January 22nd, 2012 by Kate
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.
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January 22nd, 2012 by Kate
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:
2lb braising or stewing steak, cut into bits about half the size of a postcard, and about 3/4 inch thick.
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 oz butter
1 onion
1 orange, rind and juice
1/2 bottle red wine
1 heaped tbsp white flour
salt and pepper
1 jar St Dalfour chestnuts
2 carrots, peeled and chopped into thick slices or chunks
Bayleaves
Water
Method:
Chop the onion (and celery if you have some) and fry it gently in the butter and sunflower oil.
When the onion is soft, raise the heat and add the steak. Cook until the steak is browned on the outside
Add the flour, stir to coat the meat and then add the orange juice, the grated orange rind, the wine, chestnuts, bayleaves and carrots. Bring to a simmer, adding enough water to cover the meat well. Add salt and pepper to taste
Either cook on a very low heat on the hob, or transfer the casserole to an oven at 130C
Cook for 2 hours. About halfway through, check that it is not sticking, and add more water if required.
We had baked potatoes with this, and kale tops finely chopped and steamed.
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January 2nd, 2012 by Kate
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:
60g plain chocolate, preferably 70% cocoa solids (Fair trade &/or Organic)
45g butter (Organic)
150ml milk (Organic)
120g sugar (Fair trade)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
60g dark soft brown sugar (Fair trade)
90g caster sugar (Fair trade)
2 tbsp cocoa powder (Fair trade)
200ml water
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160C gas 3, and weigh out all the ingredients
Slowly melt the chocolate and butter in the milk.
While the melted chocolate mixture is standing, mix together the first lot of sugar with the flour, baking powder and salt.
Stir the mixture into the melted chocolate mixture, it doesn’t need to be too thoroughly mixed. The trick is to get it into the tin quite fast, ready for the next bit. The tin should be a greased, water-tight 1 1/2 pint baking dish.
Scatter the cocoa powder, dark brown sugar and soft brown sugar over the top without mixing, and then pour on the water. DO NOT MIX
Bake for 1 hour until firm, and then leave to stand until warm.
A miracle, the sauce is under the pudding, which is rich and dark and chocolatey, with a slightly crispy outside and cakey middle.
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December 8th, 2011 by Kate
This is another recipe from ‘A taste of Persia’ by Najmieh K Batmanglij. The characteristic tastes of yellow split peas, turmeric, advieh, lime juice, and saffron are wonderful together. The measurements are in cups. One cup is about 240ml, or half a pint. This is my take on the recipe, but I’ll give the hint where I have diverged, and let you know what I should have done.
Ingredients:
2 pounds lamb shanks at 1 pound breast of lamb (including bones)
2 onions, quartered
8 cups water
1 cup yellow split peas, from the wholefood co-op
2 level tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric, from the wholefood co-op
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 large potatoes, peeled and roughly sliced
1 tin organic chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp organic tomato paste
2 tsp organic ground cinnamon
4 dried persian limes, or 1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 tsp organic saffron threads, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water (also available from seasoned pioneers)
1 tsp advieh (Persian spice mix, available online from seasoned pioneers)
Method:
Put the meat, water and onions in a large pot and bring to the boil.
Add the yellow split peas, turmeric, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours over a very low heat.
Add the potatoes, tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, limes, saffron water, advieh and a little more water if necessary. Continue to simmer for 45 minutes over a low heat.
When the meat is properly tender, and the potatoes are well cooked, remove from the heat and adjust the seasoning, if required. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ingredients from the thick soup. This is where we diverged. I only took the meat out, left it whole, whizzed up the rest to form a thick sauce, and served the dish with rice, then sauce and then the meat arranged on the top. The real recipe follows:
Take the meat off the bone and roughly mash into the potatoes and onions to form a thick paste. Arrange the paste in portions on serving plates and pour a few tablespoons full of the soup over the top, garnish with a little chopped raw onion and herbs. Serve the broth with the meat/potato as a side dish, along with salad and bread.
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November 15th, 2011 by Kate
I know I have already posted another version of Eve’s pudding, but this is what I remember as being the genuine article.
Ingredients:
- 500g peeled diced apple, preferably cooking apples
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 20g butter
- 75g butter
- 100g fair trade caster sugar
- 100g organic self raising flour
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tbsp boiling water
Method:
- Peel core and chop the apples, and put in a small pan with the lemon juice and the water. Bring to the boil and cook for five minutes.
- Take off the heat and add 2 tbsp caster sugar and the knob of butter, and mix well
- Put the apple mixture in the bottom of a 1 1/2 pint ceramic gratin dish or similar.
- Turn the oven on to 180C/gas 4
- Start making the topping: this is a standard sponge recipe. Cream the sugar and the butter until light and fluffy.
- Slowly beat in the eggs, then fold in the flour
- Be ready: Add a spoonful of boiling water to the mixture, mix gently for a couple of stirs, and then spoon over the apples. Cook in the oven for 35 minutes until the top is puffy and golden. There may be some hot cake mixture soaking into the cooked apples; this is good.
