Recipe Box: Spinach Lasagne

Hello again!

I still have no internet access at home but plodding on anyway. I do miss it so!

The cold has started to truly set in and Autumn is here, I am loving it :) Any excuse to wrap up and eat comfort food ;)

I finally got stuck into one of the many recipes I've been patiently waiting to try from a very special book I read earlier this year. This lasagne was so simple to make and perfect for a night in when it's pouring buckets outside. My man even loved it and asked for seconds even though he's not a big fan of melted cheese or spinach, though lucky for me he's willing to try anything I cook up. No regrets this time!

You can find the original recipe online here but I can't recommend reading the entire book enough.

If, like me, you're not used to dealing with cups, oz and lbs, these are the measurements of the ingredients I used. They may not be particularly accurate conversions but they worked out fine :)

• 200g lasagne sheets ( I couldn't find noodles in my store but these worked just as well).
• 200g chopped spinach.
• 500g tomato sauce.
• 250g fresh ricotta.
• 250g mozzarella.

Enjoy!!

Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Root Vegetable Soup

Hi there!

I made a huge pot of soup as I have a run of night shifts this week and it gets pretty chilly in our over-air-conditioned ice box of a suite! The very simple recipe below is enough for around 4-6 bowls.

Ingredients

1-2 tablespoons oil

750g carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks

2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks

2 onions, chopped into chunks

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

900ml stock (chicken or vegetable)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

To the kitchen!

• Heat the oil in a large pan.
• Add all of the vegetables and toss well, coating them in oil to prevent them sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Sprinkle turmeric and turn the vegetables to coat.
• Add the stock, bring the soup to boil and cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
• If you like your soup to be smooth, stick it into the food processor for 15 seconds. If you prefer your soup chunkier (like me!) mash it with a fork to break the vegetable chunks up nicely :)
• Season to taste and voila! You have yourself a tasty yet filling soup.

Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Shortbread Buttons

I had one last chance to bake something sweet before the big move and I was very excited to FINALLY try out a recipe I've had my greedy eye on for quite some time now...

 Oh yes, shortbread buttons people!!! I followed this gorgeously illustrated recipe et voila! 

Top tip if you fancy having a go yourself: shortbread dough is super sticky so try rolling it between two sheets of baking paper. Much less messy ;)

 Hannah xo

Recipe Box: Cucumber Maki

I love Japanese food and I have always wanted to give it a go myself so when I found a sushi kit, I HAD to try it  :)

So want to know how to make maki? There's a knack to it, that's for sure!

In my kit I received a bamboo rolling mat, 150g dry sushi rice in a bag, two sheets of nori (seaweed sheets) and 30ml rice vinegar. 

First of all you have to prepare the rice. To do this, soak the rice (still inside the bag) in a medium-sized pan of water. Bring it to the boil and simmer on a low heat with the lid on for 11 minutes. After this time, drain the water and return the rice (yep, still inside the bag) to the pan and replace the lid and leave to steam for 25-30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare your filling. I cut strips of cucumber to 1-2cm thickness and to the width of the nori sheet. You can also use carrot, avocado or any number of other fillings! 

Once the rice has cooked, carefully remove the rice from the bag and into a large bowl. Be careful though, the rice will be very hot! Stir in the rice vinegar and leave until the rice is cool enough to handle. Mine was fine after a few minutes. 

Now for the messy part! Roll out your bamboo rolling mat and place a sheet of nori on top. Spoon half of the rice onto the nori, evenly spreading it across the sheet but leaving a gap of about 1 cm at each end so you can seal the roll. 

Then, and take your time over this part, start rolling the mat away from you, bit by bit, shaping the roll as you go. 

Eventually you should end up with something resembling this...

Make sure the end of the nori is pressed into the roll, sealing it by running a little water along the inside edge and pressing into the join with the mat. 

Repeat with the rest of the ingredients to make your second roll. Next, put your rolls onto a dry wooden chopping board and with a sharp slightly dampened knife chop them in half. Then take each half and cut it into four pieces. Et voila! Well, practice makes perfect ;)

Hannah xo

Books I Love: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Hello!

In amongst the frantic flat hunting and working some crazy hours, I've managed to indulge myself in one of my favourite hobbies, reading. Ok, by indulging I mean using my train commute and time while waiting for estate agents... I have been using these little quiet moments to briefly lose myself in an incredible book. It is written by the wonderfully inspiring Barbara Kingsolver and her family and is not only the story of their year of eating only locally-produced food (most of which is grown and raised by their own hand) but it is also jam-packed with seasonal recipes and information about the food industry. It really is eye-opening and made me feel a new respect for farmers and their way of living. It's a perfect balance of adorable family tales with hard-hitting facts. I'm now craving some garden space ;) Imagine being able to grow your own salad, freshly picking it for dinner... yum! I'm looking forward to trying out some of the recipes too :) I'll let you know how I get on!

Hannah xo