Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Seasonal Events

Pumpkin (or Butternut) Soup with Kefir and Poppy Seeds

You can make this soup with fresh pumpkin, or butternut squash. Kefir is a gut-friendly dairy produce, but you can swirl fresh cream or sour cream through this soup, too. If you’re vegan, you can follow exactly the same recipe, but swap the kefir for some vegan/soy yoghurt instead and be sure to use a vegan-friendly, vegetable stock.

 

Aside from being packed full of fresh veggies, most of the other ingredients you’ll find in the store cupboard – red lentils, stock, a tin of tomatoes or passata and since I had a packet of poppy seeds open from making a Plum and Poppy Seed traybake, I sprinkled some over the finished soup, but the roasted seeds or any other seeds would be nice too.

leftover pumpkin soup with kefir

 

leftover pumpkin soup with kefir
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Pumpkin Soup with Kefir and Poppy Seeds

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 6 servings

Whip up this simple and healthy seasonal pumpkin soup (or use squash) for the perfect autumnal bowl of comfort for lunch or as a light supper. Add a drizzle of kefir for a dose of healthy probiotic and a sprinkle of poppy seeds for a bit of crunch.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 white onions, peeled, halved
  • 700g pumpkin or squash, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into cubes
  • 2 carrots, peeled, chopped
  • 1 stick celery, washed
  • 200g/1 cup red lentils
  • 1 x 400g tin tomatoes or tomato passata
  • 1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
  • Sea salt and black pepper
  • 200ml kefir (cultured milk drink) or use natural yoghurt 
  • 1 tsp poppy seeds per bowl

Instructions

  1. Take a large 24cm pan or stock pot, add the olive oil and heat. Add the onions and fry until slightly softened and golden brown.
  2. Add the pumpkin, carrots and celery, stir well and continue to cook for 5 minutes.  
  3. Add the red lentils, tomatoes/passata and stock to the pan. Ensure everything is covered with stock, if not, add a cupful more of water.
  4. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes until all the vegetables are soft (the carrots will take the longest to cook).
  5. Season well with sea salt and black pepper.
  6. Allow the soup to cool a little and then use a stick blender to blend the soup, or transfer into a jug blender (you may need to blend in two batches)
  7. Serve the soup with a drizzle of kefir and sprinkle over some poppy seeds, or other seeds of your choice.

You may like:

Beetroot and Kale Soup with Almond Crumble

Spiced Pumpkin, Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours

Polish Forest Mushroom Soup 

 

Thank you to Jude for the pretty napkins from Anthropolgie which were a book launch gift – I love them. 

French-Style Irish Beef Salad by Bord Bia

When the Irish Food Board sent me this recipe to try recently, I couldn’t wait to make it, pack it up and take it on a picnic. It almost looked too pretty to transport, but actually, it travelled well. I kept the tomatoes and the boiled eggs whole and in a separate container until I was ready to serve the salad. Although the star of this salad if the grass-fed Irish Beef, there’s a French influence from the Dijon mustard and I loved the addition of the capers and gherkins, too. A fresh baguette on the side and a glass of perfectly chilled rosé is all you need for a perfect al fresco, French-inspired supper.

Bord Bia French Beef Salad

Photo Credit Irish Food Board/Bord Bia 

Bord Bia French Beef Salad_3

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French Style Irish Beef Salad by Bord Bia

Yield 4

A protein-packed salad with grass-fed Irish bullet steak, which is best served blue or rare. With new potatoes, eggs, tomatoes and a French-style Dijon mustard dressing.

Ingredients

  • 500g piece bullet steak
  • 700g waxy new potatoes, scrubbed or scraped
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 plum tomatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
  • For the dressing:
  • 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 120ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 large shallot, very finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, extra to garnish
  • 2 tbsp tiny capers
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped gherkins
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Lightly dressed green salad and French baguette, to serve.

