This breakfast dish looks and tastes great – the bright blue and orange combination making for a lively, satisfying and healthy start to your day.
Servings
Makes one bowl for immediate consumption!
Timings
5 mins to prepare
You Will Need
4 – 5 dessert spoonfuls of rolled oats
1 dessert spoonful of pumpkin seeds
1 dessert spoonful of sunflower seeds
1 dessert spoonful of mixed dried fruit
a handful of fresh blueberries
1 fresh apricot, chopped
a few dessert spoonfuls of natural yoghurt
1 dessert spoonful of chopped nuts
Method
Combine all the ingredients, other than the yoghurt and nuts, in a breakfast bowl. Reserve 2 – 3 blueberries and apricot pieces.
Top with the yoghurt, sprinkle over the chopped nuts, and add the reserved blueberries and apricot to garnish. Enjoy.
Customise It!
Keep to the core ingredients of oats, seeds, fruit and nuts, otherwise swap in whatever is fresh and seasonal or whatever you have to hand. Raspberries or strawberries work well, and later in the summer I will be using freshly picked blackberries. Add milk in place of yoghurt, and add a swirl of honey if that’s your thing.
Delighted to have picked up this crop of fresh blackcurrants from our local community farm. As we’re currently bracing ourselves for the hottest day of the year here in the UK, I’ve decided to make some cooling blackcurrant ice cream with my Cuisinart ice cream maker, so am currently investigating recipes. All helpful ideas and suggestions welcome! Watch this space for a post later this week about the finished article.
This deliciously tasty side salad combines beetroot with feta cheese and chopped toasted walnuts, along with a mix of bulgar wheat and quinoa. The beetroot naturally colours the feta and gives the whole dish a pinkish hue.
Servings
Serving this as a side to a main should be sufficient for 2 – 4 people.
You Will Need
60g mix of bulgar wheat and quinoa
240ml water
one cooked beetroot
100g feta cheese
50g walnuts
Method
Put the bulgar/quinoa mix in a saucepan with the water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and leave for about 25 mins. Turn off, drain and rinse in a sieve under cold running water.
Dice the beetroot and the feta.
Toast the walnuts in the oven at 180C for 5 – 10 mins, then roughly chop in the food processor with blade fixed.
Combine the ingredients in a bowl and give them a swirl with a fork, fluffing up the bulgar/quinoa as you go. The juice from the beetroot should naturally infuse the salad with a pink glow.
Customise it!
You can omit the nuts if they’re not your thing. Replace with something green and small, like chopped fresh spring onions. You could also swap the bulgar/quinoa with couscous or even rice, if that’s what you prefer (or have in the cupboard!)
Summer green vegetables are reaching their peak just now, and this quiche brings out the best in them. Fetch a crop from the garden or market stall, and mix with creamy ricotta and salty blue cheese in this fresh and vibrant quiche.
Servings
Makes 4 generous slices, or 6-8 average ones!
Timings
About 15 mins initially to prepare the pastry, and another 15 mins to prepare the filling including steaming the veg. Baking time is an initial 10 minutes for the case alone, then 45-50 mins for the filled quiche.
You Will Need
For the pastry
115g plain flour
115g wholemeal flour
100g soft margarine
a pinch of seasalt
a pinch of paprika
a few drops of cold water
For the filling
Approx 180g fresh green veg (I used broccoli, french beans, runner beans and mange tout)
about 3 spring onions
3 large eggs
130g ricotta cheese
50g stilton cheese
twist of black pepper
Method
Grease a 20cm flan dish with some margarine or spread. I like to line the base with a circle of greaseproof paper in addition, as I find it helps to remove the quiche once baked.
Make the pastry by sieving the two flours into a food processor fixed with blade, along with the margarine cut into cubes. Pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add a few drops of water and pulse again until you have a ball of pastry whirling around the blade. Take it out, pat into a ball and wrap in clingfilm, placing it in the fridge to stay cool.
Prepare the veg. Trim the ends off the beans and cut into 2-3cm lengths. Trim the ends of the mange tout, and cut any leaves and tough stalks off the broccoli.
Put the veg into a steamer over boiling water for about 10 mins.
While the veg is steaming, turn on the oven and set to 180C. Take the pastry from the fridge and roll out with a rolling pin to a size that will fit the flan dish. Carefully place it into the dish. Leave any pieces overhanging at the edges for the moment. Prick the base with a fork in 5 or 6 places. Place it back in the fridge while the oven is getting up to temperature.
Remove the veg from the steamer and drain in a colander. Set on one side.
With the oven up to temperature, remove the pastry dish from the fridge. Crumple a square of greaseproof paper with your hands and place it in the dish. Fill the paper with baking beans, spreading them out with your fingers so they cover the whole of the base and are gently pressed up to the sides. Place in the oven for 10 mins.
While the pastry base is baking, top and tail the spring onions and cut into 2-3cm lengths. Chop the stilton roughly into cubes. It will crumble a bit as you do.
Mix the eggs and ricotta in a jug, and give it a few twists of black pepper.
Remove the pastry dish from the oven and carefully lift the paper and baking beans into a separate bowl to cool. Don’t worry too much about any pastry overhanging the edges – it will drop off as it bakes, either at this stage or the next one.
Spread the steamed veg across the pastry base, and crumble the stilton over it. Carefully pour the egg and ricotta mix into the pastry base, making sure it gets into all the little cavities between the veg. Dot over the chopped spring onions, making sure they are lightly pushed into the mixture so they don’t burn.
Bake in the oven, still at 180C, for about 45 – 50 minutes. The mixture should have risen and the top should be slightly browned. Remove and leave to cool in the dish.
When cool, chop into slices and serve!
Customise it!
Main opportunity for going freestyle here is in the choice of veg. Sticking broadly to the theme of seasonal green/garden veg, you can use whatever you have to hand – perhaps introduce some greens, spinach, kale or chard. Herbs will also go well. Any combination should work, but keep it to a total of around 180g so as not to overfill.
You can also use any other crumbly blue cheese in place of stilton e.g. Dorset Blue Vinney. If you’re short of time, or don’t want to bother making the pastry, then you can use some ready made shortcrust pastry.
Subtly spiced with cinnamon, gently coloured with saffron, and packed with fruit, nuts and seeds, this summer pilaff will bring a crunch and a zing to your outdoor eating. Serve it as a side to barbecued food, quiche or as part of a picnic.
Servings
Up to six people as a side dish
Timings
Preparation 10 mins, cooking time 10 mins, final touches 5 mins
You will need:
a tablespoon of oil
175g basmati rice
a few threads of saffron
a few grains of sea salt
one cinnamon stick
300 ml vegetable or chicken stock
a handful of cashew nuts
a handful of pumpkin seeds, toasted
a small pack of pomegranate seeds
a handful of chopped flat parsley, or other fresh garden herbs
Method
Heat the oil in a saucepan for a few moments, then chuck in the cinnamon stick. Give it a good shake so that it is gently coated in the oil and is giving off a sizzle.
Pound the saffron and salt in a pestle and mortar till it forms a bright yellowy powder. Add it to the cinnamon with the rice. Pour in the stock and bring it to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and leave the lid on. It should take about 10 – 12 minutes for the rice to absorb the stock.
While the rice is cooking, fetch the other ingredients. The only one that requires any preparation is the pumplin seeds – spread these out on a baking tray and toast them in the oven at 180c for about 5 mins max. This will give them an extra degree of crunch, but do keep your eye on them as they will burn if left too long!
Turn off the heat under the rice and let it cool in the pan. Then fluff it up with a fork and add the seeds, cashews, pomegranate seeds and herbs. Transfer to a serving dish, cover and refrigerate till it’s time to serve.
Customise it!
Go freestyle and play around with the ingredients, while keeping within the fruit, nut and crunch theme. A teaspoon of turmeric can be used in place of the saffron if you wish – it will produce the same vivid colour. Substitute other unsalted nuts for the cashews if you prefer or have them to hand. Add sunflower or other seeds if you wish. The first time I made this I used chopped fresh apricots as they were in season and fairly cheap in the shops, along with dried cranberries, before replacing both with the pomegra,nate seeds, which give it a glisten, great colour and have their own special crunch. Chopped spring onions are another useful addition. Squeeze half a lemon over it just before serving, or add a favourite dressing if you wish. Let your creativity flow! Feel free to post a note below as I would love to hear of any other variations you try.
A Different Kitchen 