Ribollita (Tuscan Soup)

by Liz Child

Happy New Year! How are you? We are keeping cosy and filling up on loads of veggies with regular servings of delicious ribollita. This Tuscan soup/stew is full of flavour and is so nourishing. Highly recommend getting this into your rotation, it’s a hit with the whole family. And it is the most delicious way to use up stale bread and avoid food waste! The bread really must be stale so that it keeps the right texture and doesn’t get all gummy, so next time you find that half of your loaf has gone stale, make this. Serve with or without cheese as you like. An extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil doesn’t go amiss either. Enjoy!

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more to serve
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 sticks of celery, diced
  • 3 medium carrots, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
  • 6 large kale leaves, leaves torn and stalks finely chopped
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tin white beans, drained
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • stale bread, torn or cut into chunks
  • grated cheese to serve, optional

Method

  1. Sauté the onion, carrot and celery with the oil and a pinch of salt for around 5 minutes until they start to soften.
  2. Add the garlic, rosemary and kale stalks and sauté for another 2 minutes.
  3. Then add the red wine vinegar, tomatoes, stock cube, beans and around 500ml of water. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  4. Simmer for around 10 minutes then add the kale and turn off the heat. Stir to wilt the kale into the hot soup.
  5. Serve over stale bread chunks in large bowls and top with optional grated cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Roasted Fennel, Tomato & Bean Pasta Sauce

by Liz Child

Fresh fennel and tomato are made for each other, and for pasta. Fresh fennel is absolutely delicious raw, thinly sliced in salads. Its crunchy and sweet with a aniseed flavour which pairs perfectly with a zingy lemon dressing and lots of black pepper. But when you roast fennel, its a completely different thing. The sweetness caramelises, the aniseed flavour is still there but it’s muted, and the texture is gorgeous, it softens in the best way, a little like roasted onion. Mix with the richness of roasted tomatoes, lots of garlic and olive oil and you’ll be in flavour-heaven! Fennel and tomato pasta is a simple, rustic classic, often served with sausages, but we love it with butterbeans.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 1 fennel bulb, chopped
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tin butterbeans, drained
  • a couple of handfuls of chopped fresh tomatoes
  • 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • extra virgin olive oil – to taste, we recommend at least 6 tbsp
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • cooked pasta to serve

Method

  1. Turn your oven on to 200C. Chop up a fennel bulb and tumble into a wide roasting dish. Drizzle generously with 4 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands and place in the oven to roast for 20 minutes or so until softened.
  2. Remove the dish from the oven and add the tin of tomatoes, crushed garlic and the drained tin of butterbeans. Mix well.
  3. Scatter over the fresh chopped tomatoes, drizzle with 2 more tbsp olive oil and season again with salt and pepper. Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes or so until rich and bubbling.
  4. Meanwhile cook your pasta. Then drain the pasta, stir through the sauce and enjoy!

Salmorejo with Spiced Chickpeas

by Liz Child

If you like gazpacho, you’ll love this simpler version of chilled tomato soup. It is so quick and easy to make and perfectly balanced with a creamy texture and refreshing sweet and tangy tomato flavour. Traditionally it is served topped with chopped boiled egg and jamón slices but we love it with cumin and smoked paprika chickpeas. This soup is only as good as the quality of the ingredients, so use ripe tomatoes, really good olive oil and for the best flavour, sourdough bread.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the soup:

  • 500g tomatoes (any fresh, ripe tomatoes)
  • 1 tbsp red wine or sherry vinegar
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 slices of stale sourdough bread
  • salt and pepper to taste

For the chickpeas:

  • 1/2 a tin of chickpeas, drained & rinsed
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • salt & pepper to taste

Method

  1. Put the soup ingredients into a strong blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt, pepper or vinegar.
  3. Pour into a jar or jug and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
  4. Meanwhile fry the chickpeas in a hot frying pan with the oil and spices until they start to pop. Tumble into a bowl and keep in the fridge to serve with the soup later.
  5. Divide into 4 bowls and top with the spiced chickpeas. The soup will keep fresh in the fridge for 3 days.

