Uist Wholefoods Co-operative

This is another recipe that combines beef from Meg Rodger in Berneray and The Home Book of Greek Cookery by Joyce M. Stubbs, which I bought in a jumble sale in the 1980’s for 20p. This was very easy and very tasty as well.

Ingredients:

• 3-4lb rolled beef, for example brisket or silver-side (from Meg Rodger)
• 1 cup olive oil (organic oil from the wholefood co-op)
• 2 medium onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 dsp sugar
• 3 tbsp tomato paste (organic paste from the wholefood co-op)
• 1 stick or 1 tsp cinnamon (all herbs and spices available from the wholefood co-op)
• 1 bayleaf
• 2 cloves
• salt and pepper
• Spaghetti (3-4oz per person) (organic available from the wholefood co-op)
• grated parmesan

Method:

• Heat the oil in a heavy pan and brown the meat on all sides.
• Remove the meat from the pan, and add the finely chopped onions, garlic, salt and pepper, and the spices, and fry very gently together
• Mix the tomato paste with half a pint of hot water, and add to the fried onions. Bring to a simmer, and add the bayleaf and the meat.
• Simmer for around 2-3 hours, either on the hob or in a low oven, until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick and rich. Keep an eye on the pot-roast and add a little water if it looks like it might boil dry.
• Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the pack.
• To serve, mix about half of the sauce with the spaghetti, divide between the serving plates, and top with parmesan cheese. Next add a thick slice of meat and another spoonful of sauce.
• The book also suggests serving the pasta as one course and the meat as part of the next course.

We made this with a mystery cut of beef. I also had a sachet of ‘poudre de colombo’ from Seasoned Pioneers for making Caribbean curries: It just had to be!

Ingredients:

• 450g beef, (eg braising steak, in 3cm cubes)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely crushed
• 1 can chopped organic tomatoes
• 2-3 tsp Poudre de Colombo
• 1/2 can coconut milk

Method:

• Heat the butter, and fry the onions and garlic on a medium heat until beginning to caramelise
• Add the meat and fry over a low heat until brown
• Add the spices, tomatoes, and bring to a simmer. Add water if required, and cook covered for about 1 hour over  a very low heat.
• Add half a can of coconut milk, and continue to simmer until the sauce is the right consistency for you

Serve with rice, would be good garnished with chopped coriander too.

for some reason we have half a kilo of turmeric. I am trying out all the recipes with it in. This is from an old recipe notebook and is one of the best. If you are struggling with the spices, they are all available from the wholefood co-op (that is us), or from Seasoned Pioneers. Turmeric is good for you, which is just as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 cauliflower
• 2 potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 3 tbsp sunflower oil or butter 
• 1 clove of garlic, or 1/8th tsp asafoetida
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 8 to 10 curry leaves
• 2 green chillies
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 can coconut milk
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander or parsley leaves

Method:

• Chop all the vegetables, aiming for 2cm dice, and florets of cauliflower
• Heat the oil in a flattish large pan, an fry off the galic, mustard seeds and curry leaves
• Add the vegetables and spices, salt and sugar, and stir for two minutes
• Add 50mg water, and simmer until the potatoes are soft (15 minutes)
• Add the coconut milk, and heat until the additional water is lost and the dish is almost dry
• Serve with chopped herbs on top

This is good to serve with mini-nans

This is from an old notebook of recipes from when I was a student. It is best eaten the next day with nan bread.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas (or 8oz dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and then boiled for 1/2 hour the next day and drained)
• 1 small onion
• 1 oz organic butter
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 oz mushrooms
• 1 can organic chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp honey
• a bay-leaf

Method:

• Fry the onion slowly in the butter until soft
• Add the crushed garlic and chopped mushrooms and fry until the mushroom is soft
• Add the chili, chickpeas, bay-leaf, tomatoes, and honey, and simmer for about 20 minutes, then season to taste
• Leave overnight and reheat

Very easy canned food meal.

