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.

 

Proper roast Sunday dinner

Sometimes you feel like a proper roast Sunday dinner.  This was one of those days.  Around the table we had nearly every possible dietary requirement … vegetarian, veg dodger, gluten free, lactose intolerant … but we all had a damn good dinner.  Obviously the vegetarian didn't have the chicken, but we managed to get 3 of his 5 a day into the veg dodger via the root vegetable mash (don't let on!) … and then another couple in pudding Rhubarb, apple and pear nutty crumble.

As this was a proper Sunday dinner we had (unusually) a proper pudding too.  The recipe is listed separately here but I have suggested where the prep might happen in this recipe, so the dinner is all ready at about the right time.  (Thank me later)

Chicken
Olive oil
Lemon
Garlic
Baby potatoes
Carrots
Swede
Parsnips
Green beans
Leek
Courgette
Sundried tomatoes
Vegetable stock
Butter beans
Cornflour
Chicken stock
Green beans
Butter

1.  Stuff a halved lemon and a few garlic cloves into the chicken.  Rub olive oil, salt and pepper over all of the skin.  Roast (breast side down fist) at 180 for as long as it takes (1 hour for a very small chicken - 2 hours for a large one).   Remove from the oven to rest for about 15 minutes when done.
2.  Toss baby potatoes in olive oil and roast for about an hour.
*** start pudding - stage 1
3.  Peel and chop root vegetables (in this case carrots, parsnips and swede - but could also use celeriac, turnips, sweet potato or even butternut squash).  Boil until mashable - about 12-15 minutes depending on size of pieces.  Mash with lots of butter and black pepper, bake in the oven to get a crispy top.
*** pudding - stage 2
4.  Sweat down chopped leeks with some crushed garlic, add chopped courgette (and any other veg you fancy) and a mugful of vegetable stock, simmer for a couple of minutes.  Add sundried tomatoes, simmer again.  Add a tin of drained, rinsed butter beans and heat through.  Keep warm in the oven.  Chop green beans and boil water ready for stage 8.
5.  (about 30 minutes after the chicken has gone into the oven) Carefully drain the fat from the chicken pan.  Turn the chicken over onto its bottom, continue roasting.
*** pudding - stage 3
6.  Spoon off the top layer of fat from the chicken juices.  Pour the rest into a saucepan and heat through.  Slake a spoonful of cornflour in cold water.  (Slake just means mix to a paste)  Add this to the chicken juices and bring to a boil - stirring continuously.  Add about half a pint of chicken stock (from a cube is fine).  Simmer as it thickens.
7.  Take chicken out of the oven - put pudding in to bake.
8.  Steam  chopped green beans.  Carve chicken.
9.  Serve, scoff …. every gathered person picking to their tastes/requirements.
9.  Have seconds ...

Yorkshire tacos

There was pancake mix left over from last night. There was root veg left over from veg box, and a red cabbage.  All lovely stuff, but not always an instinctive "turn to" when time is pressing.  Tonight, I achieved this inside an hour.... it's frenetic at the beginning, then you can chill, then a bit of faff in the last 10 mins.  (Using last night's pancake batter).

Red cabbage
olive oil
white wine
garlic
swede
beetroot
parsnip
carrot
butter/margarine
turkish beans
salt, pepper

1. Chop red cabbage.  Tip into big pan. Add crushed garlic, salt and pepper (fennel, caraway, juniper or sweet spices eg ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg could also be added now), Tip in liquid - white wine and/or water, cider, fruit juice .... simmer
2.  Start root veg mash - peel a nd chop into 1 cm cubes (ish) whatever root veg is to hand - today - swede, beetroot, carrot and parsnip.  Boil for about 15 minutes.
3.  Put beans in oven proof dish, and put in the bottom of a medium oven.
4.  Make pancakes - keep warm.
5.  When root veg are done (you can easily push a sharp knife into them) - drain, put back into the pan - add knobs of butter - slash in all directions with a sharp knife ... it's not mashed, but its all cut up into tiny pieces and the root veg are all mixed together - grind in some black pepper.
6. Serve, scoff ...

