Stuffed veg!

This time I am not specifying what kind of veg, you can use any fresh one as long as it stuffable) Examples: courgette (zucchini), pepper, tomato, marrow, pumpkin, squash etc. Today I used courgette and pepper. Just to give you an idea 1 big courgette (20 cm long) or 2 peppers would be enough for 1 portion.



To stuff 1 big courgette and 1 pepper you will need:

• 1/2 (tea)cup of rice (approx 65 g)
• 3-4 sprigs of coriander or cilantro
• 1 sprig of lovage (not necessarily)
• 5 cm of leek
• 1 matches box sized piece of sellery
• 1 cup or packet of double cream (i used soya cream it's not so fattening:)
• 2 tea spoons of vegetable stock or granules
• 100-150 g of gouda cheese
• 2 table spoons of veg oil (i used 2 tea spoons of coconut butter)
  
• salt, red and black pepper, nutmeg
  
• well...and of course 1 courgette and 1 pepper!

How to cook:

1. Boil the rice in salty water
2. Wash and clean the courgette and pepper
3. Dig out the inside of the courgette with a tea spoon and keep it aside (we will need the inside for the stuffing)
4. Cut off the top of the pepper and get rid of the inside. Don't throw away the top.
5. Chop up the herbs and the leek
6. Grate the sellery piece
7. Fry the inside of the courgette with herbs, leek and grated sellery in oil or coconut butter. Add a bit of salt, red and black pepper and grated nutmeg.
8. Turn on the oven to 200°C.
   
9. Warm up the double cream (or soya cream) and when it gets hot add veg stock or veg granules to it. Stir well. Turn off the cooker.
   
10. Grate the cheese and separate a bit for the top.
    
11. Make a mix of rice, fried veg and herbs, cheese and cream sauce and fill the fresh vegetables with it.
12. Put a little bit of grated cheese on top an cover the pepper with its top.
13. Put in the oven for 30 mins and enjoy your vegelicious meal!

Hints: Try it hot and cold. Even cold its indescribably good!
Easy to cook in a casserole dish

COUSCOUS YUM!

Today we are going to cook delicious Couscous Morroccan style!

Attention: IT IS SUITABLE FOR VEGANS! ;)

Let's get down to business!!;)

For 3-4 portions we will need 15 minutes time and:

• 250 g Couscous
• 1 large sweet red pepper
• 1 large onion
• half the tin of sweet corn
• about 20 pitted black olives
• black pepper
• olive oil and oil for frying
• butter (if you're not vegan)
• salt
• friends to share the yam yam with!:)

How to cook:

1. First of all put 1/4 liter (o.44 pints) of water, 1 Tbs of olive oil and 1 tsp of salt to boil in a BIG pot. Don't put the couscous in the pot yet!!
2. Put a frying pan with oil in it on the cooker to get hot.
3. Peel the onion and chop it up but not too small.
4. The oil should be hot by now, throw the onion in the frying pan!
5. Chop up sweet pepper and add to the onion.
6. If the water is boiling now, take the pot away from the cooker and carefully put the couscous in the water constantly stirring it.
7. Leave couscous for 2-3 minutes.
8. Cut the olives in rings and add them and sweet corn in the frying pan with onion and pepper.
9. Add 2-3 haselnut sized portions of butter (2 Tbs olive oil if you are vegan) to the couscous and stirr it with a folk (helps to get rid of lumps).
10. Put couscous back on the cooker and leave on low heat for 2 minutes.
11. It's black pepper turn now! Add it to the frying veg, use a lot, it needs to be spicy!
12. When the vegetables are ready mix them with the couscous and ENJOY IT HOT OR COLD!!!

TRICKS: Also tastes very nice with nutmeg and paprika. The secret of tasty couscous is to use vegetables of different colour. You can add any veg you prefer, but remember that it should be crunchy! Take red (pepper, carrot, tomato), yellow(pepper, sweet corn), green(olives, celery, spring onions, leek) and black (olives) veggies and make it colourful!!! Experiment with colours and tell me about your success or mistakes!!

Mash potatoes pie with mushroom and cheese filling!

It's EASY!!

For 2 portions we need:

• 3 big man's palm sized or 5-6 egg sized potatoes ("floury" types recommended or just take anyone;)
• 50 g butter ( and a bit more to butter the backing dish)
  
• 150 g cream or milk
  
• 1 big onion
  
• 300g mushrooms (I usually take white mushrooms)
• 3 spring onions
• veg oil (not olive oil)
  
• lots of grated cheese (cheddar, gouda)
• salt
• black pepper
  
• TOP SECRET: CUMIN SEEDS

• Time needed: 1h
• Backing temperature: 175°

1. Peel the potatoes and throw them into salted water to boil.
2. In the meantime heat some oil in the frying pan.
3. Chop the onion and fry it in oil on low heat till it's golden colour. DO NOT BURN IT!
4. While the onion is frying cut the mushrooms in slices and chop the spring onions.
5. Throw the mushrooms in the pan and grate the lovely cheese as much as you like=). Don't fry the spring onions yet!
6. Enough cheese?! Fry the spring onions!=) Don't let them go brown! Add black pepper and salt.
7. If you think that mushrooms are cooked turn off the cooker. Don't let them burn!
8. Check if potatoes are ready...How? Stick a fork in one or two potatoes and see if it's soft enough.
9. Potatoes cooked? Turn the cooker off and get rid of the water.
10. Now you need a potato masher! Mash potatoes while they are still hot adding butter and cream or milk. You can also add a bit of salt but the most important thing to add is MY SECRET: cumin seeds! Add a palmful of cumin seeds to potatoes and make sure you mash them right up!
11. Take a deep backing dish and butter it!
12. Put the first layer of mash potatoes (half of it).
13. Spread the fried mushrooms and onions all over the first layer of potatoes.
14. Put the cheesy on top of it! Spread it all over but save some for the top!
15. Put the second half of mash potatoes as a top layer. Using a hot spoon (put it in hot water) makes it easier to spread potatoes evenly.
16. Throw the pie in the oven for 15-20 min.
17. Important: Don't forget to put cheese on top 5-10 mins (depends on how brown you want it) before the pie is ready.
18. BON APPETIT!

Trick for crunchy top: Instead of putting Cheddar or Gouda cheese on top use hard Parmesan cheese mixed with bread crumbs. Take small pieces of frozen butter and also put them all over the top of the pie. BON APPETIT!