Cold Night Cookery: Vegetable Lasagne

If you don't like this, I don't like you

With the nights drawing in and the cold weather howling outside my window every morning I have decided to do something wild and spend more time at home. Over the last 12 months most weekends have been spent jumping on expensive trains to visit loved ones around the country. While I have enjoyed every minute of these visits, my winter plan was to spend more time enjoying my home, taking in some music, having lots of baths, writing and of course cooking.

This Friday night was a rare gem, my housemate and I were miraculously at the same place at the same time on a weekend and we also had a lovely visitor. No better time to cook my extra special vegetable lasagne.

In our household growing up we didn’t eat a lot of minced meat, my dad couldn’t really stomach it and my mum followed suit so rather than fry minced beef for our lasagnes and and chillis we either used vegetables, and later on in my childhood, Quorn.

Quorn is a marvellous thing when added to hearty meals, adding bulk and if you ask me actually tasting nicer than mince (I hate the look, sound and smell of minced beef cooking). So in my endless quest for the perfect vegetable lasagne I have finely tuned and crafted the ingredients until I have found the ultimate combination of taste, texture and nutritional value (ish, ignore the cheese).

The inclusion of the soft jarred peppers in oil is a 2012 revelation as a result of doing my weekly shop at Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s own jarred peppers are wonderful, slightly charred and sitting in a delicious, delicately flavoured oil that I like to keep and add to other dishes. I personally can’t have a vegetarian lasagne without a courgette or two and I couldn’t explain to you why. The jury is out about how to chop them and it depends on my mood. Sometimes I want a fine dice, sometimes I want them a little more chunky, other times I go for circular cuts to fully absorb the flavour. Tonight I’m feeling circular. I don’t usually use aubergine (or eggplant to the foreigners), tonight I feel like it. I’m probably going to layer it with the pasta after separately chargrilling it, maybe slopping it about afterwards with some olive oil and basil. We’ll see how we go.

I’ve experimented with different kinds of pastas, blindly believing that fresh is best I recently used fresh sheets to find that they disappointingly shrivelled up when I added them to the hot sauce, like they were ashamed of their long durum wheat yellow bodies (it’s Friday afternoon, it’s getting a bit abstract). So now I’m of the mind-set of screw you fresh pasta and I’m back to good quality dried stuff, sometimes I go for the green, today its traditional.

The cheese sauce is quite possibly the glue that holds the whole wonderful construction together; I obtained this wonderful recipe from my mother who can’t half make a mean cheese sauce. I understand that I’m supposed to be making a béchamel but who cares, I’m adding cheese. I’m also sprinkling the top with cheese and blobs of mozzarella. Lighten up, it’s Friday.

Finally to top it all off a lovely glass of red wine at room temperature. Pinotage should do it tonight. Ah. What a week. Oh and I appreciate I haven’t updated you on the running training for a while. Yeah..it’s going um....well....

Cheerio

HYKAEI BEST vegetable lasagne for a cold Friday night with friends

(Serves 6 or 4 hungry people)

Quorn mince (one bag)

2 onions or 3, whatever

Some garlic, diced, sliced, jarred. Whatever you have the energy to do with it

A couple of big jars of passata and a tin of tomatoes (preferably organic)

Some soft peppers in oil (I like Sainsbury’s own)

Olive oil

1-2 Courgettes and maybe a nice looking aubergine

A ball of mozzarella

Some fresh basil

Either dried or fresh lasagne sheets. I used fresh the other day and they weirdly shrivelled when I put them on the hot sauce so maybe go with some good quality dry ones

For the sauce

A block of good cheddar (just some nice mature/extra mature- nothing too extreme otherwise it will be overpowering)

Milk

Butter (real butter please not margarine). I like the French stuff

A little flour

Method

Firstly chop your onions up to a relatively fine dice, they should at least not be huge. Get a bit of olive oil going and fry until tender, adding some garlic until your kitchen starts to smell like mamas kitchen (I also appreciate the irony that Italians don’t EVER use garlic and onions at the same time). At this point add your veg, if you chopped the aubergine into small chunks add this now, you’ll probably need more oil, these things drink oil like Jamie Oliver on a slow day. Also add your courgettes ensuring that you have the heat high enough to get some colour on them all. Now it’s time to add the Quorn, ah magical, from freeze dried to mince in 0.2 seconds. Done.

