I’m resorting to swiping photo’s from sites I got these recipes from, and linking to them – credit where credits due!

I am a soup’aholic. There.. I said it.

In fact I’m a one pot throw it all in kinda girl.  Soups, Stews Casseroles  Hot Pots… I trawl the web looking for recipes and if I could possibly get away with it, i would chuck everything out of my kitchen bar the cauldron. lol. I  have a large Le Creuset casserole {did you know Creuset is french for cauldron}

#Le Creuset has been making superb, award winning cookware since 1925 and the secret recipe of ingredients remains the same today. Each piece is made from a unique mould into which molten iron is poured from a large cauldron (called a creuset).#

It’s become a family joke now.. if someone asks for me, they always reply.. She’s in the kitchen stirring her cauldron – yawn! My one pot soupy, stewie obsession started years ago when I was on a diet. {Remember the cabbage diet} what can I say –  I was young and foolish and if my memory is correct, quite windy.. lol  I was on that torturous  regime for a week feeling week and nauseous before I came to my senses and realised there’s more to life than cabbages and more to the point, most soups stews etc are healthy and low fat. That was the start of my search for one pot recipes … and the end of my diet- any diet. Sensible eating  from now on.. Life is too short!

15  years on  I have around 20 one pot recipe books, 4 folders of recipes I have ripped out of magazines and a huge amount of bookmarked sites. If I were to make one recipe a day I wouldn’t get through them in my lifetime – now that’s a scary thought.. I’m just a tad obsessed I think!

Mushroom bacon barley broth

This is a very filling broth, though I would say more like a stew. Iv’e cooked it a few times with the intention of freezing some – its never around long enough to freeze..

Moroccan chickpea soup

This is a favourite of mine to use up the broad beans from the allotment – sometimes its a Moroccan broadie soup when I have no chickpeas and I’ve been known to chuck in some borlotto beans I’ve  grown at the plot..

Hopefully normal service will resume shortly. If my camera lead doesn’t show by the weekend I’ll order a new one.. I’ve got a feeling it could still be hiding in my suitcase since our last trip…

I love potatoes (nothing new there) and over the last few years we’ve worked out which varieties  fair best at our allotment.  Red skinned Robinta potatoes are our favourite for crispy baked skins and autumn storage and Nicola our early choice for melt in the mouth butter drizzled potato salads (or tossed in olive oil and freshly picked thyme leaves as above) .   No doubt you have favourite varieties to recommend but we stick to what works because the cost in time and money is too great if the spuds we gleefully lift are a disappointment.  I know we might be missing out on something even better so you’ll appreciate my excitement at attending the annual Potato Weekend at Dundry Nurseries for the first time this coming Sunday.

150 varieties of seed potatoes will be for sale by the tuber and veteran potato expert Andy McQueen will be giving talks at 11am and 2.30pm (starts at 9.30, ends at 4.30pm).  Don’t fret if you’re not in Gloucestershire, there are other Potato Day events around the UK.  If you fancy trying different varieties too check out Dundry Nurseries ‘tater’base with 100+ varieties for sale loose.

If you’ve 5 minutes to spare you might enjoy watching the ‘Dig for Victory‘ video here, created by the Ministry of Food when they realised people would go hungry when Britain joined the Second World War.  Gardens, sports pitches and factory grounds, large or small, were given over to vegetable growing and thus allotments were born.  It was estimated that 1.4 million people had allotments by the time the war ended in 1945. 

Potatoes were promoted as a good source of energy and protein and Potato Pete’s recipe book was produced to encourage home growing, harvesting and cooking.  Recipe’s like Woolton pie. It never really took off with the British public and I can imagine why – the ingredients sound a bit beige even for my liking and without fat or flour to make a pastry topping a potato, cauliflower, swede and carrot filling topped with a potato crust is not really deserving of the name pie.

Posted in away from the plot Tagged: vegetables

Anyway, couple of weeks ago whilst catching up with fellow bloggers blogs, I saw Nora the Splorer’s lush looking Clementine curd, and it encouraged me to try again, especially as I have a fruit bowl full of clementines.
I am so glad I did. Making this curd has given me the confidence to perhaps try making a Cranberry curd and even Clementine Marmalade, as I am not too keen on the ‘tart’ sharpness of the orange ones.

