Tag: autumn

Categories
Mains Recipes

Beautiful Borlotti

This harvest of borlotti beans, fresh from the pod (shown in my photo above) has been a very welcome arrival recently in the ADK Kitchen. I always think they are one of the most beautiful foods in their natural uncooked form.

They’re not bad cooked, either. The beans do tend to lose that magical, mottled sheen, but more than make up for it in their creamy, smoky taste. They also provide generous amounts of protein and fibre.

For this dish (shown in my photo below), I have given them a starring role in a chilli suitable for vegetarians, vegans and, indeed, anyone who enjoys a bowl of rich, warm and creamy comfort food this time of year.

Servings

4 adult portions.

Timings

The beans soak overnight, and are then boiled/simmered for at least an hour. Once these stages are complete, the rest will take about 30 mins to cook.

You Will Need:

  • 120g uncooked borlotti beans
  • cold water
  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • oil
  • 1/2 a red pepper
  • 1/2 a green pepper
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 1 carrot
  • 6 -7 chestnut mushrooms
  • 1 400g carton of tomato passata

Method

  1. Wash the beans, then place in a bowl with enough cold water to cover them. Leave for 24 – 36 hours.
  2. Drain and rinse the beans under cold running water. You should find that they have doubled their weight through the water they have absorbed. Place the beans in a saucepan with enough fresh water to cover them, and bring to the boil. Reduce and simmer for 50 mins.
  3. Drain the cooked beans and wash again under cold running water. Set aside.
  4. Heat some oil in a wok, and add in the garlic, chilli and cumin. When it sizzles, add in the onion, peppers and celery, chopped into chunks.
  5. About 5 mins later, add in the mushrooms and carrot, also chopped into bitesize chunks.
  6. Stir with a spatula until all the veg is nicely softened, then add in the passata and the cooked borlottis. Top up with about half an empty carton’s worth of fresh water, and turn it up to boil.
  7. Bring to a simmer for about 15 mins, by which time the sauce will have reduced to provide a thick, creamy coating for the beans.
  8. Serve up with a portion of brown rice.

Customise It!

Replace the onion with chopped leeks, and add in some roasted squash if you wish. Shred in some spinach, cavalo nero or chard leaves.

Skip the rice and wrap a few spoonfuls up in a warmed tortilla. Perhaps with some soured cream on the side. This is making me hungry again…

It’s getting to that time of year when I receive messages from Spotify that my Unwrapped Playlist – containing my most played tracks of 2024 – is imminent. Here’s one track that will almost certainly be on it, and which seems to go well with the subject of this post: Leftfield with Pulse.

Categories
Blog

Autumn Escape

Our motorhome has been back in action this week, on an autumn trip to Cranborne Chase, in England’s south-west.

The area is designated as a National Landscape, which is the new official name given to what were formerly called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The name may have changed, but the landscape certainly hasn’t – not for hundreds of years in fact. This makes it a perfect environment for long country walks across an expansive, rolling green terrain. Gentle climbs take you up high to reveal dazzling views, while paths weave their way through water meadows with clear trickling, bubbling streams past ancient mills. There aren’t many people around and it is really quite remote. Am I painting a clear enough picture here?

It is particularly special this time of year because, as everyone knows, the countryside generally looks even better with autumn colours.

My main photo at the top of the post shows Philipps House, dating from the early 19th Century. It is at the centre of the massive grounds of Dinton Park, which is fully open to public access. We had very clear skies, and from the highest points it was possible to see the spire of Salisbury Cathedral to the east.

The intricate network of footpaths and bridleways takes in some very old buildings and traditional pubs. This photo shows St. Mary’s Church in Dinton village, dating from the 12th Century.

This photo was taken on a walk through woods and across fields to Baverstock, where St. Editha’s Church is located. It has been here since the 15th Century, and provided a perfect lunchtime picnic spot.

