Despite it’s fairly long list of ingredients, it’s really easy to make, and incredibly tasty. I saw the book in the shops yesterday and I have to say it looks pretty tasty too. I wanted to hug it (erm is that it bit strange?). It’s one of those big chunky books with unfinished paper, loads of beautiful retro illustrations and quirky pages with bits and pieces that you can take out. None of this really has anything to do with food and it being a cookbook I suppose you’d probably prefer to know whether or not the recipes are any good before you’d decide to go buy it. All I can say is that if this recipe is anything to go by then it definitely will be. I was too busy stroking the pages and drooling over the quirky design to actually read any of the other recipes it contained. Oops.

Leon Gobi (serves 6)

• 1 medium onion, halved and thickly sliced
• 1 carrot, thickly sliced
• 2 tbsp sunflower or peanut oil
• 1 red chilli
• 2 thumb-sized pieces of root ginger, washed but not peeled
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 large tsp Madras curry powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp black onion seeds
• 1 medium sweet potato, washed and cut into 2.5cm dice
• 4 heaped tbsp ground almonds
• A good handful of sultanas
• ½ a small cauliflower, broken into florets
• 1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
• 150g frozen peas
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• A really big handful of coriander, roughly chopped
• Salt
• 2 heaped tbsp desiccated coconut, to serve

1. In a large saucepan, cook the onion and carrot over a medium to low heat in the oil for 15-20 minutes with the lid on, stirring occasionally. Season with salt.
2. Blitz the chilli, ginger and garlic to a paste in a food processor. Stir the paste into the onions once they have begun to soften, along with the spices (including the onion seeds). After another five minutes, season with salt, add the sweet potato chunks and the almonds and mix well so that everything is well coated.
3. Turn the heat up a bit and stir in 500ml of water and the sultanas. Bring to a simmer and leave it to bubble gently for 10-15 minutes with the lid off, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the cauliflower florets and the coconut milk and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes, covered. Check that the sweet potato and cauliflower are both cooked, turn the heat off and stir in the peas.
5. When you are ready to serve add a little salt, the lemon juice and the chopped coriander, stir and leave for a minute. Serve with rice, or naan (or both!) with a sprinkling of dried coconut on top.

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An estimated 6.7 million tonnes of household food waste is thrown away each year to rot in landfill. This creates a toxic sludge and gives off greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. As well as looking at how to avoid wasting food by your shopping behaviour and meal planning the harm caused by any unavoidable food waste (eg peelings, cores etc) could be reduced or even eliminated by composting.

If you have a compost bin, or wormery your food scraps are converted into a valuable resource. The food breaks down and the nutrients they contained are put back into the soil as part of a natural cycle renewing the earth. It is a potent natural fertiliser that in large scale non-organic farming is replaced by polluting oil based chemical fertilisers.

Some councils run waste food collection schemes, some with more success than others. The pilot in the area I’m living now was unfortunately abandoned and for the first few weeks we were here we ended up throwing our peelings away as I imagine most other people in the area do. It was driving me crazy! I hated the waste and felt guilty every time I opened the bin.

At some point I found out the man living next door had an allotment and it occurred to me that he would no doubt be a composter and after thinking about it for a few days ( I can be quite shy) I eventually went round, knocked on the door and asked if I could bring our scraps round there. He said yes. Hurrah! And he didn’t think I was mad or try and lock me in his attic or any of the things I was worried about. It was all good. What was I worried about?! I didn’t really think you would lock me in your attic if you read this Peter, you may think I’m a little mad though now. Hmm. Maybe I am.

So that was the wasted food issue sorted. Hurrah! Then a couple of days later I arrived home and found a bag of apples sitting on the doorstep. “Wow!” I thought, “What an amazingly quick conversion! Scraps to compost to apples in 3 days!” We’ve since had other things arrive including a huge marrow! Brilliant!

You may be thinking we seem to be getting the better end of this deal, which is exactly what I thought, so I made and took them round an apple pie to say thanks. It kind of grew enormous and exploded in the oven so it wasn’t the best looking apple pie ever, but I imagine it tasted the same. I think they must have liked it, they brought the plate back with a bag of potatoes! Now I’ll have to make them something else. The cycle continues. A bit like compost really.

