Pounti, Patates and Pointy Cabbage

Autumn harvest is done.

Everything has been eaten, stored, bottled, frozen or given to the neighbours.

A few new recipes for you, using up my autumnal produce and then I hope you'll love your veg as much as we do.





Pounti is an Auvergne dish- traditionally made to use up leftover cooked meat. It can be eaten warm or cold, served as a main course, side dish or with an apéritif.

We made it at Cookery Workshop, using cooked ham- but use any meat you have.

Ingredients:
200g leftover cooked meat
100g bacon lardons
1 bunch of parsley
3-4 Swiss Chard leaves ( or 1/2 bag spinach)
1 onion
6 eggs
300g flour
2 tsp baking powder
500 ml milk
200g prunes (soaked overnight in water or tea)
butter for greasing, salt and pepper to taste

1. Blitz or finely chop the meat, bacon, parsley, onion, chard or spinach

Blitz the meat, veg and herbs

2. Add the eggs, flour, baking powder and milk and mix well

Mix up your eggs, flour and milk and add to the veg mixture

3. Pour into either a large greased cake tin, or several small tins for individual cakes

Pour into cake moulds

4. Drop in the stoned prunes

Add the prunes

5. Bake at 180 degrees for approximately an hour ( for a large Pounti ) or check smaller cakes with a skewer after 30 minutes.
6. Eat warm from the oven if poss.

Pounti

I also experimented this year with two new crops- cabbage ( pointed variety) and sweet potatoes.

I asked my local cooks how best they liked to cook their cabbage, and got this suggestion from my Romanian neighbour who says it is her husband's favourite. We loved it too, so I have named it after him.

Cabbage Alexi
1 head of cabbage
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 jar of passata
2 apples
1 pack of lardons
chipolatas or pork chops
red wine

1. Gently fry the chopped onion, crushed garlic, and chopped apples

Gently fry onion, apple, garlic - and add in the lardons

2. Blanch the cabbage for 4-6 minutes in boiling water, drain and chop

Blanch the cabbage heads

3. Add the lardons to the frying pan and fry until lightly golden
4. Add the chopped cabbage, stir fry and add a glug of red wine and plenty of seasoning

Add the cabbage, red wine and seasoning

5. Cook over a high heat for a few minutes, then add the passata and turn down to a simmer
6. Brown the chipolatas in a frying pan

Brown the chipolatas

7. Tip the cabbage mixture into an oven dish, add the chipolatas, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 170 degrees.

Cabbage Alexi

And finally, to the sweet potatoes (Patates Douces). I only grew two plants, but they yielded well- if a little wonkily shaped.

Meet Sweetie, Knobby, Curly and pals

They nevertheless made two meals, each for 4-6 people.

I scrubbed the potatoes, pricked them all over with a knife and baked them in the microwave until soft when pressed ( about 6-10 minutes depending on your microwave). I then peeled them easily.

The first meal was a Sweet Potato and Lentil Curry and the second was a Vegetable Lasagne- made with layers of lentil ragout, Swiss Chard and leeks, creamy pesto sauce, sweet potatoes and a Welsh Rarebit topping.

A layer of sweet potato 

Welsh Rarebit Topped Lasagne
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.com/search?q=lasagne

For the curry: fry onion, garlic, chilli and ginger, add 1-2 tbsp of your curry paste of choice, add the chopped sweet potato and 2 cups of cooked lentils some vegetable stock and a can of coconut milk and simmer together.

Lentil and sweet Potato Curry

And that's it for now...

Hope you're feeling the love!

Autumn Comfort Food

The seafront takes a battering

So last weekend, Storm Angus swept its way through the UK bringing a first real taste of Autumn storms and rain.
I'm confined to barracks at the moment, so hadn't planned any outings. Time to curl up with books, magazines and some homely fare.





And where better to start than somewhere that is as used to wind and rain on an August afternoon as on a November night- Wales!

My first set of recipes have a Welsh theme- and why not? Welsh produce is top notch, and reminds me in many ways of the cuisine of my beloved Auvergne.

I'm starting by making a Welsh Rarebit Paste- not for spreading on toast ( although that is of course delicious) but for topping lasagne and fish.
You will need:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

200g grated sharp cheddar

splash of milk

splash of beer (optional but worth it)

dash of Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp mustard

1. Melt the butter in a non-stick pan and shoot in the flour

2. Cook over a low heat until it forms a ball in the pan  

Cook together the butter and the flour

3. Add the rest of the ingredients, and cook through until the cheese has melted and the mixture leaves the side of the pan as a thick sauce.

4. Taste and adjust seasoning then leave to cool.

You can store this paste in the fridge for a few days, to make a variety of dishes.

The first one I am making is Lasagne Llsiau- Welsh veggie lasagne.

