All That I'm Eating

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

Candy Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Tart

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candy beetroot - inside
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

Onion Squash and Blue Cheese Risotto

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What is it about a squash that makes you warm from the inside out as you enjoy its beautiful sweet flesh. It could be the bright orange colour, a welcome sight amidst all the greens and browns of autumn. It could be the way it goes with pretty much everything: it can be soup, stew, curry, pudding; the list is endless, although I’ve not heard of anyone making squash gin or squash vodka. I had heard that the onion squash was the nicest of all the squashes as it has the most flavour. For me I think it is the sweetest and brightest of the lot. read more

Delicate Carrot Soup

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homegrown carrots

Sometimes carrots can be taken for granted. The base of a soup or stew, added to stock or shoved on the side of the plate. What a shame. They are such glorious things in their own right and there is no carrot sweeter than a home grown carrot. I planted these little beauties a few months back expecting them to be riddled with carrot fly and a complete disaster. The results have been quite the opposite. I am now inundated.

Before you ask, the one second from right is not a parsnip, it is a white carrot. The two on each end are orange and the other is a yellow carrot. I didn’t know what a rainbow I had underground until I pulled them up.
Whether you’re using home grown or bought carrots, a lovely subtle carrot soup has to be the way to go. Carrot soup is one of my favourite soups but the carrots can sometimes be overshadowed with what they are paired with. Sometimes coriander can be a little too much or the orange overwhelms the humble sweet carrot flavours. Not this time though. read more

Purple Cauliflower Cheese

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When you have a cauliflower and you add a little cheese you can’t fail to make something unfathomably gorgeous. There is no other place I know of that you can get a purple cauliflower apart from my local farmers’ market. If you saw it at a glance you may have to do a double take to reassure yourself that it is real. 

I think the cauliflower is a very lucky vegetable. It’s no looker but I’m yet to meet someone who doesn’t think the union of cauliflower and cheese is glorious. Being purple as opposed to its equally delicious, much paler, white cousin adds something extra to what might otherwise have been a beige overload on the side of the plate.  read more

Mini Bubble and Squeak

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Cabbage for bubble and squeak
As one of those people who would rather sit down and pick at fifteen different dishes instead of a complete meal a BBQ is perfect for me. I wish I had the energy to create authentic Tapas on a regular basis but until then I am finding all sorts of little things to throw into the standard BBQ line up.  Potatoes will always crop up in some form or other at a BBQ. Chips, baked, in salads, boiled and any other form you can find. I wanted something that hit the potato spot but that was also a little different; mini bubble and squeak. As usual, this dish is made from ingredients I get from my local farmers’ market. I call these mini bubble and squeak but call them potato cakes or what you will. They have potato, a hint of onion, a bit of earthy cabbage with a golden, crispy, salty outside and delicate white fluffy middle…what more could you want?

Ingredients

You will need (for 6-8 small potato cakes):
  • 500g potatoes
  • Small bunch spring onions
  • Handful spring cabbage
  • Small handful chives
  • Salt and pepper
  • Butter for frying

Method

Start by peeling and then boiling the potatoes until soft. Drain the potatoes and leave them to cool. While they cool, chop the spring onions, cabbage (as much or as little as you like) and chives. I like to put the chive flowers in too if not just for the colour. Mash the potato, mix in all the other ingredients and season. Take small handfuls of the mixture, form into balls and then squash to make them flatter. 

Heat some butter in a pan until foaming. If you want the outside golden and with the slight saltiness you must use butter, it’s just not the same with oil. I do add a little oil to stop the butter burning but not much. These little cakes like to soak the butter up so have some spare to dot around the pan. Place the cakes in the pan, you may have to do more than one batch, and wait until they are golden until you turn them over. Turn them too early and you might end up with a right mess. 

They are done when they are golden brown enough for you. Keep the heat low/medium as you don’t want any burning before browning. A treat for a BBQ but great with anything else too.   

All That I’m Eating  read more

Classic Asparagus and Hollandaise Sauce

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I had been waiting and waiting until the asparagus turned up at the Farmers’ Market and last weekend it finally did. I had heard whispers and rumours that this fine vegetable had pushed its purple head through the soil but didn’t want to get my hopes up until I saw it with my own eyes. read more

Aubergine Curry

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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

Celeriac, Leek and Apple soup

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A new year and many resolutions to break. I decided to start with good intentions however with a fresh, earthy and filling soup.
It had three main ingredients; celeriac, leek and apple. To be frank and somewhat rude, the celeriac is not a looker. If you’ve been through life without the celeriac, please overlook its brutal looks in favour of its wonderful flavour. My apple was half a Russet and half a Kentish somethingorother and rather strikingly large. My leeks were still covered in mud and had a little frost still left from picking in the green ends.
The Farmers’ Market can offer these things in a way that nothing else can. It is for vegetables like this and a hundred other reasons why I love it so much. read more

Purple Carrot Soup

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ingredients for purple carrot soup
Wandering around a market with cash and a cornucopia of fruit and vegetables it’s hard to resist buying. I made a most excellent choice as far as I’m concerned and parted with my pennies in exchange for a majestic purple carrot. For something that I find as rarely as this I wanted to make the most of it without detracting from the magnificent root itself. Carrot soup was to be lunch.

Ingredients

What you will need (for two bowls):

  • 2 large carrots (2 purple if you can get them)
  • Butter
  • Chicken or vegetable stock 400ml
  • Garlic clove
  • Coriander seeds 1tsp
  • Fresh coriander
  • Creme fraiche
  • Seasoning

Method

If you ever manage to get hold of these little beauties, my advice would be to never boil them. Not only does it turn everything else a strange browny purple colour it also takes all the colour out of the carrots.

As I only had change for the one purple carrot I added an orange one too. For the soup, fry the carrots and garlic in a nice hearty sized knob of butter. Put the lid on them and let them soften.

While they do this, dry fry a teaspoon of coriander seeds until they jump around the frying pan and are good and toasted. read more

Pea and Lettuce Soup – a farewell to Summer

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I just spent the last week in Dorset. It had me positively wanting to don my walking boots, breathe the fresh air – slightly tainted by manure – and whistle Greig’s Morgenstimmung all day long. Fortunately, my dignity stayed in tact. I was also hampered by the fact I don’t own walking boots and will only walk if there is the promise of food and drink at the other end.
They are so proud of their food down there and Dorset cheeses were offered everywhere I went. They are most excellent. As an homage to Summer, on an almost scorching September day a soup was needed. I found the following things around and about: read more

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