Rainbow Chickpea Balls

by Liz Child

This nutritious, protein-rich, falafel-like mixture is so handy for making things like burgers and meatballs and of course it makes delicious fillings for wraps. You can flavour it with whatever herbs or spices take your fancy and colour it (and add sneaky veg) with any vegetables you like too. I felt like making some multicoloured balls as Easter ’eggs’ to have for a pastel coloured Easter lunch this week. Nestled in a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus and drizzled with a spring pea salsa. You could serve it with roast potatoes, gravy and trimmings for a Sunday roast too.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 3 tins of chickpeas
  • 3 onions
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 12 tbsp porridge oats
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 3 tsp ground coriander (or any spice you prefer)
  • 2 cooked beetroots
  • 3 cooked carrots
  • 6 large kale leaves, chopped, cooked and squeezed to remove water
  • a couple of handfuls of parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • extra olive oil for brushing and baking

Method

  1. Drain the chickpeas and tumble into 3 bowls. Add 4 tbsp of porridge oats to each bowl.
  2. Finely dice the onion and garlic and sauté until soft and golden with the olive oil. Divide amongst the three bowls.
  3. To each bowl, add a tsp of salt and grind black pepper to taste. Add a tsp of ground coriander to each bowl too if you like, or another spice or herb of your choice.
  4. Put the cooked carrot in one bowl (along with a tsp of ground turmeric for bright yellow colour), the cooked beetroot in one bowl and the kale and parsley in the last bowl. Now you are ready to blend the mixtures.
  5. In a food processor, first blend the yellow carrot mixture. Tip in the contents of the bowl with the carrots and pulse the mixture together until you reach a rough, sticky mixture. Scrape it out, back into the bowl, then repeat with the green kale mixture then the pink beetroot mixture. If any of the mixes seems a little wet, add an extra tbsp or so of oats and blend again. If it is too dry, add some olive oil or lemon juice to the mix or some extra vegetables.
  6. Pre-heat your oven to 200C and line a large baking try with baking parchment. Then squish and roll the mixture into small, colourful balls – or make layered balls like I did with the yellow mix in the middle, then carefully wrap a layer of pink beetroot mix and finish off with the green outer layer. TOP TIP: use wet hands to avoid frustrating stickiness. just keep a bowl of warm water on the work bench and wet your hands when they start to get a bit sticky.
  7. Brush the balls with olive oil and put them in the oven to bake until hot through and golden and crispy on the outside. Timings will depend on the size of your balls so just keep an eye on them.
  8. Serve however you like but they definitely need a sauce or gravy. This time I served them with creamy mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus and a pea salsa (I just blended a mug of peas with about 4 tbsp of capers and a splosh of the caper vinegar, a handful of chopped dill and a generous drizzle of olive oil).

Easter Inspiration

by Liz Child

Go green this Easter with some veggie meals and treats from our archives. Just click on the photos or the words in bold to be taken to the recipes. Happy cooking! Liz x

To Start

Try this steamed asparagus and artichoke dish with wild garlic butter. Asparagus, artichokes and wild garlic are all really special perennial vegetables, perfect at this time of year and such a treat.

Or how about a soothing bowl of wild nettle soup? Use our organic vegetables as a base and add some locally foraged wild nettle tips from near you.

Or a platter of these vegan devilled eggs? A lightly pickled mushroom replaces the traditional egg white and the yolk is made from beautifully seasoned chickpea puree.

The Main Course

This easy, one-tray dish packs a lot of flavour. Try our portobello mushrooms steaks with roasted potatoes and asparagus, drizzle over some vibrant chimichurri to make the dish sing SPRING!

Try your hand at making a homemade pasta dish? Ravioli is easier to make than it looks and this beautiful beetroot ricotta is just what a spring lunch is calling for.

Rainbow chard parcels are so versatile and you can really make them your own with your favourite fillings. Here’s one way to enjoy this colourful leafy green.

Something Sweet?

Easter isn’t Easter without hot cross buns. Try this easy vegan version. Keep it dairy free by toasting and slathering with our new vegan butter.

Make your own little Easter eggs with these dates stuffed with nut butter and coated in chocolate.

With a nod to the Easter bunny, make this very carroty raw carrot cake. It’s naturally vegan and gluten free, refined sugar free too, but tastes so so good.

