Category archives: Food

Butternut squash, new potato and spinach curry recipe

Turns out we had some butternut squash and new potatoes that needed using up so I grabbed some spinach and threw some other stuff in a pan. It turned out nice!

Ingredients – Makes enough for 3

1 tablespoon of good olive oil

1 organic butternut squash, peeled and diced

6 or so new potatoes, diced

1 onion, sliced

150g of organic spinach, roughly chopped

A tin of coconut milk, I used the “light” stuff

2-3 tablespoons of Madras curry paste

Method

The potatoes take a little bit of cooking so get a pan of water on the boil and add them to it. Parboil them for about 10 minutes.

Whilst the potatoes are boiling add the olive oil to a pan, add the onion and fry until soft, with any luck the potatoes will also be ready at this point.

Drain the potatoes and set aside.

Add the Madras paste to the onions and fry for a few minutes.

About now you might want to raid the freezer for some naan bread…

Add the coconut milk, give it all a good stir and add the potatoes and butternut squash. Give it about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep a lid on the pan so that it doesn’t get too thick.

When the potatoes are cooked and before the squash starts to fall apart add the chopped spinach, stir through until it’s wilted.

Serve in your favourite bowl!

Sweet potato and Jarlsberg crumble recipe

Another recipe stolen from the lovely people at The Waiting Room and tweaked slightly. It easily makes enough for 6 or 4 very hungry people!

Ingredients

600g of organic sweet potatoes, the larger the better

2 or 3 red onions

200g of grated Jarlsberg cheese, or Gruyere, well, anything you want really!

½ pint of double cream

1 tablespoon of French mustard

Freshly ground black pepper

15g of jumbo oats

15g of pumpkin seeds

15g of sunflower seeds

10g of wholemeal flour

20g of strong white flour

75g of unsalted butter

Method

Preheat oven to 200C (reduce if you’ve got a fan oven).

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice either with a mandoline or sharp knife so they’re  3-4mm thick

Do exactly the same with the red onions.

Place alternate layers of sweet potato, red onion and cheese in a large baking dish until you’ve used all your ingredients, try to end on a layer of sweet potato covered in cheese.

Add the French mustard to the double cream and season with freshly ground black pepper, pour over the layered ingredients.

Mix together the oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and flours into a crumble mix. Sprinkle over the top of the layered ingredients.

Break the butter up into chunks and dot over the top of the crumble.

Cover with foil and bake for an hour, remove the foil and then return to the oven for 30 minutes. Keep checking occasionally at this point, you don’t want the crumble mix to burn!

Serve with rosemary and garlic potatoes and your favourite coleslaw.

Butternut squash and blue cheese risotto recipe

“Amazing” is the only word I can use to describe this, the risotto is creamy yet ever so slightly salty from the cheese. The recipe below made more than enough for 4 (probably enough for 6) so I had left overs for lunch the next day.

Ingredients

  • 1 big organic butternut squash (the one I used was 1.4KG)
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • Ground black pepper
  • 1 large organic onion
  • 75g of unsalted butter
  • A bottle of white wine (You can drink most of it)
  • 1.5litres of vegetable stock
  • 300g of soft blue cheese (I couldn’t find Gorgonzola so I used Saint Agur)
  • 500g of risotto rice

Method

  • Preheat oven to 220C (reduce if you’ve got a fan oven).
  • Peel, halve, deseed and slice the butternut squash, drizzle with the olive oil and season with ground black pepper.
  • Place the seasoned squash on a baking tray and bake in the oven until soft (40 minutes was enough for me, turn the squash after 20).
  • Remove the squash from the oven and chop into bite size pieces.
  • Add the butter to a large pan and melt over a medium heat.
  • Finely dice the onion and add to the pan, cook until soft.
  • Add the risotto rice, stir until coated in butter.
  • Add a small glass of white wine, stir, drink the rest of the bottle.
  • Turn the heat down to low.
  • Add the stock, one ladle at a time, stir continuously until the rice has taken up the liquid then add another ladle of stock until it’s all gone. Now is probably not the time for a game of Angry Birds, you need to stir all the time and not let the rice stick to the pan. This will probably take half an hour.
  • At the very last minute add the chopped butternut squash and stir.
  • Break the blue cheese into chunks, add it to the risotto and stir.
  • Check the seasoning, you probably don’t want to add any salt but fire away with the black pepper!
  • Serve with some freshly baked focaccia and more wine.

#borotweetup chocolate cake recipe

I’ve not made a cake in a while but I thought that bringing something to the #borotweetup would be nice and would get people talking so I set to work.

Ingredients

  • 400g of dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids)
  • 200g of unsalted butter (cut up)
  • Single shot of cold espresso (or a teaspoon of instant coffee in a little cold water)
  • 3 of your favourite free range eggs
  • 90g of self raising flour
  • 90g of plain flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
  • 230g of caster sugar
  • 200g of light brown soft sugar
  • 25g of cocoa powder
  • 75ml of whole milk
  • 250ml of double cream

You will also need

  • 25cm springform cake tin
  • Baking parchment
  • Small amount of butter to grease the cake tin
  • A heavy pan, a bonus if you have two.
  • Sieve
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Smaller mixing bowl

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 150C (reduce temperature if you’ve got a fan oven).
  2. Butter a 25cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.
  3. Chop 200g of the chocolate and put it in a heavy pan, add the butter, espresso and stir over a low heat until the butter has melted and everything is mixed. Don’t let it boil.
  4. Break the 3 eggs into a large bowl, pour in all the milk and beat until mixed.
  5. Sieve the flours into the bowl, add 200g of caster sugar, all of the light brown soft sugar, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder.
  6. Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl and stir until well mixed.
  7. Pour mixture into the springform tin, bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Check if it’s done by pushing a cocktail stick or skewer into the middle. If it comes out clean, disco.
  8. Leave the cake to cool, remove from the tin and peel off the baking parchment from the bottom.
  9. Chop up 185g of the remaining chocolate and put in a bowl.
  10. Pour the cream into a heavy pan, add the remaining 30g of caster sugar and stir over a medium heat until it’s just about to boil.
  11. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until you have a smooth silky mixture, the more you stir the thicker the ganache. You could also whip it once cold to make it even thicker!
  12. Cut the cake in half horizontally, spread a little of the ganache between the layers, pour the remaining over the top of the cake and spread to the edges.
  13. Chill the cake in the fridge for half an hour, grate the remaining 15g of chocolate and sprinkle over the ganache on top.
  14. Om, nom, nom!