Vegetarian Low Carb Recipes

[BIWI]

Asparagus Frittata (serves 2)

250g/9oz asparagus, trimmed and cut into 5cm/2in pieces
4 eggs
4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
225g/8oz spring onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil

• Cook asparagus in boiling water until tender (7-10 minutes)
• Whisk the eggs and add the cheese and the spring onions
• Pre-heat the grill
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan that can go under the grill
• Put in the asparagus; stir-fry for a minute, then pour in the eaten eggs, moving the asparagus around gently to make sure the egg mixture gets right through, and that the grated cheese is well distributed
• Let the frittata cook over a moderate heat for a few minutes until the underside is cooked and lightly browned, then put the pan under a hot grill for a minute or two until the top is set and golden brown

5.5g carbs per serving

Recipe from Rose Elliot's "The Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet Book"

Pan-fried leeks with red pepper (serves 2-3)

2 leeks, weighing c. 335g (pre-prepped)
1 small red pepper, weighing c. 100g (pre-prepped)
butter/olive oil
salt & black pepper

• Top and tail the leeks, remove the outer leaf and then rinse well to make sure you've removed any dirt/grit, then slice into rings about half a centimetre thick

• remove the stalk, seeds and pith from the pepper and then cut into slices around 3mm thick

• in a large frying pan, melt a generous knob of butter over a high heat, and add a sloosh (technical term) of olive oil. The oil stops the butter from burning. When the butter has melted, add the red pepper and fry for a few minutes until they start taking on some colour

• add the leeks, stir together, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Fry till they start to take on some colour, then put a lid on the pan, turn the heat down to low and leave it to cook gently for about 10 minutes.

Roasted cauliflower and shallots (serves 4)

600g cauliflower* (any variety) pre-prep weight
150g echalion/banana shallots - pre-prep weight
olive oil
salt & black pepper, ground cumin (optional)

• Cut the outer leaves from the cauliflower and then cut the head into quarters, rinse

• Top and tail the shallots and peel, then cut lengthways into quarters

• In a small roasting tin (i.e. one that will hold the veg snugly) add a generous sloosh of olive oil; add the cauliflower, and turn it in the oil so that all sides have a thin covering of oil

• Add the quartered shallots

• Season with salt & pepper, then sprinkle with around a teaspoon of ground cumin if you're using that. (More if you like!)

• Roast in a hot oven (160 fan/180 conventional) for 20 minutes, then remove and turn the cauliflower over and stir round the shallots

• Put it back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes till it's all nicely brown (just watch that the shallots don't burn)

Carb count - 8g per portion

• I used Romanesco cauliflower which is visually more interesting than ordinary cauliflower, but the same carb count

South Asian style savoy cabbage
1 Savoy cabbage 🥬
75 grams sweet potato
100 grams frozen petit pois, you can use any kind of peas
1 1/2 tbsp ghee
6 cherry tomatoes, you can use one large tomato
1 tsp ginger paste or freshly grated
4 cloves
4 cardamoms
2 bay leaves
2 tsp turmeric powder
You can also add chillies if you like the heat, I didn’t because my 2-year old eats what we eat.

You can use any green cabbage but savoy wilts easily and is needed for this recipe. Bear in mind Asian recipes always go for mixing ingredients to get one homogeneous outcome and not standalone textures of various ingredients.

Finely chop the cabbage
Chop the sweet potato in chunks
Heat the ghee in a wok or heavy bottomed pan
Temper the spices along with the ginger
Add the sweet potato first sauté and then add the cabbage
Add the salt and turmeric to the cabbage
Stir fry until you see the cabbage has started reducing, then add the peas
Once the peas have mixed in cover and keep in low heat with occasional stirring.
It’s cooked once the sweet potato pieces break easily

This can be substituted as a warm salad or side as we did with grilled chicken and raita.

The carb content will come to around 16-19 grams so definitely eat it as a side, but can be lowered if you eliminate the sweet potato. Pumpkin or celeriac as a substitute would be lower in carbs as the recipe does need a little bit of mushy veg and I had to put it in for said toddler.

*Leek and courgette gratin
*
Serves 2, probably. Got to be honest, I made this up when I had veggies that needed using up, and I didn't measure anything. So all amounts are approximate!

2-3 courgettes
2 large or 3 small leeks
Clove or two of crushed garlic
Butter
Double cream - 300ml probably sufficient
Salt, pepper and grated nutmeg to taste
Grated Parmesan if using

Butter a large baking dish, and set your oven to 180-200.

Finely chop half the leeks, and cut the other half into rounds. Sautée the finely chopped half in lots of butter and some crushed garlic till soft, then add double cream, some grated nutmeg and salt and pepper and gently simmer.

In the buttered baking dish put a layer slices of courgette and leek rounds, and cover with the sauce. Add another layer of veg, top with sauce, and repeat till you run out of veg, finishing with a layer of sauce.

