Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The Cottage Cooking Club - May Recipes


Today we are starting a new 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“.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a well-known British chef, TV personality, journalist, food writer and "real food" campaigner, known for his "back-to-basics philosophy". He is best known for hosting the River Cottage series, in which audiences observe his efforts to become a "self-reliant, downshifted farmer in rural England", his aim is to feed himself, his family and friends with locally produced and sourced fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs and meat.

The Cottage Cooking Club online cooking group is meant to be a project aimed at cooking more vegetable dishes, learning new ways to prepare tasty and healthy dishes and share 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, I prepared quite a few wonderful dishes from the book already.

My first recipe for the May post is the Courgette and Filo Rice Pie. For the filling of the pie you will need grated courgettes (I used yellow as well as green ones), long-grain rice, red onion, grated hard goat´s cheese, two eggs, fruity olive oil, some freshly chopped dill and flat-leaf parsley plus some freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. The pastry consists of ready-made filo pastry (I used ten sheets) and melted, unsalted butter.




This is a recipe with easy to find ingredients. We thought that this very delicious savory pie also looks pretty enough for company, especially when served in a nice baking dish.

Once the baked pie has had a chance to rest for a while, you can easily cut into it and serve nice slices to everyone around the table.




This pie is very pretty with the folded, crunchy filo sheets on top, it is easy to put together and we were very pleased with the way it tasted – together with a salad, this makes the perfect weeknight dinner for the whole family.




The second recipe from the book is Radishes with Butter and Salt, a colorful, time-honored springtime appetizer.




Eating radishes with salt and butter is not unusual around here and we always enjoy the peppery crunch of those lovely red radishes. Obviously, the fresher the radishes are that you are using, the better this simple dish will taste. I also suggest using a really good-quality butter and a nice salt such as Maldon sea salt or maybe skip the salt altogether and use a wonderful salted French butter.




And, of course, you could also vary the kinds of radishes that you are using.



The third recipe I prepared is the outstading Asparagus Pizza.




Once you have prepared the Magic Bread Dough from the book, you are ready to put this very seasonal pizza together in no time.




We really enjoyed the topping of buffalo mozzarella, a generous grating of Parmigiano Reggiano, sea salt, black pepper, some very fruity olive oil and the freshest regional  green asparagus that I could find. A definite hit with the kids. Rather than make a free-form asparagus pizza, I chose to use my trusted vintage pizza pan and added a bit more asparagus than the recipe called for.




Now onto the fourth recipe that I prepared, this was my personal favorite one this month, the Spring Onion Galette, now there is a winning recipe.




Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall comments in his recipe that „the spring onions should be just charred in places and slightly chewy on the outside, yet steamed-tender in the middle“ – that is exactly how the spring onions turned out to be. Once they were baked for a good 20 minutes at about 200 degrees Celsius,  they just tasted like sweet perfection.




The base of the galette is a puff pastry.




And other than fresh spring onions, olive oil, pepper and salt, you will only need some tasty hard cheese. I chose a Pecorino Romano. A cinch to put together and such a delight to eat. The spring onions are rather bulbous at this time of year and while that look is rather pretty, it might be advisable to halve the onions before placing them on the galette – puff pastry is a nice treat and this galette is best enjoyed while still lukewarm. Love that recipe.



As a fifth recipe, I made the Quinoa with Courgettes and Onions. With the tender courgettes, the sweet onions, some lovely thyme from the garden and a bit of young garlic, this was such an unbelievably tasty salad. It does get even better when it had a few hours rest prior to serving.




The recipe calls for flat-leaf parsley, I used fresh basil instead and left out the pine nuts – my taste testers do not really like nuts in their salad – but other than these minor change, I stayed true to the recipe and really enjoyed it. Just remember if you are planning to make this salad  a few hours ahead of serving it, you will have to taste for seasoning again just before serving, I ended up re-seasoning with pepper and salt and a lot of lemon juice – I also served some fresh lemon wedges on the side with this salad – it really tastes fabulous with a last-minute squeeze of lemon juice.




