#readcookeat recipe : Roasted root veg curry (The Blackbird Singularity)

I read so many books over the summer that I could do a whole week of #readcookeat menu planning if I wanted ! I've bookmarked the recipes and will work my way through them according to what's in season and what we feel like like eating. This foodie mention, from The Blackbird Singularity by Matt Wilven (click through to read my review), sounded perfect for welcoming in the autumn.

The book describes the complicated transition that Vince goes through as he weans himself off the lithium that he was prescribed when he was unable to cope with the grief of losing his young son to cancer. He's trying to butter up his wife, who has just discovered that she is pregnant again, and who will think that this unilateral decision to stop taking medication is a bad idea, by cooking her dinner :

p21 I take my time making dinner to give Lyd some space. I cook an onion paste and a curry paste. I roast lots of sweet root vegetables in olive oil and seasoning. I mix them all together and add lots of tomatoes and cream. Then it's just a matter of waiting for it all to simmer down whilst I put the rice on.

Unlike Vince, I wasn't trying to butter anybody up so, in the interests of clearing out my kitchen cupboard (and, I will admit it, sheer laziness !), I decided to use a pouch of Rogan Josh Curry Paste from a recent Degustabox and a jar of garlic paste, rather than making my own from scratch. I rummaged around for some root vegetables and came up with potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, mushrooms (not root vegetables but they were going slightly slimy in the bottom of the fridge !) and celeriac. I'd never used celeriac before, but Madhouse Daddy bought it by mistake in place of celery and it's actually very nice roasted.

Roasted root veg curry

ingredients :

2 potatoes

2 carrots

1 large onion

1/2 a sweet potato

1 celeriac bulb

3 mushrooms

a drizzle of olive oil

salt, pepper

a pouch of rogan josh curry paste

1tbsp garlic puree

20cl crème fraîche

a tin of chopped tomatoes

a sprinkle of black onion seeds

Peel and chop the vegetables into equal-sized chunks. Put them in a roasting tin.

Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put in the oven for 40 minutes at 180°.

Transfer to a large saucepan and add the garlic puree and curry paste, stirring over a medium heat.

Pour in the chopped tomatoes. 

Then add the cream. Stir it through the vegetables, over a low heat, until the sauce has reduced to a thick, creamy texture. Sprinkle over some black onion seeds just before serving, with or without rice. A naan bread would be lovely for mopping up the creamy sauce too.

Fancy cooking the books? Link up with the #readcookeat challenge over at Chez Maximka

Also adding to the #KitchenClearout linky because it used up one of several pouches of curry sauce that were in the cupboard, as well as some mushrooms that were on their time.