Experiments

I had a huge bag of organic veg delivered this week. When I ordered it I was obviously in a bit of an experimental mood as there were a lot of things I had no idea what to do with. There was Broccoli rabe which I had never used before but I know Rachael Ray uses it a lot so it must be OK! Also, some white turnips. I hardly ever even cook regular turnips so I was at a loss with the white ones. So, on a chilli sunday evening I thought I'd try to recreate those sunday dinners from back home. These are usually meat, loads of plain cooked veg, roast potatoes and gravy. Of course we can't have the meat part so I searched through every single recipe book in my collection (thats quite a few) to look for a simple vegetarian entree to fit the bill, something like a nut roast but I didn't have any nuts and I wasn't going back out in the cold. I'm not sure why but nothing inspired me from those books. Not a dang thing. All the 'loafs' required flour and egg and I wanted a vegan one. But then an overwhelming sense of creativity came over me and I decided to make one up. Usually these attempts don't come out all that well. Anyway this one was a bit of an exception - it was literally thrown together from the pantry. I call it 'lentil loaferole' as its a cross between a loaf and a casserole but tasted pretty nice.

Lentil Loaferole
Ingredients

1 cup green lentils
2.5 cups water
1 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme finely chopped
1 medium onion chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 14oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup oats

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cook the lentils in water - simmer until tender - add more water if necessary. They should be tender but not mushy.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, chopped rosemary and thyme.
4. When lentils are cooked and cooled, add to the oat mixture.

5. Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add to lentils. Stir in the tomatoes.

6. Transfer to a loaf tin, bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes until the top is brown and has formed a crust.

So, after all that experimentation I wasn't ready to tackle the strange veg so I served it with Steamed Brocolli, carrots and mashed sweet potato. I also made some gravy, as otherwise it could have been a bit dry. I don't have a recipe for gravy though as we use vegetarian instant gravy from the UK out of a box. Its yummy.

So, I still had the problem of what to do with the strange veg, so last night I made a soup. I love making soup as you can just bung it all in a pot with some stock and voila! So, we had White Turnip, Broccoli and Brocolli Rabe soup. Very tasty. I also made Burritos. However, I used the rice flour tortillas which are usually OK but I have now discovered that they don't hold up well to being put in the oven. They basically came out of the oven with the texture of a taco. But, they were rescued by dollops of Toffuti sour cream and salsa to moisten it up a bit.
Essentially the burritos were nice I just won't put them in the oven next time.

Vegetarian Bean Chilli Burritos
Ingredients

1 can kidney beans
1 tbsp chopped pickled jalepenos
1 tsp olive oil
1 zuchinni - sliced into half moons
1 green pepper - diced
1 onion - chopped
1 clove garlic - crushed
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
4 rice flour tortillas

Method

1. In a small saucepan, cook the beans and the chopped jalepenos in the oil for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to stand
2. In a skillet, fry the onion and garlic in the oil with the cumin and coriander for about 5 minutes until starting to soften.
3. Add the zuchinni and pepper and continue to fry until all the vegetables are soft. Add the beans to this mixture and stir over a low heat to warm through.
4. Spoon the mixture into the tortillas but don't overfill. Wrap them into parcels.
Serve with Tofutti Sour Cream and Salsa.