Strawberry + Pimm’s Fool

It’s been Wimbledon fortnight.  And now it’s over I’m in a brief period of mourning.  Being a tennis addict, this always happens.  I should be used to it by now.  But I can’t help it 😦  I  put as much aside as I can … all forms of cleaning, hoovering, shopping, and frankly, cooking.  It’s just so hard.  Sigh.  🙂

I call it ‘the beans on toast + daily avocado syndrome’.  I get it every single year.

So I haven’t blogged much…done much… been out much.  I’ve just watched tennis.

With a notable exception.

I made a strawberry fool….and I added Pimm’s No. 1 🙂

What better way to while away an afternoon, than watching my all-time favourite tennis player eventually demolish his extremely resilient opponent in a tense five-setter …… …..than with strawberries blended in an alcoholic coconut cream.

(The boozy bit in this recipe is entirely optional … but I’ll get to that later).

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Federer finally begins to inch ahead in the quarter finals! 

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It’s the last shout for my strawberry patch …and we’ve had strawberry tart, strawberry jam, strawberry smoothies and just plain strawberries………and I mourn them when they’re over too.  In fact, is life worth living without strawberries and Wimbledon?  I have to wonder….

But nature moves on, the raspberries and blueberries are coming next…and there’s tennis at the Olympics I believe …!

So.  Back to the fool:

I used Pimm’s No. 1 and maple syrup for this…which combined, give it a lovely, tawny, dusky flavour, but you could go another way by using a light sweetener (white sugar or light agave) and fresh mint and lemon juice… details below.

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STRAWBERRY FOOL

FOR 6

Ingredients:

Cauliflower Tabbouleh

A beautiful, bejewelled, crunchy, colourful salad, with raw, crisp, fresh cauliflower as a base, and a great deal more besides.

Cauliflower is fabulous raw, it has a wonderful texture and happily absorbs whatever flavours you might choose.  And it seems to have a completely different air about it when raw (rather than cooked)….it’s sweet, nutty and fragrant…

My redcurrant bushes (of which I have two, with their fruit just beginning to ripen),  gave me the idea for this salad, but redcurrants are readily available in the shops, and really do add a juicy zing to this salad bowl.

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CAULIFLOWER TABBOULEH

 with a lemony dressing

should serve 4

Ingredients:

Many-Seeded Gluten-Free Rustic Bread

In a lengthy and on-going catalogue of disasters this is the first gluten-free loaf I’ve made that I’m actually quite proud of!  For a start, it’s edible (which has got to be a point in it’s favour 🙂 ) and it slices beautifully, toasts successfully and is made with lots of good things…. sunflower seeds, chia seeds, linseed and hemp seeds….to name but a few.

It’s actually very tasty, it looks quite dense, but is both moist and surprisingly light.  It has a sweet nutty earthy flavour.

I tend to make or buy sour-dough bread, which on the whole I find pretty good for me, but this is the start to a big experiment, and in the next month, and possibly longer, I shall only be cooking gluten-free.  I’m quite excited about exploring a world without gluten.  I’ve had a niggling gluten intolerance for years (some forms of gluten-based products seem OK)… but now I’m thinking to try being completely gluten-free…so I’ll only be posting gluten-free for some time to come….

I’m really pleased with this bread, as it worked out very well, and is also adaptable …. different flours…different seeds…nuts…dried fruit…etc.    we shall see 🙂

A final note, I use oat flour in this recipe, because it has a slight moistness that helps.  Sometimes, oats can ‘accidentally’ contain other grains so look out for certified gluten-free oats/oatmeal/ oat flour.  Also, some people may have an intolerance to oats, in which case, swap the oats for another flour such as hemp flour or teff flour.

Hope you enjoy!

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MANY-SEEDED, GLUTEN-FREE, RUSTIC BREAD

makes 1 large loaf

Ingredients:

Fresh Strawberry Jam. (Reduced Sugar and Freezable).

My strawberry patch is in full swing.  We just picked 2 kg. in one go….and there’s more to come.  So it must be jamming time!

Today I’m sharing a recipe for a strawberry jam that uses only half the usual amount of sugar.  It will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, or you can freeze it…..it will be fine for 3 months if not longer…. so, I include tips on how to freeze jam successfully.

This way you get real fresh strawberryness, a lot less sugar, and by leaving the strawberries largely whole, you can savour them in all their juiciness when strawberry season is long over.    And it really is delicious….

