Vegetable Madness!

I've just returned from a weekend in France- and of course picked up some copies of my favourite recipe magazines- all of which this month had banner headlines like 'Folie de legumes!' or 'Legumes a gogo!'

Well, it's not really vegetable madness here. But it is the time of year when just about every vegetable is available- either at the end of it's season, the beginning or more than likely at it's best.




So, I thought that this week I would revisit some of my favourite vegetable recipes - as well as adding a few new ones to the list.

Some of these recipes are for side dishes- but many make the vegetable the star. Some are vegetarian and others not, but can easily be adapted. I hope you like them.

Everyone knows I have a penchant for stuffing vegetables- the blog has featured many:
marrow or courgettes stuffed with leftover bolognaise or cauliflower cheese.

 http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/week-35-harvest-festival-recipes.html

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/week-35-harvest-festival-recipes.html

Or stuffed tomatoes with rice:

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/liberation.html

Or my petits farcis, as featured in the Guardian Cook section no less!

https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/53f4877ae4b092330feea16d/1123833

 And there are also my Biryani stuffed peppers:

 http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/week-31-warming-things-up.html

Stepping away from the vegetable stuffing but tucking a few aubergines under my arm as I go, I'm going to turn the spotlight next on these.
I've also had some publishing success with two of my aubergine recipes: caviar d'aubergines and Aubergine and Butter Bean Soup. Here are the printed versions:

Caviar d'Aubergines with Honey

https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/5360cee7e4b05034061a994d/957879

Aubergine and Butter Bean Soup

https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/53a1a2bbe4b05b4868aa612a/1036364

But one of my favourite ways to eat this veg (or is it a fruit?) is as cannelloni. Here is the recipe:

Report

• Embed

• 1	Recommend

Aubergine Cannelloni

In this dish, the pasta is replaced by rolled slices of aubergine and the filling is made from a duxelle of mushrooms. It sounds like a faff- but it really isn't. It's simple, delicious- and with aubergines at 49p each as they were today when I was shopping, it's a really economical dish too.

Ingredients:

1 medium aubergine per person

110 g mixed mushrooms (chestnut, button, portobello)

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 tabelspoon of fresh chopped herbs eg. parsley, marjoram, basil

50 g soft cheese with garlic and herbs eg Boursin

25 g freshly grated Parmesan

olive oil

salt and pepper

For the tomato sauce:

1 tin chopped tomatoes

10g butter

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1. Slice the aubergines lengthways, brush with a very little olive oil, place on a baking tray and bake in a hot oven (200 degrees) for 15- 20 minutes until soft

2. Meanwhile, fry the onion and garlic in some olive oil and add the chopped mushrooms and herbs

3. When tender, put the mushroom mixture into a food processor and pulse until it resembles a coarse pate

4 Mix with the soft cheese and adjust seasoning to taste

5. Spread each slice of aubergine with the 'pate' and roll up, placing seam side down in a baking dish

6. Simmer together the tomatoes, wine vinegar and sugar until reduced by a third, then whisk in the butter to emulsify.

7. Pour over the aubergine rolls, sprinkle with grated Paremesan and finish cooking under a hot grill until the cheese is browned.

I also tried out a new mushroom recipe this week- Mushroom Creme Brulee.
It worked a treat and is delicious as a starter or brunch dish.

Mushroom Creme Brulee

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

110g of flavourful mushrooms (eg. Portobello, chestnut)

10g of dried wild mushrooms

3 shallots (finely chopped)

1 clove of garlic (minced)

4 eggs

450ml of milk

150 ml of single cream

70g of freshly grated Parmesan

1 tsp fresh thyme

2 tbsp madeira or sherry

juice of 1/2 lemon

butter for frying and greasing the ramekins

salt and pepper

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in some hot water until reconstituted and tender

2. Fry the shallots and garlic in a little butter or oil for 5 minutes

3 Finely chop the fresh and soaked mushrooms, add them to the onion and garlic and squeeze over the juice of the lemon.

4. Add the thyme, salt and pepper and fry gently for 10 minutes until all the mushroom liquor has evaporated.

5. Add the madeira and cook until that has evaporated too.

6. Spoon the mixture into the base of 4 buttered ramekins

7. Mix the milk and cream in a large jug, season again with salt and pepper and beat in the eggs one by one

8. Pour the mixture into each of the ramekins and place them in a baking tray half filled with boiling water. Sprinkle the Parmesan over each one.

9. Bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven

10. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving

11. Just before bringing to the table, glaze the top of each one using a blow torch (or flash under a hot grill) to create a bubbling, caramelized topping.

Let's move on to some side dishes now.

Firstly -fennel. I wasn't keen on this aniseed-y veg at first, but this recipe which sweetens it with orange juice and seasons it with salty olives, is not to be missed. Many thanks to French friends for the recipe.

Report

• Embed

• 0	Recommend

Braised fennel with orange juice and olives

When I first had this braised fennel dish (at a barbecue) I was amazed by the combinations of flavours- salty, fruity and aniseed-y all at the same time. Wonderful with fish (served here with barbecued trout) or lamb chops.

Ingredients:

2 bulbs of fennel

20 cl of orange juice

1 tablespoon of pitted green olives, chopped

1 onion finely chopped

1love of garlic

olive oil and a knob of butter for frying

Soften the onion and garlic in the oil and add the finely sliced bulbs of fennel.

Add the butter and stir in.

Pour over the orange juice, cover and simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed and the fennel is tender (about 20 minutes on a low heat). Just before serving, add the chopped olives and season to taste.

This dish works well in the slow cooker too.

Next- sweetcorn. You can't beat a sweetcorn fritter.(Well, I like fritters made with just about anything from peas, spring onions,  courgettes and aubergines to apples and pineapple rings!)
First assemble your batter- Sift 125g of plain flour into a bowl along with 1/2tsp each of salt and baking powder; make a well in the centre and add one beaten egg and 1 tbsp of either melted butter or  vegetable oil and 150 ml of milk and whisk together until you have a thickish batter. Mix in the sweetcorn and leave for 10 minutes or so to stand.
Heat a drop of oil in a non stick pan and place spoonfuls of the batter mix, well spaced apart into the hot pan. Fry until golden on one side and then flip over with a palette knife and do the same on the other. Serve as part of a Chicken Maryland dish ,  with roast chicken or as part of a brunch with crispy bacon.

Sweetcorn fritters

A new recipe that I tried this week is Raclette Potatoes- potatoes filled with raclette cheese and wrapped in Parma ham, then sandwiched together:
Bake 4 medium potatoes until just tender in the microwave for 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool before slipping off the skins and halving lengthways.
 Lay a slice of raclette ( or gruyere cheese)  on 4 halves then sandwich back together. Wrap Parma ham or streaky bacon around the 'sandwich'. Hold together with a cocktail stick and  fry in oil until golden and the bacon/ham is crispy. Place in a hot oven for 6-7 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Fry the potatoes in hot oil until crispy

Raclette Potatoes

Finally, I couldn't finish without mentioning my most controversial recipe to date- one which earned me my first (and hopefully only) internet troll- yes, it's those mushy peas again!

Minty mushy peas

Posh minty mushy peas, sent in by leftoverliz. Photograph: leftoverliz via GuardianWitness

I've never been a fan of the traditional mushy marrowfat peas, but this version, which is made with garden peas, spring onions, stock and mint, is enough to convert anyone. I've served it with some homemade fish fingers, chips and tomato sauce, but it's equally at home among more regal dishes, such as a bed for scallops, or whipped up with more cream in shot glasses as a canape.
leftoverliz, lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk, via GuardianWitness

Serves 1 generously, 2 delicately
125g frozen peas
3-4 spring onions, chopped
2-3 sprigs of mint
500ml boiling chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp creme fraiche

1 Cook the peas, spring onion and mint in the stock until tender, but still vibrant green. Drain off the excess liquid and discard the mint – it has worked its magic!