Instructions

  1. Heat a cast-iron griddle pan until searing hot. Add the steak and cook for about 5 minutes each side or until rare. Set aside for at least 15 minutes to rest or up to an hour is fine, then cut into thin slices, trimming down as necessary.
  2. Place the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until tender, then drain. Cook the eggs in a pan of simmering water for 7 minutes until soft-boiled. Drain and run under cold running water, then shell.
  3. Meanwhile, make the dressing; place the vinegar, mustard, honey and seasoning in a screw-topped jar and shake until the salt has dissolved. Add the oil and shake again vigorously until you have a nice thick emulsion. Add the shallots, chives, parsley, gherkins and capers, shaking gently to combine.
  4. While the potatoes are still warm, cut them into slices and arrange half in the bottom of a serving dish. Spoon some of the dressing over and then cover with a layer of the slices of beef. Repeat the layers, spooning a little dressing over each one. Cover with clingfilm and set aside at room temperature for an hour to allow the flavours to combine.
  5. Just before serving, cut the soft-boiled eggs into quarters and arrange around the edge of the salad with the tomatoes. Garnish with parsley and serve straight to the table with a separate bowl of green salad and some crusty French bread.

Courses Salad

Cuisine French

Notes:

Grass-fed beef is a healthy option, with high levels of vitamins A and E, and a good balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. 

Irish Beef produced under the Irish Food Board’s Quality Assurance Scheme is found in leading UK supermarkets and assures you that the beef you buy is sustainable and reared to the highest standard.

With thanks to the Irish Food Board, Irish Beef and Bord Bia for letting me share this recipe.

You can find more Bord Bia/Irish Food Board Recipes Here

Follow Bord Bia @BordBia

I’m linking this to my July and August Simple and in Season challenge, as the salad uses new potatoes and in-season tomatoes.

Simple in Season

You might also like my Polish-inspired beetroot salad if you’re packing up a picnic!

I’m going to be hosting a number of handpicked recipes over the summer holidays to keep you all inspired while I get stuck in various holiday traffic jams, picnic with my kids and work on updating my recipe index.

If you like them, please tweet me or instagram me @RenBehan using the hastag #handpicked  or in this instance @bordbia

Editorial/Unpaid content
 

A seasonal pheasant masterclass

Pheasant
Andy Appleton’s Cornish Inspired Pheasant

It was all things pleasant and pheasant inside the Fifteen training kitchen last Tuesday evening. I must have been reasonably well-behaved at the last blogger’s supper at Jamie Oliver HQ, to receive a second invitation, this time to a pheasant masterclass with Jon Rotheram (Head Chef Fifteen London), Andy Appleton (Head Chef Fifteen Cornwall) and needs-no-intro, Gennaro Contaldo. Very rarely do you get the chance to watch three great chefs at work at close call and so when the invitation arrived to celebrate British game, I was intrigued and immediately hungry.

Fifteen Training KitchenBritish game is in season right now and the JamieOliver.com team were keen to cast away any game-related fears and open our eyes and our taste buds to some great British pheasant; wild, naturally organic and free range. I recently visited Borough Market in London, where I saw plenty of pheasant and rabbit on offer. I confess to wandering straight past it without giving it much thought. And that’s what many of us do; walk straight past it, perhaps at the butchers or in the shops, which means that so much game is being shot and then wasted.

Many of us are also quick to dismiss game, perhaps because of fears that the meat may taste too ‘gamey’ or simply because we don’t really know what to do with it or how to cook it. Happily, the pheasant masterclass did much to dispel many of my previously held misconceptions and I now have a better idea of flavour combinations that I know will work. I learnt that game works with many well-known flavours; chilli, garlic, fresh herbs, such as rosemary and thyme, or sweet and sour combinations, such as a sprinkling of raisins steeped in balsamic vinegar, or a red wine reduction spiked with cinnamon – as showcased within the three dishes we tried. Whilst the breasts need hardly any cooking at all, the legs benefit most from being slow-cooked.

A pheasant masterclass at Jamie Oliver HQ
Gennaro Contaldo demonstrates his pheasant dish

First to cook for the intimate crowd of hungry food bloggers was Gennaro Contaldo; the man noted for mentoring and now business-partnering with Jamie Oliver – soon to return to our screens as one half of the Two Greedy Italians. I adored watching Gennaro and Antonio Carluccio as they foraged, cooked and ate their way around Italy and can’t wait for them to reunite in the third series. As animated and exuberant as he is on-camera, Gennaro invoked his deep-rooted love for hunting, foraging and simple food, inspired by his childhood in Italy. Gennaro is most at home when cooking with game and he was quick to thank and credit Jim, Jamie’s Website Editor, for shooting the birds in Essex ahead of the masterclass.

