This recipe reminds me of my trip last year to visit Aina in Oslo, so it always puts a smile on my face when I make it. The ingredient list looks a little long, but you probably have most of the stuff in your kitchen already so all you need are a few veggies.
When Aina and I made this casserole, we used her grandma's hand-me-down covered clay baking dish and I fell in love with it. Thanks to Arthur and Carrie, we now have our own
covered clay baking dish! But if you don't have a covered baking dish, don't worry. It still turns out fine with a regular casserole dish... just make sure it's deep enough to hold all the veggies.
Prep time: 30 min
Total cooking time: 50 min
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed (optional)
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 large potato, chopped
1 large carrot, sliced
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups (374ml) vegetable stock
1 large sweet potato, cut into half inch cubes
1 medium head of broccoli, cut into florets
2 zucchinis, thickly sliced
2 cups (250g) self raising flour (or 2 cups regular flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder)
4 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small cubes
2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
2/3 cup (160ml) milk
2 tablespoons sour cream
Note: You can substitute dried herbs, but remember to use less because they have a stronger flavor DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for five minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and paprika and cook, stirring for one minute.
Add the potato, carrot, tomato and stock to the pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce and heat and simmer, covered, for ten minutes, or until tender. Add the zucchini and broccoli after about five minutes.
To make the dumplings, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl and add the butter. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs (and if it's not getting to breadcrumb consistency, add a tad more butter). Stir in the herbs and make a well in the center. Add the milk, and mix with a rounded butter knife by lightly applying a cutting motions to the mix. Take care not to over do it as the dumpling will become rubbery in texture if over mixed. Gather up the dough and lift onto a lightly floured surface, then divide into 16 portions. Shape each portion into a ball.
Add the sour cream to the casserole. Transfer to a 2 liter oven-proof dish and top with the dumplings. Bake for 20 minutes (without cover) or until the dumplings are golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Yum!
Trick: Reheat with cover on so the dumplings don't dry out.MISS YOU, AINA!
Arthur was in town for a conference in Baltimore so we were lucky to have him stay at our place last night. For this special occasion, we made quick and easy fish tacos and they were delicious! If you have time to make your own guacamole and all that jazz, feel free to use the Food & Wine recipe from which this simplified mid-week dish was inspired.
With all the snow this winter and daylight savings around the corner, I have caught an early case of spring fever. But with all the wind and rain outside, I am forced to do my indoor spring repotting and pruning... which requires going to the garden center... and I am worthless when it comes to impulse buys when I spot neat looking plants!
Even though I haven't seen most of the movies nominated for Oscars, I just read this article on SFGate.com on the most under-rated movies from 2009 and Adventureland caught my eye.
This recipe reminds me of my trip last year to visit Aina in Oslo, so it always puts a smile on my face when I make it. The ingredient list looks a little long, but you probably have most of the stuff in your kitchen already so all you need are a few veggies.
We have recently been on a napa cabbage kick. It all started when we bought a big napa cabbage head to make fish tacos (I need to post that recipe too - yum!). We had so much left, I just thought I'd throw it into a simple stir fry to use it up. Michael LOVED it and we've been making variations of the stir fry ever since.
