purple carrots

Garden Fritters

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With spring in full swing, we got excited and packed lots of fresh greens into one deliciously nutritious fritter. It’s accompanied by a sweet, tangy and bright carrot salad.

Ingredients: 100g Purple sprouting broccoli, 2 spring onions, handful of spinach, 4g dill, 2 carrots, 4g chives.

Larder: 3 eggs, 60g cheese (cheddar or feta), juice of ½ a lemon, 1 tsp honey, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper.

Instructions:

  • Finely chop the broccoli, spring onions, spinach and dill.
  • Beat the eggs in a bowl and grate or crumble in the cheese.chopped greens 600pxmixed with greens 600px
  • Mix in the chopped greens and season with salt and pepper.
  • Prepare the salad; grate the carrots and chop the chives. Whisk lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1tsp honey. Pour over the salad, set aside.carrot salad 600px
  • To cook the fritters; heat a generous glug of oil in a frying pan and add large spoonfuls of fritter mix to the pan in separate dollops, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Fry each fritter for a few minutes on each side until golden and slightly crispy.cooking fritters 600px
  • Transfer the cooked fritters to a plate in a warm oven until all are ready to serve.
  • Serve the fritters with the carrot salad.

Fennel and Dill Tart

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Tarts are always so pretty and this fennel tart does not disappoint, especially when served with zesty multicoloured carrot ribbons that pop with colour and zing with taste.

Ingredients: half a bulb of fennel, 2 shallots, 10g dill, 2 multi-coloured carrots (purple, orange, white or yellow), handful of rocket.

From the larder: 1 sheet of short crust pastry (bought or make your own), 2 eggs, juice of ½ lemon or balsamic vinegar, oil and butter (optional: 50g goat’s cheese and 50ml cream).

Instructions:

  • If you are making your own pastry, See recipe below.
  • Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Roll out pastry and lay in a shallow 9-inch pie dish or on a baking tray folding over to make your own edges. Cover with foil or baking beads and bake blind for 15 minutes. (A note on baking. The idea with blind baking is to crisp up the pastry so that it does not become soggy when you add the filling. The foil and baking beans, or rice, which also works well, are used to add weight so the pastry doesn’t puff up with hot air.)blind baking with rice 600px.jpg
  • Meanwhile, chop shallots and slice fennel into thin strips; sauté in a knob of butter until slightly soft and translucent. Leave the wispy fronds of the fennel out and set aside.
  • In a bowl, crack the egg and beat together with fennel fronds, chopped dill, pinch of salt and pepper. If using goat’s cheese, cut into chunks and mix into the egg mixture along with cream. Remove the pastry from the oven and place fennel, shallots and egg mixture into the pie case. Pop back in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden and set.
  • While the tart is baking, peel carrots and then use the peeler to make carrot ribbons. Squeeze lemon juice over and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in rocket. Serve slices of the tart with carrot ribbons and enjoy!
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Pastry:

Ingredients: 225 plain flour, 110g butter, water.

Instructions: Cut butter into cubes and rub into flour with your fingertips until the mixture feels like breadcrumbs.
Using a fork, stir in just enough cold water (2-3tbsp) to bring the pastry together, gather into a ball, cling film and stick in the fridge for 15 mins. (Be conservative on the water, drier pastry will give a crispier crust).

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Warm Winter Salad

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This is a delicious hearty winter salad, full of roasted sweet potato and carrots, cumin seeds as well as butter beans, crunchy kale and pretty pink radishes and finally finished off with a zesty basil dressing

Ingredients: 1 parsley root, 100g purple chantenay carrots, 1/2 a sweet potato, 10g basil, garlic, 70g radishes, handful of kale.

Larder: 1 tin of butter beans, 100g quinoa, 1tsp cumin seeds/powder, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbsp honey, 5-6 tbsp oil, pinch of salt.

 

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
  • Peel and chop the parsley root, sweet potato and chantenay carrots into small chunks and place in a large roasting tin. Drain and rinse the butter beans and add to the roasting tin.
  • Drizzle with olive oil; add cumin powder or seeds, a pinch of salt and stir to coat veggies and butter beans. Roast for 25 minutes.
  • Make a dressing by combining together minced garlic clove, chopped basil, 4 tbsp oil, lemon juice and honey. Adjust proportions to taste.making-basil-dressing-600px
  • Finely chop the kale, and slice the radishes, pour over the dressing in a salad bowl, mix well so kale is coated and set aside to marinade.
  • Cook the quinoa according to packet instructions.
  • When veggies are cooked and butter beans slightly crisping, remove from the oven, add to the salad bowl with kale and radishes and mix in the cooked quinoa.
  • Serve while still warm.