Spaghetti Bolognese

by Liz Child

Lentil Bolognese is a store-cupboard staple. Lentils are full of nutrients, most notably fibre, protein, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, zinc and potassium. These humble and inexpensive seeds are well worth including in your diet regularly, and they make a great mince meat substitute.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 white onions, diced
  • 5 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 1 tbsp chopped dried mushrooms
  • 200g dried lentils (a mix of green/red/brown is nice for different textures)
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tins chopped tomatoes
  • 1 glass red wine
  • 700ml+ water
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • pasta and nutritional yeast to serve

Method

  1. Sauté the onion, garlic and bay in the olive oil over a medium high heat until it’s soft and golden.
  2. Add the carrots, mushrooms, lentils, vinegar and tomatoes. Stir then cover with the water and season well.
  3. Simmer until the sauce is rich and thick and the lentils are cooked through. Test them after 15 minutes and add more water if necessary.
  4. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt and pepper as you like. Then serve.
  5. Stir some of the sauce through the drained spaghetti and loosen it with a little reserved pasta water. Then serve in bowls with extra sauce on top. Finish with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast flakes for a salty, cheesy topping.

Beetloaf

by Liz Child

This is a really delicious and hearty veggie main for your festive feast, made with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. A great option if you need an alternative to a nut roast, this beetloaf is nut free, can easily be gluten free if you use gluten free oats, and is full of healthy fibre and protein from beans, chickpeas and oats. Make is Christmassy as I’ve done here with a cranberry sauce glaze, or use it for another occasion and switch the cranberry sauce for barbecue sauce, apple chutney or a mustard and maple glaze. Make it your own with your favourite herbs and spices. Happy Christmas!

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 400g cooked beetroot
  • 1 tin of chickpeas plus the liquid in the tin
  • 2 tins black beans, drained
  • 1 tbsp each: smoked paprika, sage, rosemary and thyme
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée or ketchup
  • 2 diced onions and 4 diced garlic cloves cooked in olive oil
  • 150-200g porridge oats
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • cranberry sauce to glaze (around 6 tbsp)

Method

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C and line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
  2. In a food processor, blend the beetroot, chickpeas and their liquid, herbs and spices, seasoning and half the black beans into a thick purée.
  3. Add the onion/garlic mix, 150g of oats and remaining black beans and pulse together to retain some texture.
  4. Scrape the mixture into a bowl, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed and add more oats if a little wet.
  5. Scrape into the lined loaf tin, cover with cranberry sauce (or any glaze you prefer eg barbecue sauce, mustard and maple…) and bake for around an hour or until cooked through.
  6. Serve in slices with all the trimmings. Gravy, roast potatoes, greens…

Potato Peel Crisps

by Liz Child

We very rarely peel our organic potatoes. It’s not just about being lazy, potato skins are delicious and very high in nutrients and fibre. Also, food waste is not just a waste of our hard earned money, it’s actually a huge emitter of green house gases. But sometimes, especially for Christmas dinner, we want ‘proper’ roast potatoes that are fluffy in the middle, golden and crispy on the outside. So we peel.

No need to waste the peels though! It makes no sense to throw out all that delicious, nutritious potato. I bet your granny had a good way of using potato skins up? This is my favourite way. What’s yours?

Liz x

Ingredients

  • Potato peels
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper (or another seasoning you like eg: garlic granules, paprika, chilli, rosemary, lemon zest, nutritional yeast, onion powder…)

Method

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C. Scrub your potatoes and then peel them directly into a large roasting dish.
  2. Drizzle over some good olive oil, a little goes a long way here.
  3. Season with a little salt and whatever else you fancy. Be careful with the salt, a tiny pinch is usually enough, you can always add more salt after but you can’t take it away. Mix well to ensure each peel is coated in the oil and seasoning.
  4. Bake in the oven until the peels have turned into crisps. Usually around 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and take them out to stir every 5 minutes or so to ensure they are not sticking and they are cooking evenly.
  5. Allow them to cool then enjoy!

