Like most people I am now only food shopping when I really have to – when there is nothing left in the fridge. But, this does allow inspiration to take over and think about what to make out of only a little of each of something.
One of my favourite suppers is roasted root vegetables with something on top. A brilliant way of utilising whatever you have in the fridge or vegetable basket.
So, simply chop up the vegetables into equal sized pieces– about 4cm each. This could be a couple of potatoes; the rest of the swede or butternut squash not needed for the pasties. A couple of onions – red or white is fine. Then anything else lurking and needing a home – perhaps a pepper or couple of carrots or a piece of celeriac.
Alternatively, you could keep it more ‘Mediterranean’ and chop up peppers, courgettes, aubergines, onions and even a few tomatoes – vegetables are always in my fridge, that’s if I can source them right now.
Toss all the chosen vegetables in a little oil and season. Then place on a roasting tray and place into a medium hot oven for about half an hour – they won’t be fully cooked but will be ready for their topping. Or just keep them in the oven for another half an hour or so until cooked through and enjoy the lovely veggies in a jacket potato or stir into pasta or top with mashed potato for a delicious vegetarian cottage pie. Or how about adding that tin of butterbeans or green lentils that have been in the larder for ever – making for a more substantial and wholesome vegetarian dish.
Otherwise their toppings could be so many things – perhaps place some thin oiled and seasoned chicken breasts on top, pieces of fresh salmon or sausages. Another tip here is if you don’t really have enough sausages to feed everyone – chop them up into 5 pieces each – they magically seem to ‘go further’.
Then return the vegetables with their new top back to the oven and cook until the meat or fish is cooked – probably about 30 minutes for the meat and less for the fish.
A brilliant and very tasty way of using up basically whatever vegetables you have left, until you really do need to join that shop queue again.
Enjoy!
Sue x
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