Quick meals for eco heroes

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Comment by Megan Hosking on September 15, 2009 at 12:07pm

This is not incredibly quick - its more a 'Flash Vege Meal for Eco Heroes to impress Dinner Guests with'.
You could use pre made pasta sauce and then it would be pretty quick!

My latest feat in the kitchen is stuffed oversized pasta shells. You can get these from Moore Wilsons, or an equivalent food store in AKL. What I do is make a rich pasta sauce - just garlic, onions, tomato, basil, chopped olives or a tsp of sugar - which i simmer and reduce til it is thick.

Then I cook the pasta shells til al dente (reserve the hot water), drain and toss in plenty of oil.

Then I cook half a chopped pumpkin til soft, and throw in some finely chopped sage leaves and a container of full fat ricotta - you have to well salt this mixture and then stuff the shells.

Throw a bag of spinach into the reserved hot water, and cook till soft (or steam). Drain well and crumble a packet of cows feta into the mix. Do not salt this!

Stuff half your shells with the spinach mixture. And half with pumpkin.
Lay them out in a baking tray, alternating. Sprinkle shaved parmesan over and grill till melted.

Then spoon the pasta sauce down the centre and serve with a salad. Its a great looking meal that you can impress both vegetarian and meaty guests with.

Comment by Sophie Jerram on June 3, 2009 at 10:29am

Yum, thanks Sue I shall try the soup tonight! Quinoa pilaf looks awesome too

Comment by Dan Wilcox / DJ Sweep on March 31, 2009 at 4:28pm

superdooper HERBSHACK VEGAN MAYO THING courtesy of The Herb Shack!!!

One block of tofu (possibly tempeh cos the cancerous properties of tofu are dissolved in tempeh's fermentation process),
A pickle (gherkin) or two,
One tablespoon of capers,
Random herbs from the garden (like parsley or basil or thyme or mint),
One clove of garlic.

Blend it up until it's really creamy and scrumptious.

You can eat it with anything (salads, nachos, big fry-up brekkies, etc) but here's a suggestion straight from our menu;
Spread that yummy sh!t on some Mountain Bread rye wrap and roll it up with some seeds toasted in tamari sauce, superdooper salad, nutty nuts and if you're not a vegan then throw some boiled chicken albumen and vegetarian cheese on it.

I once saw this "world's leading dietary doctor" on Oprah and he said some things I never wanted to hear but i'm glad i did;
(these figures are based on the averages of people who aren't heavy smokers / alcoholics / junkies)...
- If you eat meat at least once a day then you are 40% LIKELY TO SUFFER CANCER.
- If you are VEGETARIAN, you are 14% LIKELY TO SUFFER CANCER
- If you are VEGAN, you are 0.7% LIKELY TO SUFFER CANCER!!!

...scary stuff. I dunno how accurate this is but it's what he said and i've heard other people say the same.

>WE'RE ALL LOOKING FOR A CURE FOR CANCER, THE REMEDY / CAUSE IS ON OUR PLATE.

Hyppocrates (Some old dead fulla) said "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food".

We have four canine teeth to open nuts and to break tough fibres but the majority of our teeth are clearly designed to chew leaves and fruit and nuts etc.

YUMYUMYUMYUMYUMYUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by Agent Penguin on December 3, 2008 at 12:26pm

Fish

1. Dive into ocean
2. Catch Fish
3. Eat Fish

you humans really like to over complicate things don't you?

Comment by Chris Howe on December 3, 2008 at 11:32am

Fairly sure you can get them in CommonSense Organics. Maybe also Moore Wilsons. Can't remember where I last bought them - when dried they do last a long time.

Comment by Sophie Jerram on December 3, 2008 at 11:16am

Chris Hi
where do you buy juniper berries in WElington?

Comment by Chris Howe on December 3, 2008 at 7:42am

Heavenly cabbage recipe

We all know how good cabbage is for you and how horrible it is when cooked badly. Well, here's a better way.

