Posts Tagged With: pesto

Nettle & Wild Garlic Pistou

Posted on May 26, 2013 by leroy watson

Jane and I have been visiting the local hedgrerows and forests recently and have regularly come back with a bumper crop of nettles and wild garlic. It is such a wonderful time of year for these abundant herbs, they’re also easy to identify so there is no reason why we shouldn’t all be taking advantage of one of natures finest freebies! The forests reek of fragrant garlic!!

This is a pistou (French/ Italian) not a pesto (Italian), mainly due to the lack of nuts. If you add pine nuts, or another nut, you’d probably call it a pesto. Otherwise both are potent blends and something rather special to have hanging around the fridge.

There are a vast amount of edible shoots, leaves and berries that we are not aware of (by we, I mean us at the BHK!) We have books, we have TV programmes, but you cannot beat getting out there and having a look at whats growing for yourself. For example, we have recently learnt that young hawthorn leaves are a rare sweet treat. We’re taking it easy and adding a few new foraging delights to the menu each year.

Wild garlic and nettles have magical health properties. Nettle tea is a staple at this time of year and this pesto blend makes the most of both. It can be kept in the fridge for while and adds a unique flavour to anything it touches. Dressings, soups, stews, bread, to name a few we’ve stuck it in.

Nettles were used extensively in ancient Tibet and the Buddhist saint Milarepa was said to live on them when on retreat, turning green and enlightened. The kind of story that gets our imagination whirring.

Jane and I have gotten ourselves into a multitude of busy situations, gardening being but one. There has been much rain recently and today we managed to get out into the garden and pop the potatoes into the earth. We also have much beetroot, cavolo nero, spinach, rocket, rainbow chard, sunflowers and I can’t remember the rest. Needless to say, we are excited about the prospects of the Beach House Garden this year and have our fingers well crossed for a mild, wind-free summer. Very, very, very wishful thinking.

The Bits

60g nettle leaves, 40g wild garlic leaves, 4 garlic cloves (crushed), 100ml evoo, 100g vegan parmesan (Violife do a good one), 1 pinch salt and 2 pinch pepper

Do It

Blanch nettle quickly (10 seconds) in boiling water, this will keep them nice and green and take the sting out of them! Plunge (great word) into cold water. Pat dry.

Place all in a blender, blitz together until paste formed. Add a little more olive oil if you like in runny.

For old fashioned style, use a pestle and mortar. Simple as this.

Serve

In a pistou stew, see below, or spread on toast! It really comes to life tossed in warm pasta.

We Love It!

It literally grows on trees (or below them). This is our type of gardening, wander around pick it, no digging or engaging the brain. Go for a walk with a plastic bag and one rubber glove (those nettles take no prisoners) and you have a harvest on your hand.

Foodie Fact

Nettles contain bags of chlorophyll, calcium, iron, trace minerals, vitamins and proteins. They can be made into paper, hair lotions, thread, soil enricher (great on tomatoes!), disinfectant for stalls and stables, cups of tea…..It is a tonic, diuretic, astringent, anti-asthmatic, chi strengthener, anti-anaemic, laxative and a nettle brew can heal damage tissue. It strengthens kidneys, lungs, intestines and arteries with regular use.

Pistou Stew – Recipe to follow

Categories: Foraging, Healing foods, Recipes | Tags: foraging, free food, healing foods, nature, nettles, nutrition, pesto, pistou, simple, vegetarian, wild garlic | 13 Comments

Asparagus, Lemon & Pesto Pizza

Posted on May 3, 2013 by leroy watson

I love May, full of birthdays (my sister and I’s) and the green spears of asparagus decide to make a brief appearance. Surely one of the finest vegetables with a flavour like no other.

I’ve always found asparagus season intriguing, it’s so short and makes the availability of British asparagus so appealing. You are forced to save up all of your asparagus recipes for this one little window of the year and then POW! Asparagus begins to appear on everything. So to celebrate this asparagus-fest, we popped ours on a pizza, there is something special about the flavours of asparagus that lends it to Italian cuisine.

It’s not often that we get a pizza on the roll, the original idea for asparagus on pizza came from a lovely blog friend Margaret over at Pachamama’s Beautiful Food. If you haven’t been over to this wonderful oasis of food and nature, we highly recommend a visit. Margaret is sure to brighten up your day!

The ingredients here are pan roasted off in a little balsamic before topping the dough, adding a nice sweet/ sharp tang. This pizza also comes with an oil that packs even more flavour onto this already heavy-laden crust. We’d serve it in a bowl separately and let people help themselves.

