Chickpeas with Swiss Chard - Inzimino di Ceci

With the abundance of Swiss Chard on my allotment I thought I would resurrect an old favourite of mine - Chickpeas with Swiss Chard.  This a River Cafe recipe that can never fail.  I imagine originally it was a vegetable accompaniment but it is so versatile - eat on it's own, make a little more 'saucy' and it turns into  pasta sauce.  Delicious. So thank you River Cafe to bring this delight of a dish. I have changed some elements just in case you do not have any 'tomato sauce' hanging around.

175g dried chickpeas soaked overnight or a tin of pre-cooked chickpeas
1 large garlic clove peeled
6 tablespoons olive oil
900g swiss chard leaves washed with large stems removed (I personally keep the stems and chop into small pieces - depends on how much you love Swiss Chard)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium red onion peeled and coarsely chopped
2 medium carrots peeled and cut into small pieces
2 dried chillies crumbled
250ml white wine
2 tablespoons tomato sauce or about 1/2 a tin of tomatoes (not quite as good but definitely cuts the mustard)
3 handfuls flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil

If you are using dried chickpeas, soak them in a generous amount of water overnight.
Drain the chickpeas and place in a saucepan with water to cover add the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
Bring to the boil then simmer for 45 minutes or until tender.
Keen in their liquid until ready to use.
Blanch the chard and chop coarsely.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a large pan over medium heat add the onion and carrot and cook slowly for 15 minutes or until the carrots are tender. If you are using the stems put in now.
Season with salt pepper and the chilli.
Pour in the wine and reduce almost completely.
Add the tomato sauce or tinned tomatoes and reduce until very thick.
Add the chard and chickpeas and mix.
Season and cook for 10 minutes.
Chop two thirds of the parsley leaves and add to the mixture with the lemon juice.
Serve sprinkled with the whole parsley leaves and a little extra virgin olive oil.

I want to enthuse a little about Swiss Chard.  This vegetable rarely hits the shops because frankly after about a day or two it does not keep well. If you ever get giving any do use it immediately - and that is how you will probably get some from an allotment holder.... It is so easy to grow and managed properly can give you Swiss Chard all the year around.  Saying that I did get sick of once when I had ever day for a week.

I find it goes exceptionally well with couscous and if you add cheese all the better. Seek out your vegetable growing friends now and grab some.

Liverpool Supper Club

I have just found another reason to go Liverpool - the Liverpool Supper Club - a bi-monthly secret supper club.

Don't know about supper club - well they are underground restaurants where ordinary folks just open up their homes and invite the select few to try culinary delights.   So if you are a foodie this is right up your street.

The launch event is very soon and I know it will be a great evening.  Find out more on their website.  Check out the blog as well - some great reviews of some local (to Somerset) eateries.

Makes me want to pick up my kitchen knife and get chopping!

How Low Can You Go?

If you are interested in reducing your food miles then go no further than http://zerofoodmilesdiet.blogspot.com/.  The idea for this wonderful blog came out of a local Transition meeting around food.  Increasingly people are concerned with food security and the monopoly that the large supermarkets have over our markets.  Wouldn't it make sense to grow more of your own veg and source produce locally and then what do you do with it!

How low can you go?

Squash Risotto and Kale

Plate full of squash cut into cubes - this is a rough estimate
5 or 6 large leaves of kale de-stemmed and roughly cut into strips
1 Onion (finely chopped)
Vegetable stock
Risotto rice (try to get the best you can)
Glass of white
Parmesan cheese
A good grind of pepper
(serves 2)

1. Taking a large saucepan fry the chopped onion gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Take the chopped squash and add to the onions. Cook on for 4 or 5 minutes.
3. In a separate pan heat up your vegetable stock.... I tend to use one stock cube and about a 500 ml of water... this is approximate - you will have to experiment.
4. Add your risotto rice to the squashand onion and stir through.
5. Start adding your vegetable stock to the rice a little at a time stirring constantly. Let the stock reduce down and when the mixture begins to stick a little to the bottom add more stock gradually.
   
6. Keep on adding the stock ladle by ladle and stirring constantly. After about 15 minutes or maybe more - risotto is not an exact science - your rice should be reaching the correct consistency - the grains or rice should be soft.
7. Towards the end of cooking take your kale and place in a saucepan with some oil that has been pre-heated on a quite high heat. Cook until the kale is quite crispy (but not burnt) and drain on some kitchen paper.
   
