The Brussels Sprout Recipe to trump all others

December 22, 2015 by natalie Leave a Comment

This photo is a version in which sprouts are mixed with a variegated white and green curly kale. This one deep bowl about 25cm across served 4 generously as a side.

I started writing another post, as I often have done, but relegated it to the unpublished pile because it was too depressing and too contemplative. If on the other hand you feel like a shit parent and want to feel better, and I receive requests to indulge in my self-deprecating open-kimono self-shaming I will gauge interest and may post after all. For now I won’t be a buzz kill at such a festive time of year.

All you need to know in terms of what has been going on since my last post is:

Baby has had all sorts of A&E visits of late due to a variety of bonks, scrapes and daredevil endeavours.
I turned 40 and had a shit weekend (mainly due to grief)
Have no childcare for the last 6 weeks at all so am losing my shit with the kids as they have been off for the best part of a fortnight and are trapped inside an awful lot, thanks to this unfestive, misery-inducing December mild drizzle.

Now that the scene is set, I am going to share with you a recipe which is the culinary equivalent of the mildly irritating saying that goes: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”. This recipe transforms the much maligned, often bitter sprout in to a real delicacy. I get why the sprout has such a bad rap; it is so easily cooked wrong. In stressed and rushed hands, it can be over-cooked and then turn mealy, mushy, metallic and sulphurous, a little ball of poison, all bitterness and obligation. From childhood (in the UK at least) we are encouraged to imbibe something verdant in brownish-sea of animal protein and rich trimmings on Christmas day, and once a year out they have come, the little balls of misery. Since the 80s there have been huge leaps as a nation in our cooking prowess, knowledge and open-mindedness, and even kale has finally gone from awkward wallflower to the nerdy popular superstar at the gastro-party. If we can eat kale, we can eat sprouts, and this recipe is basically a way to combine and transform pretty much any combination/ ratio of the following arse-kicking, cancer-fighting, alkaline forming, green cruciferous vegetables eg:

Sprouts
Pointu /Savoy Cabbage (even a white cabbage but it would look slightly less green and inviting, although the texture would withstand this kind of preparation and cooking)
Cavolo Nero / Tuscan Kale
Spring Greens / Collard Greens
Curly Kale (any colour)

The key to this recipe’s success is this:

DO NOT OVERCOOK THE GREENS!! A few minutes stirfrying is all that is necessary – they must be wilted only, not cooked through. This ensures they do not turn bitter and mushy. It is like steering a boat into dock in that you need to turn off the power (heat) before you reach “doneness” as there will be residual heat carrying the greens along that can make them overcook.
Use greens with intrinsic toughness and bite (as listed above), that are compact and that can withstand fine slicing. The flavours work well with all cruciferous veg (broccoli, cauliflower etc) but not all can be finely sliced and still look good and maintain a firm texture.
Slice the greens as finely as you can stand. I have lost many an edge of a thumbnail in the deployment of my mandolin (so frequently and painfully so, that I have a high-end version, with finger guard on my Christmas list – like this.). Slicing finely means that you can essentially eat the greens raw and they will still be delicate and tasty enough. This also give them volume and lightness and allows the flavours to reach even the hidden depths of the vegetable pile.
Make it on the spot, all can be prepped in advance, but they need to be stir-fried 3 minutes before serving. I made this at a friend’s house who was hosting us for Thanksgiving, as one of our dinner contributions and it was quick and painless, as I had all the ingredients pre-sliced and arranged to go. [Incidentally, the other guests asked for the recipe (even the anti-sprout militants) saying it was the tastiest sprout recipe they had ever tasted.]

Fresh turmeric in the foreground, ginger in the background

For years I made sprouts with pancetta and chorizo and chesnuts, but these are much lighter and more appealing when paired with all the other foods normally served at Christmas. In fact I eat this all the time once the sprouts are in season, even if slicing them is quite literally, a chafe. Fresh turmeric root is one of the planet’s most potent super-foods and fights cancer and a battery of other diseases. Amazingly it is now quite widely available. I can get it at my local market and on Ocado. It is responsible for the crazy lime-green colour of the sprouts in the photo and it has a wicked flavour and aroma too. If you cannot find fresh turmeric, or you can’t face an Ottolenghi-length quest for ingredients, you do not need to use ALL the spices I suggest. I often make these with only garlic, ginger and lemon zest.

Here you go:

The Brussels Sprout Recipe to trump all others.

December 22, 2015

by natalie

Category Christmas and Festive Holidays Mains Recipes Sides Veggie Headliner Act

If we can eat kale, we can eat sprouts, and this recipe is basically a way to combine and transform pretty much any combination/ ratio of arse-kicking, cancer-fighting, alkaline forming, green cruciferous vegetables eg: Sprouts Pointu /Savoy Cabbage (even a white cabbage but it would look slightly less green and inviting, although the texture would withstand this kind of preparation and cooking) Cavolo Nero / Tuscan Kale Spring Greens / Collard Greens Curly Kale (any colour)
If you are serving to children, hold the szechuan pepper and chilli. The quantities of turmeric, garlic, ginger etc. can be adjusted according to your taste.
After years of laboriously using a knife to slice my sprouts, I have moved on to a mandolin for really fast and fine slicing. Take care of your fingers though! I imagine you could use a slicing attachment in your food processor for similar results, but the slices should really be not more than 2-3mm thick.
THIS IS KEY: DO NOT OVERCOOK THE GREENS!! A few minutes stirfrying is all that is necessary - they must be wilted only, not cooked through. This ensures they do not turn bitter and mushy. It is like steering a boat into dock in that you need to turn off the power (heat) before you reach "doneness" as there will be residual heat carrying the greens along that can make them overcook. Use greens with intrinsic toughness and bite (as listed above), that are compact and that can withstand fine slicing. The flavours work well with all cruciferous veg (broccoli, cauliflower etc) but not all can be finely sliced and still look good and maintain a firm texture. Slice the greens as finely as you can stand. Slicing finely means that you can essentially eat the greens raw and they will still be delicate and tasty enough. This also give them volume and lightness and allows the flavours to reach even the hidden depths of the vegetable pile. Make it on the spot, all can be prepped in advance, but they need to be stir-fried 3 minutes before serving.

