Nettle Soup with oat and Yoghurt bread and Dandelion Waffles

Today we will be making oat milk for the waffles we are making, using the left over oats to go into the oat and yoghurt bread.
A great foraging day today.
Although there was a fresh chill in the air, the sun was out and so were the dandelions that we picked in the garage area behind our house.

When we peeped around the corner we were greeted by a see of yellow dandelions. We all pick a few handfuls to be prepared for Dandelion Oat Waffles we followed this recipe to the letter other than adding some poppy seeds which were harvested last autumn.

The Ladies are separating the yellow petals from the flower head

     

These were then added to the batter  and turned into some delicious waffles, which we ate with icing sugar but also a dollop of banana and blueberry ice cream (left over from Monday's from Spade to Plate session)
     


We made some Swedish Nettle soup which we had with the oat bread. We baked the bread on the stove in a pan. Delicious!

    

From Spade to plate: Elderflower cordial making and easy bagels

This post was first published on 23/5/2018

As making elderflower cordial is such a typical English drink, we made this again with the Wednesday group. As it is a 2 day process, the Monday group picked the flowers  and prepared the lemons and let it steep so that the Wednesday group can finish it off and start another batch.

For lunch we made this amazing bagel recipe



















lovely with the vegan mayonnaise  or if you don't have chickpea aqua faba and don't mind using milk, this is another great recipe

we made and the vegan 'smoked' salmon'

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veganaise

Vegan Teriyaki Noodles

 Today was a little intimidating with Manami tuning in. She makes

at home, but rather kneading them by hand, she says she puts the dough in a plastic bag and then kneads is with her feet by walking over the bag for 15 minutes approx.   It is a good alternative work out either way. 150-200 times kneading by hand or a 15 minutes walk!

Anyway the Noodles came out really well and will make it again no doubt

The Vegan Teriyaki recipes  was a basic recipe,  in future I will look for more ingredients to go with these noodles

Christmas coffee morning - Book launch

Over the last few weeks,  have been finishing my 4th From Spade to Plate recipe book. Lovely to see these pictures from 2 years ago when we launched the first book .

Today was such an exciting day as it was the launch of the first From Spade to Plate cookbook.
It was lovely to see how much my friends enjoyed them, even though we have already spotted a few mistakes!  So the 2nd edition will be in the making.

I made some hot apple Christmas juice, with puff pastry mince pies, anise biscotti and an amazing strawberry Christmas star. To be honest I was surprised myself. Here is the link on how to make it.
The anise biscotti are included in the cookbook.

        

Spinach Christmas tree

A week ago in 2018  we had another lovely young chef. Isadora (aged 4) came with her mother Lu to show off her cooking skills. She was so helpful and made the From Spade to Plate cooking activity so different.

A few weeks ago, I promised to make marmalade with the group, as it is so easy (as we use Mamade) and quick and not something we could have for lunch.

        

we made a Spinach Christmas tree to go with the Soup

We went into the garden to harvest the carrots to make a simple but delicious Carrot Soup 
We added potatoes, (peeled by Isadora)   carrots, an onion to the pan, covered it with stock and after 20 minutes when the vegetables were soft, we pureed it into a lovely soup. This time we did not have bread with the soup but these lovely looking and delicious tasting Spinach, cheesey bread sticks.  With the left over pastry and spinach mix we made some savoury 'tortolini' shaped puffs. Easy to eat and very tasty with the soup.        

Broccoli and Blue cheese soup with coriander and tumeric soda bread

 During today's zoom meeting we made 

The recipes we used are listed below so that if you could not make the session,  you can try and make it at your leisure.

Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

Ingredients

1 large onion chopped

1 large potato chopped

·       1 litre vegetable stock

·       1 large head of broccoli roughly chopped

·       100g blue cheese stilton preferably

·       1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·       Salt/pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a pan, add the chopped onions, and cook gently until softened.

Add the potatoes broccoli and stock bring to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

 add half the cheese, and blend until smooth.

Add salt and pepper to taste

Serve with the remaining cheese crumbled on top.

 

For the Soda Bread

Ingredients

·       coriander seeds 2 tsp

·       Plain flour 450g, plus extra for dusting

·       ground turmeric 2 tsp

·       bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp

·       fine sea salt 1 tsp

·       butter 25g, diced and chilled

·       rolled porridge oats 75g

·       spring onions 4, finely sliced

·       kefir / yoghurt 375ml

·      

 STEP 1

Toast the coriander seeds in a small pan for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant, then lightly crush using a pestle and mortar. Leave to cool while you make the dough.

