Farmersgirl Kitchen

Friday, 8 November 2013

Kale, Pumpkin and Smoked Cheese Tart

I'm taking part in the Applewood Spreadable Blogger Challenge and this Kale and Pumpkin Tart is the first of three recipes I will be sharing with you using Applewood Spreadable.

In case you’re not aware, Applewood is a smoke flavoured British cheese hailing from Ilchester, Somerset and is a best seller, loved by many around the world and boasting 80% of the smoked cheese market. It was first created in 1965 and its unique smoky flavour, smooth and creamy texture and finishing flourish of sprinkled paprika, sets this hand-turned farmhouse Cheddar apart from other cheeses.

The new spreadable product is the latest, exciting new product from Applewood to join the existing range. This versatile new spreadable is an ideal cheese for today’s modern lifestyle – you can spread some over bread, stir into a variety of recipes and share with friends by dunking into various snacks.

Kale and Pumpkin Tart with Applewood Spreadable

1 28cm/11in shortcrust pastry flan case, baked blind
1 small pumpkin, seeds and peel removed
3 tbsp oil
2 small onions, sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

30g butter
1 tbsp oil
150ml double cream
4 eggs
100g Applewood Spreadable
100g grated cheese (I used cheddar but if you have Applewood Smoked, that would be even better!)

1. Make the flan case according to the instructions on the Frequently Used Recipes page.

2. Cut the pumpkin into even sized chunks add, mix with 3 tbsp oil and roast for about 30-40 minutes until tinged with brown and tender, leave to cool.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil and 30g butter, gently fry the onions and garlic until soft and translucent, add the kale and stir for 3-4 minutes until it starts to soften, set aside to cool.

4. Place the pumpkin into the pastry case.

6. Top with the kale and onion mix.

5. Mix together the Applewood Spreadable with a little cream to slacken it off, then add the rest of the cream. Add the the eggs and beat into the cream mixture, season to taste and pour over the kale and pumpkin. Top with the grated cheese.

6. Bake at 160C for 40 minutes until the egg is set and the cheese is golden and crispy.

Serve with leeks and peas cooked gently in butter and a little stock.

The soft sweet pumpkin went well with the texture of the kale and the smoky cheese flavour of the the Applewood Spreadable was the perfect compliment to both of them. Although most of the ingredients in this tart are vegetarian, the Applewood Spreadable is NOT, so I would suggest that if you don't eat animal products, you choose to use Applewood Smoked Cheddar to get the smoky flavour in the tart.

I received samples of Applewood Spreadable Cheese and a hamper of food products to use in the competition, I have not been paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Applewood Smoked Spreadable, cream, eggs, flan, Kale, Leeks, peas, pumpkin, tart

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Risotto and Risotto Cakes for Credit Crunch Munch

I have to remind myself to include some of my recipes in blog challenges like Credit Crunch Munch. Using up left overs and creating new dishes from those bits left in the fridge is second nature to me and I find it pushes my creativity to create something from almost nothing.

This wasn't really 'nothing', I had bought a large roast to have at the weekend when I had visitors. I had marinated it and slow cooked it in a roasting bag, everyone enjoyed the tender slices of beef. However, it really was a big joint of beef, so even after another dinner of roast beef slices with gravy and slices with salad, there was still some left.

I decided to dice the cooked beef and cook it in a risotto.

Beef Risotto

150g - 300g left over roast beef cubed
2 tsp butter
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
400g risotto rice
1 litre beef stock
100g frozen peas

1. Melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan, add the onions and cook over a low heat for a bout 10 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add a little water to the pan if the onions stick.
2. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the rice and cook until it turns opaque. Add a quarter of the stock and stir until all the liquid has been absorbed.
4. Continue to add the stock, stirring constantly until the rice is soft but still has a little bite.
5. Add the cubed beef and frozen peas, stir, turn the heat off and leave with the lid on the pan for 5-10 minutes until it is heated through.
6. If you have some flat leaved parsley you can add this before serving, I didn't have any when I made this and it was fine without.

So now I have a large pan of risotto, too much for three of us to eat and more left overs. So I thought I'd have a go at making risotto cakes. The technique was very simple, add an egg to the left over risotto mixture. Flour a large plate, form patties of risotto and egg mixture on the plate, dust with more flour. Heat a couple of tbsp of oil in a frying pan and, using a fish slice, gently transfer the risotto cakes to the pan. Fry until brown and crisp, turn and cook to the same colour on the other side. Serve with creamed horseradish and salad.

