Deconstructed ratatouille

To go along with the leg of lamb we decided to make ratatouille, but I wanted to use the barbecue to roast the vegetables rather than cooking them on the stove, so stopping me from slaving over a hot stove on a very hot day. I bought the mini peppers which are so prevalent here at the moment, they are so sweet and full of flavour, and I wanted to serve them whole. So we came up with the idea of just combining the ingredients that usually make up ratatouille and calling it deconstructed, which is very trendy these days.  Never let it be said that I am not on the cutting edge of food trends.

To feed 13

2 bags of mini peppers
1 large eggplant sliced
4 zucchini sliced
20 small tomatoes halved

First I roasted the mini peppers whole, until they were slightly charred but not too much.

Almost ratatouille

We came home from a hard day's shopping in Watford looking forward to moules marinier and french fries, a quick easy dinner to make, especially as Jacky's husband was making the fries.  So we did not really start thinking about cooking until very close to dinner time.  The fries were cut and soaking in water time to prepare the mussels.  Horrors the mussels were past their due date and not looking as healthy as they should and none of us wanted to take a chance, so plan b it was.

Jacky produced some chicken breasts and assorted vegetables from the cellar, we perused the ingredients and we came up with roasted ratatouille (substituting the eggplant with mushroom) chicken in home made barbecue sauce, green salad with warm balsamic dressing and of course french fries.

Jacky took on the chicken and salad, Howard the fries and I was responsible for the roasted vegetables.  I had

• 2 portabello mushrooms, 
• 2 red peppers, 
• 2 zucchini (courgettes), 
• 2 small red onions 
• a box of cherry tomatoes

I quickly chopped all the vegetables up through them in a roasting tin added the tomatoes and drizzled on some olive oil, and threw them in a 400 oven.  These cooked for just over half an hour which was the time it took to prepare the remainder of the meal. The vegetables were soft and just turning black on the edges, absolutely perfect.

bacon and egg salad

I have been working long hours the last while due to year end and other complications at work. Often I get home after everyone else has had their dinner. Frankly I do not want to know what that dinner consisted of, and as we are all adults now I trust them to make wise choices.

I however do want to have something tasty but speed is of great importance, so if I do not have any convenient left overs or something made ahead, I often opt for a quick stir fry or salad.  This a bit of a rift on the warm salads that are popular in France, but using the ingredients that are always in my fridge.

I love hard boiled eggs in a salad and am always drawn to them on a menu.  So this is my very quick and easy weeknight breakfast salad for one.

1 hard boiled egg
3 rashers of bacon
3 or 4 green onions chopped (or 1/4 sweet onion thinly sliced)
2 or 3 cups of salad greens (I really like either arugala or the mixed with herbs)
2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Halloumi cheese salad

Last weekend was the girls birthday weekend on the Sunshine Coast.  10 of us spent the weekend ostensibly celebrating 3 of our birthdays which fall with in a few days. But really it is an excuse to get together and get away from the drab mid winter blaas that take hold at this time of year.

I get to cook for an appreciative audience try out some new recipes as well as cooking some tried and true dishes. Friday night we decided to have cassoulet one of my personal favourites, but the first time for a couple of the women. To go with this I made another old favourite halloumi cheese salad.

Halloumi cheese is a salty Greek cheese that is used for making saganaki, which I love.  I usually make this salad in the summer as it goes so well with grilled chicken and kebabs, but it also was a nice sharp contrast to the very rich cassoulet.

Halloumi cheese used to be very hard to find, but like almost everything in this ever shrinking world it appears to be available in most decent supermarkets as well as speciality stores.

Asparagus and pine nut salad

This salad was made by my friend from England Jacky, she had it a friend of hers' over there and thought it would go well with our Italian dinner.  And she was right it was the hit of the night.

Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of her making it as she did not take any and I was otherwise engaged. But anyway here goes.

1 bunch of Asparagus
3/4  cup of pine nuts (she said that she thoughts walnuts or pecans would work as well)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Container of baby arugula
Juice of one lemon.

warm Prawn salad

Last week we had a warm sunny day you could feel spring in the air even though it was late January.  I had a friend and her sister coming for dinner so I felt like making a favourite summer dish even though in fact it is still midwinter.

Sadly it turns out my friend does not eat prawns but any way she enjoyed the salad and dressing and we had a very nice loaf of bread I picked up on the way home. So more prawns for me. This is the same dressing that I have blogged before it is one of my favourites

Sunday night sausage and potato dinner

Nancy and I invented this recipe several years ago on a Sunday night at Pender Harbour.  At the last minute we had decided to not go back to reality, but to stay one more night in paradise.  We checked out the fridge and there was really nothing to work with, so we headed into the village and the IGA had closed. So we went over to Oak Tree market to my favourite butcher.  They had some wonderful home made chirozo sausages and really nice local new potatoes.

So this weekend on Sunday night Nancy and I were hankering after some potatoes and sausages.