Wild Apple and Hawthorn Sauce

I have been very slack at hunter gathering this summer, but as autumn comes into its own , the hedges are a flame with rosehips ( I will be making some rosehip syrup again some great recipes from last year here ) and hawthorn berries also stumbled across an apple tree on the nature reserve .

I have gathered this combination before closer to home and made a Hawthorn and Apple Cheese . Last week though I managed to score some award winning Apple and Blackpudding Pork Sausages at the York Festival of Food . Thought the sausages would be complemented by a nice homemade apple sauce with a slight wild twist of added Hawthorn Berries.

Apple and Hawthorn Sauce

500g of wild apples roughly chopped
A Large handful of Hawthorn berries the redder the better
Honey to sweeten

Place the apples and hawthorn berries in a pan and half cover with warm water
Simmer quickly until the apples begin to turn to mush
Place the apple and hawthorn mixture in sieve and run over the mixture with the back of a spoon straining the sauce and leaving all the nasty apples skin ,core and hawthorn pips behind
You should get a delicate pink sauce which you can warm through or serve cold , you may with to add a little honey to sweeten

This sauce is great with sausages and hams also I am thinking pork pie , I also scored some beautiful pork pies at the food festival

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Aubergine Garlic Yogurt and Parsley Dip

A saturday night in by myself and time to get good and garlicky ( while the boyfriend climbs moutains on stag do ) I was slow baking some lamb , most of which will be going in the freezer , while the oven was on took advantage by making some tasty dip and more home-made flat bread . I remember seeing Jamie Olive make this his puffed up like mad , mine stayed pretty flat still very tasty though . Perfect to eat settled down with The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

Aubergine , Garlic, Parsley and Yogurt Dip

Aubergine
Greek Yogurt
Parsley ( but would be great with coriander , or mint too )
Garlic
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil

Slice the aubergine halfway through lengthways
Place in a piece of kitchen foil
Fill with 3 smashed garlic cloves , drizzle with fresh lemon juice
seal the foil
bake in a high oven for approx half and hour
Remove from the oven and chop the aubergine into 1/2inch pieces
Mix the aubergine , garlic and any cooking juice with the yogurt and parsley

Chickpea Flat Bread ( from Jamie Oliver )

300g Plain strong flour
300ml of warm water
150g chickpeas _ half a tin
7g of dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
1tsp salt
2tbsp of cumin seeds

Mix the flour with the yeast ,cumin seeds and chick peas
dissolve the salt and sugar in the water
slowly add the water to the flour,mixing well
til it forms a good dough
Leave to prove for 40 minutes
Then knead for 5 minutes
Divide into four pieces
Roll out into oval shapes about 5 mm thick
Bake each at 250degC for 4 minutes each

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Beefsteak Fungus with Green Beans and Horseradish

The woods were alive with dripping beefsteak fungus this weekend not much else though.

Slices just like meat

I have cooked with it before sliced and fried in a pan its a strong taste and protein rush, last year I ate it with green beans and horseradish

Gathering Beefsteak and Chicken in the Woods Last year

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Cabbage & Chickpea soup

The flight home gave me a viscious cold , so made some hearty soup using a tasty cabbage from my vegebox . The vegebox has challenged me a great deal over the past year with cabbages . Thought they did really brighten things up in Spring when it felt like I hadn’t had anything green for a couple of months , I did slightly sigh. As in the Portugese Kale Soup a favourite of mine , the cabbage provides a nice chewiness , while the chickpeas pretty much dissolve . Also a good change to use on of the bowls I brought back from Turkey .

This is again a bit Turkish inspired by a recipe for Cabbage and Carraway Soup in Casa Moro

Cabbage and Chickpea Soup

1 small onion – finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
1 tin of plum tomatoes
1 tin of chick peas
Half a Cabbage – sliced into strips
2 tablespoons of cumin seeds
2 large handfuls of Flat Leaf Parsley – roughly chopped
Salt and Pepper

Gently fry the onions , garlic and cumin in olive oil
Once soft add the tomatoes , chick peas cabbage and half the parsley
Simmer for 20 minutes or until the cabbage is soft .
Season with salt and pepper
Serve with fresh parsley over the top of the soup

Cucumber Tomato Chickpeas Flat Leaf Parsley Salad & Flatbread

I cleary got all inspired by the bread in Turkey and though I have baked loaves and pizza bases before , I have never got around to making a flat bread so thought I would have a go and broke out the Casa Moro cookbook. I tweaked it a bit making 4 breads of 25cm in diameter

Flatbread Recipe

110ml of warm water
130g strong white flour( extra for dusting)
1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Dissolve the salt in the water , gradually add into the flour .Finally add in the olive oil
Roll the dough into a sausage and cut into four
Heat a pan to a medium to high heat
Roll into a disk on a floured surface
Place the disk into the pan once bubbles appear
Turn the disk and cook the other side til it have brown spots
Do the same with the other pieces of dough

I wanted to have something tasty and there are still some in season tomatoes around so I made a Turkish inspired salad

Cucumber Tomato Chickpeas Flat Leaf Parsley Salad

Tomatoes – roughly chopped
Cucumber – roughly chopped
Chick peas – from a tin
Flat Leaf Parsley – roughly chopped
Dressed with lemon juice , crushed garlic and olive oil

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New Season Apples

After posting about all the lovely food in Turkey I was a bit sad to come back to the UK & getting stuck back into work .

