The great thing about using the spices, there is no need to use tomatoes or much of any spice. The flavour is amazing without much more. Although, who can resist adding a little garlic in?

The tagine works magic into the vegetables infusing the spice into everything and it’s just melt in your mouth delicious. If you don’t have a tagine, I recommend heading out and purchasing one!

This recipe is vegan, so can be made by all.  If you can’t find the beef chunks or not particularly keen on meat alternatives, use the tempeh!  It would work a treat here and is definitely going to be in my next tagine!

Makes:

• 6 people (at least)

Ingredients:

• 4 mushrooms sliced thickly
• 1 carrot chopped in chunks
• 1 onion chopped into rings
• 2 potatoes sliced thickly also
• 2 tbs garlic mince
• 50 grams vegetarian beef chunks or tempeh
• 1 can chickpeas
• 4 fresh chillis or peppers, sliced
• 1 tbs Ras El Hanout spice (found at your local European/African store)
• pinch salt
• 1 tab of vegetable beef style stock
• 1 litre of water
• 1 tsp olive oil

Instructions:

1. Layer your potatoes and onions down with a drizzle of the olive oil.
2. Add your vegetables and mix in the spice.
3. Mix in the stock, salt, water and garlic.
4. Place the lid on and put on a low heat for an hour and a half.  Check as little as possible but stir when you do – the aim is to leave the heat in!
5. Serve with plain cous cous! It really is enough!

It was my grandmother’s birthday last month and it has been a few years since she passed away, but I still miss her everyday. She was an absolutely great person, great grandmother and an absolutely wonderful cook! She was born in Sri Lanka and made the absolute best chicken curry anyone had tasted! Not only that but her curry puffs were to die for and her crumpets – well I really miss her cooking!

Why bring it up? The unfortunate thing about it is, she got dementia before being able to write down her treasured recipes and since she lost her memory, I have been trying to remember just how to make her curries!

Each time, I do get a step closer, but it’s never the same. Whilst this one, uses some of her flavours (it’s not hers), but it is dedicated to her! It’s a fine take and I do hope you enjoy my tribute to her life!

Oh, and one recipe did remain with us – her curry puffs! She promised my mum not to pass it on – well, apart from me. So if you ever are in Melbourne and want some famous curry puffs, give me a holler! The recipe, will remain with me though!

Vegetarians / vegans: I’ve not turned a meat eater!  This is vegan!  It just looks meaty!

Makes:

• 3-4

Ingredients:

• pinch salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2 tbs tomato ketchup
• 1 tbs sri-lankan curry powder (I use Larich’s)
• 1 tbs vinegar
• 1/4 tbs tamarind
• minced chilli to taste
• 250 grams vegetarian beef chunks (or your meat alternative)
• 1/2 onion diced
• 2 tsp garlic mince
• 50 grams pure solid creamed coconut (from Asian supermarkets in the refigerated area – from Sri Lanka) or use coconut cream if you can’t find it.  The solid coconut will dissolve into your dish.
• olive oil
• 1.5 cups flour
• 1/2 can coconut cream (or enough to make a thick paste)
• oil to cook with
• 1 cup water to allow the sauce to thicken

Instructions:

1. With a little olive oil saute the onions until soft.
2. Add the curry powder, chilli, garlic and seasoning.  Stir well.
3. Mix in the tomato sauce, tamarind and vinegar.
4. Add the faux meat in and water.  Allow to boil before simmering.
5. Mix in the coconut cream and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Serve with rice of your choice.

Combining two of my favourite dishes (Gnocchi and Bean n’ Dumplin Casserole’s sauce) I came up with this wonderful combination!

Whilst eating this dish, my only thought was why wouldn’t you become a vegetarian?  No one misses out with this wonderful comforting dish of gnocchi and the heavy-on-wine faux bolognese sauce.

This really must be tried, there’s almost no words to explain just how good it is!  I’m awaiting your feedback!

Other pasta recipes you may be interested in:

• Chickpea Pasta with Leek and Mushrooms
• Lemon Mustard Chickpea Pasta
• Bready Tomato Pasta
• Sweet Potato Gnocchi
• Greek-style Lentil & Vegetarian Mince Penne
• Salsa Pasta with Guacamole & Nacho Cheese
• Mushroom & Chives Cream Cheese Pasta

Serves:

• 3 -4 serves easily with leftovers if you’d like!

Leftovers:

• Bolognese mixture to freeze for two serves.
• Gnocchi for three serves – freeze after rolling.