Persons

The Brussels Sprout Recipe to trump all others.

Ingredients

1 kg total, green cruciferous vegetables (Brussels Sprouts, Pointu /Savoy Cabbage, Cavolo Nero / Tuscan Kale, Spring Greens / Collard Greens, Curly Kale). In the photo I have used 2/3 sprouts to 1/3 curly kale.
For Christmas I like to use 750g Brussels sprouts and 250g curly kale for contrast
2-3 heaped tbsp Coconut Oil
1/2 head (preferably "wet" / fresh) garlic (c. 7 cloves/ 60g) as this can be shaved on a mandolin and is gentler in flavour
1 or 2 3-inch pieces (c.35g) of fresh turmeric root (available on Ocado, yay!), grated finely (eg on a Microplane)
1 or 2 2-inch pieces of fresh ginger root (c.70g), finely grated on a Microplane
salt (c. 1 tsp) and pepper to taste
1 tbsp cumin seeds, crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 tsp szechuan pepper corns, crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 25g bunch fresh coriander, leaves only, chopped
rind of 2 whole unwaxed lemons (you could add some clementine or orange zest for festive spirit too)
2 birdseye red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

Instructions

Your compact greens, eg. Brussels Sprouts, savoy and white cabbages should be sliced finely on a mandolin or by hand, no thicker than 3mm thick ideally. Start with washing any mud off, and stripping away any grubby or tattered outer leaves. Do not slice the stalkiest parts, simply discard these. Place these shavings aside in a large bowl and break up the layers with your hands so that they resemble fine green ribbons.
Then wash and de-stalk the greens that require it (eg. kale, spring greens, cavolo nero). Shake off excess water or spin in a salad spinner. Roughly pile up the leaves one on top of the other, and slice in to ribbons as fine as you can manage. Add these to the shaved sprouts.
Now put a heavy bottomed sauté pan on the stove and place your coconut oil inside, without turning on the heat.
Next prepare all your spices and herbs as you will have to move quickly once stir-frying commences.
Take your "wet" / fresh garlic (equivalent to c. 7 cloves/ 60g) and strip off any papery outer layers. When you get to the waxy inner layer and if the cloves are still held in the bulb, hold the whole head of garlic by the stem and avoiding the straw-like root underneath, briskly shave the bulb side-on, turning every now and then, until about half the bulb is sliced away. Put to one side.
Peel the soft skin off the turmeric root (if you can be bothered - I don't) with the tip of a spoon, do the same with the ginger, and grate both in to a pile and set to one side.
Crush the cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar, then add the szechuan pepper corns to these and crush them too.
Slice the fresh coriander, leaves only and put aside.
Zest the lemons and put to one side.
De-seed and finely slice 2 red birdseye chillies, and chop finely.
Turn on the heat under your pan to high, immediately add the garlic and fresh turmeric and ginger, stirring fast to prevent sticking. The turmeric will release a lot of colour, don't be shocked!
Throw in the sprouts and kale (greens of your choice) and stir vigorously to prevent sticking. They will be bulky to fit in the pan at first, so stir carefully to avoid tipping much on to the hob (alternatively you could split everything in half and do in two batches).
Once the oil has coated all the greens and they have literally only just begun to wilt (about 2-3 minutes) remove from the heat and throw in all (EXCEPT THE CORIANDER & LEMON ZEST) the other seasoning and spices and herbs and stir.
Once the greens have cooled down slightly, add the lemon and coriander as these are better not cooked, and are best eaten raw to maximize their aroma.
Serve immediately.

Going through the motions and Trio of Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese

September 29, 2015 by natalie 6 Comments

Although not many of you like to comment on here in person, (perhaps I have shy friends? Perhaps I am too vehement and I scare you off with my diatribes?) but I do get an awful lot of lovely feedback and also requests (via facebook, dm, sms and in person) from friends and acquaintances to share recipes of things which I share on Instagram. And it has been soooo gratifying to be on the receiving end of these. Especially so because I felt so sheepish sharing anything at all at the outset. I mean, does anyone care? I feel like these days everyone feels that their opinion counts, regardess if they have any credibility / expertise in the field and (worst aspect of all) there being no barrier to entry. Anyone can have a blog or be on Twitter or whatever – so you never know if you are just another annoying bit of static clogging up someone else’s life or whether there is a place for your contribution/perspective. I find this a horrifying thought. Normally I am (was) one of those lurkers just abstaining from joining the other lemmings navel-gazing and sharing it on the ‘interweb’. Sharing anything on Instagram – which I am relatively new to – I began to do reluctantly and purely as a stopgap, because I realized that I cook so much but am unable, due to time constraints, to publish it all on here. A mere fraction of it is actually written up and thoughtfully presented – perhaps about 5% of what is bubbling away under this roof any given week. Until I started snapping away at the stove and on my worktop, I never actually realized how much weekly cooking that amounted to, and that was only the stuff I remembered to shoot. It is also a reminder to me that I am, in some way, being productive even if it often feels the reverse. Instagram has also served as a surprising testing ground for what people are interested in eating and cooking for themselves: the feedback is instant and is shaping this blog in its infancy, which feels very positive in that it is living in the moment, it is current. Although it often results in the derailment or postponing of planned posts, it does divert me towards not just what I think may be, but what really is appealing to others and this in turn is exciting as it means engaging with a quiet community, despite the interaction not being face to face. It also means things are new and surprising, and topics organically arise rather than being fabricated. When I was writing this unpublished blog (for my sanity and the kids’ posterity) back in the Spring, I shuddered at the thought of having anyone peek into the chaos and intimacy of my daily life. But then my good friend Daphne, over one of my lunches, piped up with “what is the point of a blog if there is no audience? I mean, isn’t that the point? To share and react and have a dialogue?”. On the other side of the coin there is my husband who is extremely private and sceptical albeit very encouraging towards me, (I mean he got me into this blogging lark in the first place) who always needles me good-naturedly by referencing the famous tree falling in the forest – when no-one is there to hear it has it really fallen? eg. does the food we eat have any value if it is not Instagrammed, if noone is there to virtually see / “like” it? Ultimately we both know we enjoy the food and eat this way regardless of our audience but it is key to not become a slave to outside approval. They both have point.