We pitched our motorhome in a small site in the middle of some woods, and spent the week off-grid with no electric hook-up. It is just as well the skies were clear and the sun shone as, along with our gas tank, we were rather reliant on that solar panel on the roof 🙂 .

In such a remote location, with no shops anywhere around within walking distance, we planned in advance and took a week’s worth of food and drink. Home-made butternut chilli soup helped keep us warm in the evening.

Quiches made the week before and warmed up in the gas oven came in very handy – those 10k treks certainly give one an appetite!

The solar powered battery helped keep my phone charged overnight, which meant I could still listen to the David Bowie Playlist I’d downloaded to my phone from Spotify. No first world problems here, mate 🙂 .

I can’t quite believe that it in just a few months it will be 50 years since the release of Young Americans, which is probably my fave album of his. Here’s a great track from it: Right.

There is one more motorhome trip planned for 2024, so watch this space for developments.

Categories
Mains Recipes

Roast Butternut & Celeriac Risotto

So, we’ve now had Halloween and Bonfire Night, and the clocks have gone back marking the end of British Summer Time. Yes, we’re well into autumn, a fact well reflected in the fresh veg now making its way into the ADK Kitchen from our local community farm.

All of which has inspired this warming, filling and satisfying vegetarian mains. I peeled, chopped and roasted a butternut squash and a celeriac – each having its own distinct flavour, and together giving the colours and tastes of autumn. I then tipped the softened, caramelised chunks into a pearl barley risotto. Crumbled stilton cheese is melted in at the end of cooking to provide a creamy, slightly salty consistency, with a final garnish of chopped toasted nuts.

Fetch your hat and gloves – here’s a dish to greet you, warming on the hob, at the end of a long, crisp autumnal walk.

Servings

4 adult portions.

Timings

Around 45 mins to make.

You Will Need

  • 1 medium butternut squash
  • 1 medium celeriac
  • oil for roasting
  • 100g pearl barley
  • 1 clove garlic
  • oil to drizzle
  • 1 onion
  • 1 green pepper
  • 3 – 4 chestnut mushrooms
  • 300ml veg stock
  • 50g stilton cheese
  • handful of chopped toasted nuts

Method

  1. Switch on a fan oven to 180C. Chop, peel and chunk the butternut squash and the celeriac. Place the chunks in a roasting dish and drizzle with oil. Place in the hot oven for 30 mins.
  2. Bring the pearl barley to the boil in a saucepan of water. Reduce to a simmer and leave for 30 mins.
  3. Crush the garlic and warm in a drizzle of oil in a wok. Chop and add in the onion, mushrooms and green pepper. Stir and let soften for around 10 mins.
  4. Drain the pearl barley and add to the wok. Tip in the veg stock and bring to the boil. Reduce and leave to simmer. You want the liquid to gradually reduce while finishing cooking the pearl barley, until it is soft but still slightly chewy in texture. Add in a few more drops of hot water from the kettle, if required.
  5. Take the roasting dish from the oven. The roast veg should be soft in the centre and slightly browned on the outside, with caramelised edges. Scrape the veg into the wok and crumble in the stilton, before stirring it all in.
  6. Serve on warmed plates, garnished with the toasted nuts.

Customise It!

I’ve been using pearl barley in risotto recently as I like its taste and bite, while it reduces the carb count. However, you can use arborio rice if you wish – just remember to adjust the cooking time as it takes about half that required by the barley.

Play around with some of the veg in the risotto base to include what you have – yellow or red pepper is fine. Try wilting in some autumn greens, spinach or shredded kale/cavalo nero for the last 5 – 10 mins of cooking.

Musical choice today reflects the fact that there is a rather important election taking place in the world. This track is dedicated to all our American friends, therefore: Muse with Will of the People.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Pumpkin Spice Traybake

Treat yourself this Halloween! There’s nothing tricky in the making of this traybake – a delicious, sweet and spicy sponge, laced with freshly roasted pumpkin puree and topped with crunchy, honey-coated pumpkin seeds.

