Scented Beetroot Soup

We're in for a treat this week with a well deserved Indian summer so that gives us the perfect excuse to show off Marise's exquisite soup. As always she has the patience (unlike me!) to experiment with wonderful flavour combinations that make your taste buds tingle and this recipe is no exception to the rule. ... furthermore it uses one of our favourite vegetables. We think it would also make a superb starter when entertaining over Christmas because it's so light and fresh.

Ingredients

500g raw beetroot (scrubbed if dirty) peeled and diced
1 medium red onion (root on) halved through the root
2 whole, large star anise
600ml boiling water
2 rounded tsp low salt vegetable stock powder (use less if full salt)
1 grapefruit, juice only (about 100ml)
To serve
Spoonful light cream cheese and a little milk to make it 'flow' , or double cream

Serves 4

Method

Put the beetroot and red onion into a paln. Tie the star anise in muslin or use an empty bouquet garni bag. Add this to the pan with the boiling water and bring to the boil. Stir in the stock powder, cover and simmer very very gently for about an hour until the beetroot is tender. Then make sure you let it cook for about 30 minutes and take out the star anise so that the flavour remains subtle.

Next remove the onion, pressing as much liquid from it as possible (then discard). Strain the beetroot through a sieve, reserving the liquid and the beetroot pulp. Measure the liquid and make back up to 400ml with water if necessary.

Then put in a liquidizer along with 200g of the cooked beetroot. Keep the remaining beetroot for a salad or dip (try mixing with equal amounts yoghurt and French dressing with some oregano - nice!)

Finally add the grapefruit juice and whizz until the soup is smooth. Often best with citrus to keep some juice back and taste until you get the flavour you want. The end result should be a little tart with a hint of background grapefruit.

Serve hot or chilled depending on time of year (or what you fancy!)

Smoky Black Bean Quesadilla

So proper Mexican cooking has finally hit the UK -  much to our delight! We love the colours and the combo of simple ingredients - beans, herbs, squash or sweet potato, corn, garlic and chillies, with an excuse for avocado as a garnish. I have to admit that quesadillas are a little bit Tex-Mex but you know what ... they are a great quick and easy, store cupboard standby for dinner in a dash or something a bit different for a vegetarian lunch.

Most 'Mexican Toasties' as I like to call them are loaded with hard cheese - and of course this is fine for flavour, but I rather like using goats cheese instead. It's higher in vitamin A and short chain fatty acids (good for your gut!) and lower in saturated fats so you can class this as a truly healthy meal!

Ingredients

1 large (or 2 small)  sweet potato (approx 200g)

75g black beans, drained (pinto will do)

2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

½ fresh lime, juice only

¼ small red onion, thinly sliced

½ red pepper, finely diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 green chile, finely chopped (use a spoon to scrape out seeds if necessary)

½ tsp ground coriander

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground cumin

1½ tsp hot smoked paprika

75g sweet corn (blanched)

75g soft goats cheese

2  x 10” multi-seed wraps (please don't use own brand - they are soooo rubbery)

To serve

1 small avocado mashed with 1 tbsp lime juice

50ml plain yoghurt (or sour cream if you prefer)

Serves 2 for supper

Method

Hey ....I know it looks like a lot of ingredients but it's mainly spices which you should by now have stocked up on if you're testing our recipes! First of all bake the sweet potato(es) for 30 minutes until soft (gas 6 or 200C). Scoop the flesh out into a bowl and season.

Then mix the beans, lime juice, coriander and onion together. You should be able to find black (turtle) beans in tetrapaks or cans now - yes even in UK supermarkets.

In a large frying pan sauté the pepper for 10 minutes until soft (the colour isn't vital, it's more for texture). Add the chilli, garlic and spices and cook for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the sweet corn making sure everything is well coated with the pepper and spice mixture. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Take one wrap and spread the sweet potato mixture onto the base, leaving a small border around the edge. Place the vegetable mixture on top and then the beans and onion. Finally scatter over the cheese (using a teaspoon if necessary) and cover the filling with the second wrap so you have a ‘toastie’.

To cook either place on a baking tray, brush with oil, cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes turning once. Or using a large frying pan, fry lightly with 1 tsp oil on both sides (if you have a steady hand this is my favourite method). Serve hot.