·       STEP 2

Mix together the flours, turmeric, bicarbonate of soda and sea salt in a large bowl. Use your fingers to rub in the butter cubes until only small crumbs remain. Stir in the porridge oats, spring onions and coriander seeds. Pour the kefir/ yoghurt over and use a knife or  to quickly mix in. Tip everything out onto a lightly floured worksurface and use your hands to gently knead into a smooth-ish dough. Shape into a 20cm round loaf with a flat top, and lift onto a flour-dusted baking sheet. Use a small, sharp knife to score a deep cross into the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until crusty and the base of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack while wrapped in a tea towel to soften the crust.

·     

·      

Our first Zoom Meeting! Thai butternut Soup and Scones,

 Nervous but excited as today will be the first (hopefully of many) Zoom meetings with my friends.

As due to lockdown we cannot do From Spade to plate, I wonder if this may be a little alternative to see my friends and do some cooking at the same time.

First surprise:  We had  visitors from abroad, Seiko from Tokyo  and Karina from Bonn join us. Carmen, June, Julie and Consuelo joined in as well.

We made Thai butternut soup, with some cheese scones. The original recipe came from Alice, who used to do an English Tea and served fluffy home made scones with clotted cream and jam. I changed it to be savoury but still they come out fluffy and light. 

As today was not an oven day, I baked them in a pan on the stove.

Alice's Scones

Ingredients

225g plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1½ teaspoon salt

50g frozen butter 

1 small egg 

125ml plain yoghurt

150g crumbled feta cheese

2 spring onions, chopped, or herbs or chilli flakes (optional)

A little milk to glaze

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt through a fine sieve into a bowl.
3. With your fingers, rub in the grated frozen butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
4. Add the crumbled cheese and chopped spring onion.
5. Whisk the egg into the yoghurt with a fork. Make a well in the flour mixture, add the liquid and stir again with a fork, making a soft dough.
6. Gather the dough in well-floured hands and knead very lightly. On a floured surface, press out the dough with a rolling pin to not less than 1.25cm thick.
7. Using a 5cm glass or ring cutter, firmly cut out the scones. Gather up the scraps, kneading them together to more scones. 
8. Transfer the scones to a well greased baking sheet. With a pastry brush wipe the tops of the scones with milk mixture.
9. Cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until well-risen and golden brown.
10. Makes 6-8 scones depending on the size of cutter.

We also made some yoghurt. I normally do this using milk delivered in  returnable glass bottles so that we reduce plastic containers

How I make yoghurt 

Ingredients

2 cups  whole milk

2 tablespoons plain greek yoghurt

Method

1. In a saucepan, over low heat bring the milk to a simmer. It will take around 15-20 minutes. The freshest milk will yield you better yogurt.
2. Once it starts to bubble turn off the heat and set aside. You notice a skin has formed on your milk, that is normal.
3. Let it cool down to the blood temperature. You can test by place your finger in there and if you can’t feel the milk around your finger then it is at blood temperature.
4. Once cooled whisk in the yogurt.
5. Pour into a sterilized jar and tightly close the lid. • Line a deep bowl with a thick tea towel and place in the jar of yogurt. Wrap the jar up well in the towel and let it sit out in a warm part of your kitchen over night.
6. After this time, pop the jar in the fridge and let it get cold, roughly 2-3 hours. Once chilled your yogurt will be firm and thick in texture.
7. Before you add anything, keep a couple of spoonfuls aside for the next batch. At this point you can add sugar, sweetener, honey, fruit and vanilla.
8. Keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

A vegan meal: 'cream' of Mushroom soup and Spinach, coconut and sweetpotato stew

 The weather was fresh but sunny, a relief after a week of rain and dreariness to have a walk to the allotment. We picked the spinach and peppers to go into the Spinach, coconut and Sweet potato stew.

We made our own Khorma Paste, although it took a little time to turn it into a paste with a pesstle and mortar, the end result was lovely.

 

For soup we made a Vegan mushroom soup, which was easy, creamy and very tasty. Rather than wine, we used some sherry and switched plain flour for the corn starch.