This week’s recipe is in honour of the Pastygate scandal that rocked Westminster this week. (The humble swede is a vital ingredient in a traditional Cornish pasty).
It’s another Nigel Slater special from his book Tender. Also a good way to use some of the Camel CSA garlic in our standard veg boxes this week.
He says: “The swede’s ability to sponge up liquid is shown to good effect when it is baked with butter and vegetable stock. When it is teamed up with potato and seasoned with garlic and a spot of mustard, it is as near to a main course as I feel you can safely get with this particular root.”
Serves: four
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: One hour 30 minutes
potatoes – 500g
swede – 500g
garlic – 4 cloves
butter – 85g
Dijon mustard – 2 heaped teaspoons
thyme leaves – a level teaspoon
vegetable stock – 55ml
Peel the potatoes, then cut them into very fine slices. A sharp knife is fine,but if you have a mandoline (the vegetable slicer, that is, not the lute-like stringed instrument), use that. Whatever, your slices should be almost thin enough to see through. Do the same with the swede, keeping the slices in cold water to prevent them browning.
Set the oven to 190°C/Gas 5. Peel and thinly slice the garlic. Over a moderate heat, melt the butter in a flameproof dish or sauté pan about 25cm in diameter. When it starts to bubble, turn down the heat and add the garlic. It needs to soften slightly without colouring – a matter of five minutes or so. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the mustard. Tip about two-thirds of the mustard and butter out of the pan and into a jug.
Drain the potato and swede slices and pat them dry with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel. Put a third of the vegetables into the pan, layering them neatly or just chucking them in as the mood takes you, then drizzle them with some of the mustard butter in the jug. Season with the thyme leaves, pepper and salt. Be quite generous with the salt. Repeat this twice, so that all the slices of vegetable are layered with the thyme and the mustard and garlic butter. Now pour the stock over the top.
Cover with a circle of greaseproof paper or kitchen foil, pressing it down well on top of the cake. Bake for about an hour and ten minutes, until tender to the point of a knife. Remove the foil, turn the heat up to 220°C/Gas 7 and bake for a further ten minutes until the top has coloured and crisped a little.
We’re continuing with the roasted cauliflower theme this week, this time with pasta. It’s another delicious vegetarian dish from restauranteur/chef Yotam Ottolenghi. He says: “The sweet and salty combination of currants and capers is a Sicilian mix that’s both interesting and scrumptious. I love it.”
Gigli are fluted, flower-shaped pasta (gigli is Italian for lilies). They’re good with a hearty, chunky sauce like this one.
Serves: four
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 medium cauliflower (around 480g)
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
65g currants
2½ tbsp white-wine vinegar
½ tsp caster sugar
¼ tsp saffron strands
2 red onions, peeled and cut into large dice
4 stalks celery, the stems cut on an angle into 1cm slices, the leaves picked and torn
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
250g gigli (or campanelle, or other short pasta)
50g pine nuts, toasted
20g salted capers, rinsed
20g parsley leaves, roughly chopped
10g celery leaves
Method
Heat the oven to 240C/465F/gas mark 9. Break the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Toss with a tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt, spread on an oven tray and bake until golden and semi-cooked, about 15 minutes.
In a small saucepan, gently warm the currants, vinegar, sugar and saffron, then set aside to infuse.
Pour the remaining oil into a very large sauté pan. Add the onion and celery stems, fry on medium-high heat until they begin to colour and soften – about eight minutes – then add the roasted cauliflower and garlic, and sauté for three minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the pasta in plenty of salted water until al dente. Drain and add to the cauliflower pan. Stir in the pine nuts, capers, currant mix, half a teaspoon of salt and lots of black pepper, taste and adjust the seasoning. Stir in the parsley and celery leaves, and serve immediately.
Roasted cauliflower is trending everywhere at the moment – even on BBC’s Masterchef. It seems that roasting this “Marmite” vegetable can transform dyed-in-the-wool cauliflower haters into lifelong fans.
