National Vegetarian Week

Can you go meat free for one week? National Vegetarian week has given us girls at Sugar & Spice a chance to try and cull or at least deter our inner carnivore. Vegetarian cuisine has come on leaps and bounds in recent years so it is hardly a difficult task to avoid meat for just a few days.

So we are ditching meat and we wanted to share with you some of our absolute favourite meat free recipes. We have been inspired by the king of all things yummy and vegetarian, Ottolenghi, but with a few of our own twists;

Charlotte potato salad with quails eggs, mangetout and pesto

15 quail eggs
800g charlotte potatoes
Two large handfuls of rocket and parsley
60g grated Parmesan
60g walnuts
2 crushed garlic cloves
200ml olive oil
150g blanched and peeled mangetout
½ tsp white-wine vinegar
1 bunch of mint
Boil the quails eggs for 2minutes 40seconds then put in cold water and peel.

Cook the potatoes until soft.

To make the pesto put the rocket, parsley, Parmesan, walnuts and garlic in a food processor and blitz, once it forms a paste add the olive oil.

When the potatoes are still hot cut them in two and mix with the pesto, mangetout, vinegar and mint.

Mix well and finally add the quails eggs cut in half.

 Hot Slaw

First you need to make the dressing. Put all the ingredients bar the olive oil in a saucepan and reduce until thick. Once it has cooled mix with the olive oil.

For the dressing

100ml lime juice
1 lemon grass, chopped into small pieces
2 tbsp agave syrup
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp chilli flakes
4 tbsp olive oil
 For the salad

150g hazelnuts
10g butter
1 whisked egg white
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp chilli flakes
¼ Spring cabbage
½ red cabbage
1 bunch kale, marinated in lemon juice and olive oil
1 pink grapefruit cut into thin strips
1 Cantaloupe melon cut into thin strips
1 red chilli cut into thin slices
Large handful fresh mint
Two large handfuls coriander
 Firstly fry the hazelnuts until brown and then add the butter. Once the butter has melted add the sugar, chilli flakes, egg white and a pinch of salt. It is easy to burn the nuts so stir constantly until they caramelise. Once cooled roughly chop them up.

Shred the cabbage and kale and then in a large bowl add the grapefruit, melon, chilli, mint and coriander. Add the dressing, toss the salad and season to taste.

 Tomato Tarte Tatin

600g vine tomatoes
Puff pastry
Large handful of basil
60g pine nuts
60g parmesan
2 crushed garlic cloves
100ml olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Line a 12” cake tin with baking paper, roast the tomatoes with the vine still on in the cake tin with salt, pepper, olive oil and a large pinch of sugar until the tomatoes are soft but not collapsed.

While the tomatoes are roasting make the pesto. Blitz basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan. Once it forms a paste add olive oil and lemon juice.

Once tomatoes are roasted remove the vines and drizzle tomatoes with pesto.

Roll out the puff pastry and cut to size then put over the top of the tomatoes, tuck the edges around the tomatoes.

Bake at 200c for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from oven and when cool enough to touch turn out of cake tin. Finally drizzle pesto over the tomatoes and serve.