Vegetable Biryani

A wonderful recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall, with some adaptation from me.  I made a vegetable curry base with a paste of an onion, 2 garlic cloves, a small hot red or green chilli, and a thumb of ginger, into which I stirred a teaspoon each of ground cumin, coriander and turmeric, and a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon.  In a tablespoon of oil, I then quickly sauteed a teaspoon of cumin seeds and 3 crushed cardamom pods, then stirred in the paste.  Fry for a couple of minutes, and add about 300 mls or so of water, along with 2 large new potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes, 2 carrots, sliced, 4 tomatoes chopped and a red pepper, chopped.  Vary the veg depending on what you have available.  Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the veg is just tender and there is still some sauce.  Add a splash more water if necessary to keep it saucy, and add a handful of frozen peas and some chopped coriander.  Transfer to an overproof dish.  Now, put 300g of washed basmati rice in a pot with a good pinch of saffron and a teaspoon of salt.  Cover with water to 2cm above the level of the rice, cover, bring to the boil then turn the heat down really low and cook until the water is absorbed and there are tunnels in the rice, a matter of 7 minutes or so.  Now, tip the rice on top of the veg curry, cover with a lid or with foil, and bake in the oven at 160C for 20 minutes.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes then dig in.  Utterly scrummy. If you have the time and inclination, fry some onions for 15 minutes until deep brown and going crisp and sprinkle over at the end with more coriander and some almond. Serves 4 and definitely qualifies for under a fiver.  As this looked liked yesterday's risotto, I thought I'd give you a picture of a fluffy kitten instead.

Pasta Primavera

Normally, recipes for this dish are very heavy on the butter and/or cream, but it is possible to lighten it up with much less fat, through using chicken or veg stock.  Go with whatever veg you have in that is good and seasonal - I went for carrot, broad beans, courgettes, asparagus tips and some peas, with baby spinach folded in at the end.  This is a good way to get your five-a-day!.. Sweat a finely diced onion in 10g of butter and a teaspoon of olive oil.  Keep the heat gentle and a lid on.  Prepare all the other veg, addding first the carrot, then the asparagus and then the courgettes and peas, allowing each to sweat a little in the covered pan to soften before adding th next.  Add about 150ml of stock, cover, and simmer gently whilst you boil the pasta.  Drain pasta, add baby spinach and mix, and sprinkle with some parmesan.  So delicate and summery. 

Ratatouille

We eat so much of this stuff at this time of year - pasta with ratatouille, baked chicken with ratatouille, salmon with ratatouille, ratatouille fritatta..... I make large quantities and it matures in the fridge and freezes well too. Tonight, we used some to stuff a gorgeous yellow marrow that a neighbour gave us from their allotment. I halved it and scooped out the seeds, then filled the cavities with ratatouille, put in a roasting tin with some veg stock, covered with foil and baked for a good hour and a half until the marrow was meltingly tender. Then, I topped the lot with sliced cheddar and browned under the grill. Delicious with lots of fresh peas and crusty bread.

I make the ratatouille unconventionally - I slowly roast chunks of aubergine, courgette, onion and peppers. In the meantime, I make a sauce with lots of garlic, olive oil and a mix of tinned and fresh skinned tomatoes. When the roasted veg are ready - well cooked but not charred - I gently combine with the sauce. This way, the vegetables stay discrete and identifiable, rather than turning into a mush. It cuts down on the amount of oil you need to use, with no laborious frying at the start - the oven does all the work.