Tomato Risotto & Basil Pesto

by Liz Child

When we have a glut of tomatoes, this is one of our family favourite, summer suppers. The kids especially love this risotto and I love giving them a generous spoon of pesto. It’s so full of goodness – healthy fats and protein from the seeds and olive oil, antioxidants and vitamins from the fresh greens. Make your own pesto (follow one of our recipes here) or buy a handy jar (here). Tomato and basil is an unbeatable flavour combination. Did you know we sell organic risotto rice in compostable bags?

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 2 small or 1 large white onion, finely diced
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 6 large tomatoes or a bag of cherry tomatoes, roughly diced
  • 6 sundried tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 mug of risotto rice
  • 1 large glass of white wine
  • 2-3 mugs of vegetable stock/bouillon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • pesto to serve
  • fresh basil leaves to serve

Method

  1. In a large, heavy bottomed pot, sauté the onion with the olive oil until soft and golden. Over a medium heat, this should take around 8-10 minutes.
  2. Now add the garlic, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté and cook down for another 5 minutes.
  3. Add the mug of rice and the glass of white wine. Stir until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
  4. Then add a ladle of the stock, stir and cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Keep repeating this step until the rice is cooked through. Taste a grain every now and then and stop adding stock when you are happy with the consistency. Adjust the seasoning as needed at the end too with some extra salt, pepper or maybe a squeeze of lemon?
  5. Serve in bowls and top each bowl with a generous spoon of pesto and some fresh basil leaves. Enjoy as it is or with a simple salad

Greek Potato Bake

by Liz Child

There are so many ways to cook potatoes – boiled, chips, mash, roasties, soups, stews, gratin, jacket potatoes… but this Mediterranean-style way is one of my favourites. The rich tomato sauce and fragrant herbs make the humble, comforting potato into a summery dish which sings with flavour. I usually top it with some of my vegan tofu-feta or just some salty olives and bake it with the lid off for a little extra colour and flavour. Serve with a simple greek salad and a glass of wine – that’s dinner sorted.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 6)

  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large white onion, diced
  • 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 2 tins chopped tomatoes
  • optional extra Med-veg eg courgette, peppers, carrots, aubergine
  • 10 medium potatoes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp each oregano, thyme, rosemary
  • olives/feta/capers
  • salad to serve

Method

  1. Start by making a rich tomato sauce. This can be however you like it but I usually sauté the diced onion in 2 tbsp olive oil until soft and starting to colour, then add crushed garlic and if I want to bulk it out, some chopped veg like an aubergine, pepper or courgette, maybe a carrot or two? Add the tinned tomatoes and swirl out any juices left in the tins into the pot with a bit of water. Season well with salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano and simmer until the sauce is rich – around 15-20 minutes. Blend with a stick blender, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with more salt or pepper.
  2. Put the oven on to 200C and find an oven proof dish with a lid. Wash and thinly slice your potatoes into 3mm or so rounds.
  3. Place 1/2 the tomato sauce into the dish then arrange the potato slices on top. Then season the potato layer with salt, pepper and the herbs. Drizzle over the remaining olive oil and then spoon over the remaining tomato sauce.
  4. Put the lid on and bake until the potatoes are soft. This usually takes at least an hour but check on it as ovens and potatoes vary.
  5. Once the potatoes are cooked through, remove the lid and scatter over your topping of choice. Feta, olives, capers… Return the dish to the oven with the lid off to caramelise and get a little colour – just 5-10 minutes, keep an eye on it.
  6. Enjoy with salads or as a side to your choice of protein and greens.

