Cook & Eat: January 2024
Starter:
Baked cauliflower, miso and tahini
Warm grape & radicchio salad
Main:
Spanish chickpea and spinach stew
Herby garlic bread
Dessert
Toasted hazelnut tart
Starter: baked cauliflower, miso & tahini; warm grape &
radicchio salad
ingredients:
For the cauliflower
1 x large cauliflower
4 x tbsp white miso paste
4 x tbsp tahini
120ml olive oil
2 x tbsp sesame seeds
Squeeze of lime juice to serve
method:
STEP 1: Set the oven at 180 C. Place the cauliflower on a chopping board and slice into 6-8 thick steaks. Lay the pieces of cauliflower snugly in a
roasting tin.
STEP 2: In a small bowl, mix together the white miso paste, tahini over the cauliflower and 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Brush the remining olive oil on
the cauliflower and then spread with half the paste. Turn the pieces over and spread the other side, then cover the tray with foil. Bake for 1 hour.
STEP 3: Remove the foil and scatter the surface of the cauliflower with thesesame seeds. Baste with the juices from the tin and return to the oven for
10 minutes, this time without the foil. Squeeze some fresh lime juice to serve.
Ingredients for the salad
200 g seedless red grapes
1 radicchio or 2 red chicory
1 clove of garlic
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 heaped tablespoons pine nuts
olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon runny honey
30 g rocket
method:
STEP 1: Put the grapes on a griddle pan over a high heat and grill for 5 minutes, or until caramelised and starting to burst open, then place in a large salad bowl.
STEP 2: Trim and quarter the radicchio, then dismantle all the leaves.
Working in batches, grill, char and soften on both sides, then add to the bowl (this may feel like a very unusual process, but trust me, it’s delicious).
STEP 3 : Once you've grilled the radicchio, turn the heat off (we're going to use the pan to make a warm dressing). Peel and finely slice the garlic, pick the rosemary leaves and place in the still-hot griddle pan with the pine nuts and 2 tablespoons of oil. Keep everything moving for 1 minute, then add the balsamic vinegar (it'll sizzle and smell amazing!), and pour every last bit into the bowl along with the honey.
STEP 3: Toss and massage it all together, seasoning to absolute perfection with sea salt and black pepper. Leave to sit for 10 minutes, then toss through the rocket. Great as a side salad, or shave over a little goat's cheese and serve with hot toast.
MAIN: Spanish chickpea and spinach stew; herby garlic bread
Ingredients:for the stew
2 tbsp / 30 ml olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
3 tsp cumin seeds
3 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp smoked paprika (ground)
¼-½ tsp cayenne pepper or & tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp salt
Saffron strands soaked in cup of warm vegetable stock/water
2-3 tsp brown sugar
black pepper, to taste
2 x 400 g tins of peeled plum tomatoes
1 tbsp of tomato paste
2 jars of cooked chickpeas
200 g of spinach
Handful of cherry tomatoes sliced lengthways
a handful of almond flakes, toasted
fresh parsley, chopped
method:
STEP 1: Heat up the oil in a large frying pan (ideally with a lid). Add chopped onion and fry on a low heat until almost translucent, stirring from time to time. Grind the seeds and add all the ground spices to the fried onion and stir them around well. Fry them off gently for a minute or two stirring the whole time as they burn easily. Add tomato paste to the pan and stir it into the onion and spice mixture.
STEP 2: Squash plum tomatoes slightly before adding them to the pan. Add salt and half of the sugar. Let the sauce thicken by simmering it on a low heat with no lid on. Give the sauce a good stir from time to time.
STEP 3: Once the sauce thickens, add the saffron and stock and reduce again, taste it and season with some black pepper and more sugar if needed
STEP 4: Stir in cooked chickpeas and cherry tomatoes and let them warm through. Now add in the spinach and place the lid on to let spinach wilt and cook in the steam.
STEP 5: Transfer to a large warmed serving bowl and sprinkle with toasted almonds and fresh parsley. Serve with warm crusty garlic bread.
For the garlic bread
2 x baguettes
225g good quality butter
Fine sea salt and black pepper
4 x tbsp freshly chopped parsley
2 x tbsp freshly chopped lemon thyme
½ tbsp freshly chopped rosemary
2-3 x plump cloves of garlic
Finely grated zest and juice of one unwaxed lemon
method:
STEP 1: Heat the oven to 200C. Slice the baguettes as thickly as you likebut keep each loaf intact. Place each loaf on a sheet of foil, large enough to wrap the whole loaf.
STEP 2: Meanwhile, cop all the herbs and crush the garlic cloves and mixwith the softened butter with a fork. Season and add lemon juice and zest. Slather each slice of bread on both sides with the butter mixture.
STEP 3: Wrap with foil and bake for 20 mins or so. Unwrap and serve alongside the stew.
Dessert: toasted hazelnut tart with raspberries
Ingredients for the pastry
180g plain flour
90g unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1 heaped tbsp icing sugar
2 x tbsp iced water
For the filling
150g skinned hazelnuts plus 50g for the top
175g butter
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g plain flour
1tsp vanilla extract
250g raspberries
method:
STEP 1: to make the pastry: put the flour and butter into a food processor and blitz to fine crumbs. If you prefer, you can make it by hand by rubbing the butter, cut into small dice, into the flour with you fingertips. Either way, it should resemble fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, icing sugar and iced water, a tablespoon or two should be enough. You want a firm dough that will roll without crumbling. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured board, bring together in a ball, wrap in baking parchment and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
STEP 2: Roll the pastry out into a large disc and put into a greased and lined loose bottomed tart tin (22cm diameter). Chill again for 30minutes.
Heat the oven to 190 C, with a metal baking sheet that you will put the tart tin on. Blind baked the pastry case for 20 minutes, then lift parchment and baking beans and return tart case to oven and bake for another 5-7minutes until the surface of the pastry feels dry to the touch.
STEP 3: To make the filling: spread the hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for 10mins. They should turn a little darker and smell warmly nutty. Press briefly in food processor, the idea is not to reduce them to fine crumbs but to a mixture of sizes, both fine crumbs and larger pieces.
STEP 4: Cream the butter and sugar together to a soft, light consistency, then introduce the eggs, lightly beaten, a little at a time. Mix in the flour, nuts and the vanilla extract. Spread half the mixture over the pastry case, add the raspberries, then the rest of the mixture. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until the top is golden brown, the filling lightly firm. Leave to settle for a good 20 minutes before slicing.