Wild garlic pesto.

How to make wild garlic pesto
Ingredients

100g wild garlic leaves
50g parmesan cheese
50g toasted pine nuts
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
lemon juice
salt and Pepper
Method
Wash wild garlic leaves thoroughly.
Place the leaves, parmesan, olive oil and nuts into a food processor and blitz.
You could also do this with a pestle and mortar if you want to be more traditional.
Add further oil if you wish to have a thinner texture and mix.
Add in your salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.
Wild garlic pesto is fantastic mixed with fresh pasta for a simple dish but its great on its own for dipping your favourite nibbles into.

OR:
wild garlic, 1 large bunch, washed
curly parsley, 1 small bunch, washed
60g of pine nuts, toasted
60g of Parmesan
150ml of olive oil, (I mixed half extra virgin, half normal)
1 dash of lemon juice
salt
black pepper

Place all the ingredients into a food processor apart from the olive oil and blitz for a minute or two then slowly pour in the olive oil until blended. Use for pasta, mash, dipping, and so on.

OR:
Wild garlic pesto.
Makes 1 small jar
50g wild garlic leaves, washed
30g pinenuts, lightly toasted
30g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
80ml olive oil, plus extra to cover
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

The simplest method is to put everything except the oil in a food processor, blitz for a few seconds, then continue to whiz while slowly adding the olive oil through the funnel.
Transfer to a jar, pour sufficient olive oil on top to keep the pesto covered, close the lid and store it in the fridge.
It will keep for several weeks as the top is covered with a layer of olive oil.
'via Blog this'

Bread.

- Mia’s Freshly Baked Poolish Bread – The Beat That My Heart Skipped:
‘Poolish’ is an amazing bread that be made with a miniscule amount of bakers yeast.
It is the one dough that can’t be kneaded by hand – it’s just too wet and sticky, so this is a great recipe for a busy person it just takes some preparation beforehand.
It’s the wet dough that results in a nice crusty holey bread.
Poolish bread also has some of the lovely flavours of sourdough so is really tasty eaten on it’s own with butter.

Dough won't hold shape.
For example: I want a rye loaf.
Do I want it 20% rye (of the flour) or 40%? I decide on 35%, say.
So now I know my flour (by weight) will be 35% Rye and 65% white.
Hydration: I want 68% which will have good oven spring in a tight shape when proofed in a basket.
I want my loaf to weigh 680 grams (1.5 lbs).
I am baking 10 loaves.
So I know the total weight is 680 * 10 loaves = 6,800 and I know of that the flour will be 6800/165 (divisory parts because its 65% hydration, if it were 70% hydration the divisor here would be 170 not 165) * 100 (because flour is always the baseline of 100%, called 'baker's percent') = 4121 of which 35% (1442) is Rye and the rest (2677) is White, and the water is the remainder of the total weight (= 6800 - 4121 flour) or calculated separately 6800/165 (65% divisor) *65 (the hydration level for water of 65% versus the flour which is 100) = 2679.

- Techniques | Paul Hollywood:

- Bread Baking Clinic: Under-Kneading & Over-Kneading | Kitchn:

- How To Make Bread | Kitchn: "Poolish"

- Bake Bread! 20 Tips, Tricks, & Ideas for No-Knead Bread | Kitchn:

- The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking's Poolish Baguettes Recipe | Serious Eats:

- Baking SOS: How to solve 10 common bread problems by Luis Troyano | BBC Good Food:

- My Best Sourdough Recipe | the perfect loaf:

- Transferring from banneton to hot iron dutch oven | Stella Culinary:

- Tips on handling high hydration dough – Weekend Bakery:

- Mia’s Freshly Baked Poolish Bread – The Beat That My Heart Skipped:

- Baking with Steam in Your Home Oven | the perfect loaf:

- Recipe Index:

Kefir bread.

