How green is your kitchen?
RAW PEA, BROAD BEAN & VIOLET ARTICHOKE SALAD WITH WILD ROCKET
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 100g freshly podded peas
- 100g freshly podded young broad beans
- 4 young artichokes
- 50g wild rocket
- 70ml virgin olive oil
- 45g Grana Padano cheese
- 1 small piece garlic
- 1 small wedge of lemon
- 10g fresh basil leaves
- salt & pepper to taste
Method
To make the dressing
1. Pound the garlic in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of sea salt until smooth, then add the basil and continue to crush and smash until you have a smooth green paste in the bottom of the pestle. Now begin to add the peas and broad beans, one handful at a time, making sure that with each handful you have sufficiently crushed the previous handful to a rough paste
2. Once the peas and broad beans have been crushed, grate the cheese into the pestle and mortar, smash together again, add the olive oil and finally give it a good mix. The mixture will resemble a light green pesto
To make the salad
1. Prepare the artichokes by cutting off their stem but leaving 5cm which you then peel to leave the edible part. Trim off the outer leaves and then cut 3cm off the top of the artichoke, leaving the main flesh of the artichoke behind. Cut each artichoke in half and scoop out the choke with a teaspoon
2. Place the artichoke flat side down onto the chopping board and slice up as thinly as possible
3. Place all of the sliced artichoke into a mixing bowl and squeeze the lemon over the slices to stop them from oxidising (going brown). Add the wild rocket, sprinkle in the salt and pepper and drizzle in 15ml of the olive oil. Mix well with your finger tips
4. Arrange the salad on serving plates Spoon over the pea and broad bean ‘pesto’ and serve
Eco Tip: if you prefer you can substitute a locally sourced, vegetarian cheddar cheese for the Grana Padano in the pesto
SLOW COOKER BRAISED CELERY, NEW POTATO & SEA KALE
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 head celery
- 750g new potatoes
- 400g sea kale (substitute with seasonal mushrooms when sea kale not available)
- 3 bay leaves
- 25g vegetable bouillon powder
- 150ml dry white wine
- 600ml hot water
- 25ml virgin olive oil
- sea salt and pepper
Method
1. Warm up the slow cooker before you start
2. Remove any damaged outer stalks from the celery, cut the remaining stalks into 6cm long pieces and wash well
3. Cut the new potatoes in half and wash well. Wash the sea kale too
4. Heat a frying pan and add a little of the olive oil. Begin to fry the celery and potatoes until they have a golden colour and then tip the coloured celery and potato into the slow cooker
5. Continue with the rest of the potatoes and celery until used up
6. Pour in the white wine in order to deglaze the pan, and pour the mixture into the slow cooker
7. Add the bouillon powder, the hot water, a pinch of salt and pepper and the bay leaves, mix well and put the lid on the cooker. Keep the cooker on high and cook for 5 hours
8. When the tip of a small knife goes through the potatoes, add the sea kale, the rest of the olive oil, mix well and continue to cook for 10 minutes
9. Season to taste and serve
Eco tip: make sure your frying pan has a perfectly flat bottom so that the heat is conducted effectively
RAW SALAD OF BABY BEETROOT, CARROT, FENNEL, PEAS & BROAD BEANS WITH QUINOA AND FRESH HERBS
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 200g young beetroots
- 200g young carrots
- 200g young fennel
- 100g podded peas
- 100g podded broad beans
- 25g wild rocket
- 25g red endive lettuce
- 200g cooked quinoa
- 2 tbsp chives
- 2 tbsp young basil leaves
- 2 tbsp young fennel tips
- 2 tbsp young parsley leaves
- 25ml white wine vinegar
- 1 small wedge of lemon for juicing
- 50ml virgin olive oil
- sea salt and pepper
Method
1. Trim and wash the beetroot, carrot and fennel and then slice into very thin pieces and place into a large mixing bowl. Add the peas and broad beans to the bowl. Add the rocket, herbs and quinoa.
2. Now sprinkle in the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper and with your fingertips mix the salad really well. Serve and eat straight away.
Eco tip: this salad is made with ingredients which are mostly easy to grow at home. Why not have a go at this ‘self sufficient salad’?
VEGETABLE FILO PASTRY TART
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 100g carrot
- 100g courgette
- 100g celery
- 150g feta cheese
- 4 eggs
- 100ml double cream
- 6 sheets filo pastry
- 50ml light olive oil
- sea salt and pepper
Method
1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Lightly brush a 10inch fluted tart casing with olive oil. Place raw vegetables in a steamer, and cook until tender but with a slight crunch, for about 3 to 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl combine eggs, cream, feta cheese and seasoning. Mix the cooled steamed vegetables into the egg mixture.
3. Lay 4 sheets of filo pastry into the prepared tart case, making sure the pastry covers the edges of the tart case, and brush lightly with olive oil.
4. Spoon in the vegetable mixture and lay the final 2 sheets of pastry on top of the vegetable mix. Lightly brush the top with olive oil and season with sea salt. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Eco Tip: when the oven is on, make the most of it by cooking several dishes at the same time. When you switch the oven off you can use the residual heat to make croutons, dry herbs and chillies. The leftovers from this tart make a great packed lunch the next day.
These recipes have been created by Arthur Potts Dawson for the second year of a campaign with Good Energy, the UK’s only 100% renewable electricity supplier to encourage a low-carbon approach to cooking in UK kitchens.