Pesto we had left over and thought it sounded like a right good idea, this does make it a very rich affair, but adds a tonne of flavour. The pesto we used was your standard green pesto, plenty of parmesan and basil. A regular tomato sauce would also be wonderful here. Lemon zest is also a brilliant addition and really shines through here, not something you see often on a pizza.

GREEN SPEARS

Asparagus is one of the oldest recorded vegetables and is said to originate from the Mediterranean, it was much revered by the Greeks and Romans (and still is!) Asparagus is related to the onion and garlic, also the daffodil and tulip. Asparagus is one of those strange vegetables that actually take up more calories to digest, than they offer the body, making it a negative-calorie vegetable (celery is another). A celery and asparagus could just be the ultimate ‘diet’ salad.

Asparagus must be served as fresh as possible, if not the sugars present turn to starch and it loses flavour. Asparagus is best harvested early in the morning and kept in the fridge in a plastic bag, this will keep them tender and conserve the vitamins present.

Normally I’m a brown flour chap, but a little white does make things a lot lighter and a heavy pizza dough is just no fun. It doesn’t matter what you do,where you buy it from, how Italian the flour is; if you don’t make your own pizza dough, it just ain’t the same! Give it a whirl…..

This is a special pizza for special occasions!!

Roast Asparagus, Lemon and Pesto Pizza

The Bits

Pizza Dough

Our No Knead Pizza Dough is our favourite at the minute. So easy.

Toppings

8 stalks asparagus (tops cut in half length ways)

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

10 cherry tomatoes

1/3 courgette (sliced at a 45o angle if you like)

1 block vegan mozzarella (sliced into 1 cm slices) or use cashew cheese – something that melts

1/2 lemon zest

Handful of pitted olives (chopped)

Pinch chilli flakes

4 tbs green pesto

1/4 cup yoghurt

Fresh basil leaves

Oil

2 garlic cloves (crushed)

1/2 lemon zest

juice 1 lemon

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tbs white wine vinegar

Do It

Make your pizza dough.

Get your toppings ready, in a small frying pan, add a little olive oil and begin to fry your asparagus with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, when they are beginning to colour they are ready. Repeat process with tomato and courgette.

Roll out your dough on an oiled surface and either use your hands or a rolling pin to massage the dough into a pizza shape. It will be resistant and needs a little coaxing, but will eventually rest into a shape. For a golden crust brush with a little plant milk.

Pre heat fan oven to 220oC (get very hot). If are lucky enough to have a pizza stone, pop that in now.

Spread pesto on pizza, leaving a one inch gap around the edges then scatter your toppings with glee on your dough. Be reckless and generous.

Pop in oven and check after 10-12 minutes, may need another 5 depending on the potency of your hot box. The base of the pizza should be cooked in the centre.

For the oil, simply add all to a bowl and whisk together. This will keep well in the fridge overnight and may be all the better for it!

Serve

Hot out of the oven, spoon over some yoghurt, sprinkle with basil leaves and serve with a nice light green salad with a sweet-ish dressing.

We Love It!

Too easy to love this one, far too easy. From zesty top to crispy bottom, its a all round champion!

Foodie Fact

Asparagus is a good source of dietary fibre and can help with IBS, they are also rich in the vitamin B’s and folates. It also contains many minerals, especially copper and iron.

Categories: Recipes, Spring | Tags: asparagus, asparagus recipes, cooking, dough, food, healthy, homemade, lemon, pesto, pizza, recipe, vegetarian | 17 Comments

Black Olive Tapenade with Beetroot and Red Onion Salad

Posted on June 25, 2012 by leroy watson

Beetroot and Red Onion Salad with Black Olive Tapenade

Tapenade is one of those things that we don’t eat enough of. Everytime we have it, we say the same thing, “Why are we not eating more tapenade!” It is delicious and is one of those classic summer dishes that reminds me of holidays in Greece and France.

I ate alot of tapenade at break times whilst picking grapes in Beaujolais. We’d have it spread over warm baguettes, with local cheese and lashings of whatever wine was in the bucket (purely medicinal, it helped to dull the back pain you see). I believe that the intense satisfaction I got from munching the tapenade pulled me through those back breaking times. The wine was certainly nothing to get excited about, unfortunately.