Easter Dates

by Liz Child

These sweet treats are so easy and fun to make. A delicious chocolate layer around a sticky date (which tastes just like caramel), stuffed with nut butter – this treat is reminiscent of a snickers bar, but the quality ingredients make it so much better! You can customise them to your taste using your favourite chocolate, nut butter and decorations. I’ve gone for a white chocolate drizzle here, but crushed hazelnuts or desiccated coconut make delicious decorations. Or try some Achill Island flakey sea salt to offset the sweetness of the dates? I’d love to see your re-creations. Tag us on social media or share in the comments below.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • Pitted dates
  • Your choice of nut or seed butter (we stock peanut, almond, hazelnut and tahini works well here too – or you can make your own nut butter, it’s easy! Simply blend roasted nuts or seeds into butter with a pinch of salt. We sell organic nuts and seeds in compostable bags here.)
  • Your choice of chocolate (we stock a really good range of ethically sourced, organic chocolates here.)
  • Your choice of toppings or decorations eg white chocolate, crushed nuts, desiccated coconut, sea salt flakes…

Method

  1. Gently melt chocolate in a bowl over a simmering pot of water. Place a sheet of baking parchment on a tray or chopping board.
  2. Open up a date and stuff it with a 1/2 tsp or so of nut butter. Close the date up again.
  3. Dunk the stuffed date in the bowl of melted chocolate. Use two small forks to turn the date over a few times to get it completely coated in chocolate. Then remove the date with a fork and place on the baking parchment.
  4. Repeat until you have made as many Easter dates as you like. Now, while the chocolate is still wet, you can quickly decorate the dates with some sprinkles of salt/nuts/coconut or a drizzle of white chocolate.
  5. Allow the chocolate to completely set in a cool place. Then enjoy! Pack into little Easter baskets to share with friends or bring along to a coffee date. They should stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 days.

Okonomiyaki (Japanese style cabbage pancakes)

by Liz Child

This plant-based twist on the ’anyway you like it’ Japanese street food might be my new favourite way to eat cabbage! Instead of an egg and wheat batter (and several impossible-to-find specialist Japanese ingredients) I’ve used a simple chickpea flour batter. This simple dish doesn’t take long to put together and is perfect for any meal! Breakfast, brunch, lunch or even a quick dinner. Top with mayonnaise (I like a bit of sriracha too), kimchi (find my recipe here) and sesame seeds. Delicious!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1 small mug of chickpea flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 small mug of water
  • 1/4 of a cabbage, chopped
  • 1 nori seaweed sheet, snipped into strips
  • vegetable oil for frying
  • kimchi, mayonnaise, sriracha and sesame seeds to serve

Method

  1. Whisk the chickpea flour, salt and water together into a smooth batter.
  2. Add the cabbage and nori and mix well to coat them in the batter.
  3. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add a generous drizzle of vegetable oil.
  4. Add half the mixture to the pan and spread out. When golden brown underneath, carefully loosen and flip the pancake over and cook on the other side until golden brown.
  5. Cook the other half of the mixture in the same way then serve with toppings as you like.

Kimchi

by Liz Child

We are very excited about the first harvest of radishes this year. Have you ever grown them yourselves? They’re what we recommend for beginners (or kids!) as they are so satisfying to grow and only take a few weeks to turn from tiny seed to plump, ruby bulbs. They are so refreshing and peppery, of course brilliant in a salad, but our favourite way to eat them is fermented in a kimchi along with their leaves. Zero waste! Kimchi is a really delicious fermented cabbage, Korean side/topping, like a spicy version of sauerkraut. If you’ve never tried it before, it’s like a pickle – tangy, salty and spicy. So good with rice or noodles, in sandwiches (you HAVE to try a kimcheese toastie!) …we love filling dumplings with tofu and kimchi and pilling it up on savoury cabbage pancakes. Here’s the very flexible recipe.

Liz x

Ingredients (these are suggestions and amounts can be flexible)

  • 1 cabbage (Chinese Napa cabbages are traditional but you can use any loose, leafy cabbage – Savoy or January King work really well here)
  • 4 carrots
  • 2 bunches of radishes (including their leaves)
  • 1 leek or a bundle of scallions
  • Optional extra veg like a kohlrabi or a turnip…
  • 6 cloves garlic, 1 large thumb of ginger and 3 red chillies to make a paste
  • salt (2% of the weight of all the above)

