In the bag challenge - asparagus twists

Just before we get mired in the world of turnips, Alexandra wanted to enter Real Epicurian's May "In the Bag" blogging challenge. Alphabetical eating is not always seasonal and we wanted to enjoy the English asparagus that is now in season. The ingredients in this month's challenge include asparagus and egg. I first learnt about asparagus' twists from Anna, a Swedish woman, with whom I sometimes work. As we waited for the kettle to boil, she told me about the recipe. Since then, Alex makes them regularly and has added her own twists. Can we recommend that you click on Chubby Checker down below as you learn how to twist!

Asparagus Twists
500g ready-made puff pastry

1 egg beaten

50g parmesan or parmeggiano cheese, finely grated

2 teaspoons of dried oregano

Salt and pepper to season

Bunch of asparagus spears - around 12 spears

Preheat the oven to 180C ( 350F). Sprinkle the parmesan and oregano over the pastry and gently roll into the pastry.Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle to a depth of about 5mm. Cut into ribbons that are 1 cm wide and a little longer than the asparagus stems. Cut 2.5cm from the woody stalk of the asparagus. Depending on the thickness of the stems you may like to steam the asparagus for two or three minutes. Dry them. Carefully wrap the ribbons of pastry around the spears in a spiral taking care to press the ends of the ribbon against the spear to seal them. Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Brush pastry with beaten egg seasoned with salt and pepper. Sprinkle any leftover parmesan and oregano on top and place in the oven to cook for 15-20 mins. The pastry should be puffed up but not burnt. Serve hot or cold.

T is for Tomato and Pancetta Tart

This is a tale of two tarts. Up until now all our tomato recipes have been smooth, the unsettling texture of the tomato removed to cause less anxiety to Freddie...But for our final tomato recipes I decided to flirt with danger and allow the tomato to flash a little flesh.
The creation above is a Tomato and Pancetta Tart. Freddie came back from school saying he was really hungry. In fact he looked at the tart with the thin slices of tomato and only saw the pancetta.There is a Latin saying, "Rabidus fame, ceu canis" as hungry as a dog. He attacked the tart like a puppy.
"So you do like tomatoes then?"
"No" muttered Freddie, ferociously biting into the tart.
"Well that's what you're eating."
He stopped mid-bite and looked down. With slightly less energy he carried on eating.
"Do you want another slice?"
"No thanks. I liked it but its not good enough to have seconds."

So I offered him the other tart - tart number two which we adapted from this recipe, adding sliced courgettes. Out of respect for the effort I had put into this meal, Freddie tried a little. Recently someone left a rather stark comment on the blog - all they wrote were five words. "Hunger is the best sauce." I could imagine the author of this comment, looking rather sternly at us. Trouble is the saying is completely right. Which is why tart number two got a pathetic four out of 10, against the first which did rather well, scoring 8.

Tomato and Pancetta Tart

250g of Ready rolled Puff Pastry

3 ripe tomatoes, sliced thinly

6-8 slices of pancetta

A handful of chopped black olives

2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, a teaspoon of dried oregano

a drizzle of olive oil and handful of fresh basil

Roll the pastry shaping it into a rectangle. We find it is better if it is rolled quite thin. To create a raised margin around the tart, score it lightly with a knife an inch in all the way around. Place on a siloconised baking parchment paper. Place a line of thin tomato, then a line of pancetta rashes until the tart is covered, leaving your margin clear. Scatter the finely grated parmesan or parmegiano cheese evenly over the tart with the oregano. Drizzle over the olive oil, scatter the chopped black olives. Place in the preheated oven at around 200C (400F) and bake for about 20 minutes, until the pastry is risen but not burnt. Serve hot or cold to HUNGRY children.

Do you know another saying out about hunger increasing appetite? If so let us know - oh and our next stop is going to be the slightly less glamourous turnip. If you have any favourite turnip recipes you can recommend let us know!

T is for Tomato Lipsmackers

 

You know that your work-life balance is completely awry when you only see your child asleep. Alex sleeps facing upwards with her arms and legs akimbo whilst Freddie sleeps on his stomach, his head under the pillow and his limbs tucked underneath him, looking as if he was hibernating in the arctic. Which is strange because it has been very warm in London this week. I have been working in Dubai where it was over 40 C. When I came back to London yesterday the thermometer in the garden claimed that it had been 29C. So I revisted a previous success of the Great Big Veg Challenge and made Veggie Lipsmackers. This time we used tomato juice combined with purple grape juice and orange juice. The children teemed and ladled, tasted and then froze their creations. Freddie awarded his Tomato Lipsmacker a refreshing 8 out of 10.

T is for Tomato Risotto

 

Last night I made a tomato risotto. The recipe came from the BBC Good Food Site and advertises itself as a quick risotto which you make in a microwave. Risotto has been a successful way of getting Freddie to try things he doesnt like so much. So I bought a punnet of cherry tomatoes and followed their instructions.These tomatoes were nothing like as sweet as the ones we bought last summer for the Pan con Tomate but we know that things in season taste best. Still this risotto tasted delicious and it is an impressively lazy way to make a risotto. And did Freddie like it? Well, this isn't something he will be begging me to make again but he did eat it and seemed to like the taste....his score was 8 out of 10.
"Even though not many children like the texture of tomatoes, I have made myself like tomatoes with this recipe... and it is worth trying if you have children ( especially children like me!!)" says Freddie.

THIS IS A LINK PROVIDED BY FREDDIE TO ALL OF YOU WHO HATE TOMATOES....ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES!

T is for Tomato Tasting - Pan con Tomate

I read a comment by someone who said that tomatoes have the texture of the inside of an eyeball. Freddie shares this dislike for the texture of tomatoes. So following on from the success of our League of Lettuce I thought that we needed a similar tasting challenge with tomatoes. And late last summer Amanda, who blogs at Figs,Bay,Wine, came to our rescue.
She told us about Spanish Tomato Toast or Pan Con Tomate which is a traditional and very simple Catalan dish. Up until that time, Freddie would not eat raw tomatoes, only consuming them puréed in tomato soups or pasta sauces.
We went at the height of the tomato season to the supermarket. I thought I knew that tomatoes were red, unless of course they were unripe in which case they are green. But the tomatoes were competing with the lettuces in the variety stakes. Next to the conventional red ones were crates of yellow, purple, black and green tomatoes. And they boasted their own sign: ‘Heirloom Tomatoes'. Now when I think of heirlooms I imagine grandfather clocks or boxes of old photographs. But these jewels of the tomato world have exquisite names: the glamorous Eva Purple Ball, the exotic Green and Red Zebras, the esoteric Dr Wyche’s Yellow and the voluptuous French Marmande. It was a cast of tomatoes that boast good old-fashioned breeding. I politely invited them home to take part in a tomato tasting session.

And as we learnt, Pan Con Tomate has a great trick up its sleeve: it allows children to take charge of the meal. You simply give them huge tranches of toasted country bread, a little dish of olive oil, halved cloves of garlic, a little sea-salt and a selection of ripe tomatoes cut in half. Freddie and Alexandra squeezed, squelched and drizzled their way through plates of well-bred tomatoes. Freddie was creative with his scoring. “Its 10 out of 10 as a way of getting people interested in eating raw tomatoes and about 7 out of 10 for taste.” He didn't mention eyeballs at all!