Roast venison

Sometimes Bracewell's butchers have venison … they have some red stag available now.

So - roast venison, roast cauliflower with hazelnuts, braised red cabbage with apple, mashed potatoes and a mushroom and onion gravy.  Roast halloumi for the veggie too.

All ingredients sourced from Todmorden market - The Mediterranean Pantry (garlic, olive oil, bouillon, red wine vinegar, hazelnuts, tomato puree, sea salt), Bracewell's butchers (venison), The Crumbly Cheese (halloumi, butter), Kevin (vegetables)

Start with the cabbage, then potatoes, then cauliflower and gravy - finally the meat.  Takes about an hour and a bit.

Onions
Red cabbage
Garlic
Apple
Red wine vinegar
Vegetable stock
Olive oil
cauliflower
Mushrooms
Tomato puree
Hazelnuts
Potatoes
Butter
Venison - loin

1.  Season the venison with salt, leave at room temperature to cook at the end.
2.  In olive oil, sweat down chopped onion and a clove of crushed garlic, add shredded red cabbage, a splash of red wine vinegar, a chopped apple and about half a pint of vegetable stock (I also chucked in a cup of red wine - totally optional).  Simmer gently for about an hour - taste to check for seasoning, and don't let it burn by drying out too much.
3.  Peel potatoes, boil in salted water to make mash.  When they are done mash with a good knob of butter, and put into an oven dish, in the oven, to brown on top.
4.  Break cauliflower into florets, toss in olive oil and roast - takes about 30 minutes - add roughly chopped hazelnuts 10 minutes before serving.
5.  Make gravy - soften chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil - add tomato puree and veg stock - simmer gently for 10 minutes - add water/wine to get the consistency right.
6.  Fry venison on each side for about 2 minutes, roast for about 15 minutes, leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.
7. Serve, scoff … have seconds.  Sunday perfected.

Cauliflower, hazelnut and gorgonzola bake, roasted squash and tomatoes. Potatoes with onions and mushrooms

Bring on the autumnal flavours with all of these vegetables bang in season.  Cauliflower and hazelnuts go really well together, and this time I added some gorgonzola for extra smoothness and a slightly sharp flavour.  Roasted squash and tomatoes added an earthy sweetness - and you can't go wrong with sautéed potatoes, onion and mushrooms.  (Leave out the gorgonzola and the butter and it's vegan too).

Olive oil

Butter

Cauliflower

Squash

Cherry tomatoes

Gorgonzola

Red onion

Mushrooms

Cooked new potatoes

1.  Prep the squash, splosh over olive oil and roast at 180 … for about 45 minutes.

2.  Toss the tomatoes in a little olive oil and a pinch of salt, roast alongside the squash.

3.  Cut the cauliflower into "steaks" .. ie. slices top to core, about 2cm thick - there will be some larger florets which "fall" off - I cooked these in the same way as the steaks.  

4.  Fry the cauliflower in olive oil and butter for a few minutes each side - panne the steaks to keep them succulent (with a spoon, keep lifting the fats from the pan and pour them over the cauliflower).

5.  When the cauliflower is about half cooked - ie. still a little resistant to a sharp knife, but a bit golden brown around the edges - transfer to an oven dish.

6.  Add bite sized chunks of gorgonzola and roughly chopped hazelnuts to the cauliflower.  Put it in the oven with the squash and tomatoes.

7.  In the same pan, using the same oil, sautee chopped red onion, chopped mushrooms and sliced (precooked) potatoes.

8.  Serve, scoff … seconds

Pasta with cauliflower, peas, feta and hazelnuts

I couldn't get the lighting right for the picture, and I wanted to eat my dinner … so, very substandard picture of a delicious dinner.