Roasted Fennel & Tomato Pasta Sauce

by Liz Child

One of my go-to weekday dinner solutions, for those hectic days when the juggle between work-life and family-life has left you reeling, is to roast a big tray of vegetables and then while that’s cooking decide what to do with it. I usually turn it into pasta sauce or soup with the help of my handy stick blender and add some extra protein with a drained tin of beans or lentils. There is always the option to stir the roasted veggies through rice or add them to tacos or a make a warm salad by tossing them through a drained tin of cooked pulses (our organic range from Bunalun is so handy). Roasting vegetables makes them sweeter and more delicious and our farm grown fennel and tomatoes are just *made* for pasta.

Like most of my recipes, this is a flexible affair. Make it smooth or chunky, don’t worry too much about the ratios of the different vegetables. Make do with what you have and if in doubt, add a tin of chopped tomatoes. Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4 generously)

  • 2 fennel bulbs (roughly chopped, fronds kept to one side to use fresh as a herb)
  • 250g tomatoes (roughly chopped)
  • 1/2 a bulb of garlic (peeled and chopped)
  • 1 onion (peeled and chopped)
  • optional extra vegetables like courgette, peppers, carrots…(roughly chopped)
  • olive oil for roasting – about 4 tbsp
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp fennel seeds
  • optional drained tin of green lentils
  • pasta to serve
  • optional chilli flakes and extra virgin olive oil to serve

Method

  1. Turn your oven on to 200C and find your largest oven tray.
  2. Roughly chop all the vegetables and scatter them onto the tray.
  3. Drizzle generously with good olive oil and season with salt, pepper and fennel seeds.
  4. Use your hands to mix the vegetables, oil and seasoning well, then pop the tray into the oven to roast the vegetables while you cook some pasta (we stock a range of brilliant organic pastas, including gluten free varieties, which you can add to your veg order).
  5. After 20 minutes, the vegetables should be soft and starting to caramelise. If you used a smaller tray then it will take longer and you should stir them occasionally to ensure they all catch some direct heat.
  6. Carefully tip and scrape the roasted vegetables into a deep container. I like to use a sauce pot so that I can easily re-heat the sauce if needed. Then using a stick blender, blend the vegetables into a sauce. You can make it perfectly smooth or leave some texture and chunks, however you prefer it is fine! Or add some vegetable stock to loosen the sauce into a soup?
  7. Add the chopped reserved fennel fronds if you like that fresh, aniseed flavour. For extra protein and fibre, add a drained tin of lentils or white beans to the sauce.
  8. Stir through freshly cooked pasta and serve. I always put extra virgin olive oil, flakey salt and chilli flakes on the table too with this dish. Enjoy!

Slow-Cooked Courgette Caviar

by Liz Child

Courgette caviar is a Russian/Ukrainian spread made from slowly cooking summer vegetables down into a rustic and delicious purée. The long, slow sauté reduces and caramelises the vegetables together, elevating these humble ingredients into a stunning jar of flavour. This is so much more than a stew. Slow cooked courgettes have the most wonderful texture, you can also use aubergines or a combination of the two. It’s just a brilliant way of using up a glut of courgettes and other summer veggies. If we are having a barbecue, I sometimes chuck a few courgettes and aubergines (also peppers, whole bulbs of garlic, carrots…) on to get smokey and soft then make this purée with those. It’s amazing, the smokiness really comes through. Just peel off any very blackened bits of skin and sauté and crush the vegetables together in the pan until reduced.

Enjoy cold on good bread or with crackers. It’s delicious as part of a picnic spread with cheese, pickles, ferments etc. Or heat it up and loosen it with some pasta water for a quick pasta sauce. It’s an incredible pizza sauce base too! I have never tried making a huge batch and keeping the jars in a cellar, but if you have the know-how and the right equipment, that’s a great way to preserve the fruits of summer. But making the recipe as per the method below, the jar should last well in the fridge for two weeks.

