Login

Logged-in Menu

Recipe HeaderThere’s not much point in growing tasty, nutritious organic food if you’re not going to eat it – so here is a collection of recipes from the annual show, some of them prize winning, some highly commended and some we just couldn’t pass up. Enjoy!

Potato Pastry

Potato pastryIngredients

40z or 110g mashed potato
4oz or 110g flour
3oz or 75g fat
salt/ pepper/ water

Preparation time: 30 mins

Makes 1/2lb pastry 225g, to line or top 7"/ 18cm pie

Method
  1. Rub the fat into the flour, and the salt (and pepper if making a savoury pie)

  2. Add the mash potato and mix well

  3. Slowly add the water until you have a stiff dough

  4. Roll out and line the pie dish and/or put a top on a pie

  5. Leave to rest for 15 minutes and then cook

Add the seasoning to the flout and rub in fat until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the potatoes, kneading firmly, and adding a little water - sufficient to make a stiff dough. Leave to rest for 15 mins before use.

You can use this pasty for fruit pies, apple works well, but it can be used for any kind of pie as it a light pastry

Rhubarb Wine

bottles of Rhubarb Wine on a tableIngredients

5 lbs Rhubarb
3.5 lbs Sugar
1 teasp. Ginger (ground or fresh)
Rind of an Orange
7 pints of water
1 tsp wine yeast

Preparation time: 9 months :-)

An entry in the class M160 Alcoholic drink x 1 bottle

This is a recipe from Sheila Emmett who says “We used an assortment of sources but not without first consulting our very very old Mary Woodman Home Made Wines book ( which was passed down to us from an aunt who lived in the New Forest), which usually includes some valuable tips. Unfortunately I do not know the variety but it is a very vigorous one and has been growing on the Canalside Allotments for many years.”

It is best to use mid season rhubarb which has the best flavour. Wipe the rhubarb clean and cut up into pieces, then freeze for a few days.

Put the water and the frozen rhubarb into a large pan and bring to the boil. Allow to cool then add the ginger and stand with a cover on for 3 to 4 days. Strain through a sieve into a sterilized fermentation container. Add the sugar and yeast and allow to ferment in a warm place until completion.

When the bubbling stops and the wine begins to clear it should be ready to syphon into bottles
It should be ready to drink after 9 months.

Greek Lemon Potatoes

Ingredients

900 g/ 2lb potatoes
juice and zest of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
50g/ 2 oz margarine or butter
lemon twists to garnish

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 50 mins
Oven temperature: 190°C – Gas mark 5 – Moderately hot

1. Heat the oven to 190’C/ 375’F/ gas 5. Scrub/ peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices. Place the cut potatoes into an oven proof dish, sprinkle with grated lemon zest and half the juice; season and dot the margarine/ butter over the surface and bake for 15 mins

2. Drain the excess fat from the dish; sprinkle the remaining lemon juice on the potatoes. Bake for 20-25 mins until brown and cooked

3. To serve – transfer the potatoes using a slotted spoon into a warmed dish, garnish with lemon twists and serve

Elderflower Cordial

Elderflowers and sliced lemons in a silver coloured cooking potIngredients

30 elderflower heads
3 lemons (unwaxed, organic if possible)
3 lbs sugar
4 pints boiling water
2 oz citric acid (around 56gm)

Preparation time:
3-4 days

I rarely get asked for recipes – but this one works well, I’ve done it 3 times now. I’m afraid I can’t remember where I got it from, it’s scribbled on the back of an old bill, so I suspect I probably copied it out of a magazine, but I really don’t know! Anyway, here goes….

The elderflower heads aren’t any particular variety, I just cut whole flower heads with scissors from the many wild trees around me, best picked fully open but before any brown appears on them, on a sunny or at least fine dry day, I try to take them from several different trees, well away from any roads to avoid dust and pollution.
Shake the flower heads to dislodge any insects. Cut the flower heads from the stalks using scissors, so you include as much as possible of the white flowers and as little as possible of the stalks, into a large bowl or other suitable receptacle, preferably one with a lid (I use a white plastic winemaking bucket). Add the sugar. Pour on the boiling water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the juice and grated rind from the lemons. Add the citric acid. (Citric acid can be hard to find, but Wilkinsons stocks it in their winemaking section) Stir. Cover with lid or similar.
Leave for 3 days, stirring each morning and evening.
Strain and bottle.
Dilute to taste. I used tap water, but it’s also nice with sparkling water.
If kept in the fridge will keep for several months.

Parsnip Hummus

Parsnips on a chopping boardIngredients

4 parsnips, peeled and cubed
either a can of chick peas or the same amount of dried chick peas once soaked and cooked
60ml / 2 fl oz of olive oil
1.5 teaspoons of ground cumin
.5 teaspoon ground coriander
.75 teaspoon salt
3 large garlic cloves, chopped or minced
6 tbsp tahini (sesame seeds paste)
juice of half a lemon
70ml / 2.5 fl oz chick pea water

Preparation time: 20 - 25 mins

Cook the parsnips and drain; fry the cumin and coriander with 1 tbsp of olive oil and add to the parsnips. Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor, put in some of the water and blitz; if the mixture starts to stick or looks too thick add more water and belnd again, repeat until you have the consitency you desire. Leave to cool

It comes out sightly more solid than straight chick pea hummus but it is made in exactly the same way. The quantities here are for 4-6 starter portions

Seeded Bread

Ingredients

Dried yeast - 2 sachets for 4lb flour
organic flours: 2 lb wholemeal, 1.5 lbs white, 0.5 lb rye
1-2 teaspoons of salt
flaxseed (I found some 'organic milled' on offer in Sainsburys) – golden or brown linseed is an alternative
poppyseed
sesame seed (preferably the 'natural' kind from Asian supermarkets)
sunflower seed
pine kernels or pumpkin seeds
3-4 tablespoons of oil (rice bran or rapeseed or sunflower or olive)
enough water to make the dough (approx 1 litre)

Preparation time: 3-4 hours
Cooking time: 45 minutes

I’m afraid I don’t follow recipes as such. I’ve been making bread for a very long time and I just adapt to whatever ingredients are available or that I feel like using on the day. Also I never make ‘a loaf’ of bread. I usually make around 7 pounds of bread dough or enough for 2x2lb loves and one of 3-4lbs. (I never measure out seeds but just put in a ‘big dollop’)
Process:
Mix all the ingredients, and stir in oil and then water slowly. Knead the dough for about 10 mins until it is a consistent texture (wetter is better than drier) then leave to rise for 3-4 hours.
Knock back the dough and knead again for a few minutes. Divide the now elastic dough into three loaves as above, put into greased tins and leave to rise for another hour or so.
Preheat oven on hottest setting for 10-15 minutes and then turn down to Gas 8 and put the bread in.
Turn down to Gas 5-6 after 12 mins and cook for a further 25-30 mins
Remove loaves from tins and test by rapping all round with a knuckle – the loaf should sound hollow. If necessary return the loaf (upside down so the uncooked bottom is uppermost) to the oven (not in the tin) for another 4-5 mins and test again.
Leave overnight to cool down on a grille
These loaves will remain fresh for four or five days. I think they taste best after a day or two. Personally, I would never eat this kind of bread when it is still fresh and I usually freeze one and keep one in a plastic bag in the fridge with one in the bread bin.