AFOG: another fucking opportunity for growth. And you know what they say. If you wanna grow, you should eat your veggies. This is warm and comforting and will make you reek of garlic. Good for those slightly blue, slightly misanthropic, vaguely antisocial evenings. Also useful if you anticipate any vampire encounters after dinner or if you're fighting off a cold.
Roast these: a whole head of garlic in cloves, half a large head (or a whole small head) of cauliflower, a pepper (I used yellow because it was what I have, but red would be prettier) an onion in large pieces, an eggplant in large pieces, a dozen or more whole cherry tomatoes, four or five sun-dried tomatoes cut into strips...I just chop them up with scissors. In this: enough water to reach halfway up the veg, a good swig of balsamic, a whole lemon worth of juice (you can throw in the peels as well if they're organic, and just pick them out when you're done roasting) oregano, thyme, mint, salt. This will make a stew with little blackened roasty bits where the veg poke up out of the liquid. When it's done, add more hot water (to cover the veg), some cooked white beans, chopped green olives and chopped capers. If the beans made things too cold, simmer. Stir. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast. Eat with crusty bread and a salad. Drink dark red wine and listen to soulful violin music if you're so inclined. I'm more of a Nick Cave and whiskey girl myself, but you get the idea.
That's the homey version. If you want to fancy it up for company, roast the veg in olive oil, the spices and balsamic first, then move the whole mess to the stove, deglaze with water and a touch of wine. Add the other stuff then bubble, bubble, toil and trouble for a few minutes. Squeeze in some lemon juice, garnish with parsley and toasted pine nuts and make the bread into garlic bread (because if your guests don't like garlic, they're screwed anyways, so you might as well just go with it). The homey and fancy versions are both damn good, but the homey one is ... homey-er, and less work, and way less futzy.
Use the leftovers for pasta sauce tomorrow.
Now kiddies, go eat a little something healthy before I hit you with several chocolate posts in rapid succession.
Music in afog: Cowboy Junkies, played real quiet.
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5 comments:
Welcome back, Kitchen Dancer! This sounds delicious ... especially the garlic parts.
Thanks. My flat is completely vampire-free now. Phew!
I hear vampires are a serious problem in Scotland. Glad to see you're doing your part.
In Saskatchewan (as you would know), we get those dreaded vampirates instead. Quite a nuisance. (Seach for the Vampirates comic, everyone. I won't link here, as that sometimes turns my comments into spam!)
Never put sundried tomatoes in stew before...sounds like a must-try. I really like your homier dishes- they're great for when I want to put some, but not too much effort into a meal.
Lol. Yes. Vampirates are a bit of a nuisance here as well. Especially with their creepy little zombie parrots. Eeeew.
Ahem. I have to confess that when I want to make food instantly exciting without expending effort, I reach for one of: sundried tomatoes, capers, cashews, pomegranate molasses or umeboshi (depending on the kind of food I'm making). Works every time. A squeeze of lemon doesn't usually hurt, either.
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