Last weeks bag with courgettes and aubergines gave me a lift, there was a feeling of changing seasons. This week, with little sunshine and more dull days, the veg bag arrived with cauliflower and celeriac and although courgettes had appeared again, I felt a longing need to see the end of the hearty root veg. March is that kind of month,stuck between Winter and Spring.

It had been a slightly quieter week in the kitchen and there was still  a few veg from the previous bag to use up. But with a busy weekend looming, and a lot of mouths to feed it was soon used up.

The week saw the end of the Sport Relief charity event and friend Ellen Arnison over at In a bun dance, was taking part in the adventurous and sporty Team Honk Relay. Being way too energetic for me, I offered to make food to sustain them through some of the Scottish parts of the relay. With an uncompromising weather forecast and the team planning to raft in Perthshire on the Saturday, warm hearty, easy to eat comfort food was the order of the day. A very large pot of lentil soup ticked that box and used up a fair amount of the carrots onions and celery, but thankfully it did the trick for warming up some very cold and wet rafters. My mother and I always disagree over the recipe for lentil soup as she adds leeks and I don’t. She also finely grates her carrots and I chop mine. It’s been the subject of many a discussion but that’s the way I prefer to make my lentil soup.

Lentil soup

This amount will serve around 4. Large ham hough, onion, carrot and any other leftover veg/herbs for stock. 1 litre of water. 8oz red lentils, 1-2 tbsp oil, 2 Onions chopped, 2 celery sticks chopped, 2 large carrots chopped, Bouquet garni of parsley, thyme and bay leaves.

Make the stock by adding the ham hough, water and the stock veg/herbs to a large pan. Slowly bring to the boil, skimming off any scum. Simmer for approx 90 minutes. Strain the stock and then return to the pan with the lentils and continue simmering for approximately 10 minutes. Add the remaining vegetables and continue cooking for approx 15 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are cooked. Blend to a smooth consistency. Shred the meat from the ham hough and add to the soup.

The second soup for the week was Celeriac and Spinach. Another one of my ‘green’ soups and also very tasty and nutritious.

1tbsp oil, 1 onion chopped, 1 small celeriac chopped, 750 ml stock – vegetable or chicken, herbs – I used bay leaf and a sprig of thyme,  2 large handfuls of spinach

Heat the oil in a pan and sweat the onion. Add the celeriac, cook for 1 minute and add the stock and herbs. Simmer for approx 15 minutes. Once cooked added the spinach, allow to wilt and blend to a smooth consistency.

Spicy Prawn & Veg Noodles

This is one of those recipes that works well with a variety of vegetables and as usual, I used what was in the veg basket. Other vegetables such as mushrooms, mangetout, green beans, celery, sweetcorn and peppers will work equally well. The prawns can be replaced with chicken or serve without meat as a vegetarian dish.

Quick and easy, healthy veg and noodles

1-2 tbsp rapeseed oil, 2 tsp grated root ginger, 1 garlic clove, crushed, 1 red chilli, chopped, 1 courgette, sliced, 1 large carrot, sliced into thin sticks, half of a small head of broccoli, broken into small florets,  3 tbsp soy sauce, tbsp sherry or Chinese cooking wine, small amount of vegetable stock (if required)   4 oz cooked prawns, 2-3 nests of egg noodles. To serve, freshly chopped coriander.

Heat the oil in a wok or a large saute pan, add the ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for 1 minute. Add the remainder of the veg and stir fry for 5 minutes. Add the prawns and heat through.  While the veg are cooking, cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and toss with the cooked veg and prawns, add the soy sauce, sherry and if required a small amount of vegetable stock. Serve sprinkled with freshly chopped corriander.

Pasta with courgettes and sun dried tomato pesto

This is another dish that was born out of what was in the fridge and it was packed full of flavour from the pesto and the goats cheese. The pesto had been made for the Team Honk sandwiches  with about 12 sun dried tomatoes, a small bunch of basil, 2 oz grated Parmesan,  2 oz pine nuts and seasoning. Any type of pesto from a jar will also work well.

Courgette and red pesto pasta

8oz of dried pasta, 1 tbsp oil, 3 shallots, finely chopped, 1 large courgette, approx 150g sun dried tomato pesto, 10 olives sliced, 100ml vegetable stock, approx 4 oz goats chopped cheese,  ( I used Dunlop Dairy, Bonnet, a hard goats cheese). handful of basil leaves.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. In a large pan, heat the oil and saute the shallots for 1 minute. Add the courgette, cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly golden. Stir in the pesto, olives and a small amount of stock if required and  heat through. Add the pasta to the sauce and mix well. Transfer to an oven proof dish, scatter over the goats cheese and brown under a hot grill. serve scattered with basil leaves.

