Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Cottage Cooking Club - Three Green March Recipes


March marks the eleventh 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 is meant to be a project aimed at incorporating more vegetable dishes into our everyday cooking, learning about less known, forgotten or heritage vegetables, trying out  new ways to prepare tasty and healthy dishes, and sharing them with family and friends.




The month of March was our Make-up Month, giving all the members of The Cottage Cooking Club the opportunity to re-visit one or more recipes that they truly enjoyed preparing in the past, as well as, or, to prepare some of the dishes that they meant to prepare in the months before but did not get a chance to do so. - This is my small selection of green dishes for the month of March!

There are not a lot of dishes that I did not make before and some of the vegetables are not seasonal right now, so for my first of the three green recipes, I took the opportunity to prepare something that the kids fell head-over-heels for when I made it for the first time last month, the Cheesy peasy puff turnover (page 220) from the chapter „Store-Cupboard Suppers“ with peas and grated and melted cheese. Ever since I made some of the recipes from this wonderful book that call for ready-made puff pastry, I always make sure to have some in the fridge, always.




In order to change things up, this time I made the turnovers with spinach, ramson aka wild garlic (we even have some growing in our garden) and locally produced goat´s  cheese. I came across this amazing cheesemaker who produces artisan, fresh goat cheese a while back and have been going to the cute goat farm ever since. The kids visit the goats while I shop. Who could ask for more.

This version was delicious and it was liked even a bit better by all my devoted taste testers including myself – just showing how versatile the recipes from this book are.





My second recipe was our very favorite salad recipe from the book, the Broccoli salad with asian-style dressing page 316) from the chapter "Mezze & Tapas".




This is broccoli served at its best. With a delightfully fresh dressing of freshly grated ginger, young garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce and toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds and fresh chives - plus the very first fresh peas of the season (that I steamed together with the broccoli florets) - this was a true spring time treat - we love, love this salad with variations as well. And who could resist adding those sweet fresh peas to the mix - they harmonize so well with the broccoli.




One of the dishes that I am particularly fond of, is also the third one I made again now, the Pasta with greens, garlic and chilli (page 261) from the chapter "Pasta & Rice". I keep repeating that any student should know how to make this. Toss in some slightly wilted spring arugula instead of the winter kale or Savoy cabbage and you will effortlessly have turned a winter pasta dish into a springtime pasta. Such a breeze to prepare with shallots, garlic chilli, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Finish with shaving of your favorite hard cheese to add saltiness. And do not forget to use a fun-shaped pasta, such as the so-called ufo pasta that I used this time. Using different shapes of pasta for the same recipes is always a good idea - keeps all those hungry eateres interested and curious.

Many, many other recipes have become regulars (if I may say so) at our lunches and dinners -  the Spelt salad with squash and fennel (page 72), the Fennel and goat´s cheese (page 102), the Puy lentil and spinach soup (page 162), the Magic bread dough (pages 172-74), the Tomato, thyme and goat´s cheese tart (page 216), the Mushroom risoniotto (page 258), and the Stir-fried cauliflower (page 376) - also top the list – to name but a few.




Please note, that for copyright reasons, we do NOT publish the recipes. If you enjoy the recipes in our series, hopefully, the wonderfully talented and enthusiastic members of The Cottage Cooking Club and their wonderful posts can convince you to get a copy of this lovely book. Better yet, do make sure to join us in this cooking adventure! There is still time, we are „only“ half-way through this amazing 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 March, please go here.

28 comments:

  1. Beautiful post, Andrea!!!! These colors and arrangements make you eat more veggies :-) Love the last photo! My best :-)

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    1. Lieben Dank, Wally! Freut mich wenn dir die Fotos von meinen grünen Speisen gefallen - es gibt ja jetzt zum Glück das erste Frühlingsgemüse - da lacht doch das Herz.
      Liebe Grüße,
      Andrea

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  2. Gorgeous.
    Superb presentation.
    I've never seen pasta like that before. What is it?
    This post gave me joy!!! xxx

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    1. Kim, thank you, my dear! The pasta is called "Ufo Pasta" (believe it or not) and I found it at my Italia market and thought it would be a fun shape for the kids - I always try to get different pasta shapes to keep things interesting.

