Venerable Veggies

You don't have to be a vegetarian to enjoy veggies – here's an “all in one” dish that can be served with a roast or on its own for a supper.

Veggie Gratin

Serves 8

2 large fennel bulbs

2 medium parsnips

3 medium carrots

2 medium onions

400g Charlotte potatoes

4 cloves garlic cloves crushed

or alternatively mix 4 tsps garlic paste

with the oil below

50ml rapeseed oil

salt and black pepper

Alfredo Sauce – see below

100g Panko crumbs

Pre-heat oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6

Peel and dice the veggies to 3cm pieces – approximately – I'm not suggesting you stand with a ruler measuring exactly! Measure one 3cm piece and then use your eyes as a guide then divide that piece into four. So long as your veggies are of a similar size they'll roast evenly. Note to self: have a compost bag at the ready for all your peelings!

I'd use a large foil tray, measuring 30cms x 24cms x 6cms deep (approximately) to roast the veggies add the rapeseed oil and using your hands ensure that they are covered, season with salt and black pepper. Roast for 20 minutes then turn and repeat. The veggies are then ready to use or can be left to cool and covered for use later.

Next comes the Alfredo Sauce, which can be made ready to use immediately or left to cool and then covered and fridged for use later. Please note if you use the sauce later it should be warmed through before pouring over the roasted veggies.

2 tbsp unsalted butter

400ml double cream

100g grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and ground black pepper

Gently heat the butter and the cream together, stirring, until the butter has melted, then stir in the Parmesan. Slowly bring to a gentle boil, turn down the heat and simmer, stir continuously for a minute or so until you have a smooth, creamy sauce.

Top with the Panko crumbs and bake for 20/25 minutes until golden.

Here it is :

Remember me droning on about making the most of your oven when, for example, you're cooking a roast dinner. Here I go again! Prep extra veggies – far more than you'd need, set aside to cool, cover and fridge. Instead of Charlotte potatoes you could use cooked jackets using the same “making the most of your oven ”principle”. You would then have the base for your veggie gratin – a perfect midweek meal, with just the Alfredo Sauce to make which takes 5 minutes tops!

Panko crumbs – shop around – for example :

Waitrose version comes in 150g boxes and costs £2.49

Tesco version comes in 350g bags and costs £1.90

With the veggie gratin if you wish to halve the quantity then halve the times too.

I can however confirm that the gratin freezes well – you could box and freeze in portion sizes to suit.

Like these :

All my tasters loved the gratin and the best feedback is to be asked for the recipe. Just for the record my merry band range in age from 15 years to 85 years and all points in between!

Pasta Salad – how boring!

Insalata Fregola sounds so much more exciting – you'd be curious wouldn't you? Ever heard of Fregola? It looks like my most unfavourite foodstuff – couscous. In fact Fregola is a pasta from Sardinia – a semolina dough formed into tiny balls.

This is what it looks like :

What follows is a warm pasta salad :

Fregola Salad

Serves 6

750ml stock – vegetable or chicken

250g Fregola pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

1 shallot, finely sliced

125g chorizo, finely diced

1 Romano pepper – colour of your

choice, finely sliced

120g fine beans, topped and tailed

and cut into 3cm pieces

Little Gem lettuce – separate into

12 “cups”

Add chilled water to a medium bowl and add an ice cube or six. Fill a medium sized saucepan half full of salted water and bring to the boil. When the water boils add the beans and leave for a minute. Drain the beans and plunge straight into the iced water. When they've cooled drain them and wrap them in kitchen roll. Set aside until required. This is known as “blanch and refresh”.

Bring the stock to the boil, add the Fregola – bring back to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and toss with the olive oil. Set the Fregola aside on a tray. This element can be made ahead.

Fry the chorizo so that it releases its oil, just as it begins to crisp add the shallot and fry for 2 mins then add the pepper and fry for another 2 minutes. Add the Fregola and then the drained beans and stir gently to mix for 3 minutes.