Spicy Rice with Cauliflower and Chicken

The cauliflower was a good addition to this quick and easy spicy chicken rice, made with leftover cooked chicken I had used  in the sandwiches for  Team Honk.

Spicy rice with cauliflower and chicken

Serves 4. Long grain or basmati rice, measured to the 14oz Mark in a measuring jug. Add the rice to a pan with 500ml cold water and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, turn to a low setting and cook for approx 10 minutes until the rice cooked and the water has been absorbed. Set aside.

1 onion chopped, 1 garlic clove crushed, heaped tablespoon of curry paste, heaped tablespoon of tomato ketchup, 250-300ml chicken stock, small cauliflower broken into small florets. Approx 8 oz leftover cooked chicken, or any leftover cooked meat. Sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander and serve with mango chutney on the side.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan, add the onion, cook for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, cook for a further minute, add the curry paste, tomato ketchup and 250 ml of the stock and mix well. Add the cauliflower and continue cooking until it starts to soften. Add the cooked chicken, continue cooking until the chicken is piping hot and if needed add the remaining stock. Sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander and serve with mango chutney on the side.

Carrot and raisin cookies

I also had time to bake the carrot and raisin cake/cookies from the  Bellfield Organics newsletter, featured in last weeks post. I opted to bake the cookies and they were delicious.

Carrot and raisin cookies – the recipe can also be used make a cake

The veg bag contributed to breakfast, lunches and dinners this week with the added goodie bag  making my cooking week slightly more challenging than usual.

There seemed to be a mountain of veg for cooking, along with a few leftover parsnips from the previous week.  It was a great selection though, broccoli, squash, celery, red pepper, aubergine, avocado, Jerusalem artichoke, tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, grapefruits and the staples, potatoes, onion and carrots. 

A simple but tasty breakfast was scrambled egg mixed with sautéed chopped cherry tomatoes, served with homemade toasted bread. Always a nice way to use tomatoes, especially during the colder weather.

The two portobello mushrooms and the remainder of the cherry tomatoes were earmarked for  ringing the changes with Sunday breakfast.  The mushrooms were drizzled with garlic flavoured rapeseed oil and cooked in a hot oven for 10 -15 minutes. Cherry tomatoes were chopped and sautéed along with some chopped bacon, haggis and Lorne sausage. Chopped spring onion was added and the portobello mushrooms filled with the mixture. To finish, I topped with a soft poached egg, sprinkled with parsley. And served on top of a potato scone. All the flavours of a full Scottish breakfast and absolutely delicious.

Four soups were made, three of which were parsnip and apple with marigold petal garam masala, pea & ham and broccoli with Parmesan.

Parsnip & apple, pea & ham and Broccoli with parmesan

A fourth should have been carrot and coriander but for some strange reason my mother used a bunch of mint instead of coriander! It’s a long story but nevertheless the soup tasted fine.

Broccoli is a favourite with the family so there’s no such thing as too much and the two heads in the bag were put to good use.  Some  was added to a macaroni and cheese along with a small piece of cauliflower and that made a really dinner. Nothing complicated, cheese sauce added to cooked macaroni with veg mixed through.

It was also on the menu with the Sunday dinner of venison olives. For something different, the broccoli was lightly steamed, topped with a mixture of fried breadcrumbs, bacon and cheese and browned under a hot grill. A really nice strong flavoured dish and an excellent accompaniment to the venison.

A Creamy salmon pasta used the the last of the broccoli and it was very tasty. The sauce was made by blitzing  200g cream cheese, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 6 sun dried tomatoes (use sun dried tomato paste as an alternative)  and about 10 olives (optional) with salt and pepper in the processor. Before cooking the pasta, I cooked 2 salmon steaks in a steamer and when they were cooked added the pasta to the water, with the broccoli being added for the final 5 minutes of cooking. Gently heat the blended ingredients in large pan with approx 300ml milk and when ready to serve add cooked pasta, salmon and mix well. Served scattered with chopped parsley.

Avocados are a great favourite of mine  and I will happily eat a whole one all to myself. However, this week I shared, and made guacamole as a side for chilli con carne.

There are many recipes for guacamole but I like the avocado to be the dominant flavour and simply mash and mix with some finely chopped spring or red onion, a small crushed garlic clove, some freshly squeezed lime juiced. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

With the onset of Spring it was wonderful to see an aubergine and courgettes in the bag, and I found myself yearning for sunnier climes and warmer weather. Food, how it looks and smells can magically transport you elsewhere and Italian food does that so well.With that in mind I decided to make eggplant Parmigiana using the aubergine and 3 large plum tomatoes that were rolling around the fridge drawer.