You need 3 sauces for this dish: your rarebit topping, a tomato and veggie one and a cheese and veggie one.

Ingredients:

(for the cheese and veg sauce)

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

350 ml milk

150g crumbled Caerphilly cheese or Tomme

150g chopped kale or spinach or chard

1 chopped leek

(For the tomato sauce)

1 chopped onion

1-2 crushed cloves of garlic

150g sliced mushrooms

1 x400g tin chopped tomatoes

10-12 lasagne sheets

1. Steam the kale and leeks over simmering water.

Greens a-steaming

3. Make the tomato sauce by frying the onion, garlic and mushrooms, any other 'fridge veg' you have in the veg drawer eg. aubergines, courgettes etc and adding the tinned tomatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste.

4. Make a bechamel sauce, in the same way as the rarebit but adding more milk and the crumbled Caerphilly.

Bechamel sauce

Fold in the steamed leeks and kale.

Add your steamed greens

5. Now assemble your lasagne- layers of tomato sauce, kale sauce and lasagne sheets alternatively.

6. Using a wet palette knife, spread the rarebit over the top, covering the pasta completely.

Spread on the rarebit

7. Bake at 180 degrees for 20-30 minutes until brown and bubbling.

Welsh rarebit topped Lasagne Llsiau

If you have leftover rarebit paste, spread it on top of some lightly poached smoked haddock and grill until brown and bubbling.

Rarebit topped smoked haddock

Or make a croque-monsieur. Just make a cheese and ham toastie, the way you normally would (in a sandwich toaster or in the frying pan), then top the lot with some rarebit paste, grill and off you go!

Croque-monsieur

If you have leftover kale or greens from the lasagne, try making this simple Italian dish- Gnocchi alla Toscana. I chucked everything in the slow cooker, but it would work equally well on the stove or in the oven.

To serve 4 hearty portions:

Ingredients:

500g fresh gnocchi

400g Italian sausages

200g chopped fresh kale/greens

1 x 400g tin cannelini beans

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

1 large onion chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1/2 tsp chilli flakes or finely chopped red chilli

generous pinch each of salt, black pepper and sugar

1 glass red wine

2 bay leaves

2 tsp oregano

1. Fry the onion until translucent, add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute.

2. Place the onion/garlic/chilli in a crockpot or casserole and add the two tins of chopped tomatoes, the oregano and bay leaves and the red wine

3. Slip the sausages out of their skins and, with wet hands, shape the meat into little pellets ( the size of a Malteser)

4. Brown these lightly until the fat starts to run, drain them on kitchen paper and add to the casserole

Fry off the little sausage meatballs

5. Cook for 3-4 hours in a slow cooker, 1-2 hours in a casserole dish in the oven (at 160 degrees) or on the stove.

6. Half an hour before serving, add the cannelini beans ( and some of their water from the tin if the mixture seems dry), the chopped kale and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and sugar. Stir until all the kale is in the liquid.

7. Meanwhile cook the gnocchi in boiling water for 2 minutes and then drain and add to the casserole.

8. Serve with grated Parmesan (if you like it.)

Gnocchi Alla Tuscana

.

If you have leftover gnocchi- coat the dumplings in a bechamel sauce ( as above), pour into a gratin dish, top with some grated Parmesan or nutmeg (depending on your preference) and grill until browned.

Gnocchi Gratin

Makes an excellent side dish.

And finally, how about a comforting pud?

I'm grateful to H F-W for this one, as it comes from his book 'Love your Leftovers.'
This pud tasted both light and satisfying- and used up humble imgredients- breadcrumbs, eggs, marmalade and a splash of booze. You could make it with jam and crème de cassis, or tropical fruit and Malibu, raisins and rum,  or any combination of fruit and booze you fancy.

Marmalade Pud

half a jar of marmalade (mixed with some hot water to loosen it and then cooled)
2 eggs (separated)
200ml cream
100g sugar
1 teaspoon Grand Marnier or Cointreau
150 g soft white breadcrumbs ( from stale bread)

1. Grease a pudding dish and put the oven on to warm at 180 degrees.
2. Mix the marmalade, egg yolks, cream, sugar and booze.
3. Keeping back a handful of breadcrumbs for the topping, shoot in the breadcrumbs and mix thoroughly.
4. Whip the egg whites until firm and then, using a metal spoon, carefully fold them into the marmalade mixture as if making a soufflé.

Egg whites at 'stiff peak' stage

5. Pour the fluffy mixture into your pudding dish, sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs on top

Souffléd mixture ready for the oven

 Stand this in a baking tin half filled with hot water, and bake for 50-60 minutes until golden and still a bit wobbly.

And ready to come out...

