Foodie Friday - Quorn Fillets In A Chunky Mediterranean Vegetable Sauce

Hey Guys x Welcome to the return of Foodie Friday x I had a bit of a break after Christmas where I got well and truly foodied out but I'm back now with a yummy vegetarian recipe. I'm not that great at naming recipes and whilst I'm not convinced that this one is entirely accurate, the olives and the aniseed flavour of the fennel seeds do give it a Mediterranean holiday feel.

Quorn Fillets In A Chunky Mediterranean Vegetable Sauce

4 x Plain Quorn Fillets

A Few Squirts Of Fry Light 

Or

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 Cloves Garlic - Crushed

2 Red Or White Onions

1 Red Or Yellow Pepper

150g Button Mushrooms

Handful Black Olives

1 Teaspoon Fennel Seeds

Or 

A Dash Of Pernod / Ouzo Or Any Other Aniseed Liqueur

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

Salt And Black Pepper To Taste

1. Remove Your Quorn Fillets From The Freezer.There isn't any need to defrost them as they do cook from frozen but this just makes it easy to separate them. 

2. Add your oil or Fry Light into a large saute pan and add the crushed garlic. Chop your onions into half moons and add them to the pan and cook for a few minutes. I'm using red onions here which usually take a little bit longer to cook.

3. If your using fennel seeds crush them in a pestle and mortar, or you can always put them into a freezer bag and hit them with a hammer or a tin can ;) They don't have to be really fine you just want to break them up enough to release the flavours. 

4. Chop your pepper into thin strips, and add the chopped pepper  and the fennel seeds, or the aniseed liqueur to the pan, add a tiny little bit of water and cook for about 5 minutes.

5. Then slice the mushrooms and halve the olives and add them to the pan. I love black olives in this dish for the colour and the flavour but you can use whatever you like or whatever you have Here I'm using a combination of black and green olives. Cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes till the mushrooms start to soften.

6. Add a full can of chopped tomatoes to the pan, and about half a can full of water.

7. Stir it together and then add the Quorn fillets.  As they cook they will take on all the fabulous vegetable and aniseed flavours.

Give the pan a bit of a stir to make sure the fillets are covered in sauce and cook for at least 30 minutes, till as much of the liquid is absorbed as possible.

8. I have to say mine took around an hour to get to this stage, The Quorn fillets are cooked through, the sauce and the vegetables have reduced down and darkened, 

I'm serving mine here with roasted sweet potato but you could serve this with rice, pasta or even a baked potato.

For such a simple dish it has great flavour, the reduction of the vegetables almost intensifies their flavour, the fennel seeds give the dish an amazing flavour and aroma, and the Quorn fillets take on all of the flavours.  I know olives and fennel seeds aren't to everyone's taste but I do think they make this dish. If you wanted to leave them out you could always  replace them with a bit of chilli or even with some Italian herbs. If you don't want to use the Quorn fillets you could use, meat or vegetarian sausages and of course you could also use chicken breasts.

This recipe was initially a bit of an experiment for me using a few leftovers but it's rapidly became a real favourite, that uses simple ingredients and requires very little effort. I'd love to know if you try this so let me know if you do xx