Sweet Potato Mash with Crisp Sage Leaves, Ricotta and Pecan Nuts from Sally Clarke: 30 Ingredients

It's book review time and 30 Ingredients by Sally Clarke is a real treat, chef style food explained in clear and simple recipes for you to make at home.

About the book
30 Ingredients encapsulates Sally's innovative and uncomplicated approach to food  At its heart lies her simple concept of cooking with the freshest and best, produce the vision that has ensured Sally's success for the last thirty years.  Sally's philosophy is simple: fresh in-season ingredients used not only to suit every plate but also to please the eye. Sally has chosen a handful of recipes for each of her favourite 30 ingredients,



About the author
It is 30 years since Sally Clarke founded her now legendary Notting Hill restaurant Clarke's and become the pioneer of seasonal fine dining in British cuisine.  To celebrate this significant anniversary, the award-winning chef, restaurateur and author has now written and irresistible cookery book, 30 Ingredients.

The Ingredients and the Recipes
1. Apricot - this is one of my favourites too and I'll definitely be making Apricots baked with vanilla, cinnamon and lavender.
2. Asparagus - always popular in its season and Asparagus risotto with spelt, goat cheese and Prosecco is bound to prove popular too.
3. Aubergine - Sally prefers the paler aubergines/eggplants but the purple ones will do just as well in her Baba Ganoush and Caponata recipes.
4.. Basil - that tarts of summer in a herb features in a surprising Basil ice ream with sugared basil leaves, lemon and black pepper wafers.
5. Beetroot - another of my faves, that rich sweet earthy flavour will blend perfectly with the carrots in Baked beetroot and carrots with new season garlic.
6. Broad Bean - best picked fresh from the garden and a real star in the recipe for Cracked wheat salad with broad beans, courgettes and peas.
7. Cep - these flavourful fungi are served finely sliced with Parmesan, lemon. olive oil and parsley toasts a simple dish that I can almost taste.
8. Cherry - bursting with sweet juice, cherries go well with many flavours but just so well with chocolate that your mouth will be watering at Sally's Dark Chocolate souffle cake with Kirsch and cherries.
9. Chicory - not a vegetable I have cooked with but I do like the sound of a Chicory Tarte Tatin.
10. Clementine - my favourite of the easy peel oranges and as they start to come into the shops soon, I will be serving the Salad of clementines, feta, pine nuts and pomegranate dressing.
11. Cobnuts - I've tried cobnuts once, their availability tends to be localised to the south east of England, worth sourcing them to make the Cobnut salad with figs and peaches or, I guess, substituting the more common hazelnuts.
12. Fennel- Not everyone likes the aniseed overtones in a lovely Florence Fennel, I love it,  and Sea bass baked with potato and fennel sounds heavenly to me.
13. Fig - I'm beginning to think that Sally has been looking at my list of favourite foods!  Fig is certainly a favourite of mine and every recipe in this section sounds good to me, Figs with balsamic vinegar, chives blossoms and shaved Parmesan served with Spiced seeded flat bread sounds like a feast to me.
14. Landcress - this is a new one on me, and Sally does admit that it is not so easy to find, it is more peppery than watercress and she suggests that it is used with care. Crab Cakes with Landcress, Chilli, Creme Fraiche and Lime is bound to pack a punch, just what I like.
15. Leeks - a little more available, Sally uses leeks at every stage of their growth for different types of recipe. Smoked Haddock and Leek Pasties would be great as a starter or to eat on a picnic.
16. Lemon and Lime - two for the price of one here, so I'm going to give you two recipes too.  Lemon and Lime Icecream sounds delicious as does Lemon and brown sugar shortbread.
17. Olive - I would eat olives everyday if I could and I would love to eat the gutsy Black olive tapenade toasts with anchovies and capers, a taste explosion!
18. Blood Orange - also known as Ruby Oranges, always lovely and sweet, a Salad of Blood Oranges, Beetroot and Pomegranate would be well worth making and eating.
19. Pea - another star vegetable and one that I love in soup.  Sally's Chilled pea soup with mint, spring onion and yoghurt sounds like a real treat.
20. Peach - Cheers! Sally has whizzed up a White Peach Bellini for our delight.
21. Pine Nut - of course without pine nuts there would be no Pesto but Sally also brings us Sicilian-style ricotta and pin nut torta.
22. Potato - so versatile, the perfect ingredient and Sally shows us how to make perfect roast potatoes, the epitome of potato deliciousness.
23. Quince - I once managed to get some quince from a neighbour's tree but conditions for good quince do not seem to have returned.  If you can get hold of some then Sally's Quince and Rosemary Tarte Tatin sounds worth making.
24. Raspberry - nothing beats raspberries, that combination of sweet and sharp and bursting with deep pink juice.  Sally creates a Raspberry Jelly which also contains blackcurrants and strawberries creating a lovely red fruit jelly.
25.Rocket - Sally comments on the dramatic rise in popularity of rocket and extols it's peppery virtues, which are beautifully shown off in her recipe for Rocket wrapped in rare roasted beef, with mustard mayonnaise on toast.
26.Sage - the herb that just cries out for some pork!  Sally does not disappoint and her Pork, Onion and Sage Pie is on my list to make.
27. Squash and Pumpkin - those colourful gourds are so versatile, it's nearly the time of year when pumpkins are in abundance and a plate full of this rustic Spiced Pumpkin, Tomato and Chickpea Stew would go down a treat on a cooler day.
28.Strawberry- in season there is nothing quite like the taste of a strawberry and they herald the start of summer proper to me. Sally treats the strawberries simply but adds layers of flavour in her Strawberry Cannoli recipe, these are not tube shaped cannoli, more like little baskets to scoop up the ricotta and strawberries before popping in your mouth.
29. Sweetcorn - in this chapter Sally creates a Baked Sweetcorn and Polenta Pudding with Ricotta, maybe it's because we are heading towards autumn and winter that I find this so attractive, comfort food with a difference.
30. and finally Tomato - imagine that smell of ripe tomatoes straight off the vine, combined with sweet nectarines, feta and onions and decorated with nasturtium, marigold and rocket blossoms, that's one of the ways that Sally showcases tomatoes in Tomato Salad with Nectarines and Feta