Serve in the Little Gem “cups” and garnish with a drizzle of Balsamic Glaze.

By blanching and refreshing your veggies you're saving yourself time and pressure. Apart from the cooking method mentioned above i.e. adding the beans to your Fregola Salad you can drop them back into boiling water for a minute or melt a knob of butter in a frying pan and flash fry them for a minute or two to heat.

The added benefits with blanching are that it can be done ahead and your veggies don't finish up overcooked and looking decidedly grey when family/friends/guests are delayed.

If you've a large microwave - big enough to take a platter you can have blanched all your veggies and arrange them on a plate – brush them with melted butter and cover with microwaveable cling film and set aside – microwave for a couple of minutes when you want to serve.

I know that my dislike of couscous comes from compulsory eating of pudding at school – in my defence I have tried to like it. What has couscous got to do with school puddings – every time I see it I actually see sago and tapioca – not that either was ever called by its correct name ….

Easter treats ... speaking of Camembert

After lunch out at The Duke it reminded me of one of my favourite retro “dig in” kind of dishes – served either, like The Duke, as a sharing plate or as part of a larger “creaking table” groaning under the weight of Easter goodies.

Here's my version :

Baked Camembert

Serves 2

250g Camembert

1 clove of garlic sliced finely or equivalent paste

drizzle of olive oil

drizzle of Calvados

2 medium eating apples – sharp flavoured

peel and slice into quarters at the last minute

One Soda Bread loaf

small bowl of sea salt - optional

chopped dried cranberries

chopped mixed nuts

Pre-heat your oven 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

Place the Camembert in its box on a baking tray – using a sharp paring knife make 4 or 5 (1 cm approximately) incisions into the skin of the cheese – gently does it! Poke the slices of garlic or alternatively small blobs of paste into the top of the cheese. Drizzle with a drop of olive oil and ditto Calvados and bake in the oven for 15 minutes – or until gorgeous and oozy in the middle.

Serve the cheese with thick slices of Soda Bread (the recipe is on the blog) to dunk into the cheese and the apples likewise. A sprinkle of salt if it's your thing – help yourself to the cranberries and nuts– you can then dip your dunked bread and cheese and/or apple into them – munch – enjoy.

One final note to self – check the Camembert box – it should be stapled NOT GLUED!

Easter treats - Check out … The Duke of Wellington in Stanwick, Northamptonshire.

After my recent disastrous birthday lunch I thought it was time to get back on the horse as it were – a strange choice of phrase from a vegetarian!

Anyway lunch at The Duke has restored my faith. This restaurant is definitely conducive to relaxing and enjoying good food.

Here's the restaurant :

Here's a sharing plate starter :

Baked Camembert with garlic focaccia, autumn chutney and green bean salad.

If I had one tiny criticism it is that it's too good and it's so easy to overdo it.

Here are two of the main courses :

Stating the obvious – Fish and chunky chips, peas and tartare sauce.

Seared calves' liver with mashed potato, caramelised onion, savoy cabbage and bacon.

Don't think I'll eat again for a week!

I apologise - I can't tell you about desserts – we were so full we didn't get that far!

In the immortal words of Mr. Schwarzenegger – I'll be back!

The Duke of Wellington, Church Street, Stanwick, Northants NN9 6PS telephone: 01933 622452 info@dukeofwellingtonstanwick.co.uk.

P.s. They have introduced new Spring Menus as at 11^th March.

Easter treats … Fresh and from frozen

Here are the two loaves fresh out of the oven :

Here's one of them sliced and ready to be devoured!

My immediate instinct is to slice, butter and consume – cook's privilege surely!

However – stoically I resisted and in the interests of all things practical - I also foil wrapped a loaf and popped into the freezer.

Here's that loaf, defrosted, sliced, toasted (on a grill please note – not in a pop-up toasted) and buttered liberally. It sliced perfectly and so clearly does not deteriorate after freezing.

