Spinach and Chickpea Gratin with Crème Fraiche and Parmesan

Hi everyone,

This week we have lovely Spinach from Co. Wicklow in all our bags and my recipe is for my current favourite dinner (well one of them anyway), a gratin of Chickpeas with a rich Tomato sauce topped with Crème Fraiche and Parmesan. It’s very easy and especially nice served with shortgrain brown rice which brings a nice nuttiness to the dish.

Spinach and Chickpea Gratin with Crème Fraiche and Parmesan

Start by making your Tomato sauce – roughly chop a large (or 2 small) Onions and begin cooking at a low to medium heat in a generous dash of Olive Oil until soft and beginning to change colour. You can also put on your brown rice as it takes between 30 – 40 minutes although soaking it first will bring this down to about 20 minutes and is, apparently, far better for you. Anyway, when the Onions are ready add 4-5 cloves of Garlic roughly chopped and a little chilli and keep cooking until everything is nice and soft (another 5-10 minutes) then add 2 tins of chopped Tomatoes, a generous teaspoon Sugar and season with Salt and Pepper. Continue to cook until everything has reduced by at least half and is a gorgeous rich, dark red. While the Tomato is cooking get on with the other ingredients…

Prepare your Spinach by removing any thick stalks and washing it well. Wilt it in a pot or pan. There’s no need to add any water for this as there’s enough with what is left clinging to the leaves after you wash it. When it has wilted (this will take no longer than 1-2 minutes) put it in a colander so as much water as possible can drain off. Drain a tin of Chickpeas and rinse well. Grate 3 Tablespoons  Parmesan and mix with 3 Tablespoons Breadcrumbs.

To put the dish together, squeeze any excess water from the spinach and arrange in an oven dish in clumps the size of small dumplings. Add the Chickpeas and Tomato sauce. The dish should be quite shallow and with the Chickpeas, Tomato sauce and Spinach about 1-2 cms deep. Dot the top with Crème Fraiche (you’ll need about 2/3 tub for this) and top the lot with the Breadcrumbs and Parmesan.

Bake in a hottish oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

This week’s bags have, what I imagine will be, the last of this year’s Celeriac and last night I mixed it with Potatoes, pan-fried Onions, Garlic and Green Chilli and cooked in a vegetable stock.  We ate this with Lamb and a Yoghurt and Mint sauce and it went down a treat………..

Crushed Celeriac and Potatoes with Sautéed Onions, Garlic and fresh Green Chili

Begin by slicing a largish Onion and sautéing in Olive Oil in a pot or pan until soft and beginning to change color. While the Onion is cooking peel and chop your Celeriac into large bite-sized piece. Peel and chop roughly the same quantity of Spuds. When the Onions are done add 4 roughly chopped cloves Garlic and 1/2 Fresh Green Chili chopped. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes until the Garlic has softened then throw in the Celeriac and Spuds. Add 700ml of vegetable stock and a little Salt and Pepper, bring everything to the boil then turn down the heat and cook until the veg has softened (but not turned to complete mush) and the stock has evaporated. The end result should be like a very roughly mashed mash (if you know what I mean!) as the spuds will fall apart but most of the Celeriac will keep its shape.

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Have a great weekend,

Sarah

Rosti

Hi everyone,

I find that after winter (officially, March is after winter) root vegetables start wearing thin.Gratins and soups are great but it feels like it’s time for something else, something a bit lighter I suppose so this week I made Rosti for the first time in years and have rediscovered a whole new way to deal with these roots.

In case you haven’t come across them before, Rosti are basically like  Potato (or Celeriac or Parsnip) cakes but much easier and faster to prepare because you don’t cook and mash the veg before you fry the cake you simply grate it, mix it with some sautéed Onions, Garlic or Bacon, shape into “cakes” which are then fried on the pan. Because they are thinner than regular savory cakes everything cooks through in about 5-6 minutes.

