Thursday, August 28, 2014

The Cottage Cooking Club - August Recipes


Today, marks the fourth month of our international online cooking group, the Cottage Cooking Club. As a group, recipe by recipe, we are cooking and learning our way through a wonderful vegetable cookbook written in 2011 by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, called „River Cottage Everyday Veg“.

The Cottage Cooking Club online cooking group is meant to be a project aimed at incorporating more vegetable dishes in our everyday cooking, learning new ways to prepare tasty and healthy dishes, and sharing them with family and friends.

We will make an effort to use as much local, regional, organic and also seasonal produce as is resonably possible. With that goal in mind, during that month of August, I prepared a few wonderful dishes from the book and made my utterly devoted taste testers quite happy!

Let us start with a picture of these bright yellow  "Pumpkin Blossoms" that one of our daughters picked for this post!




My first recipe for the August post is the „Pasta with Fennel, Rocket and Lemon“ (page 262). For this lovely summery pasta dish to come together, you will need to sauté the thinly sliced fennel with the garlic until tender. I found the ten minutes time in the book a bit short and ended up sautéeing the fennel for a good twenty minutes instead. Fennel is one of our favorite vegetables as we enjoy its mild aniseed flavor which seems to be more prominent during the summer months. In general, we like fennel to be slightly caramelized, not really that crunchy in sauces, therefore, the increased amout of time for sautéeing seemed just right as it made the fennel sweet and tender.




Once the fennel is cooked to your liking and you prepared your pasta (fettuccine in my case), you will add some peppery, slightly bitter rocket to the fennel, stir until wilted, then add organic lemon zest, crème fraîche, freshly ground pepper and some nice sea salt.




While you cook the pasta, it is a pretty good idea to keep a little bit of the pasta water to help loosen everything as well as bind everything together. There is starch in the water from cooking the pasta and when you add some of that water to your creamy pasta sauce, it helps a lot in making this a really wonderful pasta sauce. A summery sauce with a great balance of flavors, sweetness from the fennel, freshness from the lemon zest and a peppery punch from the rocket. Do not forget to keep some of the fennel fronds to finish this dish.




Alongside the Pasta with Fennel, Rocket and Lemon, we enjoyed the Tomato Bruschetta (page 199) as well as the Courgette Bruschetta (page 200). Admittedly, the later was not in the August line-up, but on the day I made the pasta, I had a rather hungry crowd at my hands.




We are in late summer and tomatoes are everywhere, so you can choose from a large variety these days when making the bruschetta. I chose to use only red tomatoes, a really good olive oil , sugar (to waken up the juices in the tomatoes), some pepper, salt and fresh basil from the garden – pile that on a nice slice of toasted sourdough bread that you rubbed with some garlic while still hot, and you have a simple, incredibly flavorful bruschetta.




The second bruschetta calls for my other favorite summer vegetable, courgettes. I cannot seem to get enough of them. And the smaller they are, the more flavor they have. Courgettes taste great combined with goats' cheese or garden herbs, so this recipe was calling my name when I saw it.




Courgettes (or zucchinis) are quite watery vegetables so they do need to be cooked with care. Once you fried the courgettes slices with some garlic and olive oil and smashed them up slightly, you will pile them on the same kind of sourdough bread slices as the tomato bruschetta, add a bit of thyme and crumbled goats´ chesse and serve while still warm. These two kinds of bruschetta go excetionally well with the pasta and we loved the combination of flavors.




Onto the fourth recipe „Caramelised Carrots with Gremolata“ (page 355). This dish has become a regular one at our house, as I have made it many times since I saw it first.




This recipe is extremely easy to make as Hugh Fearnley-Whittigstall so aptly points out “the contrasts of sweet, caramelized carrots and easy gremolata is brilliant – and it looks great too”. The steps to this delicious side dish are but a few. You simply put the carrots in a large roasting dish. Pour over the olive oil, season well with freshly ground pepper and sea salt and stir to coat. Roast for about 30 minutes while covered, than again for about 20 minutes uncovered until the are tender and golden brown in places. Meanwhile, you prepare the gremolata. Roughly chop a bit of garlic (young garlic is best here), add the Italian parsley and lemon zest to the board, and chop and mix until very fine. As soon as the carrots are roasted, toss the gremolata with the carrots, so the heat from the carrots can take the raw edge off the garlic. Add more salt and pepper to taste and serve straight away.