Oh so how does, the Clementine curd taste? Well I can let you know with all honestly as I tried it this morning with some home-made cranberry waffles. The Clementine curd is sweet, sharp and refreshing. I think much nicer than lemon curd.
I have decided to contribute these dishes towards a monthly food blogging challenge called “In The Bag”. Every month food blogger Julia of A Slice of Cherry Pie alternately hosts with Scott of the Real Epicurean to come up a recipe using seasonal ingredients. The seasonal ingredient in the bag for December were: Cranberries, Clementines and Nuts.
Goodness it has been a long while since I last submitted to In the Bag, my last submission was in March last year with my Welsh Glamorgan Pakora’s based on the famous Glamorgan sausages; and the ingredients in the bag at the time contained leeks, which I had growing in abundance at my allotment plot.

This time though I thought I would make some cranberry waffles made with cranberries imported from Canada and the USA; and the clementine curd. Now I can’t decide between to two which to submit. So I plucked for simplicity and went for the Cranberry waffles. Enjoy.
Fresh Cranberry Waffles with pecan nuts
Serves 4
Ingredients
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of fresh cranberries, chopped in half
1/2 cup of pecan nuts, chopped
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Method
In a bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. In another bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine well. Stir in the cranberries and nuts. Add more milk if necessary. Cook according to your waffle maker instructions. Recipe adapted from Deborah Madisons Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Please don’t laugh at my writing, I know it looks like a six year old has written it, but you try writing once the label has been stuck to the jar.

Oh and i haven’t forgotten the Clementine curd recipe. You can find a number of Clementine curd recipes on the Internet, but below is the recipe I used. You can double the quantities of the ingredients to make 2 x 450g jars, but I decided to only made one this time.
Clementine Curd
Makes 1 x 450g jar
Ingredients
Juice and zest of 4 clementines
Juice of 1 small lemon
175g caster sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 egg yolk, beaten
50g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Method
In a large bowl, add the zest and the juice of the fruits into a bowl with the sugar, eggs and yolks and mix well to combine. Pour into a large pan. Add the butter and place over a very low heat. Cook, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon, until the curd is thick and coats the back of a spoon, up to 45 minutes. Pour into a sterilised jar and seal. Allow to cool and refrigerate. Use within two weeks.

Now I have absolutely no doubt that Fred’s Cranberry and walnut bread was delicious, but you know me, I had to tweak it just a little. Sorry Fred, (she says wincing) but I think you will approve.
I don’t think the photograph taken does the ‘Cranberry and Clementine bread’ justice, as it doesn’t show the burst colours of the cranberries, but they are there. The bread was moist, it was not as sweet as the scones and the muffins I made earlier in the month. I think because they had white chocolate in them, whereas this bread allowed the sourness of the cranberries to come through, which my husband loved. The flavour of the Clementine also came through, although a tad subtle and the walnuts gave it that extra texture. Nice.

Now talking of growing and cakes, I thought I better mention that I have been fortunate to have been chosen to receive not one, but two gifts from fellow bloggers. The first is a baking book called Muffins Galore from Icook4fun of Kitchen Snippets. I had completely forgotten about this until I got an email yesterday. The second will be a surprise gift from Ribbit of The Corner Yard where I will become one of the lucky recipients of a ‘Pay it Forward’ parcel. Please do check out this link, I absolutely adore the way my ‘blogger name’ was picked out!

And finally, how could we forget about the little birds that entertain us in the garden, I made them a loaf of there own too. I made this with vegetable fat which I melted, ands then poured into a 2lb loaf tin that contained a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and some fresh cranberries. I left it in the fridge overnight and then the following day, cut a slice and left it on the Bird table. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of that, I wanted to – but the red breasted Robin just wouldn’t pose for me.

Today, I wanted a lazy cooking day, so opted to make some fancy jacket potatoes, known as hasselbacks.
Hasselbacks are perhaps the best-known of all Swedish potato recipes. The potatoes are sliced almost to the base, so the slices open out like a delicate fan when cooked. To my knowledge, the traditional hasselback recipe uses bay leafs and butter, but in this recipe I decided to use some of the fresh rosemary growing in my garden plot, olive oil and sea salt. I baked these in the oven at Gas mark 5 for about an hour until the edges had become golden and crisp.