Now you need to start adding your tomato based things to the mixture, either chop your peppers up or just throw them in whole adding a bit of the oil as well for good measure (not too much). Pour in your passata and tomatoes, a bit of water if you like and even some tomato puree if you want to go tomato crazy. Leave this to bubble away like a tomato sauce nightclub for a little while, use your instincts, if it starts thickening and looks awesome, it’s nearly done. Tear up some basil and add some seasoning, sometimes I add sugar sometimes not, always a bit of pepper, maybe salt. See what you think. You can EVEN throw a bit of your glass of wine in for depth of flavour.

If you are layering your aubergine like me then use this moment to fry in batches and set aside.

Right sauce DONE, set aside.

Now you are on to your cheese sauce, you need to watch this because it will cook quite quickly and then you will frantically need to construct your masterpiece (two people are better than one). First of all you need to make a roux. I never have exact measurements for this, just throw in a good old dollop of butter, a fair slice from your beautiful French stuff. When it starts to melt add a couple of heaped tablespoons of flour. I never add enough at this stage so don’t listen to me, add more. Stir until it makes a paste and now you need to add your milk whilst whisking, you can add some nutmeg at this stage if you want to be traditional. I never do, that stuff gives you hallucinations. Again this is a judgement call, it should be relatively thick now and this is your moment to throw in handfuls of salty amazing cheddar until the sauce can barely take no more.

Now to construct, layer sauce with pasta, a smidge of sauce, eggplant and repeat until you slather the top with cheese sauce. Dot with torn mozzarella and basil and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese (stop eating it). The key is to make sure all of the pasta is covered by liquid or it won’t cook.

Time to select a wine, gutsy Pinotage wins!

Put it in a hot oven, make yourself a simple green salad, cut some bread and dunk it in olive oil, and pour yourself a glass of red.

I saw you eating that leftover cheese sauce!

Bon appetite!

City Girl Goes Country: A Weekend in Devon

Topsham tranquillity

One of the things I love about having a diverse mix of friends scattered across the country is the joy of darting off in different directions to visit them and get a taste of their daily life. This particularly grey weekend I decided to pop down to Devon to visit my wonderful University friends SH and KG for a weekend of good food and lots of laughs.

I'm widely known amongst my friends for my inherent bewilderment of the country. It's not that I don't love and appreciate the rolling hills, peace and tranquillity and tiny villages where everybody knows your name. I'm just not really kitted out to belong in these places. Visiting country towns feels like I've invaded some foreign land, ramblers strolling past with their walking sticks and backpacks and vast array of sturdy walking shoes and gilets somehow managing to look appropriate and stylish all at the same time.

To every body's constant amusement the best sensible outfit I can construct is my fancy Melbourne wool blazer that cost me a month's rent, a pair of holy leggings and my bright white trainers that have a token scattering of mud from the one time I wore them. After years of lying to myself and others that I love the great outdoors, conjuring up a forced expectant smile at the prospect of another camping trip, I have finally embraced my city roots feeling safe in the comfort that I can order food at 2am, always get a cab by a mere wave of the arm and spend my Friday night's perched in a cocktail bar dressed up in my finest.

That being said I was excited for my weekend ahead to embrace my dormant country side and hopefully eat lots of beautiful local food. Saturday morning SH tentatively laid some ideas on the table, did I want to ramble along a river, go and have some lunch or visit the Devon County Show. To her and my surprise, I opted for the county show.

A Day Out at Devon County Show
http://www.devoncountyshow.co.uk/

As soon as we had paid our entrance fee I realised that the County Show was a big deal in these parts, the place was packed with healthy rosy cheeked children, dogs and roaming farmyard animals sporting prize winning ribbons. Completely inappropriately dressed as usual I hobbled around clutching my vintage bag tripping over hundreds of dog owners and patches of non-descript mud. Scouring the show for something that would take my fancy aside from alpacas and stalls informing me how to disinfect my farm it finally hit me. The food tent.

The tent, as expected was superb, Devon seems to really be making headway with some beautiful local produce. I sank a gorgeous organic coffee made from some local beans, tried the local Pebblebed fizz (http://www.pebblebed.co.uk/), drank some free ale, had the sweetest and butteriest cupcake with thick coffee infused frosting and finished it all off with a delicious Tom's Pie (http://www.toms-pies.co.uk/) with it's perfect pastry crust and creamy chicken filling.

Another exciting foodie part of our day was a pleasurable half an hour in the Dart's Farm tent, a local food mecca where I had previously enjoyed a delicious Sunday roast with beautiful lamb and a selection of freshly picked seasonal veg including the best red cabbage I have ever eaten (http://www.dartsfarm.co.uk/). This time Dart's Farm slightly eccentric owner and head chef from a local Topsham restaurant were rustling up a series of free treats including farm fresh strawberries and hand made hot fudge with vanilla pod infused creamy ice cream. The local sexy rugby team were causing a bit of a stir haphazardly hacking up a Dover Sole and roasting some vegetables.

