Fresh Artichokes

I never thought I'd make fresh artichokes because it just looked so daunting!! But it turns out not so hard, although a little fiddly. A very impressive starter or tapas dish. You don't get much artichoke heart/meat in each one so economically it's definitely cheaper to buy them in a jar and honestly the taste wasn't so different (except that the jar variety is normally marinated). Found this great YouTube video on how to prep the artichokes.

Fresh Artichokes

Ingredients

2 Artichokes
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Aioli sauce for dipping (optional)

Method

Set a large pot of water to boil on the stove while you prepare the artichokes.
Cut the tip off the artichoke and the end of the stem (not all because most of the meat is in the stem).
Cut the artichoke length ways into halves and then quarters. You need a SHARP knife.
Pull out the "flower" in the middle which is a the spiny inedible part, usually pink or red.
Place artichokes in the water and boil for 30 minutes or until tender. You may need to do this in batches.
Drain well and arrange on serving plate.
Drizzle with good quality olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Aioli makes a great dipping sauce!

This is also a great dipping sauce recipe from Platings and Pairings;

Artichoke Dipping Sauce

3 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespooon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of salt

Whisk ingredients together and serve.

Vegan Tapas Night!!!

 I have been wanting to have a vegan Tapas night for a while and since I was staying with a good friend and had a close friend from Australia visiting so I thought that was a perfect excuse to open the Sangria and try some new recipes! The potatoes and mushrooms were definitely the highlight although I loved the almonds, roasted peppers and olives as well!

Spanish Spiced Almonds

Setas al Ajillo - marinated mushrooms

 Banderillas - marinated or pickled vegetable skewers. I used gherkins, cocktail onions, artichokes, black olives and roasted capsicum.

Pimientos de Padron (Roasted Peppers)

Aceitunas - marinated green olives

Toasted bread, I used GF vegan English muffins.

Patatas Bravas - fried potatoes with a tomato based sauce and drizzled with aioli sauce.

Leftovers were great on a wrap ;)

Tapas Marinated Olives

I couldn't find a specific marinated olive recipe I wanted to use for my Vegan Tapas Night so I just made this one up and it was good!

Tapas Marinated Olives

Ingredients

1 cup green Sicilian olives
2 Tbls good quality extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
1 Tbls fresh thyme, chopped finely


Method

Mix olive oil, salt and thyme in a small bowl and toss the olives through.

Patatas Bravas (Spanish Fried Potatoes)

 This was my favourite dish from my Vegan Tapas Night, the sauce is so great I used the extra on bread and pasta! Recipe from All Recipes.

Patatas Bravas (Spanish Fried Potatoes)

Ingredients

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups olive oil
1 tablespoon salt

Sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red chile, minced
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 (14 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup vegan aioli


Method

Combine potatoes, 2 cups olive oil, and 3 teaspoons salt in a large cold skillet.
Heat on low and cook until potatoes are softened, 12 to 15 minutes.
Increase heat to high and fry until golden, 5 to 6 minutes.
Drain on paper towels.
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Cook and stir onion with 1 teaspoon salt in the hot oil until onion has softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add garlic, chile, and smoked paprika; simmer for 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes and return to a simmer.
Transfer tomato mixture to a blender, cover, and puree until tomato sauce is smooth.
Serve patatas bravas with tomato puree and drizzle with aioli.

Pimientos de Padron (Roasted Peppers)

This was dish from my Vegan Tapas Night! SOOO easy! I ended up used mini sweet peppers because I couldn't find the Spanish ones. Recipe from Martha Stewart.

Pimientos de Padron (Roasted Peppers)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
Olive Oil Extra Virgin
12 ounces Padron or shishito peppers (I used mini sweet peppers)
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, preferably Maldon


Method

I sliced my peppers in half and removed the seeds.
Heat olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet until almost smoking.
Add peppers and cook, stirring, until blistered, about 1 minute. It took me longer than this but you can tell when they are ready.
Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain.
Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with salt; serve immediately.

Champiñones al Ajillo (Garlic Mushrooms)

This was definitely a highlight at my Vegan Tapas Night! Recipe from Easy Tapas Recipes.

Champiñones al Ajillo (Garlic Mushrooms)

Ingredients

1/4 cup (2 fl. oz) olive oil
4 cups (8 oz) brown mushrooms, washed and quartered
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons dry sherry
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried red chile, seeded and crumbled
1/4 teaspoon Spanish paprika
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley


Method

Heat the oil in a skillet and sauté the mushrooms over high heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Lower the heat to medium and add the garlic, sherry, lemon juice, dried chile, paprika, and salt and pepper.
Cook for about 5 minutes or until the garlic and mushrooms have softened.
Remove from the heat, sprinkle with chopped parsley, and serve on small earthenware platters.

Spanish Spiced Almonds

As part of my Vegan Tapas Night this recipe is from Food.com.

