Out with the old. In with the new.

Veg Box Wednesday! Was yesterday... But I was at the cinema seeing Black Swan. Chard, potatoes, little leeks, red pepper, round lettuce, carrots, flat mushrooms and savoy cabbage.

Butternut squash from last week. When I asked Dr W what he wanted me to do with it, he rather quickly replied that I was very welcome to use it for soup to take to work. Butternut squash and Dr W are not friends.

So I roasted the squash with whole garlic (just bash the unpeeled clove, delicately garlicky), olive oil, salt and pepper and made a salad. Nice.

Look at the pretty chard! Firm, crisp and very pretty! I had under 45 mins to cook and eat before the cinema so we had pasta with chard, anchovies and garlic. Super quick. Anchovies, not everyones cup of tea but these tiny, salty fish are surprisingly versatile and add a good kick of umami. Learn about this.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the anchovies on a low heat with olive oil, add thinly sliced chard and finely chopped garlic. Cook until the chard is tender (you may need to add a little water) and then stir into the cooked pasta.

I am very sorry to my fellow cinema goers for the wafts of garlic throughout the film. Hanging my well-fed head in shame.

But that's the new veg. Back to the old. Four floppy carrots, some wrinkly mushrooms, three dubious spring onions and a slightly dessicated leek. And potatoes. Always potatoes.

Shep-Un-herding Pie.

Dr W came up with that. The shepherds aren't herding. The lambs get to live. See? Dr W made it up. Humour him.

Cook the cubed mushrooms (as per picture) with olive oil until soft. Add chopped carrots, sliced leek, spring onions and 1tsp chopped rosemary. Sweat (I'm so sorry that I have to use this word) the veg with a splash of red wine until it's just about cooked but still with a bit of bite. Do this, a bit of patience will make it taste better!

Add passata or tinned tomatoes, chopped garlic and another splash (...) of red wine. Season to taste. As this point I debated whether it was wrong to add an OXO cube to a veggie dish. I decided it was. Of course it was. Simmer until soft while cooking the potatoes for the mash. Choose a deep dish, veggie mix in the bottom and mash with cheese on top. Grill until crispy.

Shep-Un-Herding pie really was very nice so you should make it.

I bought Dr W a present yesterday. A 50p fine wool duck tie. Today he bought me a present. A reduced boneless forerib of beef.

That's love.