A quick quip about ‘Essex Birds’ ensued, whilst Gennaro prepared a side dish of sliced potatoes, de-seeded tomatoes, salt, oregano and olive oil for the oven, called Patata Arragante. We were then shown how to remove the breasts from the bird, ready to be flattened out and seasoned up with rosemary, sea salt, garlic and chilli. The pheasant was quickly pan-fried in a very hot pan. The only extra ingredient needed was a splash of good-quality white wine to deglaze the pan and to create a little sauce. As he served up his homely and rustic dish, Gennaro humbly added:

“When I am 100 years old, you can call me a chef!”

Gennaro’s top tip:

Use a ceramic bowl, with just a little olive oil rubbed into the bottom, to push down the pheasant once it hits the pan. This helps the chilli and fresh herbs to penetrate the meat. You can use whatever you have to hand – a brick will even work fine!

We quite literally devoured Gennaro’s dish and it was a huge privilege to taste his flavour-charged yet uncomplicated food first hand.

Pheasant Masterclass (12 of 26)
Gennaro’s Flavour Packed Dish

Next to cook for the group was Jon Rotheram, whom some of us had met at the previous supper club above the restaurant itself. Jon showcased an example of the sort of dish he happily cooks at Fifteen, always ensuring that he maximises the bird. Jon said that he always makes use of the legs and the breast and that he very often pan-fries the hearts. He also made a pork and pheasant sausage from the offcuts. Jon served his pheasant and sausage with kale (cooked in the same pan that he’d roasted the bird and cooked the sausage in), onions that had been slow-roasted overnight in a low oven, game chips, pickled quince and a smooth and very moreish bread sauce.

Jon’s top tip:

Ask the butcher or your local game supplier for pheasant hens, as they have a little more fat on them. Jon prefers his game to have a shorter hanging time (up to a week), but to be hung with the guts in to improve the flavour of the meat.

A pheasant masterclass with Jon Rotheram
Next to cook, Jon Rotheram, Fifteen London

Third to the stove was Andy Appleton, who had travelled all the way from his kitchen at Fifteen Cornwall to impress us with his dish of pheasant with Cornish squash, fresh thyme, cherry tomatoes and chestnut caponata. Andy’s cooking is largely inspired by the Italian kitchen and his flavours were equally stunning. Andy had soaked some raisins in balsamic vinegar and also pan-roasted his pheasant on the crown to keep the flavour in. He also made a red wine and cinnamon jus.

Andy’s top tip:

Game goes really well with sweet and sour flavours, so try some fruity sauces, or add some raising seeped in Balsamic vinegar to your finished dish.

Pheasant Masterclass
Andy Appleton, Fifteen Cornwall

As if we needed any additional treats, Jamie’s editorial team had also set out some fine cheeses, pâté, fresh sourdough and rye bread and charcuterie with plenty of red wine to accompany our pheasant-led feast. Of course, the ladies flocked around Gennaro, catching a few shots for our photograph albums, whilst Gennaro shared his personal iPhone albums of seasonal chestnut and mushroom hunting with his family. I think we can safely say that we left with a warm glow, eager and more confident in experimenting with some game recipes during the season and in particular, over the Christmas period ourselves at home.

JO4
Left – Leyla Kazim, Top – Jim Tanfield, Gennaro and me!

If you are looking for some game recipes to inspire you, look no further than Jamie’s selection here. Likewise, there is a great scast of Christmas recipes on offer to inspire you over on JamieOliver.com, too.

Jamie's Book Shelf
Inspiration in the Fifteen Training Kitchen

Where to buy pheasant and game

I spotted plenty of pheasants at Borough Market recently. More locally in Hertfordshire, I can recommend my local butcher, A&C Meats. I also read an article on The Foodie Bugle recently using produce from The Wild Meat Company, although I’ve yet to try their service. Game, including venison, rabbit, quail, partridge, pheasant and grouse is also becoming more widely available through supermarkets. The pheasant season usually runs from October to April.

