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cookbook_challenge.
Mum gave me Restore by Gizzi Erskine as a Christmas Present. This is me deciding how thoroughly I want to investigate it.
250g dried Chickpeas
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying the sausages
2 large onions, peeled and cut into eighths
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 bay leaves
a few springs of thyme
850ml fresh chicken or vegetable stock
2 turnips, peeled and quartered
4 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds lenghtways
2 large courgettes, halved lengthways and each cut into thirds lengthways
8 Merguez Sausages
For the Bulgar Wheat
250g bulgar wheat
500ml vegetable stock
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
large handful of flat-left parsley leaves, finely chopped
handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
1. Cook chickpeas appropriately.
2. Fry onions until softening, add garlic and chillies for a couple of minutes, followed by herbs and spices for a minute.
3. Add stock and root vegetables and cook at a fast simmer for 25 minutes. Add chickpeas for last 10 minutes.
4. Simmer the bulgar wheat in the stock for 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mix through the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and herbs.
5. Fry the sausages.
6. Layer up bulgar wheat, vegetable stew and sausages and serve.
Mistakes, Changes and Substitutions
No cayenne in the house, substituted chilli powder. I used tinned chick peas. I couldn't be bothered to go outside and collect herbs (and there isn't any parsley out there this time of year) so I substituted dried mixed herbs - this last was almost certainly a mistake.
There was also a fair discussion about whether I had purchased a turnip, a swede or, indeed, a neep. We concluded it was a swede/neep, not a turnip and given it came in a root vegetable pack with a parsnip we threw the parsnip into the mix as well.
I'm not sure if it counts as a mistake/change but given the raison d'être of the cookbook is to cook more sustainably, then it should be noted that I sourced the sausages from Farmison. I did this because Sainsbury's doesn't stock Merguez Sausages or, indeed any variety of lamb sausage that I could ascertain. My husband pointed out that a number of the local "world" supermarkets probably did, but that would have involved entering an actual shop and interacting with actual people, actually in person which is something I avoid at present. Farmison delivered the sausages in a polystyrene box many times their size, packed about with ice. I suspect this completely offset any gain to the environment from cooking the rest of the dish with seasonal root vegetables.
Verdict
This is a mildly spicy vegetable stew with sausages. I may not have given the bulgar wheat, in particular, a proper chance given I was playing loose with the herbs and spices, but it was not particularly exciting. It was quite faffy towards the end when the stew, bulgar wheat and sausages were all on the go at once and I felt ultimately it was more faff than the dish was worth. The sausages were very good indeed, but somewhat beside the point in terms of the recipe.
It generated some interesting conversations about cooking sustainably (including a lecture on the history of nitrogen fertiliser from the husband) but ultimately I think we'd need more thorough-going life-style changes before this cookbook would make a big difference to the sustainability of what we eat.
cookbook_challenge.Mum gave me Restore by Gizzi Erskine as a Christmas Present. This is me deciding how thoroughly I want to investigate it.
250g dried Chickpeas
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying the sausages
2 large onions, peeled and cut into eighths
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 bay leaves
a few springs of thyme
850ml fresh chicken or vegetable stock
2 turnips, peeled and quartered
4 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds lenghtways
2 large courgettes, halved lengthways and each cut into thirds lengthways
8 Merguez Sausages
For the Bulgar Wheat
250g bulgar wheat
500ml vegetable stock
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
large handful of flat-left parsley leaves, finely chopped
handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
1. Cook chickpeas appropriately.
2. Fry onions until softening, add garlic and chillies for a couple of minutes, followed by herbs and spices for a minute.
3. Add stock and root vegetables and cook at a fast simmer for 25 minutes. Add chickpeas for last 10 minutes.
4. Simmer the bulgar wheat in the stock for 10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mix through the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and herbs.
5. Fry the sausages.
6. Layer up bulgar wheat, vegetable stew and sausages and serve.
Mistakes, Changes and Substitutions
No cayenne in the house, substituted chilli powder. I used tinned chick peas. I couldn't be bothered to go outside and collect herbs (and there isn't any parsley out there this time of year) so I substituted dried mixed herbs - this last was almost certainly a mistake.
There was also a fair discussion about whether I had purchased a turnip, a swede or, indeed, a neep. We concluded it was a swede/neep, not a turnip and given it came in a root vegetable pack with a parsnip we threw the parsnip into the mix as well.
I'm not sure if it counts as a mistake/change but given the raison d'être of the cookbook is to cook more sustainably, then it should be noted that I sourced the sausages from Farmison. I did this because Sainsbury's doesn't stock Merguez Sausages or, indeed any variety of lamb sausage that I could ascertain. My husband pointed out that a number of the local "world" supermarkets probably did, but that would have involved entering an actual shop and interacting with actual people, actually in person which is something I avoid at present. Farmison delivered the sausages in a polystyrene box many times their size, packed about with ice. I suspect this completely offset any gain to the environment from cooking the rest of the dish with seasonal root vegetables.
Verdict
This is a mildly spicy vegetable stew with sausages. I may not have given the bulgar wheat, in particular, a proper chance given I was playing loose with the herbs and spices, but it was not particularly exciting. It was quite faffy towards the end when the stew, bulgar wheat and sausages were all on the go at once and I felt ultimately it was more faff than the dish was worth. The sausages were very good indeed, but somewhat beside the point in terms of the recipe.
It generated some interesting conversations about cooking sustainably (including a lecture on the history of nitrogen fertiliser from the husband) but ultimately I think we'd need more thorough-going life-style changes before this cookbook would make a big difference to the sustainability of what we eat.