Easy nom-able vegetable pies

Pies are GREAT. However, there aren't always great vegetarian options, and they're usually not very easy to

replicate at home. However, there is a really easy vege pie which is both filling and flavoursome. If you use

pre-rolled pastry these babies are easy, and you can control how large you want them to be - but best of all,

you know exactly what's going in them!

Unlike your average meat pie, this has pretty colours inside!

Here are some of my favourite vege combos:

Cauliflower, leek and mushroom

Brocolli, carrot, onion and mushroom

Pie!!!

I'm going to write a more general sort of guide rather than an exact recipe, because frankly, this doesn't need exact numbers or measurements. Use instinct, and if it's halariously out, then you can just have mashed potatoes and veges on the side. No biggie.

Filling:an assortment of vegetables, chopped smallish (I used broccoli florets, carrots and mushrooms)onion, chopped mixed herbscooking oilvege stockpotatoes and butter, diced into 1cm cubes (leave skins on potato)grated cheesesalt and pepper

Pastry:

Use short crust pastry ready rolled into sheets, 1 for each pie. If you want to use your own pastry, go for it (you'll be scoring on cost and greenie points)

Bring stock to the boil in a saucepan and throw in the potatoes.

Preheat oven to 220C or 450F

While potatoes are cooking, stir fry vegetables (not potato), salt, pepper and mixed herb in oil until slightly undercooked for your liking. Set aside.

Defrost the pastry if you're using frozen sheets.

Once potatoes are very soft, drain (or using a slotted spoon, put the potatoes in a large bowl, reserving the stock. It lasts until the next day) and roughly mash with the butter and a bit of salt. Throw in the veges and cheese, and mix until well combined.

Put a large dollop of filling in the centre of the pastry square/round. Fold the corners into the middle, sealing the edges and mid point. Sprinkle with grated cheese if desired. Alternatively (if using your own dough and rounds in a tart pan) you can fit the dough into the tart pan, spread the mixture in, and cover with pastry or more grated cheese.

Bake in the centre rack of your oven for about 20 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

More soup, more in tune with spring... Asian noodle soup. Admit it, if you're not asian, you're intimidated by the very obviously asian-targeted asian supermarkets jam

packed with asians, asian food, and not much that resembles anything like it came from outside asia. If I'm

right so far, I'm guessing you also step past those bubble tea places packed with those asian chicks with the

dyed-brown curls and intense liquid eyeliner. The only way you'd be caught shopping in any of these "parts"

would be if that asian dude you know (you're not quite sure how you know him, or why, but you do) came to

you mysteriously in your dreams and dragged you there for some frozen dumplings (and maybe to check out

those chicks...I dunno).

You know, your asian food intake doesn't have to consist of greasy sloppy takeaways and plastic encased

half priced sushi. Your shopping experience can stretch past the supermarket, and in fact, there could be an

asian supermarket closer to you than your average supermarket. Opposite Countdown church corner for

example are two asian supermarkets (including teasme, the best tea shop and bar in christchurch I've been

to - and they're run by those asians that somehow don't have that accent, or by the friendly white guy). Just

up Middleton Road in the heart of Riccarton is Sun Tai, and opposite KFC is GoodFresh, which sells local

organic tofu (there's your excuse, if you need one). In town there is of course the Asian Food Warehouse.

If you've never ventured in, seriously try it. Take a friend or flatmate with you if you need to - but remember,

we asians don't bite. And some of us speak english! Not only do asian supermarkets stock a far greater

variety of things, they also sell it a LOT cheaper than at the supermarket. Consider getting your star

anise/aniseed, pepper, veges and chilis at asian supermarkets, and your tofu. Deep fried tofu is a great

flavour soaker - so whatever the sauce you have in your fried rice or noodles, deep fried tofu will drink it up

and absorb it.

If you need a great reason to go visit, check out my post on a smoky spiced chicken drums recipe. And if

you're vegetarian, get cooking this soup. It's easy, fast, and really satisfying.

Noodle soupserves two

2 blocks of 2 minute noodles, or whatever noodles you want- there are some great fresh noodles in the fridges of asian supermarketsas many deep fried tofu chunks as you want, chopped in half or into thirds - you can freeze these too, so don't be afraid to get a whole bag, 2 eggs7-10 dried shiitake mushrooms (try saying "shyang gooh" to the person at the asian supermarket, follwed by "dried mushrooms")1-2 bok choy (or xiao bai chai as the mainland chinese call it), washeddash of soy sauce and vinegarsesame oil and cooking oilwaterfreshly ground black pepper

Soak the shiitakes in hot water for about 10 minutes, then take them out of the water (don't throw it away) and chop them into thirds.

Add mushroom soaking water to a medium sized saucepan, add water, and bring to the boil (envision

how much water you want in your soup) on medium heat. Crack eggs in, trying not to break the yolks. Add soy sauce, some salt, and then quickly break the noodles in, and add the tofu. Let cook until noodles are almost done.

While the noodles are cooking, peel the leaves of the bok choy off and chop the stems into 1 inch pieces, letting the leaves stay whole. Definitely use the center "bud". Add to the pot, and poke them down into the soup so they cook. Leave on heat for a minute, then turn off, add vinegar, pepper, and serve.

Flavoursome lentil vege soup Winter is pretty much over, but this is light enough for a gluggy and wet spring day (plus, it's still freezin outside :P). I've vegan-ised this soup from Cooking Dunkin Style, simply by taking the ham cubes out, but by all means add them in if you want. Personally I think the taste of the vegetables in this soup are amazing, so don't ever feel obliged to.

Again: soups are the easiest, best ever left over that you can make. Serve them with fresh bread rolls and you have a great lunch, or light dinner (keep in mind that you'll feel realy full from the water, but will eventually get hungry again!)

Lentil soupserves 6-8 (so you have plenty for lunch the next day)

approx 1/8c vege oil1 onion chopped2 carrots diced small3 celery stalks diced 5 garlic cloves, minced1 tsp dried oregano, dried basil. (or whatever herbs you like)1 bay leaf, broken into 2-4 pieces400g(ish) can crushed tomatoes (use whole and cut yourself to save)2 cups lentils, cooked (canned fine, but rinse off brine)1L vege stock (stuff at pikos is delicious and natural)1/4 cup spinach (frozen or 1/2c fresh)1 Tbs vinegar or tomato paste or both

freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a medium to large saucepan on medium high heat, and throw in onions, carrots, celery, garlic, herbs, and bay leaf. Cook until veges begin to turn translucent and you can smell them. Add the stock, tomatoes and lentils, stir, and bring to boil, then turn heat down to low, cover, and leave for approximately 20 minutes. If you don't want a less watery soup, leave the heat on medium and don't cover at this stage. At this point you should taste the soup - add salt if needed, and continue cooking until the veges are soft enough for your liking (it may be that at this stage they're soft enough). Once you think you're two minutes from serving, add the spinach and vinegar and stir. Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

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As mentioned earlier - this tastes great with bread. If you want a more substantial meal, add a dob of thick

creamy yoghurt when serving, some mascarpone or any thick low fat creamy cheese thing.

Pan fried "chips" with a sweet touch You know how you get cravings for chips, but you're too lazy to walk anywhere, or don't have any money,

and you don't own a deep fryer? (Actually, we own a deep fryer, but it stinks every time we use it and its oil

needs replacing). Well. This is a sort of solution for you. They're not really chips, but they can almost satisfy

a craving for them without heating up the whole oven. Also, because they're not much like chips, I decided to

add some other veges to make it a more complete lunch and to give it more flavour. The carrots and onions

give the dish a hint of sweetness, and although nothing is crunchy like a good chip should be, it makes a nice

light lunch.

Pan fried chipsserves one

2 small-medium potatoes (depending on your hunger), cut into shoestring fries

half a carrot, cut into stripshalf an onion, sliced into thin wedgessaltwatercooking oil

Cut potatoes into a large bowl filled with salted water (about 1 tsp salt is plenty). Leave for 5 minutes or longer ideally if you want more chip texture.

Heat oil on medium high in a large non stick frying pan, throw in the potatoes and onions, cover, and leave for 3-5 minutes. Uncover, flip, and add carrots. Cover, leave for 3-5 minutes, and continue this process until the fried are golden brown and darker brown on some bits.

Holidays are awesome. Spinach feta bread with roast veges ...They allow excessive amounts of baking to be carried out. I've already lost count of how much bread I've

made, and I've recently done 3 batches of scones, 2 batches of cookies, several cakes, one of which I'll post

later, brownies... I'm missing out quite a lot of things I'm sure. I've already failed MISERABLY at making

Challah bread, but at least the ducks enjoyed it! The spinach feta bread below however was a great success.

Clare did the shaping and we made the dough into four massive dinner rolls. This accompanied roast

cauliflower and carrots with lightly toasted pine nuts and pan fried leeks. If you've already successfully made

artisan bread from the master recipe before, you won't find spinach feta bread too difficult, and the great

thing is that it's slightly more healthy than plain white bread.

Spinach Feta bread rolls - from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a DayMakes 4-5 large rolls

1 1/2 c warm water (body temp)3/4 Tbs yeast3/4 Tbs coarse salt (or 1/2 Tbs if normal salt)3/4 Tbs sugar

1/3 c crumbled feta cheese1 cup frozen or fresh spinach, packed3 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting.

