Cookbook 80: Vegie Main Meals

I cooked from the Australian Women’s Weekly Vegie Main Meals, and I was not disappointed.  The book states, “Triple Tested” on the front, and all the recipes were a delight – as you’d hope they were coming from the AWW kitchen.  The instructions were straightforward and easy to understand, the decision as to what to cook was really difficult because so many of the recipes looked tasty, and the dishes I selected all came out tasting amazing – even the one I wasn’t sure I’d like because it was full of mushrooms.  Overall I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars.

risoni with mushrooms zucchini and green onions

Ingredients:

• 500g risoni/orzo
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 60g butter
• 500g zuchini, sliced thinly
• 300g button mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh oregano
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 200g green onions, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup coarsely grated parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water, uncovered, until just tender
2. Meanwhile, heat oil with half of the butter in a large frying pan; cook zucchini, stirring, until tender and browned lightly.  Add remaining butter with mushrooms, garlic and oregano; cook, stirring for 2 minutes then stir in juice and vinegar.  Remove from heat; stir in onion and cheese.
3. Place mixture in a large serving bowl with drained pasta; toss gently to combine.

Notes on this recipe:

• I don’t like mushrooms, I loved this dish.  Everything about it was amazing, it smelt amazing, it tasted amazing, it was great the next day when the leftovers were eaten.  I recommend this.

ricotta and spinach stuffed pasta shells

Ingredients:

• 32 large pasta shells (280g)
• 500g spinach
• 250g low-fat ricotta cheese
• 500g low-fat cottage cheese
• 600ml tomato pasta sauce (passeta)
• 1 cup (250ml) vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Cook pasta in large saucepan of boiling water, uncovered for 3 minutes, drain.  Cool slightly
2. Preheat oven to 180C
3. Boil, steam, or microwave spinach until just wilted and then drain.  Chop spinach finely; squeeze out excess liquid.
4. Combine spinach in a large bowl with cheeses; spoon spinach mixture into pasta shells.
5. Combine sauce and stock in an oiled 2 litre ovenproof dish.  Place pasta shells in dish; sprinkle with parmesan.  Bake, covered, in a 180C oven for about 1 hour or until pasta is tender.

Notes on this recipe:

• Wringing water out of spinach is gross and smells of cooked spinach – not really my cup of tea.
• We had big shells, but 32 of them did not weigh 280g, so we kept adding more shells until we got to the right weight.  Lots of filled shells.
• This was really tasty, and tasty the next day too.  The sauce was a little more watery than I expected, but that didn’t detract from the dish at all.

corn and zucchini fritters with salsa

Ingredients:

• 50g butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten lightly
• 210g can creamed corn
• 2 medium zucchini, grated coarsely
• vegetable oil for shallow frying

Salsa

• 3 medium roma tomatoes, chopped coarsely
• 2 medium avocados, chopped coarsley
• 1 small red onion, chopped coarsely
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander

Method:

1. Combine butter, milk, flour and egg in a medium bowl, whisk until smooth.  Add corn and zucchini; mix well.
2. Heat oil in a medium frying pan; cook heaped tablespoons of batter about 2 minutes on each side or until browned on both sides and cooked through.  Drain on absorbent paper.  Serve with salsa.
3. Salsa: Combined ingredients in a small bowl

Notes on recipe:

• These were really tasty and I will definitely be making them again, especially next time we have a BBQ.
• The salsa was really good, though I’d make it with less onion because I don’t like raw onion.