredients:

- Seeds taken from one small carving pumpkin, with any stringy bits pulled off

- About eight good shakes of Tabasco sauce

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tsp smoked paprika

- 1 tsp garlic salt

 

 

Method:

- Preheat oven to 120^oC.

- Put your seeds in a bowl, tip in the rest of the ingredients. 

- Get your hands in and rub everything together, so the seeds are all well-coated. 

- Spread them in a single layer onto a baking tray

- Roast for around half an hour (until golden brown). 

[Sarah Barr]

TO TEST: Winter Fruit Crumble

 

Ingredients:

 

For the gooey bits:
- 2 apples, peeled and chopped (bramleys, braeburns, coxes or granny smiths would probably work best.)

- 2 conference pears, peeled and chopped (you'll be wanting apple and pear chunks about the same size as your fig quarters.)

- 4 figs, quartered (the jammy kind, if you can locate them)

- 8 medjool dates, de-stoned and halved (not dried ones, the big sticky fat fresh ones)

 

For the saucy bits:

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

- Pinch of ground cloves

- 8 lightly crushed cardamom pods

- Couple of cracks of fresh black pepper (trust me)

- 1 tbsp runny honey, or Rum Jam

- A small punnet of plump blackberries/brambles

- 100ml tawny port (failing that, a sweet red wine's probably fine)

- 50ml orange liqueur (cointreau, grand marnier, arancello. Alternatively, use 1 tsp orange essence)

- 50ml orange juice (squeezed from the orange you'll be zesting later)

 

For the crunchy bits:

- 1 tbsp de-shelled roasted pistachios or walnuts, chopped

- 1 tbsp de-shelled roasted chestnuts or hazelnuts, chopped

- 1 tbsp ground almonds

- 1 tbsp demerara sugar (or soft brown sugar, muscovado sugar, etc.)

- 1 tbsp butter or almond butter

 

For the garnish:

- A scattering of pretty sugared almonds, or jewel-coloured fresh redcurrants or passionfruit seeds

- Orange zest

- Gold edible glitter because that is a thing that exists. 
 

 

Probable Method:

 

- Preheat your oven to... hmm. I'd say about 180C. 

 

- Put all your saucy bits in a small non-stick pan, and stir continuously while simmering on low for five minutes, until the blackberries release their juices. Make sure your honey has dissolved. I'm hoping for a consistency like runny caramel, so if it's not like that it'll need to either reduce longer on low to thicken, or a little extra port should go in. Remove from the heat, pour into a mug, and set aside to infuse for 20 minutes while you prepare your fruit and drink the rest of the port. 

 

- Microwave your apple and pear chunks for one minute on high, to soften them a little. 

 

- Grease a casserole dish with butter.

 

- Dip each piece of fruit in the mug of sauce, coat well, place in dish. 

 

- Cover with a sheet of brown paper to stop it burning, and put into the oven for 10 minutes. 

 

- Meanwhile, gently rub your butter and almond flour together with your fingers. Hopefully this will result in fat breadcrumbs. Gently combine with the rest of your crunchy bits. 

 

- Remove fruit from oven, remove brown paper, and sprinkle the crunchy bits over the fruit which has hopefully started to become gooey bits. 

 

- Return to the oven for another 10 minutes, until the crumble starts to go golden brown. 

 

- Garnish with pretty things, and you can drizzle the rest of your saucy bits over the top through a small sieve to catch the cardamom pods. 

 

 

 

No promises until I give this one a go this weekend!

[EmiWantsToLiftThings]

@Sarah BarrI know you haven't posted in here in a while, but these look amazing, and fun!  I have a similar "put things in a pot and see what happens" cooking style, and you've given me some great ideas.  Thanks!

[Sarah Barr]

Posted this in my thread just now, then remembered I have a recipe book thread!

 

Chocolate Ginger Soya Protein Power-Ups

 

266kcal/21g protein per portion when split into 8 bars.

(or 107kcal/8g protein per portion when split into 20 of these hearts)
Lasts: one week in the fridge.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

125g chopped dates, pre-soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes.
120g mashed banana
60g finely chopped crystallised ginger
100g smooth peanut butter
170g plain soya protein powder
30g cocoa powder
Jug of cold water, for binding.
(Optional: red gel food colouring; gold edible glitter)

 

Method:

1.) Drain the dates, and mash them with a fork. Stir in the mashed banana, ginger, and peanut butter, then mix till smooth. Add a small amount of red gel food colouring (I mean small, we're talking a pea-sized amount)

2.) Sieve together the cocoa powder and protein powder in a separate bowl. 

