Run by Saffron Walden Community Interest Company, we plan that our activities will help to increase the amount of wholesome, sustainable food grown locally in our countryside and all our profits are ploughed back into projects to promote local sustainability.
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Recipes
raspberry fool with spiced brown sugar shortbread
WHY eat the seasons?
There are a number of good reasons to eat more local, seasonal food:
To reduce the energy (and associated CO2 emissions) needed to grow and transport the food we eat.
To avoid paying a premium for food that is scarcer or has travelled a long way.
To support the local economy.
To reconnect with nature's cycles and the passing of time.
But, most importantly, because seasonal food is fresher and so tends to be tastier and more nutritious.
Walden Local Food recipes
aubergine | beetroot | blackberry | cabbage | cauliflower | courgette | marrow | mushroom | parsnip | raspberry | squash | turnip
Baked Cauliflower
Ingredients
- Cauliflower
- Coriander seeds
- Cumin seeds
- Few garlic cloves
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Basically bash up plenty of coriander seeds (and cumin seeds if you like) with some peppercorns, a few cloves of garlic, some oil and salt.
- Toss the caulflower so it's all coated and then bake until soft.
Mmminty marrow
Simple use of this often overlooked vegeatable (serves 4-6 as a side dish)
Ingredients
- 1 large marrow
- Large handful of fresh mint, chopped roughly
- 4 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
- 4 tbps lemon juice
- Pinch paprika
- Drizzle of oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice the marrow lengthways and scoop out the seeds
- Chop the marrow into one inch cubes
- Mix together the chopped marrow, mint, garlic, lemon juice, oil and paprika. Leave to marinade for an hour (or less if you’re hungry and can’t wait that long!)
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Transfer the marrow to a large baking dish and bake until softened, 35-40 mins
- Season with salt and pepper and serve. Delicious with a big dollop of greek yoghurt with some mint stirred through
FROM Steph Waldenlocalfood
Courgette Coleslaw
Crunchy way of coping with copious amounts of courgette... serve as side dish or light lunch with a good slab of bread... as a sandwich filling or one top of a burger... perfect for parties, barbies... yum
Preparation time: 7 minutes
Ingredients (serves 1 hungry hound who appreciates a healthy heaped helping)
- 2 small courgette (peeling optional)
- 4 small carrots
- 3 large spring onions (or more)
- Juice of half a lemon
- Handful of pumpkin seeds
- Soy sauce
- Couple of tablespoons of natural yogurt
- Fennel leaf to garnish
Instructions
- Marinate pumpkin seeds in soy sauce for as long as you have (over night or 5 minutes)
- Toast pumpkins seeds under the grill, on foil, until they begin to pop. Allow to cool
- Thinly shred the courgette, carrot & onion
- Pour lemon juice over and mix to ensure evenish coating
- Dollop couple of tablespoons of natural yogurt on the veggies, mix to coat (I used two forks)
- When ready to serve sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds and garnish with fennel
Raspberry Fool with Spiced
Brown Sugar Shortbread
Raspberries are brilliant this time of year and they work perfectly in this simple creamy pudding. I’ve made some little shortbread biscuits to go with them, lovely for dipping!
Raspberry Fool - ingredients (serves 2)
- 200g fresh raspberries
- 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
- ½ pint double cream
- Dash of vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons of icing sugar
Instructions
- Start by cooking your raspberries, save a few to garnish the top of your puddings, and add the rest to a saucepan. Add in the granulated sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water. Heat on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until the raspberries start to break down, stirring regularly.
- Whilst the raspberries are cooking whip up your cream with the vanilla until it is thick and forms soft peaks.
- Blend up your cooked raspberries to form a sauce, at this point you can be extra fancy and sieve out the pips, or leave them in if you don’t mind.
- Very gently swirl the deep red raspberry sauce into your cream, take care not to beat too much otherwise your expertly whipped cream will collapse!
- Arrange your raspberry flavoured cream in to glasses or small bowls, garnish with some fabulous fresh raspberries and dunk your shortbread in, devour!
Spiced Shortbread
Makes about 30 biscuits – so you’ll have some left for dunking in your tea!
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 55g brown sugar
- 100g plain flour
- 80g cornflour
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 1 tsp of nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 175°C / gas mark 4
- Cream together your butter and sugar with a mixer or a good old fashioned wooden spoon. You need the butter and sugar to be extra creamy so finish off with a blender if you don’t have a mixer.
- Add in your zest and spices and stir to combine.
- Then gently sieve in your flour. The key to shortbread is not to overwork the dough too much so work quickly when you get to this stage.
- Get your hands in and form into a dough ball, if the mixture is a bit dry add a splash of milk to combine.
- Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Roll out your dough about 1/2 cm thick on to a floured board and cut shapes out with a cookie cutter, I went for lovely pretty flower shapes! I made the biscuits quite thin so they were good for dunking in the fool.