Spanish Spiced Almonds

Ingredients

4 teaspoons olive oil
1 1⁄4 teaspoons smoked paprika (hot or mild)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups blanched whole almonds
1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt, to taste (or kosher salt)


Method

Preheat oven to 300F.
Warm the oil in a small saucepan over low heat.
Add paprika and cumin, and stir 1 minute to mix and release flavors.
Remove from heat when mixture just begins to bubble.
Move to a medium bowl, and stir in the almonds.
Transfer almonds to parchment lined baking sheet, and bake 10 minutes.
Sprinkle right away with salt, and move to wire rack.
Let dry at least 2 hours before serving.

Easy Spanish Rice

I was kind of winging this based on a few different recipes I found online and then put it in the rice maker and it was super easy.

Easy Spanish Rice

Ingredients

1 cup rice of choice (I used Jasmine cause it was what we had)
vegetable stock - the amount you would normally use to cook rice which may vary if you are doing it on the stove, around 1 1/2 cups for jasmine rice, more for brown.
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion, chopped


Method

Fry up the onions first on a medium heat for around 5 minutes, until clear.
If using a rice cooker then transfer the onions to it, if cooking on the stove keep them in the pot.
Add all ingredients to the onions and stir to mix.
Cook in rice cooker or if doing on the stove top, bring to boil then simmer on a low heat until rice is cooked, stirring frequently to avoid burning.
Test rice and once done, serve. So easy!

Shown here with bean burritos :)

Black Bean Gazpacho

This recipe was submitted by a member on the Team Beachbody website.

Black Bean Gazpacho
Serves 6
Calories per serve 150, fat 1g

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes,chopped
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sliced green onions (I used red onion)
3 cups tomato juice
2 Tbls lime juice
2 Tbls red wine vinegar
2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 15oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup vegan sour cream (optional) - I used avocado instead
I added cilantro to mine cause I love it!


Method

Mix all ingredients except sour cream into a bowl,
Cover a refrigerate over night (or at least 6 hours) stirring occasionally.
Serve with sour cream.

Vegetable Paella

This recipe was submitted by a member on the Team Beachbody website.

Vegetable Paella
Serves 3
Calories per serve 391, Fat 10g

Ingredients

1 cup dry brown rice
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 pinch saffron
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 medium shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup small whole mushrooms
½ cup cubed eggplant
10 medium black olives
10 medium green olives
¼ tsp. sea salt
Ground black pepper (to taste; optional)
½ tsp. ground cumin
1 lb. medium tomatoes, chopped
½ fresh or frozen green peas


Method

Heat rice, broth, and saffron in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle boil; cook, covered, for 45 to 50 minutes. Keep covered the entire time or rice will not cook evenly.
While rice is cooking, heat oil in a large ovenproof saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, garlic, bell peppers, mushrooms, and eggplant; cook, stirring frequently, for 5 to 6 minutes or until bell peppers are tender.
Add olives, salt, pepper (if desired), and cumin; cook for 1 minute.
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Add rice, tomatoes, and peas to bell pepper mixture; mix well.
Bake for 10 minutes or until heated through.

Gazpacho Soup

This is my favourite soup, it's like a soup made out of Pico De Gallo. Original recipe taken from Food Network - The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Gazpacho is a Spanish vegetable soup served cold. It's so light it's perfect for an appetizer.

Gazpacho Soup 

Ingredients

1 Avocado, chopped into cubes
2 Red Bell Peppers
1 container of baby tomatoes
1/2 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups tomato juice
1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 Tbls salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Coriander leaves/Cilantro, chopped (optional)


Method

Ina food processor gently process each vegetable separately but using the pulse button\ until chopped finely but not mushy.
Add vegetables in a large bowl and mix in all other ingredients.
Stir well, pour into airtight container or jug and chill before serving.
Best served the next day so the flavors have time to mingle.

Summer Paella

This recipe is from the Mouth Watering Vegan blog. It's got such a  mix of flavours that you could really add whatever vegetables you liked. For once though I was pretty strict with the recipe.

Ingredients1½ cups of Basmati Rice, cooked and set aside
1 tsp turmeric powder
4 large mushrooms sliced
4 cloves garlic very finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
small red pepper finely chopped
3 tomatoes finely chopped
1½ cups of frozen spinach (thawed first)
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 cup of vegetable stock
8 black olives chopped
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 tsp dried garlic
handful of flat leaf parsley finely chopped
olive oil for frying

MethodFirst, pre-boil the rice, adding 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder to the water. I just used the rice cooker.

Next, fry your mushrooms in a deep, non-stick pan, or a wok if you have one with a lid.  Then add the garlic and stir for a minute or so, making sure you don’t burn it.

Now add the tomato puree, and continue to mix for a minute or so. Then add the red pepper and chopped tomatoes, the herbs and paprika, and stir around for the next 10 minutes or so.

At this point stir in the pesto and the thawed spinach.  Mix for a minute or so and then add the vegetable stock.  Cover and allow to cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Finally, add the rice, and mix around until ingredients are properly blended.  Then add the black olives and the rest of the ingredients.