With children to please – and, contrary to what it may appear I often don’t please my children at all with my culinary offerings – you can see why every micro-hit of appreciation from others is so addictive, so eagerly lapped up! My husband, who is trying to get me to unplug from technology at night and to be more present (I see his point and appreciate his concern for my welfare) doesn’t see that most of my mum-friends are most active at night when their time has fewer demands upon it and that they, or rather we rely on our cyber-friendships because we are a fellowship of mutual supporters, mothers struggling against the relentless “rinse and repeat” of daily child-rearing.

And this is the thing that I have come only very recently to understand:

…Our lives are lived in tiny modest, little increments, not attention-seeking flashes of public, marketable glory. Going repeatedly through the motions, whether they are “please hang up your coat” or “please eat your broccoli”, “have you finished your homework”, “please go and practise” – much like the Tiger Mom’s rule of 10,000 hours, eventually means that after apparently countless, relentless, seemingly empty and unappreciated gestures made in the hope of shaping your precious charges, these seemingly ineffective gestures, suddenly appear to have garnered value. Except it hasn’really been sudden at all, we just suddenly notice it, that is all. It has been the slow growing fruiting of our labours, we don’t immediately see the fruits of our labour or the progress we are slowly making. It may feel soul-destroying during the apparently invisible growth period because it appears that nothing is happening – we can all hear our enemy voice “what is the point?” and then, it suddenly catches up, just when you are at your lowest ebb and feel like throwing in the puke and tear-stained towel. Yoga is like this, also parenting and perhaps also giving birth…and they are three of the most rewarding things in life that I can think of. It is almost like a retroactive sprint that occurs to restore your faith in humanity after months, years of apparent going through the motions, of mindlessly repeating yourself of trying and trying and returning to the coal face. It is not dissimilar to when your first kid is not able to read and you sit there with them, countless bedtimes, and yet you think at the outset: “will he / she ever get there?”. With your first child you can’t even picture it. Same with potty training and sleeping through the night. Looking at your child and not seeing them grow on a daily basis doesn’t mean they aren’t growing, it is simply that for those closest to them, those in the eye of the storm, the changes are too subtle, too minute, to be easily detectable, but they are cumulative, they are real and they are there. But then maybe the season changes and you find yourself dusting off a pair of long unworn winter trousers and – it seems to have happened so suddenly – those trousers are just too small. There are tiny little increments in which we are living that are easily ignored or overlooked and which are in great contrast to the constantly revolving door of high-impact-instant-gratification-goldfish-sized-attention-span-heavily-filtered-overly-styled nuggets we are becoming accustomed to when scrolling on social media. Our obsession with instant gratification is making a chasm open up between “IRL” (in real life) ACTUAL living, breathing moments our and our online personae. No wonder we feel like our efforts are failing when they aren’t. We are too busy actually living and not necessarily documenting our own lives. AND THAT IS A GOOD THING!! The naked eye, much like the soul, doesn’t always see the progress being made and I have to remind myself of this. Scrolling back through my 70-odd instagram pictures lets me enjoy the otherwise immediately extinguishing trail of phosphorescence that is bringing up and feeding my lovely children. I used to love (and still do) any tv show that indulges me with ‘before’ and ‘after’ shots or accelerated time lapse photography of things being improved (Changing Rooms, Extreme Makeover, America’s Next Top Model etc.) it is like crack to me, someone who is constantly frustrated by all I don’t feel I achieve in one day. It is a hard line to walk, this dipping one toe in to social media and documentation, while the other toe is in the other camp, actually being present and doing without appreciation or thanks or yardsticks. There is a febrile sort of tension that many of us are struggling with: the living vicariously through technology on the one hand and the being present, the actual living of the very moment in which we exist. Then again feeling the need to immortalize, create umpteen time-capsules for every precious experience because everything feels so fleeting, when only a couple of generations before us, our very own ancestors were lucky if they had a family story passed on from mouth to ear or a single dog-eared photo of their wedding day or loved one. We no longer seem to appreciate the minutae of daily drudgery, or harbour the notion that it could have any positive elements. Well I am trying to, I want my kids growing up knowing how to make their own beds, do the dishes and sort their own laundry and manage their affairs. The thing that keeps me cooking (…documenting, photographing) is that I do honestly enjoy creating something beautiful, and then connecting with others emotionally through it. It may take time but for me it is not work, it is play. This is the antidote to all the other pressures and niggles of life. I can make things look appetizing (because to me they are) but it is not a fabrication, it is just a little tweaked with a filter here or there, in reality, with the smell and shared with my beloved it is even better. Just as it’s hard to find the middle ground between virtual and present, it can also be hard to be positive and not annoying, authentic but not boring and moany (plenty to bore with and moan about). I don’t want to create a moan-blog, nor an airbrushed one… I have a post pending following a terrible evening last week, and I can’t bear to read it and am not sure anyone else will either. Much like me sharing my terrible pregnancy snap however, chances are that, when I find the right tone (not the tone I adopted while hammering the keys in anger) I may share it too, because I have a blatant contempt for the overly curated lives represented on most social media and blogs. This is one of my favourite articles right here on the subject. I clearly have acquaintances like this and in the spirit of my very own basest of rubber-necking instincts I can’t bear to unfriend them because I cannot resist the so totally un-self-aware post-modernism, the black humour that they provide, the contemptuous grunts and guffaws they elicit from me.

