Pattie Boyd's Vegetarian Recipes

Fried Mushrooms
1 large field mushroom each
1 egg
Fresh breadcrumbs
Garlic salt
1 ½ oz. butter

Remove stalks from mushrooms. Add a little garlic salt to the beaten egg. Dip the mushrooms in the egg, then in breadcrumbs. Fry in the butter and serve very hot.

Vegetable Pasties
¼  medium cauliflower
½ rutabaga, diced
2 large carrots, diced
¼ lb. lentils
¼ lb. shelled peas
2 medium onions, sliced
¼ lb. mushrooms, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 eggplant, sliced
1 egg
¼ pint cream
Mixed herbs and seasoning
2 - 3 oz. butter
¾ lb. short-crust pastry

Divide the cauliflower into small florets and boil with the rutabaga, carrots and lentils in salted water for 15 - 20 minutes, adding peas 3 minutes before the end. Drain and set aside. Melt some of the butter in a frying pan and fry the remaining vegetables one at a time. As they are cooked add them to the boiled and fried vegetables. Stir in the mixed herbs, seasoning, cream and beaten egg (reserving a little of the latter to brush over the pastry). Roll out pastry and divide into 4 squares, spoon vegetable mixture onto each square. Damp the edges with a little water, fold over and press firmly together. Prick with a fork, brush over with egg and place on the top shelf of a moderate oven for about 25 minutes or until pastry is cooked. Serve with salad of lettuce, sliced avocado, fennel and spring onions. Dress with vinaigrette and sprinkle with a handful of cashew nuts.

Raspberry Sorbet
1 lb. raspberries
½ pint water
8 oz. sugar
Juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange
2 stiffly beaten egg whites
1 miniature bottle Curacao

Liquidise the fruit and press it through a fine sieve. Make a syrup by boiling together the sugar and water. Cool, add the raspberry puree, and the strained lemon and orange juice. Pour into a well chilled tray and place in freezing compartment of fridge for about 30 minutes or until mixture is almost frozen. (set fridge to coldest). Turn the mixture into a bowl and beat with a whisk or rotary beater, then add beaten egg whites and liqueur. Whip thoroughly, return to freezer for about ¾ hour or until set.

Polenta Pizzas

A household favorite.

Polenta (6 cups of water, 1 and 3/4 cups of polenta, salt and pepper, butter) lay it on a sheet pan and even it out. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Use a water glass to cut out discs, oil them to grill or saute.

Sauce is simple cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil cook until tomatoes start to blister and mash them. Top that and mozzarella on the polenta (after you flip the polenta like a hamburger)

First Time Ever: Chicken Pot Pies

Believe it or not, until today, I never made chicken pot pies. I've eaten them but they were made by someone else. The closest thing of a chicken pot pie I made was this Rachael Ray recipe. Finally I decided to go for it after doing some Internet research and trying to figure out what to do with the remaining puff pastry dough. I decided to make them mini so that my household could have their own cups with the crust and veggies.

My filling was chicken, onion, potato, carrots, celery, corn, peas, dried tarragon, chicken broth, milk, flour, dijon mustard, and butter

Corn Soup

Ingredients:
3 cans of corn, drained- but not all together
2 carrots, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, chopped/diced
3 lbs of chicken broth
1-2 bay leaf (depending on it's size)
smoked paprika (about a teaspoon or so- eyeball)
cumin (teaspoon- eyeball)
celery seed (teaspoon- eyeball)
dried or fresh tarragon (about a palm full- used twice for puree and garnish)
EVOO
S&P
about two slices of butter

Method:
In a pot on medium-high heat, put some EVOO and 1 slice of butter before adding the onion (3 minutes), carrots (3 minutes), potato (5 minutes), bay leaf, 2 cans of corn (drained), the spices and herbs with chicken broth, adding salt and pepper along the way. Cover and let it boil/simmer for about 20 minutes to allow the potatoes and carrots to soften.

In batches and using big bowl, puree the soup in the blender. Once the pot is empty and back on the stove, heat up with the other slice of butter and the other drained can of corn and let it saute for about 2-3 minutes before adding in the puree soup and the remaining dried tarragon. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes, season to taste.

Serve.

Note:
If you want it to be vegetarian, replace the chicken broth with the vegetable broth

Yellow Pepper-Peas Stuffed Mushrooms

I honestly eyeballed everything, I didn't measure other than sizing up the mushrooms and guessed the measurements. It was also a throw-together using whatever I found in the pantry, refrigerator and freezer. 

button mushrooms with stems removed (save them!), seasoned with EVOO and S&P. Saute filling of yellow pepper, mushroom stems, peas & garlic putting them in food processor. Join in bowl with croutons crushed as bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Bake in 400° oven for about 20 minutes till golden brown on top.

Fig & Cheese Crostini

I had quite a lot of homemade fig jam left when I made Giada De Laurentiis' breakfast panini and was wondering what to do with it when it suddenly hit me: a crostini! Lately, The Cheese Course has been my favorite restaurant to go to where they sell lots of cheese (as well as salads, sandwiches, soups). I had tasted this cheese called cambozola- which is like brie and gorgonzola had a baby together- it's very tangy with a punch in a gut with a sweet buttery comforting taste. They also had baguettes available so I helped myself to one. I drizzled honey on the top. Delicious!

