Seven Delicious Meatless Monday Recipes

One of the only things my family doesn’t like about the fact that I love to invent and develop new recipes, is that often, once I have made something I rarely make it again. In my quest for the new and different, the old favourites get left by the wayside. So recently, at my family’s request, I have been cooking many of our old favourites. So here are seven of my family’s favourite Meatless Monday recipes from Mondays gone by.

Parsnip Potato and Leek Gratin

Creamy Summer Spaghetti (it’s lovely in winter too!)

Cashew Nut Stir Fry

Risotto Primavera

Easy and Delicious Vegetarian Stew

Easy Vegetarian Spaghetti One Pot

Tofu Stir Fry with Hoisin Sauce

Meatless Monday - Jewelled Couscous Salad

The multi-coloured glossy peppers make this salad look jewel-like so it is beautiful on a buffet. It is also a great thing to have in the fridge over a couple of days as it goes with just about anything and as well as being tasty, it is good for you too. Peppers and other roast vegetables are full of anti-oxidants and although couscous it isn’t a whole grain, it contains protein, some B vitamins and fibre. (You can buy whole grain varieties of couscous now, but I have to confess I prefer the taste and texture of the traditional sort. But please do use them if you prefer.) The couscous that you normally buy here in the West is an ‘instant’ variety, and does not require the long steaming that traditional couscous does, making it quick and easy to cook.

Once again, I use my favourite go to ingredient, Roast Vegetables, in this dish, but I cut the pieces smaller and roast them for less time.

1 onion (red if possible), cut in small chunks

1 zucchini, top and tail removed, cut in half lengthways and then cut in half moons

(If you cannot get a zucchini, use a sweet green pepper instead.)

1 red pepper, de-seeded and cut in small chunks

1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and cut in small chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil plus a bit more for dressing the salad

2 to 3 teaspoons Balsamic vinegar plus a bit more for dressing the salad

2 cups couscous

4 cups vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flatleaf parsley or 1 tablespoon dried parsley

Preheat the oven to 375℉ or about 190℃.

Place the vegetables in a roasting dish and toss in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 to 3 teaspoons of Balsamic vinegar. Roast for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften and turn golden on the edges. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, heat the vegetable stock in a saucepan until nearly boiling. Place the couscous in a large, heatproof bowl and pour the stock over top. Cover with aluminum foil and set aside for about five minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Stir through with a fork and set aside to cool.

Mix the roast vegetables and the couscous together, adding a bit more oil and vinegar just to dress the salad and bring everything together. (You won’t need more than about a teaspoon or so of oil and a few sprinkles of vinegar.) Grind in some black pepper and taste the salad. Add salt if necessary. Stir in the parsley and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Meatless Monday - Red Cabbage and Walnut Winter Coleslaw

Although I call this a winter coleslaw, I often make this in the warmer weather as well. Red cabbage makes wonderful coleslaw, although it is sadly often overlooked in favour of its greener cousins. The fact that red cabbage is often served overcooked or pickled has led many folks to believe that it is bitter, but properly prepared nothing could be further from the truth. Nutritionally, it is an absolute powerhouse, high in protective phytonutrients that detoxify, nourish and protect against disease, particularly when served raw. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory and high in vitamins A and C.

You need to make this salad in advance but this is something I almost always find a benefit, particularly when I am entertaining. It is best to make it the afternoon or evening before the day you wish to serve it to allow the flavours to blend together and for the cabbage to become tender crisp in the dressing. You can shred the onion and cabbage in a food processor if you like, but I often find it is quicker just to slice them finely with a knife than having to wash all the paraphernalia that goes along with the food processor!

half a red onion, finely sliced in half moons

1 red cabbage, cored and finely sliced or shredded

¾ to 1 cup walnut halves

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried parsley)

4 tablespoons olive oil (Extra Virgin if possible)

3 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar

(I use Apple Balsamic Vinegar when I can get it, but any good balsamic vinegar is absolutely fine.)

1 tablespoon sugar or honey

2 teaspoons wholegrain Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon salt and one eighth of a teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

Place the onions and cabbage in a bowl. Add the walnuts and 1 tablespoon of the fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon of the dried) and stir to mix.

