Recipe: Celeriac Mash

I’ll confess – I was originally making celeriac soup, but it ended up as a sort of mashed potato like variation.

With just the addition of some fried onion, salt and pepper, this versatile dish makes an excellent addition to any dinner with lots of veg sides or as a different replacement for mashed potato.

To learn about Celeriac, click here.

Celeriac Mash

(Serves 6-8) 

-2 large celeriacs -one large onion -olive oil -200-400ml boiled water -dash of salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel the celeriacs and cut them into think pieces. Place them on a non-stick roasting tray, dribble olive oil over the top, and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until just starting to turn crisp. Leave to cool.
2. Slice the onion and fry in olive oil until golden brown.
3. In a food processor, add the celeriac and the fried onion. Blitz.
4. Add a little of the boiling water and blitz again. Continue to add boiling water until you get a mashed potato looking consistency. Add the salt and pepper and blitz again.
5. Tip the contents of the food processor into a non-stick deep based pan and bring to the boil.
6. Serve hot or cold.

Tip: why not add some freshly picked herbs? Thyme, oregano, rosemary, coriander, parsley, sage, lemongrass…

Ps. roasted celeriac sliced thinly can make great chips. 

Mushroom Quinoa Pot

SO… I never did get quite round to growing my quinoa this year.

I’ve finished uni and am now off to the next training course so the veg patch and blog have been neglected this year. But that does not mean that we can’t dream for the future! Fancy growing your own quinoa? Take a look at one of my oldest blog posts here: Quinoa

Despite not growing it this year, how about a little veggie recipe to inspire you?

Mushroom Quinoa Pot

(Serves 2)

-1 large onion, sliced -Olive oil, for frying -450g tomato passata/ sauce -100g quinoa -8 button mushrooms -4 oregano leaves -Sprig of thyme -1tbsp soy sauce -1 1/2tbsp Worcester sauce -Rocket, to serve

1. Slice the onion and place in a non-stick pan with the olive oil. Fry until golden brown and then add the tomato passata or sauce.
2. Add the quinoa and bring to the boil.
3. Cut the mushrooms into fine slices and add, stirring in. Reduce the heat to simmer and cover with a lid. Leave for approximately ten minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the quinoa has cooked and absorbed some of the tomato sauce.
4. Tear up the oregano and thyme and stir in followed by the soy sauce and Worcester sauce. Leave to simmer for another few minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and serve along with fresh rocket.

Blueberry Oats

Some nice little berry biscuit treats. Very simple, only uses three ingredients, vegetarian/gluten/vegan friendly. Cooked blueberries are surprisingly delicious…

Blueberry Oats

-4 medium sized ripe bananas -1-3cups of porridge oats -1 cup of blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a square tray with baking parchment.
2. Mash the bananas in a bowl.
3. Stir in the oats with a fork, a cup at a time, until the oats seem to have absorbed the banana. The mixture should cling together, like a biscuit mixture, and be a little sticky. Be careful not to overdo it with the oats so that it is too dry.
4. Stir in the blueberries.
5. Scrape the contents of the bowl onto the prepared tray. Using the fork, press down onto the mixture, smoothing it out over the surface of the tray. You want it to be thinnish and flat. Think flapjacks.
6. Cut the flattened mixture into squares before placing in the centre of the oven and cooking for about 10-15 minutes, or until the oats are golden brown and the blueberries are cooked.
7. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Mum’s Baked Apples

Happy New year everyone!

Here is a little winter/autumn warming treat to see you through January and February, and a great way of using apples left over in storage from the harvest of 2018.

Mum’s Baked Apples

Serves 6

-6 large baking apples -3/4 cup dark brown sugar -1/2 cup raisins -1/2tsp ground cinnamon -1/4tsp grated nutmeg -1tbsp butter

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Wash and core apples, then remove a 1-inch strip of peel around the middle of each. Arrange the apples in a baking dish, 2-quart shallow.
3. Combine the brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Carefully fill the center of each apple and dot with 1/2tsp of butter.
4. Add just enough water to the baking dish to cover the bottom. Bake, uncovered, for 45-60 minutes, or until the apples are tender (larger ones will take longer). Baste the apples with the juices occasionally.
5. Serve the apples warm. Left-overs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Pumpkin, Cheese and Garlic Bake [Vegetarian Christmas dish]

