The Slow Cooked Challenge September Round Up

 September turned out to be full of sunshine and, in Scotland, we had better weather than we had had all summer!  In saying all that, it has been chilly in the mornings and evenings so coming home to a slow cooked warming supper is definitely the order of the day.

We have a range of dishes to choose from in this month's Slow Cooked Challenge starting with Blackberry Pulled Pork with Blackberry BBQ Sauce.

This unusual and creative dish comes to us from the heart of rural France, from the blog of De Tout Coeur Limousin, that sauce looks so good!

Next up a hearty plate of Slow Cooker Chipotle Chilli Beans provided by Sarah at Tales from the Kitchen Shed.  I'm a sucker for chipotle chillies, so will be filling my slow cooker with these beans very soon.

Another vegetarian dish and one I think I may be making this week, as I have some portobello mushrooms that I didn't use at the weekend. This dish of Slow Cooked Portobello Mushroom Stew with Herb Dumplings comes from the lovely Dominic who cooks up all kinds of treat at Belleau Kitchen.

Back to Tales from the Kitchen Shed for some more tasty treats.  This time Sarah is serving up Spicy Courgette Chutney made in her Slow Cooker with a glut of courgettes.

This is real comfort food, a Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole from Lucy at Baking Queen 74 and my co-host for the Slow Cooked Challenge.  I hope you will join Lucy for the October Slow Cooked Challenge when it goes live on 1st October.  


Go to the Slow Cooked Challenge page for full details of the challenge and to find the current challenge. 

Labels: blackberries, Chipoltle Chilli Beans, chutney, courgette, dumplings, mushroom, Pulled Pork, sausage casserole, Slow Cooked Challenge, slow cooker, stew

posted by Janice @ 20:00 3 Comments

Courgette and Hummus Pizza

I saw a photograph of a Courgette (Zucchini) and Hummus Pizza on Pinterest, unfortunately the link went to a blog that was private so I wasn't able to get the recipe, however I was intrigued by this unusual topping, so decided to have a go myself.


Having recently returned from Appleby and the Lake District  via Little Salkeld Mill, near Penrith,  where you can see the flour milled, enjoy the delights of the cafe and stock up on all the organic goodies.


Courgette and Hummus Pizza

For the dough
2 tsp fast action dried yeast
300ml milk
200g spelt flour
300g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp plain yogurt
30g butter, melted

This quantity of flour will make one large pizza and three flat breads or two large pizzas. Just half the quantities if you only want enough for one pizza.

For the topping
1 large courgette (zucchini) finely sliced
200g hummus (I used homemade, if you can try and find one that is not completely smooth but any will do)
100g Tickler Extra Mature Cheddar with Red Onions (or cheese of your choice)

I made my dough in the bread maker, but if you want to make it by hand, put all the ingredients in a large bowl and add the salt and the yeast keeping them away from each other.  Add the olive oil and 150ml of the water and mix. Add the remaining water a little at a time until you have a smooth, soft dough.

Tip the dough onto an oiled surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth.  Leave to rise until doubled in size.

Split off enough dough for your pizza and roll is or press it onto a tray, spread the hummus in a thick layer over the dough, place the slices of courgette over the hummus.  Crumble the mature cheddar and scatter over the pizza. 

Cover the pizza with oiled cling film  and leave to rise for a further 30 minutes.  

Bake at 200C for 20-30 minutes until the base is cooked, the courgettes have crisped and the cheese is melted and golden. 

The combination of the hummus and courgette was absolutely brilliant!  The spelt base was soft rather than crispy but full of flavour, the red onion in the cheese also worked well with the combination, but you could add some finely chopped red onion to the topping to compensate if you don't have this cheese. 

I had the opportunity to try out the new Clean Cut Pizza Wheel  from OXO Good Grips, so here is the result, it was easy to hold and cut through the topping and base with ease.  I also liked the plastic cover for the sharp blade although it can be a little tricky to get the cover off!  See the pizza cutter in action in this little video.


