VEGGIE-LITE Visitors, a birthday and an impromptu dinner party

Tuesday we has a ‘shepherdess pie’ from an old recipe I’d cut out from somewhere or other, one of hundreds that I’ve never even looked at since the day I took the trouble to stick it in a file. The base was bulghar, onion, celery and grated carrot with vegetable stock. I was having my doubts as I cooked it, but actually, topped with creamy mash and a lot of cheese it fulfilled exactly the role of a shepherd’s pie, plain but tasty, filling, comforting and a perfect match for Branston pickle.

Wednesday we had Italian Peasant Soup. Why are foods always named after Olde Country Folk? This was a blended tomatoey veggie soup turned into something rather glorious by being topped by very well fried mushrooms, basil and loads of parmesan.

Thursday night out visitors arrived, but not until after we’d eaten. We had a potato and leek frittata, slightly burnt on the bottom because I got it started and handed over the cooking, which inevitably means cook number 2 isn’t quite so in control. It was good anyway – nothing wrong with a bit of charring on the bottom of a frittata.

Friday we had pasta with fennel, rocket and lemon. It’s a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe we’ve done a lot. Quick, easy and delicious but I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to cook twice as much as normal – sometimes pasta dishes just don’t work – but it was fine.

Saturday was R’s birthday. I dragged out a recipe I haven’t made for years. Spinach and ricotta filo pile it says in my strangely neat handwriting. You make it in a springform cake tin and it looks very impressive. I usually stick a layer of something halfway through the spinach, otherwise it’s a bit unrelentingly spinachy. This time it was red and yellow peppers, chopped and fried, falling out like bright jewels when the pie was cut.

We hadn’t seen our friends M and AM so I texted them to see if they were free to come over on Sunday. M is a big meat-eater and not wild about spicy food, so setting a couple of veggie curried in front of him was a slightly tricky moment. He spurned one of the three we’d made (I say ‘we’ but I did no cooking myself at all on Sunday!) but had seconds of the others as he usually does. 

Monday is usually a leftover or storecupboard sort of day because Tuesday is shopping day. So baked potato with leftover curry or baked beans. No different from any other Monday leftover day.

We went out once and – suddenly remembering that I’m an at-home vegetarian only – I thought I ought to take the opportunity to eat some meat, so I had a BLT. I do like a bit of good bacon and it was tasty, but I wasn’t desperately craving it. In fact, two weeks in, we all agree that it doesn’t really feel like we’re eating any differently apart from being a bit more thoughtful about what we eat. I have felt hungry a couple of times when I didn’t expect to, but I think that’s about judging how much of a new recipe to make rather than because my stomach isn’t full of a solid meat meal.

Happy eating!

Here's the entire menu for Week 2.

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Claire Watts and her family are cooking vegetarian for a year. You can find out why - and why 'cooking vegetarian' doesn't always necessarily mean 'eating vegetarian' here.

Claire Watts writes and edits books for children.
She's currently working on making something beautiful with fairy tales.
Find out about her Snippets project and how you can help on her Patreon page.