IN WHICH I
  • ... Write
  • ... Explain

2016 revisited: June

7/1/2017

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The sights and sounds of summer . . .
To start, why not put some sounds in your ears while you read over this post? Below is a compilation of various recordings I made (on my camera, so not brilliant quality) during June. Originally, I intended to do a recording every day for 30 Days Wild, but didn't manage it. Speaking of 30 Days Wild, it was fantastic to get my pack from the Wildlife Trusts, featuring cards with pictures that I drew! It was very exciting to have my art going out to thousands of people. I talked about the process of creating the cards here.
cards
30 Days Wild card designs featuring my sketches.
So, back to our activites in June. We paid a visit to London for a family wedding at the start of the month and enjoyed some green spaces in the city.
Moss
Moss in Mill Hill.
The wedding cakes were a sight to behold. All the fruit and flowers inspired me to try something I'd been meaning to get around to for the last few years: cooking with elderflowers. I foraged a couple of flower heads and made them into pikelets (sweet little pancakes), which worked quite nicely.
cakes with flowers and fruit
Wedding cakes.
Elderflowers
Elderflower.
It's hard to fit in outdoors time around a full time job with a 1-2 hour commute each way, so we decided to start a little tradition of going on a walk on the way home at least once a week. We chose Arlington Reservoir, because it's a one hour circular walk on an easy trail, with a variety of stuff to look at: the water and waterbirds, a bit of woodland, views of the South Downs, animals, buildings, fields. It was satisfying to watch the evolution of the micro-ecosystem that is the reservoir wall over the course of the summer and autumn, until it got too dark to walk any more.
bunny
The cutest bun I ever saw.
daisies
Daisies on the reservoir wall.
view of reservoir wall and hills
Arlington Reservoir with the South Downs in the background.
greenery and flowers
Wildflowers beside the path.
blue water and sky
Arlington Reservoir - the path goes along the long curve of the wall.
There was a gorgeous Chicken of the Woods fungus growing on Battle High Street, of all places. I didn't want to take it, as it looked so lovely and colourful. Somebody else didn't have any such qualms - it had been cut down when we next went past, a couple of days after I took this photo. (I later heard it was a friend of a neighbour, who presented it to a family member for their birthday!)
yellow bracket fungus
Chicken of the Woods (I think) growing in Battle High Street.
We had an amazing microadventure on the South Downs with probably the most beautiful scenery I saw this year. The HRRA walk this month was also on the South Downs, which meant even more fabulous views!
two orange patterned butterflies on pink flowers
Small tortoiseshell butterflies, which have suffered a population decline, especially in the south of the UK.
Green crops and a far horizon
Looking down the undulating flanks of the South Downs.
Green ears of wheat
It's always lovely to see a field of wheat or barley nodding in the wind.
And at the end of the month we went Champing for the first time. Despite quite a grey and drizzly month overall, we did manage to make the most of it.

Previous 2016 year in review posts: January, February, March, April and May.

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Zines and a recipe

12/8/2016

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Do you like food? How about cycling and/or camping? Are you a woman, a feminist, a queer person and/or a vegan? Do you like women, queers and/or vegan food? Then I suggest you get your hands on these two zines.
Photo of the two zines
3rd Gear and Tofu and Trangias. Ziney goodness.

Content note: There is a GIF at the bottom of this post.

3rd Gear is a bike zine by women and queers, which explicitly aims to give a platform to voices not usually heard from in cycling magazines (which, let’s face it, are usually aimed squarely at people with most of the privileges). The zine is edited by Danni, who some of you might remember from her bike touring microadventures last year (September, December). Issue #2 features reflections, articles, art, bike shed updates and advice on topics including electric bikes and mental health (“Is that a cheat’s bike?” by Esther Johnson), the politics of cycling (“War on our roads: Entitlement, cycling and victim blaming” by Danielle Madeley), cycling as a trans person (“Transcyle” by Bobbi Jane), contributions from the folks of No Award, plus more!

Tofu and Trangias is a spin-off, also edited by Danni. It’s a vegan camping and bike touring cookzine divided in two sections - the first about pre-preparing foods to take with you, the second focussing on preparing and cooking when you’re out and about. It has recipes for cookies, spice mixes, curries, vegan sausage rolls, salads and more. As it’s an Australian zine, it’s biased towards Australian considerations (climate, ingredients, availability of water), but it’s definitely translatable to other places. I have a recipe in Tofu and Trangias, so obviously it’s a top quality publication. I thought I’d share my recipe here, to give you a taste (haha, get it?) of the kind of thing you might find in the zine. You can get your own copy of both zines from the Wrenchworthy store.
Recipe and photo of two people making the recipe
I'm sure my book deal and/or supermarket magazine career is just around the corner.

Recipe: Energy Balls

These tasty little treats have got me through many a mid-afternoon slump on long walks. They work a bit like scroggin, only you don’t end up having to eat the dregs made up of the crap nuts/seeds/fruit that you don’t like.

