Mellow Fruitfulness

Autumn is well and truly here- damp and dreary, wild and wet.

Luckily there is still plenty of colour in the Autumn fruit and veg bowl to brighten spirits and plates over the coming month.

Pears, squashes, pumpkins, marrows, tomatoes. parsnips-plenty to feel good about there.






First of all, I wanted to use up the last of the pears from my crop this year. Of course the trouble with pears is getting them just right- not too hard and unripe and not past their best ( which happens all too quickly). Eddie Izzard summed it up in his famous fruit bowl sketch- ( apologies for the over-fruity language)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVTDwq2q3Ak

Well, I find the best way to treat these 'gorgeous little beasts' is to poach them- in 400ml red or white wine, or sugar syrup, or Earl Grey tea or even ginger beer ( according to your preference). Just make sure the poaching liquid is sweetened to your liking and I would always recommend the addition of 2-3 star anise to the liquid too. You can poach them for as long as it takes- but they are ready when a knife slides easily into them.

Pears poached in wine and star anise

Poached pears are lovely on their own- but even better when added to a trifle like my Sugar and Spice Trifle:

Sugar and Spice Trifle
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/23/trifle-recipes-swap-speculoos-biscuits-breakfast-dale-berning-sawa

Click on the link for the full recipe.

I use Speculoos biscuits for this easy pud- but ginger biscuits do just as well.

The soft pears also go well in a Tarte Tatin- laid in a caramel sauce in the base of an ovenproof dish or pan and topped with puff pastry then baked at 180 degrees until the pastry is golden and the caramel sauce bubbling. Turn out on a plate when warm.

Pear Tarte Tatin

Keen to try out the first of my butternut squash crop, I used half in a soup with parsnips and half in a Baked Risotto.

Mirror Mirror on the wall...who is the fairest of them all?

Peel and chop your veg into even sized pieces, add a handful of red lentils and then cook until tender in a litre of good vegetable stock. Blitz once the veg is tender and serve with cream or yoghurt swirled in.

Parsnip and Butternut Soup

The remaining squash is going into a baked risotto- but you could just as easily serve it roasted and stuffed ( like these marrows stuffed with leftover Bolognaise sauce and baked with cheese )

Bolognaise Stuffed Marrow

or as a traybake with sausages,  potatoes, onions,  coarse grain mustard, olive oil and a handful of peas thrown in at the end. (Or just use up whatever you have in the fridge!)

Use-it-up Traybake

                  

And so to the other half of the squash- made into a Baked Risotto.

This recipe is good if you are serving it at a dinner party and prefer to spend more time with your guests, rather than constantly stirring the risotto.

You will need: 1/2 butternut squash or potimarron roasted for 20 minutes or so in a hot oven, 1 leek ( chopped and softened in a little oil), 100g of risotto rice per person, 1 cup of cider, 1 litre of vegetable stock, 1 tbsp of Boursin cheese with garlic and herbs, some chopped fresh herbs, olive oil and Parmesan to dress the dish.

Begin in the usual way, coating the risotto rice and leeks with oil in a deep pan.

Coat the rice and leeks with oil in the pan

Add the cider and stir until the liquid has been absorbed.

Cook in the cider until absorbed

Carry on adding veg stock ladle by ladle, stirring as you go, until about half has been absorbed.

Add the squash, some fresh herbs and salt and pepper as necessary. 

Add the herbs, squash and rest of the liquid

Transfer to an ovenproof dish with a lid, add the rest of the stock and place to cook covered in a moderate oven (170 degrees) for 20 minutes or so until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Stir in the Boursin and serve with extra Parmesan and olive oil to dress it.

Baked Squash and Leek Risotto

Finally, if you have lots of leftover risotto- make Arancini (little risotto rice balls- usually deep fried but equally good baked in the oven).

Wet your hands and make golf ball sized patties from the cold risotto rice. Roll each one first in beaten egg

then in chapelure ( toasted breadcrumbs)

(I make mine from leftover biscottes blitzed up with a few Pringles  but it's also a good way of using up leftover toast if you've made too many slices.)

Place on a lightly greased oven tray ( or fry in hot oil) and bake until golden in a hot oven (180 degrees). They don't take long.

Serve with a spicy dipping sauce.

                               

                                                                                 Arancini

Time to put away the wellies. The garden can look after itself  until the Spring.The weather can do what it likes out there- I am cosy with soups, risotto and puds to keep me going.

                                                            Bon appétit!

Taking the biscuit

Speculoos biscuits- those little cinnamon nibbles you get with a cup of coffee- are all the rage in France. You can get Speculoos spread (like Nutella but with cinnamon), Speculoos Tiramisu, ice cream, instant dessert mix, flavoured yoghurt- you name it.

