Rosemary | Canalside Community Food

This makes a very good Friday night dinner. The pumpkin (or squash) soup is silky and rich, despite its simple ingredients, and the multiple toppings add complexity and, in the case of the pumpkin seeds, crunch. The rice provides a backdrop for the ginger-spiked soup and rosemary butter. You will leave the table feeling well-fed and comfortable in your tummy.

Pumpkin and Rice Soup, Serves 2-3 as a main

Ingredients

For the Soup

1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
½ dried chile, chopped and de-seeded if you prefer
1 teaspoon salt
1kg squash or pumpkin
1.2 litres of water
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger, or a bit more, to taste

To Serve

cooked brown rice, warm
plain yoghurt
toasted pumpkin seeds
lemon-ginger-rosemary butter (see below)

Method

In a large pot melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion, chile and salt. Turn the heat to low and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the onion is softened.

Meanwhile, prepare the squash or pumpkin. Peel it, remove any seeds and cut it into 2cm chunks. You need about 700g once it’s been peeled and de-seeded.

When the onion is soft add the squash or pumpkin and water. Bring to a simmer and cook gently until the squash or pumpkin is soft. This will take between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on the squash or pumpkin.

Remove from the heat and add the ginger. Use a stick blender to puree until it is smooth. Add a bit more water if it seems too thick for your taste.

To serve, put a big scoop of rice in each soup bowl and top with the soup. Decorate with some yoghurt, toasted pumpkin seeds and lemon-ginger-rosemary butter.

Lemon-Ginger-Rosemary Butter

Ingredients

50g butter
rosemary leaves from a 10cm sprig, chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
pinch of salt

Method

Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat, until the butter starts to brown. Keep an eye on it so it does not burn.

Remove from the heat and stir in the other ingredients. Let sit for at least 5 minutes, to let the flavours meld.

Recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks

‘A zucchini and a steak may not have much in common, but, like steak, zucchini takes incredibly well to the method of quickly searing in a smoking hot pan’. So states Lidey Heuck in the New York Times, and she’s right. In this easy recipe courgettes are cooked fast to develop an appetising char, and then basted with butter, garlic and rosemary. We ate these topped with ricotta, alongside a tomato salad and some good bread.

Pan-Seared Courgettes
Serves 2-3

Ingredients
3 small courgettes (6 to 8 inches each)
1 tablespoon grapeseed, safflower or other high-heat cooking oil
salt and pepper
1½ tablespoons unsalted butter, or more to taste
1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
To garnish:
coarse sea salt
lemon zest
red-pepper flakes

Preparation
Trim the ends off the courgettes and cut them lengthwise into planks about ½-inch thick. Pat them dry, pressing gently but firmly on both sides to absorb any moisture.

Heat a large (12-inch) cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet over medium-high. If you have a ridged pan this is a good opportunity to use it. Add the oil and heat until it’s almost smoking.

Add the courgettes to the pan and press lightly with a spatula so that the planks make contact with the pan. Don’t crowd them—if you do they will steam rather than sear.

Sprinkle the tops with salt and pepper, and cook for about 3 minutes, until the courgettes are nicely charred on the bottom. Lower the heat to medium, flip over the courgettes, and season again with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 to 3 more minutes, until the bottoms are charred. 

Turn the heat to low and add the butter, garlic and rosemary. Carefully tilt the pan, letting the garlic and rosemary cook in the butter for 30-60 seconds, until the butter has begun to brown. Spoon the butter over the courgettes, and cook for another minute, flipping them a few times to coat both sides with the butter. 

Transfer the courgettes to a serving platter, along with the garlic and rosemary, and spoon any butter that’s left in the pan on top. Garnish with sea salt, lemon zest and red-pepper flakes, and serve hot.

Recipe adapted from New York Times Cooking

Everyone knows roasted vegetables are good. Adding a punchy caper and parsley vinaigrette makes them even better. You can use different vegetables (potatoes, say), and you can also vary the vinaigrette by adding harissa paste, or using basil or mint instead of parsley.
Served with rice or another grain to soak up the vinaigrette, this makes a good weekday dinner. You can add some salted yoghurt if you want additional creaminess (and protein).

Roasted Parsnips and Squash with Caper Vinaigrette
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
For the roast veg
700g parsnips, peeled
700g squash or pumpkin
120ml olive oil
4 medium red onions (optional)
4 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
Several grinds of black pepper
1 whole head of garlic
10-20 small tomatoes, cut in half
For the dressing
1 large lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped if they are large
1.5 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
big handful of parsley, chopped fine
½ teaspoon salt
Several grinds of black pepper

Preparation
Prepare the roast veg:
Preheat oven to 190C.

Cut each parsnip into batons about 5cm long and 1.5 wide—but if they are small it is fine to leave them whole. They will look amusing in the finished dish.

Using your hand, scoop the seeds out the squash. (You can use these to make a nice nibble: https://www.101cookbooks.com/toasted-pumpkin-seeds/.) Peel the squash and cut it into chunks roughly the same size as your parsnips.

Peel the onions (if using) and cut each into 6 wedges.

Cut the head of garlic in half horizontally. Don’t break it into individual cloves or try to peel it! Just cut the whole thing into two pieces, horizontally.

Place the parsnips, squash, onions and garlic into a roasting tin and add 120ml olive oil, the thyme and rosemary, 1teaspoon salt, and some pepper. Mix well and spread it out in the pan so the vegetables are not all heaped on top of themselves. Place in the oven and roast for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables look golden and are pretty tender.

After 20 minutes add the tomatoes, and roast for another 10 minutes or so, until the vegetables are completely tender when prodded with a fork and the tomatoes have softened.

