Recipes & Tips
As part of our Grow, Cook, Eat project, here you can find all of our recipes and top tips on growing your own veg and cooking some amazing new meals. We will be adding regular recipes and tips to this page, so please keep checking back.
Top Tips
Fancy a Forage?
This hot tip comes courtesy of our friend and foraging expert Imogen Davis. When on a walk with Imogen, it’s hard to get anywhere fast, due to her abundance of knowledge and keen eye for all things edible – in the hedgerow, on roadsides, along footpaths and growing on trees. There’s an abundance of free food at our fingertips and we’re here to help you discover nature’s larder.
Alexanders are an abundant plant similar to celery and parsley. It is championed as a “forgotten vegetable”, with countless uses from root to seeds and every part edible, it boasts a variety of flavours.
Imogen explained how the stem would be compared to celery whilst the seeds hold a powerful peppery flavour and can be used in place of the exotic Sichuan pepper. The whole plant can be used from root to tip, so once you’re confidently ID-ing, the possibilities in the kitchen are endless.
An important approach to take (as coined by foraging expert, Imogen Davis): “the foraging rule of thirds”:
- Take one-third
- Leave one-third for others
- Leave one-third for the future
Foraging for Elderberries
In late Summer and early Autumn, there is an abundance of hedgerow berries to forage – rosehips, blackberries and sloes to name a few.
At Grow, Cook, Eat, our favourite is the elderberry. They are found along country lanes, garden verges and in woodland. Growing in small clusters, densely packed with purple berries, they are valuable in providing food for insects, birds and humans alike.
Elderberries are championed for their immunity boosting properties, packed with antioxidants and vitamins. They’re nature’s Berocca!
An important approach to take when foraging (as coined by foraging expert, Imogen Davis), “the foraging rule of thirds”:
1. Take one-third
2. Leave one-third for others
3. Leave one-third for the future
Find a simple recipe for elderberry syrup below.
Recipes
Beetroot Hummus Recipe
Add extra flavour to your salads with a healthy yet delicious Beetroot Hummus
Ingredients
500g cooked beetroot1 tin of chickpeas
1 tin of chickpeas
2tbsp tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
1tbsp cumin seeds
4tbsp oil (sunflower/rapeseed)
Method
Combine all the ingredients in a jug
Using a hand blender or food processor, blitz the ingredients until you reach your desired, paste-like consistency
Season to taste
Mac’n’Squeeze
A healthy twist to a firm family favourite!
Ingredients
1 onion
4 garlic cloves
1 squash
250ml coconut milk/oat milk/cows milk
Salt, pepper
Macaroni
Method
Roughly chop all veg and deseed squash
Put in a roasting tin and cook for 30-40 mins (until squash is softened and caramelising)
Meanwhile, cook your pasta, reserving some pasta water to let down your sauce
Once veg has cooked, add to blender with milk of choice and a splash of water
Blend until smooth and its reached desired consistency
Stir in with pasta and serve
Tips
Add chilli for an extra warming kick and fennels seed for added depth of flavour
Elderberry Syrup
Immunity boosting syrup to use in cakes, drinks or simply as a morning health-shot
Ingredients
800ml water
400g elderberries
3 cinnamon sticks
Thumb size piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 lemon, sliced
1 large orange, sliced
20 cloves
1 star anise
170g honey
Method
Put all ingredients – except the honey – in a large saucepan and bring to the boil
Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 mins, stirring regularly until the liquid has reduced by half to a syrup
Remove from the heat and pass the syrup through a muslin cloth
When this has almost completely cooled, add the honey and then decant into sterilised bottle or jar to store.
It will keep for up to 3 months like this.
Aquafaba Marshmallow
Extremely tasty vegan marshmallows
Ingredients
350g caster sugar
½ cup water
3tsp agar agar
125g glucose syrup
200ml aquafaba (liquid from 1 tin)
¼ tsp cream of tartar
Method
Start by making a sugar syrup: place sugar, glucose syrup, agar agar and water in a pot and bring to a boil
Once the sugar has dissolved take off the heat and allow to cool slightly while you prepare the aquafaba
Whisk the aquafaba with cream of tartar until you have stiff peaks forming (similar to making a normal meringue)
Once it has reached this consistency, gradually pour in the sugar mixture until fully combined
Place the mixture into your dish of choice to allow to set
You can use the mixture at this point as “marshmallow fluff” or leave to set overnight to then cut into marshmallows
Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy!
