Goats Cheese with Caramelised Red Pepper Relish

Serves 8

2 red peppers
2 red onions
50ml balsamic vinegar, and extra for drizzling
400g Soft goats cheese
Parsley to garnish
sliced baguette to serve

Spread a layer of the cheese into 8 ramekins (50g per person), and put in the fridge to keep chilled.
Finely slice the red peppers and onions. Heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan and add the peppers and onions, cook until softened. Add the baslsamic vinegar and reduce to a medium-low heat. Cook until there is little to no liquid and peppers and onions are gluey. Remove from heat and allow to cool fully.
Top each cheese ramekin with the peppers and onions, drizzle with a few drops more of the vinegar. Garnish each dish with chopped parsley. Serve with a few slices of thinly sliced baguette.

Marrow and Coconut Soup

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 x 1.5 kg Marrow

500ml Veg. stock

3 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 x 400ml tin coconut milk

salt and pepper

Peel all the skin off the marrow and de-seed. Chop into small chunks. Put a glug or two into a large saucepan and place over a low heat. Add the chopped marrow chunks and the crushed garlic, stir, place lid on and leave for 5 mins. Add the ginger, turmeric and cumin and stir through. Next, add the stock. Increase the heat to bring to the boil then simmer until marrow chunks are soft all the way through.

Remove from heat, add the coconut milk and blend to a smooth consistency. Season to taste.

Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

Tonight was our weekly community meal evening and I was on starter and dessert. Due to my recent increased activity up at the patch, I noticed that we have quite a number of courgette flowers about and I've always wanted to try one of my many stuffed courgette flower recipes. So i went for it. I chose a simple recipe out of River Cafe Cook Book Easy as a basis to which I did my own thing. It worked a treat, apart from the first 2 flowers as my oil was way too hot so they instantly burnt, but the rest of them tasted great and everyone really enjoyed them.

Serves 6 (2 flowers per person)

Ingredients:

200g Soft Goats Cheese
12 zucchini (courgette) flowers
12 fresh sage leaves
250ml sunflower oil
Runny Honey, toasted pine nuts and Rocket leaves to serve

for the batter:

90g plain flour
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 egg whites

For the first stage of the batter, sieve the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre, pour in the olive oil and stir to combine. Loosen this paste by slowly adding enough warm water, about 150ml, to make a batter the consistency of double cream. Add 1/2 tsp salt, cover and leave for at least an hour.

To prepare the flowers, remove the green bits at the base and wash carefully off any bugs/dirt.
Push a tsp of goats cheese and a sage leaf into each flower. Press together.

Heat the oil to 180C in a deep frying pan.

Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the batter.

Dip the flowers one at a time into the batter. Tap gently to knock off excess, and carefully place as many as you can without touching into the hot oil. Fry until light brown, then turn to crisp the other side.

Serve on a bed of rocket leaves, drizzle with honey and scatter with toasted pine nuts.

Leek and Potato Soup

A variation by Sarah Raven

Serves 8

1 onion, thinly sliced
25g butter
6 large leeks, sliced
3 medium potatoes, sliced very thinly
1 ltr veg stock
500 ml milk
handful fresh basil
5-6 tbsp single cream/creme fraiche

In a large heavy-based pan, saute the onion in olive oil and butter until soft. Add the leeks and potatoes, and cook for 6-7 mins. Add the stock and simmer until the veg are tender.
Liquidise and add enough milk for the desired consistency, then bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, add the basil and cream. Season to taste.

Favourite Spiced Parsnip Soup

This is our favourite parsnip soup, by Sarah Raven, and is just the best when we find ourselves snowed in here at Bethanie in the winter.

For 6:

30g butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, chopped
675g parsnips, chopped
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp chilli powder
1.2 litres vegetable stock
salt and black pepper
A little milk (optional)
150ml single cream
yoghurt and chopped coriander to serve (optional)

Melt the butter with the oil in a large heavy-based pan and add the chopped onion and parsnips. Sweat them for 5 minutes, without allowing them to colour. Stir in the spices and cook gently for another 2 minutes.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the parsnips are quite tender. Allow to cool slightly, season carefully and puree in a food processor.
Return the soup to a clean pan, adding a little milk if necessary, depending how thick you would like the soup.
Add the cream and warm through gently without allowing the soup to boil. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt and some chopped coriander.