Pasta - I used pea fusilli to keep it GF, but could be any short pasta
Cauliflower
Baby spinach
Red onion
Frozen peas
Feta
Hazelnuts
Mint
Olive oil




1.  Break cauliflower into small florets.
2.  Boil pasta in salted water, steam the cauliflower over it.
3.  Mix a couple of big handfuls of baby spinach with a small, finely diced, red onion.
4.  Add some frozen peas to the steaming cauliflower and continue cooking.
5.  Roughly chop half a cup of hazelnuts.
6.  When the pasta is done drain it and chuck it on top of the spinach to wilt it.  Stir it around a little to help it, then add the cauliflower and peas, stir it again.
7.  Break on the feta, add the nuts - turn over gently.
8.  Add a little finely shredded mint and a drizzle of olive oil.
9.  Serve, scoff …

Done in 10 minutes flat (if the water is boiling already).  The veg dodger had some salami, but otherwise very quick very tasty veggie dinner.

Cauliflower and hazelnut carbonara

This "carbonara" has no cream, but is still silky smooth and luxurious. The idea is that the hot pasta cooks the egg, making the sauce for the pasta.  I would use 1 egg per 2 portions. We used gluten free pasta, but obviously you could use "normal".  The nuts add a lovely crunchy sweetness.  It's quick too!

Olive oil
Cauliflower
Mushrooms
Garlic
Egg
Soya milk (or normal milk, or single cream)
Parmesan (or other hard cheese)
Hazelnuts

1.  Break the cauliflower into florets, slice mushrooms into thickish slices, peel and roughly chop peeled garlic cloves.  Toss in olive oil and roast, at 180, for about 30 minutes.
2.  Roughly chop (or zizz in a food processor) a good handful of hazelnuts.  Grate parmesan.
3.  Whisk egg with a fork.
4.  Boil pasta - when it is done, drain, add roast veg and stir in the egg - quickly.  If it looks like it is going a bit dry add a splosh of soya milk.
5.  Chuck in the grated cheese, mix in.  (If you think it's a little cold by now put it in the oven for 5 minutes).
6.  Serve, sprinkle the top with hazelnuts and a healthy grind of black pepper. Add a simple green salad.
7.  Scoff, sigh … scoff seconds.

Spaghetti with cauliflower, kale and hazelnut "pesto"

Make the most of our lovely autumnal vegetables by chucking together this fabulous "pesto" and pasta.  I'm calling it "pesto" because it's a hand cut chunky sauce, not a finely blended herby sauce.  this means that you can really taste the chunks of roasted cauliflower and hazelnuts in their separate loveliness as well as the mixture.

Cauliflower
Olive oil
Garlic - quite a lot
cavolo nero
parmesan
hazelnuts
lemon zest
spaghetti (gluten free in our case - but could be standard, or some other long pasta)

1.  Break the cauliflower into smallish florets, and roast in olive oil for about 30 minutes.
2.  Meanwhile mix together finely sliced garlic, shredded cavolo nero, grated parmesan and roughly chopped hazelnuts with a good splosh of olive oil.
3.  Boil the water for the pasta.
4.  Sprinkle the cavo nero, hazelnut and parmesan mixture over the cauliflower and return to the oven to roast for a further 10 minutes.
5.  Cook the pasta, drain, reserve a ladleful of the cooking water.
6.  Mix the vegetable sauce with the pasta and the spoonful of water and toss.  Grate over a little lemon zest and a good grind of black pepper.
7. Serve, scoff, be amazed at how well it all goes together.

Roast cauliflower, with hazelnuts, baby roast potatoes and a mushroom gravy.

I love cauliflower, but I didn't fancy cauliflower cheese (to be honest, I am trying to cut down on lactose containing, as I've been suffering with headaches recently - and cheese is a trigger) ... anyway, to avoid disappointment of it not being cauliflower cheese, I wanted to do something tasty ... so, with some baby roasties and a flavoursome mushroom gravy this hazelnut loaded, herby spicy roast cauliflower was invented - and very tasty it was too.