San Francisco-based foodie Darya Pino considers this her best recipe of all time (that’s some claim!)
She says: “What’s weird is that this is just roasted cauliflower, it couldn’t sound any less glamorous. The coolest part of all is that anyone (like ANY anyone) can make this.
“I like to add curry powder to mine, but you can play around with whatever spices you like, or just make it plain. It still freaks me out how good this recipe is.”
Serves: 2-4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-35 minutes
Ingredients
1 large cauliflower (or several small ones)
curry powder
olive oil
sea salt
Method
Preheat oven to 250C, Gas Mark 9. Meanwhile break the cauliflower into medium-small florets and place into a large bowl or baking pan. Be sure the pieces are as evenly sized as possible, or they will cook unevenly. The smaller you make the pieces, the quicker they will cook and the more caramelized they will become.
Drizzle cauliflower pieces generously with olive oil and season well with salt and curry powder. Distribute evenly in a single layer at the bottom of a baking pan. If necessary, use a second baking pan to be sure the pieces aren’t too crowded.
Cover the pans with foil and place into the oven. Roast, covered, for 10-15 minutes. The cauliflower should be slightly soft and start looking translucent. If not replace foil and cook another 5 minutes.
When the cauliflower has finished steaming, remove the foil and toss with tongs. Continue to roast, stirring every 8-10 minutes until the tips of the cauliflower begin to brown and become crisp. Approximately 30-35 minutes.
Adjust salt to taste (you will probably need another sprinkle) and serve.
- Believe it or not, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall suggests making roasted cauliflower as a nibble to go with drinks. He seasons it with lemon juice and smoked paprika before roasting or putting it on the barbeque.
This Nigel Slater recipe is for a cake that’s rich, moist and oozing. It’s recommended by Danny Barry, Camel CSA’s treasurer. “Ideal for supper parties,” she says. It’s from Nigel Slater’s Tender Volume 1.
Serves: 8 as a dessert
Preparation time: 30-40 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
250g beetroot
200g fine dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
4 tbsp hot espresso coffee
200g butter
135g plain flour
1 heaped tsp of baking powder
3 tsp good-quality cocoa powder
5 eggs
190g golden caster sugar
Crème fraîche and poppy seeds, to serve
Method
Lightly butter a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment. Set the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.
Cook the beetroot, whole and unpeeled, in boiling unsalted water. Depending on their size, they will be knifepoint tender within 30 to 40 minutes. Young ones may take slightly less. Drain them, let them cool under running water, then peel them, slice out their stem and root, and blitz to a rough purée.
Melt the chocolate, snapped into small pieces, in a small bowl resting over a pot of simmering water. Don’t stir. When the chocolate looks almost melted, pour the hot coffee over it and stir once. Cut the butter into small pieces – the smaller the better –and add to the melted chocolate. Dip the butter down under the surface of the chocolate with a spoon (as best you can) and leave to soften.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa. Separate the eggs; put the whites in a mixing bowl. Stir the yolks together.
Now, working quickly but gently, remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and stir until the butter has melted into the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes, then stir in the egg yolks. Do this quickly, mixing firmly so the eggs blend into the mixture. Fold in the beetroot. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold in the sugar. Firmly but tenderly fold the beaten egg whites and sugar into the chocolate mixture. A large metal spoon is what you want; work in a deep, figure-of-eight movement but take care not to over-mix. Fold in the flour and cocoa.
Transfer quickly to the prepared cake tin and put in the oven, turning the heat down immediately to 160C/gas mark 3. Bake for 40 minutes. The rim of the cake will feel spongy, the inner part should still wobble a little when gently shaken.
Leave to cool (it will sink a tad in the centre), loosening it around the edges with a palette knife after half an hour or so. It is not a good idea to remove the cake from its tin until it is completely cold. Serve in thick slices, with crème fraîche and poppy seeds.
