Cavolo Nero and potato curry

This has been a month of Cavolo Nero challenges. More cabbage than you can possibly eat in one sitting. Here is a good use of a cabbage and other green veg you may happened to find in your fridge. This is another adaptation from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall River Cottage Veg with cavolo nero and potatoes.

Foodstuff you will need:  (serves 6)
One whole cavolo nero or Kale or cabbage – washed & tough stalks removed
Handful of Green beans (prepared to cook)
2 leeks chopped
2 large red onions chopped.
Olive oil
3 garlic cloves sliced
1 green chilli deseeded and chopped
3cm piece of ginger (peeled and chopped)
1 tsp of coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp curry powder
500g potatoes – peeled and chopped
250g plain yoghurt
½ tube of tomato puree
small bunch of coriander – chopped
handful of pistachios  toasted & chopped
Salt and pepper
400ml water



Equipment
large saucepan/deep frying pan with lid
pestle and mortar
Sharp knife and chopping board
Wooden spoon
Hob/hot plate


How to throw it together
Shred the cabbage and stalks and set aside in separate piles.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onion & leek until golden. Meanwhile pound and garlic, chilli and ginger together with salt to a paste. Add to the onion and cook for a couple of minutes. Tip in rest of the spices and cook for a minute or two.








Add the potatoes and fry stirring frequently for about 5 minutes so they are well coated with the spice mixture. Pour in about 400ml of water – enough to cover the veg. Bring to a simmer cover and cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender. Add the cabbage leaves and beans, stir and cook until cabbage just wilted.

Add the tomato puree with some of the hot liquid from the curry and stir well into mixture. Bubble for about 5 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper or additional curry powder (deending on how hot you want your curry)

At this point you can stop and let the curry steep or cool and freeze it.
When ready to eat, taste for add yoghurt and reheat over low heat ; this is important so that the yoghurt does not curdle.

When ready to serve sprinkle on toasted nuts and eat with Naan or chapati or rice if you prefer.

Cavolo Nero in coconut milk

We have struggled in past years to find anywhere that sells coconut milk in our part of Italy (Le Marche). This year we arrived with several tins and found a cabbage curry side dish recipe to combine both. This originally came from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall River Cottage Veg with leeks instead of cabbage.

This is quick and easy to make.

Foodstuff you will need:  (serves 6 as a side dish)
One whole cavolo nero or Kale or cabbage – washed & tough stalks removed
2 large red onions chopped or leeks if in season.
Olive oil
2 garlic cloves sliced
1 teaspoon of good curry powder
400ml of coconut milk
50g roasted peanuts
Salt and pepper

Equipment
large saucepan
Strainer for cabbage
Deep Frying pan
Sharp knife and chopping board
Wooden spoon
Hob/hot plate

How to throw it together
Shred the cabbage and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat and sweat the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes

Add the curry powder and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the greens and sweat down until slightly wilted but still crnchy.





Pour in the coconut milk and heat through letting it bubble for a minute. Serve at once sprinkled with roasted peanuts.

Mushroom and Cavolo Nero lasagne

Our challenge this year is what to do with 10 ready to eat Cavolo nero .  This recipe is adapted from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall River Cottage Veg. It takes approximately 3 hours to prepare and be ready to serve so it is not a quick dish.

This includes digging up and cleaning the onions, garlic,celery and cabbage so if you are buying these from a supermarket you can slim down some of the time.If you like you veggies and are prepared to make some time, it is very tasty and worth all the effort.  You can also cook this in advance and reheat a bit later. We will re-use the béchamel sauce for a more traditional  lasagne dish.

