Monday, May 30th, 2011

 

Tonight’s dinner was an improvised vegetable casserole recipe. But it was really good! I used my Aunty Pauline‘s recipe as a basis – she made me a wonderful vegetable bake when I was visiting her in England recently. I changed a few of the vegetables and added some cream cheese to the sauce to make it a bit creamier. Adding breadcrumbs to the topping added some crunch to it too, when the breadcrumbs have toasted and browned in the oven. Chickpeas give it a great dose of protein.

Play around with the vegetables as you wish – also my aunt makes this by putting all the vegetables in the pot and baking it for about 45 minutes to 1 hour – because I had to go out just before dinner I wanted it to be ready quite quickly when I got home, so I pre-cooked all the veggies and assembled the dish so it would just need to broilfor a bit before eating. You can choose whichever method you prefer!

I took the photo once I had cut into the casserole so you could see the various layers of veggies.

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced thinly
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
3 leeks, white parts sliced thinly
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 bunch asparagus, tips only
1 head broccoli, chopped into florets
1.5 cups carrots, chopped thin
1-2 cups vegetable stock (as needed)
1 400g package light cream cheese
3/4 cups dried breadcrumbs
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp oregano

Method:

1. Pre-boil potatoes in a saucepan till soft, then drain.

2. In same pan pre-boil sweet potatoes till soft. Drain.

3. Heat olive oil in medium frying pan, saute leeks with salt and pepper until soft.

4. In a small saucepan, pre-boil carrots and then drain.

5. In the same pan, pre-boil broccoli and then drain.

6. In the same pan, pre-boil asparagus and then drain.

7. Warm the cream cheese till soft enough to stir and add the vegetable stock to it slowly, creating a creamy sauce.

8. In a greased casserole dish, layer potatoes in bottom of dish. Top with leeks and then with chickpeas, broccoli, asparagus and lastly carrots. Pour sauce over vegetables.

9. Mix breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan and herbs together and sprinkle over top of the dish. Bake or broil for 10-15 minutes or until warm throughout and browned on top.