So there we are, 30 ingredients and, although I have only picked out one recipe per ingredient, there are at least two and sometimes three for each.



Who is it for?
I would say this is a book for people with a passion for food who want to make the most of every ingredient they use.  Although  the 30 ingredients are all vegetables, fruits, herbs and nuts , this is not a vegetarian cookbook, there are non-meat recipes, as well as those with meat, fish and poultry. It would make a beautiful gift for anyone who loves to cook.

Pros
The photographs are stunning, there is not a photo for every recipe, but the quality of the photos is very high.  The whole book is beautifully produced and could sit quite happily on that 'coffee table' to be picked up and oohed and aahed over. Each ingredient is given a page of text, which is easy to read and the recipes are clear and well written with a couple of paragraphs of 'story' where appropriate.

Cons
It's quite a big book, however it does stay open so you can read the recipes - hurrah! At £25 it's not cheap but I think this is justified by the quality of the production and the excellence of the recipes.

The Verdict
Add it to your wish list for birthday or Christmas, then you too can spend hours drooling over the exciting recipe ideas and the beautiful pictures.


Sweet Potato Mash with Crisp Sage Leaves, Ricotta and Pecan Nuts
Serves 6

1.5kg sweet potatoes
2tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp light olive oil
100g butter, plus a little extra for buttering the dish
1 bunch sage, small leaves picked, large leaves chopped finely
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed to a cream
salt
50g pecans, medium-finely chopped
250g ricotta or fresh goat cheese

Peel the sweet potatoes and place in a large pan of boiling slated water, cover and simmer until tender to the centre. Drain in a colander and when cool enough to handle, cut roughly into smallish pieces.

Toast the cumin seeds in a small pan over a medium heat until they are fragrant - do not allow to burn. Crush using a pestle and mortar or in a spice grinder.

Meanwhile heat the olive oil and half the butter in a pan until foaming.  Fry the small sage leaves until crisp (though not too dark), remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.  Add the remaining butter to the pan and add the ground cumin, chopped chilli and chopped sage, and cook until fragrant (approximately one minute).  Remove from the heat, add the garlic and stir well.