Nigel Slater adds:”The serving suggestion of crème fraîche is not just a nod to the soured cream so close to beetroot’s Eastern European heart, it is an important part of the cake.”
If you liked this from Nigel Slater, why not try his Beetroot seed cake?
A pasta recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Return of the Naked Chef to make good use of the cabbage and garlic from this week’s veg boxes.
Serves 4
Preparation/Cooking: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
10 rashers of pancetta or dry-cured streaky bacon, thinly sliced
olive oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 good handful of thyme, leaves picked
1 large Savoy cabbage (outer leaves removed) quartered, cored and finely sliced
1 handful of grated Parmesan cheese
455g dried farfalle, the best you can get
salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
200g buffalo mozzarella, cut into 1cm dice
2 handfuls of pine nuts, lighly toasted
Method
In a pan fry your pancetta in a little olive oil until lightly golden. Add the garlic and thyme and soften. Add the Savoy cabbage and Parmesan, then stir and put the lid on the pan. Cook for a further 5 minutes, shaking every now and again, while you cook your farfalle in salted boiling water until al dente. When the cabbage is nice and tender, season and loosen with some nice peppery extra virgin olive oil. Toss the drained farfalle into the cabbage and at the last minute mix in the mozzarella and pine nuts. Serve immediately.
Camel CSA’s veg boxes have plenty of either purple or white sprouting broccoli this week – depending on whether it came from our own plot at St Kew Highway or Richard Hore’s fields at Restharrow above the Camel estuary.
This simple lunch or supper dish from Yotam Ottlenghi in his Guardian column is a decidedly different way of using this delicious late winter vegetable. As he says: “The combination of olive oil, garlic and lemon juice lifts the spirits in winter.”
It requires a whole head of garlic. But hey – we all had one, also grown by us, in last week’s veg boxes. And if you’ve a chilli left on your Christmas chilli string, it’ll come in useful too.
Serves four
(as first course or vegetable accompaniment)
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
550g purple or white sprouting broccoli
1kg charlotte or desiree potatoes
1 whole head garlic
½-1 red chilli, depending on heat
3 long strips shaved lemon skin
About 5 tbsp olive oil
1½ tbsp lemon juice
Salt and white pepper
4 lemon wedges
Method
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Remove and discard the leaves and woody ends from the broccoli, then blanch the stems for three to four minutes, until tender. Refresh in cold water, drain and dry.
Put the potatoes, unpeeled, in a large baking tray. Cut the top off the garlic head, wrap in foil and add to the tray. Roast for 40-60 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through.
Thinly slice the chilli on an angle and put in a small saucepan with the lemon strips and oil. Cook on medium heat for three minutes, set aside to cool and strain, keeping only the chilli and oil.
Peel the warm potatoes and press twice through a potato ricer (or use a masher) into a saucepan. Unwrap the garlic, squeeze to release the cloves and add to the mash. Whisk the mash over medium heat, adding four tablespoons of strained oil, the lemon juice, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Whisk until smooth and silky (if it’s too thick, add a little water and more oil, stir and cook for a minute more). Keep warm.
Put a ridged griddle pan on high heat. Toss the broccoli with the rest of the oil and a pinch of salt, and grill in batches until the stems colour.
Spoon some mash on to each plate and top with broccoli. Sprinkle over the chilli, drizzle with oil and serve with a wedge of lemon.
This recipe, from the American TV cook Rachael Ray, dares anyone who says “Yuk!” to Brussels sprouts – even children – to dislike them after trying them cooked this way.
The sprouts absorb the flavour of the stock and the short cooking time ensures that they don’t collapse.
Serves: four
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
3 slices bacon, chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot or small onion, chopped
800g Brussels sprouts, trimmed, small spouts left whole, larger spouts halved
250ml chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Brown the bacon in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Put the extra-virgin olive oil to the pan. Add the shallot or onion and saute for one to two minutes. Add the Brussels sprouts and coat in oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the sprouts for two to three minutes until they begin to soften, then add the stock. Bring it to a bubble, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook for up to 10 minutes, until sprouts are just tender. Transfer sprouts to a serving dish with a slotted spoon and top with the cooked bacon bits.
