This is the absolute best way (IMHO) to cook asparagus ..... wash & cut of the tough ends. Next, get a pot (dutch oven is perfect) and add a few tablespoons of olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of water to the pot. I let it get fairly hot and then add the asparagus. Cover. Let is simmer until the asparagus is tender - I test it several times along the way. By then most of the water will have evaporated, leaving a nice olive oil based sauce. I add sea salt, some pepper and lemon and it is fantastic.
I find with asparagus it needs to be finished or it is too bland. This recipe originally came from a book on cooking vegetables the French way by Patricia Wells and was re-interpreted by Lucy Waverman. I've cooked it so many times I don't have the actual recipe any longer. The French really do have a knack for making vegetables special and lovely.
Ingredients 
Directions
8 oz (250g) 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 tbsp (90mL) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 eggs
1 cup (250mL) sugar
1/4 tsp (1mL) salt
1 tsp (5mL) pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup (75mL) plus 1 tbsp (15mL) all-purpose flour
1. Melt chocolate and butter in bowl set in a wide skillet of almost simmering water. Set aside.
2. With a hand mixer beat eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla on high speed until eggs are thick and pale about 2 minutes. Whisk in warm chocolate. Fold in flour.
3. Spread batter evenly in an 8" (1.5L) square baking dish that has been lined with aluminum foil.
Bake in a preheated 350F (180C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool in pan on a rack.
4. Invert brownies on a rack and peel off foil. Turn right side up and on a cutting board cut into sixteen 2" (5cm) squares. (I found they cut perfectly when cold.)
makes 16 squares
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 oz (110 g) dried black-eyed beans, pre-soaked and drained
3 oz (75 g) green split peas (no need to soak), rinsed
3 oz (75 g) green lentils (no need to soak), rinsed
2 oz (50 g) peeled carrots
2 oz (50 g) peeled swede
2 oz (50 g) peeled celeriac
1 large onion, peeled
1 small green pepper, deseeded
2 oz (50 g) butter, plus a little extra for greasing
8 oz (225 g) tomatoes
1 heaped tablespoon chopped mixed fresh herbs, such as sage, rosemary, thyme and parsley
¼ level teaspoon ground mace
¼ level teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
For the topping:
4 oz (110 g) soft goats’ 1 lb 8 oz (700 g) potatoes, peeled
2 oz (50 g) butter
2 tablespoons milk
1 oz (25 g) Pecorino cheese, grated
salt and freshly milled black pepper
You will also need a steamer; and a round baking dish with a diameter of 9 inches (23 cm), 2 inches (5 cm) deep, buttered.
You will need to soak and drain the black-eyed beans. To do this, wash them under cold, running water and discard any broken ones. If it is convenient, soak them overnight in 2 pints (1.2 litres) cold water. If you need them today and haven’t got time to do this, simply bring them up to the boil (using the same quantity of water), boil for 10 minutes and leave them to soak for two hours before draining.
Now put the drained beans into a saucepan with the split peas and lentils. Add 1¼ pints (725 ml) boiling water and some salt, cover and simmer gently for 50-60 minutes, or until the pulses have absorbed the water and are soft. Then remove them from the heat and mash them just a little with a large fork.
Now pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C), and put the potatoes on to steam. Next, roughly chop all the vegetables, pile the whole lot into a food processor and process until chopped small. Next, melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the vegetables and cook gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring now and then until they’re softened and tinged gold at the edges.
Meanwhile, skin the tomatoes. Place them in a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water on to them. After exactly a minute (or 15-30 seconds, if they are small), remove them (protecting your hands with a cloth if the tomatoes are hot), slip off their skins and slice them.
After that, add the vegetables to the pulses mixture, along with the herbs, spices and salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste. Then spoon the mixture into the baking dish and arrange the tomatoes in overlapping slices on the top.
