Roots Manoeuvre Curry

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Shift those roots with this easy, anything goes number. Try 3 or 4 roots: beetroot, swede, parsnips,Jerusalemartichokes, celeriac, carrots…

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: about 1 hr

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• A good few splashes of oil
• 6 large handfuls of peeled and diced (3-4cm) root veg
• 2 heaped tsp cumin seeds
• 2 heaped tsp coriander seeds
• 1 heaped tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 green chilli, roughly chopped (use less for less heat)
• 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lime
• A handful of fresh coriander

Heat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

Pop one large or two small roasting tins in the oven to heat up; roots need room to crisp. Toss chopped roots into a bowl. Coat with oil, season.

When the pans are hot, add the veg. Shake to distribute evenly. Roast for 45 mins.

Toast the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a dry frying pan for a min or two, until fragrant. Grind to a rough powder. Mix in the turmeric. Set aside.

Put the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger in a blender. Purée.

Over medium-low temp, heat a splash of oil in a pan and fold in the spices. Fry for a min. Add the paste. Stir frequently for about 5 mins, until the paste is soft, fragrant and reduced in volume. Add more oil, if needed.

Stir in the tomatoes and coconut milk. Add the cinnamon. Simmer, stir constantly. Season. Pour the sauce over the roasting veg.

Bake uncovered for 20 mins, till the roots are tender and the sauce thickened. Finish with lime juice and fresh coriander leaves.

Gorgeous with basmati rice, a dollop of yogurt, and toasted cashews.

Cathy’s Peanut Butter Veg

This is a delicious, quick, easy and wonderfully healthy recipe, requiring only one pot and one bowl for making the sauce (ok and a pan for the rice too, but that really is it). Quantities are inexact, as it’s fine to vary them according to what you’ve got, and the size of your pan. E.g. I used about half a large bunch of Abel & Cole curly green kale, which was enough to fill my largest saucepan.

1. Put some brown rice on to cook.
2. Heat some sesame or olive oil in a big saucepan.
3. Sauté a chopped onion, two cloves of chopped garlic and some fresh chopped chilli to taste. Add a teaspoon of powdered cumin. Cook for about 5 mins.
4. Add a couple of handfuls chopped colourful peppers, e.g. red and yellow. Cook for another few mins.
5. While sautéing is taking place, make the sauce in a separate bowl. This is really easy: just mix about a quarter of a cup of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, Whole Earth) with a quarter-cup of vegetable stock, or just boiling water. The peanut butter will dilute to a liquidy consistency.
6. Add lots of chopped kale and cabbage to the pan and pour on the peanut sauce. Cook until the leaves are heated through and wilted.
7. Chop in some marinated or smoked tofu and allow to heat through.

 Serve on a bed of brown rice.

Lizzie’s grown up veg mix

We had boring old sausages and mash on Friday. But for us adults I added roast red onion & leek & mushroom chunks together, tossed in olive oil and a tsp of sugar, plus a stir fry of kale, pepper, January king cabbage, fresh ginger and soy sauce.

Yesterday I did cauli and pasta cheese with the romanesco and the miniscoff cheese sauce.

Greg’s culinary mix

I made a spicy chilli, ginger, garlic, kale and tofu dish on Thursday. It wasn’t as good as my usual kale and tofu dish as all I had to work with was 4 bags of kale, 1 small onion and 378 carrots. It’s better with some broccoli, mushrooms, and tomatoes to add more flavours. I obviously used the potatoes to make egg and chips on Saturday too, just to prove my versatility.

Sinead’s potatoes and pastries

Ok so it’s not wild, but I made gratin dauphinoise- with Abel & Cole potato and onion, plus Berkeley Farm milk & Yeo Valley cream.

Plus puff pastry tarts topped with our cherry toms, caramelised red onions and ricotta.

Lucy’s Speedy Salmon and Veg

This is what I put together from my veg bag – Speedy Salmon and Veg!  The salmon is sitting on a bed of cabbage, leeks and cherry toms that are all from my bag.  The ‘juice’ is 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp honey (I used agave syrup) and 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard.  The salmon is the new Loch Duart salmon.  This one pot dish is cooked in the microwave in 15 minutes and it’s lush!

It’s a popular fruit-bowl conversation here at Abel & Cole. 

