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!

 

The Cottage Cooking Club | June Recipes

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

My choices for June are:

Quick Couscous Salad with Peppers and Feta 

Macaroni Peas 

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

Quick Couscous Salad with Peppers and Feta

Oops! I made the wrong recipe - as I was at the store, I realized I had not written down the ingredients on my shopping list - I ran home, threw the other groceries in the garage, grabbed the book, and went back. Unfortunately, (or fortunately for me) I read the ingredients for the main recipe; this salad was already in the line-up back in August of last year. This month's recipe was a variation on that one, using fresh tomatoes and olives.

The salad I made, uses jarred roasted red peppers (I used sweet cherry peppers - so good), cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, parsley, and of course, couscous. I added some spring onion from my CSA box, in addition to the red onion; and to the leftovers a couple days later, I stirred in some fresh corn kernels from the leftover corn on the cob we had the night before - it was really tasty with the added corn.



I ended up using pearl couscous, which is a lot larger than your regular couscous. I remember when I first came across a recipe calling for the pearl, I could not find it. Now, when I wanted regular couscous, all my local store had, was the pearl couscous. Go figure. I actually ended up liking it with the pearl couscous, which I will use again the next time I make this - and there will be a next time.

The salad has a very light dressing made up of just olive oil and lemon juice, which is tossed with the warm couscous - I'm thinking this is Hugh's favorite.. he uses it often. However, I felt it could have used a little more dressing.

I may have made the incorrect recipe, but this was darn tasty - so light and refreshing; and it tastes just as good days later. This would make for great lunchbox fare (Ash!). 

Speaking of corn....  I received in my CSA box, corn on the cob, that the tops were lopped off! A third to half of the cob! Am I wrong to be disturbed by this? The company I received my box from, commented (on their FB page) that they cut just the tops off (ah, more than just the tops!) because they were unsightly looking. "Unsightly looking" to me, construes that maybe the corn isn't as fresh as I thought. It did still taste good, and that is what counts, but I felt this was just plain wrong.  Sorry to digress - had to vent a little. (Update: Received a phone call from my CSA - the reason for the tops being cut off, is due to WORM problems. The corn had worm holes... yeah, that would be unsightly.)



Macaroni Peas

Time was not on my side this month. I only completed two of the five recipes I committed to making. I almost did not get this one made - for I knew I would not be going to the farmer's market, and really did not want to make this recipe with frozen peas.

I got lucky - there was a whole bin of fresh peas at my grocery store. So I grabbed a bunch with hopes I would be able to get around to making the recipe - and I did!

This was a simple recipe, though it does require quite a few dishes to prepare - three pots and a blender. In the old days, it never, ever, crossed my mind as to how many dishes a recipe would use - and I used to prepare meals that would take a good four hours or so to complete! I guess I'm getting lazy in my increasing years...

The sauce for this dish is made up of fresh peas, garlic infused butter, and cheese; all is whirled together and then tossed with the noodles, along with additional (cooked) fresh peas, salt, and pepper. Just before serving it is topped with grated cheese and shreds of basil. The more cheese you use, the tastier the dish will be.

I found this to be pretty bland, even though I used three garlic cloves, to Hugh's one. I thought the sauce tasted pretty good on its own, and was looking forward to dinner, but the flavor was lost once it was tossed with the noodles. The bites with the most cheese tasted best, but I was trying to keep this on the healthy side, so I refrained from adding more.


To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the the CCC website and look for the May 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!

 

The Cottage Cooking Club | May Recipes

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

My choices for May are:
(not cooked in order listed)

Grilled Aspargus Spears with Lemon Dressing

 Spicy Merguez Oven Fries with Yogurt Dip

Herby, Peanutty, Noodly Salad

Cambodian Wedding Day Dip
Pearled Barley Broth 

Pearled Barley Broth

From the title of this recipe, I wasn't expecting such a substantial soup.

