Posts tagged spinach

Creamed Spinach & Goats Cheese Crumble

 

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appy New Year! This was quite rightly a while ago now. January has come and gone and I’ve yet to even blog a shortbread biscuit or mince pie. But I’ve been sunning myself on South Africa’s beaches, drinking from their vineyards and eating…biltong. I don’t regret my absence. However, it has been a shameful while since I’ve given FITP some loving attention. Importantly I must confirm it is NOT because I’ve stopped cooking or experimenting. My pans continue to earn their keep and my fellow friends kept fed and watered. Its been quite an adventure over the past months and that combined with the lack of natural light, I’ve had limited time to take pictures worthy of my perfectionism and blogging standards. Recent stressful distractions at the later end of 2017 have sucked my what would have been ”recipe daydreaming time” for my blogging creations. More so I have sadly (?) opted for either comfort eats or trusty go-tos. That said there have been some blog worthy comfort eats that will have to grace these pages before the summer…

But this Monday evening in early February once again faded into another dark quiet Monday with nothing to excite me except the idea of coming home for dinner and a round of ‘Silent Witness’ (Judge as you will). That coupled with the tight budgets I’ve restricted myself to in order to fund my tenacious sun worshiping this year means that experimenting is also not such an attractive prospect for the bank balance. This dish therefore fits quite nicely. Its amazing what a £1.20 bag of frozen spinach can make and just how far it’ll go. You’re skeptical about spinach going a long way…I can tell. But this could feed a vegetarian army if such a thing exists.

Tip – opt for a larger more shallow baking dish for a better eat. Mine was a little deep and small.

Serves 4-6 (Adapted from Jamie O’s classic here)

Ingredients

  • 1kg frozen spinach ‘blocks’
  • 1 red onion, chopped finely
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • Nutmeg
  • 150g soft goats cheese
  • 100g breadcrumbs OR bread
  • 100g oats
  • 100g cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 50g flaked almonds
  • 250ml creme fraiche
  • 1 lemon
  1. Preheat the oven to 180.
  2. Start by sweating the onion in a little oil in a large frying pan until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and fry for a few more minutes.
  3. Add the spinach ‘blocks’ and turn up the heat to a medium setting. You want to cook out the spinach for a out 10 minutes until the blocks have melted down and you have evaporated the majority of the water.
  4. Meanwhile, blitz the bread in a processor into breadcrumbs. Season well.
  5. Add the oats and pulse lightly just to combine.
  6. Add the cubed butter and blend until you have a crumb like texture.
  7. Stir in the almonds and reserve this topping for later.
  8. Once the spinach has reduced in moisture, grate in a good few gratings of nutmeg. Add the mixture to the food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and season well.
  9. Add the creme friache and the zest of the lemon and pulse to combine. (These steps are optional. If you don’t have a processor you can simply stir the creme friache and spinach together to achieve a more textured mix).
  10. Tip a third of the mixture into a shallow baking dish (In hindsight, the one I used was a little deep). Crumble over a third of the goats cheese.
  11. Repeat with the next layer alternating with goats cheese and spinach. (Alternatively, you could add the goats cheese to the spinach mixture and pulse lightly. I preferred having nuggets of goats cheese rather than an overall flavour throughout).
  12. Once you’ve used up all the mixture, top the spinach evenly with the crumble.
  13. Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the crumble turns a golden brown and the juices from the spinach are starting to bubble up around the edges.
  14. Dive in!

 

 

Bream, Fennel, Prawn Bisque

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struggle with choosing my ‘last meal’ when asked on occasion but a bouillabaisse, bisque or seafood dish comes high up there with my true foodie loves hence my adoration of this simple bisque sauce. I have previously blogged this but due to its rich and deep flavour it only requires a simple and fuss free accompaniment so served here with roasted fennel and bream its devine. I am always staggered and amazed at the amount of flavour that the otherwise wasted shells and heads of the prawns make to a sauce! Such a depth of traditional flavours. Topped with fennel, simply fried fish and the meaty rewards of the prawns its a simple weekend feast that takes relatively no time, just some organisation, prep and speed and focus on delivery! Voila…

Note the lack of carb here purely due to the richness of the rest of the ingredients. But this would be lovely served with some buttery chive mash as seen here or with a thickly sliced and toasted sour dough crouton and punchy rouille seen here.

