Jambalaya

by Liz Child

Jambalaya is a delicious one-pot rice dish from Louisiana, a cultural melting pot with French, Caribbean and African influences. It’s a little like a paella but some of the ingredients and seasonings are different. Rather than saffron, the main flavours are cayenne pepper and thyme with smokiness from the sausages and smoked paprika.

We just added these new vegan smoked sausages to our shop so I just had to try them in a jambalaya and they work perfectly! Head to our shop and add them to your next fruit and veg order to give them a try. Liz x

add organic groceries and extra veg to your regular box order – we deliver all over Ireland

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 2 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
  • 1 onion
  • 3 sticks of celery
  • 2 peppers (any colour of a mix)
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 2 packs of smoked sausages (or substitute with mushrooms and red beans plus some extra smoked paprika)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 heaped tsp smoked paprika (plus extra)
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
  • 3 tsp dried thyme (or fresh is even better)
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 mug basmati rice
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes (or 4 chopped fresh tomatoes)
  • 2 limes
watch how it’s made here or read on below

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 200C and find an oven and hob safe pan with a lid. Alternatively you could use a baking dish and some tin foil or a baking sheet. Instead of sautéing on the hob, the base ingredients can be roasted in the oven.

Start by dicing your onion, celery and peppers and sautéing them with the olive oil until just starting to soften.

Then chop the garlic and add it to the pan.

Cut the smoked sausages into bite size pieces and add them to the pan too. Then sauté everything together, stirring often, to seal the ingredients and so they start to caramelise and take on some colour. This takes about 10 minutes.

Add the herbs and spices to the pan and season with salt and pepper – stir to combine.

Rinse the mug of basmati rice and add it to the pan along with the tin of chopped tomatoes. Add two tins of water then stir to evenly disperse all the ingredients. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or spices.

Put the lid on the pot and let it come up to a gentle boil. As soon as it is hot and bubbling, move the pan into the oven, lid on, so that the rice can bake and absorb all the liquid. This should take about 20 minutes for white rice.

Once the rice has absorbed all the liquid, remove the lid and you can serve it as it is or return it to the oven for a further 5 minutes with wedges of lime, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. This creates a delicious crust on the rice and lightly charrs the lime wedges, making them sweet and extra juicy.

Serve with the roasted lime wedges to squeeze over the rice and a simple green salad. Enjoy!

Jay and Joy Vegan Cheeses

by Liz Child

Have you tried the Jay and Joy range of vegan cheeses we sell yet? They are absolute game changers. There’s no doubt that there are some dodgy tasting plant based cheeses out there, but these are the real deal. We love that they use recognisable, all organic ingredients. We love that they are made using ancestral French cheese-making techniques. But most of all we love the flavour. Here are some serving suggestions to inspire you to make the most out of these delectable little boxes of cheese. Let us know your favourite way of eating them in the comments or over on our facebook group. We are always looking for new ways to enjoy our carefully curated organic products.

Liz x

*as always, words in bold are clickable links to our shop so you can easily add the ingredients to your usual order

Goat Cheese, Blood Orange, Red Onion, Black Olive

Method (serves 2)

Arrange some washed fresh lettuce leaves in two bowls.

Trim off the skin of 1 blood orange and add juicy slices of it to each bowl.

Peel and thinly slice quarter of a red onion and add a few circles to each bowl.

Add a handful of halved salty black olives to each bowl.

Add four slices or so of Jay and Joy Goats Cheese to each bowl.

Drizzle everything with our excellent extra virgin olive oil and a crack of black pepper.

Simple as that! The sweet tang of the oranges contrasts the olive oil, salty cheese and olives perfectly. Every mouthful a delight.

Celeriac Steaks, Kale, Blue Cheese, Pear, Walnut

Method (serves 2)

Slice 4 steaks out of the middle of a celeriac – about 1cm thickness each. Then trim off the skin and knobbly roots of each slice. (Reserve the leftover ends of the celeriac for soups/stews/risottos…)

Melt a tbsp of plant based butter with a tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat.

Then add the celeriac steaks and season them with a pinch of salt and some cracked black pepper. Fry on both sides until golden brown and tender – this takes about 10-15 minutes.

Keep the steaks warm, propped up in one side of the pan then add lots of rinsed and chopped kale to the pan. Stir fry to wilt for 3 minutes or so then taste and season if necessary (there may be enough seasoning already in the pan from the celeriac steaks and butter/oil).