Liz x

Ingredients* (makes a large jar approximately 1 litre)

*don’t worry too much about amounts and the ingredients can vary too! Leave out the pepper, add aubergine, use fresh tomatoes, add more or less garlic… it’s more about the technique of slowly cooking down and caramelising the vegetables together than getting the proportions and ingredients exact. I suppose starchy vegetables like potatoes wouldn’t work here, but most other vegetables will be fine. Use any combination that you like. Here’s what I did this time:

  • 1 onion
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • a generous slick of olive oil to coat your pot/pan, plus extra to to top the jar
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 red pepper
  • 2 courgettes
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • salt to taste
  • optional extras like black pepper, dill or fennel seeds, coriander seeds, chilli…

Method

  1. Start by dicing or grating all your ingredients.
  2. In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan or pot, heat up a generous slick of olive oil and add the diced onion. Keep the pot at medium high and stir fry the onions until they start to soften and colour.
  3. Add the garlic, courgettes, carrots, pepper and a big pinch of salt. Sauté, stirring regularly for at least 30 minutes. You will need to lower the heat as you go. It’s nice if the vegetables caramelise and slightly catch on the bottom of the pan. Just keep scraping the base of the pan with a wooden spoon.
  4. Crush the vegetables together with the back of the wooden spoon, or use a masher to help you along.
  5. When the vegetables are reduced and drying out, add the tomatoes and keep cooking, stirring and reducing. You should end up with a rich, thick purée. You can keep it rustic or blend it smooth.
  6. Pack the mixture while it’s still hot into a large, sterilised jar. Add a layer of olive oil and put the lid on. This should make it last longer.
  7. Keep it in the fridge. It should last well for 2 weeks.

Aubergine Involtini

by Liz Child

Involtini in Italian means ‘rolls’ and this aubergine version is one of my all time favourite dishes. I am obsessed with aubergine, perhaps it’s because I used to hate it as a child and now I’m making up for lost time? But whenever aubergine season hits, this recipe is at the top of my list. I also make this with courgettes in place of the aubergines sometimes, especially when there’s a lot of them to use up. Griddled courgette strips are so tasty so give that version a try too.

The filling can be whatever you want it to be. I usually go for something simple like a mixture of cheese (vegan feta or cashew cheese are my favs) and pesto. But roasted and crushed squash with toasted pine nuts or hazelnuts is also really good! Perfect for that summer-autumn crossover. Let us know in the comments what fillings worked well for you?

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

  • 2 aubergines
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 jars of Napoli tomato sauce (or make your own tomato sauce by sautéing a diced onion and 4 cloves of garlic with a little olive oil until soft, then add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste and some torn basil leaves and simmer for 15 minutes or so)
  • 130g jar of pesto
  • 200-300g cheese of your choice (feta works really well here – I use my tofu feta recipe found at the end of this blog post, otherwise we stock a variety of plant based cheeses and organic feta)
  • pasta or fresh bread to serve

Method

  1. Find a medium sized, deep roasting dish and turn your oven to 200C to warm up while you prepare the dish.
  2. If you’re not using our tasty, ready made tomato sauce, make a simple batch yourself using two 400g tins of chopped tomatoes. I sautéed a diced onion with a couple of tbsp of olive oil and 4 cloves of garlic until soft and just starting to colour. Then tipped in the two tins of tomatoes (swirled out the remaining tomatoey juices from the tins with a little water and added that to the pot too) and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then simmered the sauce with some torn basil leaves for around 10-15 minutes until it was rich and delicious.
  3. Keep the sauce warm while you prepare the aubergines and filling.
  4. Slice the tops off the aubergine as close to the stalk as possible, then peel or slice off any still-attached leafy bits. Carefully cut the aubergines into around 4mm thick, long strips.
  5. Pour the olive oil into a small bowl or glass and season it with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Then brush the aubergine slices with the seasoned olive oil and grill them in batches in a griddle pan, or under a hot grill in the oven. Turn halfway through. They should be soft and beautifully charred but still manageable. As they cook, lay them out on a large chopping board or clean worksurface ready for stuffing and rolling.
  6. Meanwhile make your filling. I mashed about 300g of feta with a jar of pesto.
  7. Pour the warm tomato sauce into your baking dish and start assembling the involtini.
  8. Place a tablespoon of filling at the end of a griddled aubergine slice. Then roll it up and tuck the roll, seam side down, into the tomato sauce.
  9. Repeat until all the rolls are stuffed. Then place the dish in the oven and bake for around 15-20 minutes or until hot and bubbling.
  10. Serve with freshly boiled pasta or some crusty bread and enjoy!

