BEETROOT DAL SOUP

Oh, hello you. It's been a while.

Time to bring in the New Year with some spice and some warmth. 

We're doing a whole month of it. Every night for the month of January my dear one and I are cooking Feel Good Food. Spicy broths, Asian salads, punchy curries and argy bhaji.  So, set the table, pull on your stocking socks, and tuck into a whole lotta love.

For this recipe: Start with a dal, change your mind and end with a soup.

BEETROOT DAL SOUP

SERVES 6

250g red lentils, rinsed

3 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 onion, finely chopped

2 whole red chillies, sliced down the side

2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly cut into matchsticks

3 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground coriander

4 cooked beetroot, quartered

400ml good quality vegetable stock

natural yoghurt, to serve

handful chopped fresh coriander leaves, to serve

Cover the lentils with approximately 1 litre of water and bring to the boil, skimming any froth that comes to the top with a spoon. Cover the pan with a lid, turn down the heat, and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly, until the lentils are tender. When cooked, remove the pan from the heat and drain if necessary. Stir and set aside to cool. 

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat, then gently fry the cumin seeds until they are fragrant. Add the onion, ginger and whole chillies and fry until golden and slightly softened. Add the garlic and fry for another 30 seconds.

Pour in the chopped tomatoes, 100ml water with the ground spices and stir. Season. Bring to a gentle simmer and leave to cook, with the lid on, for 20 minutes. 

Stir in the lentils and transfer to a blender. Add the quartered beetroot and whiz until smooth. Slowly pour in the stock, pulsing the blender until you reach a thick soup consistency. You may not want to use all of the stock or you may want more depending on how you like it. 

If you're feeling fancy, push the soup through a sieve for extra smoothness. If not, give it a good old stir, season and garnish with a dollop of yoghurt and chopped coriander. 

If you've got leftovers, the soup will keep for a week in the fridge in a (preferably) sterilised container, or freeze it for up to 6 months.

AUTUMN COLESLAW

I adore this dish. The colour kicks us straight into autumn - bright pink and vibrant. It keeps to all the promises of a perfectly constructed salad: sweet crunch from the roots, creaminess from the yoghurt, citrus to cut through, a light nuttiness and a well-balanced freshness from the herbs.

It works wonderfully well alongside meat, hot or cold - a classic pulled pork, leftover roast ham or crispy chicken wings - or seasonal fruits - pears, apples or plums.

I could eat this for every meal. Even breakfast.

BEETROOT, CELERIAC & CABBAGE COLESLAW

serves 8

ingredients

1/2 white cabbage

1/2 celeriac, peeled and grated

3 small beetroot, peeled and grated

finely grated zest and juice 1 large lemon

2 tbsps greek yoghurt

sesame seeds to garnish, optional

large handful mint, finely shredded

large handful coriander, finely chopped

olive oil to dress

Add the grated beetroot to a large bowl (not the one you are going to serve the coleslaw from). Finely shred the white cabbage, discarding the tough core and slicing up any large pieces, and add to the beetroot with the celeriac. Add the lemon zest and juice, and lightly toss - you want to avoid over tossing the beetroot at this stage as it will stain the other vegetables.

Keep covered in the fridge until you are ready to eat it. Just before serving, stir through the yoghurt so that it is evenly distributed. Move to a clean bowl, then dress with the sesame seeds, mint and coriander. Drizzle, generously, with olive oil.

* If you are not going to eat all of the coleslaw, leave aside some of the salad after adding the lemon juice. Any leftovers can keep for up to three days or can be cooked up as an autumn gratin. Butter an oven-proof dish and pour in the lemony root vegetable mix. Pour over cream, season, grate with parmesan and bake for 25 minutes in a hot oven (200°C/fan180°C/gas 6). Heaven.

BEETROOT GRATIN

For the holiest shade of crimson.

BEETROOT AND ONION GRATIN

serves 2

ingredients

250ml double cream
1 garlic clove, crushed
bunch of dill
salt and pepper
knob of butter
2-3 large raw beetroot, finely sliced

1 large red onion, finely sliced
100g Parmesan, grated

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Mix the cream with the garlic and dill, and season. Butter a small oval dish and lay the beetroot in the bottom. Alternate with onion and beetroot, pouring cream over each layer, until you reach the top of the dish. Scatter with Parmesan and season again.

Place in the oven for 1 hour.

Remove, cool slightly and serve with cold meats and salad or on its own.

EXHIBITIONS AND BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

The boys at the 10 cases are very generously letting me put up a few paintings next Monday (6th Feb).

