A few things from my kitchen - oca tarts and artichokes

Have you had oca before? If you have, you're totally one step ahead of me.

First time I heard of it, a friend's mum told me they were growing some in their garden. "I've got lots of oca, I don't know what to do with it!" Okra? I said, like the green stuff? "No, it's definitely oca," she said. Not okra? I said. Definitely not okra? It went on like this for a while (think Who's On First, but with vegetables) but when I got home, I realised I was the dunce.

It wasn't okra she meant, it was oca - the Andean tuber.  (You have to imagine me nodding sagely, and tapping my nose at this point.) It's a fibrous, delightfully pinky-purple knobbly veg, that you can eat raw or cooked. Raw, it's a bit like a water chestnut, cooked, more like a more fibrous potato. It's mild in flavour, but very pleasing.

Here's what I did with the bunch I picked up - a little oca tart.

Under the layers of oca, there's some rosemary and red onions underneath, for more pinky purple goodness (and there was me saying I don't eat enough purple food). Also, obligatory cashew cheese on top. Because, you know, everything is better with cashew cheese.

Talking of cashew cheese - well, cashew queso - I thought I'd take a picture of this lunchbox that I made up from the leftovers of a Mexican bowl meal. Roasted chipotle pumpkin, black beans, lime and coriander rice, pepitas, and piquillo peppers. It was a good dinner - cooked for a friend who was down from Manchester for the night - and it made an even better lunch.

Actually, looking at that, I kind of want to eat it all over again.

From an elaborate dinner, to the simplest of lunches - some roasted brussel sprouts and jerusalem artichokes. I think this is the sort of thing that non-vegans think that vegans eat - just a bowl of plain veggies, filled with sadness and self-flagellation. 

There was no sadness and self-flagellation in this bowl of veggies - the tastiest veg of the season, cooked simply. It was oddly just what I was craving right then and it didn't disappoint in the slightest.

Having had to take some time away from cooking and blogging thanks to the terror of a new round of exams, it was such a relief to get back into the kitchen, even if it was just to turn on the oven and roast some veggies. Sometimes, simple cooking is just the balm an study battered brain needs.