Red Pepper Chipotle Adobo

Still managing to hang on to a little of the home-made chipotle salsa from our mad half day Mexican course. Tommy Miers wonderful book and TV programme has only increased the growing interest in this simple peasant cuisine and I wanted to make sure that our recipes were as authentic as possible (without being too much of a pain to shop for). This sauce or relish is I think even better than our favourite Chipotle en Adobe from The Cool Chile Company and goes with anything from plain old avocado on toast to vegetables roasted in one of the exotic recardos from the Yucatan. You can buy fabulous dried chillies from a wide variety of online sources now - I got ours from MexGrocer. Don't worry, they look incredibly shrivelled when they arrive, but the flavour is wonderful!

Ingredients

2 dried chipotle chillies

3 dried ancho chillies

1 tbsp olive oil

½ onion, chopped

1 small red pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, sliced

3 tbsp tomato puree

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp light muscovado sugar

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

200-250ml light vegetable stock

 Makes a good bowlful

First of all toast the dried chillies briefly in a small frying pan. Transfer to a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for at least an hour (better and more reassuringly soft if you leave for 2 hours). Drain, de-seed and puree the flesh in a small blender, adding extra water in needed. (If you want the sauce really hot keep in some of the seeds too).

Then, sauté the onion and pepper in a medium sized pan until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute before adding the spices. Cook again for a minute and add the sugar and puree. After another minute or two add the vinegar, stock and pureed chillies. Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes to thicken and then blend. I left our salsa quite chunky but feel free to make it more like a smooth ketchup.

So easy, so addictive.

New Potato and Red Lentil Curry

I'm often asked for quick and easy supper dishes and I find one of the most simple... but tasty ..can be a curry. However I would say that the matching of the ingredients needs to have some thought and not just be a random compilation of what is hidding in your vegetable cupboard. I've been through a phase of butternut squash and chickpeas recently (with a touch of coconut) but this is my current favourite. It's not necessary to make your own paste from scratch - I generally favour Pataks. If you're going to use something processed it might as well be good quality and full of flavour.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, finely sliced

4 or 5 new potatoes cut into large chunks

2 carrots cut into chunks at least half that size

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tsp grated ginger

1 cup (about a small teacup) red lentils

1-2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves

2 tsp korma paste

500ml light vegetable stock

1/3 to ½ can of chopped tomatoes

Couple of handfuls of spinach

Serves 2-3 depending on appetite

Sauté the onion until soft and then add the potatoes and carrots, stir well and add the garlic and ginger and cook for another couple of minutes. Finally stir in the lentils and fenugreek leaves (these add a nice subtle edge - you could use curry leaves instead).

Add the curry paste and make sure it coats the vegetable mixture relatively evenly. Cook for a few minutes and then pour in the stock so it just covers the veg. Then pour in the tomatoes, bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat, covered for 30 minutes until potatoes and carrots are tender. Pop the spinach in to wilt a few minutes before serving.

I said it was simple.

Portabella Mushroom en Croûte

Coming up with dishes that appeal to meat lovers is always fun and this is one of Mo's favourites that we often use for such occasions (and for Christmas too...) because it's pretty easy and actually makes a substantial statement in the middle of the plate which is the space that can be bothersome.

So when it came to holding a team building lunch on the Farm for one of our favourite local businesses in Liverpool, The Chocolate Cellar, we wanted to impress their veggie-wary staff - and in fact these worked even better as mini pies (always useful to have something that people recognise at a buffet I recall from catering days).

Ingredients

2 tsp oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

200g baby spinach, rinsed

2 large portabella mushrooms

2 tsp white balsamic condiment

50g vegetarian tapenade

200g puff pastry

1 medium egg, beaten 

Serves 2                         

                                   

First pre heat your oven to 200ºC/Gas 6. Then in a large frying pan sauté the garlic for a few minutes, then add the spinach and sauté until wilted, when cool, squeeze out any excess juices and chop finely.

Next, remove the stalk from the mushrooms and score the surface with a sharp knife. Pour over the balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper. Top each mushroom with 25g of tapenade.

Then roll the pastry out as thin as possible (best if you use the block version - ready rolled these days doesn't have much 'puff'') and cut in half. Cut each piece into a circle large enough to cover and enclose the mushroom. Either by hand or with a nifty little lattice cutter, cut several lines just in the middle of the pastry (not the edges). Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg.

