Cheesy veggie bake

2006 Best British Cheese Recipe Competition

Ingredients:     

2-3lbs potatoes (either parboiled and sliced or use up left-overs)2 large chopped onions
2-4 large grated carrots

3-4 sliced tomatoes

chopped parsley to taste

Any leftover cheese cut into small cubes (anything from cheddar, brie to stilton)

1 chicken or vegetable stock cube

1 tin of baked beans

1 small carton of crème fraiche

Ground black pepper

 Method:

If you are using uncooked potatoes, parboil them and slice thinly. Put about a third of them into a high-sided, buttered oven dish. Meanwhile sweat the onions and carrots until soft. Add a layer of the sliced tomatoes on to the potato base, and sprinkle the chopped parsley on top (other herbs can be added).Then sprinkle over half the chopped cheeses and add the onion and carrot mixture. Place a third layer of the potatoes and sprinkle the stock cube over the top. Cover with the baked beans. Finish with the last of the potatoes and cheeses, mix together and then tip the crème fraiche over. Grind black pepper on top and bake for about an hour at 180 Cº.

 Serve

With some garlic bread or plain crusty French bread and fresh green salad to balance it even more. As a "grown up" meal add more "grown up" cheeses, and perhaps a dash of wine half way through.

Inspiration for this recipe: It was post Xmas and I had a lot of cheeses left over. I wanted a dish that was simple, warming, but not too rich (being after Xmas). It needed to be nutritional yet appealing to young and old alike. It is a particularly good way to get fussy kids to eat a well balanced and nutritional meal, without being aware of what they are eating!