​Energy Balls (or Energy Truffles, if you are feeling fancy) are super easy to make and very forgiving if you want to experiment with ingredients and flavourings. They also keep pretty well without refrigeration, although the chocolate can melt if you’re out in hot weather . . . and there is the temptation to shove them all in your mouth at once.
Ingredients
All ingredients (except coating).
Energy balls on plate
Recipe makes a lot more than this!
Completed energy balls
Completed balls with coating.
Ingredients
  1. Nuts (2 cups / 250g). Pecans and cashews are my faves, though if I’m feeling flush I might add some macadamias. Almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts and peanuts are all fine - and I’ve made these with crunchy peanut butter once or twice. If you like seeds, add a few tablespoons of seeds.
  2. Dried fruit (2.5 cups / 425g). I recommend including apricots and/or prunes because their stickiness helps hold the mixture together. I also like apple for its chewiness and dates or figs if I want a sweeter treat.
  3. Chocolate (100g). I know! You were getting worried! But never fear, delicious vegan chocolate is the third key ingredient. Add a tablespoon of cocoa powder if you want a super-rich truffle.
  4. Flavours - to taste. Feel free to experiment. Vanilla extract is a classic, but you could try orange zest and cardamom, or chilli and cinnamon, or coffee. Add sweetener if you want and/or a pinch or two of salt.
  5. Coating - small bowlful. I’ve found the best options are dessicated coconut or sesame seeds - either of which can also be added to the mix. The coating helps stop the truffles sticking together and makes the whole eating procedure a little less messy. If you’re not going anywhere hot, you could also go the chocolate coating route.
Method
  1. Prepare your workspace. Get out a big bowl, mixing spoon and food processor. Fill a deep plate or small bowl with your coating ingredient.
  2. Quickly whiz the nuts in a food processor, enough to break them up without grinding them down to crumbs. Put them in the big bowl.
  3. Whiz the dried fruit in the food processor, too. Add it to the bowl.
  4. Break the chocolate into squares, then whizzity whiz it. Don’t break this down into dust: you don’t want enormous chunks sticking out of your truffles, but you do want some nice nibs of chocolate when you eat them. Add to the bowl.
  5. Add your flavours and mix thoroughly, squishing the mixture together to check the consistency. You definitely don’t want it to be gloopy (if it is, add more nuts, seeds, or a handful of dessicated coconut) but you also don’t want it so dry that it crumbles to pieces when rolled (add some more prunes).
  6. Roll the mixture into truffle-sized balls, big enough for a couple of bites. It will be quite sticky, and the dirtier your hands get, the more stuff sticks to them. Maybe there’s some way of avoiding this. I haven’t experimented.
  7. Roll the balls in your coating ingredient, pressing down to ensure the coating is properly stuck on. Store them in a tupperware container between layers of greaseproof paper.
  8. Eat. Sorry, I mean pack them away in your bag/panniers, go for a walk/ride, then eat.
Gif of recipe

We've been off travelling for the last couple of weeks, doing a Channel to Channel walk across Devon and Somerset, then a canoeing trip down the River Wye. I'll try to get a post up next week with photos of those delightful places!

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Foraging for Sorrel (and a Recipe)

29/4/2016

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April's Outdoor Bloggers theme was "from your own front door", a challenge to explore the world within a mile of your house. As you might remember, Lake Field is just around the corner from me - and not only does it have a lovely view, it also contains one of my favourite springtime foraging herbs: sorrel. Sorrel is easy to pick in decent quantities, great to eat fresh in sandwiches and salads and delicious in soup or risotto.
Sorrel
A patch of common sorrel in Lake Field.
Jack-by-the-hedge
Jack-by-the-hedge, or garlic mustard. How did that get in here?
Spring has truly arrived (this week the weather has been turning on a penny from snow showers to bright blue skies) and we're in the middle of the first foraging glut of the year. This month I've seen loads of wild garlic, primroses, stinging nettles, dead nettles, Alexanders, Jack-by-the-hedge (a.k.a. garlic mustard) and, you guessed it, sorrel!

How to identify common sorrel

Common sorrel tends to grow in pastures rather than in hedgerows or woodlands and at first it can be tricky to spot: unless you're looking for it, you probably don't even know it's there. However, once you've found a patch, the likelihood is that there's more growing very nearby. It's perennial, too, so you should be able to return again and again to forage more (don't take too much from one clump, though, because you don't want to kill the plant).