Anyway back to the task in hand: Souped up Broccoli/Cauliflower Cheese. One very pertinent, interesting and thought-provoking interaction was thrown up by my instagram proffering of this broc-cauli cheese baked dish. It followed a thread initiated by an old school friend on Facebook, to whom I shall refer as NG, that had us all wading in. She had made a frankly gorgeous-looking ‘Spinach, ricotta, dolce latte & Parmesan gluten free lasagne’. She captioned it with : “Took me ages. And I bet all my coins that the children won’t eat it ???”

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this is a piece of it here direct from her picture…

I mean who in their right mind, wouldn’t eat this? the answer was: “Well one ate it, the other one did the ‘I don’t like it!’ without even trying it”

For those who feel like a lone soldier battling it out with your kids, here is the rest of the thread. If you just want the recipe, skip to the bottom…

ME: some things you just do anyway because if you wait for acknowledgment / appreciation you will be forever disappointed. The fact is that you are awesome! Start as you mean to go on. LOTS of my stuff gets rejected. It is a slow battle of attrition. If your expectations are low then that is what they will stretch to!

NG: I needed to hear that today!! Xxxx

ME: I think people assume that because I cook certain things for my kids that I am just lucky with them… the fact is that I get really down sometimes and after a knock back I try to get up again. I feel like it is another part of my job, to not give in and acquiesce to every whim / barrier. You know what? Enjoy it with your husband. Tell them that’s their choice: bed or lasagna! I have had to send middle one to bed with two bites of supper many a time. In our house trying is mandatory and noone is allowed to make horrified noises or they get a time out. Some days are great and others a nightmare!

NG: I’m feeling horrible right now as one is screaming for me to make a 3rd meal…. yes I think you’re right …. And I need to be a bit stronger!! X

ME: Just try and stay strong. Tell them that there is one meal and they have to adapt. Has he even tried it? That is the first step. “The new rule is that everyone tries everything they are asked to with no fuss or a time out” It has to be a proper mouthful, chewed and swallowed at our house. At first if it is a totally new unusual thing then I don’t insist they eat the whole meal, but if it is just a permutation of something they like, eg. Pasta baked instead of boiled, then I have no patience and they have to have at least 6 mouthful and we negotiate this number. If it is something I know they should like then I tell them they make no sense and there is a stand-off. EIther they have 30 mins to eat half and if not they go to bed with no pudding or substitutes! Lots of tears for them (and me).…having said that it is fish fingers tonight! : )

NG: I am going to live by this from now on. It’s where I started out and somehow it got lost frown emoticon xx… Natalie has laid the rules out and I am now going to follow them… Tiredness and the daily grind gets to us all I think. At least we all know from the older ones that everything is a phase and everything passes…. Group Hug now! ??

FRIEND OF NG: Looks amazing…tell the ungrateful sods that I’m coming for dinner every night to eat their dinner and they can go to bed hungry!!! x x

This touched exactly on the notion that we try and often feel we fail to get our kids to be good eaters. I personally think it is an acquired skill, like sleeping and good manners, and that some are naturally easier eaters and sleepers and some a nightmare but that real, positive progress can be made with all of them regardless on all these fronts. It is the same idea that underpins much new thought on talent vs effort and how we praise our kids. Anyway, a few days later I had to follow my own advice with the broc/cauli bake…

I had (as usual) been seduced by the veg at the Farmer’s Market (see wistful veg still life photos of last week) and found myself not so much in a chard overkill mode but in broccoli and cauliflower overkill mode. I confess it does make me feel righteous and wholesome to cart back a trolley full of greens, (just like putting on yoga pants can make you feel fitter even when you don’t get around to any actual yoga). Since I then feel bad throwing anything left away, I force myself to use it up any which way, and then by necessity it finds its way onto the kids’ menu.

In this instance, all three put up an initial fight but ended up consuming quite a lot but all adults who came in contact with it devoured it. I will also be repeating this regularly because to quote what I told my son :”broccoli and cauliflower kick cancer’s butt! They are from a family of greens that are some of the healthiest things you can eat and I will keep serving them, even if you complain”. I then did a little dubbed “kick ass” sound effects with accompanying gestures and he eventually ate 75% of his bowl. I also held off serving the fish fingers until I had deemed they had eaten a satisfactory amount. I felt flat but in retrospect, when sitting in bed later that night, I was glad I just went ahead and did it. I need to keep going through the motions and they will eventually respond!

Now here’s the recipe, admittedly inspired by a Jamie Oliver I saw way back, but with the addition of purple cauliflower and romanesco and pine nuts and anchovies and stuff… Mmmm. I will put up some super-duper snaps when I am not rushing next time I make this dish, so for now Instagram ones will have to do… at least they are “before” and “after” shots which, as you know, I personally find quite helpful : )) As soon as a recipe has no picture, I start to doubt whether I am doing everything wrong – you? Anyway, whether it is a recipe or teaching your kids how to eat, the trick must be to simply repeat going through the motions, practise, practise, practise and in the end it will all be good!

Here are some pics to help you follow the recipe:

You can throw parlsey or thyme in to this roux to give it extra flavour…

Look how beautiful! I forgot that I used purple sprouting broccoli in this version, and it works so well in a baked dish because it keeps its ‘bite’

The aromatic herbs like thyme and marjoram and oregano are the perfect fit with other strong flavours such as the anchovies or the Comté cheese you can see here…

This is the buttery, herby mixture in to which I threw the breadcumbs pre-topping…

the nut, breadcrumb and herb topping, melding together nicely…

and this is it, pre-oven but already gorgeous with a fine scattering of cheese below and above the nut crumb topping…

as you can see it didn’t last long enough for me to take an intact ‘after’ shot…

Trio of Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese

September 29, 2015

by natalie

Category Food & Health Trends Gluten-Free Mains Parenting and Family Recipes Sides Starters Topics from the School Run Uncategorized Veggie Headliner Act

As with all my recipes, the herbs / veg / seasonings pretty interchangeable! You will see similarities to my chard recipe but you could also use leeks and potatoes for this.
This dish can be "vegetarianised" of course, just skip the anchovies and opt for capers and choose the right, animal-friendly cheese.
Also you can make it gluten-free by using gluten-free bread or skipping the breadcrumbs altogether. It is still utterly fab with just the pine nuts and almonds.
You can also make it nut-free and it will still be wonderfully tasty.
For this recipe, these quantities filled a large oval dish measuring 25cm x 35cm.
I reheated it in the oven the following day and ate as a main dish and since the cauliflower had been left satisfyingly crunchy the first day, it withstood a second heating really well and was still very tasty.
If your kids like it, it also withstands shovelling into a hotpot for school packed lunch the following day.
Basically this is a classic bake recipe in which you fold your puréed broccoli into your anchovy-and-garlic-enhanced white sauce and pour it over the raw cauliflower, top with cheese and crunchy bits then blast in a medium oven.
You will find that the cauliflower underneath the crispy top, will still have a nice bite to it and not be mushy and sulphurous. This is key!