Cook spinach on lowest heat setting possible, evaporating the ice until spinach is just wet but not soggy. Put into a large bowl, and mix in everything but flour. Measure in flour and mix until a uniformly moist dough forms. You want it to be a very wet and loose dough, but if you pick up a large bit it should stretch out, not come off like cake batter.

Cover the bowl (with a non-airtight lid or bag) and leave at room temp (21C) for two hours until the dough rises and collapses back onto itself (when you lift the dough out, there though be lots of stringy bits where the bubbles have formed).

Lift dough out, dusting hands and a baking tray with plenty of flour. Tuck dough under itself to form a tight ball of dough (continuously for about 30 seconds). Cut into 4-5 lumps, and tuck each dough ball under itself to form a dough ball (spend as little time as you need on each). Let rest for 40 minutes - 1 hour on well floured baking tray at room temp. The dough should rise a little. After 20 minutes, preheat oven to 225C or 450F, with one rack centered and another on the bottom.

Flour tops well, and slash a gash on their tops with a serrated knife. Place baking tray with dough on center rack, and put a roasting tray on the bottom rack with 1c water in. Let cook for about 25 mins, rotating halfway for even cooking.

Cook on a wire rack until warm before eating.

-------------------------------------------------------------Also, if you want to save some dough or use it some other time, leave in your fridge (covered) for up to a week and then rest for an hour - an hour and thirty minutes instead of 40 minutes, then carry out the exact same steps.

-------------------------------------------------------------Roasted cauliflower & roasted carrotsserves 4 as sides

1 small-medium cauliflower, cut into walnut sized florets1 tsp coarse sea salt

2 carrots, cut into thick sticks

Good glug of cooking oil

Preheat oven to 225C. Chuck veges in seperate roasting dishes, and aim to put them evenly on one layer (ish). Put salt on caulis, but not carrots. glug oil on both, and stick in the oven - bottom or top

shelf is fine, but swap halfway during cooking. Cook for about 30 mins.

...And the other extreme - a quick guide to roast beef Now, none of us at the flat are certified experts at cooking beef, but Clare seems to have cooked a very good

lookin (and apparently good tasting) roast beef. Below she gives her guide to making it. They're shown here

with our famous herbed roast potatoes... I'm sure I have the recipe floating around somewhere.

To quote Clare (from our gtalk conversation):

You want a cut with a moderate amount of meat on (Clare used top side), slice a hash into each side and season well with salt and pepper (garlic if liked) and mixed herb. Put into roasting pan with a little oil. Preheat oven to 210C, place roast in centre of oven and leave for 30-40mins to sear outside and seal in juices. After 40mins turn oven down to 160C and pour one cup of beef stock and one cup of red wine over meat. Roast meat for further 1.5-2hrs, basting every 30mins. Keep 2cm of liquid in roasting pan, and top up with more wine/beef stock if it becomes low.

Then, if you have leftovers, you can use the meat the next night - to make it into a quick sort-of-pie....

And then the pie thing was just last night's meat, chopped as small as possible, in a gravy made of 1 chopped onion, 3 cloves of garlic, half a cup of beef stock, half a cup of red wine, a healthy pinch of mixed herb, 1 tsp marmite, a glug of worcestershire sauce, a few shakes of tabasco sauce (or chili), pinch of thymeand some flour/cornflour to thicken. I didn't precook the gravy, but it might work well to bring it all to heat in a pan on the stove.

Chuck in some frozen veges (and fresh chopped carrot works well), top with sliced potato and cheese, and bake until the potato on top is cooked at 180C.

Not-your-usual bangers and mash These were my first attempt at vegetarian sausages ever, and I have to say, I'm quite fond of them now.

Known as "Glamorgan sausages," these Welsh beauties are made with cheap and available ingredients but

taste great. They're also pretty easy, and through my furthered laziness, I've managed to make them that

much easier. Thanks to Marie from A Year From Oak Cottage for the recipe, and the interesting story that

sort of inspired it!

So, here we have Glamorgan sausages ("bangers"...lol) on a bed of pan roasted potatoes, with mashed

garlic infused pumpkin and seared cauliflower. It's a VERY filling meal, and certainly one you'd love to have

up your sleeve for Winter. Even though we're nearing the last days of winter, it was a very pleasing meal

indeed.

If you're keen to do the whole meal, here's a suggestion to save you time and using more pans than needed - cook the pumpkin mash first while you're preparing the ingredients for the glamorgan sausages and chopping the potatoes. Set aside the pumpkin in a microwave safe bowl, and use the same pan for the sausages. Make the sausages, and while they're cooking, chop and cook the potatoes. The cauliflower doesn't take long, nor does it like lasting long, so do that last. The sausages take ages to cool, so this should be ok.

Also, if you are doing the whole meal, it helps to have someone with you!

Glamorgan sausages, adapted from A Year From Oak Cottage.makes 8 to serve 4 as a side, but may be doubled if you're all feeling ravenous.

1/2 onion, minced1 tsp mixed herb120g grated cheddar or tasty cheese (or edam with some parmesan)1 tsp Dijon mustard (or similar)2 eggs 130g breadcrumbs 1 Tbs cooking oil4 Tbs flour to coat

3-4 Tbs cooking oil

Mix the first 5 ingredients well to combine. Add the breadcrumbs and oil, and mix well.

Arrange flour on a plate, and heat 3-4Tbs cooking oil in a medium (28cm) non stick frypan on medium heat. Grab a large handful of the sausage mix and press together to form a sausage shape. Roll the sausage in the flour, and add to the pan. Repeat until you're out of sausage mix. Rotate the sausages in the pan as they cook until they're golden brown all the way around.

Savory pumpkin and garlic mashserves 4 as a side dish

1/2 a pumpkin (any kind is fine)5-6 cloves garlic, chopped finely1/2 tsp salt, or to tasteapprox 2 Tbs cooking oil

Chop pumpkin into thick 1 inch slices, remove seeds and peel using a peeler or a large sharp knife by cutting skin off on a chopping board. I find the latter method less RSI-inducing, but it's totally up to you. Then cut each slice into thin slices (about 0.5cm).

Heat oil on medium in a medium frypan or wok, and add garlic. When garlic starts to smell fragrant and soften, add pumpkin slices and salt, with about 1/8c water. Cover, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover, poke around, and "flip" the slices. Continue covering and checking like this until the pumpkin is very tender (should be about 20 minutes max). Turn off heat, and mash with your fish slice or spatula, until it's as mushy as you want it - we like ours quite lumpy. Serve, with fresh parsley sprinkles if you have some on hand.

Pan roasted herb and garlic potatoes serves 4 as a generous side

8 medium potatoes, washed well and diced to 1cm cubes (skin on)2-4 tsp mixed herbs2-3 cloves garlic, chopped finelyA very good glug of cooking oil!

Heat oil on medium in a very large non stick frypan, and throw in potatoes and herbs. Cover, and let cook for 7-10 minutes. Uncover, and "flip" the potatoes so they cook more evenly. If they aren't a bit golden underneath, leave covered for longer. Continue cooking (with cover, then uncovering, flipping, and covering again) until potatoes are golden and soft to your liking (about 20-30 minutes). Five minutes before they are done to your liking, add the garlic.

Stir fried cauliflowerserves 4 as a side

1/2 a large cauliflower, broken into walnut sized floretssalt to tasteapprox 1 Tbs cooking oil

Heat oil on medium in a medium sized frypan. Add cauliflower and salt, a splash of water, and

cover for 3-5 minutes. Uncover, and let any remaining water steam off. Stir and let sit on medium

heat for a further 3-5 minutes until the undersides are dark golden in flecks. Serve.

Potentially vegan, certifiably good. I tend to find some of the best stumbles upon good combinations of food happen when you find that your

fridge is getting empty and you know you should probably go out to restock. However, laziness can be a

virtue as will be demonstrated by the salad below. I'm sure I've had varying versions of it before, but for some

reason this version really surprised me (and the flatties). I realise it looks highly avoidable, in fact, I did

reconsider restocking after I threw it together, but a few bites later I found myself chowing down. Pip ended

up having the vegan version and actually liked it (despite hesitantly trying some at first), and I whipped up a

quick caper mayo to dress it with (which, let me say, tasted brilliant).

This was today's remake of last nights', as we had left over ingredients. I like to think it's healthy, and if you

omit the mayo, low in saturated fat. I had it just by itself with some bread for dinner, so it's a filler if you make

lots. Also, just to prove to you that even determined carnivores will like this, here's a picture of Tabby (Clare's

kitty) sniffing at it.

Nomification saladserves 4 as a generous side

3 stalks celery, chopped - use the leaves if they're light green1 medium sized carrot, grated1/2 a 400g can chili beans (red kidney beans), drained and rinsed lightly* 1/3 a 400g can corn kernels (or use fresh)a handful of whatever nuts/seeds you have - I used pine nuts and almonds1/2 tsp fine sea salt or 1 tsp ground rock salt (or to taste)freshly ground black pepper

* you can of course use your own cooked red kidney beans or canned, just add 1/4 tsp ground chili.

Toss together and serve with mayo (below) or leave as is for a vegan salad.

