Turning Over a New Leaf

Everyone starts a new year with new hopes and sometimes new resolutions. I start each new year now with a feeling of anticipation of new adventures to come.
No more so than this year, which promises to be full of new experiences and hopefully plenty of good things.

The market bursting with green veg

For one thing, we are back in the land of lovely fruit and veg, markets and salads so where better to begin this year's blog posts but with a leafy green theme.

'The land of lovely fruit and veg, markets and salads'

Salade Italienne in a local cafe

I came back from last Friday's market with a good haul of veg- all of it still with it's leafy tops on as you can see.

My vegetable shopping

The turnips, radishes and heritage carrots were going to be roasted to have with chicken but their green tops (radish and turnip tops that is) are a much underused ingredient.

Just wash them thoroughly, chop and steam. I like to add spring onion tops or leeks to this and pop a teabag (Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong) into the steaming water for a sweet and aromatic accompaniment.

Tea steamed greens

Roasted roots and radishes

Any leftover radishes, onions or greens went into a Miso Noodle Soup the next day: cook a nest of egg noodles per person, drain and reserve the cooking water.

Add a heaped tablespoon of miso paste and another of soy sauce to the water and place to heat.

Stir fry the veg you want to use- radishes, peppers, carrot, spring onions, green tops or even lettuce, add leftover chicken if you have it and then assemble your dish.

In the bottom of each soup bowl, put noodles, chicken and veg and then spoon over the hot broth. Serve with extra soy sauce on the side.

Miso Noodle Soup

Whilst we are talking about cooking lettuce, here are a few ideas for using up tired salad leaves:

Fry an onion with some garlic and then add the lettuce to the frying pan and cook until wilted.

Meanwhile, put a few potatoes on to boil (or use up any leftover cooked ones), warm up some chicken or vegetable stock (I still had leftover miso broth from last night), add the potatoes, the lettuce and onions, some chopped parsley or any other leafy green herb you have, blitz with a stick blender or in a liquidiser, add a little milk or cream to serve.

McGregor Soup

I've called this McGregor Soup, as it has the flavour of sorrel and parsley, or even watercress - delicate but very tasty - and would appeal to the discernng human or rabbit alike!

Cooked lettuce is quite cheffy these days. I saw them serving it on Professional Masterchef. Cos or Little Gem seem to be the thing, blowtorched to give them a caramelized look and then added to other veg. Just mix it into peas or leeks for a fresh tasting dish- and no leafy greens wasted!

Quiche aux Blettes
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.fr/2015/09/food-from-friends.html

I have finished up the week with some old favourites: Endives with Ham and Cheese Sauce ( I promised my husband that I would make this as soon as we were back in France) and Quiche aux Blettes (Swiss Chard tart). Click on the link below the pictures for the recipes.

Endives with Ham and Cheese Sauce
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.fr/2015/01/comfort-food.html

I hope this has inspired you to eat up your greens, and certainly not to throw them away. If any of you resolved to try to lose weight in 2016, then I hope these recipes help with that too.

Perhaps not the ones smothered in cheese sauce though.

Week 12- Ne'er cast a clout...

Kitten Wraps

Sigh... who remembers sunny days and warm evenings? In the UK, we haven't seen a dancing sunbeam or felt the warm rays on our backs for nearly a year.

I've been looking longingly at my summer clothes- and at summer recipes- and this week I cracked.

 I put on a skirt and let my legs see the fresh air ( this clout-casting lasted for about an hour before I shivered my way back into jeans) and I weakened and bought summery fruits and vegetables :
 melon, strawberries and courgettes.

Inevitably, I was disappointed. The ratatouille I made from the courgettes was OK- but made mainly from tins and jars so it had more of the feel of a storecupboard standby than a sunshine supplement. And the melon and strawberries looked and smelled good - but were flavourless to eat.

Good looking- shame about the taste!

Ratatouille with meatballs and chorizo

I was reminded of course that we buy in season for a reason. Two reasons really- price and taste.

So, lesson learned, what is in season in chilly British April? Well, lots of nice things. My rocket has started to grow again vigorously and is ready for picking. Rhubarb is now making its fragrant way into the shops and farm stalls. And lots of  shellfish and white fleshed fish are in the fishmongers.

Rocket springs up eternal

This week's menu then is a rocket and halloumi salad, followed by pan-fried fish wrapped in Parma ham with a lemon butter sauce and colcannon, and rhubarb and ginger muffins with rhubarb compote to finish. Yum!

If you've never cooked with halloumi- give it a try. This cypriot cheese is wonderful fried in a little oil and added to a salad as here: with a good balsamic vinaigrette and lots of fresh rocket leaves to complement it. Halloumi is salty and crispy - and the rocket is peppery- a perfect match.

Halloumi and rocket salad

Halloumi hallo's!

Fried halloumi is great with some spicy tomato relish and served on sticks as a canape too:





Coley, monkfish, plaice, pollock and John Dory are all in season too- so get yourselves some white fish fillets, wrap them in a slice of Parma ham and fry them in a little sunflower oil until the Parma ham is crispy all round and the fish is translucent and cooked through.

I served mine with colcannon made from mashed potato, combined with a head of chopped spring greens which had been steamed with a chopped spring onion and stirred together to make a savoury mash-cake.

I also made a lemon butter sauce- bring a very generous glass of dry white wine to the boil for 6 minutes to boil off the alcohol and reduce it a little. Whisk in some walnut-sized pieces of  unsalted butter one by one until the sauce begins to emulsify. When thickened and unctuous, add the grated zest and juice of a lemon and some chopped parsley and pour in a puddle around your mash and fish:

Parma wrapped fish with colcannon and lemon butter sauce

For the pudding, make a basic sponge mix with 125g self raising flour, 125 g of butter or marge and 125g of caster sugar and 2 eggs (usual mixing-in method- butter and sugar creamed  followed by beaten eggs and then flour). Chop 3 stems of rhubarb into 2cm chunks and place in a pan with a scant tablespoon of water and 100g of sugar or use 1 tablespoon of golden syrup and no water. (I prefer this as the rhubarb releases lots of juice).

Bring to a simmer and after 5-10 minutes the rhubarb will be completely tender.

Mix 2 teaspoons of ground ginger into the cake mix and then add 2-3 tablespoons of the rhubarb compote. (The rest will be served with the muffins, and the leftovers made into a crumble and/or pie).

Pour the mixture into prepared muffin cases- this will make 10-12. Sprinkle the tops with some sugar mixed with a teaspoon of ground ginger and bake at 190 degrees for 10 minutes or until risen and golden.

Serve with a compote of rhubarb on the side and some creme fraiche.

Rhubarb and ginger muffins with compote

The leftover rhubarb goes well in a crumble or pie - I add a tablespoon of polenta to my crumble mix to make it extra crunchy and to absorb any of the excess liquid from the rhubarb as it cooks in the oven.

Rhubarb with polenta crumble topping

So, as miserable March has given way to inauspicious April- I'm hoping that by the time May is out we can cast our clouts with abandon and look forward to asparagus, salads, new potatoes...and a warm garden to sit and eat them in!