Roasted Pumpkin Soup
A delicious, seasonal soup to feed the family.
Ingredients
500g roast squash
3 cloves garlic
1 onion (red or white)
1 tsp cumin seeds
700ml vegetable stock
Method
Roughly chop the squash, scooping out the inside and putting to one side to save for later use
Place onto a baking tray and lightly drizzle in oil and season with salt, pepper and cumin seeds
Roast for 20 mins or until caramelised
Meanwhile, dice an onion and sweat in pan with oil for 5 mins
Then adding the roasted squash and 700mls veg stock and let simmer for a further 20 mins
Using a blender, puree the soup and season to taste
Chapatis
The perfect chapatis to accompany your favourite Indian dish
Ingredients
250g wholemeal flour
100ml boiling water
3tbsp oil
Method
Measure flour into a large bowl and gradually add boiling water, mixing to combine – be careful to not burn your hands
When the dough is cool enough to knead with your hands, start doing this to ensure all flour is combined and soft, pliable dough is forming
Add the oil at this point, while continuing to knead for around 5 mins
Leave it to rest for 30 mins, before separating into small balls
Once dough is portioned into balls, roll the dough out to 2mm thick and fry in a hot pan for 4 mins each side
Pictured – Jade at our Diwali Lunch in 2023
Homemade Crunchie
The perfect sweet treat for gifting and for indulging
Ingredients
200 grams caster sugar
5 tbsp golden syrup
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method
Prepare a bowl with greaseproof paper that has been scrunched up and flattened back out, ready for honeycomb mixture to be added
Combine caster sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and place over a gentle heat until the sugar has melted
Heat it very slowly and only agitate it by swirling the pan to prevent it from burning and making sure all the crystals fully dissolve
Once completely dissolved, turn up the heat slightly and allow mixture to come up to a simmer, watching for it to turn a golden/amber colour, this should only take a few minutes
At this point you need to work very quickly, adding the bicarbonate of soda and whisking it into the mixture, being very careful as the mixture will bubble and grow rapidly once combined
Immediately pour mixture into prepared bowl and allow to rest until fully hardened, approx. an hour
You can then break the honeycomb up and coat in melted chocolate or enjoy as is
Wrap individual pieces in greaseproof, perfect for gifting or keep in a glass jar – it should keep for up to 3 days like this
Kimchi
A traditional Korean ferment, packed full of probiotics
Ingredients
1 cabbage
6 cloves garlic
1 thumb sixe piece of ginger
2tsp caster sugar
1tbsp gochujang
200g daikon
6 spring onions
Method
Quarter cabbage, cut out the hearts and then chop into even pieces
Cover generously with salt and mix well to combine
Set aside for 2 hours
Meanwhile, chop garlic and ginger and place into a food processor with sugar and blitz into a smooth paste
Add gochujang and mix to combine
Rinse and drain cabbage, let sit in colander for 30 mins
Prep remaining veg, cutting into similar size pieces, then add to salted cabbage
Mix in a large bowl and add the gochung paste
Mix thoroughly – best using your hands – and then pack into a clean, sterilised jar
Place in a cool, dark spot for a week to allow the fermentation to commence
Ready to consume any time on from this. Will keep up to 4 months
Pearl Barley Risotto
A more cost effective version of the Italian classic. Cook as below, or add any vegetables you have available to elevate it.
Ingredients
500g mushrooms
1 vegetable stock cube
olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
2 small onions
2 sticks of celery
flat-leaf parsley
300g pearl barley
80g mature Cheddar cheese
Method
Saute onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms and thyme in a little oil
Salt until soft
Add the pearl barley, mixing continuously to avoid it catching
Once thoroughly heated, add the stock and let simmer for approx. 20 mins, until the pearl barley is cooked
Add cheese and parsley just before serving