Onions | Canalside Community Food - Part 7

A friend gave me a very long courgette. It was about ¾ of a meter long. Actually, she gave me two. Research suggests that they are ‘Sicilian courgettes’—genuine courgettes (not hard-skinned marrows) that simply grow to extraordinary lengths. Anyway, we’ve been eating courgettes. Fortunately they are delicious, and came accompanied by several recipe suggestions. This one is for an exceptional courgette soup.

The courgettes are roasted together with onion and garlic, which gives the flavour an unexpected complexity. Peas bring additional sweetness and this is a good way to use the fresh basil we’re enjoying in the shares. As with most soups you can vary the proportions and quantities a bit to match what you have to hand. Serve with crusty bread and some grated cheese.

Roasted Courgette Soup with Peas and Basil
Serves 3

Ingredients
2 tablespoons rapeseed or olive oil
1kg courgettes (approx.)
4 garlic cloves (unpeeled)
7 tiny Canalside onions (or 2 medium onions)
Salt and pepper, to taste
200g frozen peas
20g fresh basil
750 ml stock
4 tablespoons full-fat milk
Parmesan or pecorino, to serve

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 200C. Drizzle the oil onto a large baking sheet.

Trim the ends off the courgettes and slice them into rounds about 1 cm thick. Place them on the baking sheet and scatter the unpeeled garlic cloves around them. Peel the onions, and if they are the tiny Canalside ones leave them whole and scatter them alongside the courgette and garlic. If they’re a bit larger slice them into thick slices before adding them to the baking tray.

Season with salt and pepper, toss them around a bit, and roast them for 40-45 minutes, until the vegetables are golden brown and roasted. Don’t let them char to a crisp but let them get toasted. Remove from the oven and let cool a bit.

Once the vegetables are cool enough to handle squeeze the roasted garlic flesh out of their paper skins into a pan. Add the remaining vegetables, the peas and the basil.

When you’re ready to serve, heat the stock and add it to the pan together with the milk. Blend the soup using an immersion blender and heat gently until warm. Add some additional water if you’d like the consistency to be a bit thinner. Serve with grated cheese on top.

Recipe adapted from The Veg Space, courtesy of Jean Noonan.

When you cook beans slowly in olive oil the result is quite different from the snappy crispness produced by a quick dip in boiling water. The oil and tomatoes meld into a rich sauce that gives the dish substance and depth. Add some fresh basil and a slice of salty cheese, and enjoy for dinner with some crusty bread and a glass of red wine.
Rachel Roddy recommends you let the beans sit for a couple of hours before eating them but I think they’re pretty good straight away as well.

Braised Green Beans with Tomato and Basil
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 large or 2 small white onions, peeled and sliced thin
Salt
750g green beans or runner beans
750g ripe tomatoes, peeled if you wish, chopped coarsely
A handful of torn basil leaves
Feta, or other salty cheese, sliced, to serve (optional)

Preparation
Warm the oil in a heavy-based frying pan (with a lid) over a medium-low flame. Gently fry the onion with a pinch of salt until it is soft and translucent.

Cut or break the beans into 5cm-long pieces. Add them to the pan and stir well until each piece is glistening with oil. Continue cooking and stirring for a few minutes.

Add the tomatoes and another small pinch of salt, stir, then cover the frying pan. After a couple of minutes uncover the pan and stir – the tomatoes should be relinquishing their juices. Cover the pan and cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Once the tomatoes have given up their juice, uncover the pan and allow it to simmer, uncovered, stirring every now and then for around 40–50 minutes, or until the beans have become very tender and the tomatoes have reduced into a thick, rich sauce. During the final few minutes of cooking time, stir in the ripped basil leaves. Taste and season with more salt, if necessary.

Serve with slices of feta, if desired, or let them sit for a few hours before eating. These are very good the next day, as well.

Recipe adapted from Rachel Roddy, The Guardian, 23 May 2017.

The allspice and pomegranate molasses give this salad unusual complexity. The more varieties and colours of tomato you can include in this salad, the more festive it will look. The yellow and orange varieties look particularly attractive. Cutting everything into little cubes takes longer than just chopping into chunks, but the result is worth it: the flavours blend and create a harmonious, smoky dish quite unlike an ordinary tomato salad.

The best way to get the seeds out of a pomegranate is to bash the fruit against the inside of your sink on all sides. Bash it vigorously but cautiously so that it doesn’t actually split open. The goal is to soften and loosen the seeds while they are still inside the skin. Then hold the fruit over a bowl and break it open. The seeds should come out fairly easily.

Tomato and Pomegranate Salad
serves 4.

