An Easter Weekend
After a beautiful week down south over the Easter break, it’s back into my kitchen, and head down. We were lucky enough to be there for the Giant Pumpkin Festival – (I didn’t put in a bid in the silent auction for a pregnant goat, who was eating all the iris in the garden) great fun, and popped into the CWA (picture above) to get some wonderful fruit. Alas, they weren’t doing morning tea – not enough of them the lady said, there were only a few of the older ones left to run the branch. That’s incredibly sad, those country women are amazing, and the association a national treasure.
But, back to my kitchen – when you’re deep into plain crumb cakes and they are playing with your head, you need a good grounding dinner – and one that’s quick.
Thus, I’ve harvested the last of my borlotti beans, and put together a quick minestrone made from what was in the fridge. I love these beans when they are fresh – so creamy – you should be able to find these available – they are often called Cranberry Beans. A very generous dollop of home made pesto (I still have masses of basil) and I am a happy girl. I am off the firm belief that a house is not a home at this time of the year without pesto. This recipe is very forgiving, and open to your own interpretation – it’s principal based, rather than ingredient based. I know I’ve done this recipe before – but there are infinite variations upon the theme and you can tell how much I love it at this time of the year.
Minestrone Soup
If you don’t mind a bit of organic, nitrate free bacon you can chop that up first and cook it in the pan, allowing it to render out some of it’s precious and nutrient dense fat to then cook the onions. You don’t need a lot, and it provides amazing flavour. If you want to make this even more sustaining, try adding 1 – 2 tablespoons pearled or natural barley – just be sure to soak it overnight first (in some water with a tablespoon whey or 2 teaspoons yoghurt or kefir). Drain and add this in the beginning – it will take a good 80 minutes to be nice and soupy creamy.
good splosh of e.v.olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or a good stem of fresh
small stem fresh rosemary – finely chopped to equal 1 teaspoon
1 cup fresh borlotti beans
2 medium carrots – dice approx 1 cm
2 – 3 ribs celery – cut approx 1 cm
1 bulb fennel – cut into 1 cm slices approx
5 – 6 tomatoes roughly chopped into small pieces or 1 440gm can
1 medium zucchini – cut into small pieces
Firstly, develop a flavour base. Add the oil to a medium size stew pan (I use my 24cm dutch oven), onion, garlic and dried and fresh herbs. Cook over a gentle heat for approx 10 mins, not frying, just developing a little colour. For Fresh Beans – You will need to give them a head start – add the beans, and cover by 3 cm with water (or stock if you are lucky enough to have some). Cover, leaving the lid ajar, and cook for 40 mins on a gentle simmer before adding the other ingredients. For Cooked Beans (from a can or your freezer), simply add the drained and rinsed beans. Add the carrots, celery, fennel (if it has some of those lovely fronds, chop those up and add those too) and the tomatoes. If they are fresh tomatoes, give them a bit of time to sweat out their juices, so leave it to very gently cook with the lid on for about 20 minutes, then continue on. Barely cover with water or stock and gently simmer until the vegetables are cooked – approx 30 minutes. If you’ve added barley, you may need longer. If the soup is too thin, increase the heat and reduce it down – play with this – the liquid should take on a thicker appearance, and not be watery. Taste, add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (I haven’t added the salt earlier on as it toughens the beans). Add the zucchini and cook for another 5 – 8 minutes. I don’t bother with a sweetener to balance the acidity of the tomato here, because the pesto will help with that, but if you need maybe a touch of something sweet – rapadura sugar, apple juice, vino cotto – just a tiny touch of something. Serve with a good dollop of pesto.
Pesto – Classic
This keeps brilliantly – freeze in small bags for a cold winters day, or place in an clean glass jar, covered with olive oil by approx 3 mm, in the fridge for 2 – 3 weeks – if indeed, it lasts that long and is not eaten.
100 gm pine nuts
good pinch sea salt – coarse is good
2 large handfuls of fresh basil
50 gm grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
3 cloves garlic – crushed
80 ml e.v.olive oil
Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined. Try not to blend for too long – pesto should be chunky, not a smooth homogenous blend. Alternatively, to make it by hand (with less washing) use a mortar and pestle: place the salt, nuts and cheese into a mortar and pound until you have a rough mix. Add the basil a bit at a time, and pound it down – when it’s all broken down, add the olive oil and gently mix through.
Pesto – Dairy Free:
100 gm pine nuts
3 large handfuls fresh basil
2 teaspoons white (shiro) miso
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
100 ml e.v.olive oil
Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined but still a little chunky. Taste and adjust for flavour – you can also lightly roast the pine nuts.
