Pinto Bean Chilli

by Carol

Substitutions:

All the spices I used were ground not fresh

I used 2 onions not 3

1 courgette not 2

Kidney beans not pinto beans

Rating: 9/10

Ok, so I used a few different things but my heart was in the right place. Firstly I would like to mention that this IS SO HOT. Hugh says to use 2 – 3 green chillies. I used 2 and I still can’t really feel my lips. Amy, why did you not mention this?! What size were the ones you used and how many?

Although it was hot I still think it was delicious. I usually use chilli powder or dried chillies in Chilli and the proper ones gave it a really fresh taste that went really well with all the veg in it. The courgettes were delicious because courgettes are delicious and the red wine was an amazing addition. It made the sauce go really dark and thick. The kidney beans worked really well but I think there could have done with being a few more in there. So I am determined to track down the pintos and ADD them to the kidneys. Oh yeah. I think it would make it a bit stodgier which can only be a good thing.

Would I make this again? Well, it wasn’t warm and comforting like my usual Chilli recipe (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3228/chilli-con-carne which I have veggified by swapping meat for lentils) but it was more like a taste explosion in my face. And so yes, I would definitely make it again. That isn’t to say that the old faithful will be out the door but when I want a cocktail of herbs and spices and to not be able to feel my lips or tongue for a few hours I’ll go for this one.

We ate it with crème fraîche and it was definitely needed. So be warned.

Mushroom Risoniotto

by Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal spray for oil and butter (tragic, I know)
Weight Watchers creme fraiche for the proper stuff: actually very effective! Pleased.

Rating: 9

There are some things about "eating a plant-based diet" that I struggle with, and chief among them is the number of meals I make that make me earnestly wish for a Hazmat suit. I fucking hate chopping onions. Onions are out to get me. Every meal I make starts by slicing up the little twats and they get their revenge by napalming me so that I spend the rest of my kitchen time facially puffed and crying into the saucepan. I'll wipe a tear from my eye, and my eye will catch FIRE because in addition to chopping an onion I've also just minced a stupid chilli. Vegetables aren't as helpless as they pretend to be.

Enter Mushroom Risoniotto, a totally onion, chilli and even garlic-free recipe. Not even the mind-numbing repetition of making a standard risotto: all that interminable stirring that continues until you develop tennis elbow? Not here. This was so quick: fry some shrooms, boil up some pasta, mix together with some creme fraiche. In your FACE, rice! I don't need you any more.

There is no stock in this at all so I half expected it to be dry, and also a bit boring, due to having so few ingredients but it totally wasn't. It was delicious. And quick, and fairly cheap. And not hazardous to my face!

Man, this works on so many levels. I might end up making this once a week.

Puy Lentil and Beetroot Salad

by Amy

Substitutions: None

Rating: 7

Blech. This salad looks like the Bog of Eternal Stench. So not photogenic. But oh so charming in person.

What you are looking at is Stu's packed lunch for w/c 30th Jan. It has roasted beetroot in it, and soft goat's cheese, and lentils, and olive oil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. That's it! Well easy, and it tastes yum. Not in an "I suppose this is ok for hippy food" way. Literal yum. I just hope Stu's schoolfriends don't pick on him for having a hippy's lunch box.

Ribollita

by Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal Spray, blah blah

Rating: 3

Mmmm. Looks good right? I confess, if I hadn't been on a diet I wouldn't have given this the time of day. It's beans and cabbage spooned onto stale bread: this is one low-spec meal. Nevertheless, one side effect of sensory deprivation is lowered standards and so I started eyeing up the picture in the book with the saucer-eyes of the hungry.

This, despite the fact that even HUGH calls it peasant food. But peasant food from Italy! Well, that's different then. Italians know their food. I can only imagine this is because they spend half their day preparing it because that's how long this "store cupboard supper" took. I had to soak the beans overnight, then cook them for an hour and a half, and then boil them up for another HOUR with the rest of the soup ingredients.

To me this reeks of poor project management. Why not just put the beans in the soup raw and let all the ingredients cook at the same time? I know you're asking me to puree half of them before chucking them in but this is what hand blenders were invented for. This soup can easily be achieved in half the time. There you are, Italy: I've just doubled your productivity. I hope it helps your economy.

I think, had I wasted less time on this slop, I would be less critical of it because it really didn't taste bad. It was satisfying and warming and all those soupy things. I also learnt a brilliant instant garlic bread tip: just wipe your toast with a clove of garlic and give it a sniff. Do it! It will REEK. Couldn't believe how effective that was.

Bread aside though, what I have just consumed is basically cabbage water, and the last thing you want to be reminded of when you're on a calorie controlled diet is that you're eating the same food as Charlie Bucket did before he found the golden ticket. The only circumstances under which I'll make this again is if I'm really really skint.