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Serves 4

  • 1 x Prawn bisque recipe (see here) using about 12 large, shelled king prawns (see note for shelling and deveining prawns)
  • 4 sea bream fillets
  • 2 bulbs fennel, halves vertically
  • Small glass white wine
  • Handful parsley and chives, chopped finely
  • 1 large bag spinach
  • 1 knob butter
  • 1 lemon

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  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with foil. Add the halved fennel bulbs and season well. Drizzle with a touch of olive oil and then pour over the white wine. Roast for about 40 minutes until tender and beginning to char.Jess - fennel
  2. Make the sauce as per the instructions and keep warm while you cook the seafood.
  3. When the sauce is done and warming and the fennel is cooked the next few steps need to be done quickly so ensure that everything else is ready to go and at hand. I advise that you pop your serving dish (shallow bowls recommended) in the oven at this point so that they are warm on serving.
  4. Heat a splash of oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Cut each bream fillet in half and then score the skin to prevent it curling up on the hot pan. Season. When the oil is hot, add the fish skin side down and then throw in your cleaned shelled prawns.
  5. Cook skin side down for about 2-3 minutes until he flesh on top is only pink in the centre and the flesh is starting to cook through. Add the knob of butter to the pan and flip the prawns and the fish and finish the cook for a final minute coating in the butter. Add the lemon before removing the prawns and fish from the pan and setting aside for 1 minute to rest while you cook the spinach.
  6. Add the spinach to remaining pan oil and butter and wilt as you like.
  7. To serve, place a handful of the spinach in the base of your serving bowl and top with a wedge of the fennel.
  8. Top each with two halves of the bream.
  9. Roll the prawns briefly in the chopped herbs and arrange around the outside.
  10. Finally, spoon over around 4 tbsp of the sauce around the dish and scatter with any leftover herbs.

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NOTE: To shell and devein a prawn. Take your raw prawn and crudely snap off the head and set aside. Now take the legs and peel outwards away from the body. The prawn has a thin and plastic like shell which peels away easily. You should be able to take this off in one piece, legs and tail too but its usually required broken into pieces. Set these aside too and then rinse the prawn in cold water.

Deveining is important. It removes the outer backbone intestinal vein which is unpleasant and unprofessional to leave in and eat. With a sharp knife carefully slice down the back of the peeled prawn vertically only cutting about 2mm into the flesh. You should see a black vein. Very carefully as it will break easily, get your knife tip underneath and prize out the vein and discard. The prawns will now also have a fanned outer edge giving the look they have when fried.

Spinach Pearl Barley Risotto

 

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Today felt like a Tuesday. Never good if its Monday! After spending half my weekend at work for various reasons, today was a really long and eventful day. I was looking forward to nothing better than stirring a glossy silky risotto in the kitchen all day. I think I may actually prefer pearl barely here (or this evening anyway). Although not as creamy as those made with Aborio rice, barely gives an added texture and bite here. Served healthily and simply, meat free with a soft poached egg it could not have hit the spot better!

NOTE: Same risotto making rules apply…see tips here for the best!

Serves 2

  • 150g pearl barley
  • Chicken/vegetable stock (about 800ml)
  • 1 onion, chopped finely
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 3 large knobs of  butter
  • 1 large glass dry white wine
  • 150g spinach
  • Handful chives, chopped
  • Large generous handful of fresh grated parmesan (plus extra for garnish)
  • Zest 1 lemon, juice of half
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 eggs, fresh and at room temperature
  • Additional extras to add: Handful of rocket; scatter with fried chorizo; shaved parmesan; top with fish or chicken…
  1. In a large saucepan melt a knob of butter with a tsp of oil until starting to sizzle. Add the onion and cook slowly and gently until soft and translucent. Meanwhile, heat your stock in a saucepan on low.
  2. Add the garlic to the onion and cook for a few minutes before adding in the pearl barely. Turn the heat up and fry the barley for a minute or so.
  3. Pour in the wine and allow the alcohol to burn away slightly and absorb. Once this is done, reduce the heat and add your first ladleful of hot stock. Keep at a light simmer and continue adding stock as soon as the previous addition has been absorbed. Never let it get dry though. Keep stirring to release the starch to give a creamy risotto.
  4. Keep adding until the pearl barley is cooked with a slight bite. This may vary and will be longer than risotto rice. Mine took about 30 minutes. Make sure the texture remains loose.
  5. Meanwhile, blend your spinach and chives in a food processor of chop finely, with a little oil to loosen.
  6. When the barely is ready and the mixture is like a runny porridge, add the spinach, lemon zest, juice and some seasoning – lots of black pepper! Get another saucepan on to simmer gently for the eggs.
  7. Stir the risotto until thick but still unable to hold its shape – there is nothing worse than risotto that ‘sits’ on the plate like mash. It should always need a bowl!
  8. Remove from the heat and add the cheese and the remaining butter and pop a lid on and leave to rest.
  9. While resting, poach your eggs in barely simmering water for a few minutes until the whites are just set and the yolks are still runny.
  10. Stir the melted cheese and butter thoroughly into your risotto and serve in shallow bowls topped with your soft poached eggs!

