Thursday 17 February 2011

Lurking at the back of the fridge bake...

So the veggies were getting a little past their best. The carrots a little bendy, even the two greedy guinea pigs were turning their noses up at them! So my plan was to use them all up in a bake.
Firstly I chopped a bunch of carrots and left them to boil, this would create a mash topping. For the bake itself, I lightly fried chopped onion, a leek and a green pepper (all found hidden in the back of the fridge). To this I added some frozen quorn mince, frozen peas, a can of green lentils and some oxo stock. For seasoning I added a generous squeeze of tomato ketchup, black pepper and some mint & rosemary leaves that I had frozen in the freezer. Stir until the majority of the stock is absorbed or evaporated, then transfer to an ovenproof dish. Top with mashed carrot & put under the grill to brown.
Delicious, very simple and uses up all those veggies!

Surprise Tatin from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty

Apologies blog. I have neglected you. My problem is that during winter, the times of the day when the light is good enough to take reasonable quality pictures - is never when I am cooking! Note to self - must figure out the settings on the camera!
Anyways, this is the valentines meal that I made for Mister Crafty. His sister had brought him a lovely veggie cookbook for his birthday, which is a few days before V-day, so as a treat I said I would cook something from it for us. The surprise tatin was delicious, the sweetness of the caramel and roasted tomatoes, contrasted perfectly with the hard goats cheese.
The recipe was easy to follow and available on-line. My only problem was that I didn't have any fresh oregano, so substituted parsley & basil, but I don't think the meal suffered. Here is to Plenty more!!!