Apple, Watercress ,Rocket Peccorino and Toasted Walnut Salad

With the prospect of a week til my vegebox delivery I was forced to pick up some veggies from the supermarket ( boo hiss) … I was really happy to see that the new season English apples are in ( made up for it being too early for pomegranates in Turkey) .

With a couple of bags of apples , which I like to keep on my desk , I also bought a bag of watercress and rocket .

Combined to make a very tasty salad with Watercress Rocket , Apples Peccorino Cheese & Toasted Walnuts dressed with white wine vegegar olive oil honey and black pepper . The salad almost bit back with stong cheese and peppery leaves.

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Happy Holidays In Turkey – Something Fishy

Our last day before a scary 2am flight we had our final tour of the lovely town we had been staying in Dalyan ,situted on a river delta where they filmed The African Queen I swimming in sea lake and river so I think I was beggining to develop gills

On the last day we had a extra trip out to the beach the lunch break we had what the guide said was Chicken Fish … with tiny bones you could eat it might take me a while to identify it .

After the beach we ate blue crab caught by fisherman just a the end of the river delat who hang all day on tiny boats . The crab is boiled in a large pot with water, olive oil and paprika then left on a BBQ to stay warm you don’t get a lot of meat but the boat was contented with a gentle cracking of shells.

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Happy Holidays In Turkey – Slow Baked

If the kebab is the quick cook food then it is perfect that the country should also have some delicious slow cooked dishes.

One restaurant even cooked then in large terracota clay pots broken open at the table , bit overly dramatic if you ask me , choices of fish , lamb beef even octopus.

My favorites were a beef stew that just melted in your mouth in a restaurant run by on man and his mum where they let you sample the mezes first and then have more of your favourites. The stew was flavored with chilli and cinnamon served with bulgar wheat

Most restaurants asked you to book a slow roast lamb the day before and it would be well worth it , in case of the lamb on the top of this post was roasted and then grilled slightly giving a combination of melt in th mouth dissolving and cripsy caramelisation

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Happy Holidays in Turkey – Kebab anyone ?

When is a kebab not a kebab?

I never knew before there were so many different types of kebabs but a week in Turkey is highly educational , from the first day a delicious cast iron pot served an Anatolian Kebab , lamb meat which had been kebabed and grilled was then baked with spices , chilli tomato aubergine , haloumi cheese and lashing of olive oil took my breath away

Even a snack kebab that cost less than a pound was made with warm fresh flat bread , parsley and tomato the meat itself spicey but not greasy like kebab meet in this country
Kebabs were sometimes made with minced lamb but seasoned to perfection, even BBQ finger licking good from the back of a boat

The final kebab blowout was the last night but one with the Okyanus Mixed Grill served with flaming trumpets of foil

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Happy Holidays in Turkey – Mezes

Turkish Bread

Always slightly different sometimes a massive flat bread puffed from the oven and served with , garlic butter , or finely grated goats cheese , sometimes “village bread” dense disks the size of my hand .Often the bread was accompanied by some fresh herbs or sample meze

And speaking of meze ..happiness on a plate and things to try on my return definitely

Iman Biyaldi -Aubergines with Tomatoes and Onions ( slit aubergines lengthways) will with a mixture of partially softened onions olive oil fresh tomatoes parsley salt and pepper. Stuff the aubergine drizzle with extra olive oil and bake on medium heat for 45 minutes)
Ezme – Tomatoes and Onion Salad ( finely minced fresh tomatoes , red pepper , cucumber add flat leaf parsley and garlic . Sieve to drain excess moisture add paprika cayenne salt and black pepper)
Garlic Yogurt and Aubergine ( Oven baked aubergine mashed with garlic and lemon juice , then stirred in with yogurt)
Parsley Root Salad (parsley stalks boiled in salt water drained and dressed with olive oil lemon juice +black pepper)
Cacik – Yoghurt mixed with cucumber garlic fresh min salt and pepper )
Boregi – Pancakes Filo pastry filled with parsley and goats cheese
Stuffed Peppers , they looked like something from a 1970s cookbook but stuffed with rice lightly flavoured with cinamon
Saffron Potatoes
Zucchini Fritters
Stuffed Vine Leaves

Even the salad accompanying the most basic kebab were tomato plenty of flat parsley , fresh green chillis and cucumber

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