Greenfeast Read online

  cooked beetroot 250g

  butter 50g

  garam masala 4 teaspoons

  natural yoghurt 4 tablespoons

  Peel the onion and slice into rings. Pour the oil into a shallow pan, add the onions, then fry to a deep, golden brown – a good twenty-five minutes – stirring from time to time. Peel and thinly slice the garlic, adding it to the onions halfway through cooking. Stir in the chilli flakes and mustard seeds and continue cooking for a couple of minutes.

  Bring the stock to the boil in a medium-sized saucepan, tip in the lentils, lower the heat slightly, then let them cook for fifteen minutes till soft.

  Roughly chop the beetroot and fold into the lentils, adding the butter and garam masala, then check the seasoning, adding salt and black pepper as necessary. Continue cooking for three or four minutes, then spoon into bowls.

  Spoon the onions and yoghurt on top, stirring each bowl thoroughly to mix the onions, mustard and chilli into the dhal as you eat.

  • Mild and slightly sweet, this lentil dish becomes interesting when you stir in the yoghurt and spiced onions. Increase the chilli level to suit your taste, or introduce a little mashed fresh ginger.

  BEETROOT, SAUERKRAUT, DILL

  The sweetness of beets. The sourness of cabbage. The heat of horseradish.

  Serves 2

  vegetable stock 600ml

  cooked beetroot 500g

  sauerkraut 100g

  dill, chopped 4 tablespoons

  soured cream 150ml

  fresh horseradish a thumb-sized piece

  Bring the stock to the boil in a large saucepan. Put the beetroot in the bowl of a food processor and process to a coarse purée. Stir the beetroot into the stock and season generously with black pepper and a little salt.

  Mix the sauerkraut with the dill. Ladle the beetroot and stock into deep bowls. Divide the sauerkraut between them, then spoon over the soured cream. Finely grate about a teaspoon of horseradish (to taste) over the surface of the soup.

  • I use whichever stock is to hand for soups such as this. Home-made if I have it, otherwise bought readymade or made up from bouillon powder. They all have their merits.

  • Sauerkraut is one of those ever-present ingredients in my fridge, like yoghurt, lemons and tsukemono, the jewel-hued Japanese pickles. I buy it in jars or packets and dip into it on an almost daily basis. It makes a refreshing accompaniment to almost anything you care to mention.

  BLACK-EYED BEANS, ROSEMARY, KALE

  Therapy for a cold, wet winter’s night.

  Serves 4

  a large onion

  a large, fat carrot

  rosemary 2 sprigs

  celery 2 sticks

  garlic 2 cloves

  olive oil 3 tablespoons

  a large tomato

  black-eyed beans 2 × 400g cans

  vegetable stock 750ml

  bay leaves 2

  To finish:

  kale or Brussels sprout tops 150g

  parsley leaves a good handful

  olive oil

  Peel and roughly chop the onion and the carrot. Pull the needles from the rosemary and chop finely. Remove the leaves from the celery and reserve, then chop the stalks into small pieces. Peel and finely chop the garlic.

  Warm the olive oil in a wide, deep saucepan. When the oil is hot, add the onion, carrot, rosemary, celery and garlic and cook over a low to moderate heat for about fifteen minutes, till the vegetables are starting to soften. Roughly chop and stir in the tomato.

  Tip the beans in with the vegetables, rinsing them first if you wish, then pour in the vegetable stock (water at a push) and bring to the boil. Add the bay leaves, lower the heat, then simmer for fifteen minutes until thoroughly hot. Season generously with salt and black pepper. Ladle one-third of the mixture into a blender, process till smooth, then stir back into the soup.

  Pick over the kale or sprout tops and tear into pieces that will fit comfortably in the bowl of a spoon. Dunk the kale or sprout leaves under the surface of the soup and leave to soften for two or three minutes.

  Roughly chop the parsley and the reserved celery leaves. Ladle the soup into bowls, scatter the surface with the chopped celery and parsley leaves and finish with a trickle of olive oil.

