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!

    

Quince Jelly, Pumpkin curry and flat bread

Yesterday I went to Paola to help her pick her amazing quinces. Just on time as over night we had lots of wind and rain and decided to make some jelly and pectin.  When I looked back when I last made some was exactly 3 years ago (31/10/2018) so funny how nature look so unpredictable but always seems to have a similar time to harvest. 

So here is the post from 2018. Yesterday Tina Alexander offered me a large bag of quinces so this morning, it was time to turn them into some amazing quince jelly.
 

By the time we had prepared our pumpkin curry with chickpeas, the jelly had set and we enjoyed a delicious meal with rice and flat bread

When we cut open the pumpkins it turned out they were the Akai Pumpkins, which meant that all the seeds we cut out, we can dry to eat raw without any husks

For the flat bread  the ingredients were.

2 cups of plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup of milk
3 1/2 tbs butter

Warm the milk and melt the butter in it.
Add to the flour and salt and mix thoroughly and knead into a ball.
Leave to rest for 10 mins, then cut in 4 and roll out thinly
In a dry frying pan, put in the flat dough and leave it until it shows bubbles, then turn for another minute or so (make sure it does not burn). Et Voilà! Delicious flat bread to go with your curry

Time to prune the grapevine

As the grapevine needed pruning, I thought it was a great opportunity to get the dolmades recipe out again. I used the same recipe as the one in my first cookery book From Spade to Plate, and went down pretty well.


As we had run out of sweet chili jam and this group had not made it before,  I went to buy peppers and chilies to turn into a delicious jam to go with our dolmades.
    

We also went in the garden and the allotment to pick some strawberries and turned them into a savoury salad.

   

this post was first posted on 6/6/2019

Thai week - Spring rolls, chocolate lava cakes, Thai Curry and lemon poppy cakes

 On Monday we made Thai spring rolls with a Peanut dipping sauce

As a dessert we made little chocolate lava cakes in a coffee cup. It was so good that on Monday I made them again when we had friends in the garden.  After so much chocolates I thought we'd try to change the recipe a bit and make lemon poppy steam cakes. We used home made lemon essence we made it last year and tasted beautifully lemony.

The Thai Curry we had with rice was quick and easy. Rather than using chicken breasts I used mushrooms which worked out very well.

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.        

Pea and Parmesan Gnocchi

 With the last of the potatoes dug up, I used the not so good looking ones to make some of Gordon Ramsay's recipes. Gnocchi.   This is  great video too They turned out beautifully. I normally make ridges with a fork, but this time making the little pillows and a dimple in it made these fried delicate eats into a glorious meal.

I don't think I will ever go back to the original recipe. A great find.

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.