You can find the original recipe here. It’s called ‘open ravioli’ but we think that ‘open lasagne’ might be a better idea

Ingredients

8 lasagne sheets

1 red onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 courgette, chopped

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 can of chopped tomatoes

100g feta cheese

Mint leaves, chopped (we left these out but used fresh thyme instead)

We also added a chicken breast, but this is optional

Method
1. Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the lasagne sheets until soft. Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with low calorie cooking spray (or use 1tbsp olive oil if you prefer), add the onion, garlic and courgette, and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. (Cook the chicken before adding these ingredients to the pan, if you’re adding it too.)
2. Stir in the tomatoes and chili flakes and cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes. Towards the end add the diced feta and a sprinkle of mint (or the thyme), reserving a few mint leaves for garnish. 
3. On a plate add a lasagne sheet and a spoonful of vegetable filling. Repeat the process, adding 3-4 layers and garnish with the extra mint. 

Enjoy!

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This recipe originally comes from Delicious Magazine, and serves 4. It freezes really well too, so you could prepare it in advance, or eat half and freeze the other.

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1 large red onion
500g spinach
500g pack ready-made all-butter shortcrust pastry
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
300g (vegetarian) feta, crumbled
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
Beaten egg, for brushing

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan and gently fry the onion for 5 minutes until tender. Add the spinach and cook gently until wilted. Squeeze out any liquid and set aside.

2. Roll out the shortcrust pastry on a floured surface and use to line a 20cm round tin, leaving 2-3cm hanging over the edge.

3. Mix the spinach and onions with 2 beaten eggs, feta and 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill. Season well and spoon into the tart case.

4. Fold the excess pastry in towards the centre, brush with beaten egg and bake for 40-45 minutes until golden and set.

5. Serve hot or cold with some salad. Enjoy! :-)[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Spinach and feta tart appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I often decided to make up a recipe when I have a particular ingredient that needs using up, and this recipe came out of one of those occasions. We had a little bit of goats cheese left and, after feeling uninspired following a quick internet search, I decided to get a few simple ingredients and go for it! You don’t need much of the goats cheese at all – if you don’t like really rich food then you could probably just leave it out. We used some salami Napoli here, which is optional too if you would prefer a meat version.

This recipe uses the creamy basil pesto recipe that I’ve already posted, so you’ll need to make a batch of that before cooking the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

Linguine (cook enough for 2-3 people)
Olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped into fairly small pieces (but not finely chopped)
A handful of cup mushrooms, quartered
8 slices of salami Napoli (optional)
Ground black pepper
100g baby leaf spinach
1 batch of creamy basil pesto (click on link above)
25-50g goats cheese to serve (optional)

Method

1. Add some boiling water to a pan and cook the linguine according to the packet instructions.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan, and add the onions. Cook until softened and beginning to brown before adding the mushrooms.

3. If adding the salami, tear each slice in half and add to the pan. Leave for a few minutes to cook.

4. Just before the pasta is ready, add the spinach to the onion and mushrooms, along with some ground black pepper. Allow the spinach to wilt a little.

5. Drain the pasta and stir the pesto through. Then add the vegetables and stir again. Plate up and then crumble a little goats cheese over the top, with a little more black pepper.

Enjoy!

The post Linguine with creamy pesto, caramelised red onion and spinach appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

We had some leftover ricotta cheese after making our Butternut and sweet potato lasagne with sage, toasted pine nuts and nutmeg and so I decided to use the recipe finder on the BBC Food website to see if I could find a recipe to use it up. This is what I found – a recipe by Simon Rimmer that is easy to make but really delicious.

Ingredients

For the filling
400g/14oz aubergines, sliced into thin rounds
50ml/2oz vegetable oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
50g/2oz tomato purée
400g/14oz canned chopped tomatoes, drained
1 cinnamon stick
100g/3½oz red lentils, cooked according to packet instructions
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

For the topping
125g/4½oz ricotta
125g/4½oz Greek-style yoghurt
3 free-range eggs
freshly grated nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g/2oz freshly grated pecorino

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. For the filling, toss the aubergine slices in the vegetable oil, then drain and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat, add the aubergine slices in batches and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden-brown on both sides. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on kitchen paper.

4. Add the onion, pepper and garlic to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until softened.

5. Add the tomato purée, stir to coat the vegetables in it, then continue to fry for a further 4-5 minutes.

6. Add the canned chopped tomatoes and cinnamon stick and simmer for 4-5 minutes.

7. Add the lentils and return the fried aubergines to the mixture. Simmer for a further 2-3 minutes, or until warmed through.

8. Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof dish and sprinkle over the chopped parsley.

9. For the topping, in a bowl, beat together the ricotta, Greek-style yoghurt, eggs and grated nutmeg until well combined. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

10. Pour the topping mixture into the ovenproof dish on top of the filling. Sprinkle over the grated pecorino. Transfer the veggie moussaka to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the topping is golden-brown and has set and the filling is bubbling. Serve immediately and enjoy!

