Thursday 15 March 2012

Not Quite Veg Everyday - but trying: Chachouka with flatbreads and celeriac, apple, raisin and parsley salad

Another watershed moment yesterday morning in my quest for less meat (they're coming thick and fast at the moment. The usual question from Blue. “What’s for tea tonight, mummy?” Sometimes he even prefaces it with “Hmm, I know you’re not going to like me asking but...". Often, if the reply is something that indicates a plate including meat, I hear him say “Yyeessss!” – but quietly. However, yesterday, when I replied “Chachouka. You know that eggs in the pepper and tomato sauce”. He just said “OK”. It's a measure of how far we've come down this road that I told him straight and didn't try to avoid
I made the sauce at lunchtime. Based on portion issues last time round I used 4 peppers and 2 cans of tomatoes. I made a batch of the magic bread dough to make flatbreads as soon as we got in from school so that it was ready to go just before 6, and also made the celeriac, apple, raisin and parsley salad from the Raw section in Veg Everyday.

T’was all lovely. Our chickens are back to laying properly so we had beautiful eggs from the bottom of the garden, and the doubling up of peppers and tomatoes meant a more subtle tone to the spices which is good as far as I’m concerned at the moment, in my bid to broaden the kids’ taste buds without scaring them half to death. The Husband and I did add some Tabasco, but not much.
There is some if the sauce left over but certainly not a huge amount and I will definitely stick with the extra peppers and tomatoes when I make it again.

For pudding, we had cake. Cinammon Loaf, from Baked in America, my new cake porn. You can read more about that here...

3 comments:

  1. Sounds yum. Am going to try it.
    Actually I have you to thank for the fact we have a lovely dinner tonight - you just inspired me to cook. I've been so busy blogging and making stuff that I neglected cooking for a while : (
    So, we are having a mousaka and a plum crumble...
    P.S. Have you got Ottelenghi's Plenty, or even the first one? you probably do, but I have recently discovered his books in my quest to feed us less meat - and it is the best food I've cooked for a long time.... just fab.
    Thanks - I'm a new follower!

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  2. Could you post more about the "magic bread dough"? I'm a flatbread freak and am always on the lookout for new recipes/methods. Thanks! :)

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  3. Hi Helen - it's in Veg Everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (totally great book btw). It's a half/half mix of plain flour and strong white and it makes great flat breads, pizza bases, breadsticks...

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