Wild Garlic 'Pesto'

It's coming up to one of my favourite times in the 'foodie' year. The local asparagus season is just around the corner: it's already started in some parts of the country. That'll be closely followed by soft fruit, and one of my favourite vegetables, marsh samphire. Mmm...

At the moment it's wild garlic season. Also known as ramps, ramsons or buckrams, these leaves grow in woodland and seem to be 'the in thing' with TV chefs. I've featured them before and there are some recipes for them in my previous post.

I was give some this week and made a wild garlic pesto with them. I've just had 'a big dollop' of it in some mushroom soup and it's superb.

Wild Garlic Pesto

75gm Wild garlic leaves
25gm Nuts - I used walnuts that I had in the freezer that were off dad's tree.
25gm Parmesan 'type' cheese - finely grated
50ml (approx) Olive oil

Puree the nuts and garlic leaves, then add the grated cheese. Mix to a paste with the olive oil.

I'm sure that a totally local version would be just as good made with Welland Valley Rapeseed Oil and Berkswell Cheese. It would also be vegetarian.

Beetroot Relish

The Christmas preparations march on. Blast, I've gone and said the C-word when I'm meant to be a miserable old Scrooge. This could ruin my reputation!

Anyway, enough of all that; my mate Bob left a bag full of green tomatoes and beetroot in the front porch the other day so, to use some of the beetroot, I decided to make a beetroot relish recipe that I had seen on the Expat Gourmet blog.

Mine only differed in that I omitted the port as Pauline can't have alcohol. It makes a nice change from 'chutney type' accompaniments and the 'orangey' taste that initially dominated has now mellowed and is very pleasant. All-in-all it's a great one to add to my 'make-it-myself' Christmas presents.

I think I must be on the same wavelength as The Expat Gourmet as I notice that he/she has made raspberry vodka; I have also made some and our recipes are very similar. I've made damson vodka, sloe gin, blackcurrant brandy, and blackberry whisky as well!

Oh, I nearly forgot, the cheese in the picture is from Sainsbury's and is their "Blue Cheese, Basics"; at £6.45/kg it's nearly £3 a kilo cheaper than their Blue Stilton. However, other than the inclusion of annatto, the nutritional breakdown's identical. Not similar, identical: I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions!

Candied Oranges and Lemons

Candied, crystallized, cristallised or glacé fruits, those things of Christmases with elderly aunts. A mystery of the sugar worker's art, they are seldom seen nowadays. No wonder when online they're as much as £1 per ounce!

For some reason, I fancied making some. I guess it's down to my penchant to make anything that any sensible person would buy...
..."Not at £1 and ounce they wouldn't", I hear you cry!

I looked online for recipes, but this produced a lot of recipes for quick candying by boiling the fruit in syrup; I knew that this wasn't what I wanted and was just about to resort to Mrs Beeton when I found The Brownie Points Blog. The picture of chocolate coated candied orange slices looked just what I wanted. Not only that, but there was a link to a book by an expert confectioner giving even fuller details.

Click here 'cos there's more to read...

Ginger Confit & Candied Ginger

There's some things that really "get my goat". Not least is the ridiculous notion that we can't say 'Christmas' anymore for fear of causing offence. We should call it 'The Festive Season' or something equally as banal. Well sorry folks, until the PC brigade rename Diwali, Eid, Hanukkah and all the other religious festivals, this blog will be calling Christmas just that!

"Phew, help me down of this soap-box someone; I don't know how my wheelchair got up here...!"

This year, I thought I'd try a put together some presents that I'd made myself. Most of my family can afford to buy the things they want. It's time to make their own things that they lack, so I hope they'll appreciate the effort that'll go into my hand-made goods.

Click here 'cos there's more to read...

Spanish Omelette 'Tortilla'

Given that the Spanish were in S. America for such a long time, and that in Mexico they speak Spanish, I've always found it odd that 'tortilla' has a different meaning in each country. In Mexico, it's a flat-bread often made of corn, whereas in Spain, it's an 'open omelette' of potato and onion.

I was first introduced to 'proper' Spanish Omelette when I worked at a large Government Hostel for homeless men. I had never seen an omelette made with just onion, potato and egg, plus a little garlic. Others I'd seen looked as if they'd had the veg box emptied into them. Not that I recall ever having one of those either! David, the senior cook, made it for a buffet. He was married to a girl with Spanish heritage and had learned to make it the authentic way from her.

For that kind of omelette, I'd fry the onion and potato with garlic in olive oil until cooked through but not coloured. Add it to the egg and then fry the lot in more oil until it is nearly cooked. Then turn it over onto a plate and sliding it back into more oil to finish cooking on the other side.

I don't know why I'm telling you this, I'm on a diet so this isn't one of those omelettes; it's a reduced calorie version with approximately 800 calories in the whole omelette. That's only 200 calories for a large portion.

Click here 'cos there's more to read...

Tandoori Chicken Thighs

My interest in Indian food started around 1976. With hindsight, I spent too many late nights pigging myself on onion bhajis, chicken tikka and kulfi in The Rajah on Highcross Street! Between then and now, I've spent more hours than I care to think about trying to recreate those restaurant dishes.

Click here 'cos there's more to read...

Queso blanco, or Paneer (Panir)

Over on the sausage-making forum someone asked for suggestions of a cheese related activity to do with a group of school kids that wouldn't break the bank. I immediately thought of Paneer, an Indian vegetarian cheese - or the cheese your granny made out of sour milk!

That said, I've only ever made it from non-homogenised milk, which works out a tad expensive 'cos those large cheap plastic containers of milk in the supermarkets are invariably homogenised.

Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained: the investment of a whole £1 coin got me 2 litres of ALDI's best full-fat milk.

To make the cheese is simplicity itself: put the milk into a pan and bring it to the boil stirring regularly so that the milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Just before it boils (or at least when it's over 80°C) add a couple of lemons worth of lemon juice or about the same amount of white vinegar. Give it a quick stir then leave it for a couple of minutes or so. The milk should have split into white curds and a watery light-green/yellow/clear whey - if it hasn't, boil it back up and add some more lemon or vinegar. Pour the whole lot into a cloth lined colander and run it under cold water to cool it, then leave it to drain:

...you can save the whey to use in scones or soda bread if you want.

That's basically it - you can go on to wrap the cheese up and press it (I did, under a stone mortar), you can add salt, herbs, spices etc to it, or you can even use it for sweet puddings or have it dribbled with honey. If you press it for a couple or three hours, you can cube it or mould it into balls. Then, unlike virtually all other cheeses, it will fry without melting; it's great in Mattar Paneer (Panir).

Nettle Soup

Mention something for nothing and my eyes generally light up - that's how I came to be making nettle soup.

The first thing to do is persuade someone to pick a bowl of young nettle tops for you. This is the best way I've found of doing it without getting stung! Luckily, Pauline eventually gave in and obliged.

Wash the nettles.

Meanwhile peel and chop a potato, onion and optionally, a little celery and a garlic clove.

Cook all the ingredients except the nettles in a little oil for about 5 minutes before adding a pint of stock or water. Don't let the veg colour.

Simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft then add the nettles. They'll cook down in no time

Cook for about a further 3 minutes and then allow to cool slightly before liquidising the soup.

The 'finished' soup.

When I say finished, well I guess that depends on whether you like nettle soup. Pauline, my resident food critic (and wife) tasted it, and drawing on years of eloquence, declared: "That's 'Orrible!". Doh! back to the drawing chopping board.

Adding a couple of sprigs worth of mint leaves...

...and a dollop of double cream...

...has produced a soup that's a lot more palatable and very reminiscent of pea and mint.