In a shaker or clean jar, mix the oil, vinegar, sugar or honey, wholegrain mustard and salt and pepper. Shake until well mixed and pour over the salad. Toss thoroughly.

Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Before serving, toss the salad again. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if you feel it needs it. Garnish with the remaining parsley and serve.

My Vegetarian Chili

It's Meatless Monday again and today I want to share my chili recipe. It is full of nutrition and flavour and everyone I serve it to seems to love it.

My family are not huge bean lovers, but they do love vegetables, so when developing my own vegetarian chili I decided to focus on the bit they liked the best. The vegetables I have used are a bit unconventional when it comes to chili, but this recipe does have a nice kick to it. Having said that, my family are fairly conservative when it comes to spices, so if you want to add more chili powder, or even some fresh chilis, please feel free.

Chili is traditionally served with white rice in England, and I also like to serve this with brown, basmati or wild rice. However, it is also lovely with toast, or even tortilla chips if you fancy them. And I can’t help but think it would be nice with lightly spiced couscous too, or even just a basket of lovely warmed rolls.

To serve four to five people, you need:

2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use mild olive oil.)

1 large onion, peeled and sliced in half moons or 3 leeks, thinly sliced, rinsed and drained

2 carrots, peeled, halved and cut in small chunks

2 parsnips, peeled, halved and cut in chunks

1 sweet potato, peeled, quartered and cut in chunks

1 zucchini, cut in half and then half moon shapes

1 red pepper, seeded and cut in chunks

1 yellow pepper, seeded and cut in chunks

1 can (about 14 ounces) chopped tomatoes, preferably organic

1 can (about 14 ounces) mixed beans, preferably organic, drained and rinsed

1 clove garlic, peeled

¼ to ½ teaspoon chili powder

½ cup good red wine

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat to oven to 375℉ (160 to 170℃).

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large casserole with a lid - one that goes from the stove top to the oven safely. Add the onions or leeks and stir fry for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Add the carrots, and stir fry for a few minutes longer so that they begin to soften a little too.

Add the parsnips, sweet potato, zucchini and peppers. Stir fry for a couple of minutes. Stir in the canned tomatoes and the beans. Grate in the garlic and add the chili powder. Add the red wine and mix in well.

Cook on the stove top for a few minutes, bringing the mixture almost to the boil. Then cover and transfer to the oven.  Cook for 40 to 50 minutes until the vegetables have softened but still keep their shape. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve and enjoy.

Easy and Delicious Vegetarian Stew

I love stews this time of year. They are comforting and delicious, and they make the house smell beautiful when they are cooking. Vegetarian stews don’t take as long to cook as the ones containing meat, but they do benefit from about an hour or so in the oven so that the flavours can all blend together.

I’ve tried lots of different combinations of vegetables and this is the one we like best in our house, but I don’t mean to be prescriptive, and of course you can change things round to suit your tastes and what you have on hand. This one makes a fantastic Meatless Monday dinner, and the leftovers are lovely the next day too.

To serve four to six people, you need:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use mild olive oil)

1 red onion, peeled, cut in half and sliced in half moons

1 cup white mushrooms, quartered

3 parsnips, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and sliced in chunky sticks

3 carrots, peeled, cut in half and sliced in chunky sticks

1 red pepper, seeded and cut in chunks

1 can (about 14 ounces) chopped tomatoes, preferably organic

1 can (about 14 ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon chopped or dried flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 375℉ (160 to 170℃).

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large stove top to oven casserole with a lid. Add the onion and sauté gently until it begins to soften. Add mushrooms and stir fry for a few moments longer. Add the parsnips, carrots and red pepper and stir until coated in the oily oniony mixture.

Add the tomatoes, beans, bay leaf and oregano and stir through. Pop the lid on and place in the oven for about 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place on a heatproof surface.

Carefully taste the stew and add salt and pepper if necessary. If the vegetables are softened, return to the oven for five minutes or so, but if they are still not soft enough, return to the oven for ten to fifteen minutes.

