‘This is an instant favorite of anyone who tries it’, writes chef Christopher Boswell. The delicate fennel combines with the tang of the Parmesan to create a very satisfying and subtle little salad.
Crudo di Finocchio con Limome, Prezzemolo e Scaglie di Parmigiano
(Shaved Fennel with Lemon Juice, Parsley & Parmesan)
Note that you do not toss the ingredients together. Instead you layer them directly onto the serving platter.
This might serve 4 as part of a larger meal.
Ingredients
3 Canalside fennel bulbs or 2 large ones
salt and pepper, to taste
1 lemon
60ml really good olive oil—such as that special oil from La Jimena
15 parsley sprigs
30g chunk of Parmesan or Pecorino
Preparation
Cut the bottom off the fennel and then slice off the top, leaving just the bulbous body. This is the bit you need for this salad but you can keep the wispy fronds to garnish some other salad if you like. Cut the bulb in half lengthwise. Remove any tough outer leaves and leave it to soak in lots of water for half an hour, to remove any residual earth.
Drain the fennel and then slice it into the thinnest strips that you can produce. Apparently a mandoline is ideal. Opinions differ as to whether you should slice it longitudinally or horizontally. I don’t know that it makes much difference. The key thing is to get it super thin.
Spread the fennel out on a platter and season it with salt and pepper.
Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice all over the fennel.
Drizzle the olive oil back and forth across the dish.
Remove the leaves from the parsley and scatter them artfully over the fennel.
Finally, using a vegetable parer, shave the cheese into thin wisps over the assemblage. Serve immediately.
(Adapted from Christopher Boswell, Verdure: Vegetable Recipes from the American Academy in Rome (2014).)
If you like carrot cake you will enjoy this variation. It’s spicy with fresh ginger, and sticky with a lemony glaze.
Courgette Cake with Crunchy Lemon Glaze
Ingredients
1 US cup measure = 8 fluid ounces.
For the Cake:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
zest of one lemon
3 eggs
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2.5 cups finely-shredded courgette (that’s about 2 medium-sized Canalside courgettes)
1 cup ground almonds
For the Glaze:
1 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Preparation
Heat the oven to 180. Grease a cake pan, and dust it with flour. I used a fancy tubular bundt pan that holds about 2.5l. You could also bake it in two loaf pans, in which case you’ll need to reduce the baking time a bit.
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and dry spices aside from the nutmeg, which probably won’t fit through the grater. Add the nutmeg, fresh ginger and lemon zest, and mix.
Put the eggs, sugar and olive oil into a mixer and beat on medium speed for 10 minutes. Stop periodically to scrape down the sides. Add the vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients and mix well for about a minute. Stir in the ground almonds and shredded courgette.
Turn the batter into the cake pan and bake for between 50 minutes to over an hour. (If you’re baking this two loaf pans instead of one large bundt pan you should start testing after about 40 minutes.) It is done when a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
While the cake is baking prepare the glaze: sift the icing sugar and stir in the granulated sugar and lemon juice. Note that this makes A LOT of glaze, and results in a very sweet, sticky, moist cake. If this is all a bit much, make half the amount.
Let cake cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove it from the pan. Brush the warm cake with the glaze and leave to cool before eating.
(Recipe adapted from http://www.davidlebovitz.com/zucchini-cake-with-crunchy-lemon/)
Pasta with Green Beans, Potatoes and Pesto
Perhaps this recipe is from Liguria. In any event, it’s delicious and very summery. Pesto often includes garlic, but I think for this light, delicate dish it’s better to focus on the basil and vegetables. I like this with buckwheat pasta but you can use whatever kind you favour. And if you’ve never included potatoes in a pasta dish, well, you’re in for a treat.
Serves 4
Ingredients
The proportions for this dish are very approximate. And you can add little bits of brigh red cherry tomato, if you like.
For the Pesto
50g pine nuts
1 big bunch of basil (about 50g)
100ml olive oil (or a little more if the pesto seems too dry)
1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
zest of half a lemon
The Other Ingredients
300g potatoes (about 3 medium-sized Canalside ones)
150g green beans, topped and tailed, and cut in half if they are very long
2 teaspoons salt (for cooking the pasta)
400g long, thin pasta (fettucine, linguine, trenette, etc.)
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Additional cheese, to serve
Preparation
To make the pesto:
Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the pine nuts (you don’t need any oil) and toast them until they are fragrant and lightly browned. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. Once they’re done tip them onto a plate to cool down a bit.
Meanwhile, remove the basil leaves from the stems. Stack up the leaves in a pile and shred them into fine strips.
Put the cooled-down pine nuts into a mortar and mash them up with the pestle. Pine nuts are soft, so it should be easy to reduce them to a crumble. Once they’re broken up and crumbly, add the shredded basil and the olive oil and mash them up into a rough paste. Add a little more oil if it seems too stiff. Stir in the grated cheese and lemon zest.
There’s your pesto. I think it’s nicer to have it a bit chunky, but if you prefer you can carry on mashing until you’re reduced it to a smoother, more homogenous consistency. Of course you can also do this in a food processor. Doing it by hand is pretty easy and gives you more control over the texture. Once the pesto is ready you can proceed with the rest of the recipe or set it aside for later. Pesto keeps for ages in the freezer.
