Vegging out

Nights drawing in and I’ve gone into hibernation mode, craving hearty food. But trying to stay reasonably healthy at the same time. Halfway house has been cooking vegetables, being inspired by Hugh’s latest TV series. These are some of the dishes from his latest book which I tried this week. Both are quite easy to make, both under 1 hour from start to finish, and they taste great.

The Beetroot Tarte Tatin is easy to make. I bought mini pre-cooked beets from Sainsburys. These were in vinegar already, so you need to change the quantities in the recipe, adding less vinegar and more sugar. I started by adding some olive oil, butter, 2 tbsp of apple vinegar and soft brown sugar to a skillet pan (that fits your oven). Once it’s all melting and coming together, toss in the halved beets and warm them through. Turn all the small beets with their halved sides facing upward. Add the ready rolled puff pastry and trim off the excess using some kitchen scissors and place the skillet pan in the oven. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees until the pastry is well risen. Once cooled a bit, turn it out onto a plate. I served it with some salad around the tarte.

We also tried the sweet potato ‘satay sauce’ gratain. Taking 4 large sweet potatoes, cutting them into thin slices using a mandolin. Placing the slices in a bowl and mixing in some sunflower oil 200ml cream (I used single rather than double), a small diced red chilli and 1 garlice clove finely chopped. Adding a bit of salt and pepper. Then adding half of the slices to a gratin, oven proof dish. Then taking 90g peanut butter (150g felt too much), mixing it in a bowl with a bit of oil and 50m of the cream until smooth. Add a layer of this on top of the sweet potato before placing the remaining slices on top. Salt and pepper on top and bake in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees (20 minutes covered in foil, 30 minutes without foil). We served it with some blue cheese which cut through the slightly sweet and fragrant gratin.

Courgette fritters

I’ve got a thing about these at the moment and have been trying out a few different recipes. Ottolenghi does a sour cream and spiced version, Slater mixes carrots and spices and Oliver a polpette or meatball version.

Ottolenghi’s works a treat. Easy to do for a weeday meal and the batter cooks well all the way through. Don’t get tempted to add more flour as the mixture is quite ‘wet’, if you do you’ll end up with pancakes rather than fritters.

You’ll need:

200g sour cream

2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander

1.5 tsp ground cardamon (or de-husk whole ones and crush)

2 tsp ground coriander

70ml sunflower oil

Zest and juice of 1 lime

3 medium courgettes

2 small shallots

2 garlic cloves crushed

60g self-raising flour

150g feta cheese

I’ve amended this abit and would grate the courgettes into one bowl, sprinkle over  a bit of salt and set aside for 10mins, so they release their juices.

In another bowl mix the sour cream, coriander, cardamon, coriander, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper.

Fry the shallots and crushed garlic in a pan for a few minutes as it takes away the harshness of the raw onion and garlic, let it cool and add to the sour cream mix.

Squeeze any excess juices from the grated courgette (just take a large handful and squeeze in your hands over the sink, letting out all the excess juices). Then add to the sour cream mixture with the egg and flour. Just combine until you have a smooth batter.

Fry in batches by clicking out a large spoonful for each pancake and flatten them slightly. This batch makes about 12, 2-inch wide fritters. Add crumbled feta before serving.

If you’d like something a bit more healthy, then try these meatball versions that bake in the oven rather than fried in a pan.

For 12 you’ll need:

Olive oil

500g courgettes, finely diced

Grated zest from 1/2 lemon

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tbsp hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino

1/2 ball of buffalo mozzarella

50g breadcrumbs

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 garlic clove finely chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Fry the courgettes in a bit of oil in a large frying pan on medium heat for 10 minutes until golden. Set aside and cool a little, then combine with all the other ingredients in a bowl to form a sticky batter.

Add some seasoning and roll walnut-sized meatballs from the batter. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until they have a bit of colour. We served it with leftover salads.