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  3. Your post looks like spring! I love your take on the easy peasy puff turnover - it's such a versatile dish and can be filled with so many delicious combinations of vegetables and cheese. The addition of peas to the broccoli salad is a great idea and the pasta made with spring greens looks fresh and lovely! I'm looking forward to April when spring produce will start to be available here.

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    1. Zosia, hopefully my post looks a bit like spring - desperately needing some green around here. Somehow it is always the most wonderful time of year, everything new, everything green.
      Thank you for your kind comment,
      Andrea

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  4. Dear Andrea, as always, thank you for all of your hard work and coordination with the group which is also not in least, inspiring. Your beautiful presentations this month make for such a cheery feeling of spring, jumping off the page with warmth. I love too how you changed out some varying ingredients showing just how versatile the recipes are in River Cottage veg. Of course, this also says a lot about Hugh too and his instructional means on getting folks to eat more veggies. Your bowl of eggs is sensational, and I love the Cottage Cooking Club inscription! I always tend not to prepare things that seem similar to what I already make at home but looking at your raves on the Asian style broccoli has me decided to give it a go this month along with your designated April recipes choices. Looking forward to our spring and warmer season picks ahead! Come on Spring! Happy Easter to you and all of your family! Hugs and Love, Peggy

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    1. Peggy, thank you so much for your very kind words, dear friend! I love to play around with the recipes when I happen to come across a wonderful veg ingredient that I just "have" to brag about and use in my recipe just like the fresh peas that I found this week (to my great surprise I might add) - the broccoli salad is indeed close to one of my favorite salads that I already make as well but a bit different and oh so green - glad that you enjoy my litte summary of dishes I made this month.
      As always, I greatly appreciate all your comments, your friendship and your kind words,
      Andrea

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  5. Hi Andrea, great selection of recipes. I've made the cheesy peasey turnover several times myself, one of my favorites out of Hugh's cookbook so far. As always your pictures and presentation are beautiful, hard to believe we are already halfway through. Thank you so much for the box of goodies, so thoughtful. Have a great week!

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    1. Cheri, so glad to hear that the litte surprise paket arrived at your house. I am always a little worried about that. The Turnovers must be one of those recipes that we all seem to love - the taste, the versability and the ease of preparation are very hard to beat!
      Andrea

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  6. What a lovely choice of green recipes! I still have the turnovers on my list but ran out of time. I am so jealous that you have the first of the season's peas available! Sometimes we can plant seeds as early as mid-March, but not this year. The ground is still frozen and covered with snow. I really enjoy the recipes in this book.

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    1. Betsy, there is a very famous German (from Pomerania) childrens´ song "Green, green, green are all my clothes. Green, green, green is all that I have. So I love anything that's green.." which I kept humming. Green just happens to be my very favorite color and I cannot wait for much more of that spring produce to arrive in stores and markets around here.
      Andrea

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  7. Der Cottage Cooking Club ist eine ganz tolle Sache und wir alle haben durch Deine Postings viel von diesen fantastischen Rezepten gelernt, liebe Andrea.
    Besser kann der Frühling gar nicht schmecken.
    Liebe Grüße

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    1. Daniela, lieben Dank für deinen netten Kommentar - freut mich wenn dir der Cottage Cooking Club gefällt! So viele Rezepte mit Gemüse und so lecker - noch zehn Monate, dann haben wir uns durch das ganze Buch gekocht!
      Liebe Grüsse nach Lima,
      Andrea

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  8. This is exactly why I love cooking with you, Andrea. I really, really loved the Cheesy Peasy Puff Turnover but could not eat the entire Turnover myself. By making them into small little bites, I cannot only make some for myself but also take the leftovers to the front desk for snacks for the office staff. They would love these. I loved the peas and look forward to making this with fresh peas but now I'll try to come up with other fillings also. I have all the ingredients for the Pasta recipe but just didn't get it done. Nevermind, it is going home with me and I'll make it in Colorado next month. It's still Winter in Colorado. Hadn't thought about making the broccoli salad but the asian-type salad dressing looks amazing (I peeked at the recipe in the book). So many recipes to try. Love this cookbook. Thank you for keeping us all engaged and thank you for my Easter package. Loving it.