The sixth recipe is Lemony Guacomole. The ingredients for this recipe are small chilies, chopped coriander, freshly squeezed lemon and/or lime juice, ripe and creamy avocados,  rapeseed oil, fine sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and some optinal yoghurt (I used 10% Greek yoghurt). Easy to find fresh ingredients, the remainder are pantry items. Perfect for a weekday evening. Got lucky and found two perfectly ripe avocados sans blemishes for this recipe.




I decided to make some homemade pita chips with fresh chives for dipping and served freshly cut limes on the side.This was a very well-received nibble/appetizer and while the kids support some spiciness in their food, I made sure not to overdo it - we all agreed that this is a fabulous recipe. This guacamole is equally delicious as a topping for burgers and as a dip for oven-roasted potatoes and freshly cut vegetables such as carrots and celery sticks. It can also be served as an accompaniment to fajitas, along with sour cream.

You can make it chunky or smooth, according to taste. Whichever way you serve it, if you do make it in advance, do remember to sprinkle the guacamole with lemon or lime juice and cover well with plastic wrap because avocados turn brown quite quickly once they are exposed to air.




The seventh recipe is Roasted Aubergine Boats. I decided to serve these warm with some lovely cold, thick Greek yogurt and a homemade wild garlic pesto. It certainly never hurts to have another aubergine recipe on hand and we enjoyed the contrasting flavors of the sweet, creamy, chili-oil spiked roasted aubergine, the cool yogurt and the fresh, peppery taste of the wild garlic pesto.




Last but not least, I prepared the Asian inspired Stir-fried Sesame Cauliflower. Cauliflower is available year round, and we have been able to find some really nice cauliflower this month, making this lovely vegetable a good choice for the eighth recipe from this book.




Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall comments his recipe with the following words “cauliflower takes strong seasonings exceptionally well and this easy stir-fry – flavoured with chili, garlic and ginger – is a good example”. After taking one bite of this dish, I could not agree with him more.




This vegetable stir-fry is quickly put together and you can enjoy this as a full meal or as a side-dish. The cauliflower florets get a ten minute soak in cold water. The sesame seeds get toasted for a good minute or two until fragrant. In the meantime, you need to stir-fry some onion, two garlic cloves, chili and freshly grated ginger. Then add the drained cauliflower florets and continue to stir-fry. Finally, add the sesame seeds, good quality toasted sesame oil, low sodium soy sauce and finish with fresh coriander - although I took the liberty of adding coarsely chopped Italian parsley instead, as my dear family is not all that crazy about fresh coriander.

All of us really enjoyed this stir-fried sesame cauliflower – the fresh ginger and the chilies are wonderful in combination with the mild, delicate flavor of the cauliflower. It is true that this vegetable can certainly take some strong seasonings such as the soy sauce and the toasted sesame oil without being overpowered. This recipe seems to be nice variation on the other cauliflower recipes that I usually prepare. I also appreciated the fact that the stir-fried cauliflower florets kept their shape and still looked nice when plated.




Overall, we are extremly pleased with the way these recipes tasted and I am quite happy to report that this cookbook has become one of my favorites these days as the kids really enjoy the different dishes that I prepared from the book so far - it is truly a wonderful vegatable cookbook.

And I cannot stress enough that the recipes are easy to follow, with ingredients that are not difficult to find, making it a cinch to cook seasonally.

Please note, that for copyright reasons, we will not publish the recipes - maybe I can encourage you to buy this book and cook along with our wonderful group - we certainly would not mind some friendly company. For more information on the participation rules, please go here.

The designated recipes for the month of May were the following:

Courgette and rice filo pie (page 51), Rocket, fennel and puy lentil salad (page 82), Radishes with butter and salt OR Fennel and goat´s cheese (page 102), Pea and parsley soup (page 141), Asparagus pizza (page 185), Spring onion galette (page 220), Quinoa with courgettes and onions (page 279), Lemony guacamole OR Carrot hummus (page 296), Roasted aubergine boats (page 344), Stir-fried cauliflower (page 376).

