This recipe by Allegra McEvedy was in yesterday’s Guardian. She says it’s “good for three days, during which time I would keep it out of the fridge, but covered, for instant passerby snacks”.
Makes eight fat slices in a fluted tart ring with a push-up base (28cm x 3.5cm). Takes an hour.
Ingredients
1kg leeks
100g butter
bunch of fresh thyme stalks, tied with string
6 eggs
300ml double cream
1 tbsp smooth Dijon mustard
180g of smoked cheddar, grated
1 pkt (500g) shortcrust pastry – or make your own
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 170C/340F/gas 3. Roll out the pastry and line your tart case with it; always keep a little ball of pastry aside for emergency repairs after blind baking, rather than lobbing the trimmings. Stick in the freezer for about five minutes to firm up.
Trim the leeks; if they are thick then quarter them lengthways before slicing roughly 1cm thick, thinner ones can just be halved lengthways before slicing. Then wash them thoroughly – there’s nothing worse than biting on grit.
Melt the butter in a wide pan on a medium heat, then add the leeks. Turn the heat up to high, add the thyme, season and put a lid on.
Take the tart case out of the freezer and bake blind for 10-15 minutes. Once it is beginning to brown, mix the yolk of one of the eggs with a tablespoon of cream, brush this all over the base, sides and crown of the tart and put back in the oven for a couple of minutes until shiny and golden (now is the time to plug any holes with that spare ball of pastry).
Stir the leeks regularly for a further 20 minutes (keeping the lid on between stirs) or until they are well softened and all the water has come out of them. Turn the heat down if they are starting to catch.
Crack the eggs into a big mixing bowl, including the lone white, and whisk in the cream and mustard. Stir in the cheddar and then tip in the hot, softened leeks, discarding the bunch of thyme. Season well, ladle the mix carefully into the tart case and cook for about half an hour, until light golden brown on top, and the egg has set. Let it sit for 10 minutes before tucking in.
From Nigel Slater’s Tender cookbook. “Good with lamb,” he says.
Enough for 6
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 50 minutes
Ingredients
5 medium potatoes (floury are best)
90g butter
leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
Method
Set the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly. They should be so thin that you are almost able to see through them. If you tend to work slowly, put the sliced potatoes into a bowl of cold water to prevent them browning.
Melt the butter, then brush some of it on to the bottom and sides of a loaf tin (or use a round, solid-based tin). Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper, leaving a little extra overlapping the sides to get hold of when you come to turn out the cake. Cover the bottom of the tin with slices of potato, brush with more butter and season with salt, pepper, and a light sprinkling of thyme leaves. Continue layering the potatoes, adding the butter and seasonings every two or three layers, until you have used them all up. Pour any remaining butter over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes, till the top is golden and a skewer can be inserted effortlessly into the layers of tender potato.
To serve, lift the potato cake out by holding both long sides of the greaseproof paper and pulling upwards. Cut into six pieces. If it falls apart, and well it might, just push the slices back together.
This very simple recipe is from the River Café Cook Book Easy. Something with which to remember Rose Gray, co-founder along with Ruth Rogers of the iconic River Café and one of Britain’s most influential modern chefs and cookery writers, who died on 28 February 2010.
Serves 4
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 12 minutes
Ingredients
320g egg tagliatelle
250ml crème fraîche
2 lemons
150g rocket leaves
150g parmesan
Method
Finely grate the lemon peel and squeeze the juice. Roughly chop the rocket. Grate the parmesan.
Put the crème fraîche in a bowl, stir in the lemon juice and zest, and season.
Cook the tagliatelle in boiling salted water until al dente, drain and return to the pan. Pour over the sauce, add the rocket and half the parmesan. Toss to combine.
Serve with the remaining parmesan.
From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook – “the perfect thing to eat for lunch with bread and cheese … and it’s delicious with sausages and mash”, she says. It keeps well in the fridge for about a month.
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: about an hour
Ingredients (for 3-4 jars)
2 garlic cloves
sea salt and black pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
450g red onions, sliced
4 tbsp red wine
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
few sprigs of thyme
Method
Crush the garlic with some sea salt and heat the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the onions and garlic, and sweat gently, without allowing them to brown, for 20 minutes. Cook until they are translucent and soft.
Add the red wine, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, and simmer gently until most of the liquid has evaporated, which will take about 15-20 minutes.
Add the thyme, season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes. Put into warm sterilised jars and cover while still hot.
This seasonal recipe for cauliflower served with a salsa verde is from Nigel Slater’s latest book, Tender. He deep fries the cauliflower but, if that’s a problem for you, shallow frying would probably work pretty well.
Serves 2 as a main course
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: max 10 minutes
Ingredients
a medium cauliflower
sunflower or groundnut oil for deep-frying
3 tbsp gram flour
½ tsp paprika
For the salsa verde:
handful parsley leaves
6 bushy sprigs mint
handful basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp capers, rinsed
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
Method
Break the cauliflower into florets. Boil in deep, salted water for a couple of minutes (a little longer if you can only shallow fry), then drain thoroughly.
To make the sauce, chop the herbs quite finely, then stir in the garlic, mustard and capers. Pour in the olive oil slowly, beating with a fork. Stir in the lemon juice and season with sea salt and black pepper. Be generous with the seasoning, tasting as you go. The sauce should be bright tasting and piquant.