New Potato Gnocchi

New Potato Gnocchi

By Carol (but mostly Ben)

Substitutions: We used normal potatoes instead of new potatoes

Rating: 7/10

This is our Hugh vs Good Food mash up. Hugh tells you to put the gnocchi with his tomato sauce or pesto but we’ve had our eye on this Good Food recipe for a while so we decided to use this tomato and red pepper sauce: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7192/gnocchi-and-tomato-bake

I know it is probably blasphemous to say so on here but the sauce was way better than the gnocchi. I’M SORRY HUGH. However, this may have been due to a small seasoning oversight on the part of Head Chef Ben tonight. (Basically he didn’t put the salt in the dough)

The gnocchi was still nice though and really easy to make. The recipe makes enough for 4 so we have leftovers (which we have now added salt to!) so that will make a super easy dinner next time. I think I would like to try it with Hugh’s sauce. Has anyone made that tomato sauce yet?! He says to use it in everything but I have just been using tinned tomatoes and basil.

I might make it again but not in a rush. If you really like gnocchi I would recommend it, as it is pretty cool to make your own, but if you’re not that bothered... well maybe don’t bother.  

Warm Salad of Mushrooms and Roasted Squash

by Amy

Substitions: 1 Cal spray instead of the ONE HUNDRED MILLILETRES of olive oil to roast the squash
Mixed leaves instead of the dreaded rocket


Rating: 7

I love butternut squash so much. I think it might be one of my favourite foods. Obviously not my literal favourite food, that would be ridiculous*, but of all the things I can eat with wild abandon without sinking into a pit of self-loathing, vomiting and/or breaking out in adult acne, BNS is right up there.

Squash happens to be having "a moment" in the world of vegetable fashion (yes, there are fashionable vegetables! Stop laughing) which means that to my delight there are LOADS of squash recipes in Veg Everyday. This is a warm salad--I'm not sure where warm salads came from but if in doubt, blame Ottolenghi--comprising basically of roasted squash, fried mushrooms and stilton on a bed of leaves with a balsamic dressing.

Proper easy it was. Not even that much chopping involved! This felt like a night off.

But what of the taste: Well, it was nice, because all the ingredients were nice. There was a balanced mix of sharpness and sweetness from the stilton, roast squash and balsamic, but the whole thing together was a bit, well... mushy. Some toasted nuts and/or seeds could have provided a nice contrasting crunch. 

Also the fried mushrooms just totally didn't feel right in a salad. It's like they'd arrived at the salad and were hanging out there just to be polite, but secretly they were despising the company of every other ingredient on the plate and pining for their fried egg mates.

Anyway. I might make this again but I'll be ringing the changes: ie some pumpkin seeds on top--and possibly raw baby button mushrooms? I am so boring.

* Milkshake

Kale and Onion Pizza with Spicy Merguez Chips

Kale and Onion Pizza 
by Carol

Substitutions: None

Rating: 8/10

The base: We followed the recipe for Hugh’s magic bread dough to make the base (as recommended) and it was so easy! You need a bit of time (2 hours) to let the dough rise, so you wouldn’t do it after work, but other than that the rest of it is very simple. However, the recipe tells you to make enough for 3 pizzas and freeze the rest so we did. Now we can have homemade pizza anytime! The base turned out really well. Nice and thin but not too crispy or oily.

The topping: It is delicious! There is no tomato sauce on the base which is weird for a pizza but Hugh says it’s to emphasis the usual flavour of the kale and it totally works. It’s not dry at all but I have no idea why! I would never have thought of using kale and onion as a pizza topping but it was really, really nice. We added the optional mushrooms on there too and they were great.

I would definitely make this again and would really recommend it! 

Spicy Merguez Oven Chips

Substitutions: Loads.

All the spices I used were ground and not seeds.

I didn’t use fennel seeds or caraway seeds at all

I used chilli powder instead of cayenne pepper

I didn’t make the yoghurt dip and just used mayo instead!

Rating: 6/10

They were nice but I don’t think all the million and one spices really added that much to the flavour. I have made wedges before and they were just as nice. At the start of the recipe Hugh says to boil the chips for 1 minute. 1 minute! I did it but I felt like a fool and I think I was. It was a total waste of time as the cooking time is 40 minutes anyway so this is plenty of time for a potato to soften.

I would make wedges again but I’m not sure I’d bother following this recipe.

Photos: Courtesy of Ben Smith

New Potato and Spinach Curry

by Amy

Substitutions: Well, this is supposed to be made with Swiss chard but spinach is a Hugh-approved variant. And I could only find spinach in Tesco, so spinach it was. Also, I cracked out the 1 Cal spray as usual, this curry was an oil-free zone.