I've found quite a bit of sorrel in Lake Field, a few patches in other nearby farms and loads of it on the bank in front of the car park at the church just up the road. Sure, sometimes I can feel the puzzled gazes of passers-by on my neck as I scrabble about in the wet grass, but I'm getting a free meal out of it, so . . .
Botanical drawing
A rather unhelpful picture of sorrel in an old wildflower book.
Young sorrel leaves are a medium to dark green, while older ones tend to get flushed with red. The leaves are slightly shiny, and have a thickness and texture a bit stiffer than spinach. They are usually long ovals, anything from a few centimetres to a few inches long, sometimes a bit crinkly. They often have little round holes where bugs have eaten them. The best visual identifier, though, is at the base of the leaf: there is a pointy lobe on either side. These point back down the stem, although they tend to curl up, so you might need to unfurl them to get a 100% identification. If the lobe is not a point, it's not common sorrel. From late spring, sorrel flowers make identification even easier: tall red spikes that pop up above the surrounding grasses.
Sorrel patch
A patch of sorrel in Lake Field.
Sorrel flower
One of the first sorrel flowers to stick its head over the parapet.
Obligatory note of caution #1: Be careful not to mix up other leaves in your bag or basket as sorrel does sometimes grow mixed in with other plants. Don't confuse sorrel leaves with the leaves of Lords and Ladies or lilies that may grow alongside them - they're toxic. Finally, as with any plant you pick from ground level, especially in a popular dog-walking spot like Lake Field, give your sorrel a thorough wash before you eat it!
Leaves
Sorrel (with the red flower) and definitely NOT sorrel (everything else).
Sorrel patch
A patch of sorrel near the local church.

What sorrel tastes like

The taste is the final identifier. Sorrel has a tangy, almost lemony flavour. I love the way it makes my mouth water when I chew on a leaf. The citrusy element makes fresh sorrel a great flavour addition to wraps and sandwiches (with hommous, or egg, or roast vegetables). When it's cooked, it reduces and turns limp and brownish. I also find that the tanginess becomes slightly more subdued. Add sorrel at the end of the cooking process to retain more of the flavour.
Sorrel leaves
A line-up of sorrel leaves, showing variation in size, shape and colour. They're wet, hence the glossiness.
Obligatory note of caution #2: The tanginess of sorrel is due to its oxalic acid content. I've never had any problem with this, but you might want to keep your first intake to a handful of leaves rather than baskets of the stuff. An overdose of sorrel (which from my limited research probably means eating a large plateful of it for every meal) could make you vomit or, more seriously, have a heart attack. So don't do that.

Recipe: Tangy, Wild, Green, Springtime Risotto (catchy name, right?)

As with most of my recipes, the quantities listed are approximate. It might be that you need more liquid - so use more liquid. If you like a cheesier risotto, use more cheese. If you like more garlic, put more in. If you want to eat more veggies, add them. If you're vegan, use a vegan cheese or add a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast flakes and/or a ground up dried shitake mushroom for umami. However. While the ingredient quantities are flexible, you do need to pay attention to the timing: have everything ready before you start and be prepared to stir the pot almost constantly for the entire process. Here's a good risotto primer. And here's one of those Guardian "How to make the perfect..." experiment articles on risotto.

Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, chopped as finely as you can be bothered (not very fine, if you're me)
  • 2 nice big knobs of butter (or vegan margarine)
  • 250g arborio or carnaroli rice
  • Half a glass of dry white wine (have some more on hand for the cook!)
  • 1 litre vegetable stock (1 litre water, 1 or 2 stock cubes), hot
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • A few stems of asparagus (trimmed, cut into 1 inch lengths)
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • A big bunch of sorrel, washed and roughly chopped
  • A handful of other wild spring herbs (e.g. wild garlic, Jack-by-the-hedge), washed and finely chopped
  • A handful of parsley, washed and finely chopped
  • 100g cheese (soft goats cheese, or a mix of gruyere and cream cheese, or parmesan, or anything you like)
  • Juice of half a lemon, zest of the whole lemon
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Salt

Method
  1. Prepare all your ingredients in advance. Make sure the stock is warm, the lemon is zested and juiced, the cheese is grated.
  2. Put a large saucepan on medium heat and add the oil. Fry the onion gently, stirring frequently, until it's translucent. Try not to let it brown. This usually takes a minimum of 5 minutes, even if you're impatient like me.
  3. Melt one knob of butter (or vegan margarine) with the onion then add the rice. Turn up the heat and stir the rice until it's all coated in oil and begins to go translucent (a minute or so).
  4. Pop the wine in with the rice (it will hiss!) and stir continuously until all the liquid has evaporated. Turn the heat back to medium-low.
  5. Start adding the stock, one ladle at a time, stirring after each ladleful until the rice has absorbed the liquid. This will probably take around 15 minutes. The low temperature helps ensure that the rice doesn't overcook on the outside and become mushy while the inside is still crunchy and undercooked. (If you're making a vegan risotto, add your umami about half way through this process.)
  6. When you've only got a bit of liquid left and the rice is almost done (just on the crunchy side of al dente), add the peas, asparagus, crushed garlic, lemon zest and the rest of the stock. I try to add these early enough so they have enough time to cook, but not so early that they'll be limp and brown.
  7. Turn off the heat, stir in the spring herbs and parsley. Add cheese (if using) and second knob of butter/margarine. As it's melting, stir briskly to up the creaminess factor.
  8. Just before you dish it up, mix in the sorrel (reserve a few small leaves for garnish), a squeeze of lemon juice and  pepper and salt to suit your taste The sorrel is added at the end of this recipe so it retains more of its tangy flavour and stays greenish.
  9. Plate up, using remaining sorrel leaves for garnish. Eat that deliciously tangy risotto!
Sorrel leaf
Of course, I don't have a picture of the risotto. So here's another sorrel leaf. I hope you like it.

