Chunky. Fresh. Warm. Unusual.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm ink and graphite on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin. 

When I was perusing the gallery shop at the Tate Britain one time I stumbled across a neat little book of amusing gardening quotes accompanied by quirky, thoughtful illustrations. Their style was the very distinct work of the much lauded Laura Stoddart. The book in question is Up the Garden Path: a Little Anthology which I promptly bought. It really is a lovely piece of work and most gardeners would appreciate it. Anyway, this painting is inspired by the distinct flowers of the fennel plant colliding with the elongated, gentle and watery style of Laura Stoddart.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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Baked Fennel and Walnut salad - the vegetarian dinner recipe

Fresh fennel is a strong flavour that people are usually black and white about. It's a love or hate reaction. However, baked fennel is much, much, much milder and although it still has hints of anise, most people are quite happy to chow down on it.

about 800g fennel
1 large red capsicum, cut into big chunks of about 2 inches

several tablespoons olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

salt

1/2 cup dried puy lentils

2 bay leaves

1/8 onion, very finely sliced

75g walnuts, broken into pieces

1 cup roughly chopped parsley leaves, about 15g

parmesan to taste

Remove the stalks from the fennel and discard. They tend to be quite tough and stalky. Cut the fennel bulb into quarters like an apple and then cut out the core and discard. Chop the remaining bulb pieces into big chunks of about 2 inches. Separate the layers of the fennel chunks.

Put the fennel and capsicum chunks into a baking dish with the lemon juice, a sprinkling of salt and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Mix thoroughly.

Bake at 200C for 40 minutes and remember to stir at half time.

Meanwhile, boil the lentils in lightly salted water with the bay leaves. They take around 20 minutes.

When done, drain and rinse thoroughly under warm water and discard the bay leaves.

Combine the baked fennel and capsicum, cooked lentils, raw onion, fresh parsley and walnuts in a big bowl.

Serve with parmesan to taste.

Makes a meal for 2 and goes really well with crusty bread slathered in butter.

Light. Fresh. Filling. Warm.

When the recipe muse smacks me over the head with inspiration, it does it well. That's all I can say. This whole recipe landed from the ether, almost fully formed. Exact quantities were missing, but that was simple to deduce. This is really easy to put together. Just cook the few ingredients that need it and combine.

450g pumpkin, chopped into 1cm cubes

100g green beans, very finely sliced

150g feta cheese, very finely crumbled

100g walnuts, broken up

1/4 small onion, very finely sliced

about 1 cup or 18g parsley leaves (left whole and with stems removed)

1 cup couscous

1 cup or 250 ml water

1 teaspoon salt

cracked pepper to taste

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Boil the pumpkin until done.

Steam the beans (on top of the pumpkin?) until they turn bright green.

Put the couscous in a bowl. Add the salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Then add 1 cup of boiling (straight from the kettle) water. Mix and cover with a lid for 3-5 minutes.

Combine the feta, walnuts, parsley and onion in a big mixing bowl.

As the other ingredients are done, add them to the feta mix.

Add a generous amount of cracked black pepper, to taste.

Add a good slosh of both olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the completed mix, about 3-4 tablespoons of each.

Fills 2 people.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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Light. Quick. Easy. Zesty.

So the days of summer are over. But that doesn't mean that the days are cold and grey. They sure seem to start out that way, but there are still surprisingly warm temperatures that don't lend themselves to hearty soups and casseroles. Which is where a warmed salad-y type meal is perfect. Lots of fresh stuff. Plenty of zest. Filling noodles. And a few veg.

cellophane noodles for 2 (rice/tapioca/bean)

a tablespoon or two of peanut or sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2cm fresh ginger, grated

125g firm tofu, cubed

8 medium sized cup mushrooms, in thin slices

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons LIGHT soy sauce (Thai/Vietnamese/Japanese). A heavy soy sauce such as Chinese masks these flavours rather than enhancing them

large handful fresh bean sprouts

5 spring onions, chopped

juice of 1/2 a lime

2 tablespoons finely sliced fresh mint (don't underdo the mint)

1/2 tablespoon rough chopped fresh coriander (don't overdo the coriander)

Put the noodles on first so they are ready to go. Follow the packet directions. This dish only takes a few minutes to cook once the chopping is done.

Fry the garlic and ginger in the mildly heated oil.

Turn the heat up to medium high and seal the tofu in the oil. It should be nice and golden all over.

Then add the mushrooms, carrot, sugar, salt and LIGHT soy sauce.

Stir fry until the veges are done.

This step is important: Remove the pan from the heat.

Mix in the bean sprouts so they become warmed through.

Let the dish cool somewhat (attend to the noodles?) and then mix in the herbs, spring onion and lime juice. You are almost aiming for a warm salad as opposed to a hot meal. The herbs shouldn't really shrivel up when they're mixed in.

Heap your cooked and drained noodles into mountains in bowls and then heap the vege mix on top.

Makes a meal for 2.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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