Roast Potatoes, Sprouts & Clementines

by Liz Child

This is my favourite way to make really Christmassy roast potatoes. When the oven is full for a big roast dinner, it’s a great way to double up in one dish too. Brussel sprouts are best when roasted or sautéed rather than the traditional boil and flavouring them with red onion, sage and clementines just screams Christmas! Don’t forget to save the potato peels and make crisps! There’s a lot of flavour, nutrients and fibre in those organic peels.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • Potatoes – think X amount per person
  • Brussels sprouts – 6 or so per person
  • Clementines – 1 between 4 people
  • Red onion – 1 between 4 people
  • Sage – 3 leaves per person or 1 tbsp dried between 4 people
  • Vegetable oil – a generous slick in the roasting dish plus a drizzle for the bowl of sprouts
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Peel your potatoes and leave them whole if they are small, or cut them into large, even chunks. Place the potatoes into a large pot of water and bring it to the boil.
  2. Boil the potatoes until par-cooked. They should just be soft on the outside but still firm in the middle. Meanwhile pour a generous slick of vegetable oil into a roasting dish which will comfortably accommodate your potatoes and get it in the oven to heat up.
  3. Drain your potatoes into a large colander. Give the colander a good shake. This will rough up the outsides of the potatoes which will make a gorgeous crispy exterior in the oven.
  4. Carefully remove the roasting dish from the oven and tip in the roughed up, par-boiled potatoes. Use a spatular or tongues to turn the potatoes in the hot oil then pop the dish into the oven to continue cooking the potatoes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Cut the ends off the sprouts and cut them in half. Remove any damaged outer leaves as you go. Put all the cut sprouts into a large mixing bowl.
  6. Slice the clementines into rounds and peel and slice the red onion. Add both to the bowl with the sprouts.
  7. Season the bowl of sprouts, red onion and clementines with salt, pepper and sage and mix well with a drizzle of vegetable oil.
  8. Keep an eye on the potatoes in the oven and turn them regularly to ensure they are cooking evenly. Once they are beautifully golden and crispy (after around 20-30 minutes) remove the dish from the oven. Carefully tip in the prepared sprouts, red onion and clementines. Mix carefully then return the dish to the oven.
  9. After around 15 minutes, the sprouts and onions should be cooked through and the whole dish should smell amazing. Enjoy alongside your other roast dishes and gravy. Merry Christmas!

Mustard & Maple Swede Roast

by Liz Child

Whole roasted vegetables are one of my favourite things. The long roast means there’s always a sweet, juicy centre and interesting textures and flavours on the edges. This recipe for whole roast swede (pretending to be ham) is inspired by eco-chef Tom Hunt. It makes a fun festive centrepiece and it’s delicious too! Not ham flavoured of course, but a celebration of the humble-but-hearty swede. These bulbous roots are a real Irish staple and they are well overdue their time in the limelight. Swede is slightly peppery and sweet and the mustard-maple glaze works wonderfully. Delicious served in slices alongside pickled red cabbage, roasted potatoes and winter greens. The vegetable and red wine bed makes a brilliant base for a veggie gravy too.

What are you serving for Christmas dinner?

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 2 onions
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • 2 carrots
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 2 stock cubes
  • a large glass of red wine
  • a large glass of hot water
  • 1 swede
  • whole cloves (approximately 50?)
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 6 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 6 tbsp maple syrup

Method

  1. Turn the oven on to 200C. Find a casserole dish with a lid that your swede will fit comfortably in (alternatively use a deep roasting dish and a sheet of foil or a baking sheet as a lid).
  2. Start preparing your swede. Peel it with a potato peeler and trim off any unwanted bits with a large, sharp knife. Score it with shallow cuts, criss-crossing to make lots of diamond shapes. Using a toothpick or a skewer, push a hole into the centre of each diamond. Then push a whole clove into each hole to stud the surface of the swede.
  3. Cut the bulb of garlic in half along its equator. Quarter the onions (leave the skin on) and the carrots. Put the vegetables in the casserole dish, these will impart lots of flavour to the juices in the bottom of the dish. Pour in the wine and hot water and crumble in the stock cubes. Add the bay leaves. Now place the prepared swede on top.
  4. Drizzle the swede with the olive oil and season it with salt and pepper. Put the lid on and place the pot in the oven to steam-bake the swede for at least 1.5 hours (depending on the size of the swede) or until the swede is cooked through. You can test this with a skewer.
  5. Remove the swede onto a clean baking dish. Mix the mustard and maple syrup together and brush half of it over the top and sides of the swede. Return it to the oven for 10 minutes. Then brush the remaining mustard and maple glaze over the swede and put it back in the oven for a final ten minutes. Then it’s ready to carve and enjoy!

Roasted Garlic & Red Wine, Onion Gravy

  1. You can make a gorgeous gravy from the juices left in the casserole dish. Remove the carrots, bay leaves and onions skins. Squeeze out the garlic and remove the skins from the pot. Then use a whisk to blend the roasted garlic into the sauce.
  2. Add 2 tbsp of cornstarch that has been mixed with 3 tbsp of cold water. Whisk it into the gravy and simmer and stir until the gravy is a good consistency. You may wish to add more water.
  3. Add a generous knob of butter and taste the gravy for seasoning. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if needed. I usually add a splash of soy sauce to enrich and darken the gravy too.

