Thursday, April 28, 2016

The Cottage Cooking Club & April`s final Recipes


The month of April marks the twenty-fourth and thereby last month of our international online cooking group, The Cottage Cooking Club. As a group, recipe by recipe, we cooked our way through a wonderful vegetable cookbook written in 2011 by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, entitled „River Cottage Everyday Veg".

One of the declared aims of our cooking group was to make a decided effort to use as much regional, organic and seasonal produce as is sensible.

This month I prepared six of the ten designated recipes. I will write about each dish in the order in which I prepared them.

My first recipe for this April post is the Dry-roasted ratatouille (page 362) from the chapter "Roast, Grill & Barbecue“. Who would have thought it possible that after cooking my way through the majority of Hugh´s recipes, I could still find another favorite.  I loved, loved the way the Dry-roasted ratatouille tasted. The first day on pasta. The second day on tosted country bread.




This is a great recipe, especially when the veggies that this recipe calls for are a bit out of season. For this take on the classic ratatouille, a wonderful  mix of tomatoes, courgettes, peppers and aubergines that seems to capture the essential simplicity of Provençal flavor, you will oven-roast cherry tomatoes in one tray and onions, red and yellow peppers, courgettes and aubergines in another.




The oven-roasting intensifies the veggie flavors in the most delicious of ways. Once all are roasted, you carefully bring them all togeher in a bowl, then enjoy with your favorite pasta, as part of a mezze spread or simply with some bread.




My second recipe this month is the New potato gnocchi (page 284) from the chapter „Pasta & Rice“. Gnocchi are a sort of pasta for potato lovers. They are small Italian dumplings usually made from potatoes, flour (traditionally buckwheat flour) and eggs and shaped into small ovals with a ridged pattern on one side. They can also be made from semolina flour, as they are in Rome. Hugh´s recipe call for new potatoes as well as soft crumbled goat cheese.




It is not the first time I have made gnocchi and I still think that a few of these lovelies go a long way. And they take a long time to prepare when you are feeding a crowd. So remember to serve small portions of these with either Hugh´s Roasted tomato sauce (page 366), with olive or butter or even Cacio E Pepe style (literally "cheese and pepper“). I chose to serve the gnocchi with wild garlic pesto as well as some oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, to sweeten the deal. Very nice indeed.




The third recipe in April is the Spiced spinach and potatoes (page 321) from the chapter „Mezze & Tapas“.




This recipe is a wonderful way to serve new potatoes with a little kick.  Hugh call this his take on Sag Aloo, a traditional, healthy Indian side dish, which combines spinach with potato and spices. And this dish is all about those lovely new potatoes, fresh spinach, garlic, chili, ginger, garam masala, and coconut cream. Delightful!




The fourth recipe in April is the Linguine with mint and almond pesto (page 266) from the chapter „Pasta & Rice“. The one recipe I knew I would change before I even got started. Mint is the one herb that we enjoy in our teas but not in our food. So, I used rocket instead and added some chili but other than those two additions, I did not change the pesto recipe. With almonds, garlic, lemon, Dijon mustard and olive oil, this was a nice pesto with a lot of zing. And I did use wholemeal linguine – the robust, nutty taste of those pairs very well with the pesto.




The fifth recipe in April is the Chickpea ketchup curry (page 245) from the chapter „Store-Cupboard Suppers“.




A fun and easy weeknight shortcut recipe that will make a lot of young taste testers happy. With simple ingredients such as onion, ginger, chili, garlic, a mild curry powder, chickpeas and a high quality tomato ketchup, plus some lemon juice – this is a easily jazzed up with some lovely limes, sour cream, warm flatbread and a bit of greenery. Fun. And a good one to remember for those very busy days.




The sixth and final recipe for April is the Roasted spiced aubergines with chickpeas (page 351) from the chapter „Roast, Grill & Barbecue“. I cannot believe this is my last recipe…




The sweetness of the deep burgundy aubergines, all wrapped up in lovely spices (cumin, ground coriander, and chili) and served together with chickpeas on a lovely bed of peppery rocket, is just the best. No qualms with this recipe. A keeper.




In summary, we loved each and every dish this month - the kids were pleased as punch with the Chickpea ketchup curry but also enjoyed the other recipes quite a bit. We enjoyed all six recipes but loved the Roasted spiced aubergines and the Dry-roasted ratatouille the most. Happy all around again.

Please note, that for copyright reasons, we did NOT publish the recipes. If you enjoyed the recipes in our series, hopefully, the wonderfully talented and enthusiastic members of The Cottage Cooking Club and their wonderful posts convinced you to get a copy of this lovely book. Better yet, do make sure to join us when we continue our cooking adventure - we will be moving on to more of Hugh´s cookbook(s) in May!

And a big and heartfelt Thank you! To all my fellow members of The Cottage Cooking Club! Could not have done it without you! There will be news on our up-coming cooking adventures in the next few days – so do make sure to check back here soon!




To see how wonderful all the dishes from my fellow Cottage Cooking Club members turned out this month, please make sure to take a look at their personal links and to do so, just visit here.