Baby potatoes
Olive oil
Cauliflower
Moussaka seasoning
Onions
Garlic
Mushrooms
Tomato puree
Veg stock cube
Mustard
Hazelnuts

1.  Cut baby potatoes into pieces, toss in olive oil and roast for about a hour.
2.  Break cauliflower into florets, toss in olive oil, sprinkle with moussaka seasoning and roast for about 45 minutes.
3.  Make gravy by sauteeing onions and garlic in olive oil, add chopped mushrooms, tomato puree and stock cube with water, simmer ... after it has simmered for a few minutes stir in a spoonfulof mustard .. keep an eye on it, if it's getting a bit dry add more water, if it's too watery turn up the heat and reduce it down.
4.  Strew the cauliflower with roughly chopped hazelnuts and put back in the oven for 5 minutes.
5.  Serve, scoff, congratulate yourself.

Celeraic, lentil and hazelnuts

Lovely autumnal vegetables all around, mix with with some tasty ingredients, and you can eat all sorts of delicious things - I think I read something along these lines by Ottolengi, but I wouldn't swear to it.  All ingredients available in Todmorden market (The Mediterranean Pantry, and the veg stalls)  Also, totally vegan.

Olive oil
Lemon
Celeriac
Carrots
Hazelnuts
Onion
Celery
Garlic
Green lentils
Vegetable stock
Dry white wine
Bay leaves
Thyme
Mustard
Baby spinach

1.  Peel the celeraic and carrots, cut into batons, spritz with lemon juice (to prevent discolouration of the celariac), toss in olive oil and roast for 45 minutes.
2.  Spread hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for about 5-20 minutes.
3.  Put lentils on to boil with a couple of bay leaves and a spring of thyme.
4.  Sautee chopped onion and celery with crushed garlic in olive oil.
5.  When the lentils are nearly done (about 20 minutes), drain them and pick out the dry herbs.
6.  Toss the lentils into the onion mixture, with a splash of dry white wine and a cup of stock, simmer for a few minutes, so finish them off,  stir in a tablespoon of mild mustard.
7.  Turn the heat off under the lentils, stir in a big handful of baby spinach and let it wilt.
8.  Serve, put a bed of lentils on the plate, topple on the veg and sprinkle with roughly chopped roasted hazelnuts.
9.  Serve, scoff

Update - this made a fantastic soup zizzed up with some more veg stock then next day for lunch.

Root vegetable nut crumble, with cabbage and peas

Recipe an adaptation of Leith's vegetable bible (or something similar).  Lovely, though, I think addition of a good tomato sauce would make it excellent.

Start the veg on the hob, but put the oven on to 180 after 5-10 minutes

So....

Olive oil
Onion, chopped
Celery, chopped
Celeriac, chopped into 1cm cubed (ish)
Turnip .. chopped into 1cm cubed (ish)
Potato - chopped into 1cm cubed (ish)
Mustard - 2 tsp
Garlic - 3 cloves, crushed
Apple juice (3/4 pint)
Veg stock, about a pint

Crumble topping

Oats
Pasrmesan
mixed nuts (hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts... today)
seeds
seasoning
paprika
olive oil

Serve with:-

Savoy cabbage
Frozen petit pois

1. Sautee onion and celery in olive oil, until a bit soft.
2.  Add chopped root vegetables, and turn over in the oil for a few minutes.
3.  Add apple juice and stock, garlic and mustard .... simmer.

Make crumble:-

Zizz parmesan, nuts and seasoning.
Mix into a bowl of oats, with a little GF flour
Glug in olive oil (about 5 tbsp), and seeds
Mix .... all oats should have a film of oil on them

Tip veg into oven proof dish.
Top with crumble.
Bake for 30 minutes

Steam cabbage, in last 5 minutes chuck frozen peas into water under cabbage steamer.

Simple, wholesome, bloody delicious - loads left for seconds .

we' re thinking about tangy tomato or rich mushroom sauce :)

Sprouts are not just for Christmas

Brown rice risotto - with leeks, mushrooms and broccoli - with brussels sprouts and hazelnuts

It all sounds very worthy - but bloody hell, it tasted fabulous.

