Do you love cooking? how about cooking with your friends? I do, unfortunately, it's only virtual but still we enjoy this how about you? don't you want to  see what we all have been doing in our kitchen!

Cooking With Friends: This blog post is part of the monthly “Cooking With Friends” themed blog post challenge. This challenge was started by a bunch of virtual friends united by their love of food, with the aim of tackling a different food related theme each month. If you want to try this month’s theme, please feel free to do so and link your recipe in the comments section. We’d love to check it out. Meanwhile, check out what the others in the group have come up with this month.

Anjana from At the Corner of Happy and Harried, Garima from CafeGarima, Jyothi from Curry Tail, Madhuri from MADaboutkitchen, Subhasmita from The Flavors of Kitchen, and Sujatha from Spice n Treats, Dolphia from Story  of Cooks

When we decided to cook something with a vegetable which we have never used before, so, what’s next step, off to the market, I took my daughter to a nearby supermarket. We went through the aisles, my daughter said that it's going to be tough day and said we should have gone to some gourmet shops, wherein I might find something, I am not boasting I promise, I literally have cooked every vegetable from the supermarkets here, I should thank Mr.R for this, anything new he sees he brings it home, he loves to try every vegetable.  As we were walking through the aisles my eyes fell on this sea vegetable, I had been eyeing it from a long time but never bought it. I think there were two reasons for this, firstly, I didn’t know what I was going to make out of it so I left it alone for when I thought of something, and secondly for just around 100g it was too expensive, so, I never had a chance of tasting it and didn’t know if my family liked it or not I didn’t want to take a risk.

But, all this said, it was a challenge I had to put myself in to see how it goes, not with the cooking but I mean with how I am going to make my family eat it.  My girl had more ideas when I was unsure, she said let’s buy it Amma (mum), go home and taste it, on the packet it says salty and goes well with fish, only we can’t eat fish we will use this with potatoes, shrugging her shoulders she went on saying, anything with Potatoes we can push it, (we were thinking of my twins who are a slightly difficult to please that they would enjoy it more if I am going to serve it this way), After tasting it if we find it not interesting we will bin it and not tell Dad about it, keep it  a secret between us.  We were giggling away, have I ever told you my daughter is my best mate, we share so many things not as mother and daughter but as friends, we have almost similar interests and enjoy exploring lots of things together.  So I came back home with the Samphire packet, ripped it open and tasted it, the packet said it was salty, but it wasn’t as bad as we were imagining, so we were not going to bin it! Now I had the task of having to think what I have to make with it.

I have joined these group of bloggers who are such a bunch of wonderful people, they just don't blog recipes but amazing photographs as well.   I planned to post this yesterday, when I started getting updates on my mobile, I lost track of the time, because I got so carried away with their lovely photographs, I got a bit depressed that I have such a long way to go learning this beautiful and colourful world of photography, but also inspired to try harder and make more time and use of the long summer days ahead! Check out their blogs for beautiful photography and interesting recipes.

Samphire according to Wikipedia is  Originally "sampiere", a corruption of the French "Saint Pierre" (Saint Peter),^[2] samphire was named after the patron saint of fishermen because all of the original plants with its name grow in rocky salt-sprayed regions along the sea coast of northern Europe or in its coastal marsh areas. It is sometimes called sea asparagus or sea pickle. In Norfolk, it is commonly called sampha [sam-fa]. In North Wales, especially along the River Dee's marshes, it has always been known as sampkin.

All the plants bearing the name are annuals that begin growing in late autumn and vegetate throughout the winter until the first warm weather arrives. Then the first stems and internodes form, and by mid-spring the plant measures 6 to 8 cm.
Marsh samphire ashes were used to make soap and glass (hence its other old English name, "glasswort") In the 14th century glassmakers located their workshops near regions where this plant grew, since it was so closely linked to their trade. Samphires of all kinds have long been eaten in England. The leaves were gathered early in the year and pickled or eaten in salads with oil and vinegar. It is mentioned by Shakespeare in King Lear:
Halfway down Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade! (Act IV, Scene VI). This refers to the dangers involved in collecting rock samphire on sea cliffs.

