Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Leeks

Simple and in Season: January Round-Up and Winner

Welcome to the Simple and in Season January Round-Up on Fabulicious Food! January seemed like a long month. I have no idea why, but it did. I’ve been longing for the weather to warm up, so we can walk/scoot to school instead of having to de-ice the car and avoid ice patches, but now snow is forecast! I’m sure this is why this month has been about comfort food and food that brightens up our day or keeps us warm!

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Golden Leek Soup for a Wise Man

You can tell it is January as everyone is writing posts about soup or muesli. We’ve all over-indulged during the festive period and today, as the decorations come down, it is time to face the music. It’s all change for me in many ways as my little boy goes back to school on Monday and my daughter goes to nursery for the very first time, swapping her usual nap time for toddler-filled playtime. I have resolved not to use the time to write, but instead, to hit the gym and enjoy the precious couple of hours I will have to myself. We’ll see how that goes…  

I can’t tell you how much my little boy loves leek soup. He askes for it all the time. This is the simplest of soups to make, just three ingredients and a stock cube, yet it brings such comfort. You might even have these ingredients growing in your veg patch or on your allotment – another of my resolutions! This year, he was a Wise Man in his school Nativity play and given that today is the feast of The Three Kings, I promised I would make ‘golden soup’ for us to eat. The feedback today was: “Mummy, this leek soup is so yummy, I would like to fill up the bath with it and have a rest in it tonight!”  So, in case there are any Wise Men passing by your house tonight, needing a bath or just a bowl of soup, here’s our recipe for Golden Leek Soup.

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Bye bye festive plates and bowls for another year!

I’m hoping to open up Family Friendly Fridays here as a blog event soon as well as rounding-up and re-instating Simple and in Season VERY soon!

In the meantime, I’m also linking this up to Helen’s Frugal Food Fridays!

Frugal Food Fridays

 

British Baby Leek and Mushroom Three Grain Risotto

Having survived National Cupcake Week, my scales are pleased that we are now into British Food Fortnight. Whilst I could continue to bake cakes, I am moving instead, into savoury, autumnal cooking-mode.

I know, I know, I could have chosen a British dish to cook, but I was mainly inspired by the lovely British baby leeks that are in season at the moment and by some British mushrooms (not foraged, this time) and by coming across a ‘three grain’ risotto in the back of my cupboard.
 
I’ve been buying locally produced organic spelt flour for some time now (made at Redbournbury Mill) and often enjoy spelt bread, but I have never actually cooked with or eaten spelt as a whole grain. So, I was quite keen to try it. The three grains I used included long grain rice, pearl barley and pearl spelt and I cooked them in the same way that I would cook a normal risotto. 
 
The baby leeks and wild mushrooms give this risotto a lovely flavour and if you top it with some vegetarian cheese, it will also tick the Meat Free Monday box. Aren’t we all being so good? 
 
 
 
You shouldn’t have any trouble at all finding British produce to cook with if you are in the UK, particularly during British Food Fortnight, but I am finding that generally, shops are very keen to push British produce and the double-bonus is that fresh British produce will most likely be in season too.
 
As a random aside, if you are interested in hearing more about spelt, catch up with this week’s Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen on iplayer. Nick’s guest was Edd Kimber, the winner of last year’s Great British Bake Off and about half an hour into the show you’ll also hear me talking about spelt flour in my ‘Ren Recommend’s’ slot! If you are into baking, you’ll find a factsheet on the same page with lots of free recipes on it too, including Edd’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and his Orange and Passion Fruit cake.
 
 
Over the next fortnight up until 2nd October, look out for ‘meet the producer’ style events, special promotions in the shops and in restaurants, healthy eating activities for kids (or, if like me, you overdosed on cupcakes, then for yourself) and generally for the “Buy British” message that the campaign is trying to push.
 
If you are a tweeter, you can follow @theBritFFGirls and add the hashtag #BritFF to your posts/tweets too.
 
You can also follow the campaign by ‘liking’ the Love British Food Facebook page.
 