Making jam reminds me of my grandparents, who had a huge plum tree in the garden.  My grand-dad would get up a very high ladder, which invariably looked terrifyingly precarious, and collect all the plums, shaking some of them down as well, while I ran around underneath the tree picking up the ones that fell  …and then delivering them all to my nanna in the kitchen, who would set about the making of jam.  The whole house would fill with the fragrance of plum…it would last for days.  The next day rows of potted sealed jam would sit in the larder, gleaming purple.

Home-made jam is still just the best.  Worth the faff. Strawberries, for all their fabulousness, don’t last long, and jam still has to be probably the best way to preserve them. I think anyway.

And finally, before I get to the business in hand, a word for the WI (Women’s Institute), for which jam is just one trademark.  ‘Jam and Jerusalem!’

(Jerusalem is the anthem of the WI. btw) ….

To quote Wikipedia:

‘The British WI movement was formed in 1915 in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey Wales.  It had two clear aims: to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then the organisation’s aims have broadened and it is now the largest women’s voluntary organisation in the UK. The organisation celebrated its 95th anniversary in 2010 and currently has approximately 208,000 members in 7,000 WIs.

Amongst WI aims and activities are providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, enabling them to take part in a wide variety of activities, campaigning on issues that matter to them and their communities.’

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As I mentioned, I picked 2 kgs. of strawberries, which I graded into best, pretty good, and not much good.  Only put decent ones in the jam….

I ended up with 1.5 kg. strawberries for jam.  As this maybe an unreasonable amount of strawberries for most people, I have halved the quantities, so the recipe below should make 2 pots of jam.  One for the fridge and one for the freezer?

Hope you enjoy.

So here’s how to make the best strawberry jam you will ever taste! 🙂

 

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STRAWBERRY JAM

reduced-sugar freezer jam

enough for 2 pots…(350-400gm. jars)

Ingredients:

Gigantes Plaki. Greek Bean Stew.

I guess it must be time for yet another bowl of beans!  Distinctly European on this occasion.  This one is full of rich powerful flavours: olives, tomatoes (sun-dried and fresh), celery, paprika, garlic and tons of fresh herbs.  And, of course, melty soft buttery butter beans to soak up all those wonderful flavours. ‘Tis a Mediterranean feast for the taste buds!

I haven’t thought much about food the last few days.  There’s been a lot going on in the UK and I’ve been flitting around facebook trying to make sense of things and feeling generally distracted.  It’s all very unsettling to say the least.

But, a girl’s gotta eat 🙂 , and a delicious stew like this delivers a bit of my mojo back.  It really is good.

I bought dried butter beans.  I soaked 500gms. of dried beans for 48 hours, changing the water twice daily.  I then cooked them long and slow for about 2 hours.  I froze the ones I didn’t use in this stew.

I’m lucky because I have a herb garden on my vegetable allotment, so I used a range of my own freshly picked herbs.  It’s worth using fresh herbs for this recipe, and they’re readily available in the shops these days.

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GIGANTES PLAKI – GREEK BEAN STEW

Serves 3-4

If using dried butter beans, soak and cook in advance.

(250gms. of dried beans should give 500gms. of cooked beans)

Ingredients:

Thousand Island Dressing.

Thousand Island Dressing dates back to the beginning of the 20th century and was undoubtedly invented in the US. It’s now a global standard …with endless variations.

Here’s mine. Plant-based.  Naturally.

It’s a dressing that will work with a fresh green salad and stand up equally well to powerful flavours like a vegan BBQ’d mushroom and sweet pepper kebab or chilli bean burgers.

What’s not to like?

It has a surprising number of ingredients… and feel free to adjust quantities of each ingredient according to personal taste.

Moreover ….for extra pizzazz you can add even more 🙂

… maybe half-a-dozen crisp green (pitted) olives…

a small handful of pickled dill cucumbers….

… or a couple of red hot finger chillies…

… a big bunch of fresh herbs….

… or a couple of chopped spring onions …

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THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

makes about 250ml……

Ingredients:

West African Black-Eyed Bean Stew.

I know the sun is shining somewhere … but it sure ain’t here in my bit of the UK!  It’s grey, it’s wet, it’s cold and disturbingly unseasonable. When it’s like this in June, I always get the feeling it could go on all summer long…chilly rainy days…

Mid-summer’s day is upon us..  Difficult to believe, but the days will be getting shorter again… ????

But that’s just about OK … for now … because I did beans.  I do beans a lot.

As far as I’m concerned, a bowl of beans is food for the soul.

This one is a modest, no-fuss, no-nonsense bowl of beans West African style.

Not many ingredients … and no faff at all … but an explosion of rich spicy flavours all the same.

