0 Rocket, roasted tomato, basil and feta salad

This salad is seriously amazing for two main reasons firstly its tastes great and secondly as it uses plenty of rocket (arugula for our American friends), the reason why I like this is because we have a forest of of rocket growing in the vegetable garden. I enjoy rocket salads as our homegrown wild rocket has a spicy Parmesan cheese edge to its flavour so its great in combination with other Mediterranean salad ingredients. This salad is a mish mash of Italian and Greek flavours and screams languid hot summer days to me.

I am sure I can almost here Spanish guitars and feel Balearic breezes through the trees.....

I am sure if you didn't fancy roasting the tomatoes that some good sun dried tomatoes would be nearly as good in this dish, plus you could swap out the feta for local goat cheese, serve with chilled white wine and good bread, simple grilled meats or fish and good friends.

What you need

• Rocket (Arugula) - a good handful for each person
• Basil- a few sprigs - leaves picked off
• Feta or goats cheese - 1 block serves about 4 - chopped or crumbled
• 6 - 10 baby plum or cherry tomatoes - halved
• Extra virgin olive oil ( extra virgin rapeseed would also be good)
• Sprig of fresh thyme - leaves picked off
• White wine vinegar / balsamic vinegar / red wine vinegar
• Pinch of sugar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

What you do 

• Heat your oven to 220c
• Toss the tomatoes in a little of the olive oil and place in a small oven tray, sprinkle with the thyme and a little sugar and season with salt and pepper.
• Roast for about 30 minutes or so until the tomatoes are slightly charred and soft (like in the bottom image)
• Cool ( you can store in the fridge for a while if you like, no snaffling !)
• iMake a dressing of the pan juices, a good slug of olive oil and some vinegar (you are going for 6/1 oil to vinegar ratio), taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
• To assemble the salad, toss the rocket in the dressing , then top with the cheese and roasted tomatoes and drizzle with a little more of the dressing.
• Strew with basil leaves
• Serve immediately and devour greedily.

I'm linking up to Simple and in Season, created by Ren Behan and hosted this month by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.

                                            

I am also linking to Extra Veg created by Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy and hosted this month over at Maison Cupcake.

Detail: Rocket, roasted tomato, basil and feta salad

0 Gluten free rhubarb and rose cake

Yet another Rhubarb recipe, this one is combined with rose cordial in a gluten free cake mixture, satisfyingly tasty and better eaten the next day this a great recipe for lunch boxes in the summertime. Not overtly sweet the rhubarb really sings with the subtle hint of rose.

Currently in the garden rose "Gertrude Jekyll" is flowering prolifically,so this is the inspiration for this bake, a deep rose pink highly fragranced David Austin rose with ample double blooms. Roses always mean summer to me, their luscious fragrances and ample flowers and also quintessentially English.

A delicious bake with a good crumb studded with tangy juicy chunks of rhubarb.

What you need

• 3 or 4 talks rhubarb, washed and chopped into 1cm ish chunks
• 1 1/2 cups of ground almonds
• 1 cup of gluten free plain flour (I used Doves Farm)
• 150g softened butter
• 3/4 cup light brown soft sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 tbsp rose syrup
• 4 eggs - free range

23 cm cake tin, base lined (ideally loose bottomed or spring form)

What you do 

• Pre heat the oven to 180c
• Toss the prepared rhubarb into the flour and ground almond mixture
• Beat the sugar and softened butter together until light and slightly fluffy, add the vanilla and rose syrup
• Add the eggs one by one , don't worry to much if the mixture curdles slightly keep mixing, add a little of the flour / almond mixture
• Now fold in the rest of the flour, almond and rhubarb mixture
• Scrape into prepared cake tin and bake for about 45 mins or so , bake until golden, slightly risen and done when tested with a cocktail stick.
• Allow to cool in tin
• Wrap and store once cool, its has a better flavour if kept for 24 hours.

I am linking up this post to this month's Tea time treats , hosted in turn by Karen over on Lavender and Lovage and Hedgecomber. This month's theme is Floral, I think this more than qualifies.

                                                                 

I am also linking up to Ren Behan with her Simple and in Season campaign. As this is a very seasonal recipe as it features rhubarb from the garden and is decorated with fallen petals from Gertrude Jeykll rose.

                                             

Detail: Gluten free rhubarb and rose cake

0 Blood orange, lemon and almond cake

On a recent visit to my local greengrocers I was pleased to see that blood oranges were in season, juicy sweet and full of orangey flavour they make a great addition to the fruit bowl. Combined with a classic lemon this is a gorgeous zesty bake, the blood orange adds a beautiful orange hue to the cake, this recipe is based on Nigella Lawson's clementine cake which in turn is based on Claudia Roden's orange and almond cake, I am pretty sure Fiona Cairns has a version too.

This recipe is reliable and naturally gluten free, its a plain Jane of cake that packs a glorious flavour punch, juicy, zesty and ever so slightly adult. I couldn't resist decorating it with the little viola's coming into flower in the garden, those little cute faces calling out to me.

The cake require no real skill and I now have a short cut route of cooking the orange and lemon, rather than boiling in water for a couple of hours,you can avoid the steamy kitchen by microwaving in a covered bowl for about 8 -10 minutes until soft. Easy !