3.) Mix wet and dry ingredients together. You'll need to add water at this point - add only a little at a time, and mix well each time by kneading. You want a consistency like cookie dough. 

4.) Knead a little longer until everything's the same colour and consistency. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for an hour. 

5.) Roll into a sausage, chop it into 8 portions. Shape each portion as desired (I used a heart-shaped boiled egg mould, which turned out to make 20 portions). You can dust them with edible glitter and cocoa powder if you like being unnecessarily fancy. I also glued some pecans to mine with a little extra peanut butter.

6.) Put them in cake cases to stop them sticking together. I eat one after each workout, so I've put four in the fridge and four in the freezer for the week after. Can't guarantee what they'll be like when they're defrosted, but they will NOT be blue and furry, which is nice.

[Sarah Barr]

Today's ad-libbed recipe was created because I really wanted pasta bake but didn't have the calories left in my allowance. It is a proper rib-sticker. I used pre-prepped veg from Tesco because it was 3 for 2, but the gram guides are there if you use whole veg. 

 

You cannot taste the cauliflower. In my book, for this recipe, this is a good thing. This came out to about 565 calories for me, and makes two portions for greedy people or four for people who would maybe prefer not to explode. 

 

 

Cheese and Bean Cauliflower Couscous

 

Ingredients:

 

- 1 x 330g pack cauliflower couscous (or cauliflower put through a potato ricer or a cheese grater)

- 1/2 x 330g pack sliced onions

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 80g dry couscous, rehydrated to pack instructions

- 60g half-fat creme fraiche

- 1 can baked beans

- 90g extra mature cheddar cheese, grated

- 1 tsp garlic powder (as opposed to garlic salt! Learn from my mistakes! Do not add garlic salt thinking it's garlic powder and then add salt!)

- 1 tsp nutmeg

- Salt and pepper, to taste

 

 

Method:

 

1.) Gently fry the onions and cauliflower until they become soft and golden. 

 

2.) Tip in the beans and couscous, mix well to combine. Heat on low until bubbling gently. 

 

3.) Add the rest, stir on a low heat until cheese is melted. 

 

 

Variations:
- Remove the real couscous altogether for a lower calorie option. You could just leave it at that, or you could swap it for some other minced vegetable. 

- For an even lower calorie version, leave out the cheese, but why would you do that? If you do, I do not trust you, but I'd then also leave out the creme fraiche and add a bit of brown sauce or barbecue sauce.

- Some nice crispy bacon would make this. You could also use one of those cans of baked beans that have tiny sausages in them. 

- Swap the nutmeg for 1 tsp cayenne pepper/chilli powder and 1/2 tsp cumin, sling a couple of diced tomatoes in during step 2, and serve with a bit of avocado. 

 

[Sarah Barr]

Vegan Eve's Pudding recipe:

(Be under no illusions that this is cake, but it does have a lot of fruit, so is a marginally healthier option than a plain victoria sponge.)

Ingredients:
300g Pure spread or other vegan pretend butter
300g caster sugar
300g self raising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 270g jar bramley apple sauce

3 bramley apples, peeled, cored and diced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp water
Brown sugar, to taste (for apple mix)

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C, and grease and line a couple of standard round cake tins. If you want to be fancy, use a clear pyrex dish.

Stick your diced apples, lemon juice, cinnamon and water in a small saucepan and stew on a medium-low heat until they're softening (about 10-15 minutes). Taste it, and stir in brown sugar until it's an acceptable level of sweet/tart for you.

Meanwhile, cream together your pretend butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract, mix well.

Add the jar of apple sauce, beat well to combine. It'll threaten to curdle, so add about 50g of your flour along with the sauce.

Then beat in the rest of your flour. Beat for about 3 minutes by hand or 1 minute by machine, to get plenty of air in your mixture.

Pour an even layer of your apple mix into the bottoms of your cake tins.

Pour your cake mix in an even layer over the top of that.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a knife/skewer can be stabbed in the middle and pulled out clean, and the top is golden and springy. Because there are no eggs, it will probably sink, so "springy" might be a relative term.

 

Variations:
- If you're not vegan, you can swap the jar of apple sauce for three beaten eggs.
- Raspberries or blackberries are pretty good tossed over the apple mix just before you pour over the cake batter
- You could swap about 50g of the flour for ground almonds, and add a bit of almond essence, for a different flavour. 
- You could swap the apple for peach or nectarine
- You could really go to town and swap the apple for black forest fruits, swap the 1tbsp water for kirsch/brandy, and add about 50g of cocoa to the cake mix.