My husband Dave might say he's not much of a cook. Until a few years ago he was limited to bacon and eggs, or fish fingers. That changed when he was off work for a few months and I was working full time for the first time in almost 25 years. He started to plan meals, shop and cook. It was great to come home and have dinner prepared. Food is so much more enjoyable when someone makes it for you!
Since then, and even now he's back in a demanding job, we share the cooking, and he's caught the bug, even seeking out recipes in magazines (although not as much as I do!). One of his (and my) favourites to cook is this one. Its a low kilojoule recipe (although we use extra cheese) that is also absolutely scrummy and fairly easy to prepare. It uses fresh basil with tinned tomatoes, onion, garlic, and is topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
Potatoes are a big part of our family's culinary life. With two vegetarian daughters who have been fussy about a lot of things, potatoes have always been a favourite staple. Not to mention the influence of our Irish ancestry! One of their favourites is scalloped potatoes in cream and cheese, but I have several other favourite ways of preparing the humble spud, of which a more recent one is Hasselback. So crunchy on the outside but soft inside..
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 chopped onion
1 crushed garlic clove
1 x 410g tin crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 chicken stock cube
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 x 125g veal steaks
60g grated mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated fresh parmesan cheese
Heat half the oil in the pan, add onion and garlic, cook, stirring, until onion is soft. Add tomatoes, half the basil, crumbled stock cube and sugar. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes, or until mixture thickens.
Heat remaining oil in pan, add veal and cook on both sides until lightly browned and tender. Transfer veal to a shallow ovenproof dish , spoon tomato mixture over and sprinkle with combined cheeses.
Cook under a hot grill until cheese melts and browns. Sprinkle with remaining basil.
Serve with steamed green beans and Hasselback potatoes.
I'll be doing a potato blog in the not too distant future, so watch out for my various potato cooking ideas there.
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