We got some beef from Meg Roger from Berneray, two good sized bags of mixed cuts for £100. Today, I made meat balls, greek style. We ate the first batch as they came out of the hot oil, the second batch went into a tomato sauce for another meal. This recipe needs to be started a couple of hours before the first meal. The quantity would serve 6 at one meal, or two lots of three, as we did it.

Meatball ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb mince
• 1/2 onion
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried mint
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Put the onion and the garlic in the food processor and whiz up with a spoonful of water until finely chopped. Alternative is to grate the onion and crush the garlic.
• Put the meat, onion and garlic in a large mixing bowl with the breadcrumbs and kneed it all together by hand
• Next, add the two eggs and kneed again
• Next, add the herbs, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, and kneed again.
• Cover, and leave to stand for at least one hour.
• Shape into balls about the size of a small egg, and coat each meatball with flour. You should be able to get at least 24 meatballs from the mixture.
• Heat a good quantity of olive oil in a pan, and fry the meatballs until golden on each side.

At this point, meal 1 is possible: serve half the meatballs with a good quantity of greenery and pitta bread and greek yoghurt salad. For version 2, read on:

Tomato sauce ingredients:

• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 1/2 onions
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 oz butter
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

Method:

• Chop the celery and onions finely
• Fry the onions and celery very slowly in the butter for about ten minutes
• Add the tin of tomatoes, salt, pepper, sugar and cinnamon, the tomato paste and add the water from rinsing out the tin.
• Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a little water if necessary.
• Add the remaining meatballs and simmer for a further 15 minutes

Serve with rice and steamed vegetable greens. We had kale sprouts.

Highland Wholefoods sent me this newsletter, which has a lot of information about fairtrade olive oil, and some interesting links. You can sign up to their newsletters, which are not that frequent, and which often contain interesting ethical consumer news.

I have stamped my name and address inside the cover of this book, because I do not intend it to go missing. My lovely cousin Clara sent it to me, and it seems full of ideas. I know that the Hebrides is not full of hedgerows, but this is a book about British plants in their landscape, their history and their uses. Many of the plants described do grow locally, and I am quite exited by the ideas. The plants are arranged alphabetically, with rather lovely watercolour botanical illustrations. You can look at it on Amazon here.

 The recipes all appear to be practical, but I am not sure about curry made with cleavers; that will be a real test of the book’s worth. Some of the recipes are quite traditional, others have a modern twist: how about Red Clover Lemonade or Wild Raspberry Vodka?  She refers us to a website, www.eatweeds.co.uk for more information, as well as providing a useful list of other resources for those of us who love to try something new. The idea of eating the plants I am trying to rid from my garden has its own strange appeal. I may also try pancakes made with ground elder.

One tiny word of warning: unlike some other books about eating wild plants, there is no warning about plants that may look similar, but are not good to eat. In particular in the ditches in these parts, angelica grows in similar sites to hogweed, and hemlock water dropwort may look similar, but is toxic. The illustration and description of the angelica in the text is very good indeed, but there is no reference to the need for careful identification.

So, a very good reference book for wild plant recipes, but use with care if you are not sure about plant identification.

I was just sorting out the bills today, and ended up on Facebook. I found the Highland Wholefoods Facebook page, which seems to be a great place to find out about new products, special offers, and ethical food events. Click here to visit and have a look.

We made this last night with some of Snooker’s beef, it tended to stick a bit at the bottom, and it might cook better in a low oven. However, we got on OK on the hob. I think a bit of celery would have made it even more delicious.

Ingredients:

Method:

We had baked potatoes with this, and kale tops finely chopped and steamed.

We discovered that this should not be made in a spring-form tin the day after Malcolm cleaned the oven. But it was still delicious. We served it with whipped cream, but a mix of mascarpone and whipped cream, or 50/50 greek yoghurt and mascarpone, or vanilla icecream would all work well.

The recipe is from the amazing Pudding Club recipe book. Look: A baked pudding with no eggs!

Ingredients:

Method:

A miracle, the sauce is under the pudding, which is rich and dark and chocolatey, with a slightly crispy outside and cakey middle.