Dinner
Slow Cooker Urid Bean and Squash Stew
This is a simple and tasty stew. Lots of ingredients but quick to throw together.
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Roasted Brassicas
I spent years hating Brussel sprouts until I discovered that roasting gave them a whole new flavour. Roasting cabbage removes some of the bitterness and the vegetable takes on a whole new favour. This works particularly well with brussels and kalettes as the outer leaves quickly crisp.
If like me you are not a fan then I would urge you to give this simple recipe a try.
Mushroom & Squash Baked Stroganoff
It’s getting cold outside, it’s just passed Halloween and most of the UK is either celebrating school half term or about to return to school. So here is a perfect recipe to use up the spare pumpkin from all that lantern carving.
I love Autumn. Not so much the darker mornings, but definitely the crisp, bright days and the changing colour of the leaves. And the food. Local apples, pears and stone fruit just begging to be baked into a crumble. Tons of root veggies for soups, stews and curries. But especially the reappearance of squash. There are so many varieties of squash available now and they are such a versatile vegetable.
This baked rice dish is one of my favourites. Mushroom and roasted squash warmed up with sweet paprika and baked to give a crunchy topping.
This warming, Autumn comfort food dish is actually the perfect store cupboard dinner. You could use dried mushrooms and frozen squash and get a pretty decent result. But at this time of year, with so many varieties of squash available it seems a shame not to buy fresh.
Aubergine Parmigiana
Today I am sharing with you one of my all-time favourite dishes – aubergine parmigiana. This Italian classic is a knock-out dish whether you are vegetarian or not, making it a great way to get more vegetables in your diet. For a dish that has such depth of flavour it is surprisingly easy to make.
I’ve made a few healthy tweaks to the recipe but without sacrificing the richness and flavour that I associate with the dish. First I have used a lot less parmesan than most recipes suggest. I reserve this for the top of the dish.
Most parmigiana recipes involve frying the aubergines in huge quantities of oil. This is because aubergines will soak up oil like a sponge. It is this oil which helps to give the dish such a rich taste. In my version I retain some of the oiliness but add this to the tomato sauce after cooking to boost the health benefits (by avoiding heating the oil at very high temperatures).
A lot of recipes also advise pre-salting the aubergine for at least an hour before cooking. My version doesn’t require salting but it does include capers. I’m pretty sure this is not authentic but caper berries add in some of the saltiness that I have skipped by not salting the aubergine itself. They are also little nutrient powerhouses, packed full of anti-oxidants and they taste GREAT.
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Caponata
If I was to write a recipe book then I think I could fill it with aubergine recipes. Aubergine is such a versatile vegetable. There are so many ways to marinate and cook it to produce different flavour combinations. If I had to choose just one aubergine dish to nominate as my favourite it would be a fight between caponata and parmigiana. You can find the parmigiana in the recipe archives but today it’s the turn of caponata.
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Massaged Kale Salad
OK, the first time I heard about massaging cabbage even I thought that was a step too far. Who has time to massage vegetables??? The thing is, kale is extremely good for you but it is also quite tough. This method of preparing kale softens the vegetable but provides texture to salad.
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