Tatws Popty (Welsh Oven Potatoes)

Tatws popty is a traditional Welsh dish of roasted meat and potatoes. The name translates as "oven potatoes" so I don't feel too bad for leaving out the meat and keeping the traditional name. It's a versatile dish, everybody's nain (grandmother) has her own way of making it. Since I've left the meat out of mine, I've added in some extra vegetables to make it a complete meal. It's such an easy and comforting dish and is perfect for this cool weather. White wine is not a very common addition, but adds a lovely sweetness - you could use beer instead if you wanted a 'meatier' flavour to the dish.

Tatws Popty

Ingredients
6 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into sixths (or just large chunks)
1 leek, washed and chopped into large pieces
1 large parsnip or swede (or both if you like), peeled and chopped into large chunks
1/3 cup vegan margarine/butter
3 tbsp olive oil
4 onions, peeled and thickly sliced
14 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
2-3 sprigs thyme
1/2 cup white wine
2/3 cup beef stock (no animal content, such as Massel), or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste

To Make:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and prep all your veggies.
2. Heat a large casserole dish or roasting pan on the stove (if you don't have a suitable dish, you can use a frypan and then transfer to a casserole dish) and add the margarine and olive oil. Once melted, add the onions, garlic cloves, bay leaves and the thyme. Cook for 8-9 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the onions have started to brown. 
3. Remove from the heat and add the leek and the parsnip and/or swede to the dish, followed by the potatoes on top. Pour over the white wine and the stock. 
4. Seal well with foil (or a lid) and bake in the oven for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are completely cooked through. 
5. Remove the foil or lid and switch the oven to the grill setting and leave in until the potatoes are crispy and browned on top. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Have as is, or add some steamed green veggies.

Serves 4-6. 

I'm featuring lots of recipes from the United Kingdom,

Check out my other recipe posts here:

Vegan Cauliflower Cheese

Summer Pudding

Mushroom & Guinness Pie

Treacle Tart

Vegan Bakewell Tart

Roasted Love Apple and Wine Soup

Cranachan (Whiskey Cream with Raspberries and Oats)

Orange and Lemon Vegetables

Scottish Vegan Oat Scones

Swede & Parsnip Mini Cottage Pies

Green Tea Noodle Soup with Leek & Shitake

Recently I was on a jaunt to my local Asian supermarket stocking up on anything that looked cool to try out. You know what I found? Green sago! But that is a tangent - one that you can read about here. I also found Green Tea Noodles! They rather excited me. My favourite Japanese restaurant, Jazushi, makes an amazing green tea noodle salad and also served green tea noodles with their amazing Agedashi Tofu (which I always order). So when I was looking for inspiration I immediately grabbed the green tea noodles and cooked them up with a big fresh leek from my garden.

On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html

Ingredients

1 packet of green tea noodles

1 leek, thinly sliced (just use the white parts and save the green parts for another meal)

500g fresh Shitake mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

1 bunch broccolini, cut into 1 inch length pieces

1 litre water

2 sachets of kombu dashi (mine come in 10g sachets)

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp sesame oil

1/4 cup sake (or substitute 2 tbsp mirin)

Shallots to garnish

To Make

1. Cook the green tea noodles according to the packet directions (should just be boiling them in water for 5 mins). Drain and rinse well under cold water. Set aside.

2. Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in a saucepan and sauté the leeks until soft. Add the mushrooms, water, dashi powder, soy sauce and sake. Bring to a simmer and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

3. Add broccolini and the other tablespoon of sesame oil and simmer for a further 5 mins (until the broccolini is just cooked). 

4. Divide the noodles evenly amongst two bowls, sprinkle with chopped shallots and ladle the vegetables and broth over the top. If you like you can drizzle some more sesame oil over the top.

Serves 2.

I've submitted this recipe to the Vegan Virtual Linky Potluck - click here to see the other entries.

Pumpkin, Leek and Garlic Soup

This one has a bit of a difference with the addition of the garlic right at the end so that the garlicy flavour really comes out.

Pumpkin, Leek and Garlic Soup

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

1 leek, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

7 cups of vegetable stock

500g Butternut pumpkin, chopped

500g Jap pumpkin, chopped

300g cauliflower, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

3 tsp cumin

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

Cracked pepper, to garnish

To Make:

1. Heat some olive oil in a soup pot and saute the onion, leek and one of the garlic cloves until soft and transparent.

2. Add the vegetable stock, vegetables and spices and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or until all the vegies are well cooked (this will vary depending on how big you chopped your vegies). 

3. When the vegies are cooked transfer the soup to a blender with the remaining clove of raw garlic and purée in batches. Add back to the rinsed soup pot and heat gently.

4. Stir through the soy sauce and lemon juice. 

5. Eat! (Tastes great with fresh bread rolls!)