Vegetarian Week!

As promised in my last blog, last week was vegetarian week at the hungryboyfriend household. A way to get over the Christmas over-indulgence and a chance to try some new dishes. We also thought it might save us a few pennies but it turned out to be about the same as a normal weekly shop. I thought I'd struggle and I'd be caught raiding the refridgerator at midnight looking for some ham but actually it was surprisingly easy. It made us try some new and interesting recipes, all of which I'd try again. They're all gluten free too. So why not give it a try? I'm going to do this blog in a few stages so you don't get too veg'd out, hope you enjoy!

Day 1: Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

This was taken from the Jamie Oliver magazine and you can find the recipe here. A fantastically warming and hearty dish, full of flavour. The only thing my girlfriend changed was the cannelloni where she cooked some gluten-free lasagne sheets in boiling water for 5 minutes before adding the filling and rolling them up. It actually makes it a lot easier to add the filling! Make sure you fit them into your roasting tray snuggly through otherwise they might pop open!

Day 2: Beetroot Risotto

Again, I really enjoyed this one and it seems to be cropping up on a lot of restaurant menus at the moment. Here I just followed my standard risotto recipe. Heat some oil in a large pan and soften 2 chopped shallots and 2 garlic cloves. When they're nice and soft add your risotto rice (around 150-200g for 2 people). Stir on a high heat for about a minute before adding a small glass of white wine. Stir for a couple more minutes and then reduce the heat. You now just continue to add a ladle of vegetable stock at a time and continue to stir. You need the rice to soak up the stock before adding your next ladle. It usually takes around half a litre of vegetable stock and around 18-20 minutes. Meanwhile I blitzed about 75g of cooked beetroot into a purée and chopped around 125g into small cubes. When you're risotto rice is finished, first stir in your cooked beetroot purée, then add the chopped beetroot. Finally, stir in a small knob of butter and a hand full of parmesan. Put the lid on the pan and turn off the heat. I then mixed two tablespoons of sour cream with a small amount of chopped dill and teaspoon and a teaspoon of dijon mustard. Plate up the risotto, drizzle round the sour cream dressing and sprinkle with parmesan and a little chopped dill. Hope you enjoy - this was my own creation!

More recipes coming very soon - as always, let me know what you think.