The Cottage Cooking Club | August Recipes

The CCC cooking through River Cottage Veg
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

My choices for August were:

Tomatoes with Thai Dressing

Chickpea, Chard, and Porcini Soup

Leek and Cheese Toasties

Fava Beans with Herbed Goat Cheese

Cheat's Cauliflower Cheese 

To see the complete list of recipes offered for August - click here.

I was only able to complete three of the five recipes I chose this month. It was just too hot for the soup - I hope to make it once the weather cools. As for the leek and cheese toasties, I just did not get around to it, though I will eventually! They sound and look delish.

Andrea, our fearless leader has been assigning themes to each month. And I have to say, I have not been on board with that aspect, and thought I better get on it this month.

This month's theme: To incorporate our favorite herb or spice into the recipes - couldn't be easier!

One of my favorite herbs is thyme. As you can see, I happened to use it in all three recipes! It was just too easy to walk out back and cut a few sprigs. I do have basil and rosemary as well, but it was the thyme I grabbed each time as I was prepping each recipe.


Cheat's Cauliflower Cheese

This is a lighter version of your typical gratin recipe - here Hugh omits the cream sauce, and tosses the cauliflower with some butter and an optional tablespoon of cream.

If you like the idea of a lighter gratin recipe, which I do, I think this would benefit from some added sautéed shallots and lots of your favorite herb(s), and you will want to use a strong cheese here. I used a white cheddar, but I think a pecorino romano would have been better.

I have to say, the best part of this dish was the topping made of breadcrumbs & cheese, and the addition of my favorite herb, thyme. If I try this again, I'll double the topping.


Tomatoes with Thai Dressing 

I was excited to have homegrown tomatoes to use for this easy recipe.

The tomatoes are sliced and plated, sprinkled with some salt and pepper, and drizzled with the dressing, which consists of a fresh red chile, garlic, salt, balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and honey. Hugh suggest sprinkling with some shredded mint leaves, which I subbed out for, you guessed it, thyme.

There is something about tomatoes, they are always so photogenic; they make any dish look delicious. 

We served this tomato dish alongside some grilled chicken and artichokes. 

Sorry to say, I was not a fan of this recipe, though my other half liked the dressing. I thought the dressing, mainly the sesame oil, was too overpowering for the tomatoes.

I think it would have been fine for the tasteless store-bought tomatoes, but it was just too strong for my homegrown tomatoes to shine through. I'll stick with a lighter dressing when I use tomatoes from the garden.

Fava Beans with Herbed Goat Cheese

It just so happened I received fava beans in my farm box this month; the timing was perfect.

I almost took the lazy route, and purchased herbed goat cheese, but that would so not have been fair. I thought about using both thyme and rosemary, but ended up using only the thyme - with the addition of some chopped garlic, salt and pepper, this made for a tasty spread. This would be good even if you did not have the beans.

Adding the beans gives the spread a healthy twist, makes you feel a little less guilty eating it.

Hugh recommends serving this with hunks of bread or oily toast. I went with the oily toast - drizzled some olive oil on some winter wheat bread, and popped it in the toaster. Made for an easy and quick solo dinner.


To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the the CCC website and look for the August LYL post, for a list of their links - or click here to be directed automatically.

We have been asked not to publish the recipes here on our blogs. We encourage you to go out and purchase the book and join us on this fun and healthy adventure!