This is a wonderful concoction of flavours that I’ve had a little play with (of course) and omitted the use of capers due to a forgetful moment at the shops. The unique caper-ness has been replaced by the gorgeous sun-dried tomato. Not a bad substitute! I have also added raisins to add a little sweetness, the black olives can be a little bitter in these parts, Wales not being high on the olive producing charts. The rest is fairly classic tapenade, forming a delectable black paste that can be spread or dipped as you choose. I love this type of food, which is greater than the sum of its bits.

I normally think of Tapenade as being a Greek dish, but it actually hales from Provencal in France. Traditionally this puree contains caper, anchovies, black olives and olive oil. The French would normally serve it as an hors d’oeurve or stuff it into a steak.

Tapenade is alot like pesto (see our ‘Hazelnut Pesto‘ post) in that it is a joy to behold sitting in the fridge door. It just hangs around and marinates, getting better and better. It goes well in so many things and mixed with some oil, makes for an instant wonder dressing. The best part is that it has a gourmet flavour with very little needed in way of preparation.

The way you chop up your veg has a major effect on the presentation and texture of a salad. Have a little think before you begin to chop about what type of effect you’d like to create.

If you spend a little more on good quality olives here, it is well worth it. The black variety are normally a little cheaper and in their own way, just as good as some of their greener brothers and sisters.

The Bits

Tapenade – 1 cup black olive, 6 sun dried tomatoes, 2 cloves crunched garlic, 1/2 red onion, 1/4 cup raisins, juice of 1 lemon, handful of chopped parsley, sprig of rosemary, pinch of thyme and oregano, glug of olive oil, cracked black pepper and sea salt (to taste), glug of olive oil (if needed)

Salad – 1 nice red onion (thinly sliced), 4 small beetroots (cut into eighth’s), 2 cups of spinach (chopped), 3 carrots (grated), 2 stalks celery (chopped), 1 cupful of sprouts (we used green lentil sprouts)

Black Olive Tapenade in the mix…..

Do It

Tapenade – Add all ingredients to a food processor and begin to whizz. As it becomes sticky, trickle in some remaining olive oil to create a beautiful, shiny puree. Keep in a sealed container in the fridge overnight for maximum marination (new word for you there!).

Salad – We put the red onion and carrot into a food processor and grated, then chopped the celery, spinach and beetroot separately.

Serve

Thin out some tapenade by adding the same quantity of good olive oil and whisking well. You can lower the amount of tapenade if you’d prefer a lighter dressing. Pour the dressing over the salad and give a good mix in.

Place in your favourite salad bowl and top with a handful of green lentil sprouts (see our ‘sprout‘ post for how to sprout your own, its quite simple). Then spoon on some tapenade.

We have also used it to flavour soups and stews and of course in post June days we’d have it lathered on some warm oat bread.

We Love It!

This tapenade has a great balance of bitter and sweet, with the beautiful silky texture of pureed olives.

Foodie Fact

Olives are one of the oldest foods known, dating back 7,000 years. Black Olives are left to ripen for longer on the trees, green ones are picked earlier, they generally have a milder flavour. Olives are a good source of iron (which helps to carry oxegen in our blood) and are low in calories with plenty of good fats. They do however contain a decent amount of sodium and should be eaten in moderation if you’re keeping an eye on salt intake.

Twelve black olives provide 1.8mg of iron. Interestingly women need 18mg of iron per day and men only 8mg.

Categories: Dinner, Dressings, gluten-free, Healthy Eating, Low G.I. (glycemic index), Lunch, Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Side Dish, Snacks and Inbetweens, Vegan | Tags: black olive, black olive tapenade, dairy free, dinner, food, food photography, French, gluten-free, good fats, Greece, green lentil, hazelnut pesto, healthy eating, holidays in greece, iron, low fat, onion salad, pesto, photography, raisin, raw, raw food, raw vegan, recipes, salad, sprouts, summer, summer dishes, sun-dried tomatoes, tapenade, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, wine, wine making | 8 Comments

Purple Sprouting Broccoli & Broad Bean Salad with Hazelnut Pesto

Posted on June 21, 2012 by leroy watson

Local veggies

We live on Bryn Teg which translates to English as ‘Fair Hill’. I call it tiger mountain because of the stripes, but it doesn’t seem to be catching on in these parts.

So Fair Hill it is and this salad reflects what is growing near our little home. Things are beginning to come into season and our local farm shop’s shelves are beginning to fill (thankfully). We bought what they had and this delicious salad was born. The combination of flavours worked surprisingly well with the pesto and it was even better the day later after having a good marinate in the fridge.

