Potato and pea curry

What can you do with some potatoes, green beans and some peas, and 20 minutes?  Well, this .... and it was truly delicious.

Olive oil
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
Fennel seeds
Chili flakes
Turmeric
Diced potatoes
red onion, chopped
Garlic
Chopped green beans
Water
Frozen peas
Garam massala

1.  Sautee red onion, garlic and spices in olive oil.
2.  Add diced potatoes, turn over in oil and then add water.
3.  Simmer, add green beans.
4.  Simmer more, add frozen peas and a smidge of garam massala when nearly done.

Beware, you may need seconds, or thirds.

National burger day burgers

No recipe for this ... it's a burger, with all the trimmings including mushrooms, cheese and pickle ... cos it's national burger day.  Yum.

Veg box fritters with new potatoes - from the allotment.

The photo makes it all look a bit dark - I blame my photographic skills, not my cooking.  These fritters are NOT burnt, they were browned to perfection.

The new potatoes are our first crop from the allotment - very proud!  And, very delicious.

The fritters:

Corn on the cob
Carrot
Courgette
Red onion
Cumin seeds
Fennel seeds
Turmeric
Chili flakes
Salt
Gram flour
Bicarbonate of soda
Rape seed oil

1.  Scrape kernels from sweetcorn (or use tinned/frozen).
2.  Grate peeled carrots, onion and courgette.
3.  Mix all veg together and add salt, let sit for at least 10 minutes to draw out some of the moisture (not to drain off, to activate the bicarb).
4.  Add in spices, mix well.
5.  Add gram flour, bicarb, and mix well.
6.  Fry, gently, in rape seed oil.
7.  Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm.

Yogurt sauce

Natural yogurt
Crushed garlic
Lemon juice
Olive oil

1.  Mix ingredient together, and season to taste.

Tomato and basil salad ... yup. tomato, basil and salt.

I would have added a green salad, but no leaves left from the veg box.  However, this was all delish and the yogurt sauce went spectacularly with the fritters.

Spicy, crunchy fish with new potatoes and peas and stuff

A neighbour, very generously, gave us some home grown new crop potatoes.  She was very proud of them - and quite justifiably so, they were DELICIOUS.  I just boiled them simply and sprinkled them with sea salt.  To accompany them I did spicy crunchy fish and lovely spring vegetables.

Fish

Pollock (or other white fish) fillets, cut into 2 inch(ish) piece

Polenta

Malaysian fish curry spice mix

Olive oil

1.  Toss polenta and spice together,  then toss fish pieces in the mix.

2.  Fry (in batches) in olive oil, drain on kitchen paper, and keep warm until veg and potatoes are ready.

Vegetables

1 onion, finely chopped

Olive oil

Clove garlic, crushed

Petit pois

White wine

Little gem lettuce, cut into 6-8 wedges

Radishes, finely sliced

1.  Soften onion in olive oil, add crushed garlic.

2.  Add petit pois and wine, heat through, about 3-4 minutes

3.  Add lettuce and radich, toss through until lettuce has wilted a little - about 2 minutes.

Serve - scoff - have seconds

 
 
 

Middle eastern lentils and rice with roast vegetables

Olive oil
Lentils
Bay leaf
Garlic
Rice
Onion
Mustard seeds
Cumin
Black sesame seeds
lemon zest, and juice
Fried onions

Butternut squash
Red pepper
Courgette
Aubergine
Garlic
Rosemary
Chili flakes

1.  Boil rice and lentils separately - add a bay leaf and a garlic clove to the lentils.
2.  Roast the veg in olive oil with bay leaves, garlic, a sprig of rosemary and a sprinkle of chili flakes.
3.  When rice and lentils are cooked, drain them and fry with softenned onion, mustard, sesame and cumin seeds.  When mixed grate in a little lemon zest and a squirt of lemon juice.
4.  Top the lentils and rice with crispy fried onions.

Delicious.  I think some lemon yogurt sauce would go very well if you want a bit of a sauce.

Cauliflower, mushroom and green bean curry

A vegan curry was called for - so a vegan curry was invented.  And very tasty it was too.  One of the people around the table had thirds.

Basmati rice - cooked as you normally would

Curry

1 onion, chopped
Garlic, crushed
Olive oil
urad dhal - 1 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
fennel seeds 1/2 tsp
turmeric 1/2 tsp
1 cauliflower, in florets
Mushrooms, cut into bite sized pieces
Green beans, topped, tailed and halved
1 tin coconut milk
Garam masala - 1 tsp (to taste)

1.  Sautee onions until soft, add seeds and garlic and continue to fry until it has a little colour.
2.  Add cauliflower, mushrooms and beans, and water and put a lid on so the veg soften a little.
3.  After 5 minutes add coconut milk and stir through.  Simmer gently for 15 minutes (ish)
4.  Add garam masala, taste and season, simmer for 5 more minutes - the veg should be soft, but not mush.