2 Add the creme fraiche and blitz with a hand blender until you have a smooth, bright-green puree and off you go!

Feel like sending me some more critical feedback? Now that really would be vegetable madness!

Windfalls

A kind friend gave me 3 sacks of windfall apples this week- hence this blog about using them up!

I also began my retirement last Wednesday- which feels like a windfall gift (even if I did have to work 35 long years as a teacher to earn it!)

What better way to spend the first day of my future life of leisure, than happily stewing apples and making chutney?




My chutney recipe used up 2-3 lbs (1 1/2 kilos) of the apples.

First I sterilised the jars by giving them a hot wash in the dishwasher and then dried them on a low heat in the oven until ready to use (about an hour and a half in all, which was just about the time it took to make the chutney.)

In a large saucepan, I softened 250g of sliced onions in some flavourless oil and added the peeled, cored and sliced apples (minus any bruises or worms of course). I mixed in 2 tsp mixed spice, 2 tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp salt, 400 ml of cider vinegar and 400g of sugar and brought that up to the boil.

I then added 150g of chopped dates and 150g of sultanas and left the whole lot to simmer away until the apples had broken down and the colour had changed to light golden.

I took a spoonful of the mixture and put it on a clean saucer. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, I drew a line through it -and the chutney remained parted like the Red Sea -so I knew it had reached the 'jammy' stage.

I bottled it up into the hot jars, using a jam funnel and topped each jar with a wax disc before sealing loosely. Once the jars had cooled, I tightened the lids and put them away in the store cupboard to mature. I'll open one in a few weeks time, to see it I got the whole process right.

Apple, Date and Sultana Chutney

Next, I stewed another 3 apples to make a crumble- including some mini ones which I served as part of a cafe gourmand: a cup of expresso coffee with a selection of mini desserts.
This one was autumn themed: afore mentioned mini crumble, a mini bottle of creme anglaise, some blackberries from the hedgerow and a bramble jam tart. Very pretty- and went well with a little glass of Calvados too.

Autumn cafe gourmand

Tonight I am baking two of the smaller Bramleys 'in their dressing gowns'. The apples are peeled and cored, filled with dates and sultanas and a good squirt of golden syrup, laid on shortcrust pastry rounds

 and painted with bramble jelly before being encased completely, brushed with a milk and sugar glaze and baked in a moderate oven for 20 minutes until golden brown ( and the apple tender within).

Apple in It's Dressing Gown

Other apple recipes on the blog include Normandy Apple Tart, Black Pudding and Apple Muffins, Apple Lattice, Toffee Apple Ice Cream, Apple and Sultana Battelmann and Spiced Apple Cake.

Apple Lattice

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/who-ate-all-pies.

Spiced Apple Cake

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/week-11-cooking-for-crowd.html

Toffee Apple Ice Cream

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/week-37-halloween-recipes-for-grown-ups.html

Black Pudding and Apple Muffins

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/remembering-normandy.html

Normandy Apple Tart
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/remembering-normandy.html

Apple and Sultana Battelmann
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/buttery-biscuit-base.html

I am also going to add one cooking apple to a chicken curry to make A Very English Curry. Watch out for the recipe on a future blog.

I still have one whole bowlful of apples to go, so would appreciate any of your apple recipes and ideas.

In the meantime- I hope you find these recipes scrump-tious.

Buttery Biscuit Base

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMg3epr53Ns

OK- so I'm shamelessly piggy-backing on the hilarious Masterchef YouTube rap. But if you googled this and ended up here on my blog- don't go! Stay and read a few biscuit based recipes.

Today's blog is all about using up leftover biscuits, biscottes and crispbreads.

If, like me, you've returned from your holidays with packets of crisp toasts and pains grilles which seemed practical and delicious for breakfast in foreign parts, but just don't appeal quite so much when there is toast and Marmite, crumpets and other bready delights now that you're back home, then this is the blogpost for you.
Instead of letting them go stale and throwing them away- you can make a whole host of dishes (savoury and sweet) from them.

My leftover biscottes etc

The obvious thing to do is blitz them into fine breadcrumbs for storing in an airtight jar or in the freezer to make 'chapelure' for coating fish, rissoles, croquettes, etc (as in Aunty Liz's Crunchy Chicken).

