Coconut, Lentil and Spinach Stew

I've been hen doo-ing in the Lake District, a beautiful house full of over excited girls in food fancy dress... My costume was a piece of streaky bacon, a giant one made of foam that made me laugh every time I looked in the mirror, until the early hours when I couldn’t really see in the mirror... There was a fried egg, a giant pea pod, a lobster, a pig (organic obvs) jelly beans, diet coke, a can of Spam, the list goes on... It made for a very entertaining evening fuelled by much wine and a big house to bash around in...  

I had an excellent time, although I still feel tired and a bit emotional, staying up till the early hours doesn't seem to agree with me as well as it used to. I need comfort food in quiet rooms with blankets and nice people....  

I found this recipe on The Traveller's Lunchbox blog originally, I think they adapted it from someone else and I changed it a bit from theirs, so it's origins have changed along the way, but I imagine it has been delicious in every form. They call it a soup, mine is more of a stewy dal type thing I think... A delicious spiced coconut stew full of lentils and soft spinach.

 

Start with the lentils, 275g of green or puy lentils, rinse them, then add to a pan with 1 litre of chicken stock, a big sprig of thyme and 1½ teaspoons of turmeric. Bring it to the boil and simmer gently with a lid on till the lentils are soft, about 20 minutes, add more stock if needs be...

 

While the lentils are cooking heat a big knob of butter in a frying pan and sauté 1 large diced onion with a big pinch of salt until it is very soft, for about 12 minutes. Then add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom seeds, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon, a pinch of ground nutmeg and fry for another 30 seconds. Then scrape this spicy onion mix into the lentils.

Finally add a whole tin of coconut milk and a small bag of spinach, stirring till it wilts into the warm stew. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so and check if you need salt and pepper as it is cooking.

This will sort you out if you find yourself deep in winter at the end of March or a delicate hen do patient, both of which I am currently inflicted with...

 

Baked Eggs with Wilted Spinach, Wild Garlic and Chilli and Sage Butter

There's a little man with an allotment opposite mine who is always there if I go early before work to water. Last year he gave me some rhubarb to plant and loads of spinach to eat. I accidentally stood on the rhubarb and thought I'd killed it, but it seems to be coming back to life this year, thank goodness, I couldn’t look him in the eye for a while in case he asked about it... He handed me huge armfuls of spinach on Friday morning, he seems like a good one to know...

The amount of meat I have been eating, basically moving from one BBQ to the next over the past few days, required a little spinach based brunch this morning. I flicked through Plenty by Ottolenghi looking for inspiration, and came across a lovely little recipe for baked eggs in rocket that I adapted to suit what I had. Wilted spinach and wild garlic, with eggs baked in the oven, then drizzled with hot chilli and sage butter and a dollop of garlicky yoghurt. Sitting in the sunshine in my little yarden this morning was a pretty delightful way to start the day...

Heat a frying pan with a little olive oil, add a few large handfuls of spinach, a handful of rocket, some torn wild garlic and a pinch of salt and wilt until all the water has bubbled away. When it is ready scoop it all into an oven proof bowl and make two little wells, crack a free range eggs into each and bake in the oven at 150°C for 10-15 minutes until the egg whites are cooked.

While the eggs are cooking mix up a few tablespoons of yoghurt with a pinch of salt and half a clove of crushed garlic. Then melt about 20g of butter, add half a teaspoon of chilli flakes and a few shredded sage leaves, cook for a few minutes until it bubbles.

When the eggs are ready dollop on the yoghurt and then pour the spicy sage butter over everything. It made a delicious little brunch sitting in the sun. The eggs were soft and runny with lovely wilted greens, a tangy fresh yoghurt and warm spicy buttery juices mingling into everything.

Spinach and Chilli Pancakes

A little old man at the allotment gave me armfuls of spinach on Saturday while I was there watering. He's very kind, last time I saw him he gave me some rhubarb and planted it on my plot for me. Unfortunately this meeting led to a conversation about how the rhubarb was doing, which in truth is dead. I told him this... he is confident it will come back to life next year. I didn't tell him that it was my stepping on it that may have led to its death...

So I wanted to try these little spinach pancakes that are based on a recipe from the Ottolenghi book Plenty. I've been looking through their books a lot recently and want to get back into making more of their salads now that summer is sort of here...

To start you need to wilt the spinach in a pan with a splash of water, I used about 150g of Jesmond spinach... While that is happening add 55g of self raising flour to a mixing bowl, with half a teaspoon of baking powder, a free range egg, half a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of ground cumin, 75ml of milk and 25g of melted unsalted butter. Whisk everything together until it is smooth.

