Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The Cottage Cooking Club - September Recipes


The month of September marks the seventeenth 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, entitled „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.

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

Since I cooked eight recipes, I will write about each dish in the order in which I prepared them.

My first recipe for this early fall post is the colorful Chard and new potato curry (page 24) from the chapter "Comfort Food & Feasts“ that we made back in August 2014 and that I had missed.




Every time I cook with bright colored veggies, like the amazing rainbow chard I came across the other day, I realize how much I really enjoy preparing vegetables in all kinds of color and how much they enhance my dishes, not only by adding tons of flavor but also by appealing visually to all, making them all enjoy the dishes I prepare even more.




This is a hearty variation of a curry with chard, onions, garlic, ginger, chili, and new potatoes and with spices such as garam masala, mustard seeds, cumin, tumeric, cardamom, and then some tomato purée and yogurt. I topped it all with my current favorite cress form the Netherlands – the red beet cress which has a rather earthy sharpness and add another layer of flavor to this already very flavorful fallish curry.




For the second recipe for this month I chose is the forever delightful Leek and cheese toastie (page 202) from the chapter "Bready Things", again. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall describes this leek-based, cheesy topping as „the simplest and most midweek-friendly“ of his leek toppings and right he is.




As I mentioned before, the delicious and easy topping consists of but a few ingredients, namely some good quality butter, sliced fresh leeks and fragrant thyme - cook gently for about 10 to 15 minutes and then all that is left to do is to stir in some double cream, simmer some more, fold in some grated cheese such as Cheddar, add sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste, then toast a few slices of sourdough bread (or other bread that you prefer), spread with the still warm topping and top with more cheese, then grill until golden - pure midweek deliciousness if you ask my family and me.

Fresh thyme grows in my garden, fresh leeks can be easily found locally, the bread is from my favorite bakery nearby and the cheese I used was Emmenthal. We were all more than pleased with this with its sweetness from the leeks, creaminess from the cheese and cream and just the right amount of woodsy herb flavor from the fresh thyme.

This time I served the toasties with a autum pear and rocket salad on the side – not too shabby! And I am presently rather delighted with the quality of the local rocket – it is sharap and mustardy and just plain delightful!




The third recipe that go my attention, again, this month was my personal favorite soup from the book, the Chestnut and sage soup (page 158), from the chapter „Hefty Soups“ that we made back in November 2014.




There is a chestnut tree in our garden and every year I look forward to the harvest season. I use the chestnuts for baking my favorite chestnut cake, make this amazing soup and keep the remainder for roasted chestnuts.

This is such an elegant and velvety soup, I cannot get over the taste – the finished soup got a nice garnish of sage leaves from my garden, fried in some light olive oil, a tiny trickle of oil, chives and foamed milk, cappucciono-style – serve this soup nice and hot and you will know what I mean – it is absolutely fabulous and perfect for serving to guests. Make sure to make some „Vegetable Stock“ (page 130) beforehand and serve some nice bread alongside.

And, yes, this time I could not help myself and served the chestnut soup in these „seventies soup bowls" that I found at a tag sale. These kinds of props just make my day!




Recipe number four is another perennial favorite at our house, the New potato salad „tartare“ (page 79), from the chapter „Hearty Salads“ that we made back in June 2015. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall describes this salad as "a simple, deconstructed version of good old tartare sauce" that is used "to dress freshly cooked, earthly little new potatoes".




Since I have written about this salad at length before, I will keep it short this time – this is now our favorite way to enjoy potato salad and I even served it as part of our „Oktoberfest spread“ – I believe that says it all!




The fifth recipe was semi-new for me. The Quinoa with courgettes and onions (page 279) from the chapter „Pasta & Rice“ that we made back in May 2014 – is a fabulous recipe that I have made with couscous and white quinoa before but never with red quinoa (my newly discovered favorite grain to use in our salads).