What´s not to like about this stunning side-dish – I have used the “first roast, then immediately toss with the gremolata method”, as I have taken to call this way of preparing and serving roasted vegetables, many times since I first saw it in the book. It is a simply fabulous method to add extra taste to your already delicious, naturally sweet roasted root vegetables. You can rest assured that there will be no sharp taste from the garlic.




Recipe numer five is called „Tahini-dressed Courgette and Green Bean Salad“ (page 74) – it could also be called „Late Summer Salad“. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall comments this recipe with the following words " this lovely recipe is as much about the dressing as the salad". That is quite true because what he calls the "thick, trickling dressing" seems to be particularly good when you add chargrilled summer vegetables such as courgettes and tomatoes to the fresh salad greens.




For the salad greens I used a head of romaine lettuce and some rocket and added a few fresh basil leaves to the mix. For the vegetables I used chargrilled cherry tomatoes as well as summer squash and courgettes. And steamed some lovely French beans. The tahini dressing also works very well with lentils, barley and other legumes. It contains the following ingredients, namely a bit of garlic, sea salt, tahini (a paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds), the zest and juice of a lemon, juice of an orange, some local honey, fruity olive oil and freshly ground black pepper. Tangy and a bit thick this "trickling dressing" was very well received at our house.




While all those lovely courgettes and summer squashes and cherry tomatoes are still abundantly available, I like the fact that I can double up on the Chargrilled Summer Veg (page 332), serve some of them the first day just as is with some fresh lemon juice and keep some of them for the next day and make this colorful and hearty salad. Perfect family meal particularly if you serve a lovely loaf of bread alongside.




Then there was a very colorful  „Asian-inspired Coleslaw“ (page 115).




An easy, delciously crunchy coleslaw made with white cabbage, orange, yellow and purple carrots and chives. The dressing consists of soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, white vinegar, toasted sesame oil and some olive oil. Delicious, fresh summerfare, loved by all as a side dish.




Last but not least I made the „Roasted Tomato Ketchup“ (page 392). That was my first time making ketchup but certainly not the last time.




The first step is a "Roasted Tomato Sauce" (page 366) - I used about two kilos of sweet, red summer tomatoes for this and as per the recipe added three cloves of finely chopped garlic, a few sprigs of thyme and marjoram, olive oil, pepper and salt. Marjoram is such a fragrant culinary herb and very popular in Mediterranean cookery. So is thyme with its heady, aromatic flavor. The house smelled like an Italian restaurant while the tomatoes were happily roasting in the oven for a good hour - incredible.




Once the Roasted Tomato Sauce had cooled off for an hour, it was time to pull out my beloved vintage "mouli" or "Flotte Lotte" (love, love that name) as we call it in German and pass the sauce through there - I was left with a rich, flavorful tomato purée.




Then the second step. The Roasted Tomato Sauce will have to be cooked down with soft brown sugar, cider vinegar, ground mace and mixed spice as well as hot smoked paprika. Mace (the lacy outer layer that covers the nutmeg) adds a mild nutmeg flavor to dishes. Mixed spice, which is very similar to France's sweet quatre-épices, typically incorporates cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves or allspice. And hot paprika or Spanish pimentón, as it is also known here, is often smoked, giving the sauce a unique, earthy flavor. All of those flavors combined made this one delicious Roasted Tomato Ketchup with a thick texture, a bit reminiscent of a very good and flavor-intense tomato sauce. What a nice way to use up some of the abundant crop of summer tomatoes. Even convinced those sceptics.




Please note, that for copyright reasons, we do NOT publish the recipes. If you enjoy the recipes in our series, hopefully, the Cottage Cooking Club members can convince you to get a copy of this lovely book. For more information on the participation rules, please go here.

To see which wonderful dishes the other members of the Cottage Cooking Club prepared during the month of August, please go here.



