The Swede Challenge

Supermarket shopping
It has been another challenging week in the kitchen for me.  I realised that I have been trying to cut down on my supermarket visits to go only once per month, but I had only decided AFTER my last visit.  That means I have been forced to be creative with the food I find locally, but whilst running out of some store cupboard essentials such as pasta, tinned tomatoes and Arborio rice...a big ask in anyone's book!  This month I will be really organised in my monthly visit to the farmer's market so that I can buy more food to help me achieve this once-a-month goal.  That way, I am enjoying seasonal, local food and benefitting our local economy, as opposed to the supermarket shareholders. 

Challenges
So, the challenge last week to make a meal with 1/2 swede and squash to feed a family of four?  I wanted to make a risotto, but knew that it would look fairly bland, and the flavours from the two vegetables wouldn't be strong enough to make it interesting in flavour either.  I always cook my risotto in the oven.  This is a technique I learned when my kids were younger.  The results are not as creamy but it means I get 20 minutes of my day back each time I make one because I don't have to stand over it and stir.  As the oven was on anyway, I chopped and baked the two veg after tossing them in olive oil and paprika.  I then sprinkled them over the top of the risotto at the table.  This meant it looked and tasted much better: bringing out the sweetness of the veg which complemented the paprika well.

Preparing for salads
I am desperate to start eating more salads so I have begun using my sprouter.  I have started with alfalfa because they sprout in just a few days.  Seeds and sprouters are quite easy to buy now (try unicorn-grocery.co.uk), and the results can be used either sprinkled on top of a salad or used in a stir fry.  It is an easy job to soak them overnight then rinse them a couple of times a day.  I find it a great source of protein. 
A new idea I am trying this week is microgreens (try any large seed company for packets of these).  These are grown in a similar way you would grow cress at home - on a windowsill.  I am trying broccoli and rocket.  They will add a punch of flavour and loads of essential vitamins to my salad meals when cut at the size you would eat cress.

Gardening
Where I turned the soil over at the allotment a few weeks ago, the weeds and grass have rotted down to make lovely loam.  A quick rake over and a cover of plastic sheeting is allowing the soil to warm up ready for seeds to go in.  In my garden at home I have planted a couple of herbs - marjoram and fennel, and a new one on me: hyssop.  (An impulse purchase I have to admit!)

If you have any ideas what to do with hyssop, suggestions welcome please!

Lisa Reid

Time to get inventive?

Thoroughly bored

I have to say that my usual enthusiasm for all things local-foody has been waning over the last week or so - hence the lack of posts.  It is a tricky time of year:  spring has well and truly arrived so I feel in the mood for lighter foods, but my habits with the local vegetables on offer are stuck in a wintry rut of stews and broths.  I remember seeing an article by a food writer at this time last year, which extolled the virtues of slipping the odd veg from further south in Europe into the shopping basket, but I reckon I am more stubborn, and inclined to view my conundrum as a challenge. 

Cookbook inspiration
Initial inspiration came from my shelf of cookbooks.  I first made some really interesting spicy meals using my favourite Indian cookbooks.  A few carrots and a cabbage stir fried with spices was a great side dish.  You will have seen my biryani recipe on an earlier blogpost, so I repeated that with more winter veg.  That was two delicious weekend Indian feasts under my belt, and I was feeling my old enthusiasm returning but I wasn't out of the woods yet.

Meat-free Mondays
I have been itching to join in with the campaign for 'meat-free Mondays'.  My initial glance in the fridge made me waiver a bit, as there were onions, carrots, cabbage and a very large swede.  Yikes - back to the cookbooks, but without the excitement of Indian spices available because we had eaten Indian foods two days running.  Good old Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall came up trumps with his Everyday Veg book.  I made some rough puff pastry before I went to work, picked up some salad items in my lunch hour, and made up pasties when I got home.

 

He advised root veg with parsley and possibly cheese for the filling, with plain flour in the pastry.  I like to include wholemeal flour wherever possible, so I went for a third of that and two thirds plain.  To the root veg, I added parsley from the freezer and a lovely spiced mustard we picked up from Abbey Leys farmers market, plus olive oil instead of melted butter.  My kids were thrilled to be having these pasties again.  I had a bit of pastry left over with which I made a mini pasty - hoping to have it for lunch.  No way!  They were fighting over that last one at the table.

