HARVEST
BY DAPHNE LAMBERT
HARVEST CELEBRATION
A wake me up juice, a warming soup, a nourishing cabbage dish, a delicious chutney, a simple way with plaice and a fireside drink to celebrate the autumn harvest.
Chard, apple & chilli juice
1 big handful chard
4 apples
thick slice of lemon
1 chilli
serves 2
Feed everything through your juicer, removing the seeds from your chilli if you prefer.
CARROT & GINGER SOUP
700g carrots
1 medium onion
thumb size piece of ginger
2 oz butter
1.2 litres vegetable stock
sea salt & black pepper
coriander or parsley
Serves 4
Scrub the carrots, cut of the ends and roughly chop.
Peel and dice onions.
Grate the ginger.
Melt the butter in a thick bottomed pan and stir in the carrots and onion. Cook gently for 5 minutes.
Stir in ginger and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Add the stock and simmer covered for 15 minutes.
Cool slightly, and then blend the vegetables in a blender until smooth.
Return to the pan add a twist of black pepper and season with salt.
Divide between four bowls and top with chopped coriander or parsley.
Stuffed cabbage leaves
12 Savoy cabbage leaves
175g finely shredded cabbage
175g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 teaspoons chopped thyme
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
6 finely shredded sun dried tomatoes
60ml olive oil
extra oil and a little stock
Serves 6
Cook the onions, mushrooms and garlic in olive oil until soft and just colouring.
Add the finely shredded cabbage and a splash of water and cook until the cabbage wilts.
Add the thyme, parsley and sun dried tomatoes. Set aside.
Trim the stalks off the cabbage leaves with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler to make them as thin as the leaves and take a slice off the base to give a flat edge. Bring a pot of water to the boil and drop in the leaves. Bring back to the boil & cook for 3 minutes, carefully remove the leaves and place them into a bowl of cold water. When the leaves have cooled. Drain and pat dry.
Lay a cabbage leaf on a flat surface, put a tablespoon of filling at the base and roll up.
Put the parcels in an oiled dish, sprinkle over some more oil and splash with stock, cover with greaseproof paper and bake for 20 mins.
Serving suggestion – serve with rice and a fresh tomato & herb sauce.
Rosehip Chutney
500g fresh hips, halved and seeds removed
500ml apple cider vinegar
225g sultanas
700g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
knob of ginger grated
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 chopped cloves garlic
250g sugar
juice and zest 1 lemon
juice and zest 1 orange
Soak the rosehips, sultanas, and apples in vinegar overnight.
The next day, place the rosehips with the remaining ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened.
Leave to cool, then ladlechutney into sterlised jars.
Store chutney in a cool place. Keep for at least a month before using.
Baked fillets of plaice
8 fillets of plaice
1 onion finely chopped
2 medium sized leeks, white part only cut into matchsticks
1 medium carrot cut into small dice
2 sticks of celery finely sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
50g dry white wine
75g breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
handful parsley leaves - chopped
1 heaped teaspoon seed mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
black pepper & sea salt
Serves 4
Oven 200°C/ 400°F/gas 6
Gently cook the leeks, onion, carrot and celery in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until just soft.
Transfer to an oven proof dish.
Season the plaice fillets with a twist of black pepper and a little sea salt, pop on top of the vegetables.
Splash over the white wine.
Mix the breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs, mustard and olive oil together, scatter over the fish fillets and bake for 15 minutes or until the crust is golden.
Mulled apple juice
1 litre apple juice
1 cinnamon stick broken in 2
1 knob of fresh ginger cut into slices
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon honey
to serve – cinnamon sticks
Serves 4-6
Place all the ingredients into a stainless steel pan and bring gently to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat and leave covered to infuse for 1 hour.
Reheat, strain and serve in glasses with a cinnamon stick.