Roasted Fennel & Carrot Soup

Ingredients:
1 large bag of shredded carrots
2 bulbs of fennel (save the top)
1 yellow onion chopped
3 stalks of celery chopped (include the celery leaves)
tarragon (dry or fresh)
6 cups of vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
EVOO
Salt & Pepper

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Slice fennel bulbs as thin as possible. Mix together with the shredded carrots, eyeball a few shots of EVOO, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven 20-30 minutes

Meanwhile, in the large pot or dutch oven, heat up some EVOO in medium heat, adding a bay leaf and saute chopped onion for about 5-7 minutes when start to caramelized before adding celery and letting it cook for about 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and dry tarragon (if using fresh, you make mix it in along with the fennel fronds chopped up at the end).

After when the carrots and fennel is out of the oven, immediately add them to the onions and celery, stirring it  and letting it cook for a couple of minutes (under 5 minutes) before adding the vegetable broth. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Discard the bay leaf before blending it (I used a blender, about 3 batches at a time; I used a large bowl to put the puree soup in until all blended together before pouring the soup back into the pot/dutch oven). Put back on the heat and add in the fennel fronds (and fresh tarragon, if using). Season to taste before serving.

Corn-Potato Soup with Kale

Ingredients:
-6 Corn on the Cobs (if using canned: 3 to 4 medium cans; if using frozen: 2 bags), kennels cut off from the cobs
-3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
-1 carrot, chopped
-1 onion, chopped
-1 celery, chopped
-dry or fresh bay leaf
-a palmful of dried or fresh tarragon
-1 quart (or 6 cups) of chicken broth
-a bunch of kale, washed and chopped
-S&P
-EVOO
-5-6 slices of bacon

Method:
In a dutch oven (or spaghetti pot) over medium-high, heat up some EVOO before adding in the bacon until it's cooked. Take out the bacon to a paper towel-covered plate to drain out the remaining fat. Save about a tablespoon of bacon fat/EVOO in the pan to use to saute the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, and S&P. When the onion start to sweat, add the potatoes and cook them for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the corn and the chicken broth. Let it come to a boil before covering it and reducing the heat to medium-low to let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.

Crumble up the bacon while you wait for the soup to cook and get the kale ready

In a blender, puree the soup in batches. Put the puree soup in the large mixing bowl while working in batches. Once the dutch oven is empty, put it back on the stove with a little bit of EVOO and saute the kale until it wilts down. Add in the reserved bacon and the puree soup. Stir until mixed well on low heat. Add the tarragon and S&P to taste. Ready to serve.

Serve either alone or with a grilled cheese sandwich.

If you want it vegetarian, use vegetable stock and omit the bacon

Onions! Onions! Onions!

-My grilled ribeye steak topped with onions-

-Mary McCartney's Summer Asparagus Tart-

-Alton Brown's French Onion Soup-

Fried Green Tomatoes with Sour Cream-Dill Dip

Fried Green Tomatoes:
-1 green tomato, sliced
-2 cups of breadcrumbs (homemade, store-brought, panko, cornmeal)
-2 eggs
-2 small spoonfuls of flour
-a splash of milk
-vegetable oil on medium-high and ready to fry

Method:
using two small bowls
1- whisk flour, egg, and milk (with salt and pepper) to make a batter
2- breadcrumbs
Dip the sliced green tomatoes into the egg batter and then to the breadcrumbs, coat to cover the tomato.
Put them, 3 to 4 slices at the most, in the hot vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes on each side. Spoon them out and put them on a pile of papertowels to drain the oil. Work the remaining tomato slices

Sour Cream-Dill Dip:
-a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream
-about 2 tablespoons of dill (eyeball)
-salt and pepper

Method:
stir to mix in a small bowl (you can do it in the bowl you'll be using to serve)

Place the dip bowl in the middle of the serving plate surrounded by the golden fried green tomatoes and serve.

Spaghetti Squash on Portabello "Plate"

1- spaghetti squash- follow instructions to make (oven or microwave; my instructions came stickered on)
5-6 portabello caps, stems and gills scrapped out
asiago cheese (eyeball, and reserve some for topping)
EVOO
S&P (salt & pepper)

While the spaghetti squash is roasting in the oven (325° for 1 hour), work on the mushroom caps. With a spoon, carefully take out the gills and stem. When you're done, it would look kinda like a bowl. Season with S&P, EVOO, (I included garlic powder and italian seasonings, optional) and place them on a cookie sheet. When the squash is in the oven for 35 minutes, you can place in the mushrooms to bake for remaining 25 minutes.

When oven time is almost up, grate asiago cheese. After the squash and mushrooms are out and the squash is easier to handle when cool down enough, using a fork, scrap the spaghetti into amedium size bowl. Once the squash is done, season with S&P, EVOO, and asiago cheese, stir till mix well. Then pile the spaghetti squash mixture on top of the mushrooms (still on their cookie sheet) and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Switch the oven from Bake to Broil and for 5 minutes at the maximum, place the squash/mushrooms in till slightly golden brown on top. When out, sprinkle more cheese if desire and help yourself!

If you don't like squash spaghetti or can't find it, then regular/whole wheat spaghetti will do, just as long as it's long and make it look like a bird's nest. You can use asiago, parm, romano, or pecorino cheese

Dressed Mushrooms

I recently threw a birthday party and served a veggie platter. I had an empty section on the platter so I put some of my mushrooms I had used to make Linda McCartney's phyllo wrapped mushrooms to fill in the empty space. While Linda simply used extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, I added my own touches. The mushrooms itself was a success, my Aunt loved them!
You can use these marinated mushrooms for anything: by itself as appetizer, snack- dip them in ranch or blue cheese dressing, sliced them, cook them with pasta, risotto, or by itself as a side dish.

I don't measure, I did by eyeballing it.

-white button and cremini mushrooms
-extra virgin olive oil
-salt & pepper
-garlic powder
-italian seasonings