Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category
Introducing our Guest Food Blogger – Shivi Ramoutar
Thursday, May 9th, 2013
We are thrilled to announce that the wonderful chef Shivi Ramoutar has joined the blogger team here at The Balcony Gardener as our resident foodie expert! You may recognise her as one of the talented final 7 in this year’s Masterchef and Shivi is also rapidly carving out her niche cooking area in various pop-ups, food festivals and recipe collections. Shivi is a scotch-bonnet-loving cook and her culinary speciality is contemporary caribbean food, but she also loves to immerse herself in everything foodie (and drinkie). We’re very happy to welcome her to the blog!
“It certainly cannot be me alone, but I am finding that I can hardly take a step in a supermarket without walking into a display of beautiful, stalky green, asparagus! (And it isn’t only because I am the most clumsy clutz in the Planet!). Lo and behold, it is that time of the year, the righteous season of Asparagus.
When the lovely Balcony Gardener asked me to be the resident food blogger, I thought yes, let me impress with the most diverse recipes, using extreme seasonal produce that no one has heard of, let me promulgate the Masterchef-esque smearing of plates, the dishes served “three-ways”, the cascade of extreme jus. But that totally defeats the purpose of creating seasonal recipes for the everyday household. Let’s just make some good food that makes you want to go back for seconds.
So here we are, one of the nation’s favourite produce, with another seasonal goodie, crab, a pairing made in heaven! You may eat this soup hot off the stove, or chilled with a squeeze of lemon. Perfect for when its 23°C one day, and 9°C the next.”
Asparagus soup, hot or chilled, with crab biscotti (serves 4)
For the crab biscotti:
- 135g self-raising flour
- 1 tbsp mixed, dried herbs
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1.5 tbsp caster sugar
- 56g room temperature, unsalted butter, cubed
- 30g crab meat
- sea salt and pepper
For the asparagus soup:
- 500g asparagus, chopped, (discarding white tough ends, reserving the tips)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 celery stick, chopped
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1l vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 tsp chopped chives
- 100ml double cream
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- olive oil
- sea salt and pepper
For the crab biscotti:
Pre-heat the oven to 175°C.
Mix together the flour, herbs and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter together.
To the sugar and butter mixture, beat in the egg until well mixed.
Pour in the flour mixture, a little at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon, until a dough forms.
Using your hands, bring the dough together, kneading, into a ball, (using flour on your hands to stop the dough from sticking, if necessary).
Flatten the dough into a rectangle, with a length of about 16cm, and a thickness of about 1.5cm.
Place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool, then with a serrated knife, carefully slice into inch-thick slices.
Place the slices, cut side down, back onto the lined baking tray, and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until golden.
Allow to cool completely on a rack. Then serve immediately, or store in an airtight container for later.
For the asparagus soup:
Heat a glug of oil in a large saucepan.
Add the chopped onion and celery and soften for about 10 minutes, do not brown.
Add the chopped asparagus, cover the pan and allow to sweat on a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the flour, then pour in the stock and the chopped chives, bring to the boil and then lower the heat, cover the pan and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and blitz with a hand-held blender, or transfer to a free-standing blender, until smooth.
Place the soup back onto a low heat, stir in the reserved asparagus tips, the cream, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and season to taste.
Serve immediately, or cool to room temperature and then place in the fridge, and serve as a chilled soup.
You can find out more at www.shiviramoutar.com, or follow her on twitter: @shiviramoutar
New Seeds Range for 2011!
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
It’s been an exciting start to 2011, we have just re-launched our seeds range and introduced several new seed varieties for the New Year. Inspired by the zest and vibrancy of vegetables and herbs, our fresh new packaging stands out with its bright colours and quirky designs. We wholly believe in, and are keen advocates of the “grow-your-own” movement, so our new seeds designs celebrate the rich beauty of freshly picked herbs and vegetables. Our new seeds packets are just as colourful and eye-catching as the home-grown veggies adorning your plate!
As passionate foodies we were desperate to include more in our seed range that could be used for cooking and garnishes even from small urban gardens. We’ve selected spring onion, chives and chilli. Spring Onions can be harvested easily and are very hardy growers for our climate; they are a great addition to salads, stir-fries and wherever a great fresh onion flavour is needed. Similarly chives also offer a delicate onion flavour to your cooking and become a perfect perennial addition to soups, omelettes and cheese dishes. Try adding the purple flowers to your spring salads, snip them regularly to promote more young fresh leaves. Finally, glossy chilli plants are great as they can be grown on the windowsill and can be dried to use all year round. 
