A Walk in the Woods

Rosie has been visiting this weekend and this morning she reminded me of one of the many many reasons that I’m looking forward to getting my own dog.  I think all Sunday mornings should be spent this way.

 

 

Only 2 more weeks until my very own pooch moves in.  :)

Parsley Cream

I’m quite proud of this photo.  Feel that it captures just how rich and luxurious the dish is.  And how simple too.  

Seriously, it couldn’t be easier. 

My only advice is to use white pasta (wholewheat doesn’t work here at all) and to resist adding vegetables to the pasta.  It really is beautiful eaten as is.  Serve with a salad on the side instead.  :)

Parsley Cream Tagliatelle

(serves 2 hungry people)

4 heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche (or double/whipping cream)

1/2 a small garlic clove, crushed

Large handful of parsley leaves

Salt and pepper

200g tagliatelle (white pasta), cooked in salted water

• Simple whizz up the cream, parsley and garlic in a food processor until a pale green, slightly speckled sauce is formed.  Season very carefully and stir through the cooked tagliatelli.

I ate this recently with a side salad of roasted asparagus and courgettes with fresh peas. 

Nettle Gnocchi

The nice thing about nettles is that one never has too look very far to find them.  Woods, parks, river banks, pathways: they’re everywhere and, now that I’ve discovered they are very tasty indeed, that’s a really good thing.  The nasty thing about nettles, of course, is that they have a rather effective defense mechanism and having been no stranger to nettles stings as a child, I knew I had to be prepared for an afternoon’s picking.

Garbed in thick gardening gloves and several long-sleeved jumpers, I marched through the warm June afternoon to my chosen patch.  I had a thick plastic bag and a long handled pair of scissors.  Surely I’d be able to harvest some nettle leaves without any pain? 

Apparently not.  This evening I am nursing itchy red hands, arms and shins.  Protective clothing, it seems, is no match to the malice of the green stingers.  Their sticky little hooks managed to get under all of my layers, making what should have been a pleasant afternoon’s foraging into a rather uncomfortable experience.

Still, I got my revenge later in the day by dropping the offending leaves into a vat of boiling water before squeezing them dry and chopping them finely.  Let that be a warning to you, stingy plants!

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The following recipe is my entry to Joanna’s One Local Summer event which is collecting recipes using local produce only.  This dish fits the bill.  Everything other than the salt and pepper is from the north of Scotland.

Nettle Gnocchi

650g floury potatoes

A shopping bag full of nettle leaves (When picking nettles, look for young plants with bright green leaves rather than the very dark mature plants. which can be very bitter.)

100g cheddar cheese, finely grated

Salt and pepper

2 egg yolks

100g plain flour

Steam potatoes until completely soft, cool slightly then pass through a potato ricer.

Add nettles to a large pan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.  Drain and squeeze out all the moisture from the leaves before chopping very, very finely. 

Mix together the potatoes, nettles, cheese, egg yolks and seasoning.  Gradually add the flour to the mixture and combine with your hands until a pliable dough has formed.

Roll into long 2cm wide sausages and cut into 3 cm pieces. 

Drop half a dozen or so of the gnocchi into rolling water and stir with a spoon to create a gnocchi whirlpool.  Boil gently until the gnocchi start to float.  Cook for 30 seconds more then remove from water and drain. 

I ate this drizzled with melted butter and sprinkled with chives. 

Kesäkeitto

I’m in a distinctly Scandinavian mood this week, it seems.  On Wednesday I posted a recipe for traditional Swedish pancakes and today I’m sharing yet another Finnish dish with you all.  Have to say, this one is an absolute cracker. 

Kesäkeitto translates as “summer soup” and, without wanting to sound like a complete cheese-ball, this is exactly what it tastes like: sunshine in a bowl.  Though quite easy to make at any time of year using mature vegetables or even frozen, this nourishing soup is really special when made with young, tender produce.  Prettier too.  :)

Kesäkeitto

(Serves 4 generously)

A few parsley stalks

1 bay leaf

8 baby carrots, halved length-ways then width ways

5 radishes, quartered

4 baby new potatoes, cut into 8 chunks each

1/2 head of cauliflower, seperated into small florets

Handful of green beans, trimmed and cut in half

75g peas (fresh or frozen)

2 large handful of spinach leaves

1 tspn salt

Water

1 tblspn butter

1 tblspn plain flour

100ml milk

1 egg yolk

50ml cream

Seasoning

Dill

•  Add the herbs and all the vegetables (apart from the spinach) to a pan.  Add water until veg is covered by 1 inch of liquid.  Add the salt. 
• Bring the water to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the spinach and simmer for 5 more minutes.
• Drain the vegetables reserving the stock that has been created and discarding the herbs.
• In a heavy based pan melt the butter and add the flour.  Stir to create a roux.  Add 4 ladles of stock one at a time, whisking out all lumps.  Add the rest of the stock and the milk to create a rich milky stock.
• In a small bowl, mix together the egg yolk and cream.  Gradually add 50ml of the milky stock to the eggy-cream to create a smooth sauce then gradually add this sauce back into the pan with the milky stock, whisking smoothly all the while.
• Add the vegetables back into the stock and heat through.  Season carefully.
• Serve sprinkled with dill.

P.S. This is my entry for this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by the lovely Maninas. 

