Warm Roast Vegetable Salad with Feta

This was our dinner on Friday night – it perfectly fitted my Wimbledon food criteria... quick, easy and convenient to eat. I’d spent most of the day watching tennis (Andy Murray’s match was a real nail biter!) and could barely drag myself away from the TV so there was no way I was planning to do anything too tricky foodwise.

I had the laptop, with the BBC's live coverage, on the breakfast bar while I was in the kitchen so that I didn’t miss a ball; I will say that chopping veg is a somewhat hazardous operation, though, whilst watching Andy at set-point to level the match - I don't recommend it at all!

This made quite a decent amount of roast veg and there was some left over so I added the remainder to some garden grown salad leaves, beetroot and tomatoes for lunch yesterday - very nice indeed. It's also good stirred through some couscous along with a couple of spoonsful of dressing to moisten.

......and so we come to today’s match; at 2pm – the Wimbledon Men's Singles final. Ooo-er…missus! I have spent almost my entire life wanting this; will today be the day I’ve been waiting half a century for? I bloody hope so! C’mon Andy!!

Update:
Since I put this post on this morning Andy Murray has won the Men's Wimbledon Singles title!! Magnificent, astonishing, stupendous and every other superlative you can think of...! I never thought it would happen in my lifetime, so I am a very happy camper indeed. There wasn't a dry eye in the Simply Veggie household...it was a privilege and a pleasure to watch.

2 red onions
1 small aubergine
2 Romano red peppers
150g mushrooms
1 medium sweet potato
2 tbsp olive oil
black pepper
few sprigs of fresh rosemary
150g feta cheese

1tsp Dijon mustard
1tsp runny honey
1tbsp sherry vinegar
1tbsp olive oil
1tbsp walnut oil

a few snipped chives

Peel the onions and cut them through the root into eighths; chop the aubergine and peppers into chunks about 2 or 3cm square; peel and chop the sweet potato into chunky pieces; if the mushrooms are small leave them whole or halve them if larger. Put all the veg into a large plastic freezer bag (saves on washing up!) along with the olive oil, rosemary and a few grinds of black pepper; hold the top of the bag tightly shut and shake until all the veg are coated in oil.

Tip the vegetables into a large baking tin or two and roast at 200C for 30 minutes until cooked through and starting to char a bit at the edges.

Put the dressing ingredients into a small jam jar and shake like billy-o until the mixture emulsifies.

Once the roast veg are cooked, discard the rosemary and arrange a goodly amount of the veg on two plates; top with the crumbled feta and a sprinkling of snipped chives. Drizzle over a little dressing and serve with crusty bread.

Aubergine and Mushroom Lasagne

You will see from the second picture on this post why I don’t often make lasagne…apart from making it in individual dishes, (which I don’t have) how the hell do you serve it so that it looks as good on the plate as it does in the dish? Why does it never sit nicely on the plate so that you can see the separate layers? Answers on a postcard, please, because I’m damned if I know!

Despite its slightly iffy appearance this lasagne had a really nice depth of flavour; we both enjoyed it a lot. I love aubergine in any way shape or form; put it together with mushrooms, pasta and a cheesy sauce and I’m a very happy bunny indeed.

Incidentally, there was some of the aubergine sauce left over so I might have a go at making a quesadilla-type thingy for lunch tomorrow; handy to eat whilst watching Andy Murray in the semis at Wimbledon. I’ll be yelling at the television and my nerves will be shredded; definitely not the type of thing to watch on an empty stomach….Come on, Andy!!

1 medium aubergine, chopped into large dice
250g chestnut mushrooms, halved or quartered
1 large red onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
75ml red wine
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano

4 or 5 sheets of fresh lasagne

250ml milk
20g butter
25g plain flour
1 tsp Marigold Bouillon stock powder
75g mature cheddar, grated
2 tbsp grated parmesan-style cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large pan; add the aubergine, mushrooms and onion and sauté over a medium heat for 10 minutes, add the rest of the sauce ingredients, bring to the boil then simmer gently for 30 minutes.

When cooked, put a layer of sauce in the base of an ovenproof dish then cover with a sheet of lasagne; repeat three or four times ending with a sheet of lasagne.

Heat oven to 180C

Put the milk, butter, flour and Marigold stock powder into a small saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens; simmer for 5 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in the cheddar; pour the cheese sauce over the top layer of lasagne then sprinkle with grated ‘parmesan’.

Bake at 180C for 45 minutes until golden and bubbling

Serves 2

Caponata

I first had this some years ago in a restaurant and absolutely fell in love with it. Amazingly, I’ve never made it myself; it’s been just one of those items on the ever-lengthening list of things that I never quite get round to….until today!

The first thing to say is that it makes quite a large quantity (which is no bad thing, let me tell you!) The recipe says it serves 6 but, as part of an antipasto platter, it would easily serve 12. The second thing to mention is, I cooked it for about twice as long as the recipe stated because I like the aubergines to be really soft and buttery.

I’m reliably informed that Caponata keeps well in a jar in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil on the top to seal it. However, it tastes so good that I’m not sure you’ll be keeping it long enough to be bothering with that! Best eaten at room temperature, rather than fridge-cold, with plenty of fresh bread. If you want to serve it hot, it's brilliant with couscous and it can also be used as a seriously good pasta sauce.

There are umpteen recipes for Caponata on the net; I followed this one...

http://www.antonio-carluccio.com/Caponata

If it’s good enough for Antonio Carluccio, it’s good enough for me!