The verdict – not that I am in any way biased you understand – it was lovely – the ability to freeze the loaf is an added bonus – you can use one loaf and freeze the other.

Here's the veggie option I mentioned - top a toasted slice and add mushrooms in balsamic :

Mushrooms in Balsamic

Serves 4 as a topping

4 tbsp rapeseed oil

500g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves of garlic or paste

pinch of salt4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

60g shaved parmesan

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook on high for 5 minutes until browned. Mix the vinegar with the sugar and pour over the mushrooms. Stir until syrupy – 1-2 minutes – toast your slices of Cheese and Onion Muffin Loaf and top with the mushrooms, garnish with shaved parmesan.

Variety is the spice of life!

I promised Easter treats and so ...

… lets do breakfast – or brunch if you prefer.

What about a Cheese and Onion Muffin Loaf – a thick slice, toasted – topped with a poached egg and then the world really is your lobster – bacon on the side – sausage too. For another veggie idea you could have Mushrooms on Muffin Loaf.

Cheese and Onion Muffin Loaf

170ml vegetable oil

1 large egg

284ml buttermilk

70ml milk

500g self raising flour

1 tsp English mustard powder

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

150 mature cheddar cheese, grated

bunch of spring onions – or 6 if you want to be precise

200g Crumbly Lancashire cheese, crumbled

or Lancashire Tasty if you can get hold of it

Kit required

You have a choice – one x 900g loaf tin for one loaf

or

two x 450g for two loaves

You can either grease your tin with oil and then

line with baking paper overlapping so that it's easy

to remove

or

You can use cake liners instead

Pre-heat your oven 160fan/180c/Gas 4.

Mix together the wet ingredients – vegetable oil, egg, buttermilk and milk – ideally in a large jug.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl – flour, mustard powder, cayenne and salt and then add the grated cheddar (reserve a handful to sprinkle over the top of the loaves) and spring onions.

Add the wet to the dry together with the Crumbly Lancashire taking care not to overwork the mixture – divide into the two loaf tins and top with the reserved grated cheddar. Bake for 65/70 minutes until golden on the top. Push a skewer through the middle – it should be clean when removed. You can cover with foil once golden. Leave to cool for 15 minutes and then remove from the tins and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Hold that thought ...

Easter treats here we come!

I realise it seems like a long way off but if I'm going to give you any ideas for treats I have to get them to you in time for you to shop!

There are heaps of “fridge cakes” out there – I've got several that I use all the time but it's good to try something different.

Chocolate Fridge Cake

150g ginger biscuits

100g milk chocolate

100g plain chocolate

100g golden syrup

75g unsalted butter

75g dried apricots, chopped

50g raisins

50g pecans, finely chopped

25g Rice Krispies

Line a 20x20cm shallow tin with clingfilm enough so that it overhangs the sides (or a foil tray without the clingfilm).

Crush the biscuits into rubble, not fine crumb – I use a food bag, clipped and roll gently with a rolling pin.

Melt the two chocolates, syrup and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. As usual, make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't come into contact with the water.

Mix the biscuits, apricots, raisins, pecans and Rice Krispies and then stir into the melted chocolate mixture. Tip it into your tin or tray and level as best you can.

Leave to cool and then place in the fridge for 2 hours to set. Turn out, peeling off the clingfilm if you've used it – if using a foil tray you can peel the tray away from the cake and it ready to cut into 12 squares or smaller “pop in the mouth” pieces if you prefer.

I added an additional 50g of chopped pistachios in the cake shown and used cranberries instead of raisins. The world is your lobster – use digestives or hobnobs, use cranberries or pistachios. This will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Yes – I am kidding!

For those out there like me, who absolutely loath ginger in sweet dishes, I have to concede that this “cake” passed with flying colours – even I enjoyed it.

The class were delighted – they went home with bags of bite sized bits of “cake” and an individual foil dish of cake too, ready to pop into the fridge to set.