Boxing Day Bakes

26th December comes round again- and I have a few more ideas for your Christmas leftovers. Read on if you have parsnips, nuts, veg or chocolate to use up (and I know you do..)




If you've already made your turkey bones and leftover veg into soup- here are some tasty quick rolls ( no need for yeast or proving) to go with it- made with parsnips and chopped herbs:

Parsnip and Herby Rolls:

220g grated parsnips
275g flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp chopped herbs ( eg rosemary or thyme)
1 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
2 tbsp milk or natural yoghurt






1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add the grated parsnips
2. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs and yoghurt or milk
3. Mix together with a knife and then tip the dough onto a floured board. Divide into 6-8 rolls and place on a greased or lined baking tray.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or so until golden.

Baked rolls

They freeze well too.


The baking powder bread mix is excellent for a quick pizza base too. I make a frying pan version- just roll out your dough to fit your frying pan, fry on one side and then flip it over to fry the other.

Frying pan pizza

Cover with a topping of your choice and bake.


If all yesterday's rich food leaves you craving a vegetarian main dish, which is super-quick to prepare ( and a bit of a cheat- but so what?) then look no further than my Not-Pot.
The cheat's ingredient is tinned (yes tinned) Potato Dauphinoise. This is readily available in Lidl in France (and widely served up in restaurants masquerading as home made!) - but might be harder to source in the UK. Of course you don't have to use tinned- you can make your own (!) or use another supermarket version.

Not-Pot

Just rub a clove of garlic around a buttered gratin dish and layer up potato dauphinoise, cooked leeks or onions and/or any other cooked veg you want to use up- I used chard and Jerusalem artichokes (as I grow them) but parsnips, kohl rabi, carrots, squash  etc will be just as nice. Pour on 1/2 cup of stock. Sprinkle with grated cheese and breadcrumbs (you can mix in leftover bread sauce if you have some) and bake in a hot oven until golden.

Not-Pot

If you still have cooked parsnips to use up- try them in this savoury loaf. We had it as an accompaniment to the turkey on Christmas Day, then sliced with a salad another day and then hot with a spicy tomato sauce as a vegetarian main the following day!

 Parsnip and Chestnut Loaf

Serves 6 (with accompaniments)

2 large parsnips

Oil, to grease 1 small savoy cabbage, 4–6 outer leaves only  150g hazelnuts 40g butter or oil 1 red onion, finely chopped 150g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped 100g cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped 100g cheese, crumbled
100g brown breadcrumbs 2 tsp fresh or dried mixed herbs 1 egg, beaten

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Peel and quarter the parsnips, and cook in boiling, salted water until tender, drain well.

2. Grease a loaf tin approximately 20cm x 10cm x 7cm, then line with foil, and grease this generously. Blanch 6 savoy cabbage leaves in boiling, salted water for 2 minutes: you'll need enough to line the tin with overlapping leaves, but how many depends on the size of your cabbage, so make sure you have enough before you tip away the water. Lay on a tea towel to dry (and snip out the hard central rib)

3. Toast the hazelnuts in a frying pan over a high heat until starting to colour, then set aside. Turn the heat down to medium, add the butter and chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 7 minutes until nicely softened. Blitz in a food processor along with the parsnips.

4. Blitz the hazelnuts and put them in a large bowl along with the chopped chestnuts, crumbled stilton, breadcrumbs and chopped sage. Add the parsnip, onion and mushroom mix followed by the beaten egg. Season and stir together well.

Mix all together in a bowl

5. Line the prepared tin with overlapping cabbage leaves,  

Line the loaf tin with leaves

leaving any excess hanging over the sides, then spoon in the mixture, pressing it down well, and fold any overhanging cabbage leaves back over the top. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes. (Alternatively, you can keep it in the fridge for a day or so before baking.)

6. Remove the foil from the top and put the loaf back in the oven for another 15 minutes, then take out of the oven, trim off any singed cabbage leaves and put a large serving plate over the top of the tin. Holding the tin with oven gloves, turn the plate over so the loaf inverts on to the plate.

Turn the loaf out onto a plate

7. Cut into slices to serve.

Parsnip and Chestnut Loaf

Finally for something sweet.