For more hints and tips, search the hashtag #pheasantmasterclass on Twitter or follow the team on @JamieOliverCom

Other #PheasantMasterclass posts

Leyla  – The Cutlery Chronicles

Annie – Mamasaurus

Rachel – The Food I Eat

You can also catch my weekly blog for JamieOliver.com here.

With many thanks to Jim, Merlin, Subi, Jon, Andy and Gennaro for the invitation to join them for the evening for the pheasant masterclass. All thoughts and opinions my own.

Recipe: Slow Cooked Beef Brisket with Celeriac Mash and Wild Mushrooms

Slow cooking is a great way to experiment with different cuts of meat and you can always ask your butcher to recommend a cheaper or less well-known piece. This weekend I slow cooked beef brisket for the first time in a lovely rich beef stock with carrots, baby onions, celery, garlic, tomato puree, port and fresh herbs. The aromas in the kitchen were comforting and warming even before I peeked inside to see how it was getting on. In another first, I bought a celeriac, in season and on offer and made a really delicious celeriac mash to go with the beef stew. This would make a lovely alternative to a traditional Sunday roast. Since it can all be made in advance, if you are feeling brave, invite some friends over and serve this in big bowls with a bottle or two of red wine! You can also serve the brisket with noodles, gnocchi, or even rice.

Beef Brisket

I called my mum for this recipe, she had a few ideas up her sleeve when I mentioned beef brisket. It is a cut particularly suited to slow cooking because it can be a tough cut otherwise. If you didn’t have a slow cooker you could make a pot roast and cook it in the oven, instead. My piece was a rolled joint, which unravelled during cooking. In any case, the meat is so easy to thinly slice or even shred with a fork it didn’t really matter.

Beef Brisket Celeriac Mash

Slow Cooked Beef Brisket with Celeriac Mash and Wild Mushrooms

Beef brisket recipe from my mum

Ingredients

For the slow cooked beef brisket

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 4 carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks
  • 2 sticks celery, peeled and chopped into chunks
  • 6 baby onions or one whole onion, peeled and chopped into chunks
  • 1 large clove or garlic, peeled
  • 800g piece of beef brisket
  • 250 ml/one cup port, or you can use red wine
  • 2 tablespoons tomato puree
  • 1 litre rich beef stock (I used 2 x Knorr rich beef stock pots)
  • A handful of fresh parsley and thyme, roughly chopped
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

For the celeriac mash

  • 1 large celeriac, peeled and chopped into chunks
  • 1 large baking potato, peeled and chopped into chunks
  • 80ml/ 1/3 cup double/heavy cream
  • A small knob of butter

For the wild mushrooms

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon butter
  • 200 g fresh, wild mushrooms

Method

  1. To make the beef brisket, heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large frying pan. Fry the carrots, celery, onions and whole garlic clove for 4-5 minutes until they begin to take on some colour. Transfer the vegetables into your slow cooker or crock pot.
  2. Add the second tablespoon of vegetable oil to the same frying pan and put the beef brisket in, cook it for a few minutes on all sides until it takes on a brown colour. Transfer the beef brisket into your slow cooker or crock pot.
  3. Pour the port into the frying pan and let it bubble for a few seconds. Add the tomato puree, whisk or mix it together into a paste and then pour in the made up beef stock. Stir well and then pour the liquid into your slow cooker or crock pot. Add the fresh herbs, the beef should be covered with liquid. Season with sea salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
  4. Cook on high for 4-5 hours, the longer the better. If you don’t have a slow cooker, use a large casserole dish with a tight fitting lid and cook for 3-4 hours at 160 degreees Celsius/320 F.
  5. To make the celeriac mash, add the celeriac chunks and potato into a large pan, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook for twenty minutes until the celeriac is very soft. Drain, add the cream and butter and mash or puree with a hand blender.
  6. To make the wild mushrooms, heat the olive oil ad butter in a pan, add the mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes until golden.
  7. Once the brisket is cooked, carefully take it out of the cooking liquid, slice thinly or shred with a fork. Serve the beef with the vegetables and sauce with the celeriac mash and wild mushrooms on the side.

 Beef Brisket

Some of the ingredients were sent to me to cook with by Forman and Field  including the beef brisket, wild mushrooms, baby onions and port – with many thanks.

