COOKBOOKS GALORE

 I’m guilty of not eating enough vegetables, so I’ve been looking at ways to cook them in interesting ways. This is a French recipe that my friend makes regularly. Sometimes she adds a chop or some other meat to the plate, but it’s great on its own. Preheat oven 180C/gas 4 Grease a gratin dish.  You need: 6 medium potatoes, 3 courgettes, 2 medium tomatoes, half a goat’s cheese, small pot of crême fraîche and 2 sprigs of rosemary  Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly. Slice the tomatoes and courgettes thinly.  Put a layer of potatoes in the dish, then a layer of courgettes, a layer of tomatoes and a layer of crême fraîche. Slice the goat’s cheese and put on top. Sprinkle over the rosemary, some salt and pepper. Bake for 50 mins till the veg are cooked. You can use other vegetables such as mushrooms, aubergines etc and add garlic, or you can change the cheese to Emmental or Parmesan or change the herb to thyme or parsley. Endless possibilities!

 I was given a medium sized cauliflower and as it's not my favourite vegetable, struggled to know what to do with it. Have kept a few French cookery magazines, and I found this recipe in a very old one from 1998!  It adds potatoes, lardons [bacon pieces], crème fraîche and cheese to the cauli, which makes it much more interesting You need: 1 medium cauliflower, 100g lardons [bacon bits], 500ml crème fraîche, 3 medium potatoes, 50 g of grated Conté,  a good strong Cheddar or Beaufort cheese, 1 egg and some salt and pepper Preheat oven 200C?Gas 6                 Grease a gratin dish [this amount feeds about 4 people] Break the cauliflower up into florets and peel the potatoes. Cook them in boiling water for 15mins. Beat the cream and egg together and add a little salt and pepper. Spoon the cauliflower into the greased dish, slice the potatoes and add with the bacon pieces. Pour over the cream mixture and sprinkle over the cheese....