Local and Weekly.

This blog has become a little unfocused, it no longer addresses the things I thought it would when I started writing.  In an attempt to achieve some degree of consistency, I now declare Wednesday as 'Food Day in Bohemia'.

This is our weekly food, delivered by the lovely chatty man from Riverford Organics.  Most of the food is indigenous to the UK.   The two exceptions are the peppers which are French and land freighted to reduce the carbon footprint and the bananas, clearly from a little further afield, are from Riverford's fair trade community project based in the Dominican Republic.  

The only additions to our box this week are eggs from my mother's chickens (Babs, Mrs Tweedy & Jerfouli) and an awful lot of pasta from the Jazz Hands Pasta bunch (yes, also my mother).  

Whilst I am not a vegetarian (I totally don't possess enough willpower) I do feel that meat should be a luxury not a staple in a healthy, happy diet and summer time is the easiest time to find your vegetarian vibe.

So this week I will be eating simply and healthily and I thought it might be nice to share a couple super simple, seasonal dishes that I will be creating with our haul!

French Bean Salad.

Steam your beans till they are soft but still have a bit of bite, I think 5-7 minutes would do the trick, but just try them.  When you think they're ready, drain them and put into a big bowl.  In a frying pan heat up some olive oil and then fry finely chopped garlic (for the amount of beans in the photo above I'd do a clove or two) until just turning golden.  Pour over the beans and toss them up together.

This is an awesome hot salad but I like it even more when it is cold.  It is a perfect lunch box filler, especially with some chopped cherry tomatoes.

Mushroom Paté.

Another lunchtime favourite in my house.  Finely dice 1-2 cloves of garlic and fry in some olive oil.  Chop up the mushrooms into itty bitty pieces and add to the pan with the garlic.  Add a teaspoon of fresh Thyme.  When looking cooked and dark in colour add a tablespoon or two of ground almonds into the pan and mix up.  If the paste looks too thick then add a little more olive oil or even a little creme fraiche if you have it, if it is too thin then add some more almonds.  Add salt and pepper to taste then spread on toast.

My Nonna's very special stuffed peaches.

Okay, so no lies, this recipe definitely benefits from the addition of; glorious sunshine, peaches straight from the garden and icy prosecco, but I am sure it is still fine in cooler climates.  My Nonna used to make these every year we stayed with her as children and my gosh I loathed them.  Then one year I was bullied into convinced to 'try just one mouthful' and now it simply breaks my heart a little to think of all the lovely peaches I missed out on over the years.

The Recipe.

• At least 1 peach per person (and probably more if you want to eat them for breakfast the next few days)
• Crunchy Amaretto biscuits, the number depends on the size of the biscuits/peaches - maybe 2/3 per peach half.
• A couple good spoonfuls Cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• Optional: a good glug of brandy

There is no such thing as quantities for a Nonna recipe - it is a 'try and adjust' kinda recipe.  Take your peaches, halve them and remove the stone and lay them out on a baking tray.  Scoop out the peachy flesh (to make room for the stuffing see) and put it in a bowl - do not over scoop though (look at the photo above for a rough guide).  Into the same bowl  mix in the crumbled biscuits and the cocoa powder then add the brandy.  Finally mix in the beaten egg.  Push this delicious paste into the peach halves and put them in the oven.

I cannot really give you an oven temperature or a cooking time as you never, ever, put the oven on for stuffed peaches alone.  They are to fill the gaps in the oven around the bread you are baking or the summer veg you are roasting.  If I had to I would suggest 180-200'C and around half an hour, just keep an eye on them.  You know they are done when the peaches have gone all soft and the stuffing is dry and cracked on top.

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Eat hot or cold with cream, yogurt, or ice cream or unadorned, for breakfast, lunch or dinner or simply throughout the day.  Look how versatile they are!

The smell of basil.

For me the summer is pretty much defined by its food.  Sure the weather is better, but I also love the beach in the rain and the park in the snow and my windows are open year round.  Sure I like wearing pretty dresses but to be honest, my summer wardrobe is just my winter wardrobe without tights.  And sure I love the long, romantically lit evenings, but give it another few months and I will be craving snuggly socks and red wine by the fire.  I'm pretty easy going.

But oh my gosh the food of summer.  I love the smell of tomatoes especially when they are sun-warmed and I get to pick them straight from the plant.  I love the fruit trees, from the blossom to the three figs we grow every year to feed to the caterpillars and blackbirds.  I love eating cold quiche in the garden and I love strawberries by the tonne.

Most of all, the smell of basil means summer has happened.  During the summer months I have basil with strawberries, with tomatoes, with mozzarella, on pasta and on pizza or just on its own whilst walking past the plant.  All food is made more summery with basil don't you think?

The photo above was a quick lunch I had on Friday.  One beef tomato sliced up and served on a slice of sour dough rye bread (baked by James the night before) with basil torn over and drowned in balsamic and olive oil and seasoned with rock salt and black pepper.  Pretty good for a two minute lunch I'd say.

My-oh-my, Shepherdless Pie.

This is a bit of a take on a fairly ancient recipe, foolishly however, I do not have a photo of the end result as it got eaten pretty prompty.  And mostly, in my gluttony, I just forgot.

I love this recipe far more than all the meaty versions I have tried, it is heart warming and filling but without feeling greasy and heavy.  I started to write up the recipe I supposedly used (from The Bean Book by Rose Elliot - 1985!) but realised I have made it so many times it has evolved into its own new creation.  So here is my version:

What you need:

350g black-eyed beans (or if you seem to have misplaced them somewhere in the cupboard, a tin of Canellini beans seems to work just as well)

1 large onion (or if when you chop into the onion, it has gone a bit weird, 2 leeks)

1-2 cloves of garlic

Roughly 50-100g chopped mushrooms, depending on how much you like mushrooms (I like them a lot, so use handfuls of the beauties)

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp parsley

1 tsp mixed herbs or thyme or rosemary, whatever you have

salt and pepper

700g creamy mashed spuds

Grated cheese to go on top

The joy of a recipe like this, a bit like stew, is that you can kinda bung in anything else you need to use up.  So I added:

1 slightly old, finely chopped, carrot.

So, if you are using dried beans, you need to soak them a while first, if your lazy and using a tin, no worries!

First fry the onions (or leeks) and the garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, then when soft and sizzly chuck in the mushrooms.  After another 5ish minutes add the tomatoes and the tomato puree, the beans, the parsley and the herbage and cook for 10 minutes over a gentle heat.  Season it as you so desire. 

Now, if this is not an oven proof dish, transfer it quickly to one that is, cover it with the mashed potato, grate as much cheese as you feel you can get away with, then add a little more cheese and cook it in the oven for 35-40mins at 200C.

Smother in gravy and eat with Purple Sprouting Broccoli or some other seasonal green.  Yum!