Top with some blobs of butter or grated Parmesan to help it brown, and cook in the middle of the oven till the veg was cooked (you can stick a fork into it without too much resistance) and it's golden brown and slightly crisply on top.

Cauli Rice - made up last night!!

One head of cauliflower - leaves removed and grated
one onion finely chopped - could use shallots - i did not have any
one clove garlic - crushed
half teaspoon cumin
good shake of Italian seasoning
chopped parsley
butter for frying

once grated put all the cauli in a tea bowl and squeeze all the water out
gently soften onion and garlic in butter
add all the caul, coat in butter and onions
stir in cumin and a good shake of italian seasoning
stir till all combined
lid on give it 5-6 mins - this is a total guess - as I was doing other things
remove lid, fluff with fork, stir through chopped parsley and some salt and pepper

IMO is the closed thing to spiced couscous and would work well as a side for all sorts of things. - I served with roasted salmon, and a lemon cream sauce. Roast salmon fillets, heat double cream (good splash 200 mls approx) on a low heat, with zest of one lemon, and one crushed garlic clove, who boiling, turn heat off and stir in one table spoon of cream cheese. Delish!

Ragz' Dirty Fries
Makes one portion

-250g celeriac cut into chips
-Toss in seasoned oil, I used Italian herbs, garlic granules, chili flakes, salt, pepper and a pinch of smoked paprika
-Air fry or oven cook in one layer, turning partway through until nicely well done (brown at the edges, they won't go crispy really but they get close).
-I topped with fried chopped bacon (obviously not vegetarian but facon works) and shallots.
-Shower in grated cheese and grill until bubbling.
-Served with mayo (aoili would be even better).

Heavenly!

Turnip/Swede Dauphinoise

Photo of the recipe attached but I will write out what I did:

Chop 4 rashers of bacon into cubes (I used a pot of pancetta instead) and fry until golden and the fat has rendered. If you have a pan that can go in the oven use that.

Take the bacon out of the pan and add butter to the bacon fat. Fry an onion or shallot with some thyme for 5 minutes while you chop your whole turnip into fairly thin slices. I quartered it first and was very random about the size of the slices

Add turnip and return bacon to the pan.

Add 150ml of double cream, mix it all up and press down into the pan. Cover with foil and cook for 30mins at 180.

Remove from the oven, add another 100ml of double cream and grate cheese on the top (recipe suggests 25g of Parmesan and 50g of cheddar)

Back into the oven for another hour

Well worth the wait!

I subbed the potatoes with swede, but I am sure celeriac would also be good. You could remove or replace the anchovies to make it truly vegetarian. Perhaps some blue cheese added to the chard. This would also work with frozen spinach defrosted and drained, or any other greens.

Celeriac and leek soup
Serves about 4
1/2 celeriac, peeled and chopped into 2cm chunks
3-5 leeks (depending on size) chopped into 1cm rounds
About 50g butter
Chicken or veg stock - about a litre
About 200ml cream
Salt and pepper.

Sweat leeks in a lidded pan with the butter and a pinch of salt for 20 mins or so. Add the celeriac and continue to sweat for 10mins. Add stock to cover and bring to the boil. Simmer until celeriac is (really) tender - 20-25 mins. Blitz in a blender until smooth, add cream and reheat. Season. You could try mustard, lemon juice, nutmeg or Worcestershire sauce.

I was inspired by the recommendations for celeriac and leek mash during the Jan/Feb/Mar 2021 boot camp to create the same flavours in soup, and it didn't disappoint.

I served this with some leftover chicken reheated and added to make a more substantial meal, but it's pretty rich and filling on it's own.

Oven Baked Ratatouille - adapted from a recipe in The Green Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer.

The only change I made was leaving out the breadcrumbs that are supposed to be on the top.

The trick with this ratatouille is to cut the courgettes really thinly, so they absorb all
the flavours from the sauce (I use a vegetable peeler). This is lovely on the day it is made, but even better the next day, warmed through in the oven, so if you’re in the mood for a spot of batch cooking for the week ahead, this is your dish.

Ingredients
2 large courgettes, very thinly sliced
1 large aubergine, sliced into 5mm half-moons
2 red peppers, roughly chopped
1 red onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbspolive oil
2 heaped tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
25g fresh basil, roughly chopped
2 x 400g tinschopped tomatoes
30g Parmesan, grated

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/ gas 6.
Mix the vegetables, garlic, oil, salt, pepper and basil in a medium-sized roasting tin
or lasagne dish, then top with the tinned tomatoes. Smooth the tomatoes over the
vegetables, then transfer to the oven and roast for 30 minutes.