Sexy rugby cooking

After my day on the farm, resting my sore feet my country friends decided to give me a break and send me to Exeter for a taste of the city.

Exeter: The Big City

Exeter, I'm reliably informed, is the equivalent of a metropolis down south and I must say that I've fallen a little bit in love with it. The medieval streets were unusual and interesting, the central cathedral was beautiful and every step I took I felt like I was living back in some distant historical time, wandering around in my bodice trying to find the butchers. In amongst the history, Exeter has a vibrant centre and some interesting independent bars playing live music by candlelight and serving delicious looking pizza platters (http://oldfirehouseexeter.co.uk/).

We decided to go and grab some dinner and miraculously snagged a table at basement wine bar and restaurant Rendezvous.

Dinner at Rendezvous 10
38-40 Southernhay East, Exeter EX1 1PE
http://www.winebar10.co.uk/

Moreish Pinot Gris

Rendezvous is a beautiful little wine cellar bar hidden down some non-descript stairs in a fancy bit of Exeter. As soon as we wandered into the warm room full of candles and excited chatter I knew that I was in for a treat. Everything on the menu looked great and I was instantly torn between lamb or steak. Having eaten a lot of steak recently I opted for the lamb rump, medium rare with a stack of dauphinoise. Inappropriately for my main we ordered a beautiful bottle of French Pinot Gris which was light, fruity and delicious and happily swigged while we indulged on some salted nuts.

SH had some local grey mullet and a beautiful looking swirl of mash while KG opted for the pea risotto that looked light and cheesy. I really loved my main although it almost defeated me with it's richness and size. After many giggles and feeling full to the rafters we wandered off into the night to drink more wine, miss trains and crash a wedding or two.

After a lovely tranquil Sunday in Topsham as my train ambled away I suddenly in a flash had a glimpse of how my country life could be, a stables, maybe some flowery apron and AGA cooking up some organic vegetables from my patch. Maybe I'd wear pearls and wellies and write a book about how living in the city had defeated me and how I decided that deafening silence and a border collie suddenly made sense.

Ordering another Starbucks and tucking into the Guardian Guide with it's infinite listings of gallery openings, plays, new restaurants and city fashion I realised in a moment that it would never be for me. But that's ok, how wonderful it is to embrace all aspects of life without prejudice and with an open mind.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get home to clean this mud off my suede boots. Why does my new dress smell of horse?

Taxi!

A Birthday in Orange

A wonderful part of my Australian holiday was a birthday trip to see the beautiful VC in her new temporary home. A mere 3 hours drive away, Orange is blessed with a plethora of gorgeous wineries, cafes and one very fancy French restaurant. In the spirit of birthdays and being all together again we decided to indulge in them all.

TES, SS and I left Sunny Sydney with a bag full of Bourke Street Bakery goodies and an ipod full of classic tunes (let's all meet up in the year 2000!) and set off for our first destination, Mayfield Vineyard.

Mayfield Vineyard
Icely Road, Orange NSW 2800
http://www.mayfieldvineyard.com/

We trundled into Orange at dusk to our welcoming cottage the House of Pears. The cottage was stunningly beautiful and completely white set on the backdrop of endless vines and some very friendly geese. One of the many reasons I love my friends is that they always know how to put on the most delicious bounties of food. This night was no exception.

We collated our various foodie efforts, Sonoma bread bought previously from Sydney, a selection of local cheeses from Orange. Salted butter, perfectly fresh salmon and huge bitey Sicilian olives from the local deli washed down with a lot of champagne and culminating in some obligatory tipsy Magnetic Zeros dancing. A wonderful evening.

Phillip Shaw Vineyard
45 Caldwell Lane, Orange NSW
http://www.philipshaw.com.au/about.htm

Not a bad view

Our morning began at Byng Street Cafe for some top notch coffee and baked treats as we lined our stomachs for the wine tasting ahead. High on the agenda was a trip to Phillip Shaw Winery, known far and wide in these parts as one of the best vineyards in town.

What I love about wine tasting, apart from the free wine, is chatting to the makers and finding out loads of detail that you wouldn't normally get from simply ordering a bottle in a restaurant. We chatted to the owners about the psychedelic bottle design, the perfect cheese accompaniment and other local vineyards that were worth a visit.

The decor of Phillip Shaw is incredible, set in their huge kitchen with a sleepy dog lazing around we felt as though we had been invited over a friends house for an afternoon drinking session. To mark V's birthday the wine maker himself came out with a tray of homemade hot pasties and a big dollop of tomato sauce. Mmmm tasted just like home.

