recipe Archives - Page 30 of 35 - All That I'm Eating

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

Honey Roasted Persimmons

January 4, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 14 Comments

There are so many vegetables around at the moment and fruit is a little thin on the ground. To save me turning into a cabbage I felt I needed something other than a clementine to lift me out of my Savoy stupor. Persimmons (or Sharon Fruit) were something that I had never tried; for some reason they were forever unobtainable. I did manage to get hold of them eventually and was then thoroughly perplexed as to what to do with them.

My dilemma was ended when I asked Twitter how to deal with the situation. Roasting them in honey was my favourite suggestion and so I went about constructing honey roasted persimmons. I was very excited.
I had three persimmons to deal with and not a clue where to begin. The leaves didn’t look particularly appealing so off they came with a little persuasion. Slicing them in half also seemed like a solid start. It was sort of apple meets peach but they smelled of nothing in particular. 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

Onion Squash and Blue Cheese Risotto

November 16, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 18 Comments

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

November 5, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 10 Comments

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

Caramelised Apples

October 15, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 21 Comments

Apples are everywhere at the moment. They are falling out of trays at the market, falling off the trees along the road and falling onto my plate at any given opportunity. As much as I enjoy an apple on its own, it has to be a good one mind, sometimes you can have too many to know what to do with. Apple cakes, crumbles, pies and flapjacks are all lovely but I wanted to enjoy some apples at their very best and not shrouded by too many other flavours. read more

Vegetable Patch Recipes

October 9, 2011 By All That I'm Eating 15 Comments

Recently it has become apparent that most of the meals I eat are vegetable orientated. There are two reasons for this; firstly I have a cornucopia of vegetables in my garden at present and each one needs celebrating in its own way and secondly meat is so expensive.

I can go into Sainsbury’s and pick up four chicken breasts for £6. Not the extra special ones, not the organic ones, just the standard ones. My alternative is to go to the farmer’s market and pick up two whole chickens for £10. These are free range chickens and I would still get four chicken breasts but I would also get four drumsticks, four wings, four thighs and two carcasses for making beautiful stock with. It’s a no brainer really. read more