Name: Vegetable Bake: Get That Courgette
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients: 1 medium leek; 2 courgettes; 2 carrots; 1 parsnip; 4 tomatoes (or 1/2 a can); 1 glass of red wine; 1 clove garlic; 1/2 medium onion; 1 1/2 tbsp rapeseed/olive oil; 3-4 sprigs of rosemary

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Can we talk about vegetables for a bit please? Specifically this vegetable bake. Why? Well, because whilst I normally bake cakes, there are times I struggle to eat as much veg as I should. How about you?

Sure we’re adults and meant to know about this, but sometimes we all struggle. Case and point, last week I wasn’t having the greatest of weeks and ate all but one of a packet of Oreos yesterday (and no, it’s not a strange show of restraint, my friend ate the other to save me from having eaten a whole pack).

OK, so how can we get more vegetables in our life? Let’s start with this vegetable bake. It’s dead simple - slice, slice, slice, bake - and is all about using seasonal flavours (goodbye green-brown over-cooked mush; hello deliciousness).

In the spirit or baking vegetables (their taste coming over how instagrammable they may be), this vegetable bake uses a hidden base of tomato sauce to make it more than just a few vegetables.

I’ve been using it as side dishes when people come round as well as for those days you want something light for lunch. I think I’ve made more of these vegetable bakes in my pie dish now than I have pies.

Whether served as a side dish, with some bread, or as lunch, this recipe can be adapted for any time of the year you happen to find yourself in (and you can always used tinned tomatoes for the base). Change the vegetables and the herbs to whatever is available to you and the dining table is your oyster.

Vegetable Bake: Get That Courgette

Author: Craig
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 2 1x

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Description

There really isn’t a recipe that this comes from, yet it’s inspired by many. For me making it in Autumn there were carrots, parsnips, leeks and courgettes available, with rosemary to garnish the top, but it can be adapted for the seasons as they happen throughout the year. In the summer include tomatoes, and perhaps even slithers of cauliflower in April – really it is whatever comes to hand. Serves 2.

Scale

Ingredients

1 medium leek
2 courgettes
2 carrots
1 parsnip
4 tomatoes (or 1/2 a can)
1 glass of red wine
1 clove garlic
1/2 medium onion
1 1/2 tbsp rapeseed/olive oil
3-4 sprigs of rosemary

Instructions

Start by making the tomato base. Dice your onion as small as you can and then put them on a medium heat with 1/2 tbsp of oil and allow to soften slowly. Crush the garlic and add it into the pot. One the colour starts to go from your onion, turn up the heat and pour in the wine. To burn off the bitter taste and reduce the liquid leave it on the high heat for 4-5 minutes, or it is about a quarter of its original volume – the larger your glass, the longer the boil. Whilst it’s bubbling away, dice up the tomatoes.

Once reduced, add in the tomatoes and stir through with a little salt, pepper and the rosemary leaves from one stock. Turn down to a medium heat and let this cook itself into a thick mixture.

Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Whilst the tomato base is cooking, slice your carrots, parsnip, leek and courgettes thinly. You can use a mandoline, if you want, but I prefer the rusticness of a very sharp knife.

When your tomato mixture is cooked transfer it to an oven-proof pie dish and spread across the bottom thickly. On top of this start layering your vegetables. For the best effect you need to pick one order (e.g. carrot, courgette, parsnip) and stick to it – you will likely have slightly less of one vegetable, so just insert it every second sequence. Start layering your vegetables around the dish – use the largest slices first, as this will leave the smaller slices to do the inner circle(s) and give it a more pleasing look.

When complete, drizzle with the remaining tablespoon (ish) of oil, sprinkle over salt and pepper, and push the rosemary sprigs into the top. Bake for about an hour until all the vegetables are cooked through and the top is slightly coloured.

Serve and feel good about all the vegetables you’re eating.