When shopping – particularly if I’m hungry, savouring the idea of preparing delicious dishes, I often buy too much fresh produce. Then I find myself stuck with an excess of wonderful ingredients and a lack of desire to cook. I have many reasons to cook or create a recipe; hunger, obviously, is the principle one, or simply “emptiness”, as my father would claim; the second is the glorious sight and smell of fresh vegetables, fruit and cheese; other reasons include the temptation of a good recipe (or food photograph), or the memory of a dish or a flavour, and the desire to recreate it: but the one that most frequently motivates me to action is the determination to use up food stuff before it goes off, (oh, the the horror of wasting food which costs so much labour to produce!). This January has been particularly challenging in our house as I’ve been off food since Christmas due to a long-lasting dose of the flu. So all the wonderful food I had bought in the week before Christmas was sitting ignored. The sight of bananas turning browner in a bowl finally drove me to rouse myself and make banana muffins – I just could not throw them out. As an added bonus I was able to use stale natural yogurt – (sour smelling but no mould). This is an easy recipe and these muffins are a great snack, delicious for breakfast or for putting in lunch boxes and have the added bonus of being quite light on sugar. They also keep well for 3 or 4 days and, if anything, taste better a day or two after baking. Ingredients
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ENJOY! Katie Verling
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POACHED PLUMS IN ORANGE & CINNAMON SYRUP If you are stuck for dessert or pudding ideas this winter and want to prepare something quick and easy that is memorably delicious – this is sure fire dish. The rich red of the soft plums sitting in a rose-coloured fragrant liquid will delight you and your guests. All you need is a lovely serving bowl - preferably in glass, plenty of whipped cream, cream fraiche or Greek yogurt (or a mix of all three!), toasted flaked almonds and voila! These plums can be served warm or cold – and if you decide to serve them cold I suggest you carefully spoon the cream mixture on top and scatter the toasted flaked almonds all over and leave to settle for an hour in a cool place. Ingredients
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Serve as suggested above and keep any left-over juice to add to porridge, granola or yogurt in the morning. If you like you could use red wine in your poaching liquid and replace the cinnamon with 2-3 pieces of star anise (but remember to remove it as soon as the fruit is cooked). Katie Verling This dish is great to eat in the run up to Christmas as it’s quick, easy, tasty and contains little heavy protein (after all, Advent, like Lent is associated with dietary restraint). But, it is also delightful contrast after Christmas when you are jaded from eating heavy meals and need to divert your palate after feasting on the intense flavours, spices and winter herbs of the festive season.
I’ve had a heavy cold in the last few weeks and have approached cooking with deep reluctance. Low on a lot of kitchen staples, I’ve been driven to invention, combining ingredients to make something to please my peaky palate and soothe my senses! With a yen to eat something light, flavourful and quick to prepare I searched in the fridge and found a carton of cream, a fennel bulb, some courgettes, and then spotted a bowl of lemons on the table. (As I wrote in my April recipe -Mushrooms, wild garlic and cream on toast - cream is a most useful ingredient to have in your fridge as it makes a great base for a quick pasta sauce). When I discovered I was out of parmesan cheese, I added an egg and a generous sprinkle of smoked Achill Sea salt to finish the dish. INGREDIENTS Serves 3-4 as lunch or a light supper– depending on levels of hunger of course!
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Katie Verling
Of course, there is nothing more delicious than an Irish apple in autumn, but those from my tree will not last much beyond Christmas. I imagine I am not the only person in this predicament, and so I offer you two recipes using apples that I have prepared as side dishes in the last few weeks: one is a salad, the other a warm vegetable dish. Apple and Fennel Salad with Caramelised Walnuts This is a simple refreshing salad, great with sausages and pork, with cold meats or in place of a coleslaw. This salad has the advantage of keeping fresh for up to 48 hours in the fridge, and just needs to be brought to room temperature before serving. But make sure to use firm young fennel bulbs if you can get them, and a mix of red and green apples.
Method
Caramelised Walnuts This takes only 5 to 7 minutes to prepare but you must always remain attentive as the sugar can burn very quickly and ruin the nuts. Heat a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat and add 40gms of caster sugar, 25gms of butter and watch as the sugar and butter melt. When this begins adding the walnuts and swish the nuts around to mix well with the caramel. Continue to watch the nuts ensuring that all the nuts get covered in caramel and have access to the base of the pan to toast. The smell is delicious as the nuts warm up and the sweetness of the caramel catches your nostrils. But beware, don’t let it burn! As soon as you think it is barely cooked turn off the heat and pour the pan’s contents onto some grease proof paper and spread it out. Within about 5 minutes the nuts will have cooled and hardened. Now, you can put them onto a chopping board and break up or chop as you like. Resist the temptation to eat them all at once! ![]() Fried Cabbage, Apple and Cumin This is a quick and easy dish and a good way of preparing cabbage differently. It works particularly well with pork chops, bacon or as an accompaniment to a dish of dahl.
Method Heat the oil in a large, wide-bottomed pan on a medium heat and once hot, add the cumin seeds. Then add the sliced onion and, if using the red pepper – cook briskly for about 4 minutes, then add cabbage and apples and raise the heat a little. Keep stirring the pan now making sure that the cabbage is getting access to the heat of the pan. This cooks quickly and you’ll see the cabbage beginning to wilt and apples starting to colour and soften after about 5 – 7 minutes. Now add the cider vinegar to the pan to listen and smell as it bubbles up and the steam cooks the cabbage. Allow the cider vinegar to cook off almost completely, taste, season and serve. ENJOY! Katie Verling
ingredients, including celery. When researching this dish, I was surprised to learn that celery is an ancient Mediterranean herb and vegetable; originally using just the leaves or seeds for flavour – and more recently using the whole plant. In fact, in northern Italy, you’ll notice people buying a stalk or two of celery for flavouring and rarely see it used as a vegetable in a dish.
The flavour of Caponata is derived from the addition of olives and capers and a little vinegar and sugar at the end of the cooking period – this gives it its distinctive ‘agrodolce’ taste i.e., sour, and sweet. You may not have associated Italian food with sweet and sour dishes, but this is a typical and very old tradition in Sicily where fruit, vegetables, olives, and capers were preserved in brine, oil, vinegar and/or dried to last the winter. Note: I have given precise quantities for the recipe – but you can use these as a guideline and add or subtract amounts according to availability and taste RECIPE
METHOD Note: you’ll need 2 large deep pans or pots for this – that way you make it more quickly!
Enjoy Katie Verling
with them and I didn’t feel like eating them as a cold dish, so I had to devise a dish that I could cook quickly that used store cupboard ingredients. I thought of making something vaguely Mexican using plenty of coriander and this is what I made.
This dish took less than 30 minutes to cook and is even more delicious the second day – if there is any left over. Serves 4 with rice. Ingredients
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I served this with brown rice but white rice or even new potatoes would work just as well. If you decide to spice up this dish with plenty of chilli remember to serve some yogurt on the side to cool your palate. ENJOY! Katie Verling
Ingredients
Serves 3-4
Method
The fresh flavours of the vegetables, garlic and herbs is delightful on a chilly OR warm summer’s evening. Katie Verling
How about serving it with organic poached salmon (i.e. cooked in a flavoured stock with lemon, fennel seeds, fresh lemon thyme, bay, black pepper corns and a little salt, NOT fished illegally!) It’s a speedy recipe and serves 2-3 as a main dish with pasta or 4 as a side vegetable dish. Ingredients
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January 2023
AuthorsRecipes from Katie Verling & Jacques |