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!

    

'A sort of Thai curry'

Coming back from the garden with all this lovely organic produce I needed to think what to do with it. I also had a can of coconut milk and some yellow curry paste so decided to combine a few recipes I had used before. The result was lovely.

We cut up a medium sized butternut squash into small cubes, some green beans, carrots, red peppers  and broccoli  florets into similar sizes.

This post was first published on 15/10/2018

In a non stick pan we heated oil and added a chopped onion and a clove of garlic once translucent we added a good table spoon of yellow curry paste and cooked for a minute to develop the flavour.

When fragrant we added a quarter of a tin of coconut milk and mixed it all through.

Once done, we added the rest of the coconut milk, rinsed out the tin with 2 tbsp of water and added to the pan.

Then we added the butternut squash chunks, the rest of the vegetables and a little salt to taste.

We simmered it for another 15 or so minutes.

Meanwhile we dry roasted a handful of peanuts nuts. When toasted, we put most into the coconut mixture, keeping behind a little as topping when we dish up.

We served the curry with noodles and topped with cashew nuts and coriander leaves. MMM!

Asparagus risotto, lilac syrup

This morning we first headed out into the garden to inspect the plants we have grown a few months ago. The potatoes and broad beans are looking good.

Afterwards we went to the allotment to pick the mint and purple sprouting broccoli.


The asparagus are ready to be harvested and thought it might be nice to start the season off with a asparagus risotto. served with purple sprouting broccoli with melted butter and lemon juice.

The lilac is in full bloom and is filling the air with its sweet scent. We harvested a few blooms to turn this sweet smell into a sweet drink



Preparing the petals was a joyous activity, relaxing and almost meditative, whilst being surrounded by a sweet scent and above all lovely friends.
     


As dessert we made a lilac cheesecake mousse and adaptation of the lemon cheesecake mousse.
Using the lilac syrup and lemon juice for taste, decorated with mint leaves and some lilac petals.


Not only did the mousse take great, but it looked delightful too.



This session was first posted  23/4/2019

Curried Chickweed, dandelion fritters and basmati rice

Today we had a large group who went on a little foraging expedition. We were on the hunt for dandelions and chickweed.

Before we set off, David made some vegannaise using aquafaba, which we used as a dip for the Dandelion Fritters as well as a topping for the Chickweed curry.

       

The chickpeas that were left were used in the Curried Chickweed recipe which we had with a carrot and cumin seed salad

A hive of activity in this kitchen, when we prepared the carrot salad

. 

The Dandelions were turned into some delicate Dandelion fritters.

What a lovely birthday party

Today I was treated with no end of flowers and cards before we made my birthday meal. As one friend needs a gluten free diet and another vegan, we managed to come up with a lovely meal with much of the food coming out of the garden.

We sat down and during the preparation of all the food we had a chat, laugh and time to share experiences together.

 It was a hive of activity. We started by making the special occasion salad, we only needed to pick the greens (lambs lettuce and chickweed) from the allotment to add later.

The kitchen smelled divine after we started the curry, again we could make most of beginnings of the curry and needed to pick up the Chard for the Chard and Mushroom Curry from the Guardian News Paper.

Chard, chickpea and mushroom curry (V) which we had with rice and a delicious salad and a sweet potato roti we added some cumin seed to the mix before cooking in a dry frying pan.

When we were in the alloment we pick a variety of different coloured chard, it was a joy to eat but also to look at as it was so colourful.

As we made a vegan gluten free carrot cake, we went to the allotment to pick hand fulls of carrots.

 

     

Wednesday 30th May. From Spade to plate: Creamy mushroom and spinach

As we are clearing the chard from the allotment, and sowing again for the coming season.

A bit of a Green theme today.

Asparagus and Spinach soup  with tomato bruschetta

What is so wonderful about our group is that apart from sowing, harvesting, and turning lovely fruit and vegetables into something delicious and nutritious, we spend a lot of time chatting and discussing  issues that are questions from our foreign visitors. Felicia had questions regarding the history of the wives of King Henry 8th. Thank goodness for Melendra's input as she seemed to know more about the UK royal history than the English members of our group. Also great that we had Google on hand, to verify the facts.

Melendra and Felicia, checking our History facts

 I thought  this tasty  recipe with Mushrooms and spinach, thought it might go well with some rice.





As a dessert we had banana, strawberry and rhubarb icecream.

We had frozen banana slices, whizzed it in the foodprocessor with some strawberry jam and stewed rhubarb. We then had an instant creamy, vegan icecream.

Paola's Spinach recipe.

Cook the spinach, squeeze all the water out and chop. Mix with ricotta, egg (or eggs) parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and a bit of flour.
We used this gnocchi recipe but added loads of spinach

Form into balls and roll into flour. 

When the water comes to boil drop them in and lift them out once they come to the surface (like gnocchi). Don't let the water boil too hard because that could cause them to disintegrate….





For the tomato sauce put some oil in a pan with a clove of garlic. Fry the garlic without letting it go brown and add chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar as well as basil.
Cook for about 10 minutes, Voila!
Ciao x

Thanks Paola, the end result was gorgeous.