Deconstructed coleslaw

 The last time I made these pasties, I served deconstructed coleslaw with them.  Some members of my family don't like coleslaw, so I just serve the bowls of chopped or grated ingredients separately along with mayonnaise and salad dressing so they can make their own up at the table.  Being inventive with flavours seems to make them try a greater variety of foods.  I bought my oldest son two inexpensive dressing bottles for Christmas, and he keeps us supplied with one plain and one spicy at all times!

So, back to the meal in hand - the results were delicious.  A moist filling with a light pastry. It wasn't quite the 'rough puff' which Hugh prescribed due to my choice of wholemeal flour, but it was very light.

OK, that is my levels of enthusiasm back to normal.  Now, a glance in the fridge today reveals 1/2 swede and 1/2 squash to feed a family of 4.  What will I do with those?  Watch this space!!

 

 

Energy saving in the kitchen

Things are hotting up in Su Williams's kitchen this week - literally.  Su, along with lots of other volunteers in Lymm, helps to run Low Carbon Lymm - a not for profit group.  They are having an open day on Saturday at the Village Hall to help local people gain control of their energy bills.  Sometimes I am a bit sceptical about 'green' ideas, thinking that they involve lots of capital to get them going.  Richard, who is co-ordinating the event, assures me that there will be a very wide range of ideas represented, and it is not just an event to promote greener energy.  When we look at the press at the moment, we could be forgiven for thinking that the worst of this recession is over.  However, I have spoken to 2 friends this week who are either being made redundant or unable to find contracts for their work.  Even if the optimism we find in the press is correct and overall the country is on it's way out of it, it is likely to take several years before our wages return to pre-recession levels in real terms simply due to the increases in the costs of living.  Energy prices have increased enormously, and by reviewing our consumption regularly we can help ourselves to effectively manage costs.

So, back to Su in her kitchen.  She will be taking her banana breads...

...in order to demonstrate how we can all reduce energy consumption in the kitchen.   I'll be giving her a hand, but I'll also be taking the chance to visit the other stalls there to see how I can save money. 

There will be refreshments available, and if you have kids around at the weekends there will be a couple of things to keep them occupied while you browse.  Hope to see you there 10-3!

Farmer's markets: good value or just good fun?

I read an interesting tweet this morning that made me reflect on my morning spent at a farmer's market yesterday.  It was by a student claiming the need to buy unethically sourced fish because he couldn't afford the alternatives.  I totally agree that ethically sourced foodstuffs are often pricy, but it's what we do with them that makes them affordable.  Whilst at the monthly farmer's market at Abbey Leys yesterday I didn't just pop in quickly and buy the foods I needed to feed my family at face value because, like the student, I can't afford to.  I first wandered round the market and talked to the farmers about their produce.  There are some great bargains (and I love a bargain!) but they aren't always foods that we have experience cooking.

My first bargain was on the Little Heath Farm Shop stall.  I wanted to cook a casserole for Sunday tea.  I bought some stewing beef but supplemented it with ox cheek.  I have never used this cut of beef before, but it was fabulous after slow braising with vegetables.  I spent £9, made tonnes and will freeze the rest to feed 10 more people on Thursday in a pie (it being Great British Pie Week).  In total it will feed 14, so that is a lot less than £1 per portion.

I also visited a stall for Gazegill Organic Farm.  They had a variety of food for sale, including fish.  I bought a piece of Coley.  It wasn't cheap at £4.19, and I won't be able to just cook it to serve as it is for my family of 4.  However, if I make it into a fish pie or fish cakes, it will easily feed us all, and my conscience is intact.  The farmer's market is only on the first Sunday of the month, so I froze it to eat next week.  At just over £1 per portion, I view that meal as good value too.

Now all work and no play would make Jack (or Lisa!) a dull boy, so after we had bought all our essentials at a good price, I allowed each of my boys to pick one treat each.  One chose a stunning jelly

and the other chose garlic in chilli from a new stall, which we ate as a nibble instead of crisps later that evening.  You'll need to ask my husband about the 'snoggable' claims!

I took a final walk around the stalls before I left so I knew what to buy next time.  I'll be able to look up recipes before I return...its the 10th anniversary so I'll definitely be back to show my appreciation to these hard-working farmers and all they do for our local economy.  Great fun and great bargains, what more could a girl ask for on a damp Sunday morning?

Lisa Reid