Method

  1. You will need clean equipment (large bowls, jars, chopping board, knife, blender, serving spoon and rolling pin) but it does not have to be sterilised. Apart from the superior taste and beneficial bacteria, fermenting rather than pickling is also easier in this way.
  2. Rinse your vegetables and start chopping. Save a few outer leaves of the cabbage but cut the rest into bite sized pieces. Weigh it and add to a large bowl. Thinly slice the other vegetables, leave the radish leaves whole, weigh them and add to the bowl.
  3. Weigh the garlic, ginger and chilli then blend into a paste. Add up the weights of all the different veg to find the total weight and work out what 2% is.
  4. Measure the salt and mix it through the chopped vegetables. Give them a light massage to encourage brine to form. Then stir the spice paste through using a serving spoon.
  5. Pack the mixture very tightly into jars. Use the spoon or a clean rolling pin to really pack the vegetables into the jar ensuring no air-pockets have formed. Leave a couple of inches of head room in the jar if you can. Then break a reserved cabbage leaf to size and press it down on top of the cut vegetables and tuck it in under the shoulders of the jar to keep the small bits of sliced vegetables submerged in brine. If they get exposed to air then they are likely to go mouldy. Your cabbage leaf may be enough to keep the kimchi submerged in brine, if not, use a weight. Something brine-proof like a glass, small jar or ramekin.
  6. Place the lid on the jar loosely to allow gases to escape during fermentation (be aware your kitchen is going to smell a bit funky this week!) and put the jar on a plate in a room temperature place in your kitchen, not too exposed to light as the extreme changes in temperature are not ideal. Allow the kimchi to ferment at room temperature for one week then refrigerate.
  7. TOP TIPS: – no double dipping! This could introduce new, unwanted bacteria from your mouth. – Remember the mantra, “Submerge in brine, all will be fine”. Check the jar every day whilst fermenting. Have the gases pushed the vegetables up above the brine? If so push them back under with a clean spoon.

Colcannon

by Liz Child

This St Patrick’s Day favourite combines the two best vegetables of all time – potatoes and kale. Don’t let anyone tell you these humble vegetables are nothing less than extraordinary!

Potatoes (especially when you leave the skin on) are a delicious source of fibre, energy giving carbohydrates, antioxidants, potassium (more than a banana!) and magnesium. They also contain vitamin C, calcium, folate and vitamin B6.

Kale is well known for being a superfood. The humble kale, grown right here on our farm in Galway, is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet and contains well over 100% of your daily needs for Vitamins A, C and K as well as a whole host of other vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fibre and even an omega 3 fatty acid!

So we say this dish is not just for St Patrick’s Day, make colcannon regularly as a side dish or as a topping for your pies.

Liz x

Ingredients (per person)

  • 1 large or a couple of smaller potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into even chunks
  • 3 kale leaves, rinsed, tough stems removed (save the stems, they are delicious finely chopped and added to stir fries, stews, soups etc)
  • 1 scallion, sliced
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Get your potatoes boiling in a large pot of water. Meanwhile tear up your kale leaves into small pieces and place them in a steaming basket or metal colander.
  2. When the potatoes are nearly cooked through, place the steaming basket/colander of kale over the pot and put the lid on. Let the kale steam until wilted and soft – this only takes around 3 minutes so keep an eye on it.
  3. Remove the kale and drain the soft potatoes, then tumble them back into the warm pot. Mash the potatoes with the butter and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Then stir through the wilted kale and chopped scallions.
  4. Serve with an extra dollop of butter as a side dish. It’s also delicious as a shepherd’s pie topping, baked in the oven to crisp up – see pic below.

Ukrainian Mushroom & Barley Broth

by Liz Child

Here’s another Ukrainian recipe inspired by Olia Hercules. If you love mushrooms, you’ll love this broth. It packs a mighty umami punch and is dark and delicious. I serve is as it is for a lighter meal or for a more filling meal, with these stuffed buns or with creamy mashed potatoes. If you add a spoon of soured cream or crème fraiche when you serve, the flavour is really reminiscent of a stroganoff, and of course, these flavours of umami rich mushrooms, onions, pepper, dill and cream are popular in Eastern European and Scandinavian countries, post-Soviet states, Russia and more. We all have so much more in common than what separates us, and food is one of those things where we can clearly see our commonalities.