Slice a savoy cabbage very, very finely.
Slice 2 or 3 red onions and some garlic
Crush five juniper berries
Optional: finely sliced red capsicum; finely sliced mushrooms


Roughly chop some free-range, organic bacon
OR
Slice some smoked tofu

Take a large, heavy-bottomed pan and add plenty of good olive oil.

Add the onion, garlic and juniper berries (and the capsicum and mushroom if you have them) and fry until soft.
Add the bacon/tofu and stir for 2 or 3 minutes
Add the cabbage and stir.
Add a splash of white wine and simmer on low heat for 4-8 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like your cabbage.

Serve in big bowls with hunks of crusty bread.

Comment by Turrence on November 22, 2008 at 11:28am

This makes about 10 litres of elderflower champagne:

4 large heads of elder flowers - make sure that they are fully open, preferably facing the Sun
1kg of sugar
2 lemons
4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
10 litres of cold water

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Standing Time: 24 hours
Maturing Time: two weeks plus
Method

Wash the lemons and use the potato-peeler to peel the lemon rind off as thinly as possible. Remove any insects, leaves or other unwanted objects from the elder flowers.

Squeeze the lemons and put the juice into the ten-litre vessel along with the lemon rind and flowers.

Add the sugar and the wine vinegar. Be careful not to crush the flower heads too much with the sugar.

Pour on the water. Put a lid or cover over the top of the vessel and leave to stand for 24 hours. Stir gently every six hours.

Take the lid off the vessel and remove any large flower heads or bits of rind.

Use the small jug to bail some of the mixture through the sieve and into the large jug. When the large jug becomes full, place the funnel in the top of a bottle. Pour the mixture through the strainer into the funnel.

Once all the bottles are full, put the caps (or corks) on firmly and place somewhere not too warm or too cold. A garage shelf is ideal.

After two weeks the champagne is ready for drinking. However, the taste does improve with time and can be left for up to two years2.

Comment by damon on November 17, 2008 at 12:34pm

Seared Ginger and Garlic Tofu

Ok, here's my favourite tofu recipe of all time. I usually eat it with short grain brown rice and perhaps plain steamed greens or else some other kind of stir fry.

Ingredients:
Use 1 block TONZU organic tofu - because it's simply the best from the west.
Olive oil
Piece of fresh ginger (grated)
2-3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
Tamari or soy sauce
Freshly chopped parsley
Pumpkin or sunflower seeds (toasted - optional)

Method:

Rinse the tofu and dry in a tea towel to ensure there is no extra water. Depending on how many mouths to feed cut in half (longwise) or else into three pieces (stil longwise but not as thick). Then cut those slices into half again (rectangles) and then the rectangles into triangles. So from one block you will either have 4 very thick triangles, or 6 not quite so thick triangles.

Right, next, heat your pan. Get it really hot. Add the oil, which should be close to smoking hot too.

Add in the tofu. You want to cook it like a blue steak - get it nice and crispy on the outside. Once its golden flip it over, keep the heat on high for another couple of minutes and then once it's going golden reduce a little - if the pan is getting too hot.

Once it's basically cooked smear the garlic and ginger thickly over the tofu, and then douse it generously in tamari or soy. Flip the tofu over one last time to get the garlic ginger cooked a little and the tamari all absorbed before serving.

Then - put it on the plate. Cover with a generous handful of fresh parsley, and could try some toasted pumpkin and sunflower kernels too.

Yum!

Comment by Sophie Jerram on November 13, 2008 at 10:26am

My recipe (Pescatarian, 12 minutes)

Cook some pasta the normal way, and meanwhile
sautee some smoked salmon pieces in garlic and olive oil, dill and/or fennel tips.
When the salmon has changed colour, take off the heat and mix in with 100-300 g quark (or similar). Toss pasta in and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Serve with some salad greens to help digest this delicious, quick, high cholesterol dinner.