For the rest of the weekend, I am also running a competition in association with Knorr to win some of the ingredients  to have a go yourself, or you could make Marco Pierre White’s beef bourguignon or a beef creation of your own.

I’m linking this up to Slow Cooker Sunday hosted by Mediocre Mum and to Simple and in Season  here this month to highlight the celeriac mash and seasonal vegetables.

Photobucket

Have you got any favourite slow cooker recipes? Let me know if you give this recipe a go!

 

Review: Eat Your Veg by Arthur Potts Dawson

Move over Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, here comes Arthur Potts Dawson with his take on all things veg! New from the Octopus Publishing Group is Eat Your Veg, a cookery book packed full of ideas on how to bring more vegetables to your table – putting veg at the centre of your plate.

Arthur Potts Dawson loves his veg and after 25 years of cooking as a professional chef, he certainly knows his turnips from his tomatoes. The key is to using what’s in season, “It’ll taste better and it’ll cost you less,” says Arthur.    

Designed to get you thinking outside of your veg box, this is a great book for anyone who is keen to experiment with flavours in the kitchen. Arthur’s aim is to present simple recipes that make the most out of the particular veg in question; a bold and bright beetroot soup (cover picture), flavourful broths, gratins and new ideas on serving veg, such as Arther’s Pan-fried french bean bundles with sesame seeds or his striking Radish salad with pomegranate and cannellini beans, below. This would be just as good packed into a lunch box for work as it would be scaled-up for guests.

There are no rules or regulations about how or where to buy your veg, the focus is on variety and on introducing more veg to your daily life. Arthur offers his advice on skills too, such as roasting, mashing and pickling and there are basic recipes for stocks, sauces, dressings and veggie-friendly accompaniments. There is some mention of meat and fish in the book, so this is not a vegetarian cookery book, although all the recipes, can of course, be adapted to suit.

I particularly liked the organisation of Eat Your Veg – there are five main chapters –  

  • Roots and Tubers (featuring beetroot, carrot, sweet potato, celeriac, salsify etc)
  • Bulbs and Stems (featuring including garlic, onions, fennel, kohlrabi, asparagus etc)
  • Leaves and Flowers (featuring lettuce, rocket, sorrel, broccoli, artichoke etc)
  • Fruits and Fungi (featuring avocado, peppers, sweetcorn, aubergine and mushroom etc)
  • Beans and Pods (featuring lentils, broad and borlotti beans, peas, french beans and okra etc)

Also included are ‘Skills’ as mentioned, and ‘Feasts’ with recipes for a Mediterranean spread, Tex-Mex Grill and a sumptuous vegetarian Curry feast -with dishes passed on from an elderly Bengali chef.   

The recipes themselves, are in the most part, fresh and quick to make. We love the Waste not asparagus soup, made from leftover asparagus stalks and the Sweetcorn and coriander pikelets (little sweetcorn fritters, below). There are plenty of simple salads, too, including a Heritage tomato salad with marjoram (one of my favourite herbs) and a Potato and cucumber salad made with Japanese vinegar, olive oil and sunflower seeds for a twist – perfect for barbecue season!

There are also some tasty dips and snacks, the Smashed broad beans with Pecorino and Baked tomato, garlic and red pepper crostini jumped out. Arthur’s Italian-inspired recipe for Penne with Garlic, Rosemary and Mascarpone is impressive and tasty, as are the Creamed Girolles with Grilled Polenta.

A few of the recipes are a tiny bit sophisticated for a domestic kitchen – I am not sure I would have the time to prepare twelve globe artichokes or that I would very regularly make my own ravioli, but it is nice to have some more challenging recipes included.

If you are cooking for very small children, some of the recipes might be a bit ambitious, although you could try making the pikelets, as we did, or the Cheesy peas on toast or even the Baked borlotti beans on toast with garlic and fresh tomatoes to tempt your troops.

All in all, Eat Your Veg appeals to my taste-buds because I already love cooking with seasonal produce and because it encourages me to be a little more adventurous than usual. It is a tiny bit cheffy, but then again, you do benefit from the fact that Arthur has great skills and knowledge that he is keen to pass on.  

With many thanks to Octopus Press and Authur Potts-Dawson for my signed review copy. Eat Your Veg is priced at £25.00 Photographs by Liz and Max Haarala Hamilton.