Omissions: Mustard seeds. Didn't have em, wasn't about to buy em for the sake of a quarter teaspoon.


Rating: 6

I just don't know what to make of this curry. It started out in the usual way, you know the one, that challenges all four corners of your spice rack and has you pounding together fresh grated ginger, chilli and garlic until you think "This is a MAGIC POTION! With this concoction I can make FIRE!"

When you eat it, you wonder whether a tablespoon of Lidl curry powder wouldn't have tasted identical--but I am still pounding the garlic, and then I'm adding water and potatoes and eventually watching several mountains of spinach wilt into mulch.

So far, so currylike. Then I have to stir tomato puree into a pot of yogurt and mix it into the pan with the veg. It is PINK. The photograph in the book did *not* prepare me for this. I haven't cooked many curries and I couldn't say whether this is common practice, but whatever way you look at it, what we have here is potatoes and spinach in marie-rose sauce, and that is WEIRD.

I conceal the marie-rose sauce with a scattering of coriander and serve it to the boy, who proclaimed it, and I quote, "one of my better ones", probably due to being colour blind. I think it might have tasted quite nice but I was too confused to judge it fairly.

Quick Chickpea Pasta

by Amy

Substitutions: None


Rating: 5

You could argue that this barely qualifies as a recipe (I mean, it's tinned chickpeas and pasta mixed together, I'm not making a croquembouche here) but this is what attracted me to Quick Chickpea Pasta. I was looking for a no-brainer to fill the boyfriend's lunchbox with, and though Hugh recommends this "wholesome, hearty and quick" supper be served hot, I thought this would make a basic, economical tupperware filler.

Which it does. It's not like this isn't fit for purpose although there are a a few ways Quick Chickpea Pasta could be a lot quicker. Hugh had me slivering garlic and mincing chilli and frying them oh so gently in a little pool of the olive oil I'm dressing the peas 'n' pasta with like some sort of... cook. Or something. At least, he did the first time I made this. This time I wised up and didn't sliver the garlic, just squashed it and took it out at the end, leaving the oil garlic infused but actual garlic free! Look at me, innovating. YEAH. I still faffed about with the chilli though. Of course, Nigella would just take bottled garlic and chilli oil out of her posh pantry and skip this step altogether, and if I had done the same I guess I wouldn't be screaming in pain right now having touched my eyes with my fingers. That stuff is dangerous!

As to the taste of the stuff, it is about as nice as chickpeas and pasta are. Not more than the sum of its parts. Although I did manage to elevate the experience with the use of ANIMAL SHAPED PASTA.

Aubergine and green bean curry with Marinated cucumber with mint

Aubergine and green bean curry
by Rhys

Substitutions: None. Kind of.


Rating: 6


So, on top of loving dry frying spices and crushing them, I really love making a curry paste. It makes curry feel so authentic and, let's face it, you feel more pleased with yourself because of that. My paste for this went a bit all over the place due to vegetable sizing. My shallots were tiny and my chillies were huge, so I wasn't sure how many of each to put in. My Struggle.

The paste was still fun. What was not fun was the aubergines. It is very hard to divide something into same-sized wedges when it is the shape of a cashew nut! (More on cashews later.) And then you have to fry them in batches which took about, oh, MY WHOLE LIFE!

When it was finally finished, I seasoned it to buggery and, to be honest, it just didn't taste that amazing. It was aromatic, for sure, and had a quite nice delicate flavour. But... well I wanted it to taste more amazing, that's all.

Also, the aubergines, due to their non-uniform sizing, were either completely mushy or a bit spongy. Spongy aubergines are the worst.

My co-diners said they liked it and thought it was full of flavour (which immediately made me think less of them), but the most compliments I got were for the roasted cashews on top. Which I think speaks volumes.

Marinated cucumber with mint
also by Rhys

Substitutions: None. 


Rating: 7

I was really excited to make this one! Not sure why, thinking back, but I was. Maybe because I just feel so bourgeois peeling and coring a cucumber. La dee da, look at me flushing all the bits with texture down the waste disposal! I have made it.

Anyway, it was pretty nice, though I would have liked if it had tasted a little more vinegary and a little less salty/oily. The salty bit may have been me over-seasoning, but the oil I weighed out and I used a very large cucumber. The mint didn't really pop like I wanted it to, but I possibly didn't have the requisite 'good handful'.

Which brings me to another point that has weighed heavily on my mind for a while now: what is with the inaccurate herb sizing in cook books? What is a 'good handful'? And what do they mean when they say 'two tablespoons of parsley, chopped'. Is that tablespoons before we've chopped it or after? It makes a difference! I find it nigh on impossible to figure out how much herbage (to steal a phrase from Hugh's kitchen rival Jamie Oliver) one is supposed to use. I wish cookery writers would just say '45 mint leaves' or '300 chive stalks' or whatever.