From Carl Legge.
"I’ve previously posted about this here.
But for these loaves I changed the process slightly.
I made plain white bread using Shipton Mill No 4 flour as I wanted to make bacon sandwiches the next morning.
White bread is always best for bacon"

This makes enough for 2 loaves of approximately 750g each.
Ingredients
Poolish
Live strained kefir 285g
Strong white flour 215g
Date syrup (or honey) 50g

Dough
Poolish from above 550g
Strong white flour 650g
Fine sea salt 15g
Warm water 280g

Method
Start the poolish the afternoon before you want to bake.

Mix all the ingredients together in the bowl you’ll mix the dough in (saves on washing up).
Cover with plastic or a damp tea towel.
Leave in a warm place until the next morning.
The date syrup or honey gives the kefir a quick sugar rush to get the leaven started.
By the morning, you should see the poolish slightly bubbly.

Then add the other ingredients and knead in your Kenwood Chef or similar for 6 minutes or do it by hand.

Cover again and allow to rest for 2 hours or so.
Then fold as I show you in this post for pain de campagne.
Two short folds at intervals of approx 1 hr rather than intensive kneading are adequate to give the dough shape and structure.

Cover and rest for an hour: fold again.
And finally cover and rest for another hour and then fold.
Cover and rest for an hour.

Divide the dough in two.
Shape to your fancy – there’s some shaping tips in a video in the pain de campagne recipe above.

Allow to prove for about a couple of hours.
And while this is happening, preheat your oven to 230°C.

Slash the bread artily.
Bake the bread for 15 minutes at 230°C with some boiling water in a tray at the bottom.
Then take out the tray, turn down the oven to 190°C and bake for a further 30 minutes.

OR in cup:
Sponge
1 1/4 cups of drained kefir milk (no kefir grains left in)
1 1/5 cups strong white bread flour
Scant 7 tbsp warm water
Scant 3 tbsp honey

Dough
2 1/3 strong white bread flour
2 1/2 plain or all purpose flour
3 tbsp of olive oil or similar
1 tbsp fine sea salt
(scant 7 tbsp warm water may be needed)

230 Celcius is about 450 Fahrenheit
190 Celcius is about 375 Fahrenheit

Radish Leaf Pesto.

Radish Leaf Pesto Recipe | Chocolate & Zucchini:

'via Blog this'

Whole Roasted Carrots.

- Whole Roasted Carrots - Mark Bittman:

'via Blog this'

Spring minestrone. By Rachel Roddy.

- Rachel Roddy’s spring minestrone with basil pesto reicpe | A kitchen in Rome | Life and style | The Guardian:
‘Today’s recipe is for minestrone, a big spring soup,’ says Rachel.
‘This is one of 10 recipes I make all the time, varying it according to what is available.’

Spring minestrone
Serves 4
1 onion (ideally white)
2 celery stalks, with leaves
1 small fennel bulb
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
1 potato (around 100g)
100g green beans
A parmesan rind
1 litre water
1 courgette
200g white beans, cooked
150g peas (preferably fresh)

For the pesto
50g basil
30g pine nuts or almonds
100ml olive oil
1–2 garlic cloves
50g parmesan or pecorino, grated

1 Peel and finely slice the onion, along with the celery and fennel.
In a large heavy-based pan, warm the olive oil over a medium-low heat, then fry the onion, celery and fennel, along with a pinch of salt, until they start to soften – about 5 minutes.

2 Peel and dice the potato, then trim and chop the beans.
Add both to the pan – cook for another few minutes, stirring to make sure nothing catches.

3 Add the parmesan rind and water. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.
Dice the courgette, add to the pan, and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Add the white beans and cook for another 10 minutes, adding the peas when you think best.
Taste and add salt as necessary.
Take off the heat and set aside, ideally for at least an hour.

4 Meanwhile, make the pesto.
Pulse the basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and garlic together in a blender until you have a paste, then stir in the cheese.

5 If the soup has become too cool, re-heat it very gently, then divide between bowls, topping each one with a spoonful of pesto.

Minestrone. By Rachel Roddy.

Minestrone is a moveable feast in Italy, varying from one region to the next.
One thing’s a constant, though: it’s a chorus of vegetables, cooked slowly over a low flame.
- Winter Minestrone with Farro and Beans | rachel eats:
serves 6
Rachel Roddy's Adapted from the Riverford Farm Cookbook by Guy Watson and Jane Baxter.