Delicious caper mayoapprox 3 Tbs Japanese mayonnaise - I used the kind with a red lid, available at most good Asian

supermarkets in Christchurch or in the "ethnic" food section at most supermarkets. The idea is not to use a

sour mayo

approx 1 heaped tsp capers, juice and all

approx 1 Tbs any kind of mustard, or 1/2 Tbs if it's whole grain.

Smoosh capers into the other sauces. Put a dob on each serving of salad, and devour! You can also just

squirt the ingredients onto the large salad if you want, but smooshing gets the caper flavour all through the

salad.

Leek, tomato and feta sammy

Ok, so no awards for originality here, but it's a quick and satisfying way to devour an artisan loaf and it would keep well for lunch that day if thrown together in the morning. Simply fry up some sliced leek with oil and a pinch of salt, halve some tomatoes (or slice if they're large), crumble chunks of feta over and you have a relatively healthy yet delicious lunch.

Quick and easy fried rice I don't really understand why people go out and buy fried rice when it takes the same amount of time to cook

it at home - and you get more control over what goes in it! To be perfectly honest, I'm not keen on the

particular brand of rice in this photo though (Sunlong 1kg bags), and will edit this post when I find a brand of

rice that works better.

Fried rice is a great "quick" meal that can be made healthy and quickly, without ten different pans and

utensils. All of them should be easy to clean too (especially when it's meatless), so it's great for tired days.

Flavoursome fried riceserves 4

2 cups rice3 cups water

4 Tbs cooking oil1 onion, sliced thinly

1/2 a large leek, sliced thinlysome peas and corn - as much as you feel like, I used approx 2/3c 2 whole spring onions, chopped thinly3 eggs, whisked with 1/2 tsp salt and 1 Tbs waterapprox 3 Tbs soy saucesalt and pepper to taste

Cook rice according to packet instructions. Do this first, preferably half an hour or so in advance of cooking the veges.

Heat oil on medium high in a very large non stick frypan or wok, and add salt, leeks, and onion. Cook until onions are translucent, stirring every minute or so.

Add peas and corn. If using frozen, cook until no more icy bits can be seen. Add eggs and spring onion. Let cook until egg is set at the bottom of the pan, approx 2 minutes. Then flip everything so it all cooks on the other side. Break eggs apart with a plastic spatula/fish slice. Once eggs are cooked and slightly golden in parts, add the soy sauce and rice, and mix well to combine and spread the soy sauce. If the rice looks a bit dry, add a few tablespoons of water and mix well. Once everything is well combined, serve immediately. Eating fried rice is easier in bowls (which keeps everything warmer) with a spoon. It may feel weird but trust me - it makes far more sense!

If you like your pepper, serve with plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Home made pizzas from scratch (inspired by artisan bread in 5 minutes a day) We used to buy our pizza bases from the supermarket, but thanks to Clare's AWESOME Birthday present

(the 2nd book to your left, artisan bread in 5 minutes a day), I whipped up the dough for some bases in 5

minutes and once risen, was able to have fresh pizza dough any time during the next two weeks. It. Was.

Phenomenal.

Obviously, you can put whatever toppings you want on your pizza, but I have made a few suggestions

because this dough is quite salty. So it's great with a very mild cheese like mozzarella and stuff like

tomatoes, but it'll e way too salty with feta cheese, unless you decide to halve the amount of salt in the

dough (which may affect its texture). The great thing with the 5 minute recipe is that it doesn't matter if you

use standard or high grade flour so much, and you can use the dough when you want.

My method doesn't require the use of a pizza peel or a pizza stone, but this obviously affects the pizza. If you

have a peel and stone, feel free to use them. I just think most students don't have them (I certainly don't, and

my flat mates and friends always gawk at how much I cook!)

Pizza dough from Artisan Bread In Five Minutes a day.makes 7 pizzas which serve 7 very hungry people. I don't think these keep very well (I wouldn't know, we eat

all ours!), but you can always save excess dough for another time!

2 3/4 c lukewarm water*1 1/2 Tbs yeast1 1/2 Tbs salt**1 Tbs sugar1/4 c extra virgin olive oil 6 1/2 c white flour

* Easy way: boil up some water. Fill cup measure approx 2/3 of the way, fill rest with hot water. When you stick your finger in, it should feel body temperature. If it burns you at all, it will kill the yeast and you will have useless dough.

** halve if you intend to use salty cheeses or salty ingredients on your pizza (includes ham, feat cheese, tasty cheese, cheddar, olives...etc)

-------------------------------------------Mix everything apart from the flour in a very large 5qt bowl (preferably with a lid). Then mix in the floor without kneading (using a spoon). It should be a very wet and loose dough, almost like cake batter.

Cover with lid (not airtight) or wrap bowl in a large plastic bag and leave at room temp (approx 21C) for two to five hours until dough rises and collapses.

Now the dough can be immediately used, or refrigerated and used any time in the next 12 days.

-----------------------------------Pizza making time/day!

Prepare all your toppings first. Seriously! It makes it way easier, and far more fun! Then preheat your oven to 250C or 500F, with one rack in the middle and another at the very bottom. Grease two baking trays with cooking oil (not olive or butter, as these will burn and make your pizza taste awful)

Dust dough with flour and pull off a piece that is approximately the size of tennis ball. Shape into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around the bottom on all four sides, rotating it as you do. Flour a chopping board, and flatten dough ball with your hand on the board, and using a rolling pin (or empty wine bottle) roll the dough out until it gets thinner. Now you can either do my faux italian way or keep rolling until you get it as thick or thin as you want. Just don't let it be any thicker than half a centimeter, or it won't cook well.

Faux Italian way: take the dough off the board and stretch it out by holding it by its edge at the top and letting gravity pull the dough down. Rotate the pizza round quickly so one bit of the dough doesn't get so thin it forms a hole. No bit should be translucent - this means it is too thin.

Put the flat dough on a greased tray, and either get someone else to top it and immediately put in the oven, or do the next one. Either way, once it's topped, put it in a hot oven straight away. The order or toppings is: tomato goop (paste, sauce, or puree, but put less on the wetter the sauce it), then anything apart from the main cheese, then cheese. Or you can put onions/leeks on top to dry them out if you don't like "slimy onions" as Clare puts it.

Pizzas should be on the bottom rack no more than 5 minutes, and can be taken out once the bottoms are golden brown and the cheese has started to go golden.

Leave for about 10 minutes before biting into them, as they're very very hot!

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Toppings

Many suggest simple, classic toppings. Here's a list with a variation of really good ones, from the loadsa toppings to simple and classic. They are ordered from first to go on --> last to go on.

Tomato paste, chopped onions, garlic powder, mixed herb or basil, mushrooms, red peppers, tomatoes,

cream cheese, edam or mozarella cheese

Tomato paste, chopped onions, garlic powder, mixed herb or basil, tomatoes, cream cheese, edam or

mozarella cheese

Tomato paste, garlic powder, mixed herb, edam or mozarella cheese, thinly sliced leek, cream cheese.

Basil pesto, garlic, parmesan, edam or mozarella.

Creamless quiche - it works! I have a love of making mini quiches in muffin trays. Firstly, they're REALLY easy - especially if you have

ready rolled pastry. Secondly, you can be as creative as you would be with pizza making. Thirdly, they're

yummy as - and now, without cream, possibly even good for you! Also, you should have the ingredients for a

variation of this on hand at any time.

These are two cheese leek quiches, with cream cheese and grated edam. I suppose you could turn it into

three cheese by shaving some parmesan over it, but these tasted fine as is.

Two Cheese Leek Quiches

makes 4

1 sheet frozen puff pastry

2 eggs

4 Tbs water

1/2 tsp dijonnaise (use a small squirt of your favourite mustard, or omit)

1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

pepper to taste

4 thin slices off the bottom of a leek (separate the rings slightly)

grated cheese to taste

2 Tbs cream cheese

Take out sheet of pastry and leave on side to defrost. Grease 4 muffin cup holders, spacing apart. Preheat

oven to 220C or 440F

Whisk eggs, water, mustard, salt and pepper. Once pastry is defrosted, quarter and stuff into greased muffin

tray. Pour 1/4 of the egg into each. Distribute blobs of cream cheese in each quiche, topping with leek and

then grated cheese.

Place on center rack in the oven and cook until tops are golden (about 10-15 minutes). Then remove one

quiche, checking if the bottom is golden. If not, put on the bottom rack for 2-3 minutes.

These make a great meat substitute with roast vegetables, or by a salad.

Avoiding the supermarket is FUN A sunny beginning to a Saturday morning kick started my supermarket free grocery shop, and it couldn't

have been more fitting really. Honestly, who wants to be in a clinically arranged supermarket on the first

sunny winter morning in weeks anyway?! Anyway, it was great, we went to English Park for their Market

(details below), and though it isn't technically a "farmers' market" in that everything is local, it's the closest

market to us (if we went out to Lyttelton I think we'd end up using more petrol anyway) and the man we

bought from had everything from NZ or the South Island. Except the pineapples. That said, NZ is a very

small place, so it's not too bad.

A big bonus of course was that everything was so much cheaper and nicer! We got leeks much larger than

the ones at the supermarket for $1 (compared to $1.80 at the supermarket), broccoli and cauliflower at $1.50

($2.50 and $4 respectively), free range eggs for $4 ($5.70 for the cheapest, tiniest ones), and a bag of small

tomatoes for $4 ($7/kg). It doesn't seem like much, but Clare and I went to a small Chinese greengrocers

and got two large bags of vegetables for around $11. That's a whole week's worth of vegetables (minus the

occasional use of frozen stuff) for a flat that's almost eating vegetarian.