Lina’s Swedish Pancakes

Though I’m a distinctly savoury girl, I’ve always made my pancakes sweet.  Flour, sugar, egg, milk and baking powder all mixed together to create little fluffy pancakes destined to be adorned with nutella or lemon juice or (in nostalgic moments) sticky golden syrup.  They’re very good.  But rather sweet.  And so, it is with relief that I have recently discovered another type of pancake that I like equally well.

It was Lina, my Scandinavian friend, who introduced me to these Swedish pancakes last weekend.  Despite being heavily pregnant, she insisted on making all five of us a hearty breakfast on Sunday morning and it was with great admiration and not a little envy that I watched her effortlessly whip up a humongous pile of perfectly formed pancakes in a ridiculously short time.  She gets it from her grandmother apparently.

Swedish Pancakes

(makes 20 thin pancakes - four was enough for me but other diners ate 12!)

1 1/3 cups plain flour

2 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

Large knob of butter

• Sift the flour into a large bowl.  Add the milk gradually and whisk free of lumps.  Add the salt.
• Beat the eggs and whisk into the batter.
• Melt the butter in a heavy non stick frying pan and pour into batter.  Whisk again.
• Heat the pan over a medium high heat and carefully add one ladle of batter to the pan.  When bubbles begin to form in the batter, use a spatula to turn the pancake.  Slide out of pan and fold onto a warmed plate.
• Continue until all the batter has been used and you have a pile of folded pancakes.
• Serve with lemon and sugar.

P.S. Just discovered that Susan is hosting a Pancake event this month.  Perfect!  This will be my entry.

Alladale

D is back from his camping trip in Sutherland (northern Highlands of Scotland).  He and the kids had such an amazing time I just had to share some of their photos with you. 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Weekend

An explosion in the Scottish baby population is requiring me to embark on a whirlwind tour of Scotland this weekend. 

Back sometime next week.

Have a great weekend.  :)

Berry Ice-Cream on a Rainy Day

It’s raining.  Hard.  And I’m feeling rather ambivilant about it.

You see, on one hand  I should be happy.  My poor, poor garden has been without rain for weeks now.  Weeks!  That’s not very Scottish at all.  Plants here expect copious amounts of moisture.  In fact, I think it’s in their contract.   I also don’t have anything outdoorsy planned for this evening.  Why should I give a monkey’s if the skies have opened? 

Well, I care because D is up in Sutherland right now wild camping with some of our pupils.  If it’s raining here, it’s more than likely raining there and the thought of him and the kids in damp clothes heating up their tins of beans with the wind whipping around them breaks my heart. 

Yet here I am.  Perched on my window sill, cosy and warm, watching the rain and thinking about them and, all the while, ever so slowly relishing every bite of my home-made berry ice-cream.  Which I didn’t even slave over. 

It’s shameful. 

Berry Ice Cream

(Serves 2)

200g frozen berries (any kind. I used mixed fruits of the forest - raspberries, blackberrys, red and black currants)

50 - 100 g fromage frais (that’s what I used, anyhow.  Yogurt would probably work and double cream would undoubtably be heavenly)

• Tip both ingredients into a blender and whizz until combined and smooth. 
• Serve immediately.

I adored the tartness of this dessert but some might prefer a little more sweetness.  Add some honey or sugar if this is you.

Posh Fish Fingers

Last year, when Christina admitted to a love of corn dogs I breathed a tiny sigh of relief.  Perhaps I wasn’t such a freak in the food blogging world.  Yes, the vast majority of food I eat is prepared with fresh ingredients and yes, they are usually well balanced, healthy meals.  But I have to tell you this: I’m more than partial to the odd fish finger sandwich. 

White bread, grilled cod fish fingers, a light smearing of butter and a generous splodge of tomato sauce.  It’s the kind of lunch that I crave whilst watching CSI (Las Vegas, of course) DVDs on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Or the kind of dinner I desire on an essay swamped Tuesday evening.  I’ve even been know to hanker after one on a hazy Saturday morning.

It was a lack of fish fingers in the freezer one evening that led me to make my own.  They were so very, very good though that sandwichising them didn’t seem appropriate.  Instead I steamed a pile of greens and created a light dip from whatever I could find.  The following was the result and it was fab.  Been making them ever since.  Not constantly, you understand.  That would be weird.

Hoki Goujons with Dill Dip

(serves 2)

150g hoki fillet (or firm white fish - go for MSC approved where possible)

2 tblspn flour, seasoned

1 egg, beaten

50g white breadcrumbs

1 tblspn finely chopped parsley

Rape seed oil (or other light vegetable oil)

For the dip:

4 tblspn fromage frais

1 tspn white wine vinegar

1 tblspn chopped dill

• For the dip: mix the fromage frais, dill and vinegar together.  Chill until ready to serve.
• Lay out the seasoned flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs mixed with parsley on three seperate plates.
• Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan over a medium heat.
• Dip the fish strips in the flour then the egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs.  Add to the hot oil and fry for two minutes on each side until golden.
• Remove fish from the oil and blot dry on kitchen paper before serving with the dill sauce and lots of steamed greens.

My Dog

Regular readers of this blog will know how I feel about dogs.  I love them.  I mean, I really really really love them.  They make me incredibly happy with their snuffling and padding, licking and pawing, stretching and bounding.  Though I’ve been lucky to have lots of dogs in my life -  Rosie, Rufus, Winston, Tammy and Mac - I haven’t had a dog of my own since I was a teenager. 

Except now I do. 

Pick him up on the first day of the summer holidays.  Pick him up in 33 days, 22 hours and 18 minutes.

How am I going to get to sleep until then??  :)