recipe summer

Meatballs with Hidden Veggies Tomato Sauce

Meatballs are a great fun make for children (and adults!) of all ages. This recipe makes fairly traditional pork and beef meatballs buts cooks them in a veggie-packed tomato sauce for an added nutrient boost that’s also big on flavour. Serves four.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Meatballs:

200g lean pork mince

200g lean beef mince

2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs

30g Parmesan or Cheddar cheese, finely grated

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 clove garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano

1 large pinch each of salt & pepper

To Serve:

wholewheat pasta

grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese

For the Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1 carrot, scrubbed & grated

1/4 butternut squash (peeled, deseeded) OR 1 small courgette, grated

1 red pepper, deseeded & grated

1 x 680g jar tomato passata

1 heaped tablespoon tomato puree

1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon Worcester sauce

1 large pinch each of salt, pepper & sugar

1 small pinch dried chilli flakes, optional

METHOD:

1. Start with making the meatballs. Weigh and assemble all the ingredients and place in a large bowl. Squish together with your (well washed) hands until very well combined.

2. Using your hands shape the mixture into 12 equal sized balls (about the size of a walnut), set aside on a plate until you are ready to cook. Now wash your hands very well.

3. Prepare all the vegetables for the sauce, finely chop the onion and garlic and grate the carrot, squash/courgette and pepper.

4. Heat the oil for the sauce in a large saucepan or casserole dish. Fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and all the grated vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

5. Stir in the tomato passata, then fill the jar 1/3 full with water. With the top on shake the jar and pour the water into the pan. Stir in the tomato puree, oregano, Worcester sauce, salt, pepper, sugar and chilli flakes if using. Bring to a simmer and cook the sauce for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.

6. For very little children or the veggie-phobic blitz the sauce with a hand-held stick blender or in a food processor until smooth. Bring back to a simmer.

7. Carefully drop or spoon the meatballs into the sauce. Cover the pan with a lid and leave to cook for 20 minutes. DO NOT STIR the balls for at least 15 minutes as they need to firm up and cook.

8. Serve on a bed of (wholewheat) tagliatelle or spaghetti, with grated Parmesan or Cheddar cheese. Delizioso!

Cucumber Pickle

Cucumber Pickle

I have been cooking this rather wonderful cucumber pickle for a few years now. It was passed onto me by a long-time customer and supporter of our work, Gill from Swan Brewery, Leominster.

The perfect pickle to team with cheese.. love it!

Prep time: 20 mins; Cook time: 25 mins; Total time: 45 mins

Ingredients

4 large cucumbers

3 medium onions

2 oz/50g of salt

** For the syrup **

1pt/570ml of white wine vinegar

1lb/454g of soft brown sugar

½ level tsp of ground turmeric

½ level tsp of ground cloves

1 tbsp of mustard seed (we used black)

(We also put a large sprig of fennel in each jar when we added the vegetables).

Instructions

Wash cucumber and slice very thinly (we used Danny’s natty Japanese mandolin for slicing the cucumber and the onion).

Peel the onions and slice very thinly.

In a large bowl, layer cucumbers and onions with a sprinkling of salt in between the layers. Weigh down with a plate.

Stand for three hours.

After three hours, pour away the liquid and rinse the cucumbers and onions under running water twice.

Put your jars in the oven to sterilised them. (How do I sterilise jars? See tricks and tips below).

Put vinegar, sugar and spices in a stainless steel or non stick saucepan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Add the cucumber and onions to the saucepan and bring to the boil.

Boil syrup and vegetables for a couple of minutes. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Reduce remaining syrup for 15-20 min.

After ten minutes or so, gently fill warm, sterilised jars with vegetables. Don’t press down.

When syrup has reduced, pour over vegetables in jars.

Cover immediately with plastic lined, sterilised metal lids. (How do I sterilise lids? See tricks and tips below).

When cold, label and store in a cool, dark place, away from damp

Tricks and tips:

How do I sterilise jars and lids?

