Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Potatoes

Roasted Summer Vegetables with British Goat’s Cheese #TasteOfSummer

Roasted Summer Vegetables

Roasted Summer Vegetables with British Goat’s Cheese

Most of the time we associate roasted vegetables with autumn or winter, in that root vegetables roast so well and sweeten up in the process. But I find that certain summer vegetables get on very well with a drizzle of cold-pressed rapeseed oil in a roasting tin before going into a hot oven. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been roasting plenty of British asparagus during the asparagus season – now sadly pretty much at an end. I actually used salad potatoes in this recipe, which I wouldn’t normally roast, but after par-boiling them for a few minutes I decided to throw them into the tin, too, along with some mini peppers. The salad potatoes actually roasted beautifully and became lovely and fluffy on the inside and a little bit crisp on the outside. Any waxy or new potato variety would work well, too. Another ‘first’ this summer was tasting a salad with roasted grapes and walnuts. I also love roasted summer courgettes or carrots with a sprinkle of caraway seeds. Roasted summer vegetables can be eaten warm just as they are, or, as in this recipe, with the addition of some British goat’s cheese. You can also serve the roasted vegetables cold, mixed with a little cream cheese as a filling for roasted sweet potatoes.

#tasteofsummer

All of these ideas speak to me of summer and so I thought this recipe would make the perfect addition to the Waitrose #TasteOf Summer campaign, currently ongoing.

Over the next few weeks, up until 26th August 2015, Waitrose are asking you to tell them your favourite #TasteOfSummer and to share your creations on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the chance to win one of their three summer food experiences –

  • You could win a pair of tickets to an exclusive barbecue event with Heston Blumenthal, at his pub, The Crown Inn, located in Bray, Berkshire. Winners must be available to attend the event on Saturday 25 July.
  • Or, you could win a ticket to their ‘Cocktails & Party Bites’ evening course at the Waitrose Finchley Road Cookery School in London on Thursday 13 August.
  • Or, you could win a complete summer party menu as chosen by the Waitrose Entertaining and Waitrose Cellar specialists – so all you’d need to do then is invite your friends over and crack open the bubbles!

Every week, Waitrose are also showcasing the most popular summer flavours across their social media channels.

To enter, you just have to share your favourite summer food or drink on Facebook (find the Facebook page here) Twitter (follow @Waitrose) or Instagram @Waitrose using the #TasteOfSummer hashtag.

Roasted Summer Vegetables
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So, whether you’re enjoying an ice cream at the seaside, or perhaps some freshly caught fish and chips, a barbecue in the garden, a simple summer salad, scones, strawberries and clotted cream whilst watching the tennis or even a slice freshly baked cake topped with fruit at the summer fair – there are lots of chances to win a great summer food experience.

Linking up to July and August’s Simple and in Season, too!

Simple in Season

Disclosure: I have been commissioned to create this recipe by Waitrose to help promote their Taste of Summer Campaign and received some vouchers in consideration. 

My Mum’s Polish Potato Salad

I made my mum’s Polish potato salad the other day. It was one of my favourite salads growing up and it’s perfect for a barbecue party or a pot luck party. The key is to chop the potatoes and eggs (once cooked) as well as the pickles into little tiny cubes, the smaller the better.

It looked so pretty and it is so tasty. Do you know what Mama said? “Looks nice, but I serve it in a bowl and you forgot the dill.”

So, if you make it, don’t forget the dill!

 

Recipe: My Mum’s Polish Potato Salad

 

Ingredients:

500g maincrop or new potatoes, washed and peeled

2 free range eggs

2 sweet pickled cucumber spears, finely chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

100g mayonnaise

50g sour cream

2 tablespoons liquid from the cucumber spears

Salt and pepper to season

Fresh dill, to decorate

 

Method:

  1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Chop the potatoes and half and put them in the pan and boil for seven minutes. After seven minutes, add the two eggs and boil in the same pan for a further ten minutes. Check the potatoes are cooked and drain the potatoes and eggs under cold water. The eggs will be hard boiled.  
  2. Chop the potatoes into small cubes. Peel the hard boiled eggs and chop them into small pieces. Put the potatoes and eggs into a large bowl. Add the finely chopped sweet pickled cucumbers and most of the spring onions – save a sprinkle to use as a garnish.
  3. In a separate, smaller bowl, add the mayonnaise and sour cream and add a couple of tablespoons of the liquid from the sweet pickled cucumber spears to loosen. Whisk together well and pour over the potatoes.
  4. Mix everything together well. Season with salt and pepper and decorate with fresh dill and the rest of the spring onions. You can serve the salad immediately, but it tastes better the next day – leave it to cool down completely before refrigerating.

 

Simple and in Season Blog Event

I’m linking this up to Simple and in Season hosting this month by Katie Bryson at Feeding Boys and a Firefighter – maincrop potatoes and spring onions are both in season now.

Are you a dill or pickled cucumber fan?!

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

 

Polish Potato Salad

Once again I am totally overwhelmed by all the entries into Simple and in Season – June – the monthly blogging event here at Fabulicious Food! showcasing some of the very best seasonal produce. Some of the recipes linked-up used British local produce and some were shared from much further afield, including Dubai and the States.

I will be announcing a winner shortly and producing what I am sure will be a spectacular round-up.
In the meantime, here is my entry – a lovely comforting Polish Potato Salad made with a freshly picked selection of British new potatoes from an organic vegetable box delivered to me by Andrew at Riverford Organic – thank you Andrew! 
I am new to the veg box delivery scheme and I’ve found it to be a wonderful way to incorporate fresh, seasonal produce into our diet.  Fruit and vegetable box schemes support local farmers and as often as possible, the produce is sourced locally. You can check on Riverford Organic’s website to see whether they deliver to you and to see which farm your produce will mostly come from.  
My box came with a handy booklet of recipes, though this one is a salad made to my Mother’s recipe.  Receiving a fruit or veg box does encourage you to become quite creative in the kitchen!
We also enjoyed a lovely fresh carrot soup, salads and fajitas using the mushrooms and onions in the box. We’re working our way through the rest so I’m sure there will be more recipes to come.
The secret to this salad is to chop everything, including your peeled potatoes, into very small cubes. The egg can even be mashed with a fork. You end up with a really tasty accompaniment to an outdoor picnic or lunch. I served mine with my mum’s Polish meatballs – the best! I promise to share the recipe for those too…soon.
Polish Potato Salad
(My Mother’s Recipe)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

6-7 peeled and cooked potatoes (new or waxy potatoes work best)
1 hard boiled egg, peeled and mashed with a fork
1 pickled gherkin, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon dill (fresh is best but dry works ok too)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use a Polish brand called Winiary but any is fine)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Method:

1. Add your chopped potatoes, egg, gherkin and dill into a bowl.

2. Add in the mayonnaise and mustard.

3. Stir well. The salad is best refrigerated for a short while before eating.