Vegetables Archives - Page 20 of 24

Jerusalem Artichoke Gratin, Buttered Spring Greens and Sausages

March 3, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 19 Comments

The daffodils are out which means Spring has sprung. Now is the time you might be considering giving your home a Spring clean. Coincidentally, Jerusalem artichokes are in supply at the moment and can assist with your Spring cleaning; that is, if you are also planning to clean your…for want of a better word…insides. Jerusalem artichokes will never win most attractive vegetable of the year but for what they lack in manners and appearance they more than make up for in taste.

The sausages I had for this were some lovely, local chipolatas from a fantastic butcher. My butcher not only knows everything there is to know about meat, he knows a fair few things about vegetables. I heeded his advice about cooking the spring greens and they turned out brilliantly – see below.

Jerusalem artichokes aren’t very big and to make the most of them I needed a helping hand from the potato. In total you need 450g finely sliced and peeled artichokes and potatoes. You don’t have to peel the artichokes if you give them a good scrub but I did. They have a tendency to go brown very quickly once peeled so speed is of the essence here.
Layer the finely sliced potatoes and artichokes in a baking dish, seasoning between each layer. Mix together 120ml cream and 180ml milk and pour this over. Place in an oven at 170C for an hour and twenty minutes. read more

Spring Green and Bacon Potato Cakes with Cheddar and Chive Sauce

February 27, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 23 Comments

Spring greens offer so much in their name. They suggest that either spring is here or is just around the corner, they have disguised their cabbage relations with their seasonal pseudonym. I happen to think that spring greens also deliver a lot. They look shrivelled and unwelcoming with their leaves closed to the outside world but once you start to snap them off and slice them up they are wonderfully versatile. As a relation to the cabbage, spring greens lend themselves particularly well to a pairing with bacon. Spring greens and bacon are a delectable combination but don’t make for much of a meal on their own. However, when mixed into some mashed potato and smothered in a rich cheese and chive sauce, what a meal it makes.

For the potato cakes:
600g potatoes (Maris Piper are ideal)	£0.54
Milk and butter (for the mash)	£0.20
6 rashers smoked, streaky bacon	£1.50
4-5 big leaves savoy cabbage (or Spring greens)	£0.20
Salt and pepper	£0.02

For the cheese sauce:
25g butter	£0.15
25g plain flour	£0.02
300ml milk	£0.10
75g strong cheddar cheese	£0.85
Small handful fresh chopped chives	£0.40


Total	£3.98

First and foremost make some mashed potato. Maris Pipers I found to be particularly good; they are fluffy enough to make mash like a cloud and yet waxy enough to hold the greens and bacon in. Mash your potatoes as you see fit; add milk, butter, cream and anything you fancy but don’t forget the salt and pepper. While the potatoes are boiling away, slice some bacon and fry in a pan. Snap the leaves of the spring greens off and shred it finely. Add to the bacon and carry on frying until lovely and golden. For two people I used four rashers of bacon and five large spring green leaves. read more

Classic French Onion Soup

February 23, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 19 Comments

For some reason I have a bit of a thing for French food. It’s the food that never fails to put a smile on my face; partly because of the flavours but also because it’s a great excuse to showcase local, British ingredients in different ways. It’s a funny time of year, I feel it’s almost time to crack out a salad but at the same time I still want comfort and warmth. What better than the absolute classic French onion soup?

There’s nothing quite like it, it wraps you up from the inside out but at the same time remains quite clean and almost guilt free. Considering it’s basically boiled onions in beef stock, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, it delivers on so many levels. There’s sweetness, depth and texture with every mouthful. There are so many different ways of making French onion soup/onion soup and after looking at several versions I was able to ascertain the most important ingredients are: onions, beef stock, alcohol and Gruyère. I went into soup making with full gusto. read more

Boeuf Bourguignon with Dauphinoise and Purple Sprouting Broccoli

February 9, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 12 Comments

Beautiful, traditional and French; a perfect meal for Valentine’s Day. This one’s a winner because the bottle of wine you need for the boeuf bourguignon you can then drink with the meal or yourself during the preparation as a reward for all your hard work. Being a slow cooking dish means once it’s on the go you don’t need to worry about it and you can get on with other things. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also incredible and actually quite cheap.

Preparing the meat can be as difficult or easy as you like. Valentine’s Day brings out our flirtatious side and, not that I would advocate it of course, projecting a little of this new found eyelash fluttering on your butcher may result in your chosen cut being prepared for you. I’m not sure it would work with your greengrocer though. I used brisket for mine which needed a fair bit of trimming and preparing but I quite like doing that. read more

Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Risotto

February 7, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 21 Comments

This is the first of a three part post for Valentine’s Day. It’s designed to be seasonal, sumptuous, divine and stress free. The quantities are meant for two. The dessert is one that can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge; the main is meant for long cooking so you have ample time to make the simple starter. All this spare time means you’re not rushing around desperately trying find that Barry White CD at the last minute. After all, it’s your Valentine’s dinner too. read more

Golden Beetroot Soup

January 20, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 13 Comments

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

January 13, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 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

Game and Root Vegetable Stew

December 29, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 10 Comments

Game is a difficult food. It’s hard to convince people to try it when they are absolutely determined they hate it, if you’ve never handled it before it can be intimidating to try and skin a rabbit and despite your best efforts sometimes you wonder why you bothered buying venison when you might as well have bought beef. Regardless of all or any of these, game is tremendously delicious.

I don’t tend to have ‘healthy’ recipes on here, nor do I discuss the fibrous merits of the many vegetables I feature but game is a treat without that feeling of guilt. I heard tell that venison contains less fat than a chicken breast without skin. Marvellous news. Venison is obviously trumping the chicken right about now but not only is it pretty much making you lose weight, it is local and seasonal. This game stew makes the most of all game available at this time of the year and some wonderful seasonal vegetables. read more

Candy Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Tart

December 18, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 13 Comments

It’s almost Christmas and that means indulgence and overeating. A candy beetroot and goat’s cheese tart is the perfect thing to have as a light meal amidst all the festive frivolities. Candy beetroot can’t fail to be eye-catching; pink and white circles which look like a humbug. Beetroot are fantastic at this time of year adding colour to an otherwise mostly green and white season. Whichever beetroot you have it is excellent with goat’s cheese and particularly delicious with caramelised onions.

Start by roasting the beetroot, boiling the beetroot will result in it turning pink and not retaining its wonderful stripes. Drizzle over a little oil before roasting and roast for an hour at 180C to 200C. While the beetroot roasts, caramelise the onions. Slice an onion and put into a pan over a low heat with a little butter. Leave to cook slowly for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Taste after 20 minutes to see if they need a little sugar or vinegar and season. While all this is taking place, prepare your pastry. For my rich shortcrust pastry recipe click here. read more

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts

December 9, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 14 Comments

The poor sprout. I don’t know of another vegetable that has to put up with as much ridicule. People turning their noses up at even the slightest mention of this poor brassica must be hard to deal with if you’re a sprout. Chances are those that turn up their noses have only tried them boiled to within an inch of their life. There’s much more to a sprout than as a soggy green mess at the side of the plate. There is a rumour that sprouts can cause side effects of the flatulent sort. This rumour is also rife for baked beans but it doesn’t seem to put people off. read more