Morning, folks.
I'm going to tell you today about my favourite vegetarian meal! John’s making it for tonight's tea so I’ll take a few photos to show you just how simple it is, too.
Now this is one of John’s recipes of old. The first time he told me about it, and he said that he was going to cook it, my heart sank - he said it's called a hot salad! I thought to myself he might as well just give me a few lettuce leaves and a matchstick, for all it was doing for my culinary excitement. I bit my lip and gathered every morsel of strength I could muster to keep my mouth shut - dead difficult for me but John’s a sensitive soul. I secretly checked out cheese, biscuits and chocolate to lift my spirits and to help me grin and bear whatever was coming my way.
Well, I was very pleasantly surprised, relieved and delighted. As I said, John’s hot salad is now my favourite veggie meal and I'm so pleased when he suggests it for tea. (He always makes it, which it is a double bonus.) The ingredients and method are both simple and it's a very healthy and nutritious meal. By the way, it’s not vegan as it contains cheese and butter.
John’s trusty old cookery book, “Food For Thought” by Marilyn King and William Scott, calls this dish Real Good Casserole and by way of introduction just says “Real simple too.” I’d add that it’s got an intriguing, unique texture and that everyone’s surprised by the rich, fresh flavours.
INGREDIENTS
(John uses a mug instead of a cup)
½ cup raw lentils ½ cup finely chopped parsley ½ cup finely chopped celery
½ cup grated apple ½ cup grated cheese 1 cup shredded white cabbage
Tbsp finely chopped basil 1 cup quartered tomatoes 1 cup grated carrots
Salt and pepper to taste
METHOD
Place half the ingredients in a buttered casserole dish, but don’t include the lentils.
Halfway through all the chopping and grating, wash the lentils by swilling about eight times to remove all the dustiness, then put them on to boil in a cupful of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for about ten minutes, until they’re soft and all the water has been absorbed, while you’re preparing and adding all the other ingredients.
Add the lentils, mix thoroughly and then press down. Bake at 350°C for half an hour.
By the way - keep it very quiet or I'll be in big trouble - I had 17 family members around for a get-together yesterday and I didn't even have to bake a cake for them! Don't worry, they only stayed for about an hour and a half and all left discreetly at the click of a button. My word, isn't modern technology incredible? We've had two gatherings on Zoom now and are planning lots more with family members from as far afield as Australia, America, Ireland and all over the UK. Our first Zoom was to wish a very happy birthday to my baby sister Louise. (She's our youngest; she's 66.) We were all far too excited at seeing each
other, screaming with delight, all saying hi, waving like mad. And a fair bit of reference to double chins went on also. (We’re all practising our best pose now for further Zooms. My brother Arthur said that he wasn't going to join us unless he could get a haircut. He's very vain! But good luck there, Art, you may have to resort to a mirror and a pair of scissors.)
Unsurprisingly, it was chaotic - but great fun and as I said wonderful to see my family who I miss very much during this lockdown. I feel quite tearful that I don't know when I can be with any of them again. It’s very strange to look at our calendar and to see all family get-togethers cancelled - hopefully for not too long.
Now my daughter Beth and her hubby Lee came up with a great idea for subsequent family Zooms. They suggested a quiz and told me that they already had prepared it and were looking forward to hosting it. What a great idea, we all thought; no more of the screaming, shouting out, laughing hysterically, talking over each other, remarking on wrinkles, double chins and dodgy hairstyles - this time around we were going to be a group of sophisticated mannerly intellectuals who would take this quiz very seriously, as seriously as being in the infamous chair of Mastermind.
Well, sorry to have to say but the screaming , laughing, etc. kicked in again but thankfully after a good rebuke from my John, (who can still behave like a cross teacher, and sometimes that’s useful), we all settled down, to a degree. Clever clogs Jonathan and his family in Cork won by a long mile and the winner hosts the next quiz, so that’ll be them. Roll on next Sunday!
That’s it, folks. In my next post I'll tell you about the police approaching my sister Mary in Penarth (near Cardiff). Details soon! (Cliffhanger!)
Very sadly, since I wrote this post my much-loved brother-in-law, Louise’s husband Peter, has died. Louise is bereft. Peter bore his illness with strength and his good humour was there more or less to the end. He was the great joke-teller of our family and kept us all laughing for many years. It is a terrible thing that during this lock-down none of us siblings can be with Louise at this most painful time for her. We take comfort in knowing that Peter’s three daughters are looking after her; they can only do so because they live close by. Hopefully we will in time be able to get together to celebrate Peter’s long and very full life.
This lock-down is all very fine; we can cope with the practicalities without too much hardship but now that we cannot be with our bereaved sister it is one of the most difficult things we’ve had to endure up to now.
