Saturday 6 April 2013

6 days to go

Last night as I was preparing for a quiet night and a Saturday free of any activity, a message came through “ are you still up for tomorrow?” how what? What is up tomorrow? "ASLAN…" oh no! "8.30 am Waterloo station…"
Apparently I had promised to help out today at All Souls’ homeless centre this morning. It wasn’t in my diary and I had completely forgotten it. First, I nearly cancelled; then, I got lost on my way … that is a story on its own.
Anyhow, I got there 30 minutes late, but the guests were not in yet. After breakfast, the volunteers can mingle and chat with the guests. I had today one of the best conversations ever with one of the guests from Romania. It took me nearly an hour to convince him to try the job centre and keep going until someone at those centres is ready to lend him a hand.
He had quit trying because his friends didn’t get anywhere. But, what I realised is that my Romanian friend spoke better English than his friends, looked strong and was willing to do anything… All I can say is that, God sent me there is morning and this guy needed to hear that he had potential. Encouragement is such an easy forgotten tool and today I have seen it power once again. The guest did agree that I pray for him and I am glad I made it to the centre today. God is good.

Since I had to leave at 7am, for breakfast I had  small portion of yesterday’s leftover. I only got home around 3.30pm and had to cook my dinner… made up on my way to the homeless centre: roasted butternut squash with spinach and a tahini white sauce plus potato rosti just for the sake of it.
Turned out alright didn't it?
So, to make this dish you will need These Ingredients: 1 onion, 1 potato, half of a small butternut squash, 1 red sweet pepper, 2 table spoons of tahini paste (sesame seeds paste), 2 table spoons of mild sugar free mustard, 6 blocks of frozen spinach leaves defrosted. 
ingredients to make the dish

For the Roast the butternut squash: cut into quarters, place in an oven dish, season with salt, black pepper, and a spray of oil. Place the dish in the oven for 40 minutes. Once cooked, switch oven off leave the dish inside to keep warm.
For the pommes Pallaisson  (rosti): peal and grate the potato, squeeze water from the it. Season with salt and coarse black pepper. There is no need to shape your rosti, you can just flatten it in the pan. It is better to fry them in hot oil and in a non-stick pan.
For the spinach: defrost it, squeeze out the water, fry half the onion with the finely chopped brazil nuts until brown, then, add the spinach. Stir with a sponged spatula while separating the leaves. Add a bit of salt and pepper, stir again, add 4 table spoons of water, cover to cook for 5 minutes. It is ready.

Potato rosti
 For the sauce: chop the other half of onion into really fine pieces. Do the same for the all the garlic. Heat some rapeseed oil in a pan, brown onions, add the garlic and fry some more. Don’t let the garlic burn. Now add the tahini paste and the mustard. Stir for 2 minutes then add a glass of water and leave to cook for 5 minutes. Stir from time to time so it won’t stick. The sauce is ready.Now all you need to do is serve before it gets cold. It is better to serve the sauce on the side and not soak the dish in it.
Voila!
Forgive me for blowing my own trumpet, but it tasted good and it is ALL VEGAN!
Somethin’ for dessert?


1 comment:

  1. This looks fantastic Nash- I can't wait to taste this! Keep up the great work- you are making veganism very attractive! x

    Kemi

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