Serve when the vegetables are tender but still hold their shape. Serve garnished with the parsley. I like to serve this with a basket of hot rolls, but for a heartier meal you can serve it with crushed new potatoes or rice.

Meatless Monday - Busy Day Blueberry Pie

This is a wonderful recipe for those days when you really don’t have time to fuss, but you fancy something special for dessert. It’s easy to keep everything on hand for this, and while I appreciate that scratch pastry is usually nicer than store bought, once in a while, a shortcut doesn’t hurt. Frozen blueberries can give you a lovely taste of summer on a cold day as well - and the fact you don’t need to thaw them makes this a great last minute dessert.

1 top and bottom crust ready rolled pastry (uncooked)

4½ cups frozen blueberries (not thawed)

½ cup white sugar plus extra for sprinkling

⅓ cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (about 160℃ to 170℃ for a fan oven). Put the bottom pastry into your pie dish.

Pour the blueberries into a large bowl. Add the sugar, flour and cinnamon and mix well.

Put the blueberry mixture in the bottom pie shell, dot with the butter and put the top crust over. Pinch the edges of the crust together, and cut two small slices in the top of the pie for vents. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. 

You may want to put a cookie sheet underneath the pie in the oven just in case it bubbles over a bit. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, checking from time to time to make sure the crust is not browning too quickly. (Adjust the temperature or cover the edges with aluminum foil if this starts to happen.) When the pie is done the crust should be just beginning to turn a bit golden. Allow to cool almost to room temperature before slicing.

Meatless Monday - Grown Up Applesauce

It’s Meatless Monday again, and although my recipe this week would work as an accompaniment to a meal that is not meat free, I think it is just the sort of thing that is special enough to save for a Meatless Monday!

This applesauce is a wonderful treat, and makes a beautiful accompaniment to just about anything, from vegetarian sausages to a vegetable gratin. 

It’s also a wonderful dessert, with or without a bit of cream. You can serve it warm or cold – and one of my favourite things to do is to serve a bit of it, warm, in a bowl, topped with some good vanilla ice cream and some crumbled ginger biscuits. Ambrosia!

You can use cooking or eating apples for this, and I find it tastes best if I use more than one variety of apples in a batch if possible. We love cinnamon in our house, so I always put lots in, but do go according to your own tastes. It gives the apple sauce a lovely colour as well as a great flavour.

Calvados, or apple brandy, works best for this, but ordinary brandy is good too. I suspect apple schnapps would work as well, although I honestly haven’t tried it yet!

About 2 to 3 cups of peeled, sliced apples

¼ cup Calvados or brandy

1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Put the apple slices, Calvados or brandy and cinnamon in a small saucepan. Stir well and heat over medium to low heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples begin to soften. (Try not to let them boil too much.) This usually takes about half an hour.

I then use a potato masher to crush the slices down and give the applesauce a nice, chunky texture.

Serve either as a meal accompaniment or dessert. Leftovers (if you have any) keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.

The 21st Century Housewife's Roasted Vegetable and Potato Omelette

It’s Meatless Monday again, time for another easy and delicious meatless recipe. My roasted vegetable and potato omelette makes great use of leftovers, plus it is an easy and satisfying meal any time of the day.

Rather untraditionally, I use a larger frying pan to make my omelettes - usually a 7 or 8 inch non-stick pan - and I also use three eggs. We have hearty appetites in my family, but if you are not as greedy as we are, these omelettes can always be cut in half. They are a meal in themselves, but a small side salad and/or basket of bread rolls served alongside would not go amiss!

I’m depending on you having some leftover roast vegetables and new potatoes (either boiled or roasted) here. You might have made a big pan of my Roast Vegetables a couple of days earlier, or perhaps served my Easy Roast Potatoes with a favourite dish and had some left over. (Both of these are also vegetarian dishes so do click on the links if you want to check them out.)

My omelette cooking method is slightly untraditional too, as after the first side of the omelette has been cooked on the stove top, I put the frying pan under the broiler or grill to cook the top. I find this gives a much better result, and although purists might frown, everyone loves my omelettes!

