Easy veg curry

Gently fry onions, celery and carrots and garlic and a plenty of fennel seeds (1 teapoon?)
Add veg (runner beans this time)
Add yellow lentils and fry a bit longer.
Add some tandori spice mix, a touch of fresh chilli, and a vegetable stock pot/cube
Add water and boil until soft (30 minutes), adding black pepper to taste.
Near the end stir in plenty (four teaspoons) of butter and stir stir stir until is becomes thick.
Serve with rice.

I'm usually rubbish at curries but this was completely yum, yum yum! Very mild and the kids loved it.

roasted Fennel, chorizo and pepper salad

roast the fennel and peppers in the oven, then chop into bit size chunks. Chop the chorizo small and fry in olive oil. Use the oil to make a dressing with balsamic vinegar. Add all ingredients to a bag of mixed leaves and a cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped.

This was really nice. The cucumber made a nice contrast of texture to the soft peppers and fennel. If anything the flavours may have been too complex.

vegetable mousaka

based on Jamie Oliver recipe.

1 large lasagne dish
Preheat oven to normal temp.
Potatoes, sliced. Enough to cover the dish 1.5 times.
1.5 large eggplants.
2 medium zuchini
Brown all veg in a large pan (or two). I found that doing this dry was just as good as with oil. Need the heat quite high. They stick at first, but as the surface dries they unstick.

Whilenthis is going on, fry two onions and two cloves of garlic in some olive oil, then add 2 tbsp vinegar, two tins of tomatoes, and one tin on lentils, having drained most but not all the water. cook for 15 minutes or so, as you continue to brown veg.

Now layer up the dish with all the prepared stuff, plus some crumbled feta (1.5 packs).
Bake for 25 minutes while you make the topping.

3 tbsps flour, and enough butter to make a roue. Add nearly 1 pt milk to make a white sauce. flavour with nutmeg and salt, then allow to cool before beating in two beaten eggs.

Add topping to the mousaka and finish with grated parmesan.
Bake for a further 30 minutes.

This was a really heary vegetarian meal. The lentils added a meaty consistency. I wll try with cheddar instead of feta next time. This took a long time to prepare, but was done and dusted by the time our guests arrived, so quite convenient.

Chicken stew

1 pound diced Chicken coated in 2 tbs flour and 1 tbs paprika. Fry then make a stew with a base of onions and celery, and pieced of parsnips and carrot. Add stock. I really enjoyed this. The chicken was nice and juicy, and the paprika added a different dimension.  

Boiled egg with spinach and mash

Simplicity itself. Blanched spinach, drained and squeeze then added to onions fried in olive oil. Served with mashed potato and boiled egg. Its a great combination.

Chorizo and fennel stew

I tried to make this as a vegtable bake, but it was too dry. I think it would be better as a stew.

Fry onions and chozizo. Boil a tin of toms, and add potatoes, punkin/butternut and a bulb of fennel. Slow cook the lot.The fennel brings lightness to the rich tomato and chorizo. Serve with grated cheese.

Make a standard stew with whatever veg and meat you have, but add half a can of coconut cream and a good splash of soya sauce. This was a hit!