Grow Dundee

Quiche (vegetarian and vegan!) and chocolate chips cookies – Everyone’s kitchen

We experimented a few quiche recipes today:

Caramelised onion with sundried tomatoes and cheddar quiche
Dairy free quiche with sundried tomatoes and caramelised onions
Vegan quiche with tofu, tomatoes, spinach and oregano

For dessert we had cookies and ice cream!

Harvest of the day: oregano

Caramelised onion with sundried tomatoes and cheddar

Ingredients

25g butter
2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, plus a few sprigs
350g shop-bought shortcrust pastry
plain flour, for dusting
1 jar sundried tomatoes
300g pot double cream
100ml milk
3 large eggs
140g mature cheddar, grated
Salt/pepper

Method

Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan, add the onions and cook for 20 mins, stirring now and then, until they are soft and golden brown. Season, stir in the thyme leaves, then transfer to a plate to cool.

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 with a large baking sheet inside. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until large enough to line a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin, with a little overhang of pastry all the way round the top. This will stop the pastry shrinking in the oven later. If there is more overhang than you need, trim off the excess with scissors. Gently press the pastry into the sides of the tin and prick the base with a fork. Chill for 15 mins.

Line the pastry case with a sheet of baking parchment and fill with ceramic baking beans. Bake for 15 mins on the hot baking sheet (this helps to prevent a soggy bottom). Carefully remove the parchment and beans, then return to the oven for 10 mins more until the pastry looks cooked like shortbread, but is not too brown.

Beat the cream, milk and eggs with seasoning and nutmeg, then stir in the bacon and half the cheese.

Remove the pastry case from the oven and reduce heat to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Spoon the caramelised onions evenly over the base of the pastry case. Scatter with the remaining cheese, the thyme sprigs and a little nutmeg. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden and the filling is just set with a slight wobble in the centre.

Trim the excess pastry and leave to settle for 10 mins, then remove from the tin and slice.

Recipe for the vegan quiche. We used tofu and nutritional yeast instead of eggs!

Cookies

Ingredients – for 12 cookies

100g granulated sugar
100g brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
115g unsalted butter(115 g), melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
155g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
200g chocolate chunks

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, salt, and butter until a paste forms with no lumps.

Whisk in the egg and vanilla, beating until light ribbons fall off the whisk and remain for a short while before falling back into the mixture.

Sift in the flour and baking soda, then fold the mixture with a spatula (Be careful not to overmix, which would cause the gluten in the flour to toughen resulting in cakier cookies).

Fold in the chocolate chunks, then chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. For a more intense toffee-like flavor and deeper color, chill the dough overnight. The longer the dough rests, the more complex its flavor will be.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop the dough with an ice-cream scoop onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 4 inches (10 cm) of space between cookies and 2 inches (5 cm) of space from the edges of the pan so that the cookies can spread evenly.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges have started to barely brown.

Cool completely before serving.

Even if our cookies melted into one, they were still very good! 😀

Farzana’s Feast – Everyone’s kitchen

Today we had something different! Farzana showed us how to make an Indian dish: chefs, volunteers and staff enjoyed it so much ! Thanks again for showing us.

Menu

Chickpea and potato curry served with Jeera rice

Baked apple with ice cream

Harvest of the day

For the curry : coriander, chard, bay leaves

Farzana’s chickpea and potato curry

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped
3 cloves, garlic
Half-thumb size ginger
1 green chili
Olive oil , 3 tbsp
Ground cumin, 1 tsp
Ground coriander, 1 tsp
Ground turmeric, 1 tsp
Chopped tomatoes, ½ tin
4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
Chickpea, drained, 2 tins

Method

Chop onions and place in a large pan with oil on medium heat. Cook until they have a golden-brown colour.
Chop your potatoes and boil them separately.
Add chopped tomatoes.
Grind garlic, chili and ginger. Reserve.
Add all the spices to the onions and stir.
Add your garlicky paste and stir.
Add a bit of boiling water so it does not stick.
Add potatoes to your pan and your chickpeas, plus ½ cup boiling water. Simmer for a few minutes.
Add fresh coriander before serving.

Farzana’s jeera rice

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seed
2 cups basmati rice
3 cups of boiling water
3 bay leaves
4 cloves
3 flat tsp salt
½ thumb ginger
garlic , 3 cloves,
1 green chilli

Method

Prepare your rice to obtain a softer and longer rice: rinse 3 times to remove the starch. And soak for about 40 min with lukewarm water.
Slice finely 2 onions and cook on medium heat until golden-brown
Grind ginger, garlic, chili
Add cloves, bay leaves and your paste and add a bit of boiling water (cloves and bay leaves won’t be eaten so you can remove it before serving).
Add 3 cups of boiling water when boiling add 3 flat tsp of salt and your drained rice.
Keep the lid on for 10-15 min (without looking!).
When water is absorbed, add cumin seed and simmer for 5-10 min.