With the tender courgettes, the sweet onions, some lovely thyme from the garden and a bit of young garlic, this is such an unbelievably tasty salad. It even becomes nore flavorful if it had a few hours "resting time" in the fridge prior to serving.

The recipe calls for flat-leaf parsley, I also added some fresh cress and basil and left out the pine nuts – my taste testers do not really like nuts in their salad – but other than these minor changes, 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 some freshly ground pepper and fine sea salt and a lot of lemon juice – and I always  served some fresh lemon wedges on the side with this salad – it really tastes fabulous with a last-minute squeeze of lemon juice.




My sixth recipe for this September post is the Pearl barley broth (page 160), from the chapter "Hefty Soups“ that we made back in May 2015.




Again, the base of this soup is  Hugh´s Vegetable stock (page 130). This soup recipe is one of those recipes in this book that I keep coming back to on a regular basis. The finely diced vegetables in this pearl barley broth include onions, celery, carrots, and parsnip. The spices used are ground coriander, nutmeg, cayenne pepper and mace. Then as herbs some fresh thyme and a bay leaf from the garden and, of course, medium sized pearl barley. Around here, the stores carry pearl barley in three different grades, the medium one being my favorite to use in substantial soups like this one. There was lots of flavor from the spices, the veg and the soup base. Just remember that the pearly barley will absorb quite a bit of liquid and you will end up with a rather thick soup if you prepare it in advance.




This time when I made this comfort-style soup, I decided to add the tender leaves of some lovely „butter cabbage“ or „Butterkohl“ as we call this around here – a regional specialty that I come across but once a year at the agricultural fair that we attend in September.




The second to last recipe for this September post  is the Curried Bubble and Squeak (page 228 ) from the chapter „Store-cupboard Suppers“ that we made back in January 2015.




The name refers to the appetizing sound this stir-up of cooked potatoes and greens makes as it cooks. As kitchen recycling goes, this is probably the most useful of all, neatly dispensing with those most difficult of leftovers. I used cold cooked potatoes and Brussels sprouts as the main stars of this dish – then some finely sliced onions, salt, pepper and a mild curry powder. Kids loved this, it is not unlke the pan-fried potatoes (sans curry) that we make around here, except that you can add just about anything edible to it that strikes your fancy. Delicious. Easy. Fool-proof.




The last September recipe is the Roasted brussels sprouts with shallots (page 352) from the chapter „Roast, Grill & Barbeque" that we prepared in October 2014.




What is not to love about this hearty dish – Brussels sprouts and shallots seem to be a match made in heaven, roasted with tons of fresh thyme from my herb garden, lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper, sea salt and olive oil, these tiny cabbages turn into a sweet delight that everyone gobbled up.




In summary, another month full of wonderful vegetable dishes – this month we were delighted to enjoy a number of early and hearty fall recipes for lunch and dinner. What can possibly be better than to cook with fresh ingredients at this time of year.

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!

To see how wonderful all the dishes from my fellow Cottage Cooking Club members turned out this month, please visit here. They would all appreciate a visit!


28 comments:

  1. Another lovely post! Love your chestnut & sage soup, and that barley broth is so delightful to the eye (and I am hoping it will be delighting my taste buds soon!).

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    1. Emily - these two recipes are wonderful recipes to prepare for the family and yourself in fall - they are always a huge hit, both of them, although, personally, I am totally partial to the chestnut and sage soup.
      Andrea

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  2. Hi Andrea, Beautiful pics, I love the potato salad too and have made it twice since. Forgot about the curried bubble and squeak, I have wanted to prepare it. The barley soup is another one. Back in Arizona now and it is very warm. Take care, Cheri

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    1. Cheri, thank you for participating in The Cottage Cooking Clug again this month - hope your move back to Phoenix went smoothly! The Curried Bubble and Squeek keeps ending up being made with new potatoes and Brussels sprouts at our house - those two veggies are great wit the mild curry that gets added to this dish!
      Andrea

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  3. You've been working hard Andrea, wow! Everything looks so good and so pretty. I'm quite taken with the potato salad though if I had to pick one!