We loved the risotto cakes with their crispy crunchy outside and soft tasty inside, and I would definitely make them again.

Credit Crunch Munch is a blog challenge run by Fuss Free Flavour and Fab Food for All and this month hosted by Fish Fingers for Tea

Labels: Beef, Credit Crunch Munch, fried, horseradish, peas, risotto, risotto cakes, roast beef

Friday, 15 March 2013

Fish and Chips: the healthier takeaway option

We all know that fish and chips is a healthier takeaway option than other choices like pizzas, burgers or kebabs. If you live in the countryside like me, it's not easy to access takeaways, they don't deliver you have to go and collect!

That's why I prefer to keep some breaded cod or haddock in my freezer along with some oven chips and frozen peas. In 30 minutes you can have a comforting plate of Fish and Chips ready and on the table.

If you have more time and want to make your own, you might want to check out some of the recipes on the Fish and chip style fish recipes on the Fish is the Dish website:
Fish n Chips Jubilee Fish and Chips by Nick Coffer Spooky Witch Fingers

Fish is the Dish has been educating people across the UK about the health benefits of eating fish for over a year now, and they are delighted to announce that after months of hard work, their Healthy Happy Hearts Challenge is finally complete and underway!

Labels: cod, Fish and Chips, Fish is the Dish, haddock, Healthy Happy Hearts, peas

Monday, 15 October 2012

La Tasca Paella de Carne Recipe

A few weeks ago, I was invited to La Tasca in Renfield Street, Glasgow to watch Executive Chef Antonio Bennetto and Thomas, the La Tasca chef, demonstrate cooking paella, as well as tasting the delicious autumn menu for La Tasca. You can read about it in my blog post 'Paella People'

After the demonstration I wanted to make some Paella myself. As I wanted it to be as authentic to La Tasca as possible, I asked if they would be able to provide a recipe for me and was delighted when the answer was YES!


Paella de Carne ingredients

Frying the onion and peppers in garlic infused oil

Adding the chicken and chorizo

Adding the prawns and peas

Adding the rice in a cross

LA TASCA PAELLA DE CARNE

Serves 2 – 4 people

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 30-35 minutes

INGREDIENTS

200g of Spanish paella rice such as bomba or calasparra

2 tbs garlic infused olive oil

1 tsp pimenton de la vera dulce (smoked sweet paprika)

Pinch of saffron (or turmeric if you don’t have saffron)

675ml good quality chicken stock (475ml if using calasparra)

4 large ripe tomatoes

1 small white onion

2 medium sized fresh chicken breasts, diced into 25mm chunks

100g fresh chorizo sausage, sliced into rounds about ½ a cm in thickness

40g of fine beans, top, tailed and chopped into 1cm

30g of garden peas

Pinch of salt & pepper

1 roasted red pepper cut into quarters to garnish

1 lemon cut into wedges

CROCKERY

1 Paella Pan or a 30cm Large Heavy bottom frying pan

1 small pan for tomatoes

METHOD

1. Cut the onion and pepper into roughly 2cm cubes.

2. Score a small cross on the base of each tomato, then carefully place into a pan with boiling water, leave for 20 to 30 seconds, then remove using a slotted spoon. Drop the tomatoes into a bowl of ice cold water and leave to cool. Remove the tomatoes then peel away the skin. Cut the tomatoes into quarters, remove the seeds with a spoon, and then roughly chop the flesh. Set the chopped tomato aside.

3. Place a Paella pan or sauté pan over medium heat and when hot pour in the garlic infused olive oil. Add the onions and peppers and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened then move to one side of the pan.

4. Add the chicken and chorizo, stirring through and cook for 2-3 minutes until the chicken starts to brown and the chorizo begins to lightly caramelise before mixing back through with the peppers and onion.

5. Add the diced tomatoes, almost all of the chicken stock (leave 50 to 75ml back) and the pimenton, saffron/or turmeric. Mix in the green beans and peas, turn the heat up and once the broth is at a rolling boil and the chicken is cooked through, taste to make sure you are happy with the flavour (at this point you are looking for a strong flavour of Smokey paprika, saffron (if using) and a rich chicken stock kick) – season with salt and pepper if required.