Persons

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Ingredients

For the roux / bechamel / white (green!) sauce
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
7-8 anchovies
1 bay leaf
1 pinch of nutmeg
drizzle of olive oil to prevent the butter from burning in the pan
chillies (fresh, dried / to taste or omit altogether)
60g salted butter
50g spelt or kamut (khorasan) flour, preferably wholemeal
600ml whole milk
500-600g fresh broccoli (c. 1-1.5 large head)
a few sprigs of oregano, marjoram or thyme, de-stalked
for the main body of the dish and topping
20g flaked or ground almonds
20g pine nuts
4 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tbsp salted butter
80g strong hard cheese, grated (c. 4 heaped tablespoons - I used Comté and Appenzeller because that is what I had to hand which made it super potent but a mature Cheddar or Parmesan will be just as divine)
1kg fresh cauliflower (one variety is fine but three makes a showstopper! Romanesco, purple and classic white are a great combination)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180° (350°F / gas mark 4), preferably the fan setting. You can see if the top is browning too much or not fast enough and see how you go. You can always save the day and prevent burning with a self-fashioned silver foil lid if need be.
First, as your oven heats up, get the tedious bit over and chop up your brassicas!
The broccoli can be chopped up fast, the stalky part should be peeled to remove any overly fibrous parts, as it will all be blitzed to a pulp shortly after cooking. The florets cook easily sit will do if you break them up into micro-florets but the stalk should be cut into small pieces about 1 cm cubes or 0.5cm thick slices. Steam or boil these stalks first then when they are tender to the point of a knife, add the florets as this way you retain more vitamins by not overcooking the florets.
Remove the leg and attached florets of the various cauliflowers from the main stem, chop the smaller stalks in to 1cm pieces and break any dense florets up. I try to have no chunk over an inch cubed in size, as it is not easy to fit in the mouth and will take too long to cook. The other florets can be a variety of sizes as this allows for a varying degree of creaminess and crunchiness post cooking.
Combine the raw cauliflowers, season them lightly with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and transfer them, so the colours are nicely distributed, to the bottom of a greased oven-proof dish.
Remove the broccoli from the heat and blitz to a purée, season and stir in the herb-leaves.
Now for the white (green) broccoli béchamel sauce. As per my other recipes, the usual method applies of frying the garlic and chillies (if you are using them, or switch in the chopped capers instead) in the butter and then once the anchovies have dissolved and the garlic has become translucent (but not burnt!) stir in the bay leaf, nutmeg and ground black pepper and cook it through for 4-5 minutes, until bubbling and foaming.
Whisk in the milk a little at a time until the mixture has a syrupy texture.
Remove from the heat, stir in the broccoli purée and pour over the bed of cauliflower in the baking dish.
Combine the breadcrumbs and herbs in a saucepan with the tablespoon of butter until the latter has melted and soaked through the crumbs.
Stir in the pine nuts and almonds then sprinkle over the top of the broccoli béchamel layer.
Lastly scatter the grated cheese over this and a last fine drizzle of olive oil.
Put in the middle of the oven and let the top "gratinate" and become golden and crispy before removing.

Decadent Chard Gratin

September 16, 2015 by natalie Leave a Comment

voila’: the marriage of veggie virtue and cheesy decadence

Since I posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook I have had a load of requests to provide the recipe for my Chard Gratin. I usually don’t have time to photograph my meals with a tripod and stuff so Instagram has been a godsend. Having said that it is not a vehicle for actual recipes. Please forgive the image quality… but here is the recipe.

The back story is that the other day I had trouble shutting the fridge because I had two huge bunches of chard spilling out of the veg drawer. I had whizzed round my local farmer’s market (which I have done almost every Wednesday since 2006) and bought too much – because first I bought from my usual stall as it looked lusty if imperfect and I felt in the mood for chard. Then I saw better chard at another stall, it was less gnarled and less stalky and not white chard but red – so I bought it there too… and then to my annoyance on a little way I saw an amazingly kick-arse rainbow-coloured bunch at a third stall. It was the super-model of chard. It was an utter firework of ochre and magenta and forest green and was so tender and unblemished that I had to get it too. Sometimes I can be so superficial that I will buy a thing for its beauty alone. I also went to the market hungry which is not recommended. In any case I knew I would find some or other use for – probably a soup or something that would wilt it all right down it and since I felt a detox was imminent I just paid up and hurried home.

After a few attempts at steaming it and serving it with just olive oil and lemon zest, maldon sea salt, pepper and garlic, my husband protested. Sighing: “It’s too much like hard work. It feels like punishment… like chewing on tin foil. Ugh.” At this point I realized I had to come up with a better, more lovable recipe.