Orange, Rosemary & Black Pepper Almonds

by Liz Child

This aromatic, sweet and salty snack is the perfect nibble alongside a glass of wine or whilst watching a Christmas film. We stock organic almonds in compostable bags if you’d like to make your own. It’s easy to do and the flavour combination is just perfect! You might want to double or triple the batch and give some jars away as festive gifts.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 500g whole almonds
  • the zest of a large orange (or use a few clementines)
  • 4 tbsp rosemary leaves
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp maple syrup or honey

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 175C and line your largest roasting tray with baking parchment.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. Taste an almond and add more of any ingredient if you like, perhaps you’d like it extra peppery?
  3. Spread the almonds onto the lined baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes or so until the nuts are beautifully toasted. Remove the tray from the oven every 5 minutes to stir the nuts and ensure they are not burning. Keep a close eye on them, once they start to toast they go very quickly!
  4. Allow the nuts to cool completely on the tray before storing them in an airtight container. They should stay fresh for a couple of weeks. Enjoy with a glass of wine and other delicious nibbly bits or gift wrap and share with your loved ones.

Crumbly, Melt-In-The-Mouth Fudge

by Liz Child

I have a childhood memory of the best homemade fudge. Every shop-bought fudge I’ve ever purchased has never lived up to that memory. It’s usually too close to caramel or toffee, too chewy or sticky. To me, fudge should hold together in blocks, but when you bite into it, it should have a buttery, sweet flavour and a slightly grainy, melt-in-the-mouth texture. It should crumble and be short and snappy rather than chewy and stretchy. I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen and I’m really happy with this recipe.

Our new Natruli butter blocks make it easy to recreate a dairy free version. This recipe works just as well with dairy/dairy-free ingredients so you do you. A jar of fudge is definitely going in all my homemade Christmas hampers to friends this year. Do you make homemade Christmas gifts? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 150g butter
  • 300g sugar (our whole cane sugar is perfect for this recipe, otherwise use an even mix of soft brown and white sugar)
  • 250ml milk (I use oat milk but any milk will work)
  • a large pinch of Achill Island sea salt flakes
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

  1. Put all the ingredients except the vanilla into a heavy bottomed pot.
  2. Melt them together over a medium-high heat, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon.
  3. Bring the mixture up to a bubbling boil. Stir frequently and let it bubble and thicken for 20 minutes or until it reaches 115C.
  4. Take the pot off the heat, add the vanilla then beat with a whisk for around 8 minutes or until the sugars start to crystallise. You should notice the mixture change from glossy and smooth to thick and grainy.
  5. Scrape the mixture into a small baking tray lined with baking parchment (did you know we sell compostable baking paper?), level it out and score/cut it into 32 squares using a blunt knife or the edge of a spatula.
  6. Cover the tray with a clean tea towel and let it set at room temperature for a few hours.
  7. Once it’s completely cool you can pull it out and snap it into squares. Pack the fudge into an airtight container and enjoy within 2 weeks! It will store well at room temperature in an airtight container. It is prone to dry out in the fridge so it’s best to keep it at room temperature.

Sprout Spaghetti

by Liz Child

Brussels sprouts are in season and are certainly not just for Christmas Day. Have you been adding them to your boxes? What’s your favourite sprout recipe? I love sautéing them like this with garlic, herbs, nuts and citrus, then folding them through pasta. They’re also brilliant stirred through rice or another cooked grain like barley, quinoa, buckwheat etc for a gorgeous warm salad. Here’s my sprout spaghetti recipe, it makes a stunning mid-week meal and will only take as long as the time to boil your pasta. Quick, festive and delicious!

Liz x

Ingredients (per person)

  • 70-100g dry spaghetti (depending on appetite) or other grain/pulse of your choice eg quinoa, rice…
  • 1 heaped tbsp butter (I use our new dairy free Natruli blocks)
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 7 Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
  • a small handful of hazelnuts, roughly chopped
  • 3 sprigs of rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste (it’s extra good with lots of black pepper!)

Method

  1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, meanwhile chop your sprouts, garlic and hazelnuts.
  2. Generously salt the boiling water and drop in the pasta. Give it an occasional stir to prevent it from clumping or sticking to the bottom. While the pasta cooks, prepare the rest of the dish.
  3. In a wide pan, melt the butter, add the oil and sprouts, hazelnuts, garlic and rosemary. Stir fry for a few minutes then season well with salt and pepper.
  4. Add the zest and juice of the lemon when the sprouts turn bright green and are mostly cooked through. Stir well, taste and adjust the seasoning if need with more salt, pepper or lemon. Turn off the heat for now.
  5. Drain the pasta but reserve a mug or so of the starchy cooking water. Add the pasta to the sprouts and turn the heat back on. Add a few splashes of the cooking water and mix the pasta and buttery sprouts together. The pasta water and butter should create a delicious, light, lemony sauce. Taste again and you’ll probably want to add more black pepper.
  6. Serve in bowls and top with grated cheese or nutritional yeast flakes if you like. Enjoy!