Ingredients:

Gnocchi

• 5 medium potatoes, skinned, diced and boiled
• 1 cup egg, lightly beaten
• 2.5 cup SR flour
• pinch salt
• pinch white pepper

Bolognese

• 500 grams vegi-deli mince (or your mince alternative)
• drizzle olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tab vegetable “beef style” stock
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 tsp garlic mince
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 2 tbs tomato ketchup
• 3 tbs tomato paste
• 1.5 – 2 cups of a deep red wine (I used a Chianti)
• Optional –  parmesan cheese for top!

Instructions:

1. Boil the spotato (skin removed and diced) in salted water, until soft.
2. Mash the potato.
3. Cool the potato and season it.
4. Combine the flour and egg. Do not play with the dough for too long.
5. Roll into a sausage and cut into small pieces.
6. Boil some water and set it aside.
7. In a seperate pot, place your onions and garlic in some olive oil.  Allow to soften.
8. Place in the spices and seasoning with the stock, adding in the red wine, tomato ketchup and paste.  Mix well.
9. Mix in the mince and simmer until the sauce thickens.
10. Add your gnocchi in the boiling pan and when it floats to the top, drain it and put some in a bowl for yourself.
11. Mix the bolognese in and serve with that optional parmesan cheese!

^{Served with Tomato Ketchup – apologies for the small photo, it was taken with my iphone and isn’t good quality larger!}

I got the idea for this after looking at the Good Food UK site, where they made some out of using a pancake mixture.  This made me think about using my grandmother’s crumpet mixture to come up with a savoury version for tea?

This meal is almost like a bread and could be served as a side or as a main.  If you are looking for something to go with it, I’d suggest a nice bowl of salad!

The savoury ingredients can be played around with, I just chose what I felt like that night – a mixture of mushrooms, paprika, mustard and parmesan.  I have to admit, it was delicious! I’ll be definitely making this one again and possibly trying to make it a little more eggy next time to upgrade it to more of a quiche-type texture.

Play around with it and post your versions here – I’m quite keen to see what everyone else comes up with!

Serves:

• 1 medium sized baking dish squared (around 6 large pieces for dinner)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups SR flour
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 6 mushrooms chopped small
• 3 tbs grated parmesan
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp garlic mince
• pinch mustard powder
• 1 cup milk minimum – add more to make this into more liquid crumpet mixture
• butter or oil for greasing the pan

Instructions:

1. Preheat the fan-forced oven to 180 degrees C or 360 F.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a jug first.
3. Mix in the egg and milk.
4. Add your mushrooms and stir through thoroughly.
5. Grease your baking tray (I used a Corningware dish as it needs to be a high pan).
6. Pour your mixture in.
7. Cook for 35-45 minutes – until golden brown on top!
8. Allow to cool a little before slicing and serving.

The following recipe is a heart warming, comforting meal ideal for those cold, cold winter days like we are currently experiencing in Australia.   It’s packed full of protein with lentils, cannelini and chickpea / garbanzo beans and is rounded off with a good chug full of a nice Italian Chianti just for some oomph!

The only problem with this dinner is being able to stop eating it!  The deepness and sweetness from the tomatoes makes you want to have another bite just to saviour the taste in your mouth.

It’s not your typical casserole with chunks of vegetables – I’ve only added mushrooms, one of my favourite vegetables – but you can certainly add your own favourites in.

I challenge you to try this and stop yourself from going back for seconds!

Serves:

• 6-8 or half if you go back for seconds!

Ingredients:

• drizzle olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tab vegetable “beef style” stock
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp garlic mince
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 2 tbs tomato ketchup
• 3 tbs tomato paste
• 1 – 1.5 cups of a deep red wine (I used a Chianti)
• 1 tsp rosemary dried
• 1 can cannelini beans
• 1 can lentils
• 1 can chickpeas / garbanzo
• 250 grams mushrooms roughly chopped
• 250 grams beef style chunks (faux meat)
• 1 cup water

Dumplings

• 1 cup SR flour
• enough milk to make a sticky dough
• 2 tbs butter or margarine
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper

Instructions:

1. In a cassoulet or pot, place your onions and garlic in some olive oil.  Allow to soften.
2. Place in the spices and seasoning with the stock, adding in the red wine, tomato ketchup and paste.  Mix well.
3. Place in the beans and beef chunks, stirring and allowing to boil.
4. Reduce the heat and place your mushrooms in with the water.  Stir to mix the water through.
5. Allow to simmer for twenty minutes.
6. Mix all the ingredients for the dough together.  Add enough milk to allow for a sticky batter (it will roughly be around the same a cup).
7. Using a spoon, dollop your dough into the casserole and pour the gravy over the dough.
8. Place the lid on and cook for another five to ten minutes.
9. Serve hot straight away with a nice Chianti!