You can follow Aurthur Potts Dawson (@ArthurPottsD) and Octopus Books (@Octopus_Books) on Twitter.  

Which books caught your attention over the spring?

Look out for plenty more mentions of fun summer cook books on Fabulicious Food!

Simple and in Season on Fabulicious Food! Winter Round-Up Part Two (And Winner!)

Here we are again, after rounding up the first half of the Simple and in Season Winter entries, we’re back with Part Two for more seasonal adventures. This time, the theme is definitely orange, with plenty of butternut squash, pumpkin and plenty of fresh, seasonal autumnal cooking…

Entries 1-20 are here.

21. Just past the half-way mark, Wonder Woman I am Not, sent across her Pecan Topped Sweet Potatoes. Unfortunately, there was no picture with the post, but I’m sure we can all imagine the luscious sweetness and the recipe is on the blog.

22. Janet at The Taste Space came back to us with a White Bean, Quinoa and Kale Stew with Fennel. I’m always looking for ways to cook kale so this is bookmarked.

23. Next, Choclette, over at the Chocolate Log Blog made Pumkpin Butter – which Choclette was intending to use in some of her wonderful chocolate recipes – thank you for sharing!

24. Sweet Tiny Blessings (Mandy in Colorado!) joined in for the first time with a Mexican Chicken and Bean Pizza – thank you so much for joining in. This is made with beef (in place of chicken), garlic, cumin, pinto beans, fresh avodaco, fresh tomato, sour cream…the works! AND it’s a Weight Watchers.com recipe if anyone is weight-watching. Also bookmarked!

25. Clare from The Vegetarian Experience made a wonderfully seasonal Pumpkin Risotto or Risotto di Zucca, which was part of a series of pumkpin recipes on her blog. Thanks Clare! I had problems with the photo, so below is a photo for Clare’s Stuffed Pumpkins instead.

26. More loveliness from Janet at The Taste Space, this time a Dragon Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Vegetables and a Miso Gravy. Who needs meat? This is quinoa, topped with zucchini (courgettes) bell pepper, eggplant (aubergine) and brocolli and cubed tofu, topped with a rich miso gravy, sesame seeds and spring onions. Health in a bowl I’d say!

27. Helen from Fuss Free Flavours linked up her Maple Cumin Mash, that she had served with an Asian Beef Wellington – a dish simply packed with flavour and perfectly cooked beef too. I have sweet potatoes, I have carrots, I have cumin, I have maple syrup…I will be making this!

28. Richa in Seattle from Hobby and More joined in with a salad of Roasted Delicta Squash, with Rosemary and Olive Oil, which was gluten free and vegan. Delicious – thank you!

29. Richa also linked up her family recipe for Green Beans with Potatoes – also vegan and gluten free –

30.  Clare from The Vegetarian Experience also linked up her Pumpkin Pie recipe inspired by lots of trips to her Dad in the States – thank you! Again, so sorry, struggling with a photo!

31. The Space Taste came back again with another seasonally-inspired dish, this time a Lime-Spiked Black Bean and Quinoa Wrap

32. Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen made a Brussels Sprout and Blue Cheese Tart inspired by a Brussels Sprout tree.

33. Laura from How To Cook Good Food made these gorgeous little Chestnut Pasties with Sour Cream Pastry and Pickled Cabbage – perfect party food – perefct for anytime.

34. Nazima from Working London Mummy linked up her very scrummy Butternut Squash Soup with Garlic Crostini and Parmesan. We are definitely going to make this, we love butternut squash, we love garlic bread, we love Parmesan!

35. Michelle from Food, Football and a Baby joined in with her take on Mary Berry’s Devonshire Apple Cake. Apart from chocolate cake, I think apple cake takes second place and I love this one! Also made with apples from her neighbour’s garden. Thanks Michelle for sending this across!

Devonshire Apple Cake

36. Michelle also came back with Grandma’s Apple Sauce and Cocoa Cake (with Coffee Glaze) – also inspired by a glut of apples from her neighbour’s garden.

Applesauce Cocoa Cake

37. Clare from The Vegetarian Experience linked up again, this time with her Pumpkin Soup – great colour and a very lovely swirl!