After that, you can top them with things like relish,  oven roasted Tomatoes, Cheeses, stir fried veggies whatever you fancy really. They even make a great breakfast, try potato Rosti with a poached Egg and some Spinach.

More seasoned cooks might be wondering how it all holds to together. Well, spuds,because they have plenty of liquid (which you will have to drain off but more on that later) hold together pretty well while things like Parsnips are a bit trickier so you end up with something a little messier (if this is a problem you can add some grated spuds to the mixture or, do as they would in a restaurant and make each cake in a metal cookie ring so it holds its shape but to be honest messiness tends not to be a problem as you top them with something that hides this.

Last night  I made 2 types based on what’s in our bags this week and both versions were on the table in under 30 minutes. The first was with Potatoes and Onions which I topped with Goat’s Cheese  and some slow roasted Tomatoes I had in the fridge and the second version was with this week’s Parsnips and an Apple and were topped with Mushrooms in a Cider and Cream sauce and Parmesan…..

Potato Rosti with Goat’s Cheese and Oven Roasted Tomatoes* (for 2)

First of all you’ll have to prepare the Tomatoes and these can be done a day or two in advance or whenever you have the oven on for something else and stored in the fridge. Otherwise you’ll have to start them a couple of hours before you plan to eat as they do take a while. It’s very simple though – quarter 3-4 Tomatoes and roast slowly (Gas 4) for 2-3 hrs with a generous dash of Olive Oil, a tablespoon Sugar, a generous pinch Salt, Oregano and a little Chilli.

To make the Rosti, coarsely grate 500gr Potatoes and leave in a Colander with a pinch of Salt giving them some time to shed their liquid. While this is going on, chop 1 medium sized Onion and gently sauté in some Olive Oil until soft and golden (about 10-15 minutes). Give the Potatoes a squeeze to get rid of as much liquid as you can then mix in the Onions and add some Black Pepper. Unless you have a really enormous frying pan it’ll probably be easier to use 2 so heat some Olive Oil on 2 pans. Divide the Potatoes into 4 portions and shape each one into a cake (they won’t really stick together but this doesn’t really matter). Place the cakes on the heated pan(s) and flatten down with a spatula so that they are about 1/2 – 3/4cm thick. Allow each side to crisp up and and compact (2-4 minutes) before you flip them over. Cook until both sides are golden brown then remove and serve topped with a slice of Goat’s Cheese (Chevre is perfect) and those oven roasted Tomatoes along with a simple green salad dressed with Balsamic Vinegar.

* If you can’t wait for the Tomatoes just use a decent relish or even a Tomato Salad instead

Parsnip and Apple Rosti with a Cider Cream Mushroom sauce (for 2)

As I mentioned above, Parsnips are dryer than spuds so they won’t give off much liquid so you won’t have to drain much off but it also means that they are trickier to hold together on the pan. I don’t really mind this as it all gets covered with mushrooms later but if this is a potential source of grief for you simply do a mixture of spuds and parsnip (half  and half) rather than just Parsnips.

So, to make these as before coarsely grate 400gr of Parsnips and 1 Apple, add a little Salt and leave in a colander in case there is any liquid to come off and get on with preparing the sauce.

Clean and chop 180gr Mushrooms (the ones in your bags today are quite small so I’d only halve or quarter them). Heat a little Butter in a pan and sauté the Mushrooms with 2 cloves of finely chopped Garlic until golden. Season with Salt and Pepper and add 60ml Dry Cider (or white wine if you don’t have Cider). Allow the Cider to boil then turn down the heat and add 120ml single Cream and cook slowly for a minute or two then take off the heat.

Fry the Rosti, as before and  when they are just about ready gently reheat the Mushrooms adding a little more seasoning if necessary.To serve place 2 Rosti on each plate and top with the Mushrooms and some Parmesan shavings and eat immediately.

In case you were wondering………

The green leaves in your bag this week are Pak Choy which you can either steam or stir-fry (with lots of Garlic and Ginger)