We collect jars all year round for our jelly, chutney and jam making sessions. I try to soak off labels and store the clean jars and metal plastic coated screw-top lids in an accessible place. The sterilising method that we used is simple. Just before making jam, jelly,’cheese’, chutney or pickles.I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. I set the temperature to 160c/140c for fan assisted. When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while. I only use plastic lined lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty and if there is vinegar in the jar, this can react badly with metal. I boil lids for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.

Plum, Almond & Spelt Cake

A deliciously moist, light and very moreish cake/pudding. Gorgeous with a dollop of creme fraiche!

INGREDIENTS:

To make 16 squares:

500g plums, washed

150g spelt flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

80g ground almonds

150g soft brown sugar

3 medium eggs, free range

100ml vegetable or sunflower oil

150ml plain yoghurt

METHOD:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200ºc/180ºc fan/Gas Mark 6

2. De-stone your plums and roughly chop, set aside

3. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder together in a bowl, stir in the ground almonds. Set aside

4. Whisk together the sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl, whisk in the oil and yoghurt

5. Using a large metal spoon gently mix the flour into the wet mixture.

6. Stir in most of the fruit, leaving a few pieces to scatter over the top

7.Scrape the cake mixture into a prepared lined baking tin, scatter the remaining fruit over the top

8. Place in your hot oven for 40 minutes until golden on top, firm to touch and an inserted cake skewer comes out clean

Plum & Cinnamon Jam

INGREDIENTS:

To make 5 average sized jars:

1.5 kilos plums, washed, halved and stoned

400ml water

1.25 kg granulated sugar

2 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

METHOD:

1. Place the halved and de-stoned plums together with the water in a very large pan, preferably a jam or maslin pan. Place on a medium heat and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes until the fruit and skins are a little softened.

2. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon and raise the heat. Bring to a simmer and allow to boil reasonably furiously until setting point is reached, either by a thermometer temperature of 104.5 or by testing a drop on a cold saucer (place a couple in the fridge at the start of the jam making process). If you can wrinkle the jam (just a little) after a minute on the saucer it’s good to go.

3. Immediately pour into sterilised jars and top with a wax disc and the jar lid whilst still piping hot.

Asparagus Tart

A delicious and pretty spring tart. Instead of using all asparagus you could bulk out the tart with a layer of sautéed onions or leeks on the base and/or add other spring vegetables like broad beans, peas or broccoli. Feel free to replace the Gruyere with Cheddar or any other cheese to your liking.

For the Pastry:

130g Plain or Wholemeal Flour (or a mix of the two), or Gluten Free Flour, plus a little extra for rolling

65g Butter, straight from the fridge, plus a little extra for greasing

Salt & Pepper

1 egg yolk and a little cold water

For the Tart Filling:

400g Asparagus, washed

3 free range Eggs

200ml Creme Fraiche

1 heaped tsp Dijon Mustard

100g Gruyère, grated

Salt & Pepper

1 tbsp finely grated fresh Parmesan

METHOD:

1) Start by making your pastry. Easiest and quickest in a food processor, but can be made by hand too. If using a processor blitz the flour, salt, pepper and butter together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and blitz again. With the machine still on add a little very cold water and continue to add until the mixture starts to come together in one piece. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.

2) Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6.

3) Snap off the tougher ends of the asparagus and throw away, slice the stems into 1 to 2cm slices, retaining spheres approximately half the width of your tart case. Steam for 3 to 5 minutes until almost tender. Immerse in cold water, drain and set aside.

4) Lightly beat the eggs then stir in the creme fraiche, mustard, grated Gruyère and a pinch of salt black pepper. Set aside.

5) Lightly grease your chosen tart case with butter.

6) Roll out the rested pastry on a floured surface into a round slightly bigger than your case. Transfer to the case. Hang any excess of pastry over the sides. Prick the base all over with a fork. Place a piece of greaseproof paper over and fill with baking beans to weight down the pastry. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the beans and bake for a further 5 minutes. While still hot trim the pastry around the top of the tart case to make a neat edge.

7) Place the small slices of asparagus in the bottom of the tart case. Pile on the creme fraiche filling. Now carefully arrange the asparagus spheres in a pretty ‘sunshine’ design on the top. Sprinkle over the Parmesan.

8) Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes until firm to touch and golden brown on top.