- Lay out on a lined baking tray and sprinkle each biscuit with a little brown sugar.
- Bake in batches for 12-15 minutes until they are golden brown.
FROM Deepa "Lazy Giraffe" check out her food and jeweller blog - lazygiraffejewellery.blogspot.com
Blackberry
fool
Keep in mind this takes at least two hours to set in the fridge.. don't be fooled ;-)
Setting time: 2 hours or more
Cooking time: 9 minutes
Ingredients (for 6 small bowlfuls)
- 500g blackberries
- 150g sugar (I used caster)
- 400 ml double cream
- Tub of mascarpone (or use more cream, natural yogurt, crème freche)
- Juice of two lemons
- Garnish ideas - mint leaf, mint flower, lemon balm leaf, crushed biscuit, grated chocolate, a berry
- Bit on the side - biscuit of your choice, ours homemade Brandy Snaps (minus the brandy)
Instructions
- Purée the fruit
- If you want a super smooth fool sieve the fruit
- Add lemon juice and sugar, give a good old stir
- Whip the cream to form stiff peaks, whisk in the mascarpone
- Put aside a small amount of purée (12 dessert spoonfuls)
- Fold the purée into the cream > fool
- Layering - half fill a bowl with the fool, add 2 dessert spoonfuls of purée, cover with fool
- Pop in the fridge to chill until set
- Garnish, serve, savour
FROM Karen WaldenLocalFood
Beetroot soupage
The rock band of suppers... Deep Purple soup. Really easy dish - a blindfolded badger could make it (though I haven't actually tested the theory... yet). Shall we begin?
Cooking time: 29 minutes
Ingredients (for 2 bowlfuls)
- 7 - 10 beetroot (depending on size)
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Vegetable or chicken stock
- Natural yogurt & chopped chives to garnish
Instructions
- Chop the ends of the beetroot off (save the stalks)
- Pop the perfect purple globes in a pan of boiling water, cook til soft (mine were fresh from garden so took about 15 mins)
- Whilst beetroot is cooking, cheerfully chop and fry the onion in olive oil til browned, add the craftily crushed garlic cloves
- Rub the skins off the beetroot under the cold water tap and chop into rugged rough chunks
- Pop the beetroot (here add any chopped stalks you want to include), onion and stock into the blender. Add stock until optimal consistency achieved
- Whizz, whizz, whizz...
- Return to pan and cook for about 5 mins
- Serve in your favourite bowls, with a loving spoonful of natural yogurt and a scattering of chopped chives
Eat whilst wearing a white top, if you dare... muwhahaha!
FROM Karen WaldenLocalFood
Moussaka, vegetarian
My sous chef had seconds...
Ingredients (for 2 hungry hippos)
- 1 aubergine
- 2 medium onions
- 1 can of tomatoes, or fresh equivalent
- Good pinch of cinnamon
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 100g cheese
- Natural yogurt
- 1 can of beans - we used aduki
Instructions
- Slice the aubergine thinly, fry each slice in a little olive oil - put to one side
- Fry onions for about 10 mins til tasty and browned, add chopped garlic, tomatoes, cinnamon and the beans (mashed to a puree)
- Oil the bottom of a large flat dish, and cover with a layer of aubergine
- Then spread a thick layer of the tomato, onion and bean mix on top
- Dollop a few spoonfuls of natural yogurt on top of that lovely layer, then sprinkle some grated cheese
- Add another layer of aubergine, some yogurt and the last of the cheese
- Stick it in the oven for about 45 minutes at 180°C
- Scoff
Totally yum, easy peasey lemon squeezy
FROM Karen WaldenLocalFood
Courgette and Blossom Pizza
Try local foodie "Lazy Giraffes" delicious pizza, featured in her fab food blog - >>
Yummy Shroom Soup
A mix of dried and fresh, local mushrooms make this soup the yummy'est of all.
Ingredients
- 500g Walden Local Food mushrooms
- Handful of dried mushrooms
- Good glug of olive oil
- Casserole dish or big pan
- Knob of butter
- A chopped onion
- Crushed garlic
- 2 tablespoons of chopped thyme
- Half a stock cube
Instructions
- Cover with boiling water to re-hydrate
- Heat pan until hot, add a good glug of olive oil and then 500 grams of chopped mixed mushrooms from the market. As the oil is hot you can swish the mushrooms around in the pan and they won’t stick.
- Then add a knob of butter, a chopped onion (red one is more subtle) some crushed garlic and a 2 good tablespoons full of fresh chopped thyme. Give another swish Cook for about 5 mins or so until the mushrooms start to give off some moisture.
- Drain the re-hydrated mushrooms and chop them up... add to the pan.
- Then add the mushroom flavoured stock you have just made from re-hydrating the dried mushrooms. Turn the heat so you have a tremulous simmer going on
- Now, this is where it’s up to you.... The longer you cook the mixture down, the more tender the mushrooms become, but you will gradually being to lose the flavour for the thyme... so it’s kind of up to you... about 10 mins will certainly do the trick... The world won’t end if you go too long!
