Three bean salad

Amazingly enough green beans to do something with, already. This time a multi-bean salad. I used to make these a lot, chucking in as many kinds of beans as I had, trying to max out the bean variety count. This time I kept it to three, as I thought they looked pretty and tasted good together. With tomatoes, herbs and nasturtium seeds (our other current favourite thing) from my pot garden (and garlic and sweet pepper from the CSA), this is super fresh and packed with flavour.

~1 cup green beans, top-and-tailed and chopped into ~2 cm pieces
~1 cup black eyed beans, defrosted
1/2 cup chickpeas, defrosted
1/2 sweet pepper (mine was yellow), diced
2-3 medium tomatoes, diced
~8 fresh nasturtium seeds, chopped
1 tbsp chives, chopped
1-2 tbsp mint, chopped
1-2 tbsp parsley, chopped
zest and juice of 1/4 lemon
1/8 clove of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp honey
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper

Prepare the green beans and steam them for 10-15 min, until tender. Plunge into cold water to stop cooking, then drain. Mix the black eyed beans, chickpeas and green beans in a bowl. Add the chopped pepper, tomatoes, nasturtium seeds, herbs and lemon zest. Mix the lemon juice, garlic, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl then add to the bean mixture. Toss everything together, taste for seasoning and eat.


This was really fresh and crunchy and tasty. There was quite a lot of liquid in it so I reduced the dressing quantities listed above (originally used more like 1/2 lemon etc).

S's Abendbrot: tomato toasts

Apparently, in Germany the evening meal (Abendbrot) is most often just bread, with cheese / meat / whatever (Abend = evening, Brot = bread). So S likes when we just have bread and whatever for dinner. It's not such a bad idea: it's quick and a good way to use up stuff. And adaptable. The other night I made a couple of dips (red lentil dip and baba ghanoush) and roasted some veg, so the rest of the week we've been eating dips with carrot sticks and toast, avocado on toast, and these - S's current fave - tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, salt+pepper on toast. I'm guessing this is not exactly what most Germans eat for Abendbrot, but take a German vegetarian out of the fatherland for 10 years and look what happens. They are more like bruschetta. Really quick and really tasty, especially with our current crop of garden tomatoes (S says they are the best tomatoes he's ever had: praise indeed as he does love tomatoes), plus basil also from the pot garden and juicy CSA garlic.

4 thickish slices robust bread (he favours TJ's rustic sourdough)
1 garlic clove, peeled
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
~4 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, chopped or sliced
small bunch of basil, washed and torn into pieces
fresh ground sea salt and black pepper

Toast the bread. Rub it with garlic. Drizzle with olive oil. Arrange tomatoes over it. Sprinkle with torn basil leaves and finish with a good grinding of salt and pepper. Cut into smaller pieces if you like, and eat straight away.

Cocoa plum jam

This is a variation on my basic plum jam - I couldn't get the idea of including cocoa out of my head. While I do love plain plum jam I still have some in my storecupboard so it seemed OK to make a variation this time. I got the plums from L, who harvested them with LUrC (along with peaches, pears and crabapples - her kitchen was overflowing with fruit when I went over to help prep it).

(makes ~5 small-medium jars)

3 lb plums, halved and stones removed
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
150-400 ml water
3 lb sugar
5 tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp almond essence*

Prepare the plums (I had just over 3 lb, unprepared weight; I prepared them and froze them for a couple of weeks until I had time to jam them - this works well for high-pectin fruit like plums). Put the plums in a large pan along with 150 ml water and lemon juice (I added the lemon juice because I wasn't sure if freezing might have affected the pectin in the plums. Turned out the set was just fine and I don't think I would have needed it). Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, until the fruit is tender and much reduced.

Mix the cocoa with the sugar. Add to the hot fruit, along with the vanilla and almond essences. Bring to a hard boil and boil until setting point is reached. Let cool for 10-15 min, then carefully transfer to sterilised jars and put lids on immediately. Wash and label the jars once they are completely cool and sealed.

*this is as a substitute for the flavour imparted by plum kernels


The jam set perfectly (fairly firm). I think it has a good balance of plum and cocoa flavours, but I need to try more later to be sure.

Edit: it's good, I like it a lot. I ate some last night with a pot of coconut yoghurt I'd been hoarding. I miss yoghurt sometimes. A says it reminds him of Asian hawthorn candy. Only negative is that the cocoa powder makes for a matt texture and you lose the jewel-like quality that jam normally has, but that is entirely aesthetic.

Green beans, lemon, chilli and mint

My pot garden continues to amaze me. We got back from our holiday in the Northwest to find that everything was still alive (thanks to lovely I who came and watered while we were away - I feel so grown up for having arranged that!). And, there were enough green beans (two varieties combined - French Filet and Kentucky Wonder; estimate ~500g / 4 cups) to make an entire, bean-based salad. I wanted something simple and fresh, with flavours that complemented the beans but let us taste them still.