I just had to accompany the hasselback potato with my ‘Moose’ Christmas ornament, there is just something complimentary about it. I hope your all enjoying your holidays, I have tomorrow off, then I am back in work on Tuesday, so am trying to make the most of my time just lazing about.

This is such a simple idea that I kick myself as to why I had not thought of it. You don’t even have to use tapenade you could use a pâté, pesto or even caramelised onions in its place. I think this recipe is extremely versatile.
Check the label if you are using a shop bought tapenade as some do contain anchovies; or make your own, providing you have a food processor, below is a straightforward vegan tapenade recipe.

Also, I recently learned the many shop bought puff pastry’s are suitable for vegans as they are made with vegetable oil. With my vegan readers in mind, naughtily from work I even rang the Vegetarian Society this morning to confirm that this was indeed the case. The woman on the other end of the phone told me that she was vegan and loved this product. She confirmed that the majority of this brands products were suitable for vegan. However, do check the labelling as some are ‘all butter’. Good news for vegans in the U.K, eh!?

Mushrooms en Croûte
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 Portobello mushrooms
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 generous tablespoons of green or black tapenade or mixed olive recipe below
375g ready rolled puff pastry
4 tablespoons milk or soya milk to glaze

Method

Cranberries are deep crimson in colour and are related to the blueberry, but unlike its cousin the cranberry is quite a tart and sharp tasting berry, so it is not to everyones taste. Cranberries have always been valued, but it only over the past ten years, the cranberry has gained worldwide popularity, particularly for its juice. There are a number of health claims which suggest that it can help to prevent urinary-tract infections, gum disease and stomach ulcers, and may even help to protect against heart disease and cancer.

Unlike other berries such as the strawberry and raspberry, the cranberry is quite robust and can last in the fridge for at least two weeks. The reason it is long lasting is because the berries contain large amounts of benzoic acid, a natural preservative. As cranberries are a seasonal berry and only available during the winter season, I would recommend to anyone to freeze some as they will keep up to nine months. Then they can be used directly in recipes without thawing. Cranberries make delicious muffins.Now back to my biscuits, although I have a lot of biscuit and cookie cutters, including Christmassy themes ones, I did not have a robin one, so in the style of a ‘Blue Peter’ child I made a template of rocking robin from an old Christmas card, cut it out and then used it to carefully to cut around the rolled out dough.
I know these are not the most professional looking of Christmas biscuits, but as a home cook I am pretty chuffed with them. In the future, I think I would stud the belly of the robin with a mix of white chocolate chips and chips; or even coat the whole robin biscuit all in dark chocolate and then stud the belly with cranberries.

As you can see below I originally submitted this recipe to the Weekend Herb Blogging event, but I have been encouraged by Nicisme of Cherrapeno who is hosting the December Sugar High Friday (an event created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess) to submit it as the theme of Holiday Sweet Treats.
I am submitting this recipe to the lovely Haalo who is hosting this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging#214. WHB is a weekly food blog event showcases information and recipes about herbs, vegetables, fruits and other plant ingredients. WHB was initiated 4 years ago by Kalyn’s Kitchen, it is now organized by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. Please note that Weekend Herb Blogging will be taking a break for Christmas and the New Year and will resume on January 4th 2010 when Haalo will be hosting again.
Finally, please remember to feed and water the ‘real’ birds over the winter season.

Cranberry (belly) Robin biscuits
Find a reliable biscuit recipe and make according to instructions, use a robin biscuit/cookie cutter and cut out required number. Then stud the eye and belly with fresh cranberries that have been cut in half and bake according to recipe instructions.

I have never eaten at Cranks (as all the restaurants were located in England), but have most – if not all of the cookbooks. I liked the Cranks traditional image of hand-thrown pottery and heavy wooden chairs presented beautifully through some of their books, something that modern day restaurants try to accomplish with new furniture and decor. But unfortunately, after years of serving wholesome, flavourful and hearty dishes, Cranks closed all its outlets in January 2001. I think there is now only one restaurant, in Dartington, Devon. If I should ever venture that way, I will be paying them a visit as it is a vegetarian culinary British institution.