  BRUSSELS TOPS, BLUE CHEESE

  The goodness of greens. The savour of cheese.

  Serves 4

  milk 600ml

  Stilton 200g

  onions 2

  butter 30g

  sprout tops 350g

  To finish:

  the reserved sprouts (from the tops)

  butter 30g

  Stilton 100g, crumbled

  Bring the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat. Crumble the Stilton into the milk, cover with a lid and leave to infuse. Peel the onions, then roughly chop them.

  Melt the butter in a large, deep pan and add the chopped onion. Fry gently over a moderate heat for about ten minutes, until the onion is glossy and sweet smelling, stirring regularly. Pull the sprout leaves from the main stem, setting aside any whole tiny sprouts you may find. Remove the stems from the leaves and chop them, then stir into the onions.

  Place the leaves on top of one another, roll them up, then slice into thin shreds and stir into the onion. Continue cooking for five minutes until the leaves are bright green and wilted. Pour in the milk and cheese mixture and bring almost to the boil. Ladle into a blender, taking care not to overfill (you will need to do this in two batches) and process to a thick but far from totally smooth soup. Check the flavour, adding black pepper if necessary. The soup is unlikely to need salt.

  To finish, cut the reserved sprouts in half and fry them for a minute or so in the butter until they are bright and crunchy. Toss them with the crumbled Stilton and divide between the bowls.

  CELERIAC, HORSERADISH, PUMPERNICKEL

  A soup to soothe the soul.

  Serves 4

  celeriac 1kg

  vegetable stock 400ml

  milk 600ml

  chives 25g

  olive oil 125ml

  grated horseradish root 15g

  pumpernickel or other rye bread 100g

  Peel and roughly chop the celeriac, then place in a deep pan with the stock and milk and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for twenty minutes.

  Whilst the soup is simmering, chop the chives and put them in a blender with the olive oil. Blitz to a bright green dressing.

  Purée the celeriac mixture, in two or three batches, using a blender. If you have a stick blender, then process it directly in the pan. Stir the horseradish into the soup and check the seasoning. Crumble the pumpernickel and toast briefly till lightly crisp in a dry, shallow pan.

  Ladle the soup into bowls, pour in the chive oil and scatter over the pumpernickel.

  • Celeriac is one of the more undersung vegetables, but has plenty going for it. I like it shredded and stirred into a mustardy mayonnaise, but also coarsely grated and fried in olive oil and butter until golden and sizzling and served with a spritz of lemon.

  CHEDDAR, CIDER, MUSTARD

  Deep bowls of velvety soup.

  Serves 6

  onions, medium 2

  butter 30g

  olive oil a little

  carrots 2, medium

  celery 1 stick

  milk 400ml

  plain flour 45g

  vegetable stock 400ml

  cider 350ml

  mustard 1 teaspoon

  Cheddar 400g

  chopped parsley a small handful

  Peel and roughly chop the onions. Warm the butter and oil in a deep saucepan over a moderate heat, then add the onions and cook till soft. Scrub and finely dice the carrots, finely dice the celery, then add to the softening onion and continue cooking for ten minutes or so till tender.

  Warm the milk in a small saucepan and set aside. Stir the flour into the vegetables and continue cooking for two or three minutes, then add the milk and stir to a thick sauce. Pour in the vegetable stock and cide
r, bringing it to the boil, then lowering the heat and letting the mixture simmer for a few minutes. Stir in the mustard and check the seasoning. (It may want pepper, but probably very little salt.)

  Grate the cheese and stir into the soup, leaving it to simmer (it is crucial it doesn’t boil) for five minutes, until the soup has thickened. Add a handful of parsley as you bring it to the table and serve with bread.

  • I suggest a mature, full-flavoured Cheddar such as Keens or Montgomery here. The stock should, if possible, be home-made, chicken or vegetable. Bread is pretty much non-negotiable here, either torn and placed in the base of the soup bowl, the soup ladled over it, or toasted and dipped into the soup’s creamy depths in fat, jagged chunks.

  FENNEL, CUCUMBER, MINT

  A chilled soup for a warm autumn day.

