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Cook up some tasty, healthy and organic recipes
If you've managed to get your hands on some lovely seasonable vegetables, or if you're growing your own, it can sometimes be tricky to come up with tasty ways to use them.
If you've managed to get your hands on some lovely seasonable vegetables, or if you're growing your own, it can sometimes be tricky to come up with tasty ways to use them.So, courtesy of Riverford Organic Vegetables at Sacrewell Farm (www.riverfordsacrewell.co.uk), here are some mouth-watering recipes, using produce that is in season at the moment:
Related:
Don't just think green, it's time to eat green.
Where to buy local produce in and around Peterborough.
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Rhubarb and cinnamon cake
Preparation Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 1hour, 25 mins
Serves: 12
Ingredients
60g unsalted butter
380g soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
vanilla
pinch salt
300g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup crme fraiche
1 orange zest & juice
400g rhubarb cut into 1cm pieces
For the topping:
cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 24cm springform tin with butter then dust tin with a little flour.
In a food processor, cream butter with sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. Sift remaining flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a bowl, then add to food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add orange zest and juice and crme fraiche, then transfer to a large bowl and stir in rhubarb.
Scrape into prepared tin. Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over cake. Bake for one hour, 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Delicious warm or cold with a spoonful of custard and stewed rhubarb.
Asparagus with lemon crumbs
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: Four
Ingredients
2 slices of wholemeal bread, crusts removed
1 garlic clove
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme leaves
1/2 tsp rosemary leaves, chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
50g butter, cut into cubes
50g parmesan, grated
Instructions
To prepare the asparagus, wash and exert gentle pressure at the bottom of each spear until it snaps/breaks where it is tender.
Preheat the oven to 275C. Put the bread, garlic, salt, herbs, lemon zest and olive oil in a food processor and whizz until breadcrumbs form. Scatter the crumbs on a shallow tray and bake in the oven until golden brown.
Blanch the asparagus for four to six minutes. Then put the lemon juice in a small pan and whisk in the butter over a medium heat. Remove from the heat when the butter has melted.
Place the asparagus spears on plates, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Drizzle with the lemon butter and serve.
Broad bean and courgette soup
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Serves: Four
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil, plus an extra splash
400g courgettes, grated
500ml vegetable stock
400g shelled broad beans
small bunch of mint, chopped
small bunch of basil, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black n pepper
grated parmesan, to serve
Instructions
A quick and easy soup. Frozen peas can be added at the broad bean stage, if you like.
Saut the onion and garlic in the olive oil for 10 minutes, until soft but not coloured. Add the grated courgettes, cover the pan and sweat for 10 minutes.
Pour in the vegetable stock, add the broad beans and simmer for 10 minutes, until the courgettes and beans are tender.
Season with salt and pepper, then add a splash of olive oil and lots of chopped mint and basil.
Take out a third of the soup, liquidise it until smooth, then stir it back into the pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve warm or at room temperature.
Crunchy spinach cakes
Preparation Time: Hour to an hour-and-a-half
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: Four
Ingredients
150ml Greek yoghurt
1 medium egg, beaten
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
salt and pepper, to taste
400g to 750g spinach, washed
100g ground almonds
4 tbsp water
1 packet of couscous, uncooked
1 onion, peeled and chopped
oil for frying
ready-made flour tortillas
Instructions
Several hours before you want to serve this dish, make this dressing so that the flavours have some time to infuse before serving.
Mix yoghurt and the garlic together well in a bowl and leave to one side until you are ready to use it.
To make crunchy spinach cakes:
Steam the spinach in the water in a covered saucepan until it has begun to wilt. Drain the spinach, squeeze out the excess water and roughly chop it.
Throw the spinach into a clean mixing bowl and add the onion to the mix. Add the egg and seasonings and mix well.
Slowly add the ground almonds, a little at a time, until the mixture becomes dry, yet sticky enough to form and hold small patty shapes. Make small patties with all of the mixture and set them to one side.
Roll the patties around in the couscous. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
After an hour, shallow fry the cakes in hot oil on a medium-low heat, in a non-stick pan, until golden.
Wrap the spinach cakes in the flour tortillas, which you can either cover generously in the yoghurt and garlic dressing, or you can serve the dressing on the side.
Strawberry ice cream
Preparation Time: 10 to 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Serves: Four
Ingredients
6 free range egg yolks
10ml milk
100g light muscovado sugar (unrefined brown sugar)
100ml double cream
350g fresh strawberry puree
Instructions
Whisk eggs and sugar. Stir in milk and cream.
Cook slowly and carefully in a double boiler (or mixing bowl over a saucepan of boiling water) over a low heat until the custard thickens a little. Don't let it boil or the eggs will scramble.
Cool, then stir in the fruit puree and freeze in a shallow container.
Remove from the freezer after about an hour and beat thoroughly to reduce the size of the ice crystals. Repeat this process two or three times more, then leave to freeze until required.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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