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/week-40-crunchy.html

I'm going to do that with some, but I want to be a bit more creative with the rest.

First of all, I'm making a Battelmann (or Mendiant)- which is a dessert dish from Alsace. It is very similar to a bread pudding (spicy, sugary and dense)- but is lighter thanks to the use of biscottes (crispy French toasts).
Soak some sultanas (or traditionally cherries) in a litle rum (or kirsch for cherries).
Warm but don't quite boil 450ml of milk, 3 tbsp of sugar and add 125g of crushed biscottes. Work the mixture with a fork, then a wooden spoon, until you have a homogenous porridge-like consistency. (I know it doesn't sound or look great at this stage- but have faith!) Leave this to stand whilst you butter and line a 20cm cake tin with the above mentioned chapelure (finely blitzed biscotte crumbs).
Into the cake mixture, beat 2 large eggs, a teaspoon of mixed spice and a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Peel and thinly slice a dessert apple and add this plus the rum-soaked sultanas to the mix.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin, level the surface and sprinkle with a sachet of vanilla sugar.

Bake at 170 degrees for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm with cream, ice cream or custard.

Battelmann with apples and sultanas

Next, let's do a savoury dish- petits farcis- or stuffed summer vegetables. This has featured on the blog before, but this time instead of using breadcrumbs (or polenta crumbs) as previously, I'm using up leftover crisp rolls (Swedish ones- you know, that look like little dry baguettes).
When soaked in milk, they make excellent 'ballast' for stuffings, or to add to burgers and meatballs. Click on the link below the picture for the recipe- but substitute 5- 6 crisp rolls, crushed and soaked in milk for the breadcrumbs.

Petits farcis

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/week-30-last-of-summer-sun.html

Back to sweet things.
Speculoos are all the rage in France at the moment- though they are actually from Belgium ( a bit like Hercules Poirot, annoyed at having constantly to remind people that he is not a meddlesome Frenchman, he is a meddlesome Belgian!)
These biscuits aren't annoying at all- they are buttery, cinnamon flavoured spice biscuits which have numerous culinary uses. You can get them in Waitrose - or you can use good old Ginger Nuts if you prefer.

First of all, I'm making Cinnamon Cream Pots then a Speculoos Tiramisu.

For the cream pots- first make an egg custard or creme anglaise by whisking 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk together with 25g of sugar and a teaspoon of cornflour in a large bowl until light and frothy. Crush 1 packet (100g) of Speculoos and dissolve into 350ml of milk and add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Bring the milk to the boil and then pour over the egg mixture, bit by bit, whisking as you go. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat, stirring all the time until it begins to thicken.
Pour into individual ramekins or coffee cups.
Place the cups into a large baking tray and half fill it with hot water.
Cook the puds in a low oven (100 degrees) for 45 minutes and then chill well before serving. (Note that the quantities above make 4 servings not 6 as in the picture).

Cream Pots ready for the oven

The Tiramisu is simplicity itself and can be made in a trifle dish or in individual glasses.

Soak Speculoos biscuits in rum or coffee liqueur and line your chosen dish with them. Next slather on a layer of whipped cream, then another layer of  rum-dipped biscuits, then a final layer of cream. Sprinkle the top with crushed biscuits.

Speculoos Tiramisu

Incidentally, Speculoos biscuits are good added to your fruit crumble topping or indeed crushed and mixed with melted butter to make a buttery biscuit base for cheesecake or key lime pie.

Chocolate cheesecake with Buttery Biscuit Base!

Hope you like these recipes- let me know if they need more oomph!

Finger on the pulse

We've just returned from a fab fortnight in the Auvergne (Central France). Despite the snobbery with which the food here is viewed in other parts of France ('peasant food' they say) well- call me a peasant but, reader, we ate really well.



The charcuterie served in the auberge on the plateau d'Ally was superb, their cheeses went down well with our group www.auberge-ally.com

and the vegetables everywhere were always prepared in the most delicious ways.