This unusual winter salad can be made very quickly. It comes from chef Yotam Ottolenghi‘s weekly column in the Guardian. He says: “This salad is loved even by those who claim not to like tahini.”
Serves four
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes (at most)
550g purple-sprouting broccoli
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
40g tahini paste
1½ tsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 tsp each black and white sesame seeds, toasted (or just 2 tsp white)
Trim any big leaves off the broccoli and cut off the woody base of the stems. Blanch for three minutes in boiling, salted water until al dente, refresh, drain and leave to dry.
Toss the broccoli in the oil, a teaspoon of salt and a large pinch of pepper, then cook on a very hot ridged griddle pan for two minutes on each side, until slightly charred and smoky. Set aside to cool.
Whisk the tahini, honey, lemon juice, garlic and a pinch of salt, and slowly start to add water half a tablespoon at a time. At first, the sauce will look as if it has split, but it will soon come back together. Add just enough water to make the sauce the consistency of honey – around three tablespoons in total.
Arrange the broccoli on a platter, drizzle with sauce and scatter with sesame seeds. Serve at room temperature.
More sprouting broccoli recipes from Camel CSA
Pasta with sprouting broccoli
Stir-fried purple sprouting broccoli
We’ve still got loads of organically-grown carrots to dig up on our community vegetable patch.
But this is positively the last soup recipe for a while (promise). It’s from the vegetarian cookery queen Rose Elliot.
This one’s a real winter warmer – filling as well as very satisfying. Rose says: “The beans help thicken the soup, so making it creamy and extra nourishing.”
Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
500g carrots, sliced
425g can cannellini beans, drained
1.3 litres water or vegetable stock
4 tbsp chopped coriander
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion and garlic, covered, for five minutes. Add the carrots, beans and water or stock. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Purée in a food processor or blender. Add the coriander and lemon juice and season to taste.
Try some more delicious carrot soup recipes from Camel CSA
Potage Crecy
Carrot and ginger soup
Carrot and parsnip soup
Definitely no apologies for yet another soup recipe – it is that time of year after all.
This one from Nigel Slater uses the potatoes, garlic and parsley in Camel CSA’s weekly veg boxes. The addition of chestnut mushrooms, fried in a little butter then tossed in garlic and parsley, makes it a winner.
Slater suggests in his Observer column having this soup alongside a crisp winter salad dressed with gherkins and mustard. I’m with him all the way.
Delicious with some real bread from St Kew Harvest Farm Shop.
Serves: 4
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
For the soup:
750g floury potatoes
2 cloves of garlic
a large rib of celery
2 bay leaves
8 stems of flat-leaf or curled parsley
For the mushrooms:
150g small, chestnut mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
2 cloves of garlic
2 or 3 bushy sprigs of parsley
Method
Peel the potatoes, dice them, then put them into a saucepan. Peel and chop the garlic, roughly chop the celery, then add them to the potatoes and pour in enough water to cover. Drop in the bay leaves. Remove the parsley leaves and set aside.
Add the stalks to the pan with half a teaspoon of salt. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a lively simmer and cook for 15 or 20 minutes until the potatoes are soft and on the verge of collapse.
Chop the parsley leaves. Pour the potatoes and their cooking water into a blender or food processor, add the parsley leaves and blitz till smooth. Take care not to over-blend as it can send the mixture gluey – do it in short bursts. Check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as you think fit.
Cut the mushrooms into thick slices, melt the butter in a shallow pan, add the peeled and crushed garlic, then the mushrooms and cook them till nicely coloured and sizzling. Season. Chop the parsley leaves and stir into the mushrooms.
Warm the soup thoroughly – until piping hot – then ladle into four bowls. Divide the mushrooms between the bowls and serve.