While the vegetables are roasting prepare the vinaigrette: zest the lemon and then cut it in half so you can juice it. Combine the lemon juice (about 2 tablespoons) and zest with the other ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
Finish the dish: Once the vegetables are done, remove them from the oven and pour the vinaigrette over the hot vegetables. Toss to combine and serve with rice or some other grain.

Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty (2010).

The potato haul was very good this year and this seems to have resulted in a slowly growing bag of potatoes in our house. So this week I’ve been thinking about some new ways to get through them all. Today’s recipe may not be new for all of you but I’ve never tried it and I’m excited to give it a go!

Hasselback potatoes

Ingredients (serves 4)
½ tsp dried thyme, rosemary or mixed herbs
½ tsp flaked sea salt
½ tsp coarsely ground black pepper
3 tbsp sunflower, vegetable or olive oil, plus extra for greasing
8 small–medium potatoes, each one approx. 75g/2¾oz, scrubbed (ideally, all-rounders or floury potatoes)
small knob of butter, approx. 15g/½oz (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Lightly oil a baking tray. Mix the herbs, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Pour the oil into a second bowl.

Place two wooden spoons or chopsticks on a chopping board, about 5cm/2in apart. Place the potatoes one at a time between the handles. Using a sharp knife with a thin blade, cut the potatoes very thinly and vertically almost all the way through – the knife will stop slicing when it meets the spoons. Each slice should be a little narrower than a pound coin.

As you prepare each potato, add it to the oil and turn to coat, then add to the seasoning mix and rub all over the potato, making sure a little of the seasoning mix gets in between the slices.

Place the potato on the baking tray, cut-side up. Prepare the remaining potatoes in the same way. Drizzle any remaining oil over the potatoes and bake for 40 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven and dot each of the potatoes with a little butter, then bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden, crisp and tender. Check for tenderness with the point of a knife or the tip of a skewer. (If you don’t want to use butter, cook the potatoes for around 50 minutes in total.) Serve immediately.

I’ll probably try slotting some cheese in between the slices, and maybe topping with bolognese or sour cream.

Adapted from BBC Food

A while ago I tried a recipe for whole broad beans cooked in a tomato sauce, and it was pretty good. It set me thinking whether you could actually cook the normally-discarded pods (husks?) that are left over when you shell broad beans. It turns out you can. I mentioned this to several friends, who variously told me I’d gone nuts, or that it sounded like the sort of thing people eat in Siberia. What can I say? I thought it was pretty good. We ate this with brown rice and a topping of salted yoghurt, and a shredded carrot salad on the side.

If you would like a normal recipe for broad beans, I strongly recommend this one: spaghetti with broad beans, bread crumbs and marjoram.

Broad Bean Stew
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
Salt and pepper
Leftover husks from about 500g young broad beans (that’s about 300g of broad-bean husks)
Juice of half a lemon
2-3 tablespoons fresh herbs (I used lemon thyme, sage, and dill)
½ cup water

Preparation
Heat the olive oil over low heat and add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 minutes, until the onion is soft but not brown.
Meanwhile assess the broad bean husks. You want bright, green, fresh-looking ones. Discard any that look discoloured. Remove any stringy bits along the sides, rather as you’d remove the strings from off the sides of runner beans. Cut the husks into 1-inch pieces.
Add the broad beans to the onions, stir, and cook for a minute.
Add the water, stir, cover, and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, or until the husks are tender. Top up with more water if it seems to be drying out.
Once the husks are tender, add the fresh herbs and lemon juice, and season with freshly-ground black pepper.
If you wish, you can also mix in some cooked broad beans, to make a double-broad-bean stew.
Serve on brown rice with a topping of salted yoghurt mixed with preserved lemon (if you happen to have any to hand).

It seems like every sprouts recipe in existence starts with “sprouts are now one of my favourite christmas foods…” but however cliche it is, I agree since I started experimenting with different ideas. In past years I’ve used Jamie Oliver’s squashed brussels recipe but this year I want to keep it veggie so I’ve gone for the recipe below. I might experiment with boiling, frying and squashing the sprouts before the roast as per the Jamie recipe though.

Maple Balsamic Sprouts
Ingredients:
4 cups (350g) Brussels sprouts, halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 cup (40g) hazelnuts, roasted chopped

Maple Balsamic Glaze
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoon maple syrup

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 220 C
Wash and half the Brussels Sprouts and toss them with oil, onions, garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Spread onto a baking sheet in a single layer and bake for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned on the outside and tender on the inside.
Stir together balsamic vinegar and maple syrup and set aside.
Remove from oven and toss with hazelnuts and maple balsamic glaze.
Serve warm.

Taken from: https://www.mydarlingvegan.com/maple-balsamic-brussels-sprouts-with-hazelnuts-and-rosemary/

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a Jerusalem Artichoke before, but they’re coming in the share next week! After a bit of searching around it seems like roasting is the most common way to eat them and this recipe sounds like a good introduction. Anyone who’s had them before please feel free to suggest other ideas!

Ingredients (scalable)

• 800g Jerusalem artichokes
• 1 garlic bulb, cut down the middle
• 1 tbsp rosemary leaves, chopped
• 3 tbsp rapeseed (or other) oil
• pinch ground mace (Comes from nutmeg shells, so I will probably just substitute nutmeg)
• 20g butter
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Method
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Soak the artichokes in cold water for 20 mins or so to loosen any dirt, then scrub them with a scourer, being sure to remove any grit. Halve the small ones and quarter the bigger ones, and put them in a roasting tin with the split garlic bulb and rosemary. Coat everything with the oil and season. Roast for 45-50 mins until tender inside and crispy outside.

To finish, squeeze the softened garlic cloves from their skins and toss with the roasted artichokes, along with the mace, butter and lemon juice.

Taken from https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/crispy-jerusalem-artichokes-roasted-garlic-rosemary