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    1. Mary, thank you so much for your kind words - I kinda run out of time durimg the month of March as far as the photos were concerned - I made the food, so many of the recipes but somehow did not bother taking pictures - no sunshine, no pictures. But three green recipes were fun to blog about and delicious to eat and after I make the original recipe for the first time, I love playing around with Hugh`s original idea and change things up a bit.
      Andrea

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  9. I love how your made the Cheesy Peasy Turnovers your own - they sound wonderful. The Broccoli Salad with Asian Dressing also sounds perfect - and I have been searching for a broccoli salad - I wonder why I never looked in RCV!

    Also, I cannot tell you how much I love your photos. They are always amazing and you make the simplest (and always elegant) meals look like the most beautiful things on earth. Your talent is amazing.

    Ein schöner Mittwoch! David

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    1. Dear David, you are making me blush, dear friend - I truly appreciate your kindness, friendship and your encouraging words. It is a lot of work for all of us to put these posts together and we all appreciae a little bit of love every once and in a while! So you are making me one very happy blogger right now!
      Thanks again - liebe Grüsse,
      Andrea

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  10. Love your all greens post! Just lovely. I really enjoyed the turnovers, will definitely be making them again. And I love the shape of your ufo pasta!! How fun! I so agree with David, you do have amazing talent. I saw one member that posted the treats you sent - looks so fun! Have not received the package yet... (I know I was late in getting you my address) - oh the anticipation... Have a fabulous Easter, Andrea!! I see that you have been on a baking frenzy!

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    1. Dear Cathleen, thank you for the kind comment. Glad that you enjoy my "green post". With respect to the Easter parcels - I did sent them all on the same day - March 9th, I do not really understand why you have nor received any yet - hopefully, it will arrive at your doorstep very soon!
      Andrea

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  11. This is such a pretty post Andrea...so Spring...I love all the green dishes you have it here...like the filling of your turnover, the dressing of the broccoli salad and the pasta is just so elegant!
    Hope you are having a fabulous week my dear :)

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    1. Juliana, spring has sprung around here - getting us all into the mood to make some more green dishes and enjoy the first of the spring vegetables that have arrived in stores and markets around here. Cannot wait for more lovely fresh spring produce to arrive very soon.
      Andrea

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  12. I love your green theme for spring! Such pretty photographs. I agree that the pasta recipe is perfect for students to learn - it's easy and much more interesting than a lot of student fare. And thank you again for the package of lovely gifts. It was so thoughtful.

    A very happy Easter to you and your family! I'm sure you'll be enjoying the best of local treats this weekend.

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    1. Teresa, and a very Happy Easter to you and your family as well! I am glad that the little surprise package arrived at your house safe and sound - we are all looking forward to the Easter vacation and some time off from school and work!
      Thank you for your kind words,
      Andrea

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  13. The broccoli salad looks particularly scrumptious. Happy Easter!

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    1. Gaye, thank you so much and a very Happy Easter to you as well!

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  14. Happy Spring Andrea...here it is well into summer but we love celebrating spring any day...these beautiful food clicks and delicious recipes certainly make it spring while we see them,thanks so much.. :-)

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    1. Thank you ladies, we are at the beginning of spring (a season that I really like) and we just start to see fresh veg hitting the market - time to make a few healthy, green, spring treats indeed!
      Thank you so much for your comment!

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