All according to schedule

In the normal world (which we may have to rethink terming if this lockdown really is a 3-6 month beast, oof), I love to plan meals. I've had various games with myself - cookbook of the month, flavour combo of the week (that's from the brilliant Flavour Thesaurus), but most recently I've moved to having for my home cooking the first week of four be vegan, second week veggie, third week introducing white meat and fish, fourth week anything goes. It's been really fun, and has led me into all the vegetable corners of my cookbooks. But for the last couple of weeks that's gone out the window. I don't think it'll be back properly while all this lasts.

But, given that I'm currently still supermarket shopping, I wanted to do what I reasonably can for at least this week.Which means it's time for vegan week. By Wednesday night I think I'll be just on spuds, but for now, I have an oven full of veg.

The main meal is from Diana Henry's latest cookbook, which I've found a bit less reliable than her previous ones (possibly on account of my oven), but still tasty in spots. This is roast green beans and tomatoes with tahini, and it was really good. So good I'm writing this having finished the second portion, and just realised I don't have a photo of the finished dish. Bad, bad cookblogger.

There were beans. And sesame seeds.

Also tomatoes

This is fundamentally a simple dish - roast cherry tomatoes with oil and seasoning for about 10 minutes on a highish oven. Then add lots of French beans with a little oil and cumin seeds and roast another 10 minutes. (Or longer. A lot longer in my case as I used too small a tin - you want to spread them out and let them blacken a bit.) Dress with sesame seeds, and fresh coriander, and the dressing, which is the really fun bit.

Tahinitastic sauce

The sauce base is tahini (75g, apparently, or one big dollop if you're me), with a splosh of oil, a grated garlic clove, a solid tbsp runny honey*, juice of half a lemon, seasoning and some water to thin it down to single cream. It's sweet, salty, tasty and really lifts the beans and tomatoes. I've got leftovers, which will go with my veg mountain below.

I also made polenta to go with this. Not sure why. I can confirm polenta and tahini is not a combination to wow the nation. It's fine with the veg, and didn't use rice which seemed important last night for some reason. Also I got to set it on a handy saucepan lid, which was joyful, and just the right size. Cocktails are the mother of invention.

I've mentioned not using my oven much, and trying to get full value when I do. So the other shelves were full - a butternut chunked with smoked paprika, and some fennel in thick slices. Not as delicious as Francesca's recipe, but it cooked nicely. I dressed it with some orange juice when it was still warm thanks to her inspiration, so this will be tasty lunches for several days. I reckon what's left will be soup Weds/Thurs, but I'll eat them as they are for a couple of days.

  

Oven of Veg Glory

It's almost time for a new week. What will this one bring, I wonder? I guess we know in outline, but there have been so many surprises already, I can't imagine what the next will be. Stay safe, folks.

*I know the veganity of honey is debated. I don't care. This week is vegan in the sense that I don't whap a slab of cheese in the middle of a dish, but bits of butter or even anchovy come in now and again. Veg-forward is probably the proper term, but I hate it.