40 comments:

  1. HI Andrea, love all the recipes that you have shown us today. Your taste tasters must be in heaven after the pics seen here, the roasted tomato ketchup sounds divine. I made the same tahini green bean salad and could just enjoy the dressing by it's self. Thanks for hosting us all again. Wonderful job!!!!

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    1. Cheri, thank you for your kind comment - so nice to read that you enjoy cooking along with us! The "late summer salad" as we have come to call it is superb and so is the ketchup - love that I can put all those abundant tomatoes to a really delicious use! Looking forward to visiting your post today!

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  2. Andrea, I can see why your taste testers were so happy...everything looks scrumptious! I made a few of the same dishes and agree that the tahini dressing was delicious and could be used with so many different dishes; the carrots were a favourite here also. But the pasta with fennel and lemon looks wonderful, especially with the wilted greens added in.
    Thank you again for another month of great recipes!

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    1. Zosia, thank you for your kind words - it makes me happy that you enjoyed so many of the recipes again this month - one fabulous online cooking group and one fabulous cookbook!

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  3. Vermisst hier irgendjemand Fleisch??? Das kann gar nicht so appetitlich aussehen wie all diese köstlich zubereiteten Gemüsesorten. Bruschetta aus sonnengereiften Tomaten auf diesem Brot ist sicherlich ein Gedicht. Herrlich, diese Jahreszeit. Herrlich, dein Blog :-)

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    1. Liebe Wally, niemand scheint bei uns mehr das Fleisch zu vermissen wenn es Pasta mit Bruschetta oder einen riesen Salat gibt - alle sind glücklich und zufrieden und das ist ja bekanntlich die Hauptsache! Was für ein wunderbares Gemüse-Kochbuch, kann ich nur empfehlen (und das "darf" ich jetzt) habe immerhin schon 50 Rezepte daraus gekocht.
      Lieben herzlichen Dank für deinen tollen Kommentar - ich wünsche euch ein schönes Wochenende - morgen geht´s auf den Bauernmarkt, ich freue mich riesig! Wünschte ich könnte dir was mitbringen!
      Andrea

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  4. Wow! those are really healthy eats! I love the brightness of those roasted carrots and your tomato ketchup! On the other hand, that plate of pasta looks really good too!

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    1. Thank you very much, Jeannie - this book is turning out to make us all veg addicts - there are worse things - seriously, we love the recipes and I am thrilled that the kids enjoyed each and every one of them so far!

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  5. What a fabulous month of recipes! First, his roasted carrots are one of my favourite new recipes, and I've made them more than once. The rocket and fennel pasta has been at the top of my list to try, for some time. And the zucchini bruschetta is similar to another recipe I've made, but I like the looks of his better. Sounds liked I'm going to be pulling out that cookbook again, and soon! Great post, Andrea.

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    1. Beth, I am flattered, thank you - now this sounds to me like you are the perfect candidate for becoming one of our "CCC Guest Bloggers" - I know that I have been bugging you o join us, but as a "guest" you will only be required to participate once, then decide whether you would like to continue on with us - details can be found here: http://cottage-cooking-club.blogspot.de/p/rules.html
      the caramelised carrots are the best carrots ever and the courgette bruschetta is one of the most fabulous bruschetta recipes I know.
      Hope you are enjoying (enjoyed) your time in lovely Berlin, dear friend!
      Thanks for stopping by,
      Andrea

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  6. Andrea,
    stunning, artful photos.
    I LOVE fennel, but I thought it was only a herb. I love the idea of this taste in pasta.
    The bruschetta looks DELISH.
    Everything does.
    Happy Friday. xx

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    1. Dear Kim, thank you kindly - fresh fennel has become our very favorite vegetable to eat - the kids love it and so do we - but it took a bit of getting used to because of the anisseed flavor which is quite different from the flavor of other veg. The bruschetta is just a fabulous side dish, no matter whether you pile some courgettes on it or tomatoes or whatever else strikes your fancy!