Its great to be able to use the lovely unsung blood orange in a recipe and a great celebration of spring. You can substitute any citrus fruit, lemons, clementines, all work fine, just keep the quantity roughly the same.

What you need

• 1 orange and 1 lemon, ideally organic and unwaxed (if you can't get blood orange ordinary works fine)
• 6 eggs - large free range 
• 220g caster sugar
• 250g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of sea salt
• Springform cake tin - approx 8" diameter, oil sprayed
• Icing sugar to dust
• Violas

What you do

• Firstly you need to cook the orange and lemon, you can either boil in water for approx 2 hours until soft, or alternatively microwave for about 8-10 minutes
• Allow the soft whole fruit to cool and cut open to remove any pips.
• Preheat the oven to 170c fan / gas mark 5
• Now pulp in the food processor until a fine puree
• Now add the other ingredients, pulse again until you have a smoothish mixture
• Pour into your prepared tin and smooth the top
• Bake for approx 50 minutes until a cocktail stick comes out clean and the cake is a gorgeous golden colour, cover with foil if it appears to be darkening too quickly
• Allow to cool full in the tin
• Dust with icing sugar and serve

Serve on a platter or cake stand strewn with viola's, spring has sprung !

I am entering this post in for the blog challenge Simple and in Season created by Renbehan and hosted this month by Utterly Scrummy Food 

                                               

                                           
                                               

Detail: Blood orange, lemon and almond cake

0 Lentil and vegetable potage in the slow cooker

I love making home made soup, its so comforting and ideal for a weekend lunch or for packing and taking to work. This recipe is so simple and so delicious and is so healthy too, what ever your diet this soup is for you. Potage was a medieval staple and even though I have taken some "poetic" license in including ingredients that were not available at that time, such as potatoes, onions, etc,  I think its can still be called a potage.

Lentils are used to give a smooth rib sticking velvety feel to the soup supplemented with seasonal local vegetables. I slow cooked this soup  in my slow cooker but this is not absolutely necessary and you would get the same great results on the hob.

What you need

• 1 cup red/orange lentils
• 1 large onion, peeled and  chopped 
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped
• 1 large potato, peeled and chopped
• A little oil / butter
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• Sprig of fresh rosemary
• Small piece of pared lemon rind 
• About 1 litre vegetable stock - this needs to be hot / boiling
• Salt and Pepper

What you do

• Switch on your slow cooker to pre heat
• Heat a little oil or butter in a large pan and add the vegetables, cook for a few minutes until slightly softened
• Place the vegetables along with the lentils, stock, herbs and lemon rind in the slow cooker
• Cook on high for about 2 - 3 hours, until the vegetables are soft and the lentils mushy
• Remove the bay leaves, rosemary and lemon rind
• Process to a smooth velvety texture with a hand held blender, taste and season as appropriate, you may also want to add a little hot water or stock to thin the soup to your desired consistency.

I am using this recipe for  entry into several related blogging challenges.

Slow cooker challenge - this months theme is soup.The challenge was created and is hosted by Janice over at Farmersgirl Kitchen, I used my slow cooker to create my soup so it more than qualifies.

                                         

Cooking with herbs (theme this month is citrus) - January 2014 created and hosted by Karen over at Lavender and Lovage, the recipe features bay leaves, rosemary and lemon peel.

                                              

Simple and in Season - January 2014 created and hosted by Ren over at Renbehan.com . The recipe is a simple seasonal soup using local winter vegetables and herbs from the garden.

                                               

No croutons required Vegetarian Soup and Salad challenge hosted this month by Lisa at Food and Spice, the recipe is suitable for vegetarians and could easily be made vegan by using vegetable oil rather than butter.

                                                        

My Legume Love affair hosted this month by Briggishome , as the recipe uses lentils it qualifies for this challenge. The rules of which you can find here , a lovely blogging challenge created by Sue at the well seasoned cook.

                                                             

Detail: Lentil and vegetable potage in the slow cooker

0 Leek, Potato and thyme Soup

This is my standby soup recipe, deliciously warming and comforting and a great anecdote to when you need the equivalent of a hug in a bowl. Outside its been bashing down with rain and even when it stops raining its raining leaves as autumn is well and truly well under way. Leeks are fairly easy to grow in the garden and even if your yield is disappointing you normally can rescue enough leeks for soup.

Ingredients

• 3 large potatoes - peeled and chopped in to chunky cubes
• 3 leeks, cleaned and chopped into rings
• Vegetable stock about 500ml
• Thyme - dried or fresh
• Salt and Pepper
• Butter

Method

• Melt the butter in a large saucepan
• Add the leeks and chopped potato and cook gently until slightly softened
• Add the thyme and enough vegetable stock to cover
• Bring to a gentle simmer, cover and cook until the vegetables are tender
• Now liquidise half the soup ( I use a stick blender), by doing it this way you still retain texture
• Add more water / stock if too thick and bring back to a simmer
• Taste and season
• Delicious served with homemade bread

I am entering this into the Simple and Seasonal challenge hosted this month by franglaiskitchen for Fabulicious Food

And also in Herbs on Saturday October hosted over at Lavender and Lovage 

Detail: Leek, Potato and thyme Soup