Tag Archives: vegetarian

Nigella’s cilantro & jalapeño salsa

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The other day I was excited to see Nigella was back on Blue Sky, giving it another go. And then I saw this recipe! A simple salsa but omg it’s good. And once I saw “roughly chop the cilantro stalks and all” I was in (for me picking cilatro leaves is right up there with peeling garlic). Anyhow, the amount of fresh cilantro in the original recipe (100 grams) was more than I had and so, as usual, I improvised a bit. I also didn’t have any fresh jalapeños so used a few slices of pickled ones. Trust me, once you try this you’re always going to want some on hand. Check out the link here for the original recipe and also for tips on storage, usage, etc…

Nigella’s Cilantro & Jalapeño Salsa

Ingredients and instructions below…

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pico de gallo

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Once again while scrolling through Instagram recipe reels – it’s becoming a thing! – I came across one for pan-grilled calamari topped with pico de gallo and I realised that I had never made pico de gallo before. Mostly because dicing veg is not a favourite pastime. Then I remembered how YEARS ago back in Toronto I had this a handy manual veg chopper (I think it was Braun) where you put an onion or pepper on a cutting board, placed the chopper over the veg and went BAM BAM BAM until everything was finely chopped. So I wondered if such a thing still existed and that very day found one (on sale!) at El Corte Inglés. Different brand, same simple mechanism. So I bought it!

For any of you wondering what pico de gallo is, it’s a type of fresh salsa typically used in Mexican cuisine. Main ingredients include tomato, peppers and onion, with many variations on that theme. For this one I used tomato, two types of peppers (red bell and italian green), sweet onion and a few jalepeños. For herbs I went with a mix of fresh parsley and cilantro, and dressed it with lime juice and olive oil (salt and pepper to taste). Some recipes I saw don’t use olive oil, others add this and that, or only use green peppers… but really it’s up to you! So this is kind of a non-recipe in the sense that it is up to you to choose which ingredients sound good to you. This version was fabulous and I will make it again very soon, and probably quite often. It’s an easy and simple way of adding freshness and a bit of zing to pretty much anything. And now that I have my new chopper it’s also extra easy to make.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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quick pickled red onions

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I’ve made these a few times and each time have to look up a recipe or ask a friend to remind me of their method so it’s probably time I wrote it down myself. Out of the different versions I’ve tried this one is the simplest. One required boiling the water and vinegar and pouring the hot liquid over the onions, others called for more sugar (or no sugar). And this time my friend Paul suggested using lime instead of vinegar (!!). In the end I used a 50/50 mix of vinegar and lime juice and WOW. Really fresh and zingy. Anyhow, you can obviously play around with the ingredients a bit. Have fun!

Ingredients and instructions below…
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roasted garlic & amontillado praline

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So a while back my Twitter pal Pablo posted his version of the sublime roasted garlic praline from Michelin star Restaurante Bagá in Jaén (which has been on my wish list for years) from a recipe on their Instagram and I’ve been wanting to make it ever since. As last weekend was cloudy and cool(ish) I thought I’d better do it now or else have to wait until October. The recipe calls for slow roasting for four hours and I don’t like to run the oven/air fryer and AC at the same time (it doesn’t make sense when it’s HOT outside). And so I went to work.

The recipe is quite simple, it just takes a long time due to the low & slow cooking. I have to admit that what sold me on trying this was the addition of amontillado… I mean, butter, garlic and amontillado is a hard to beat combination. I took chef Pedro Sanchez’s “chupito” measurement for the amontillado and soy sauce to literally mean a shot glass full (it worked though I used a bit less soy sauce). BUT it looked like a lot of butter to me. I started off with 100 grams and was a bit alarmed that I was supposed to add another 100 grams… so I asked Pablo as he had also made this recipe. He thought if I roasted everything with 100 grams and then added more butter later if needed that would work. But I was thinking the butter should be cooking with all the other ingredients the whole time, not just added later, and so I decided to ask chef Pedro (aka Pedrito). Whom I have never met, and who doesn’t even know who I am. BUT he is somehow following me on Twitter so I sent him a cheek DM asking for advice.

Can I tell you? Pedrito was not only helpful, but also very sweet and charming, and he really seemed to care that I get this right. We’re talking a busy Michelin starred chef who was being pestered on Twitter on a Saturday afternoon by a total stranger… and he couldn’t have been more gracious. In the end (after me shamelessly sending him various photos) he agreed that 150 grams of butter was enough and… he was right. OMG was he ever right. This stuff is potent and at the same time super smooth… it’s not an exaggeration to say that a little goes a long way. So what to do with all of this deliciousness when there are just two of us at home? Have a look below to find out.