38. Another new blogger to join us was the Fun & Food Cafe who made these delicious Pumpkin Pie Dessert Bars – mmn these look amazing!

pumpkin bars

39. The Fun & Food Cafe also served us Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins – since I have a whole load of leftover cranberry sauce, I’ll definitely be making these!

cranberry-sauce-muffins

40. Last, but hopefully not least, I linked up Our Favourite Carrot and Parmesan Risotto, just to round-off our lovely autumnal orange-influenced Winter Simple and in Season! 

AND THE WINNER IS…

After much deliberation…the Simple and in Season Winter winner is Clare Rudd from The Vegetarian Experience for her series of Pumpkin-inspired posts! Clare shared her ideas for the many different ways of using seasonal pumpkin, including Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Soup and a wonderful Pumkin Risotto, leading to the Stuffed Pumpkin she made as an alternative to Christmas dinner on Christmas Day. Thank You Clare, a copy of Discover Organic Cook  Book is on its way to you. I hope there are plenty of vegetarian recipes in there to inspire you.

Don’t forget to link up all your seasonal recipes now – the January link up is open until 31st January and you could win a copy of The Good Table by Valentine Warner.

Thank You to everyone for entering!

 

Simple and in Season Blog Event on Fabulicious Food! New Season Launch – January

Simple and in Season on Fabulicious Food! has returned after a short seasonal break. Thank you so much to everyone who linked up to the last round, forty entries, from all over the world, celebrating and showcasing the very best seasonal produce. After lots of umming and ahhing, I’ve decided to keep the format exactly the same, though we will be sticking to a monthly deadline of the end of the month, with a round-up post very shortly after. The Winter round-up post will be live on Monday, along with an announcement of the winner.

JANUARY LINK UP HERE –

We have a new badge, which will stay the same every month, so feel free to grab the code to the right and add it to your blog posts/sidebars to let people know you are taking part.

Here’s a quick re-cap on the guidelines:

  • All you have to do is come up with a dish using any seasonal produce you like (savoury or sweet) post it on your blog, add a link to this post mentioning Simple and in Season/Fabulicious Food! and then manually add the link to your post in the box above (via Simply Linked)
  • This is the seventh round and it will run up until Tuesday 31st January 2012. I will pick a winner shortly after (excluding myself obviously) and will include a round-up post including everyone who has entered.
  • You can take inspiration from anywhere – adapt a recipe from your favourite cookbook, try something from a magazine, make up your own creation or share a family favourite. The usual rules apply when using someone else’s recipe, please either get permission from the author to post it or adapt it in some way stating how/why you’ve changed it.
  • Include any seasonal produce you fancy including fruit, veg, herbs, meat or fish.
  • Link as many recipes as you like. You can link posts entered into other blog events or carnivals as long as it involves a seasonal food item (and fits in with their rules).
  • The linky-up is open to anyone, anywhere. I’m happy to post prizes abroad and although it will be nice to feature as much British produce as possible, it will be interesting to see what’s in season elsewhere.
  • By entering your link, you are giving me permission to add your photograph to the round-up. I will link back directly to your post when I include you.
  • If you have questions or problems, email me or leave me a comment in the comment box at the bottom of the post.
  • If you are on Twitter, tweet your link adding the hashtag #simpleandinseason and I will re-tweet it.

This month the winner will receive a copy of The Good Table by Valentine Warner, published by Mitchell Beazley/Octopus Books.

I’m looking forward to seeing all your seasonal treats again. I have also launched a second linky up called Family Friendly Fridays, which you are welcome to enter too if you have any recipes  more suitable for that.

Happy Cooking!

 

Provençal Lavender Biscuit and Lemon Cheesecake

I was recently sent a parcel containing some wonderful French ingredients from an area of France called Vaucluse en Provence. The ingredients included a packet of dried lavender flowers, the most INCREDIBLE bright purple lavender biscuits, thyme, sweet bay leaves, a tub of herby Provence tomato paste and a tub of anchovy paste by Les Délices Du Luberon.

I was delighted to be able to create a recipe including some of these ingredients. To further inspire me, I also received a guide book detailing some of the gastronomy, local produce and restaurants of the area.
 
