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!! 

Little pies

What I would really like is a pasta making machine, I have tried the 'roll~it~out~with~a~rolling~pin'  method but it's a killer on the arms, so I decided to use my dream pasta filling in little pies instead, and they worked out well. 

Shamefully, nothing this time, is home grown or fairly traded with a vegetable growing neighbour. Everything is bought from the supermarket, the local supermarket mind you. 

This recipe makes 4 but I would recommend doubling up and making 8  ~ just for yourself!

This is what you'll need:

2 Artichoke hearts    56p

50g Fresh spinach    50p

10g Cottage cheese   5p

125g Puff pastry      25p

1 Egg                     17p

10g Sesame seeds     8p

Salt & pepper            4p

Total    ~     £1.65

Wash and wilt the spinach. If you bought a big 200g bag put the whole lot in a big frying pan on a low heat for a few minutes turning it over constantly, as soon as it has changed to wilted spinach transfer it to a sieve and run under a cold tap, divide into 4 and squeeze out the water. 

Just use 1 of these spinach balls and put the other 3 in the fridge or freezer for something else,  I just think spinach keeps better this way and takes up less fridge space. Alternatively - buy frozen spinach!

Take 2 artichokes from a tin, rinse under the tap and gently squeezed dry, keep the rest in their juices in a bowl in the fridge. They usually last at least a week.

Pre heat the oven to  180c  gas 4 (or 5 in our slightly rubbish oven)

If you've got a 500g pack of puff pastry then cut off a 1/4 square and roll out on a floured surface until about 2 mm thick,  i.e. as thin as you can.

Then cut 8 circles out, about 9 cm diameter.  Use a pastry cutter if you have one, or a big glass will do. I used a little frying ring which I once bought once to make crumpets with.

Place 4 circles on a baking tray and divide your fillings between them. Leave a 1 cm space around the edge. Season with salt & lots of black pepper!

Beat the egg,  and brush around the edge. Then gently place the other circles over the fillings, you may need to stretch them out a bit to make them fit. Press down around the edge to stick to layers together.

Brush the tops with egg yolk and sprinkle with the sesame seeds, I used my frying ring again for this, to help the seeds stick only to the pie and not go everywhere! 

Make a little hole in the top with a pointy knife,  and bake for 20 ~ 25 minutes or until golden!

  

Cool on a cooking rack.

Cool!

I found these pies incredibly delicious, but they are just a snack or a starter, so I used the rest of the ingredients, plus about 6 thinly sliced par boiled new potatoes, and some chopped dill, and a packet of Mozarella cheese to make this for our dinner.

  

Halloumi, mung bean & slow roast tomato salad

I really love salads! 

And I love Lancasters Wednesday Street Market where I can buy 2 punnets (500g) of little plum tomatoes for £1.20. I bought the leek there too and the mung beans were from the Chinese supermarket, so all cheap except the Halloumi ~ (sorry about that) but very healthy!

Serves 6

Ingredients:

100g Mung beans                   24p 

500g little tomatoes             £1.20

2 x cloves garlic                      10p

1 x leek                                 50p

a few sprigs of thyme              FREE from my garden (which I bought from Wilkos)

1/2 lemon                              30p

1  packet of halloumi           £2.35

some olive oil                         20p

TOTAL                              £4.89

Soak the mung beans in water for half a day or so.

Half the tomatoes and put them in a roasting dish, along with 1/2 tsp salt and some pepper and 1/2 tsp of sugar and the garlic (which I forgot to do!) Roast in the oven, gas 3 / 160c for an hour then leave in the oven to cool.

Slice the leeks and gently fry in olive oil, until soft, avoid burning them!
Rinse the mung beans then bring to the boil in a pan of water and simmer for  20 ~ 25 minutes until soft but not soggy.

 Gently mix the beans, leek and tomatoes together, avoiding mushing the tomatoes along the way. Add the juice of half a lemon and sprinkle with the chopped thyme.

Slice and fry the Halloumi cheese in a large pan with a spoon of oil.  At first water appears to ooze out of the cheese, but this soon disappears and the cheese starts to get it's deliciously salty, crisp crust. You could try marinating it in a bit of lemon juice first - it's can improve to flavour.

Either tear or chop the Halloumi then mix in to the salad or plate up, and arrange fashionable on top before drizzling with olive oil.