 

British Baby Leek & Mushroom 3 Grain Risotto

Serves 4
 
Ingredients:
300g Three Grain Risotto (I used the Riso Gallo brand)
1 Tablespoon British Rapeseed Oil
1 Small Onion, finely chopped
220g British Baby Leeks, cleaned and finely chopped
150g British Oyster Mushrooms, chopped
50g British Chestnut Mushrooms, sliced
1 Litre Vegetable Stock
 
For the topping
110g British Baby Leeks, washed and finely chopped
15g Butter
A twist of pepper
A handful of freshly grated vegetarian-style Parmesan cheese
 
Method:
 
1. Boil the kettle and make up the vegetable stock to one litre in a separate sauce pan. Leave the pan on a low heat so that your stock is constantly simmering as you add it to your grains/rice.
 
2. Add the oil to a large heavy-based pan and gently fry the onions and leeks for around five minutes. Add the rice, stir it well until it is coated in the oil and mixed with the onions and leeks.
 
3. Add the mushrooms and risotto rice/grains, mix well until all the grains are coated. Over a medium heat, add a ladleful of stock to the rice and vegetables and simmer. As the stock bubbles in the pan and is absorbed, add another ladleful and again stir. If your rice/grains are in any way sticking to the pan, your heat is too high. Add more as necessary, until all the stock has been used up and the grains are cooked. The grains should take no more than 25 minutes to cook and should still have some bite to them, but should not be hard.
 
4. Using your (now empty) stock pan, add the butter and the extra baby leeks and gently fry for three minutes or so. Serve your risotto in bowls and top with the extra baby leeks, a twist of pepper and plenty of grated cheese.
 
 
 
I will be linking this recipe up with Simple and in Season – running up until 15th October.
 
Don’t forget to leave me comments too if you are writing about or eating British food over the next two weeks.
 
Thank you for all your help, comments and feedback about my blog name! I am sticking with Fabulicious Food! and the move is happening as I type.

Easy Macaroni Cheese with Baby Leeks

It’s Meat Free Monday again which means I have a really lovely, easy recipe to share.  This one is great for a quick kids’ tea as it really should take less than twenty minutes from chopping to serving. We really love macaroni cheese, it is lovely and warming and cheese melting under the grill really makes the house smell yummy!

Although making a roux (flour and butter based white sauce) isn’t difficult, even an expert roux-maker can have issues with lumps so I make a really easy alternative with cream, crème fraîche and cheese.  You can use half-fat versions if you prefer. I also add a touch of Dijon mustard and an egg yolk, just for flavour.

This is a really versatile sauce and can be added to any pasta dish (try adding chopped smoked or poached salmon, chopped bacon and peas or chopped left-over chicken for a non-Meat Free Monday alternative) or just make a veggie version, as I have, adding any vegetables you like.  You can also skip the pasta altogether and just use it as a sauce for pouring over cauliflower or broccoli.

I have used baby leeks this week, which are in season and make a more colourful alternative to onions.  They also have a much subtler and sweeter flavour, don’t make your eyes water and are a great source of Vitamin C as well as iron and fibre. Go for small or medium sized leeks, as the larger ones can be a bit woody.  You can remove the outer layer if you need to and give them a good wash removing and grit.

Easy Macaroni Cheese with Baby Leeks

Ingredients

250 g macaroni pasta
One tablespoon olive or rapeseed oil
6 or 7 baby leeks or 3 medium-sized leeks

200 ml double cream
50 g crème fraîche
75 g grated Gruyère cheese
1 free-range, organic egg yolk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

75 g grated cheddar for the topping

Salt & Pepper

Method

Pre-heat your grill.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.  Add your macaroni or other shaped pasta to the pan, stir and cook according to the packet instructions (firmer/al dente is best)

Finely chop your leeks, add a tablespoon of olive or rapeseed oil to a frying pan and gently fry your leeks for a few minutes until they soften.

Pour the cream and crème fraîche into a pan and gently bring to the boil. Once it is very gently bubbling, add the grated Gruyère cheese and mix well. (For extra flavour you could add some extra cheddar too)

Add the Dijon mustard and mix again. Take off the heat and add your egg yolk. Season with salt and pepper and stir again keeping it off the heat.

Drain your pasta and add it to the pan of cheese sauce, tip in the cooked baby leeks. Mix well until all the pasta is coated.

Sprinkle over the cheddar cheese (or use more Gruyèreor any firm cheese) and place it under the hot grill just until the cheese starts bubbling and melting.

Serve and eat as soon as possible.