Root vegetable and butter bean hot pot

The veg box was full of root vegetables, and there was a nip in the air after a beautiful autumnal walk - so a lovely, slightly spicy veggie hot pot with chapatis fitted the bill for us.  I also had some kale left over, so shredded it quite finely, so that it was soft and not challenging - that's a bonus veg, and no complaints.

Onion

Olive oil

Garlic

Piri piri spices

Swede

Carrot

Parsnip

Sweet potato

Kale

Dijon mustard

Italian herbs

Tin of tomatoes

Tin of butter beans

Salt and pepper

Flatbreads or crusty bread to serve - we happened to have chapatis.

1.  Chop onion and sweat down in olive oil.

2.  Add peeled and diced root vegetables, stir into the onion mixture.

3.  Add minced garlic and a good pinch of piri piri spice.

4.  Finely shred kale and add to the mixture, stir in.

5.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a tin full of water, a teaspoon of mustard and a pinch of herbs,  simmer for at least 30 minutes.

6.  Drain the butter beans and stir in, simmer again.

7.  When the veg are tooth soft it's ready to eat.

8.  Serve, scoff, be soothed.

 

Parsnip, cabbage, cannelloni bean and gorgonzola pie

You know that feeling - you know you have a glut of assorted vegetables, but they don't necessarily go together.  Well, I had parsnips, cabbage and some mushrooms - and some gorgonzola which needed using.  I remembered a recipe from Prue Leith using parsnips and cabbage in a pie, so I developed it from that.

Covered it in shortcrust pastry, and served with potato wedges and steamed broccoli.

Olive oil

Onion

Mushrooms

Parsnips

Garlic

Vegetable stock

Apples

Flour

Shredded cabbage

Cannelloni beans

Gorgonzola

Short crust pastry

Broccoli

1.  Sweat down chopped onion in olive oil.

**    chop potatoes into wedges and toss in olive oil - roast at 180 for about 1 hour.

2.  Add chopped mushrooms and peeled and chopped parsnips.

3.  Add crushed garlic and stock to cover the vegetables.  Simmer.

4.  Add chopped apples and cook until parsnips and apple are tender, simmer off most of the stock.  Thicken sightly with flour.

5.  Stir in shredded cabbage and simmer for another 5 minutes.

6.  Stir in a tin of cannelloni beans.

7.  Melt in gorgonzola.

8.  Cool a little and put mixture into a pie dish,

9. Cover with shorty crust pastry, stab steam holes in the top, and brush with milk/soya milk.

10.  Bake at 180 for about 35 mins,

** steam broccoli for about 12 minutes.

11. serve, scoff .... delish

Parsnip and beetroot burgers with gorgonzola, roast squash and red pepper - and sprout tops

All has been quiet at Kitchen Fairies HQ for a few weeks - it's not that food hasn't been cooked and eaten - it's that I am preparing for a new adventure - which will come into fruition in the New Year ... so watch this space.

The veg box was full of wintery wonderfulness, so, this is what happened ...

Parsnip and beetroot burgers

3 parsnips
2 beetroot
1 lemon
2 onions
porridge oats
olive oil
gorgonzola

1.  Grate parsnips, onions and beetroot - squeeze in the juice of the lemon to stop discolouration.
2.  Mix well, and mix in porridge oats - season.
3.  Shape into burgers and put on greaseproof paper.  (I wrap them individually in greaseproof for freezing - which works very well.
4.  Bake in hot oven, on a greased baking tray for about 10 minutes.  Turn, top with cheese and bake again until melted.

Roast squash and red pepper

1 squash
1 red pepper
4 fat cloves of garlic
Olive oil
chili flakes

Prepare veg - sprinkle with seasoning, turn in olive oil to cover all pieces, roast for about 40 minutes

Sprouts

Shred sprout tops and steam for 10 minutes.

Simple, delicious, vegetarian - gluten free - if you use the right oats.

Roast chicken dinner

Meat and 8 veg, and potatoes.  Takes about an hour and 40 minutes ... do things in this order.

Parboil chunks of potato, then stick em in a hot oven in olive oil.

Stuff garlic and halves of lime/lemon into cavity of chicken.  Roast for about an hour and twenty minutes - start it on its chest, and then turn after 30 minutes.

Thinly slice aubergine, courgette and red onion, latyer in a casserole dish with oilve oil and lots of black pepper between the layers.  Cover with foil - bake for an hour or so.

Boil peeled and chunked parsnip and swede, steaming peeled carrot battons on top.  When veg are soft, drain - add carrots to the others and cut through with a sharp knife until it's nearly mash - add olive oil and seasoning - again plenty of black pepper.  Stick in oven dish and keep warm.

Make gravy with juices from the chicken and some white wine.

Steam shredded green and red cabbage, mix together before serving.

Butter bean and cabbage casserole with baked root veg, and roasted vine tomatoes

End of the veg box week, but absolutely delicious. The root veg bake has featured before - but this time had no cheese in so totally gluten free and vegan tonight.

So... Start the root veg bake first, then stick the tomatoes is the oven, then - after 10-15 mins ... cup of tea/ glass of wine ... whatever you fancy start the green veg casserole.