Now you're ready for the fun part - divide the spinach in half and place on top of the mushrooms, then carefully place a circle of pastry over the mushroom  to enclose, making the pastry stick to the bottom of the mushroom (it does, honestly!)

Finally place the mushrooms on a lined and greased baking tray, brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. If you fancy you can always add some feta or goats cheese on top of the spinach.

ps. I think you should also get to share, at least visually, the glorious array of brownies that we had to (yes had to!) sample in order to find the winner. I think perhaps 6 were indeed my max in one sitting.

M'Hancha

Veering now to the other end of the Mediterranean here is one of my favourite 'smart' desserts that I first developed for a course entitled Casablanca. Ostensibly it's a Moroccan 'serpent' cake based on almonds and cinnamon, but not being a great lover of what is basically just marzipan I've introduced a few additional flavours (one of which is distinctly not north African!) and I do recommend serving it with something like fig and sherry ice cream.

Ingredients

50g toasted almonds, chopped

150g ground almonds

100g unsalted butter, melted

75g white chocolate, finely chopped

45g citrus peel, chopped

½ large orange, grated zest only

50g caster sugar

2 tbsp orange blossom water

1 medium egg, lightly beaten

300g filo pastry

To garnish

1 tbsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp icing sugar

100g strawberries/orange segments

Makes enough for 8 (and can be frozen too).

Melt 60g of the butter and pour into a large bowl. Add the nuts and the next six ingredients and mix well to form a paste. Shape roughly into five long logs.

Cut the filo pastry into 10 rectangles approximately 220mm x 250mm and melt the reamining butter in a small pan. Brush one sheet with butter and place another sheet on top.

Place one of the logs across the middle and brush with more butter, before rolling to look like a snake or very small strudel.

Repeat this process until you have five ‘snakes’, then join them together to make a large coil on a large baking sheet. This is the tricky bit and best to do in the privacy of your own kitchen with no one watching. Don't worry it you have any cracks - these can be masked with artful decoration. Brush lightly with the rest of the butter and bake for 20-25 minutes on Gas 5/190C until golden brown.

When the cake has cooled sprinkle all over with cinnamon. Then cut three long strips of baking parchment, place 2 or 3cm apart on the cake and sprinkle icing sugar to create a striped effect. Add the fruit wherever you think appropriate.

If you're nervous of filo don't buy the very fine Greek version; several supermarkets have decent chilled versions which give you a little more 'working' time before they dry out and crack. Jus Rol frozen filo is ok, but defrost very carefully.

Imam Bayaldi

In honour of last week’s course, Mysterious Middle East, a recipe featuring one of our other favourite ‘a’ vegetables.  The aubergine can be an awkward customer both to cut and cook gracefully. Frankly any aubergine slice is only going to be as good as your knife and I save my Global for this special occasion. The other piece of advice is to pace the amount of oil you need…there does come a point when aubergine will start to release a little of what is has thirstily glugged, so if you don’t want to end up with something slimy have a little patience (not something I used to have much of until I started cooking!).

There are many ways of cooking and presenting Imam Bayaldi, including the one below, but I find my method easier and possibly tastier.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

½ tsp coriander, ground

½ tsp dried dill

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp cinnamon, ground

1 tbsp tomato purée

½ can tomatoes, chopped

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp coarse ground black pepper

 salt to taste

4 tbsp olive oil

2 medium sized aubergines

4 tbsp flat leaved parsley and mint, finely chopped

Makes enough for 4 servings

Method

First of all heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a medium sized frying pan and sauté the onions for 5 minutes. Add the spices, garlic and tomato puree and sauté for a further minute or two before adding the tomatoes, sugar and seasoning. Cook gently for another 10 minutes until the mixtures starts to get a bit sticky.

Then trim the aubergines and peel the skin lengthwise in 2 cm strips (this isn’t strictly necessary but it helps with the flavour). Cut the aubergines in half or thirds length ways and make diagonal slashes on one of the flat sides.

Heat the rest of the oil in a large frying pan and fry the aubergines until golden on both sides. Spoon the onion mixture into the slashes and place the aubergines into an oiled baking dish and cover with foil

Bake in a preheated oven 190ºC/ Gas 5 for about 30 minutes until cooked (the aubergine flesh should be really soft by now) and then finish off by drizzling over some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with parsley and mint. Much nicer served at room temperature than piping hot.