Review: River Cottage Veg Every Day! By Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

I bought my copy of River Cottage Veg Every Day! from Sainsbury's. Now I'll admit that I collect cookbooks, I find them relaxing to go through and like to take on ideas to experiment with for my own dishes. I particularly like my cookbooks to be in hardback with lovely glossy paper, lovely pictures and a little ribbon to mark my favourite recipe. I can't help it, I'm a cookbook magpie, the shinier the better!

River Cottage Veg Every Day ticks all the boxes, and has some luscious vegetarian recipes, dishes that don't call out for a bit of meat on the side. The book is also full of tips and isn't hard to follow which makes it all the better. There is nothing worse then having a recipe that reads like a chemistry lesson!

So far I've only had a chance to make one of the dishes in the book and I found it to be an easy and straightforward task. I especially liked the way Hugh advises on making rice, so much easier and practically foolproof. I made the biriyani and I can confirm that it was a hit with the family.

All in all the book is great and at the Sainsbury's price of £10.99 you can't go wrong. I am already on planning to get a copy for a friend as a housewarming gift and I'm 99.9% sure she is going to like it as much as I do

The book is available in most good bookstores and of course Amazon.

Roast Vegetable Lasagne

This particular dish is a mix-up of a couple recipes, one from a friend and a couple from other sources, sometimes the best dishes come from a bit of experimentation and this lasagne has become bit of a favourite.

Ingredients:
- A selection of vegetables to roast (a selection of 4/5 is good)
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Fresh or dried thyme
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chilli flakes
- Plain flour
- Milk
- Ricotta
- Spinach
- Lasagne sheets
- Parmesan cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- Mature cheddar cheese

1. Roast of a selection of vegetables, I roast the vegetables with some olive oil, salt, pepper, chilli flakes and thyme.

I always put the veg in the oven in order of firmness; hard -> soft, i.e. sweet potatoes for 10 minutes, then courgettes etc etc.

2. Grind some onions and garlic together.

3. Add oil to a pan (you will need one with a lid), add the onions and garlic and let them soften but not brown.  


Add a couple of tablespoons of plain flour and let it cook off for a while before adding milk, salt and pepper to taste and let it simmer for a bit until the sauce thickness.

4. Add the ricotta cheese, add spinach and put the lid on the pan and let the spinach wilt for a couple of minutes.  Add parmesan cheese and chilli flakes, add extra salt and pepper needed. 

5. Once the parmesan cheese has melted get an oven proof dish and grease up with a little olive oil.


Start layering up the lasagne, the roasted veg, sauce and then dried lasagne sheets (make sure that you don't overlap the pasta sheets).  Carry on adding layers until the vegetables and sauce are finished.  Grate some cheddar cheese on top and add mozzarella.


Cook for 15 odd minutes until the cheese on top is bubbling and browning.

The finished product:

Mmmm, veggie, cheesy goodness :)