Baked apple

Ingredients

4 large good baking apples, such as Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, or Jonagold
Honey, agave
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans, pumpkin seed, raisins
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup boiling water

Method

Preheat your oven: 190°C
Rinse and dry the apples. Using a sharp paring knife or an apple corer, cut out the cores, leaving the bottom 1/2 inch of the apples intact.
Add half a teaspoon of butter in each hole.
Drizzle with honey, sugar, agave syrup, … and cinnamon.
Chop some seeds, sultana, nuts and add to your apples.
Put the apples in a baking dish. Cook for 30-45 minutes.

Gig in the Garden with Avril Smart

We don’t feel the cold here at the MAxwell, but you can bring your own blanket! Join us this Thursday 25th of November at 2pm for our second gig in our community garden, this time with Avril Smart who will be playing the saw.

We love enjoying the music together and have great chats about growing food, music and life in general!

Manuela and the MAXwell team will be making soup with garden produce from our community garden…a picadillo soup from Spain and an Italian minestrone.

These Gigs are being organised by Finlay Hall who is working with us for 6 months helping us bring more creativity to our social and environmental project in different ways. This has happened thanks to the Cultivate project by Creative Dundee which is linking communities and creatives in Dundee, read more here about the project and other partners and creative practitioners.

Minestrone soup & carrot cake cupcakes – Everyone’s kitchen

Menu of the day

Winter minestrone

Carrot cake cupcake

Harvest of the day

For the soup: celery, chard, parsley, savoy cabbage, oregano, kale, broccoli leaves

For the cupcakes: calendula, borage

Winter minestrone soup (x5)

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium carrots , roughly chopped
1 large red onion , coarsely chopped
1 head of celery , coarsely chopped, keeping the leaves
1 head of garlic , cloves peeled
1kg Swiss chard , leaves shredded and stalks roughly chopped or savoy cabbage
a good handful of parsley , finely chopped
400g can peeled plum tomatoes , drained of most of their juices, roughly chopped
1kg cavolo nero , stalks removed, leaves shredded (or savoy cabbage)
410g can cannellini beans , drained and rinsed
about 700ml boiling chicken or vegetable stock
a few sprigs of winter herbs such as thyme or sage, chopped
freshly grated parmesan , or vegetarian alternative
extra-virgin olive oil , for drizzling

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and slowly fry the carrots, onion and celery until soft and dark. This will take about 20 minutes but it’s worth it – the slow cooking gives a lovely taste. Add the garlic, chard stalks and half the parsley, and stir to prevent sticking. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or until reduced.

Add half the Swiss chard leaves, half the cavolo nero, three-quarters of the beans, and the boiling stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Pour in more stock if needed – don’t add too much – it should be thick.

Add the remaining Swiss chard and cavolo nero and blanch briefly so they remain green and crisp. Season when slightly cooled.

Add remaining beans to the soup – it should be very green. Stir in the herbs and serve hot with Parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Carrot cake cupcakes (x12)

Ingredients

175g light muscovado sugar
100g wholemeal self-raising flour
100g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp mixed spice
1 orange, zested
2 eggs
150ml sunflower oil
200g carrots, grated
orange coloured sprinkles, edible flowers, to decorate
Optional: add sultanas

For the icing

100g butter, softened
300g soft cheese
100g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases. In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flours, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and orange zest. Whisk together the eggs and oil, then stir into the dry ingredients with the grated carrot. Divide the mixture between cases and bake for 20-22 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before icing.

For the icing, beat the butter until really soft, then beat in the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla. Use a palette or cutlery knife to swirl the icing on top of the cakes, then decorate with the sprinkles.

Thank you Ula for the pictures!

Pasta bake & Chocolate and pear cake – Everyone’s kitchen

It is the first week of having 2 cooking groups and we had a great day for that!

On the menu

Vegetable pasta bake

Chocolate pear cake

Harvest of the day

Side salad: Chives, lettuce, rocket, tomatoes
Edible flower: Cornflower, Alyssum for decorating the cake
Pasta bake: Pepper, Parsley, organo, thyme

Vegetable Pasta bake

Ingredients

14 0z (400g) dried pasta shapes I used rigatoni
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large red onion peeled and chopped into wedges
1 red bell pepper de-seeded and chopped into large chunks
1 yellow bell pepper de-seeded and chopped into large chunks
1 large or 2 small courgette (zucchini) chopped into chunks
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
1 tbsp tomato puree
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried thyme
28 oz (2 x 400g) tinned chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup (120ml) double (heavy) cream
3 packed cups (100g) fresh baby spinach
1 packed cup (100g) strong cheddar cheese grated
1 packed cup (100g) mozzarella grated
Small bunch parsley roughly torn

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190c/375f. Boil a large pan of water and cook the pasta for 1 minute less than recommended on the pack. Drain.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, heat the oil on a medium heat, in a large frying pan. Add the red onion and cook for a 3-4 minutes until the onion started to soften.

Add the chopped peppers, courgette, salt, pepper, garlic, tomato puree, oregano and thyme. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the tinned tomatoes and cream, bring to a gentle bubble, then add the pasta and spinach. Stir everything together, then transfer to a large baking dish.

