Nasturtium Pesto

If you have been reading my blogs through the summer, you will know I am a big fan of eating nasturtiums.

They are really a wonderful thing to have growing in your kitchen garden and so versatile as flowers, leaves and seeds all have an intense peppery flavour.  In the summer months I was eating salads with nasturtium leaves and inspired to pickle the seeds Pickled Nasturtium Seeds - a supply of which I still have in my cupboard for adding to my winter salads and adding to sauces.

They grow so easily in the UK, so why strive to find enough basil leaves to make pesto when its easier to get your hands of 50g of nasturtium leaves?

In the recipe below, I've tried to use ingredients that are  available in the UK and as many of them from my garden to keep those food miles down.  Who needs pine nuts that are usually produced in China when a kitchen garden sunflower can provide us with enough seeds for a few jars?

It really compliments fish but is great on toast, with pasta, even flavouring potatoes and I'm sure with some imagination there are many more uses.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

50g Nasturtium Leaves
4 Garlic Gloves
Teaspoon Nasturtium Seeds or Pickled Nasturtium Seeds
50g Sunflower seeds (preferably home grown)
75g Hard local goat's cheese
50 ml Lemon/Lime juice
150 ml Rapeseed Oil
Salt to taste

Method

This is the easiest method I have ever described and there are two schools of thought for producing pesto.
1.  Chuck everything into a blender until everything's well mixed and looks like pesto
2.  With a good sized pestle and mortar pummel all your ingredients together.   

Which method do you prefer?

When the mixture has been placed into jars, I like to keep one in the fridge for regular use and the other jars in the freezer until I need them.

I used to buy artisan pesto from my local farmer's market, but now I know how easy it is to make my own there's no turning back to bought pesto again!

Apples with Garam Masala

Chopped apples with Garam Masala, chopped onions and chopped black pudding (from local butcher)

A few days ago I was making a curry and one of the spices the recipe asked for was Garam Masala.  Before using all the new herbs and spices, I smelt each jar just to see if I had any more ideas for the new spices in my cupboard.  One of which being ground Garam Masala and as soon as I took a whiff of this one I thought this might be good with apples.

My mum gave me a bag of apples from her orchard so I've been trying to think up new ideas with the apples so last night as I was lightly frying some apples in a savoury dish I tossed in a teaspoon of Garam Masala.

I have to tell you apples and Garam Masala make amazing bed fellows - it was delicious!

It makes for a wonderfully smell in the kitchen too - great for winter evenings.

Happy experimenting :)

Mashed Potatoes & Peppers

Tonight as I was making some mashed potatoes with some fried onions and bacon bits, I thought I'd add some sweet peppers I've got growing on some plants in my flat.  I lightly fried the peppers, onions and bacon bits and as I was mashing up the potatoes at the end thought I'd add a generous portion of chilli flakes.  As this was a real winner in my home I thought I'd share it with you.

Ingredients:

Potatoes (for mashing)
Margarine/Butter (for the potato mash)
2 chopped onions
5 chopped garlic
2 sweet chillies
3 slices of bacon
Chilli flakes (I leave the quantity up to you)

Method:

1.  Peel, chop and boil the potatoes until soft.
2.  Chop the onions, garlic and sweet peppers.
3.  Fry the onions, garlic and sweet peppers on a low heat.  When they are done remove them from the heat.
4.  Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry.
5.  Drain and mash the potatoes with a good dollop of margarine or butter.
6.  Add the bacon, onions, garlic and sweet peppers to the mix and mix well in.
7.  Sprinkle some chilli flakes into the mix.  Mix in and taste.  Add more chilli flakes if you need more heat.
8.  Enjoy!!  Great for a cool autumn evening.

Beetroot Brownies

I recently received a bag of beetroot from a community garden so have been trying to find something to make that uses beetroot. 

I could roast them with garlic which is delicious, but I'd made that before and wanted to try something new and a friend suggested beetroot brownies. 

The first time I tried these they were with dark cooking chocolate but this time I decided to go all out and make it with Green & Black's dark chocolate with cherries which has 70% cocoa.  It was definitely worth it if a little expensive!! 


These made really sumptuous, moist, crumbly, delicious brownies and here's the recipe:







Ingredients

200g Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa)
250g Margarine / butter
250g Sugar
3 medium free range eggs
75g self raising flour
250g beetroot (boiled until you can slide a fork into them easily)


Method

1   Melt the margarine/butter and chocolate.
2   Beat the eggs with the sugar while the chocolate and margarine/butter are melting and then once they are fully melted combine with the beaten eggs and sugar.
3   Start to preheat your oven at 180 degrees C
4   Mix in the flour with a large spoon
5   Chop the beetroot until its in very small pieces then add these to the mix.  Once all nicely combined your mixture is ready.
6   Grease your baking tin and pour in the mixture
7   Put your brownies in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes and enjoy the smell in your kitchen while they bake
8   Enjoy!!