Get the oil hot in a deep pan. Toss the cauliflower with the gram flour, a little salt and pepper and the paprika. When the cauliflower is coated, fry in the hot oil until crisp – a matter of three or four minutes or so. Drain on kitchen paper before serving with the sauce.
A warming soup with a bit of a kick that makes use of the seasonal carrots in our veg boxes – from the Riverford website.
Preparation: 15 Mins
Cooking: 50 Mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 level tsp mustard powder
2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
6 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp parsley, roughly chopped
natural yoghurt to serve
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and soften the onion and garlic with the mustard powder, ginger, pepper and salt, adding 2 or 3 tbsp stock after a minute or so. After another 2 -3 minutes, add the carrots, stirring well. Pour in the rest of the stock, bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer for 40 minutes. When it is ready, whiz the soup until smooth in a blender, or using a hand-held stick blender in the pan. Stir in the chopped parsley, saving a little for garnish and reheat the soup gently if you need to. When serving, swirl a spoonful of yoghurt through each portion. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Cooking sprouts with chestnuts and bacon makes them seriously irresistible.
Serves 4
Preparation time: less than 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 to 30 minutes
Ingredients
500g Brussels sprouts
vegetable oil
125g streaky bacon, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp butter
125g vacuum-packed chestnuts, roughly chopped
30ml marsala (optional)
handful fresh parsley, chopped
freshly ground pepper
Method
Trim the ends of the sprouts and put them in a large saucepan of salted boiling water. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until they are tender but still retain a bit of bite. Remove from the heat and drain.
Heat about half a tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Add the bacon and cook until it is crisp and golden-brown. Add the butter and chestnuts. If you’re using the marsala, once the chestnuts have warmed through, turn the heat up and add the marsala. Cook until the mixture has reduced and thickened slightly.
Add the sprouts and half the parsley to the pan and mix well. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Serve with the rest of the parsley sprinkled over the top.
From Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook
Serves 6-8
Preparation: 1½ hours (including 1 hour chilling of pastry)
Cooking: 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks
285ml single cream
salt and black pepper
4 leeks, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
200g soft goats’ cheese
For the pastry:
120g butter
½ tsp salt
200g plain flour
Method
First make the pastry. Sift the flour with the salt and work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add just enough cold water to bind it together. Roll out and use to line a 23cm flan dish. Put this in the fridge for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Prick the base of the pastry case with a fork and bake blind (cover pastry with greaseproof paper weighed down with baking beans or rice) for 20-25 minutes. Remove the beans/rice and paper and allow to cool. Leave the oven on.
When the pastry has cooled a little, spread Dijon mustard over the base. Beat together the eggs, extra yolks, cream and seasoning. Fry the leeks in the oil gently until they’re soft and put them in the pastry case. Crumble the goats’ cheese over the leeks and pour over the egg mixture. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until the tart is set.
We’re nearing the end of the Camel CSA harvest of shallots, so this would be a good recipe to try while you still have some. It’s from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. If you haven’t got enough shallots, make up the quantity with onions.
Serves 6
Preparation time: about 20 minutes
Cooking time: about 45 minutes
Ingredients
450g shallots
175g any leftover soft cheese, such as Brie or Camembert
40g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
500g puff pastry
salt and black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Peel the shallots, leaving them whole and cut the cheese into thickish slices. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the shallots and cook for 5-7 minutes if small, 10 if larger. Drain and put to one side.
Heat the butter and oil in an ovenproof pan or a frying pan with a detachable handle. When the butter has melted, sprinkle in the sugar and allow it to dissolve gently before adding the shallots. Season well and allow them to cook until a rich golden caramel. Remove from the heat.
Roll out the pastry to a circle a bit bigger than the pan. Spread the slices of cheese over the shallots and lay the pastry over the top, pressing it down slightly all around the edge. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until risen and golden.
Allow to cool a little and then put a large serving plate over the pan and invert it quickly so that the shallots are on the top with the pastry underneath. Serve warm with a crisp green salad.
“A wonderfully healthy and delicious lunch. Have the cabbage on its own, or on top of a bowl of rice,” says Sarah Raven in whose Garden Cookbook this recipe appears.
Serves 4-6
Preparation time 5 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 small savoy cabbage
1 tbsp dry-fried sesame seeds (you can mix in sunflower seeds too)
1 tbsp juniper berries, crushed
2 garlic cloves, chopped
sea salt
2 tbsp ground nut oil
1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced (green would do but red better for colour)
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh root ginger
1 tbsp runny honey
splash of Japanese soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper
bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped (optional)
Method
Cut the cabbage into four and discard the hard white centre and leaf midribs before shredding finely. Dry-fry the sesame seeds on a gentle heat until they’re golden brown. This will take about 5 minutes, but don’t let them burn. Then put them to one side. Crush the juniper berries and garlic with the sea salt, using a pestle and mortar.
Heat a tablespoon of the groundnut oil in a wok or large frying pan. Add the chilli and cook for 1 minute on medium heat. Scoop the chilli out of the oil, leaving the spicy oil in the pan and add the sesame seeds. Add the rest of the groundnut oil and the sesame oil to the same pan and then the cabbage, salt, juniper berries and garlic. Turn up the heat. Stir every minute or so for 5 minutes and then add all the other ingredients except the coriander. Stir for another couple of minutes and remove from the heat. The cabbage should still be crunchy. This tastes lovely with coriander leaves – add some chopped over the top.