  Serves 4

  fennel 400g

  butter 75g

  juice of half a lemon

  cucumber 300g

  radishes 12

  pickle juice (from a jar of cornichons) or white wine vinegar 2 tablespoons

  mint leaves 12

  yoghurt 250ml

  ice cubes

  Thinly slice the fennel. Melt the butter in a deep pan, add 125ml of water, the lemon juice and fennel and cover with a piece of greaseproof paper or baking parchment. Cover with a lid and cook for about twenty minutes over a low to moderate heat, so the fennel steams rather than fries, cooking without colour. When fully tender, process to a purée in a blender.

  Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon, then grate the flesh coarsely. Grate the radishes and mix with the cucumber. Stir in the pickle juice or vinegar, and the fennel purée, then shred the mint leaves and stir them in, together with the yoghurt.

  Ladle into bowls, then add a couple of ice cubes to each and, if you wish, a couple of radishes.

  • A cool, bright-tasting soup given piquancy with a little juice from the pickle jar. I have also made this slightly thicker, using a strained yoghurt, and eaten it with dark rye bread.

  • Don’t be tempted to serve this soup hot – it curdles when heated. It is my belief that chilled soups must be thoroughly cold. With that in mind I store the soup in the fridge, then serve it with ice cubes dropped in. A brilliant answer as to what to eat on a bright, sunny autumn lunchtime.

  MUSHROOMS, BUTTERNUT, SOURED CREAM

  A bowlful of autumn.

  Serves 4

  butternut squash 1kg

  shallots 6, medium

  olive oil 5 tablespoons

  sweet paprika 1 teaspoon

  hot smoked paprika 1 teaspoon

  vegetable stock 1 litre

  soured cream 150g

  For the mushrooms:

  chestnut mushrooms 200g

  olive oil 3 tablespoons

  ginger 1 × 10g piece

  Set the oven at 200°C/Gas 6. Peel the butternut, halve it lengthways and discard the seeds and fibres. Cut the flesh into large chunks, then place in a single layer on a baking sheet or roasting tin. Peel the shallots, halve them, then tuck them among the squash.

  Mix the olive oil and the paprikas, then spoon over the squash, slide the dish into the oven and bake for about an hour, or until the squash is patchily browned but thoroughly soft and tender.

  Warm the vegetable stock in a large saucepan. Add the squash and shallots to the stock, place over a moderate heat (use a few spoonfuls of the stock to deglaze the roasting tin if there are any interesting bits of roasted squash and shallot left), then season with salt and a little pepper and bring to the boil. Partially cover the pan with a lid and simmer for twenty minutes, until the squash is falling to pieces. Crush a few pieces of the squash into the liquid with a fork to thicken it slightly.

  Slice the mushrooms thinly, then fry them in the olive oil in a shallow pan until golden. Peel the ginger and shred it into very fine matchsticks, then add it to the mushrooms and continue cooking for a minute or two. When all is golden and sizzling, remove from the heat.

  Ladle the soup into deep bowls, then spoon over the soured cream and the mushrooms and ginger.

  NOODLES, LENTILS, SOURED CREAM

  A frugal, rich and sustaining soup-stew. My version of the Iranian ash reshteh.

  Serves 4–6

  onions 4

  olive oil 3 tablespoons

  garlic 3 cloves

  ground turmeric 2 teaspoons

  chickpeas 1 × 400g can

  haricot beans 1 × 400g can

  small brown lentils 100g

  vegetable stock 1 litre

  butter 40g

  linguine or Iranian reshteh noodles 100g

  spinach 200g

  parsley 30g

  coriander 20g

  mint 15g

  soured cream 250ml

  Peel the onions. Roughly chop two of them and thinly slice the others. Warm the olive oil in a large pan set over a moderate heat, add the two chopped onions and fry them for ten to fifteen minutes till soft and pale gold. Peel and thinly slice the garlic, then stir in with the ground turmeric and continue cooking for a couple of minutes.

