Roasted Veggies: Getting my raw materials ready for the week!

How to eat healthy, homemade food, save time and not end up with soggy rotten veggies in your fridge at the end of the week?

I have blogged before about prepping veggies in advance for the week. It ensures that even when you are dog tired and don't feel like cooking at the end of a long day, you can still eat something delicious and healthy at home!

This week I bought a bunch of veggies at the market on my day off and got them all ready in no time by using the oven to roast them. The advantage over other kinds of cooking is a) the flavor and versatility of roasted veggies and b) the fact that you are free to read, blog, nap or watch cat videos on YouTube while your veggies cook!

Veggies all chopped up and ready to be seasoned in the bowl!

Fresh ingredients this week:

• 1 zucchini
• 1 eggplant
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 carrot
• 5 cloves of garlic

Other ingredients:

• Sea Salt
• Black pepper
• Dry Thyme
• Olive Oil

Before cooking, the seasoned veggies are all spread out on a baking sheet/pan.

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius
• Wash and chop the veggies -- I sliced the eggplant and carrot into rounds, quartered the onion and tomatoes, cut the bell pepper into thick strips and left the garlic cloves whole, with the skins on. The zucchini was chopped into bite-sized cubes.
• Put all the chopped veggies in a large bowl.
• Add salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle some thyme and add a few lugs of olive oil.
• Toss to coat.
• Spread onto a baking tray.
• Pop into the oven for 45min. or so. Go do something fun.

These ingredients are to be transformed throughout the week into delicious meals, different every time so you don't get bored. Stay tuned!

Cooked and ready to be transformed into any delicious meal!

Jamie Oliver's Lamb Racks (minus the racks...)

So I was excited to try a new tasty tray bake ala Jamie Oliver and I got together all the ingredients, except the main one -- the lamb racks! Turns out only one person in my local market sells lamb meat, and she was all out of ribs... So I just had to settle for some part of the upper leg that looked like it woud to well roasted...

It turned out pretty delicious, with the roasted veggies and fresh mint sauce drizzled on top! Better still, it made the house smell delicious as promised, while Jiahui and I watched a movie together :D

I doubled Jamie's recipe because I realized his portions are pretty small, and I intended to have leftovers to take to work...

Ingredients:
2 racks of lamb (just a big piece of meat in my case...)
1lb. baby white potatoes (these were one of the highlights of the dish!)
3 red bell peppers
2 zucchini
7oz. cherry tomatoes
8 cloves garlic
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1 medium sprig rosemary
1 small bunch mint
white sugar (Jamie said "superfine" but I just used regular and it was fine...)
red wine vinegar
white wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper to taste

The Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius, boil the kettle
2. Wash and scrub the baby potatoes. Cut any large ones in half and place in a saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and cover with boiling water from the kettle.
3. Place the pan on high heat and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for 5min. Meanwhile...
4. Halve, deseed and roughly chop the bell peppers. Crush unpeeled garlic cloves with the heel of your hand. Crush the olives and discard pits.
5. When the potatoes have had 5min, drain them and transfer to a roasting pan. Add the chopped pepper, crushed garlic and olives.
6. Drizzle everything with olive oil, add a pinch of salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Cook in the hot oven for 30min, or until the veggies are soft and tender and beginning to turn golden. Meanwhile...
7. Score the fat on the lamb in a criss-cross fashion. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and add a small drizzle of olive oil. Rub the seasoning into the meat.
8. Top and tail the zucchini and cut into 1cm thick slices. Pick the rosemary leaves, discard the stalks.
9. When the vegetables have had 30min, remove the tray from the oven, add te zucchini, rosemary leaves and tomatoes. Add a splash more oil if needed, gently toss and return to the oven.
10. Place the pan back in the oven then put the lamb directly on the oven shelf above the pan -- the delicious juices from the roasting lamb fall onto the veggies, giving them a delicious flavor!
11. Jaime says to cook for 15-20min but my piece of lamb took almost 30min... Meanwhile...
12. Pick and finely chop the mint leaves, discard the stalks. Put the sugar in a bowl and add a tablespoon of hot water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
13. Add the mint leaves to the bowl along with the white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Stir everything together and pop in the refrigerator until needed.
14. When the lamb is done, transfer it to a plate, cover with aluminum foil and leave to rest for 5min. 
15. Sprinkle the red wine vinegar over the roasted vegetables and return to the oven for a final 5min.
16. When the lamb is rested, divide into portions and serve with a good helping of roasted vegetables and a spoonful or two of the mint sauce.