Brown rice leek and mushroom
risotto

olive oil
leeks, washed and chopped
brown rice
mushrooms, chopped
vegetable stock
garlic
broccoli
fried onions

Brussel sprouts and hazelnuts

Butter
Sprouts shredded
hazelnuts, roughly chopped

1.  Sautee leeks in olive oil, until soft.
2. Add rice (I used brown rice, which means about twice the time of white rice) and some stock, simmer.
3. Add chopped mushrooms and garlic, simmer - keep on a medium heat.
4.  Keep an eye on the pan, add some water/stock when it is going dry.
5.  After about 20 minutes, add broccoli florets to steam on the top.

Brussel sprouts

1,  In a frying pan - melt a good know of butter, with a tbsp of olive oil
2.  Add shredded brussel sprouts, toss for a minute of two.
3. Add chopped hazelnuts.
4. Toss mixture together - don't burn it - but dont serve it cold :)

Kholrabi salad with mushroom, spinach and hazelnut pasta

Well, much debate about what to call tonight's dinner - without just listing ingredients!  It is Monday - the veg box arrives on a Tuesday morning.  This is the time when you look at what you have got, and try to find something tasty, which is not just "chuck it in and hope for the best".

So, two dishes, either of which could have stood alone, but actually were delicious together.

Kholrabi, apple and watercress salad

Olive oil
1 lemon
1 kholrabi
2 small apples
2 carrots (mine were yellow, but that's because that was what we got)
1 onion, very finely sliced
cider vinegar
1 small bunch watercress, leaves picked off
salt and pepper

1.  Squeeze half a lemon to catch its juice in a bowl add about as much olive oil - this is to stop the kholrabi and apple oxidising and turning brown - so bear this in mind as you grate the other ingerdients in, and make sure you turn them over in the lemon juice and oil as you prepare the veg.
2.  Grate in kholrabi, apples and carrots.  Finely (as finely as you can) slice onions into half moons. I would have used red onions if I had some, but I didn't so VERY carefully finely sliced a white onion.
3.  Turn over to make sure veg and fruit have a film - you may wish to add more juice/oil - and/or a drop of cider vinegar to make a tangy, tasy mix.
4.  Strip watercress and gently stir in leaves.
5.  Taste, and adjust seasoning.

Mushroom, spinach and hazelnut pasta

Pasta (this is a gluten free version, so it was a corn rice mix penne pasta.. but any shortish pasta would be fine)
olive oil
8 (well, 8ish) mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
splosh of brandy (optional really, but does give a depth of flavour)
big handful of spinach leaves
3 tbsps creme fraiche
75g gorgonzola (or other blue cheese)
water
black pepper
a handful of hazelnuts

1.  Cook pasta in boiling water, according to packet instructions - don't over cook, as it will be heated through with the mushroom mixture.  Drain when cooked.  If a little while before needed, drizzle over a tiny hint of olive oil and stir so that it doesn't stick together.
2.  Chop mushrooms and sautee gently in olive oil (and butter, if you like butter).
3.  Chop spinach leaves into ribbons - not tiny pieces, just so that when they wilt they keep some shape but are not stringy.
4.  Add crushed garlic to mushrooms, stir in.
5.  Add a splosh of brandy - flame it (turn pan slightly into gas flame/ a match) to burn off the harshness of the alcohol but retain the flavour (this step is entirely optional, but does add a depth of flavour otherwise un-achievable)
6.  Add ribbons of spinach and stir/toss until wilted.
7.  Meanwhile roast hazelnuts, briefly, in a dry frying pan - about 2 minutes shaking much of the time.  Once roasted  - either pulse in processor or smash a bit in pestle and mortar.
7.  Chuck in pasta, remove from heat.
8.  Let cool for a minute, add crumbled cheese and creme fraiche.  Stir through until cheese is melted.

Serve - I sprinkled the hazelnuts on the pasta, and served with the salad - and we both had seconds... and thirds.