  Drain the chickpeas and haricots and stir into the onions together with the lentils and stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and leave to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  Melt the butter in a shallow pan, then add the reserved sliced onions and let them cook slowly, with the occasional stir, until they are a rich toffee brown. This will take a good half an hour, maybe longer.

  Add the noodles to the simmering beans. Wash the spinach, put it in a pan set over a medium heat, cover with a lid and leave it for three or four minutes until it has wilted. Turn occasionally with kitchen tongs. Remove the spinach and put it in a colander under cold running water until cool. Wring the moisture from the spinach with your hands, then stir into the simmering stew. Roughly chop the parsley, coriander and mint leaves and stir most of them into the onions and beans.

  Fold in the soured cream, then ladle into bowls and fold in the remaining herbs and the fried onions.

  • One of the dishes we ate time and again when in Iran, this is a bowl of deep, wholesome goodness. The soup is soothing and sustaining and was much appreciated by our film crew after a long, dusty day’s work.

  • Traditionally you would use the flat reshteh noodles, but any will work, even small round pasta if you prefer. Gently stir all the ingredients together at the table to produce a silky textured soup-stew.

  ORZO, SMOKED MOZZARELLA, THYME

  Pale, soft and deeply cosseting. Notes of thyme, cheese and smoke.

  Serves 2

  garlic 3 cloves

  butter 30g

  orzo 200g

  vegetable stock 500ml

  milk 200ml

  thyme 8 bushy sprigs

  smoked mozzarella 60g

  Peel and thinly slice the garlic. Warm the butter in a deep pan, add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes till pale gold, then add the orzo, stock and milk and bring to the boil. Pull the leaves from the thyme and add to the pasta together with a half teaspoon of salt, then simmer for fifteen minutes till the orzo is plump, soft and creamy. The sauce should be similar in texture to a risotto.

  Grate the smoked mozzarella, then fold into the orzo with a generous grinding of black pepper.

  • If I could choose just one bowl of food for a cold night, it would most likely be this. Understated, calm and effortlessly easy, it has a comforting texture and the deep, savoury satisfaction you get with cheese and pasta.

  • There are options here. Change the cheese to a fruity, deeply mature Cheddar. Use trofie or strozzapreti pasta in place of the orzo and use smoked garlic for an extra layer of warmth.

  • Once the dish is ready, you could also spoon it into a heatproof dish, cover the surface with more grated cheese and grill till bubbling.

  TAHINI, SESAME, BUTTERNUT

  Sweet and nutty.

  Serves 4

  butternut squash or pumpkin 1kg

 
; vegetable stock 1 litre

  rosemary 3 or 4 sprigs

  sesame seeds 3 tablespoons

  olive oil 3 tablespoons

  chestnuts, canned or vacuum-packed 8

  tahini 4 tablespoons

  Peel and halve the butternut squash, remove the seeds and cut into large chunks, then put into a large saucepan with the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for ten minutes until soft enough to crush.

  Ladle the squash and its stock into a blender, process in batches until smooth and return to the pan. Remove the leaves from the rosemary and finely chop. You need enough to fill a tablespoon. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry, shallow pan over a moderate heat until golden, then add the olive oil and the rosemary. Crumble the chestnuts into the pan and cook for a minute or so until all is warm and deeply fragrant.

  Bring the soup almost to the boil, checking the seasoning as you go, then ladle into soup bowls. Speckle the soup with a tablespoon of tahini in each bowl, then scatter some of the chestnut and sesame seed seasoning over the surface.

  • Some people don’t peel butternut squash before using it in a soup. Much depends on the thickness of the skin and the age of the squash. If the skin is thin, then it is fine not to peel it. If you are using a pumpkin, remove the skin. It is important to process the soup in batches rather than all at once, when it is likely to overflow. A stick blender works a treat.

  • Use mushrooms instead of the chestnuts. I prefer small brown buttons, sliced in halves or quarters and cooked for a minute or two with the sesame oil and rosemary. A few drops of sesame oil, trickled into the soup as you serve, are worth a thought. I like to eat this soup with thick pieces of toasted sourdough bread, spread with cream cheese.