Layered Rösti

I made this the other day for three, but with a big summer salad (tomatoes and cucumbers with an Italian dressing, i.e. salt, pepper, herbs, balsamic vinegar and olive oil) it can easily make a meal for four, as it ended up doing for us, unless these four are ravenous youngsters. It’s an easy meal and used up some of our plentiful garden veggies (courgettes and peppers). You could probably make a rösti from raw potatoes, but the two layers would take a little longer and somewhat more fat might be needed. 
 

What you need

• 2 medium onions chopped
• 5-8 cloves of garlic peeled and finely sliced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 kg of waxy potatoes boiled in the jacket, ideally the day before, grated just before cooking (see note above if you are not that organised as is usually the case with me)
• 4 dollops of butter and 4 tsp sunflower or rapeseed oil for to fry the röstis an both sides.
• 2 medium courgettes, in thin slices
• 1 pepper (or two small ones in different colours for effect) in thin strips.
• salt, pepper and paprika, optionally mixed herbs
• 150 g alp cheese in sticks or thin slices

What you do

1.  Fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil until they are golden in colour.
2. Mix half with the grated potatoes.   
3. Preheat the oven to about 200° and allow a piece of butter to melt in a ceramic quiche dish.
4. In two frying pans melt a dollop of butter mixed with 1 tsp oil until it is hot, then add the potate/onion/garlic mixture and fry over a medium heat for about 15-20 minutes. It is done when the potatoes on the top look cooked.
5. Flip over with a plate and fry the other side until you have a golden brown crust.  
   
6. Mix the courgettes and the pepper into the remaining onions and sauté briefly. Season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika (and herbs).
7. Place one rösti into the bottom of the quiche dish, distribute the vegetables over the top and cover with the second rösti. Then cover the top evenly with the pieces of cheese.
8. Place in the oven and allow the cheese to form a crust.

 

 

Peppers stuffed with curried lentils

 

It is getting a little late in the year but our garden still produces vegetables, most notably yellow peppers, courgettes and chillies. A few weeks ago we had my cousin Mitzi and her friend Sally staying with us and they cooked us peppers stuffed with lentils so this is my attempt to do what Sally did.

What you need

• 1-2 peppers per person, deseeded and cut in half
• 2 carrots, diced
• 200 g green lentils, cooked in 250 ml water and 150 ml red wine (20-25 mins)
• 1 small courgette, diced
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 cm fresh ginger, mashed
• ½ red chilli, deseeded if you don’t like your food too hot
• 1 tsp jeera (ground cumin)
• 1 tbsp madras curry powder
•  ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 4 tbsp tomato purée or 100g chopped tomatoes
• salt to taste
• 150 g goats cheese in thin slices
• ½ tub crème fraîche or double cream

What you do

1. Stir fry the onions, garlic, chilli and the ginger in rape seed or sunflower oil.
2. Add the ground spices and allow them to go slightly brown
3. Add the carrots and the lentils, a splash of water and the tomato (purée or chopped).
4. Simmer until the ingredients are well blended (about 5 mins), add more water if it gets too dry. Season with salt.
5. Take off the head and stir in the courgettes. Spoon the mixture into the halved peppers.
6. Lay a slice of goats cheese on the lentils and add a dollop of cream.
7. Bake in the oven (200°) or under a grill until the cheese is melted and a light brown crust has formed, about ten minutes. 

Oven Ratatouille

Not exacly quick, this may take 30 minutes in the oven, depending on how soft or how crunchy you want the veggies, it is nevertheless a quick and easy recipe that can be prepared in advance and briefly warmed up before serving.
What you need:

• 500g of tomates or cherry tomatoes, the riper the better
• 1 or 2 medium-sized courgettes/zucchini
• 1 small aubergine (if you don't like them you can leave them out)
• 1 yellow pepper (sweet)
• 1 green pepper (sweet) to add colour
• 1 chili pepper (more if you like it spicy, minus the seeds if you don't)
• finely chopped herbs (my choice would be rosemary, flatleaved parsley, lovage in moderate doses, oregano and thyme) to taste.
• 2 medium sizes spring onions (with green) 
• 4 or more cloves of garlic
• olive oil to grease an ovenproof dish generously and to sauté the onions and garlic
• a dash of Marsala or sherry
• salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Pour some olive oil into an ovenproof dish and make sure it is coated all round.
2. Cut the vegetables into pieces, tomatoes into cubes, aubergines and courgettes into slices and quarters, peppers into 1 cubes.
3. Salt and pepper to taste
4. Chop the spring onions with as much green as is usable and the garlic and fry in olive oil without letting it colour.
5. Add a good slug of Marsala or sherry (ca. 50 ml) and reduce the liquid briefly. 
6. Pour the onions and the juices over the the vegetables and put in the oven preheated to about 175°. 
7. Add the herbs (or leave this till about ten minutes before you take  the ratatouille out of the oven.
8. Roast the vegetables to a softness you like, anything between 20 and 40 minutes.
9. If the mixture looks dry, add a bit more Marsala
10. For a crisp top put under the grill for a couple of minutes.

Serve this either piping hot with fresh bread or as a vegetable sidedish with a meat (I don't really ever do this but am told it works well) or as tepid sort of salady dish on a hot summer evening.

This shows "one I prepared earlier"; it's not that dishes go from square to round in our oven...