Rainbow Chard Parcels

by Liz Child

The stunning rainbow chard coming out of the farm at the moment is absolutely fantastic! It’s one of our favourite crops, so vibrant and so tasty. Here’s a recipe to make the most out of its beauty. Don’t forget to browse our farm products and add them to your next order, we’d hate for you to miss out on the seasonal harvest.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 1 bag of rainbow chard (250g)
  • 4 tbsp olive oil (1 for sautéing, 2 for the mash, 1 for drizzling)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
  • a handful of torn basil leaves
  • 3 large potatoes
  • 1 tin of lentils, drained
  • 2 scallions, sliced
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
  • optional cheese to taste – I like to use my tofeta
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method

  1. Scrub the potatoes, chop into bites and get them on to boil.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 200C and find an oven and hob safe pan with a lid.
  3. Sauté the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp of olive oil for about 10 minutes or until soft and starting to caramelise.
  4. Add the tins of tomatoes and the torn basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Half fill the tins with water and swirl the tomatoey juices out of the tins, into the pan. Then bring the sauce up to simmer and bubble away while you make the chard parcels.
  6. Remove the long chard stems, slice them into bites and add them to the tomato sauce.
  7. Mash the potatoes with 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Then stir in the drained lentils, sliced scallions, chilli flakes and optional cheese.
  8. Lay the chard leaves out, upside down on a chopping board with the top of the leaf closest to you and the colourful stalks pointing away from you.
  9. Add a spoon of the mashed potato and lentil filling to a leaf near the top closest to you, roll the leaf over the filling away from you, then fold over the sides and keep rolling until you make a neat parcel.
  10. Take the sauce off the heat and pour it into medium baking dish, then tuck the chard parcel, seam side down, into the sauce. Repeat until you have used up all the chard leaves or filling. Then drizzle the last tbsp of olive oil over the parcels.
  11. Then put a lid or sheet of foil or parchment on the dish and pop it in the oven to steam/roast for just 10 minutes or so. The sauce should be bubbling hot and the leaves should be tender.
  12. Serve in bowls with bread and salads.

Simple Salsa

by Liz Child

We are obsessed with salsas! Scooping up salsa with tortilla crisps has got to be one of the best ways to get kids to eat a load of fresh, raw veggies too. Putting out a big bowl of salsa and tortillas while the BBQ is getting going keeps everyone happy. And of course, salsa is a key ingredient in a taco. There are countless variations, enjoy playing around and finding a fun combination that you love. The version below is a super simple one which I know my whole family will love, but I also love adding fruit like diced pineapple, cherries, mango or peaches and adding finely sliced fresh chillies or a spoon of smokey chipotle chilli paste. Grilled corn and diced avocado are also stunning additions. Share your favourite combination with us in the comments?

Liz x

Ingredients (makes enough for a whole large bag of tortilla chips)

  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 lime – juiced
  • 1 clove of garlic – crushed
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 red pepper – diced
  • 1/3rd of a large cucumber – diced
  • 1/2 a punnet of honey drop cherry tomatoes – diced
  • 2 scallions – finely sliced
  • 1 bunch of coriander – chopped
  • *optional extras* chilli, avocado, grilled corn, cherries, peaches, mango, pineapple…

Method

  1. Pour the olive oil and lime juice into a large bowl.
  2. Add the crushed garlic and salt and mix well.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a spoon to coat them all in the dressing.
  4. Taste and add more salt if needed.
  5. Serve with a bowl of tortilla chips.
  6. Keep any leftovers in a tub in the fridge, salsa is even better the next day!