fruit: bananas, apples, pears, oranges, grapes
veg: green peppers, Crown Prince Squash, mushrooms, celeriac, onions, potatoes, spinach, sprout tops
Really getting icy this week, so a couple of soups on the menu: sprout & stilton and chicken & squash. I’m also planning to make some eggs Zakynthos with the peppers and Hugh Fernley Whittingstall’s Celeriac gratin with cream and chilli.
2 x 70cl bottles vodka (make sure they are a pretty shape)
12 unwaxed lemons
250g fructose
Bottles of Limoncello make excellent homemade Christmas gifts (or are lovely to chill and serve guests as a post prandial digestif).
Grate the rind off the lemons, taking care not to grate off any pith. I use a small holed grater (like a parmesan grater) which gives small curls rather than large gratings or dust. You can also carefully cut off the peel by hand, remove any pith and then cut into strips (this is how I used to do it in my uni days, when I had more time).
Roll the lemons gently on a hard surface, then juice. Add the juice and fructose to a pan and heat gently to disolve the sugar. Add in the lemon rind and leave to cool and infuse.
Measure the amount of lemon juice/rind mix you have, and pour the same amount of vodka into another bottle/jar. Mix the remaining vodka from the two bottles with the juice and rind, then decant back into the bottles.
Voila. Ideally let the flavours devlop for a week or two, but it can be drunk or gifted immediately.
These bottles can be tarted up by printing your own labels, or decorating the neck with a gift tag and ribbon.
2 punnets cherry tomatoes
1 ‘log’ goat’s cheese
6 eggs
1/2 pint milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp dried thyme or 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 tsp salt
couple of grinds black pepper
for the pastry:
8 oz flour
4oz fat (I use salted butter)
cold water to mix
Make the pastry by rubbing the fat into the flour (or using a food processor) and then, using a knife, slowly stir in a little cold water until it comes together. Gently, with the tips of your fingers bring together into a dough, then leave to chill for an hour in the fridge (covered in clingfilm).
Halve the cherry tomatoes and thinly slice the cheese along the log (you should end up with around 20 slices). Whisk the eggs with the milk, nutmeg, salt, pepper and thyme.
Heat the oven to 170 degrees. Thinly roll out the pastry and use it to line a deep flat dish such as a lasange dish (mine is 18 x 25cm and around 5cm deep). Place in the oven to blind bake for 5 mins.
Remove dish from oven and fill: cover the bottom with half the cherry tomatoes. Cover them with half the cheese. Repeat with the rest of the tomatoes, then the rest of the cheese. Pour over the egg mix.
Cook in the oven for between 40 and 60 mins. To check if done, stick in a knife and pull a bit to the side. If you can see runny egg, it needs a bit longer. Bare in mind you will see runny goat’s cheese, so make sure it is definitely the egg that is still not done.
This is lovely served with a peppery salad and reheats well for work lunches.
fruit: bananas, Spartan apples, Conference pears, kiwi, oranges, avocado
veg: onions, courgettes, leek, carrots, swede, chard, Nicola potatoes, Crown Prince squash
Very blustery today when I went to pick up the bags; it truly felt like a labour of love! Lots of good, solid fruit and veg to cook, which is fab considering the weather.
This week I’m planning some speedy courgette pasta, a rooty veg curry and some chard and ricotta pasta (pretty much a staple of ours). I’ll also make a couple of apple pies as I’ve got a thing with the local pie shop pies and there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t make them myself (other than pure laziness).