Latkes with Broad Bean & Miso Walnut salad ~ topped with Sour Cream and a Herb & Sweet Chili dressing.

I've missed a few blogs recently mainly because of other exciting events taking over! One of which was having a stall at Morecambes kite festival with my good friends @Lancaster Soup Dragon .
The weekend was bloomin' brilliant on many levels! So many nice people and loads of sunshine and lots of compliments about the food...........happy happy happy! 

Plus I collected some nice recipes from these lovely people ~ Like the Chocolate Orange Cake from Cathy @ VWLulabelle  and top flavour tip from Gary @ Teacup Kitchen  ~ Miso and Walnuts!!

As soon as I got home I made some!  Just dipping the miso in sugar and eating that is pretty amazing, and being ravenous after a weekend of work, I ate the miso walnuts with Lulabelles chocolate orange cake and it was bloomin' fantastic! So I made these!

Gluten free chocolate orange cake topped with caramelised miso walnuts & orange zest & some more chocolate!

But I'm not doing that recipe this week ~ sorry.
This week you get 4 recipes piled together, what a bargain!

                                                                           ~

Latkes with Broad Bean & Miso Walnut salad 
topped with Sour Cream and a Herb & Sweet Chilli dressing.

For the Latkes:

300g grated potatoes
2 egg whites
pinch of salt ~ and a few more for soaking the potatoes in
2 tbsp corn flour
Some butter and olive oil for frying

First add some salt to the potatoes and soak in cold water for half an hour.

Then drain and squeeze out the excess water with your hands.  Mix in the corn flour, salt and egg white and stir.
Heat up a frying pan with a dstsp each of oil and butter and spoon in the mixture to create roundish shapes, fry until crispy golden ~ makes about 8 depending on size.

For the Salad:

1/4  of an iceberg lettuce
300g broad beans (Yes fresh are best but I used tinned which I regret!)

50g chopped walnut
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp miso paste

Small tub of sour cream

Peel the skin of the bean and try not to think about the fact that you should be using fresh ones ~ or if you are ~ feel smug.
Slice the lettuce and arrange on a plate (or on the latkes) with the beans sprinkled on top.

For the walnuts:

Toast the walnuts in a non stick pan for a few minutes then put to one side. In the same pan mix the miso and sugar together over the heat until combined then mix the walnuts in, keep stirring until coated then tip onto a plate to cool.

For the herb & Sweet Chili Dressing:

120g Parsley & Coriander  
1 clove garlic
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 tsp caper
13 dsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 dsp chili jam ~

I used the chili jam made by my lovely, local friends at Beau. Or you can make your own ~ here's how Nigella does it.

Whizz everything in a blender or finely chop.

Add the chili jam at the end to your taste.

 Then make a pile of ~ latkes ~ lettuce ~ beans ~ walnuts ~ sour cream ~ herb & chili dressing.

Like this:

Best eaten while the Latkes are still warm.

Elderflower, Poppyseed & Lime Cake

Hello lovelies, this week has been mainly about elderflowers since we finally have them in bloom in the North! 

Best to be picked on a bright sunny morning. There are Elderflower trees everywhere which makes picking them very easy, I picked a bag full on the way back from school. I also made some cordial from a River Cottage recipe without the citric acid and with 800g sugar, 1 lemon and about 3 pints of water.  (So not really their recipe at all! )

You will need to pick the flowers one day proir to baking as they need a night in the fridge. I picked 20 heads which gave me 300g of flowers, so for this recipe you probably need 12 ish. 

Anyhow the cake came out very well, not too sweet with a delicious sweet, tangy, crystalised lime topping and wafting the scent of elderflowers everywhere! 

For the cake:

200g sugar                                                                             16p
170g butter                                                                            68p
zest of 1 lime                                                                          33p
2 free range eggs                                                                    34p
150 ml milk                                                                            15p
200g plain flour                                                                       15p
2 tsp baking powder                                                                10p
100g poppy seeds                                                                   85p
150g elderflowers                                                                    FREE

For the topping:

juice of 1 lime ~ from the lime you've already zested
40g sugar                                                                              3p
a handful of elderflowers                                                          FREE
1 tsp of icing sugar                                                                 3p

Total:                                                                                   £2.82

Leave the heads of flowers in the fridge overnight and then the flowers can be gently taken off ~ trouble free.