You can buy them in the UK too- under different brand names  like this one.... and they are worth seeking out for their crispy-crumbliness and spicy flavour.

However, all these recipes work well with good old ginger biscuits too. Friends of mine even substituted Nice biscuits for some of them and apparently the result was pretty good.

The first recipe I set out to try was Poached Pears in a Speculoos crust.

Poach four pears in 400 ml water into which you have dissolved 100g of sugar and placed 4 star anise.

When the pears are tender, take them out to cool and strain the syrup into a jug.

Keep the star anise for garnish.
Now melt 100g butter in a pan and add 1 packet of crushed Speculoos biscuits. Mix well and allow to cool.

Use the sticky crumb mixture to coat the pears completely, moulding it around with wet hands.
Place them on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes at 170 degreees until the coating is crisp.

Poached Pears in a Speculoos Crust

I have to admit that the rolling and coating of the pears was a bit tricky and so a simplified ( dare I call it 'deconstructed' version) is every bit as impressive.
Serve the pears sitting jauntily atop the crumbs ( call them Cinnamon Soil if you can keep a straight face) with the syrup on the side for pouring over.

Poached Pears on Cinnamon Soil

If you have biscuits, crumbs and pears to spare- layer it all up into a trifle. I sent this one to the Guardian - and it was the winning recipe. Do enjoy the editor's comments, by the way. Is anyone else reminded of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

Add cap

The winning recipe: LeftoverLiz’s sugar and spice trifle made with speculoos biscuits. Photograph: Jill Mead for the Guardian

 Dale Berning Sawa

Saturday 23 April 2016 06.00 BST

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Trifles are made for sharing. They’re the pudding you wheel out when you’ve a horde to please. Which is why, for this swap, we threw a party. A trifle party! Eight adults and four under-threes swarmed around a wooden table laden with layers of fruit, custard and whipped cream. Everyone was armed with a spoon, and we all dove right in there. It was a delirious, cream-splattered splurge.

The winning recipe: sugar and spice trifle (pictured above)

Speculoos as the biscuit base is an inspired choice in Leftoverliz’s offering here – as festive a pud as you’re likely to get. It’s got the requisite layers of biscuit, fruit, custard and cream, the first two bringing a ripe boldness to the bland unctuosity of the latter. These poached pears, by the way, are beautiful in their own right, and the whole trifle, deconstructed, is an excellent alternative if you’re particularly anti-assemblage.

Serves 4-6
4 pears
100g sugar
400ml water
3 star anise
275ml whipping cream
250g speculoos biscuits
2 tsp sherry
500g ready-made custard

1 Peel the pears, but leave them whole, with the stalks on.

2 Dissolve the sugar in the water, add the star anise and pears, then poach for 15 minutes or so, until tender. Drain, reserve the cooking liquor and allow the pears to cool.

3 Whip the cream to soft peaks and set aside. Put about half of the biscuits in a layer in the bottom of a trifle bowl.

4 Add the sherry to the pear liquor and spoon a few tablespoons over the biscuits to make them soft.

5 Slice the pears and place half of them in a layer over the biscuits, then pour the custard over the pears. Add another layer of biscuits, reserving a handful for scattering, and then a layer of pears.

6 Top with whipped cream and a final scattering of crushed biscuits.

If you are genuinely in the mood for an unctuous pudding- try these Cinnamon Cream Pots.

Mix 2 eggs and 3 egg yolks with 25g of sugar. (The egg whites freeze well for use another time).
Bring 350ml of milk and 150ml of cream to the boil. Add 200g of crushed Speculoos biscuits and an extra pinch of cinnamon.
Pour the hot milk over the beaten eggs, beating with a whisk as you do so to form a custard.
Pour into ramekin dishes or glasses and place in a baking tray half filled with hot water.

Cream pots ready for the oven

Bake for 45 minutes in a cool oven (100 degrees) until set.
Once cooked, cool and then chill until ready to serve.

Cinnamon Cream Pots

And yet more leftover biscuit crumb blends wonderfully with your usual crumble mix for a pud with warm hints of sugar and spice.

Speculoos Crumb Crumble

Finally- try a savoury recipe (or semi-sweet/semi-savoury at any rate). I am not a fan of goat's cheese so prefer to use a cow's milk roule like Fagotin, Boursin or le Roule for this, but I accept that the sharp tang of goat probably complements the crumb particularly well.
Get ready 3 plates - one of beaten egg, one of flour and one of Speculoos crumbs.

