Barley Stew with Leeks and Greens

Dinner tonight was the Barley Stew with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Greens from epicurious.com.

I skipped the mushrooms as I was out and used bok choi from the garden instead, otherwise I didn’t change a thing.

Yummo. The barley was chewy and soft and the rosemary gave it pop. So good! Great winter warmer. Vegan too!

I’ll be cooking this again. 5 Stars

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Meal Plan for this week

The veg in the backyard is going gang busters at the moment. Combined with a few bits and pieces left over in my fridge this week means I didn’t end up ordering a veg box this week (again). I’m a a little bit sad about that because I love the surprise of finding out what we have in the veg boxes each week but waste not want not and all that. It will be great to harvest some goodness from the back yard so it’s not all bad.

So on hand in the house I’ve got:

1x zucchini
1x carrot
1x pumpkin
loads of potatoes and onions
3-4 small beetroot

In the backyard:

Bok choi
Loads of Broccoli
Loads of celery
Rocket
Baby Silverbeet
Leeks

Here’s what I’m thinking:

• Leek and Bean Cassoulet: I’m on a mission to use up what’s in the fridge and I’m still in pie loving world this dish is an easy choice. I’m thinking instead of dumplings or biscuits I will top it with some mashed potato and pumpkin, shepherds pie style. I’ll use the zucchini, carrot, pumpkin, spuds and also some celery and the leeks from the back yard. Left overs will feed us all weekend.
• The Barley Stew with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Greens from epicurious.com has been in my bookmarks for a while waiting for a time when we had mushrooms. I’ve decided I’m going to give it a go without them and will use bok choi and silverbeet instead of the kale. Vegan bonus recipe
• I didn’t end up making the Potato and Broccoli Croquettes last week so I plan to do them this week instead. A good lunch box snack?
• The Spicy Stir-Fried Brown Rice with Broccolini and Scallops from epicurious.com sounds interesting. I’m going to use broccoli and substitute the scallops for haloumi as it’s what I have.  It also calls for a capsicum but I’ll use some jalapenos (as suggested in some of the reviews on the site) and maybe some celery as well.
• Lastly, I’ll have another crack at the Beet Bundt Cake that is if I don’t end up juicing the beetroot with some celery first.

Barley Stew with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Greens

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Eggplant and Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream

The meal plan for this week included Eggplant and Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream, again from Veganomicon

This recipe was quite a bit of effort due to the multiple steps and the roasted veg but I was happy to oblige. Our central heating hasn’t been working this winter so I don’t mind an excuse to get the oven cranking – heats up the kitchen nicely at least.  If you don’t have the book you can see the recipe here.

I did make some changes. No zucchini so I used carrot instead, and no tinned tomatoes so I used a punnet of cherry tomatoes and two heaped tablespoons of tomato paste mixed with a cup of water.  I ended up using silken tofu instead of my earlier thoughts of using cream and made breadcrumbs from the wholemeal loaf I had on hand.

Before the assembled dish went in the oven I was a little under whelmed. It did seem like a lot of effort and I wasn’t convinced the pine nut cream was that good and thought a bechamel sauce may have been better.

I was wrong.  After baking, the pine nut cream crusted on top and the sauce was rich and the pre roasted veg was great.  Not much for lunch left over! I’ll be making this again next time we have eggplants in the veg box. When I do I think I’ll roast the veg the day or morning before and assemble it closer to dinner time just to save some time.

5 stars!

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