Do you have any favourite wild spring foods? What are you foraging for at the moment? And what wild (or almost-wild) food can you find within a mile of your front door? (The supermarket doesn't count!)

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Spicy Peanut Stew

18/12/2015

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There are times when many of us look at our food budgets and despair. A relentless parade of jacket potatoes, rice and baked beans stretches out into the future and we wonder if we’ll ever cook anything interesting ever again.

​I know the feeling, so I was pleased to find this dish, which is simple, quick, and tastes unlike almost everything else on my “fairly cheap vegan recipes” list. Perhaps it could make an interesting addition to your family cookbook, too. This quantity serves four quite easily. My recipe is adapted from a recipe on cookieandkate.com.

Ingredients

  • 4-5 cups of water
  • 1 stock cube
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 5 fat cloves of garlic, chopped finely
  • A decent knob of fresh ginger, chopped finely
  • 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup tomato puree or paste
  • A few good handfuls of chopped green leafy veg (e.g. spinach, kale or spring greens with hard stems removed)
  • Chilli sauce (I use Sriracha)
  • Salt (optional)
  • 2 spring onions, chopped (optional)
  • Lime or lemon (optional)
  • White rice and water to cook

Method

  1. Add 4 cups of water and stock cube to a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
  2. Add onion, garlic and ginger to the stock and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, cook the rice as per packet instructions (I usually use about half a cup of uncooked rice per person).
  4. In a heat-proof bowl, mix together the peanut butter and tomato puree. Transfer a few ladlefuls of hot stock into the bowl and mix thoroughly, then pour it all back into the saucepan.
  5. Stir the greens into the stew and allow them to wilt. Add a few squeezes of chilli sauce - I usually add 3+ tablespoons depending on my mood. Add another cup of water to thin the stew if you like, and a pinch or two of salt if you think it needs it.
  6. Serve piping hot over rice with an optional sprinkle of fresh spring onion and squeeze of lime or lemon. (I say this is optional, but fresh lime juice takes this dish to a different level of deliciousness.)

I wrote about this dish a year ago in the Hastings Independent. I didn't blog about it at the time and then it wasn't the right weather for stew . . . but it's a perfect winter dish, so here you go!

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Forage for and cook with Alexanders

6/5/2015

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Alexanders must be one of the quickest, easiest plants to forage and eat in bulk. You can eat every part of the plant, so nothing goes to waste. Here’s a bit of background about Alexanders and a delicious recipe to make with it.

History of Alexanders

I should note, first up, that “Alexanders” is the singular as well as the plural noun for this vegetable, which leads to some technically correct but odd-sounding grammatical constructions, like this one: Alexanders was introduced to this island by the Romans, who cultivated it as a garden vegetable. It escaped from the gardens and fell out of favour and out of widespread cultivation a while ago. However, it's held on remarkably well along roadsides, hedgerows and paths, especially near the coast. So really, Alexanders are just feral garden veggies.

Foraging for Alexanders

These bright green plants were very obvious back in early April, lining the farm tracks through the South Downs, spreading up roadside banks in Hastings, springing up along footpaths all over the place. Now, in early May, they’re well past their prime but the flowers give off a very distinctive sweet smell, so you might still notice them. I’ve added some photos of them in situ (from April), as well as pictures of the different parts, to help you identify them.

The stalk, leaves, flowers and root are all edible - but don’t dig anything up unless you have the landowner’s permission. Avoid those growing right beside a busy road, because they will probably contain a lot of pollutants you don’t want inside you. Finally, as with all wild and foraged foods, make sure you're confident with your identification - then try a little bit and leave it for a while before chowing down on a whole meal!

Flavour of Alexanders

I’ve seen people describing Alexanders as having a very distinctive flavour, similar to celery, parsley, asparagus and/or Angelica (another wild food I have yet to identify, forage or eat).  Personally, I think Alexanders tastes a lot like fennel, especially when raw. These comparisons are unsurprising, as all of the plants mentioned (except asparagus) belong to the same family: Apiaceae. I found the flavour very strong when I boiled the unpeeled smaller stalks (i.e. as I would cook asparagus) - I had to change the water over towards the end to decrease the pungency. However, when I peeled and sliced the larger stalks and ate them raw, they weren’t overpowering.

Cooking with Alexanders

The stalks of Alexanders are hollow (as with most plants in the Apiaceae family), but this is mainly noticeable in the large trunk stalks rather than the smaller, younger shoots. The stalks are sturdy and crunchy, but can be cooked until tender. Most recipes for Alexanders say to steam or boil the stems and serve with a knob of butter and a bit of seasoning (salt, pepper, lemon or lime juice). Other suggestions  include chopping the leaves and using them in salad (similar to a handful of flat-leaf parsley), steaming or roasting the roots and pickling the flowers. These are all lovely ideas and I can attest that the stems make a tasty asparagus alternative. But I think my own invention is the tastiest of the lot…

Alexanders and tangerine salad

This recipe uses several large stalks of Alexanders. Wash the stalks thoroughly, peel off the stringy outer layer and cut the biggest stems in half lengthways. You should end up with something resembling sticks of celery. Slice these stalks on the diagonal, and pop into a salad bowl.