To complete the recipe:
Place the potatoes in a pan of cold water and bring them slowly to the boil. Once they’re boiling reduce the heat to a simmer and cook them until they’re tender. The current Canalside potatoes are taking about 20 minutes for the medium-sized ones. Fish them out of the water and leave them to cool. DON’T discard the water, as you will use it to cook the beans. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle slice them thick or thin, or cut them into 1cm cubes. Put them in a serving bowl.
Bring the water back to a boil and cook the beans for about 3 minutes, or until they’re as tender as you like them. Drain the beans and add them to the potatoes. Alternatively, you can fish the beans out of the water as you did with the potatoes, thereby keeping the water to use for cooking the pasta, as well.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil (or use your potato-bean water), add the salt, and return to the boil. When it’s really boiling add the pasta and cook to your preference. Drain the pasta, RETAINING ONE CUP OF WATER TO ADD TO THE SAUCE. It’s easiest to do this by to dipping some out of the pot (using a mug) before you drain it.
Add the drained pasta to the dish with the potatoes and beans. Add about half of your cup of water to the bowl and toss it about. Stir in several generous spoonfuls of pesto and toss. Now assess it: if it seems a bit dry stir in some more of your cooking water. If you’d like more pesto, add it. Season it with black pepper and serve. Bring a chunk of cheese to the table in case anyone wants additional cheese.
This delightful recipe is apparently from Turkey. The original version calls for mulberries. If you have access to a mulberry tree do substitute the lovely, seedy berries for the blackberries.
Smashing the cucumber (instead of slicing it) gives it a rough, shaggy surface that happily absorbs flavours.
Smashed Cucumber, Blackberry and Pistachio Salad
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/2 cup pistachios
3 Canalside cucumbers, peeled or not, as you prefer.
1 teaspoon salt, to salt the cucumber
1/2 cup full-fat Greek yoghurt
about 20 mint leaves
2 tablespoons dill, chopped
additional salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
8-12 Canalside blackberries from the pick-your-own orchard
Preparation
Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Once it’s hot add the pistachios (don’t add any oil) and toast them gently until they are golden. Keep an eye on them so that they do not burn. Once they’re toasted remove them from the pan and leave them to cool a bit.
Put the cucumbers on a board and, using a rolling pin or any other such implement, smash them into large chunks. Alternatively, you can crush them by using the side of a large kitchen knife.
Toss the cucumber chunks with the teaspoon of salt and put them in a colander to allow some of the water to drain out. Leave them for at least 10 minutes, and longer—up to an hour—if you have time. Then rinse the cucumber chunks to remove the excess salt.
Place the rinsed pieces of cucumber in a bowl and toss them with the pistachios, yoghurt, mint and dill. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon the mixture onto a serving platter and drizzle with the pomegranate molasses. Top with the blackberries and serve.
(Recipe adapted from Silvana Rowe, Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean.)
Cold Chinese noodles with a spicy sesame sauce make an excellent lunch, plus they’re very easy to prepare.
Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients
250g soba noodles (you can also use Chinese egg noodles or linguine)
2 Canalside cucumbers
50-100g spring onions, white and some green bits thinly sliced
50-100g peanuts, toasted in a dry pan and chopped
The sesame sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup tahini (or natural crunchy peanut butter—in which case you’ll be making noodles in a peanut sauce)
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soya sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce, to taste
Preparation
Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Soba noodles should take about 5 minutes. When the noodles are al dente drain them and run them under cold water for several minutes to cool them off and prevent their sticking to themselves. Let them drain, and cool, for a few minutes.
Cut the cucumbers into little matchsticks. I do this by slicing the cucumber in half, and then cutting each half into lengthwise slabs (like lasagne noodles). Stack these slabs into a pile and cut them into little matchsticks. The goal is to have little sticks of cucumber roughly the size of the noodles, only shorter. If you find this too fiddly you can simply grate the cucumber coarsely. In either case, put the cucumber into a bowl.
Add the sliced spring onions and peanuts. Toss together and then add the cooked and drained noodles. Toss everything together.
Prepare the sesame sauce: mix all the sauce ingredients together. The tahini (if you’re using it) will resist mixing so you’ll need to stir it all together with determination. Once it’s all mixed add it to the noodle bowl and toss.
Serve and enjoy.
Mark Bittman notes that you can add cooked chicken, pork, beef, or seafood to the finished dish. You can also fry up litle tofu cubes and add those, as well, if you’re so inclined.
(Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman, The Best Recipes in the World (2005).)
This spectacularly easy dish has a delicate flavour combining the sweet scent of cloves and cinnamon with a little bite from the chillies. Very delicious with rice or some grilled fish.
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Calabacitas con crema (Courgettes in Cream)
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
700g courgettes, cut into smallish cubes
500ml tomatoes (tinned are fine)
6 peppercorns
4 sprigs of coriander
2cm length of cinnamon stick
4 cloves
2 whole green chillies
100ml creme fraiche or soured cream
salt to taste
Preparation
Put all the ingredients into a sturdy pan with a lid. Cook over low heat, covered, for about half an hour, or until the vegetables are very soft and tender. Stir it from time to time to ensure it’s not sticking at the bottom. Add some water if it looks very dry. Once the vegetables are soft and toothsome it’s ready to eat.
