Skip to main content

Cooking the fridge pt.1 - healthy leaves and sweet potato



I am writing this at my daughters suggestion, I posted a picture of my impromptu supper on Instagram last night  and she suggested it would make a good blog subject.
So here we go!
The idea of cooking the fridge is part of my very small contribution to trying not to create so much food waste. It helps that we are eating increasingly less meat (probably a couple of times a week if you exclude chicken and fish) but I have also been inspired by some of the writers, blogs and books I have been reading recently.
So last night Mrs C was out (but coming home later for leftovers) and we had quite a lot of veg in the fridge as a Saturday night dinner had to be cut back as our guests was ill.
I found myself with some Great British greens in the form of Cavolo Nero, chard, a few tenderstem broccoli stems, and half a bag of pentland Brig Kale, this was going to form the heart of one dish. I also had some vine tomatoes, a sweet potato,  a bit of creme fraiche and some confit garlic I had made earlier (Confit garlic is something we now always keep in the fridge, it is an absolute godsend for a whole plethora of dishes. The recipe is elsewhere on this the blog)
The objective of ‘cooking the fridge’ should be to do just that so I used coriander as the herb when parsley would be the natural choice. I tried fennel seeds because I had a lot of them but coriander seeds are probably the go to choice with the nuts.
The addition of the nuts is clearly nicked from the Alison Roman recipe I did the other day. I like the way she layers flavours and textures but other nuts, seeds or  croutons would definitely do ..... or of course you could go without.

Dish 1

Ingredients

200g cavolo nero 
200g chard
100g kale
3 tbs Olive oil
3 or 4 cloves Confit garlic
I medium strength red chilli or chilli flakes
2 tbsp Hazelnuts
Handful of jarred chickpeas
1 tbs coriander, cumin or fennel seeds 
Chopped Parsley or coriander
Half a lemon

Method

Get a large pan of water on the boil and salt generously.
Slice the chilli into fine rounds (de-seed if you don’t like it hot)
Bash or chop the nuts roughly so you have a nice texture with a few decent sized pieces, you don’t want to bash them to dust.
Chop the garlic cloves finely.
Grind the seeds and combine with the drained chickpeas garlic, chilli, nuts and olive oil in a large bowl.
Once the water is boiling, salt and add the leaves and green veg and cook until done but not overcooked, for me that is around 3 - 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and allow to steam for 5 minutes. Now put in the large bowl with the olive oil nuts etc. Mix in the parsley or coriander. Season with salt and pepper and turn out onto a dish and leave until you want to eat. This is best eaten warm or at room temperature. Just before eating squeeze over the lemon juice and another drizzle of olive oil.


Dish 2

Ingredients

1 sweet potato
6 tomatoes
3 or 4 cloves Confit garlic 
Dried or fresh oregano, or thyme
Creme fraiche or yoghurt

Method

Heat oven to 180
Put the tomatoes in a small oven dish with a generous slug of the confit garlic oil and a few cloves of garlic. Season and add herbs. Cook for 20-30 mins (this can be done ahead)
Put sweet potato in the oven and cook until nicely soft, around 30 mins.
Once the potato is done slice in half place a nice blob of creme fraiche or yoghurt on top and season well. Now artfully put some of the tomatoes and their oil on top and boom! There you have it, cooking the fridge. Couldn’t be easier



B








































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crack potatoes courtesy of Ottolenghi. Harissa and confit garlic roast potatoes

Another recipe from Ottolenghi's Simple, another recommendation from Will Saunders.   I know its the middle of summer but who doesn't love a roastie? These little tinkers are so good that they are like crack, class A calories. The clever bit is the addition of semolina and caraway seeds which adds a new level of crunchiness to add to the delicious warm heat of Harissa. Heres the recipe These make a lovely, spicy change from the traditional Sunday roasties. They’re especially good with spiced roast meat. Serves six to eight. 2 large heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled 130g goose or duck fat 4 sprigs fresh rosemary  6 sprigs fresh thyme  2kg maris piper potatoes, peeled and cut into 5cm chunks 40g ground semolina 2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and lightly crushed 2 tbsp rose harissa Flaky sea salt Heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Put the garlic, fat and herbs in a small ovenproof pan or saucepan for which you have a lid. Cover and roast for 40 minut
1 comment
Read more

Nigel Slaters deceptively brilliant monkfish

Lisa discovered this recipe in her favourite Nigel book. It is one of those fish, 'but not as we know it Jim' recipes. Not just because Monkfish is the fish that can best impersonate meat but also because of the marinade ingredients that are more often featured with lamb. It's not difficult to do but the flavour is a revelation, which makes it a perfect recipe in my book. This can be cooked on a grill pan or a barbecue. Ingredients 3 bushy sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped 4 anchovy fillets 2 large cloves garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 large lemon, juice only 3 tbsp olive oil 800g/1½lb monkfish fillet Method Pull the leaves from the rosemary stalks and chop them finely, then tip them into a bowl large enough to take the fish. Rinse the anchovy fillets and smash them to a rough pulp with the flat edge of your chopping knife. Peel the garlic, crush it flat, then smash it to a purée in the same way. Stir together the herb, anchovy and garlic, adding a grind
1 comment
Read more

Sea Bass on mushroom potatoes with salsa Verde

I felt the overwhelming need to cook something new on Saturday night. I didn't want the tired and tested I wanted to explore new culinary waters. However combined with this desire was an equal and opposing force, driven by being absolutely knackered, that meant it had to be simple too. I returned to one of Jamie's early books, to a recipe that IO had meant to do on countless occasions but never quite got round to. I have done several versions of Sea Bass on a bed of potatoes, some that I have written about on this blog. The one question I would have is about the thickness of the potatoes and the length of time they need to be cooked through ... in my oven I reckon they need about 10 minutes more than the recipe suggests. I would suggest a bit of a trial run if you are going to do it for a dinner party ... however once you have given it a whirl I think this makes for a very easy recipe for a crowd. Here's the recipe. Roasted slashed fillet of sea bass stuffed with herbs, bak
1 comment
Read more