Buckwheat is a highly nutritious, gluten free whole-grain, a great source of protein, fibre, potassium, magnesium and energy. We sell the whole grain in compostable bags here (and also useful buckwheat flour and flakes). As well as extra nutrients, buckwheat brings a bit of body and texture to the broth but you can switch it with noodles, pasta or rice as you like. Happy cooking!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 200g buckwheat groats
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp crumbled dried mushrooms
  • 1 litre of boiling water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 3 white onions, roughly diced
  • 3 carrots, chopped chunkily
  • 500g chopped mushrooms (a mix with some wild mushrooms is always more interesting, but chestnut mushrooms work well too)
  • a large handful or two of chopped dill
  • sour cream, yoghurt or creme fraiche to serve
  • mashed potatoes/cooked noodles/pasta/rice to serve or toast or stuffed buns…

Method

  1. Start by making a mushroom stock. Put the bay leaves and dried mushrooms in a glass measuring jug and boil the kettle. Pour a litre of just-boiled water in and let the stock brew.
  2. Next toast the buckwheat groats in your soup pot. Put the pot onto a medium high heat and tumble in the buckwheat. Stir or shake the pot regularly until the buckwheat is perfectly toasted. Then tip all the grains into a bowl to use later.
  3. Now, in the same pot, add the oil and onion. Sauté with a big pinch of salt until the onions start to colour and soften. Then add the mushrooms and carrots, more seasoning and sauté again for another 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked to your liking.
  4. Add the mushroom stock and the toasted buckwheat and simmer with the lid on until the buckwheat is cooked through but still has some bite. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with more salt and pepper.
  5. Just before serving, add the dill. Enjoy as is in bowls with a dollop of cremè fraiche or with toast, buns, mashed potatoes, pasta or anything you like.

Cauliflower Noodle Soup

by Liz Child

This is THE soup to make when you’re feeling under the weather. It’s a plant based take on that classic chicken noodle soup which brings so much comfort. It’s brothy and light, bursting with vitamins, but at the same time hearty and satisfying. I used bay leaves, lemon and thyme to flavour the broth with lots of garlic and a little turmeric for it’s sunny colour and medicinal properties. You’ll feel like a whole new human after a bowl of this. Happy slurping!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 4 sticks of celery, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 6 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground pepper
  • 100g quinoa, rinsed
  • 1/2 a head of cauliflower, diced
  • 120g noodles (I prefer quick cooking ramen or Thai rice noodles here but you can also use Italian style pasta in any shape you like. Just adjust the cooking times as explained below.)
  • 1 lemon, juiced

Method

  1. In a large, heavy bottomed pot, sauté the leek, garlic, carrots and celery with the olive oil. After 5 minutes the vegetables should be starting to soften.
  2. Then add the bay leaves, thyme, turmeric and quinoa. Top up with a couple of litres of water, season with the salt and pepper then simmer. After 10 minutes, the vegetables should be soft and the quinoa just starting to release it’s tails.
  3. Add the cauliflower and simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste the broth for seasoning and add more salt if necessary.
  4. Then add the noodles* and give the soup a stir to ensure they’re not clumping together. If they are the quick cooking type, turn the heat off, put the lid on and let them cook and soften in the residual heat. If they are Italian style pasta noodles and need longer cooking then you should add them with the cauliflower during step 3.
  5. Brighten the soup with the lemon juice and serve in large bowls. Enjoy!

TOP TIP – *only add the noodles/pasta if you’ll be eating this soup immediately. If you are making this in advance, add the noodles when you reheat it, otherwise they’ll get too soggy. You can even cook the noodles/pasta separately and put them into bowls, then ladle the soup over each portion.

Creamy Celeriac Crumble

by Liz Child

This savoury crumble is full of comforting winter vegetables and white beans. The creamy white sauce is made from seasoned oat milk thickened with a little cornflour. The oaty crumble is delicious and buttery (thanks to our new Naturli butter) and spiked with fragrant rosemary (use any winter herbs you like eg thyme or sage). Serve with a simple salad of shaved Brussels sprouts dressed with lemon and good oil. The not-so-secret ingredient which brings the dish together? Nutritional yeast! Fondly referred to as nooch, it brings a moreish, cheesy flavour to the party. What will you put in your savoury crumble?

As it’s gluten free day this week I’ve used certified gluten free oats in the crumble and gluten free Rude Health oat milk in the white sauce. If gluten isn’t an issue for you then of course you don’t need to worry about that, but if you are avoiding gluten then we can help with a range of gluten free groceries, conveniently delivered to your door.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 1/2 a celeriac, peeled and cubed
  • 1 large leek, washed and chopped
  • 300g mushrooms, halved or quartered
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 tins of white beans, drained

White Sauce

  • 2 tbsp cornflour (or flour of your choice)
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • a handful of nutritional yeast
  • salt and pepper to taste (about 1/2 tsp of each)
  • 500ml gluten free oat milk (or any milk you like)

Crumble

  • 250g gluten free porridge oats (or regular oats)
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, stripped from stalk (or any winter herbs you like)
  • salt and pepper to taste – a generous pinch of each
  • a handful of nutritional yeast
  • 100g butter (we use Naturli vegan blocks)