It'll be a casual affair so please pop your head in, buy a glass of their very good wine and take a glance at some of my scribbles downstairs.

All work will be for sale - it'll be a silent auction, so if you like a particular painting, put your name, number and price in the box and the highest bidder will have something to put on their wall.

Hope you can make it.

Meanwhile, here's my recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding. Two puds in a month, I know, but you can't cut out everything in January.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

Serves a greedy 4

1 loaf sliced brioche, with approx. 12 slices

150g butter

100g sultanas

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

200ml whole milk

150ml double cream

50g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

dash of golden rum (optional)

extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Set the oven to 180 degrees C.

Lightly grease up a deep dish, large enough to tower the brioche slices. Butter the bread on both sides and lay, side by side, in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with sultanas. Repeat this until you reach the top of the dish.

In a large measuring jug, whisk the eggs and egg yolks. Mix in the milk and cream. Then add the sugar, spices and rum, if using. When mixed through, gently pour over the bread.

Set the dish aside for at least 45 minutes so that the bread soaks up the cream mix. Sprinkle with any remaining raisins and sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until the top bread layer is golden and crisp.

Best served with a wobble and a generous drizzle of single cream. Pretty good cold too.

BEETROOT GNOCCHI

This dish reminds me of sluggish pomeriggi in the trattoria of Bologna. Fresh pasta, floury and soft, with a painless, no-frills sauce. And probably a fierce glass of red to wash it down.

Here, the fresh garlic, crisp sage and toasted hazelnuts bring strength and bite to the earthy, soft gnocchini. Gnocchi are simple enough to knock up (there's a bit to do a the beginning but this can all be done in advance) and they go a long way for lunch - you'll be full after a small plate so there will be plenty left over for surprise diners.

BEETROOT GNOCCHI

with, TOASTED HAZELNUTS, FRESH GARLIC & SAGE BUTTER

SERVES 2

ingredients

100g beetroot, peeled and chopped

250g King Edward potatoes, peeled chopped

75g plain flour

1 small/medium free range egg, beaten

salt

100g lightly salted butter

fresh garlic, sliced in rounds

handful sage leaves

approx. 10 hazelnuts, crushed

Parmesan

Bring two pans of salted water to the boil. Put the potatoes in one and the beetroot in the other. Cook the beetroot and the potatoes until soft enough to slip a knife through.

Put the beetroot into a food processor and whizz until pureed. Push the puree through a sieve once or twice to make it really smooth.

Mash the potatoes. They should be light and fluffy with little moisture. Keep them on the heat for a bit if the is any excess water.

Measure out the flour into a deep bowl, or on a floured surface. Make a well in the flour and add the egg, beetroot and potato. Season with salt. Mix through with your fingers, so that the colour of the beetroot spreads evenly. The mixture should turn into a soft dough. If too wet, add more flour.

Cut the dough into equal sized squares and roll into long sausages. This is where you can experiment with size and shape, but to go for the traditional diamond, cut the dough diagonally, every 2-3 cm. Lightly dust with flour.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.

Gently toast the hazelnuts in a small pan and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and add the sliced garlic. You want this to cook very gently before adding the sage. Once the garlic has softened slightly, add the sage to infuse into the butter and crisp up.

Add the gnocchi to the pan. As soon as they float to the top, they'll be ready!

Serve up in a pasta bowl and drizzle with the sage garlic butter. Grate with a generous helping of Parmesan and sprinkle over the hazelnuts.

Talk to no one, look at no one, just eat.

PIGS IN PINNIES AT THE SECRET LARDER

Can't give too much away to you oinkers, but seeing as last night's take over of the Ramsden Secret Larder was a blast, we'll bare this wee feasty nugget.

Slipped in between a creamy crab bisque and a groaning plate of lamb and samphire, Pigs in Pinnies present:

BROAD BEAN and SORREL SALAD
w/ RADISHES and CRISPED PANCETTA

Serves 4-6

1 large bunch of sorrel (about 6 leaves) washed, drained, chopped
8 large beetroot leaves, stalk-free, washed, drained, chopped
200g broad beans, double-podded:
(a bore but worth it to avoid memories of chewy grey school beans)
5 pink, round radishes, thinly sliced
100g pancetta, very thinly sliced, cut to 1x1in

dressing
1/4 tsp hot English mustard
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
good pinch sugar
40ml white wine vinegar
100ml extra virgin olive oil
3 tarragon leaves, finely chopped
juice of 1/4 lemon or to taste(optional)

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the beans until heated through. Drain and remove the shell. (It'll be easier to take the beans from their shell when they have been cooked). Place back in the warm pan and set aside.