Ingredients
1 kg tomatoes, cut into ½cm dice
1 red pepper, cut into ½cm dice
1 small red onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed with a pinch of salt
½ tsp ground allspice
2 teaspoons white wine or cider vinegar
1½ tablespoons pomegranate molasses
60ml olive oil, plus a little extra to drizzle at the end
1 pomegranate, seeds removed
1 tablespoon oregano leaves, to garnish
Salt and black pepper

Preparation
In a large bowl, mix together the tomatoes, red pepper and onion and set aside.
In a small bowl whisk the garlic, allspice, vinegar, pomegranate molasses and olive oil, until well combined. Pour this over the vegetables and mix gently. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange the tomato mixture and the juices on a large flat plate. Sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds and oregano, and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty More (2014).

17th Aug

Three Bruschettas
A bruschetta is an Italian open-faced sandwich. To make it you grill some good sourdough bread, rub it with a bit of garlic, drizzle it with olive oil, and add a topping. Roast courgette, grilled aubergine, and chickpeas with Swiss chard all make tasty and quick toppings. Make just one, or serve all three for a fresh and summery dinner.

Basic Bruschetta
For each bruschetta you need:

Ingredients
1 generous slice of a decent sourdough bread
1 garlic clove, peeled
Olive oil, to drizzle

Grill the bread on both sides. Grilling gives a better result, but you can use a toaster if need be. Rub the grilled bread on one side with the garlic, and drizzle with olive oil. Your bruschetta base is now ready for a topping.

Roast Courgette
Enough to top 1-2 bruschetta

Ingredients
1 medium courgette
Olive oil to drizzle
¼ fresh red chile, chopped, or to taste
Several sprigs of fresh mint, chopped

Preheat oven to 200C. Cut the courgette lengthwise into 5mm slices. Place slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Turn the slices over part-way through so they get crisp on both sides. Mix the roast courgettes with the chopped chiles and mint, arrange on the bruschetta, add a final drizzle of olive oil, and eat.

Grilled Aubergine
Enough to top 2 bruschetta

Ingredients
1 Canalside aubergine (i.e. one very small aubergine. . .)
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Small handful of fresh basil, shredded
Salt and pepper, to taste
¼ fresh red chile, chopped, or to taste

Preheat the grill. Cut the aubergine into very thin slices and arrange in the grill pan. Grill on both sides until tender, about 10 minutes in total. Don’t forget to turn them over halfway through. Toss the grilled aubergine with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon juice, the shredded basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange on the bruschetta, top with the chopped chile, and serve.

Chickpea Chard
Enough to top 2 bruschetta

Ingredients
About 200g Swiss chard (or spinach)
Olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ fresh red chile, chopped, or to taste

Boil the chard in water until tender, about 3-6 minutes. Drain and chop roughly. Return the cooked chard to the pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil and the garlic, and braise for another 5 minutes or so. Season and set aside.
Heat the chickpeas in a pan with another tablespoon or two of olive oil and the lemon juice, just until warm. Purée or mash the chickpeas and season to taste. Spread some of the puréed chick peas over part of each bruschetta, and arrange some chard alongside it, so that the two toppings are next to each other, rather than one on top of the other. Sprinkle the chile over the top, drizzle with a little more olive oil and eat.

Recipes adapted from Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, River Cafe Cook Book Easy (2003).

We have a bonus recipe from Pip Smith, after thinking that last week was going to be her last contribution for now! Our resident Recipe Meister, Rebecca Earle, will be back next week.

Having a courgette moment? Don’t feel like making courgetti? Luckily warm soup is also a great idea in the hot weather – it’s all about keeping on top of your fluids when you are losing so much in the heat. This is a really simple ‘recipe’ and a hit in our household even during the summer months.

Potato and courgette soup

serves 4

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 medium courgettes in thick slices
4 medium potatoes
1 white onion
1 organic stock cube
2 tbsp margarine

Method:
Chop the onion and potato into small chunks.
Heat the margarine in a large pan.
Add the potato and onion and sauté for 5-10 mins
Add the courgette for 1 min
Add 800ml stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins.
Whizz with a hand blender

We like to serve ours with a drizzle of single cream.

This combination of soft, roasted pumpkin, red onions, and buttery walnuts blends with the chewiness of farro or barley in this easy recipe. Farro is the Italian name for hulled wheat grains, which are toothsome and soothing. You could also use barley, which pairs beautifully with walnuts and cheese. If you want to make this a more substantial meal you can add a green salad.

Roasted Pumpkin with Walnuts and Grains

Serves 4.

