Jamie Oliver suggests this as a luxurious alternative to Christmas roast potatoes. Of course, if you’re catering for lots of people, you could always have the gratin as well as the roasties.
Serves 8-10
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: about an hour
Ingredients
a large knob of butter
200ml semi-skimmed milk
300ml double cream
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2.5kg potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
a handful of fresh thyme
a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
6 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
a handful of vac-packed chestnuts, peeled and crumbled
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Butter the inside of an ovenproof dish, around 30cm x 30cm, and at least 6cm deep.
Pour the milk and cream into a wide pan with the bay leaves and garlic. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for a minute or two. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper.
Add the potatoes and most of the thyme leaves and stir well. Spoon into the gratin dish and shake to even everything out. Sprinkle with the parmesan then cover with an oiled piece of foil. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a little olive oil until crispy and golden. Add the remaining thyme and stir in the chestnuts. When your gratin is ready, remove the foil and spoon the bacon and chestnut mixture over the top. Pop it back in the oven for another 10 minutes until gorgeous and crispy on top.
Sounds suitably festive … It’s from Nigel Slater’s Tender Vol II.
Serves 4-6 as a side dish
Preparation/cooking: about 20 minutes
Ingredients
half a good-sized red cabbage (about 750g)
a little groundnut oil
200g pancetta or bacon in the piece
150g peeled chestnuts
a glass of medium sherry
Method
Shred the cabbage finely, then rinse and drain. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan, roughly dice the pancetta/bacon and add to the pan, letting it colour lightly. Add the chestnuts, continue cooking for a few minutes, then add the drained red cabbage. Expect it to hiss and pop. Turn the cabbage in the fat and cover with a lid. Continue cooking over a moderate heat for seven or eight minutes, until the cabbage has wilted slightly. Add the sherry, a little salt (depending on how salty the bacon is) and leave until almost evaporated. Serve immediately.
This recipe from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook is perfect for using the veg in this week’s boxes with the romanesco cauli making a good base. She calls the dish ‘the perfect quick-and-easy weekday supper’. Serve it with rice and chutney.
Serves 6
Preparation/cooking: about half an hour
Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp good curry powder
2 x 400ml tins of coconut milk
1 cauliflower, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
2 good handfuls of chard or spinach, chopped
french beans (good, but not essential)
bunch of coriander, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
Method
Fry the onion in the oil gently until soft. Add the curry powder and fry again for another minute or two. Then add the coconut milk and vegetables, except the beans if you are using them. Season.
Cook for about 10 minutes, until the veg are tender but not soft. If using beans, add them a couple of minutes before the end. Take off the heat and add the coriander.
Nigel Slater (sorry, it’s him again!) describes this as a ‘shallow cake along the lines of a pan haggerty, made with thin slices of root layered with grated cheese and herbs’ (Tender Volume I). He suggests using Cornish Yarg cheese – the one coated with stinging nettle leaves.
Serves 2 as a main, with winter salad as a side
Preparation: about an hour, including cooking
Ingredients
a large onion
75g butter
2 large parsnips
leaves from 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme
100g cheese – Cornish Yarg or Gruyere
100ml vegetable stock
Method
Set the oven at 200C/Gas 6. Peel the onion and cut into paper-thin rings. Melt half the butter in a shallow ovenproof pan and gently fry the onion till soft and translucent. Stop before it colours.
Peel the parsnips and slice in fine discs – ‘so thin you can almost read through them’. Tip the onion out of the pan, place a layer or two of parsnips in it, brush with more melted butter and scatter over salt, pepper, some of the thyme and a little of the cheese. Do this twice more, ending with cheese. Pour over the stock.
Cover with lightly buttered greaseproof paper or foil, then place on a high shelf in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the paper and test the parsnips with a sharp knife; it should glide in effortlessly. Return to the oven, uncovered, for about ten minutes to brown. Serve straight from the pan.
The gentle, smoky flavour of this heart-warming recipe by Nigel Slater comes from the Jerusalem artichokes. It’s a perfect antidote to the cold winter weather we’re having in Cornwall at the moment. Find it in his cookbook Tender Volume 1.
Preparation / cooking: one hour
Serves: 4
Ingredients
8 really good pork sausages
olive oil
4 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
250g small mushrooms
500g Jerusalem artichokes
1 large lemon
1 tsp fennel seeds
light stock or water to cover – about 500ml
a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Steamed cavolo nero, spring cabbage or purple sprouting broccoli, to serve
Method
Brown the sausages all over in a little oil in a deep casserole. Set aside. Peel the onions and cut them into thick segments, then add to the pan in which you browned the sausages, pouring in a little more oil if you need to. Let the onions soften over a moderate heat till they are tender enough to crush with a wooden spoon. Don’t hurry this; it should take about 15 to 20 minutes. Peel and finely slice the garlic and add it to the onions. Halve the mushrooms and add them too.
Peel or simply scrub the artichokes, then cut them in half. Add them to the pan, pushing the onions aside, and let them colour slightly. Now tip the sausages back into the pan. Cut the lemon into fat chunks and tuck them in along with the fennel seeds and a good seasoning of salt and black pepper.
Pour over enough stock or water to cover and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are truly tender. If there is too much liquid, turn up the heat and let it reduce a little. Stir in the parsley, check the seasoning and eat with the greens.
Kitty, who’s one of Camel CSA’s volunteer growers, has this amazing recipe for a beetroot dip. It arose out of a slight culinary accident when she was roasting some beetroot. She brought the dip to our first Big Lunch, where everyone raved about it. It’s the most incredible colour!
