Seasonal Scotland: Leek & Potato Soup

This is one of the first ~proper~ (i.e. from scratch) things I ever cooked and you just can’t go wrong with it. I’ve based my recipe on the one featured in 400 Soups. UK-grown leeks and potatoes* are available most of the year and last week I managed to get mine from South-East Scotland :) 

Serves approx 6 (freeze any leftovers!)

I always make Alex chop the onion :p He wears contacts!

Ingredients:

75g butter or oil

2-3 leeks, chopped

400g potatoes, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 pints vegetable stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat up the half the butter or all the oil in a large pan then add the onion and leeks. Gently cook for a few minutes until they’ve softened up.

2. Mix in the potatoes and cook for a further few minutes.

3. Add the stock, cover, and bring to the boil. Reduce to simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Add the salt, pepper, and left over butter if using. Optional – take off the heat and liquidise all/part of it for a smoother soup (I like to whiz up a little bit of it to make it thicker).

To find out more about what fruits and vegetables are in season check out this amazing interactive calendar! I have one of Liz Cook’s wall charts on my kitchen window but like to use this electronic one too.

*Maincrop potatoes are generally harvested October-December but they can be stored for months so although not technically ‘seasonal’ (it’s nearly March now!) I’d still say this counts as a Seasonal Scotland dish!

Seasonal Scotland: Vegetable pie

So after my last post where I tried to recreate a dish from a ‘Climate friendly’ food workshop it got me thinking that I really should try to eat more seasonally, that is, buy and eat food that is in season and grown as close to where I live as possible. The most obvious and easiest way to do this is with vegetables (not like I can get bananas and chickpeas grown in Scotland is it?). Luckily the New Leaf Co-operative, one of my favourite places to shop, stocks loads of beautiful seasonal veg from the Edinburgh and Lothian areas at a reasonable and often cheaper than supermarket price*!

I'm going to try this out as new blog feature to help keep me on track. It might just be two posts a month but it's a start (and I'll still be posting non-seasonal veg recipes too).

The first dish I planned was a kind of vegetarian shepherd’s pie. Here’s the amazing hoard I got from New Leaf:

 Green kale, purple kale, button mushrooms, savoy cabbage, leek, potatoes, onions, garlic & carrots!

 Also found in New Leaf - rapeseed oil from East Lothian (just a few miles from where I live)! I'm  a die hard olive oil fan but saw this advertised on their Facebook page and thought it'd fit in perfect with my seasonal pie. It was just over £5 for 500ml - more expensive by a pound or two than the cheap supermarket olive oil I usually get but cheaper than a good quality olive oil.

I had the idea of a pretty basic carrot and leek gravy pie thing with mash on top before I went but that day they had SO MANY other vegetables in I went a bit overboard. I used all the veg in the photo above to make what I thought would be a 4 serving pie – well I made the 4 serving pie and still had half a pan of the veg-gravy mix left over which is now in my freezer waiting to be made into another 4 serving dish (I’m thinking pasties)! Unfortunately this means that the following recipe wasn’t measured properly but it shouldn’t matter too much, if you want to make it just follow the basic steps but maybe use a bit less veg than me!

Ingredients:

For the base…

3-4 tbsp oil (I used rapeseed - see above - otherwise would have used olive)

2 large crushed cloves of garlic

ALL THE VEGETABLES

1L gravy (I used Bisto granules and some bouillon powder, next time I’ll thicken it up with some corn flour too I think)

2 handfuls of yellow split peas** (soaked and simmered for 1 hour before use)

Herbs to taste (oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, coriander, black pepper, nutmeg)

For the mash…

Potatoes

Milk to taste (I used Oatly)

Butter to taste (I used Flora)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Chop up the vegetables and preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

2. Gently fry the onion and leek till the onion turns translucent. Add in the garlic, mushrooms and herbs and continue to fry for 5 minutes.

3. Add the carrots, cabbage, split peas and gravy, bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in a separate pan for the mash. 

4. Add the kale and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

5. Drain the potatoes and mash them up with as much butter and milk as you like till they’re at your desired consistency.

6. Pour the veg-gravy mixture into an ovenproof dish and top with the mash. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes then serve.

*Most of the times I’ve been there it’s been insanely cheap though the last time was definitely pricier and I can’t work out why – probably because I bought so much? Anyway I plan to keep an eye on this and report back with price differences at some point in this feature!

**I had these in the cupboard and thought why not? However next time I want to try marrowfat peas as they’re grown in the UK! - UPDATE: turns out the split peas were from the UK!

‘Left over’ Veg and Lentil curry

In my final year at university nearly all I ate was curry (wow I must have stunk...). I cooked a big batch every week or two then divided it up into tupperwear to freeze so I’d always have a healthy ‘ready meal’ on hand. It’s a great way to use up left over vegetables, add whatever you like – aubergine, turnip, sweet potato, mushroom...play around with the lentils too. I normally go for puy if I can find them for a reasonable price but any others will do. 

The following recipe is a guideline for a basic curry. The following quantities are based on what I had in my kitchen at the time, add as much spice as you want!

Serves 2-4 (when served with side of rice etc)

Ingredients:

1 small celeriac

1 potato

1 carrot

1 courgette

1 ½ small onions

4 tomatoes

200g puy lentils (rinsed but not soaked)

1 ½ litre veg stock

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp garam masala

3 tsp medium curry powder

Handful of fresh coriander

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat up the oil in a large pan. After a minute or two add the onion and gently cook till translucent. Add the garlic and all the spices apart from the fresh coriander, salt and pepper and mix together for another minute.
2. Add the ‘soft’ vegetables (tomato and courgette in this case), stir so they’re coated in oil and spices and cook gently for another minute.
3. Now add the ‘hard’ vegetables (carrot, potato and celeriac) and lentils, stirring again to coat and cook for a further minute or so before adding the stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils have softened (note: puy lentils don’t lose their shape so test if they’ve softened by eating a few). About 5 minutes before finishing add the fresh coriander, salt and pepper.
4. Serve with rice/cous cous/quinoa/bulgur wheat/[insert other awesome grain here] and mango chutney!

Note: When I say 'left overs' here I mean uncooked vegetables lurking at the back of the fridge. You could use cooked veg too, just reduce cooking time.