Vegetable red curry

A slightly more in depth recipe this week, and I can make no great claim for authenticity, but this is a delicious, simple, tasty curry.  You could add chicken or seafood to the curry sauce for a meaty alternative and obviously any seasonal veg can be used.

Ingredients (to serve 4)

2” piece of fresh ginger

5 garlic cloves

1 medium onion

3 red chilis (dried or fresh)

1 heaped teaspoon of paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp shrimp paste (or use anchovies and extra fish sauce)

1 tblsp vegetable oil.

1 tblsp Thai fish sauce

1 tblsp brown sugar

1 lime

1 can of coconut milk

300 ml veg stock

1 squash or small pumpkin

5 carrots

1 Cauliflower

Directions

1 Take all of the ingredients down to the shrimp paste, add to a food processer and blitz to form a fine paste, adding a little water if necessary.

2) Heat the vegetable oil to smoking point in a wok and then stir fry the paste until starts to release a wonderful aroma (2-3 minutes) do not allow it to burn.

3) Add the coconut milk and stock to the wok and stir to combine, bring back to the boil.

4) Deseed the squash and add in chunks, along with the peeled, chunked carrots.  Allow to cook for around 10 minutes before dividing the cauliflower into florets and adding to pan.

5) Cook until the vegetables are as you like them, add the lime juice, sugar and fish sauce and taste for seasoning.  The curry should be sweet, sour, hot and salty, add more lime / sugar / fish sauce to taste.

Serve this curry with rice, if you have kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass they’re a great addition to the sauce and paste.  Galangal is great in place of the ginger but I often have difficulty finding this, and the substitutes listed give a good store cupboard alternative.

Roasted winter vegetables (with or without sausages!)

This is another veg box favourite, the winter vegetables are so delicious that they need little more than some time in the oven, oil, salt and pepper.  Obviously the vegetables are a movable feast, just use whatever you have in appropriate quantities.  I often add some Lincolnshire sausages and then a little flour and stock towards the end of cooking to produce a kind of one pot sausage casserole…

Ingredients (to serve 4)

1 squash or small pumpkin

2 large onions

1 Celariac root

1 Swede

4 medium sized potatoes

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 220C. Peel the celeriac and swede, wash the potatoes and wash and deseed the squash / pumpkin.  Peel the onions and cut into segments (like an orange).

2) Mix the veg together in a large, heavy roasting tray, season well and add two tablespoons of olive oil.

3) Roast for 1 hour, turning occasionally until all softened and lightly browned.

Serve as a side dish or a snack.  Alternatively go down the sausage route and have a wonderful winter warming main course…

Enjoy, and let me know how you get on!

Whole Roast Cauliflower

Cauliflowers are fantastic at this time of year, and I’m lucky to live close to Lincolnshire, a county with rich, alluvial fenland soil ideal for growing this wonderful vegetable.

I cook cauliflower many ways but this is as simple as it gets and always looks impressive, either served to the table as a whole or sliced thickly and served as one slice on the plate as a side dish.

Ingredients (will serve 4 as a side depending on the size of the cauliflower!)

1 Cauliflower

1 tsp paprika (optional)

1 lemon

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 180C. Trim the outside leaves from the cauliflower to leave just the curds, but do not separate into florets.

2) Place the cauliflower on a sheet of tinfoil, anoint with a little olive oil, squeeze over the juice from the lemon, season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle with paprika (if using).

3) Wrap the foil tightly around the cauliflower and place on a roasting tin in the centre of the oven.  Cook for 60-90 minutes.

Unwrap and serve.  How simple is that?  The cauli should be lightly browned and still quite firm in the centre.  The beauty of roasting is that the flavour isn’t diluted with any water, I urge you to give this a go!

Orrechiette with broccoli and chorizo

Not a classic Italian dish but a twist on the Puglian original.  If making your own pasta seems a little arduous feel free to buy in some orrechiette and adjust the cooking times according to the packet.  This pasta shape is named after its resemblance to ‘little ears’ and its slightly tougher texture (due to the lack of eggs in the dough) makes it perfect here.  The olive oil becomes part of the sauce and so I tend to use the best that I have.  For a pescatarian alternative see my previous blog using anchoviesand garlic in place chorizo and onions.

Ingredients (to serve 2)

200g pasta, or strong bread flour

1 large head of broccoli

1 large onion

Olive oil

1 lemon

100g chorizo sausage

Directions

1) Add enough water to the flour to form a very firm paste (just enough to bring it together) and work until you feel a change of texture, this should take 5-10 minutes. Allow to rest for 1 hour in the ‘fridge.

2) On a lightly floured surface work your pasta dough into a long thin sausage and cut into small rounds (about the size of a £1 coin), squash these flat with your thumb to give the ‘little ear’ appearance.

3) Bring a large saucepan of very well salted water to the boil.

4) Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to a large frying pan, cut an onion in half and then thin semi circles, add to the pan to soften. Season well with pepper and a little salt.

5) Cut the chorizo into thin circles and add to the onions, allow the fat to render and then turn up the heat to brown a little.