Christmas dinner can be a little tricky if you are vegetarian. Sure, you’ve got all the veg, bread sauce, Yorkshire puds and vegetarian stuffing if you like it, but unless you are splashing out on a nut roast, there isn’t a lot to make up a ‘main meal’. As a vegetarian – not just a vegetarian, but a fussy vegetarian who needs a balanced meal with all the groups for health reasons – Christmas dinner can be a pain when it comes to protein. I don’t like bread sauce, Yorkshire puds, stuffing or nut roast, so I’m basically doomed. This year, as I was catering for two vegetarians, I thought it was time to try a new recipe. I still had three pumpkins from the veg patch and I thought it was perfect for xmas dinner – I know they are traditionally linked with Thanksgiving, but in the UK we didn’t have it a month earlier so we could afford to use the pumpkin again!

I needed something quick and simple, with some protein in. I opted for cheese. As pumpkin is, well, bland, I also decided to throw some garlic in there too.

It is really basic and can be made in advance of the big day so it doesn’t take up space in the kitchen. Of course, you could make this any time of the year too 😉

Pumpkin, Cheese and Garlic Bake

(Serves 6)

-1 large pumpkin -Olive oil, for drizzling -260g cheddar cheese -20g Swiss gruye -2 garlic cloves

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Cut the pumpkin and remove the seeds. Cut the pumpkin into large slices and place on baking trays. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until golden and cooked. Allow to cool completely.
3. Cut the pumpkin up into small cubes and place in an oven-proof dish.
4. Grate the cheese and dice the garlic up into small pieces. Mix together and then sprinkle it over the top of the pumpkin.
5. Preheat the grill to high and heat the bake until the cheese has melted at the top is golden – it should only take a minute or two so keep an eye on it. Or, preheat the oven to 200C and bake for approximately 10-20 minutes, or until the top is golden and the cheese has melted.
6. Serve. Store in the fridge when cold.

Christmas from the garden

Christmas is one of the busiest times in the kitchen, but it doesn’t mean you can’t pop out to the garden too… especially to harvest things.

Christmas cooking can be like the climax of the harvested year. You can give your jams away as presents, eat redcurrant and cranberry jelly and sauce with your Christmas meal. Harvested chestnuts or other nuts can be used in desserts. Dried cranberries or raisins are great for puds. And of course, anything that is still green at this time of year can be added to your wreath or house for festive cheer.

Dried Cranberry Chocolate Cake anyone?

But you don’t have to stop there… what about the main Christmas meal?

What about growing and cooking your own Christmas dinner?

For future thinking, here are some traditional Christmas dinner things you could plan to grow for next Christmas:

• Potatoes – we always plant so many we still have plenty in the ground come Christmas day. As long as they are well buried and not planted in too damp a place, potato tubers will be fine against the frosts.
• Brussel Sprouts or Brukale (Brussel sprout crossed with kale).
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Carrots – yes, you can still be harvesting carrots from the ground at Christmas, if you cover them with fleece.
• Parsnips
• Cabbages
• Beetroot – why not add some to your roasted roots?
• Celeriac – ditto, or a celeriac mash? Or just boiled?
• Celery – homemade stuffing anyone? And in that case how about freezing some pears or storing some apple too?
• Onions
• Runner- beans or peas – store them in your freezers all year round from the first harvest onwards.
• Pumpkin or squash – usually USA’s Thanksgiving, I know, but how about roasting some and creating a vegetarian/vegan replacement for the usual meat?

Homegrown Brussels and Brukale

Christmas is a holiday, a time of celebration and of having fun with loved ones. To me, it is also a time to be creative and original, to do what I love by going back and cooking from scratch, a way of tying up my year of cooking and growing. This year we will be having our own cabbage, beans, pumpkin, celeriac, beetroot, carrots, potatoes and Brussel Sprouts, not to forget homegrown redcurrant jelly and homemade cranberry sauce… What a way to celebrate an end to 2018!

RIP David Austin Sr. 

What do you grow/dream of growing for Christmas time? Let us know.

For Christmas baking recipes, check out Beagle Baking (https://bellasbakingsite.wordpress.com/home/)

Just type ‘Christmas’ into the search bar and it will show you some festive treats.

And then, after all that food, just follow Rainbow’s advice:

Bed.