Clean Cut Pizza Wheel:  For the perfect pizza party, use the OXO Good Grips Clean Cut Pizza Wheel. This hand-held pizza slicer provides leverage and control for easy slicing and the 10cm stainless steel wheel easily cuts through thin- or thick-crust pizza. The soft, comfortable, non-slip grip will make portioning out slices for everyone a breeze. The handle comes apart and blade removes for easy cleaning, and the blade guard snaps on to protect the blade and hands for storage. The Pizza Wheel is dishwasher safe.  RRP £10

Labels: Cheddar, Clean Cut Pizza Wheel, courgette, hummus, OXO Good Grips, Pizza, spelt flour, Tickler, zucchini

posted by Janice @ 20:41 14 Comments

Summer Soup with Herbs

Even in the summer, you sometimes feel the need for a bowl of soup. This weekend I decided to make a pot of soup using summer vegetables and herbs. It's not a million miles from minestrone and was created with what I had available in the fridge and the garden.

Summer Soup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 stalks of celery
2 medium courgettes (zuchinni),cut into large chunks
200g carrots, peeled and diced
4 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and chopped.
1 ltr vegetable stock
salt and pepper
bouquet garni of rosemary, thyme, marjoram and chives
2 tbsp Orzo pasta (or other small pasta)
4 tbsp chopped flat leaved parsley

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, celery and carrots. Put the lid on, turn the heat down to medium and let the vegetables sweat for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the courgettes and tomatoes, put the lid back on for another 3 minutes.
3. Add the vegetable stock and bouquet garni and season with salt and pepper.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes then add the pasta and simmer for another 5 minutes until it is cooked.
5. Add the chopped parsley just before serving.


I'm entering this recipe for Cooking with Herbs run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage.
I'm also adding this to No Croutons Required. No Croutons Required is a monthly vegetarian soup and salad challenge.
It's hosted by Jac at Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen.This month Jac is hosting and the theme is 'Seasonal'.
My seasonal ingredients are courgettes, tomatoes and herbs.

Labels: celery, Cooking with Herbs, courgette, herbs, No Croutons Required, Soup, summer

posted by Janice @ 15:26 7 Comments

Summer Beef Pot Roast

I got a nice piece of brisket on special offer, it's not something I would normally cook in the summer, but we are not having much of a summer and it was pouring with rain yesterday and just the day for a nice slow cooked meal.

I looked around to see if I could find some inspiration for a summer version of a pot roast and found this Summer Garden Beef Pot Roast at the 'Only Sometimes Clever' blog.  I followed the recipe pretty much as is, although I used sweet smoked pimenton paprika and my basil isn't ready yet so I used some fresh thyme and rosemary. Oh, yes and rather than add water, I added 500ml of still cider which worked brilliantly giving the sauce a little sweetness.  Of course, I don't have a 'crockpot' so I cooked my beef for about 4 hours, first hour at 160C and then turn it down to 140C for the next three.  Keep taking it out every hour to hour and a half,  poking at it to see how it's getting on because it will depend on the size of your beef and the amount of vegetables you have in there.


I used the first courgette (zucchini) of summer from my garden.  I have two plants in a big planter and they have been loving the mild, wet weather we have been having.


This is the roast after a couple of hours, the pot was full to the top with veggies when it went in but they had melted away, so there was then room to add the new potatoes cut into big chunks, skins still on.

I used some gravy powder to thicken the juices, but you could serve them as they are or use a little cornflour mixed with water.  It's a great meal, the garlic permeates the gravy and the beef, the tomatoes and peppers add sweetness and the potatoes are there to mash into the gravy and get all the the juices mopped up.  Everything in one pot also means less washing up!

Labels: Beef, Brisket, carrots, cider, courgette, garlic, one pot, pot roast, potatoes, red pepper, summer

posted by Janice @ 18:56 4 Comments

Summer Vegetable Soup with Granary Bread

Summer is not really a time I associate with soup, however, it has been rather chilly recently and as I was going away for a few days, I realised I needed to use up the vegetables that I had received in my Farmison Vegetable Box.  Soup is the perfect vehicle for any kind of vegetables and with some beans added it makes a the soup into a meal.


So here are the vegetables: celery; carrots, onion, quarter of a fennel bulb; 2 courgettes, 2 potatoes and about a third of a head of broccoli.  It doesn't matter what you have although onion and carrots are always a good base.  Oh and there was on runner bean that had escaped me when I cooked those the other day, so that went in too.

