Week 14 - Abundance- Alys Fowler

As well as #cookbookchallenge, being on lock down has also seen us trying to #eatthefreezer. And this week's effort saw two birds with one stone as I tried to use up a big block of broad beans that had been taking up at least a two litre ice cream tub's worth of room since last summer.

Preparing for isolation meant the Ewing had rushed to our local library and bought home armfuls of library books (half are now being employed as a prop for my laptop as I work from home). One that wasn't roped in to my makeshift office was Abundance, written by erstwhile Gardener's Worlder Alys Fowler, which also happened to be full of lots of useful tips about pickling, salting, fermenting and preserving. Very useful when you're only allowed out for that weekly shop.

There is also a handy freezer chapter that featured a recipe for broad bean falafel using almost exactly the amount I had in my freezer (you can also use chickpeas, or a mix of half and half) plus dill (I had a slightly wilted bag from one of my last pre-lockdown Waitrose trips) plus mint and parsley (our slightly straggly plants had just started to take-off in the spring sunshine). It was a fait accompli.

The only thing I was slightly concerned about was the cooking - the recipe said to shallow fry which always seems like the most awkward cooking method - little splash of oil; no worries. Boiling cauldron of oil, no problem. That middling amount of oil; sudden panic (plus the boredom of standing around, watching them intently while they go from pallid and pale to carbonic in mere minutes)

In the end I used a couple of centimetres in a small cast iron saucepan, cooking three of four at a time until lightly golden. And, apart from a couple breaking up a little at the edges, they crisped up nicely and only took a couple of minutes per batch.

Broad bean falafel 

Adapted from Abundance by Alys Fowler

500g broad beans, defrosted if frozen and double-podded if tough

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 pinch of chilli flakes

A small handful of parsley chopped

A small handful of dill, chopped

A small handful of mint, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

Salt and pepper to season

Olive oil

Vegetable oil for shallow frying

Blanch the broad beans for 3 minutes then rinse in cold water.

Mash all the ingredients together with a hand blender, adding a glug of olive oil if needed or a teaspoon of flour until you have a sausage-meat like consistency. Aim for the dry side so they don't brake up too much when you try to shape and fry them.

Rub olive oil in your hands and roll into small balls then dust in flour.

Shallow fry in oil is a wok or deep frying pan until golden brown.

Serve with yogurt mixed with a pinch of salt, 1 tsp of dried mint and 1 tsp of tahini.

Week 13 - Vegetables - Antonio Carluccio

Lockdown, or at least social isolation, finally reaches the blog (which shows you how far behind I am writing these up...). The tail end of March saw the Ewing and I sent home from the office one morning and as I write this - some three-and-a-half weeks later we are still here. Luckily we are considered key workers and can both work from home, so, although adjusting to our new life has been somewhat of a challenge at times, and we have both been kept busy, we both feel very fortunate.

Another reason to feel lucky is the wonderful countryside that surrounds us, which we have been exploring on our Government-approved daily walks. While much of it is familiar, it's surprising just how much is hidden on your doorstep. And of course, the allotment which, according to Michael Gove, is still considered part of your daily exercise. The first (and probably last) time I will agree with him about anything.

It was on one of our visits to the allotment that the seed for this week's recipe was planted. While March is a fairly barren month, the Ewing kept talking about patches of red-veined sorrel that had self-seeded after she grew it years ago. 

I don't remember cooking it back then, but I chanced upon a recipe for a sorrel risotto in Antonio Carluccio's Vegetables  - a far more inspiring title than it probably sounds - and a plan started to fall into place to use some of the wild leaves that are so  beloved of the Italians, and are also abundant here at this time of year. And also avoiding a dreaded trip to a post-Corona world supermarket, with its increasingly bare shelves and paranoid customers.

We picked some wild garlic from the one patch that grows in the woods by our house, and I was also thrilled to find the little patch we have been nurturing under a bench in our garden is also beginning to thrive. Well, enough to make a jar of wild garlic and walnut pesto with, which was added to some homemade gnocchi as well as a splodge ending up in this risotto, too.

I also put on my marigolds and picked some young nettle leaves from the end of the garden (you can see Pusskins came over the fence to help), and then we went on a walk past the allotment and collected the aforementioned red-veined sorrel, originally planted by the Ewing circa 2013, when she first got the allotment, and still popping up in tufts reminiscent of the late Keith Flint's hair when I saw The Prodigy at Reading Festival as a teenager.

Risotto of wild vegetables -  adapted from Antonio Carluccio

serves 4

a large handful of fresh sorrel leaves, washed and tough stems removed

a large handful of wild garlic, washed

a large handful of nettles, washed and tough stems removed

2 tbs of wild garlic/basil pesto (optional)

2 litres chicken or vegetable stock

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped

small glass of dry white wine (Italian if you've got it)

350g risotto rice

50g Parmesan, freshly grated

a large knob of unsalted butter

salt and black pepper

Blanch the nettles and wild garlic in boiling water, rinse in cold water and then blend into a puree. Set aside.

Put the stock into a saucepan on a low heat, next to where you will make the risotto.

Heat the olive oil in a pan (I use a casserole dish), and fry the onion for about 10 minutes, until softened a little. Add the wine and bubble for a minute or two until the alcohol has burnt off.

Add the rice and stir around to coat each grain. 

Add the hot stock a ladle at a time, stirring until it is fully absorbed before adding more liquid.

After 10 minutes add some salt and the puree.

Continue cooking, stirring and adding stock, for about another 15 minutes, which is when you should taste a grain of rice for your preferred al dente texture and the rice should be moist, but not too wet. When it is nearly ready, add most of the sorrel leaves, roughly chopped if large, saving a few to garnish.

When the rice is to your taste, take the pan off the heat, beat in the Parmesan and the butter until glossy, and serve with a sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper and the remaining sorrel leaves