Collecting Information through Googling I have found these tidbits which might be useful if you are going to use it in your kitchen, it is said that it is gaining more popularity in England now and is available in all supermarkets
Types:  There are two types of Samphire available; Marsh (salicornia europaea) and Rock (crithmum maitimum) but Marsh is the one which is more widely used.
Taste:  it is salty and crispy
Availability:  best to buy during July and August
How to use it: It is best to buy fresh and won’t stay for long, wash thoroughly before using it, and can be eaten raw, if not cook it in a pot of boiling water for just 2 to 3 minutes and use it or steam over a pot of boiling water for a few minutes.
If you are interested and know more about this sea vegetable check out this link, you have lots information available. Coming back to the recipe, this is how I used it, do try it out and tell me if you liked it.

Ingredients:
100g - Samphire
7 to 8– potatoes *
1 cup – Peas *
2 tsp freshly crushed Black Pepper
1 tbsp of oil
2 Garlic pods
Few sprigs of parsley and mint
Salt as required
*(Check notes)

Method
Peel and cut potatoes and pressure cook them for a whistle or drop them in boiling water until it is cooked Al Dante as we don’t want them becoming mushy or you can roast them in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes until well done (if cooking them in the oven sprinkle some oil and salt and bake them)
Wash Samphire thoroughly in cold water, take it in a vessel and boiling water and close the lid for 5 minutes. Drain it and leave it aside.
Cook peas in a microwave until done and set aside. Chop onion and garlic finely.
Once potatoes are cooled down cut them into medium sized cubes, so now all your ingredients are ready let’s start…
In a large wok heat oil, once sufficiently heated, add a tsp of cumin seeds, then add onion and garlic, sauté well and add the potatoes. After few minutes sprinkle some salt and fry until golden brown.
When it’s nearly done add the cooked peas, cooked samphire and stir fry for few minutes until well combined. Add little more salt and crushed black pepper, taste it and adjust the spice. Add a tsp of butter(optional), chopped mint and parsley to garnish, give it a minute and mix again so the aroma of the herbs get infused into the veggies. That’s it done.

 SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
You can just eat it like that, otherwise you can serve it like me I served it with cooked Basmati Rice or eat it with toasted Bread and butter or grilled with cheese and some salad Tomatoes.
NOTES:
You can use normal potatoes or roasting potatoes which can retain their shape or use new potatoes which are good for roasting.
I have used frozen peas, you can use fresh peas it would be tastier
I have just used pepper for spiciness, you can try using dried chilles or green chillies or any kind of spice like any Mediterranean spices, I wanted to keep it more British so just added crushed pepper.

Print

Samphire with Roast Potatoes and Peas salad

This dish is a fantastic summer salad both in flavours and looks Salty Samphire makes its appearance with a new avatar mildly spicy and delicious, serve with yogurt

Course Dinner / Breakfast /

Cuisine British

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Author Jayasri

Ingredients

• 100 g - Samphire
• 7 to 8 – potatoes *
• 1 cup – Peas *
• 2 tsp freshly crushed Black Pepper
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 2 Garlic pods
• Few sprigs of parsley and mint
• Salt as required

Instructions

• Peel and cut potatoes and pressure cook them for a whistle or drop them in boiling water until it is cooked Al Dante as we don’t want them becoming mushy or you can roast them in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes until well done (if cooking them in the oven sprinkle some oil and salt and bake them)
• Wash Samphire thoroughly in cold water, take it in a vessel and boiling water and close the lid for 5 minutes. Drain it and leave it aside.
• Cook peas in a microwave until done and set aside. Chop onion and garlic finely.
• Once potatoes are cooled down cut them into medium sized cubes, so now all your ingredients are ready let’s start…
• In a large wok heat oil, once sufficiently heated, add a tsp of cumin seeds, then add onion and garlic, sauté well and add the potatoes. After few minutes sprinkle some salt and fry until golden brown.
• When it’s nearly done add the cooked peas, cooked samphire and stir fry for few minutes until well combined. Add little more salt and crushed black pepper, taste it and adjust the spice. Add a tsp of butter, chopped mint and parsley to garnish, give it a minute and mix again so the aroma of the herbs get infused into the veggies.
• That’s it done.