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    1. Chris, the potato salad "tartare" is always a huge hit at our house - it has taken first place from the Bavarian potato salad that I used to make.
      Thanks for stopping by,
      Andrea

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  4. Hi Andrea, as always your dishes leave me in awe, just superb. That Chestnut soup looks like an interesting one to try. It is amazing how many recipes we have individually and collectively prepared, it really adds up as I was going through the list. Loved that curried bubble and squeak! Thanks again for everything. See you soon.

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    1. Peggy, the chestnut soup is utterly delicious, I adore the velvety, nutty taste that chestnuts bring to this soup and to all other dishes - my favorite fall ingredient to use.
      Thank you for yor kind words,
      Andrea

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  5. I have made the roasted Brussels sprouts and shallots several times now, and have to say it is a house favorite! I also use a lot of red quinoa - isn't it great? I need to make the chestnut soup - that sounds terrific, and so different. Wish we had a chestnut tree out back!

    The think I love most about the CCC is that your recreations of Hugh's recipes (and many of the other members, too) really make me see the recipes in a different way. I now want to have leek and cheese toasties for dinner, and I didn't give that recipe a second glance in the book!

    Have a wonderful remainder of the week! Bis später! David

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    1. Dear David, what a lovely comment - I guess after having cooked about 150 of the recipes from Hugh´s book, I do tend "to interprete" them quite freely and according to my style and gusto - so much fun and my taste testers do not seem to mind the least bit! The chestnut soup can easily be re-created with vacuum-packed chestnuts, they are perfect for keeping in the cupboard and making an elegant and utterly delicious soup at short notice - I love, love that recipe!
      Liebe Grüße nach Tucson!
      Andrea

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  6. Those soup bowls are adorable! The chestnut soup sounds really wonderful and how lucky you are to have a chestnut tree of your very own! I'm a little jealous ;-)

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    1. Amy, yes, that chestnut tree - we love it. Chestnuts are one of the very best fall ingredients to cook and bake with. For a sweet recipe with chestnuts, why not take a look at my Chestnut Marble Bundt Cake:
      http://kitchenlioness.blogspot.de/2013/11/chestnut-marble-bundt-maronen-marmor.html
      And those soup bowls, I did not know at first whether to love or hate them - I now have settled for the first option.

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  7. It's so wonderful that you can use chestnuts from your own tree! I love your presentation of the soup, especially, but everything looks colourful and beautiful. I must make the curried bubble and squeak again soon - I'd forgotten how much we both enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to choosing the October recipes - there are still so many great harvest fruits and vegetables to make use of.

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    1. Teresa, October recipes are coming up later today - hopefully everyone will enjoy them them as much as they enjoyed their make-up recipes in September!
      So much fall produce and so littel time...
      Thank you for participating again in The Cottage Cooking Club and "see" you very soon!
      Andrea

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  8. All these gorgeous photos are making me so hungry! But it's that chestnut soup with the cappuccino froth is so unusual! I can't wait to try it. Wishing you and your sweet clan a wonderful w/end (mentally, I'm already on Saturday!)

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    1. Colette, I am sure that you would enjoy the velvety goodness and nutty taste of the chestnut soup with sage, a bit of frothed milk, a few drops of extra cold-pressed olive oil and fried sage leaves from the garden!
      Have a lovely weekend, my friend!
      Andrea

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  9. All of your dishes are presented so beautifully, Andrea, I even want to make the quinoa salad again (which, as you know, was not my favourite!). I love all of the little touches you add to make them look and taste special: red beet cress, pear and rocket salad, and the butter cabbage, which I've not heard of before but sounds delicious. Thank you for all you do to make this group a wonderful community to which to belong.

