Vegetarian recipes weren’t something Mum would have been looking for on the pages of the Herald Sun. Growing up I can’t remember anyone among our family or friends who didn’t eat meat, so cooking vegetable only dishes just wasn’t necessary. This recipe is on a page Mum kept from the paper that had pork, lamb, sausage and fish casseroles on it, so the recipes were around, they just weren’t something Mum made.
Zucchini don’t have a lot of flavour by themselves and it’s a bit unusual to find them in a salad, but this recipes which adds pasta, beans, mustard and red capsicums seems to take care of that problem.
I’m going to make Cauliflower with White Sauce and Cheese, as it’s always been called in our family, to go with Christmas lunch as usual. So I was pleased to find this recipe showing the proper way to make it. It’s something I make quite a lot, passed down from Mum of course. I’ve never had a recipe for it and I was surprised just how much my version has evolved from this 1970s one. I microwave the cauliflower, make a fairly thick white sauce in the microwave, pour it over the cauliflower and then top the whole lot with lots of cheese. Sometimes I even add broccoli – not traditional maybe, but it’s quick, easy and tastes great.
Who doesn’t love a Caesar salad (with or without the anchovies)? This is the first time I’ve seen rice added though. Even without adding some cooked chicken or salmon it would be a meal in itself.
I often make a large tub of potato bake to serve at barbecues, mine has brown onions, bacon and corn in it. This version with leeks looks good though and I might give it a go over the summer months.
I love it when asparagus comes back into season each Spring and enjoy eating it as a vegetable, in salads and in stir fries, but I think served like this it would make a terrific first course. Mum and Dad both loved asparagus so I can see why Mum cut this recipe from the Herald Sun. The leek version sound good as well. Neither of Mum or Dad were wine drinkers though and I doubt they’d ever head of the matched Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne wine. I guess if you could get a bottle of the 1999 vintage for $13 now you’d be doing very well.
Today, September 1st, is the first day of Spring in Australia so it seems fitting to post a recipe that is a side dish to have at a backyard barbecue. A good time as well to hope for lovely barbecuing weather in the months to come.