Ol’ sideburns Fred has been particularly busy.  Like the very hungry caterpillar, he whipped up:

Kohl Rabi gratin

One large kohl rabi should feed two or three as a side. Slice thinly. Layer in an ovenproof dish. Season each layer with chopped sage and rosemary (or other herbs). Almost cover with stock. Season and scatter herbs over the top, and flecks of butter to help add crisp to the top layer. Pop in oven at about 180˚C for an hour and a bit.

Soup

Serves 4

1 head of broccoli
1 cauliflower
2 or 3 courgettes
A large handful of peas

Heat some oil in a pan. Chuck in all the veg (chopped up) apart from the peas. Add 1 tsp of dried cumin, 1 tsp dried coriander (or a handful of fresh chopped coriander) and half a chopped chilli.
Gently cook for 10-15 mins. Add enough stock to just about cover the veg. Simmer, add the peas. Blend till not quite smooth.

And for those of you with Abel & Cole cookbooks, the Slow-Braised Chicory with fennel seeds on p194 is a real corker (says Fred).

And, while pineapples may be few and far between at the moment, Safia’s amazing pineapple tarts in celebration of Chinese New Year are too good not to share. 

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

(We’d love to hear your recipe ideas in the comments below.)

Summer (Also Now Winter) Leaves in a Blue Dress

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Feeds 4

Ingredients

• 1 head of lettuce
• 4 tbsp blue cheese
• 1 tbsp water
• A drizzle of olive oil
• 4 tbsp creme fraiche or natural yogurt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Parsley or chives, finely chopped (optional)
• 2-3 small raw beetroot, thinly slices (optional)

Mush the cheese, water and a good pinch of pepper in a bowl using the back of a spoon to form a paste. Add a little olive oil. Fold through.

Stir the yogurt or crème fraîche in. Taste. Adjust seasoning, if needed. Add more olive oil or yogurt/crème fraîche to get the right consistency.

Drizzle over your leaves, or use as a dip. Thinly sliced raw beetroot is especially nice treat to throw into the mix as well.

For more recipes (with an exciting new search function!) click here.
For ingredients, click here.

Do you have any chicory recipes or tips you care to share?

Pauline emailed in to tell us about her box string bag she made.  Bonus points for telling us in rhyme.

Subject – String

What to do – with Abel and Cole String?
Great long strands
escaping from my storage tin.
send it back?
knit a sack?
No…knit a bag,
for future string,
no more need for…
my storage tin!

The double threat: great poet, great knitter.

Remember Clauds’ box string rug?  It’s grown a bit now. 

And our Cat in the Customer Team knitted this little beauty of a coaster:

And another customer’s even knitted an entire jumper out of our box string.  We love to see your creations, so do send them in.

A quick route to marmalade heaven.

Do you love cooking? Do you like taking photos? Well my friend, your time has come.

Enter our monthly recipe photo competition and win ingredients for the following month’s recipe.

January’s recipe – 15 Min Marmalade

Prep: 5-10 mins

Cook: 7 mins

Serves: Enough for 4-6 pieces of toast, but can easily be doubled (follow the same timings)

Ingredients:

• 1-2 oranges (or 2-3 clementines)

• 4 tbsp clear honey

Juice the fruit. Collect 4 tbsp of juice.

Place in a saucepan.

Cut the juiced halves into thirds, remove the fleshy middle and white pith. Slice remaining zest into thin wisps till you have 2 tbsp of zest. Add to the pan.

Let it bubble up over a medium heat.

Stir in the honey with a wooden spoon.

When it boils again, reduce the heat and simmer for 7 mins. Stir the whole time.

Then, you’re done. It’ll be a bit runny, but will set in 30-60 mins. Use straight away or refrigerate for 2-3 months.

Watch the little video at www.abelandcole.co.uk/15minmarmalade

Do you remember around this time last year lots of you kindly left out second hand shoes for us to collect, sort and send to Africa?

Well, they finally got there in November, and Stu and Andy went to distribute them.

Turns out Andy is pretty handy with a camera.

Here are just a handful of his photos. 

Thank you so much to everyone who donated.

 As you can see, they’ve found very appreciative homes.

 Happy feet for all.

 See Part I here.

Tell us your crafty decoration ideas, or send us a photo, and you might just win yourself a pack of Montezuma Chocolate Baubles to go alongside those box string pompoms on your tree.

You can post a pic or write your tips in the comments section below, on our Facebook page or even email us at: jinglebells@abelandcole.co.uk.