This whole thing is brilliant, I’m sure there’s a lesson to be learned somewhere. If you don’t currently compost you should. If you don’t have a compost bin you can get one really cheap from your council, more information here. If you don’t grow anything you should compost anyway, it’s a great way of reducing waste. It would take months or even years to fill the bin, unless you have a large family, and there are always lots of people who will happily come round and collect your compost if it does get full. If you don’t have a garden to put a composter in speak to people. There will probably be someone who lives near you that will take your food scraps. I promise they won’t think you’re weird for asking.

So, the moral of the story is talk to your neighbours, they’re probably nice and composting rules!

I’ve included a couple of recipes for the yummy things I’ve made with the vegetables from my super fast compost: Leek and Potato Soup and Stuffed Marrow. The stuffed marrow was incredibly tasty. The stuffing is quite rich, so the subtle fresh taste of the marrow is a great contrast and make it a great dish which stands up on it’s own as a main course. It would also be good as part of a spread if you had guests and were making a few things.

The Leek and Potato Soup was possibly the nicest I’ve ever made. The potatoes were really creamy, not sure what type they were but they were brilliant for this soup. Usually I’d mash the veg up a bit at the end of this soup recipe, but these didn’t need it. Enough had naturally worked their way into the soup to thicken it while still keeping some whole to make it a good chunky winter soup. Mmmm. Thanks again to Peter and Cathy for your generous gifts of veg!

Stuffed Marrow

• 1 Marrow
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 150g mushrooms finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 100g black olives, chopped
• 100g cheddar, grated
• 150g brown rice (cooked)

1. Cut the marrow into slices about 1 inch thick and then scoop out the fluffy seedy middle bit so you have a marrow ring. Arrange the marrow rings on baking trays.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently cook the onions and garlic until soft, then add cumin and coriander powder and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms and parsley and cook for a further 5 minutes then stir in the cooked rice and chopped olives.
4. Pack the mixture into the marrow rings, top with grated cheese and put in the oven at 180c for around half an hour, or until the marrow is tender and the cheese is golden brown.

Leek and Potato Soup

• 1 oz butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 250g potatoes peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes
• 1 large leeks, or 2 smaller ones, sliced
• 1 1/2 pints of stock
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped

1. Melt the butter in a large pan and gently fry the onion until soft, approx 10-15 minutes.
2. Add the flour, stir round and leave to cook through for a minute.
3. Add the potates and leeks, cover and leave to sweat, stir occasionally to check it is not sticking. If it starts to stick just pour in a small amount of water and stir to unstick anything from the bottom.
4. After around 5 minutes add the stock. It should be just upto the top of the vegetables, you might need more or less depending on the size of leeks, potatoes etc.
5. Bring to the boil then simmer for around 20 minutes or until all the veg are tender. Add most of the parsley and stir.
6. If prefered you can mash the soup a bit at this stage, or even blend it up if you want a smooth soup. I prefer it a bit chunky.
7. Serve garnished with a bit of chopped parsley and maybe a little swirl of cream. Yum.

Here’s a lovely recipe for a quinoa salad I got from Scrumptious a random food blog I stumbled across while wondering what to do with the jar of quinoa that’s been sitting in the cupboard for well over a year. I’ve been a bit scared of these small grains ever since I saw them, not sure what to do with them, how to cook them, what they would taste like blah blah blah, but it turns out they’re pretty easy going little chaps and they assisted in making this very tasty, hearty but fresh tasting salad. Apparently it’s very good for you too. A ‘Super Grain’ no less. Wooo. I wonder if that’s a bit like Super Gran. There’s only one letter in it, must be. Maybe super grains turn you into Super Grans?!

Now, I said I got the recipe from a blog, but what actually happened was I’d seen it and decided I was going to make it after I’d been to the shops, then got part way through and realised I was missing several of the key ingredients, so I would say this was influenced by rather than a direct cover of the original. I’d also intended to make it with goat’s cheese rather than feta, but was quite surprised to find that the (non-organic) goats cheese was almost twice the price of the organic feta and promptly changed my mind.