(Recipe adapted from Diana Kennedy, The Essential Cuisines of Mexico.)
Broad beans, bacon and spring onions: a perfect combination of earthy, lively and sharp flavours.
——
Delia Smith’s Classic Broad Bean Salad
Serves 2, according to Delia. I think you could eat this all by yourself.
Ingredients
For the Dressing
1 clove garlic
salt
1 teaspoon mustard powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice (or a combination of lemon juice and white wine vinegar)
4 tablespoons olive oil
For the Rest of the Salad
2 rashers of streaky bacon
700g broad beans in their pods
2 tablespoons chopped herbs (parsely, oregano and/or marjoram are good)
4 spring onions, sliced
pepper to taste
Preparation
Prepare the dressing: crush the garlic with a little salt in a mortar and pestle. Add the mustard powder and lemon juice (or lemon juice and vinegar) and whisk in the oil. Set aside while you prepare the rest of the salad.
Cook the bacon until it’s crisp and crumble it into small pieces. Set it aside.
Shell the beans. Bring a small amount of water to a boil and add the beans. Cook them until just tender—perhaps 3 minutes is all they’ll need. Drain them and toss them while still warm with the dressing.
When they’re cool toss them with the bacon, herbs and spring onions. Season to taste with pepper and more salt.
(Adapted from Delia Smith, Complete Cookery Course.)
There isn’t kohlrabi in the share next week, but you may still have yours from this week’s share (especially as this is coming to you early this week).
What is a kohlrabi? What should you do with it? The answer is: put it in a cabbage and kohlrabi salad. Delicious and crunchy. Actually, the salad is pretty good without the kohlrabi too.
The recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi, who has this to say about the kohlrabi: ‘People always ask me what to do with kohlrabi, an often unwanted child in the organic vegetable box. It seems too healthy, too weird, too German! In actual fact, this is a wonderful vegetable. When mixed with floury root vegetables you can use it in gratins; you can shallow-fry it in olive oil and serve with garlic and chives; and you can add it to an Oriental stir-fry. But in this salad I think I have found the absolute best use for a kohlrabi. It is wonderfully fresh-tasting, with a good lemony kick and some sharp sweetness.’
Cabbage and Kohlrabi Salad
Serves 4.
Ingredients
1 medium kohlrabi (about 240g)
½ white cabbage (about 240g)
1 large bunch of dill, roughly chopped (about 6 heaped tablespoons)
120g currants or dried whole sour cherries
grated zest of 1 lemon
90ml lemon juice
60ml olive oil
salt and pepper
Preparation
Peel the kohlrabi and cut into thin matchsticks.
Shred the cabbage into fine strips.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Massage everything together for a few minutes to allow the flavours to meld. Use your hands to scrunch up the kohlrabi and cabbage a bit if you don’t like super-crunchy raw vegetables. This will make them a bit softer. Let the salad sit for at least 10 minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
(Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty.)
Courgettes sautéed with sweet spices and coriander against a satisfying backdrop of warm bulgur wheat. This simple recipe is much greater than the sum of its parts. I think it’s the cinnamon.
The proportions are pretty flexible.
serves 3-4.
Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic, or more to taste
1 bunch (or a big handful) of coriander, stalks removed
about 2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 courgettes, chopped into fairly small pieces
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated)
about 600ml water or stock
200g fine bulgur wheat (aka crushed wheat or cracked wheat)
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Grind the garlic and coriander together, or chop them fine. Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic-coriander paste for a minute or two.
Add the courgettes, and after a minute add the cinnamon and freshly-grated nutmeg. Continue to fry for a few more minutes.
Add 500ml of the water or stock, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 4 minutes.
Add the bulgur wheat, bring back to a simmer, and simmer for 5-10 more minutes, until the wheat is tender and liquid is absorbed. Taste it occasionally: if the bulgur isn’t tender enough add some more of the water or stock and let it cook a little longer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the lovely, pale green mixture in a blue bowl.
(Recipe courtesy of Mona Whitbread.)
Two modest servings.
Ingredients
750 ml of good stock
2 courgettes
salt and pepper to taste
optional garnishes: yoghurt, cubes of fresh tomato, chopped coriander
Preparation
Heat the stock in a pan. Meanwhile shred the courgettes (coarse or fine, depending on which variant you prefer) and add them to the soup. I usually just shred them into the pan as the stock heats.
Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for a few minutes, or until the courgettes are tender. This will not take long at all.
Once the courgettes are pleasantly tender, salt and pepper to taste, and serve topped with some or all of the optional garnishes. I think this version is best with finely shredded courgette.
A Creamier Variation
You can create a creamier texture (without adding cream) by using a hand blender to purée some or all of the courgette before serving with the optional toppings. Coarsely shredded courgettes are fine for this version.
A Coconut Variation
You can replace some of the stock with coconut milk.