Vegetable and Corn Chowder

From What’s Cooking: Vegetarian, Jenny Stacey, Parragon, 1999.

In a saucepan with some olive oil went a chopped red onion, a peeled and diced potato, a diced red capsicum and 3 garlic cloves. These were sautéed for a few minutes. Two tablespoons plain flour was now sprinkled in and cooked for another few minutes. Now 2 cups stock and 1 cup milk were added. These are not the proportions in the recipe that has twice the amount of milk to the water. I preferred a not so milky mix.

Now the mixture was stirred until it came to boiling point when broccoli florets were added together with 3 cups frozen sweet corn. The mixture was now brought back to the boil and then simmered until the vegetables were cooked, 15–20 minutes.

To finish the chowder about 50g cheddar cheese was grated and stirred in until it had melted. Chopped parsley was added and it was served.

This was a warming and filling chowder, creamy and satisfying though for me it needed a little more zing to it. I think next time that I may add a chopped hot chilli and see if that gives me the bounce that I think it needs.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Cheese and Potato Layer Bake

From What’s Cooking Vegetarian, Jenny Stacey, Parragon, 2000.

Anything with potatoes and cheese as ingredients will tempt me so when flipping through the pages of What’s Cooking Vegetarian I came across this old favourite I just had to make it. It’s a dish that comes in many variations and guises so it’s worthwhile trying out the variations when I come across them in different books. This particular variation contained leek.

The potatoes were first boiled and then sliced. A layer of them was arranged on the bottom of a casserole dish. On top of them went some sliced leek, some chopped garlic, grated cheddar and mozzarella. A sprinkling of chopped parsley was also added. These layers were continued until all of the ingredients were used, ending with a cheese layer.

Milk and cream were mixed (this was a rather rich variation) and seasonings added.  This was then poured over the layers in the casserole and baked for a little over an hour.

Tasty and filling with the satisfying feeling of indulging more than you should.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