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

39 comments:

  1. Hi Andrea, what a lovely post, your pictures are wonderful. Really enjoying this cookbook, the recipes are easy to follow and delicious!

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    1. Cheri, thank you very much - so nice to hear that you are enjoying this lovely cookbook! It certainly never hurts to learn a few new tricks and techniques when preparing veggies.

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  2. Andrea, you present everything so beautifully. Even the way you tie the veggies w a pretty ribbon makes something ordinary so special!
    I made the pea + parsley soup - it was so easy and delicious. Hope your Wednesday is fun. xo

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    1. Colette, so nice to see you participating - now you mentioned the soup, one of the two dishes that I did not get around to, but I certainly will as fresh peas have appeared in stores and at farmers´s markets around here.

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  3. Your dishes all look fantastic... I guess that is a tribute to both your cooking and your photography skills. Thank you so much for organizing this group. We are all benefiting from more, and more tasty vegetables in our meals.

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    1. Diane, thank you very much for the compliment - this is such a fun online ccoking group with wonderful members.We enjoyed the recipes and I am always thankful to be able to prepare vegetables in new and interesting ways and watch them dissappear at our house.
      Thank you for joining CCC!

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  4. Andrea, what a spread!! Everything you made looks just amazing. I could definitely be a vegetarian at your house (just sneak me a piece of bacon now and then please)>

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    1. Chris, you would not have to become a vegetarian if you lived at our house - just like veg a lot and I already know that you do since you always prepare so many lovely vegetable dishes yourself.

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  5. O, I see it didn't.
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    As I was saying: This looks like"" food for HEAVEN."" A+ for Presentation, Andrea. WOW. Xx

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    1. Kim, thank you very much! Lots of food for a post but then, I wanted to give each recipe due credit.

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  6. Gorgeous photos, as always! Thanks for organizing this group - I think it will be a fun and healthy exploration for all of us.

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    1. Teresa, thank you for your kind words and for cooking along with us - such a pleasure having you participate in the CCC.

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  7. So lovely! I can't wait to try more of these recipes, and make up some of the ones I didn't get to this much. Thanks for putting this group together!

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    1. Christy, you are quite welcome - I loved the dishes that you prepared with Sous Chef forthis month´s CCC. Thank you for participating in this online cooking group.

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  8. My eyes are "full" after feasting on your delicious dishes...each and every one of them so well photographed and tempting...especially love that spring onions galette...superb looking!

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    1. Jeannie, the Spring Onion Galette was my absolute personal favorite this month - I already made it again and I am curious to see what other peolple think about this - will serve it to guests as soon as I get a chance to do so. Thank you so much for your kind comment!

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  9. I love seeing what everyone chose this month. These were all exceptional. You made a couple that I did not, so will look forward to making them when time permits. This has been so much fun!! Thank you so much for putting this all together. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention my every-time comment about your photos. I'm always so impressed!!

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    1. Candy, you are too kind - thank you - it was a ton of fun cooking these dishes this month and it will be just as much fun during the coming months. Thank you also for joining us! I loved all the recipes that you prepared this time!

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  10. Oh my goodness...too many delicious dishes to choose! I want one of each, please! Thank you for sharing. Your posts always brighten my day.

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    1. Monet, thank you very much - a lot of recipes for the month of May and a lot of fabulous and healthy food for us all to enjoy. Thank you for stopping by!

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  11. These are all just gorgeous, Andrea! I do love the book - his use of flavors and the way he combines vegetables is brilliant. I really wish I could join but I have had to finish all my posts through August just to make it through one of the busiest work seasons ever! Liebe Grüße! ~ David

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    1. Dear David, hope that you will not drown in work and I am a little sad that you are so busy, I would have loved it if you joined us for this cooking adventure but if you have more free time by the end of August, you might want to reconsider - you do not know what you are missing, dear friend...
      Liebe Grüsse,
      Andrea

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  12. I'll be watching this club closely - I think this is a terrific cookbook! Sounds like you had some wonderful results.

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    1. Beth, well, dear friend, since you own the book, you should cook along with us - you have the choice of cooking from 1 up to 10 recipes a month, your choice, quite doable, I believe - and it would be nice to have you join us!