Serve, scoff.

Peruvian potatoes

This is an adaptation of a Madhur Jaffries recipe which I have made a few times - it always goes down well.   The cheese sauce tastes very salty when you taste it after first zizzing, but adding the cheese and veg really makes a difference.

The red pepper, mange tout and parsley salad goes really well with it.

Serves 4

1 kg baby potatoes
1 egg yolk
225g feta
250ml milk (soya in this case)
1 green chili
1/2 yellow pepper
olive oil
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp flour (gluten free today)

Salad

Cos lettuce
Big handful of parsley
Chopped radish
2 spring onions
Mange tout
Red pepper
Salad cress

1.  Put potatoes on to boil.
2.  Zizz together egg yolk, milk and cheese, until it looks like double cream.
3.  Sautee gently the pepper, chopped green chili and garlic until soft - in the olive oil and turmeric.
4.  Add the flour, stir into the vegetables, then add the sauce and simmer, while stirring to thicken.
5.  Tip the sauces back into the blender and zizz again, until smooth.
6.  Make the salad - toss the leaves together, finely slice radish and onion, shred mange tout and cut pepper into rings.  Spinkle cress on top.
7.  Serve - drain potatoes, serve with cheese sauce on top with the salad.

The recipe suggests serve with boiled eggs and olives - but I prefer the salad option.  Next time I think I'll add more turmeric to make the sauce brighter yellow.

Smoked trout salad

The summer seems to have deserted the north - but the lettuces in the trug have still clung on, so despite thunder and lightening, it was time to have sunshine in the kitchen.

New potatoes
Hot smoked trout

Little gem lettuce
Parsley
Sorrel
Olive oil
Lemon juice

Tomatoes
Spring onions
Radishes
Salt
Olive oil
Basil

Carrots
Sesame seeds

So 4 salads ...

1.  start by washing and boiling new potatoes.
2.  Wash and spin lettuce leaves, add fresh parsley leaves and sorrel leaves (not chopped up as a garnish, but as salad leaves).
3.  Drizzle on olive oil and squeeze on the juice of 1/2 a lemon.  Toss gently as you serve.
4.  Chop the tomatoes, radishes and spring onions, drizzle with a little olive oil, tear in a few basil leaves and grind on rock salt.
5.  Peel and grate carrots, mix in a spoonful of sesame seeds,
6.  Flake smoked trout into the potatoes,
7.  Scoff

(Turn the heating up and pretend that summer is here)

Broad bean risotto

Olive oil
Red onion
Celery
Arborio rice
Garlic
White wine
Vegetable stock
Courgette
Broad beans, double skinned,
Salt and pepper
Grated parmesan
Parsley oil

1. Sautee onion and celery in olive oil.
2.  Add rice and turn over in the oil.
3.  Add a splash of white wine.
4.  Add chopped courgette and broad beans.
5.  Add hot stock a ladle at a time and simmer until absorbed.
 6.  When rice is ready turn off the heat and add a handful of grated parmesan.
7.  sit for 5 minutes, and serve with extra parmesan and a drizzle of parsley oil.

Cod baked with fennel, with parsley oil

Lovely cod fillet in the organic box today, and some fennel, courgette and new potatoes.  Loads of parsley growing in the trug.  The sun was also beating down, so time for a delicious summer supper.

New potatoes
Fennel
Lemon juice
Olive oil
salt and pepper
Courgette
Cod
Parsley

1.  Wash new potatoes and put on to boil (about 15 minutes).
2.  Chop fennel into 3/4 cm strips - removing outer tough leaves.  Place in oven proof dish and splosh on olive oil and the juice of half a lemon, season - and microwave to soften for 5 minutes (if I had more time I would steam).
3.  Chop courgettes and add to fennel. 
4.  Layer cod onto veg and drizzle with olive oil, spritz of lemon juice, season and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes or so.
5.  Zizz huge handful of parsley in olive oil, add a spritz of lemon juice and a turn of salt and pepper.  Zizz a bit more, strain through a fine sieve.  Drizzle over the fish and veg when it is served.

This was light and very tasty.  Fennel and parsley oil is particularly delicious, and not something we had tried before.  Definitely a do again dinner.  Next time I might fry the courgette briefly first, and add some petit pois for colour, but it doesn't really need it.