When the spinach is wilted transfer it to a sieve and squeeze as much water as you can out of it. Add the spinach to the pancake mixture, along with a finely sliced green chilli and 3 finely sliced spring onions. Finally whisk the white of an egg until it forms soft peaks and fold it into the mixture.

These amounts will make about four little pancakes. Heat a splash of olive oil in a heavy frying pan and then spoon in the mixture, a couple of tablespoons for each pancake. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side. They should be about a centimetre thick. You might have to do them in batches depending on the size of the pan.

Ottolenghi make a lime, chilli and coriander butter to serve with their version of these little green pancakes, which sounds delicious, but I opted for the healthier option and chopped a large handful of coriander into a couple of tablespoons of Greek yoghurt. I wanted to make something worthwhile with the spinach gift and they didn’t disappoint. They are lovely little green light pancakes with a hint of spice from the chilli and warm with cumin spice.

Spring Panzanella Salad

The EAT! Festival is in full swing in Newcastle and Gateshead at the moment, with markets and events happening everyday, all over the city. On Monday I went to an Eat-a-long film, we watched 'Julie and Julia' whilst being served the same food appearing in the film. We all sat at little tables and chairs in Gateshead Town Hall, checked table cloths and menus laid out and began to watch the film. Every so often the film would pause as the characters were about to tuck into something tasty and waiters would scurry around bringing us the same dish. It was a brilliant idea and a brilliant evening. We were served pepper and basil bruschetta, fresh bread and butter, little cups of lobster bisque, brie and grapes followed by beef bourguignon and raspberry and white chocolate truffle for pudding. We left incredibly full having thoroughly enjoyed the film...

Some salads were called for, to balance out huge French feasts on a Monday night... This is a lovely spring salad of bread, peas and asparagus. A traditional Italian panzanella is a stale bread salad made with squashed tomatoes and basil that soak into the the toasted bread. This is a green version that I found on the '101 Cookbooks' blog full of lots of spring greens, it will serve 2 or 3 people as a main dish or more as a side.

To start cut some day old bread into chunky cubes, I used a traditional wheaten Irish loaf which I love. Place the bread in a bowl and add a finely chopped shallot, a finely chopped clove of garlic, the leaves from a few springs of thyme, a pinch of salt and a large glug of olive oil. Mix everything together and then turn the bread out onto a baking tray and bake in the oven at 170°C for 15 minutes or so, until golden and toasted.

In a cold frying pan pour a splash of olive oil, a large splash of water and a pinch of salt. Turn the heat up high and when the water is bubbling furiously add about 8 spears of asparagus cut into segments, boil for about 20 seconds, then add 2 large handfuls of peas. Fresh or frozen, I used frozen as mine are still tiny pods on my pea plants. After a few seconds add 2 large handfuls of spinach and allow to cook until the spinach begins to wilt. There should still be a small amount of liquid left with the greens, this becomes a dressing for the whole salad.

Mix the greens with the toasted bread in a large bowl and add a handful of shredded basil and mix again. The bread is toasty and warm with garlic and thyme and the greens are tasty and perfumed with basil, all combined together it is a very fresh delicious spring salad.

Smoked mackerel and spinach kedgeree with cardamom rice

I am suddenly busy constantly, most evenings I can remember back, and loads I can think of forwards. It seems people have decided that the early year hibernation is over and there is a new flurry of birthday parties, ballet outings, supper with friends out, supper with friends in, engagement parties, family gatherings... Spring is in the air, they are saying... The sun is out and the crocuses too, hopefully it will warm up soon.

So I need something for the sister to eat when she comes to visit; something warming with a hint of spring for tonight, and something long and adventurous to try when we have some time at the weekend.

We had all the ingredients for the Mackerel and horseradish salad, but I think it needed to be a little bit more warming than that, perhaps with a bit of rice and some spices. I found a lovely recipe for kedgeree, it had smoked mackerel flaked through it, wilted spinach, rice perfumed with cardamom pods and a soft boiled eggs on the top, this is based around that recipe. These amounts will serve two people.

Thinly slice half an onion and cook it on a low heat for about 10 minutes in 25g of butter, until it is soft and golden. When it is, add a teaspoon of medium curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes.

