Courgette & Sweet Potato Gratin

Amongst the plethora of blogs nestled within my Google Reader RSS feed, there are plenty of vegetarian blogs.  Even blogs written by fellow carnivores seem to have Vegetarian themes, such as the lovely Wendy’s Meat Free Monday’s.  Apart from my soups, it dawned on me that I really struggle to prohibit meat from my meals. 

So when I found myself with some courgettes, spring onions & sweet potatoes that needed using up, I realised I had an opportunity to make… gulp… a vegetarian main meal.  I have absolutely no desire to become vegetarian, but it would be nice to know I don’t need to rely on meat to complete my meals.

Sadly, I’m still waiting for that lightbulb moment, as I sit here craving a quarter pounder cheeseburger meal from McDonalds. 

All is not lost, however.  The dish is lovely, but I’ll be keeping it as a side dish from now on!

I took inspiration from this recipe for potato & courgette casserole.  I would call my dish more of a gratin than a casserole though.  When I hear the word casserole, I automatically envision sausages or chunks of pork, with meaty gravy’s and such.  Lllarrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway, here’s what I did:

 

Ingredients

4 x sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch slices

2 x courgettes, peeled and cut into ½ inch slices

1 x onion diced

5 x spring onions, chopped finely

1 x sachet cheese sauce (I used this one)

300ml x milk (I used whole)

1 x tsb dried parsley

50g x grated parmesan cheese

50ml x cream (optional, I only used it as I had some leftover)

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees.

I made the cheese sauce by mixing my sachet with the milk; I brought it to a boil then simmered for two mins, stirring continuously. 

Meanwhile, I also lightly fried my onion and spring onions, adding my parsley.

 

I layered my sweet potatoes till it covered the bottom of the dish.  I then added my courgettes and a layer of cheese sauce.

 

I topped with my onion mix.

Next I added more courgettes, the rest of my sweet potato, then the remaining cheese sauce & cream.

I topped the whole thing with 50g grated parmesan cheese, covered with foil then popped in the oven for 1 hour.

I removed the foil and let it bake for a further 15 mins, letting the top turn golden and bubbly mmmm.

I could tell mum wasn’t particularly impressed with this as a main dish.  “It’s nice, but it’s missing something”, she said.  I knew exactly what she meant… the dish is just crying out for an accompanying juicy pork chop/chicken breast.

I would definitely make this again, if I ever find myself with these leftover ingredients.  I’ll also be happy to experiment making gratins with whatever else I have to hand.

😀

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My Burn’s Night Meal

Haggis was alien to me until last year (the 250th anniversary of Rabbie Burns), when I tried it for the first time at a céilidh in Edinburgh (how utterly Scottish of me).  I was pleasantly surprised and have eaten it many times since then!

Last night, though, we opted for the Vegetarian Haggis, as my twin sister wont eat the real stuff.  I love tatties and I love neeps, but if you mash them together, add some cream, butter, and a sprinkling of fresh chopped chives… mmmm there you have some deliciously creamy Clapshot!  I wont even tell you what my sister though “Clapshot” was; I will show you a picture of it instead!

 

I made a “whisky jus” to go with it, by adding 30ml whisky to a hot pan, where I tipped it towards the flame and set fire to it, thus burning off the alcohol (my first flambé!!), added 150ml single cream (once the flames went out), salt and pepper, then reduced for a minute or two!  In retrospect, I should have added ALOT more cream (maybe 4-500ml for serving 3), as there wasn’t much to spread around. 

Hope you all had a fabulous Burn’s Night!

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