We live down the street from this great, local book store. We often wonder in on a lazy evening and spend a little too much time browsing books. I can always be found thumbing through cookbooks. I never make the commitment of purchasing one because I always feel they are a boring index of recipes, half of which we can't use. Every once and a while though l pick one up and want to read it cover to cover like a copy of Game of Thrones. This is actually a book for vegetarians but it was so very exciting (and the vegetarian recipes seem relatively easy to alter) I had to pick it up. Needless to say:
Go buy, in the meanwhile, here is a preview of what awesome food you can expect.
Serves 4
1 hour 30 minutes
8 Tbsp Sunflower oil
2 small onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 Green chile
2 Red bell peppers, diced
1/2 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 Parsnip, peeled and diced
1 cup Green beans, trimmed
1 Zucchini, diced
1/2 large Eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 Potato, peeled and diced
2 Tomatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp Tomato paste
Salt and Pepper
1 cup Water
Cilantro, chopped for garnish
1. Prep all of your veggies. I've never chopped so many veggies in my life!
2. Heat 2/3 of the oil on medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onions, cook 5 minutes. Add garlic, chile and bell peppers for 5 minutes. Add squash and parsnip for 5 minutes.
3. Remove veggies from pot into a large bowl. Add remaining oil to pot, heat and add green beans, zucchini and eggplant for 5 minutes. Return the rest of the veggies to the pot.
4. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT cilantro. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper as needed.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour veggies into a roasting pan. Cook for 30 minutes.
6. Garnish and serve. So good!
Over cooking the vegetables is exactly the point here - Yotam Ottolenghi
