green bean risotto
1 box risotto rice
1 onion, chopped
1lb green beans or there abouts, chopped
1tspn chopped garlic
4 cups hot veg stock
2 or 3oz parmesan shavings
some fresh basil or parsley, chopped
blob butter
Soften onion and garlic in a little oil. Add rice and stir around to coat with oil. Add stock a cup at a time, stirring all the time. After 2 cups, add the green beans. When all the stock is in, let it simmer gently until the rice and veg are tender and stock is absorbed. Stir in parmesan, butter and herbs. remove from heat, cover and leave to sit for a couple of minutes. Very easy, quick and cheap if you have beans in the garden. This works with runner beans as well, or peas, but they only need a very few minutes cooking.
Chard pasta
1 pack pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch chard, leaves stripped from stems and the whole lot chopped,
1tspn chopped garlic
3tblspns butter
3tblspns flour
about 3/4 pint milk, maybe a little more
salt, pepper, nutmeg
Cook pasta according to pack. Fry onion and chard stems in butter until softened, then add leaves. Cook until wilted. Stir in the flour and cook until liquid is absorbed. Slowly add milk, stirring all the time. Gently bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring. Season with salt, pepper and a good pinch nutmeg. Mix through pasta and serve. If you have mushrooms, you can add them with the onions.
Spicy Chick peas
1/2lb dried chick peas, soaked overnight.
1 onion, chopped
juice and rind of a lemon
1tspn chilli powder
1tspn cumin
2 or 3 tomatoes, chopped
Drain the soaked chick peas and put in a large pan. Cover with water to about 2 inches over the top. Add a splash of oil to control foaming. bring to the boil, boil hard for 10 minutes and simmer for a couple of hours until tender. Drain and set aside.
Fry spices for a minute in a little oil, add onions and cook until softened. Add tomatoes and lemon and cook until a bit saucy. Stir in chick peas and heat through. Serve with rice.
Hoppin John
1lb black eyed beans, soaked overnight
1 onion, chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
handful of frozen peppers or a red pepper, chopped,
couple of fresh chillis, finely chopped or a tablspoon or so of chilli powder
2tspn chopped garlic
2tspns cumin
some chopped spring onions
Drain the beans and put them in a big pan with everything else except tomatoes and spring onions. add a splash of oil and bring to the boil. Boil hard for about 10minutes, reduce heat and simmer for a couple of hours until beans are very tender. Chuck in the tomatoes after about an hour. By the time the beans are cooked, the liquid should have reduced and be a kind of thick, saucy gravy. Serve with rice and sprinkle the chopped spring onion (or ordinary onions) on top.
You can make a kind of spinach curry with chard if you use 1/2lb dried chick peas, soaked and cooked, a chopped onion, a couple of tins of tomatoes, a pile of chard and some curry paste. This is cheap and easy and makes use of the chard from the garden. I only have 12 plants, but we get enough chard to eat it once a week for months and months, so I have a few things that I do with it. Quiche made with chard and cottage cheese, seasoned with nutmeg is good. So is Chard, leek and butter bean soup (lovely green colour when it's blended.) If you have a glut of green beans, you can make the curry above using them instead of chard.
Hope these help any