I am grateful to Yvette for cooking this up at our Atelier de Cuisine. The recipe is hers.

Speedy Choco-Mint Cake

In a 2 litre measuring jug, pour in 125g flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 75g icing sugar, 100g melted chocolate, 1 pinch of salt, 3 eggs and  100ml of oil or melted butter. Mix well.
Pour into a greased 23cm cake tin or mould and bake for 35 minutes at 180 degrees.

Mix well and pour into mould

Allow to cool.

Chocolate cake ready for icing

For the chocolate mint topping, melt 100g of chocolate with 25ml of crème de menthe or peppermint essence ( or melt 100g of chocolate mints) either in the microwave or in a bowl over a simmering pan of water.

Pour on the icing

Spread over the cake - et voilà...super speedy.

Speedy Choco-Mint Cake

Christmas over, Boxing Day sorted. Time to veg out in front of the telly.

'Forgotten Vegetables'

The 25th January has come and gone for another year- and again we found ourselves celebrating Burns Night with French friends: this time in the Auvergne.

Although last year's Haggis Parmentier and whisky went down well in the South of France, this year the traditional triumvirate of haggis, neeps and tatties enjoyed even greater favour with our fellow Lavoutaises.* This is partly because the local hearty food is not dissimilar in many ways.


Gourmets from other parts of France, dismiss the cuisine of the Auvergne as 'peasant food' but, as a good Burns Supper shows, humble dishes should not be underrated.

In fact, vegetables like turnips, swede, squashes and heritage carrots are becoming very popular and indeed a bit trendy.
A stall at my local market in fashionable Cassis specialises in what are called 'forgotten vegetables'(legumes oublies), and they feature on many a restaurant menu in the expensive little streets of the port.

For Burns Night, I refined my Parmentier dish of last year by making individual portions in little dishes- just haggis, topped with mashed potato and grated emmental cheese and baked in the oven until golden- but well received.

Individual dishes of haggis

Topped with mashed potato and grated Emmental

Individual Haggis Parmentier

I accompanied these with purees of carrot and swede.

All three of these purees can enjoy a bit of an Auvergne makeover- the local speciality is Aligot- a delicious combination of mashed potato and Tomme cheese ( which is stretchy, creamy and slightly tart like a good Mozzarella). You can make this from scratch ( as in the recipe below) or use the cheese to jazz up leftover mashed potato by beating it in as you reheat.

Aligot:

Bring peeled mashing potatoes (like Maris Piper) to the boil, and then simmer until tender.
Drain and add a splash of milk, a knob of butter, salt and pepper, a grating of nutmeg and 125g of Tomme fraiche, cut into small pieces.

Aligot

Beat in vigorously with a wooden spoon until the cheese has melted and the mixture beomes sticky and stretchy- it is ready to serve.

Carrots are another simple veg that can be made glorious with a few added ingredients- boil them until tender in stock rather than water, drain, add a knob of butter, plenty of salt and pepper and a good splash of cream. Puree in a food processor, adjust seasoning and serve.

Vibrant carrot puree

Swede are known as rutabagas or navets suedois (Swedish turnips) in France and until recently were very difficult to find (other than as animal fodder!) They are now having a bit of a renaissance - and I found a recipe which marries them with apple.

Swede and apple- a marriage made in heaven

The combination is excellent and you should try it.
Just slice and boil your veg and fruit, drain, mash with a potato masher and season with plenty of salt and pepper.

I came back with quite a haul of 'forgotten veg' last Friday from the market, and used them in a variety of ways.

My veggie basket

Firstly, I roasted them all in the oven for about an hour at 180 degrees ( peeled and chopped into even sized pieces, tossed in a little olive oil along with plenty of salt and pepper and 4-5 whole garlic cloves).

A colourful trayful

A lovely accompaniment to meat dishes.

Oven roasted 'forgotten' veg

The colourful leftovers went firstly into a soup, not unlike the Clapshot Soup I've featured after Burns Night before. Beware of using purple carrots in leftover dishes though as they do turn things a funny colour!

