Veggie sweet potato and beans burgers

As I've been decreasing the amount of meat I eat, I've had an amazing revelation (only a tiny bit of sarcasm there ;) ): there are loads of veggie recipes that are just as good/better than their meat alternatives. I'm thinking lentil bolognese, for example. I think it's because they don't pretend to be meat, they just use vegetables in a great way.

Makes: 8 smallish patties 


Ingredients:
- 2 small sweet potatoes
- 400g kidney beans
- 1 small onion
-  2.5 tsp of cumin
- 1 tsp of paprika

Also:
- rolls
- avocadoes and tomatoes for slicing and serving with the patties
- salsa
- cheese

 1. Chop the sweet potato up. Microwave on High for 10 minutes (or 2x5, moving them around halfway) until soft. Or, bake for 45-60 minutes at 200 degrees C until tender (I've had this discussion with people: apparently baking is far superior, but hey, life is only so long)

 2. Mash the kidney beans in a bowl. Mix in the chopped onion.



3. Add the sweet potato and mash that up with the beans and onion. Then add the spices and any seasoning you like.

  

4. Mould the mixture into 8 patties. Fry little on both sides for 4 minutes each. You will have to do this in batches unless you have a huge pan. Or you can bake for 35 minutes at 200 degrees C. 

5. Create your burgers using avocao, tomato, salsa, cheese, or anything else you like the sound of!

Cheese Scones

Made my first cheese scones today! They were so nice, and really easy to make.

(Yeah, I don't really go for the here's-my-whole-life-story-before-I-get-to-the-recipe thing)

Makes: 8 scones

Ingredients:
450g self-raising flour
115g soft margarine
140g good quality mature cheddar cheese (if you want the scones to taste their best!)
Seasoning
1 egg
150ml milk
1 tsp  mustard

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ gas mark 6

2. Add the flour and margarine and combine until it resembles fine crumbs

3. Reserve 25g of the cheese. Grate the rest in and season

4. Beat the egg, 125ml of the milk and mustard together. Gradually stir into the flour until it forms a smooth, soft dough.

5. Flour a surface and lightly knead the dough. Break the dough into eight pieces and shape (however you want. I did mine roundish because I'm not particularly original).
 
6. Arrange them on a baking sheet, leaving some space for rising.

7. Brush the rest of the milk on the scones and sprinkle the cheese over.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden brown.

Passionfruit and lime cheesecakes

I love cheesecake. These were the first I made for myself (usually Louise makes them for me because she's lovely like that). They were so light and smooth: I think it might have been the whipped cream, which makes they quite airy. Also, I've written 'makes 8' but I don't know if it was the size of my ramekins, or the expansion of the mixture, but I had some left over so you may be able to make more than 8.

Makes: 8

Ingredients:
- 200g of digestive biscuits
- 50g butter, melted
- 200g condensed milk
- 200g full-fat cream cheese
- 200ml double cream
- 1 lime, finely grated zest and juice
- 115g passionfruit curd

1. Crush the biscuits by putting them in a freezer bag and whacking with a rolling pin. Mix with the melted butter. Press the biscuit base into 8 ramekins. Leave in the fridge to cool.

2. Spoon the condensed milk, full-fat cream cheese, cream and lime zest and juice into a mixer/bowl and whisk until thick and smooth. This is very satisfying, although it takes a while to get there!

3. Mix in 3/4 of the curd and mix/fold in depending on the effect you want. Spoon into the ramekins and cool.

4. Spoon or pipe the rest of the curd on top, and you could sprinkle some of the zest over if you have any left.

Pulled pork rolls with apple sauce

*** Photos coming when we do them again and remember to take the photos ***

This took a while and resulted in a lot of washing up because I made every part of them, but obviously that's not necessary

Makes:
8 rolls
pork for 4 (with left-overs, depending on appetite size)
apple sauce for 4

Ingredients:
Pork:
-1 shoulder of pork
- fennel seeds
- thyme
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 100ml stock
- 100ml apple juice/ cider

Apple sauce:
- 650g apples
- 100ml water (the recipe I followed said 350ml and it was way to watery. Even 100ml might be too much, but I just seized mine at the end and the apple juice was really nice)
- 75g sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Rolls:
- 500g flour
- one sachet/7g yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp caster sugar
- 300ml lukewarm water
- 3 tbsp olive oil

1. Slow-cooked pulled pork
Rub the thyme and fennel seeds (and any other seasoning) into the pork and brown in the slow-cooker pan.

2. Add 100ml of stock and 100ml of apple juice/ apple cider to the pan.
Cook on High for 4-5 hours, Medium 6-7 hours, Low 8 hours. Remove pork from the pan and pull apart with two forks

3. Make rolls
Put flour and dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Make a well in the middle and add the wet ingredients. Stir until combined.

4. Remove and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 mins until smooth and elastic. Do not add too much extra flour or it will make the bread too dense. Leave to prove for 1 hr in a lightly oiled, covered bowl in a warm place.

5. Knead the dough again for 10 minutes. Then divide into 8 pieces. Form roll shapes. Leave to prove for another hour. Preheat oven to 220C, gas mark 9

6. Bake rolls for 10-15 minutes. When they're done they should feel hollow when tapped. Cover with a towel to absorb excess moisture and leave to cool.

7. Make apple sauce
Peel, core and chop the apples

8. Add to the pan with the water, sugar and cinnamon. Simmer until the apples are soft and mushy. Cream into a smooth sauce, or leave it chunky if you prefer.

9. Serve the pork in the rolls with the apple sauce and some rocket/salad leaves