Category: lentils

Categories
lentils mushroom pastry

vegetarian wellington

I’ve been trying to have less meat this year. Less meat of better quality, and generally two or three meatless dinners a week. I’ve discovered some great recipes that have been really enjoyable and helped me expand my vegetarian repertoire.

One thing I’d certainly never tried is a vegetarian wellington. Making a fillet steak version I would usually make a duxelle of mushroom and onion, deglaze with red wine and coat with Dijon mustard, so why not keep all those elements? I packed it with mushrooms, onion, lentils and spinach so it had a big, bold flavour. I was really happy with how it turned out.

The key to Wellingtons is to ensure ingredients are not too moist, not too hot when assembled to ensure the pastry gets a chance to crisp up and not get sodden with liquid.

And it’s timed perfectly. Cauldron Foods have polled for the festive vegetarian favourites. And vegetarian wellington came up on top!

Cauldron Foods have been championing vegetarian and vegan foods for years. I’ve been a fan of their falafel for years! To celebrate Christmas they’ve polled people to find out what alternatives are preferred at festive celebrations.

Read more about Cauldron’s poll here. The link also has recipe inspiration, ways to make your Christmas party go with a bang, plus a great competition. You could be in with a chance of winning £500 gift voucher or a Belazu hamper so go to the link to find out more!

If you want to ring the changes this Christmas, why not try my vegetarian wellington recipe. You could make it vegan if you use a suitable puff pastry, and glaze with a little oil instead.

This post was sponsored by Cauldron Foods.

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vegetarian wellington

Course Main Dish
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 6 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 1 roll puff pastry (320g) or make your own
  • 200 g red lentils
  • 250 g chestnut mushrooms
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 red onion
  • 100 ml red wine
  • 40 g dried mushrooms
  • 125 g spinach
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 egg beaten

Instructions

  • Put your oven on 220C to heat up, and get a kettle full of water on to boil. Get your pastry out of the fridge. Put a frying pan over a medium heat.
  • Put the dried mushrooms in a mug or bowl and cover with boiling water. leave to steep while you do everything else. Finely chop the chestnut mushrooms, and peel and finely chop the red onion (or use a food processor).
  • Put the lentils in a pan of boiling water and simmer for fifteen minutes or until tender. Drain really well in a sieve, rinsing with cold water to get the temperature right down. Once cool, squish with your hands to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
  • Add a little olive oil to the frying pan and add the mushrooms and onions. Pick the leaves off the thyme and add to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Fry gently for four to five minutes until softened, then turn up the heat and add the wine to deglaze the pan. Fry off until all the moisture has gone, then tip on to a cold plate to cool as quickly as possible.
  • Wipe out the pan and add the spinach leaves. In a minute or two they will have wilted down. Transfer to a chopping board, roughly chop and mix the spinach through the lentils.
  • Roll out your pastry sheet on baking paper on a metal baking sheet. You should have it portrait style in front of you. You will only need to work with the top half, as the bottom half will roll over the filling to make the complete sausage shape. As you add filling in the next step, leave a 1cm gap above the mixture to seal.
  • Brush the top half with Dijon mustard. Spoon over your mushroom and onion duxelle and flatten with the back of a spoon. Drain your dried mushrooms and scatter over the duxelle. Now add your lentil mix, making a rough sausage shape.
  • Brush the spare 1cm you left with a little water to provide a seal. Gently pull the pastry over the filling and press together to seal. Using a sharp knife make several slits over the top, just piercing the pastry to allow steam to escape. Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle with sea salt and bake. Cook for 25 minutes or until the pastry is completely risen and golden brown. Cut in thick slices and serve with mashed potatoes and gravy (a gravy sweetened with redcurrant jelly works really well with this).
Categories
fish lentils

pan-roasted Fjord Trout with lentils, crispy bacon and chervil

Something a little different here today: I’m lucky enough to get invites to all sorts of great events. But now, stuff is getting passed down the family. Spud Jr. is now a catering student in London and in some respects, can value these experiences more than me. Young Essex boy Danny asked if I was free for a Fjord Trout masterclass from Michelin-starred chef Daniel Galmiche. As Jr. had been working with fish in his classes all that week, it seemed like a no-brainer to get him in there. I packed him off to this event hosted by Great British Chefs in partnership with the Norwegian Seafood Council. So over to him:

“Earlier in the week I’d tried trout for the first time in my life. And now I was going to taste Norwegian Fjord Trout prepared by a Michelin-starred chef!

The event was hosted at Bourne & Hollingsworth, Adam Gray’s new venue. The kitchens were gorgeous! Everything you could want in a kitchen. Absolutely top notch, although the modern induction hobs took a little getting used to.

Adam Gray started with his dish of poached trout. He poached a trout in rapeseed oil, and made pommes purees with horseradish cream running through it, served with spinach. The dish was there to show off the confident flavour of the trout. His thoughts were not that everyone should make every step themselves, but take the ideas and add shortcuts from good shop-bought ingredients.

Next Daniel showed us his dish of trout with lentils. He started by describing what makes Norwegian trout so delicious. Regular English trout isn’t very fatty because they have to swim so far. By comparison Norwegian trout is lazy and hence carries a lot of extra fat! This gives it lots of flavour, and especially good for sashimi. When you see Norwegian trout it’s quickly obvious as it is so vibrant and colourful.

Then in pairs we had a go at cooking the trout and lentils dish ourselves. It was simple to prepare and very satisfying.