1 bag of beans, topped and tailed and cut into even-sized pieces ~2 in long
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 tbsp fennel fronds (or dill), chopped
juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 clove garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
good pinch salt

Prepare the beans and put into steamer basket. Steam for 10-15 min, until done. Immediately immerse in cold water to stop cooking and cool, then drain. Meanwhile, mix up the dressing in a small bowl: combine mint, fennel or dill, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, garlic, chilli flakes and salt and whisk together. Transfer the drained beans to a serving bowl, add the dressing and toss.


The beans were delicious. And the dressing contained exactly the fresh, summery tastes I was after. My salad dressings often get complicated in taste and texture - it felt good to keep it simple this time. Hope we get more beans!

Beetroot, lentils and wheatberries

This is a meal in a bowl, with all sorts of depths and exciting tastes and textures and colours. You might call it a salad? It comes together really quickly if you have the beetroot, lentils and wheatberries (or you could sub chickpeas and brown rice) already cooked and in the fridge. I had baked the beetroot while I had the oven on to roast some other veg a couple of days ago, so when I wanted to eat this I just had to cook the lentils and wheatberries and prep the other stuff. If I'd done the lentils and wheatberries previously it would have been even faster; as it was the remaining food prep pretty much fitted into the time they were cooking, so still quite speedy.

Baked beetroot:
~5 medium beetroot, washed and trimmed
few sprigs thyme
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
salt+pepper

Boiled lentils and wheatberries:
1 cup wheatberries
1 cup brown or green lentils
1 bay leaf
stock powder

Seeds, herbs and spices:
1 tbsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
zest of 1/2 a lemon
1-2 tbsp chives, chopped
1-2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp mint, chopped

Dressing:
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp white miso
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper

To prepare the beetroot, heat the oven to 400F. Wash the beetroot thoroughly and trim. Chop into large / even sized chunks (in half or quarters) and put in a lidded ovenproof dish. Add whole, peeled garlic cloves, thyme (fresh or dried), seasoning, olive oil and water. Put the lid on, put in the oven and bake for 30-40 min, until tender to the point of a knife. Remove from the oven, let cool, then cut into chunky dice.

Put the lentils in a small pan with enough water to cover them by 1cm. Add the bay leaf and a sprinkling of stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for ~30 min, until done. Put the wheatberries in a different pan with ~1 1/2 cups water and a sprinkling of stock. Bring to the boil and simmer 25-30 min, until tender.

Heat a frying pan and dry fry the coriander and cumin seed until fragrant. Let cool a little, then transfer to a spice mill and grind. In the same pan, dry toast the sunflower and sesame seeds until lightly golden and starting to pop. Chop the herbs and zest the lemon.

In a serving bowl, beat the dressing ingredients together with a fork. Add the cooked, still warm wheatberries and lentils and mix well together. Add the beetroot (and garlic and juices) and ground spices and toss some more. Check it is not too hot, then, immediately before serving, add the toasted seeds and fresh herbs. Toss once more, taste and add more salt, pepper and balsamic if needed, and eat.


This is really hearty and versatile - an excellent Autumn / Winter salad protocol. Versions of this have been seeing me right for weeks, as lunches and quick dinners. So long as I have some cooked lentils and wheatberries (or other grain) in the fridge, plus some kind of roasted veg - this week it is butternut squash roasted with za'atar - I can grab some herbs from my pots and mix this up in minutes.

Fridge pickled cucumbers (faux-Grillo's Hot)

S is a big fan of our #1 local pickle-purveyor - Grillo's. He even has the t-shirt. I have been hatching a plan to try and recreate them for him. I picked some vine leaves from the garden I help at (which has a beautiful crop of grapes developing over the entrance archway). Beyond that, I knew I'd need cucumbers, dill, jalapeno and/or habanero chillis, garlic, vinegar and salt. We hung out in our friend D's yard last night, sitting around a fire and talking about skunks and mushrooms. He works at a farm nearby, so at this time of year he always has masses of veg going spare at his place. We left with cucumbers (about 5 little ones) and jalapenos. We already had some lovely-looking garlic left from double-CSA week, and I picked up some dill at the Russian store at the end of our road this afternoon. Now all I need is Grillo's top-secret recipe... This is my best guess.

2 fresh vine leaves, washed (or a couple of pinches of tea leaves)
5 small cucumbers, washed, top-and-tailed and cut lengthwise into spears
3 medium-small jalapenos, deseeded and cut in half lengthwise
2 huge cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced chunkily lengthwise
handful of picked dill fronds, washed
1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar (or cider vinegar)*
2 1/2 cups water*
2 tbsp fine sea (or desert, or pickling) salt
mustard seed (optional)

Put the vine leaves in the bottoms of two large, clean jars. Pack the cucumbers in on top, then add in the dill, garlic and jalapenos, distributing them evenly between the two jars. I decided to try adding mustard seed to one jar (deviating from the recipe I'm trying to recreate, but potentially good). Put the vinegar, water and salt in a pan and heat until just boiling. Pour over the cucumbers, filling right up to the top. Put the lids on and let cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge. Try and wait at least 48 hours before eating.