Black-eyed beans are a great little bean.  They’re small, and have a nutty earthy flavour  and they don’t go too soft… and they don’t need too long a soak…

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Here’s a link to one of my beany blogs with tips on beans (click image)

Tinned beans are fine for this recipe, but I prefer to soak and cook my own.

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WEST AFRICAN BLACK-EYED BEAN STEW

t.b.h. this may well serve 3-4 …particularly if served with rice

but 2 of us ate the lot (after a long wet day gardening)

Ingredients:

Stuffed Naan Bread + a cautionary tale…

I don’t go to restaurants much.

But the other day we went to a restaurant/cafe before going to a show.  It was a celebratory evening for 2.

We did our preliminary investigations, and found a simple sweet looking cafe (not far from the theatre, and not long opened), that did Asian food, and had on the menu displayed in the window, as clear as day, a vegan option.

An interesting looking aubergine curry with a peanut and jaggery sauce, with pilau rice and mango chutney.  Just the ticket.  I love Indian food and am always looking for inspiration.

We got there as the cafe opened, as we only had about 75 mins. before we needed to leave to get to the show. (We’d explained about the time thing and the vegan thing when we booked.  ‘That’s fine,’ they said).

We ordered drinks, and got on with relaxing and enjoying ourselves.

Waiter comes: ‘we’ll have the vegan option,’ we declare, pointing vaguely at the menu.

Off he goes.

Food arrives, and we notice that there’s naan bread rather than rice.

We might’ve asked why, but we wanted to enjoy ourselves, not get in a bother with the restaurant … and moreover we needed to get to the show on time…. and we just wanted a really nice evening….no hassle etc.

The curry was delicious.  Lovely spice mix, and the aubergine was cooked to perfection.  Sort of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside…

I began munching on the naan bread….. and after a little while my taste buds kicked in.

I said to my partner, I think this naan has got milk…or even cream in it.

He expressed disbelief…and reached for the menu.

‘That’s funny,’ he said, ‘this menu is different, but the naan is still included in the vegan option…’

‘Hmmm… not so sure,’ I said.

I didn’t eat any more of it.

When we paid, I asked the front of house manager about the bread….in a diplomatic sort of a way, and hoping I was wrong.

She looked oddly at me and confirmed what I’d thought.  Yes, the bread had milk in it.

‘Why is it described as vegan then?’…I asked, as calmly as I could.

To cut a long story short, they got rather defensive.  Confusion reigned, for us at least….

Which was a shame, because all we wanted a peaceable outcome.

The waiter came back from the kitchen muttering : ‘it was only the curry that’s vegan.’

Not helpful.

‘Err, have you heard of the trade descriptions act?’ we asked.  There was no doubt that the naan was included in the vegan option on the in-house menu.  It even had a little box around it.  Asking why there was no rice (like it said on the menu in the window) seemed irrelevant by now ……

It all got a bit heated.  At no point did they offer a real, unconditional apology.

I explained to them that they were very lucky neither of us was lactose-intolerant /allergic.  This did quieten them down a bit.

We left, determined despite everything, to enjoy the rest of our evening.  Which we did.

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Here’s a recipe for a naan bread they could’ve served us.

Cooking for Peace.

NAAN BREAD, FILLED WITH A SPICY MIX OF ONION, GREEN PEPPER AND GREEN CHILLI

Makes 6

Ingredients:

Tandoori Aloo

Potatoes marinaded in a spicy, lemony, creamy sauce and then baked until tender.

What could be simpler?

An economical, minimal-effort midweek meal that ticks the comfort-zone box too.

Have to say that I grow my own potatoes which have started appearing around now, but any firm, floury potatoes will do just fine. They just need to be roughly the same size.

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TANDOORI ALOO

for 4 (depending how hungry you are 😕 )

Ingredients:

Strawberry Tart with a Strawberry Crème Pâtissière.

‘Tis strawberry time.  I have an ever-expanding strawberry patch on my allotment, (they put out new runners every autumn), and they’ve begun to appear in all their glorious juiciness.

To be honest, there is no better way to eat a strawberry than to pick it in the late afternoon when it has been bathed in gentle sunshine, and just pop it in your mouth.   Stand there, close your eyes, feel the light breeze and the warmth of the sun… and savour the strawberryness… of everything….

  Eating a strawberry like this tends to lead to the eating of more strawberries in a similar fashion.  It’s a very engaging activity  🙂

Nevertheless, some tend to make it back to the kitchen and sooner or later there will be jam, ice-cream, and who knows what else to come, but we had a picnic this weekend……. …so I made a strawberry tart.

Here’s how.

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Strawberry Tart with a Vegan Crème Pâtissière

for 6-8

or possibly just for 1

Ingredients: