recipe: review - pan-fried balsamic pear salad with pancetta, gorgonzola and a warm honey dressing

we had pears.

a lot of pears.

we decided to make something with all the pears in an attempt to cull the population down to manageable numbers.*

turns out there's not a lot of things out there you can make with pears.
chutney.
cake.
desserts involving brandy.
and salads.

seeing as we also had a bounty of salad leaves, we headed in that direction.
we modified the heck out of this recipe to fit what we already had in our fridge and decided to see what it gave us.

it gave us a very tasty dinner.

our modifications:
instead of gorgonzola, we used wenslydale, as that was what we had
instead of pine nuts, we used sunflower seeds, cause the shop was out of pine nuts
instead of rocket (arugula), we used our mixed salad leaves from the box scheme
instead of honey, we used agave nectar
instead of dijon mustard, we used wholegrain

for a salad it was surprisingly filling.
probably due to the all bacon and cheese...

rating: four pears down, two thumbs up

chance of being made again: will still have pears. it will be made again.

*it half worked. we still have a ton of pears.

recipe: week 6 - leek and mushroom fritatta

I am not an egg person, so probably won't be making this myself.
but it sounds delicious none-the-less.

leek and mushroom fritatta

20g butter
1 leek, finely sliced
2 crushed garlic cloves
150ml double cream
handful of basil leaves
1 tbs olive oil
400g mushrooms, sliced
8 eggs
40g grated parmesan

preheat the oven to 180c and lightly grease a 20cm square cake pan. melt butter with oil in a large frypan over med-low heat. add leek and cook for 5 minutes until soft but not browned. add mushrooms and garlic and stir for 5 minutes , or until mushrooms are soft. meanwhile, whisk together eggs, cream and parmesan in a jug. season. fill prepared pan with leek mixture, sprinkle basil and pour over egg mixture. bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned and set. cool slightly, then turn out onto a board. cut into squares and serve with salad.

fruit and veg: week 6

a couple strange things in our bags this week.

one vegetable I have never seen before.

and one I am quite familiar with, but not in this particular formation.

this week's haul:

3 potatoes

4 carrots

1 bag salad leaves

1 bunch cavolo nero (afore-mentioned unknown vegetable. we looked it up. it's black kale)

1 small butternut squash

2 courgettes (zucchinis for you non brits)

3 bananas

4 apples

2 satsumas (and quite large ones at that)

5 pears

and we seem to have a knack for obtaining funny looking carrots.
first it was this interesting dude.

now we have this one.

it's shaped like a corkscrew.

I think it's telling us to drink more wine....

recipe: review - butternut squash and mushroom wellington

we had squash.
we had mushrooms.
I found this recipe.
making this was inevitable.

and it was delicious.

rating: unbelievably good

chance of being made again: now that I have figured out I can make wellingtons without blowing up the kitchen? very high.

recipe: week 5 - vegetarian shepherds pie

according to the newsletter "not exactly innovative, but it's a comforting and warming autumnal recipe".
good enough for me.


vegetarian shepherds pie

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped thyme
400g can chopped tomatoes
410g can green lentils
25g butter
2 large carrots, chopped into chunks
200ml red wine
2 vegetable stock cubes
950g sweet potatoes
85g grated cheddar

heat the oil in a frying pan and saute onion until golden. add the carrots and all but a sprinkling of the thyme. pour in the wine, 150ml water and the tomatoes, then sprinkle in the stock cubes and simmer for 10 minutes. tip in the can of lentils, including their juice, then cover and simmer for another 10 minutes until the carrots still have a bit of bite and the lentils are pulpy. meanwhile, boil the sweet potatoes for 15 minutes until tender, drain well, then mash with the butter and season to taste. pile the lentil mixture into a pie dish, spoon the mash on top, the sprinkle over the cheese and remaining thyme. heat oven to 190c/170c fan/gas 5. cook for 20 minutes.

fruit and veg: week 5

have pictures this week!

let's just get right to it, shall we?

4 potatoes
1 bag of 8 mushrooms
1 portion crown prince squash
1 bag of salad leaves
2 onions
5 carrots
1 head of garlic (!!)
3 bananas
5 apples
3 pears (of two varieties!)
1 lemon

mushrooms and garlic!
does it get any better?

recipe: review - sprout tops with shallots and toasted walnuts

we gave this recipe a try the other night.

had no idea what to do with sprout tops otherwise.

surprisingly tasty for a dish only seasoned with butter, salt and pepper.
granted, a little butter can go a looong way towards making something tasty.

we also tossed in some of the red cabbage we still had that we needed to use.
complemented it all very nicely.
also added some much needed color...

all told, excellent way to throw together the bits of veg you have hanging around in the back of the fridge.

rating: quite good

chance go being made again: considering sainsbury's only sells shallots by the bag and we have roughly 500 left, a variation of this being made again is pretty darn high.

recipe: review - champagne risotto

we got leeks in our veg back.
my go to recipe for leeks is potato and leek soup.
while this is delicious, I wanted to try something new.
plus, once I came across this recipe I just couldn't give up the opportunity to cook with champagne.*

*even if it's the 5 pound kind from sainsbury's


thus, we gave this recipe a go last night.

it received  resounding "hell yes" from the household.

rating: incredibly delicious

chance of being made again: if the clean plates and lack of left-overs past lunchtime today are any indication, quite high

recipe: week 4 - sprout tops with shallots and toasted walnuts

we got sprout tops in our veg back this week.

he had no idea what the hell to do with sprout tops.

luckily, the kind people at growing communities realized this most likely would be the case and provided us with a recipe.

sprout tops with shallots and toasted walnuts


400-500g sprout tops, stalks trimmed off and rinsed
5 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
30-40g walnut halves, lightly toasted
50g butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper

bring a pan of lightly salted water to a boil and cook the sprout tops for 5 minute until tender then drain well. meanwhile, gently cook the shallots in the butter for 2-3 minutes until soft and toast the walnuts on a baking tray in a hot oven for 5 minutes until they start to color. mix all ingredients together and season.

fruit and veg: week 4

I took pictures of this week's (or, rather, as it is wednesday already, last week's. been in Windsor for a few days. fell a bit behind) pick-up, but for the life of me cannot find them.

so will just list everything.

you can use your imagination.

2 leeks
2 sweet potatoes
2 normal potatoes
3 carrots
1 cluster of sprout tops
1 bag of 7 medium tomatoes
6 apples
3 satsumas
4 pears
3 bananas


we are wicked excited about the leeks and, especially, the sweet potatoes.