Divide the cooked kale onto two warm plates, top with the celeriac steaks and then quickly toast two generous handfuls of walnuts in the now empty frying pan.

Add a sliced pear to each plate, the toasted walnuts and finish with little slices of Jay and Joy Blue Cheese.

The balance of sweet pear, buttery celeriac, crunchy nuts and salty blue cheese is absolutely gorgeous. I hope you really enjoy it!

Baked Brie, Caramelised Red Onion & Thyme Toast

Method (serves 2)

Melt a generous tbsp of plant based butter and a tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan.

Add one peeled and sliced red onion and a pinch of salt and fry on medium for about 10 minutes or until it starts to collapse and caramelise.

Add four peeled and chopped cloves of garlic and fry for another 5 minutes or so.

Then to help the caramelisation, add a tsp of brown sugar and season with some black pepper and a tsp of fresh thyme leaves. Fry for another minute or so to bring the flavours together.

Meanwhile cut and toast two slices of sourdough bread.

Put the toast in a baking dish, divide the caramelised onion between the two slices and top with slices of Jay and Joy Brie.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and put the baking dish in a hot oven or under the grill for a few minutes. This vegan brie does not melt like regular brie, but warming it up really brings the dish together.

Scatter with a few more fresh thyme leaves and enjoy! Crunchy toast, sweet caramelised onion, creamy cheese and fragrant thyme…so good!

Leek & Thyme Tarte Tatin

by Liz Child

I love a tarte tatin. It’s one of those deceptively simple dishes. One that wows your guests but is actually really very easy to make. A traditional tarte tatin is a French dessert made with caramelised apples and puff pastry. But you can take the concept and run with it in any direction. I love making savoury versions as a light lunch or fancy looking starter with beautiful, bitter salad leaves. Balsamic beetroot? Parsnip and apple? Red onion? Brussels sprout and chestnut? The list goes on. But my favourite by far has to be this luscious leek version.

Leek might be one of the most underrated vegetables. When highlighted like this and showcased as the main event, leeks really stand out as the beautiful, sweet, soft vegetables that they are. Mellow and silky, leeks go incredibly well with vinegar and thyme. If you want to take it up a notch you could add a slick of Dijon mustard to the pastry before tucking it over the leeks too. Another variation I make sometimes is with a sprinkle of capers in the base of the pan. That combination of sweet, sharp and fragrant is so incredibly good. I hope you enjoy it!

Did you try this recipe? Don’t forget to share it with your friends, tag us @greenearthorganics1 in any photos on Instagram and let us know how it went in the comments. Liz x

Ingredients (serves 8 as a starter)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Get an oven and hob safe pan ready. If you don’t have one you can use a baking dish and do the entire process in steps in the oven instead.

Start by cleaning the leeks. The easiest way to do this is to split them down the middle, keeping the root end intact, then run them under a tap to quickly clean the mud out of each layer.

In an oven and hob safe pan, melt the butter then add the olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle over the sugar and half the thyme leaves. (If you want to add capers to the dish, do it now. Sprinkle a tbsp or two evenly into the pan for the odd little salty flavour bomb.)

Then measure the leeks against the pan and cut them in long slices to snugly fit, cut side down, the entire base of the pan. Try and keep the slices intact, don’t move them around once they are in place.

Add the vinegar to the leeks and then season them well with a big pinch of salt and a generous grind of black pepper. Add a few more fresh thyme leaves – reserve some for decorating the dish at the end. Allow the leeks to par cook on the hob so that they start to caramelise with the sugar and fat before adding the pastry.

Turn the heat off then, working quickly, cover the leeks with the puff pastry. Trim it to size and use the off cuts to fill any gaps. This will be the bottom of the tart so no need to be too neat. (If you’d like to add Dijon mustard, brush it over the pastry before popping it on the leeks, mustard side down.)

Tuck the pastry gently in around the edges then pop the dish into the oven to bake. It should only take around 20 minutes or so but just keep an eye on it. It’s ready when the pastry is risen and golden.

Then take the pan out of the oven and let it settle for a couple of minutes. Put a large platter or wooden chopping board over the pan, then in one swift, confident movement, turn the dish upside down (don’t forget to use oven gloves as the pan will still be hot!)

Carefully pick up the upside down pan and you should have a gorgeous dish! Sprinkle over some more fresh thyme leaves, slice with a large, very sharp knife and serve with a simple salad.

Here’s a quick video of the recipe. Hope you find it helpful!

This would be fantastic with a chilled glass of white wine. Check out our organic selection here.