Was delish ... I did a taco type thingy with all the veg bits inside the pancake - but do exactly as you fancy.

Root vegetable nut crumble, with cabbage and peas

Recipe an adaptation of Leith's vegetable bible (or something similar).  Lovely, though, I think addition of a good tomato sauce would make it excellent.

Start the veg on the hob, but put the oven on to 180 after 5-10 minutes

So....

Olive oil
Onion, chopped
Celery, chopped
Celeriac, chopped into 1cm cubed (ish)
Turnip .. chopped into 1cm cubed (ish)
Potato - chopped into 1cm cubed (ish)
Mustard - 2 tsp
Garlic - 3 cloves, crushed
Apple juice (3/4 pint)
Veg stock, about a pint

Crumble topping

Oats
Pasrmesan
mixed nuts (hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts... today)
seeds
seasoning
paprika
olive oil

Serve with:-

Savoy cabbage
Frozen petit pois

1. Sautee onion and celery in olive oil, until a bit soft.
2.  Add chopped root vegetables, and turn over in the oil for a few minutes.
3.  Add apple juice and stock, garlic and mustard .... simmer.

Make crumble:-

Zizz parmesan, nuts and seasoning.
Mix into a bowl of oats, with a little GF flour
Glug in olive oil (about 5 tbsp), and seeds
Mix .... all oats should have a film of oil on them

Tip veg into oven proof dish.
Top with crumble.
Bake for 30 minutes

Steam cabbage, in last 5 minutes chuck frozen peas into water under cabbage steamer.

Simple, wholesome, bloody delicious - loads left for seconds .

we' re thinking about tangy tomato or rich mushroom sauce :)

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.

Sausage casserole in giant yorkshire pudding

Victim number one - as cherished as she might be - does have a habit of ambushing recipes at the last minute.  Today is a case in point.  We had lovely italian herbed sausages in the freezer and shed loads of organic veg in the fridge.  Being Sunday, we were also due to feed the outlaws one of their few healthy meals of the week.  So - my plot - hearty sausage casserole with brown rice and cabbage.  (Sautee twice as many chopped/ sliced onions as you think reasonable, add crushed garlic, add sauages and move around until they have some colour - add chopped root (and other hardish) veg (celeriac, swede, some carrots - butternut squash), stock cube, tin of tomatoes, half a pint of water (ish) simmer)... cook rice, steam cabbage... delish.  But, I was interrupted by primary victim hankering for yorkshire puddings - ideally, start this about 40 minutes before you intend to serve. ... I managed to (amazingly), and I have to say it was an improvement on the intended brown rice - though probably nutritionally compromised! Recipe was from Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat" (referred to here ny her own people http://www.nigella.com/kitchen-queries/view/701).   Back to nutritionally compromised... - when I added up starter to pudding - victims had 13 of their 5 a day... so that can't be bad.  (Just for clarification - this wasn't the most impressive pud - (the best was round and very cloud like) but the gathered victims were too intent on tucking in for a photo shoot).

Now what do I do with all that extra brown rice?

Cajun chicken, roasted root veg and greens in creme fraiche

It's been quite an odd week - in that victim has done most of the dinners.  This is a very pleasant change, but I'm not used to it!  We had - quorn chili, hot vegetable soup, corned beef hash and beef biryani of earlier post.  Chopped potato, swede and turnip - roasted in olive oil, mustard and thyme for an hour or so.  Chopped leek and softenned in white wine, when nearly soft added chopped green beans, simmered for about 10 minutes, added chopped cavolo nero and simmered until wilted (5 minutes).  Meanwhile, tossed chicken strips in blackenned cajun seasoning and olive oil, then fried them for about 2 minutes on each side - till cooked through.  Took greens off the heat, seasonned and stirred in dollop of creme fraiche.  I loved the veg - victim loved the chicken... not sure it all went completely together, but there you go!