Vegetarian dinner

The My friend Giles is a veggie and he came for dinner yesterday evening. There is so much gorgeous veggie food out there there's no need to cook the usual "veggie pasta" when your friends come for dinner. Mix it up a bit and make it interesting! 

For starter I served wholemeal pita breads with houmous, olives, smoky roasted red peppers and sundried tomatoes. A delicious and simple meze that guests can nibble on whilst the main in cooking. 

For the main I cooked delicious puff pastry parcels filled with butternut squash  flavoured with autumnal spices. This was served with a kale and feta gratin and a bright fresh green salad with lemon and a sprinkling of mixed seeds to freshen it all up. 

Ingredients (3 pastries)

1 sheet shop bought butter puff pastry, 1 egg, 1 small butternut squash, 1 tbsp butter, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp garam Marsala, salt and pepper to taste, grated rind of 1 lemon, 1 spring onion. 

Preheat the oven to 180 celcius. Peel the squash using a potato peeler, cut in half and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. Dice, then boil in a large pan of salted water until very soft and tender. Drain the squash and mash with the butter, spices, lemon rind and seasoning. Finely slice the spring onion and stir in to the squash, set aside to cool. 

Once cool take the puff pastry sheet and using a rolling pin roll out slightly so it's around 3mm thick. Cut in to 6 square pieces, they don't have to be perfect squares so no need to use a ruler as you gather the edges up anyway! Divide the butternut squash mash between 3 of the pieces, use a little water to dampen the edges and then cover with another piece of pastry and press around the edges to seal. I like to scrunch the edges up a little to make them look rustic. Brush with a little beaten egg, place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and puffed. 

I served the pasties with a kale gratin, to be honest I prefer this made with spinach as its softer and silky, however kale was a nice change. If you use spinach just sub the kale for the same volume of defrosted frozen spinach squeezed of any liquid. 

Ingredients

200g kale, 200g crumbled feta cheese, 1 pot creme fraiche, salt and pepper, 1/2 grated nutmeg, 50g cheddar cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 celcius. Blanch the kale in plenty of boiling salted water until just cooked. Drain very well. Mix the kale with the rest of the ingredients (excluding the cheddar), tip in to an ovenproof dish, scatter with the grated cheddar cheese and bake for 30 minutes until bubbling and golden. 

Don't forget a large mixed green salad, I used watercress, spinach and rocket dressed very simply with lemon juice, olive oil, seasoning and a sprinkling of mixed seeds. 

Buttered cannellini beans and lamb stew

In France and Italy they often use beans as a side dish instead of potatoes or rice. Inspired by the backstreet bistros in Paris this dish is rich, warming and delicious, great with fish and meat alike. I use a small amount of butter to emulsify the bean juices in to a rich sauce and add kale to balance the richness because of its dark mineral flavour. I cooked it last night to accompany a rich lamb stew and it was delicious! 

Ingredients

3 cans white cannellili beans, 1chicken bouillon cube,3 handfuls of chopped green kale, 50g butter, salt and pepper, 2 sprigs fresh rosemary finely chopped.

Drain 2 of the cans of beans and add to a large pan along with the remaining can of beans and it's juice. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Add the bullion, rosemary, seasoning and butter and stir until well combined and creamy. 

Add the kale, mix in to the beans, cover and simmer gently for 5 minutes until the kale is cooked through. You may need to add a drop of water to loosen the sauce. 

I cooked the lamb stew in my slow cooker, simply add 1 pack smoked pork lardons, 1kg diced lamb, 2 roughly chopped red onions, a handful of quartered button mushrooms, 2 whole springs Rosemary and 2 tins of chopped tomatoes to a slow cooker. Add enough water to just cover and slow cook for 8 hours. 

Once cooked transfer to a large pan and on a medium heat gently reduce the stew until the sauce thickens. Remove the Rosemary stems, add salt, ground black pepper, some smoked paprika, and chopped tarragon to taste. 

This stew is super rich and smoky and went beautifully with the cannellini beans and kale.