Mix the prepared beetroot leaves with the sorrel and a little salt and olive oil, then lay in equal bunches on the plate. In a medium-size bowl combine the radishes and shelled broad beans.

Put a lightly oiled frying pan on a medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the sliced pancetta. This should hiss as it hits the pan, the fat melting slightly so the meat won't stick. Cook until crispy.

Meanwhile, measure out the mustard, sugar and vinegar straight into a jar and stir well so the sugar dissolves. Add the olive oil, tarragon, and lemon, if using. The tarragon will leave a very faint hint - you don't want it to overpower the other punchy flavours on the plate. Whisk the dressing until blended. Season to taste. You want a smooth, sweet dressing with a sharp kick to complement the velvety broad beans and lemony sorrel.

Pour the dressing into the bean bowl, and gently toss through.

Lay the beans and radishes on top of the leaves. Scatter over the salty, crisp pancetta and serve.

An early summer salad with veggies a plenty,
Worthy of quadrupling for a supper o' 20.

Pigs in Pinnies'll be back soon,
With - we hope - another corker
to make you all swoon!

Beetroot Frittata with Goats Cheese

My diary last week left me no choice but to indulge and wallow in pure and unadulterated gluttony.

Tuesday's celebration of the 10 year anniversary of Lou Hutton's Food of Course Cookery School in Somerset provided an evening spent gorging on deeeeelicious canapes made by previous students. Perfectly formed Lemon Tarts, Beetroot Rosti with a Quinelle of Goats Cheese and succulent tortellini, were washed down with Orchard Mist cocktail. Appropriate taste bud tuning for the next day's eager tour of the neighbouring Bath and West Show...


...And exploit it, I did. It's not every day you get to pair your wild boar and apple sausage with a toxic, brain cell-removing 'Cider by Rosie'. A minefield of culinary beasts - not to mention the oversized prize winning bulls - meant no chance of starvation, and I am no shrinking violet when it comes to tasting samples.


Then to Hay-on-wye fest, where the likes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall talked food and books and all-things-culture. A book in one hand and a pimms in the other, sheeps milk ice cream, deck chairs in the sun, listening to creative creatures, and tapping away to Laura Marling in concert. Not bad eh?
So as a thank you to a fab food-filled week, here is an adaptation of one of Lou's mouthwatering canapes:

BEETROOT FRITTATA topped with a

QUINELLE OF GOATS CHEESE, and WALNUT AND APPLE SALAD with a REDUCED BALSAMIC DRESSING...

SERVES 6
INGREDIENTS:
Frittata:
Pre-cooked beetroot in natural juices, 250g
200g (or 4 small) eggs
4 tbsps milk/cream
salt and pepper
2 tbsbs melted butter

Goats cheese:
100g somerset soft goats cheese
200g soft cheese

1 apple

10 g chopped walnut

Watercress, spinach and rocket salad

4 tbsps of balsamic vinegar to reduce

Whisk in the grated beetroot with the beaten eggs and sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Add a tablespoon of melted butter to the mix.

Heat up the remaining butter in a flat, non-stick frying pan (cm) on a hight heat. Pour in the eggs. Ideally the frittata should be about 1 cm thick. Cook for 5 minutes until cooked on both sides (The best way to flip is to slide the frittata on a plate, hold the pan over the un-cooked side and turn). Place the omelette on a plate to cool slightly. If you like it warm you can always pop the shapes back into a pan of melted butter and crisp them up - it's just easier to cut if cool.

Meanwhile, fold the goats cheese into the soft cheese until firm and mouldable. I like it with just a hint of the goats cheese, but if you like a stronger taste, just add more goat in the place of soft cheese.

For the salad, I used spinach, watercress and rocket, and added chopped walnuts. Slice the apple with a vegetable peeler into thin shavings, and fold into a flower shape to serve next to the frittata. When it's time to serve, slide it slightly under the frittata to hold it in shape.

Pour four tablespoons on balsamic vinegar into a warm pan and reduce until thick. You can buy it pre-reduced but this is so easy to make and produces a rich, sugary and sharp taste.

With a 3 inch cookie cutter, punch out 6 circles of the cooled frittata. Place each on a large plate, and spoon on an almost triangluar shape of the goats cheese mix. Place a few basil leaves on each quinelle, and serve with a handful of salad. This is an in season, easy and delcious starter. For canape size, simple use a small cookie cutter!

A summer smacker!