These guys were just dying to try it. They’ll tell you – it’s a monster hit 🙂

Servings

Makes 16 slices.

Timings

40 mins to peel, chunk and roast the pumpkin. 15 mins to prepare the traybake and then 30 mins to bake at 180C in a fan oven.

You Will Need

  • 1 medium-sized pumpkin or other squash
  • oil to drizzle for roasting
  • 3 large eggs
  • 200g vegetable oil
  • 140g light muscovado sugar
  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 1tsp bicarb of soda
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1tsp ground ginger
  • 1tsp grated nutmeg
  • runny honey to drizzle
  • a handful of pumpkin seeds

Method

  1. Turn a fan oven on to 180C. Cut and peel the pumpkin into chunks – you will need around 200g. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with oil. Put in the oven for 30 mins until softened and a little caramelised at the edges.
  2. Grease and line a traybake tin – mine used is 22cm square.
  3. Crack the eggs into a bowl, and add in the oil and sugar. Mix with an electric whisk until thickened.
  4. Sieve in the flour, bicarb and spices, and fold in with a spatula to incorporate.
  5. Once the pumpkin chunks are roasted, tip them into a food processor with blade fitted, and blitz to a puree. This will also help the pumpkin to cool. Add the puree to the bowl and stir to mix in.
  6. Tip the mixture into the lined traybake tin and level with a spoon. Place in the oven for 30 mins or until nicely browned, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  7. For the last 5 mins of baking, sprinkle the pumpkin seeds over and drizzle with honey.
  8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tray. Transfer to a board and cut into slices.

Customise It!

Don’t just save the pumpkin seeds for the topping – chuck another handful into the mixture along with some chopped nuts.

Have fun this Halloween, eat well and don’t let the boogeyman get you! Here’s Echo & the Bunnymen with People Are Strange.

Categories
Mains Recipes

Butternut, Goat’s Cheese & Walnut Tartlets

Out at a restaurant recently, I spotted rosary goat’s cheese tartlet on the menu, and thought it sounded interesting. It was delicious – mixing the soft, slightly acidic creaminess of goat’s cheese with caramelised onion in a short, biscuity pastry base. I came away inspired to try making my own – always a sign that I’ve enjoyed a good meal.

For my version, I decided to pair the creamy goat’s cheese with toasted walnuts, over an autumnal-coloured base of wholemeal shortcrust pastry and sweet, roasted butternut squash.

I was pleased with the result, in particular how well the tastes of the goat’s cheese and toasted walnuts complement each other, so am sharing it here. I’ll say more below on options for sides, to serve it up as an attractive vegetarian mains.

You’ll need 4 tartlet or shallow mini-pie dishes – the ones I used are each about 11cm diameter.

Servings

Enough here for 4 tartlets.

Timings

30 mins initially to roast the butternut and prepare the pastry. 10 mins to assemble the tartlets, and another 25 mins to bake them.

You Will Need:

  • half a large butternut squash, peeled and cut into small chunks
  • olive oil to drizzle
  • 125g plain flour
  • 100g plain wholemeal flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 100g butter
  • several drops of cold water
  • 1 rosary goat’s cheese
  • 60g walnuts

Method

  1. Turn on a fan oven to 180C. Spread the butternut squash chunks on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Add to the oven once it’s up to temp, and leave for 30 mins.
  2. Next, make the pastry. Sieve the flours and salt into a food processor bowl, with blade fitted. Cut the butter into chunks and add in, pulsing the mix a few times till it resembles breadcrumbs.
  3. Pour in a few drops of water and pulse again. Repeat until the pastry comes together and is whirling round the bowl in one large ball, with the blade.
  4. Remove to a floured surface and finalise shaping it into a roundish ball. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for 10 mins.
  5. Take the tartlet dishes and spread with oil or butter, so that they won’t stick. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to about 1/2cm thickness on a floured surface. Cut off a round or square that will cover one of the tartlet dishes. Drape over the dish, then press down and trim the edge for a neat finish. Repeat with the other 3 tartlet dishes.
  6. Remove the butternut from the oven. It should be soft and a little charred at the edges. Press down all over with a fork to make it into a soft, orange mash.
  7. Scoop forkfuls of butternut mash into the tartlet pastry bases, and spread it out towards the edges. Arrange 2 – 3 discs of rosary goat’s cheese on top. Place in the oven for 20 – 25 mins.
  8. For the final 5 mins of baking, remove the tray from the oven and sprinkle the walnut pieces on top. Press down gently into the soft cheese so that they hold in place.
  9. Remove from the oven when they’re looking like mine in the main photo above – you want the butternut and goat’s cheese discs to be browning and caramelising at the edges, but not burning.