We’ve found this lovely spring recipe using chilli (plus a few more ingredients from the seeds range) – happy cooking!
Chilli and lemon roasted salmon with roasted plum tomatoes and chilli and fennel salad
Ingredients
For the tomatoes
8 plum tomatoes
1½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme, picked and chopped
For the salmon
4 x 175g/6oz salmon fillets, (skins on)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, juice only
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp olive oil
For the salad
2 heads fennel, thinly sliced
handful of salad leaves
400g/14oz can of flageolet beans, drained and rinsed
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 red chillies, thinly sliced
small handful fresh parsley
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the truffle dressing
2 tbsp soy sauce
1½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp truffle oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
Preparation method
. Preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4.
. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthways and place onto the lined tray, cut-side up.
. Drizzle with olive oil, season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with the thyme leaves and place into the oven to roast for about 1½ hours, until they colour and shrink a little (if after an hour the tomatoes start to colour too much, cover them with foil).
. Increase the oven temperature to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
. Season the salmon fillets with salt and freshly ground black pepper, the chilli flakes and lemon juice.
. Place an ovenproof frying pan onto a high heat and add the olive oil. When very hot, place the salmon into the pan, skin-side down, and fry for 2-3 minutes, until the skin is crisp and browned.
. Turn the salmon over and transfer to the oven to bake for 5-8 minutes, or until the salmon is completely cooked through.
. To make the salad, place the fennel in iced water to crisp up.
. Mix the beans with the sliced spring onion, chilli, parsley leaves, and lemon juice and season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
. For the dressing, mix together the soy sauce, olive oil, truffle oil and lemon juice in a large bowl.
. Drain the fennel and add to the dressing; then add the salad leaves. Mix well and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
. Divide the bean salad between four plates and sit the tomato halves on top. Place the salmon on top of the tomatoes and place a spoonful of fennel salad on top.
Balcony Grown Stuffed Courgette Flowers
Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Last year I saw all these wonderful recipes for stuffed courgette flowers – now being a bit of a foodie I was most perturbed that I had not yet tried this delicacy. I trawled all over London, Borough Market and surrounding countryside to find them, but to no avail. So I decided I would grow my own this year on my balcony, using our Seeds.
I have picked this recipe below which is just delicious.
Now I just need to find a recipe to use all these courgettes I have left over…
Ricotta & Herb Stuffed Courgette Flowers
Serves 4
Ingredients
12 Courgette Flowers (Blossom)
for the stuffing
Approx 6 tbsp Fresh Ricotta Cheese
1 Egg
1 Garlic Clove crushed
1 tbsp Freshly Chopped Basil
1 tbsp Toasted Pine nuts
Salt and Pepper
For the batter
175g/6oz Self Raising Flour
A pinch of Salt
390ml/13fl.oz. Ice cold water
2 Eggs, beaten
Oil for shallow frying
Instructions
- Carefully remove the pistol and stamen from the centre of the flowers and gently wash the flowers then dry on kitchen paper and set aside.
- Place the ricotta, garlic, basil, nuts, egg, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl and mix until well blended.
- Fill each flower with a couple of teaspoons of the cheese mixture, making sure you don’t overfill. Refrigerate whilst you make the batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, water and eggs until combined.
- Heat about 5cm/2 inches of oil in a large frying pan until quite hot (about 180C/350F) and heat the oven to low.
- Holding the ends of the petals lightly together, carefully dip a stuffed flower into the batter, making sure the entire flower is coated, then gently place into the hot oil. Repeat with a few more but do not overcrowd the pan. You will probably have to cook them in a couple of batches.
- Fry for a couple of minutes until lightly browned on one side, then turn and continue to fry until lightly browned on the other side.
- As and when each is cooked, remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining stuffed flowers. Serve hot
To serve as a meaty option, add 75g of pancetta or bacon to the stuffing mixture.
Many thanks to my friend Keiko who has taken this beautiful picture, take a look at her stunning blog Nordljus for more food inspiration!