All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Strawberry, Mint, Elderflower and Gin Cocktail

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strawberry elderflower gin cocktail
There is a bit of an elderflower theme going on at the moment on here but I do like to make the most of something while it’s around. Having the elderflower syrup present in my kitchen means I am forever thinking up new ways of using it. I adore strawberries and mint and they are heavenly together so I felt like being brave, getting my muddler out and knocking up a summery cocktail. With all this glorious sunshine it would be rude not to.

Ingredients

You will need (for two long cocktails):

  • Around 150g strawberries
  • A few mint leaves
  • 100ml gin
  • 50ml elderflower syrup
  • Tonic or soda to top up

Method

Remove the green bits of your strawberries and put them into a large glass or jug with the mint leaves. Bash, bruise and beat the strawberries and mint together until well muddled. I thought it looked and smelled pretty good at this stage without anything else added. I was surprised how much juice came out of the strawberries.

Add the elderflower syrup and gin and mix together. Pour this into two tall glasses and top up with tonic or soda. Be careful when you top the glass up as when I topped up with tonic the slushy fruity bit started to froth out over the top. Slowly but surely was my friend for topping this up. Add a few fresh mint leaves and a strawberry to the glass if you’re feeling adventurous. read more

Elderflower Syrup

By 20 Comments

elderflower syrup
Last year I wanted to make some elderflower cordial but after a series of rainy days, lack of time and effort I didn’t get round to it. This year I wasn’t going to let it escape me but I wanted to make something a bit more punchy. Elderflower syrup seemed like a great idea to me but I had no idea where to start; then I remembered a beautiful violet syrup I had seen over on Karen’s blog Lavender and Lovage. The recipe seemed simple and straightforward so I donned my cycling attire (no Lycra thank you very much) and went off in search of elderflowers.

As you may be aware I love a good forage; you never know what you might find. One thing you will inevitably end up with on or in your foraged goods are little critters and bugs. I’m not sure if you can eat them but it’s probably best to try and remove them. You don’t want a sea of grimacing faces when you pour them out a little beetle. I find shaking your booty (don’t confuse with bootie)* outside to get most of them off works well. To be extra stringent I then give it all another shake and wobble in a sieve; I want the assurance that it is indeed a strawberry seed in the finished dish giving that unusual texture rather than an exoskeleton. read more

Hot Cucumbers with Wet Garlic and Chilli

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hot cucumbers with garlic and chilli
I don’t like to be rude but sometimes a cucumber can be a pain in the backside. What do you DO with it? Yes it’s very nice quartered and added to a salad; occasionally I go somewhat exotic and fork the edges of the cucumber before adding it, it’s terribly exciting. I have wanted to try a chilled cucumber soup and also thin slices with a little salt, sugar and sherry vinegar but every so often I find myself simply wanting to use the cucumber for jousting. You may wonder why, if I have so many qualms with the cucumber, I keep on finding them in my fridge. When you get a vegetable box delivered it is inevitable that you will end up with things you always prepare the same way. Not anymore, my culinary cucumber monotony needed to be broken.

Ingredients

You will need (for two as a side):

  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 wet garlic stalk
  • 2 red chillies
  • A few fresh chives
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Butter (or use olive oil to make it vegan)

Method

Peel the cucumber and then cut into sticks; I got 12 sticks from mine. Melt a big knob of butter in a pan on a medium heat and add the cucumber. While the cucumber softens slice the wet garlic thinly and then add this to the pan with the cucumber.

Keep stirring everything in the pan until the cucumber and garlic are starting to brown; the cucumber is surprisingly strong and doesn’t break down.

While you’re waiting slice the chillies and chop up the chives. For the final minute or so of cooking add a few of the chillies, the chives and some salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and serve with the remaining raw chillies. read more

Curried Squash Soup with Toasted Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

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Curried Squash Soup with Toasted Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
Squash to me is just something orange taking up precious room in my fridge. I have no desire to hack into it, scoop out the seeds and cut up the rest to make something I wish I hadn’t bothered putting the squash in to. I don’t hate them as such; I’d just rather not have anything to do with them. A squash is plain awkward and it knows it. It’s well aware I don’t want it there and it doesn’t want to be there. I’m sure it had grand visions of being made into a wonderful pie or part of a roasted vegetable medley but now it’s stuck with me and it’s going one of two ways; in the compost or in the dog.  Perhaps I am being unkind. I am the only person I know who doesn’t like it. People seem to love it but it’s the texture and flavour which sets me convulsing. However, due to the ever growing list of people who have a deep affection for squash I felt like I should give it one more try. One more attempt for it to win me over before I deemed it only suitable for composting or, in a mad moment of desperation, a secret Santa present.