When it came to the lentils Daniel stressed that the other ingredients like the carrot and onion are vital because they add to the flavour and texture to the dish. Puy lentils should be just al dente and offer bite. No mush – this isn’t daal! – but the end result should be quite firm, with each bite giving a pop of flavour. We were also told when frying trout how little cooking it needs. It should be cooked until it has only just changed in colour. It made a brilliant plate of food.

It was a really fun night and an interesting experience.”

There you have it, a fabulous ingredient prepared simply and beautifully. Give it a try yourself.

You can also check out write-ups from Eat Cook Explore:

Pan Roasted Norwegian Fjord Trout with lentils, crispy bacon and chervil

And Food Urchin.

With thanks to Great British Chefs and the Norwegian Seafood Council for hosting. Thanks to Danny for inviting Spud Jr.

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pan-roasted Fjord Trout with lentils, crispy bacon and chervil

This is a recipe by Daniel Galmiche, reproduced by permission of Great British Chefs
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Norwegian
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

Fjord Trout

  • 4 trout fillets each weighing 150g
  • Vegetable oil
  • 1 Knob of butter
  • sea salt

Lentils

  • 200 g of puy lentils picked over and rinsed
  • 1 shallot peeled
  • 1 carrot small, peeled
  • 1 bouquet garni made with 1 thyme sprig, 1 parsley sprig
  • 1 garlic clove unpeeled
  • 1 leaves handful of chervil only, chopped
  • 75 g smoked bacon

French vinaigrette for the lentils

  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar white wine vinegar or balsamic
  • 125 ml of olive oil or rapeseed oil
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

To serve

  • micro cress chervil
  • rocket

Instructions

  • To begin, place the lentils in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and skim away any foam that rises to the surface
  • Add the shallot, carrot, bouquet garni and garlic, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, or until al dente
  • Strain, reserving 2 tbsp of the cooking liquid and remove and reserve the shallot and carrot. Discard the garlic and bouquet garni
  • To make the vinaigrette, whisk together mustard, a dash of the lentil cooking liquid and the vinegar until combined. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking continuously until emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper – this will need to be mixed again before use
  • While the lentils are cooking, cut the bacon into lardons or small pieces and place in a pan over a medium heat
  • Cook the bacon, stirring frequently until the fat renders down and the bacon starts to brown and crisp up. When ready, remove from the pan and onto absorbent paper towel. Leave in a warm place until required
  • To cook the trout, heat a large non-stick pan over a medium-high heat with a small dash of vegetable oil
  • Season the skin lightly and place skin-side down in the pan, cooking for 3–4 minutes. Turn each fillet carefully, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and add a knob of butter
  • Once the butter is melted and foaming, remove the pan from the stove and allow the residual heat to cook the fish for 1 additional minute. It should still be pink in the middle and feel very tender to the touch
  • During the last few minutes of cooking the trout, return the lentils to the heat, cut the shallot into long rustic strips and the carrot into a combination of fine dice and julienne. Add a dash more of the reserved lentil cooking liquid. Once hot, remove from the heat and finish with the vinaigrette and chopped chervil
  • To plate, add the hot lentils to each bowl, followed by the seared trout. Finish with the shallot, carrot, crispy bacon, rocket and cress
Categories
cauliflower curry lentils

quick cauliflower dhal

This dinner was made super-fast by the addition of two dead handy ingredients: Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients Onion Curry Base and Patak’s Balti paste. This wiped so much time off the cooking, all I was waiting for was the cauliflower to get tender. The Waitrose onion curry base is particularly great; sweet, spicy and tender onions, garlic, ginger and chilli in a jar sweated down. Look out for them.

Quick cauliflower dhal:

Half a jar of Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients Onion Curry Base

Half a jar of Patak’s Balti paste

1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets

1 litre vegetable stock

1 tin green lentils, drained

1 tablespoon double cream

  1. Heat a little oil in a deep pan and add the onions. Cook for a minute and stir in the curry paste. Add the cauliflower and cook for another minute stirring to coat the cauli in the pastes.
  2. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. After five minutes add the lentils and continue cooking until tender. Just before serving stir through some cream.
Categories
cauliflower curry curry powder lentils turmeric yoghurt

gobi tarka dall

I can’t get enough cauliflower, and am always quick to toss out a few recipes for those that think it dull and dreary. I was dead pleased to see an article in the latest Delicious magazine devoted to the joys of the cauli. It’s not just for cauliflower cheese, y’know.

Gobi tarka dall (based on a recipe by Debbie Major):

150g puy lentils

300ml vegetable stock

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 large cauliflower, broken into florets

1 medium onion, chopped

6 garlic cloves, grated

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon Madras curry powder

200ml coconut milk

1 tin of tomatoes

1 tablespoon Greek yoghurt

Bunch of fresh coriander leaves

For the tarka:

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

3 cloves

  1. Rinse the lentils thoroughly then simmer them in the stock for 20 minutes until tender. Set aside.
  2. Heat a little oil in a pan, and drop in the cumin seeds. After 30 seconds or so they will spit and jump about so throw in the cauliflower and get some dark brown scorches on them. Remove to one side.
  3. In the same pan fry the onion until soft (about 10 minutes), then add the garlic. After a couple of minutes stirring add the cumin, turmeric and curry powder. Cook for a further minute, then add the coconut milk, tomatoes and cauliflower. Simmer for fifteen minutes, until the cauliflower is tender.
  4. Stir the lentils into the curry and season well with salt. Leave to simmer so everything is piping hot, then turn off the heat stirring in the yoghurt with some vigour (this will avoid separation). Throw some coriander over the top.
  5. For the tarka, get the oil sizzly hot and add the spices. After a minute’s crackling turn the heat off and toss the lot over the curry. Serve with soft and puffy naan bread.
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