Customise It!

I served the tartlets warm on a bed of celeriac mash, with steamed purple sprouting broccoli on the side. Any seasonal veg will work well as an accompaniment. You could also drizzle some baby potatoes with oil and add a few twists of seasalt, putting them on a roasting tray in the oven alongside the tartlets. You can also enjoy them cold with a salad, and maybe some leaves scattered over.

Music-wise, I’ve been very encouraged recently by the comments Robert Smith’s been making in the media about playing some gigs again next year. I’m a long time fan of The Cure since seeing them in their very early days supporting Siouxsie & the Banshees. There is also a new album fully due out next month, which I’m looking forward to. For now, here’s a classic from their early days: The Cure with Jumping Someone Else’s Train.

Categories
Mains Recipes

Spanish Chicken

With the start of the November evenings, I’m declaring the opening of slow cooker season in our household.

The electric slow cooker is a fine invention, in my view. It means I can put the family Sunday dinner together in the morning, and let it spend the afternoon and early evening quietly bubbling away in the corner of the ADK Kitchen, with very little more for me to do. An important benefit of this is that I can then spend the lead-up to dinnertime on the sofa with a cold beer, watching the Premier League on Super Sunday, safe in the knowledge that all prep is taken care of. Get in!

First up is this slow cooked dish combining chicken with Spanish onion, red pepper, tomatoes, spicy chorizo, black olives, stock and Spanish white wine. Left to develop for 4-5 hours, all the flavours will gradually meld together and infuse the chicken. Delicioso!

Servings

4 adult servings.

Timings

20 mins to combine, 4-5 hours to slow cook.

You Will Need

  • 3 chicken breasts
  • Oil
  • 1 large Spanish onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 whole chorizo sausage
  • 700ml chicken stock
  • 400g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 large glass of Spanish white wine
  • 15-20 pitted black olives
  • A handful of frozen peas

Method

  1. Switch on an electric slow cooker at the hot setting.
  2. Cut the chicken breast into chunks, and fry in oil in a pan until lightly browned all over. Transfer to the slow cooker bowl.
  3. Chop the onion and pepper and fry. Slice the chorizo into discs, then cut each disc in half. Add to the onion and pepper, and after 5 mins, transfer to the slow cooker bowl.
  4. Next into the pan, put the chopped tomatoes, stock and wine. Stir till it all begins to bubble, then add to the slow cooker bowl.
  5. Put the olives and peas directly into the slow cooker bowl and give it all a stir. Place the lid on the slow cooker and turn the setting down to medium. Leave for 4-5 hours.
  6. Serve with plain boiled rice.

Customise It!

If you don’t have an electric slow cooker, you can use a casserole dish. Put it in an oven at 180C and transfer in the ingredients from the frying pan as described above. When all have been added, turn the oven down to 160C, and leave for 4-5 hours.

You can add in other veg as you like – carrots and celery will go well. You can include a garlic clove or spices if you want, though I find the chorizo brings all the garlic, flavouring and colour needed.

Chicken thighs or drumsticks will work well in place of the chopped chicken breast, if you don’t mind eating meat off the bone.

The next track for the ADK Playlist has a Spanish feel, naturally. This band is one of the New York punk and new wave generation that grew out of CBGBs in the mid to late 70s: Mink DeVille with Spanish Stroll.

