France, St Malo, Beaches and day 5…

So where did we go for tea… I honestly couldn’t tell you if I wanted to, and I don’t, because I think that you can eat pretty much anywhere in Honfluer. So long as you are happy with salads, pasta and breads. Check out the menus before you sit down, usually a waiter makes a bee-line for you the minute your spotted so you can ask them about your options too. It was along the harbour with restaurants all along the street and we sat outside so our lovely chan (yes I’m speaking the lingo ;p – dog) could join the fun too.

I had a vegetable pasta and a green salad, make sure you avoid my mistake though and either ask for no dressing or specify what dressing you want, mine might have been a simple mustard dressing or not, who knows.  We avoided alcoholic drinks at this meal to try and keep down costs low and bought some bottles from the local shops to drink on the harbour wall later instead.

Since then I’ve been munching on far too much bread – I’ve vowed to cut down but who knows, lots of fruit, (any fruit seems to be absolutely delicious here, cherries, melons, apricots, plums galore). I’ve also in my bid to avoid bread discovered lettuce leaf wraps, wraps made from a few lettuce leaves instead of a ‘wrap’, it’s great. Bring or buy dried chick peas to make hummus, it’s worth it.

There’s been a few smoothies made out of the last of the fruit, melon and ginger is an awesome combination, and one trip to an Inter-marche – which had a shelf full of ‘Bio’ foods, many of which are vegan. =) We got a big carton of what might have been soup or might have been stock, but for a simple lunch was lovely.

St Malo is a terrible place to visit in a high topped vehicle (ours isn;t overly high just normal builder-van sized), there is in short no parking at all, even though it looked pretty we gave up and moved on to a beach instead.

Beaches- that’s mostly what I’ve been doing instead of cooking or writing here. The sea is the most calming and beautiful thing in the world, wherever it is. Sand gets on everything just give up and eat crunchy food. =)

(Here’s a picture of the inside of our house-van.)

Tomato and Bean Pasta Bake

It’s a long list of ingredients but it’s also deliciously good for you, filling, easy to make large amounts of and pretty to look at too. Great cold the next day!

Ingredients;

Base;

• 4 handfuls Pasta
• 1 carton Tomato pasta
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 6 plum tomatoes
• 6 sun dried tomatoes
• 1 courgette
• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 red pepper
• 1 tin pre-cooked/ tinned red kidney beans
• 1 tin pre-cooked/ tinned butter beans
• 1 tin sweetcorn
• 1 tsp Marmite
• 1 tbsp dried herbs
• 1 tbsp ground chilli

Crumb Topping;

• 2 tbsp ground flack seed
• 1 handful mixed seeds
• 1 handful mixed chopped nuts
• 1 slice bread – crumbed

Creamy Sauce;

• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1 tbsp swiss vegetable bouillon (stock)
• 1 to 2 cups vegan milk
• 100g vegan butter
• 100g vegan flour

1. Boil the pasta to al-dante. Drain, mix in a small piece of butter and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, chop the onion, courgette, pepper into bite size chunks, slice the garlic, half the tomatoes and slice the sun-dried tomatoes.

3. Fry the onions and courgette, when the onion is beginning to look see-through add the garlic and pepper. Stir frequently.

4. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, Marmite, dried herbs and chilli.

5. Finally when beginning to boil add the beans and set aside.

6. Put the ground flack seed, nuts, seeds and bread crumbs in a bowl and mix, set aside.

7. In a saucepan gently melt the butter.

8. Add the flour and stir until thoroughly combined.

9. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring. Add the mustard and stock. Set aside.

10. Mix the pasta and sauce together. Pour into a big casserole dish.

11. Pour over the creamy sauce.

12.Sprinkle on the crumb topping.

13. Oven cook for about 20 minutes at 180 until the topping is golden and inside bubbles.

 

Served with garlic bread and plain rocket salad.