Kate Ford presents some fasting food for Advent, Sam Marsden looks forward to Christmas fare, and Cornelia van der Poll embarks on her own Operation Mincemeat.
Slow Cooker Butternut Dahl
1 red onion
2 tablespoons rapeseed or sunflower oil
1 teaspoon garlic purée (or 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed)
1 teaspoon ginger purée (or 2cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated)
1 red chilli, de-seeded and sliced
4 teaspoons medium curry powder (or 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, cinnamon and crushed mustard seeds)
200g red lentils, rinsed
400ml tin coconut milk
200ml water
1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
Half a butternut squash (or 500g pre-prepared or frozen butternut squash chunks)
To finish:
1 lemon
1 green chilli
A handful of fresh coriander
Nutritious and delicious, this easy slow-cooker dahl couldn’t be simpler to make – prepare it in the morning, leave it to cook during the day and then tuck in for dinner. The butternut squash and lentils collapse into soft, creamy comfort food – delicious with rice or naan bread. This is another easy freezer meal, perfect for busy Advent evenings when you don’t have time to cook.
Peel and chop the onion and place in a frying pan with the oil, garlic, ginger, chilli and curry powder. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then tip it all into the slow cooker and add the lentils, coconut milk, water and stock powder. Peel the butternut squash and cut it into small cubes (about 1cm), and add to the mix. Season well with salt and pepper. Cook on high for 5 hours (or low for 8 hours), until the lentils are soft and the dhal has a thick, creamy consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve. For the optional garnish, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a small frying pan. De-seed and finely slice the green chilli and add to the pan. Cook over a low to medium heat until it begins to crisp, then spoon it over the dhal. Roughly chop the coriander, scatter it over the dish, and then finish with a generous squeeze of lemon juice.
Borlotti Bean Soup with kale and lemon
1 onion
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
2 tablespoons rapeseed or sunflower oil
2 cloves garlic (or 2 teaspoons garlic purée)
2 tins of borlotti
beans (400g)
800 ml vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato purée
large handful curly kale
½ lemon
This creamy and chunky borlotti bean soup is tasty and very filling, and quick and easy to make. It freezes really well, so you can batch-cook and stock up to keep you going until spring.
Peel and chop the onion; peel and trim the carrots and chop into chunks. Trim and slice the celery stalks. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion, carrot and celery for 5 minutes until they start to soften. Peel and crush the garlic and add to the pan. Drain and rinse the borlotti beans and add to the pan, followed by the vegetable stock and tomato purée. Season well with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 12-14 minutes until the carrots are cooked through. Spoon about a third of the soup into a blender or food processor and blitz until completely smooth. Return it to the pan and stir through the soup. Remove any tough stalks from the curly kale and chop it roughly. Stir through the soup and simmer for a minute or two until wilted. Then stir through the juice of half a lemon, taste and adjust the seasoning as required. Serve immediately.
Smoked Haddock and Rice
For four people on an
Advent Friday you’ll need:
a medium onion
80g of butter
around 500 g of smoked
haddock (undyed for
preference)
200g of arborio or
carnaroli rice
400ml of fish stock
a coffee spoon of ground
cumin
a pinch of saffron
Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 4, 180° fan, and finely chop the onion. Using a suitable oven-proof, lidded casserole, very gently cook the onion in 50g of the butter, ensuring it does not brown. Meanwhile, skin and bone the fish and cut into bite-sized pieces. When the onion is satisfactorily golden, add the cumin and the rice, and stir well. Add the stock and the pinch of saffron, and bring to a simmer. Add the fish and bring back to the simmer again. Lid the casserole, and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove and leave to stand, still lidded, for 5 to 10 minutes. Uncover, add the remaining butter and stir very gently over a very low heat until incorporated. Check for seasoning and, if necessary, add a tiny pinch of salt and a larger one of ground black pepper. A little chopped parsley, if such were available, would not come amiss.
Partridge Variation
One partridge per person will suffice. Well before you intend to eat, cut the legs and wings off each bird and fry in a slick of olive oil, along with a chopped shallot, a clove or two of garlic, a carrot and some fresh herbs and black peppercorns, until they take a little colour. Add a dash of white wine and then then some chicken stock, to cover. Bring to a gentle simmer and leave to cook very, very slowly for about an hour and a half. Drain, reserving the liquid, and ditch the vegetables. When it is cool enough to handle, discard the skin, bones and tendons until all that is left is exquisitely tender meat. Moisten with a little stock and consign it and the rest of the liquid to the fridge until later.
About 3/4 hour before you wish to eat, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 180° fan, and pack the remaining crowns of partridge into a roasting tin. Bring the stock to the boil and simmer to reduce, tasting all the while until ready. Roast the birds for about 20 minutes and then set aside to rest. In a saucepan, gently heat the reserved leg meat. Quickly remove both breasts from each bird and arrange on a platter, and surround them with the now scaldingly hot (but still beautifully moist) leg meat. Decant the stock – by now a sauce, perhaps enriched by a little double cream – into a suitable container and serve. Some sprouts and bread sauce would work well, as would some small chunks of potato roasted in duck fat.
Operation mincemeat
Making your own mincemeat takes little time and is very much worth doing. Homemade mincemeat has a depth of flavour that the over-sweet and acidic product sold in jars will never match.
This is my version of Mrs Beeton’s mincemeat recipe. The minced beef adds a savoury richness and improves the texture. The recipe makes just over a pound of mincemeat, enough for 24 to 30 mince pies. It works beautifully with buttery shortcrust or puff pastry.
You will need:
2 oz raisins
3 oz currants
1½ oz cooked minced beef
3 oz beef suet (from a packet is fine)
2 oz soft brown sugar or molasses
1 oz candied peel, chopped
a small apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
finely grated rind of one lemon and juice of ½ lemon
a pinch of nutmeg
2 tablespoons brandy
Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly and keep in a sealed container in the fridge. Mrs B advises that it will be ready for use in a fortnight.
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