Tuesday 9 April 2013

3 days to go

Only 3 days to go, temptation is everywhere. Today at work, somebody kindly bought me some chocolates, I was proposed some sweets and also some Jamaican bun... I am not sure if they did it on purpose but, I kindly took whatever came and put it in my bottom drawer... only 3 days. If I’ve done 37 days, 3 days aren’t going to be that difficult would they?
It is 8.20pm, I am so full it is unbelievable.

Mix grated vegetables
At work I had decided what I was going to eat tonight, but on my way home I saw one of my colleagues with some ravioli, and it gave me an idea. I am not a big fan of pasta and they contain eggs anyways, I decided to find an alternative and cook a vegetable Pappardelle with soya meat balls and garlic (very garlicky) tomato sauce. See about Pappardelle pasta here.
I love colours in my food so the vegetables had to be very colourful and hold their shape in cooking.
So I popped into the shop and got 1 courgette,  2 aubergines (1 deep purple and the other very light purple and slender).
Variety of aubergines
To make the dish, you will need one of each of the above, plus a carrot, or any other vegetable that will hold their shape after 3 minutes in boiling water. A small onion, 3 fresh tomatoes, 5 chestnuts, 5 garlic cloves, oil obviously, salt & pepper.
For the “pasta”, prep and grate the courgette, both aubergines and carrot. To grate the
This is what graters look like
vegetables you will need to use the side of the grater that cuts like a potato peeler. But the grater cut is slightly larger.
You will obtain a mix that looks like the top photo once all the vegetables have been grated.
The shape we are aiming for is like 4 centimetres flat pasta (Pappardelle). On the grater on the image to your left, you would use the middle bit to obtain the type of cut we want.
I also discovered that my grater was really rubbish and not sharp at all, which made the cuts really untidy and slightly ugly.


To cook your veges, boil water with a bit of salt just as you would with pasta, chuck in all your vegetables and let boil for another 3 minutes. Remove from fire, rinse as you would with pasta. Leave on the side.  

my new comfort dish
For the sauce In a hot pan, fry onions and soya meatballs until brown. Add in the minced garlic, chopped tomato, chopped chestnuts, salt and pepper. Leave to cook for 10 minutes. Remember to soften the soya meatballs first in boiled water for 10 minutes then squeeze out the water before frying.

I mostly use fresh tomatoes in sauces when they are going off. I only buy them for salads.
The result may look ugly, but, I think this is the best dish I have made so far. I will definitely do it again, prettier. I have found a new comfort dish!

I guess we’ll have to cook the suede tomorrow.
Sorry about the Franglish!
Nite!

No comments:

Post a Comment