However, it was the Puy lentil which was the star of the show and this healthy little pulse is going to get a blogpost pretty much all of its own today.

A colleague at work asked me if I could feature some gluten-free recipes for her daughter who was recently diagnosed coeliac, and so, step into the spotlight please Mr Little Green Lentil.

Not only do these versatile little things make a lovely vegetable accompaniment or salad, they also grind down to make a gluten-free flour (similar to buckwheat in taste) so great for savoury pancakes and blinis.

Let's start with those crepes.
I got this recipe from the farmer at the local market in the village where we stayed. When I bought the flour from his stall he gave me a handmade recipe book, with his flour featured on each page. 

You can see more on his website: http://visite.ferme.blot.free.fr
Ingredients:
100g lentil flour
100g corn flour (maizena)
2 eggs
400 ml milk
generous pinch of salt

Mix all together and beat well with a balloon whisk.
Heat a frying pan until smoking with a very small amount of flavourless oil and fry thin crepes, turning once with a palette knife. Stack on a plate until ready to use.

Lentil flour crepes

These pancakes are good with savoury fillings like ham and cheese, or mixed with cooked lentils, chopped spring onion or sweetcorn to make savoury drop scones. As blinis they go well with salmon or with a poached quail's egg on top (same farmer at the market was selling these.)

They are also lovely served galette-style as here in the picture, spread with pesto, pine nuts, ham and tomato.

Cooked Puy lentils make a delicious salad. To add a bit of interest, and texture, try serving them in a basket (as in this pic).

The basket here is made from filo pastry (not gluten free)- but you can achieve the same effect using one of the crepes above moulded over a tin or bowl and baked in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 160 degrees.

Once cool, fill with cooked lentils chopped spring onion and some lemon creme fraiche mixed together.

And now for the leftover lentils.

I love them as an accompaniment to sausages- meaty Toulouse ones are good- or topped with a salmon fillet.

Lentils with sausages

Salmon with lentils

Soften some onion and garlic, stir in the cooked lentils, add a chopped and peeled tomato, plenty of salt and pepper and a cupful of stock (a dash of mustard or Worcester sauce is good too) and simmer until all the stock has been absorbed.


Incidentally, you could achieve the crepe recipe with chick pea (gram) flour if that is easier for you to get.
If using this, you might like to try a Southern french delicacy- panisse.

These are particularly good if you crave something a bit indulgent and fattening. (If, like my colleague's daughter, you have only recently converted to a gluten-free diet- the lack of doughnuts, cakes and biscuits may seem particularly harsh.)

This is basically a chickpea dough, cooled and rolled into a log then deep fried and seasoned with loads of salt and pepper. It doesn't have to be log shaped however- you can cool it in a loaf tin and slice it into fingers or slices.

• 1 litre water
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 1/4 cups (285g) chickpea flour
• olive oil, for frying
• coarse salt and freshly-cracked pepper, for serving

1. Lightly oil a 9-inch (23 cm) square cake pan, or similar sized vessel.

2. Heat the water with the oil and salt in a saucepan. Once hot, but not boiling, whisk in the chickpea flour.

3. Whisk over medium heat until the mixture thickens, about three minutes.

4. Switch to a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes until very thick and the batter holds its shape.

5. Scrape into the oiled pan and let cool.

6. To fry the panisses, unmould the solidified mixture on a cutting board and slice into batons about as wide as your fourth finger and as long as your middle one.

7. In a heavy-duty frying pan, heat 1/4-1/2 inch (1-2 cm) of olive oil. When shimmering hot, fry the panisses in batches, not crowding them in the pan. Once the bottom is nicely browned and crisp, turn with tongs, frying the panisses until they are deep-golden brown on each side.

8. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels, sprinkling them very generously with salt and pepper. Don’t be stingy with either. Continue frying the rest, heating more oil in the pan as needed.

Thanks to David Lebovitz for this summary of the recipe.


Loads of other gluten-free ideas by the way on https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/53d903dde4b0562e873aa1bf

In the meantime- let's hear it for the lentil!