13.12.08: Quorn, red cabbage and roast potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes

She cooked, warmed up and put together the plate tonight, consisting of the first batch of the annual red cabbage He made earlier in the week, Quorn lemon-pepper escalopes, and plain-jane green salad. For a party commitment's sake, He was unable to sample the delights of the roast potato, Jerusalem artichoke, lemon, tomato and kalamata olives dish from the new bible. Fortunately, She did the taste test and sampled the goods in His absence.

some seriously roasty potatoes with Jerusalem artichokes, lemon and sage

HE SAYS: It was good to taste the fruits of my heavy labour, cooking the massive amount of red cabbage that I prepared last week (5 hr cooking time, which, in the process, stunk out the place and probably the neighbour's gaff too). It turned out pretty perfectly, with a good balance of shweet and tart. I had to nip to a xmas party of my own so didn't get to taste the potato and Jerusalem artichoke bake (our oven sucks and it took a little while to bake to perfection but subsequently I have sampled its wonderment). The quorn did its job of being a mild, crispy foil to the extreme tastes of the cabbage. The salad was relieved not to compete for attention and was quite happy to act as garnish for a change.

Her dainty sampling of the gourmet vegan veg

SHE SAYS: Don't cry for me, all-two-readers: after we hastily downed our basic dish of tart cabbage and crispiness, I settled down to a chicks-only dvd and, eventually, a small, hot bowl of the incredible potato-J. artichoke-lemon-olive etc bake. Oh my. Jerusalem artichokes are the undiscovered country of subtle gourmet flavour. Those blandly unappealing raw slices transmogrify into something that feels like potato but tastes like fresh, grass-green artichoke. The acidity of the lemon, tomatoes, and olive brine didn't hurt, but I think the J-arts are in a league of their own as veg. Watch this space!

Not to give short shrift to the first red cabbage enjoyment of the season. It had the magic balance of sweet to tart to spice, and I wouldn't have minded some more (only 8 containers left).