Friday, 1 October 2010
The big move
What with the buying process and wanting to decorate the house before we moved in, it took most of the summer to sort out. However, I am pleased to report that we are now all settled in and ready to get back to the serious business of cooking!
We have a wonderful kitchen to cook in - we cannot wait to start using it properly and look forward to sharing our creations on this blog.
And that is not the only big move - I have decided to move the blog over to Wordpress (and it has a snazzy new design). You will still be able to reach it at seasontotaste.co.uk when it has properly been set up this weekend, but you can also reach it by visiting seasontotasteuk.wordpress.com.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Friday, 4 June 2010
Salad days
I am rather partial to cheese, and as I have mentioned in previous posts, I love goat’s cheese. So, last weekend, when I wanted to make the most of the sporadic sunshine, it became the perfect basis for a quick yet satisfying meal.
Goat’s cheese salad
Serves 2
Salad leaves
Couple of handfuls of sunblush tomatoes
Small handful each of flatleaf parsley, basil and coriander, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp good-quality olive oil
Half a garlic clove, finely sliced or chopped
Caramelised red onion chutney, to serve
3) Heat a little oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat, and put in the floured goat’s cheesewhen the oil is sizzling. Fry for 2 minutes or so on each side until the outside is golden (be careful it doesn’t burn) and the cheese is just starting to ooze out.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Better late than never
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Sunshine and showers
Wild garlic grows in woodland, near or among bluebells, smells of garlic (surprise, surprise), and has long pointed leaves and delicate white flowers. The flowers only blossom towards the end of the season, and are said to have a stronger flavour than the leaves, and are edible. Although commonly found in woodland, wild garlic can also be cultivated in gardens, but I have been told that once it is established, it is very hard to get rid of.
I’ve been thinking all week about what my inaugural wild garlic dish should be, and decided on a risotto, one of my favourite meals to cook. (I promise not all the dishes I feature on this blog will be of the Italian variety!)
I love the freedom that you have with a risotto – you can pretty much add any flavour combination you like. My favourite risottos are butternut squash, Gorgonzola and sage, and spinach, pancetta and Parmesan, but these are not quite in fitting with the seasonal theme, so they will have to wait for another day.
I decided to pair the wild garlic with a strong goat’s cheese; the selection of goat’s cheeses in the supermarket wasn’t amazing, but I found a mature goat’s cheese from Cornish Country Larder which was strong enough to do the trick. I find most hard goat’s cheeses readily available are quite bland, and I didn’t want it to be overwhelmed by the wild garlic.
Wild garlic and goat’s cheese risotto
Serves 3-4
Few glugs of olive oil
Knob of butter
1 large onion, diced
1 garlic cloves, sliced
300g risotto rice (I used Arborio)
Glass of white wine (optional)
1 litre of vegetable stock, hot (I used Swiss Marigold Bouillon)
2 large handfuls of wild garlic leaves, roughly chopped
150g strong hard goat’s cheese
1) Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil and butter over a low heat, making sure it doesn’t colour.
2) Add the risotto rice, stirring well to coat in the butter, then pour in the wine, if using. Cook for a few minutes to fry off the alcohol.
3) Add enough stock to just cover the rice, stirring continuously. Add more stock as it is absorbed for about 10 minutes (you should still have some stock left at this point).
4) Stir in the wild garlic, cook for a minute or so, then resume adding the stock, stirring continuously. Continue to add the stock until the rice is cooked, but still al dente. (I found I needed an extra 300ml of water).
5) Crumble in the goat's cheese and heat until melted. Serve immediately, topped with a little more crumbled goat's cheese.
Sunday, 21 March 2010
New beginnings
Pasta with sprouting and cream (adapted from Nigel Slater's book, Tender Volume 1: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch)
Serves 3-4
250g purple sprouting broccoli
250g orecchiette
30g butter
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and chopped
250g
crème fraîche
170g Gorgonzola
1) Bring two deep pans of water to the boil. Trim the purple sprouting broccoli;
break into smaller florets,
trim any dry ends or tough stalks but do not remove the leaves. Lightly salt the water in one of the pans and drop in the purple sprouting broccoli. Cook for 3-4 minutes until tender, then drain and set aside.
2) Wipe out the broccoli pan and return to the heat with the butter, garlic and anchovies. Cook on a low heat for a minute or two until the anchovies have dissolved. Add the crème fraîche and Gorgonzola and cook on a medium heat, stirring continuously until the cheese has melted.
3) Meanwhile, generously salt the water in the other pan and drop in the pasta. Cook according to pack instructions (about 5-6 minutes) then drain well.
4) Add the cooked purple sprouting broccoli and pasta to the creamy sauce and serve immediately.