Also, I managed to score a vintage monopoly set for $10! All the pieces were still there and everything. Most

of the market was second hand stuff, but there were 3-4 fruit and vege stalls, one exclusively organic (only a

bit more expensive). I'm being very honest when I say that this trip was far more interesting than being at a

supermarket, and there were no queues, no mark-ups because things get stolen, hardly any plastic bags,

and no difficulty finding a park (yes, we did drive, because we knew things wouldn't fit in my bike basket).

Overall, just a really nice feeling (maybe that was the sunshine too... which would be sorely lacking at any

supermarket).

English Park Market, Cranford Street (near Westminster, or park on Sheppard Place and walk towards the

carpark on the other side). Saturdays 9am -1pm , get there early for the best stuff!

Will and I also went to Piko to grab some stuff, and I thought it'd be a good photo op since I had the camera.

He so can't blame me for capturing that expression. We're actually walking towards Piko's entrance, this shot

was taken on Barbadoes St (entrance on Kilmore, car park off Barbadoes). We got some pine nuts and

organic yoghurt (Clearwater do the best natural mild yoghurt EVER). That said, he is not high on yoghurt,

just ravenously hungry (we went to work after the market and didn't get let out until 1pm).

I'll be adding up all sorts of helpful stuff for students (and non) - where I shop, more good cookbooks, links to

helpful cost-saving blog posts, my own tips of the moment... give me ideas, give me suggestions, critique, or

even content. I'll credit always :)

Roast vegetables are teh shiz. They really are. They're easy, always good, uncomplicated, and if you use the right stuff, not too difficult to

clean up. We made several things in 3 different pans because we were all quite hungry, and it paired up with

some European Peasant bread (from Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day) and cake which I'll post later. It

was a VERY filling dinner, and with all those vegetables, packed with intense flavour and nutrients.

Garam Masala Potatoes, Balsamic roast veges (inspired by Sheri), and fantastic cheesy roasted cauliflower.

Balsamic Roast Vegesserves however many you want

For the above, we used:2 purple carrots, 1 orange carrot, 2 large potatoes, 1 red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 large beetroot. About 1/3c balsamic is required, and it doesn't have to be really good stuff. This served 4 as a large side. Cut into chunks (cut beetroot the smallest) and cut onion into wedges. Really, use whatever root veges are cheap, in season, or your favourite. If you normally like a certain vegetable (or don't mind it), you'll love it in this. Usually sweet or plain (like potato) flavours work best.

Preheat oven to 200C or 400FStick in a large roasting pan with a serious amount of oil to coat and arrange on one layer if possible. Sprinkle over some rough salt and chuck in a hot oven on the top or center shelf. Leave for 30 minutes. Remove, glug in the balsamic, leave in oven for another 30 minutes. Shake or turn veges and then turn heat up to 225C or 450F, letting it roast for another 10 minutes before removing and serving.

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Cheesy Roast Cauliflowerserves 4 as a small side

1 head of cauliflower, cut into gold ball sized floretsoilsalt100g cheese, grated (more or less)Mixed Herb (optional)

Toss cauli in oil and salt in a large roasting dish. Sprinkle cheese and herbs over, and roast for about

40 minutes to an hour at 200C or 400F.

Vegetarian Paella Sounds strange and perhaps new, but trust me... this is newness in a good way. The recipe is not one that is

easily screw-up-able, so if you're afraid of cooking rice, this is a great way to start - and it has all the benefits

of being very flavoursome! Thank God for the Spanish. I first tried Seafood Paella at the Curator's House

(thankfully my parents paid for that trip!) and it was amazing,but I was quite impressed with this vege version.

Also, I just realised that this is vegan - but this didn't bother me one bit!

I got this recipe from A Series of Kitchen Experiments, but had to adapt it slightly, and for the current weather

in Christchurch, I'd like to think it's cheaper for students. I've been buying at the small Chinese green grocer

around Church Corner Mall - It's called "Full Season Fruit and Vege" or something, and we managed to get

two full bags of veges for $11. Lots of the stuff I know is local or national to keep costs low, so we got 50c

small brocolli and 2 small leeks for 89c. The BokChoy and other Chinese veges are far cheaper and younger

than the older kinds in the supermarkets.

The veges AND rice have so much flavour in this dish, and the ingredients aren't even expensive! I advise

students to stay away from supermarket herbs and spices for several reasons:

1. They're expensive, unless you buy Pams. Pams is ok, but:

2. They've been sitting on the shelf for far longer than at smaller shops usually, because:

3. Supermarkets in NZ are owned by one of two chains. Even if you try a different one, they'll be bought in

such large quantities, you'll be getting the same results.

So! I shop at Piko Wholefoods, which stock cheaper-than-supermarket herbs and spices that are organic and

always packed recently - and you can tell! Their mixed herbs are great. Check their stocklist for other

goodies. Their nuts, yoghurt, flavourings and eggs are always similarly priced to supermarkets but always far

fresher and therefore more delicious!

Vegetarian Paellaserves 4 for dinner on its own (or 3 insanely hungry pro athletes just back from a five hour training session)

6 Tbs of olive oil + 2 tsp olive oil (although I used normal oil - it worked fine)

2c long grain rice

2 bay leaves

1 onion, chopped finely

6 cloves of garlic minced + 2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 carrot sliced or julienned (ie, cut into matchsticks)

Approx 1 c green beans

1 small or medium brocolli, cut into florets (use the stalk by stripping off the outside layer of skin and cutting it

up into floret sized chunks)

1 green pepper, cut into sqaures

1-2 Tbs tomato paste

1/4 c spinach, chopped (can use frozen)

3 3/4 cups of vegetable stock

Spices:2 tsp paprika

1 tsp coriander seeds ground (optional)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp whole cumin or 1 tsp ground

2 tsp salt (or to taste)

pepper to taste

A Series of Kitchen Experiments recommends using a pan with a lid rather than a saucepan. I very much

agree, and I'd add non stick and LARGE to the pan description, unless you're halving the recipe.

First: rinse rice and drain. While doing this, heat up 2 tsp oil on medium and let the two crushed cloves of

garlic sit in the oil. Dump the drained rice in once the garlic starts to show signs of faint sizzling. Saute until

the rice is dry (no more water) and the grains are slightly more translucent (8-10mins). Pour the rice on a

plate (which you can use later to serve on)

Using the same pan, add 6 Tbs of oil and saute onions, garlic, bay leaves and carrot until tender. Add

brocolli, peppers, rice and spices. Stir until well combined.

Add vege stock, letting it simmer. Once it does, cover and cook still on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Uncover, and quickly toss in your frozen spinach and beans, then cover again and turn the heat down to the

lowest heat setting and leave for 15-20 minutes. Do Not Open The Lid. After 15-20 minutes, stir the rice and

serve hot.

So, I was... busy... This Creamy mushroom, leek and celery pasta is yum. Easy, cheap AND yummy. No photo, because I got

too hungry and now there's about 1/4 c of it left... which won't look impressive, but it sure smells lovely.

The only changes I made to the recipe however were:

1. Added some mixed herb and freshly ground black pepper

2. Instead of taking the sauce off the heat, I turned the heat down very low and reduced the cream a little,

just to get it more sauce like.

3. There was no measuring involved :P

Also, I know this is a food blog and not a political statement, but I can't resist recommending the

documentary "The End Of Suburbia." Insane sci-fi-music aside, it'd highly provocative and deeply saddening.

It's also applicable to far more countries than just America. I started this food blog not just to try and get

students cooking and eating better, but hopefully also getting then to think a bit more about food production

(when you make your meal, you have a bit more appreciation for some of the work that goes into preparing

meals, if only a tiny tiny part of it), and also production and consumption in general. I also wanted people to

start (slowly) becoming more self sufficient. Clare and I hope to get a garden next year and start planting out

own veges, and this Saturday I will try try try to visit the English Park Market if it's not cancelled due to bad

weather. Check out the second market down if you're in Christchurch.

Easy mini carrot and leek pies I've been staying at my parents and this was actually a dinner done almost a week ago :$ Urm....

Studying is SO NOT WORTH IT! I mean, am I really going to get a million dollar job after Uni? Not likely...

although due to doing an Arts degree I am likely to feel very miserable about the state of the world! Which is

where these pies come in! (Yes... there was a vague point to my rant).

We served ours with garam masala roast potatoes... I think I have the post lying around somewhere. But

yesh, these go well with anything basically. They also have the added bonus of tasting ok the next day

(although i ate them cold, and therefore don't have a verdict on how well these survive in the microwave)

Easy mini carrot and leek pies makes 12

2 carrots, julienned (aka, cut into strips/matchsticks)1 leek, slicedsalt and freshly ground black pepper, to tasteoil or butter to fry veges inabout 100g cream cheese or possibly ricotta or something similarsprinklings of ground nutmeg and ground coriander seeds3 sheets of square ready rolled puff pastry (this puts the "easy" in this recipe really)optional grated cheese to put on topoptional ground chili to put on top

Heat oil/butter in a pan, and chuck in nutmeg and pepper with leeks. Cook on medium until leek starts to go slightly translucent, then add carrots and cook until carrots soften a little but retain a decent firmness.