 
I have travelled many times to France, mainly staying along the Cote D’Azure and yes, the gastronomy and love of local food is definitely something that stays with you for a very long time. From visiting the fresh daily French markets (somewhat replicated by our less regular farmer’s markets) to sampling the haute cuisine within very unassuming Michelin starred restaurants, there is no doubt that if you are a foodie, a visit to France is a true gastronomic treat.
 
So, I was very interested to read all about Vaucluse en Provence, the smallest county in the Provence-Alps-Riviera region. The climate, most importantly, is Mediterranean, with 2800 hours of glorious sunshine a year. Who wouldn’t want to go there?! 
 
It is also an area which is gloriously rich in local produce of all descriptions, including figs, cherries, melon and grapes as well as honey, olives, garlic and best of all truffles. The region is actually the number one producer of truffles accounting for 70% of all French truffle production during the truffle season, which begins in November and takes us through the winter into March.
Organic farming is developing fast in Vaucluse and the geo-climatic diversity of the region means that a variety of crops happily grow there, some of them aromatic, such as lavender, others medicinal. The area is also rich in vineyards and stock breeding is also very strong so you can be guaranteed some of the best wines and meats around. 

Food-wise you can expect to eat dishes such as Filet Mignon of Pork with Melon, Rum and Garlic Cloves, Medallions of Monkfish with Basil, Apricot-Lavender Ice Cream, Roasted Figs with Sweet Wine or even a Lavender Sherbet (a Provençal dish using lavender flowers, lavender honey, lemon and egg whites) 

Personally, I would love to visit Vaucluse to take a cookery class as Provençal gastronomy is based on extremely high-quality local produce and is home to some really great chefs. In the meantime, I will pretend I am there with my parcel of goodies…the lavender inspiring me the most.

 
Lavender has a fantastic fragrance and culinary lavender has a wonderul taste. Lavender can easily be used to make Lavender Honey or Lavender Sugar to add an interesting twist to your cooking. For a wonderful lavender honey recipe do visit my friend Karen’s beautiful and inspiring French foodie blog called Lavender and Lovage, for her Home-made French Lavender Honey Pancakes….mmmn delicious and many more lovely dishes!
 
Chefs in Vaucluse use lavender sparingly, much in the same way as you would use vanilla or saffron. It should add a subtle flavour to your sweet or savoury dishes. Here’s my creation – a Lavender Biscuit and Lemon (no-cook) Cheesecake. If you happen to find these biscuits whilst out and about on your travels, they really do give this summer dessert a colourful lift! If not, you could try making your own lavender biscuits to bring in some lavender flavour – though they probably won’t be quite as purple!

 

Provençal Lavender Biscuit and Lemon Cheesecake (no-cook)
Serves 2
 
You will need two stainless steel chefs rings/moulds
 
Ingredients:
For the base
250g lavender biscuits
100g melted unsalted butter
For the topping:
150g Full Fat Cream Cheese
150g Full Fat Crème Fraîche
100g Vanilla Sugar
Grated zest of one lemon
 
Method:
 
1. You will need to crush your lavender biscuits first to make the base either by placing them in a plastic bag and bashing them with a rolling pin or by whizzing them in a food processor. Once they are nice and fine, add your melted butter and mix well until all your crumbs are coated. Place your rings onto a flat board or plate and fill the moulds to make the base. Push down well and smooth until flat with the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to set, at least for an hour.
 
2. To make the filling, mix the cheese, crème fraîche, vanilla sugar and lemon zet together in a clean bowl. You may need to use a whisk to make sure there are no lumps.
 
3. Fill your ring moulds with the filling and again, smooth down with the back of a spoon. Place them back in the fridge to set, ideally over night.
 
4. To remove the cheesecakes from the rings, rub a hot cloth or towel around the edge of the moulds to release them over a plate. Serve on individual serving plates and garnish with either fresh springs of lavender or
sprinkle the plate with some dried lavender.
 
You can find out more information by visiting the Official Tourism Page of Vaucluse or have a look at their Facebook Page.
 
I am linking this post up to Karen’s wonderful Tea Time Treats event at Lavender and Lovage for a floral themed event this month! (May 2012)
 
Tea Time Treats
 

Have you visited this particular region in France? If so, what did you think and were there any gastronomic highlights?