*A second round, tweaked proportions - changed to the above from 2 cups of vinegar and 2 cups of water.

Edit: We managed to wait almost 48 hours! I made them on Sunday afternoon and we tested the first jar on Tuesday lunchtime. They look and taste like the real deal. S says they are a little more vinegary than Grillo's, which may be just because they could do with pickling for longer (will hang onto the second jar til the end of the week at least), or if that doesn't work I might try using a lower proportion of vinegar in the brine if we come by more cukes. Not bad for a first effort though!

Edit II: After a week the first batch still tasted a little vinegary to S, so I tweaked the proportions of vinegar as above (and ended up subbing some cider vinegar). I gave away several jars from this second batch, and they seem to be universally loved. High praise from D, who not only grew the cukes but is also a bit of a pickle expert. Plus, S reckons he cannot tell the difference between these and Grillo's. Think I've cracked it.

Variations:
Tea leaves instead of vine leaves - it's the tannins that keep things crisp; tea works well and adds an interesting flavour (that can be tweaked eg by using Earl Grey)
Chilli flakes instead of fresh chilli.
Adding fresh nasturtium seeds or dried mustard seeds to the mix.

Elderflower, honey and cornmeal biscuits (gluten-free)

I found elderflowers the other day for the first time in ages, and made elderflower cordial. A lot of flowers were falling off the heads I collected, so I saved and dried the fallen ones (spread them on a baking sheet in the oven with it switched off (it has a pilot light so is always warm) for about 24 hours). Then I stashed them until yesterday, when I had the oven on to make bread and felt like doing some experimental baking as well. These are inspired by this recipe. I used all the elderflowers I'd dried (started out with two baking trays spread with fresh flowers, ended up with 3/8 loosely-packed cup dried flowers).
 
(Makes ~12 medium sized biscuits)

30g icing sugar
2 tsp honey
20g grapeseed oil
20g olive oil
1 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 1 1/2 tbsp boiling water
75g fine cornmeal
25g cornstarch
Pinch of salt
3/8 cup dried elderflowers*

Heat oven to 360F. Beat sugar, honey and oils together in a mixing bowl. Add linseed mixture and beat some more, so it goes thick. Add elderflowers, cornmeal, cornstarch and salt and mix until combined. Flatten to about 1cm thick, use a cutter to cut flower or circle shapes, then transfer to baking sheets and bake for about 10 min, until they are golden. Let cool on the tray for 10 min then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

*I think this would also work with dried chamomile (or maybe calendula) - I have been meaning to test this out as I have some of each at home.


The batter was a bit greasy and soft, and I wondered if I should have used less oil. But they baked up lovely: the honey and elderflower come together in a wonderful, delicate, slightly flowery sweetness. And the cornmeal adds crunch; with the biscuits coming out beautifully yellow, flecked with brown from the linseed mixture (use golden linseed if you want to avoid this). I didn't bother lining or greasing the baking sheets and they came off just fine. I made flower shapes because I have an accidentally, ridiculously big selection of cutters (came in a bargain pack with something I wanted), and I couldn't resist the kitsch. But round ones would also be fine. Remember that because this is a GF dough there is absolutely nothing to worry about regarding handling the dough - re-roll and re-cut as much as you need to.

Sometimes Summer rules: simple tomato-avocado-basil salad

Right now I have three kinds of beautiful tomatoes (yellow zebra, chocolate cherry and Japanese black trifele) from my pot garden, and they are all different, delicious and perfectly ripe. I also grew some really tasty basil. Combined with a perfect avocado and just a little good extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. This salad made me really happy. Even had some awesome bread to mop up the juices at the end.

Purple noodles with purple carrots and chickpeas

1 pack of purple yam noodles (thickness of spaghetti)
1 bunch purple carrots, scrubbed, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 purple spring onions, cleaned, trimmed and chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1-2 tbsp tahini
2 tsp honey
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
3/4 cup chickpeas, defrosted and mashed roughly with a fork
1/2 an avocado, peeled and roughly chopped 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1-2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

Put the carrots on to steam until just done. Refresh in cold water immediately. Put the purple noodles in a pan of boiling, slightly salted water and cook until just tender, about 10-15 min. Run under cold tap to stop cooking. Put the spring onion, ginger, tahini, honey, soy, mirin, vinegar and sesame oil in a serving bowl and mix together to make the dressing. Add the noodles and toss to coat. Add the mashed chickpeas, steamed carrots, chopped avocado, coriander and toasted sesame seeds, toss, taste for seasoning and eat.


I like the coriander, avocado, sesame, carrots and chickpeas together, and the noodles, but the dressing is not quite right - it needs to be brighter and cleaner, and the tahini creaminess is wrong here. Still, all the purple stuff is awesome.