- Add a little salt and pepper to taste, and then some veggie stock or bullion. You don’t want to overpower the now wonderful fragrance of the mushrooms which will be making your mouth water by now. I tend to use half a stock cube.
- Add about 750 mm of stock, turn the heat down and simmer for about 15 – 20 mins.
- Then you need either one of those whizzer / szhur szhur things or a liquidiser.
- Whizz / Szhusz to the thickness you prefer. If it’s too thick, add a little more stock.
- To top the soup off there are a couple of options depending on how good or bad you are feeling.
- To make it creamy, personally like sour cream added to give the soup a creamy look and taste. But feel free to experiment with crème fraishe or suchlike.
- I also tend to quickly sauté some extra sliced mushrooms in a little oil and garlic and add them to sit on the soup in the bowl at the end...
Also sprinkle some chopped flat leaf parsley on the top to give it a lovely posh look
FROM Szhusz'er Simon
Parsnip crisps
Parsnips are traditionally boiled or roasted. This recipe is another way to prepare this versatile root vegetable. A moreish snack ideal for parties, or try some as an interesting garnish for a warming winter soup.
Ingredients
- Parsnips – as many as you fancy!
- A splash of oil
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel the parsnips into long strips
- Toss the strips in a dash of oil in a large bowl
- Place the strips on a baking tray and bake until crisp and golden (approx 20 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt.
For a spicier version sprinkle over some dried chilli flakes and some freshly ground black pepper or try a few splashes of vinegar for the classic salt and vinegar combination.
FROM CRISP CRUNCHER Steph
How to cook a turnip (Baldrick)
Beautiful cream taproot (of the cabbage family) with a purple top (due to exposure to sunlight). Slice, dice, chop or leave whole (if small enough). Also great grated in salads or coleslaw. They are full of vitamins K, A and C.
Ingredients
- Turnip(s), depending on how hungry you are.
Instructions
- Scrub clean.
- Carefully cut in half. Place that flat surface on a chopping board, peel (if you prefer) then slice, dice, chop or grate.
- Then bake (in at 200°C degrees for about 30 minutes), boil (25 minutes), sautee (10 - 15 minutes in olive oil) or steam (about 20 minutes).
- Even the leaves can be boiled or steamed.
- Turnips are known their bitter flavor. If boiling, place a potato in the water to reduce their bitterness. But if you choose small, young turnips they should have a sweet and delicate flavour.
To satisfy further curiosity on the turnip front pull on your wellies and visit eattheseasons.co.uk
Shouggle'd squash
This is great to have with cous cous, or our favorite is to have alongside some griddled Salmon or Mackerel
Ingredients
- Squash
- Oregano
- Pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Pre heat the over to 200 degrees
- So, take a mixture of lovely colourful Walden local squashes. Roughly chop them into cubes about 3/4 inch sq or 3cm square-ish
- Put in a roasting tin
- Shake over some dried oregano
- Add some freshly ground black pepper
- Shake (or shouggle in Scottish) so all the squashes have some herbs and peppers on them
- Add a half decent drizzle of extra virgin olive
- Give a second shouggle (shake in English) so everything has some herbs and oil
- Put in the middle of the oven for about 25 mins
Apart from squashes, try adding some of the lovely peppers and red onions from the market. The more colourful the better. This is where the size of the chopped cubes of squash becomes more exacting... but don't worry... Big bits of peppers with 3cm sq bits of pepper works fine... same approach with red onions. Enjoy a wonderfully spontaneous and inventive side dish.
SHOUGGLE"D BYSimon and Susan
Purple soup
This soup has an impressively vibrant purple hue that may raise a few eyebrows at the dinner table. The butter beans take on the colour and become little jewelled surprises. (Serves 4)
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small heads of red cabbage
- 1 medium red onion
- 1 400g can butter beans, drained (liquid reserved)
- 1.5 litres vegetable stock (including the reserved bean liquid)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 small red chilli or red chilli powder to taste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp garam masala (optional)
- Salt* and pepper to taste (*use soy sauce for a more intensely savoury flavour)
- A splash of oil
Instructions
- Peel and finely chop red onion. Finely shred red cabbage.
- Heat a splash of oil in a large saucepan. Add red onion, coriander, cumin and chilli. Sauté until the red onion is soft (approx. 10 minutes).
- Add the cabbage and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the cabbage is soft (approx 15-20 mins).
- Remove the soup from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Blend to desired consistency.
- Add the butter beans, lemon juice and garam masala (if using).
- Season to taste with salt (or soy sauce) and pepper.
- Heat through and serve.
This soup is also delicious served chilled the next day (if there is any left over ;-) )
For a heartier soup, add a medium potato, diced, at stage 2.
LOVINGLY LADLED BYSteph
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Saffron Walden Community Interest Company: Company number 6753891. Registered in England