We've been living in the UK for many years now, with the rest of Europe literally on our doorstep, and yet for the past few years the only holidays we've actually managed to plan are trips to Australia, the land of our births. What is possibly even more annoying is that these trips have also involved my partner giving evidence at a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which has been harrowing for us both, to say the least. Add the usual family dramas that inevitably occur whenever we return to our home towns, and the trip becomes even less enjoyable.
Don't get me wrong, what David is doing (and all of the survivors) at the Commission is highly commendable and I support him wholeheartedly. Also we appreciate our families and the support they (sometimes) give us. However nothing says "romantic holiday" like a week on a beach, and nowhere is more relaxing than being on island somewhere in the middle of nowhere where the place you are staying is called Maria's Place.
So what I did this year in January is spend all of my money. Literally. ALL OF IT. And then some. I booked a week in Malta in April and for our anniversary this year in September (we'll be celebrating 20 years together) we'll be going to Crete and it's little baby sister Santorini (otherwise known as Thira, and once upon a time probably known as Atlantis). Needless to say, when the time comes, it's going to be fabulous!
In the meantime, I am now so broke I am forced to return to my student days, when a jar of lentils went a very long way indeed.
So out comes all the vegetarian recipes that I used to live on, week in and week out.
The title of this blog and the recipe that I cooked this evening made me giggle. Mainly because the ingredients for this ULTIMATE dish are pretty bog standard so no idea what was in Rose's head when she wrote this.
Anyway, the ingredients and method are as follows:
Fry 1 onion (chopped) in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 5 minutes (covered). Chop a pepper (Rose says use red but I like to use a green one as there is enough red colour in this dish already and green peppers are cheaper, let's be honest) and dice a carrot and add this to the pan along with a crushed clove of garlic (or two, if, like me you always double or triple the amount of garlic in every recipe). Cook for another 10 minutes, covered. Rose says to deseed a green chilli and slice it finely but I chopped up 3 dried chillis, seeds and all. (this is a CHILLI after all, let's not pussyfoot around with the heat). Then add a tin of tomatoes (chopped if your lazy like I was tonight, or just smoosh 'em up with the wooden spoon if not). Cook until the carrot is tender (5-15 minutes uncovered). Then add a tin of kidney beans (drained and rinsed - really important that you rinse the beans to remove all of the cooking water from the tin). Season with salt and pepper and serve with rice.
It serves 2 so as I'm on my lonesome for the next month (David is still fighting the good fight in Oz) I will have enough for a mid-week meal when I don't feel like cooking, which, let's face it, when you're on your own, is pretty much everyday.
UK readers can get a copy for next to nothing second hand here, and for US readers you can get one for under a dollar here.