Preheat Oven to 200C or 400F.

While veges are cooking, grease 12 muffin tins with butter and cut each pastry sheet into 4 quarters. Carefully ease each square into a muffin holder. Put a 1Tbs dob of cream cheese at the bottom, then heap in some carrot and leek. top with a little grated cheese if you want. Repeat until all 12 are filled.

Throw in the oven on the centre rack for about 20-30 minutes until the tops are golden. A little chili goes a long way...

Ciabatta lasagne Ok, so we didn't actually use ciabatta, we used an artisan bread loaf. But wow, did it work well. This is

adapted from Dr Oetker's No.1 Kochen kann jeder recipe book. It's German, I've no idea what it's called in

English, but we were inspired to make the creamy vege bake from this book too. It's pretty cool actually,

everything in it is simple and then you can sort of let your imagination run away with you a bit (sort of like it

did for this recipe) :P

This ended up being pretty easy, and if you make the bread, it's not even very expensive. It ended up being

our dinner just on its own.

Ciabatta lasagneserves 4-5

1 loaf yesterday's ciabatta, crusty/chewy/dense bread, sliced thinly (sandwich slice)3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped finely2 Tbs capersdrizzlings of olive oil2x400g cans chopped tomato (or buy whole and chop them yourself)3-5 sundried tomatoes, sliced finely2 tsp dried basil1 Tbs red wine vinegar (optional) 2-3 Tbs tomato paste or sauce1/2 an onion, chopped 1-2 cups grated cheese of your choiceoptional dollops of cream cheesefresh ground black pepper

Preheat grill to 200C (400F)

Arrange the slices of bread on a single layer on a large baking tray, and scatter garlic and capers over. Drizzle with olive oil. Stick in oven on top tray and grill until the bread is golden. While grilling, mix the tomatoes, basil, vinegar, paste, and onion in a large bowl.

Once the bread is done, switch your oven over to conventional bake and preheat to 180C (375C).

Transfer half the bread slices to a large roasting dish, arranging them all on one layer. Pour over half the tomato mixture. Scatter half the grated cheese evenly over. Repeat, using up all your ingredients. Don't forget to put the capers in too!

Finish by putting small dollops of cream cheese over. Stick in the oven for half an hour on the topmost shelf, until the cheese is melted and lightly golden.

Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper when serving.

Creamy vegetable bake Ok, so this may not be the lowest-in-fat one we've come up with but it sure is goooood, and a wonderful way

to flavour your veges. It has the added bonus of being able to act as a one-roasting-dish dinner, complete

with carbs and protein.

Creamy vege bakeserves 4-5

2 or 3 potatoes, chopped into one inch cubes

1 broccoli head chopped into medium sized florets2 carrots, cut into thick stickssome whole baby green beans (fresh or frozen)sea salt to taste

250ml cream (300ml will work too if this is easier)approx 2 tsp ground nutmegapprox 1/2 tsp pinch of ground coriander seedpinch saltfreshly ground black pepper

2/3 c grated cheeses (a mix of cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan is all good)

Preheat oven to 180C (375F)

Boil potatoes until a fork slides easily into a chunk (but doesn't crumble). While the potatoes are cooking, boil 2cm of water with the salt on medium heat in a deep frying pan or saucepan, and scatter the broccoli and carrots in. Cover, and let cook for about 1 minute. When the broccoli starts to change to a more bright green, add the beans. Cook uncovered for a minute, and immediately remove from heat. Scatter in a large, relatively deep roasting dish. Scatter potatoes over.

Whisk cream, nutmeg, coriander seed, salt and pepper, and pour over veges in roasting dish. Top with grated cheese, and stick in a hot oven for about 30 minutes.

Potato onion fritlette (a cross between a frittata and omelette) This is the stuff hungry lunches calls for! I'm going to attempt doing one for the flat at some later stage in the

hugeness frying pan, but for this one-two person one I just used a 24cm non stick pan.

Before you suck your tummy in and ready yourself for some sort of cream-overloadedness (that will be the

next post!) do not fear! This only had 2 eggs in it with a bit of water to stick it all together.

Nom a chive.

Potato and onion fritletteserves one, or two as a side

1 small/medium potato, chopped into 5mm cubes1/2 onion, choppedpinch cayennepinch oreganodash of oila shaking of garlic salt

2 eggs

approx 2Tbs waterfreshly ground black pepperpinch cayenne

Heat oil on medium in a very non stick fry pan (approx 24cm wide). Shake in herbs and spices. When oil is hot, add potatoes, and let sit for 5 minutes. Shake the pan and add onions. Let cook for a further 5 minutes. Shake and flip, then cover and let cook for a further 5 minutes on a lower heat. While cooking, whisk eggs and water together. Keep cooking and flipping until onions and potatoes are golden brown. When they are, pour eggs over. The eggs should cover everything without holes in the pan. Cover, and leave for 2-5 minutes. Once the bottom is golden, cut the fritlette with your fish slice into quarters, and flip. Cover and cook for a minute or two until golden. Plate, and sprinkle cayenne and pepper over. Garnish with freshly cut chives.

Classy, erm, student fare... Baked beans on toast in a pie! (sort of) What do all students do when they have very little in the fridge? Beans on toast. Clare and I would not stoop

to this level though (*cough*) so Clare came up with the ingenius idea of layering bread, cheese, and beans

in a pie. CLARE IS A GENIUS.

Now, despite the garlic not being cooked well enough (yes, so my fault, but will we get sick? No!), this was

one hell of a ten minute meal!

Baked beans and toast pieserves 3

2x400g baked beans3 cloves of garlic, minced very VERY finely, or 1tsp garlic powdergrated cheese to your liking (at least 50g I reckon)8-10 slices old bread, quartered into trianglespinch cayenne or chili powder

freshly ground black pepperoptional paprika

Pour baked beans into a medium saucepan and mix in garlic powder and cayenne well, heating to medium. Add a smidgen of water to the pot. Bring to a gentle bubbling simmer.

Preheat your oven to 200C or 400C on a grill setting.

Meanwhile, grease a deep roasting/casserole dish (approx 30cm x 15cm), and layer the bottom with 1/3 of the bread. Pour half the baked beans (still piping hot) onto the bread and spread out. Arrange grated cheese as a layer. Arrange another third of the bread quarters in a single layer. Pour over the rest of the beans. Arrange more grated cheese, then the last of the bread, then the last of the grated cheese. Lastly sprinkle a pinch of paprika on top with some ground pepper. You want to do this as quickly as possible or the beans will go warm.

Chuck in your oven on the middle rack and leave in there until the cheese is golden brown. If the beans aren't hot, you can leave the pie in on a bake setting.

Blackened Salmon that's still "tender as" Ok, so I couldn't wait to post this salmon because... omg students can afford to eat salmon! We bought about

400g to go between 4 people, which cost about $9 and this was nice salmon from Akaroa Salmon here in

NZ. This is a really really easy salmon dish, and quite weird I suppose, but fabulous! Admittedly it was

inspired by my Dad, who is our family fish cook (not that this is always a good thing).

We did ours on a bed of garlic couscous (recipe included) with steamed broccoli, leeks, and frozen veges.

Yes, we cheated a little, but then again it did only take Clare and I about 20 minutes all up. Not bad, I hear

you thinking. I agree! The salmon is improved with at least half an hour of marinating though, and could

probably be marinated half the day is you can manage it.

Blackened Salmonserves 4 (although they are small pieces, I find it goes a long way, but that's because I'm not a regular

meat/fish eater. Just up the salmon amount if you feel like larger than life servings)

about 400-450g raw salmon fillet (Steaks might work too), chopped into 4 pieces and scaled.

approx 1 Tbs dark soy sauce

approx 1/3 c red wine

approx 2 tsp ground ginger or 3 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1 spring onion, sliced thinly

approx 1tsp rock salt

lots of freshly ground black pepper

optional: 1/2 tsp cayenne or ground chili sprinkled on top

Rub the salt and ginger into the salmon flesh. In a shallow dish large enough to fit the salmon in one layer,

pour the wine, soy sauce, and half the chopped spring onion in. Mix, and place salmon fleshy side down in

the marinade/sauce, and brush the tops with the sauce. Grind pepper over the fish and into the sauce. top

with a bit more rock salt. Leave to marinade for half an hour up to half a day. Don't throw away the marinade.

When ready, heat a non-stick pan on medium until the pan is hot. If you love your pan too much, drip the

tiniest amount of oil ever in. When the pan is hot, pick up the salmon and place on the pan skin side down.

The salmon should immediately shrink and bunch up a bit - if not your pan isn't hot enough, but don't stress

too much. Let the salmon cook until the bottom 1/4 of the salmon is pale pink (approx 3-5 minutes). Pour in

the rest of the marinade sauce.

Let the salmon cook for another minute or so. Flip one over - if the edges are blackish and have given the

bottom a thick solid "border," the rest is ready to be flipped. Leave to cook until the sauce reduces pretty

much completely. The bottom (flesh side) should be well darkened. If you're unsure the middle is cooked,

break the thickest piece in half. It should be cooked but not flaky in the middle, so it's still tender.

Scoop up onto a plate and serve with the rest of that spring onion as garnish. Sprinkle with cayenne or chili if

desired.

