I opened my freezer to put some ice cream inside and realized that I can’t because it’s packed with Al Wadi Al Akhdar frozen vegetables. I recently was offered the whole range of their products and worked on more than 60 recipes for the re-launch of their website. I’m lucky I know to work on such a quality and tasty brand, but here’s what I encountered: food jam in my freezer!

I wasn’t planning to cook dinner! I was up at 7am, went to the gym, got back with full energy and worked like a happy busy bee, thinking of finishing my day with a nice warm bath and watching TV series in bed. So I stared at my freezer wondering either I eat the entire ice cream and work out an additional hour the next morning (Nope!) or forget about watching TV and cook something easy using some of those veggies.

It didn’t really take me time to decide, I’ve immediately chosen 2 bags of artichokes bottoms, one bag of baby carrots and some frozen coriander. In my recipe here below, I recommend using fresh vegetables, but if you were like me looking for a simple recipe that can be ready in no time, frozen vegetables are always my choice after fresh, especially on busy evenings.

My mom cooks this yakhne – like we Lebanese call a stew– with meat cubes and no coriander in it. It is also delicious, but since I prefer vegetarian meals, this is my version with an extra squeeze of lemon juice just before removing from heat.

“The food was ready in 45 minutes and Serge enjoyed a homemade dinner when he arrived! It just really can’t get any better than this!”.

Ingredients:

• 500g frozen artichokes bottoms
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 cup of water
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic gloves, minced
• ½ cup fresh coriander, chopped
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp white pepper
• Juice of one little lemon

Preparation

1. In a bowl combine artichokes, potatoes and carrots. Dilute the flour in the water and pour in.
2. In a large pot, heat the oil and cook the onions, until golden.
3. Add the garlic and the coriander, stirring frequently.
4. Stir in the vegetables coated with flour. Season with salt and peppers. Cover with water and simmer on low heat until cooked well.
5. Drizzle with lemon juice and serve with short grain rice and Lebanese flat bread.