Summer Vegetable Soup

1 onion, peeled and chopped
4 stalks of celery, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 potatoes, diced
1/4 fennel bulb, chopped
bunch of thyme, rosemary and marjoram tied together
2 courgettes, diced
1/3 head of broccoli, chopped
4 tomatoes, seeds removed and chopped
100g canellini beans, soaked and cooked for 20 minutes until just tender
3 litres vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper

 1 tbsp olive oil

1.Heat the olive oil in a pan.   Add the onion and celery and cook for 2 mintues, add the carrots, fennel and potoatoes, cook for another minutes.  Add the stock and herbs, season well and cook until the carrot is soft (20-30 minutes)
2. Add the chopped courgettes, broccoli, tomatoes and canellini beans and cook for a further 10 minutes.
3. Remove the herb bundle, adjust seasoning and serve with a sprinkling of fresh chopped thyme and rosemary and some Granary Bread.

I'm entering this soup for Karen's  'Herbs on Saturday' blog challenge, it was a really good tasty soup and the flavour of the herbs came through stongly without overpowering the flavours of the different vegetables.

 

Granary Bread

500g Granary Bread Flour
1 1/2 tsp easy blend yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
50g butter
275g lukewarm water

I put all of the ingredients into the bread maker on the dough setting, then shaped the dough onto a baking tray, left to rise again and baked for about 30 minutes at 200C.  If you don't have a bread maker, follow the recipe on the Granary Flour packet.

Labels: Broccoli, celery, courgette, Farmison, Fennel, Herbs on Saturday, onion, potatoes, Rosemary, Soup, thyme

posted by Janice @ 16:30 5 Comments

Courgette and Mushroom Pappardelle with Stilton

I never feel much like doing a lot of cooking on a Friday night, so this was a quick and tasty meal that took very little preparation. 

I was asked to review this glorious veggie box by Farmison  the company is the brainchild of John Pallagi and Lee Simmonds, two old friends and colleagues who share a great love for fantastic food.

They promote their 7 core values:

1. Farmison provides home cooks with fabulous foods that would normally only be found in the kitchens of discerning, ingredient-aware chefs.
2. Farmison provides a lip-smacking alternative to the year-round monotony of supermarkets.
3. Farmison constantly changes what it sells to reflect what's in season. When foods are not at their best, we don't stock them.
4. Farmison supports biodiversity in our food chain by promoting rare breed meats and searching out less common fruit and vegetable varieties.
5. Farmison gives small-scale food producers a UK-wide platform to showcase and sell their products, complementing their own local initiatives.
6. Farmison sources food from the UK first and foremost and only chooses imported food if there is no British equivalent.
7. Farmison sells foods produced in a way that respects farm animals, producers and the environment.

I was certainly impressed by the freshness of the vegetables and the variety, they were very well packed too.

 I only needed two courgettes and about 8 mushrooms for this dish so there will be more recipes coming up.

Vegetable Papardelle with Stilton

2 large courgettes, diced
8 mushrooms, sliced
30g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g Melton Mowbury Stilton,  crumbled
250g Soli Pappardelle pasta (courtesy of my lovely hamper from Capricorn Goats Cheese)

Heat the butter and oil in a large pan, add the courgettes and mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft and golden brown.


Fill a large pan with boiling water, bring to a rolling boil and add the Pappardelle

Add 100ml cream to the pan of vegetables and then add the crumbled stilton cheese.

Turn down the heat and cook gently until the cheese melts into the sauce.

Drain the pasta and mix with the cheese and vegetable mixture.  This made a generous serving for two but would have served four with some bread.  We love Stilton but if it's not for you, then you could use any cheese that melts well.

Look out for more recipes made with my Farmison Veg Box, if you would like to find out more about how you can buy your fruit and vegetables from Farmison there are a variety of boxes available, as well as a range of meats and cheeses.

 Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I was not required to write a positive review and any opinion expressed is my own.

Labels: Capricorn Goats Cheese, cheese, courgette, cream, Farmison, mushroom Stilton, papparedelle

posted by Janice @ 21:34 6 Comments

Grow your own!

No Croutons Required is hosted by Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa's Kitchen

Labels: champagne vinegar, colman's mustard, courgette, honey, No Croutons Required, radish, salad, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 19:43 6 Comments

Is it Summer?

Labels: carrots, courgette, onions, potato, pressure cooker, Soup

posted by Janice @ 13:47 8 Comments