Adios!

Categories
Mains Recipes

Butternut Chilli Soup

This autumn warmer of a soup combines seasonal sweet, silky smooth, roasted butternut squash with fiery red chillis. Energy prices being so high these days, a bowl may also save you some money – it gives all the central heating your body needs!

Servings

3 – 4 bowls.

Timings

40 mins – 10 mins to prepare the butternut, and 30 mins for it to roast. The rest of the soup can be made while the veg is roasting.

You Will Need

  • 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds and pith removed, and cut into chunks
  • 1 red pepper, cut into 7 – 8 pieces
  • oil
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 2tsp grund cumin
  • 1 tsp turmeric, fresh or powdered
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 medium red chillis, chopped
  • 2 sticks celery, chopped
  • 3 – 4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 700ml veg or chicken stock
  • salt and pepper

Method

  1. Switch the oven on to 180C. Spread the butternut and red pepper pieces on a roasting tray, and drizzle with oil. Place in the oven when up to temp, and leave for 30 mins.
  2. Pour some more oil into a large saucepan and warm on the hob. When the oil is hot, put in the garlic, cumin, turmeric, chillis and onion. Stir and let it cook for a few mins, before adding the celery and potatoes.
  3. Let it all cook for another few mins – the onion should soften, and the celery/potatoes brown a little at the edges.
  4. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce and simmer until the butternut and pepper have had their full 30 mins in the oven.
  5. Take the butternut and pepper from the oven – it should all have softened and become a little charred at the edges. Scrape it all into the soup and stir.
  6. Finally, grind it all smooth with a hand blender. The soup should take on a creamy consistency, and orange colour, with red specks, as in my photo above.
  7. Ladle into bowls and serve with freshly baked bread.

Customise It!

If you want to increase the creaminess you could add a swirl of single cream when serving.

Adjust the strength of the chillis to your personal taste – I used medium, but you can revert to mild, or fire up to hot!

A bit like changing their intensity from low to high, I suppose – a cue for me to add Ohio’s the Black Keys to the ADK Playlist. Here’s Lo/Hi.

Categories
Bakes Blog

Autumn in Atwater

This time of year always reminds me of an autumn family trip to Montreal in Canada a few years back. One of the places I particularly enjoyed was Atwater Market/Marche Atwater. It is a very large farmers’ market housed in a lovely old art deco building. There you will find all kinds of gourmet food, meat, veg, bread, cheeses and seasonal produce. See my main photo above for this shot I took of pumpkins resting in the autumn sun.

There was a buzz of excitement all around as it was Halloween. The scary, decorated pumpkin display was something else, as my photos below show.

That night in the city, we saw lots of little kids dressed up in cute but scary costumes, being escorted by their parents from house to house to trick or treat, as the darkness was drawing in.

The parks were beautiful as the trees were turning all shades of amber and orange, leaving a golden carpet of fallen leaves on the paths, as my photo below shows.

This Halloween I shall be baking one of my favourites – Pumpkin Spice Muffins, shown below. Check out the link for my full recipe and post.

Have a fun evening, whatever you are baking, cooking, eating or drinking. Just remember to have that jack o’lantern burning at the window to keep any spooky spirits at bay. After all, you don’t want end up in the same situation as R. Dean Taylor (also a Canadian), in this chiller thriller of a Motown classic I’m adding to the ADK Playlist: There’s a Ghost in My House.

Happy Halloween!

Categories
Mains Recipes

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

This week, on a visit to my good friends Kelvin and Eva, I was treated to a bowl of Eva’s delicious, Austrian-inspired pumpkin soup. I am please to say she has agreed to share the recipe in this guest post. Over to Eva. Enjoy!

………………………………………..

Homemade soups are one of my favourite comfort foods for a cold autumn day. As I am a member of a community farm near where I live, it’s that time of year when you get an abundance of different pumpkins and squashes. So here is a recipe that my mum used to make for us, served with a special pumpkin seed oil, that comes all the way from Austria, also referred to as the “black gold of Austria”.