Roast Garlic and butter cous cousserves 4

2 c cous cous

2 c chicken or vege stock, boiling temp (ok, just under is fine)

4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

40g butter

Put cous cous in a largeish bowl, an pour very hot stock over. Cover with a plastic bag immediately. It should

be covered about 2-3 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a large pan on medium and melt the butter. Put garlic in and cook until garlic starts to go

golden on the edges. Loosen cooked couscous with a fork and add to the pan. Mix thoroughly and serve.

Hearty Vegetable & Tofu Stew Being back at Uni means one-pot dinners are my new best...erm, dinners. We're actually having salmon

tonight though so the blog won't have the tagline "students eating salmon" in vain for much longer! It's nice to

let students know that eating nice food doesn't have to cost as much as they thought.

Anyway, back to the stew! The great thing about all vege stews is that you don't have to worry about whether

the meat is cooked while your vegetables are already cooked. Tofu isn't nearly as worrying, you can cook it in

this stew for ages and it'll be great. I'd overcook rather than under cook though because then the tofu is

actually flavourful.

Our flat is finally noticing the expensiveness of food though, and so we got all the cheapest vegetables (apart

from the mushrooms, but they were on special) to make this meal really affordable.

We used the second half of our Artisan Bread dough to make this rosemary loaf. Basically I got a sprig of

rosemary from outside, smooshed it with our cleaver into some rock salt, and pressed it into the bread. When

cutting I peeled off the rosemary, but it did actually perform a function of splitting the loaf so we had perfect

sized slice-halves to dip into our stew. The rest of the flat had a beef stew but I don't know what went into

that :P

Vege and Tofu Stewserves 2 starving sailors or 3 as a light (hah!) dinner.

1-2 hours cooking time.

2 medium to large potatoes skin on (1 chopped into 1cm cubes, the other diced into 2cm cubes)1/2 onion, chopped4-5 large cloves garlic, smashed and chopped2 c vege stock, hotsplash of oil1 large carrot, cut diagonally then cut in half (so you get 3D crescents) 1 bay leaf, torn into 2-3 piecespinch mixed herbsapprox 2 tsp marmite , vegemite or "our mate." I used the NZ marmite. approx 1 Tbs dark soy sauce (or equivalent)approx 2 Tbs white wine vinegar6-7 white button mushrooms, halved (swiss browns are fine too)approx 75g very firm tofu, chopped into 1cm cubesoptional: 1/4 tsp ground chili1/4 c peas, defrostedfreshly ground black peppermaybe some salt (depends on stock)extra water

Splash oil in a medium sized pot, heat to medium. Pour all the potatoes in with the mixed herb and bay leaf. When they start sizzling, stir and pour in just enough stock to cover the potatoes half way. Bring to the boil, and stir. From now on, you need to make sure there's always just enough stock (or water once you've added the stock) in there to stop sticking at the bottom of the pan. Now add the onions, cover and let simmer for about 2 minutes. Add garlic and carrots, stock if needed, and cover. Reduce heat to the lowest setting possible and let simmer for another 5 minutes. Now mix the marmite into the remaining stock, and pour it all in, along with soy sauce. If you've run out of stock, mix marmite with water. Cover, and let simmer for about 10-20 minutes.

Prod the carrots with a fork - once a fork slides in quite easily (not too easily), add the mushroom halves and tofu, stir and pour in the white wine vinegar. Mix in, then sprinkle chili over and mix again. The smaller its of potato should have started to break and provide a sort of mushy base at this point. If not, don't worry, they will eventually. Cover and let simmer for a further 10 or so minutes.

Once uncovered, all the vegetables should be thoroughly cooked (a fork will easily slide into the

carrot, and the mushrooms will have gone sort of translucent. If not, keep cooking. Now you may add the peas (I overcooked them, but you shouldn't!), mix through and cover for a minute.

Uncover, and taste. Actually, tasting throughout is always good, but definitely now is good - decide if it's salty enough for you, add salt if not. Serving time!

Serve with sprigs of fresh rosemary to garnish and freshly ground black pepper. Crusty bread goes well with this meal, as do roast potatoes.

Pure winter - Potato and Leek Soup Clare and I have decided we're getting a slow cooker (she's just made stew in her parents' one, which I will

photograph along with my vege version for the next post).

Now let me just say, soup is the best ever invent-something-and-pray-it-turns-out things, along with stew. But

I do have to say, Straight From The Farm inspired the base stuff for a good soup.

Before I declare this soup a work of sheer brilliance, it didn't necessarily go down amazingly well with Clare

and Pip. Clare thought this might be because of the stock we used (which was vege), so you could try using

chicken stock, but I thought it was delish.

The bread was Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes a Day stuff made into rolls, then torn open to use as dippers. The

soup is really much better with the rolls, so I highly recommend making some - it's so easy and cheap and

doesn't require much effort. OMG. Bread without too much effort. If you really can't be arsed, get some

decent Vienna or something fresh, crusty, and chewy.

Potato and Leek Soupserves 5-6

1 youngish leek, sliced

6-8 potatoes, chopped into 1cm chunks

2 L vege or chicken stock (hot!)

1 onion, chopped finely

3-4 garlic cloves

splatter of white wine

lots of freshly ground black pepper

dash of garam masala (yes, we like this stuff)

splash of cream

3-4 Tbs butter, or to your discretion

pinch cayenne pepper or chili

pinch mixed herbs

possibly some salt (depending how salty your stock is)

With slow cooker:

Put everything in a slow cooker 5 or 6 hours before you want it ready, and stir. Give the soup a mix every half

hour or so if you can. Serve when potatoes fall apart at a prod.

With pot on an element:

Put everything in a pot and stir, heating on medium until it starts to simmer. Turn heat to the lowest setting

possible and stir every 5 minutes for about an hour or until the potatoes fall apart when you prod them.

Vegetastic dinner So, kids/flatmates aren't eating their greens? Tsk tsk tsk. Well, how about only having delicious vegetables

on their plate?! If you're a meat eating flat/family most of the time, it's quite likely you will do your arteries and

colon a service by doing a vege based meal. Everyone often wonders what they can possibly do - I think

meat has become the star of most meals, due to a lack of willingness to flavour vegetables well.

Anyway, this meal is cheap, yummy, and easy. It will take about an hour of cooking time, but none of this

involves touching icky stuff and it's a breeze to clean up! (Ok, assuming you re-use your roasting pans like

we do... if you don't, try it. The oil usually lasts for a few roasts, just scrape out any bits and bobs).

By the way...

I'm looking for collaborators/contributors/feedback/your random stuff!

If you thought about starting your own blog but don't feel like you have enough time to contribute regularly,

contact me! I can post all your stuff (with credit obviously) as long as it is photographed relatively well, and

whatever you post can be cooked (taking both cost and time into account) by students. If you are a student

that's even better! Email me at pale.rain[at]gmail.com if you're interested, preferably with some sort of

proposal. <3

Ok, so I'm not a five star restaurant chef. What I do know is that I like things to be healthy, yummy, and easy.

This meal was a combination of roast veges and a steamed/stir fried brocolli/leek ensemble. For protein, I

sprinkled some roasted pine nuts over the whole thing.

Roasting potatoes(yes, there is some obvious stuff)

Herbs and spices we've tried (all with a serious glug of oil)

Mixed herb/garlic salt comboGaram Masala, Cumin, salt and Cayenne Pepper (chilli would work too)You want proper roasting potatoes - nadines or apparently russet potatoes are good. Chop into cubes no larger than 1inch. ALWAYS leave the skin on!

Mix all the stuff up in a large roasting pan, all the stuff on one layer, and chuck in a hot oven - at least 200C or 400F. Shake after 10 minutes, and every 20 minutes after that. Should be ready in 45 minutes to an hour. Test with a fork and your appetite.

Roasting carrots(it doesn't get easier)

Carrots, oil, sprinkle of salt. Cut carrots into strips (about 1cm wide by 5cm long). Put in oil in roasting dish in single layer. Bake the same way you would with the potatoes.

Yummy Broccoli

Few people do broccoli justice in my opinion. Usually this is because it gets boiled to death, or if not, boiled to the point of rasping unconsciousness. My Dad told me a great method to get broccoli not too chompy get get that pretty seared look (and taste). It really does the nuttiness of the broccoli justice. It's easy to do this once you've done it before - and so worth it!

Dash of oil in a frying pan/wok (only use proper woks if you're using gas, unless it's a "flat bottomed wok"). Sprinkle of salt. Heat up to medium. Chuck in broccoli florets (the flower bits should be walnut sized) which have been rinsed in cold water. Don't worry if the pan isn't hot yet - but when things start hissing/sizzling, leave the pan to sizzle for a minute. Then shake the pan slightly or "flip" the broccoli. It should have slight brown bits. If not, turn your heat up a notch and leave for another minute. Once you've got some splotches of golden brown, and you can smell the broccoli, pour a little bit of water into the pan and cover immediately. Turn heat back to medium. Leave for a minute or two. When uncovered, lots of steam should burst forth, and the broccoli stalks should be going a bright green. At this stage, it's good to add a dash of sesame oil (brings out the nuttyness) or failing that some toasted sesame seeds, and just let the broccoli cook for another minute or so until it is tender. It may require another "steam" by covering with a dash of water if you want them softer.