Lolli Redini
48 Sale Street, Orange NSW 2800
http://www.lolliredini.com.au/

With a little wobble in our step we retired back to the cottage to greet V's surprise guests and open a few special bottles of wine that we had purchased on our tour. It was now time to get ready for the pinnacle of our visit. A trip to Lolli Redini.

One of the many things I love about Australia is their multiple hatted restaurants that also happen to be pretty affordable. At $80 for their set menu this still to me represents a special treat but not one that will set you back your life savings when you compare UK places of comparable quality in London. Lolli Redini was renowned for being the best restaurant in town and also French, my favourite. I was extremely excited.

We were all seated on a lovely long table and began selecting our three courses. I just could not stay away from the house signature goats cheese souffle set off with a delicate celeriac and apple salad. Without hyperbole this was one of the most amazing mouthfuls of food I have ever had.

I would sell my soul for this souffle

For second course I selected the veal which was served medium rare with a beautiful pile of sauteed mushrooms and cabbage. How they got the mushrooms so tasty I will never know but I suspect a lot of butter was involved. My Italian friend MC indulged my suggestion to share a big scoopful of truffle mash which was like sex on a spoon (forgive my vulgarity).

Far from being taboo these days eating good quality and well sourced veal is actually encouraged, good old Jamie Oliver often suggests veal as an alternative option. Thanks to humane farming practises in good places I can sleep well at night knowing that my animal was not unfairly treated. For the vegetarians among us, my friend ordered squash with shards of salty Parmesan and a sprinkle of pine nuts. It looked and tasted delicious.

Delicious veggie option

In a rare twist my dessert was not that favourable, I selected figs three ways which included a fig mousse, fig ice cream and fresh fig with honey and toffee. It was a little rich and creamy and didn't offer enough textural difference. We chatted to the chef about it and he told us about the inclusion of truffle oil into the mousse which is not to every body's taste. I spotted my friend SS's passion fruit souffle and had food envy. We decided to drink local opting only for wine from the local vineyards. We started with a bottle of Phillip Shaw's fizz that we had sampled earlier and some beautiful mellow Merlot and crisp Chardonnay.

Souffle envy

It was the perfect end to a perfect birthday. As the sun set and I had to undo my belt 3 notches I felt warm and fuzzy and overwhelmingly lucky to be in such a beautiful location, eating such incredible food with such amazing kind people.

With a lump in my throat saying goodbye for now to a wonderful friend it was time to leave. Goodbye Orange, it was lovely to meet you.

Ein tisch fur eine person, bitte: Flying solo in Berlin

One of the things I love about my profession is that you never know what is around the corner, there I was innocently minding my own business watching X Factor and stuffing my face with M&S food on a quiet Saturday night when I received an e-mail, I had been selected as a scholar to attend a very prestigious conference in Berlin. Before you could say EasyJet, I had booked my flights and planned my food itinerary.

Berlin streets in autumn

After all of my work commitments had finished I took the train to Alexanderplatz and wandered around Mitte to find somewhere for dinner. My trusty lonely planet app had raved about ‘Zoe’ a hearty but classy eatery hidden on Rochstrasse in Mitte. However, as I wandered aimlessly up and down Muntstrasse with my stomach growling beginning to get impatient. Considering grabbing a pizza in the station a glitter of tea lights and canopies caught my eye down a side street. First of all I was impressed that they thought that anybody would ask ‘konnten wir einen tisch draussen?’ on a crisp German winter’s night and second of all the menu had been scrawled in German on a chalkboard. Having no idea how much this restaurant cost, I decided to try my luck and grab a tisch fur eine person. The waitress was obliging. Success!

Dinner at Lebensmittel in Mitte

Rochstrasse 2, 10178 Berlin Germany

Tel: 03027596130, Website: http://www.infoseek.de/lebensmittel-lieferservice.html

Sometimes there is nothing more wonderful than eating alone, I do concede that a handsome partner or giggly friend is the ideal but sometimes I really relish eating alone. The place was packed with loving couples and old friends, candles adorned each table (hence the poor quality photos) and there was an oak table full of Riesling, I may have accidentally stumbled upon my idea of seventh heaven. By day the ‘restaurant’ is a fresh produce supermarket/deli with market fresh vegetables, good bread and a selection of wonderful cheeses, beer and wine. By night it is transformed into a cosy eatery, wonderful let’s eat.