Foodstuff you will need:  (serves 6)

300 g cavolo nero or Kale or cabbage tough stalks removed

30g butter

500g mushrooms – washed, chopped

2 garlic cloves – finely chopped

sprigs of thyme – leaves only

175g lasagne sheets ( to create 3 layers in your lasagne dish)

Parmesan – grated – enough to cover your dish

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Bechamel Sauce

750ml whole milk

1 bay leaf

1 onion chopped

1 celery stalk – chopped

black peppercorns

50g butter

50 plain flour

2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard

Equipment

2 large saucepans

Strainer for cabbage

Sieve for sauce

Large Bowls (to set aside ingredients)

Pouring jug

Frying pan

Sharp knife and chopping board

Wooden spoon

Lasagne dish

Oven

How to throw it together

Pre heat oven to 180C/Gas mark 4

Heat the milk for the sauce with the bay leaf, onion, celery and peppercorns until just below simmering. Remove from heat and set aside to infuse.

Shed the cabbage. Put into a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes until tender. Drain and set aside.

Heat ½ the butter in large frying pan over medium heat. Add half the mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook until caramalised. Add half of the thyme and garlic for last minute and stir well.  Remove from heat, place into a dish and set aside. Repeat for other half of the mushrooms, garlic, thyme etc then set aside.

Gently reheat the infused milk, then strain into clean jug.

Heat the butter in the frying pan, stir in the flour to form a smooth roux and cook gently for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add ¼ of the milk and stir in to form a smooth paste. Repeat with rest of milk beating vigorously until you have a smooth sauce.  Return to the heat and allow to bubble gently until thickened. Stir in mustard and salt and pepper.

Add half the sauce to the Cabbage and put to one side.

Spread half the béchamel sauce over bottom of the lasagne dish. Layer 1/3 of the lasgane in the dish and spoon the cabbage on top. Add another layer of lasagne sheets then the mushroom mix. Finish with a final layer of lasagne and the remaining béchamel sauce.

Scatter over the cheese and add a trickle of olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes until golden. Serve immediately.

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Tomato, bean and pancetta pasta sauce

This is a great cupboard meal if, like us, you have tins of butter beans or chick peas or any type of beans in your cupboard. You also need tins/jars of tomatoes/tomato pasta sauce, onions, garlic and pasta. Don’t’ do what we did one year and store fresh pasta in the cupboard until it dried out and was cooked as if it was dried by mistake. Needless to say we did not do that again!

This recipe has been adapted from a Nigella Lawson Kitchen recipe; it is quick and easy and thrown together in 30 mins.

Foodstuff you will need:  (serves 2)
Pasta Dried or fresh
150g pancetta – chopped into cubes
400g tinned tomatoes or tomato pasta sauce
200ml red wine
30g butter
Dried thyme
Dried sage
Black Pepper
Sea salt
400g can of cannellini or ceci or butter beans drained and rinsed
1 red onion (peeled and chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (peeled and chopped)
Olive oil
Parmesan (grated

Equipment
Large saucepan for pasta
Large deep based frying pan with lid
Wooden spoon
Sharp knife and chopping board
Tin opener
Sieve for draining

How to throw it together
Boil water for pasta- add some salt
Heat olive oil in frying pan and brown pancetta onions and garlic over medium heat until starting to brown.
Add dried herbs , salt and pepper and stir well
Add tomatoes and stir well
Add wine
Add in butter – stir well and tip in time of drained beans. Stir well and leave to bubble whilst pasta cooking. let mixture reduce
When water is boiling add pasta and cook as per instructions on packet (dried)
Serve with sauce on top of pasta in large bowls.  Add

Pork with mustard and crème fraiche

We were looking for something different to cook and stumbled across this recipe. We do not eat pork very often as it is normally very fatty but this is a lean, tasty dish not too heavy and great with new potatoes and green beans. Source is Delia Smith “Pork”

Foodstuff you will need:  (serves 2)

2 thick pork fillets (trimmed of fat) 375g each

1 large egg

1 heaped dessertspoon of grained mustard

1 heaped dessertspoon Dijon mustard

2 cloves of garlic (peeled)

10g fresh parsley

4 heaped teaspoon fresh white bread crumbs

salt and fresh milled black pepper

Sauce

1 heaped dessertspoon of grained mustard

1 heaped dessertspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon crème fraiche

10g butter

1 medium onion finely chopped

310ml dry white wine

Equipment:

Oven

Oblong dish – longer than the pork fillets

Plate

Medium baking tray – greased and longer than the pork fillets

Knife and chopping board

Small bowl and whisk

Small processor to chop herbs

Small saucepan

How to throw it together

Pre heat the oven to gas mark 5 /375F/190C

Trim the excess fat and sinew from the pork fillets

Beat the egg with the mustard in a small bowl, then pour into an oblong dish.