Peel a few tangerines or other sweet citrus fruit, removing as much pith as possible. Cut in half horizontally, carefully remove pips and separate the segments. Add to the salad bowl. I recommend one tangerine per 100g of Alexanders (peeled weight), but you don’t need to be too precise.

To make the dressing, whisk together equal quantities of olive oil and freshly squeezed lime (or lemon) juice, a substantial pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

As far as I’m concerned, this salad doesn’t need any embellishment. But if you think it needs more colour, try adding a handful of jewel-like pomegranate seeds. Yum.

I was introduced to Alexanders by Geoff Dann’s article in the Hastings Independent (Issue 27, 3 April 2015, page 14). The recipe above was first published in the Hastings Independent (Issue 28, 17 April 2015, page 12). If you're interested, my previous foraging posts include how to make hedgerow jam and  foraging in Norfolk.

Alexanders by a field
Alexanders leaves
Leaves, stems and flowers - separated
Peeled Alexanders stalks
Sliced Alexanders
Tangerines
Tasty Alexanders and tangerine salad
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Make rainbow salad, Thai style

13/4/2015

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Mmm, Thai food! I love the complex combinations of salty, sour, spicy, sweet and bitter flavours; I love the beautiful colours, crispy vegetables, aromatic herbs and exciting textures. You could say I find it... en-thai-cing. I won’t pretend that this salad is “authentic”, but it is delicious. It takes a while to prepare, so put on some music and get slicing. You won’t regret it!

Rainbow salad

Your salad ingredients should be sliced finely and evenly so that any given forkful will contain a unique combination of fresh, tasty goodness. You’ll need a good sharp knife (unless you own a mandoline - lucky you). Choose from the following ingredients, making sure to include a range of colours.
  • Green beans, lightly steamed, cooled and sliced lengthways
  • Green snow peas, finely sliced lengthways
  • Green cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds removed, finely sliced
  • White Chinese cabbage, finely shredded
  • White bean sprouts, any straggly bits removed
  • Yellow grapefruit, peeled and segmented, segments halved
  • Yellow mango (ripe or unripe), thinly sliced or grated
  • Yellow capsicum (pepper), finely sliced
  • Orange carrot, grated
  • Orange, peeled, segmented, segments halved
  • Red capsicum (pepper), finely sliced
  • Red onion, finely sliced
  • Purple cabbage, finely shredded

Herbs

Don’t be stingy with your herbs - they’re really a salad ingredient in their own right. Choose two or more of the following.
  • Handful of coriander, chopped roughly
  • Small handful of mint leaves, chopped
  • Small handful of Thai (or other) basil leaves, torn
  • Spring onions (4 or 5), both green and white parts, chopped finely

Textures

These ingredients are optional, but add depth and crunch to your salad. Choose one or more of the following and mix them through at the last minute so they don’t go soggy.
  • Toasted cashews
  • Crispy fried shallots
  • Crunchy noodles (don't use egg noodles if making this salad for vegans)

Dressing

This is the final, delicious touch. To create a perfect dressing, you need to balance the flavours both within the dressing and between the dressing and the salad. For example, if your salad has lots of orange and mango in it, you might want to add less sweetness to the dressing. Choose at least one ingredient from each of the following flavour groups, mix thoroughly and experiment to find your ideal combination.
  • Salty: light soy sauce (this has a different flavour to dark soy and is not, as I used to assume, some kind of horrible "diet" sauce) and/or fish sauce (which I never use it because I'm vegetarian)
  • Sour: fresh lime juice, rice wine vinegar, tamarind paste or pulp
  • Spicy: fresh chilli, fresh ginger, fresh garlic
  • Sweet: palm sugar, jaggery, soft brown sugar, agave syrup or honey (for non-vegans)

I made the following (fairly spicy and sour) dressing for the salad in the photos. Using a soup spoon as my unit of measure made enough dressing for one large serving bowl of salad.

  • Salty: 4 parts light soy
  • Sour: 2 parts fresh lime juice, 1 part rice wine vinegar, ½ part tamarind paste
  • Spicy: 1 part ginger (grated), 1 part mild red chilli (chopped finely)
  • Sweet: 1 part palm sugar (grated, dissolved)

This recipe first appeared in Hastings Independent, Issue 27, 3 April 2015, p12.

Layered salad in glass
For photo purposes only - this is not how you eat the salad!
Snow peas
Green: snow peas, finely sliced. You can slice several at once.
Bean sprouts
White: bean sprouts. Sorting these can take ages so get super-fresh ones.
Sliced mango
Yellow: mango, found on sale or it wouldn't have gone in!
Orange segments
Orange: well, orange. I halved these segments after taking the photo.
Rainbow salad
That's more like it! Mix it all up and add your delicious dressing!
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Make saag pa-nearly

12/3/2015

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A simple but delicious spinach dish that can be eaten plain with rice or with added paneer, tofu or cream.
The first time I made saag paneer, I tried to do it from scratch. The home-made paneer (cheese) was a bit of a disaster because it melted into goo when I fried it, but I was still hooked. The following dish forms a great base for saag paneer or saag tofu, but it’s also delicious served by itself - we call it “saag pa-nearly”. It’s one of my favourite comfort foods: tasty, nutritious and easy to make.