Anyway, after that history lesson on Cranks I guess I should let you know what a Homity pie is?! Homity pies were one of the most popular dishes served at Cranks. I would describe homity pies as an open shell pastry with a potato filling. I have read two different stories about the origins of the homity pie. One states it was an old English economy meal recipe from the Second World War, the other says it was a Romany speciality. To keep up with the changing times, the homity pie had also gone through a number of transformations at Cranks: the potatoes were mashed and made without the pastry case; or flavoured with Tamari and Tabasco.

Well yesterday afternoon I had decided to make some Cranks style homity pies. It is a little time consuming as you have to make the wholemeal pastry, rest it in the fridge, blind bake it and then it’s onto the potato filling – that is why I decided to make it the day before.
My recipe is based on Nadine Abensur’s ‘traditional’ Cranks recipe that was brought into the 1990s, but I have added a small pinch of spice to take it a little bit further. My sincere apologies to those who adore the ‘real traditional Cranks pie’, but do give this a go – you may just like it.

Cranks Homity pies – the spiced way
Makes 6
Ingredients
For the pastry
175g wholemeal flour, plus extra for dusting
Salt
100g butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tablespoon iced water
For the filling
600g potatoes, chopped into cubes
1 clove of garlic, minced
40ml olive oil
375g onions, finely sliced
125g chestnut mushrooms
½ teaspoon of chilli or cayenne powder
1 teaspoon of garam masala
100ml double cream
125g mild cheddar cheese, grated
1 tablespoon chopped coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional sprinkling of cayenne powder
Method
To make the pastry
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, folding the bran back in. Rub the butter into it and add the water. Once you have brought the dough into a ball, wrap it loosely in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
To make the filling
Boil the potatoes until tender then drain and set aside. Fry the onions and garlic until tender and translucent. Add the mushrooms, chilli or cayenne pepper and cook for five minutes, then add the potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Finally add the double cream, then remove from the heat and add half the cheese. Season with salt and pepper and cayenne pepper if using, add the coriander and allow to cool before spooning generously into pastry cases. Scatter the remaining cheese generously all over and bake for about 20 minutes in the oven. These can be eaten warm or at room temperature. Adapted from the Cranks Bible.

Finally, to end, this morning I learned that the homity pies are making a comeback and are now being sold at selected Waitrose stores, but why would you want to buy them when you can so easily make them at home, ah I guess there are times when you don’t get round to making your own.

Spring onions are also known a scallion, salad onion or green onion and are related to the Allium family, the others are garlic, leeks, shallots and chives. The top green part is hollow and the bottom small root bulb. Spring onions are milder than most onions and can used raw, as a part of salads or cooked. One of the great things about the spring onion is that it is available all year round, its not one of those vegetables that has a specific season, however saying that the youngest and most tender are found in the spring and early summer. Spring onions are also a good source of vitamins B and C, fibre and folate.

In this recipe for tarka mung bean dal, for a change I am using spring onions in place of small white onions.
Just in case your wondering, the scarlet spring onions don’t taste any different to the plain white versions, they just look a bit more fancier.

I am submitting this recipe to Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska who is hosting this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging#213. WHB is a weekly food blog event showcases information and recipes about herbs, vegetables, fruits and other plant ingredients. WHB was initiated 4 years ago by Kalyn’s Kitchen, it is now organized by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once.

Tarka Mung Bean Dal

Serves 4

Ingredients

180g – 200g of whole mung beans

3 pints of water or vegetable stock

100g butter or 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 knob of ginger, sliced into matchsticks

1 teaspoon of freshly ground cumin

2 dried red chillies, sliced

4 – 6 spring onions, sliced

Salt to taste

Method

For the mung beans

Put the mung beans and stock into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Then turn down to a simmer so that it just bubbles, until the beans are cooked. This should take about 40 minutes.

For the Tarka

Put the butter or oil in a frying pan and heat, until hot. Add garlic, ginger and white parts of spring onions, stir constantly until golden and slightly crisp, then add in the cumin and chillies until fragrant, then add in the greens of the spring onion and cook gently for a couple of minutes. Add the tarka to the cooked mung beans, salt to taste, stir well and heat through before serving.