Roasted Curry Vegetable Medley

Whilst driving home from work I developed a craving for roasted veggies. I didn't want plain roasted veggies though, so I thought I'd spice them up a bit. I was very happy with the result as it turned out lovely. This is made in a large oven tray, so has minimal washing up, serves 4, and is perfect served on a bed of mashed potato.

Ingredients:
Cut all these veggies into approximately 2cm chunks:

• ½ large sweet potato, peeled
• 1 zucchini
• 1 red capsicum
• 4 stalks of celery
• 3 carrots, peeled
• ¼ eggplant, peeled

Plus:

• 440g can of chic peas, rinsed and drained
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons rock or sea salt (not ground)
• 1 teaspoon back peppercorns (not ground)

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius
2. Drizzle the oven tray with the olive oil and throw all veggies and chic peas into it
3. Sprinkle the spices over the top and toss gently with two wooden spoons
4. Cover the oven tray with foil and cook for 20mins
5. Remove from oven, toss the veggies again and return to the oven for another 20mins or until the veggies are soft enough for your liking
6. Serve with mashed potato...to soak up the yummy spicy juice  XD

Slow roasted lamb with garlic & rosemary

I usually slow cook a lamb in the slow cooker, but decided I would roast it on a very low heat in the oven today. I warmed the oven on 140 degrees celsius for 10mins while I prepared the lamb. This is how easy it was:

Ingredients:

• Leg of lamb
• 1 onion, peeled and sliced Asian style
• 3 or 4 whole garlic cloves
• Salt & pepper
• Rosemary (I used fresh rosemary from my herb garden)

Method:

1. In a large baking dish lay the onion wedges and garlic cloves and place the lamb on top
2. Sprinkle salt, pepper & rosemary over the lamb and drizzle lightly with olive oil
3. Cover with baking paper AND aluminium foil and cook for 2hrs at 140 degrees
4. After 2hrs remove the baking paper and foil and place the backing dish back in the oven for another 2hrs to brown the meat
5. If you want to put potatoes in - now is a good time and turn them after one hour
6. When ready, the lamb should be very easy to remove from the bone. Place the lamb on a plate to rest and cover with foil
7. While the lamb is resting, place the pan it was in on the stovetop with the onion and garlic still in it and make your gravy with boiled water (and gravy mix if you wish)

Serve with vegetables and pour over your lovely chunky gravy.  D-E-L-icious  XD

Gravy

Roast Vegetables

This is a very filling meal, considering it's only vegetables. It serves 2 so I make this amount, eat half one day and put the other half in the fridge for tomorrow. It's quite versatile as you could replace the vegetables with others like squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, parsnip, turnip or whole beetroots.

Ingredients:

• 6-8 small new potatoes left whole
• 1/2 zucchini, cut into 2 pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and ends trimmed
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 4 whole mushrooms - I used small ones, but you could substitute 2 large mushrooms
• 4 small carrots, peeled and cut into thirds

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees celsius
2. Place all vegetables on a baking try and spray with spray oil
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. Cook for 20mins then turn, cook for a further 20-25mins
5. Keep an eye on the mushrooms and zucchini - they may need to come out of the oven first.
6. Serve half now and reserve half in a container in the fridge for tomorrow

D-E-L-icious  XD