Mediterranean Eggplant and Goat’s Cheese Tower

From Harvest Vegetarian, Adam de Ath, New Holland, 2013.

My partner had cooked vegetables in the sous vide cooker and there were some left over so this recipe looked as though it would satisfactorily use some of them up.

I needed eggplants sliced and roasted. I had sous vide slices ready. Into the oven though I put some slices of sweet potato and slices of tomato to roast.

I had red capsicum slices done in the sous vide cooker so I did not have to roast them. I only needed to de-skin them.

I cut the leaves from a bunch of English spinach and dropped them into boiling salted water for 5 seconds them drained them and quickly cooled them in cold water. They were squeezed to remove excess liquid.

Now the tower was put together. The layers went as follows: tomato, eggplant, some basil from a tube (fresh basil was out of season), crumbled goat’s cheese, tomato, eggplant, sweet potato, goat’s cheese, spinach, capsicum, eggplant. I had given an occasional sprinkle of salt and pepper as the tower was built. On top, though not in the recipe, was a slice of fennel butter which I had left from another recipe. The tower went in the oven to warm through.

When it was served a commercial plum sauce was poured over.

Before making this you could tell that this would work. The ingredients are a classic combination except for the sweet potato that seemed to be an odd inclusion. It did not clash but it did have a noticeable difference to the other vegetables. The sweetness of the plum sauce I am still undecided on whether it was right or if it would have been better with a more Mediterranean-type sauce.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Stuffed Potatoes

From Gourmet Cooking without Meat, Paul Southey, Marshall Cavendish, 1980.

Sometimes a few simple ingredients can make a tasty dish.

I took two large potatoes, wrapped them in foil and placed them in a 200ºC oven for about an hour, until they were cooked through. They were then taken out and let cool.

The potatoes were now cut in half lengthwise and the insides scooped out leaving about 1cm inside the skin. The scooped out potato was mashed in a bowl with a couple of chopped gherkins, a few chopped green olives and sufficient commercial mayonnaise to make a comfortable mixture that held together easily. This was tasted and did not really need any seasoning. The mixture was scooped back into the potato shells and put back into the oven to warm a little. When they came out some sliced black olives were placed on top as a garnish.

A satisfying dish.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Asparagus and Roasted Peppers

From Easy Vegetarian, Ryland Peters & Small, 2007.

This is an easy side dish, colourful and flavoursome.

Firstly I put 2 red capsicums under the grill to cook until they were black and blistered. They were then taken out and put into a plastic bag until they had cooled. The skins now came off easily. The peppers were cut into decent sized slices.

While the capsicums were cooking a red onion was peeled and cut into wedges. They were put onto a grill pan and cooked until they had black grill lines on each side.

Now asparagus was laid on the grill and cooked for about 3 minutes.

The three vegetables were now placed in a bowl and balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper were added. The vegetables were tossed carefully in this and then plated.

Good eating. The onions and asparagus still had a little crunch to them and the capsicums were sweet and juicy.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Tamarillos in Star Anise & Red Wine Syrup with Chai-Scented Cream

From The Country Cookbook, Belinda Jeffery, Lantern, 2010.

I had not tasted tamarillos before and seeing them in the shops I decided it was time. I knew there was a recipe in Belinda Jeffery's book.

Six tamarillos were pierced with a sharp knife at the top end and give a small cross through the skin. Meanwhile in a saucepan ½ cup caster sugar, a cup of shiraz and a star anise were brought to the boil stirring all the while to dissolve the sugar. A few drops of vanilla paste were added with half a cinnamon stick. The tamarillos were now added. The heat was brought down to a simmer, a lid went on the saucepan and the fruit was cooked for about 10 minutes. Occasionally the fruit were turned over.

The tamarillos were now removed and let cool. The pan of liquid was boiled until it had reduced to about half and had gained a syrupy consistency. The heat was turned off, the cinnamon stick and the star anise removed and a teaspoon rosewater added. The syrup was left to cool and was placed in the refrigerator.

The tamarillos were now peeled and also placed in the refrigerator until time to be served.

A chai cream was made. About 200ml cream was placed in a saucepan with a tablespoon caster sugar. This was gently heated, stirring to dissolve the sugar. A chai bag was placed in the mixture and the cream was heated until a light haze of steam appeared. The heat was turned off and the cream was left to cool with the chai bag in it. When totally cool the bag was squeezed to obtain as much of the flavour as possible and removed. The cream went into the refrigerator to chill. When chilled it was beaten until thickened.

The tamarillos were served with the syrup over them and a good dollop of the chai cream.

The fruit was surprisingly sour and the syrup was definitely needed to alleviate this. The sourness was near the outside of the fruit while the inside was sweeter. The chai cream is an idea that I am sure to use again.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔ 

Barley and Vegetable Broth

From Margaret Fulton’s Book of Vegetarian Cooking, Octopus, 1989.

I remember, when I was young, my grandmother used to make a vegetable barley soup. This was especially made when one was feeling poorly. Every so often now I still make a vegetable barley soup modelled on my grandmother’s. It’s not because I feel poorly but purely because I enjoy it. Recently I found a recipe by Margaret Fulton that looked very much as though it was like the one of my grandmother. I decided to try it.

I heated some oil in a saucepan and added a chopped onion, 2 chopped celery sticks, 2 large carrots quartered lengthwise and finely sliced, 2 chopped garlic cloves. A turnip was also required but I did without it. The vegetables were sweated in the saucepan with the lid on for about 10 minutes.

Now I added 4 cups stock, 2 handfuls of barley, some French beans topped and tailed and cut into 2.5cm lengths, 3 stalks of parsley (as a bouquet garni), and a tablespoon soy sauce. This was all brought to the boil and reduced to a simmer for 45 minutes. Meanwhile 2 large tomatoes were peeled and chopped, about 2 tablespoons parsley was chopped. Now the parsley stalks were removed from the saucepan and the tomatoes and chopped parsley added. The cooking continued for about 10 more minutes. The soup was tasted for seasoning and this was adjusted.

The soup turned out to be quite like Gran’s but somewhat stronger flavoured with lots more carrot. I think the flavour strength (very pleasant) was largely due to the garlic and the soy (ingredients that my grandmother would not have used) and the fact that I used less stock than was required.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