Chunky Turnip and Urad Dal - Lentil Stew

The weather here continues to be miserable and as much as I am trying for it not to bother me, its actually beginning to bring me down.   I had to wait for a bus recently, nothing unusual about that, I do that every working day.  But there was no bus shelter at this particular stop and I was getting wet, really wet.  Sodden in fact, even with my raincoat on.  Yes I was feeling a bit grumpy. 

So some of you may have noted, we have been eating a lot of soups, stews and one pot dishes.
This stew was cobbled together with what we had at home, which was very little at the time.

I often make this stew with red lentils, but had a packet of Urad Dal which is black gram without the skin.  Its perhaps my least favourite legume, but I do still try and eat it.  Its actually been a while since I cooked with it, the last time it was Urad Dal with poppy seeds.  

Vegan Hazelnut Swede Lemon Drenched Cake

This prettily dressed up Hazelnut Swede Lemon Drenched Cake has come and gone in our home and while it lasted, it made every one who had a slice or a taste, first crinkle their noses and then purse their lips and nod their heads in approval. It was intriguing. 

For my overseas readers, you may know Swede as Rutabaga.  It is a vegetable that I avoid eating in savoury meals, I find it sweet like parsnips and don't often enjoy it, but hide it in a cake then it takes on a different flavour all together.  I know it won't convince everybody, but all I can say is try it before you pass judgement.

I have made a few dishes with both swede and turnips  of late.  Previous to this blog post you may have seen my Turnip, Kale and White Bean Stew, Swede Mash on top of a Veggie 'Meatball' dish and of course that dark Rutabaga Cinnamon Nutmeg Cake with Miso Caramel Sauce reminisce of Sticky Toffee Pudding.   

I have to admit, at first I also was not sure sbout theHazelnut Swede Lemon Drenched Cake.  I found it a little earthy on some bites, but as each day passed and I had another slice, I came to like it, really like it.   It was unlike anything that I had ever eaten, which made it a delight.  It also loved how the rosemary lemon syrup seeped beautifully into the hazelnut sponge.  

This cake can be made with eggs, or flaxseeds which will make it suitable for vegans or those who do not eat eggs.  Oh did I mention its also gluten free too.  I am sharing this with CookBlogShare hosted by Hijacked By Twins; and Simple and In Season hosted by Feeding Boys - even though Swede is a winter vegetable, you will still find it in the supermarkets springtime and Honest Mum for Brilliant Blog Posts. 

Turnip, Kale and White Beans Stew

I made this Turnip, Kale and White Bean Stew about a couple of months back , when we picked up some seasonal baby turnips from a farmers market.

To be truthful, I wasn't terribly inspired and didn't know exactly what to do with the turnips so I took the easy option and adapted a stew recipe that I make on and off where you can adapt the vegetables.  

It wasn't the most memorable meal of my life and not one I will rave about on my blog either, but it made for a change; and sometimes those recipes where you can throw the vegetables in the pot and allow it to simmer away slowly, are sometimes the most appealing.

I am sharing this recipe with Baking Queen Slow Cooked Challenge. 

Dandelion Honey Mustard Glazed Turnips and Other Vegetables

This is another dish I made early last month when I picked up some local seasonal vegetables from a farmers market, one of which was turnips.  I did not just want to chop and boil the turnip chunks and serve it as a side dish. I wanted to do more with it.  It was then I remembered I had bookmarked a recipe from Sarah Beattie's Neither Fish Nor Fowl, I looked up the recipe and was inspired by it, but instead of honey which is used in the original recipe,  I decided to make the mustard glaze with Dandelion 'honey'.  

Some of you may remember that a generous work colleague had given me some jars of her homemade Dandelion Honey which accidentally happened to be suitable for vegans. 

The dandelion honey was not the only change I made.  I wanted to make more of a meal of the turnip, so I stirred in some sliced new potatoes and cooked shredded cabbage.  It was delicious. The sweetness of the dandelion honey mustard glaze mellowed that strong distinct turnip taste.  

I have made lots of recipes from Sarah Beattie and written about her on my blog before - please see here.  I love her recipes and its hard for me to choose one, so I choose one that is quite season right now - the parsnip and here is a link to her vegan Tamarind Parsnip Curry that I made and she was kind to grant me permission to share the recipe on my blog with you all, but I recommend the . 

I am sharing this with Healthy Vegan Fridays hosted by Rock My Vegan Socks and V Nutrition.

November: White Vegetables Round Up

Welcome to October's round up of The Vegetable Palette and Fruit Palette: natures colours - natures goodness''. 

The theme for November was White Vegetables  and we had three fantastic contributions.  (Please scroll to the bottom of the page for the new theme if you would like to take part this month).

Turnip Swede and Kale Curry For St Andrews Day

I picked up a Swede -Turnip (Neep) last week thinking ahead of St Andrews Day.  I wanted to honour my friends and my time in Scotland. I also wanted to get my hands on some vegetarian haggis, as I didn't have the inclination this time round to make some vegan haggis from scratch, but as our visit to the city this weekend was cut short by the weather - we had neither home-made or shop bought haggis. 