And served with a delicious Chilean Riesling available here

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Spinach, Mushroom and Ricotta Pizza

 

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Ok so it’s a tomato-less pizza…don’t shoot me. This was also pointed out by my (notably) satisfied and well fed but rather unjustifiably disappointed dad? A night of using up all ingredients littering the fridge, clinging on for dear life before labouring into town for a weekly food shop. One of my favourite challenges….make something from what you have left. Its a great way to be creative, prevent waste and come up with new ideas! Challenge accepted, I created this. Spinach forced its way into the base while the topping was a mix of mushrooms, lemony ricotta and some lovely fragrant thyme. Give me ready steady cook anyday?

Serves 4 lightly

Base

  • 1 mug self raising flour
  • ½ water
  • 100g spinach
  • Pinch cumin seeds

Topping

  • 200g mushrooms, chopped
  • Small bunch thyme leaves
  • Knob of butter
  • 250g ricotta
  • 150g mozzarella, sliced
  • Handful pine nuts
  • Zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • Olive oil
  1. Start on the base. Wilt the spinach in a hot pan with a splash of water. Once wilted, drain and squeeze out as much of the moisture as possible. Chop finely.
  2. In a food processor, add the flour, cumin seeds, plenty of seasoning and the spinach. Blend together and slowly add the water, stopping when the mixture forms a soft dough. You will need to use your instinct with the amount of water being used.
  3. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead to form a smooth dough. Put aside to rest.
  4. Melt the butter and a splash of oil in a hot frying pan and add the mushrooms. Fry over a medium high heat until they have released their juices. Add the thyme leaves and continue to fry until golden. Set aside.
  5. Loosen the ricotta in a bowl with the juice from ½ a lemon and the zest.
  6. Heat the grill to high. Next, heat a large frying pan over a high heat and add a splash of oil. Roll out the dough thinly and add to the pan pushing into the oil. While the bottom begins to cook and crisp,spoon over the ricotta and spread out evenly. Grate over the lemon zest. Top with the mozzarela and finally the mushrooms. Scatter with the pine nuts and continue to cook the base on the hob until the bottom is beginning to crisp and turn golden (you will need to lift it up now and again to check).
  7. Once you’re happy with a crispy base, pop under the grill and cook for 8-10 minutes until the top is melted and the rest of the dough and crust has cooked.
  8. Remove from the grill and devour drizzle with some good quality grassy green extra virgin olive oil.

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Sea Bass and a Prawn Bisque sauce

I designed and refined this recipe with the aim of creating my perfect  dinner treat with all of my favourite flavours and ingredients. It is most certainly up there at the top of my list. It really isn’t hard, honestly. Everyone can make mash right? And you can fry a piece of fish? Good news- the sauce pretty much makes itself as by frying the leftover prawn shells releases a wonderful larva of juicy orange oils which adds so much flavour that would otherwise have been criminally thrown in the bin. The challenge comes with getting the fish and prawns hot and cooked perfectly at the same time as the sauce is warm and of particular consistency with the warm mash and wilted spinach. Oh and of course having time to take a photograph in a temperamental kitchen with hungry waiting guests….the later is optional of course. This is lovely served with a chilled glass of Muscadet….

