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On 25/03/04 11:54 +0000, Simon Wistow wrote: > Whilst some of my best friends are veges they're a pain in the arse to > cook for when you're doing a largely carnivorous menu. I suspect that > this is largely because what seems to pass as 'main courses' on most > vege sites I've looked at would be classified under 'side dishes and > accompaniments' if I was organising things. I've been thinking about how I plan meals recently, and I think a lot of vegetarians would argue that you're just as much of a pain in the arse :-) I tend to default to thinking "meat, with some poor-relation vegetable accompaniments". But actually, there are a lot of things you can do with vegetables, particularly "meatier" ones like good mushrooms or aubergine, which can be at least as satisfying as a portion of meat. I've been trying to purposefully come up with non-meat options, not because I'm suddenly feeling more compassionate towards fluffy lamby-wambies, but because removing the default "build a meal around meat" behaviour from my thinking forces me to pay more attention to vegetables, rather than just throwing them on the side to add a bit of variety from the meat. > I'm doing a roast dinner (again) for various people this Sunday an I was > going to sever some of the really nice Wild beef from Borough market. So > far so good. Along with it I was thinking of doing Rataouille (for that > mediterranean feel) and, fro wnat of a better word, Cabbage Dauphinois > (because I love to mop up cheesey sauce and gravy). > > Once again I will probably be trying to introduce too many flavours but > the advantage is that > a) I don't care about that, I *like* lots of flavours. And if anybody > doesn't then they'll probably be too polite to mention it. Fool! You invited me, remember. "Polite". What's that again? I think the proposed menu would make a good evening meal in the summer, with the windows wide open, served with large amounts of good red wine just as the sky starts getting pink around the edges. We're still watching spring struggle into existence, though, and my gut feeling is that it would be a shame to let a last chance for a really conforting "traditional" roast pass by right now. Not that you'll listen to me - it took your mother to convince you that red cabbage and apple was a good idea last time around :-P > b) Everything can be done in advance. All i ahev to do is stick stuff in > the oven at appropriate times. This is definitely an advantage, but (with the possible exception of yorkshires) you can do this with a lot of potentially good roast accompaniments. Purple Sprouting Broccoli (annoyingly fashionable suddenly, but in season at the moment)... shove it in the steamer and forget it till it's done. Roast potatoes are actually fine pre-prepared up to about 20 hours in advance. Just peel and chop the potatoes, and leave them covered in water in pans. This generally precludes the need to par-boil them before roasting too. Whole roasted carrots? Same deal. And so on. > For the lone rabbit I was planning on doing a mushroom and walnut roast > > http://www.recipesource.com/special-diets/vegetarian/04/rec0402.html I have a nut roast recipe somewhere which people seem to really, really like. I'd point you at it right now, but I nuked my website from orbit because I was fed up with it. I'll dig it up and post later.
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