So much is done in one session.

As in the last weeks we have been saving our vegetable peelings and off cuts, we froze them and today we turned them into nearly 2 litres of vegetable stock. This will be kept in the fridge for a coming week to use in soups and sauces.

We then made a hearty ginger and  beetroot soup

 with  cheesy choux bun



s 

We put some Cashew nut cream cheese inside these cheese goodies


To make the stock, we took out all the frozen vegetable scraps from the freezer, put it in a large pot, covered it with water (added some bayleaves, thyme, parsley) brought to a boil and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes (we let it be for 1.30 hours). Then strained it and put in bottles to be kept in the fridge for the week ahead.


As a treat we made some yummy vegan amaretto biscuits.

Baking lemon poppy cake without an oven

Today's From Spade to Plate group saw how to use my 'Sand pan' as an oven.
This large pan has a layer of clean sand on the bottom (about 1cm thick) on top of that I placed a metal disc (from one of my loose bottomed baking tins) to make sure that anything in the 'oven' won't get covered in sand.



So we made some Lemon Poppy Cake, as we only had 2 eggs, we used Chia seeds as egg replacer for the other 2 eggs.

 This recipe did not call for baking powder but think it would be good to add 1 teaspoon to the selfraising flour. We made sure that after greasing and flouring the jars (Ball kilner jars as they have straight necks) we filled them half full with the batter. We then placed them (without lids) into the 'oven'. When the oven was hot, we turned down the gas to low and cooked it until risen and firm.   Once done, we removed the jars and added the lids so that when they cooled down, they would close in a vacuum and can be kept in the larder for weeks to use when unexpected guests arrive.  The one that was rather full, I let cool down and took out of the jar to cut into round slices with a cup of tea.


For Lunch we made Quorn Chicken pieces chasseur,

    

with leeks and mushrooms and red wine. For those who prefer chicken just replace the Quorn but follow the recipe. We also had the last of the brussels sprouts with the dish.  We halved the sprouts, chopped some onions and sautêed them sprinkled some zucchini 'bacon' over it and let it steam in a little water until done.

Together with some rice and some salad from the garden (various leaves, including, lambslettuce, rocket, chickweed, beetroot leaves, carrots, and  peppers) we turned these goodies into a delicious lunch.

A quick trip to the garden brought us: Broccoli, Leek and carrots

    Heavy rain was forecasted this morning, so I decided to nip out to the allotment to harvest vegetables for today's From Spade to Plate cooking sessions.

With the broccoli florets we adapted the leek and walnut orzotto recipe we have made in the past and used broccoli instead.  

“Ingredients
Oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
160g orzo
500ml vegetable stock 
200ml white wine or 200ml additional stock
Handful of finely chopped parsley
85g crumbled Gorgonzola Dolce
Juice ½ lemon (tip: freeze left-over lemon shell for lemon zest)
Handful walnut pieces

Method
Put the walnuts in a frying pan and dry roast until fragrant - keep a close eye on them as they burn easily; chop, then set aside
Fry onion with some salt and cook for 5-6 minutes; add the leeks and cook until softened, then add the orzo and stir until coated in oil; turn up the heat, pour in the 200ml wine or stock and boil until almost completely evaporated
Pour in the hot stock, 2 ladles at a time; once the liquid is almost gone, add more -  keep adding the stock this way until finished; if the orzo needs more liquid to cook, add a couple of ladles of boiling water
Once the orzo is cooked and the sauce is creamy, stir in most of the walnuts and parsley, and all the Gorgonzola and lemon juice. 
Taste, season, divide among plates and top with the remaining nuts and parsley
”Excerpt From: “Karina's Cookbook v1.” iBooks. 


With the left over vegetables (onion, bits of leek leaf, potato, carrots, broccoli stalks and leaves and a handful of peas) we made a delicious (End of the week soup)

Ingredients

1 small onion

2 tablespoons oil

The last of your vegetables in the fridge; carrot, broccoli stems, celery, cabbage finely chopped

Some frozen peas if you have some

Vegetable stock

Salt and pepper

Parsley or Chives leaves for garnish

Method

Chop onion and sauté until transparent.

Add remaining ingredients, cover with stock and simmer for 30 minutes

Adjust seasoning to taste

Add parsley or chive leaves for garnish

Every Friday I empty my fridge, clean it out and use everything so I always know that nothing in the fridge is more than 1 week old.  Having a soup recipe like this helps a lot, as it is a great way to get rid of some bits and pieces that otherwise might have gone to waste. 

Nice with some freshly baked bread

The Carrot leaves and some of the broccoli leaves we used to make a pesto, for the group to take home and use in pasta.  

Pesto
Ingredients
1 cup carrot top greens, tough stems removed
1 cup spinach
1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped
½ cup roasted unsalted cashews, almonds, walnuts (whatever you have on hand)
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup rapeseed oil

Method
Prep the carrot tops greens: rinse to dislodge any dirt and discard tough stems
Place the carrot tops greens, baby spinach, chopped garlic, roasted cashews, salt and pepper in a food processor
Pulse several times, scraping the sides down with a rubber spatula
Slowly pour in the oil in a steady stream, pulsing until smooth”