Ribollita

by Liz Child

This classic Tuscan soup is just gorgeous. A hearty combination of white beans, tomatoey broth and seasonal vegetables, most notably kale. What makes this soup extra delicious for me is the combination of garlic, lemon zest, really good olive oil and fragrant rosemary and sage. This is one of those stew-like soups that is better the next day. Once you’ve done all the chopping, it’s really simple to make. Leave it brothy if you like or thicken the soup with torn chunks of stale bread or blend a portion of the beans before adding them. I prefer to leave it brothy then serve the soup over torn bread. Let us know your favourite way of eating ribollita.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 onions, peeled and diced
  • 3 sticks of celery, diced
  • 3 large carrots, diced
  • 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced
  • the zest of a lemon
  • 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
  • 1 tbsp chopped sage
  • 2 stock cubes
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tins white beans, drained
  • 8 kale leaves, stems finely chopped, leaves torn
  • the juice of a lemon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • stale bread to serve, optional

Method

  1. In a large, heavy bottomed pot, sauté the onion with the olive oil on a medium-high heat until soft and starting to colour. This should take at least 5 minutes.
  2. Then add the diced carrot and celery and the thinly sliced kale stems, season with salt and pepper and stir for a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the chopped garlic, lemon zest and chopped herbs. Stir for another minute or two, your kitchen should smell really really good now.
  4. Crumble in the stock cubes and tip in the tin of chopped tomatoes. Fill the tin with water 4 times and pour that water into the pot.
  5. Add the drained beans then bring the soup up to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on.
  6. Then add the torn kale leaves and the lemon juice to the pot, pop the lid back on and let the leaves wilt for just 3-5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Add more water if you’d like a brothier soup, blend some of the soup if you’d like it thicker.
  7. Serve in generous bowls, as it is or with torn pieces of stale bread.

Squash & Spinach Lasagne

by Liz Child

Lasagne is always a good idea for dinner. I always make two while I’m making one, it’s not much extra work and then there’s one in the freezer for a rainy day. This version is an autumn/winter favourite. Layers of roasted squash and garlic, spinach and pumpkin seed pesto, pasta sheets and plant based béchamel. Delicious!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6)

Squash Layer:

  • 1 kg squash, cubed
  • 1 bulb of garlic, minus 1 clove
  • 6 sage leaves
  • olive oil, salt and pepper

Spinach & Pumpkin Seed Pesto Layer:

  • 400g spinach, wilted
  • 150g pumpkin seeds, toasted
  • 1 clove of garlic, saved from the bulb above
  • the juice of half a lemon
  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 10g nutritional yeast
  • salt and pepper

Plant Based Béchamel Layer:

  • 150g plain flour (gluten free works too)
  • 20g nutritional yeast
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 litre oat milk (get a gluten free one if you are avoiding gluten)
  • salt and pepper

Other Ingredients:

  • 250g lasagne sheets (we stock regular and gluten free)
  • extra sage leaves to decorate

Method

  1. Turn the oven on to 200C and cut a kg of winter squash (like kuri or butternut) into cubes, tumble them into a large baking tray. Peel a whole bulb of garlic and add the cloves to the dish, but put one aside for the pesto.
  2. Toss the squash and garlic with 6 torn sage leaves and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper then pop the dish in the oven to bake until soft. Meanwhile prepare the pesto and béchamel.
  3. Put the spinach in a colander and pour over hot water to wilt the leaves. Squeeze the water out of the wilted spinach and put the bright, green lump in a food processor. Add the pumpkin seeds, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Blend into a rough sauce, taste and season with salt and pepper. Blend again briefly to bring the pesto together. Then make the béchamel.
  4. In a cold pot, whisk the flour, nutritional yeast, mustard, nutmeg, olive oil and oat milk together. Then put the pot on a medium heat and whisk and cook until the sauce thickens and can coat the back of a spoon. Season well with salt and pepper then put to one side and check on the roasting squash and garlic.
  5. When the squash and garlic is cooked though, mash it roughly, leaving some texture. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed, then it is time to assemble the lasagne.
  6. In a deep baking dish, add a 1/2 cm layer of the squash purée. Add a layer of pasta sheets, then a couple of ladles of the béchamel. Spread two or three heaped tbsp of spinach pesto over the béchamel, don’t worry if it mixes in. Then repeat until you’ve used all the ingredients. Squash, pasta, béchamel, pesto… Ensure you finish up with a thick layer of béchamel.
  7. Decorate the top of the lasagne with some fresh sage leaves then pop it into the oven to bake until bubbling. After about 20-30 minutes, the pasta should be cooked through and the top should be golden. Test with a small sharp knife. Then cut and serve with a side salad or steamed greens.