Flour, egg and Speculoos crumbs at the ready

Coat your roules of cheese (buches de chevre, Fagotin, Boursin or le Roule) first in flour, then in egg, then in crumb and lay on baking paper on a tray.(Make sure they are fully coated.)
Bake at 200 degrees for 10 minutes until the crumb is crispy ( tap it to check).

Cheese and Speculoos Roule

Serve as pre-dinner nibbles or as a starter with a dressed salad.

Week 1- Lamb Tagine and Middle Eastern Munchies

January has been a dull month.

It's hard enough to get into the right frame of mind for going back to work after Christmas, but the January weather makes it worse. Snow days, icy windscreens, wind, rain and mud all conspire to make the business of trying to earn a crust seem nigh on impossible.

Time to think about warmer climes, spicier flavours - and to use up some of those storecupboard ingredients bought in for Christmas that really shouldn't languish there until the Christmas decorations go back up in 2013.

I'm talking about dates, nuts, dried fruits, mulled wine spices- ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.

So, today's three course meal looks to North Africa for it's inspiration: roasted pepper hummus with flatbreads to start, lamb tagine with couscous for main course, and pears poached in mulled wine for pudding.

For the hummus- roast a red and yellow pepper (deseeded) in the oven until soft (20 minutes or so). You can do this earlier in the week when you have the oven on for another dish. Allow to cool completely before blitzing in the food processor with the juice of half a lemon, a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed), a clove of garlic (more if you like), a tablespoon of peanut butter or tahini paste and a glug of olive oil. When smooth, taste and add salt or pepper, more lemon or more oil if it is too dry. Place in a bowl and chill well.

For the flatbreads, I used half a packet of bread mix from my storecupboard (125g mixed with 175ml of warm water.) You could use bread flour with a sachet of yeast in warm water or self raising flour with 1 heaped teaspoon of baking powder, a tablespoon of olive oil and 125ml of milk.

If using yeast, the dough needs to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.

When double in size, knock back and roll out into circles ( saucer sized or plate sized as you wish).

Brush a pan lightly with olive oil and fry gently on one side. As they start to puff up, press them down gently with a clean tea towel. Turn them over and brown on the other side.

Carrot and nut salad

Serve warm, sliced with a serving of hummus on the side and a carrot and nut salad, if you wish.


Next- the lamb tagine.

Spring lamb is not yet in season, but it is best to buy tougher cuts of mutton (which is in season) anyway for this dish. I used neck fillet, but you can use boned shoulder or knuckle.

First make your spice mix- 1 tsp of minced garlic, 2 tsps of ground ginger, 1 tsp of cinammon, 1 tsp of turmeric, a pinch of saffron soaked in an egg cup of warm water, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp mild chilli powder and a good grating of nutmeg.
Mix to a paste with the juice of half a lemon (the other half of the one you used for the hummus) and a tablespoon of olive oil.

You will need about 100g of lamb per person- cut into cubes and then coated in the paste. Leave to marinade for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.
Fry one onion, finely chopped in some olive oil, then fry the meat and add a handful each of apricots, dates and sultanas to the pan. Add a can of chopped tomatoes and the residue from the marinade bowl rinsed out with a cup of water, along with a teaspoon of honey to sweeten.

I cook mine in a slow cooker (but of course you could use a tagine pot if you have one, or a casserole dish in the oven.)

Lamb Tagine with Couscous

The dish takes about 7 hours to cook in a slow cooker - until the lamb is tender.

Serve with couscous and a drizzle of natural yoghurt if you like that.

For dessert, I poached some pears in a cupful of red vermouth (but red wine with a little vanilla sugar added is fine), with a good grating of nutmeg and a teaspoon of mixed spice.
Poach until the pears are tender and have taken on the pink colour of the wine or vermouth.

Pear in Mulled Wine

Serve warm or cold to your liking.

Beans means Tagines!

And what of the leftovers- well, there was no meat left over but plenty of sauce- so I mixed it with a can of butter beans, drained and rinsed, a small can of chopped tomatoes and a dollop of smoky barbecue relish. It made an excellent filling for baked potatoes, and went well with chips too!
It would have been good as well with a slice of garlic bread to make Posh Beans on Toast.

Tabbouleh

Any leftover couscous can be made into a tabbouleh with parsley, mint, tomatoes and cucumber, and the hummus makes a tasty addition to my lunch box during the week.

The flatbreads freeze well- and make easy pizza bases for another meal.

Even the leftover fruit syrup from the pears can be used again (if there was any left) in a fresh fruit salad the next day.

I hope this trip to North Africa and the Middle East helps lift the winter gloom- there's lots to look forward to in the next few weeks- Pancake Day, Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day.

I haven't decided where in the world I'm going next week.

Any preferences?