In my mind I was thinking melted cheese makes everything better, especially for blokes. I had a sexy image of a “gratin / tartiflette-style” dish but I had no idea if it would work. Alternatively a soup. To check I thought I’d see if I could find any in my vast cookbook library. I flicked through about 5 books – fyi, Hemsley and Hemsley had not one chard reference in the index – which I found rather surprising. Sarah Raven’s “Garden Cookbook” (which I LOVE) had both a soup with coconut milk which appealed to me – but which was overruled by my husband – and a one pot dish which was a chard gratin with mussels (latter optional). I had recently made my first bechamel (I know, I know) to give a more comforting, luxurious layer to a potato topping for my shepherd’s pie. (It actually tastes nothing like a British shepherd’s pie and more like a ragu’ al bolognese with mince as the key ingredient and potato gratin on the top, I’ll provide this recipe shortly) and was utterly taken aback at how easy bechamel is to make. Raven’s recipe called for cream on the chard and also Parmesan and a browning sesh under the grill. I didn’t have any cream and I liked the idea of something rich-seeming but not so dairy-tasting so figured I could hybridize and rustle up my own chard gratin with bechamel and then grizzle the cheesy bits on the top.

Anchovies breaking down into a wonderfully savoury sauce when fried in olive oil (and garlic)

What takes this recipe up a notch is the anchovy element. Even my American, anchovy-hating husband has come round to loving them after 10 years of me secreting them into dish after dish. If they are broken down by frying gently in olive oil, they disintegrate into a wonderful granular dressing and provide a wonderful stock-like flavour and savoury kick that very little else can match. As this it the only non-veggie element to the dish, when cooking for veggie friends I tend to flex in with capers in their stead. Capers don’t break up and dissolve like anchovies do, but when blitzed in a chopper or finely sliced by hand, are great for mimicking that salty, marine-like flavour and punchy tang.

Here are some step by step images of how various stages of the recipe should look:

Cut the chard stalks in to 1cm chunks then…

…add the stalks to the pan of salted boiling water and cover…

after a couple of minutes add the ribboned chard leaves to the boiling stems and cover again

gently fry your anchovies and garlic and chillies (optional)

…and then throw in with the drained and dried chard and combine well

make your roux… it will bubble and look like this. Don’t let it burn, stir it every now and then while the flour cooks through (4-5 minutes)

add the milk gradually, stirring it in as you go to give this creamy kind of texture.

Chard with Parmesan gratin top, spelt bechamel, anchovies, marjoram and garlic

September 16, 2015

by natalie

Category Mains Recipes Sides Starters Uncategorized Veggie Headliner Act

You will need a baking dish (ceramic or glass or cast iron) that is approximately 30cm in diameter.
I like to use anchovies - particularly chilli-marinated ones I have found on ocado and alsobrought back from my hols in Italy, but you can choose the less fiery option, or recreate it by using fresh chillies. I also have tried putting anchovies in the base for my bechamel roux and in the dressing of the greens for the base and find this is more to my taste, but you can skip doubling up on the anchovies if you are not that into them and just salt your bechamel instead.
If you are catering for vegetarians, then capers are a good swap for anchovies.
I tend to make my bechamel by eye, and if I have some left over, it does form a skin when cold, but it can be re-used the next day if you remove this and whisk it back into to life with some love and heat.
Incidentally, I have recently re-worked this recipe to finish of the remaining chard and left over bechamel and put a layer of finely sliced potato across the top and the bechamel and cheese on that. The kids ate it more willingly this way : )

Persons

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Chard with Parmesan gratin top, spelt bechamel, anchovies, marjoram and garlic

Ingredients

For the base:
1kg chard (white chard tastes less metallic and therefore requires less saucing up! but I like to throw in some colourful chard for interest and visual impact too)
Salt
Pepper - freshly ground
5 garlic cloves
15 anchovies
1 chilli finely chopped- optional (with seeds if you like more fire, de-seeded first if not)
1 small cupped handful of fresh marjoram leaves - if available (if not fresh oregano, or in third place, thyme and if not don't worry!)
For the topping (hybrid bechamel and cheese):
50g butter / ghee
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 anchovies (I like the bechamel to be salted with anchovies but you can skip this and just use salt)
2 heaped tbsp flour (approx 50g) - preferably spelt, as it has more flavour and is more wholesome - if not plain is fine)
a light grating of fresh nutmeg (or c.1/4 tsp of ground)
400-500ml whole milk (about 3 mugs worth) - depending on how fast the bechamel thickens up - you can choose to add more or less, decide as you see the consistency
1 bay leaf
5 turns freshly ground pepper
salt to taste (if not using anchovies here)
5 or so heaped tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (enough to cover the top layer of your baking dish)

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / gas mark 4
Put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil
While this heats up, wash and de-stalk the chard. You need to separate the leafy part from the stalk because they cook at different rates.
Pile the stalks one on top of the other in an orderly bunch and cut them mercilessly in to 1cm-wide chunks with a large knife (- this will make it quick and easy - see pic on the blog post).
Then gather up the leafy parts, and roughly slice them in to ribbons about 1 inch wide (2cm approx.)
Throw the stalks in to the boiling water and cover.
After 2 minutes also add the leaves, stir to distribute the heat throughout and cover again.
After another 2 minutes drain the lot in the basket of a salad spinner (if you have one - in a colander or sieve if not).
Whizz the lot around in the salad spinner to centrifuge out as much water as possible. If you are not spinning the greens dry, squeeze them gently with a spoon from above to remove the excess water and spread the leaves and stalks out on to a clean tea towel (do make sure the tea towel has no softener or laundry smell or you're going to be nauseated later). Put to one side.
Now comes the flavoursome part:
Pour some olive oil in to a saute pan (or re-use the pan you boiled the greens in).
Turn the heat to medium and add finely sliced garlic and your anchovies / finely chopped capers and chillies (optional). Move it all around the pan to avoid it sticking and when the anchovies start to disintegrate into yummy dust, throw in the greens and give it all a good mix. At this point add your marjoram or herbs of choice and combine some more.
Now for the Bechamel:
Bechamel is made by forming a "roux" (cooking a flour and butter sludge in a pan to prevent the thickening flour from tasting raw) then adding milk. There are all sorts of serious roux-making theories about flavouring the milk by heating it with onion and cloves and bay etc first but I really never bother. It is such a faff. You can do a roux by eye after a go or two, as it is just this:
* Butter and flour heated together in a pan then cooked and stirred regularly for a few minutes (4-5)
* Bay leaf, seasoning added and stirred in (nutmeg, salt, pepper)
* Cold milk poured in gradually while stirring the mixture, until the consistency of it resembles thick cream.
It is very hard to make it go lumpy, it is really very easy. There are pictures on the blog of how to do this step by step.
When I want extra anchovy flavour in my bechamel I simply start my roux with olive oil, anchovies and butter and then continue with the flour once the anchovies have broken down and it works fine.
Then you simply pour one third of the bechamel on to the greens (pick out the bay leaf at this point) and stir to combine. Transfer to the baking dish, pour over a layer of bechamel to obscure most of the greens and cover with a snowfall of Parmesan. I like to drizzle a thin stream of olive oil over the top and some more pepper before shoving it in the oven.
20 minutes later it should look bubbly around the edges and golden and crispy. Make sure you let it cool for at least 15 minutes before attempting to eat it, unless you want a skin graft for the roof of your mouth.
Et voila.