6. Add the Paella rice making a cross in the pan with the rice from one side to the other.

7. Share the rice around the pan carefully using a spoon to distribute the rice into the 4 sections making sure the rice is even and in every part of the pan. Cook for 10 minutes on medium to high heat. Do not stir.

8. Turn the heat down to low, place the roasted red pepper quarters on top of the paella and cook for 10 minutes until the broth has been absorbed by the rice.

(Have the remaining chicken stock on hand to gently ladle over the rice if required at any point within these 10 minutes).

Once the broth has totally disappeared, check that the rice is al dente – cooked but with a slight bite, then turn off the heat and let it rest!

A Rest is so important: 15 minutes is the La Tasca golden rule, however if you have the luxury of waiting up to 45 minutes you will see a notable difference in texture and condensed taste. If you choose the 45 minute wait, make sure you cover the pan loosely with kitchen foil.

Great Paella should have a layer of rice caramelised on the bottom of the pan together with looking compact and caramelised on top; add the lemons just before serving!

Only fluff up the Paella when you are about to serve!

Please note: I added some prawns to the original recipe, as I am a big fan of seafood.


Finished Paella

The paella was delicious with a rich smoky flavour from the smoked paprika and chorizo, I would certainly make it again. Many thanks to Antiono for supplying the recipe and to Jade, Ella and Amy for being so accommodating.

Note: I found that I had to cover the pan with foil towards the end of cooking to get the rice on the top to cook properly. This is probably because my pan wasn't big enough to get a thin layer.

Labels: Chicken, chorizo, La Tasca, Paella de Carne, peas, pimenton, prawns, recipe, rice, smoked paprika, tomato

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Paella People!

I was so pleased to be invited back to La Tasca in Renfield Street Glasgow. I was last there in March and enjoyed tasting the tapas and meeting up with other Scottish food bloggers, you can read about it here. This time I was invited to a Paella evening and to try the new autumn menu dishes.

When we arrived there was the opportunity to try some of wines on offer at La Tasca, to accompany the wine we had jamon, anchovies and Manchego cheese. The cheese was particularly good.

Our host for the evening was Executive Chef Antiono Bennetto. Antiono started his career in restaurants and hotel kitchens, but soon moved to food development, working for food producers and supermarkets, he then moved into development for big brand restaurants. Antonio travels frequently to Spain to meet local chefs and find out as much as possible about the traditional dishes and techniques of Spanish cookery.

His most recent visits have been to Valencia to research paella. Paella from Valencia traditionally contains rabbit and snails, and the paella would also be cooked in a very thin layer without much fish or meat. However, Antonio's job is to take traditional dishes and adapt them for mainstream British tastes. It was interesting to hear that, while 'bone in' chicken thighs would have more taste, they are higher in fat, so chicken breast is used. La Tasca also have their own recipe chorizo which is made in Spain for them and contains less fat and less salt than the traditional recipe.

Digital Kit: Amy Stoffel, La Cucina

I had so many photographs of the paella making that I decided to make a digital layout of the process. It was interesting to see the way the paella was made, the chicken, squid and prawns were all added before the rice and yet they did not seem to suffer from a longer cooking. The correct type of rice is very important, La Tasca use Bomba rice, which absorbs three times the quantity of liquid as compared to twice the liquid for most other rice varieties.

I loved the way the rice was added to pan in a cross then Thomas, the chef, drew the rice into the stock evenly using the quadrants to guide him. This ensured that the rice was distributed evenly which is very important because we then learned that you do not stir paella!

While the paella was cooking it was time to taste the new dishes on the autumn menu. I'm hoping that I have got them right, apologies if I have mis-named them.

CHORIZO & MORCILLA (CASTILLA Y LEÓN) £4.95

Spanish black pudding and chorizo cooked with fire roast peppers, basil and onion.
This was probably my favourite of the new dishes, at first I thought 'what big olives'! However when I bit into the firm, slightly rubbery skin, I was delighted to find a soft and succulent mouthful of black pudding. A mild, rather than spicy mixture, much softer then the Scottish kind of black pudding. The combination with the chorizo, onions and peppers really worked well.

HOME-MADE BEEF BURGERS (CATALUÑA) £4.95

Two fresh mini home-made beef burgers with all the Spanish toppings.

The mini burgers really did taste homemade, no taste of fillers. The caramelised onions were soft and full of flavour and the little buns were reminiscent of brioche. I wouldn't have ordered burgers in a tapas bar but they were very good and a nice addition to the menu for conservative eaters and children.

