The weather has been so grey since yesterday….. yes, I’d say there are 50 shades of grey out there…. DEFINITELY!
This is just reminding me that only last week, I was still harvesting (granted from the polytunnel) but there were delicious tomatoes, peppers, and my hugely proud of aubergines! Yes, for the first time ever I managed to grow aubergines (egg-plant to non-Irish folk).
I am not going to let this greyness get in on top of me!!!!
So last week we had the end of harvest mixed bag of vegetables that needed using.
I thought a variation of Minestrone Soup???
So that’s what it started out as…. but it didn’t end up as soup!!!!
You are probably wondering about the strange mix of vegetables? I hate to see waste and there were a few bits and pieces lingering that just needed to be used up. Hence the potatoes went in there too!
Ingredients:
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- Olive oil
- 1 medium aubergine (egg-plant)
- 1 large courgette (zucchini)
- 6 or 8 fresh tomatoes
- Handful of runner beans
- 1 pepper
- 2 or 3 small potatoes cubed
- 1 lt of chicken stock
- 1 tin of tomatoes
- Pasta – quantities will be explained in a bit!!
- Selection of fresh herbs – I used oregano and basil
- Salt and Pepper
Method:
Finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently colour the onion and garlic.
Chop your other vegetables into cubes and add these into saucepan with the stock and the tin of tomatoes.
Bring to the boil, then simmer gently (about 20 minutes) until the vegetables are almost cooked through.
At this point I added in about 2 ozs of Penne pasta with the herbs and seasoning and cooked for another 5 – 10 minutes.
And that was (I thought) my Minestrone Soup ready for lunch the next day!!!! So you could just stop here!!!!
We did not!
When himself came home….had a taste and smell….. and suggested that it would make a nice pasta bake. Yes, the carnivore himself, suggested a vegetarian pasta bake!
So next day, I added in a further tin of tomatoes. About another 4 oz pasta. Topped it all with Mossfield Cheese.
Baked in the oven for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh basil.
Comfort food at its best!
And healthy 🙂
Enjoy!
A Year In Redwood 