Very Easy Red Cabbage Pesto

A few months ago, I got hold of some purple sweet potato.  I made a Pizza with it, but we were so hungry that evening that I never got round to photographing its bold vivid colour.  I did not want to lose out on sharing the striking bright colour of this easy red purple cabbage pesto.  So I asked D to get a photograph for me while I got on with other things in the kitchen.  

I had half a red cabbage in the fridge, left over from another another dish  that I had made (also not photographed).  I was inspired to make a Red Cabbage Pesto that I saw a long while back in The Guardian and bookmarked.  

Its a relatively simple and easy recipe, only four ingredients: red cabbage, garlic, sunflower seeds and olive oil.   I have to admit the raw garlic was quite pungent to the point it had heat and left that burning sensation in the mouth, not particularly pleasant.  So I sauteed the pesto in a little oil before using it for the required dish, once of which included a Pasta Salad.  However, if your okay with raw garlic, this step is not necessary. 

I am sharing this Very Easy Red Cabbage Pesto with Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for No Waste Food Challenge; Cook Blog Share co-hosted between Sneaky Veg;  Easy Peasy Foodie and  Hijacked By Twins and with Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition.

Hazelnut and Kale Pesto

I made myself smile today.  I went into a bookshop in town during my lunch break.  Now and again, I will frequent this High Street bookshop, just to see what new vegetarian and vegan cookbooks they have in stock.  Whilst I was looking, this man that would nowadays be described as a Hipster, though the word hipster emerged in the 1930 for underground Black musicians, mostly jazz musicians 'in the know' about emerging sub-culturea and trends.  

Anyway, I digress, I heard him yell out to one of the workers 'Do you have any vegetarian or vegan cookbooks?'.  The girl came over and looked at the shelf a bit bewildered.  I couldn't help myself and said I come here often and I can see one there , there and two there.  In fact that one is good.  He looked at the girl, and said 'Thanks anyway' and  thanked me, surprisingly picking the one that I recommended.  Just made me smile.  I should be working in the cookbook section of this shop or in the library.  I think I would love it.  

Okay back to this Hazelnut and Kale Pesto.  I do know this is not really a pesto as pesto is traditionally made with basil and pine-nuts, but celebrity chefs, food writers, recipe developers and food bloggers with hundred, thousands and millions of followers like to dub things and those are accepted like call a dip Hummus or Falafels when it is made without chickpeas, but when a blogger like me does it people take umbrage.  Why?!  Because I am a small time blogger without a big following...and therefore without endorsement.
The Saveur Magazine Walnut Pesto
Martha Steward Parsley and Hazelnut Pesto
River Cottage - Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall Almond Pesto
Jack Monroe Kale Pesto

Still I love how vibrant and green this Hazelnut and Kale Pesto looks, very festive. I liked the nutty undertones.  This Pesto, like any other pesto is extremely versatile.  So far I 've used t as a sandwich spread, a dip and the traditional way, with pasta, but I got a couple of more ideas of how to showcase it in all its lush green glory.  

Pesto Potato Crust

Well I haven't been doing much 'digging for my dinner', but I have certainly been busy foraging.

One of the obvious ways to use pesto is by coating pasta.  For this recipe, I had a mound of Maris Piper potatoes growing little eyes and ears, instead of lobbing them in the compost bin, I removed the unsightly additions, peeled the potatoes, washed, boiled and mashed them to serve as a base - a bit like a pizza base, except this one is made from potatoes and then it was generously basted with homemade Wild Garlic Pesto, then topped with sliced the first of the British grown tomatoes.

The Pesto Potato Crust was a little reminisce of Cranks Homity pies.  Nevertheless this was a tasty and filling meal, but should I make it again it will require a little tweaking. I'd make the potato crust in a larger tin (10 inch as opposed to 8 inch round) as the potato base was a little too dense.  I'd also layer a little pesto between the mashed potato for taste and visual effect; or for ease just stir the pesto into the mashed potatoes so its well infused in flavour.