Root veg bake

Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 or 2 parsnips, topped and tailed
1 large onion, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 swede, peeled and chopped
6 carrots, top and tailed
garlic paste
Mustard
Olive oil
Seasoning

Casserole

2 leeks
mushrooms
garlic
olive oil
tin of butter beans
white wine
veggie stock cube
shredded cabbage

tomatoes

tomatoes
olive oil
sale

1.  Turn oven on to 180+
2. Grate most of the veg - I use my KitchenAid which obviously makes this much easier - but grate using food processer add ins, or a hand grater will save you time... honestly it will.  Particularly if you make too much, freeze it and have it the following day.
3.  Mix in other ingredients - bake at 180 for about an hour.
4.  At this point splash olive oil onto tomatoes, sprinkle on salt and bung in the oven with the root veg.

Have a cuppa, chat, watch Corrie or whatever... for a bit over half an hour, then...

4.  Sautee chopped, rinsed leeks in olive oil.
5.  After about 5 minutes add chopped mushrooms, garlic, white wine and about a pint of stock.
6.  Simmer briefly and add butter beans, simmer again for about 5 minutes.
7.  Shred cabbage, stick it on top of the leeks and steam until done.  (I put a lid on it and turned off the heat).

Yum.



Root vegetable bake, with cheese and mustard.

This was absolutely delicious, though I say it myself.  The veg box has created a surplus of carrot and parsnip, and I wanted something comforting.  I made this up.

1 onion
6 carrots
1 parsnip
1/3 swede
3 potatoes
olive oil
cheese (cheshire)
grainy mustard
garlic

1.  Grate the onion, carrot, parsnip, swede and potatoes.  You could also grate the cheese, but I just crumbled it.  Mix it all together.
2.  Add big slugs of olive oil, spoonful of mustard and crushed garlic.  Season well - then add more black pepper.  Mix together really well.
3.  Microwave for 6ish minutes.
4.  Put olive oil in baking dish, add in mixture - keep the top a bit rough to get the delicious crunchy browned peaks.  Bake for 45 minutes or so.


I also roasted cherry tomatoes in olive oil, sprinkled with salt - and served with steamed brocolli and cavolo nero.  It would have served 6 easily - so I reckon it's about  94p per portion (including veg) 45p per portion by itself.

Mozzarella might be interesting, to make it stringy - and to make it vegan, just omit the cheese or replace it with that peculiar dairy free stuff, or toasted pine nuts.

Root vegetable cake, kale with blue cheese dressing, roast tomatoes

Saw something similar on Nigel Slater - he grated a load of root vegetables and used it as a crumble on a steak pie... and had loads of root veg from the box, so I thought I'd adapt it and give it a go.

knob of butter
splosh of olive oil
2 onions
garlic
2 potatoes
2 parsnips
2 carrots
1 celeriac
1 tbsp grainy mustard
juice of 1 lemon
grating of nutmeg
lots of black pepper

olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
chopped kale
blue cheese

tomatoes
salt
olive oil

1.  Grate ingredients for the root vegetable cake.
2.  Fry them in olive oil and butter until they're a bit soft.
3.  Add garlic, mustard, nutmeg and seasoning.
4.  Transfer to oven proof dish and bake for about an hour at 180.
5.  Chop tomatoes and chuck into oven, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with olive oil.
6.  10 minutes before serving, sautee onion until a bit soft- toss in choppde kale, add splash of water - cover and steam for about 5 minutes.
7.  Add cheese, recover, let steam and melt.  Stir in.

Salsify, parsnip and bacon soup

An interesting concoction using veg from the organic box, with some bacon.  It had a lovely earthy flavour, with a sweetness from the parsnip.  Would make it again.  Saute onion, bacon pieces and celery in olive oil, add chopped salsify (when peeled keep in acidulated water until it goes into the soup, to prevent browning), chopped celeriac and chopped parsnip.  Add chicken stock cube and crushed garlic.  Simmer, about 20 minutes, zizz - good grind of black pepper. Sprinkle on parsley.  Yum.

Curried parsnip soup, with watercress

Souper December starts in earnest with curried parsnip soup.  Easy peasy ... chop 2 onions, 5 inches of a celery bunch and 2 peeled carrots - saute in olive oil for a few minutes, add crushed garlic and a tablespoon of curry paste.  Turn over in pan for a couple of minutes until it is all mixed and a bit soft - add 4 (ish) parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped.... add some vegetable stock and water, so that all the vegetables are covered.  I also added half a tin of chopped tomatoes which were lying around.  Season, simmer.... add more water if it looks too thick.  Zizz in the most convenient manner, in this case stick blender, season to taste, including a splash of cream / milk / extra water to get the correct texture.  Top with a sprig of watercress.  Victim was disparaging until it was tasted... then superlatives were fair tripping... velvety smooth, full-bodied with the sweetness of parsnip, yet deeply savoury with enough heat from the pepper and curry.  Watercress garnish obviously not essential, but adds a splash of green.  Extra gathered victims, who are not known for compliments, scoffed the lot, wiped bowls clean and took home extra portions.