Mini Mushroom and Carrot pies,

Made these mini pies today and had great memories when we made it with from spade to plate in february.




As it was Esther's birthday today, we made a 2 ingredient chocolate cake, we only used chocolate and eggs, we topped it up with satsumas. Easy and delicious


For our main meal we made mushroom and carrot pies
Alice made the filling whilst Sabine cut out the short crust and puff pastry circles
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We made some hassleback potatoes 
 


 some rocket and pineapple salad.

Home made chickpea flour Tofu - a big hit

30/130 This week we made Chickpea flour tofu with both groups.  Not only was it very easy it was very quick and tasty too. So tasty in fact that most of use who hated tofu before we started cooking, are now convinced to make their own in future.


On Monday we used dried shop bought egg noodles, but after trying making them for my own family yesterday, we spent this morning making Chinese egg noodles from scratch. Fun, easy and tasty!



They went really well with my new Bami recipe. In the past I used the Conimex kruiden mix from Holland, but now I have found the spices combination, we made it with the spices from the kitchen and it tasted even nicer. We had this Bami with the pickled courgettes we made in the summer, some fried bananas and a fried egg.

Very filling but perfect for a day like today

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Broccoli Soup and beetroot and Chocolate cake

In readiness for my birthday we used the beetroot and turned them into gorgeous chocolate cake.

  

The broccoli soup was repeated from the Monday session as it was lovely we did add 2 cups of chickpeas and a handful of chickweed to this recipe.



 As an experiment I made some gorgonzola and sesame seed biscuits to go with the soup. All together a very successful morning.

     All the recipes ended up in the second cookery book!

For the biscuits we used oil instead of butter and they were divine.

Broccoli Kedgeree and lemon mousse

Hooray, the first purple sprouting broccoli is ready!  After a long wait (as they were sown last year in April) we were able to have the first meal with broccoli of the season.

Last year Simone brought us a recipe to make a kedgeree with, it went down really well so we have made it again.
     


We went to the allotment and pick handfulls of lovely flowers and leaves for our salad.



We had some aquafaba left from the chickpea curry we made a few days ago. I had read that it would be much easier to whip up if it had been boiled and reduced to half. So I did and it was true, the cooled down jelly like result, turned into fluffy 'egg'whites so when mixed with sugar and lemon it turned into a delicious lemon mousse. Topped with a little violet and lemon zest a delight.

Creamy Nettle and Chickweed Soup

      

1 chopped onion

3 chopped celery sticks

3 garlic cloves

Salt and pepper

5 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

5 cups of vegetable stock

5 cups of fresh washed and chopped chickweed

1 cup of fresh young nettles.

A little cream or milk optional
    

                                 

Saute the onion and celery in butter in a large soup pot over medium heat until tender. Add garlic and season with salt and pepper. Add the potatoes. Stir. Add the stock, lower heat and simmer gently until the potatoes are very tender. Add the fresh nettles and stir until gently wilted but still bright green. Add the chickweed and  blend with a hand blender until very smooth, whisk in the cream. Serve with some edible flowers and fresh chives.

                 

We went out to pick the various flowers and leaves that were available in March.  Although the rosemary, daisies, violets and speedwell flowers looked very pretty agains the greens of the lambs lettuce, sunflower and pea shoots, the orange of the last few carrots made it look very bright and beautiful as well as giving our salad a lovely taste. We added some walnuts and blue cheese.

As a desert we made a lemon mousse, using the little violets we picked as decoration.

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.

Leek and Potato Soup, flat bread with Vegan dips

Today after harvesting leeks before the frost set in, we turned them and the last of the potatoes into a lovely leek and potato soup.

We made flat bread to go with the Cashew Nut dip,

Cortney in action

Sundried tomato and Butter bean paté and the 'cheese' sauce and the last of the carrots in the garden. They were difficult to harvest, but eventually they were turned into some sweet, crunchy goodies.

Rachel making Cashew nut dip