Broad beans (Fava beans) are special in any salad, they add a unique, nutty texture. Texture is one of the key ingredients to a brilliant salad and ingredients should be selected accordingly. Limp leaves are not the way forward! Fresh and crunchy is the key, something that is exciting to in the mouth and on the taste buds.

We have been discovering the art of salad making this raw month. Ingredients and dressings take on a completely different flavour when combined and subtle changes in flavouring can make all the difference.

Making a vegan pesto is tricky, without the pungent cheese, you just cannot recreate that unmistakable flavour. I think this is a decent attempt, matured cheese is something that vegans just have to give up on. You can buy those yeast cheese flake things.

You do end up using quite a bit of herb in the pesto, but it is well worth it.

The Bits

Salad

1 cup shelled broad beans

3 handfuls chopped sprouting purple brocolli (leaves as well)

1 sweet potato (peeled and grated)

1 courgette (1/2 grated, 1/2 cubed)

Hazelnut Pesto

4 cups basil leaves, loosely packed

1 cup fresh parsley

1 – 2 tsp sweetener of your choice

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup hazelnuts (soaked overnight, drained and rinsed)

1 – 2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed

3 tbs nutritional yeast flakes (optional)

Do It

Salad – Separate your broccoli florets from the stems and leaves, chop up. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Pesto – Chop the basil and parsley until reduced to 1 cup basil and 1/4 cup parsley, blend all ingredients except hazelnuts until smooth. Add hazelnuts gradually and continue blending, adding more olive oil as needed for desired consistency. Check seasoning.

Thin down the pesto a little, a thick dressing and mix into the salad.

Serve

Dress with a few of the broccoli leaves and a few more spoonfuls of the thick pesto. Maybe a few leaves of parsley or basil if you are feeling extravagant!

Raw pesto salad

We Love It!

The glory of pesto! Mix it in yoghurt for a tasty side dish, thin with oil for a dressing, mix with hummus to make the finest hummus ever! It really is one of the finest things you can have lurking around the fridge.

Foodie Fact

Sometimes referred to as the horse bean (!), broad beans like all legumes are a high in protein and low in fat. A really meaty legume! They are packed with vitamins, fibre and have a high iron content.

Categories: Dinner, Dressings, gluten-free, Healthy Eating, Local food, Low G.I. (glycemic index), Raw Food, Recipes, Salads, Side Dish, Vegan, Welsh produce | Tags: broad beans, cooking, courgette, delicious, dinner, fair hill, fava beans, food, hazelnut pesto, health, health food, healthy eating, herbs, local produce, pesto, pungent cheese, raw, raw food, raw pesto, raw vegan, recipes, salads, summer salad, sweet potato, taste buds, tiger mountian, vegan, vegan pesto, vegetables, vegetarian, veggie, wales | 6 Comments

Wild Garlic (Ramson) and Walnut Pesto

Posted on May 25, 2012 by leroy watson

Ruth’s hand mid forage

Another hedgerow classic via our Beach House brother, Dan. This recipe was originally taken from the great book, ‘Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me’ by the brilliant Dennis Cotter. I haven’t read it, but will hopefully be acquiring it soon.

This is a cracking little recipe, nice and quick to get together and you gain the infinite pleasure of cropping your own bunches of wild garlic (or ‘Ramson’ in some parts of the world), that are free and absolutely delicious.

The amazing thing about pesto, like most good things, it gets better with age (to a point!). An overnight stay in the fridge and POW, the flavours leap out at you.

We will be trying it tonight with almonds (we have a walnut shortage) and mixing it into some wholewheat penne. Yum!

Thanks and hugs to Dan and Ruth for their constant inspiration.

The Bits

100g wild garlic leaves, 50g shelled walnuts, 200ml olive oil, 40g Parmesan, salt, pepper

Do It

Add all ingredients to a blender and give it a good blitz. A small food processor is best here, like the ones you would use to grind coffee.

Wild garlic and walnut pesto

Serve

We have pesto spread thinly on toasted oatbread, or mixed in with wholewheat pasta.

Foodie Fact

Interestingly China in the largest producer of garlic in the world, at 13 million tonnes of the stuff, followed closely by India (800,000 tonnes), then comes Egypt and South Korea. France is not even in the top ten!

Dennis Cotter is an Irish veggie chef who owns the ‘Cafe Paradiso’ in Cork. His cookbooks and approach to all things veggie cooking are always fresh and very delicious.

Heres a link to a great little garlic producer in Scotland, the really garlicky company.