Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Cheesy Vegetable Hotpot

I haven't given you a recipe for a long time and yesterday I tried another from my BBC Good Food (101 One-pot dishes) that Beccy gave me as a Mothering Sunday present.

Cheesy Vegetable Hotpot:
Takes 35-40 minutes Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 leeks, trimmed and roughly sliced
Large knob of butter
Half a small Savoy cabbage (shredded)
8 chestnut mushrooms (sliced)
4 tablespoons Crème Fraishe
3 medium potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced)
1 small camembert or other rinded soft cheese (sliced with rind on)
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves

Method:
1 In shallow microwaveable dish, toss leeks and half the bitter and microwave on high for 5 mins-until they begin to soften. Stir in cabbage,and mushrooms and add crème fraishe. lay potato slices overthe vegetables, pressing them down with a fish slice.
2 Dot the potatoes with the remaining butter and microwave, uncovered for 15-20 minutes, (on high until they are done). Scatter over the cheese and thyme and either microwave on high to melt for 2 minutes or grill untill crisp and brown. Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving.
Looks like this with the potatoes before cooking.
I used camembert cheese and wished I had put a little more. My fresh thyme was over so I used some dry thyme. I also put under the grill to melt cheese and brown.
This is the end result which could be used as a supper dish or as a vegetable accompaniment. EmBee and I enjoyed it so why don't you give it a try if you are looking for something quick and tasty!

POSTSCRIPT: I realise that from comments that I need to 'clarify' so I googled and this is what I found....
What, Precisely, Is a Knob of Butter?

How much is a "knob of butter?"

How much do you want it to be? Certainly more than a dash, and well more than a pinch — neither of which seems the best way to measure butter, in any event.

A knob of butter is a British term denoting some butter, and its use is sadly declining as zealous editors force more precision and science into our recipes and cookbooks. Even the loosest British cooks (and we mean that in the nice way) might get away with telling you to add a knob of butter on a television program. But if their cookbooks are published in the States, you can bet someone will have translated all those knobs into precise measurements.

In our experience, a knob of butter is a couple tablespoons, more or less.

Archives:
2007: Chrysanthemums in Bloom
2006: At the end of the day

Labels: , , , ,

17 Comments:

At 18/11/08 15:37, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I certainly did enjoy it, it was jolly good high in vegetables and not too high in everything else. Love

 
At 18/11/08 17:08, Anonymous Anonymous said...

it looks yummy!

 
At 18/11/08 21:49, Blogger Beckie said...

That looks really tasty!!

 
At 18/11/08 22:18, Blogger Sai Hijara - Ferraris said...

Looks yummy, I will try it this weekend with IT Guy!

 
At 18/11/08 22:49, Blogger Betty said...

Thanks for the recipe, Chris.

 
At 19/11/08 00:18, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A Knob of Butter? I just love your terminology when describing the ingredients in your lovely dishes.
This looks scrump-dilly-ump-tious.
By the way, what IS a knob of butter.

I know the phrase, "I'll scob your knob" but don't think this applies.

 
At 19/11/08 05:15, Blogger Pamela said...

I had to look up fraishe
(laughing at the knob reference by Swampy)

 
At 19/11/08 07:17, Blogger Steffi said...

This looks delicious!Thank you for sharing,Chris!

 
At 19/11/08 08:58, Blogger ChrisB said...

Swampy I had a feeling 'knob of butter' might bring up a comment or two. LOL so I have added an explanation! BTW you got me on that other phrase!

pamela I wonder then what you call creme fraishe?

 
At 19/11/08 10:11, Blogger sallywrites said...

I'm going to do this. It looks lovely!

 
At 19/11/08 20:28, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That looks lovely. I'm going to check if Jamie Oliver's been translated into preciseness here!

 
At 19/11/08 23:02, Blogger ChrisB said...

Sally let me know if you enjoy it!

marmiteandtea you really don't need to be precise about the amount of butter in this recipe but it would be interesting to know about JO.

Actually come to think of it I have a JO book sold for the American market I must take a look at it in more detail!

 
At 22/11/08 19:55, Blogger Debbie said...

LOL I knew what a knob of butter was from my English husband. He used that term all of the time. :D Yummy looking recipe. Thanks for sharing.

 
At 24/11/08 22:47, Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Cranky and I made this for lunch today. We were blown away. Come visit my blog.
Thanks!!

 
At 25/11/08 10:40, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ooh - I have some cabbage in the fridge and now I know what I'm going to do with it (and, coming from the European side of the pond, I would have known exactly what a knob of butter was - it's sticks of butter that I have trouble with!)

 
At 25/11/08 13:06, Blogger ChrisB said...

cookiecrumb so glad you and cranky enjoyed this dish.

Daily Spud thank you so much for dropping by.

 
At 25/11/08 18:56, Blogger Elizabeth said...

Speaking on behalf of non-UK readers, I believe "knob of butter" is much easier to figure out than "fish slice." La la la, merrily layering my leek and potato and butter, and pressing it down with ... um ... a herring? But at the least, imagining this train of thought gave me a laugh!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home