To make one omelette, you need:-

1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I use mild olive oil)

a handful of leftover roast vegetables

a scant quarter cup of thinly sliced leftover new potatoes

3 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

½ teaspoon dried parsley

salt and pepper to taste

a handful of good vegetarian cheese

Sauté the roasted vegetables and sliced potatoes in a 7 or 8 inch frying pan (with a handle that is safe to put under the broiler or grill) over medium heat. Preheat the broiler or grill to medium (about 325℉ or 150 to 160℃).

Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a small bowl. Beat in the milk, parsley, salt and pepper.

Pour the eggs over the vegetables and potatoes.

Cook over medium heat, pushing the egg away from the sides of the pan with a spatula and allowing the raw egg to flow back round it, so that all the egg begins to cook. Sprinkle the cheese over top of the omelette.

After about three minutes, when the top of the omelette begins to look a bit less runny, lift the corner of the omelette to see if it has begun to brown underneath. Once you can see a bit of golden brown on the bottom, transfer the pan to the broiler or grill.

When the omelette is done, it will look a bit like this:-

Using a large spatula or egg turner, fold one half of the omelette over the other so it forms a half moon shape. Serve and enjoy!

Meatless Monday - The 21st Century Housewife's Vegetable Biryani

This is more an ode to biryani than a proper authentic version - I am no expert on Indian cuisine and any dishes I create are highly flavoured with my own experience and my family’s tastes. This dish, however, does have echoes of the vegetable biryani I have eaten in Indian restaurants and a wonderful warming and comforting flavour that is perfect for cool autumn nights.

My family and I do like spice, but in its milder, more subdued form, so if you are a spice lover, the quantities of in this dish may seem small. They can, of course, be increased, although I recommend increasing them proportionately (ie. use the same amount of cilantro as garam masala, and half as much cumin) as the flavours really do sing out beautifully in those proportions. Saffron can be expensive, so if you would prefer not to use it, feel free to leave it out. However if you do have some on hand it definitely enhances the flavours in this dish so is well worth including. It also adds a gorgeous hint of colour to the cauliflower and to the rice.

You can vary the vegetables in this dish according to what you have on hand, although cauliflower is almost always a part of a vegetable biryani so I encourage you to use it if at all possible. Make sure your vegetables are cut small, and that florets are kept small too, so that it does not take too long to cook. Again, this isn’t strictly authentic, as many biryani dishes are cooked long and slow, but I like the subtle crunch it gives this dish.

My method of adding some of the rice to the vegetable mixture at the end is definitely something you would not find in a true biyani, but I like the texture and appearance it gives to this dish. However if you prefer, just keep all the rice separate and serve the vegetables over top of it.

Lovely served with a basket of warmed nan breads on the side if you can get hold of them, this recipe will serve four to six people, depending on age and appetite.

2 cups of rice, basmati if possible or whole grain if you prefer

2 tablespoons olive oil, or other mild vegetarian cooking oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup cauliflower florets

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup green beans

½ cup cashew nuts

¼ to ½ cup vegetable stock

(You can use hot water in a pinch, but stock is best - ready made or from a cube is fine.)

1 teaspoon curry powder (I use garam masala)

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried ground cilantro (known as coriander in the UK)

2 pinches of saffron

freshly chopped cilantro or parsley to garnish, if desired

Cook the rice in lots of boiling salted water according to package directions, adding a pinch of saffron to the cooking water if desired.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan and sauté the onion over medium heat until pale and translucent. Toss in the carrots, cauliflower and broccoli florets and stir fry for a few minutes.

Dissolve another pinch of saffron in a quarter cup of the vegetable stock (if you are using saffron). Add the quarter cup of the stock to the pan with the vegetables along with the curry powder, cumin and dried cilantro. Add the green beans. Pop the lid on and cook over low to medium heat for two or three minutes until the vegetables are tender but still crisp.

Remove the lid and add the cashews, stirring to warm through. Drain the rice well and add about a quarter of it to the vegetable mixture in the pan, stirring through lightly. Add a bit more stock if you feel it needs it.

Serve this mixture on a bed of the remaining rice.