Charred Cauliflower, Beetroot and Goats Cheese Salad

July 4, 2015 by natalie Leave a Comment

Explosive colour and nutrition!

It is clearly Salad Season. It has been stiflingly hot and muggy in the last few days, “The hottest day in 160 years in London” apparently. 36 degrees!

The secret benefit of this weather is that I am less inclined to nourish myself with tea and biscuits. Suddenly I am all inspired to use kale, kale, kale! and it doesn’t even feel like work!

The only drawback with this recipe was that I used an oven to roast the beetroot, so it made the kitchen quite hot and stuffy. A great alternative is to barbecue by placing around the edges of the grill when the fiercest heat has subsided and just let them come to, until they can be pierced easily, all charred and meltingly sweet.

As ever by dropping the cheese element, it adheres to the NORI protocol and also meets veggies’, vegans’, gluten-free requirements.

Charred Cauliflower, Beetroot and Goats Cheese Salad

July 4, 2015

by natalie

Category Gluten-Free NORI Protocol Recipes Sides Starters Uncategorized Veggie Headliner Act

You can either barbecue or simply roast your beetroot. You can barbecue your cauliflower too, or shove it under the grill or dry fry on a griddle. The options are myriad. You could also cook the beetroots earlier in the day and set aside. The flavour is severely muted if you keep them in the fridge thereafter though.
All the greens can be switched up with what is available. I used kale as I had some in the fridge. Rocket or any other deep green leafy lettuces of any description will work well. I reckon even broccoli florets or tenderstem at a pinch.

Persons

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour, 15 minutes

Total Time

1 hour, 15 minutes

Charred Cauliflower, Beetroot and Goats Cheese Salad

Ingredients

3 medium beetroots
1/2 a cauliflower
200g curly kale or other green leafy vegetable
1 whole, very firm, green-skinned cucumber
3 garlic cloves
sprig or fresh rosemary
1 "buche" or "log" of goats cheese OR white flavoursome cheese. (halloumi, feta etc.)
1 50g bunch of Thai or regular basil
For the dressing
the squished-out inside of your 3 garlic cloves (above)
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
a squeeze of lemon (according to your taste)
1 tsp Maldon sea salt flakes
3 twists of freshly ground black pepper
8 zig-zags of thick balsamic vinegar (equivalent to about 3 tbsp)

Instructions

Depending on how you wish to char your cauliflower, either turn on your grill or griddle.
Also turn on your oven to 170° for the beetroot.
Strip the green outer leaves and any woody protrusions from your head of cauliflower. Remove any blemishes on the white part, rinse.
Place your scrubbed, topped and tailed beets in a baking pan, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, sprinkle with Maldon and a few twists of pepper.
Add your 3, lightly bashed garlic cloves and your sprig of rosemary, torn into mini-sprigs, to the baking pan/ oven dish.
Place in the oven.
With a large, sharp cooking knife slice the cauliflower head in to inch thick (2cm) "steaks". Some small, unconnected pieces of floret will fall away. I like to lightly char these separately at the end and throw them in to the salad. You should have about 4 "steaks" escalating in diameter.
Drizzle the cauliflower all over with good olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon.
Put on a tray under your pre-heated grill or on your griddle or even on a dry hot pan and leave for a good 5 minutes or so.
Check to see how brown it is, turn to char the other side. When blistering in several places on both sides but not burnt, remove and place in a bowl to cool. (If you combine too soon with the leaves, they will wilt and lose their colour).
Wash and strip down your fresh kale leaves. Remove the woody stalks, tear the leaves into roughly 2-3 inch square bits. Spin in a spinner or shake dry and add to your bowl of choice.
Wash and top and tail the cucumber and cut in half lengthways, and then again lengthways to make quarters when cut in cross-sections. This should yield 1-2cm-square chunks. Add the cucumber to the leaves.
Check on your beetroot. The skins should be crisping up beautifully meaning it is time to turn down your oven to 120°.
Chop your cheese into chunks,(NB: if you are doing halloumi, I would suggest adding it freshly fried just before serving the salad by quickly slicing it into 1cm strips and frying in a little oil in a frying pan. Halloumi has a tendency to go quite hard and rubbery if not eaten warm)
Now that the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, break it up into bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl of leaves.
Rip up your rinsed and dried basil and add to the bowl.
When your beetroots can be pierced through with the tines of a fork or a pointy knife, they are done. Remove from the oven, allow to cool and once not burning hot, peel them gently, the skins should be baggy and easy to remove. Slice them and chop in to half lenghtways so the discs of beetroot are small enough to eat without a knife.
Add them to the serving bowl, combine everything and drizzle with the dressing ingredients, stir and as a finishing touch add a few sprigs of herbs and a another zig zag of balsamic.

The beetroots were roasted with garlic and I just squashed it and incorporated it into the salad… it’s a great marriage of savoury garlic and sweet beets!

