Week 30 - Vegetarian Moussaka

Moussaka is a dish from the Balkans.  It (typically) contains layered aubergine and potato with a meat layer thrown in.  Think Lasagne with potato and aubergine instead of pasta.  But then I'm sure you already knew that; but I didn't!  I knew I liked Moussaka, but it wasn't until I made this recipe I realized how it was made.

So a veggie Moussaka?  It's a winner, but be prepared for a shift in the kitchen to make this.  Well worth the effort though if you have the time.

Note: The use of this recipe in no way condones the work of Jamie Oliver.

Plan View

Rating
Taste - 18/20
Cost - 6/10
Difficulty - 5/10
Prep Time - 5/10 
Overall 68%

Week 29 - Vegetable Crumble

WTF!?!?!?

Crumble, you know that stuff you have for dessert.  Yeah, that's the stuff, the stuff you use as a topping to stewed fruit!?

Well, some nutjob has made that a savoury dish, and here it is (to save you bothering)....Vegetable Crumble.

You think you've seen it all and then somebody invents the veg crumble

I should give a slightly more balanced review.   The dish was tasty, bit the soft crumbly texture just didn't feel right over a veg dish.  Plus, I feel bad putting that much butter on my main meal......dessert tends to be a treat in our house so I can live with it then!

Mind over matter

Rating
Taste - 14/20
Cost - 7/10
Difficulty - 5/10
Prep Time - 5/10 
Overall 62%

Week 28 - Baby Carrot and Broad Bean Risotto

My wife is still trying to get in on the action again and making up some veggie recipes; I'm pleased to report that this attempt is better than the last one!

A nice simple Baby Carrot and Broad Bean Risotto.  It was tasty, but if I was to be critical it needed something to add a bit of texture.  Maybe a slice of crusty bread would have sent this dish on it's way nicely.

The recipe is another one of Hugh Fearney-Whittingstall's and it is a good one, certainly better than this one (which features in his veg cook book!).

Find the recipe here.

Hugh Strikes Again

Rating
Taste - 16/20
Cost - 6/10
Difficulty - 5/10
Prep Time - 5/10 
Overall 64%

Week 27 - Butternut squash, spinach and goat’s cheese pie with cheesy pastry

I like a pie as much as the next guy, unless the next guy is Homer Simpson.  But I think even Homer Simpson would struggle with this behemoth of a pie!  The pie was so big the leftover pie suffered a structural failure overnight in the fridge and I ended up eating this pie everyday for a week to use it up.

Man Pie

It is a ridiculously big pie when following the recipe given, made halve it?  .....don't say I didn't warn you!

This pie was pretty tasty, but the thing that made it tasty was the cheesy pastry.  Take away the cheesyness of the pastry and meh, not worth the effort.  

So to summarise, just make the cheesy pastry and maybe halve the quantity!

mmmmm, pastry

Rating
Taste - 13/20
Cost - 4/10
Difficulty - 3/10
Prep Time - 3/10 
Overall 46%

Week 26 - Mint and Almond Pesto

I love my wife, and it's great she wants to join in with my vegetarian journey.  She helped out by making this dish, but there's no nice way of dressing this up, this dish was a stinker.  This post will also be a great way of checking if she ever reads my blog!

The dish was bland and oily and sadly had no redeeming features.  It was 'bad' it was just there was nothing good about it.  Sorry dear.

OK, one redeeming feature; it looks OK

Rating
Taste - 10/20
Cost - 6/10
Difficulty - 4/10
Prep Time - 6/10 
Overall 54%

Week 25 - Chickpea, Spinach and Tomato Curry

It's a curry.  It has chickpeas in it.  It was delicious.  Nuff said.

Create your own using this recipe

If only I could eat a photograph.

Rating
Taste - 18/20
Cost - 7/10
Difficulty - 7/10
Prep Time - 7/10 
Overall 78%

Week 24 - Spinach Cannelloni

Spinach, two weeks in a row!?!? I hear you cry.  Well yes, deal with it.

I have to admit this dish is pretty similar to the last (i.e. spinach and pasta), but the taste was very different.  The downfall of this dish will be the effort involved in stuffing the tubes, it was a pain.

Still, you should make it and try it.  Spinach gives you big muscles (that you'll need for stuffing Cannelloni tubes!

You never saw Popeye eat this!

Rating
Taste - 16/20
Cost - 5/10
Difficulty - 3/10
Prep Time - 3/10 
Overall 54%