Vegetarian chilli

The power of a picture.....

I was tweeting some stream of consciousness musings about feeding a houseful of teenagers, along with work in progress photos, when I was asked for the recipe for the chilli I was in the middle of preparing.

I had to cater for a group of teenage boys - all of them significantly bigger than me and each with their own food fad - a vegetarian, one who doesn't like baked potato, another who only eats "dry" food (no sauces, gravy, soup..... but with a distinct liking for beer), so the challenge was to come up with something they could all eat.

I settled on baked potatoes, French bread, grated cheese, baked beans and a veggie chilli, so they could help themselves to whichever components they fancied.

Pudding was a no brainer, everyone loves chocolate mousse.

Here are the recipes for the chilli and the chocolate mousse.

CHILLI

2 tbls rapeseed oil

3 onions, sliced

3 cloves garlic

2 tsp cumin seed

2 tsp salt

2 dried chillis

3 sprigs thyme

2 cartons tomato passata - or 2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 tins kidney beans

150g red lentils

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 red pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

Heat the oil over a medium heat - the cast iron casserole dish is ideal for this quantity of food.

Add the onions and fry until translucent.

Crush the garlic, cumin seeds, salt and chillis with a pestle and mortar and add to the onions.

Fry gently for 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes/passata, kidney beans, lentils, thyme and cocoa powder.

Simmer for around 40 minutes or until the lentils are cooked.

Add the chopped peppers and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Serve with baked potato, rice or bread.
Serves 8

CHOCOLATE  MOUSSE
200g dark chocolate
8 eggs, separated

Melt the  chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water.
Leave to cool, but not set
Beat the eggs yolks.
At this stage you can add extra flavours if you wish, such as grated orange zest, espresso coffee, brandy or even creme de menthe
Add the yolks to the cooled chocolate and mix thoroughly
Whisk the egg whites to a stiff peak.

Beat 2 tablespoons pf the whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen it.
Fold in the rest of the whites and transfer the mousse to individual serving dishes.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.



Serves 8 - 10

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Sausage casserole

This is an incredibly easy and tasty dish for chilly winter days, serious comfort food.

I came up with this when I was about to sit down with Sam Gray's delightful book "Doing it in Wellies", as I knew that once I started, I wouldn't be able to put it down.

In fact the combination of the book and the slow cooker struck us as such a good idea, it is listed as one of the inspiring combinations in the Shropshire Creatives section of our website.

8 sausages, browned in a frying pan or the slow cooker bowl
2 onions, sliced and browned
4 carrots, chopped
1 butternut squash, peeled , de-seeded and chopped in chinks
2 tomatoes choped
1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
400g chopped tinned tomatoes
250ml stock
Thyme and marjoram

Buy the very best sausages you can - it really does make a difference and this is just as true of veggie sausages as it of pork sausages.

Place the slow cooker bowl on a medium heat and add a little oil.
Brown the sausages - they do not need to be cooked through, this is just to make the finished dish look even more appetising.

Add all the other ingredients - I picked some fresh thyme and marjoram from the garden, but dried herbs will work as well, just don't overdo it!!

                                                  

Place on the heater base and cook on LOW for 4 hours or 8 hours on Keep Warm.  Serve with buttery mashed potatoes.

Can be adapted as a vegetarian dish using veggie sausages.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Autumn treats

WARM DISHES FOR COOLER DAYS

The leaves are turning colour - those still left on the trees after the recent winds - and the temperature is definitely falling with them, so here are some lovely warming recipes for Autumn.
I made these indoors, I have to admit, but we have recently sold a lot of our Outdoor Hobs, which will no doubt be used on Bonfire Night and on those lovely cold and crisp days which really bring the joys of Autumn to mind. 
One bowl of charcoal will barbecue for up to 4 hours, but if you pop the pot on, you can cook for up to 7 hours - believe me, I experimented in the Springtime ( remember the snowy April we had?).  The seasons really do seem topsy turvy these days.  

 

We should all be doing whatever we can to minimise the impact of climate change and in our own way, we are trying to make a difference with our cookware range - we don't use anything other than iron, wood and flax oil for the pans, we make sure that you can restore the surface and replace most of the parts, but most of all these are built to last - they are durable and get better with use and age.  Sustainable materials, low component miles and a complete contrast to the concept of "disposable" product, with built in obsolescence

Anyway, enough of the philosophy - on with the cooking..............

Baked beans

500g haricot or cannellini beans, soaked and cooked
1 tblsp oil
1 tblsp black treacle
2 tsp grain mustard
4 cloves garlic
1 tblsp brown sugar
½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
2 tins chopped tomatoes
250 ml water
Salt and pepper to taste

Warm the oil in a casserole dish over a medium heat and add the chopped garlic. Cook gently for a couple of minutes. Don't let it burn or it will taste very bitter. Add all the other ingredients, except the beans and stir well to mix.  Cook until the sugar has dissolved and then add the beans.
Cover with the lid and simmer for at least a couple of hours, but they will be even better after 5 or 6 hours.  You can do this on the hob, on the slow cooker base (use the LOW) setting or on the charcoal base of the Outdoor Hob

These are fantastic on toast, with baked potatoes, with sticky sausages or chuck in some chorizo, chunky bacon pieces or chestnuts to make an even more sustaining meal.

These sausages were added to a pile of caramelised onions and then I stirred in a large dollop of marmalade to make a very sticky and tangy glaze.

Pumpkin and cashews

2 tblsp oil

4 cloves of garlic

2 heaped tsp cumin seed

2 tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp paprika

750g squash or pumpkin (peeled and seeded weight), cut into chunks

Juice of 1 orange

100g cashew nuts

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

Dry sherry

Pre-heat the oven to 180º C/gas mark 4

Crush the garlic with the salt and cumin to make a paste.

Warm the oil in a cast iron casserole and add the garlic paste, cinnamon and paprika.  

Cook gently for a minute, then stir in the squash or pumpkin. Stir well to coat with the spice mix.

Add the orange juice.

Put the casserole in the oven and roast for approx 25 minutes.

Meanwhile heat 1 tblsp oil and a knob of butter in a frying pan

When the butter foams, add the sliced onions and cook over a medium heat til soft and beginning to turn colour.

Add a splash of dry sherry and continue cooking until sticky and caramelised.

Remove the casserole from the oven and scatter the cashews on top - return to the oven for a further 5 minutes to heat the nuts.

Serve the pumpkin and the onions on top of a bed of cous cous.

This would also work well as an accompaniment to roast chicken or roast pork, particularly with some buttered kale or spinach.

If you like these recipes, have a look on the website for more details of the pots and pans I used.

The Outdoor Hob is a fantastically versatile charcoal powered barbecue and outdoor slow cooker, which you can use all year round.

The cast iron casserole has a 4 litre capacity and is great on the hob and in the oven - I use mine for so many thing from curries to crumbles, risotto to rice pudding

The spun iron frying pans have a completely natural flax oil finish, which gets better and better the more you use them.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk