Time to get inventive?

Thoroughly bored

I have to say that my usual enthusiasm for all things local-foody has been waning over the last week or so - hence the lack of posts.  It is a tricky time of year:  spring has well and truly arrived so I feel in the mood for lighter foods, but my habits with the local vegetables on offer are stuck in a wintry rut of stews and broths.  I remember seeing an article by a food writer at this time last year, which extolled the virtues of slipping the odd veg from further south in Europe into the shopping basket, but I reckon I am more stubborn, and inclined to view my conundrum as a challenge. 

Cookbook inspiration
Initial inspiration came from my shelf of cookbooks.  I first made some really interesting spicy meals using my favourite Indian cookbooks.  A few carrots and a cabbage stir fried with spices was a great side dish.  You will have seen my biryani recipe on an earlier blogpost, so I repeated that with more winter veg.  That was two delicious weekend Indian feasts under my belt, and I was feeling my old enthusiasm returning but I wasn't out of the woods yet.

Meat-free Mondays
I have been itching to join in with the campaign for 'meat-free Mondays'.  My initial glance in the fridge made me waiver a bit, as there were onions, carrots, cabbage and a very large swede.  Yikes - back to the cookbooks, but without the excitement of Indian spices available because we had eaten Indian foods two days running.  Good old Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall came up trumps with his Everyday Veg book.  I made some rough puff pastry before I went to work, picked up some salad items in my lunch hour, and made up pasties when I got home.

 

He advised root veg with parsley and possibly cheese for the filling, with plain flour in the pastry.  I like to include wholemeal flour wherever possible, so I went for a third of that and two thirds plain.  To the root veg, I added parsley from the freezer and a lovely spiced mustard we picked up from Abbey Leys farmers market, plus olive oil instead of melted butter.  My kids were thrilled to be having these pasties again.  I had a bit of pastry left over with which I made a mini pasty - hoping to have it for lunch.  No way!  They were fighting over that last one at the table.

Deconstructed coleslaw

 The last time I made these pasties, I served deconstructed coleslaw with them.  Some members of my family don't like coleslaw, so I just serve the bowls of chopped or grated ingredients separately along with mayonnaise and salad dressing so they can make their own up at the table.  Being inventive with flavours seems to make them try a greater variety of foods.  I bought my oldest son two inexpensive dressing bottles for Christmas, and he keeps us supplied with one plain and one spicy at all times!

So, back to the meal in hand - the results were delicious.  A moist filling with a light pastry. It wasn't quite the 'rough puff' which Hugh prescribed due to my choice of wholemeal flour, but it was very light.

OK, that is my levels of enthusiasm back to normal.  Now, a glance in the fridge today reveals 1/2 swede and 1/2 squash to feed a family of 4.  What will I do with those?  Watch this space!!