You Will Need

  • 2 -3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika
  • 1kg pumpkin or squash (try kabocha), peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks
  • 1 sweet potato chopped into chunks
  • 150g of lean smoked diced bacon
  • 700ml vegetable stock
  • 150ml double cream or sour cream or crème fraiche
  • * Pumpkin seed oil, optional

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, then gently cook the bacon till crisp. Add the chopped onions and garlic and cook for 5 mins, until soft but not coloured.
  2. Add 1kg pumpkin or squash with the sweet potato chunks to the pan, then carry on cooking for 8-10 mins, stirring occasionally until it starts to soften and turn golden.
  3. Add the paprika, give it a quick stir and immediately pour the vegetable stock into the pan and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins until the squash and potato are very soft.
  4. Pour 150ml double cream into the pan, bring back to the boil, then purée with a hand blender.
  5. Reheat the soup if needed, taste for seasoning, then serve scattered with croutons and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil, if you want. A perfect accompaniment for a more complete meal is a freshly baked baguette!

*Styrian pumpkin seed oil is a geographic protected product by the EU. Nutty and rich, pumpkin seed oil is full of good fatty acids, minerals and vitamins and on top of it all it is cholesterol free. It partners perfectly with green salads, cheese, scrambled egg and pasta dishes. Did you know it takes 2.5-3kgs of pumpkin seeds to press 1 litre of pumpkin seed oil?

As the author of a guest post on A Different Kitchen, I get to choose the next track for Kevin’s ADK Playlist. This track reminds me of childhood dinners around the kitchen table in Austria with my family: Billy Joel with Piano Man.

Categories
Mains Recipes

Smokey Puy Lentil Roast

Ready for some autumn evening comfort food? If that’s a yes, you’ll love this rich, smokey, spicy stew with seasonal roasted vegetables and puy lentils. It’s vegetarian and vegan, while the puy lentils are a great source of protein.

Servings

4 adult servings.

Timings

40 mins to make and cook.

You Will Need

  • 1 roasting tray’s worth of chopped root veg (mine comprised sweet potato, swede, carrot, parsnip and celeriac)
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 medium chillis
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 onion
  • 8 – 9 mushrooms
  • 1 tbsp gojuchang paste
  • 1 500g carton of tomato passata
  • water
  • 100g puy lentils
  • 4 – 5 leaves of cavolo nero

Method

  1. Warm the oven to 180C. Fill a roasting tray with the chopped root veg and red pepper, and drizzle to coat with the oil. Place in the oven for 30 mins, once it is up to temp.
  2. Drizzle some oil in a wok. When it is warm, add in the crushed garlic, chopped chillis and cumin, and stir.
  3. Tip in the chopped onion and mushrooms, and stir again. When the onion is softening, add in the gojuchang paste and stir.
  4. Pour in the passata. Fill the carton with cold water and add in also. Put in the puy lentils and turn up the heat to boil, then reduce to a simmer. Leave for about 10 mins, while the sauce reduces and the lentils cook.
  5. Chop the cavalo nero into strips and wilt in for the last 5 mins.
  6. Take the roasting tray from the oven – the veg should be softened and a little charred around the edges. Scrape the roasted veg into the wok. Stir to combine.
  7. Spoon into bowls to serve.

Customise It!

Feel free to swap in any veg you like or have to hand. Butternut squash or celery will work well. Boil or steam some brussels sprouts and add in if you wish. For the second serving of this dish I mixed in some new potatoes that were already cooked and in the fridge – see below.

The key ingredients you should keep are the passata, garlic, chillis and the gojuchang paste – which combine to create the delicious smokey background sauce – and the lentils, which give texture and protein.

Talking of Smokey, here’s a classic track to add to the ADK Playlist. I actually prefer this ska version to his original, however: The Beat with The Tears of a Clown.