Gather your ingredients and zest the lime.  Turn on the oven gas 4 / 180c.  Grease and flour an 8" loose base cake tin.

Cream the butter and the sugar, then mix in the lime, flour and baking powder.

Beat the eggs and milk together and add to the mix. 

Then gently add in the flowers and poppy seeds.

Spoon the mix into the tin and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.

For the topping: Put the sugar and lime in a pan and bring to a boil. Stir for 5 minutes or so until it becomes syrupy. Turn off the heat and add the flowers, then spoon evenly over the cake.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and leave to cool.

Or if you just can't wait ~ eat warm with a nice cup of whatever you fancy ~ tea ~ coffee ~ or ~ gin.

Spinach, feta, thyme & potato muffins

Things are hotting up here at Fern & Olive. 

By that I mean a number of things:  ~ Our fridge broke and keeping our food cold was becoming a pain, running up the road to the neighbours and swopping round ice blocks. But I finally managed to secure the loan of a fridge in exchange for some chocolate & raspberry brownies, things are cool again.

  

Our own fridge in case you are interested, is going to be fixed by the marvellous  Alan Greenhalgh  who can fix anything! But the Beko parts take blooming ages to arrive. In the mean time I am trying to win some extra fridges on Freecycle, to put in the garage because of the imminent summer catering jobs that I have on. Exciting!! 

But then my camera broke too!!!

Arrggg......... everything is great but everything is falling apart at the same time! 

So after a fair bit of sweary shouting and possibly waking the baby next door I just photographed this weeks blog on my phone and with Vinces (aged 7) camera and took the big camera to the camera shop.  The camera professional took one look at it, and I do mean just a look, and the camera magically started working again!

Anyway to the food ~ this weeks recipe is inspired by  'Spinach & Feta'  one of my all time favourite food couples.

This recipe makes 6/7

You will need:

125g plain flour                                                                                               30p

1 tsp baking powder                                                                                         10p

1/2 tsp bicarbinate of soda                                                                                  2p

salt & pepper                                                                                                     3p

1 egg                                                                                                              34p

2 tbsp olive oil                                                                                                 20p

125g yoghurt                                                                                                   55p

50g feta cheese                                                                                                90p

50g wilted spinach   (100g bag makes 50g of wilted and squeezed dry spinach)      60p
100g potatoes ~ cooked and chopped                                                                 14p

some sprigs of thyme                                                               free from the garden!

TOTAL                                                                                                         £3.18

Muffin cases or grease proof paper and a muffin tin.

Put the oven on, Gas 6 ~ 200c

In a bowl mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the egg, oil and yoghurt then pour and fold into the flour mixture.

Wilt the spinach (see my Little Pies recipe for this if you need to) and chop.

Chop the cheese and potatoes into small chunks, and finely chop the thyme.

The flowers I kept aside for decoration but then forgot to use them!

 Fold in to the mix.

I had no muffin cases so I made my own from grease proof paper  16 x 16cm ish.

Shape the paper into the tins before carefully spooning in the mixture.

Bake for 18 ~ 20 minutes until golden brown.

And there you have it.

Delicious!  fresh from the oven with butter OR  I made a sweet chilli sauce to have mine for which I used my  Beau friends scrummy chilli jam. I just added a spoon of olive oil and a spoon of red wine vinegar to 2 spoons of chilli jam and stirred.  Extra delicious!

Nut crusted chickpea burger

The other day I was talking about food with a friend ~ a mum who works, and cooks a lot of meat in the slow cooker for tea. She said she would like to cook something vegetarian for her kids, something that's protein packed. So, with the power of the internet I  worked out that 100g of this chickpea burger has about the same amount of protein as 100g of chicken. Weather your kids would actually eat it is a different question?? Mine didn't but he's fussy, but then he wouldn't eat chicken either. Me and Jamie loved them though, and they can be made in advance, then baked for 30 minutes when you get home.

The nut crust is made from Brazil nuts which can only be produced in a healthy rainforest ecosystem, so they are good for the planet! 

I've served it with home made roast tomato ketchup, and a flatbread made with yoghurt.

This recipe makes 4 x 6oz burgers.

For the burger you will need:

1 tin of chickpeas ~ 250g when drained          75p

250g potatoes                                              20p

80g cheddar cheese                                       60p

50g flour                                                       3p

A pinch of salt                                                1p

140g broken Brazil nuts                             £2.20

TOTAL                                                    £3.79

Chop and cook the potatoes, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Mash them together, add the cheese, flour and salt. Then on a floured surface bring the mixture together.

Chop the Brazil nuts then toast them in the oven, gas 4 / 180c for 20 minutes, keep stirring them about every 5 minutes to stop them burning.  When they are cool, whizz or bash (in a bag, with a rolling pin) them into crumbs.

On a floured surface divide the chickpea mix into 4 and shape into burger shapes.  I then decided to add some pesto into the middle just for some excitement! So if you want to do this too just slice them open and spread some pesto on then close and re~shape.

Next whisk an egg, brush it on one side of the burger then lay the eggy side on the crumb mix, then egg and crumb the top side.

Place them on a lightly oiled tray and bake in the oven gas 5 / 190c for  30~35 minutes.

This is I made my own ketchup, although my own 7 year old prefers the boring one from the bottle!

Roast:

700g tomatoes 

2 small sliced onions

2 cloves garlic 

1/2 tsp Smoked paprika

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1 tsp  mixed spice

1 tsp salt 

3 tsp sugar

6 dsp Olive oil

When they were done, put into a pan over a medium heat.  Add 50ml wine vinegar I used red but you can use white. Leave to bubble for 30 minutes and add more sugar if you think it needs it and tomato puree if you have any. Blend it when it's cool.

And to make 8 flat breads:

You need:

200g g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

200 ~ 250g plain yoghurt

1 tsp salt

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix in the yoghurt until if makes a soft dough. Roll them out into a roundish shape on a floured surface, and cook in a lightly oiled frying pan for a few minutes each side.

Put it all together with some salad leaves and................voila!

White bean & herb cheese salad

This weeks recipe is a protein packed delicious and refreshing salad. I didn't really make with protein in mind, I just wanted to make something white & green to go with the wild garlic flowers that have filled our garden. I've also been getting some more free food week from Fruity Corners which is a a beautiful community garden in Lancaster where edible plants are grown and they're available for picking.

For the beans I felt I should soak and cook them from dried ~ I don't know why?? beacause they took hours to cook!  I usually use tinned beans which are maybe a bit soft but also, they're fine.  

For this recipe you will need to make your own cottage cheese! 

You will need:

A bunch of herbs ~ this is what I picked ~ Sea beet, Mint, Dill & Marjoram           FREE
140g    Dried Butter beans or Cannellini beans, or 1 & 1/2 tins                               83p
4 Spring onions                                                                                                  40p
1 Lemon, zested and juiced                                                                                  30p
1 ltr  Full fat milk ~ I used organic                                                                   £1.00
5 dsp double cream ~ not needed if you already have creamy topped milk               15p
1 tsp salt                                                                                                            3p
A spoon of olive oil                                                                                               3p
A piece of muslin or cheesecloth  (1mtr X 150cm makes 4)                                     75p

Total                                                                                                            £3.49

This makes enough for at least 4 portions.

First, in fact yesterday, soak the beans in cold water over night.

Then cook the beans in water for an hour and a half ~ or until edible. Or drain and rinse the tinned beans.  

At the same time put the milk on to stove.

I have read, that to cook cheese all your utensils must be very clean and I also read this only too late! 'Since cheese making involves an acidification of the milk the use of aluminum or cast iron utensils are not appropriate' Ooops. 

Heat the milk until it steams, but does not boil. Remove from the heat and add 1 tsp of lemon juice and slowly stir for a few minutes. Let it rest for an hour while the curds separate from the whey.

This didn't work for me first time, maybe it hadn't been hot enough? Maybe not enough lemon juice? Maybe the cast iron pan??  So I put it back on the stove and heated it up again and poured in the rest of the lemon juice which all worked and looked like this:

 

Place the cheesecloth over a big bowl  (I tied it with string.) Pour in the mixture and strain the curds from the whey, let them drain for 5 minutes.

Then rinse the curds by gathering the cheesecloth and holding it under a cold tap until they are completely cooled. Squeeze out all water to the get the curds as dry as you can.

Keep the whey!

You are left with about a litre of whey which can be added, instead of water to all your baking and more.   I'm going to make this here ciabatta bread which will go nicely with the salad.

 Place the cheese in a bowl and add the cream and salt to taste.

For the salad:

Chop your herbs, spring onions, sea beet and garlic flower stems.

Mix them all together in a bowl with the cooked & rinsed beans and then add the cheese.

Add some olive oil & carefully mix it all together.

Add salt and pepper, plate up and garnish with garlic flowers, lemon zest and olive oil.

Nice!  

Dukka spiced chocolate truffles

If you live round these parts you may well have eaten at The Masons Arms otherwise known as  'The Strawberry Bank' a lovely pub in a lovely spot, serving very nice food. 

Last time I went there we had Dukka for a starter ~ Oh my!! I'd never tried, or heard of it before ~  I was incredibly excited by it's deliciousness, so I asked the waiter what was in it and he nipped off  and got the recipe for me! 

Then, one Christmas, probably after a few, I thought it would go rather well in a Chocolate Truffle, so the Dukka is made into a Praline then added to a Chocolate Truffle mixture.  

And amazingly enough ~ today is National Truffle Day!!  So here, for your delight, is the recipe.

First make the Dukka.  You can use any combination of nuts and seed, Pistachios work well too.

For the Dukka:

40g Hazelnuts

40g Almonds

40g Sesame seeds

40g Sunflower seeds

Toast these nuts in a pan over a medium heat, keep stirring so they don't burn, leave to cool in a bowl.

2 tsp Coriander seeds 

2 tsp Fennel seeds

2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Smoked paprika

2 tsp Sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

Toast these spices in a pan over a medium heat then add to the nuts ~ leave to cool then whizz them all together in a food processor, or if you don't have one  put the mix in a sealed bag and bash with a rolling pin. 

This makes about 180g of Dukka, next thing is to make this into Praline, but first test out the deliciousness of Dukka  ~ dip your bread in olive oil & balsamic vinegar, then into the Dukka! 

If you happen to live in Lancaster then use the best bread in town from Filberts Bakery, it goes perfectly with it!

For the Praline:

80g Sugar
100g Dukka

Pour the sugar into a heavy bottomed pan, and turn on a medium/low heat. The sugar starts to melt around the edges after a few minutes, DO NOT STIR, just gently shake it now and again until it's all melted and bubbling, as soon as steam appears turn it off, this is your caramel, it's hot!

Add 100g of Dukka to this, stir with a wooden spoon and pour onto a baking tray or baking paper to cool. When cooled whizz or bash or grind into crumbs. This makes about 200g of crumbs as long as you didn't eat too much Dukka before hand.

For the Truffles:

180g Dark chocolate

75ml Double cream

40g Butter

100g of Dukka praline crumbs (the rest will be used later)

Melt the chocolate in a bowl in a pan of water, over a low heat. Don't let the water boil over into the chocolate and don't let it get too hot. Do stir from time to time. 

When it's almost melted ~ chop and add the butter. When the butter's melted turn off the heat and add the cream. Stir gently, then add the Dukka crumbs, stir it all in well and leave to cool. 

I put mine in the freezer to speed things up, taking it out every 10 mins to give it a stir, it won't work if you let it completely freeze though!

Finally roll into walnut sized balls and roll in the remaining Dukka crumbs.  Makes about 20 ~ 24.

You may want to eat them all straight away but if you don't they keep pretty well for some time in the fridge.

Hooray!!