Friday, January 4, 2013

Take a tray of roast veges and you have ... 2 quick dinners!

 I love it when you can cook something one day that can then be used for future dinners. I have gone through many stages where I have tried to cook double quantities of dinners, and then frozen them for future nights. I also like it when you can prepare something basic and then alter it to make 2 entirely different dishes.

Yesterday I chopped up some chunky seasonal veges and roasted them in the oven at about 180 C for 35 mins. I stirred them at halfway.



This mix contained mushrooms, zucchini, kumara, red capsicum and red onion (from my garden - very easy to grow!). You could use whatever you had lying around.

I used half of these to create last nights dinner, and half tonight. Both were very quick dinners that can be easily put together in about 20 minutes.

Pesto and Roast Vege Pasta



This is one of my go to dinners. Homemade or fresh pesto is best, but if you have to use a cheepo one I rate Countdown's select pesto WAY above Dolmio's!

3/4 packet pasta (e.g: penne, spirals, shells)
Half an oven tray of roast veges
3 big T pesto
Parmesan (and fresh basil and toasted pinenuts if you have them) to garnish

1. Cook the pasta to packets instructions.
2. Drain and toss through veges and pesto
3. Serve in bowls with grated parmesan and torn basil and/or toasted pinenuts if you have them.

I have several variations of this dish that I make when pressed for ingredients and time. Just take out the veges and add meat and veges that you have lying round at home. My versions include:

- Torn cooked chicken and asparagus (roasted in the oven for about 10 mins)
- 3 good quality sausages fried and grated and fried (until soft) grated pumpkin
- Grated zucchini (no need to cook first it will cook enough when tossed through pasta) and cooked frozen peas

Quesadillas

These are basically a flash toasted sandwich using tortillas. Again you can change the fillings to suit what you have in the fridge and what you like. Tonight I used:

Tortillas for my family (my girls eat a half each at a push, I eat one, Nathan eats 2)
Half a tray of roasted veges
Hummus
Tomato relish
Grated cheese
Torn basil leaves



1. Spread hummus and relish thinly over the whole tortilla, leaving a 1 - 2 cm gap around the edges.
2. Spread the veges over half of the tortilla and top with cheese and basil.
3. Fold in half and toast in sandwich press.
4. Serve with salad.


Some other filling ideas:
- Refried beans spread over bottom, shredded chicken, sour cream and cheese
- Cream cheese, cranberry jelly and shredded chicken (smoked chicken is yummy)
- Baby spinach leaves, feta, chopped olives and toasted pinenuts

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