Serves 4

  • 4 sea bass fillets
  • 18-20 whole, raw king prawns (shell and heads on)
  • 1 small carrot, diced finely
  • 1 small onion, diced finely
  • ½ bulb fennel, diced finely
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • Splash whiskey
  • 600ml hot fish stock
  • 500g potatoes, peeled, quartered
  • 40g butter
  • 100ml whole milk
  • 4 spring onions, finely chopped and fried lightly in oil
  • Handful parsley, finely chopped
  • 200g spinach
  • Olive oil
  • Knob of butter
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Begin with the sauce. Peel the prawns to retain the shells and the heads. De-vein the prawns and set aside. Heat a splash of oil with the knob of butter in a saucepan and gently soften the carrot, onion and fennel with the prawn shells and heads with the bay leaf. Cook for about 20 minutes until the prawns have turned orange and released their juices.
  2. Next add the tomato puree and cook out for a few minutes before deglazing the pan with the whiskey.
  3. Now add the hot fish stock and simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. After 30 minutes, use a potato masher to crush all the flavours together. Remove the bay leaf and then, using a hand blender, blend the sauce together. Pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan, discarding the solids. Taste and simmer to reduce if too thin to your liking. Only at the end season the sauce as reducing it will concentrate any salt added previously. Keep on a low heat while you make the rest of the dish.
  5. Boil the potatoes in salted water for about 15-20minutes until soft but not waterlogged. Meanwhile, melt the butter and warm the milk together in a pan.
  6. When soft, drain the potatoes and leave to steam dry for a few minutes before passing through a potato ricer for really smooth mash, or mashing by hand. Season generously and add the milk and butter and mix until smooth. Add the spring onions and parsley and plenty of seasoning. Set aside to keep warm while you fry the fish.
  7. Make sure your sauce is on the heat now and you have your spinach at the ready. Heat a frying pan until hot and add a splash of oil. Season your fish and then fry skin side down in the hot oil for 3-4 minutes (depending on size) and add your prawns to the hot sauce to cook gently until pink at the same time. Complete the fish cooking by flipping carefully onto the flesh side for 1 minute.
  8. Remove the fish and leave to rest very briefly while you quickly add the spinach to the pan juices, with plenty of seasoning and leave to wilt while you plate up.
  9. Serve a spoonful or potato into a warmed serving bowl. Top with a spoonful of spinach and the fish fillet, crispy skin side up.
  10. Spoon around the prawn bisque sauce including a few prawns per dish. Serve!

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Spinach and Pea Fritters with Lime Butter

 

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I am always making fritters and when I saw a version of this recipe in my new copy of Ottolenghi’s ‘Plenty’, I had to give it a go. This recipe has been adapted from the original- not out of an unappreciation of it but simply due to lack of the full list of ingredients in my pantry. I have replaced a few and added others such as the peas, some mint and more cumin. Like my other fritter recipes (see here) ….(and here) the basic batter of flour and egg is open to any ingredients! I had these as a lunch but they would be equally amazing with a poached egg, bacon and a creamy hollandaise as a muffin-less take on eggs Benedict for brunch…

Serves 3 (makes about 9 fritters)

  • 150g spinach
  • Handful of peas
  • 60g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 25g unsalted butter, melted
  • Salt and pepper
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp cumin seed
  • Splash of milk
  • 50g salted butter, softened
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • Small bunch mint, finely chopped
  1. Wilt the spinach in a hot pan with a splash of water until wilted. Drain in a sieve and squeeze out the excess water. Leave to cool. Blanch the frozen peas in boiling water for a few minutes and then drain and leave to cool.
  2. Meanwhile make the butter. Grate the lime zest into the salted butter and add the chopped mint. Mix with a fork until combined. Place the butter between some baking parchment and roll into a cylinder and chill in the fridge until needed.
  3. Now, whisk the flour, baking powder, melted butter, egg, salt and pepper, cumin and a splash of milk to form a batter.
  4. Chop the spinach and add, with the peas, to the batter mixture and stir.
  5. Whisk together and add enough milk to form a thick batter which is loose enough to spoon into pancakes in the pan.
  6. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, enough to cover the base, and fry large spoonfuls of mixture for a bout 2 minutes on each side on a high-ish heat until a crust forms and they are golden brown.

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6. Flip over and fry for a few more minutes until cooked. Drain on kitchen paper and serve, with a slice of lime, mint butter melted on top and a fresh tomato salad.

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Spinach, Watercress and Pea Healing Soup

Ever feel like your body is screaming for some nutrients? After this soup, I always feel like I’ve eaten my way to adding another few years onto my lifespan! It has a deep, tasty flavour and is delicious with warm toasted soda bread and salty butter.

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 sticks celery, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • 750ml hot chicken/vegetable stock
  • 170g peas
  • 150g spinach
  • 170g watercress
  • 150 double cream
  • Chives
  • Dukka
  1. Heat the oil and fry the onion and celery on a low heat until soft. Add the garlic for the last few minutes before adding the hot stock
  2. Add the peas and return to the boil for about 5 minutes
  3. Add the spinach and watercress and simmer for 10 minutes
  4. The blend the soup and add the cream or creme fraiche if you like.
  5. Serve scattered with chives, herbs or more  cream. I sprinkled mine with dukka for added texture and a bit of spice

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