The leek/broccoli ensemble in the picture: add sliced leeks before the first covering. With younger leeks, you can use the green part fine as long as it's well washed. You can tell if a leek is young when the green is more deep green rather than starting to go grey, and is less "woody" at the ends. If unsure, don't use too much green stuff.

Pine nuts or cashews or even peanuts if you're really poor work well roasted on most stir fried veges. While the flavours in this dinner don't technically "mesh," it's still a lovely combination and to be honest, it was a nice variety. Although as a warning it did use two roasting dishes and a non stick frypan so washing wise it could be made easier... but the next post is a one-pot meal.

Sort-of-dumplings made vegan Dumplings are usually made for celebrations or family get togethers. It's lots of fun when everyone joins in to

lend a hand in the process, and usually everyone has their own specialty. My Mother for example rolls out

the cases perfectly, whereas my dad is best at stuffing as much filling as possible in them, and then cooking

them. I've loved dumplings since I was little, but since I stopped eating meat, pork mince became the same

egg and chive filling every time. I felt like something different. I felt like mushrooms. Nom.

I (ok, my dad) pan fried them, but you can steam or boil them.

Two-mushroom dumplingsserves two for a filling dinner or three as lunch

If you want to make these, read the whole recipe first. Seriously. Also, get someone to help - this is not a recipe you want to make on your own unless you're buying your own pre-made cases. Also you'll realise this is NOT the recipe for formal dining - it's casual, you eat as you make more, and it's all about enjoying the process and the final result.

Filling1 medium onion, finely chopped2-3 large cloves of garlic1 tsp ginger6 or 7 shiitake mushrooms, soaked overnight*1 cup finely chopped mushrooms (well packed)75g finely chopped firm tofu1/2 finely chopped dried chili or 1 tsp chili sauce (not sweet chili though)1 tsp sea saltlots of freshly ground black pepper1 tbs oil

either 2 Tbs garam masala or 3-4 Tbs soy sauce (I did both and this worked too, but it did taste a little...different.)

1 Tbs water** and 1 Tbs cornflour

* Soak in as little water as possible, and add a bit the next morning if not enough so that there is

about 1-2 Tbs residual water.

In a small to medium saucepan on medium heat, cook the onions, garlic and ginger with garam masala if using in the oil until the onions start getting tender. Add everything else apart from the shiitake, and turn off the heat. Mix well, then once warm add the shiitake and mix well again.

** Mix the residual shiitake mushroom soaking water with the cornflour and mix thoroughly, then immediately pour into filling mix and stir again. This mix should help everything stick together a wee bit.

Cases - dough

Getting the right consistency of dough is quite important so if you've never made dumplings, try getting dumpling cases at an asian supermarket.

approx 2cups bread flour ("high grade" or high gluten) plus 1cup extra for dusting etcapprox 1 cup water - see below1 tsp salt

First, look at how much mixture you have - this is how much dough you should aim to make. Put flour in a large bowl and run the water over it, mixing as you go. You want the dough to end up the texture of a stress ball - if you prod it, your finger shouldn't sink in with too much ease, but the dough should not reject flour or spring back to a ball immediately after you push down a pinch of it. Basically you need to add flour and water at your discretion. Err on the side of wetness because when rolling out the cases you use a lot of flour. Stop mixing once it really starts to resist - should be after abut 5 minutes of mixing. Let it rest for about 10 minutes.

During the dough's rest, prepare a kitchen bench (or dining table if you're making lots with family) by cleaning it thoroughly, and sprinkling a large chopping board sized part of your bench with flour. Keep some flour on hand for more dusting. Also set up a large chopping board by sprinkling it with flour (less is more - this is just to stop the raw dumplings sticking to the chopping board). If you still have time, set up the largest frypan you own by pouring about 1-2Tbs of oil and spreading it out evenly. We had a large electric pizza pan. Make sure it has a fitting cover, preferably glass. If steaming, prepare your racks etc. If boiling, just get out a large wok or saucepan.

Ok, now get that dough out and start kneading - if you're making with someone else, take turns! The dough can never use enough kneading apparently - but 5-10 minutes should do fine. Let it rest for a minute again. Then stretch it out into a snake, about an inch (approx 3-4cm) in diameter. Chop into pieces approximately 2cm (so just under an inch) thick. press down each bit into a flat disc.

Now get out a small rolling pin (or wine bottle) and roll the discs out until they're about 1mm thick. Then (this

is if you're not skilled enough to do it while rolling out, a process i won't even get started on) roll just the outer

edge of the disc so that it's thinner than the middle bit of the case. This is optional if you're short on time, but

it makes better dumplings. Also if possible leave one side more "floured up" than the other - the floury side

should be on the outside.

Just as a tip, get the other person to start filling as you roll out the cases. This will prevent them drying out. The amount of filling should be directly proportional to the size of your dough blobs (refer to first pic in "making cases").

To fill, blob some filling into the center of the case. Then simply pinch opposite corners and seal the dumpling, trying to squeeze out as much air as possible. You can do some pretty folds if you want but it doesn't make it taste better or anything!

Put ready filled dumplings on that floured chopping board. Once you have about 20 or so they're ready to cook. Arrange them like the rays of the sun on your pan or steaming tray.

Pan fry: turn heat to medium (don't worry too much about making sure the pan is hot before adding the dumplings). Brush off excess flour from the bottoms if there is any. Cook until the bottoms start going golden. Then pour 1/4 cup water into the center, and cover. Once the dumplings start puffing up, and the cases start going translucent, uncover and cook until the pan is dry again or until the bottoms are golden brown.

If boiling, fill your saucepan/wok halfway with boiled water and heat until it starts rapidly boiling. Add dumplings. Once they float to the top, add about 1/4c cold water to stop boiling. Let rapidly boil again, then add cold water again. Let rapidly boil, and then remove. These may stick together a bit, if you don't want them to arrange them on a plate.

If steaming, arrange dumplings on steaming tray and once the water gets to a rapid boil, cover and let rest 10-15 minutes. Serve on plates.

Now, dumplings are not complete without a good sauce! These are some suggested ingredients, any combination will work.

liquids: malt or white vinegar, soy sauce and oil. (twice as much vinegar as soy sauce)

spices/herbs:chives/spring onion OR garlic OR ginger (chopped finely) but not all threechives and ginger (chopped finely) freshly ground black peppersalt

Drizzle over your dumplings and they're ready to eat!

French toast with a kick - Lunch in 5

It's still freezing at the flat, so I added some cayenne and garlic salt to my french toast for lunch.

Finally, a chance for me to photograph in natural light :P I haven't mastered my speedlight yet, which is why

my photos look a bit strange sometimes.

Hot hot french toast.Serves one or two as a snack

4x1cm slices crusty bread (I used an artisan bread in five minutes a day loaf I had made the night before. When I say crusty it just needs to be dense bread - chewy rather than crumby)

1 egg, beatensplash of milkabout 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli powderabout 1/2 tsp garlic salt

optional: freshly ground black pepper, spring onions sliced into thin strips.

Beat last four ingredients together. Heat a VERY non stick pan (you can add oil, but it's not wanting) on medium heat. Dip the bread into the egg mix, coating both sides. Don't let the bread sit in the egg. Let the bread cook for a minute on each side or until golden/brown.

Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and top with spring onions. Eaaats. Preferably with juice of some kind... nom.

"Double tomato" & basil pesto couscous As far as fast meals go - this is fast. Faster than walking down to grab some fish and chips. Yep. Granted,

I've seen nicer looking meals, but it's one of those things that taste far better than it looks. Granted,

veganyumyum's version looks far nicer, but I didn't have any fresh basil on me (it's winter where I am, in fact,

it's snowing right now).

Easier than pie "double tomato" & basil pesto couscousServes Two - recipe easily doubled

1 cup cous cous1 cup boiling water1/2 t salt

1/2 cup finely sliced sundried tomatoes in oil. (if not in oil, soak in oil overnight preferably with a smashed garlic clove and some capers, but don't put these in the final dish)approx 100g basil pesto (I used a milder one with cashews and parmesan, which was a bit more dip. If you're using really intense basil pesto maybe only use 70g).10-12 cherry tomatoes, halveddash of oil

splash of balsamic vinegarapprox 2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted*

* I "toasted" them in the microwave - it took about 2mins on high but try less time first. Otherwise toast them in a pan. Remember that they burn very quickly once golden.

Cook the cous cous by pouring all of it in a bowl that will fit twice as much as cous cous in it, and pour over boiled water (it must be very recently boiled) and salt. Stir quickly and immediately cover with a plastic bag nice and tightly. Let sit for 3 minutes, no less.

While the cous cous is cooking, heat a dash of oil on medium in a large pan and add both kinds of tomatoes (although you can put the cherry tomatoes in last if you want them raw in this). Fluff the cous cous once it's cooked - it should have soaked up all the water - and put in the pan with tomatoes. Add the basil pesto. Now mix and mix until everything is incorporated and there are hardly

any lumps of non-basil-y cous cous left.

Serve time! Top with pine nuts, drible over some balsamic vinegar, and enjoy hot or warm. See? Easy as.

Better-than-a-hot-soup winter warmer dinner! So Clare and I (that's my flatmate and best friend) were freezing after the snow and sleet, especially with the

heater only just being turned on, and we decided to do something different other than our mixed herb

potatoes. So we tried a spicy blend of goodness, which turned out amazing with roasted carrots and for me,

caramelised onions with cumin and tofu.