Ingredients

  • 500g frozen spinach
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 5 cloves garlic, crushed
  • Knob of ginger (4cm), grated
  • 1 fresh chilli, finely chopped or 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for frying
  • Optional: 200g paneer (cubed and shallow fried) or 200g firm tofu (pressed, cubed, coated in cornflour and shallow fried) or 200mL cream
Saag paneer
Saag pa-nearly... you can add paneer, tofu or cream if you like.

Method

  1. If you’re making rice, put it on to cook (and don’t forget to turn it off when it’s done!). If you’re using paneer or tofu, make sure it's fried and ready to go.
  2. Pop the spinach in a microwaveable container and microwave on medium-high, checking every minute or two to make sure each puck is thawing, but not cooking. This usually takes about 6-8 minutes. When the spinach has mostly defrosted, drain off the water that’s accumulated in the container and set it aside.
  3. Meanwhile, pop a good splash of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, pop in the cumin and coriander seeds, then fry the onion until it’s soft but not brown.
  4. When the onion has softened, add the fresh ginger, garlic and chilli, stir thoroughly and cook for 1 minute.
  5. Add the garam masala and turmeric and mix until the onion is coated and you can smell the spices wafting enticingly out of the pot.
  6. Add the spinach, mix well and cook until it’s piping hot.
  7. If using paneer, tofu or cream, add it at this point and stir it through.
  8. Taste your dish and add a pinch or three of salt if desired.
  9. Serve over rice (I hope you remembered to turn it off!) with a spoon of achar (spicy pickle). It’s saag good’un.

This recipe first appeared in Hastings Independent, Issue 23, 6 February 2015, p8.

4 Comments

Make spicy mulled wine

5/1/2015

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Is there anything cosier than sitting by a log fire, maybe after a brisk winter walk, sipping a mug of piping hot mulled wine? Possibly. Nevertheless, it is one of my favourite things about winter in the UK!

You can get mulled wine pre-mixed in a bottle or you can get sachets/bags of spice to add to your own wine, but making it from scratch is easy.  For a non-alcoholic tipple, use fruit juice like orange, apple or grape instead of wine. The following recipe produces an exceptionally fiery brew, so adjust according to your tastes.

Ingredients

  • A bottle of inexpensive merlot
  • 3 cups of orange juice (no pulp is better for this)
  • Spices: 2 cinnamon sticks, 3 star anise, 4 cardamom pods, 8-10 cloves, a pinch of nutmeg, a few slices of fresh ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes (ground spices/powders can give the mulled wine a funny texture, but they’ll do if you don’t have whole spices)
  • A few heaped dessert spoons of brown sugar (or jam, or even maple syrup if you’re posh)
  • A handful of dried fruit (sultanas or mixed peel are fine)
  • A glug or two of ginger wine, brandy or rum (optional but delicious)
  • An orange, sliced into rounds, to garnish
Mug of mulled wine
You're the foxy devil when you like...

Make some magic

  • Pop all the juice, spice and dried fruit into a large saucepan and simmer for 10-20 minutes (or longer), allowing the flavours to infuse.
  • Add the sugar or other sweetener and stir until dissolved.
  • Add your red wine and liqueur/liquor and stir again. Adding this at the end keeps the alcohol content high - the longer you heat it now, the lower the alcohol volume of the final drink.
  • When it’s heated through, ladle into mugs or glasses and garnish with slices of orange.
  • Whoosh! That will warm you up.
I discovered while researching different mulled wine recipes that there is a large contingent of people who don't like mulled wine at all. Are you one of them? Explain yourself!

This recipe was first published as "Fiery mulled wine" in Hastings Independent, Issue 21, 19 December 2014, p9.

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Make hedgerow jam

29/9/2014

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After I wrote about foraging in Norfolk, a few people asked me to share the recipes I use to make jam from foraged fruits. I don’t use a written recipe for jam – and you won’t have to either, once you know how it works.
Blackberries in a tubLush! I love blackberry season!
If you went out walking in the UK in August and September, you probably noticed the epic quantities of blackberries in almost every hedge. I can’t go past a blackberry bush without stuffing my face, but with all the face-stuffing dedication in the world I couldn’t possibly eat all the blackberries on offer, so I took to making hedgerow jam.

“Hedgerow jam” is really a catch-all name for any jam you make using the fruits of your foraging labours – blackberries, elderberries, crabapples, rosehips, sloe, hawthorn, damsons and so on. You don’t have to have a particular ratio of fruit, but with the current blackberry glut I’d suggest you pick lots of blackberries and supplement them with a few handfuls of whatever else you happen to find. If you’ve got a cooking apple at home, throw that into the mix, too.

Here is the basic recipe for jam: boil approximately equal weights of fruit and sugar together, maybe with a bit of water, until it sets.

