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| Recipe of the week... ... Roasted Spring Veg Salad. |
Ingredients: 1 baking potato (or a handful of baby potatoes),
80g pack of tenderstem broccoli, 110g pack of asparagus, half a dozen cubes of
feta cheese, a drizzle of cooking oil, a drizzle of your favourite salad
dressing, and salt and pepper.
Time taken: 40 mins-ish.
Serves: One big plateful.
Evening readers,
As I write, it’s May 2017, and it’s the day after the attack
on the MEN Arena in Manchester. So far, 22 people have died and over 50 are
injured, as a result of the attack. We’re beginning to learn the names and hear
the stories of those who have lost their lives. In the words of Chris Upton,
head teacher at a school attended by an eight year old victim, "The
thought that anyone could go out to a concert and not come home is
heartbreaking.”
In November 2015, at the time when the attack on the
Bataclan in Paris occurred, I had been merrily drinking in a bar. I found out
the next morning and, as it was the weekend, I took my time the next day to
contemplate the lives of those that had been lost. And the events of their
deaths. I cried at my leisure, in private, and I lit a candle and watched the
flame flicker. It felt as though everyone in the country as doing the same.
With last night’s attack on the MEN Arena in Manchester,
again, I didn’t find out until the next morning. I went to bed early last night
and was sleeping by the time news broke. When I woke up this morning and saw
the alert on my phone, I was so terribly sad. And moved. Suddenly wide awake,
reading in the news that so many people at that concert wouldn’t be waking up
today. And yet it was a weekday. So, I had to be out the door within 30 minutes,
and on a train half an hour later.
The attack has been sharing my thoughts all day, vying for
attention alongside commute-related and work-related thinking. I’ve been tearful
throughout the morning and then the afternoon, distracted, and checking for
updates on the story. But it’s a strange thing to be busy and to be moved at
the same time. You’re publically not-at-all-okay. This event isn’t something
you can miss work for, as you aren’t involved in any way, but you feel
involved.
Readers, I’m 22 years old. When 9/11 happened I was just
seven, and when we had the London 7/7 attack I was eleven. On both occasions, I
was at school at the time. I was among friends and being looked after by
adults. I don’t remember the Cold War or the Balkan Wars or the IRA. The fall
of the Berlin Wall or the Hillsborough disaster. I haven’t experienced these
things, haven’t become used to them, and just feel terribly sad for everyone affected
or killed during the attack in Manchester last night.
I love going to gigs and concerts and hate that anyone can
lose their life at one. Senseless isn’t a word that I really use, but it seems
right here. As the attack last night makes no sense to me. I think I will remember
the feeling and the people from my commute this morning. People checking their
phones for updates as they walked towards the station, gazing out at the world
from the windows on the train, wiping away tears in the bus terminal.
My thoughts were and are still with anyone caught up in the
events of last night. It’s a terrible thing to have happened, and I wish it
hadn’t. Certainly, it’s moved me. And I hoped that it’s moved the people that
could do something about terror attacks, so that this might not have to happen
again in the future. In the meanwhile, I suppose we carry on. We try to do
right. And try to help one another, like the people in Manchester did last
night.
In the spirit of carrying on, and maybe hoping to lifting
your spirits, I do have a recipe for you, readers. Perhaps this will give you
something to take your mind off the events of last night, for a small while.
This recipe is for a really simple, light evening meal. This requires only five
ingredients and pays you back with 2 of your 5-a-day. I found it in Tesco’s May
2017 edition of their free magazine (entitled ‘The Healthy Issue’), on page 66,
a recipe for Roasted Spring Veg Salad.
Want to give this a go? Here’s how it’s done in just ten
simple steps…
Recipe: Roasted Spring Veg Salad
1.
Shake away your cares, crack open a window and
heat the oven to 200C.
2.
Cut your potato up in bite-sized chunks and tip
them into a baking dish.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: I used up a baking potato I had lingering in my cupboard, but I imagine
you can use any kind of potato you like. How could this go wrong?
3.
Drizzle with cooking oil and then stir about the
dish until evenly coated.
4.
Season with salt and pepper, then safely
transport your potato into the oven to bake for quarter of an hour.
5.
After 15 mins, safely take the potatoes out of
the oven and add your broccoli and asparagus to the dish.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: I just chucked them in as they were, without chopping them up or prepping
in any way. But, do whatever make you happy.
6.
Drizzle a little more oil in there, and stir all
the veg until they’re well mixed together and evenly coated in oil.
7.
Crumble a small handful of feta cheese over the
veg.
8.
Return to the oven and leave to bake for another
quarter of an hour.
9.
When the veg and cheese have all browned, and
look as though they’re good and cooked, then you can remove them from oven and
turn this off.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: At this point, you may want to drain away any cooking oil left in the
bottom of the dish, so that it doesn’t make it onto your plate.
10. Spoon
everything out onto a dinner plate and drizzle with a splash of your favourite
salad dressing (I used a balsamic vinaigrette). Now... tuck in!
And there you have it, readers. What do you think? Is this salad
tasty, or what? And healthy, too! This is a dish that’s all about great big flavours,
you’re making use of seasonal British vegetables, it looks fab on the plate and
it fills you up… would anyone beg to differ? I’m a fan of this recipe, readers,
and hope that it goes down a storm with you, too. Maybe give this a try, while
we still have Spring to enjoy?
Mostly, readers, I hope that you’re okay. I hope you can
reflect on the events of last night, as I am, but still feel the sun on your
face today. Still attend concerts. Still remember all those things that are
good in the world, and newly appreciate those people you hold dear.
In memory of those who lost their lives last night,
Hayley
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