This wonderful creamy soup (without any added cream!) is made from onions, bay leaf, thyme, celery, carrot, parsnip, pearl barley, vegetable stock, and parsley; with added spices of coriander, nutmeg, and cayenne (the recipe calls for mace as well, which I thought I had...).

There were three topping alternatives to adorn this lovely soup: croutons, sautéed mushrooms, or simply drizzled with some cream, and sprinkled with a bit of parsley.

I chose the mushrooms. An excellent call, if I may say so myself. Not only visually, but flavor-wise as well.

The soup thickens up considerably as it cools, so it needs to be served soon after preparing. We had leftovers the next day, and I had to add quite a bit more broth to get it to the consistency I liked, which of course dilutes the flavor somewhat.

I also had extra sautéed mushrooms that I stirred into the leftovers. This added an extra delicious dimension to the soup. Next time, I would definitely add mushrooms to the broth in addition to the topping.


Spicy Merguez Oven Fries with Yogurt Dip

These tasty fries are made by cutting potatoes (I used yukon gold) into thick batons, and parboiled for about a minute (personally, I don't think this step is all that necessary), then drained.

The drained potatoes are then tossed in a spice mixture made of cumin seed, fennel seed, coriander seed, caraway seed, peppercorns, paprika, cayenne pepper, and salt. The seeds and peppercorns were to be crushed using a mortar and pestle. However, if you have ever tried crushing caraway seeds, you know it is an almost impossible task. You will want to use a spice grinder (I use my coffee grinder) if using them.

The seasoned potatoes are tossed in warm oil (which was heated on the baking sheet itself in the oven while prepping the potatoes) and baked until tender, golden, and crisp. The recipe called for one-third cup of oil, which I found to be too much. Next time, I would just drizzle oil over the potatoes and toss - even skipping the warming of the oil.

The accompanying dip consists of yogurt that is mixed with some of the spice mixture mentioned above, and some crushed garlic. Just before serving, the dip is sprinkled with a little cayenne pepper.

The fries were not as spicy as I was expecting; next round, I will add extra cayenne.

These made a great side, along with the asparagus below, to our grilled market steak.


Grilled Asparagus Spears with Lemon Dressing

This is one of those easy, peasy recipes, that looks so elegant when served. Don't you love those? All you do is grab some asparagus, toss it in a little oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and grill until tender.

Grilled asparagus is a common side-dish here. We love it. I also make a roasted version. The difference with this recipe is, Hugh drizzles over a lemon vinaigrette, which adds a nice bright touch to the asparagus.

The vinaigrette is made from olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper. Shreds of mint is also added, however, I did not want to buy any for only a few leaves (I don't really ever use mint), so I omitted that ingredient (only to find out it is also called for in the noodle salad recipe.. oh well.)

The grilled asparagus is plated, drizzled with the dressing, and sprinkled with a little salt and Parmesan. Delish.


Cambodian Wedding Day Dip

I had my doubts about this one. As I was preparing the dip, thoughts of "this is a total fail" "I'm so not going to like this" were running through my head.

I couldn't believe that this soupy looking mixture would turn into the chunky dip shown below.  It seemed like it took a very long time to go from liquid to solid (longer than the thirty minutes stated in the recipe), and I was even tempted to stop at one point and just pour it over some rice - but I pressed on. 

The dip is made up of cremini mushrooms, oil, hot fresh red chile (I used an ají amarillo pepper), garlic, curry powder, crunchy peanut butter (I only had creamy, so I added some chopped peanuts), coconut milk, lime juice, soy sauce, and cilantro.

The mushrooms are diced and cooked until they have released their liquid, and all has evaporated - at which time the chile and garlic are added and cooked for about a minute. The curry powder and peanut butter are stirred into the mixture, then the coconut milk. The recipe states to let it bubble rapidly, stirring occasionally. I let it simmer, rather than boil rapidly, otherwise I would be scraping splashes of it off the ceiling (this may be why it took longer to reduce down). Once the liquid is reduced and thickened, the lime and soy sauce is stirred in. The dip is transferred to a serving bowl, and topped with extra chiles and cilantro if desired.