I have to admit that being in Melbourne, and, living in the Western suburbs, I feel really spoilt for choice when it comes to produce. Not only am I close to the farms, I’m also close to the airport and, really, pretty close to town also. Why mention this, I’m sure you are asking?

Today’s meal, has a very special ingredient, which is sourced close to the airport. Down the “Italian” street of Assembly Drive, just five minutes from the airport you can source the freshest pasta, authentic Italian cakes and gorgeous, fresh ricotta in bulk!

Now most vegetarians definitely have a soft spot for ricotta and if you haven’t tried fresh ricotta, you really don’t know what you are missing! There’s soooo much you can do with it and you can even eat it on its own! This recipe took place, due to the fact we’d had our fair share of delicious Spinach Canneloni and wanted to do something a little different.

The ricotta is backed up with more protein of lentils and lots more cheese, using both Mozzarella and Parmesan to give it a nice crunchy top.

Makes:

• 8-10 serves

Ingredients:

• 500 grams dried rigatoni
• 400 gram can of diced tomatoes
• 400 gram can of lentils
• 250 grams fresh ricotta
• 2 handfuls mozzarella, grated
• 2 handfuls parmesan, grated
• 2 handfuls rocket
• 2 tsp garlic mince
• 3 vegetarian hot dogs, sliced thin
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C or 360 F.
2. Boil the pasta and drain once cooked.
3. In the pot you used to cook the pasta, mix all the ingredients minus some mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Allow to warm through.
4. Pour the ingredients into a high casserole dish or tray.
5. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
6. Cook for around 20-25 minutes or until crunchy on top. Serve hot!

Deliciosio! The one word to describe this absolutely faboulous dish (even if I do so say myself!).  Based on the traditional gnocchi alla romana with semolina baked gnocchi, I’ve combined some vegetarian hotdogs and mushrooms to add a little more flavour to this subtle dish.

Ever since trying this dish at a restaurant in Melbourne, I’ve wanted to attempt to make this dish.  Whilst I’ve probably added one too many hotdogs (I suggest using two for next time), this dish has a nice softness about it from the gnocchi and it’s well worth making!

Vegans could get away with using soy milk and margarine, plus a little soy cream for thickness plus swapping your cheeses for fake vegan varieties.

Serves:

• 4

Ingredients:

Gnocchi

• 1 tsp egg replacer
• 125 grams semolina
• 500 ml light milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 50 grams butter
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• small handful mozzarella

Sauce

• olive oil for frying hotdogs
• 3 hot dogs (sliced thinly)
• 5 mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp garlic mince
• pinch salt
• pinch white pepper
• 40 grams butter
• knob butter
• 80 ml cream
• parmesan – grated handful only
• mozzarella – grated handful

Instructions:

1. Preheat the microwave or oven to 180 degrees C or 360 degrees F.
2. Heat the milk to boiling point with the butter and spices added.
3. Lower the heat and stir through the semolina and egg replacer.  Stir quite well, as it will now be quite thick and need a good beating!
4. Beat your mozzarella in and flatten the mixture out onto a tray with baking paper.  Allow to cool.
5. In the same pan, add some olive oil with the spices and hot dogs.
6. Allow to get crispy before adding the garlic and mushrooms.
7. In a small jar or container add the cream and butter, adding a couple of the hotdog mixture to melt and mix the cream and butter together.  Set this aside.
8. Grab another tray for the final meal and grease the bottom of the pan.
9. Cut out circle shapes of your now cooled-down semolina and layer the entire tray.
10. Add the hotdog mixture over the top and a handful of mozzarella.
11. Pour the butter and cream mixture over the top.
12. Add a knob of butter and some grated parmesan cheese.
13. Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes (golden brown).
14. Allow to sit for five minutes before serving.

Last week I found out that due to an injury on my shoulder playing hockey in November, I’m required to have surgery.  The surgery will mean that I’m out of action for work and sport.  I could be out of sport for 6-9 months, which is quite scary! My arm is in a sling for 4-6 weeks minimum!

I’m going to endeavour bulking up on some recipes to keep you entertained whilst I’m down and out.  But I’m guessing there will be some time where this website will be a little quiet. Hopefully not for too long though!

Moving on, today’s treat is something that was inspired by Food Safari.  Now, one of the dishes was created in the French casserole dish and used potato slices on the bottom to cook rice from scratch in.  Now the spices included some sweetness with berries and meat, but I’ve totally changed the recipe just keeping the initial idea of the potato base.