Do you like my Grow Your Own Tea towel.  My photograph is not doing much justice to it, but it depicts a dream of mine: a farmhouse surrounded with growing vegetables such as peas, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins and strawberries, as well as chooks (hens). It comes from All Tea Towels.

Okay for those of your interested in creating this recipe at home.  Here goes.
Pesto Potato Crust
Serves 4 - 6 with accompaniments
Ingredients
900g Maris Piper or King Edward potatoes
3 - 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat oven to Gas mark 4.
Boil the potatoes in their skins.  Drain, peel, mash and add the oil, egg and season to taste.
Oil a 10 inch non stick flan tin and place on a baking tray.

Press the mixture into the tin, coat with a little olive oil and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool

For the topping
60g pesto, I used homemade Wild Garlic and Walnut Pesto
Optional: 2 tablespoons Wild Garlic, washed and roughly chopped
3 - 4 spring onions, chopped
2 - 3 tomatoes, sliced
Olive oil for roasting
Salt and pepper
Method
Increase the Gas mark to 6.
Spread the pesto over the potato mixture

Sprinkle evenly with minced wild garlic if using

and chopped spring onions

Cover with the sliced tomatoes.  Sprinkle with some Olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Bake for a further 20 minutes. 

Allow to cook before removing from flan tin, then cut into wedges and serve with a green salad.  Adapted from Little Red Gooseberries by Daphne Lambert. 

Sweet potato chips with coriander pesto

I’ve been a rather naughty girl this week, digressing from the path of local, regional or British grown vegetables. First it was D with his request of okra. Although imported okra is available all year round, the okra peak season is the summer which we just missed of course. Now its my turn with the sweet potato. Even though Autumn sees the start of sweet potato season, this vegetable is not mass produced in the U.K, much of it is imported from the States. I decided I was not going to miss out on this seasonal import, the way I had just missed out on the sweet juicy mango.

One of my favourite ways to eat sweet potato is as oven baked chips. These were introduced to me by the innovative vegetarian cook Nadine Abensur. Not literally of course, but through her cookbooks. In 2000, her recipes, cookbooks and way of cooking introduced me to a new way of cooking, eating and enjoying vegetables. Nadine Abensur style of cooking also introduced me to other world flavours such as sumac, za’atar, ras el hanout and tahini, the way Yotom Ottolenghi does now, 10 years on.
Nadines sweet potato chips are made quite simply with just a light seasoning of sea salt and freshly ground pepper and served with a coriander pesto which I've enjoyed many times, but the ones I enjoyed earlier today were spiced up a notch. The heat warmth was welcomed after being bish bashed a little by the blustery wind outside.

I think this spice coating would work well with slathered over sliced pumpkin and squash too. So for those of you have some, why not give it a go.
Spiced Sweet potato chips with coriander pesto
Serves 2 greedy people or 4 with accompaniments
Ingredients
500g sweet potatoes
For the spice paste
1 teaspoon salt
2 large cloves garlic
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
8 black peppercorns
½ teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 6. Peel the potatoes and cut them into large wedges. Put all the dry ingredients for the spice paste into a mortar and grind together as fine as you can get. Then add the oil and lemon juice and mix well. Toss the sweet potatoes in the spice paste, making sure they are well coated. Spread in a single layer on a baking tray. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes until golden and crisp. Serve these either with chilli jam or coriander pesto (recipe below).
Coriander pesto
Ingredients
About 160g coriander, leaves only
2 tablespoons whole almonds (I used almond flakes as that’s all I had)
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon
2 green chillies, chopped
Salt to taste
Method
Chop the coriander with a very sharp knife. Pound the almonds in a pestle and mortar or chop in a food processor. Mix these two ingredients with the garlic and then add the remaining ingredients and a pinch of salt. Adapted from the Cranks Fast Food.