Serves: 6
Preparation / cooking: one hour
Ingredients:
6 smallish beetroot
Juice of half a lemon
1 chopped garlic clove
2 tbs olive (or other) oil
2 tbs yoghurt
salt, pepper
chopped mint or basil
Method:
Kitty says:
Bake about 6 smallish beetroot in their skins until soft (I forgot mine which is how this dish came about!) Alternatively, you could boil them. Peel them and then liquidise with juice of half a lemon, a chopped garlic clove, and a couple of tablespoons of olive (or other) oil. Season to taste.
Stir in a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt and add some chopped fresh mint or basil if you wish. Serve with crudites or pitta. Moro East has a similar recipe with tahini instead of yoghurt, which I intend to try next.
Yotam Ottolenghi’s timely recipe from last Saturday’s Guardian Weekend magazine: ‘Slightly sweet and vaguely mushroomy, jerusalem artichoke is here combined with goat’s cheese, egg and lemon in a very elegant dish.’ Make it in ramekins or shallow, ovenproof soup bowls.
Serves 4 to 6
Preparation/cooking: about an hour
Ingredients
grated zest and juice of half a lemon
300g jerusalem artichokes
30g walnuts
60g unsalted butter
25g plain flour
250ml milk
3 small free-range eggs, separated
¼tsp chilli flakes
½tbsp chopped thyme
120g hard goat’s cheese, grated
¼tsp salt
Method
Heat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Put a baking sheet on the top shelf. This will help the soufflés rise.
Pour the lemon juice into a pan and add enough water to half-fill the pan. Peel the artichokes and immediately drop them in the water so they don’t discolour. Once they’re all peeled, bring to a boil and simmer for 40 minutes, until soft. Drain and transfer to a small food processor bowl. Work to a purée, adding a little water if needed to bring it together. You will need exactly 130g of purée. Put the ramekins in the fridge to chill.
Meanwhile blitz the nuts until powdery. Melt half the buter, and brush inside the ramekins. Spoon walnut powder into each ramekin and turn the dishes so it coats the base and sides. Tip out any excess powder.
Over a moderate heat, melt the remaining butter in a medium pan. Stir in the flour, cook for a minute, then gradually add the milk, stirring, until the sauce is thick and bubbles appear on the surface.
In a large bowl, mix the 130g jerusalem artichoke purée, the egg yolks, chilli, thyme, cheese, lemon zest and salt. Add the sauce and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool down.
Put the egg whites in a large, clean bowl and whisk until stiff but not dry. Add a little of the egg white mix to the artichoke base and stir to loosen, then fold in the remaining egg whites with a large metal spoon, taking care to retain as much air as possible.
Fill up each ramekin with the soufflé mix so it comes up 1.5cm short of the top. Place on the heated baking sheet, and bake for 12-18 minutes, until golden brown and risen well. Serve at once.
Nigel Slater describes celeriac in his Tender cookbook: ‘Knobbly, whiskery and impenetrable, its roots curled round its feet like a viper’s nest, it poses something of a problem for the newcomer’. Thankfully he also gives this good recipe for a variation on the classic French remoulade. First off, though, you’ll have to ‘Brush off the encrusted soil, hack away at the thick, warty skin …’
Radish sprouts are sprouted seeds with a spicy heat. If you can’t get hold of them, you could sprout your own in a salad sprouter. Equally, you could use any sprouted seed.
Preparation/cooking: half an hour
Serves 2 as a light main course
Ingredients
for the dressing:
250ml crème fraîche
juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp grain mustard
for the salad:
large handful parsley leaves
about 500g celeriac
8 rashers smoked bacon
50g radish sprouts or mung bean sprouts
Method
Mix the crème fraîche, lemon juice and mustard together and stir in a little salt and black pepper.
Roughly chop the parsley. Peel the celeriac and shred it coarsely. This is probably easiest with a food processor and coarse grater attachment. Grill the bacon until it is starting to crisp and the fat has turned gold, then cut it into pieces the size of a postage stamp. Stir the celeriac, radish sprouts, parsley, bacon and dressing together. Serve while the bacon is still hot.
A recipe from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook in which you can use butternut or any winter squash.
Serves 2
Preparation/cooking: about 1½ hours
Ingredients
1 medium-sized squash
generous drizzle of olive oil
salt and black pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds, freshly ground
3 tbsp crème fraîche
3 tbsp chopped sage or chives
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Cut the squash in half. Drizzle the cut flesh with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin. Bake, cut side upwards and covered with foil, on a baking tray in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes. Prick it with a fork to check that the flesh is soft. If not, give it a few minutes more.
Take the squash out of the oven, lower the setting to 180C/gas 4 and leave squash until cool enough for you to handle.
Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits, and discard, then scoop out most of the flesh with a tablespoon into a bowl and mix this with the crème fraîche and 2½ tbsp of the sage (chives are good in summer). Best to do this with a fork, or give the mixture a quick zap in a processor to get rid of any lumps of squash. Check the seasoning. Spoon the squash back into the empty skins.
Scatter the parmesan and remaining herbs over the top and then bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the top starts to look brown and crunchy.
From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. Good as a vegetable side dish, she says, or, with rice, as a light supper.
Serves 4-6
Preparation and cooking: about 15 minutes
Ingredients
600g calabrese or sprouting broccoli
1 sweet red pepper
2 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp dried chilli, crumbled
3 tbsp chicken or vegetable stock
salt
Method
Trim the broccoli, retaining much of the stem as well as the heads. If the stems are tough, pare off the outer layer and then cut the stems into chunks. If using calabrese, separate the heads into small florets, breaking them off the main stem.
Deseed the pepper and then cut it into strips.
Heat the oil in a wok or deep frying pan and add the mustard seeds. Add the crumbled dried chilli and, when the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the broccoli and stir to combine. Add the strips of pepper and stock, and stir again.
Cover the pan, turn down the heat and cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender but crisp. If any liquid remains in the pan, raise the heat and boil it off. Season with salt before serving.