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  13. Stunning post Andrea! Actually, stunning is an understatement. The asparagus pizza was my favorite of this month's recipes. And I so want to make the onion galette for our next girls night. Thank you again for turning me onto this fabulous book. This is going to be a fun time to say the least.

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    1. Cathleen, thank you for all your kind words and cooking along with the CCC - you prepared wonderful recipes this month and, yes, it was quite fun! How nice to have you cook along with us!

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  14. Wow, what a feast! Everything looks so delicious! I didn't know you can also eat radishes with butter and salt - the idea just seems new to me, I usually just use radishes for salad or as garnish. Thanks for sharing this, it's another informative post :)!

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    1. The Radishes with Butter and Salt are a popular treat around here - it is just one way of enjoying these lovely, peppery, crunchy treat that are so omnipresent in springtime. Thank you for the kind comment!

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  15. Wow you have been busy! All these dishes look amazingly delicious but I think the two asparagus ones would be my favourite! I may not be cooking with you but I am with you in spirit and will be watching and reading about all your lovely recipes..

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    1. Karen, as far as I can tell, the Asparagus Pizza and the Spring Onion Galette were the most popular recipes from the book this month. I have made the Galette a few times since, I have found a new favorite, I believe.

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  16. I have a feeling I'll be buying this cookbook...looks like some terrific recipes!

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    1. Dear Liz, it would be nice to have you join us - you would love it, I am sure!

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  17. I love the concept of this on-line cooking group, Andrea. Not only did I make three of my own recipes this month (although the radishes don't count, in my opinion, I just threw them together) but I also got feedback on all the other dishes. I already know that I am going to make the carrot hummus and the Spring Onion galette soon. To be followed by the filo pie, arugula, fennel & lentil salad, and your guac. Christy's review of the Gazpacho (she went rogue) intriqued me also. Already this cooking group is doing what it should be doing - inspiring us to put more vegetables on our plates. Thank you for putting us together. Your Post was fabulous, as always.

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    1. Dear Mary, so glad that you are enjoying this group. I do hope that the concept of this once-a-month-posting and choosing any number of recipes, depending on personal time availability etc., will work out for all of us! All of the dishes that you prepared looked wonderful - my favorite this month being the Spring Onion Galette - and I am happy tp report that all the dishes were received well by all, no leftovers. Good! Looking forward to the month of June!

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  18. Dieses Kochklub ist eine tolle Idee und die Rezepte und die Auswahl ist fantastisch.
    Ich weiß überhaupt nicht welches davon ich als mein Lieblingsgericht aussuchen würde- alles sieht so köstlich aus.
    Oder vielleicht doch die Spargelpizza ? :))
    Ein Superpost , Andrea.
    Liebe Grüße aus Lima!

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    1. Liebe Daniela, es ist immer eine gewisse Herausforderung so viele Gerichte in einem Post unterzubringen, aber so ist es eben manchmal.Die Gerichte waren alle ziemlich lecker, ich liebe das Kochbuch ja auch sehr, aber mein Lieblingsgericht diesen Monat war die "Frühlingszwiebel Galette", kein Zweifel.
      Herzlichen Dank für deinen netten Kommentar!
      Liebe Grüsse aus Bonn,
      Andrea

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  19. They all look so good!! I wish I could've participated but the way I was feeling I did not want to commit. I'm not good with deadlines at the moment! I hope it goes well and I can't wait for the next instalment. Take care, dear friend.

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    1. Nazneen, hopefully you will be feeling much better soon - it would indeed be nice ot have you join us - the "rules" were made flexible, in that they allow you to choose between one (1) and ten (10) recipes per month - that is meant to allow peolple to choose as few or as many dishes that they can fit in their schedules that month. Think you about it when you are feeling better!

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  20. Your photos are incredible. The flowers that you added to the radishes and the asparagus pizza make them so pretty. Wild garlic pesto sounds absolutely delicious, and your presentation of the eggplant dish makes me want to make it again. This was definitely a great month of recipes.

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