Hugh mentions that this would also make a great meal, serving it warm over some rice, alongside some steamed vegetables.

I'm glad I persevered. This turned out pretty darn tasty!! I would make this one again.

Herby, Peanutty, Noodly Salad

This recipe came just at the right time. Our lovely daughter had just challenged me to get five servings of fruit and vegetables everyday for a week; and this one was chock-full of vegetables.

Eating five servings of fruit and vegetables was not as easy as I thought. I love fruit and vegetables, and thought I ate a fair amount. However, keeping a food diary showed me that I was not eating as much as I thought I was.

Sorry to digress, back to this lovely salad with an Asian flair.

As I mentioned, this one was full of vegetables. I added plenty of hericot verts, cucumber, snow peas, scallions and cilantro (mint is also used in this salad, but I omitted it). The recipe calls for fine egg noodles or vermicelli; I used whole wheat thin spaghetti, which I thought was great.

The cooked noodles are rinsed in cold water, then tossed in a bowl with the dressing, which is made of rice vinegar, zest and juice of a lime, fresh red chile, garlic, brown sugar, sesame oil and soy sauce. This is allowed to rest while the vegetables are prepared.

Everything gets tossed together, and the salad is topped with a scattering of unsalted peanuts. Hugh suggests rinsing off the salt and drying the peanuts if you only have salted nuts on hand - which is what I had, but I did not bother with rinsing them.

It was a successful month! Enjoyed each and every one of these recipes.


To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the the CCC website and look for the May 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!

 

The Cottage Cooking Club | April Recipes

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

My selections for April:

Pasta with New Potatoes, Green Beans, and Pesto

Red Cabbage, Parsnip, Orange, and Dates

Chiles Stuffed with Beans

Upside-Down Onion Tart

Celery Gratin

Click here to see the complete list of recipes offered for April.

Pasta with New Potatoes, Green Beans, and Pesto

This is a quick and easy dish to toss together any night of the week. Made even easier if you use your favorite store bought pesto as I did, rather than make your own as the recipe instructs.

I just wasn't in the mood to make my own pesto - though it's relatively easy - and maybe I should have - it may have given this dish a brighter flavor. Along with the pesto, we have green beans, new potatoes, and green olives. At serving, the pasta gets a dusting of Parmesan cheese, and if you like, drizzled with a little olive oil to finish it off.

This wasn't a favorite of mine, though it was enjoyed by Andy.  (I did not care for the pesto; I used a different brand than I normally buy.)


Red Cabbage, Parsnip, Orange, and Dates

This is one of those dishes that grows on you. You take a bite, and think, ehh, Its OK. Then after a few more bites.. you're thinking it's pretty good.

It certainly is a pretty salad.

Super simple to make too. Shred some cabbage, grate or julienne a parsnip (I used a kinpira peeler), toss with olive oil, orange juice, salt, and pepper. Top with chopped dates, supremed* (sectioned) oranges, and a sprinkling of fresh thyme. 

I preferred my second helping over the first, where I put less thyme and added some cayenne. I think the cayenne definitely brought this up a notch.

*Supreme - learned a new word today! ;)


Chiles Stuffed with Beans

These peppers are stuffed with a mixture made up of shallots, garlic, grated fresh tomato (I used petite diced canned tomatoes), canned borlotti beans, cilantro (I grabbed parsley in error, used that, plus a teaspoon of ground coriander), cumin, hot smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. I added some grated cheddar cheese to the mix, and added a bit more cheese after the peppers were stuffed.

The recipe calls for six large peppers (I swear I placed six peppers in the bag). I had two small peppers, and three medium-to-large peppers, and I barely had enough stuffing to fill the last one.

The peppers are broiled until blackened and blistering.