1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = 250 ml (roughly)

Ingredients

2 cups farro or pearl barley, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt
5 cups water (or stock)
3 cups pumpkin, cut into 1/2-inch dice (no need to peel unless you hate the peel)
1 large red onion cut into 8 pieces
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 cup walnuts, deeply toasted and coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons walnut oil (or use more olive oil)
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 180C.
Combine the farro or barley, salt, and water in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the grain is tender, about 40 to 60 minutes. Taste it often as it cooks. You want it al dente, not mushy. Remove from heat, drain any excess water, and set aside.

While the grain is cooking toss the pumpkin, onion, and thyme with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a couple big pinches of salt and spread onto a large baking sheet. Try to arrange it in a single layer.

Place in the oven and roast for about 20 minutes, tossing every 7 minutes or so to get browning on all sides. Remove from the oven and let cool a bit.

In a large bowl gently toss together the everything except the goat cheese. Taste and add a bit of salt if necessary.
Arrange on a platter garnished with the goat cheese and serve.

Recipe adapted from Heidi Swanson, 101 Cookbooks.

Now that the snow is gone and spring has sprung, you can start foraging.* There are young nettles everywhere, so start picking. Wild garlic is in season as well, and if you can find any it combines magnificently with nettle to make a sumptuous, bright green soup whose vibrant colour alone will lift your spirits. Eat this with bread and some cheese for an easy dinner.

Wild Garlic & Nettle Soup
serves 4.

Ingredients
500g mixed nettles and wild garlic leaves
1 tablespoon rapeseed oil, plus extra for drizzling
25g butter
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 leek, cleaned and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 large potato, chopped
salt, to taste
1.5 litres flavourful stock
3 tablespoons milk

Preparation

Wearing gloves, strip the nettle leaves from the stalks. Roughly chop the wild garlic and nettles and set aside.

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion, leek, carrot, potato and a good pinch of salt, and stir until everything is well coated. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring every so often to make sure that the vegetables don’t catch on the bottom of the pan.

Pour in the stock, and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are very soft. At this point you can turn off the heat and leave the pan until you’re ready to eat.
When you are ready to eat add the nettles and wild garlic in several batches, stirring to blend everything together. Cook over low heat for about 2 minutes.

Turn off the heat and blend using a stick blender. Add the milk, and then warm over very low heat until it’s a pleasant temperature. Check to see if it needs any more salt.

Serve, drizzled with a little extra oil over the top, if you like.

Recipe adapted from Barney Desmazery, https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/wild-garlic-nettle-soup

* Brandon Marsh Nature Centre is offering a foraging course on 27 May, in case you’d like to sign up. They promise wild garlic, among other delicacies. http://www.wildfooduk.com/events/warwickshire-coventry-brandon-marsh-spring-foraging-course-1/

This main-course salad is based on what I gather is a classic Vietnamese sauce called Nước chấm. It’s a combination of lime juice, a bit of sugar, and fish sauce. It’s sharp, salty and addictive. The recipe combines slices of lightly-cooked steak with a salad of shredded vegetables. You can also make it without the steak, in which case I’d recommend adding some toasted peanuts. You can also make this more hearty still by serving it alongside some cooked rice, or rice noodles.

Vietnamese Beef Salad with Nước chấm
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 red chilli peppers (or to taste)
½ cup fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime zest
⅓ cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
2 tablespoons dark muscovado sugar
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
600g rump steak or ¾ cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
½ cucumber
6 carrots, peeled and shredded
½ medium white cabbage, finely shredded
8 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 bunch coriander, coarsely chopped
roasted peanuts (if you’re not using steak)
an additional lime half, for garnish (optional)

Preparation

De-seed and finely chop one chilli pepper. In a small bowl, combine the chopped chilli, fish sauce, lime zest, lime juice, brown sugar, ginger and garlic.

If you’re using the steak, then pour 1/2 of the mixture into a sealable plastic bag and add the steak, if you’re using it. Seal, and leave to marinate at room temperature for at least 30 minutes (or refrigerate for up to 24 hours). Let meat come to room temperature before cooking if necessary.

De-seed the second chilli pepper and slice it finely. Slice the cucumber into thin matchsticks. Toss the sliced chilli, sliced cucumber, shredded carrot and cabbage, spring onions and almost all the coriander together to mix. Keep a little coriander back to garnish the top of the salad.
If you’re not using the steak, simply add the peanuts, pour the dressing over the vegetables, toss, garnish with a little more coriander, and serve.

If you’re using the steak, toss the salad with the remaining dressing and then spread the salad out onto a serving platter and set aside.

When you are ready to eat heat a cast iron pan (or other sturdy frying pan) to very hot and add the steak. Cook for 75 seconds on each side, unless you don’t like your meat rare, in which case cook it for perhaps 2 minutes a side, or however long you favour cooking steak. I like steak very rare . . .

