Vegan

Blackberry and Apple Jam

Jar of blackberry and apple jam on table with bowl of blackberries

There is nothing better in the mornings than a hot piece of buttered toast slathered with some homemade jam.  Blackberry and Apple Jam on toast makes breakfast feel cosy and autumnal.   But don’t just stop at spreading this jam on toast or crumpets.  This jam is a great all rounder.  Try it sandwiched in sponge cakes and atop scones, but it also works really well with savoury dishes.  It’s lovely alongside pork or venison, and I particularly like it served alongside a hunk of tangy cheddar.

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Quick Homemade Lemonade

As the temperatures rise you really can’t beat a jug of cold, homemade lemonade in the garden.  As children one of our greatest treats on hot summer days was to be allowed to sit on the swing seat with its shady canopy, and drink this cold lemonade.  Nowadays I always picture southern belles (???) in elegant long white summer dresses on a veranda offering their guests a glass of this from a jug that is frosted cold and has slices of lemon and ice cubes in it.   I can almost hear the ice chinking as it is being poured.   Delicious.  Refreshing.
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Asparagus Tart

This recipe is a bit of a cheat. It uses 6 ingredients – if you don’t count salt and pepper – is incredibly easy and I think looks quite impressive.   Also, from my point of view, it uses, and showcases, asparagus and when you’ve got a glut of it growing in the garden you need ideas as to how to use it!  Do be warned a big fat bunch of asparagus recipes will be coming your way.  You can scale this up or down quite easily.  Just bake more or less.  I like it in two person sized tarts aesthetically, and so that’s the recipe I’ve given here,  but it’s up to you. Continue reading →

Sourdough

With COVID-19 still imposing restrictions on movement, many people have had the time to try new things.   Sourdough seems to be having a moment with lots of you making (or getting hold of) a starter.  As someone who has been making sourdough for more years than I care to remember,  I have been asked by a few people just how to keep a starter going once past the initial week of growing it.

Despite the rumours, sourdough is not difficult.   When you are used to it it fits around you.   It is a different process from other bread and I think that is why people are a bit confused. Continue reading →

Vegan Winter Vegetable Lasagne

Spring either started on the 1st March or won’t begin until the 20th!  It all depends on whether you prefer the astronomical or meteorological way of looking at things.  The whites of the snowdrops are definitely giving way to the cheerful yellows of the daffodils and the paler primroses.   The birds are starting to sing in the mornings and look sleek again rather than looking dishevelled having puffed their feathers out in the bird equivalent of a quilted coat two sizes too big.  The hens are starting to lay again and the first few buds are starting to unfurl on our apricot trees.  Just as I get hopeful that winter is over we get hit my a hard frost and howling winds.

Vitality “Vinyasa” Reed diffuser available from @vetyogi

On my veg patch, just as I have begun sowing in earnest ready for the new season, there is very little left to harvest.  A few leeks and carrots, stored onions, some spinach and kale and maybe the odd cauliflower.  More excitingly the bright pink rhubarb is showing underneath the upturned bin,  and the sprouting broccoli, both white and purple,  is having its moment.  I can think of recipes galore for the rhubarb and broccoli but for the leeks, carrots and onions not so many!

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Rhubarb and Raspberry Crumble with Oats and Hazelnuts

Another crumble recipe? Really?  Well, yes!    I just couldn’t resist the wonderful combination of the first of the forced pink rhubarb and some of the last of the frozen autumn raspberries.  That and a topping of an oaty and nutty biscuity crumble, well, who could resist?
I am a recent convert to crumble as too often I find the topping a bit too claggy and the fruit underneath sparse.

With a husband who simply loves crumble it took years for me to get the balance right so we could both enjoy what seems like the quintessential classic British pudding.
What’s more this is an adaptable recipe.  It can be vegan by using a butter replacement (I used the vegan flora) and there are such good vegan cream/custard/icecream available that no one need miss out.  If you have someone who has a nut allergy up the flour and oats to replace that 100g of hazelnuts or add some mixed seeds instead.  Gluten free flour can be easily substituted for those with an intolerance or coeliac.  Everyone gets a look in.

Cut rhubarb

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Spiced Parsnip Soup

On a raw February day when the wind is like an absolute knife cutting through you with bitter cold, lunch cries out for soup.  Have it in a mug and warm your hands as well or, show it off in a beautiful bowl!  The blue bowl here just set off the golden turmeric colour of this parsnip soup perfectly though its delicious taste would be the same whatever you served it in!  Parsnips somehow manage to be sweet yet earthy and this soup with its spicing makes them (and me!) sing.

This is a simple soup to make and uses a mild curry powder though you could always blend your own if you wanted to experiment.  A good basic blend is to use equal quantities of ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek with as much or as little chill powder as you like.   Have fun experimenting by varying the proportions or adding a favourite spice – I promise that the parsnip can take it. Continue reading →

Roast Squash and Chickpeas with Spicy Apricot Sauce

Surprise – I got new cookery books for Christmas! As usual this means I read through the recipes excitedly and have to cook something straight away.  Being that it’s January I dived into Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls book “More Veg” first and decided to cook this vegan dish.  Tbh I might have been a bit influenced by my friend Mags (whose an amazing cook and recommended this) but I am so glad I went with it as it’s delicious.  

Before Roasting
After 45mins Roasting

The recipe itself is straightforward.   It roasts the squash, adding the chickpeas for a final 10 mins at the end, and serves them with the spicy fruity sauce!    Needless to say I like to adapt things slightly (to suit my taste) so I have cut down on the preserved lemons and upped the apricots in the sauce.  Although I used butternut squash this time I can see it would work swapping the squash out for aubergines, pumpkin, courgettes or even fennel (adjusting cooking times if needs be) and of course you can use any other canned bean you fancied or had in the cupboard.

If you want to get ahead roast the squash and make the sauce up to the end of stage 7.   This will then keep for a couple of days.   Do remember if you do choose the get ahead option to add a little extra heating time in the following stages

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Poached Ginger Pears with Chocolate Sauce

The texture of of a ripe pear when you bite into it is like nothing else.  It’s slightly grainy against your teeth yet soft and yielding.  Its lightly perfumed and so juicy it runs down your chin despite your best efforts. Sadly most of the pears we buy aren’t anything like that as pears do not properly ripen on the tree.   They ripen once picked from the inside out so if you grow and pick your own they all seem to ripen at the same time or else fall off the tree and bruise.  One solution to these problems is to poach the pears whilst they are still slightly firm so that not only does the pear turn juicy and flavourful but, kept in the poaching syrup, they will keep for several weeks in the fridge.  It’s a win win.

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Pear Harvest

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