The aubergine was thickly sliced, brushed with garlic infused rapeseed oil and roasted in a hot oven for 15 minutes. While that was cooking, the tomatoes were chopped and cooked in a small amount of oil, along with a large clove of chopped garlic, for about 10-15 minutes. In a small oven proof dish, I then layered the aubergine and tomatoes (2 layers) along with grated Parmesan cheese, seasoned with freshly ground black pepper, in a small oven proof dish. It was popped back in the oven for another 15 minutes until the cheese had melted and the sauce was bubbling. This made a delicious vegetarian meal, served with salad and crusty bread.

The kg of carrots in the bag usually disappears quite quickly, mostly served as a vegetable or used in soups. This week, grated carrot made an appearance in the vegetable pakora recipe, alongside potato and spinach. It made a nice change and is a good way of adding extra hidden veg to recipes.

Jerusalem artichokes are one of those vegetables that many people stay clear of and I have to admit, I was one of them, until the arrival of the veg bag. My friend, Fiona at Rumblie B&B makes Jerusalem and carrot soup for her guests and last year I followed her recommendation. Determined to do something different this year, I spent an hour on the sofa, looking for inspiration with Nigel Slater. Not the real person, you understand, but his book ‘Tender V2’, which has a lovely interesting section on these little earthy vegetables. I’ve decided on a casserole of artichokes and pork and that will be Friday night’s dinner.

I’ve got plans for the squash and the courgettes and the recipes will be in next week’s post.

The recipe on this week’s Bellfield Organics newsletter is carrot and raisin cake or cookies. A wee sweet treat for afternoon tea and I’m planning to make these for the weekend.

This spicy dough mix can equally be used to make cookies, in which case, drop heaped tablespoons of dough on to a lightly greased baking tray, 5cm apart and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

The veg bag kept me busy this week and with the family being home for the weekend there was a demand for plenty of food.  The selection of vegetables was good and with the appearance of courgettes and a pepper, I started to feel that spring was not too far away.  The usual potatoes, onions and carrots were there, along with more celeriac and leeks. There was also a lovely big piece of broccoli and it will be nice roasted a long with some herbs  and a few bits of cauliflower that are lurking in the fridge. Unfortunately there was no recipe on this weeks newsletter as there was so much news from Derek about what was happening on the farm.

Soup featured high on the lunches list and there was plenty of veg to chose from. First was  a minestrone soup that was packed full of veg and I also added some frozen baby broad beans and 2 rinds from Parmesan cheese for extra flavour. In Summer I usually add peppers and courgettes to minestrone but this week I had other plans for these bright cheery additions.

Minestrone soup

1-2 tbsp oil

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 celery sticks chopped

1 leek chopped

3 small carrots chopped

1 large parsnip chopped

Half small celeriac chopped

400g tinned tomatoes – or any leftover fresh tomatoes

1 litre of stock – vegetable or ham works well

2 Bay leaves

Sprig thyme – use dried herbs if no fresh

Sprig Rosemary

Parmesan rind (optional, I keep the rinds for adding to soup)

Seasoning

3 oz of any pasta.

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and garlic and cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the remainder of the vegetables and sweat gently for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, stock, herbs, seasoning and Parmesan rind if using. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the pasta and cook until a la dente. Serve sprinkled with grated Parmesan.

Roasted Veg Pasta with artichoke paste

The courgettes and peppers  were chopped into bite size pieces and roasted along with  shallots and half a head of garlic before being mixed with cooked pasta and coated with a delicious artichoke paste. The paste I used, came from Soralina UK , a small independent company who source their products directly from the producer in Abruzzio, Italy. This made a really quick and economical meal and was served simply with crusty bread.

Put the vegetable in a large bowl, drizzle with olive or rapeseed oil and roast in a hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Cook pasta as directed, drain and mix with the roasted vegetables a paste, sauce or pesto of your choice. Serve,scattered with fresh basil leaves and grated Parmesan.

Fish pie topping

Celeriac was in the bag again this week an apart from using it in soup I tend to mash it through potatoes. Normally when I make fish pie, I make a potato and swede topping, but this week I used the celeriac, and it really worked well with potatoes on top the fish pie. Unfortunately the picture of the fish pie does not look very appetising but suffice to say it was delicious.

French Onion Soup

One of my favourite soups is French onion soup although admittedly I’ve never made it. There was no time like the present as my butcher had given me some beef bones and the vegetable basket was groaning with onions.

I simmered the bones for around 7 hours, along with carrot, onion, bay leaves and tarragon and that made a lovely rich stock. While it was cooking I was chatting with a friend and he suggested roasting the bones with some onions first as that produces a darker stock. Next time!