Remove the meat from the pan and let it sit for 3-5 minutes on a cutting board. Then slice the steak very thinly, and place the slices over the top of the salad. Scatter the sliced red chiles and reserved coriander over the top and serve with an additional sliced lime on the side, in case anyone wants more lime.

Recipe adapted from Melissa Clark, New York Times Cooking.

This is a great way to use up odds and ends of fresh veg, and leftovers too. You can use more or less whatever you fancy from the list, though I do think some kind of onion is essential. As the egg is poured straight into the roasting dish full of hot veg, you don’t need to fry this frittata at all, but it helps to have a heavy ceramic or cast-iron dish, which retains the heat well. And the eggs should be at room temperature, not cold from the fridge.

Oven-roasted roots frittata

Ingredients

About 600g mixed winter veg, such as onions, carrots, squash or pumpkin, parsnip, celeriac, beetroot, jerusalem artichokes, black spanish radish, potatoes
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
3 tablespoons rapeseed or olive oil
7 large or 8 medium eggs
A handful of mixed herbs, such as curly parsley, chives and thyme, finely chopped
About 20g Parmesan, hard goat’s cheese or other well-flavoured hard cheese, grated
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5. Meanwhile, prepare your chosen veg: peel shallots or onions and quarter or thickly slice; peel carrots and cut into 5mm slices; peel squash or pumpkin, deseed and cut into 2–3cm cubes; peel parsnip, celeriac and beetroot and cut into 1–2cm cubes; cut potatoes into 1–2cm cubes.

Put all the veg into an ovenproof dish, about 23cm square. Add the garlic, oil and plenty of salt and pepper and toss well. Roast for about 40 minutes, stirring halfway through, until the veg are all tender and starting to caramelise in places.

Beat the eggs together with the chopped herbs and some more salt and pepper. Take the dish from the oven, pour the egg evenly over the veg and scatter over the grated cheese. Return to the oven for 10–15 minutes until the egg is all set and the top is starting to colour. If your oven has a grill, you can use that to accelerate the browning of the top.

Leave to cool slightly, then slide the frittata out on to a plate or board. Serve warm or cold. Perfect lunchbox fare…

Thanks to River Cottage

Saffron gives a beautiful colour and a rich, aromatic flavour to this simple winter salad.

Carrot, Cabbage and Saffron Salad

Ingredients
0.5g saffron (on whole little packet)
50 ml rapeseed oil
1 medium cabbage, coarsely shredded
500g carrots, peeled and coarsely shredded
1 red onion, coarsely shredded
50 ml cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1½ teaspoons salt
black pepper to taste

Preparation
Combine the saffron and oil in a mortar and pestle, and leave to soak for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the cabbage, carrots and red onion in a bowl.

When the saffron has soaked for 15 minutes use the pestle to crush the saffron into the oil, to release its flavour. Tip the saffron-y oil into a small bowl and whisk in the vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and, using your hands, vigorously scrunch and squeeze everything together to mix.

Place a plate over the top of the salad and weigh it down a bit by putting a couple of tins, or some kitchen weights, on top. The goal is to press the salad together to encourage the flavours to blend.

Leave it for at least an hour, and then serve.

(Recipe courtesy of Ulrika Andersson.)

I’d heard of ‘Jansson’s Temptation’—the traditional Swedish Christmas dish of potatoes, onions and fish baked in cream—but I’d not tasted it until today.  It’s so good!  So here is a recipe. The trick is getting the right sort of fish. What you really want is something like Grebbestad’s Anchovy-Style Sprats Fillets, which you can apparently acquire at Ocado.  I think you could also use matjes herring, but don’t use anchovies, which are a different kettle of fish altogether.

This dish doesn’t sound like much, but it’s famous in Sweden for a reason. I recommend it enormously.

Janssons Frestelse (Jansson’s Temptation)
Serves 6-8.

Ingredients
400g onions
2-3 tablespoons butter
1.2kg potatoes
375g of ‘Swedish anchovies’ (aka sprat filets), drained
salt and pepper
600ml whipping cream
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs

Preparation
Heat the oven to 250C.

Peel the onions and slice into thin slices. Melt the butter in a sauté pan and add the onions. Sauté them gently until they are soft but not brown, which will take 15-20 minutes. Season them with some salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into thick matchsticks.

Butter an ovenproof baking dish. Spread a third of the potatoes evenly over the bottom. Spread half the onions over them, and then lay half the sprat filets on top of the onions. Repeat with another layer of potatoes, onions and sprats, and then finish with a final layer of potatoes.

Season with more salt and pepper. Pour the cream over the assemblage. It should nearly cover the potatoes. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the top and bake for about an hour.

Serve with salad, if you’d like to balance out the richness of the cream, or with smoked salmon and aquavit if you’re feeling festive.