6) Divide the broccoli into bitesize florets and add to the boiling, salted water.  Once the pan has returned to the boil wait 2 minutes and then add the pasta.

7) As the pasta cooks (2-3 minutes) add the juice of half of the lemon to the chorizo pan and lower the heat.

8) Drain the pasta and broccoli and add to the frying pan, combine all of the ingredients, taste and check for seasoning before serving with a lemon wedge.

The pasta should have a nice bite to it and the broccoli should be almost totally soft but still beautifully verdant.  I never serve this pasta with cheese, it clashes with the lemony, chili based sauce, if you’re a fan of spice a pinch of chili flakes is a welcome addition. 

Cauliflower and Leek Gratin

This is lovely, simple main dish to warm the cockles on these cold autumn / winter nights.

Ingredients

1 small cauliflower

3 leeks

100ml whole milk

100ml stock (meat or veg)

Tblsp butter

Tblsp plain flour

100g strong cheese (I like to use a mixture of stilton and Lincolnshire Poacher)

2 tblsp breadcrumbs (optional)

Salt and pepper

Directions

1) In a large heavy based saucepan melt the butter and flour together to form a roux (paste) over a medium heat, cook out for 2-3 minutes but do not allow to colour.

2) Add half of the milk and stir continually until a thick sauce is formed before adding the other half and then the stock, stirring all of the while to prevent lumps from forming.  Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning as necessary.

3) Clean and cut the leeks into small rounds, and separate the cauliflower into florets, add both to the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes until all are tender.

4) Transfer the sauce / vegetable mixture to an ovenproof dish, scatter with breadcrumbs (if using) and grate the cheese(s) over the top.

5) Place in a high oven or under the grill until the cheese is browned and bubbling.

I love this served with simple steamed veg, or even with a jacket potato for a hearty supper, it’s well worth the effort of making that white sauce…

Pork and stilton sausage rolls

I apologise for the blurred photo but these never hang around long enough to be photographed carefully...

Sausage rolls are an indulgent treat and have always been a celebration staple in my house, usually served warm and in vast quantities courtesy of my mother.

I've included the pastry recipe as I love homemade and it's really not too difficult to make.  In reality shop bought is almost as good so feel free to substitute.

Ingredients (to make a celebratory quantity);

500g plain flour
250g lard
250g butter
Cold water
1kg good quality chipolatas (my favourites are obviously from Lincolnshire)
250g stilton or other strong cheese
1 egg

Directions

1) Ensure that the butter and lard are straight from the 'fridge, pinch off pound coin sized pieces of each and add to the flour in a mixing bowl.

2) Add just enough cold water to bring together and then work lightly until you have pastry, try to keep everything cold as the fat should not melt at this point (it should still be present in large lumps).  Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the 'fridge for at least 30 minutes.

3) On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to a thickness of around 1cm and then fold both ends into the middle.  Turn through 90 degrees and repeat.  Repeat this step 7 times, giving the pastry layers.  Wrap in cling film and Leave to rest in the 'fridge for a further 30 minutes.

4) Cut the pastry in half (for ease of working) and then roll out into a strip about 10 cm wide, repeat with the other half of the pastry. Crack the egg and mix with a fork in a bowl.

5) Skin the sausages (cut with a small knife and then simply squeeze the meat out) and lay the meat along the middle of the pastry.  Crumble the cheese over the top and fold over the pastry, sealing with the egg wash and crimping.

6) Place the sausage rolls on a greased baking tray and egg wash, cook at 180C for around 30 minutes or until golden.  Take out of the oven and re egg wash half way through cooking for a professional, shiny finish!

Try to allow the sausage rolls to cool before you tuck in (this rarely happens in my house).

Pumpkin soup

A simple soup using the best that the season has to offer...

Ingredients;

Pumpkin or squash, enough to yield around 750g of flesh once prepped (equivalent to the 3 small ones pictured above)
1 large onion
2 cooking apples
1 litre of stock (vegetable or chicken)
2 tsp of cumin seeds
2 tsp of coriander seeds
Olive oil salt and pepper

Method;

1) Slice the onion and sweat with a tbsp of olive oil in a large thick based saucepan whilst you prep the pumpkins.

2) Discard the pumpkin seeds (or wash and toast in a little oil to use as a garnish) and peel the pumpkins cutting it into large cubes before adding to the sweated onions.

3) Grind the spices and add to the saucepan, allowing to toast for a minute or two before adding the stock along with the peeled, cored and chopped apples.

4) Bring to the boil and simmer until the pumpkin is totally soft (20-30 minutes), the stock should just cover the rest of the ingredients.  Taste as the soup simmers, the amount of seasoning will depend heavily on the stock (cubes tend to be very, very, very salty).

5) Once the pumpkin's soft, blitz with a stick blender unit completely smooth.  Add a little water if too thick and taste to adjust the seasoning.

This is a lovely warming taste of the season.  You can experiment by leaving out the apple or sweetening it by using apple juice instead of stock.  Cinnamon, chilli and paprika or cayenne are all good additions too...