Fresh bread and butter yum

I started with some beautiful bread that I had spotted behind the bar slathered liberally with salted butter and washed down with a crisp glass of German Riesling and studied the menu. There appeared to be no staple menu which always pleases me, the seasonal specials of the day were smudged in ink on page and all, obviously, in German. The only word I recognised was the organisch pork loin served with cabbage wrapped dumplings. Yum, ja bitte!

Organic pork loin and dumplings (and more wine)

The pork was beautiful and falling off the bone, it was slathered in some rich jus on a bed of..I want to say white asparagus but I’m probably wrong. The dumplings were everything I wanted them to be. Sometimes there is nothing better than a plate of dumplings, perfect for a cold night. I sat for longer and ordered another glass of Riesling. My fears that this meal was going to cost my airfare home were unfounded as the whole experience came to a modest 30 euro including drinks and tip. I left wondering whether I had stumbled across a lovely local haunt and everyone there thought that I was a true Berliner, I guess the complete inability to speak German may have given it away. Nevermind, big day ahead…time to plan breakfast in the East.

Breakfast at Café Hilde

Metzer Strasse 22 10405 Berlin

Tel: 03040504172 Website: http://www.hilde-berlin.com/

I was staying in the wonderful East side so started my morning with a little wander around some of the back streets by my hotel. It was autumn and a crisp -2, the trees had just began to colour and had not lost all of their leaves, it was beautiful. I wandered around for a while before deciding it was time for a pit stop



East side building with autumn leaves



Street art and culture

I had read about Café Hilde in my search of ‘the best breakfasts in Berlin’, it had come highly recommended as a good stop for fantastic coffee and beautifully constructed cheap breakfasts. I certainly was not disappointed. The breakfast menu is predominantly divided into small eats such as cheese stuffed croissants and other pastries or beautiful sounding platters including gravlax with salad and eggs. I opted for the cheese and meat plate and was presented with such a wonderful plate of food that it may be my favourite picture of all time. An array of salamis and smoky German Black Forest ham was lovingly presented with fruit, salad and chunks of goats cheese, cheddar and soft fresh bread.

Cheese and meat platter

The atmosphere was soft and calm with soul playing quietly on the radio, young people tapping away on their various apple products and antique furniture arranged sporadically but beautifully.

If I lived in Berlin (a girl can dream), I would come here every morning. After my feed was over the waitress asked if I had enjoyed it, I couldn’t describe to her how much I had as I gloved up and prepared to test my spatial awareness and map reading to see the heart of Berlin and importantly pieces of the wall!

Lunch at Kafer

Deutscher Bundestag, Platz der Republique 1, 11011 Berlin

Website: http://www.feinkost-kaefer.de/dt_bundestag/ Entry by reservation only, passport clearance checks required

A visit to the Reichstag building was top of my priority list when I first found out I was going to Berlin, not only was it steeped in history but it also boasted one of the best views of the city and an architectural masterpiece by way of its impressive space age glass dome. You have to book this visit in advance or prepare to queue up and passport checks are mandatory. I decided to make my visit extra special by concluding my tour with lunch in Kafer adjacent to the glass dome.



View from the ground Reichstag Building

 

View inside the magnificent dome




My understanding before I visited was that Kafer was not cheap, however I was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere is formal, when I arrived tables of artistic looking crinkly eyed smiley Germans were arriving with their wives dressed in their finery and nearly all sporting some trendy pair of thick rimmed black specs. There were a few shifty tourists lurking around sneaking a glance at their maps and enjoying the atmosphere. I was seated in the atrium by the window so I could see the glorious view over Berlin.

The menu is well constructed, you have the option to eat light and not spend too much (my main course was 16 euro) or eat a pile of schnitzel which will set you back a whopping 30 euro. I opted for the pork meatballs with a potato and gherkin stack and shaved truffles, washed down with a local glass of fizz (6 euro per glass). Had I been entertaining a friend or German lover I would have liked to pick from the impressed encyclopaedic wine list. However, drinking a bottle of wine alone at the top of a building a mere 3 hours before ones flight is not recommended so a glass suited me just fine.

The food was wonderful, rich and heart stopping. I was presented with another lovely basket of bread and salty butter (I love a good bread basket) and had friendly attentive service despite sitting solo. Wishing I could speak German I loved observing the tables of elderly hipsters toasting their day with bottles of German sparkling and tucking into their perfectly crafted starters of poached eggs and salmon.

Pork meatballs, shaved truffles and potato stack at Kafer

Unfortunately for me it was time to leave Berlin with a belly of good food, an artery full of good butter and some new friends. Auf Wiedersehen Berlin, I hope to party in you soon.