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 200C. Find a baking dish and tumble in your chopped celeriac, leek and mushrooms.
  2. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Mix well then put the dish in the oven to roast the vegetables while you prepare the white sauce and crumble. Remove the dish every 10 minutes to stir.
  3. In a mixing jug, whisk the cornflour, nutritional yeast, nutmeg, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and a splash of the oat milk into a paste. Then add the rest of the oat milk and whisk into a thin sauce. This will cook and thicken up later in the oven. Put to one side for now.
  4. Make the crumble in a food processor with the blade attachment. Put the oats, rosemary, nooch, salt and pepper into the processor and blend into a rough flour. Chop the butter into cubes, add to the flour mixture and pulse into a crumbly texture.
  5. When the vegetables are cooked through (this should take around 30 minutes) add the drained white beans and sauce. Stir well then top with the crumble and return to the oven for another 20 minutes or until bubbling and golden on top.
  6. Serve with some seasonal greens. We like thinly sliced Brussels sprouts simply dressed with good olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice for some acidity and freshness to cut through the creamy crumble.

Going Gluten Free?

by Liz Child

It is Gluten Free day on the 13th of January. Check out our gluten free section here.

Coeliac disease affects 1% of the population, however it is estimated that only around 30% of those people are diagnosed. There’s a big difference between people with coeliac disease and people who are gluten intolerant. When a person with coeliac disease ingests gluten, even just a small amount from accidental cross contamination, their immune system will attack its own body’s digestive tissue causing pain and serious problems including the inability to properly absorb nutrients. Whereas, if a person is gluten intolerant, the consumption of gluten will cause short-term bloating and belly pain. Unlike coeliac disease, gluten intolerance doesn’t usually cause long-term harm to the body. Either way, if you are avoiding gluten, perhaps just to try and improve your gut health, here’s a quick summary of what to look out for and some tips. All the images in this post are gluten free, organic products that we stock alongside our fresh produce to make your gluten free journey a little easier.

What is Gluten?

Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat, rye and barley. It acts as a glue and helps foods hold their shape. It’s what makes bread and pasta dough stretchy and bouncy. Luckily there are other natural ingredients which can be used as binding agents in place of gluten. Of course it is not quite the same but yes, you can still eat biscuits, cakes, pasta and breads with a little know-how.

What to Avoid

If you are avoiding gluten, it should be clearly labelled on packaging. But you should know this list of gluten containing ingredients to make sure you know exactly what to avoid.

  • Wheat (including spelt, durum, semolina, emmer, farina, farro, graham, einkorn, wheatberries, KAMUT® khorasan wheat)
  • Rye
  • Barley
  • Triticale
  • Malt in various forms including: malted barley flour, malted milk or milkshakes, malt extract, malt syrup, malt flavoring, malt vinegar
  • Brewer’s Yeast
  • Regular Oats (although oats are technically gluten free, they are usually cross contaminated in fields and factories with wheat so look for gluten free oats!)

What To Eat

The good news is that if you are avoiding gluten there are loads of things you CAN eat! So let’s focus on those.

  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Nuts and Seeds
  • Beans and Lentils
  • Certain Grains and Flours (including buckwheat and buckwheat flour, corn and it’s flours eg cornstarch and polenta, potato and it’s flour, rice and rice flour, amaranth, quinoa, millet, tapioca…oats, when labelled gluten free are fine too…)

You just need to avoid gluten which is found in certain grains and flours. Generic oats usually have been cross contaminated with wheat in the fields, whereas gluten free oats are grown carefully to avoid cross contamination and processed away from gluten containing products. This explains why gluten free oats are a little more expensive than regular oats.

Easy Alternatives

Ready made gluten free products are getting better and better. We stock a range of gluten free pastas, bread and even pizza dough in our shop. We also have gluten free oats available. Unfortunately a lot of ready made gluten free products contain lots of strange ingredients to help bind things together and imitate wheat gluten, so we recommend always reading the label, or looking into ways to make your own alternatives. We try to source the best, organic and natural products to make your choices easy. If you are avoiding eggs, be extra careful to read the labels as a lot of ready made gluten free products contain eggs to help things bind together.

Make your own

We stock many of the raw ingredients necessary to create your own gluten free alternatives. Research tried and tested gluten free recipes online and please do share your successes (and failures) with our supportive community facebook group here. There are loads of gluten free recipes, or recipes which can be tweaked to be made gluten free on our recipe blog here. In fact most of the recipes are naturally gluten free! Do you have any top tips on being gluten free? Do share them in the comments.