Fada's Vegetable Addiction

Veggie Basics

Although I always liked vegetables, I don't think I really appreciated the variety, versatility or how delicious they could really be until I lived in France. I remember being surprised at how wonderful just a plain green salad could be with the right dressing and made sure I watched carefully when dressings were made. Of course there are all sorts of recipes for dressings but I love this simple one.

Just take a bowl and add a teaspoon of French mustard, salt, a teaspoon of wine vinegar and mix well. Then add olive oil bit by bit. Somehow adding the oil slowly means that the dressing ends up like a sauce and it's delicious. Then add your salad leaves and turn the leaves when you are ready to serve. I guarantee it's delicious! I've seen my children just wiping up the sauce with French bread to eat just like that. It does have a lot of olive oil, but what's wrong with that? It's the right kind of fat and helps the food slide down!

Easy Labor Endives

About two hours before my last child was born, I found myself sitting in a restaurant with my husband. My labours tend to be long and not really bothersome until the last half hour or so and having had three children before I knew the score. Yes, I was going to give birth but just didn't want to sit in a hospital for hours waiting for it to happen. So, we went to a restaurant just around the corner which was filled with French people lunching so no one really noticed my state. I did manage to eat a little bit of endive wrapped in ham and covered in cheese sauce, but found I wasn't really in the mood! Instead I watched the husband eat and exclaim how delicious it was. At a certain point I turned to him and said,'I really think I need to get to the hospital now.' He was a bit miffed at having to hurry his food but realised too that sometimes other things take priority! About an hour later (at 3.45) my son was born. He was my last child but I've always felt that with a fifth I could have got the timing down to a tee and arrived maybe a half hour before the birth. I let it go though. The idea of having to be pregnant and all the work involved in child rearing didn't really seem a good trade off. A few days later when I came back from the hospital guess what the first meal was that the husband cooked for me?

A pound of endives (or about six)
Slices of ham to wrap around the endive
1 oz Butter
1 oz Flour
2 pints of milk
A lot of cheese

Cook the endives in boiling water until semi cooked. Place in an oven dish and wrap the ham around them. While the endives are cooking, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the flour. Cook gently and it will thicken after a couple of minutes. Then add the milk really slowly so as to incorporate it into the butter/flour mixture. When you feel you have enough sauce for the endive, add lots of cheese. Pour the sauce over the endives and ham, add more cheese on the top and bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes until the cheese topping is browned.

Egyptian Veggie Love

The vegetables in Egypt are so pleasing - they practically beg you to buy them! They are healthy looking, shiny and often huge. They are also really cheap! A meal that I have every week is ratatouille and here's the recipe. Don't worry though about how much of any vegetable you put in - it always works when you have enough tomatoes - all weights are approximate.

A few cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
One onion peeled and chopped
A pound of courgettes (zucchini)
A pound of aubergines
Two red peppers
Two pounds of fresh tomatoes
Fresh herbs: basil, thyme, rosemary
Salt and pepper

Fry the garlic in olive oil and then add the onion. Fry both for a few minutes until softened. Add courgettes and fry for a couple of minutes, then peppers, then aubergines, herbs and salt and pepper. Finally add the tomatoes, put a lid on the pot and leave to simmer for about 45 minutes. You don't need to add water as the vegetables create a delicious sauce. I usually make a big pot that lasts several meals. In fact, I've made myself hungry with all this talk of food so I'm going to have some now that I prepared yesterday. Fada