Notes

SERVING SUGGESTIONS:
You can just eat it like that, otherwise you can serve it like me I served it with cooked Basmati Rice or eat it with toasted Bread and butter or grilled with cheese and some salad Tomatoes.
NOTES:
You can use normal potatoes or roasting potatoes which can retain their shape or use new potatoes which are good for roasting.
I have used frozen peas, you can use fresh peas it would be tastier
I have just used pepper for spiciness, you can try using dried chilles or green chillies or any kind of spice like any Mediterranean spices, I wanted to keep it more British so just added crushed pepper.

The post Vegan Samphire with Roast Potatoes and Peas salad appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Bread and Sandwiches have become a common thing at home, as my kids prefer to take Sandwiches to school, sometimes with veggies and sometimes Jam and even sometimes with dry curries or sometimes with Indian sandwich.  While Googling through for Sandwiches I went through my Book marked recipes, I found this recipe which I had book marked, as I love Baking Bread, I had fallen for this recipe as this would satisfy my kids for sure and me too.
I had Book marked this recipe from Nola Cuisine long back, because my kids were not a big fan of Olives I kept postponing this, and as I have loads of BM's it was quite forgotten, when I was going through the BM's if I noticed this one!, I always check my Book marked recipes before trying any thing new.  Now my kids now adding them now and then in pizza and other recipes.  They don't mind eating it,  Now they like topping olives always in their pizzas and like to eat them just as it is, I love Olives too.., this recipe has loads of olives and with some spiciness, my kids would love it, As this recipe is usually made with meat, I adapted it to Vegetarian version, he suggests loads of things so I just used what I liked.
I have never been to New Orleans and never tasted this bread sandwich, so If anybody has any kind of doubts do click on the links below and ask Nola. Here is only my version of the filling which is vegetarian hope you all like and try it 🙂

You must be wondering about today's recipe and why all this introduction : Yup, Today is the day for the Crazy Cooking Challenge, She Challenged us to bake Grilled Cheese Sandwich, As per the rules we have to adapt a recipe from an other blog, I Chose this Blog of Nola Cuisine and would love to thank both Tina Messick - Hudgens and Nola for this wonderful recipe, which I wouldn't have tried other wise so soon.., Thanks to both of you...

Basically this recipe is adapted from New Orleans Central Grocery according to Nola Cuisine  :
No trip to New Orleans is complete for me without a trip to Central Grocery for a Muffuletta. Detractors can fill the comments section with why they dislike the Central Grocery Muffuletta and why their favorite is so much better, have at it, but for my money Central Grocery does everything right with the sandwich that is said to have been created here by Salvatore Lupo.
Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant opened the store in 1906 and operated it until 1946 when he retired and passed the reins to his son-in law Salvatore Tusa. The Muffuletta is said to have been invented early on to feed the Sicilian and Italian truck drivers who were driving produce, etc. to The French Market. The store is still in the family and has changed little over the years, with the exception of increased tourist traffic. Salvatore Lupo’s daughter, Marie Lupo Tusa released a cookbook in 1980 called Marie’s Melting Pot

.Central Grocery is an old style Italian market, with Italian imports, pasta, olive oil, meats, cheeses as well as local New Orleans Creole items.

Check out his website for beautiful photos from New Orleans ,  with beautiful clicks of the Sandwich bread and if you want to try out the Original sandwich bread with meat check out his blog for details...

 

NEW ORLEANS  MUFFULETTA  SANDWICH  GRILLED BREAD

(Pronouced as : moof-fuh-Leht-tuh or moo-foo-le-ta)

The post Muffuletta Bread Sandwich from New Orleans (vegetarian version) for CCC appeared first on My Veg Fare.

VEGETARIAN PAELLA

The post Vegetarian Paella - Aishu & chondu's Creations appeared first on My Veg Fare.