The Verdict!

This dish was delicious, and the smell of it cooking was pure torture! It smelled so good, and the whole house smelled awesome. The lamb was pinkish on the inside and done well, but the cut I bought wasn't the best I don't think, and it was a little tough. The mint sauce was a great complement though, and it was definitely edible! The highlight though, was the veggies. They were so flavorful, and perfectly done. The little potatoes were amazing, soft and juicy. I think boiling them before putting them in the oven really helps them retain some moisture, and that's a trick I will be using in the future!

The leftovers were delicious reheated or cold, and I took them to the office in the form of a sandwich as  well -- delicious with some added cheese, and plenty of the veggie gravy/sauce added to it for moisture. Yum!

Will definitely try this again, preferably with the actual lamb racks next time!

Chic Quiche!

I love making quiche and have been making it since college. (My favorite is zucchini and my college roommate still talks about the ones I used to make for us, years ago!)

But to be honest I have never been fully satisfied with my quiche crust. It seems like the crust I make, while perfectly edible, doesn't quite acquire the perfect crisp flakiness that I so love in good quiches... I am still looking for a perfect recipe, so please let me know if you have any to share!

Quiche is a great way to get rid of leftover veggies, cheese that has been in the fridge for more than a week, etc. It is a great way to revamp leftovers you are sick of eating into something new and delicious you can use as a side for soups and salads!

Delicious!

Today's experimental quiche crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon plain yoghurt

I sifted the flour and salt and worked in the cold butter, cut into cubes, with my fingers. I made a hole in the middle of the dough as it started to come together, added the egg and beat it a little with a fork before starting to work it into the mix. At this point the dough became really sticky, and I switched to a spoon. I added the yoghurt and worked that in as well.

I put the dough in the fridge for a few hours before handling it again...

The filling:
I chopped 2 zucchini into slices and made a simple sautée with garlic and olive oil, adding just a pinch of salt and some black pepper.

Mea Culpa:
The amount of batter was not really enough for my 12 inch pan so the crust ended up being way too thin. I should have doubled this recipe for this pan but I was out of eggs, flour AND butter so when you are cooking with leftovers you have to make the best of what you've got!

This crust came out pretty good, I would say better than usual for me although it was SO hard to handle this batter and I am APPALLED by the amount of butter that had to go into this! Is this normal?! Is this why quiche is so delicious?!

This dough stuck to EVERYTHING, was impossible to roll out (stuck on the roller, the table, the silicon mat I use, my fingers, the spoon!). I ended up putting it straight into the pan and spreading it out using my fingers, which was tricky since it wanted to stick to me, too!

Once I finally got it down, though, adding the zucchini was easy and I spread some grated cheese over it and put it in the oven at around 200 degrees Celsius (392 Fahrenheit) for about 35min.

The quiche is delicious and I like the taste of the crust although it's way too thin and was such a hassle to make.

Gourmet, Spinach & Roasted Veggie Sandwich

This is a perfect lunch sandwich to take to work!

I spread some dijonaise mustard and light mayo on German-style bread:

Then I added some of the veggies I had roasted, namely zucchini and red bell pepper. I also added some of the garlicky spinach I had sautéed.

I sliced some soft cheese and, voila, tomorrow's lunch is ready to take to the office!