Time to Beat My Meat and Try Veggie. (Vegetarian)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Vegetarian
Date:	09/12/05 (250 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely, lovely

Disadvantages: You may not like veggie food.

D’yer know, ma wifee and kids have been vegetarian for years so much so that my kids have never eaten meat ever since birth? That's amazing isn't it? In fact, if anything looks remotely meatish they immediately get a flame thrower out and blast the plate with Fahrenheit 451. I jumped on the bandwagon a few years ago at a Tony Robbins convention in London. To tell you the truth, I didn’t pay for it meself. Noooooo....I just came by some free tickets from work. No, no, no.....all that hugging the partner next to you and all that was just a bit too much for me really but the various information brochures handed out at the end did lead to my vegetarianism. Well, when I say vegetarianism, I can be a bit lax at times but only when me missus isn’t around *reader rolls eyes*. For the most part I’m good to go and it was this thing about meat deriving it’s flavour from an animal’s urine that finally put pay to my carnivorous state on a full time basis.

So for the most part I eat vegetarian and at home I am veggie 100% of the time. We have various cook books at home including efforts from Delia Smith, Sarah Bounds, Rose Elliott and Elaine Bastable writing for St. Michael. Here are a couple for you to chew over if you fancy a veggie meal this winter. Personally, I like veggie curries with plenty of potato but the recipes below are reasonably quick and easy. Actually, so is my curry really. Aaaaaanyway:

Souffle Omelette (serves 1)
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You need:
2 eggs separated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
15g or 1/2oz butter

Heat the grill. Put the egg yolks into a bowl, add 2 tablespoons of water and some seasoning if you want a bit of spice. Mix well.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff but without letting them get dry. Stir a spoonful of beaten egg white into the yolks, then gently fold in with a spoon.

Heat a frying pan over a moderate heat then add butter, tilting the pan to coat both sides. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook over a moderate heat for 1-2 minutes, until golden brown underneath. Put the pan under the grill for 1-2 minutes to brown the top of the omelette.

Cut across the centre of the omelette, spoon any filling you may want to add over one half, then fold the other half. Lift the omelette out of the pan and serve.

We had this t’other night when we were short on time and very nice it was too. Ideas for fillings include cheese, mushroom or even ratatouille.

On a similar theme you could try a suitably Spanish omelette type thingy as below:

Tortilla (serves 4)
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You need:

900g/2lb potatoes
1 large onion or 1 bunch spring onions
3 tbls olive oil
salt and ground black pepper
6 eggs

Half fill saucepan with water and heat. Peel potatoes cutting them into chunks about ½ inch square. Add to the pan and boil for 6-8 mins or until tender. Drain and set aside.

Peel and chop onions or trim and chop spring onions. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and put in the onion. Cover and cook until tender. Usually 7-8 mins for the onion and 2-3 mins for spring onions.

Add potatoes to the frying pan. Stir to mix all the ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Leave the vegetables to cook gently. Beat the eggs with a little salt and pepper.

Pour eggs into frying pan. Cook the tortilla gently until it is lightly brown underneath and looks set on top. This may take 5-10 mins.

Invert a large plate over the frying pan and turn the tortilla into it. Heat remaining oil in the pan then slide the tortilla back in to cook the other side. This may take 3-4 mins. Serve cut into wedges.

You can vary the tortilla recipe with mixed vegetables by de-seeding and chopping a green pepper and frying it with the onion. Boil 125g/4oz frozen peas with the potatoes and add them a couple of minutes before the end of the cooking time.

Ho hum, there you have it. 2 quick and easy vegetarian recipes and if you are very good I may disclose my vegetable curry secrets to you one day. Yessirre, I do enjoy cooking some times and vegetarian food is supposed to be so much better for you, y’know? I mean, all that meat rotting at the bottom of your guts for days as it’s digested. If you are veggie then I hope you try these. If you are a meat-eater, I’ve no idea why you are reading.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, y’hear?

Marandina *removes pinny*

Summary: Veggie galore