Dandelion pizza - Spinach soup - Rhubarb crumble

Rhubarb flowers to cheer up the room

A three course meal for 9 people in 2 hours, not bad for a Monday morning activity.

I have to confess that because the horrible cold and windy day, I went out to pick the food yesterday evening.

For starters we made a spinach soup.
June and Asako cut the spinach and wilted it in some salted water,
They then added a chopped onion, some rosemary and a minced garlic clove.
They then added a vegetable stock to cover the greens and let it simmer until cooked.
At this point we added some cornflour to thicken the soup a little. Then added some milk to bulk it out.

We served this soup with a swirl of double cream, a little gorgonzola and to please the eye as well as the stomach some chives and lambs lettuce flowers.

For the Pizza I picked the Dandelion leaves and some spinach beet to bulk it up.

Dandelion, spinach beet, red onion, garlic and  smoked courgettes

For a quick and easy non yeast pizza base I used the following ingredients:

2 cups of self raising flour
2 tbsp of yoghurt
1 tsp of baking powder
a little salt
cold water to mix.
coarse semolina to sprinkle on your work surface to roll out the dough

Mix all together and let rest in the fridge for 30 mins. Then roll out thinly and cut in a circle that fits into a frying pan. Put some oil in the frying pan, put in the dough and fry on both sides until done.
(about 4 minutes)

This pizza is based on The Italian Food Forever recipe but changed it a little

For the topping:

• 1 Bunch Dandelion Greens (Or About 8 Cups Chopped Into 2 Inch Pieces)
• 1 Large Red Onion, Peeled And Thinly Sliced
• 2 Large Cloves Garlic, Peeled And Minced
• 6 Slices Prosciutto, Finely Chopped or (in our case smoked zucchini finely chopped)
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Cracked Black Pepper
• Sea Salt
• 1 1/2 Cups Sliced Fontina Cheese (or in our case some feta)
• 
  
• Rhubarb, almond and ginger crumble from Delia online

Rhubarb crumble ingredients

1. In a heavy skillet, heat the olive oil and once hot add the onion slices.
2. Continue to cook the onions over medium heat until they are very soft and caramelized, then add the garlic and prosciutto, and stir to mix well.
3. Add the dandelion greens and stir to mix well.
4. Continue to cook until the dandelions are soft and wilted.
5. Season with the cracked pepper and sea salt to taste.
6. Divide the topping in half and spread over the dough circles leaving a 1 1/2 inch edge all around.
7. Scatter the cheese slices on top of the pizzas and put under the grill until the cheese is melted.  about 5 minutes.



sowing squashes and purple sprouting broccoli

8. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

From Spade to Plate: a Flowery affair

Pasta with purple sprouting broccoli 
The pasta we made from scratch:
2 cups of plain flour,
 2 egg yolks,
some salt and a table spoon of oil. water to mix.

We made some Vegan Parmesan to go the past.

In the allotment we picked the purple sprouting broccoli, probably the last of it before it gets stringy.

From Spade to Plate 

We used  some aqua faba (chickpea water) to make some lemon cheese mousse

The food was lovely, but the two comments today were truly touching: "Coming here is better than therapy" and " Coming to these sessions is giving me passion for life"

Nettle Soup

Gourmet Nettle Soup

1 chopped onion

1 garlic clove

A hand full of nettles per person

A few sorrel leaves

Cauliflower/cabbage chopped leaves

Stock cubes

Cream cheese

Rosemary flowers

Lemon Balm 

Chives

Topped  with gorgonzola

 

For lunch we made Grilled Mushrooms with Goats cheese and beetroot and walnut salsa.

Beetroot and halloumi with Chilli jam on a bed of rocket

We used fresh beetroot, parsley and rocket from the garden  and turned this into delicious beetroot and halloumi sliders  on a bed of rocket leaves.

As a dessert we made  the apple/rose tartlets.

spring salad with flowers

Making the first spring salad with  Goosegrass, White and purple nettle flowers, Speedwell, Lambs lettuce.  Daisies,  Dandelion  leaves.as well as a calendula flower and some rosemary flowers.
We also added some garlic chives and normal chives.

Our dressing was made with olive oil,  blackberry balsamic vinegar, some honey and mustard.
We sprinkled some walnuts pieces and chopped blue cheese. delicous.

Surprise, surprise, NO rain we even went out to transplant the lettuce seedlings that we sowed a few weeks ago.

After that we went inside and transplanted the tomato seedlings. The seeds we planted a month or so ago after harvesting preparing the tomatoes for the lunch. No idea what tomatoes they were other than the fact they were very tasty. May they be tasty for us again later in the summer.

For lunch we had the broccoli kedgeree again. Delicious!

Making the most out of waste

8 surprising ways to use fruit and vegetable peelings and to reduce waste

Raw beetroot and Feta salad with purple sprouting pasta

Today we planted new potatoes in the area where there were still some beetroot  left over from last year.  We harvested the beetroot and turned them into a beetroot and feta salad which we ate as a side dish.

Our main dish was freshly made tagliatelli with steamed  purple sprouting broccoli and parmesan cheese.