Slow Cooked Vegetable Ragu

Recipe time!

This is one of my stock recipes for having something delicious, healthy, quick and ready to eat during the week, when we’re all busy and the last thing I want to do when I get home from a ten hour day is chop more veg!

I make this slow cook vegetable ragu every other week at home. Instead of making it this week, I'm blogging it, after a special request from a local yoga teacher. A big batch usually goes on the stove on a Sunday afternoon while I’m making dinner, and consists of whatever vegetables are knocking around in the fridge drawer. Core stock ingredients and often a few Mediterranean veg that we all eat regularly like peppers, courgettes, aubergines and the like.

The ragu makes a great pasta sauce on it’s own, but I often add a veggie mince for a Bolognese or use it to make lasagne or an aubergine bake, sometimes with cooked puy lentils. I'm making some gnocchi to go with ours this week, or how about ricotta dumplings. It’s great for a ready-made homemade dinner after a long day at work and I can hide a few veg the teens are less keen on (teen girl isn’t keen on cooked carrots and teen boy doesn’t like aubergines or mushrooms as he thinks they have a weird texture). No matter, the secret to this sauce is to cook slowly and for a long time.  A Creuset style pot is best, and once the ragu is simmering, put it on the smallest gas ring on low.

The ingredients vary. Start with 2-3 onions, fine chopped. Then any number of the following that you may find lurking in that fridge drawer, all diced…

Aubergine, carrot, leeks, peppers, celery, mushroom, courgette, fennel (no more than half a bulb or it will overpower the flavour) etc etc

Saute all your veg in a large heavy bottomed pan, with a good splash of pomace oil. This needs a gentle sauté, for at least 15 mins, so that the veg is a bit sticky and soft. Then add water. The next part all depends on quantities of veg used. The more veg, the more water and seasoning you will need. I added 2 litres to the pan above. Add the following seasoning per litre of water:

1 tsp salt

½ tsp white pepper

½ tsp black pepper

1 small sprig of fresh rosemary
small handful of thyme

2 bay leaves

2 tins of tomatoes
1-2 tbsp dark soy sauce or 1/4 tsp marmite
little squeeze of lemon or vinegar

Then bring to full simmer, and turn down heat to lowest. Place a lid on the pan, and leave to cook gently for 1 - 2 hours.  Check up on it every 40 minutes or so, and see if there is enough water. Add a little more as necessary.  This dish should have a soft velvety texture.  If you need to hide the veg a bit further, I sometimes give it a rough mash. Add salt and pepper to taste. This will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days. Enjoy!

Recipe for Roast Cauliflower, Broccoli & Pasta Fondue

RECIPE TIME!  Roasted cauliflower, broccoli and pasta fondue with a pumpkin seed crust.  This is a fairly quick and easy dish to prepare.  I find it's very popular amongst children and teens, but then the fondue sauce gives a slightly more ‘grown up’ feel to the dish too. 

It came about as a result of my indecision between making macaroni cheese or cauliflower cheese.  You can use different combinations of cheeses, but I do love the classic combination of gruyere and emmental.  I try to include seeds in recipes sometimes as they are a great source of nutrients for anyone's diet, especially veggie's.

Ingredients – to serve 4-6

•  1 medium cauliflower
• 1 medium broccoli head
• 300g penne or rigatoni pasta
• ½ bottle dry white white
• Clove of garlic (optional)
• 200g Gruyere
• 200g Emmental
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 50g Sainsbury vegetarian Italian hard cheese
• Small handful of pumpkin or mixed seeds
• 2 slices of brown bread (preferably a little stale)

Method

1. Heat oven to 220 C.
2. Break and trim cauliflower and broccoli into large florets, drizzle with olive oil and a little salt and roast in the hot oven for 10 mins.
3. Meanwhile, bring add pasta to pan of boiling water and cook until al dente, about 8 mins.  Drain water and then return to large pan and set aside.
4. Rub the sides of a small pan with the garlic clove (if using), then add white wine and bring to boil.  Simmer until reduced by one third.
5. Grate gruyere and emmental and add to simmering wine, along with mustard.  Heat gently and stir until wine and cheese are well combined.
6. Blitz brown bread slices in mixer to create breadcrumbs.  Bread can be grated if you don’t have a food processor.  Mix breadcrumbs with finely grated parmesan or vegetarian Italian hard cheese.
7. Add roasted vegetables to pasta pan, mix together and then add fondue sauce and stir to combine well. Check seasoning and add salt and white pepper to taste. Turn out mixture into large baking dish, ensuring even arrangement of cauliflower, broccoli and pasta.
8. Layer breadcrumb mixture over top and then sprinkle with pumpkin or mixed seeds.
9. Bake in hot oven, 200 C, until top is golden and crispy.

Enjoy :0)