You will need (for two big bowls):

  • 1 squash (I had an onion squash), chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 3 tsps curry powder
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 1 sachet concentrated coconut milk
  • Handful pumpkin seeds
  • ½ tsp each of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds and cardamom seeds
  • Oil for frying
  • Salt and pepper

Fry the onion in a little oil until starting to soften and then add the garlic. Fry for a minute more and then stir in the curry powder.

Keep frying for a few minutes to allow the spices to warm up and coat the onion.

Add the squash, give it all a final mix and then add the stock and coconut milk.

Leave the squash to soften for 20-30 minutes before blending. Check the seasoning and keep it warm until you’re ready to serve.

Take your spices, adding or removing any that you deem fit and add them to a dry frying pan with the pumpkin seeds. read more

Wet Garlic Pizza Bread and Tiger Tomato Salad

By 23 Comments

West Garlic
It’s a good job I’ve no aspirations to become a vampire. Garlic seems to divide opinion; you either can’t get enough of it or can’t stand it. I love it. There are of course many meals where it serves the purpose of adding to the background flavour rather than dominating the meal but a life without garlic, for me, would be a very miserable one indeed.

A few juicy stems of wet garlic arrived in my vegetable box. I knew they would be pretty powerful and pungent and it seemed only right to make garlic bread. However, garlic bread alone does not a meal make and fortunately I had some brilliant tiger tomatoes that I picked up from the farmers’ market. I’m not sure how clearly you can see the tomatoes but they are glorious; vibrant red flesh, green seeds and dark green striped skin.

You will need, a light lunch for two:

  • For the dough: 500g strong white flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 7g sachet yeast, 300ml warm water
  • 3 wet garlic bulbs
  • Small handful fresh parsley
  • Tomatoes, spme very ripe and tasty ones
  • 6-8 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • A few fresh basil leaves
  • Salt and pepper

Start by making the dough. I confess that since the acquisition of my food mixer, making bread dough is simple and carefree. Put all of the ingredients into the bowl, turn the dough hook on and come back 10 minutes later to perfectly kneaded dough. Lazy? Perhaps. Easy? Definitely. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover the top and leave until doubled in size; an hour or so. read more

Carrot and Orange Gazpacho

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carrots for gazpacho
Apart from the occasional carrot cake or carrot salad I rarely have opportunity to make the carrot the star of the show. Carrots tend to make an appearance in the vegetable box but this time, instead of stored carrots from last year I had the first spring carrots. Thin and still slightly muddy with great green fronds, these carrots couldn’t simply be added to a stew. I had never made a cold soup before; I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about it. Was it going to feel like a soup that had been left in the bowl too long or was it going to be more like a vegetable smoothie? What if there were all sorts of unwanted lumpy bits and it looked like wallpaper paste? There was much ooh-ing and aah-ing as I tried to work out how best to juice a carrot. It turns out all the deliberation was worth it, carrot gazpacho is in a soup league of its own. You will need (for two):

  • 500g carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 red pepper, chopped
  • 2 spring onions, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1/4 cucumber, peeled and chopped
  • Few sprigs coriander, chopped
  • 2-3 tbsp orange juice
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • white wine vinegar
  • salt and pepper
    • read more

    Kohlrabi and Carrot Salad with Broccoli Stir Fry

    By 19 Comments

    Kohlrabi, carrots and broccoli
    I get a seasonal vegetable box delivered. I like it because it forces me to try new vegetables and recipes to make the most out of what I have. I shouldn’t admit it but I’m going to: there are some vegetables I could live without. It’s terrible I know but I could happily frolic through life without missing celery or leeks. There are also some vegetables that I adore for a short time but when they turn up in my fridge over and over again I’m tempted to put them on the compost. There’s only so much cabbage a person can eat without genuine fear of becoming a brassica. This recipe was devised because of the cornucopia of vegetables residing in the fridge. You know it’s time to use up as many as possible when you can no longer close the door. 

    Kohlrabi was the most intriguing vegetable of the lot; it looks a bit like an octopus. Dinner was to be designed around a loving partnership of kohlrabi and carrot.  Toasting sesame seeds is one of my favourite smells.