Pumpkin Risotto

We still have a few pumpkins waiting for attention. Roasting them and then adding to a dish is a perfect way of using them – see Pumpkin Coconut Curry, Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin cake for more ideas…

Pumpkin Risotto

(Serves 4)

-1 small pumpkin -Olive oil, for  roasting -25g butter – 1 onion, sliced – 325g rice – Salt and pepper, for seasoning -750ml vegetable stock –More cooked vegetables, to serve (optional)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Slice and clear the insides of a pumpkin. Cut into segments and place on a roasting tray, drizzled with olive oil. Roast for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
2. Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onion and fry gently over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat down a little.
3. Add the rice and a grinding of salt and pepper. Stir to coat the rice with the butter.
4. Add the stock after frying the rice like a pilau for a couple of minutes, bring to the boil, stirring frequently.
5. Turn the heat down once the stock is bubbling and leave to simmer until almost all of the stock has been absorbed. Add the roasted pumpkin, cut up into squares, cover, and leave to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
6. Serve with cooked vegetables.

Recipe: Kidney beans and fried onion

Such an easy, simple dish but tastes so good. 

Homegrown potato, runner beans and onion, fried with kidney beans in olive oil, and mashed with butter

Kidney Beans and Fried Onion

(Serves 4)

-Dash of olive oil, for frying -450g kidney beans (drained if canned, soaked and cooked if dried) -1 large onion, sliced 

1. Warm the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and fry until just starting to turn golden.
2. Add the kidney beans and turn the heat down to medium and heat for a couple of minutes. 
3. Remove from the heat and serve with a baked potato mashed with butter, a side salad or some veggies. 

Apple and Cinnamon Ice-Cream

Sorry this is so late – I promised it ages ago when the apples were in high season, but uni essays had to take priority!

So, apple and cinnamon – a good mix.

This is a little autumnal treat. Eat it on its own or serve with a nice hot pudding. What about a winter crumble with apple and cinnamon ice cream on the side?

Enjoy!

Apple and Cinnamon Ice Cream 

(1L ice cream container)

-1 cup whole milk -3/4 cup granulated sugar -2 cups double cream -6 egg yolks -2tsp ground cinnamon

-2tbsp butter -2 large apples, cored and diced into chunks -1/4 cup dark brown sugar -1tsp ground cinnamon -1/4tsp ground nutmeg

1. To make the ice cream base: in a large pan, add the milk, 1/4 of the sugar and the cream. Bring just to the boil.
2. In a large bowl, mix the rest of the sugar and the egg yolks together. Carefully pour in the heated milk mixture and start to whisk it in.
3. Once combined, mix in the ground cinnamon thoroughly.
4. To make the apple compote: melt the butter in a non-stick pan. In a bowl, toss the apple with the brown sugar and spices. Tip into the pan and heat, stirring often, until the apple is tender and the sugar has melted. This should take a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
5. If using an ice cream machine, follow the manufacturers instructions. If making it by hand, pour the ice cream base into a large ice cream container. Scrape in the cooled apple mixture and stir in, using figure of eight movements. Seal and place in the freezer. Every half an hour, remove and repeat the same figure of eight swirls. Continue until the ice cream has set. Serve.

Pumpkin Soup

I haven’t made a lot of soups in my time – carrot and coriander once years ago and a vegetable broth at River Cottage – but I have always wanted to make pumpkin soup with a homegrown pumpkin.

We did really well with the pumpkins this year and after my siblings had carved their spooky faces into two of them for Halloween, I turned one of them – forgotten which one, might have been Bob or Reg… – into soup. Cruel, but it was either that or feed him to the pigs.

Here is my super-duper easy pumpkin soup. You could add more seasoning to it of you would like more flavour. I have heard suggestions of chilli and peanut butter before…

Pumpkin Soup

Serves… a lot. At least ten people. 

-1 medium sized pumpkin, 1.5kg, de-seeded -Olive oil, for roasting and frying -1 large onion, sliced -700ml boiling water -1 generous tsp Bouillon vegetable stock powder – A pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut the pumpkin up into chunks and place on a non-stick baking tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and place in the centre of the oven. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until the pumpkin wedges are cooked and perhaps browning a little. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
2. In a deep-based pan, fry the onion in olive oil until golden brown.
3. Place the pumpkin and the onion in a food processor and blitz until mush.
4. Add the tsp veg stock powder to the boiling water and mix well. Slowly pour into the food processor and blitz the pumpkin again.
5. Scare the contents of the food processor into the pan and bring to the boil, stirring. Add the pinch of salt.
6. Serve hot in bowls. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Can be frozen too.