The peppers are peeled and seeded (the skins slip off pretty easily - for stubborn spots, take a parring knife and gently scrape off). The tops are cut off, leaving a bit of flesh to form a "lid". I find that gently running the peppers under the faucet, helps remove the seeds easily. As you can see, one of my peppers split completely open - no worries.

Stuffed and ready for the oven.

The peppers are baked for about twenty minutes, just until heated through.

The split pepper I mentioned earlier, I stuffed and left open-faced (the way I normally make stuffed peppers). I placed another pepper snuggly against it to keep it from spreading out flat.

Deliciousness.

Certainly not as attractive as the red poblanos shown in the book - however, taste trumps appearance.

I really enjoyed these. My husband thought they were a bit on the spicy side, and they were, more so the following day I thought. Maybe I should have served it with the garlicky yogurt as suggested in the book, to help cool things down a bit.

I have made a similar recipe stuffed with chicken and rice (shown above), where you leave the pepper whole, and split it down the middle to remove the seeds, and to stuff it. If you are using green peppers, I would recommend serving them open-faced for a prettier appearance, should red peppers not be available.

Upside-Down Onion Tart

Oh man. This is good. Out of the ballpark good.

Caramelized onions, balsamic vinegar, puff pastry... how could it not be?

Whole onions are sliced into six or eight wedges, depending on the size of the onion, root left intact - I cut more off the root end than I probably should have. The wedges are placed in a decorative pattern over melted butter and oil, in an oven-proof pan. The onions are sprinkled with some salt and pepper (I also added a little bit of thyme), and cooked until they begin to caramelize.

The onions are then carefully turned over; not an easy task. My onions kept wanting to separate as I flipped them. This is where I knew I cut off too much of the stem end; but I really didn't want the hard stem end attached - it seems it would be unpleasant to bite into.

After all the onions have been turned over, they are allowed to caramelize on the other side, then some balsamic vinegar is drizzled over the top, and cooked just long enough for it to reduce slightly.

 

A round of puff pastry is placed over the cooked onions and baked until puffed and golden, then inverted onto a serving platter.

My most delicious tart looks a little misshapen. For some reason my puff pastry kept wanting to shrink down to more of a rectangular shape. So after placing it on top of the onions, I filled in two spots with extra dough. It does not quite work like pie dough, where you can piece it together. The extra dough pieces cooked up and stayed separate. No biggie. As I said earlier, taste trumps appearances. I still thought it was pretty.

Definitely company worthy!

Celery Gratin

Finally, a recipe that calls for more than a stalk or two (or less) of celery! I hate it when a recipe calls for like, two tablespoons of diced celery (a soup recipe, that I make often). I always end up tossing out a whole lot of celery.

I know, I can slice up the extra, slather it with peanut butter, or cream cheese, and send it with the hubby for a work-week snack, and I always think that I will, but never do. By the time I'm done with dinner and clean-up, I'm too tired to do anything else.

Here we use the whole bunch of celery! I will never need to toss out any unused celery again. So very exited to have this recipe.

You take the bunch of celery, trim it of its leaves (they will burn - save them for stock, if you make your own), place it in a shallow pan, add some water, fresh thyme, a bay leaf, salt, pepper, and dot with a bit of butter, cover with foil, and cook until the celery is tender.

The scent of this while baking, was so enticing. 

Once the celery is cooked, the thyme branches and bay leaf are removed, and the liquid that has accumulated in the pan is mixed with some heavy cream, and some additional salt and pepper if needed. I also added a bit of nutmeg, and some extra grated Gruyère cheese to the mix (unfortunately the cheese just clumped together), this is then poured over the celery.

A mixture of fresh bread crumbs and grated cheese (again, I used Gruyère) is sprinkled over the celery, and baked until the crumbs are golden brown and crispy. A grind of fresh black pepper is sprinkled over the top, just before serving.

This was amazing! I only wish I had gotten a better picture.


To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the the CCC website and look for the April 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!