Another note on the missing ingredients, the original was fairly heavily based on parsley and mint which  I tried to get from the supermarket at the end of the road. I’d already walked the half hour there and back to the other shops and it had started pouring down so I reluctantly decided to see if I could pick the herbs  when I went to get the feta.  The only fresh herb they sold was basil. In my opinion another pointer that they don’t really care about food or their customers. Grrr. Shouldn’t really be shopping there in the first place, but it’s the only place within walking distance I’ve found where you can buy organic milk, cheese, eggs etc. What to do, what to do?

Anyway, enough whittering on, it all worked out fine in the end. Maybe one day I’ll make the other too and do like a taste challenge. Here’s the recipe, thanks to Juno for the inspiration…

Quinoa, Beetroot and Feta Salad

For the salad:

• 2 beetroots peeled and cut into smallish wedges
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 8 cherry tomatoes, quatered
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• 5 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
• S+P
• 100g feta cheese in small cubes

For the dressing:

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• 2 chunky cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp tahini
• 1 tsp English mustard

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the the beetroot in a roasting tin, add a drizzle of oive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and toss well to coat. Place in the oven and bake for about an hour or until tender right through.
2. Put the dried quinoa into a sieve and rinse well under cold running water. Now put the quinoa, water and salt into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the quinoa is fluffy and tender. Drain off any remaining water (there shouldn’t really be much/any) and leave to cool a little.
3. In the serving bowl put the tomatoes, spring onion and coriander.
4. Whisk together the dressing ingredients.
5. Now tip the warm quinoa into the salad bowl, pour over all but 2 tablespoons of the dressing and toss well to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Top with the beetroot slices and feta.
6. Shake the remaining dressing over the top of the salad.
7. Allow to stand for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.
8. Serve at room temperature with hot pita bread.

It really is so easy to make and far, far tastier than the gloopy gunk that comes in tins. Years ago when I was working I used to eat tinned soup quite often and Marzena, a Polish girl who came to work with us was astounded that you could actually buy soup in tins. “Soup comes in tins?… Really?… I can’t believe it…. but why?”. At the time I thought she was bonkers, now I feel exactly the same (about the soup/tin thing, not her being bonkers. Although actually she is a bit).

Most simple soups follow the same basic idea, cook your onions off in a a little oil, or butter (nicer), add the chopped vegetables, cover to sweat for ten minutes or so, then cover with stock and leave to simmer until all veg are soft and then blitz it, maybe add a bit of cream. Lovely jubbly.

While I’m on my soup frenzy I’ll put the recipe up for anything I make that turns out to be of particular yumminess, starting with these two, sweetcorn chowder and onion soup. Sweetcorn chowder was given 9 out of 10 no less. A pretty impressive score as the critic has said he never gives a ten.

Sweetcorn Chowder

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, sliced
• 8oz of potatoes, 1/2 chopped, 1/2 small cubes
• 1 large carrot, small cubes (1/2 cm or so)
• 1 x 340g tin sweetcorn
• 1 red chili, finely chopped (or to taste)
• 1 1/4 pints of water
• 1 red pepper finely chopped
• 1 green pepper finely chopped
• 75ml double cream
• S+P

• fresh coriander to garnish

1. Heat the oil and cook the onion and garlic over a low heat until golden (approx 15 mins).
2. Add the celery, half the carrot, the chopped potatoes,  half the sweetcorn, the chili, cook for two minutes then add the water and bring to boil.
3. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, then zuzz.
4. Add the chopped peppers, cubed carrot, potatoes and the rest of the sweetcorn. Simmer for 10 more minutes.
5. Stir in the double cream, add seasoning and serve garnished with chopped coriander.

Onion Soup

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 700g red onions, finely sliced
• 400g shallots, finely sliced
• 1 heaped tbsp plain flour
• 2 tsp mustard
• 2 pints veg stock
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 3 tbsp greek yoghurt
• S+P

• grated cheddar to garnish

1. Heat the oil and gently fry the red onions and shallots over a really low heat for about 40 minutes until golden and caramelised. Do not cook too quickly, or let burn. The sweetness will come out better the as these turn golden after slow cooking.
2. Stir in the flour and mustard and cook for a further 2 minutes before adding the stock and thyme.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for at least 30 minutes. Pick out the thyme and allow to cool just a little before adding the yoghurt and seasoning.
4. Serve with a little cheddar grated over.