I found several recipes for French onion soup but decided to use James Martin’s from his book ‘Slow’. The soup was easy to make, 1.5kg of  onions were sliced and cooked for 45 minutes, producing nice soft, golden coloured onions. Garlic was added along with sherry and wine, followed by the stock and cooked for another 40 minutes The traditional way to serve the soup is topped with a bread crouton topped with Gruyere cheese but I used Ayrshire Dunlop cheese, as that’s what I had in the fridge.

Spicy food

I had been sent some spice mixes by House of Spice and I made the 2 dishes to accompany our curry on Saturday night. I’ll be writing about the mixes in a separate post but the 2 dishes, Bombay potatoes and Tarka dhal went well with the curry, using up some more potatoes and onions.

The newsletter from Bellfield Organics gives details of all the veg that will be available for the bags in the following week, and usually I’m content to take whatever is delivered.  However, for a change of flavours I’ve asked for celeriac and parsnips to be replaced with other veg such as cabbage, Beetroot, pak choi, kale, or swede.  I’ve also asked for a ‘goodie bag’ this week, meaning that there will hopefully be a few surprises for cooking up.

Further info

www.bellfield-organics.com

www.soralina.com

I’ve decided to add a new section to ‘A Wee Pinch of Sugar’ – The organic veg bag. My delivery arrives on a Wednesday from Bellfield Organics and I  just love having a rummage, thinking about what I’ll be cooking  in the week ahead.  It’s all Scottish seasonal ingredients and although I usually have a general idea of what it contains,  occasionally there’s a surprise that I wasn’t expecting, maybe signalling a welcome change in the seasons.  There’s also a great wee weekly newsletter, apparently very popular with Bellfield customers, with news of what’s happening on the farm at Bellfield and  a recipe, always handy if my cooking imagination has dried up.

Root veg such as parsnips, carrots, celeriac and swede are regulars in the current Winter bags, but it’s  also great when gems such as purple sprouting broccoli, kale and beetroot make an appearance. All of these fit well with my cooking at this time of year as I tend to slow cook, meaty casseroles and lots of soups.

Last weeks bag had my regular potatoes, carrots & onions with cauliflower, leeks, celeriac, parsnips and celery as the seasonal veg. I usually make soup every day and if it’s one of those quiet  weeks of solo dining then I’ll make a few dishes for the freezer. Celeriac and parsnips are great for those dishes and I usually make a vegetable mash using parsnips, carrots and swede or celeriac and sweet potato. These freeze really well and when I’m reheating, a topping of breadcrumbs, cheese and herbs gives a great crunchy topping

Celeriac is a real favourite of mine and I like to use it for soups such as celeriac and leek, or celeriac,spinach and potato. Mashing celeriac with potatoes is a great way of adding extra flavour and an extra vegetable to a meal. This is what I did to accompany this shin of beef recipe and the additional flavour of the celeriac worked really well with the overall dish. This shin of beef recipe can be found in the first of ‘ The Whole Cow’ recipes. (Feb post)

Celeriac & Leek soup

2 tbsp oil

I small onion chopped

I leek chopped

1 medium celeriac chopped

1 carrot topped tailed and left whole (I leave the carrot whole as it is reported to be more nutritious)

2 bay leaves

1 litre of stock. vegetable or chicken

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Handful of parsley

Heat the oil in a medium sized pan. Add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes.

Add the leeks and celeriac and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Add the carrot, bay leaves, stick and cook for about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, allow to cool slightly and blend either in a food processor or with a hand blender.

Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

 The cauliflower was used to make to make Aloo Gobi, a curry dish I really like as I love the combination of spicy cauliflower and Potato. The recipe came from ‘The Hairy Bikers, Great Curries’ and although the recipe suggests evaporating most of the liquid, you can see from the photograph that I like mine with some sauce. It can be a meal in itself served with naan bread and raita.

This newsletter recipe for this week is Curly Kale & Cheese Bake. This would be a great accompaniment to meat dishes or as a vegetarian dish with some good crusty bread.

Curly Kale and Cheese Bake

2tbsp oil

1 onion chopped

1 red or green pepper, deseeded and chopped

450g  curly kale

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

175g cheddar cheese

2tbsp Parmesan cheese grated.

Pre heat oven to 180oc /Gas 4

Heat oil in pan, add onion and pepper and cook for about 5 mins.

Add the kale and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Season to taste.

Add the cheese, stir well and transfer to a baking dish.

Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top, cover and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Uncover and bake for a further 20 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbly.

There’s still a few parsnips leftover so depending on what’s in this weeks bag, I might blanche and freeze for roasted parsnips or make a parsnip soup or mash.

Find out more about Bellfield Organics – www.bellfield-organics.com