The Review - FOOD & DRINK- Cooking with CLARE Published: 13 March 2008
Squash comes in all shapes and sizes
Time to put a healthy spring in your step
Clare Latimer rustles up some cheap and cheerful recipes to help keep you fit
SPRING is lurking round the corner now so getting fit and trim are both words that should be digested from now on.
Here’s a starter pack to get you going.
With energy bills and food going up in price, I will try and keep to a reasonable spending bracket for a while.
You should still eat good quality meat, but choose cheaper cuts and also use lots of vegetable. It’s a good idea to go to a vegetable street market such as Inverness Street, Queen’s Crescent and Chapel Street at the end of the day and pick up the leftovers, not that these markets are expensive at any time.
I like nothing better than browsing around in the stalls and finding odd ingredients that I can take home and experiment with.
Carrot, ginger and maple soup
Maple syrup reminds me of Nigella Lawson, because last Christmas she put it into most of the meal!
Adding it to this recipe just sweetens it up and brings out the flavour of the carrots.
I never really like the sound of carrot soup but it sells very well in our shop and therefore I have come round to eating it quite often. Ingredients
Serves 4-6
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
500g carrots, peeled and sliced
Bouquet garni –
(2 sprigs thyme, 2 springs parsley 1 bay leaf tied together)
1 teasp peeled and grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp easy cook rice
1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 desp maple syrup
Garnish
2 tbsp soured cream or crème fraiche
Little freshly chopped parsley.
Method
Put the oil into a heavy saucepan and add the onion. Cook gently for five minutes to soften but not brown.
Add the carrots, bouquet garni, rice, stock and salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes or until the rice and carrots are cooked.
Leave to cool slightly. Remove the bouquet garni, and then whiz in a blender until smooth. Add some milk if soup is too thick.
Add the maple syrup and stir well. Taste to check seasoning and flavours.
Reheat when ready to serve and then pour into bowls.
Garnish with a small dollop of soured cream and sprinkle over some of the freshly chopped parsley.
Squash and potato layer cake
Serve this with a chicory and orange salad for a delicious supper dish. Ingredients
Serves 6
50g butter
1 large red onion, peeled and chopped
568ml double cream
200ml full fat milk
1 small onion peeled and halved
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
500g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and sliced
500g waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly ground nutmeg
50g white breadcrumbs
50g grated cheddar cheese
Handful chopped parsley.
Method
Preheat the oven 190C/ 375F / gas 5.
Take half the butter and grease a 2-litre gratin dish. Put the rest of the butter into a large frying pan and add the onions.
Cook slowly for about five minutes or until the onion is soft but not browning.
Put the cream, milk, the halved onion studded with the cloves and bay leaves into a saucepan and gently heat until nearly boiling and then remove from the heat and set aside.
Layer the squash and potatoes into the gratin dish alternating the layers and adding some of the cooked red onion, salt and freshly ground black pepper and the nutmeg.
Keep the layers flat. Pour over the cream and milk, discarding the halved onion and cloves.
Mix the breadcrumbs with the cheddar cheese and parsley in a bowl and then sprinkle over the top.
Cook in the oven for about one hour or until cooked all the way through.
Test with a knife to see if the vegetables are soft. Serve hot.
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