Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes

Spinach Salad

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 77

A lovely colourful salad with lots of different ingredients. You just cannot stop eating! Great for lunch.

Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes

Curried Lentils

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 97

This is another very easy recipe that uses only few ingredients but has a great flavour with a twist. I think the lemon rind really adds a fresh and special touch to this dish.
Today, we had the Curried Lentils with Breaded Broccoli and potatoes, but it will also be great served with rice, steamed vegetables and naan bread.

Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes Photos

Christmas Pudding

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 158

This is a traditional vegetarian Christmas Pudding with lots of dried fruit, nuts and spices. As suggested in the book, I prepared our Pudding in autumn and let it mature until Christmas. Even though it takes very long (6 hours!) to steam, the result was definitely worth it. Sadly, not everybody in my family is fond of Christmas Pudding ‒ therefore I only made two small Puddings and gave one to a friend who loved the surprise just in time for Christmas.

Christmas Pudding
Christmas Pudding, Photo by Almut Spaeth

Gluten-Free: I substituted the flour and the breadcrumbs for gluten-free products, which worked well.

Alternatives: The brazil nuts I used seemed not to mature too well in the pudding, giving it a slighly unpleasant note. I think that they must either have been old when I used them (even though they were well before the “best before” date) or that there has been another problem. Next time I would try using more almonds instead of the brazil nuts to give a milder flavour.

Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes

Pasta Flageolet Soup

From: Linda McCartney´s Home Cooking, p. 57

This soup really surprised me as it has a very creamy consistency I would not have thought possible for a soup that does not use any dairy products. The secret is blending half of the soup after the cooking time- the white beans will work the magic. Definitely a recipe to make it into my repertoire.

Gluten-free: Use gluten-free pasta. I tried some red lentil pasta in this soup but found that the lentil taste was too strong. I would recommend using gluten-free pasta made from corn flour.

Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes Photos

Beetroot and Celery Salad

From: Linda McCartney´s Home Cooking, p. 70

A surprisingly balanced and moreish salad– especially for somebody like me who always thought that uncooked celery is inedible. I think that the combination of the strong flavours of the beetroot and celery and the milder flavour of the egg go very well together.

Bowl with beetroot and celery salad
Beetroot and celery salad. Photo by Almut Späth CC AT-NC license

I have tried making this salad with lemon juice only, but find that the sharp acidity of the vinegar harmonizes better with the beetroot than the sour taste of the lemon juice. Therefore, I would prefer using either a combination of lemon juice and vinegar, or only vinegar.
Leaving the salad for at least an hour before serving helps the flavour develop. Add the sliced egg just before serving.

Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes

Vichyssoise

A creamy cold soup with leeks, potato and cream.
Trying out this soup, I was surprised by how easy it is to make and how elegant and tasty the result is! I think it is just as good warm as it is chilled and would make a great starter for a dinner party. My daughter and I enjoyed it for lunch with some fresh bread and a salad, which was also great.

Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes Photos

Baked Custard

From: Linda McCartney’s Home Cooking, p. 153

This baked custard makes a very special desert for a dinner party, especially when cooking and serving in small individual ovenproof dishes. It is very easy to make and requires no attention in the last 60 minutes ‒ perfect when entertaining guests.
I think it is best served warm, accompanied with some seasonal berries or fruit, but it is also nice when served chilled.

Bowl with Baked custard
Baked custard. Photo by Almut Späth CC AT-NC license

To add even more glamour to this easy-to-make dish, cover with brown sugar after removing from the oven, and put under the grill until the sugar has caramelized. An extremely quick version of cremé brulée ‒ and it is also much lower in calories than the original dish (which uses a lot of cream).

Categories
Favourites Linda's recipes

Sour Cream Cake

From: Linda McCartney´s Home Cooking (p. 165)


A lovely cake with a good balance between the spices and the pecans.

It keeps in an airtight container for 2 or three days and freezes well. I cut it into pieces, separated the pieces with greaseproof paper, and froze it in an airtight container. This way, it was easy to take out as many pieces as needed and reheat them in the micowave for 45 seconds. I left them for another two minutes to warm through and served them slightly warm with a cup of tea. Divine 🙂

If you (like me) like your cake to be not too sweet, try using 150g (or even less) of sugar instead of 170g.

Gluten-free: 170g of self-raising gluten-free flour mix, 2 tbsp. potato fiber, 1 tsp. psyllium husk, 150g sour cream (instead of 120ml).

Variations: I tried using this recipe as a basis for a vegan and gluten-free cake. You can find my recipe here.