Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘ratatouille’

A Cupboard Almost Bare….

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, vegetarian cooking, tagged on October 2, 2020| 16 Comments »

Fridays.

End of the week, in the time of COVID-19.

Shopping expeditions curtailed. Really only one: Saturdays.

What to do for lunch and dinner?

NO EGGS!

Baskets, trays and bowls almost empty.

Raining.

Oven on the blink.

No wish to budge….

Thinking cap.

Remember red and yellow peppers that have been in the fridge for some time and cross fingers. Discover that they are well preserved–as is a forgotten small green one. The three juicy-looking tomatoes that need using weigh the perfect pound.

My Ratatouille comes to mind from my new cookbook–a last hurrah for Summer.

It’ll bring a splash of colour and cheer onto the kitchen table on a grey day.

Things are looking up!

Remembered the pumpkin soup that’s been waiting in the fridge, which will make for a light supper with some chèvre and crackers– and the remaining half of the fine bottle of Côte de Rhône, kindly brought over last Sunday by our neighbours.

Starting to enjoy this!

Adding a bit of black olive tapenade.

Read Full Post »

Roasted vegetables

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , on May 24, 2012| 6 Comments »

The weather has been difficult–either too cold or too wet–for  local growers the last couple of months, reducing  the availability of seasonal vegetables.

Looking for something to cook a couple of nights ago I found some courgettes and peppers from a trip to the supermarket and remembered a recipe inspired by Delia Smith and featured in my cookbook, Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

Delia calls it Roast Ratatouille and includes cherry tomatoes and aubergines [eggplant]–but a simpler version is worth a go, I thought….

It was a tasty and healthy supper–served it on a bed of quinoa with a yogurt sauce.

for four

3 courgettes

3 red peppers

3 sweet/red onions–quartered

2 garlic cloves–chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

set the oven to 240C/460F

  • cut up the vegetables in largish chunks.
  • Put them in a bowl, add the oil and sprinkle  over the garlic.
  • Turn everything over carefully to coat the vegetables with the oil.
  • Line a shallow oven tray with foil.
  • Brush the foil with olive oil.
  • Empty the bowl onto the tray and spread the vegetables evenly over it.

  • Put the tray on the top level of the oven.
  • Roast for 20minutes or until the vegetables are nicely charred–(not burnt!)

Read Full Post »

Honey trade: “neighbourliness” in action–or “la rentrée” (first day back!) gifts

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, tagged , , , , , , on August 29, 2011| 10 Comments »

"Rentrée" gifts

I’m sitting searching for a new recipe for the chicken we’ll eat tonight when I hear a car draw up.

Life in the country is never predictable–especially when you hope it might be for a few quiet minutes!

The bell outside the courtyard gently rings and footsteps slowly crunch across the gravel.

I put down the cookbook and reluctantly rise to greet the visitor.

There is the lightest knock on the front door.

There stands our neighbour Alice, holding a small rectangular box with 2 kilos of her honey in it.

Honey box

She says it’s only fair she shares some with her “second pair of hands”.

Meredith helped  with the recolte [harvest] of her honey on Monday.

“The honey’s runny–better keep it a plat [flat],”  she says of the harvest. “there was more last year–but not bad nevertheless….”

A spoonful of the honey with a tablespoon of the organic cider vinegar from Thursday’s market will help shore up our health as the seasons change.

Of more interest to me is the small basket of tomatoes, aubergines and courgettes that Alice holds in her other hand–could make a wonderful ratatouille.

Ratatouille basket

“These are probably the last”, Alice says, “in spite of constant watering things have dried up–so enjoy these while you can”.

Too right, Alice–superb! Merci beaucoup!

(And I did nothing to deserve it!)

Talk of the season change persuades me to try the chicken cooked with dried porcini mushrooms (bought last November in Tuscany) tonight.

Recipe to follow–if we like it!

Read Full Post »