As soon as the potatoes are cooked, place them in a bowl, add the butter, milk and goats’ cheese, whisk to a smooth purée, season with salt and freshly milled black pepper and spread the potato over the rest of the ingredients in the dish. Finally, sprinkle over the Pecorino and bake the pie on the top shelf of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. If you want to prepare this in advance, it will need about 40 minutes in the oven.
This recipe is taken from How to Cook Book Three and Delia's Vegetarian Collection.
Ingredients
200ml/7fl oz white wine vinegar
400ml/14fl oz water
1 small cinnamon stick
2 cloves
4 cardamom pods, crushed
1 red chilli, sliced
1 thumbs ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
140g/5oz caster sugar
1 tsp sea salt
20 dried figs
Method
Place everything in a saucepan and boil gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Allow to cool before refrigerating and use as required - the compote will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.
The almonds and coarse sugar make the topping extra crunchy.
6 cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1 1/2 cups (375mL) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (175mL) white granulated sugar
3/4 cup (175mL) brown sugar
3/4 cup (175mL) butter, cold, cut into bits
1 cup (250mL) whole almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup (50mL) coarse sugar
1. Butter a 9"x13"(3L) baking dish. Spread apples and pears in the bottom.
2. Combine flour with sugars in a large bowl. Rub or cut butter in with your fingers, pastry blender or
food processor until it is in tiny bits. Add almonds. Sprinkle over the fruit. Sprinkle with coarse
sugar. Sprinkle over the topping. Bake in a preheated 350F(180C) oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until
topping is browned and crisp and apples are very tender.
makes 8 servings
NOTE - This post is closed to comments as for some reason the spammers got hold of it and particularly liked linking it to on line pharmaceutical sites.
6 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tbsp olive oil
1 cup minced onion
1 cup sliced celery hearts (tender innermost stalks)
1 cup sliced carrot
1 cup seeded and diced green and yellow zucchini
1 sprig fresh thyme
4 bay leaves
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup red kidney beans, precooked or canned
1 cup sliced leeks, including part of the green
1 cup squash or pumpkin diced into half-inch cubes
2 cups shredded Savoy cabbage
1/2 cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley
Extra virgin olive oil, for garnish
Grated cheese of your choice for garnish
Salt and pepper
In a stockpot over medium heat, sauté the garlic in olive oil. Before the garlic browns, add onion, celery, carrot, zucchini, thyme, bay leaves and vegetable stock. Simmer for a half-hour, or until the vegetables are soft. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add kidney beans, leeks, squash or pumpkin and cabbage. Simmer for 15 minutes.
To serve top with parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and a handful of grated cheese of your choice.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
I love chickpeas and use them a lot - hummous, in stews & soups, curried and in salads. I have always bought canned organic chickpeas - I find they taste way better than non-organic. Even though organic peas are more expensive than regular I've still considered them relatively cheap - as all legumes are. But I decided to try cooking my own from scratch. Why didn't I try doing this before They really do not take long to cook. I followed the method in 'Kitchen Sense' by Mitchell Davis, which is one of my favourite cookbooks. I soaked a cup of peas overnight in lots of water with salt added. I changed the water in the morning and cooked them tonight after work. By the time I started cooking them they had been soaking for almost 24 hours although the book says soak for a minimum of 8 hours. They took about 45 minutes or so to cook. They are really nice - comparable to the organic peas in taste. If you cook your own they are unbelievably cheap!
Tomorrow I am going to make chickpea soup and will be interested to compare to canned when using in a recipe.
Another tip I read in 'Kitchen Sense'. Mitchell Davis swears the trick to making really great hummous is to peel the chickpeas. This is not a tedious as it sounds - they pop right out of their skins. It took me a half hours or so to peel enough to make the hummous - I did this while watching TV. I think it did make a big difference. The peelings do make a strange pile though.
1 cup soy milk
4 oz soy yogurt
1 small frozen banana
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 scoops french vanilla whey protein powder
2 tsp flax seed oil
cinnamon to taste
Blend for 90 seconds
Calories - 300
Protein - 23 grams
Carbs - 27 grams
Fat - 9 grams
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