SPICY ROASTED VEGETABLE CASSOLO WITH ALMOND (CASTILE LA MANCHA) £4.75

Butternut squash, red onion, chickpeas, celeriac and cannellini beans in a winter warming spicy tomato sauce topped with crushed almonds and parsley.

This is a new vegetarian option at La Tasca, I can't say that it jumped out at me as a highlight of the meal, it seemed to blend in with the other tomato based dishes.

CROQUETAS DE MANCHEGO (TOLEDO) £4.35

Hand-crumbed with three-month-aged-Manchego cheese and fresh spinach, served with roasted garlic mayonnaise.

The Croquetas de Manchego did not disappoint, lovely crunchy outside and soft cheesy inside, these are a must have on any tapas table.

HUEVOS CABREAOS (CATALUÑA) £3.25

Amazing Spanish take on egg and chips, needs to be cut before eating.

Somehow I missed this dish, so am not able to comment on it, I did see someone eating it and they seemed to be enjoying it!

Sadly my rural location (last train at 8.10pm) meant that I had to leave before the paella was ready to taste, so I have had to rely on my bloggie friends to tell me just how good it was!

Elaine (nearest) and Briony concentrating on the paella demonstration

It was good to meet Elaine from Fun as a Gran and Graham from A Scots Larder. Special thanks to Briony from The Glasgow Food Blog for sharing her photographs.

I was gutted that I didn't get to try the paella, I think I will have to make a trip to La Tasca just to have some, especially as the reports I got were that the flavour was incredible.

Many thanks to Ella for inviting me to La Tasca and also for the goodie bag.

Labels: Antiono Bennetto, bomba rice, Chicken, chorizo, Croquetas, Fun as a Gran, Glasgow, green beans, La Tasca, Morcilla, paella, peas, peppers, prawns, Scots Larder, squid, Tapas, The Glasgow Food Blog, Valencia

Monday, 9 April 2012

Chicken and Leek Pasta Bake

After all the Easter feasting, there are always the leftovers. I love leftovers the offer up the chance to experiment and create something from the bits and pieces that lurk in the fridge.

We had chicken on Saturday and Lamb on Sunday and as our visitors had to call off at the last minute, we have rather a lot of leftovers! The lamb has been made into a Shepherd's Pie and a Lamb Curry but the chicken needed to be used today, so I rifled through the fridge and found some leeks, spring onions, Dijon mustard and half fat creme fraiche.

Chicken and Leek Pasta (serves 4)

Meat stripped from 1 cooked chicken breast

Meat stripped from 1 cooked chicken leg

2 leeks, cleaned and finely chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

300ml of half fat creme fraiche

a couple of handfuls of frozen peas

juice of half a lemon

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp olive oil

6 nests of tagliatelle

salt and freshly ground pepper

grated Parmesan or Gran Padano cheese to taste

In a large frying pan or saute pan, heat the olive oil and gently cook the leeks and spring onions until soft. Add the cooked chicken and heat through, add the frozen peas and set aside.

Cook the tagliatelli in a pan of boiling water until just cooked. Drain, leaving a little of the cooking water in the pan and set aside.

Add the creme fraiche, mustard and seasoning to the leek and chicken mixture and season to taste.

Mix the chicken mixture through the pasta and pile into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over the grated cheese and put in an oven at 200C for about 10 minutes until brown and bubbling.

Labels: Bake, Chicken, Leeks, leftovers, pasta, peas

Saturday, 11 February 2012

River Cottage Rocks - Jerk Chicken

There's a new cooking challenge - it's called River Cottage Rocks and it's run by Jo at Jo's Kitchen (The Hungry Blogger). I don't own a single book by Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall although I have my eye on the Vegetarian one from his last series. However, there are recipes a plenty on the Guardian website so that did not deter me.

I liked the look of this Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas and, strangely, I have never made Jerk chicken, so it was something that I wanted to try. I used skinned chicken breasts as that was what I had in the freezer and I have to say that they were absolutely delicious, not dry at all and there was just the right amount of heat in the paste. I didn't leave it overnight, but put the paste on in the morning and left it for around 5 hours before cooking. The rice and peas I'm not so sure of, I think I would like to check out some other recipes for this as I was slightly disappointed in the lack of flavour.

The closing date for this challenge is 12th February, so you need to get your skates on if you are going to take part!

Labels: allspice, Chicken, hot, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, jerk chicken, kidney beans, peas, rice, spice

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