21 comments:

  1. Andrea, first of all, your photography is so beautiful! Everything you've made looks soooo enticing! I wish I had cooked with eggplant this month. I love it so much, I don't know why I didn't choose any of those recipes. And my spiced spinach potatoes pale in comparison to yours. Yours look so creamy...mine...rather dry! But ooooooh how I loved the chickpea ketchup curry! Thank you for everything you do. You are wonderful and I look forward to cooking through the new book! : )

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    1. Dear Anne, such a thoughtful and kind comment! Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. I had a hard time trying to get the right light into the pictures - it is freezing and cold and rainy here, not much sunshine in sight.
      I will shortly announce plans for our continued activities.
      Thanks, again, for being part of The Cottage Cooking Club!
      Andrea

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  2. Spectacular photos as always, Andrea. Everything looks so sensational, I want to make even the dishes I passed on.
    I just want to thank you once again for all that you do and have done for this group. It's been such a pleasure cooking with you these past 2 years (and I've enjoyed every moment of cooking with Hugh as well!). I won't be cooking through the next book but I'll be sure to follow along.

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    1. Zosia, thank you very much for all your comments, friendship and participation in The Cottage Cooking Club - sad to read that almost none of you lovely people has decided to continue cooking and posting in this group. I think I shall give up and just let this project come to a well-deserved end!
      I will make sure, however, to follow all of you in the future whenever time allows!
      Andrea

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  3. Hi Andrea, look forward to your posts each month as your pictures are always magazine quality. Looks like you were quite busy once again. I wanted to take time and thank you for all the work you have done for our cooking group, I really appreciate all that you do, the orgainizing, LYL's etc. Can't wait to start the new books.

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    1. Cheri, quite busy yes, and quite happy that I still found a'new favorite' dish here! The Rataouille was sort of like a begetable revelation!
      Thanks for cooking along with all of us - it has been a true pleasure!
      Andrea

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  4. Andrea, you amaze me with all your talent and hard work. All those dishes look beautiful.

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    1. Gerlinde, lieben Dank - das war schon ganz schön interessant und lehrreich und hat Spaß gemacht!
      Liebe Grüße nach Santa Cruz,
      Andrea

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  5. What a wonderful collection of recipes to complete your Cottage Kitchen journey. Congratulations!

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  6. Hello Andrea! What a fitting and beautiful completion to this lovely cookbook, River Cottage veg everyday! You have done an amazing job in the coordination of the group! Your extensive number of monthly preparations shared within the stream of your posts each beautifully staged with magnificent photographs has been impressive. Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing your many talents with others. Big Hugs, Peggy

    PS Did you get an email from me last month?

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    1. Dear Peggy, no, I did not receive an email from you - I most certainly would have answered. I suspect it has something to do with the (non)continution with the CCC. I am planning to post a wrap-up of all things CCC at the beginning of the week. For the time being, a huge thanks for absolutely evertyhing. I believe you know how I feel about your continued support and friendship throughout this cooking adventure of ours!
      Whatever the future holds, I will continue to drop by your fabulous and inspirational blog as often as time allows!
      Andrea

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  7. Andrea,
    As usual I enjoyed all your lovely pictures of the food you made, you always managed to put so much of nature into your food and presentation. Looking forward to more food pictures from you in the near future!!

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    1. Emily, thank you kindly! We will see what the future holds in store for me...
      Thanks also for your participation in The Cottage Cooking Club!
      Andrea

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  8. Stunning photos, Andrea.
    I have a feeling that your personality may be like the
    magical details you add to your photography.
    ...like those lovely white flowers! xxx from MN.

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    1. Kim, you are such a lovely person!!!
      Thank you for all your kindness...
      Andrea

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  9. Congratulations on making your way through this wonderful cookbook! I'd love to try that oven roasted ratatouille---another recipe that Bill isn't fond of. So it would be all for me---no complaints :)

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    1. Liz, thank you very much! We learned a lot along the way, tasted many wonderful veg dishes and I am quite proud of my taste testers that patiently and with an open-mind ate their way through many a dish from Hugh´s book.

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  10. Congratulations - so hard to believe it has been two years! What an accomplishment! And I did hear some rumors about your next project - very exciting!

    I have to try the roasted ratatouille - Mark does NOT like ratatouille because it is too watery. This sounds like the perfect solution! It reminds me of the roasted gazpacho I make - the intensification of the flavors is wonderful! Sorry about your cold and rainy weather, but it looks like you will have great weather by mid-week! Ganz liebe Grüße von uns beide!

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  11. Thank you so much for leading us through this book. It's been a wonderful process, made so easy by your efforts. We'll be continuing to cook from this book for years to come (especially as so many pages are marked 'Kevin's favourite'). I've so appreciated this chance to continue cooking with you and following all the lovely projects you undertake for your blog. You've not just been a good leader, but you've been a wonderful friend.

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  12. Oh Andrea, the spinach and potatoes and the gnocchi dish look heavenly! And I agree about mint, love it in hot and cold drinks, but not big on it in food! Gorgeous photos as always, and I can't wait to hear about the next cookbook adventure!

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