Ingredients and instructions below…

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leek, onion & potato soup

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When I was at the market the other day I saw some nice looking leeks and suddenly thought I’d like to try making potato and leek soup. To be honest, I don’t even know if I’d ever had potato and leek soup before, but on a wintry weekend it sounded like just the thing. So after going through a few online recipes I did my usual mashup and it turned out great, with a lovely smooth texture, total comfort food (and even better the next day). Some of the recipes I saw added cream after blending but I wanted to keep it “lighter” and it was quite filling as it was.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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mushroom stroganoff

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Way back in July 2021 while scrolling through Instagram I came across this video by Hotel Los Castaños in Ronda, showing them making a mushroom stroganoff. I immediately thought about my portobellos in the fridge that were probably close to the “use it or lose it” stage, so I decided that I was going to make mushroom stroganoff too. Then I also checked out a few recipes online as I never have cream (used in the video) and saw that sour cream is more usual in a stroganoff. I never have that either, but I have found that straining greek yoghurt for an hour or so using a melitta coffee filter makes a more than acceptable substitute. Los Castaños added chopped spinach to theirs at the end of the vid, which I thought was an excellent idea, though I found out later that fresh parsley is the usual addition. Having neither of those at the time, I tossed in a handful of arugula and it turned out great.

Since then I have made roughly a gazillion different versions of this but somehow have never got round to publishing any of them here (though many have ended up on my azahar Instagram hashtag #thestroganoffvariations. I’ve made it with different meat options (chicken, meatballs, sausage, bacon, beef) and vegetable combos (spinach, arugula, courgette, parsley, cilantro) with portobellos being the one constant ingredient, along with the onions and garlic.

I’ve also served it in various ways, on fat egg noodles, spaghetti, penne or fideos, with roasted or mashed potatoes, and even on crusty toasted bread. As you can tell, it’s quite a versatile dish if you’re not too concerned about making AN ACTUAL STROGANOFF 😉 (in which case it’s probably best to google “authentic beef stroganoff recipe”).

I think what’s happened is that MY stroganoff has turned out to be a bit like a risotto bianco, which you can use as a base and just add whatever the heck you want. Which, as is often my case, whatever happens to be hanging around in the fridge. So yeah, it’s not a classic or even remotely authentic, stroganoff recipe. But damn it’s always good. And so here is the basic mushroom version and hey, just have some tasty fun with it.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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pistachio pesto

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I don’t know how these things happen but I can start off a day feeling fairly normal and with a “to do” list of things of thing I want to take care of, and then remember that a few weeks ago someone mentioned pistachio pesto on Twitter and then I’m suddenly lost down a google pesto rabbit-hole. This is followed by an immediate desire – nay, OBSESSION – to make this dish NOW (last time this happened I think it was lamb faggots). Anyhow, after a quick trip to the supermarket to get some pistachios and basil I was in business.

It was also a chance to use my lovely marble mortar and get a bit of a work out at the same time. Previous times making normal pine nut pesto I’ve used a small blender and the result was fine, but I wanted to see if using this traditional method made a difference. And you know what? I think it’s a close call but in future I am going to use the mortar & pestle because the individual flavours were more apparent. I used my friend Anna’s pesto recipe as a base, and looked at a few other recipes online that used pistachios instead of pine nuts, and the result was pretty damn tasty.

Update! Was out of pistachios today and fancied some pesto, used toasted almonds instead and the result was fabulous. Toasted cashews also work! FYI.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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spinach hummus

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I was at a friend’s restaurant the other day and saw that they had spinach hummus on the menu and, although we didn’t try it that day, I decided to try it at home as soon as possible. So here it is. It’s actually just a riff on my basic hummus recipe with a bit more garlic and, of course, spinach. Also, after linking to that original recipe (posted in 2009), I am reminded that I really need to update those photos!

Ingredients and instructions below…

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manchego cheese croquetas

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It seemed like a good idea to make croquetas on a rainy afternoon, as they are a bit labour intensive and I wasn’t going anywhere. Plus, it had been a long while since I’ve made croquetas, so wanted to be sure I still knew how. I should say that I have a different idea of croquetas than the average Sevillano (and many Spaniards in general) in that I like mine to taste of something other than bechamel. There are many points of view about what constitutes the “perfect croqueta” and I actually don’t care that much. The ones I like best are full of flavour, soft and creamy on the inside and with a good solid crunchy outside. Anyhow, today I opted for cheese croquetas, which in the end is like making a thick cheese sauce, breading and frying it. Which is amazing! My recipe has maybe three times the cheese as I’ve seen elsewhere – you can decide how cheesy you want them.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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espinacas con garbanzos 2

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I’ve already posted a nice recipe for espinacas con garbanzos here, a very traditional version, and it’s delicious. But it turns out that I almost never make this dish the same way twice and the other day I looked up a few more recipes, got confounded by some that add tomato (wut) and then made this version, which is kind of what I’ve been doing for a while, except this time with added ground almonds (game changer!). So here it is. Oh, and as I didn’t have any bread in the house I used some olive oil regañas (kind of a cracker, and as they were already baked with olive oil I didn’t have to fry them). I like using the baby spinach because then you don’t have to boil anything and the spinach comes out much brighter and tender, and (I think) has more flavour.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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