Five in one hash with eggs

So called because I reckon (probably wrongly) it must cover all of your five a day and you cook it all in one pan – so minimum washing up.

I was feeling a little bit poorly when I cooked this, and it really met the comfort food, stodge requirements. I suppose it is really just a tarted up egg and chip – and really who could complain at that. However because of all the veggies you can pretend it is almost healthy! The curry powder gives it a gentle spice and I know the smoked cheese sounds odd with it but trust me it works.

Obviously all the ingredients and quantities are entirely reliant on what you like and/or have lying around – pumpkin or peppers would be really good as would blue or goats cheese – and instead of the curry powder you could use thyme or sage or make it good and spicy with some chilli, some smoked paprika would also be nice...

200g potatoes, cut into about 1cm pieces
1 carrot, cut into about 1cm pieces
4-6 small onions, peeled and halved
2 cloves garlic, still in its skin
2 tbsp oil
8 mushrooms, quarters
4 baby courgettes, cut into 1cm chunks
8 tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 tsp curry powder
Salt
Pepper
2 eggs,
Smoked cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a frying pan and throw in the potatoes, carrot, garlic or onions. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes stirring regularly. When they are nearly cooked and just turning golden add the mushrooms and courgettes and cook for another 5 minutes or until everything is just cooked.

Next add the tomatoes and curry powder and stir everything together. Fish out the garlic and squeeze the soft cloves into the mixture (you might need to leave them on one side for a mo so you don’t burn your fingers). Season and then give everything one last good mix.

Finally clear two spaces and crack the eggs into the pan, cover and fry until the eggs have set.

Dole everything out onto two plates, sprinkle the cheese over the top and serve with crusty bread.

Serves 2

Courgette pasta with spinach balls

First post - very exciting!

After two weeks away the veg plot had just gone whoosh. We had one massive courgette and masses of spinach.
One of my faithful courgette glut recipes is attractively known in our house as ‘Courgette Mush’ and is based on a Hugh Fernley Whittingstall recipe. A couple of years ago we had a major glut and this is a great way to use some up and can be frozen too.

To use up some of the spinach I used an Antonio Carluccio recipe for spinach balls. This is the first time I’ve tried this recipe and they were divine – when is spinach and cheese ever a bad combo, especially with a grate of nutmeg – possibly a new staple.

For the sauce

2 regular courgettes or 1 large one

2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

A handful of grated cheese (preferably parmesan)

For the spinach balls

200g spinach

A handful of grated cheese

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

1 tsp garlic (reserved from the above pureed with a side of a knife with a little salt)

Enough cooked pasta for two people

Finely slice the courgette (if you are using one large courgette slice it into quarters long ways first).  Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the garlic.  Add the courgette and a little salt and stir well.  Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When it’s done the courgette should be just disintegrating and, for want of a better word, going a bit mushy.

To make the balls: Blanch the spinach (I do this by putting it into a colander and pouring a kettle of boiling water over it and then cool it down under the cold tap), squeeze out any excess water and finely chop it.

Mix all the ingredients together except the eggs. Once it is well mixed add the egg.  If it is too wet add a tablespoon more breadcrumbs (it should still be a little wet).

Roll into walnut sized balls and then fry gently for 4-5 minutes on each side (if you start doing this at the same time as you start cooking your pasta on everything should be done at the same time.)

Drain the pasta reserving a cup of the water.  Stir the cheese into the courgette mixture and then stir thorough the pasta adding the reserved pasta water to loosen as needed.

Split the pasta between two warmed bowls and top with the spinach balls.


Serves two