That’s it. At the heart of it, making jam truly is that simple. Now that you realise jam-making is well within your capabilities, here are the only other things you need to know to make epic jam.    

Pectin and sugar make your jam set 

Low-pectin fruits don’t set as well, so, if you’re concerned about that kind of thing, combine them with high-pectin fruits or add a good squeeze of lemon juice to the mix. To give a few common examples: damsons, blackberries and crabapples are high in pectin; elderberries and garden fruit like strawberries are low in pectin. If you’re not sure, Google it.  And remember: under-ripe fruit has higher pectin levels than over-ripe fruit, so it makes a better jam.    

Prepare your fruit    

Foraged fruits in a bowlCrabapples, sloe, hawthorn and rosehips.
Clean your fruit thoroughly, discard any spoilt bits and chop it up if necessary. Boil together any fruits that will need straining, such as whole crabapples, damsons and sloe, with just enough water to cover them. It will only take a few minutes for them to get mushy, at which stage you can push the mixture through a sieve or colander to get rid of the pips and skins. (If you're using hawthorn, rosehips or elderberries, it's probably better to make jelly instead of jam - see below.)

Return the mix to your saucepan and add the blackberries and sugar. If you’re using blackberries by themselves, they’re fine to cook with the sugar from the start.

Experiment with spice    

Feeling adventurous? Go for it! Add your spices as early as possible to give them time to infuse. Some spices also look lovely suspended in a jewel-like jelly (see below). You could try cardamom, chilli, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, peppercorns… the list goes on. Let me know if you strike a winning combination!    

A jelly detour

If you’re using rosehips or hawthorn, or if you prefer jelly to jam, you’ll need to add a step. First, boil your fruit in water until nice and mushy (rosehips take ages), then, before adding the sugar, let the mixture strain for at least an hour through a sterile cloth (e.g. a clean, freshly ironed pillow case or large handkerchief) into a bowl. Some people say to leave it overnight – I don’t have the patience! But be aware that if you squeeze the cloth, pulp will come through and give you a cloudy jelly. Mix the liquid and sugar together in your saucepan and proceed as you would for jam.    

Has your jam set?

Your fruit-sugar-water mixture will set only after it’s reached a rapid boil (about 105 degrees), so get it bubbling before turning it down to a lively simmer. The easiest way to test your jam is to pop a small dollop onto a cold plate out of the freezer or fridge, let it cool for a minute, then swipe through it with your finger. If the mixture wrinkles up a little bit/stays separate along your swipe-line, it’s ready. If it oozes back in like a liquid, it isn’t ready. If you jam’s not setting, add a squeeze of acidic, pectin-y lemon juice to help it on its way. But in all seriousness, don’t stress about this: runny jam is still delicious (drizzle it over icecream!) and if it doesn’t set in the jar overnight you can always tip it back into the saucepan and cook it a bit more the next day.    

Eating your jam    

Just joking – I know you know how to eat jam. So, who’s for scones and tea?    

Sections of this article first appeared as “Hedgerow jam” in Hastings Independent, Issue 14, 12 September 2014, p9. Have you got any jammy tips? Please share them in the comments!

12 Comments

Share the love: Un-beet-able chocolate mud muffins

20/9/2014

8 Comments

 
Muffin with pink icingUn-beet-able chocolate mud muffin.
I love sharing food with friends, many of whom are vegan or have allergies/intolerances, so I’m always on the lookout for tasty, friend-friendly things to cook.

One of my favourite muffin/cupcake/cake recipes is vegan, does not contain nuts and can easily be made gluten-free, soy-free and alcohol-free. This means it’s perfect for office parties, bake sales and picnics. Also, it’s easy (which is great for me because, unlike some of my amazing friends, I am not Bake Off material). Obligatory vegan recipe statement: this cake is so decadent and delicious that the most annoyingly anti-vegan person won’t feel the need to smear bacon fat on it in order to enjoy it. 

Un-beet-able

This recipe comes via Where’s the Beef?, who call it “un-beet-able chocolate cake”. Go and check out their amazing foodie blog! I use the same quantities as them, which makes about 18 muffins (so make sure you have enough muffin cases). 

Ingredients

Muffin with pink icingAnother nicely iced muffin.
For the muffins
  • 1 generous cup grated fresh beetroot (1-3 beetroots, depending on size)
  • 1.5 cups plain flour (you can use gluten-free flour)
  • 2.25 cups white sugar
  • 1 generous cup cocoa powder
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder (check for gluten)
  • Pinch or two of chilli powder (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sunflower oil
  • 1.5 cups soy milk (check for malt/gluten, use rice/oat milk for soy-free)
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla essence (replace with a generous shake of cinnamon powder for alcohol-free)

For the icing (all quantities are approximate)
  • 2 big tablespoons vegan margarine (check ingredients for soy- and/or nut-free)
  • 1.5 cups icing sugar 
  • 1-2 dessert spoons of beetroot juice
  • Squeeze of lemon

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C, pop large cupcake/muffin cases into a muffin tray.