Clapshot Soup

I also made a Squash Risotto:

You need- leftover roasted squash (abut 150-200g), 200g short grain or risotto rice, 1 litre hot chicken or vegetable stock, 1 glass white wine, 2 leeks or small bunch of spring onions, 1 clove of garlic- crushed, 50g Boursin or other cream cheese with herbs.
Soften the garlic and leeks/onions in some olive oil.
Stir in the rice to coat the grains with oil.
Pour in the wine and bubble.
Add ladlefuls of hot stock as the mixture begins to dry- stir in and continue until the rice is tender
( about 15 minutes).

Stir in the cream cheese and serve with optional extra grated cheese (Parmesan or Emmental.)

Squash Risotto

Finally, back to haggis and I have an Auvergne version- no, although this is a hunting area, they haven't started trapping the little beasts there yet- this is a vegetarian version which uses the delicious Puy lentils from the region:

Grate 2 carrots then pulse together in a food processor- 2 shallots, 1 clove of garlic, 50 g mushrooms, a pinch each of cayenne or paprika and salt, 1/2 tsp ground mixed spice, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, a grating of nutmeg, 2 cups of cooked Puy lentils, juice and zest of 1/2 lemon, a sprinkling of thyme and a small can kidney beans (drained and mashed). Tip into a bowl, mix in the grated carrot and add 1 egg and 50g of oats. Shape into patties and fry like little burgers.

Vegetarian Haggis- Auvergne style

Here's tae us!

* Lavoutaises is the name given to people who live in the village of Lavoute-Chilhac in the Auvergne.

Jour du Marche

Friday is market day here in Cassis and the centre of the little port comes alive with the colours, sights and smells of a French market. It is my weekly treat to wander around the stalls, looking for the most attractive fruit and veg to buy.

Since coming to France, we have eaten less and less meat- partly because it is so expensive but also because the vegetables are so much more enticing.



So far, on the blog I have regaled you with endives cooked in sauce

Baked Endives with Ham

spinach stuffed into pancakes

Spinach Stuffed Pancakes

 heritage carrots and turnips roasted in the oven

Roasted market veg

and radishes chopped into salads.

Noodle salad with radishes

This week, I am using rainbow chard three ways, stuffing courgettes and making a leek tart.

An enticing haul of veg from the market

Rainbow chard has so many uses- the stems and the leaves can be used in completely different dishes.
The leaves can be used like spinach- as a plain side dish, or steamed and stuffed to make a substantial main.
Trim the stalks from 12 stems of chard ( and keep them for one of the other dishes to follow). Wash the leaves thoroughly and place in a steamer.

Steam over hot water for 5 minutes or so until tender, then lay out on a tea towel to blot the moisture.
In a bowl, mix 400g of sausagemeat with plenty of salt and pepper, a crushed clove of garlic and 2 tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs. Divide this into 12 and roll into meatballs using wet hands.

Place a meatball on each chard leaf and roll up.
Lay them back in the steamer and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Place the cooked parcels in a gratin dish, add fresh tomato sauce, a little grated cheese and some more breadcrumbs and flash under the grill.

Stuffed Chard Leaves

With the stalks, if you steam them until tender, you can then add them to a cheese sauce and bake in the oven as a gratin.

Chard gratin

They are also a delicious and colourful addition to a stir fry-  I used them with peppers, spring onions and the leftover radishes (which make a really good substitute for water chestnuts incidentally.)

I was entranced by these cute little round courgettes too in the market:

Courgette Bonhommes

I hollowed out their little bodies, steamed the outsides and lids until tender, stuffed them with a mixture of onion, garlic, bacon lardons and gruyere cheese (fried up with the courgette flesh itself) and baked them in a hot oven (200 degrees) until golden on top (and then put their jaunty little hats on to serve).

Finally, along with all the root veg, spinach and chard on the stalls - leeks are in abundance so, as well as pots of soup

Vegetable veloute

 I made a leek tart.

Bake a pastry case blind, and meanwhile soften 2 well washed and chopped leeks  in some olive oil.
Mix up 4 eggs with enough milk to make 500 ml and season the custard well. Add the softened leeks and pour into the pastry shell. Top with grated emmental cheese and bake in a moderate oven 190 degrees until risen and golden.

Leek Tart

Next week, I plan to investigate the fish stall and bring you some seafood recipes. Until then, have a good week and remember to eat up all your veg.

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:

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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.

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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!