- Serve with custard, or cream if you prefer.
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November 11th, 2011 by Kate
Angela has moved. This is important to know, since she is our administrator.
Please send all your cheques and queries to :
Angela Monk, Taigh Mhic Iain, 16 Aird, Benbecula HS7 5LT.
Please bear this in mind when forwarding payments!
You can also email us on uistwholefoods@hotmail.com
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November 8th, 2011 by Kate
We are members of TSH. Not thyroid stimulating hormone. Third Sector Hebrides was formed when UCVO combined forces with their sister organisation in Lewis. The organisation aims to support charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprise activity within the Outer Hebrides. They’ve been very helpful and supportive of our endeavours over the years, both as UCVO and as TSH. We use their buildings as our sorting and collection point, and they help us with advertising.
Their Annual General Meeting is coming up on the 29th November at 7:30pm, with a videolink to Benbecula at the Uist offices on 41 Airport Road. Would you like to go along? Please let me know: use the contact form on the main page.
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November 8th, 2011 by Kate
Very good. First recipe to try in a new recipe book: Gary Rhodes ‘New British Classics’. Not a newly published book but freshly purchased; the recipes look great, full of ingredients that are readily available, lots of good ideas, well set out and with interesting background information. We tried out this recipe, and it was very very good. It would suit a locally raised chicken, I reckon the cooking method would make it very tender indeed. All pleased.
Ingredients:
A chicken
2 large onions, chopped
450g carrots, peeled and chopped into bits about 1 to 2 cm thick
6 medium potatopes, suitable for roasting, peeled and halved
1 lemon
Organic olive oil
Sage and thyme sprigs
600ml of marigold stock from the wholefood co-op
50g butter
Salt and pepper
Paprika, from the wholefood co-op
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C
Rub the chicken with half a lemon, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then use a tea-strainer to sprinkle with about 1 tsp paprika.
Stuff the sage and thyme inside the chicken. Squeeze the lemon, save the juice and put the lemon rinds inside as well.
Take a large skillet or frying pan, heat the olive oil, and then brown the chicken on all sides.
Put the chicken in the base of a braising pan or a roasting tin.
Put the potatoes round the chicken, brush with melted butter and add the stock. Put on the lid of the braising pan, or cover the roasting tin with foil, and put into the oven for 30 minutes.
Next, remove the potatoes to a small roasting dish and roast separately in the same oven.
Meanwhile, add the carrots and onions to the chicken, cover again and cook for another 30 minutes
Then, remove the lid altogether, so the chicken can brown for another 20 to 30 minutes.
Put the chicken on a platter and give someone the job of dividing it up into portions: it will fall apart very easily.
While they are busy, strain the onions and carrots, and put them in a separate serving dish.
Boil the stock to reduce slightly, and add a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice, and possibly a little fresh chopped sage. We thickened it a little as well with a beurre marnie (because of pressure from family members)
Serve the chicken with the potatoes, carrot and onion, and the lemon gravy.
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November 8th, 2011 by Kate
What to do? We’d got at least two tubes of mushroom pate open, and a lot of chicken stock. This worked well, although we were a bit overzealous with the lemon: don’t worry, that was our mistake, the recipe is fine. I added lemon juice, and then Malcolm did as well. When you try this at home, remember that too many cooks is two. We based our efforts on a recipe in Lindsey Bareham’s remarkable book, ‘A Celebration of Soup’.
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
50g butter
2 tubes of mushroom pate
juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp flour
1.1 litres of chicken gravy, or marigold stock
110g double cream
salt, pepper, nutmeg
shopped parsley
Method:
Chop the onion finely, crush the garlic, and fry over a very low heat in the butter until soft and clear, not browned.
Stir in the flour for about a minute
Add the stock slowly, then the pate and lemon juice, and simmer for 35 minutes.
Add the cream, and season if required with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and reheat
Serve garnished with chopped parsley.
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October 26th, 2011 by Kate
I made this from quite a sizeable piece of roast lamb that was left over. Most of the spices came from the wholefood co-op, the lamb was local, and we served it with organic basmati rice and spinach.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp organic sunflower oil
900g lamb, in 3cm cubes(could be left-overs or raw lamb)
2 chopped onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp plain flour
1 can organic chopped tomatoes
600ml marigold stock
400g tin of coconut milk
200g plain yoghurt
1 pinch ground black pepper
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large oven-proof pan, add the lamb and brown it over a high heat. Remove the lamb and set aside.
Add the rest of the oil to the pan, and cook the onions and garlic gently together until soft and golden.
Add the spices and flour and cook for a minute
Add the tomatoes and coconut milk and lamb, stir, and add enough stock to cover the meat.
Simmer very gently, either in a low oven, or on very low heat on the hob, until the lamb is tender. If starting with uncooked lamb, this might take about one and a half hours.
Just before serving, stir in the yoghurt.
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