Top with the cheddar and mozzarella, and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown.

Take out of the oven and top with parsley before serving.

Chocolate pear cake

Haaaaa this chocolate cake … Two attempts and it wasn’t quite there. Well, that only means we need to bake more, eat more cakes to find the finest recipe! Easily done 😀

Here is the recipe of a chocolate cake previously made during the cooking workshop!

Pumpkin soup with angry stuffed peppers and witches’ fingers – Everyone’s kitchen

Spooky menu today

Pumpkin soup

Witches’ fingers

Harvest of the day

Pumpkin
Oregano

Pumpkin soup

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1kg pumpkin or squash (try kabocha), peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks
700ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
150ml double cream

Method
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan, then gently cook 2 finely chopped onions for 5 mins, until soft but not coloured.

Add 1kg pumpkin or squash, cut into chunks, to the pan, then carry on cooking for 8-10 mins, stirring occasionally until it starts to soften and turn golden.

Pour 700ml vegetable or chicken stock into the pan and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins until the squash is very soft.

Pour 150ml double cream into the pan, bring back to the boil, then purée with a hand blender. For an extra-velvety consistency you can pour the soup through a fine sieve. The soup can now be frozen for up to 2 months.

Stuffed peppers

Witches’ fingers

Ingredients

250g butter
125g icing sugar
250g plain flour
125g cornflour
30 almonds or pumpkin seeds
Red berry coulis

Method
Oven 180C (Th.6)
In a bowl mix together the butter and icing sugar. Add the cornflour and flour until obtaining a smooth dough.
Make 30 “fingers” (sausages shape) of 7-8cm long, 1,5 cm width.
Press the back of a knife into the dough to make knuckles. Lightly press an almond where the nail would be. Add some coulis, and put the seed back on. Bake for 10-12 mins until pale golden.

Harvest box #11 – Last box for of the season

This is the last harvest box of the season. It was great to be able to share vegetables grown by our volunteers with you. More to come in 2022!

Radicchio, also called the Italian lettuce, can be roasted or used fresh in a salad. So many options to prepare it from “Smoked mackerel loaded leaves” to “Winter leaf & parsnip salad with walnuts”
the season is almost over in the polytunnel and not all tomatoes had time to ripen. You can still eat them as a chutney or fried.
Sauteed is the quickest way to enjoy your chard, but you can try a new recipe : Crispy swiss chard with mascarpone-creamed spinach.
More edible greens! For your broccoli leaves, nice and easy, stir fry themhttps://www.justapinch.com/recipes/side/vegetable/broccoli-greens.html.
Although the weather is not very warm, you can use your mixed salad leaves to make a chickpea salad.
Fennel has many properties, enjoy it in your tea! Or do you prefer the smell of feverfew? You can drink it as well !
Oregano is usually used in tomato based sauce for pizza or spaghettis! It brings nice flavour to your dishes :).
We know how to eat our grapes, but you can also include them in your salad. Chop some of your radishes in it too!
Fennel seeds are aromatic and perfect to use in your cooking. What would you prefer: Fennel & Rice Soup or Fennel-Crusted Salmon on White Beans?
Edible flowers: Alyssum, Nasturtium!
9 different ways to eat tomatillo

Energy balls and ginger cordial – Everyone’s kitchen

We have chosen 2 recipes for our weekly session:

Peanut energy balls
Turmeric anti-inflammatory ball (from handmade apothecary)

A punchy ginger cordial!

That gave us a great energy boost, perfect for the colder season.

Harvest box #10

Broccoli leaves avec just a nice colour and they are massive! they can be added to a soup or made into a skillet dinner.

Use your tasty cherry tomatoes for bake a savoury muffins: bacon, cheese and tomato muffins! Throw some chives in it for more taste and colour!

Sautéed with more vegetables, turned into crisps, made into pesto or even added to a Smoothies, kale can be used in many ways. This Kale Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing is another option that sounds very interesting!!

With the nights getting darker and longer, candy bark is more than welcome! Although this recipe is with viola, you can use the edible flowers from your harvest box. Remember Nasturtium has a peppery taste and might be better used in a salad. Enjoy it with a lovely cup of Lemon balm (Melissa) tea

Chard, sweet potato and peanut stew: that sounds nice! Perfect way to use your chard or any other greens.

Pak Choi is a versatile vegetables: use it in a chicken soup, Asian noodle, with fish or by itself.

Sage tea has antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.

Still a few weeks to go and our runner beans will be gone! Enjoy them while you can: garlicky runner beans

Remember: When drinking herbal tea or eating edible flowers always check the risks associated with it. Vulnerable people, elderly, children or pregnant women should avoid using some of them.

Everyone’s kitchen – Pancakes and hot chocolate

It was Snack O’Clock yesterday for Everyone’s kitchen!
We’ve made pancakes and hot chocolate 🥞🍫Our toppings were :apple and pear compote, chocolate sauce with edible flowers, raspberries, bananas… Well for some of us, we had more toppings than pancakes hehe
Thank you for a great time and for harvesting yummy fruits from the garden. 🤗