8. Back to the risotto, give a good stir and add the glass of wine.
9. Keep stirring for about 3 minutes.
   
10. If you are using cheese grate a good handful and stir into the risotto with a good grind of pepper.
    
11. Plate up and decorate with the crispy kale and a little grated cheese if you are using that.

Potato Cakes

We move to Latin America, the home of the potato, to sample a great dish from my Latin American Vegetarian Cookery book by David Scott and Eve Bletcher - Potato Cakes or Llapingachos from Ecuador.  LATIN AMERICAN VEGETARIAN COOKERY.

Now I have cooked quite frequently from this book but I never tried this wonderful recipe.

Serves 4

900g potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
salt
2 medium onions, peeled and finely diced
50g butter
225g Cheddar cheese, grated
veg oil

1. Cook the potatoes until tender in boiling water, drain and mash.
2. Saute the onions in the butter until softened.
3. Stir the onions and cheese into the mashed potato and mix well.
4. Form the mixture into 12 flat patties about 2.5 cm thick. 
5. Set aside in the fridge for 3- minutes.
6. Shallow fry the potato cakes, in batches, until golden brown on both side.
7. You can instead put on greased baking sheet and brown under the grill.

I served it with a lightly chill-fied vegetable mixture with courgettes and sweetcorn. Arrange the potato cakes on the plate and place a good scoop full over them.  Scatter some cheese over.  

Bridgewater Beans

I am catching up with all my food blog writing.... I have all these wonderful pictures and no words... so here goes.

Bridgewater Beans are a revelation.  I was giving these beans by someone from Frome who in turn got them from the Heritage Seed Library who got them from an old bloke in Bridgewater... hence the name. They are in fact a type of French climbing pole bean that are excellent for keeping for the cupboard in winter.  I found that they were excellent fresh or store cupboard kept for my perennial favourite re-fried beans (a mexican dish that accompanies tortilla or tacos).  I was very impressed. So impressed, I didn't take a picture.  So impressed was I that I thought they were superior to pinto beans (Mexicans all over the world are swooning in disbelief, I know!)

Head out to your local seed swap and see if you can grab a few of these great beans.  And next season I will take a picture!

Perennial Vegetables

Rarely has the Radio 4 Food Programme been so enlightening as a recent episode on perennial vegetables and forest gardening.  Mark Diacono's Otter Farm featured with it's mix of fruit trees and bushes and perennial vegetables.  An inspiration.  I have been moving in this direction for a time now.  Less digging, more serious preparing of the ground to contemplation of planting arrangements and a serious re-consideration of what I plant.

Listen to the Food Programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010xy3g#synopsis

Check out Mark Diacono's wonderful blog at
http://www.otterfarmblog.co.uk/

Thai Green Curry

This is the freshest, zingyist recipe I know and great for parties, and barbies!  I've seen people pounce on my curry sauce and lather it all over their meats to cook on the open fire. It is great with coconut milk and makes a mean main meal with vegetables, or prawns or chicken (of course I don't know what the chicken is like but it is totally pukka with veggies and/or prawns, tofu).

This is recipe that you really do need a food blender - it makes life so much easier.

Really do not have a clue about quantities but don't worry... it is up to you to play around with the ingredients to give you the combinations you love.


1 big bunch of coriander (and when I say big I mean those enormous bunches you get in Asian supermarkets)
1 big bunch of basil
2 green chillies, sliced - seeds and all
1 lemongrass, sliced
2/3 garlic cloves
Great big wodge of ginger, peeled and chopped roughly
If you can get them 1/2 kaffir lime leaves (bit difficult to get and most of the time I do not have and it is still good)
Lots of olive oil

1. Place the ingredients gradually into a food blender with the olive oil.  Don't try and cram in too much at a time.
2. Give the mixture a good zizz to create a smooth paste.
3. Yes it was that easy... the curry paste keeps in the fridge for about a week if you cover it in oil.

Now literally cook up some vegetables or prawns or tofu or whatever you are using and add the curry paste. Add a tin of coconut milk to make it into a scrumptious meal.