So with St Andrews Day here, I have to admit I wasn't overly energetic or  experimental as I had done so in the past, so resorted to making a vegan Neep Curry. 

And although nothing like his recipe, I was actually inspired by Denis Cotter to make a Turnip Swede Curry from his book Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me. Denis Cotters recipe is made with leeks, double cream and yogurt. 

Happy St Andrews Day to Scottish friends in Scotland and those who have migrated to other parts of the world!

Beetroot, Red Onion and Puy Lentil Bourguignon

When my nose begins to have that wet cat nose feeling,  my culinary thoughts begin to turn to making a Bourguignonne of chestnuts, mushrooms and roasted garlic.  It is perhaps my most popular of autumnal and wintry dishes.  

In fact I even made it last year - twice for a Christmas party served with pan-fried Sun dried Tomato and Rosemary Polenta that were shaped like Christmas Pine Trees.  But that was not the Bourguingnonne that I would be making.  Instead, I thought I'd try a recipe for Beet Bourguignon that I had seen on the Internet last year and logged it my head.  Beetroot is not my thing, but my man loves the stuff, so it was with him in mind that I kept the dish in mind, plus the fact that I do like trying out new dishes and flavour combinations.  

Cavolo Nero Potato Cakes with turnips

Cavolo nero aka Black cabbage picked from the garden plot yesterday
Puple top milan turnips picked from the allotment plot this afternoon

taken into the kitchen...

And then served on a plate. I guess you can call these cavolo nero bubble and squeak cakes. I remember a fellow blogger suggesting the idea to me a while ago and I thought why not. I loosely based them on a recipe I made a while ago and they turned out very well. I really liked the flavour of the cavolo nero crisping in the frying pan.

Cavolo Nero Potato Cakes
Makes 8 – 10
Ingredients
250g cavolo nero, stalks removed then cooked, drained and squeezed of all liquid. Then finely chopped.

700g potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp olive oil and extra for shallow frying
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until translucent. Turn off. Then add to this to the mashed potatoes and the shredded cavolo nero and season with salt and pepper and mix well to combine. Shape the mixture into 8 – 10 round cakes. Cover and chill for an hour or more. When ready to eat, heat a few tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan. Add the cakes and fry over medium high heat for about 5 minutes on each side until crisp and golden brown.

Once peeled, I chopped the turnips into quarters, added a couple of unpeeled garlic, poured over some vegetable stock with some seasoning and cooked them in the oven until tender. Garnished with fresh parsley.

Turnip and potato gratin

Yesterday it was turnip greens, today it is the turnip bulbs.
This dish gave me the excuse to use up some of the turnips and potatoes from the allotment. I was also fortunate enough to have some freshly grated horseradish courtesy of Ds parents. They got us a jar from a farm shop in Essex.
Turnip and potato gratin
Ingredients
Serve 4
2 – 3 tablespoon of freshly grated horseradish, or prepared horseradish.
6 medium Turnips, peeled and thinly sliced preferably with a mandolin
6 - 8 medium Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
¼ pint of double or single cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Butter the gratin dish. Add horseradish to the double cream, season with salt and pepper and combine well. Layer the potatoes fist, then cover with turnips. Repeat this until all vegetable slices have been used. It doesn’t matter if you mix or match them. Pour over the horseradish cream as evenly as you can. Bake at gas mark 6 for 45 – 50 minutes until vegetables are cooked through and the top is golden.

Sometimes the simplest dishes are the most comforting, especially on a rainy day.

Simple lentil and turnip leaves soup

These were supposed to be purple top Milan turnips, but each and everyone of them had gone to seed. I am unsure what has happened...maybe it's the weather. Its been hot one day, then raining another. Anyway, rather than compost the whole lot, I decided to strip some of the turnip leaves to eat.
When I got home, the first thing I did was check the web to ensure that the turnip leaves were edible, phew they were. Then it was what to do with them?

It crossed my mind that the lovely Jacqueline (also known as Holler) at Tinned Tomatoes was hosting No Croutons required this month. No Croutons Required is a monthly food event, that is alternately held between Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen and Tinned Tomatoes. The theme for this month is 'leaves'. Leaves of any type could be used in the recipe, as long as the final dish was either a soup or a salad. I decided to give it a go, that is of course if I ain't missed the deadline. It will also be a nice way to read of other food bloggers.
Simple lentil and turnip leaves soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
175g split red lentils
200g turnip leaves, shredded or minced
2 pints of vegetable stock made with 1 tablespoon of bouillon powder
50g butter (or olive oil)
salt and pepper to taste
Method
In a pot, add lentils, vegetable stock and cook on low heat until the lentils begin to disintegrate. Then add turnip leaves and cook for a further 15- 20 minutes, then add butter or oil, salt and pepper to taste and cook for a further few minutes before serving.
'No croutons required' that's for sure! Enjoy!