Rose Elliot’s New Complete Vegetarian. Rose Elliot
and freshly ground black pepper
2–4 tsp lemon juice
If you’re using dried lentils, cook them in plenty of water until they’re very tender, about 45–50 minutes, then drain. If using canned lentils, simply drain and rinse.
Wipe the mushrooms and chop them up fairly finely.
Heat the oil in a small saucepan and fry the mushrooms and garlic for 2–3 minutes, then remove them from the heat and mix in the lentils and parsley.
Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Chill before serving.
Lentil and tomato spread
Quick-cooking split red lentils are used for this spread. It tastes great in sandwiches with some raw onion, chutney or sliced tomato.
SERVES 4
125g (4oz) split red lentils
200ml (7fl oz) water
25g (1oz) butter, softened
1 tbsp tomato purée
a few drops of lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cook the lentils in the water for 20–30 minutes or until they’re tender and there’s no water left. Leave to cool.
Mash the butter, tomato purée, lemon juice and some salt and black pepper into the cooked lentils. Beat well with a spoon to make a smooth pâté.
VARIATION
Lentil and chive spread
Make this as described but leaving out the tomato purée and adding 1–2 tablespoons of chopped chives instead.
Lentil and parsley spread
Make as described, leaving out the tomato purée and adding 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley. One or two finely chopped spring onions go well in this, too.
Mushroom pâté
This flavoursome pâté makes an excellent starter. Try it with some croûtes or breadsticks.
SERVES 4
15g (oz) dried porcini mushrooms
450g (1lb) mushrooms
1 garlic clove, peeled
2–4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
25g (1oz) butter or 2 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a squeeze of lemon juice
TO SERVE
a little soured cream or crème fraîche
a sprinkling of paprika
sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
Rinse the porcini mushrooms thoroughly to get rid of any grit. Put them in a small bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 1 hour. Drain and reserve the liquid.
Put the soaked mushrooms and their liquid into a food processor with the ordinary mushrooms, the garlic and the parsley and whiz until everything is finely chopped. Alternatively, roughly slice the mushrooms, then put all the ingredients into a deep bowl and use an electric hand blender.
Heat the butter or oil in a large saucepan and add the mushroom mixture. Stir, then cook, uncovered, for 15–20 minutes or until all liquid has boiled away. Remove the pan from the heat and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Leave to cool. Serve on individual plates with a heaped teaspoon of soured cream or crème fraîche, a sprinkling of paprika and a sprig of parsley on each.
Stilton pâté with walnuts and port
This easy-to-make recipe is perfect at Christmas. Serve it as a starter on individual plates with watercress and a few fresh walnuts, or pile it into a bowl and serve with crackers. Note that the only type of port that is vegetarian is ‘crusted’, a very small category, named because of the ‘crust’ of sediment that forms in the bottle. It is intended to be a more economical alternative to Vintage or Late-bottled Vintage and is made from a blend of several harvests. The date on the label refers to when it was bottled.
SERVES 6
225g (8oz) Stilton cheese
350g (12oz) cream cheese
75g (3oz) butter, softened
3 tbsp ‘crusted’ port
50g (2oz) shelled walnuts, chopped
watercress, to garnish (optional)
crackers or breadsticks, to serve
Grate or crumble the Stilton, place in a bowl with the cream cheese and butter and mix well to a creamy consistency. Stir in the walnuts.
Either spoon the mixture into a small dish and smooth the top, or press it into a fat sausage shape and wrap it in a piece of foil, twisting the two ends like a cracker. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Cut the roll into slices to serve, garnished with watercress, or serve from the bowl, with crackers or breadsticks.
Tapenade v
This can be served as part of a selection of starters or dips, or as part of a tapas platter, perhaps with some crunchy salted almonds, celery sticks, radishes and spring onions. The better the olives, the better the flavour. You can use pitted ones if they look good, or buy them intact and pit them yourself (if you don’t have an olive pitter this is an arduous task, however).
SERVES 4–6
300g (11oz) green or black whole olives, or 225g (8oz) pitted olives
3 tbsp capers, drained, or rinsed and drained if preserved in salt
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, stalks removed
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste
a dash of Tabasco sauce (optional)
If using whole olives, remove the pits then purée with capers, garlic and parsley together with an electric hand blender or in a food processor.
Add the oil and blend well again to make a beautiful, thick mixture. Sharpen with a squeeze or two of lemon juice and perhaps a little dash of Tabasco for an extra kick, if you like.
Tzatziki
Creamy yet light and refreshing, this is great as a dip with pieces of pitta bread as part of a tapas selection, along with juicy black olives, stuffed vine leaves (see page xxx), some cherry tomatoes and any anything else you fancy.
SERVES 2–4
cucumber
salt
250g (9oz) thick full-fat Greek yoghurt
1 small garlic clove, crushed
freshly ground black pepper
tsp red or white wine vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint