Pasta with Mushrooms, Cream and Purple Sprouting

4 02 2010

The snow appears to have destroyed the purple sprouting on the allotment. Last year the pigeons ate most of it so this year I grew it under netting. Now it snakes across the allotment floor looking distinctly sorry for itself and unable to raise itself from the ground. Good job then that Riverford delivered a nice big bag of the stuff to my door yesterday. I love the stuff, but how do you convince three teenagers to eat it? The answer….smother it is cream and cheese

This serves 6 or so hungry people

2 tablespoons olive oil
knob of butter
1 small onion – finely chopped
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
5 large field mushrooms – cut into chunks
2 tablespoons green pesto
170ml single cream
bunch of purple sprouting
Pasta shapes – about 400g
1 tablespoon capers – drained
125 mozarella
handful of pine nuts

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the pruple sprouting until tender. Drain and leave to one side.

Bring another pan of water to the boil, cook the pasta till al dente, drain and combine with the purple sprouting.

Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. When hot fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft then remove from heat and combine with the pasta.

Add the pesto, capers and cream then place in a shallow oven proof dish. Top with torn mozarella and a handful of pine nuts then place in the oven at 190C for about 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and everything is hot.

Serve with grated parmesan and chopped red chili


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Sunday Lunch

31 01 2010

When I first gave up eating meat on New Year’s Day 1986, standard vegetarian fayre was a nut roast – or if you were eating alone, a nut cutlet. Over the past 20 years or so vegetarian food has come a long way with books such as SImon Hopkinson’s wonderful Vegetarian Option or Terre a Terre’s new book but sometimes, particularly after a long cold weekend when Spurs could only manage a draw away at Birmingham, a nut roast with gravy and all the trimmings does just the trick.

This one was a little experimental, made with items from the bottom of the fridge that had started to look a little beyond their best.

I fried a chopped onion, a grated carrot and 2 grated courgettes in a little sunflower oil. Sometime it’s nice to add a grated apple too but I didn’t have one. Then added finely chopped mushrooms and a dash of soy sauce. After about 20 minutes of cooking most of the liquid should have gone. If not, cook a little longer. The mixture needs to be fairly dryish.

Allow to cool then mix in about 200g of chopped nuts. You can use anything here. I had about 100g cashews, and 50g each of pine nuts and hazelnuts in the cupboard. Take 2-3 slices of white bread and whiz into breadcrumbs in a blender/processor. Add this to the mixture with salt, pepper and an egg. Mix well then put into a prepared 1lb loaf tin, cover with foil and bake at 200C for an hour or so. Remove the foil and return to oven for another 10-15 minutes until browned on top. Then remove from oven, leave for 5 minutes before turning out.

Slice and serve with roast potatoes, beetroot and turnips (yes I had some turnips), something green and gravy. I had some brussel sprouts from the allotment and some runner beans I had perpared and frozen at the end of the Summer.

Left over roast can be sliced and put cold into sandwiches (great with Branston pickle) or fried into nut burgers


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Wild Rice and Roasted Aubergine Salad

26 01 2010

A tasty alternative to a sandwich for lunch. Serve with a generous blob of hummus or greek yogurt.

Apologies if the quantities are a little vague. I put this together late on Sunday night without really thinking.

1 handful of wild rice
2 handfuls of brown rice
1 handful of puy lentils

Place these in a saucepan. Cover with water up to about 2cm over the rice then bring to boil. Once peaks start to form, turn the heat off, place a lid over the pan and leave until cool.

½ aubergine – ½ diced about cm in size
½ red pepper – diced
1 small onion – finely chopped
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
olive oil
salt
pepper
balsamic vinegar

Place the diced vegetables on a roasting dish, drizzle with olive oil, add some salt and pepper then roast in a hot oven – 220C or so – for about 20-30 minutes until soft and sizzling. Allow to cool.

Mix the rice and lentil mixture with the roasted vegetables then add more salt and pepper and balsamic vinger (I used white but the dark one will do too) to taste.

Variations:
Add a few toasted seeds or pine nuts
Add a tablespoon of capers


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Celeriac Soup with Red Pepper Salsa

10 01 2010

As the cold weather continues, the population continues to panic buy at the shops. Having found the local supermarket shelves empty of fresh vegetables I rummages around the bottom of the fridge and found an old celeriac. Must have been in there about 3-4 weeks I guess, but was still quite firm so thought I would turn it into soup. There isn’t much else you can do with celeriac other than soup or perhaps remoulade.

Having made the soup, it looked a little pale, especially as all my soup bowls are white, so I jazzed it up with a hot and spicy red pepper salsa.

For the soup
Knob butter
1 onion – chopped
1 clove garlic – chopped
2 sticks celery – chopped
1 celeriac – peeled and diced
1 medium potato – peeled and diced
Vegetable stock
Splash of single cream
Salt

For the salsa
2 roasted red peppers – from a jar
2 cloves garlic – from the same jar
2 small dried red chilis – or you could use chopped fresh chili
pinch of salt
black pepper
olive oil

Melt a large knob of butter in a large pan then fry the onion, garlic and celery gently until it starts to soften. Add the celeriac and potato, cover with stock, bring to boil then simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Blitz in a blender or puree with a stick blender then return to pan. Add a generous splash of sibgle cream and season to taste. Heat gently.

To make the salsa, simple put everything in a blender and whiz until smooth – adding olive oil as you go to ensure it isn’t to lumpy.

Serve the soup with a blob of salsa in the middle.


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Split Pea Soup with Moroccan Spiced Butter

4 01 2010

My friend Liz shared this with me a a couple of years ago. I think it’s a Nigel Slater recipe. Absolutely delicious…..

For the soup
5 handfuls of split yellow peas
1 onion – roughly chopped
2 sprigs of mint
olive oil

for the butter
2 spring onions – finely chopped
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped or crushed
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
handful of mint leaves – chopped
handful of coriander leaves – chopped
50g butter

Soak peas over night, drain the cover with fresh water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer with the onion, mint and a glug of olive oil. After about an hour the peas should be tender enough to squash on the side of the pan. If not, cook for a little longer, adding boiling water if needed. Remove two thirds of the peas and blend until smooth then return to the pot and simmer until thickened.

To make the butter, just mash all the ingredients together with salt. Ladle the soup into bowls and add a generous dollop of butter to each.


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FoodFrom4 Cookbook

29 12 2009

The first copies of my book are now available from Blurb. I think they look great but then I would do having spent a year on this project. I also ordered myself a couple of copies to see what they came out like. If you’d like to order one, please click the link on the badge below

Recipes from Number 4
By Ian Fischer



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Paneer on Skewers

18 12 2009

We had a few neighbours over recently and I made a few nibbly things. These were great – based on the recipe from Vicky Bhogal’s Year of Cooking Like Mummyjii

Take about 300g paneer and cut into cubes. Place in a bowl with a yellow pepper cut to pieces the same size and a red onion again cut into similar sized chunks. Add about 3 tablespoons of olive or sunflower oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon each of garam masala, ground corainder, salt and paprika. Then add 1 crushed clove of garlic and a small piece of grated ginger. Finally throw in a handful of chopped coriander, mix well, cover and leave for at least an hour.

Soak some wooden skewers in water (this stops them catching fire when under the grill), then divide the marinated paneer, pepper and onions between the skewers. You should get 8-10 out of this quantity.

Heat the grill, then place under for about 10 minutes turning once half way through


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Sloe Gin

7 12 2009

It’s been a long wait – almost three months I think – but finally it’s ready. Just in time for Christmas.

take 1 litre of gin, add 450g of sloe berries (frozen overnight or pricked all over with a pn to release the juices. Stir in 225g caster sugar, then leave in a cool dark place for three months, agitating it from time to time. Strain through muslin and bottle. Serve with champagne, pink lemonade or neat.


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Purple Sprouting

22 11 2009

Last year I grew purple sprouting and the pigeons ate the whole lot. This year I put a net over them – first crop harvested today in a very wet and Muddy allotment. About to eat them with an array of roasted root vegetables – potatoes, parsnips, sweet potatoes, beetroot – and some rubbish Bisto instant gravy.


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Bean & Tomato Soup

18 11 2009

I recently visited the Blue Tomato Cafe in Rock and ate the most delicious (and stupidly expensive) tomato and butter bean soup. Here is my attempt at recreating it.

couple of tablespoons olive oil
1 onion – chopped
1 clove garlic – chopped
2 sticks celery – finely chopped
1 red pepper – diced
1 x 800g tin tomatoes – blended until smoooth
1 teaspoon paprika
1 whole red of green chili – sliced
vegetable stock
salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 x 400g tin butter beans – drained and discard loose skins
1 x 400g tin red kidney beans – drained

Heat oil, fry onion, garlic, celery and oregano until starting to soften. Add the pepper and chili, stir and fry for about 5 minutes. Now add the blended tomatoes. Add a teaspoon of Marigold bouillon then fill the tomato tin with water and add the water to the soup.

Add the beans, bring everyting to a gentle simmer and simmer with a lid on for around 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and serve piping hot.


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