Remove the tin from the oven and increase the heat to 200°C fan/220°C/ gas 7.
Give the vegetables a bit of a stir, then top with the breadcrumbs and parmesan
and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes.
Leave the ratatouille to cool down for 10–15 minutes, then serve with plenty of
crusty bread.

Don’t panic if it looks like there’s too much liquid in the tin after the first 30
minutes; this absorbs perfectly by the end.

Bang Bang Cauliflower

Adapted from a recipe on delish.com

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp no added sugar or salt Heinz tomato ketchup
1 tbsp. sweet chilli sauce

The recipe calls for 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, but as there's a LOT of sugar in it, I reduced it by half and added the ketchup instead, which is very low in sugar - it was still very tasty

1 tbsp. sriracha
juice of 1 lime
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
salt
freshly ground black pepper
chopped coriander, for garnish

Method:

Preheat oven to 220ºC.

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, sweet chilli sauce, Sriracha, lime juice, and garlic.

Cut the cauliflower into florets - smaller are better than bigger ones, as they'll get more sauce coating

Put the florets into a baking dish, pour the sauce over, and stir to cover, then season generously with salt and pepper.

I then left it to marinate for around half an hour - might be better if left even longer - and next time, I'll put the florets with the sauce into a ziplok bag, so that I can really ensure they're covered completely - just trying to turn them on the baking sheet wasn't so easy to get the sauce evenly spread

Season generously with salt and pepper.

Spread into an even layer and roast until slightly charred and tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve.

I found that it took longer than this, and I needed to turn the oven up for the last 5 minutes or so, to make sure that the florets were cooked and nicely charred - another reason not to have the florets too large!

You can also cook this in an Air Fryer - I don't have one so I'm not sure how they work, but this is what the recipe says - initial prep is exactly the same:

Place one third of the cauliflower in a single layer in the basket of the Air Fryer. Cook at 180ºC for 12 minutes, tossing halfway though

Not quite sure what you do with the remaining two thirds!

Kolokithokeftedes - Greek Courgette and Feta Fritters
recipe by Diana Theocharis on onxeniastreet.com

Cups to Grams converter here!
www.createandcraft.com/gb/uk-baking-conversions

1 large courgette (2 cups grated)
1 shallot
4 spring onions
1 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup fresh oregano
1/2 cup fresh mint
*note that most recipes say "whatever fresh green herbs you have to hand are fine"...
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 beaten eggs
1 cup fine almond flour
1/4 cup psyllium husk
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp baking powder

Start by grating your courgette with a box grater. Put it into a strainer over a bowl and salt them to release the water. While you are waiting for this, chop up your herbs, spring onions & shallot. When all of the water is released from the courgette, give it a few good squeezes until you see no more water coming out. Throw out the water.

Now toss everything together. Add in the remaining ingredients. Let sit for 10-15 minutes so that the psyllium husk absorbs any fluids. The psyllium husk is an important ingredient because it helps to bind the mixture so that your patties do not fall apart when frying.

Heat up some olive oil (or your favourite oil) in a pan. Using a tablespoon, spoon out individual patties, and lightly press down on the top to flatten them a touch. Let it become golden brown on the bottom & flip. When they are ready, drain on a paper towel. Serve with tzatziki!

(Tzatziki receipe here! onxeniastreet.com/2020/08/04/tzatziki-greek-yogurt-cucumber-dip/)

Thanks for posting that @WoolyMammoth55 - sounds lovely!

I hesitate to call this a recipe but Heinz Tomato Soup with no added sugar (important) only has 10g of carbs per can. It takes exactly like the "normal" cans and with some melted cheese in a SLC roll is the perfect comfort food. Voilà.

No, no, no! Sorry but I have to correct you again

it has 10.1g carbs PER HALF CAN!

Baked Cauliflower Pizziaola from BBC Good Food
I adapted as below:
Ingredients
1 large cauliflower, cut into 8 wedges (mine was a bit small so I added some ts broccoli I had in the fridge at the same time as the toms)
Plenty of olive oil or other oil for roasting
600g ripe tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes, and a bit less than the fully 600g punnet)
1 tsp dried oregano
4 tbsp dry white wine (I just used a sploosh)
2 tbsp grated parmesan, or vegetarian alternative
125g mozzarella, torn (I had grated mozzarella to use up, so used a full 250g pack of that)

optional (I didn't have, so I omitted and was still delish)
small pack basil
pinch of chilli flakes
6 unpeeled garlic cloves, bashed

Method
Put the wedges of cauli (include the leaves if you like) in a roasting dish and liberally sploosh with oil. Roast for 10 mins at 200C
Tuck the tomatoes, garlic and most of the basil and oregano around the cauliflower, then sprinkle with the chilli flakes, wine and 2 tbsp more oil. Season and return to the oven for 25 mins or until the tomatoes are soft and starting to catch here and there. Squish the tomatoes slightly to help the juices flow.
Tuck the tomatoes, garlic and most of the basil and oregano around the cauliflower, then sprinkle with the chilli flakes, wine and 2 tbsp more oil. Season and return to the oven for 25 mins or until the tomatoes are soft and starting to catch here and there. Squish the tomatoes slightly to help the juices flow.
Sprinkle torn/grated mozzarella and parmesan over the cauliflower and tomatoes and bake for 10 mins more or until cauliflower is tender.
I served as a side with lamb koftas but it could be a good veggie dish with a green salad.