Moroccan Veggie Parcels with Aubergine Sauce

I made these little parcels last Sunday; we had three people round for lunch and I didn’t want to do a nut roast or similar – I was after a lighter, more summery type of thing. For some reason I broke my golden rule, the one I’ve stuck to all my life, and cooked something that I had never cooked before! I always have a dry-run of a new recipe before I unleash it onto guests but, in this instance, I can only assume I had a rush of blood to the head or possibly a severe attack of over-confidence….whatever it was, I must be mad!

In the event it all turned out rather well; I chose a Simon Rimmer recipe, which used to be on the BBC website but which has now been deleted (grrr!), but luckily I have a crafty copy on Word. I served it with tomato, olive and almond couscous and a leafy salad.

Moroccan Veggie Parcels

For the filling

1kg/2lb 3oz cooked sweet potato, cut into cubes

100g/3½oz chickpeas

100g/3½oz spinach

2 onions, sliced, fried in a little oil until softened

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

1 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

pinch chilli flakes

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp paprika

1 tbsp runny honey

1 tbsp chopped dried apricots

1 tbsp flaked toasted almonds

300g/10½oz ready-rolled puff pastry, cut into 6 x 15cm/6in squares

2 free-range eggs, beaten

flour, for dusting

For the aubergines

2 aubergines, cut into 1.5cm/½in thick strips

100ml/4fl oz olive oil

1 tbsp tomato purée

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 garlic, crushed

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and dust a baking tray with flour.

2. Mix all of the filling ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Shape the mixture into six equally-sized balls. Place a ball into the middle of each square of pastry and wrap the pastry around the filling. Flatten slightly, brush with the egg wash and chill in the fridge for ten minutes.

3. Place the parcels onto the floured baking tray and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden-brown.

4. Meanwhile, heat 50ml/2oz of the olive oil in a frying pan and gently fry the aubergine pieces for five minutes.

5. Stir in the tomato purée, tomatoes, garlic and cumin and cook on a low heat for 25 minutes.

6. Add the rest of the olive oil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for a further five minutes, stir in the parsley and serve alongside the pastry parcels.

Now, far be it from me to criticise Simon, but I think when I make it next time I’ll give it a few refinements:

• Double the chilli flakes in the filling to give it a bit more zing
• Halve the amount of sweet potato, it made far too much filling for only six parcels
• Double the chopped apricots because they got a bit lost in amongst all the other flavours
• I should point out that I used a tin of chopped tomatoes because I thought the sauce would be a bit dry with just three fresh toms to provide the ‘sauciness’ and I also chopped the aubergines into chunks rather than strips

None of this is meant to suggest that they weren't fine as they are, it's just that I always mess around with recipes when I've made them once, to bring them into line with our particular taste. Our guests are omnivores, but they were very complimentary and I don’t think (?!) they were just being polite. On the whole I’d say it was very successful and definitely one to do again. The aubergine sauce was brilliant; I think it would make a good filling for lasagne...must give it a try.

Serves 6

Aubergine, Pepper and Feta Quiche

It’s a hot one here today – 30C – and I’m bad tempered, tired, fed-up and thoroughly brassed-off! I absolutely hate hot weather, but I'm very grateful I live in a country where we only get a few days like this a year.

Nothing too strenuous today, it's too hot for fiddling about; quiche for lunch with a rather nice potato salad, made with the first ones we’ve dug from the garden this year, and a green salad.

a 20cm blind-baked pastry case (I used ready-made pastry)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small aubergine, chopped into 2cm chunks

1 red and 1 yellow pepper, chopped into largish chunks

1 red onion, peeled and cut into eighths through the root

4 cloves garlic, unpeeled

200g feta

3 eggs

250ml milk

½ tsp dried oregano

Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the prepared vegetables, garlic  and olive oil in a large bowl, mix well with your hands and turn the whole lot into a large roasting tin; roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the edges are beginning to char.

Once the veg are cooked, allow to cool then squeeze the garlic out of its papery skin and add it, along with the rest of the veg, to the pastry case; crumble over the feta then strain over the whisked eggs and milk and sprinkle with the dried oregano.

Bake at 200C for about 25 minutes until the top is puffed and golden.

Cool for 15 minutes before eating.

Roast Vegetable and Pasta Bake

If you happen to go out for a pub lunch or to any High Street chain restaurant there is always pasta and salad on the menu, usually at an exorbitant price! I mean…how much does a cupful of pasta and a few veg cost, for crying out loud! Do restaurateurs think we haven't noticed the outrageous markup? 

In fact, pasta and salad is a meal that I rarely cook – when we sat down to eat tonight the husband said “We haven’t had a pasta bake for ages”, which is quite true and it’ll probably be a while before we have another one. With the exception of the lasagne we had last week at my sister’s it’s at least a couple of months since I had a pasta meal of any description. I’d almost forgotten what to do!

Oh, I must mention the salad leaves were our first from the garden this year; I was so chuffed, hopefully they’re the first of many.

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small aubergine, chopped into 2cm chunks

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped into large pieces

1 red onion, peeled and cut into eighths through the root

125g chestnut mushrooms, halved

2 cloves garlic, crushed

100g penne

250ml passata

2 or 3 sprigs of basil, chopped
1 slice of wholemeal bread made into breadcrumbs

100g grated mature cheddar

Put all the prepared vegetables into a large roasting tin that will allow them to be cooked in a single layer. Add the crushed garlic, drizzle over the olive oil and use your hands to mix so the veg are coated in the oil. Roast at 200C for 25 mins.

Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and parcook the penne for 5 minutes. Drain and return to the pan, adding the passata and basil; mix well then add the roast vegetables, mixing carefully or the veg will break up.

Tip the whole lot into a deep baking dish and sprinkle with the combined cheddar and breadcrumbs then drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake at 200C for 15-20 minutes until the cheese and breadcrumbs have formed a lovely golden crust.

Serve with a leafy salad.

Serves 2