Lets get sorted for Christmas: woohoo

I love christmas time, all the family round, feasting and being merry.  Cooking christmas lunch, mmmmm, let me see, what to make, a smoked salmon terrine(made with scottish salmon of course), Roast Turkey with all the trimming's and possibly some homemade cheesecake's, to make them a little special add some booze, a Lemoncello Cheesecake ( I know it's not very Scottish, but my lil' sis lives in Italy, so we are thinking of her and maybe a wee Drambuie cheesecake as well, and some brussel sprouts from my own personnel veggie man.  I will be taking lots of pic's and possibly will put some festive pictures on

Just got another lot of vegetables from my own personal vegetable man, which included the very last of his tomatoes and raspberries, which I may add I promptly froze, so as to utilise at a further date.

What’s in a stew/casserole??

When you think of a casserole or stew, do you think of chunks of meat in a rich gravy, meat and fish seem to dominate at all meal times, I think we need a little shake up and start to use vegetables a whole lot more. You may think I am a vegetarian by the recipes I have spoken about on this Blog, as all I seem to talk about are veggies, I want to encourage anyone out there who is not very sure of how or why when it comes to vegetables and to use them in wholesome and creative ways, for example the beetroot brownies, I hope that encouraged many of you to go out and try something that little bit different. As vegetables have no saturated fat this can in turn lead to a healthier diet for many, and lets face it in today’s society that is something everyone is striving for, being fitter and slimmer. It’s not just vegetables that I am talking about, throw in some legumes, I see puzzled faces reading this, what are legumes, to you and I legumes are pulses, you know lentils, split peas, all the things you probably make your lovely home made soups with, and adding these to the  anyone to use as much produce as possible that is in season, it is cheaper and tastes a whole lot better, even the celebrity chefs are getting on board, take Hugh for example (Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall) on his television programme, River Cottage, he embarks on leaving out his meat eating days behind him and sets out on a vegetarian adventure, for the whole summer, it will be interesting to see if he accomplishes it.

 I would love for you to try this  Root Vegetable and Lentil Casserole, this heart warming dish, with chunks of carrots, parsnips and potatoes flavoured with curry and thickened with red lentils,  hashearty flavours from the vegetables and then a warm sensation from the curry and that aromatic flavour of the fresh coriander and garlic , perfect for the dark chilly winter nights ahead, served with slab of wholemeal bread, drizzled with plain yoghurt to cut through the soft spiciness’, and washed down with a glass of red wine( or a cup of tea if you prefer).  So go ahead try this out and find out how joyful cooking with vegetables can be, I think you will be surprised at just how versatile this commodity is and you may even utilise much more in the future.   Enjoy!!!

Root Vegetable and Lentil Casserole serves 4

2 tablesp Sunflower or vegetable oil

1, onion, chopped

2, garlic cloves, crushed    

700g, potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks,

4, carrots, thickly sliced

2, parsnips, thickly sliced

2 tbsp, Curry paste,                      

1 litre/Vegetable stock,               

100g, Red lentils,                         

Small bunch, Fresh coriander, roughly chopped,

What Next.

Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion and garlic over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally.

Tip in the potatoes, carrots and parsnips, turn up the heat and cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring, until the vegetables are golden, add lentils and cook for a further couple of minutes.

Stir in the curry paste or powder, pour in the stock and then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are tender and the sauce has thickened.

Stir in most of the coriander, season and heat for a minute.

Top with the rest of the coriander.

Well how did the Beetroot Brownies go??

Well how did the beetroot brownies go down? A storm I bet. Here we are now at the beginnings of winter, forgotten are the hazy days of summer and the gorgeous days of autumn have arrived.   Winter to me conjures up cosy soups and hearty stews, like cold hands wrapped round a big steaming mug of a hearty soup that is, a meal in itself, taking away the chills of the icy wind and snow,  sitting in front of a roaring fire, getting the heat back into your fingers and toes.

Soup:  what can I say it’s as old as time itself?  The act of taking whatever you have in the vegetable rack, the store cupboard, or your fridge, throwing into the big cast iron pot, to create a nutritious and filling meal, yet simple to make and serve.

Soup depending on what type is easily digested and for many years was prescribed for invalids; don’t you remember being ill when you were very young and being served some kind of chicken soup, as it was easy to eat, there was no effort involved, no chewing, just swallowing, oh yes and you were always brought in a bottle of lucozade (fergusade) wrapped in crinkly paper that was like a tonic for helping you recover from whatever illness you had.