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    1. Dear Zosia, the red quinoa seems to have more of a "nutty" flavor than the white quinoa does and it looks so pretty too - I have really taken a liking to it and I am particularly pleased that you can just cook it in advance, keep it in the fridge and make somthing delicious with it the next day - very versatile. And the "butter cabbage" is a local specialty that is hard to get hold of - but I am just crazy about these heirloom veggies and I found a nice "vessel" to showcase it in, Hugh´s barley broth - it was really delightful served this way!
      Thank you for your kind words and your continued support!
      Andrea

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  10. Pretty pretty dishes and such beautiful produce, Andrea! The chard...sometimes I look at veggies and I know exactly why ancient humans would've tried them out--chard, tomatoes, eggplant, etc. They are like gems and so attractive. Other times, I wonder how hungry they had to be (artichokes? I love them, but they look a bit difficult on the plant). I love visiting your blog as the lighting, colors, and overall feel to your prose are all so beautiful and almost calming. Thanks, Andrea!

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    1. Dear Katie, so very kind of you, thank you! Hope you had a smooth start to the new school year and that your daughter is doing well. I am really enjoying your thoughtful comment - wonderful, just wonderful to read that you like my post and the pictures and the little details that I just cannot do without - makes it all worthwhile! Thank you!
      So nice to have you onboard the CCC and "see" you soon!
      Andrea

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  11. Oh, my, I don't know which I'd want to make first. Every dish looks so tasty and beautiful! Quinoa, barley soup or maybe that cheesy toast? Now I'm hungry!!!

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    1. Thank you, dear Liz - we had so much great food this past month (again) and it is always impossible to choose a favorite!

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  12. I think this is your best monthly roundup ever - there are about 6 recipes I want to try! Thanks for reminding me about all the great food in this wonderful cookbook.

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    1. Beth, well, you have got the book - now onto the six recipes!
      Thank you for the comment,
      Andrea

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  13. Well, I must say that your CCC Post for the month of September made my day for many reasons. You KNOW I love your tag and flea market and antique finds. Everything in Michael's and my house was in somebody elses first - old, antique, chipped, cracked, stained, whatever. We loved it. So, I love seeing you not only display but be delighted by your finds. What you are so right about is that cooking with color - vegetables, for sure - just makes food look and even taste better. I have such a wide array of farmers markets to visit when I'm in California this winter and have the time to do more cooking so I plan to dive into trying ingredients I've never used before. I also made Bubble & Squeak, New Potato Salad Tartare and Pearl Barley Soup and thought them delicious. Need to revisit. Melissa makes dishes with Red Quinoa also. She graciously catered all the food for Emma's school for Emma's 8th grade graduation and the Red Quinoa sald was a hit. Gone before I got a bite. I wish you and Melissa could meet. You two are sooooo much alike it's scary. Nice post, Andrea, as always.

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    1. Dera Mary, what a wonderful comment! As I read your kind words I am on my way to Hamburg and hopefully do well in the cooking competition - we shall see. May be I get lucky one day and meet you all and we could exchange some fabulous food and props, of course - it seems to me that it is high time we all get together!
      Sending you hugs and being very grateful to count you among my friends!
      Andrea

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  14. Andrea, your dishes look really wonderful! A few that I still have not made before - I still want to try that quinoa salad. I just love those toasties - they might get a repeat since I'm making some focaccia today - that would work! And the sage chestnut soup looks even more delicious this time around - I loved the fried sage leaves!! Of course, all of your dishes look fantastic! Your photos are beautiful - bringing out all of the colors, and of course all of the arrangements and dishes just add to the effect!

    I hope you are enjoying a wonderful October day! Oh, and if you remember, I'd love that sage caramel recipe, and oooh, I have to look back because there was another one as well! I think that it would make for some fun treats when my family gets together next month!

    XOXOX

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    1. Dear Candy, thank you for your wonderful comment - I will try to find the recipes that you requested and will make sure to translate them for you. Once your life has calmed down a bit, you might want to consider making these treats for Thanksgiving - who knows, maybe you will find the time.
      "See" you very soon dear friend,
      Andrea

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