While the onion is cooking bring a small pan of water to a simmer and lower in 2 eggs, let them continue to simmer for 6 minutes. You're aiming for a soft yolk and a just done white, mine were a little bit under so I couldn't cut them up on the top, more of a very careful balance... When they are ready run them under a cold tap so you can handle them and gently remove the shell. You should be able to cut the into quarters... unlike me...

Put 120g of basmati rice in a small pan with 10 cardamom pods and a good pinch of salt, add 225ml of boiling water and let it simmer with the lid on for 8-10 minutes, or until the water has gone; then turn the heat off and allow it to sit for 10 minutes continuing to steam with the lid on.

Finally put 4 or 5 handful of spinach, about 120g, into the onions and allow it to wilt, then add the cardamom fragranced rice, with the pods removed. They taste of a shot of perfume if you accidentally bite into one... not nice... Flake in 180g of smoked mackerel fillet in bite sized pieces and allow everything to warm through. Add salt and pepper to your taste and a good squeeze of lemon.

Finally place the quartered soft egg on the top and serve. The mixture of curried onions, cardamom rice and smoky fish is really lovely.

Mackerel and horseradish salad

The smoked mackerel fillet ticks lots of boxes; healthy, cheap, sustainable fishing – I watched all of Hugh's fish fight and got a bit emotional when the North sea fishermen got so angry and upset about having to throw back all those poor wasted dead fish. Whereas the mackerel are often fished by line and are fast growing plentiful little guys.

This is a really easy lunch or light supper. One packet of smoked mackerel fillets usually has three or four fillets in it, depending on size and will feed a couple of people, maybe three small portions. Remove the skin from the fillets and tear them up into bite size pieces.



Put some leaves in the bottom of your bowls; rocket, spinach, watercress... whatever you choose, but these peppery ones work really well. I once found some wild watercress growing along the sides of a river in the Lake District that was ridiculously peppery, like mustard or wasabi, that kind of strength. I might try growing some as it was so much better than the packet stuff, in small doses...



Hard boil an egg per person, they take about 6/7 minutes after you have brought them to a simmer from cold water. Then run them under a cold tap to cool and stop cooking before you shell them. Mix a small pot of yoghurt with some horseradish, a few teaspoons, depending on how hot you like it, you can also use crème fraiche, and if the yoghurt is a a bit tart add half a teaspoon of sugar.

Then you just need to assemble; scatter the fish over the leaves, quarter the egg and place on top, scatter a few capers around, then drip a few teaspoons of the horseradish yoghurt around and about...



Smokey spinach, chickpea and pancetta stew

I make this quite often as it's pretty easy and makes a good mid week supper. It's a Thomasina Miers recipe originally and is Spanish in origin.

I grew my own spinach last year, but it is currently a slimy frozen mess at the bottom of the allotment, so this lot is out of a bag... I got the allotment last year and actually managed to grow quite a few things, including about a million courgettes. It was still a bit of a mess though and this year I plan to be really organised, grow loads, and turn half of it into a little garden for BBQs and outdoor summer wine drinking.

4 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 onion diced

1 carrot diced

1 stick of celery diced

2 bay leaves – fresh if possible

2 sprigs of thyme

2 cloves garlic chopped

½ - 1 tsp Spanish hot smoked paprika – depending on how hot it is

400g chickpeas drained

150ml tap water

180g pancetta/ lardons

150g spinach

Cook the onion in the olive oil with a pinch of salt until soft and sweet, about 8 minutes. Add the diced carrot and celery, bay leaves and thyme, stir and cook until softened, about 10 mins, season with salt and pepper. Brown the bacon in a separate pan, until turning crispy and brown around the edges. Add the bacon, paprika and garlic to the carrot mix after the 10 minutes.

This is the paprika I use... It is really smoky and hot and delicious. I don't know where I got it from which isn't much help, sorry...

Now leave to cook until really golden and soft and sticky, another 10/15 minutes. When the mix has turned caramelly and sweet add the drained chickpeas and water, leave to heat through for 5 minutes. Then add the spinach and stir through until wilted...

Serve with a warmed pitta, or a homemade flour tortilla, perhaps a dollop of plain yoghurt or sweet cumin yoghurt. You can add 200g of diced chestnuts at the same time as the bacon and paprika if you want, this turns the dish into a sweeter and thicker stew. Both are really good...

Perhaps later this year I will have grown my own carrots, onions, celery, spinach and garlic... I don't know how chickpeas grow, so will have to look into that one, it is perhaps a little cold in Newcastle I suspect. I planted some carrot seeds last year, quite a few of them, but not one ever appeared, so I may need to work on my skills somewhat...