During my childhood my grandfather lived with us, he was a chef and a gardener, who was very accomplished with regards growing his own vegetables and fruits, it was normal for me to be asked to go out to the garden, with my little wicker basket, and pick peas, (which I may add took a lot longer than should have, because I was eating more than putting in my basket) peas, that would be made into the most wonderful, vibrant, colourful and fragrant, green pea soup.  He would encourage us to eat up our vegetables and would state that soup was the best food in the world, because it was simple and nutritious, and all the goodness came straight from the garden to the pot.

I have kept this view pretty much through my life, if I can I will use the freshest vegetables available to me.  Pottering about the garden brings childhood memories flooding back, uprooting potatoes, scrubbing them clean, sitting down to a mountain of new potatoes, skin on, lashings of butter, cascading down like melting lava, my mouth is watering at the thought of that sumptuous memory.  Soups in my mind should be chunky, thick heart-warming, nice big chunks of vegetables that all have different flavours and textures and yet come together like old companions; but what to accompany the soup will it be the usual bread, crusty and hot with a little dab of butter of something a little different, perhaps a muffin packed full of yet more vegetables.   As you know baking is a thing of mine, so I have decided to go with this hearty vegetable soup, a muffin, a savoury muffing stuffed with courgettes and carrots, which will compliment this chunky and filling soup.

Hearty Vegetable Soup, Serves 6

You'll need:

200g, butter     

5 large potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

3 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 large turnip, peeled and roughly chopped

 2 large leeks, cleaned and sliced

 2 vegetable stock cubes

1 large pot (deep) with lid

Here’s how,

 Cut off the green leafy parts of the leek, then cut it down lengthways, split open, and wash under cold water.

Proceed to chopping, from one end to another. Once you're other vegetables are peeled, chop them roughly.

Melt the butter and fry off all the vegetables until they are all well coated, cover and leave to sweat, add the vegetable stock, cover and leave to cook.

 Once your root vegetables have become nice and tender, or even mushy depending on how you like your soup, salt to taste.

Serve with nice crusty bread or as suggested with some savoury muffins.

 Courgette and carrot Muffins, makes 12

You’ll need:

Courgette, 200g peeled and grated

Carrots           , 200g peeled and grated

S.R Flour, 250g

Baking Powder, ½ teasp

Salt, pinch

Cinnamon, 1 teasp

Nutmeg          , ½ teasp

Pecans, 62g, chopped

Eggs, 2

Milk, 250ml

Butter, 80g, melted

Here’s how,

Preheat oven 180°C, gas mark 6, if fan assisted oven reduce to 160

Brush a 12 hole muffin tin with oil, and coat with flour

Grate courgettes and carrot.  Sift flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl.

Mix together the carrot and courgette mix with the dry ingredients. Combine the eggs, milk and melted butter whisk until thoroughly mixed; add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, mix together.

Spoon the mixture into prepared tins, bake for 15-20 minutes until golden, cool on a wire rack.

Food is gorgeous don't you think!!!

Cooking for me is fun, exciting and very rewarding and it brings out my creative side, it’s about taste and texture, trying new foods and experimenting with new and fresh ingredients and seeing the delights on family and friends faces when trying out my concoctions.

I love to bake as well as cook.   Baking gives you a certain satisfaction, after a few hours in the kitchen using some ingredients and bringing them together, creating lovely aromas wafting through the house, comforting, inviting and homely, taking you back to your childhood.

When baking I like to try different things, for instance at the end of August while Alex and I were walking the dog, and in one of the most unlikeliest places off the main road, we noticed a bountiful supply of brambles, we stopped and thought, mmmm, let’s go and get a dish and start picking these lovely fruits, so that’s exactly what happened, and as we walked and picked, on this gorgeous late summer evening, we talked about how to use  these freshly picked goodies, a crumble perhaps, served with lashings of homemade custard or some jam,  no, some bramble shortie,(shortbread biscuits) as I mentioned before I do like to bake and even if I say it myself I make a mean shortie; I also included succulent bramble muffins, biting into this muffins, the full flavour of the brambles exploded  in the mouth, the texture soft and light, so that was it, experimenting happened, a couple of batches later here it was, crisp short sweet biscuit with pieces of zingy bramble’s, and muffins, sweet, light full of late summer tastes perfect with coffee, sitting in the garden on a sunny afternoon, ah bliss!

