a stick of celery and 4 tomatoes...

what does one do with 4 tomatoes and a stick of celery?

this is what i did...and it was yum.

1 stick celery, cut into chunks
4 small/medium tomatoes
1 litre water
2 tablespoons vegetable stock concentrate
300 grams ditali pasta

place the celery and tomatoes into the tm bowl and blend for 5 seconds on speed 7. add the water and concentrate. cook for 8 minutes on speed 2 at 100 degrees.

add the pasta and cook on reverse, speed 1 1/2 at 100 degrees until the pasta is al dente, usually about 10 minutes - this depends on your pasta. the pasta thickens the liquid as it cooks, making it quite hearty.

there's a lot of hype about cooking with just a few ingredients these days, and so often those ingredients are preprepared, processed or both. the only thing preprepared about this dish was the stock concentrate, and that was homemade from scratch. it was delicious, and you should have been there to smell it.

vegetable medley

one of my favourite ways of cooking vegetables is to "steam" them in the pot. rather then boil them in a large pot of water, i prepare the vegetables, place them in a saucepan, add half a cup of salted water and a knob of butter. let the vegetables half poach and half steam on full boil.

to serve, add some freshly chopped herbs. use any combination of vegetables you like - i like carrots, zuchinni, squash, asparagus, beans, brocolli, cauliflower.....and a knob of butter, if you like!

vegetable stock concentrate revisited.

i feel like i've been making this by the bucketload. everyone wants it even though i give them the recipe. it's all a matter of proportions. i use a kilo of aromatic vegetables and herbs. the combination is endless. vegetables i like using are onions, garlic, celery, swedes, parsnips, leeks. the herbs i use are whatever i can get from the garden: parsley, rosemary, basil, sage, tarragon, marjoram, thyme and bay leaves. to this, i add 200 grams of sea salt and a really generous amount of oil. i whack it all into the thermomix and blitz until chopped. cook it for 20-30 minutes at 100 degrees celcius on speed 3, blitz until smooth and pour into clean containers. this keeps in the fridge for 6 months as the salt acts as a preservative (this is what i've been told, but i wouldn't know because mine gets all used up before i get to the expiry date).

it's so much better than a stock cube because you know what goes into it and there isn't any msg, but mind you, it give such a kick to the things you cook you'd think it was.

vegetable stock concentrate

this is a new thing for me, and a new favourite. i've always made my own stock because i've always felt a bit odd opening a tetra pak stock, or using a cube. making my own stock has also taken precious time and effort....this stock concentrate has revolutionalised my thinking about stock. let me get on with the recipe and you can make your own judgement. the vegetables only need to be chopped roughly as they will be pureed once cooked.

1/2 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
2-3 stalks of celery (i used several of the inside stalks, including the leaves), chopped
a good handful of parsley, chopped
150 grams salt (yes, you read that correctly. it preserves the mix and provides an accent to the mix)

heat the oil in a saucepan large enough to contain the vegetables (which should weigh about a kilogram altogether).
sweat the onion and garlic until soft and slightly coloured.
add the parsnip, turnip, celery, parsley and salt and continue to gently cook the vegetables. the salt will draw out moisture, so the vegetables can soften in their own liquid.
give everything a good stir, lower the heat and place the lid on the pot and allow everything to cook slowly. check every now and then to ensure the vegetables don't catch; once everything is very tender, use the bamix to puree it all.
have some sterilised jars ready and decant the puree into them. place the lids on immediately and invert. once cooled, the jars should be vacuum sealed. store the jars in the refrigerator and use within six months.

that's it. a tablespoon is equivalent to a stock cube. use the mix as you would salt - sparingly and carefully. mixing a spoonful in water will give you instant vegetable stock. in some cases, i've found that i will use it to season food instead of salt and it's just that bit more interesting than seasoning with plain salt. remember not to overdo things because there's alot of salt in the mix, and if you go overboard, whatever you're cooking is going to be mighty salty.
for those of you with a thermomix, you'll recognise it as a thermomix recipe, but i don't see why it should be made exclusively by those with a thermomix; everyone else should try it too.

fresh

i know we're in the middle of winter, but i'm enjoying the vegetables and herbs from the garden now. i put parsley in at the beginning of spring, so i've had a pretty good run, but most of the others were only planted (from seed) about two months ago. the radishes, as were expected, were ready; this is the first time i've planted radishes and they are fast and gratifying. i've had one a day. i keep forgetting to have them with a bit of butter and salt as the french do, and have them au naturel, which isn't bad. i can't say radishes are a favourite vegetable, but they certainly taste better when they're homegrown. other vegetables and herbs i've planted are lettuce, sugar snap peas, regular peas, sorrel, mexican corriander, spring onions, chives, garlic chives, tarragon, greek basil.....buk choy and chillies. not a small list, eh? and to top it off, everything's in pots, save the greek basil. the soil here is very poor; i'm virtually next to the garigal forest, so it's quite bushy and only australian natives seem to thrive here, but that's not going to stop me.
anyway, because i'm only harvesting little bits of everything, i'm just making salad....nothing like it.

roasted greek vegetables

wenty took me to a greek restaurant on valentine's day and i had my favourite roast lamb and vegetables. i love how the greeks cook their meat and vegetables - such an easy way to eat vegetables and get the five vegetables (and more) the way they cook it. tasty, comforting....

i am just going to list the vegetables which can be used - the list is endless.

okra
tomatoes
carrots
potatoes
kumera (probably not authentic, but i liked it)
pumpkin
onions
zucchini
capsicum
beans - all sorts - green, white, borlotti
celery
mushrooms
eggplant
peas
you can see i'm listing anything and everything i can think of - it's for my benefit more than anything
cauliflower
broccoli
silverbeet

in addition to vegetables, you will also need
olive oil
garlic - tons is good - i use half a head of garlic, but this depends on the amount of the vegetables,of course.
greek basil
oregano
sage
thyme
parsley
salt and pepper

decide what you want to use, prepare it (ie, wash, peel, chop etc) and place it all into a large baking dish. make sure you put in more than you think you'll need because the vegetables collapse and there is significantly less bulk than what you started with; i always cook much more because it's delicious the next day as well.
drizzle a liberal amount of olive oil over the vegetables, not so much so as to drown them, but enough to coat them all over.
strip the leaves of the herbs off and toss them over the vegetables. i like to use masses of herbs and eat them as a green after the vegetables have finished roasting (this has nothing to do with the fact that i have masses of herbs in the garden at the moment.....of course).
crush the garlic and toss that in as well.
season with some salt and lots of pepper.
pour in about 1/2 a cup of water, and give everything a good tumble around.
pop it into the oven at 200 degrees celcius.
give it a stir every 20-30 minutes and leave it in the oven for 2 or 3 hours.
this can be served as a main vegetarian course or as a side dish.