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  7. This is such a beautiful post Andrea! I love the look of the fresh, summery dishes... In particular the fennel, rocket and creme fraiche pasta, so delicious! I've missed so much goodness on your blog, apologies for my absence during my travelling! I hope that you have had a wonderful summer. Hugs xxx

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    1. My dear Laura, I cannot believe that you are actually finding the time to write comments - travelling throughout Europe and all...but from all your wonderful pictures on Facebook I can see that you are having a smashing time in the UK, Germany, Sweden etc. - thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog! Enjoy your travels and be safe! Looking forward to you posts from Europe!

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  8. What a gorgeous assortmemnt of August recipes, Andrea. From reading everyone's Posts, I have to add Roasted Tomato Sauce and Carrots with Gremolate to next month's must-dos. I didn't pick them, unfortunately. I also picked and liked the Pasta with Fennel. Whenever I read your Posts, I always choose a favorite photograph. This week's CCC Post is a tie. Counting the first flower banner head, I picked #6 and #14 as very, very special.

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    1. Mary, so nic eot get some wonderful comments on the pictures - I love all the little details in them and it always makes me very happy to get some kind comments with respect to them. The Pasta with Fennel is an outstanding recipe - delicious and creamy sauce with a subtle anisseed note from the fennel and freshness form the citrus as well as some punch from the added rocket. Loved all the recipes I chose and shared this month.

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  9. All of your dishes look so wonderful!! I'm so thrilled that you introduced us to this book, it's fabulous.
    The recipes I made all were so much fun. And I learned a bunch, which was terrific. I was supposed to make the carrots, but am planning on it tonight - I love roasted vegetables, so I can see that this will be something I'll love. The tahini dressed salad is one I did NOT make, and it looks wonderful, as does the zucchini bruschetta - I'll be excited to make that.
    Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I'll be excited to see what you have for us next!

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    1. Candy, thank you for all your kind words - how nice that you enjoy cooking along with the Cottage Cooking Club! This is indeed a fabulosu book - we have already prepared about fifty (!) recipes from it and I am still as excited about it as I was on the very first day! Thank you for joining us this month and being such a wonderful and enthusiastic participant!

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  10. All your recipes look outstanding, Andrea! Isn't it amazing the wonderful flavor you get from just rubbing a slice of garlic on warm toasted bread? Who needs garlic butter?!! I understand why you have made the carrots many times over, they are not only delish, but oh so easy to prepare. Your ketchup looks amazing - wish I used more ketchup, would have loved to make this recipe. Oh! And that pasta dish looks fabulous as well! I will definitely have to make this in the near future. Rocket is one of my favorite greens. Can't wait to see what recipes you have in store for us for September. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Cathleen, who needs garlic butter indeed - these carrots make a very regular appearance at our dinner table - quick, utterly delicious and very versatile - tried them several times with other root vegetables such as parsnips. The Ketchup recipe is a true keeper - albeit a bit time-consuming but since the house smells so good while I made this recipe, I did not mind. And the pasta with fennel - well, what can I say, we love pasta, we love fennel - this recipe was very well received by all.
      Thank you for participating this month again and thank you for your kind comment!

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  11. Hi Andrea, What an overflowing table you have at your house! All of the recipes you made look wonderful. I'm tempted by your photos of the ones I didn't choose, especially the pasta and the zucchini salad. I also made the carrots and know they will become a favorite in the coming winter months filled with root vegetables. Thanks for letting me participate as a guest this month! It was fun.

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    1. Betsy, thank you for cooking along with us as a "Cottage Cooking Club Guest Blogger" this month - hopefully all the wonderful dishes that the members cooked up have convinced you to stay onboard - we would love to have you join us on a regular basis! It is wonderful that you enjoyed the Caramelised Carrots as well as the Quick Couscous Salad with Peppers and Feta, two very delicious recipes indeed!

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  12. The choices for this month were wonderful, Andrea. I've enjoyed seeing all the dishes I didn't make on others' blogs. I think the carrots were my favourite (and may just become a staple side dish at our house), but really, everything was great. Your photos make the most of all the colourful vegetables featured this month, too.