I try and use as much vegetables that are home grown, I used to have a vegetable patch, but have moved house recently, and this garden does not have a vegetable patch, not yet anyway, it will do by next spring, but hey that’s another project, lol,  as I said I try and use as much home grown produce as possible and luckily Alex’ father has a large allotment, and he is very generous in giving us his produce, we swap vegetables for home baking, this seems to work out well for all concerned!!  The produce we have received so far has been varied and the one vegetable I will be using right now is the mighty beetroot, this vegetable I feel is slightly under rated and is used mostly for pickling and in salads, it is very versatile and can even be used in cakes, yes you read right cakes, it’s funny when you see how much people enjoy these rich, moist chocolaty cakes and when you tell them they are full of this delightful vegetable, the reaction is “what”, “beetroot”, oh really I would never have guessed; ha ha, it’s the shock factor that makes me laugh; so I would like for you to try this recipe so you to can give your friends and family that shock factor to.

Grease a baking tray (25cm) with oil or a little melted butter and dust with flour or line with greaseproof paper.

 Luscious Chocolaty Beetroot Brownies

What you’ll need;

Unsalted Butter,                   250g, cubed

Milk chocolate,                     200g, broken into smallish pieces

Cooked Beetroot                  200g, grated and excess juice squeezed out

Cocoa Powder,                     80g

Plain flour,                            65g

Baking powder,                    1 teasp

Caster Sugar,                       360g

Eggs,                                      4

Walnuts,                                50g, broken into smallish pieces

Here's how;

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a large bowl over a pot of simmering water stirring until melted and blended together.

Add the squeezed grated beetroot to the chocolate mixture.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to the chocolate mixture, mi x well.

Gently whisk the eggs and then add a little at a time the chocolate mixture until smooth.

Pour the mixture into prepared tray and bake for approx., 25 minutes, use a skewer to test the middle, it should be a little moist but not wet.

Leave to cool and serve with a drizzle of double cream or on its own with a frothy cappuccino.

Enjoy!

Some more about me!!

Well what can say about me, I am a foodie and I have been since I was a small.  Growing up firstly in a small fife town, Tayport, next to the River Tay, this was a laid back place to live.  We had a large garden which my grandfather tended to; we would help him or hinder whatever the case maybe, we moved to Dundee, a huge city that was fast paced compared to the little town over the water, but even in the middle of a housing scheme, my grandfather still had a huge garden and produced our vegetables and fruits, he was very popular with our neighbours’ as not many of them had seen a proper vegetable garden.   So I have grown up surrounded by good food and someone in the kitchen producing good wholesome meals, being subjected to weird and wonderful concoctions’, for example once when I was about 5 or 6, there was a very strange smell coming from the kitchen, but it was wafting through the whole house, but believe me the smell was not a pleasant one, in fact it was quite revolting, like some old vegetables, with trepidation I entered the kitchen, usually, with comforting smells, and asked “what is that horrible smell”, to which the answer was , don’t be so cheeky “mac” that’s my lunch I’m cooking, and for your information it’s a delicacy called tripe, tripe I said what is that, to which my grandfather informed me that it was a sheep’s stomach, yuk was my response, but because my family wanted us all to have a good knowledge of food we had to try all sorts of things, so that day with the revolting smell was my day to try that awful offal tripe, to this day I can still remember the texture and that disgusting taste, but this has given me the insight to always try new and different foods and ingredients, on the flip side some of the foods brought into my house were amazing, driving to Arbroath buying fresh crabs bringing them home and putting them in the bath so we could have dressed crab, now that for me was amazing, seeing these live crustaceans, helping  prepare them for this wonderful dish, the meat soft and fluffy, the taste fresh and clean a slight hint of fish, wonderful.  So it just seemed the obvious career choice, a chef, to cook and bake and make people happy with the creations I made, I enrolled in college and my journey began.  I have as you can probably tell had a lot of influence from my grandfather who was a huge inspiration to me and I believe I became so involved in food and cooking because of him, I want to share with my family and yourselves, the passion I have for food and cooking, for them and you to appreciate what goes into the food and to use the freshest ingredients, produced locally if possible, if not locally our own country’s produce or better still from your own garden.

Seasonal vegetables

Beetroot received from in laws fab, watch this space for recipe ideas using this versatile vegetable!!

Fruit and Vegetables

Throughout this blog I will try and create simple dishes and recipes that anyone should be able to follow giving hints and tips on using seasonal produce to help save money and time.