Peperoncini in padella: Sautéed Peppers

Baked egg with sautéed peppers

The salvaged lemon-roasted potatoes!

I was extremely excited this evening as I knew the Vegetarian would be at band practice so I was looking forward to a meaty feast.  The rain was pouring down and I had forgotten my umbrella so instead of taking my time visiting the butcher, veg lady and Mediterranean store I darted into my local supermarket. I spent ages choosing which meat I wanted to eat and finally decided I was in the mood for chicken. I wasn’t sure how I was going to prepare it so I bought a few options and walked up the hill thinking about all the different delicious things I could cook. When I got home, now completely soaked, I discovered the Vegetarian was there along with the band as practice had been moved to our sitting room, and in all my earlier excitement I had forgotten to buy the chicken! Not wanting to face the rain again I opted for a vegetarian dinner after all. But luckily I found some sneaky salami in the fridge to tide me over for the night.  

I managed to concoct a tasty pepper dish which I planned to serve with lemon-roasted potatoes but unfortunately disaster struck again at the last moment when instead of tossing the potatoes, I threw them into the air along with my grandma’s serving dish and both came crashing to the floor.

To top things off, whilst I was salvaging what I could of the potatoes, my friend Catherine sent me a text with a photo of her and her newly purchased Ginger Pig sausages!

2 sweet red peppers, de-seeded, de-skinned and sliced into thin strips

1 small onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed and sliced

Handful cherry tomatoes

2 celery stalks, sliced

Few leaves of basil, torn

1 tbsp capers

2 tbsp liquid from caper jar

2 free range eggs

Sea salt and black pepper

Olive oil

Heat the oven to 180º/ Gas mark 4.

In a large frying pan gently fry the onion, garlic, celery and peppers until soft. Add the cherry tomatoes, capers and liquid from the jar the capers were in. Season and stir in the torn basil. Continue to fry over a medium heat until the tomatoes are cooked through and the liquid has evaporated.

Divide the sautéed peppers into two small round dishes. Make a well in the middle of each dish and break an egg into it. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.

Serve with lemon-roasted potatoes and dip asparagus into the egg yolk.

Catherine and her Ginger Pig sausages

Ratatouille with Crumb Topping

Ratatouille with Crumb Topping

Fillet of Sea Bream, Ratatouille and Roasted Baby Potatoes

I had a craving for vegetables so I decided to make a delicious ratatouille. This dish can end up quite mushy so to avoid this, make sure the vegetables aren't cut up too small. The breadcrumb topping on this particular recipe adds a lovely crunch.

 

Serves: 4

Ratatouille:
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/2 aubergine, chopped into chunks
1 red onion, quartered
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
1 courgette, halved then cut into chunks
Handful cherry tomatoes

A few sprigs rosemary

A few sprigs thyme
1 tin chopped tomatoes

Handful, capers

Olive oil

Sea salt & pepper

Crumb Topping:
300g spinach
15g roughly chopped basil
3 slices brown bread
Chunk of butter

Chunk of Parmesan, finely grated 

Heat the oven to 180º.  Place all ratatouille vegetables except the tinned tomatoes and capers in a dish, sprinkle with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and scatter with the fresh herbs. Roast for 35 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes and capers to the dish, stir the ingredients together and return to oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, lightly toast the bread and then place in a food processor and turn into crumbs. Wilt the spinach in a pan then add the bread along with the butter and basil. Stir until the butter is melted then remove from heat.

Add the crumb topping to the dish, sprinkle with Parmesan and return to oven for 10 minutes.

I served this with a fillet of sea bream, the vegetarian had a poached egg and we both had a few roasted baby potatoes. There were some leftovers from the ratatouille which I heated for lunch the next day.