By using the potato base, you come out with two types of dishes – a crunchy potato one with rice and your casseroled-rice dish.

This one here is full of saffron, lentils and a touch of chilli.  I’m sure you can come up with your own varieties by using the same base.  Give it a go and come back with your own versions!

Serves:

• servings for 4-8

Ingredients:

• 2 potatoes, peeled and sliced into scallops
• 1/4 onion, thinly sliced to rings
• 3-4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 400 grams lentils from a can, drained
• 1 tbs paprika
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 2 pinches saffron grinded down and soaked with a little water
• 1 tab of vegetable “chicken style” stock
• 1 tsp chilli paste
• drizzle olive oil for lining pot
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups jasmine rice

Instructions:

1. Drizzle your pan with a little olive oil.
2. Layer the potatoes on the bottom of the tray, covering the entire bottom.
3. Rinse the rice with water until the water is clear.  This removes all the starch from the rice.
4. Mix through the garlic, onions and lentils.
5. In a jug, place the saffron and three cups of water.  Mix throughly before stirring in the other spices (including chilli paste) and stock.
6. Pour in the liquid and place the lid on the dish.
7. Place on high for 10 minutes, by this time the water should be boiling.
8. Reduce to a low heat and cook for another 40 minutes.
9. Place the rice on a dish and pull out the crunchy pieces at the bottom and serve together straight away!

I’m a little late in posting the first recipe this week, after having a fairly big weekend.  We had our presentation night for hockey on Saturday night and, not only did I have a couple of drinks, but won Best & Fairest for our team.  It was certainly a surprise on my behalf and had not even thought about a speech!  However, I think it’s made me reconsider my thoughts of not playing on.

Moving on to the recipe…  This one is something I used to love as a meat eater and wanted to come up with a vegetarian version.  This came after ordering some meat subsitutes from veganperfection.com.au including the Cheatin’ Beef-Style Roast.  The roast was cooked the day before and the next day I used it for this recipe, tearing up into beef chunks.

Spezzatino is rich in flavour and is generally eaten as a casserole, but a few restaurants combine it with pasta for a chunky beef pasta.  This vegetarian / vegan version certainly is a great alternative and I’ll definitely be making this a regular in my kitchen.

Makes:

• 3 plates

Ingredients:

• 1/4 onion, diced
• 2 tsp garlic mince
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 1 can tomatoes, peeled and mashed
• salt
• white pepper
• 0.5 package of cheatin beef-style roast, torn into bite-size pieces (cooked using instructions on pack)
• 1 tab porcini stock
• 1 tbs capsicum paste
• 3 serves fresh pasta, cooked and set aside

Instructions:

1. Brown the onion with the olive oil.
2. Mix in your garlic, capsicum paste and brown the beef pieces.
3. Add the stock, wine, tomato and seasoning.  Simmer for 30 minutes on the lowest setting.
4. Mix in the pasta and serve.

For those lucky enough to live in Melbourne or near Lygon St, there’s a great Vegetarian Cafe called vege2go that opened up last year which serves some really delicious Italian dishes with fresh and healthy side dishes.  If you do happen do live near there, it’s well worth stopping in and trying out a meal.

Now this dish is inspired by their baked polenta which is amazing.  The only problem when I started cooking this was that I didn’t have enough polenta, so I reached for a similar grain – semolina.

The great thing about using semolina is that it thickened just the same as polenta and my meal was saved.

This does have a little cheese mixed through, but for vegans, it’s not too hard to omit the cheese and add some nutritional yeast instead for a cheese flavour.

Makes:

• 8 cubes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup polenta
• 1/4 cup semonlina
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 250 grams mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1 tab “chicken style” vegetable stock
• 1-2 cups water
• cracked pepper
• 50 grams mozzarella
• 1 tsp garlic

Sauce

• 1/2 cup tomato passata
• cracked pepper
• pinch salt
• pinch sugar
• 8 capers
• 1 tsp basil
• 2 tbs red wine vinegar

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C or 370 F.
2. In a large pot, brown off the onions.
3. In a seperate pot place all the ingredients for your sauce and simmer.
4. Pour in the semolina and polenta and add the stock and water.  Allow to boil.
5. Mix in the remaining ingredients minus some of the mozzarella to add on top.
6. Allow to cool a little and turn off the heat for the sauce.
7. In a casserole dish and some tomato sauce to the bottom and pour the polenta on top, leaving the sides.
8. On the sides, pour the tomato sauce in and put some on top.
9. Add the mozzarella to the top of the casserole dish.
10. Place in the oven for 30 minutes.
11. Allow to cool totally before serving.  The cooling process allows the polenta and semolina to thicken.