The post Red lentil and aubergine moussaka appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I love getting new cookery books, and the latest addition to my collection is Lorraine Pascale’s ‘Fast, Fresh and Easy Food’. I saw her TV show when we got back from honeymoon and really liked the recipes, and when I flicked through the book in the shop this recipe caught my eye. I couldn’t wait to start cooking (and blogging) again, and this seemed like a great recipe to start with! You could easily make this on a week night for a super tasty treat. I used half a squash and a sweet potato for this but it wasn’t quite enough, so next time I’ll use a whole squash and 2 sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

50g parmesan cheese
50g dried natural breadcrumbs (I whizzed up a a thick doorstop slice of bread instead)
600g prepared sweet potato and butternut squash (peel and cut into evenly sized chunks)
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
12 sage leaves
Olive oil
12 lasagne sheets
100g pine nuts, toasted
75g baby spinach leaves

For the white sauce
100g parmesan cheese
2cm piece fresh ginger
600g ricotta cheese
2 medium egg yolks
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For the salad

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Pinch of English mustard powder (optional)
1 bag wild rocket
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas mark 7. Put the kettle on to boil for the vegetables.

2. Finely grate the parmesan for the topping, toss in a small bowl with the breadcrumbs and set aside.

3. Tip the prepared sweet potato and butternut squash into a large pan, add a little salt and then pour the boiling water over to cover. Put the lid on, bring back to the boil and then leave to bubble away for 15-20 minutes until tender.

4. Fill the kettle again and boil. Prepare the herbs by removing the leaves from the the stems of the rosemary. Roughly chop them with the sage leaves and set aside in a small bowl.

5. Pour the boiling water into a pan, add a drizzle of oil, slip in the lasagne sheets and leave to cook for 5 minutes (this is important as there isn’t a lot of liquid in the rest of the mixture to cook them in the oven).

6. As the lasagne cooks, prepare the sauce. Finely grate the parmesan and peel and grate the ginger. Place both in a medium bowl, add the ricotta, egg yolks and nutmeg, season with salt and pepper, then stir to combine and set aside.

7. Drain the lasagne sheets and tip them back into the pan. Drizzle a little more oil and gently toss the about to coat, so that the sheets don’t stick together.

8. Check that the vegetables are tender. Drain them off well and tip them back into the pan. Mash them with a masher until smooth and add salt and pepper to taste.

9. Now assemble the lasagne in the baking dish, set on a baking tray. Spread a third of the vegetable mash in the base of the dish. Next, scatter a third of the herbs, pine nuts and spinach leaves over. Then arrange 4 lasagne sheets on top, cutting to fit if necessary. Spread a third of the ricotta mixture over.

10. Repeat twice more, and finally sprinkle the parmesan breadcrumbs on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

11. While that is cooking, prepare the salad dressing by simply mixing the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard powder (if using) and seasoning together in a small bowl.

12. When cooked, serve the lasagne with a handful of rocket drizzled with the dressing. Enjoy!

The post Butternut and sweet potato lasagne with sage, toasted pine nuts and nutmeg appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

I’ve never made falafels before and was a bit surprised by the texture of these, but I think that’s because I was comparing them to shop-bought, solid ones. Whilst cooking them I was worried that they would be too squishy, but they were absolutely fine so don’t worry if you feel the same. I’ll never get them to look like Jamie’s, but they tasted great!

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the falafel:
1 x 400g tin of mixed beans
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
1 lemon
1 tbsp harissa paste
1 heaped tsp allspice
1 heaped tbsp plain flour
1 bunch of fresh coriander
Olive oil

Sides

2 mixed-colour peppers
4 spring onions
8 small tortillas (we used tortillas with herbs in for extra taste)
1 tbsp chilli sauce (or tobasco)
250g low-fat cottage cheese

Method

1. Drain the beans and chickpeas and put them into a food processor. Finely grate in the lemon zest, then add a pinch of salt and pepper, the harissa, allspice, flour and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves).

2. Blitz until smooth, scraping down the sides if needed. Scrape out the mixture and then use clean, wet hands to quickly divide and shape it into 8 patties about 1.5cm thick.

3. Put 1 tbsp of oil into a frying pan and add the falafels, turning when golden and crisp.

4. Chop the peppers into bitesize chunks and put on a griddle pan with the trimmed spring onions (if you don’t have a griddle pan you can roast in the oven with some olive oil – you’ll need to do this before frying the falafels).

5. Heat up the tortillas in the microwave for 45 seconds, while you marble the chilli sauce into the cottage cheese. Remove the peppers and spring onions from the pan/oven and squeeze over half of the lemon juice.

6. Either take all of the elements to the table so that people can construct their own wraps, or stack the peppers and onions, cover with some cottage cheese and then top with the falafels. Enjoy for tea or as a yummy lunch!

The post Falafel Wraps with Grilled Veg appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

3 tins chopped tomatoes

3 red or yellow peppers, diced

300g cup mushrooms, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp Bouillon (or 1 vegetable stock cube)

2 tbsp mixed herbs

A dash of Henderson’s relish (or Tobasco)

A big squirt of tomato puree (apologies for the not very technical measurement!)

Black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add 1 tbsp of the mixed herbs and stir well before adding all 3 tins of chopped tomatoes. Add the rest of the herbs, the Bouillon (or crumble the stock cube into the pan), Henderson’s Relish, black pepper and tomato puree. Stir well and leave for about 10 minutes to simmer, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the peppers and garlic and stir well. After another 10 minutes, add the mushrooms and stir again. Leave to simmer for another 15 minutes.

3. Test the peppers and mushrooms to see if they are soft (leave for a little longer if not). Leave to cool before blending.

4. If freezing some of the sauce, divide into boxes and ensure that the sauce is cold before freezing. I’d suggest that 2 ladles is about right for a portion of pizza topping, and maybe 3 – 4 ladles for pasta sauce. Enjoy!

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