Adding this popular recipe to make it easier to find

Low carb Muffins

1 cup ground almond (100g)
1 tbsp (30g) very cold solid fat such as butter or plant butter.
Three medium eggs chilled.
1 generous tsp baking powder I use the individual sachets and it was the perfect amount

At this stage it can changed to be sweet muffins by adding in 2 tablespoons of sweetener with 1tsp vanilla extract

Or cheese muffins
60g or a large handful of cold grated mature cheddar and some Chopped chives.

Pre heat oven to 180. Prepare muffin tin with paper cups.
The next bit needs to be done swiftly so things don’t get to room temperature, it’s the shock of the oven that makes them rise well.

If you have a food processor, blitz the almond flour with the butter briefly until just mixed. Otherwise grate the butter into the almonds. Add all other ingredients and blitz until just mixed. Spoon into cases. This should do 4, but the cheese mix often makes 5 smaller ones.

It’s about 14 mins in the oven but might need a little longer.

They are best eaten cold as they don’t come out of the wrappers easily when warm

Simple Crunchy Summer Salad (from BBC Good Food with tweaks):

Ingredients:

1 x cucumber, sliced on the diagonal in 1cm pieces, then halved
500g of radishes, quartered
1 head of celery chopped into 1 cm pieces
5 shallots, sliced thinly (or if you have big shallots, about the same amount as a large red onion)
Big handful of fresh, chopped parsley

For dressing: 6 tbsp of olive oil with 3 tbsp lemon juice and seasoning (shake together in a jam jar to combine). You could also use a stronger vinaigrette if you fancy).

Method:
Combine above ingredients in a bowl.

Nice looking salad, very easy, refreshing change to leaves.

Spicy Harissa Sprouts & Broccoli with Halloumi
(based on a recipe from the Green Roasting Tin)

Serves 2 in my house! A regular favourite in a house where meat free meals are quite rare.

1 head broccoli, cut into florets
500g Brussels Sprouts (or as many as you think, I've never weighed them!)
250g Halloumi (again, I just use a whole pack for 2, cut into cubes)
2 tbsp Harissa (I find the dried harissa more convenient than buying the jars of paste with a shelf life once opened but both are great)
Generous slug of olive oil
Salt

Mix together in a big tray and roast in the oven on 180 for about half an hour or slightly more. You can also add chopped kale at the start, or the recipe includes a load of spinach and some lemon juice stirred in at the end.

Extremely delicious coriander chutney ( my family recipe)

One bunch coriander
One lemon
1/3 block creamed coconut
One chilli, if liked
Two garlic cloves
Some water

Put all these things in a nutri/food processor
Blend
Store in fridge.
Use on everything.

Here is a lovely frittata recipe from Rachel Roddy which was reprinted in the Guardian this week. Thanks to the ricotta this one tasted lighter, creamier and somehow less eggy than other frittatas I make - really yum. Didn't do a great job of inverting the pan when turning it over - sticking it under the grill would work equally well I think.

400g courgettes
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper
6 large eggs
250g ricotta
1 small handful of mint, ripped
Top, tail then slice the courgettes into 3mm-thick rounds and pat dry. In a large, nonstick or cast iron frying pan over a medium-low heat, fry the courgettes in olive oil with a pinch of salt until soft and lightly golden, turning often. Tip on to a plate to cool slightly.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs, ricotta, salt and pepper. Add the courgettes and ripped mint, then stir again.
Wipe the pan clean, pour in a little more oil and put over a low flame. Pour in the egg and courgette mixture, then cook for 15 minutes, agitating the surface with a fork so that it cooks through. Lift the edge to check the bottom is lightly golden then, when the frittata is almost set but still wet on top, use a lid or plate to carefully invert it, and continue to cook for another couple of minutes on the other side.

Cauliflower purée

From José Pisarro "Basque"

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower, broken into florets
500ml full fat milk
50g butter
salt and white pepper

• put the florets into a pan and add the milk; bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes

• drain, but reserve the milk

• tip the cauliflower back into the pan, and add 50ml of the reserved milk and the butter, and then using a hand blender, purée until smooth and glossy. Season with salt and white pepper

(I haven't done this yet, but I froze the remaining milk and will use to make a soup of some kind)

Egg curry with coconut milk

myheartbeets.com/coconut-egg-curry/#wprm-recipe-container-8575