    For two people:

    For the carrot and kohlrabi salad:

    • a quarter of a kohlrabi, peeled and julienned
    • three small carrots, peeled and julienned
    • 1 tbsp sesame oil
    • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
    • 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
    • black pepper  
    • 2 tbsp of toasted black sesame seeds

    For the broccoli stir fry:

    • Handful purple sprouting broccoli, woody ends removed and chopped
    • 1 large red onion, sliced
    • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
    • 1 sachet miso soup
    • 1 tbsp soy sauce
    • 1tbsp sweet chilli sauce
    • Oil for frying
    • 2 noodle nests

    I always remove the ends of the purple sprouting broccoli as I can find them to be a bit woody. You could leave the broccoli stalks in their entirety but they might be a tad tricky to consume gracefully at the table. read more

    Golden Beetroot Soup

    By 13 Comments

    Golden beetroots
    The beetroot is a vegetable of many guises. I have been fortunate enough to obtain, consume and even grow some of the purple, the pink and white striped and the golden. There’s nothing quite like a beetroot; so earthy and yet so sweet. Growing beetroot has been, in my experience, immeasurably easy. I think it helped that I slightly cheated and bought plug plants rather than seeds but irrespective of this they were all a success. If you were to grow just one thing, broad beans or beetroot would be my recommendation to you. It’s only January so there’s plenty of time to get some dirt under those fingernails.

    Beetroot soup has always had a whiff of borscht about it and I’m not one for cold soup. Not even the most delicate of gazpacho can tempt me to more than a few spoonfuls. I wanted a warming, hearty soup but I did not want to redecorate the kitchen in varying shades of fuchsia while trying to achieve this. Purple beetroot is a glorious colour but there’s always varying degrees of risk when cooking with it. Every person, pet and piece of kitchen equipment is playing beetroot roulette. 
    There’s not much point in wasting the striped beetroot in a soup either. Rumour has it that instead of being the baby pink you envisaged it goes more of an off-grey. The only other off-grey thing I can think of is gruel. Nobody wants to eat gruel. By happy chance there is another shade of beetroot that can save all this heartache. A beetroot that results in soup that looks like a bowl of sunshine. Not only does the golden beetroot look happy, it makes you happy because there’s much less messing around. read more

    Purple Cabbage Soup

    By 15 Comments

    Cooked cabbage and a wet flannel have an unfortunate amount of textures in common. Particularly if, like me, you were put off cabbage at school where it was boiled to what can only be described as wallpaper paste. Things have moved on since then and I wanted to give the cabbage a chance. I’ve baked it, boiled it, steamed it and fried it. Apart from frying, none of these yielded any spectacular, life changing results. Nevertheless I wasn’t about to give up on them; they are pretty much the only thing in season right now so I have no choice. If I have learnt anything about the cabbage it is that determination is key. read more

    Aubergine Curry

    By 10 Comments

    Spice mix for curry
    Every time I have attempted to make a curry I have always been disappointed. I had almost given up when I got a craving for aubergines and a desire for spice. This turned out to be a subtle and fragrant aubergine curry rather than a powerful and punchy dish. At the market there is a kind man who sells all the spices you could ever need. I purchased what I knew; coriander, cardamom, cumin, mustard and turmeric. I have since been back and purchased an awful lot more. I’m a bit of an onion fiend. If I had my way and the smell was tolerable for everyone else I’d happily munch through one like an apple. However as this might be considered unusual I try to cram as many onions into my food as possible. Some recipes call for a can of tomatoes but I wanted more texture and decided to use both fresh and tinned. Sometimes tomato seeds can add a nice bit of acidity to a meal but some meals are better without them. I used to read recipes that said to remove the seeds from the tomatoes and it filled me with dread. I persevered and having now mastered tomato seed removal I have to say it can be done in no time at all. Don’t get all caught up in appearance is my advice and forget any equipment, your hands are the best tools for the job.

    Ingredients

    You will need (for five to six large portions):

    • 1/2 a teaspoon each of cardamom, mustard seeds, cumin and turmeric
    • 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds 
    • salt and pepper 
    • 2 large aubergines, in roughly chopped
    • 4 onions, sliced
    • 4 large garlic cloves
    • Oil for frying
    • 4 tomatoes, seeds removed and quartered
    • 1 tin tomatoes
    • 2 chillies, sliced (add more or less depending on how hot you like it)
    • 1 tin coconut milk
    • 300ml vegetable stock
    • Large handful coriander, roughly chopped

    Method

    Add all the spices and salt and pepper to a pestle and mortar and grind them up. The smell is so fresh.

    I have a real aversion to soggy, slimy, sloppy aubergines and so to prevent my distress I always cook them separately first. In this case I griddled them to give them a characteristic smoky flavour. Don’t add oil to the aubergine, I find the oil soaks in too much. I have found that for some recipes soaking the aubergines in salt is absolutely necessary but in this recipe, not so much. 

    Sweat the onion and garlic in a little oil until they look fairly sumptuous and then add the spices. Stir until your nostrils are dancing. read more


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