6. Serve with ice cream.

Souffléd Marmalade Pud

And so, with tummies full, is it time to think about hibernating for the winter?

See you in the Spring!

Kohlrabi, Kale and a Kitchenful of Veg

A trugful of treasures

Just look at all this glorious vegetable bounty. It's the result of a visit to my friend's allotment where she invited me to help myself to anything and everything that needed harvesting.
So, I have a trugful of green beans, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, curly kale and ruby chard to take home.

I feel inspired- and about time too as I have been suffering from blogger's block recently.

What did I make? A stir-fry, 3 soups, fritters, stuffed leaves, lasagne and a gnocchi bake. Not bad eh? Here's how.

First things first- a super fresh summer stir fry is in order- radishes, spring onions, kohlrabi, beansprouts, chard stems and green beans.
Freshly picked, the kohlrabi can be sliced and stirfried as it is- but if you prefer, you can steam or boil it until tender first. Do so in its peel though, to keep its delicate flavour (and then peel it afterwards)
Once prepped, the veg can be simply cooked in some hot oil in a wok, then some cooked noodles, sweet chili and soy sauce mixed in.

Veg all prepped

Super Summer Stir Fry

The leftovers make a substantial soup, added to miso or chicken stock.

Leftover noodle soup

Kohlrabi has been described as 'part veg- part alien' because of its otherwordly colour and knobbly appearance.

Allotment Aliens!

It is really a form of turnip and has the same creamy and slightly spicy flavour. For that reason it does well in Indian dishes. For something a bit unusual - try these fritters, made with shredded kohlrabi and spring onions.

Shred the raw kohlrabi in a food processor. (Incidentally, it would make a great slaw like this with shredded carrot, apple and spring onion).

Kohlrabi Slaw

Chop 2-3 spring onions and mix in with the kohlrabi. Add a teaspoon of curry powder, a pinch of turmeric and a tablespoon of flour. Season well with salt and pepper and then mix in an egg to make a batter.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and shallow fry spoonfuls of the mixture until golden on both sides.

Fry in hot oil

You can eat this as a starter like a bhajia  with raita or hummus or as a side dish.

Kohlrabi fritters

Next- the Stuffed Ruby Chard leaves. (The red stems went into the stir fry).
These are steamed for a few minutes and then drained on kitchen towel.

Steam the chard leaves quickly

I made a meatball mixture from breadcrumbs blitzed with fresh parsley and garlic (keep a tablespoon back to sprinkle over the top), minced turkey and an egg. Season and mix the ingredients well, then form into meatballs using wet hands.

Turkey meatballs

Fry the meatballs to caramelize the outside, and when cool enough to handle, wrap in the chard leaves, lay in a gratin dish and pour over some tomato sauce. (I used a ready-made tomato and mascapone sauce and it went really well). Sprinkle on the remaining breadcrumbs and bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbling in moderate oven.

Stuffed Ruby Chard Leaves

The green chard leaves I blanched for 2 minutes in boiling water, then into cold water to preserve the colour. I squeezed them out in a J Cloth and used them as a layer in a lasagne:  leftover bolognaise ragu, then pasta, then chard leaves

layers of leaves, pasta and ragu

ragu, pasta, bechamel sauce, grated cheese and a dusting of nutmeg for the final layer. Baked for 40 minutes again in a moderate oven until golden.

Meat and 2 Veg lasagne

Time for another soup- this time using the chard stems. Chop these and use them exactly as you would celery. I softened some onion and garlic in a soup pan, added the chard stems, a few chopped new potatoes and 1 1/2 litres of chicken stock. Simmer until the veg is all tender, then blitz with a stick blender, add 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley and adjust seasoning to your taste.

Swiss Soup

Now, the gnocchi.
Cook these little potato dumplings according to the instructions on the packet- usually for just 2-3 minutes or so in boiling water. Drain and set aside with a tea towel over the top.
Make a bechamel sauce, season well and add 100g of grated spicy cheddar with chilli.
Meanwhile blanch and squeeze the kale as for the chard leaves above, and then chop and fry with a crushed clove of garlic in a deep frying pan or wok.
Add the gnocchi and toss together, then mix in the chilli-cheese sauce.

Ready for the oven

Pour into a gratin dish and bake until bubbling and browned on the top ( 20 minutes or so in a hot oven).

Chilli-Chard Gnocchi Bake

Last, but not least- if you have leftover cooked veg I often put it all into my Use-it-Up minestrone- vegetable stock simmered with tomatoes (or leftover pasta sauce) soup pasta, any cooked veg such as green beans, courgette, peppers, kale or spring onions and- the secret ingredient- any leftover baked beans. Season well- a kick of hot sauce goes well with it too, I am told.

Use-it-Up Minestrone

Phew! I think it's time to stock up on some more veggies!