With no salmon (that was the original plan, foisted by the blizzard that was), Clare and the others decided to

do chicken nuggets for their protein. Man. Oh. Man. Am I glad I did the tofu or what?! It ended up going

perfectly with the potatoes and the sweetness of the carrots and onions with the spice... Far out. I'm normally

a total wimp when it comes to spices, and this meal made me glad it was freezing everywhere but inside me!

Ahem.

Spiced potatoes, caremelised tofu and roasted carrots.Serves four (easily halved recipe)

Roasting potatoes, chopped into 3cm chunks (enough for four, depends on your appetites really) - apparently Russet are good for Americans, but nadines in New Zealand taste amazing with this.

about 2 tsp garam masala spice mix (maybe more...>.> as long as it coats the potatoes enough so that they look quite obviously textured now)

approx 1 tsp ground cuminapprox 2 tsp cayenne pepper (or chilli powder) depending on your tolerance for spices - this would

be "medium"approx 2 tsp garlic salt, or some garlic powder and salt.A good glug of oil to coat the potatoes...and then some!

2-3 medium carrots, cut into 1cm thick strips (make sure length wise they can fit into someone's

mouth...)dash of oil to coat the carrots

pinch salt

Preheat your oven to 200C or 400F. Arrange one rack on the second shelf up from the bottom, and another rack one shelf above that (or two if your roasting pans are too high). Mix the potatoes with their spices and oil and toss well to coat. Chuck in a large roasting pan so that they're all on one

layer. Put on the bottom shelf. Shake the roasting pan so that potatoes don't stick after 10 minutes, then every 15 minutes. Use a fish slice to flip the potatoes a bit to encourage even cooking.

Toss carrots in a separate roasting dish with oil to coat. They can now join the potatoes in the oven, on the top rack. Shake these when you shake the potatoes.

After about 35 minutes in the oven, you can start cooking the tofu...

500g - 600g firm tofu, sliced into 3mm rectangles or squares. (Preferably soak in some lightly salted water the night before)2-3 Tbs ground cumin

3 yellow/brown onions, diced or sliced1 Tbs dark soy sauce (or 1 1/2 Tbs if it's just normal)

Dash of oil

Heat the oil in a non-stick frypan on medium, and add onions and cumin. Cook for one or two minutes until the onions start to go translucent, then pour in the soy sauce and mix so that the

onions take on an even brown. Immediately add the tofu and mix to coat it in the brown sauce - then try to get as much of it as possible to have contact with the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat slightly,

then cover and leave for 2 minutes.

Uncover, flip the tofu slices as much as possible, again then get as much contact with the bottom of the pan as possible. Cover again, and leave for 2 minutes. Repeat this until the tofu edges start

taking on a darker brown than the center of the tofu, and "bubbles" appear on the surface of the tofu.

Plate the tofu and onions. They may have cooled by the time the potatoes come out, but they still taste damn good!

The potatoes should be done in about 45 mins to an hour (total). Test by stabbing a large chunk with a fork or knife, and preferably just eat it :P. The carrots will also be done by this time. Once cooked to

your liking, pour potatoes and carrots over the tofu and onions. Serve while the potatoes are hot.

sweet, spicy...sexy.

Note: after photographing I added some boiled peas and corn. These tasted good with the rest of this meal - they gave the meal a bit more moistness, but they're really optional depending on how much you feel like "greens."

My mother's smoky spiced chicken Ok, so I don't eat chicken (I'm an "aquatarian"), but this is one of the few chicken recipes (ok, the only one)

that I really wish would magically one day be declared a vegetable and therefore I could enjoy it once (or

many more times) again.

Smoky spiced chicken drums

12-14 medium/large chicken drumsticks (or equivalent in chicken nibbles - there's a mixture in the photo) 1 tsp finely chopped ginger2 Tbs finely chopped garlic1/2 tsp sichuan/szechuan pepper husks, smashed or ground (double if you like your chicken spicy)1/2 tsp very finely chopped star anisesalt to taste (around 1 & 1/2 tsp, less if your soy sauce is very salty)ground pepper to taste (but lots is goooood)dried chillis, crushed - to taste (1-2 crushed chilis will create a mild spice)Soy Sauce and Char Siu sauce* (approx 3 Tbs char siu)3 Tbs red or white cooking wine Optional: white or black sesame seeds to sprinkle on top*My mum never measures anything, so just use 2 parts soy sauce 1 part char siu until the soy sauce thickens. The char siu is sort of gummy and you want to use the soy sauce to "dilute" it to a liquidy sryup. Char Siu is available at most asian supermarkets, or the asian section - my Mum likes using Lee Kum Kee.

Smoosh the char siu together with the soy sauce until it reaches the right consistency. You want enough to

leave 1-2mm of sauce on the bottom of a large roasting pan (glass beats metal in terms of cleaning). Now

add the wine, followed by the ginger, garlic, salt, both peppers, and chilli. and mix well (this can all be done in

the baking dish). It should smell fragrant as hell.

Prepare the chicken drumsticks by slashing two or three lines across the meatiest part of the chicken leg. Arrange them in the sauce in the dish, turning each one so that it is nicely covered in sauce (and chilli and garlic etc). There should still be a little bit of sauce covering the bottom of the pan, if there doesn't seem to be much sauce, dribble some water in.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using, and chuck in the oven (doesn't need to be preheated, but either way is

fine) on the bottom shelf. Turn up to 170C or 340F, and leave for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, move the chicken to the top shelf in the oven, and bake for another 20-25 minutes, checking every 5 minutes that the skin doesn't burn (you want it browned, but not all black). Cool for about 15 minutes before eating, because they're hot! These keep ok in the fridge for a day or two but the skin won't be crispy and the meat won't be as moist when you re-heat it.

Two cheese spinach mini pies Satisfies any non-vegetarian (and vegetarian) - even the boys - and gets you full of delicious spinachy

goodness!

...Made into a meal by steaming up some veges and roasting some herbed potatoes.

They're very easy (especially if you cheat like me and use pre-rolled pastry..!) and relatively quick, making

them that much more fun to make!

Two cheese spinach feta mini pies

Makes 10, or 12 with onion.

Filling1 x 200g packet of feta cheese (preferably one that is creamy and crumbles easily)1c grated cheese (any that you think might work, I usually just use mild cheddar or edam)

approx 190g frozen loose spinach OR equivalent fresh, de-stemmed, washed and chopped finely.Garlic salt or powder to taste (I'd use powder, as the feta lends enough salt)Feel free to add a finely chopped onion, this will bulk the filling up

Pastry3 (really 2.5) sheets of pre-rolled savoury short pastry sheets 25cmx25cm approx 2mm thick, defrosted. Use your favourite savoury short pastry recipe if you wish.2T Melted butter to brush the pies with (optional if you feel naughty about the fat content)

Heat the spinach in a pan to defrost, and change heat to very low once it has. Leave to evaporate the water off (this will leave the nutrients, juice, and flavour in the spinach. Lots of recipes tell you to squeeze the water out but then you end up with tasteless stringy green bits in your pie. Who'd want that?! remember to prod it every now and then so bits of it don't overcook. You want to wilt it, not anything further.

While the spinach is drying, crumble the feta finely and combine with other filling ingredients. Add spinach and mix well. Don't worry if the mixture goes a bit gooey - in fact this will be make it easier to pick bits up.

Cut each pastry sheet into four squares. Add a dollop (the volume of about two walnuts) of filling, and pick up two opposite corners of the small square and pinch. Repeat with other two corners. Half of the 3rd pastry sheet can be reserved if only making 10.

They should be quite cute. Otherwise you're doing it wrong! Just kidding :)Place on a greased baking tray, and brush the top with butter. (By the way, if you've ever seen a silicone pastry brush, GET ONE. They are so easy to clean and use). Once you finish your first one, you can preheat your oven to 200C or 390F Repeat pie making until filling and pastry is used up.

Chuck in the oven and bake for 10 minutes in the center of your oven, then rotate the tray around to get even bake-age, and bake for another 10 minutes. It may take longer depending on your oven. Let

cool on the tray for 10 minutes before eating.

If the pies leak juice everywhere when you bite into them, you may need to evaporate more water out of the spinach next time, or cook the onions on a low heat for longer to evaporate the water out of them.

So now what?! Well, these make great dinner party appetisers or 2-3 will do very well as a meat substitute for dinner, served with some potatoes and veges, or a fresh garden salad.

Humble beginnings As a student I've found (through the help of several amazingly wonderful food blogs and tastespotting) that

not being armed with money from full time work can place limits on what ends up on your plate for

dinner. That said, the communal budget that imposes itself on me and my flatmates often manages

to get us some pretty yummy (and sometimes even healthy) stuff.

I've decided I'm finally going to start putting some of our ventures (and modifications/replications

of other's recipes) out of the land of baked beans on toast (not that they're not great with cheese and

some cayenne pepper), and hopefully show the world that students do not have to live off

McDonalds and "boy chow" (although the boys in my flat would certainly be first in line if such a

thing existed. I think it already exists in the form of Up and Go).

I have photos still on my camera so I shall post tomorrow. Hopefully Uber is true to its name and

commenting will be easy peasy.