Place the sweet potato in a large bowl and beat with a hand whisk or electric whisk until smooth (I put the sweet potato through the potato ricer). Little by little add almost all the seasoned butter ingredients until well amalgamated.  Add salt to taste.

Preheat the oven to 175C
Brush an oven-proof dish with butter and spoon the potato mash in, levelling the top a little. Drizzle over any remaining melted butter and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and scatter the pecans with crumbled ricotta or goat cheese on the top, and continue to bake for a further 3-4 minutes or until piping hot.

Garnish with fried sage leaves and serve alongside a crisp green and bitter leaf salad or with roasted pork, turkey or chicken.

You really need to add lots of chopped sage for the flavour to come through, hard to judge 'a bunch' and I probably underplayed it, will be trying again with more sage.  Pecans and sweet potatoes is a marriage made in heaven though and the cumin and chilli add a nice spicy lift without overpowering the sweet potato. 

Sally Clarke: 30 Ingredients
Published by Frances Lincoln Limited Publishers
RRP Hardback £25

Labels: 30 Ingredients, book review, cookbook review, pecan nuts, review, ricotta, sage, Sally Clarke, Sweet Potato

posted by Janice @ 19:42 4 Comments

Bola de Caco - Traditional Bread from Madeira

I've recently return from a holiday (vacation) on the beautiful island of Madeira.  After the first day of rain and mist, the sun shone and we really enjoyed the island and, of course, the food.  As it is an island there was a lot of fish which we love, but today I am sharing with you a recipe for the local bread, Bola de Caco.  We were served this little round loaf as garlic bread on several occasions, but I also saw it sold from a stall as a sandwich snack.

Bola de Caco Garlic Bread served with fresh cheese and olives, eaten in a restaurant overlooking the Marina at Funchal.

On our return, I did a little research and found that one of the ingredients in Bola de Caco is sweet potato, although I think their sweet potato must be less orange as the bread was not as coloured as mine.  Some recipes suggested a sour dough, but I didn't have time to wait, so my version is a fast action yeast version.  I have kept faithful to the method of baking which is in a pan, so it's a bit like a cross between a tattie scone and a giant English Muffin.

Bola de Caco

Ingredients:
500g plain flour (not strong bread flour)
7g sachet Fast Action Yeast
200 grams sweet potatoes, (about 2)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
350ml warm water

Method:

• Bake the sweet potatoes, either in the oven for about 30-40 minutes or in the microwave for 8-10 minutes (timings depend on size of sweet potatoes). Once cooked until soft, scoop out the flesh and mash until smooth.
• Combine the sweet potatoes with the other ingredients and enough warm water to make a very soft, wet dough. Using one hand, bring all the ingredients together and mix thoroughly for 5-10 minutes or until dough becomes elastic.
• Cover dough loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.
• Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions. Oil your hands, so they don't stick to the dough, shape into flattened rounds and set aside to prove for another 30 minutes, covered with a damp towel.
• Melt a little butter in a small, high sided pan (or whatever kind of pan you have) and cook each round over a low heat for 8-10 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through.
• Repeat process with remaining bread, keeping the cooked Bola soft by covering with a clean tea towel on a cooling rack.

1. baking the Bola de Caco in the pan (a smaller high sided pan is recommended but I don't have one)
2. The dough on it's second rise
3. Texture of the bread which is slightly chewy on the outside but soft and light inside.
4. The bread rounds cooling.

I was surprised how easy it was to make the Bola de Caco and pleased that they cooked all the way through.  As you can see above, this little bread also makes a great bacon butty!


I'm entering the Bola de Caco for the new Bread based linky "Bready Steady Go" the brainchild of Jen from Jen's Food and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families

Labels: Bola de Caco, Bread, garlic bread, Madeira, Sweet Potato

posted by Janice @ 19:47 17 Comments

Sweet Potato,Ginger and Lemongrass Muffins

I was challenged by Knorr to come up with a creative recipe using their Knorr Flavour Pots which have just won Product of the Year.  You may have seen my Butternut Chicken Thai-Style which used the  Ginger and Lemongrass Flavour Pot and the Garlic Flavour Pot and the Lentil and Vegetable Soup which used the Garden Herbs Flavour Pot.