Punchy Potato Salad

July 3, 2015 by natalie Leave a Comment

I have a mental list of “nostalgia foods” that bring me back to a feeling from my childhood or other poignant, memorable instant. On this list are a number of foods that can be so evocative but which I am afraid of eating regularly lest they be a let down and overwrite my memories. This list is not exhaustive clearly, but it goes something like this:

linguine con vongole (inguine with clams) – my absolute last supper
melanzane alla parmigiana
marinated herrings with chopped hardboiled egg and onions
charred peppers with parsley (a typical dish we eat in Italy)
chicken broth with a scrambly egg and grated parmesan drop dumpling stirred throughout called “brodo con stracciatella”
roast chicken and potatoes all with garlic and rosemary
cauliflower sauteed in garlicky breadcrumbs
apple fritters with vanilla soured cream
bruschetta with plenty of oregano

…and somewhere on there right alongside Polish Wjejska sausage, is my mother’s take of potato salad. …

5 a Day? 10 a day, more like: Aubergine and Sweet Potato Comfort Food

June 25, 2015 by natalie Leave a Comment

Our nationally touted strapline “have you had your 5 a day?” is soon to be obsolete. Or at the very least superceded by “10 a day”, as that is much nearer the reality of what constitutes a healthy diet. This isn’t a newsflash, it being so much in the air, what with Meat free Monday and vegan diets all the rage, but I am really trying to change the animal protein to vegetable consumption ratio in our house… For my mid-western husband it has been quite a slow dawning that a meal need not necessarily include animal protein to be substantial and tasty. In order to eat like this as a family, turning him around has been a key factor. I remember the first time he came home to our town in Italy and my mother had prepared a light but typical Italian Summer supper. We had just surfaced from our late evening Ryanair flight and made it via hairpin bends all the way to our beautiful Penne (in the Abruzzo), and we sat down to eat a tomato salad and fresh bread and a selection of cheeses. After polishing off a vast amount, my husband said something which is now a piece of family folklore, he turned to me, knowing what a fabulous cook my mum was, with “wow, that was amazing, I wonder what your mum has chosen for the main?”.

…

Virtuous-o Kale and Quinoa Salad

June 19, 2015 by natalie Leave a Comment

The only drawback to preparing this dish is the amount of ingredients you have to line up which then clutter your worktop, but I make the effort worthwhile by making a whole mound, then dressing it in batches as needed so that the bulk of it keeps in the fridge for up to 4 days. It is a really great standalone salad, perfect for any lunch. It is a particular hit with my girlfriends as it is a modern, wheat-free variation of taboule with an abundance of green and herbs, the latter being the dominant in the ratio to carbs.

Crucially, it is an absolute winner in the lunchbox (Yay, at LAST!) as the kale has body, doesn’t wilt or shed water too much and the rice and quinoa provide further bite and substance. The key is to use as much kale as you can as it does lose some volume, so don’t be shocked by my quantities.

I haven’t quite figured out how to work in a neat and un-cluttered way in the kitchen. The more ingredients and dishes at once the lower my self-esteem when I cast around the countertop. …

So shoot me, I make my own Pesto

June 10, 2015 by natalie 3 Comments

Pesto made and snapped by me. It is in a flavour-league all of its own.

I absolutely advocate shortcuts in family life. There is so much general friction just in getting out the door every day that if I can cut corners without compromising the end result too much then I’m all for it. I sometimes shake may head in numb disbelief at how much time of my life I spend just mechanically loading and unloading the dishwasher multiple times a day, scrubbing pots, emptying potties and picking peas up off the floor. It is hard to cook wholesome food that doesn’t generate lots of prep and clearing up etc. so, since I really am committed to wholesome food, I need to make it count and I need to know that nutritionally, my meal is going to blow the doors off to make it worth it. Pesto is one of those things that can vary in quality hugely. We’ve all fallen upon the odd jar of Sacla in our hour of need but I must say that I always feel underwhelmed and kind of disappointed after I’ve eaten it. It’s basically fast food masquerading as proper food. No aroma, no depth, cloying, too much acidity, and most probably very limited nutritional value. It is all about balance – would it be easier to just open a jar? Yes. Would it taste as good? No. Would it be as good value both nutritionally and economically? No. Too much of a compromise for me in that case.

One thing that makes me feel not so much old as very different from the childless segment of the population born after 1985 is their complete obliviousness to the fact that there will most likely come a day when you will have to put yourself last. It’s like a baptism of your own when you have kids. A watershed moment after which nothing is ever the same. You can’t unbreak eggs, just as you can’t unknow parental responsibility and love. I am a bit obsessed with those turning points in life that give you a sort of shell shock. It’s like the Gayle Forman quote:

“We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.”

It’s like losing your virginity – you can’t imagine it will ever happen, and then suddenly you are on the other side of it and one of the initiated. At first you look around you, and at your parents and your neighbours and teachers and think “they all do this weird thing, it’s so weird!” The same temporal jump happened with all the crucial watersheds, school exams and then Finals, your driving test. It is that mind-blowing notion that you graduate to new dimensions of experience /achievement. When my mum died I just suddenly felt the door opening and shutting and and a cool realization that I had had scales on my eyes, that I was ignorant to so much, to what so many people deal with in their lives every day. I felt small. I actually felt dumb, I felt I had barely scratched the surface of life and what its purpose is. I became aware that I had seen, like a pre-enlightenment citizen, my world as flat, as mostly sunshine and light, with my concerns only stretching as far as my own eye could see, when in reality the world is spherical, riddled with hidden depths, dazzling light as well as the darkest shadow. It makes you realign your priorities, painfully reinvent yourself, give less of a damn and generally shake off much time-wasting and dithering. Death when it strikes close can prompt you to finally eliminate the chaff, be it badly written books from your bedside table, destructive relationships, clutter, with no guilt. One of the best blogposts I ever read was this one. I think it captures what happens as you feel more comfortable in yourself as you age.

…

The Brussels Sprout Recipe to trump all others.

Ingredients

Instructions

Trio of Cauliflower and Broccoli Cheese

Ingredients

Instructions

Chard with Parmesan gratin top, spelt bechamel, anchovies, marjoram and garlic

Ingredients

Instructions

Charred Cauliflower, Beetroot and Goats Cheese Salad

Ingredients

Instructions

“We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.”

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