Yes, I know they already do that with bay.

So I don't have any more to say on the cucumbers. They were nice, very refreshing, and I'd do them again some time.


Aubergine and green bean curry WITH Marinated cucumber with mint

Substitutions: None, obviously.

Rating: 7.5

You wouldn't think to put these together. I don't think Hugh did; they're in very different parts of the book. But if you think about it, the cucumbers are basically a yoghurt-free raiita and that goes brilliantly with curry. I only put them together because they both looked nice, but I have to say they work very well together. The cucumber really cuts through the spicyness of the curry and feels so light on your tongue after the coconut milk. So, yeah, I'd recommend them together.

Beetroot hummus

Beetroot Hummus
by Rhys

Substitutions: Not really a substitution but I decided to use peanut butter instead of tahini (Whole Earth, natch). The recipe gives you the choice to do that though so it is FINE.

Rating: 8

This did not come out looking like it does in the book! In the book it's all rich looking, and quite coarse. Mine looks like blueberry mousse. I was going to put a filter on it but... that would be wrong. I am riddled with photographic self-doubt.

Anyway, on to the food. This was easy to make, and I happen to love dry frying and crushing spices, so that bit was no hardship. But I did burn the walnuts on the first go round, which is either because Hugh's cooking times were a bit long or because I am not very good at measuring time. Either way, the second batch was fine and I had something to nibble on while I made the rest of it.

I added about half as much more beetroot and it sill came out pinker than I'd imagined, but tasted lovely. It's very sweet, as you'd imagine given all the beetroot, and there is a slight bit of  nut-related cloy (I may have put in too much peanut butter here, and obviously this wouldn't happen with tahini), but the cumin and garlic tang is lovely. It's pretty rich, so you won't eat loads of it, so good for waist watchers!

Or maybe I just filled up on burnt walnuts...

Anyway, in summary, it was good and I may make it again.

One thing though Hugh: Can you call something that has almost none of the same ingredients as hummus, hummus? I would rebrand this as Beetroot Nut Dip to avoid unfair comparison.

Mushroom Stoup

By Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal spray instead of butter and oil to soften the onions
30g butter for 50g vegetable suet (what is vegetable suet)

Rating: 8.5

"Stoup" presumably because it's both soupy and stewy? Like when Ringo Starr was asked whether he was a mod or a rocker, and he answered "I'm a mocker". That Hugh--he just WON'T be pigeonholed.

Whatever category this falls into, it tasted lush--seriously lush. I was feeling adventurous and in need ot stodge so I made the optional dumplings. The consistency was all thick and satisfying, not brothy like I expected--probably because half the dumplings disintegrated while they were cooking. Also it tasted rich and dark and earthy because you soak the mushrooms first and then use them as a stock, so this is totally comforting dark-winter-night food. It was really filling too.

One small criticism: this is not a budget dish. I spent three whole pounds on dried porcini mushrooms for this dish, and that doesn't even include the 500g of bog standard mushrooms I had to put in there. You can't get away without using them either because it's the porcini mushrooms that make the stock. That's the only reason this recipe won't be in regular rotation round at mine but I'll mos def make it again at some point.

Boyfriend's review: "This is very mushroomy."

Pinto Bean Chilli with Lemon Guacamole!

Pinto Bean Chilli with Lemony Guacamole!
by Amy

Pinto Bean Chilli
Substitutions: 200g dried cannellini beans instead of the tin of pinto beans
One extra pepper
Dried oregano instead of fresh
Rating: 8

So maybe I'll never be a professional food photographer but believe it or not this was pretty lush. Pinto beans are proper hard to get hold of so I used cannellini, which is also a white bean. Next time I might use kidney beans; they have a floury stodginess that I think would work better with the spices, which is probly why kidney beans are the "definitive" chilli bean. Why fight convention, Hugh?

Note: There were a LOT of fresh herbs in this which made it more expensive than it would otherwise be. Dried is probably fine. Incidentally, is coriander an authentic Mexican herb? We seem to be throwing it in everything nowadays.

Lemony Guacamole
Substitutions: none
Rating: 6

Oh si si, me gusta guacamole MUCHOS! Actually the guac wasn't so hot and mostly tasted of lemons. I mean, I like lemons, but everything in its proper place. Maybe the clue is in the title but, in Stu's words, "avocados are expensive so it would be good to be able to taste them". Juice of one whole lemon, Hugh? Let's not go overboard. I couldn't even taste the coriander. TBF maybe I just had an unusually juicy lemon. Next time I'll add juice of just half a lemon, and pause to taste.