Knorr Flavour Pots have just collected first prize in the Sauce and Seasoning category for this year’s Product of the Year awards. Knorr Flavour Pots allow you to easily infuse your cooking with the flavour of fresh herbs and spices but with the handy convenience of dried. The range features nine different tantalising flavours, including Mixed Herbs, Three Peppercorn, Curry, Garlic, Mixed Chillies, Garden Herbs, Ginger & Lemongrass, Paprika, and Mexican.  In order to inspire some creative recipes Knorr sent me a box full of vegetables, tins and packets.

Amongst the vegetables was a nice big sweet potato, you can see it at the front, it nearly went into the chicken dish, but then I suddenly thought that it would be interesting to see if the Ginger and Lemongrass Flavour Pot would work in a sweet potato muffin, I got quite excited by the idea.

The ingredients of the Ginger and Lemongrass Flavour Pot are water, ginger spirit vinegar, glucose syrup, green pepper, salt, palm oil, garlic, sugar, basil, citrus fibre, cayenne pepper, coriander leaves, cardamom, onion powder, Kaffir lime leaves, aniseed, gelling agent (xanthan gum), natural lemongrass flavouring, natural chili flavouring.  A few things in there that wouldn't normally be in a sweet muffin, but I thought I'd have a go anyway.



Sweet Potato, Ginger and Lemongrass Muffins
makes 12

150g plain flour
150g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 Knorr Ginger and Lemongrass Flavour Pot
450g  Sweet Potato (cooked and mashed)
125g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
250ml orange juice
1 medium carrot, grated

1.Preheat the oven to 200C, grease a muffin tin  or line with papers.
2. In a medium bowl combine the plain flour, wholemeal flower, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
3. In a large bowl mash sweet potatoes.  Add brown sugar, eggs, orange juice carrot and the contents of the Ginger and Lemongrass Flavour Pot, mix together until well blended.
4. Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined and blended, don't over mix.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tin, filling the cups to the top.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

You can leave the muffins plain or make a water icing with icing sugar and lemon juice and drizzle over the top. 

The Sweet Potato, Ginger and Lemongrass Muffins were absolutely delicious and, unlike many muffins, they actually got better the next day!  There was no hint of savoury flavour and the flavours of lemongrass and ginger came through really well and the sweet potato kept them really moist and moreish.  I didn't intend for them to Valentine's Day Muffins, but they would make a very fine treat for anyone who likes a touch of spice.


Love is in the Air is the theme for Treat Petite this month, the blog event run each month by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer, hosted this month by The Baking Explorer


Over at Bangers and Mash Towers, Vanesther is sitting in the Temple, well sort of, she is looking for entries to The Spice Trail that fit the bill of 'Temple Food', spicy foods that are good for you, but also comforting.  I think these Sweet Potato, Ginger and Lemongrass Muffins definitely qualify as Temple Food.

Labels: Knorr, Knorr Flavour Pot, Lemongrass and Ginger, Muffins, Sweet Potato, Valentine's Day

posted by Janice @ 20:09 32 Comments

7-a-day Slow Cooker Challenge Round Up

It seems that packing 7 fruits or vegetables into a slow cooker recipe was quite a challenge as, other than my own, I only had two excellent entries which I will share with you.

First up was Pravina from Indo-Global Food with a simple vegetable curry: Aloo-Palak (Potato and Spinach) Curry which can be eaten with rice, naan, roti or paratha.

 My own dish was Chicken with 7-a-day Mediterranean Vegetables a great one pot meal best served with something that will soak up the delicious juices.

Natalie at The Tofu Diaries brought a Vegan dimension to the Slow Cooker Challenge.  Regular readers may have noticed I have a real love of paprika, so this Sweet Potato and Three Bean Paprikash is going on my recipe wish list.

Many thanks to Natalie and Pravina for taking part in the Slow Cooker Challenge.  I hope you will join me on 1st of May to find out what we will be making in our Slow Cookers as we move towards the warmer weather.

 Woo hoo!  I must have left the linky open longer than I though and the lovely Sarah of Tales from the Kitchen Shed has snuck in at the last minute with a delicious Vegetable Biryani and what a gorgeous vibrant photograph.

Labels: 7-a-day, beans, Biryani, potoates, Round Up, Slow Cooker Challenge, spinach, Sweet Potato, Vegan, Vegetables

posted by Janice @ 21:29 16 Comments