Chop the garlic and the parsley in a processor, add the breadcrumbs and seasoning of salt and pepper, whiz for a couple of seconds then spread onto a plate.

Roll the pork fillets in the egg mixture until well coated. Lift out – letting excess drip back into the dish then lay in the crumb mixture. Turn the fillets over the crumbs until they are evenly coated and there are almost no loose crumbs left in the dish.

Transfer them into the greased baking tray and roast the fillets in a pre heated over for 30 minutes.

For the sauce, heat the butter in a small saucepan and cook the onion in it on a medum heat for about 10 minutes until softened and brown. Then add the white wine, turn up the heat and boil for 10 minutes to reduce slightly before adding the crème fraiche and mustards then simmer gently for a further 10 minutes. When the pork is cooked, let it rest in a warm place for about 10 minutes before carving into slices and serving with the sauce.

Rice Pudding

Yearning for something homey warm and sweet, we searched for a rice pudding recipe as Sarah rejected Jo’s just chuck milk and cream on top of cold rice. This is the result – Marcus Wareing extra rich homemade rice pudding. To die for!

Foodstuff you will need:  (serves 4)

90g of short grained pudding rice (or if you are like me- use leftover cold steamed rice)

250ml full fat milk

250ml double cream

1 vanilla pod – split lengthways (seeds scraped out and reserved)

5 medium egg yolks

90g caster sugar

Jam or raisins to serve

Equipment:

Heavy saucepan

Wooden spoon

Hob

Bowl for egg yolks + bowls to serve

Electric whisk

Spoons

How to throw it together

Rinse and drain rice (if using pudding rice , otherwise start with your cold leftover rice) Tip into heavy pan. Add the milk and cream and drop in the vanilla pod(not the seeds) Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Turn down the heat to low and simmer gently, stirring from time to time for about 20 minutes until the rice is soft but still with a slight bite.

Put the egg yolks in a bowl with the sugar and vanilla seeds and whisk to combine.

Take pan of rice from heat and remove vanilla pod. Mix about 1/3^rd of the rice with the egg yolks, then stir this mixture into the rest fo the rice in the pan. Continue cooking over a low heat for a few more minutes, stirring constantly until the pudding is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Pour the pudding into bowls and blob a spoonful of jam or scatter raisins over ht centre of each.  Serve hot.

Apple and Almond pudding

Apples are great in autumn and for something other than just another applie pie, try this version. This is light and fluffy and very satisfying. Source – Delia Smith “puddings” Nothing like Delia for a good recipe. Ate it all before remembered to take photographs! Oops!

Foodstuff you will need:  (serves 2)

450g cooking apples or green apples – peeled, cored and sliced

110g ground almonds

50g soft brown sugar

110g butter (room temperature)

110g golden caster sugar

2 large eggs

Equipment:

Round overproof baking dish – diameter 8 inches(20cm) 1.5 inches deep(4.5cm) buttered.

Medium Saucepan

Bowl

Whisk/ wooden spoon

How to throw it together

Pre heat the oven to gas mark 4 /250F/180C

Place the apples in a saucepan with the brown sugar and approximately 2 tablespoons of water, simmer gently until soft and then arrange them in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy and then beat in the egg a little at a time. When all the egg is in, carefully and lightly fold in the ground almonds. Now spread this mixture over the apples and even out the surface with the back of a  wooden spoon.

Bake on a high shelf in the oven for exactly 1 hour.

This pudding is equally good served warm or cold – either way its great with chilled pouring cream. Can keep in fridge for 3-4 days.