Baked vegetables with garlic crust
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into rough chunks
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into rough chunks
2 courgettes, sliced
2 small red onions, cut into wedges
250g cherry tomatoes
125ml olive oil
140g fresh breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
seasoning
Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the peppers, courgettes, onions, and cherry tomatoes in a large ovenproof dish.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and seasoning. Toss together and bake for 15 minutes
Mix together the remaining oil, breadcrumbs, garlic and parsley. Scatter over the vegetables and bake for a further 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are tender and golden. Serve hot with a lovely salad.
Vegetarianandveganfrance.com & 3placedesarbres.com. Vegetarian & Vegan recipes from the kitchen of a vegetarian chambres d’hotes in the heart of France
Chili Cheese Pan Pizza
225g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (less if you don’t like much heat)
175 cheddar-like cheese
5 tablespoons olive oil
226 jar of tomato salsa (or make your own – you could try this recipe)
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
50g black olives, pitted
seasoning
Sift the flour and cayenne into a bowl, stir in a quarter of the cheese, 2 tablespoons of the oil and 6-7 tablespoons of water. Mix together to form a soft dough. Roll out to a circle which will fit the base of a large frying pan.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the frying pan. Add the dough circle and gently cook for 5 minutes, or until the base is golden.
Turn the dough out onto a plate, add the remaining oil to the frying pan and slide the dough back into cook the other side.
Preheat the grill to medium. Top the pizza base with the salsa, tomatoes, olives, remaining cheese and seasoning. Grill for 10 minutes until golden.
Vegetarianandveganfrance.com & 3placedesarbres.com. Vegetarian & Vegan recipes from the kitchen of a vegetarian chambres d’hotes in the heart of France
Pear and Cardamon “gingerbread”
250g dried pears, roughly chopped
300ml pear or apple juice
4 teaspoons cardamon pods
225g black treacle
225g golden syrup
115g margarine
350g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
115g light muscovado sugar
350g medium oatmeal
1 tablespoon porridge oats
Preheat the oven to 160 C. Grease a 20cm square cake tin and line with greaseproof paper. Put the pears in a pan with the fruit juice. Bring to the boil, and remove from the heat. Leave to cool in the juice.
Grind the cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar to release the seeds. Discard the pods and put the seeds to one side. Heat the treacle, syrup and margarine in a pan and stir until the margarine has melted. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves into a bowl and stir in the sugar and oatmeal.
Add half the pears and all the fruit juice to the bowl, adding the cardamom seeds and the margarine mixture. Stir until combined.
Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and scatter the remaining pears and porridge oats over the top. Bake for about one and a quater hours until risen and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. DO NOT OVER COOK or it will become dry.
Leave to cool before removing from the tin.
Vegetarianandveganfrance.com & 3placedesarbres.com. Vegetarian & Vegan recipes from the kitchen of a vegetarian chambres d’hotes in the heart of France
Aubergine and feta salad
175g bulghar wheat
2 medium aubergines, thinly sliced
2 small red onions, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
150g feta cheese
Now get dressed up…
3 tablespoons chopped mint
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
seasoning
Preheat the gril to high. Spread the bulghar wheat on a baking sheet and grill for 2 minute, stiring occationally. Transfer to a bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 20 minutes. Drain.
Meanwhile, toss the aubergines, onions, garlic and oil together, spread on a baking sheet and grill for 10 minutes, turning occationally. Transfer to a salad bowl and add the feta cheese and bulghar wheat. Mix together gently.
Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the abergine mixture.
Vegetarianandveganfrance.com & 3placedesarbres.com. Vegetarian & Vegan recipes from the kitchen of a vegetarian chambres d’hotes in the heart of France
Fried Dough Balls with fiery Salsa
This is a great starter, or simply share with friends, just add a lovely bottle of crisp white wine, good conversation, and possibly a sunset…
Dough balls:
450g white flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
150ml warm water
Salsa:
6 red chillies, deseeded and chopped, roughly
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
2.5cm piece of root ginger, roughly chopped
450g tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of sugar
seasoning
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the parsley, garlic, oil and enough warm water to make a soft dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 – 10 minutes until the dough feels smooth and elastic. Brush with a little olive oil and cover with plastic film. Leave in a warm place to prove until doubled in size (should be about an hour)
Meanwhile, in Salsa-land…
Put the chillies, onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor, or blender, and process until finely chopped. Add the tomatoes and olive oil and process until smooth. Rub the mixture through a sieve into a pan. Add the sugar and seasoning. Warm through gently and simmer for 1 minute, taking care not to allow the salsa to boil.
