My farmers’ market (and my beds) are filled with swiss chard. It is among the few edible crops I might deal with this 12 months – it grows with such ease and grows again so shortly after every selecting that I really feel it’s the final kitchen gardener’s buddy. It’s a nice bedfellow for mushrooms, which lend a little bit of meatiness to these leaves. With these, I additionally like so as to add ancho, a wealthy, full-bodied however not spicy chilli that’s available in flaked kind in lots of supermarkets across the nation (nora or guajillo are good substitutes), whereas the feta, like queso fresco in Mexico, provides a stunning, tangy saltiness. It’s a dish for these Sundays when you’re low on time, however desire a wealthy, soothing feast.
Mushroom linguine with ancho, silky onions and chard
A splendidly autumnal pasta with candy onions, tarragon, cream and flecks of wealthy ancho. In the event you can’t discover chard, add yet another onion to the sauce.
Prep 15 min
Prepare dinner 45 min
Serves 4
Olive oil
1 giant onion, peeled and finely sliced
Salt and black pepper
300g swiss chard or spinach
1 small handful tarragon, leaves picked
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
1-2 tsp ancho flakes
3 tbsp sherry
250ml double cream
30g butter
400g chestnut or combined mushrooms, sliced
300g linguine
To serve
80g feta, crumbled
3-4 tbsp slivered almonds, toasted
Zest of 1 lemon
In the event you can’t discover chard, add yet another onion to the sauce.
Put two tablespoons of oil in a big frying pan on a medium warmth, add the onion and season generously. Whereas the onions begin to prepare dinner, wash the chard and chop the stalks into 1-2cm slices, then add them to the onion pan and prepare dinner, stirring often, for 10-Quarter-hour, till delicate.
Finely chop the tarragon, reserve a small quantity for the garnish, then stir the remaining into the onion pan with the garlic and ancho, and prepare dinner for 3 to 4 minutes, till the garlic is delicate. Reduce the chard leaves into thick 2-3cm ribbons, then stir into the onions with the sherry and cream. Add a couple of tablespoons of water, cowl the pan and go away to simmer gently for seven to eight minutes.
In the meantime, flip your consideration to the mushrooms. Put a second giant frying pan on a excessive warmth and add two tablespoons of oil and the butter. Add the mushrooms and saute, stirring typically, for 10-12 minutes, till they’re beginning to flip golden, then tip into the onion pan.
Whereas the mushrooms are cooking, prepare dinner the pasta in keeping with the packet directions in a pan of well-salted boiling water. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta cooking water, then add the pasta to the mushroom pan and, utilizing a pair of tongs, toss and blend, including a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water to bind the sauce right into a silky-smooth emulsion.
Style and modify the seasoning, then serve directly, sprinkled with crumbled feta, a couple of toasted almonds, a drizzle of additional olive oil, the lemon zest and the reserved tarragon.
Poached pears with spiced hazelnut crumble topping
It is a pretty strategy to serve poached pears: gently spiced with the crumble served each on prime and on the aspect, to protect that scrumptious crunch and with not one of the normal sogginess. It additionally means you can make all the pieces forward – perfection!
Prep 10 min
Prepare dinner 1 hr 10 min
Serves 6
250g caster sugar
50ml white wine, or sherry (non-compulsory)
30g ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cinnamon stick
3 inexperienced cardamom pods, bashed
½ vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 lemon
6 giant, agency pears
For the crumble topping
120g roasted hazelnuts
120g oats
100g gentle muscovado sugar
½ tsp floor cinnamon
70g combined seeds (eg, pumpkin, sunflower, sesame)
100g chilly butter, cubed
1 tbsp maple syrup
¼ tsp sea salt
Pour 400ml water right into a saucepan, add 200g of the sugar and warmth gently till the sugar dissolves. Add the wine (if utilizing), ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla. Peel strips of zest off the lemon, then add them to the pan together with the juice of half the lemon.
Peel the pears, leaving the stalks on; if the pears are very giant, lower them in half lengthways, in any other case go away them entire. Drop the pears into the liquid within the pan, prime up with water to cowl, then carry to a boil. Reduce out a circle of baking paper to cowl the pears, then simmer on a delicate warmth for 12-18 minutes, till the pears are cooked by way of however nonetheless maintain their form (a knife ought to slide by way of them simply). Drain the pears, saving the syrup.
When the syrup has cooled, pressure it, then scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the syrup. Return the syrup combine to the pan with the remaining 50g sugar, being to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, till lowered a little bit.
To make the topping, warmth the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gasoline 6 and line a big oven tray with baking paper. Put half the hazelnuts and half the oats in a meals processor and pulse to a tough powder. Roughly chop the remaining 60g nuts, then put them in a big bowl with the nut and oat powder, the remaining 60g oats, sugar, cinnamon and seeds. Add the butter and use your fingertips to work it into the combination. As soon as mixed, clump collectively along with your fingers so you’ve bigger lumps of crumble, then tip the lot on to the lined tray. Drizzle with the maple syrup and sprinkle with the salt, then bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring as soon as midway, till turning golden.
Serve the pears topped with a little bit of the crumble, scatter extra on the aspect and drizzle over a little bit of the nice and cozy syrup. Thick chilly cream, ice-cream or custard all go superbly.