5 tbsp good olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 leek finely chopped
1 celery stalk finely chopped
2 carrots peeled and chopped into small dice
2 turnips peeled and chopped into small dice
2 cloves garlic peeled, crushed with back of knife and chopped
400g tin of plum tomatoes
425g borlotti or cannellini beans drained
200g farro soaked in cold water for 1 hour and drained
water or stock
a parmesan rind
salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Good olive oil and freshly grated parmesan to serve.

Gently warm the olive oil in a large heavy based pan and add the chopped vegetables (onion,celery, leek, carrots, turnips but NOT garlic yet) add a sprinkle of salt, stir well to coat the vegetables in oil, cover the pan.
Cook slowly for about 30mins or until the vegetables are soft and slightly caramelised.

Add the garlic and cook for another 2 min’s.

Stir in the tomatoes and then allow everything to bubble away for about 10 minutes.

Add the beans, farro and parmesan rind, cover with water (or stock if you so wish) and bring the pan to a gentle boil.
Reduce the pan to a lively simmer and leave bubbling away for 30minutes or until the farro is tender.

Season the minestrone and add more water if you feel it is too thick.

Allow the minestrone to rest for at least 30 minutes, allowing the flavours to mingle and develop before very gently reheating and serving minestrone in warm bowls with a dribble of raw oil and freshly grated parmesan.

Vietnamese Meatball and Sweet Potato Noodle Bowl.

Half Baked Harvest - Made with Love:
Ingredients
1 pound ground chicken
4 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 lemongrass stalk, chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, spiralized or cut into matchsticks
4 cups low sodium chicken broth, steaming (optional)
2 carrots, shredded
1 Persian cucumber, sliced
1 mango, cut into match sticks
cilantro, mint, limes, pickled ginger, and sesame seeds, for serving
2-4 tablespoons sweet Thai chili sauce, more or less to your taste (optional)

Instructions
1. Roll the chicken into 20-30 tablespoon size meatballs, place each meatball on a tray as you work.
2. In a small bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, honey and lemongrass.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil.
Add the spiralized sweet potato and give it a good toss.
Cook, stirring often until the noodles have softened, but are not mushy, about 5-8 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Remove the noodles from the skillet.
4. Return the skillet to medium heat.
Add the meatballs and cook until cooked through, about 5 minutes, turning them 2-3 times throughout cooking.
During the last minute or so of cooking, add the sauce and give the meatballs a good toss through the sauce.
Cook another minute longer, until the sauce glazes the meatballs.
Remove from the heat.
5. To assemble, divide the noodles and meatballs among bowls and ladle the steaming broth over top.
Top each bowl with carrots, cucumbers, mango, cilantro, limes, ginger, and sesame seeds.
Serve with chili sauce.
Enjoy!
'via Blog this'

Spicy Thai Chicken Broth.

Spicy Thai Chicken Broth – Amelia Freer:

1ltr chicken stock
2 stalks of lemon grass
4 kafir lime leaves
15g ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 birds eye chili, sliced
1-2 tbsp fish sauce
Juice of 1 or 2 limes
2 poached chicken breasts, shredded or diced
2 heads of bok choy, leaves separated
1 red pepper, sliced
1 carrot, finely sliced
2 spring onions, sliced
small bunch of coriander or Thai basil leaves, roughly chopped

Step-By-Step
Lightly smash the lemon grass with a rolling pin so it is broken but still whole.
In a pan heat, lemongrass, stock, lime leaves, chilli and ginger, bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove the lime leaves, ginger and lemon grass and add the fish sauce, carrot and pepper, simmer for 5 minutes then add the chicken, bok-choy and spring onions, simmer for 3 minutes.
Check for flavour balance as you may need to add a little more fish sauce or lime.
Serve with a generous topping of fresh herbs.
If you like your Thai food spicy, serve with extra chopped chilli.
'via Blog this'