Winterising a favourite recipe

We have loads of recipes that we love, some from cookbooks and some made up from our own little heads. Some are only good when made in the summer, from our own summer garden. Some are best in the winter, likewise from our garden, but this time from the root vegetables of the winter garden.

A favourite in the summer is a tomato and onion bake. It is super simple, but delicious, and relies on the ‘wonderfulness’ of the ingredients that go into it. It only contains tomatoes, potatoes, onion, basil and cheese – see what I mean by simple?

Last night, we were craving this dish, as it was such a cold and windy night. We wanted something flavourful and warming. But as this recipe relies so much on the great tomatoes you can only eat in the summer, was it even possible to enjoy it in the winter?

What to do? Kenton had the solution! Instead of using store-bought tomatoes, why not use our own tomatoes, preserved in the summer? And instead of fresh basil, why not use our own oregano, dried in the autumn?

So I did – and the result was a warming, comforting meal full of flavour and richness. It was every bit as good as our summer version, if not even better!

Why not give it a try?

Summer version of our casserole. We ate the winter one before I could take a photo!

Winter warmer tomato and potato casserole

potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
1 large jar of home-preserved tomatoes
4 oz tomato puree, home-preserved
onions, sliced thinly
6 oz cottage cheese
salt, pepper
4 T dried oregano, home dried
good grating cheese mix, such as cheddar + parmesan + gruyere

Grease a casserole dish – I use a round casserole, but any type is fine, as long as it is deep enough for several layers.

Lightly cook the tomatoes and puree together until slightly thickened, but make sure to leave some juice so the casserole isn’t dry.

First, put a layer of onion on the bottom. Next, add some spoonfuls of the tomato mix to cover, then the slices of potato. Salt and pepper, add some of the oregano, then a few spoonfuls of the cottage cheese, and lastly add some of the grated cheese.

Continue layering as above (I had 3 layers), ending with the grated cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees (gas mark 4) for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are cooked. If the dish seems dry part way through, add a few teaspoons of water.

Comfort food

It’s a cold November evening and the wind is howling. The central heating is on, and the fire in the wood burner is blazing away. How cozy does this house feel?

Last year’s improvements are really paying off. The double glazed windows and doors, despite our reluctance to install them, have been a real blessing. Can you imagine — windows and doors that actually keep the wind and rain out? Sheer luxury.

Amazingly yummy criolla!

We decided to celebrate by fixing a terrific comfort food dinner – an Argentinian dish called “Criolla Carbonada”, from one of our great cookbooks. It has a huge range of surprising ingredients – corn cobs, pumpkin, meat, tomatoes, peaches – that come together to form a rib-stickingly (sic) great dinner!

It’s the Argentinian version of beef stew, I’m sure – you remember how your mother used to fix that on a cold winter’s night, topped by fluffy dumplings? Heaven.

Garden’s leftovers

Here we are, almost the middle of October, and we are still getting lovely veggies from the garden!

OK, so they don’t look that good. We picked a bag full of peppers, aubergines and tomatoes, and I would imagine that if you saw them in a supermarket, you’d never buy them! They are scabby, a bit soft, and some are split.

Coming to the last of the summer veg!

But oh, the taste! The ones that are in good shape we save for sandwiches, or on our toast in the morning, or in salads.

The others? They’re really not good enough for preserving in the normal way. However, I came across a fabulous way of roasting vegetables in the oven! You chop them up, put them in a big roasting pan, roast in a hot even, then put in ziplocs for freezing.

How to use them? Better to ask how not to use them! We have used them in soups, stews, on pasta, on pizza, spiced up for a curry, you name it, it’s great.

And all winter long, we will be able to revel in the tastes of summer – luxury!

Roasted vegetables 

Onions
Green peppers
Ripe tomatoes
6-7 rosemary sprigs
olive oil

Rough chop all the vegetables, and put in a large roasting pan. The proportion of each is up to you!

Drizzle olive oil over the veggies, then add the rosemary and lightly turn over.

Bake in a hot oven (gas mark 7, 425F) until the vegetables are roasted nicely and most of the liquid has cooked away.

Freeze in ziplocs when cool.

Ready to roast!

Ready to use