What I ate Thursday... Red Cabbage gratin

Red Cabbage Gratin - adapted from BBC GOOD FOOD website

Ingredients

30g Red lentils
⅓ Red cabbage, about 375g/13oz shredded

For the tomato sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and cut into postage stamp-sized squares
1 Celery Stick, chopped 
1 tsp ground coriander
2 generous sprigs thyme
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
leaves from 1 large sprig basil, roughly torn up

Method

1 Pre-heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6/fan 180C. Cook the lentils in boiling unsalted water for about 15 minutes until just tender, then drain. 

2. Cook the onion, garlic and red pepper, celery until soft. Add the ground coriander and thyme, and stir for 30 seconds or so. Now tip in the tomatoes, tomato purée and season with pepper. Leave to simmer to a thick sauce, stirring occasionally, for about 15- 20 minutes. Check seasoning, take out the thyme and stir in the basil.

3. Meanwhile, cook the cabbage in a steamer for about 3-4 minutes, until just tender. Drain, and run under the cold tap, then drain thoroughly again. Mix the cabbage and lentils with the tomato sauce, and spoon into a glass ovenproof dish.

4. Bake for 20-30 minutes until sizzling and patched appetisingly with brown.

I topped it with courgette that had been thinly sliced. 
Served with broccoli, mushrooms and carrot slices.

Leftovers for my lunch the following day (Friday 21st Feb 2014) 

What I ate Wednesday... Beetroot Risotto

Beetroot Risotto - adapted from The Guardian  website

Ingredients

Serves 1

4 small fresh beetroot (2 pureed, 2 chopped)
1 Onion, peeled & sliced
1 garlic cloves, peeled & sliced
300ml vegetable stock
10g Bulgur Wheat
35g Red lentils
5 Cauliflower florets, pulsed into 'rice' crumbs
1/2 Yellow pepper, chopped in big chunks
1 Celery Stick, sliced
dried thyme 
Juice of ½ lemon

Optional:
1/2 cup frozen green beans
handful beansprouts
2 Cups shredded lettuce
salad leaves

Method
1 After discarding any leaves, wash the beetroot, pop them in a glass dish and cover and place into a preheat oven to 200'C. Bake in the oven for 1 hour until tender and easily pierced with a knife. Set aside.

2. Peel the beetroot and blitz two cooked beetroots in a blender or food processor adding 4 tbsp of hot stock to make a thick, smooth puree.

3 Dice the onion and garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a saucepan. Reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 5 minutes, until the onion softens.

4. Tip the bulgur wheat and red lentils into the pan and stir well to coat it. Cook for a minute, stirring. Increase the heat. Add the pepper and celery and stir. Add a large ladle of hot stock and thyme. Reduce the heat, so the mix keeps bubbling but doesn't cook too fiercely.

5 Once absorbed, add another ladle of stock and keep stirring. Repeat this step until you have used virtually all the stock and the lentils are just about cooked – this takes about 15-20 minutes. Add pepper and lemon juice.

6 Stir in two-thirds of the beetroot puree. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the rest of the puree and the cauliflower rice. Add the cooked chopped beetroot and green beans and stir.

7 Turn off the heat, put the lid on the pan and leave to rest for 3 minutes. Spoon the risotto into shallow bowls on top of a bed of lettuce and handful of beansprouts. Finish with a topping of salad leaves.