Balls! Lets get back to them…
Shape the dough into about 40 walnut-sized balls. Heat 4 cm oil in a large heavy pan. To test the oil is hot enough to cook the balls, drop a cube of bread into the oil and if it turns golden brown in a minute you are cooking!
Fry the balls in batches (how many depends on the size of your pan!) for 4-5 minutes until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot with the salsa.
Baked peppers and tomatoes
This is absolutely delicious served as a starter with hot crusty bread. If you time it all right (and your oven is big enough) you can bake the bread at the same time, so you save on energy.
2 red pepper and 2 yellow peppers, de-seeded and cut into strips
1 red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, halved
6 fresh large ripe tomatoes, quatered
50g black olives
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons Pineau des Charantes
3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
seasoning
Preheat the oven to 200c. Place the peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes and olives in a large roasting dish. Sprinkle over the sugar and pour over the Pineau (while you are at it have a small glass)
Season well (we like to use paprika and black pepper, and a little salt). Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Remove the foil and stir the vegetables well, before adding the rosemary and drizzling the olive oil over the mixture. Return to the oven for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
A thank you to all those who have commented so far…
on our recipe book. A special thank you to Veggieboards.com for all the really helpful comments… cheers guys!
Spinach and feta crepes
50g wholemeal flour
50g white flour
pinch of salt
1 large egg
300ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
400g spinach leaves (washed and trimmed)
2 garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
75g sun-dried tomatoes
100g feta cheese, crumbled
seasoning
paprika
Put the flour and salt into a bowl and add the egg. Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Add 2 teaspoons of the sunflower oil.
Heat a little oil in a 20cm frying pan, pour off the excess and then quickly pour in about 3 tablespoons of the batter. Tilt the pan so the base is evenly coated with batter, then cook for a couple of minutes until the underside is browned.
Loosen the crepe, then over with a long palette knife and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes until browned.
Slide the crepe out of the pan onto a plate and keep hot. Don’t worry if the first one isn’t perfect, the other ones will be better!
Repeat with the remaining oil and batter mixture to make 8 crepes in all.
To make the filling, heat the oil in a large pan. Add the spinach, garlic, nutmeg, sun-dried tomatoes and seasoning and fry for 2-3 minutes, tossing the spinach until it just begins to wilt. Stir in the feta cheese and warm through.
Divide the filling between the crepes – spoon it on to one half of each crepe and fold over loosely. Arrange 2 crepes on 4 serving plates and sprinkle with paprika. Serve with a mixed salad.
Tofu and vegetable bake
175g broccoli florets
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 sliced red onion
1 crushed garlic clove
175 button mushrooms, halved
285g tofu, cubed
300g passata
100g breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons basil
Preheat the oven to 180 decrees C.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the broccoli and cook until tender (2-3 minutes) Drain and put in an oven proof dish
Heat the oil in a pan (you can use the same pan, if you heat the pan before adding the oil to get rid of excess water -saves on washing up) and add the onion and cook until soft (5 minutes, ish). Add the garlic, mushrooms and tofu and fry for a further 3-4 minutes. Add the passata and seasoning and herbs and bring to boil. Pour this mixure over the brocolli and top with the bread crumbs.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Serve hot, with salad and a glass of crisp white wine.
The vegetarian chambres d’hotes 3placedesabres.com is releasing a cookbook (Vegetarian Felletin) of some of its best loved recipes. As a loyal reader of this blog you have a chance to download a PDF version of the 1st draft. Please email any comments you have on the book to contact@vegetarianandveganfrance.com
The book will be available from Lulu and Amazon later this year.
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