easy veg – My Whisk and I

Roasted Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce

January 4, 2024by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

1 head of cauliflower
80g butter, melted
5ml salt

Cheese Sauce:
15ml butter
15ml flour
190ml milk
125ml grated cheddar cheese

Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Remove the leaves and cut down the stem of the cauliflower so that it sits without rolling around.
Place the trimmed head on a roasting tray and brush a third of the melted butter onto the bottom section, allowing the butter to run through.
Turn the head upright and brush it all over with the rest of the butter.
Sprinkle with the salt and a few grindings of black pepper.
Now cover the roasting tray with aluminium foil and roast in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and brown the cauliflower – about 15 minutes.

For the cheese sauce:
Add the butter to a small saucepan set over medium-high heat and allow it to melt.
Sprinkle over the flour and a pinch of salt and stir to make a paste.
Cook the butter and flour for 2 minutes while stirring, until it reaches a golden colour.
Add the milk and whisk until blended and the sauce has thickened.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the cheese.
Stir until melted.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
Pour the cheese sauce over the cauliflower to serve.

Uncategorized

Spicy Chorizo Hasselback Potatoes

October 26, 2021October 25, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

250g chorizo sausage, skinned and diced

8 – 10 large potatoes
50g butter
60ml olive oil
salt
15ml smoked paprika
250ml sour cream
a small bunch of chives, chopped

Preheat your oven to 200℃.
Add the diced chorizo sausage to a dry frying pan and place over medium high heat. Cook until the sausage is crispy and the fat has rendered.
Spoon into a small bowl and reserve the fat from the sausage.
Place a potato on a chopping board and now place a chopstick (or the handle of a wooden spoon) horizontally, at the top end of the potato and another on the bottom – you are boxing the potato in with two chopsticks on either side, i.e. top and bottom, so that you do not cut through when you make incisions. Cut across the potato at 3mm intervals.
Place the cut potatoes in a roasting tin.
Melt the butter and mix it with the olive oil as well as the reserved fat from the chorizo sausage. Spoon this mixture over the cut potatoes and sprinkle liberally with salt and the smoked paprika.
Put the roasting tin in the oven and cook for about 1 hour 15 minutes, testing to see whether the flesh is soft.
Add the sour cream, cooked sausage and chopped chives to a bowl and mix through.
Transfer the warm potatoes to a serving platter and spoon a dollop of the sour cream mixture on each.
Serve with the extra chorizo-sour cream dressing.

Uncategorized

Baked Aubergine with Pesto and Pear

August 10, 2021August 10, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

This is such a simple dish but it truly delivers on taste!! Delicious as a light meal or as a side to meat.

1 aubergine per person
2 pears
250ml of fresh soft herbs like parsley, basil, thyme, chives and sage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
83ml pine kernels, toasted
1 lemon
60ml olive oil

Preheat your oven to 190℃ and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Slice the aubergine lengthwise into 1,5cm thick sliced, but DO NOT cut the slices loose.
Place the aubergine flat onto a surface, cover with you hand and gently push down on it so that the “slices” fan out. Place onto the baking sheet.
Drizzle the aubergine with olive oil, sprinkle with some salt and place in the oven for about 40 minutes until beautifully soft and slightly charred.
Make the pesto by adding the herbs, garlic, pine kernels, juice of one lemon and 60ml olive oil to a blender (you may use a hand blender) and blitz until it comes together. Put aside.
Peel the pears and slice it into sticks.
Spoon the pesto onto the baked aubergine as soon as you take it from the oven and pile the pear sticks on top.
Serve with a fresh bread or as a side dish to meat.

Uncategorized

Whole Roasted Cauliflower

June 16, 2021June 4, 2021by Karen ClaassenLeave a Comment

1 cauliflower head
100ml Harissa paste (make your own Harissa with Fresh Chillies – recipe on this blog)

Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Line a baking sheet/baking tin with aluminium foil.
Trim the outer leaves from the cauliflower and cut down the stalk so that the head can stand on its own.
Flip the head upside down and brush the bottom (and between the florets) liberally with the harissa paste.
Brush the rest of the paste onto the sides and top of the head so that the entire veg is covered in paste.
Cover the cauliflower with aluminium foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.
Remove the foil covering and roast uncovered for another 30 minutes.
Cut the cauliflower into steaks or wedges to serve.