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    1. Teresa, the carrots should become a staple at your house (if I may say so), they are very versatile (other root veg work very well too), inexpensive, fuss-free and, most importantly, I have not met anyone yet that did not enjoy them - they are delicious. SO glad that you enjoy the August recipes so much , looking forward to your September posting!
      Thank you and "see" you soon,
      Andrea

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  13. Hello Andrea, Wow. Another month of sensational dishes and photographs! Beautiful. Agreed, on your insight regarding the fennel- as I do believe it requires slower longer cooking. Love you Flotte Lotte too! The tomato ketchup looks lovely and may perhaps still prepare it this month. Pasta and salads looked beautiful and your photo design for the carrots is of course, sensational, as always. Have been cooking for company and events this past few holiday weekend days so I've been really eager to finally be able to check out theAugust Posts! Wonderful stuff! Thanks for all and looking forward to September picks! See you then.

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    1. Dear Peggy, such a joy to have you onboard the Cottage Cooking Club - it has been wonderful to see the posts for the last few months and I am looking forward to many more. The "Flotte Lotte" is one of my very favorite vintage kitchen tools to use - it has a definite old world charm - right up my alley, but I suspect you knew that already! Fennel is always better sweet and caramelized and the Roasted Tomato Ketchup is certainly worth making at least once.
      I am sure that your family and friends were thrilled that you cooked for them!
      Thanks again, until soon,
      Andrea

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  14. You have really kept up with this wonderful project. And who said yo can't get kids toeat vegetables? With recipes like this, so tasty and so tempting, I would think kids would beg for more. I think I need the book. Thanks for the great work! I hope all is well with you. I had taken some time off for a while, and I am just now getting back into "circulation."

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    1. Cara Adri, thank you kindly for your comment - I certainly hope that you are feeling better, much better by now, dear friend! I will hop over to your blog and take a look at your latest posting - by the way, if and when you get the book, you should consider joining the Cottage Cooking Club, we would be thrilled to have you onboard!
      Tanti saluti,
      Andrea

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  15. These recipes are all so beautiful! I especially love both courgette dishes, and the roasted tomato sauce. Oh, and actually, my favorite of all is the pasta with fennel and arugula! I can't wait to try that! David

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    1. David, the Roasted Tomato Ketchup was a huge hit at our house and so was the Pasta with Fennel - truly, absolutely wonderful recipes!

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  16. What a beautiful, summer-filled menu. I loved seeing all of these...but that pasta...oh my goodness...it made Ryan and me both hungry! So fresh and flavorful. Thank you for sharing Andrea!

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    1. Thank you, Monet the Pasta with Fennel was my kids favorite this month as well - it is just such a lovely dish - we will be enjoying that again soon! Hope all is well with Lucille, yourself and Ryan!

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  17. I don't know how I missed that tomato sauce. It's probably a good thing b/c I'd probably put it onto everything and eat, eat, eat all day.

    Reserving pasta war we to add to the sauce is a great trick. I learned that from my dad.

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    1. Colette, I do not think that you ever eat too many vegetables - the recipee are all very tempting and I love making them and serving them to the family! Love, love that book!

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  18. Andrea doll, your photos are tempting, as always. I keep reaching to sneak something off of your table! xo

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    1. Colette, if you lived just a bit closer, you would be more than welcome to walk by the table as many times as you please and snatch some food off the plates!
      Thank you for all your kind comments!

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  19. I wish I had seen the courgette bruschetta. It sounds delicious. I'm definitely going to try to make it before summer is over. I plan on making the carrot recipe often. I'm glad to know it will work with other root vegetables as well. I imagine we'll love it in winter. The parsley and lemon really livens up the vegetables. The salad is a winner too, and I think I'd enjoy that tahini dressing on almost anything.

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    1. Jora, thank you for your wonderful comment! Glad that you enjoyed cooking along with us for another month - the Courgette Bruschetta is out of this world delicious and so easy to make - we loved the sweetness of the courgettes in combination with the saltiness of the goat´s cheese.

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  20. Once again you have outdone yourself Andrea, I just can't pick a favourite they all look so delicious! Every time I see your photos they make me smile - they are so beautiful and always filled with so much light and sunshine I am starting to believe it never rains in your part of the world :)

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    1. Karen, so kind of you, my friend! Glad that you enjoy my Cottage Cooking Club posts so much - I appreciate all your wonderful comments - hope that the cake business is a smashing success!

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