Zucchini, Broccoli and Lemon Tagine

From The Slow Cook Book, Heather Whinney, Dorling Kindersley, 2011.

One of the good elements about this slow cook book is that every recipe has instruction for two different methods of making the dish: using the slow cooker or using traditional methods. I chose to use the traditional method for this dish.

A red onion was chopped and added to a tagine with a couple of tablespoons olive oil. It was cooked on a low heat until softened. The heat was now turned up to medium and I added a little salt, 3 chopped garlic cloves, a pinch of ground cinnamon and a pinch of fennel seeds. I stirred in 2 teaspoons harissa paste. I took 3 preserved lemon quarters, sliced out the flesh and chopped the skin and added it to the mix.

After 2 or 3 minutes I added a can of chopped tomatoes. The mixture was brought to the boil, the lid went on and it was turned down to a simmer. This was left to simmer for about half an hour with an occasional addition of some water to ensure that it did not become too dry.

Meanwhile broccoli was boiled in salted water for about 3 minutes. It was drained and placed in cold water, then drained again and placed aside.

Three zucchini were sliced and, though they were required to be sautéed first before adding to the tagine, I dispensed with this step and added them directly to the sauce. I gave them about 10 minutes more to cook and then added the broccoli with a good couple of tablespoons chopped parsley and stirred it in until it was heated through.

It was served with a little couscous and another teaspoon harissa on the side.

Tasty and a little hot with the preserved lemon flavour riding beneath. I would add a little more fennel and cinnamon next time for these were a little lost.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔ 

Vegetable Casserole with Dumplings

From The Slow Cook Book, Heather Whinney, Dorling Kindersley, 2011.

This was supposed to be made in the slow cooker but after looking at the instructions wherein most of the initial stages were to be done before the ingredients went into the cooker, I decided to cook it in a casserole in the oven. The cookery book is very generous in that it presents the recipes in two forms: slow cooker or traditional.

I turned on the oven to preheat to 160ºC and then commenced preparing the casserole. I chopped an onion and added it to the casserole with a little oil to sautee for a few minutes while the other vegetables were prepared. A leek, a carrot and a stick of celery were cut into suitable-sized pieces. A garlic clove was chopped and added to the onions with a pinch of chilli flakes and salt and pepper. After a quick stir the vegetables were added, stirred in and let cook for about 10 more minutes. I now added a zucchini cut into pieces though this was not in the recipe but I had one to spare.

Into the casserole now went a dessertspoon plain flour. This was stirred in, then 450ml stock was added. A can of cannelloni beans was drained and added with a small piece of fresh rosemary. The casserole was now brought to the boil, the lid was placed on top and it went into the oven for an hour.

After about 45 minutes I added the dumplings. They were made by mixing together 100g self-raising flour, 50g Copha (a vegetable lard) and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley with plenty of salt and pepper. Water was added until a soft dough was formed. This was rolled into 6 balls and added to the casserole. It was cooked for about 20 minutes and the lid was removed for another 10 minutes to let the dumplings brown a little. All in all the casserole had cooked for a total of 1¼ hours.

This was a comforting pleasing casserole for a cold night. It was juicy with a strongly savoury flavour from the leek and onion while the dumplings satisfactorily soaked up the liquid. The dumplings lacked a little flavour which I think was due to using Copha which is tasteless. I think in future I would use something like margarine.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Brazilian Black Bean and Pumpkin Stew

From The Slow Cook Book, Heather Whinney, Dorling Kindersley, 2011.

In readiness for this recipe I soaked 160ml black beans in some water overnight. In the morning I drained the beans and then put them in a saucepan with some water, brought them to the boil and then drained them again. They then went into the slow cooker to wait for the other ingredients.

While the beans were being brought to the boil I chopped an onion and placed it in a pan with a little hot oil to cook for about 3 minutes. Next 2 chopped garlic cloves went in for a minute and then half a butternut pumpkin cut into bite-sized pieces for another minute. These all now went in the slow cooker with a chopped red capsicum, a can of tomatoes, a small red chilli (chopped) and 300ml water with a vegetarian stock cube.

The cooker was turned on low and left to cook for 8 hours. About half way through the cooking time I checked the stew for seasoning and added a little salt and lots of black pepper.

At serving time a mango was diced and added with chopped coriander.

Served with rice this was a flavoursome meal. It had thickened and was rich with a mixture of savoury tastes occasionally enlivened with the sweet pieces of mango. It was so easy to make that it is a recipe that must be remembered for cold winter nights.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Provençal Vegetable Soup

From The Slow Cook Book, Heather Whinney, Dorling Kindersley, 2011.

Everywhere you look lately in the cookery sections of bookstores you find cookery books for slow cooking. They are multiplying rapidly.

For this book of slow cooking recipes the author has sensibly included two versions for each dish: one for slow cooking and one for the traditional method. I chose the slow for this soup.

There was a little traditional cooking to be done before it all went into the cooker however. A chopped onion had to be cooked for a few minutes in a pan before three chopped garlic cloves and a couple of finely diced celery stalks were added. These were cooked for a further few minutes before two diced carrots, a couple of sprigs of rosemary and some dried tarragon (fresh was not available) were added and cooked for a few minutes.

It all went into the slow cooker now and a can of chopped tomatoes was added. The recipe called for them to be puréed but I prefer them lumpy. A litre of stock was added and the cooker turned to slow to cook for eight hours.

In the last half hour three potatoes, cut into bite sizes, were added. Though the recipe suggested this timing I found that the potatoes did not fully cook. I left out the green beans that the recipe suggested.

The soup was served with Parmesan cheese grated over it.

This was a flavoursome soup, very enjoyable. And it came up, like many soups, much better the following day.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Mixed Vegetable Tagine

From The Slow Cook Book, Heather Whinney, Dorling Kindersley, 2011.

Cookbooks on slow cooking seem to be appearing in increased numbers on the shelves of bookshops. This particular one is interesting in that it includes on each page the method for slow cooking as well as the method for making the same dish in the traditional method—a very sensible solution for you don’t always have time to allow for slow cooking but would like to make that particular recipe.

The book is not a vegetarian cookery book but it does include a reasonable number of dishes that are vegetarian. There is also a ‘chooser’ page which lists all of the vegetarian recipes in the book so that you don’t have to search through page by page.

I used the traditional method for making the tagine. An onion was chopped and fried in oil in the tagine base until it was soft. Seasoning was then added together with a little chopped fresh ginger, a couple of chopped garlic cloves, ground spices (turmeric and coriander, a teaspoon of each), a pinch of saffron, and about half a teaspoon of cumin seeds. These were all cooked for a few minutes until the fragrances were released.

The vegetables went in next: potatoes, carrots and one fennel. These were all cut into fairly large chunks. They were all stirred into the spice mix and fried for a few minutes more before the chopped tomatoes were added. I just used sufficient vegetables in this to suit what I had and what I liked. There were more potatoes than any other ingredient. The tomatoes were what I had in the kitchen. Stock was now added to just cover the ingredients in the tagine. The lid was added and it was all simmered for about half an hour.

Now some olives were added and some chopped preserved lemon peel. The seasoning was checked and it was ready. I cooked it a little longer with the lid off to let some of the liquid thicken a bit. Chopped coriander was sprinkled over when it was served.

A tasty and satisfying winter dish, easy to make and one that can be simply varied to suit whatever is in the pantry.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