Wash and peel the beetroot, then grate it into a large, deep bowl (the sides will help keep the juice from splashing out and staining everything). Give it a little squeeze to get some of the juice out for the icing. Pack a cup with grated beetroot and pour the juice into a glass/small bowl to reserve for the icing.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl (along with the chilli powder and ground cinnamon, if using). Add the oil, milk and vanilla and stir with a big wooden spoon until just combined. If you’re using gluten-free flour, the mixture will be much runnier, but this is normal. Fold the grated beetroot into the mixture, then spoon it into the muffin cases, leaving a centimetre or so at the top.

Bake the muffins for about 15 minutes. Use the skewer test to check, or simply poke the top with your finger to check that the muffins are firm. This recipe makes quite a dense cake (a mud muffin!), so don’t expect them to rise too much. Repeat this step with any left-over mixture.
Muffin with messy icingSome of my icing efforts are better than others.
When the muffins have cooled, you can ice them. I often leave a few un-iced, because they are extremely rich already and some people won’t be able to take the extra sweetness.

To make the icing, beat together the margarine and icing sugar in a small mixing bowl. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a teaspoon or two of beetroot juice and stir vigorously, adding more beetroot juice as necessary to make the mixture a bit easier to spread/pipe. I like to pipe the icing on in a nice pattern. Well, I like to try. Some of my efforts are better than others.

Aww, yeah. Time to put these delicious muffins in your mouth.


Have you got a favourite vegan cake recipe? Please share it with us in the comments or on Twitter!    

8 Comments

Go foraging in Norfolk

9/9/2014

10 Comments

 
Norfolk beachCrepuscular rays near Hunstanton.
In North Norfolk, at the mouth of the Wash, the wind churns the sea into choppy brown peaks and sends clouds scudding across the wide horizon.

At low tide, mudflats and salt marshes stretch endlessly, carved through by meandering waterways, spiked with grey and yellow grasses, lightly but thoroughly trampled by flocks of wildfowl and waders. Inland, fields of wheat, corn and sugar beet stretch across the gentle, shallow swells of a landscape punctuated occasionally by dark stands of trees and the grey flint spires of village churches. Life exists here on a thin strip, like the Earth’s crust, sandwiched between sky and stone.

Having visited Norfolk several times during the colder, off-peak months, I’ve tended to describe it as flat, bleak and full of birds. But this time, after the best summer in years, I was struck by the abundance and diversity of the hedgerows, streams and tidal marshes. As I explored the area, I couldn’t resist making the most of this wild harvest. . .

Foraging for leafy vegetables and herbs

Stinging nettles and mallow are familiar friends. We found them growing in great quantities along a footpath snaking between coastal villages and we sautéed a few bunches with mushrooms to make a tasty snack. The wild mint we found alongside the nettles went into fresh mint tea. We later found a stream overrun with watercress, but we were out without a bag or container, so I made do with munching on a few peppery leaves.

Foraging for berries and fruit

Crabapples and damsonsCrabapples and damsons.
Established hedgerows encircled the village we stayed in, offering a variety of fruit. Blackberries are probably one of the most commonly foraged fruits in the UK and we tossed a handful of small but sweet specimens into an apple crumble along with the last cherry plums from a nearby tree.

Intertwined with a couple of sloe bushes, and easily distinguishable in such close proximity, I discovered damsons – the first time I’ve found these small plums in the wild. I made a tiny batch of damson jam to experiment, and it was absolutely amazing – tart and flavoursome. We went back later to pick a few more and made them into jelly with some crabapples collected during a bike ride. This wasn’t quite as lively, but it was still good spread on challah toast in the morning.

Elderberries in handA handful of elderberries.
The hedges were dripping with droopy bunches of shiny, black berries on bright red stalks. After checking with some knowledgeable friends on Twitter, I identified them as elderberries.

These were completely new to me, so I decided to make something simple to get a feel for the flavour. Alys Fowler in The Thrifty Forager claims elderberries “have a slightly rank taste so it’s always the last jam in our house to get eaten”, but I was not to be dissuaded! I made a tasty (if slightly too sweet) cordial, which was reminiscent of a well-known blackcurrent drink. We drank it with ice out of champagne flutes while sitting in the Norfolk sunshine. . . bliss!

Foraging for samphire

Marsh samphireMarsh samphire.
My most exciting find, out on those wide, sticky flats, was patch after patch of marsh samphire. I had never eaten samphire before. I snipped a few bits (not sure if it was legal to harvest it, not wanting to disrupt an ecosystem I was not familiar with) and added it raw to a salad. It was gorgeous – tiny, crunchy pockets of salty sea-flavour bursting in each mouthful.

(N.B. We later went to Titchwell Manor for a delicious evening meal, during which I was presented with an enormous bowl of samphire. It made my foraging efforts look rather paltry in comparison. . . but food is always tastier when you find it and/or grow it yourself!)

Over the course of our holiday, this flat ribbon of North Norfolk became more than a beautifully bleak and bird-filled landscape to me. Through our foraging excursions, I connected with it on a personal scale and felt grounded there in a way I hadn't before.


What wild food is in season where you live? Have you got any foraging stories or questions? I'd love to hear them in the comments or on Twitter.

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