And if you make too much salad, and get fed up with having it for lunch every day, you can do this to it!
Fry up 2 veggie sausages, slice and put to one side. Then in the same pan heat up the salad with a few Kalamata olives and 1/4 tin of tomatoes ~ whizzed or sliced. Add the sausages and stir over the heat till hot. Serve with toast and a spoon of Wild Garlic Tapenade!

Rhubarb & Almond Tart

This week I managed to secure myself a Kilo of rhubarb ~ for a bag of wild garlic from my garden!  Our lovely neighbour Alison, co-owns the Lancaster Soup Dragon  (purveyors of the finest vegetarian soup) AND she is brilliant at growing vegetables on her allotment, just up the road ~ I love it round here!

This recipe takes a while as there are 3 components:

Rhubarb compote

Pastry

Frangipane

 :but its worth the effort!

Rhubarb compote (stewed rhubarb!)

400g rhubarb    FREE!

110g sugar    9p

Gently stew for 1/2 an hour or so, or until thickish.

Sweet short pastry

175g Butter       £1.13

1tsp sugar            1p

pinch of salt         1p

1 egg yolk            23p

3 tbsp milk           2p

250g plain flour    15p

Preheat oven ~ gas mark 4 ~ 180c

Mix together the butter and sugar, add the egg yolk, salt & milk. 

In my 'French Brasserie Cookbook' it says mix together by hand ~ I did this although I'm not sure what the point of it is ~ maybe it's just for the pleasure of squishing butter between your fingers.

Then slowly add the flour until just combined, making sure not to overwork it. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.  

Blind bake for 10 minutes.

Almond Frangipane

110g butter                                                                                                        80p

110g light brown sugar                                                                                        30p

2 eggs & the egg white left over from the pastry                                                    46p

110g ground almonds                                                                                      £1.10

25g plain flour                                                                                                      2p

1 tsp baking powder                                                                                              1p

zest of 1 lemon                                                                                                   25p

pinch of salt (which I forgot to add!)                                                                       1p

25g flaked toasted almonds ~ to be added 5 minutes before the end of baking.         29p

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, beat in the eggs, then fold in the rest of the ingredients to make the frangipane.

Assemble ~ I used 250g of the rhubarb compote and spread it over the pastry base. Then carefully spooned the frangipane over the top, making sure the to cover all the rhubarb evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes, remember to sprinkle the toasted almonds on top after about 20 minutes of baking.

When the tart is cool trim the excess pastry.

Unlike the finest tarts on Master Chef, this one did end up with a soggy base, maybe if you used a loose~base tin you could cool it on a wire rack ~ which may help. 

Total  £4.88 ~ not cheap but you do end up with a delicious cake that could feed 12! 

Or 6 people who like huge slices!

Wild garlic tapenade

Wild garlic tapenade

    We moved house last November, and although we spent our last pennies on the leaky roof, boiler and  re-wiring, it's still quite crumbly and desperately needs painting/plastering/over hauling. 

But for the moment I'm calling the decor 'vintage' and the house a 'restoration project',  so I can just ignore it while I make this blog and create Fern & Olives catering menus! 

     Anyway, to the garden which I plan to fill with herbs and some easy to grow edible things,  but at this moment in time is full to the brim with wild garlic. This is a very exciting surprise and a massive bonus! If you fancy collecting some from the woods ~  Read all about it here. 

This is what I've made so far:

Wild garlic potato farls

and...     

Wild garlic, feta, olive & pink peppercorn salad

              

     Todays recipe however is neither of these. It's for Wild garlic tapenade which is delicious and very useful for making into even more food!

60g / 2oz Wild garlic / Ramsoms       FREE

juice of 1/2 a lemon                            15p

40g walnuts                                       50p

1tsp capers                                        10p

1tsp caper vinegar from the jar            5p

7 dtsp of olive oil                                8p

1/2 tsp brown sugar                           3p

1/2 tsp salt                                        3p 

total                                                  91p

(to be honest I have just made up the prices for sugar, salt & oil if anything I think 3p is too much!) 

     Hopefully you have a blender or food processor or pestle & mortar, otherwise just a lot of fine chopping will work well,  you'll end a slightly crunchier version but equally tasty. 

So thats it, and when the wild garlic runs out you could try using other lovely leaves like water cress or rocket. But until then - here are some tasty things you can make with tapenade.

Cheddar & wild garlic tapenade, toasted sour dough sandwich. 

Wild garlic and smoked chedder pinwheel bread.