Organic olive oil is fairly easily available mail order but until recently it was hard to find more unusual single variety organic olive oils to buy online. We met Christos Oikonomou, the founder & owner of Narrow Leaf Organic Olive Oil at a recent London Bloggers meeting.

Narrow Leaf Organic Olive Oil is cold pressed from a single variety of olive from the Patrinia tree which is found only in Achaia region in the northern Peloponnese, a small corner of the Greek mainland. It has been used in the past to blend with other varieties to add flavour but is now available on its own. A group of small olive oil farmers who are members of the Local Agricultural Cooperative of Aigio have joined forces to provide this sustainably farmed, single variety organic olive oil.

Tasting the Organic Olive Oil

The aroma is very fresh and grassy and the flavour quite subtle. It is a delicate taste that doesn’t overwhelm food. It has a very low acidity so none of those very strong peppery notes that you might associate with Greek olive oil.

After a few tasty samples Christos asked if we’d like a sample bottle to review for the blog. I happily agreed, thinking dreamily of the lovely salad days ahead

Organic Olive Oil by Post

Yesterday, a bottle of this interesting oil arrived through the post.  It was carefully wrapped in bubble wrap inside a bottle tube. It felt a bit like Christmas but then I love getting organic treats through the mail!

Salad Days

I’m looking forward to using this delicious oil in lots of raw dishes but I think it will also be gorgeous drizzled over grilled fish or pasta.  I’m sure we’ll be making lots of  treats with Narrow Leaf Olive Oil over the coming weeks and I’ll blog about the results.

Of course Andy couldn’t resist making a simple cherry tomato salad with it straight away.

Organic Olive Oil Salad

The ingredients were just what we had to hand, some left from Friday’s organic vegetable box and some from a local shop.  A good salad doesn’t need to be a fussy affair.

I think we can learn a lot from the classic Greek mezze salads. Attention to detail and careful chopping of good quality fresh ingredients makes all the difference to a raw salad.

The vinaigrette had a lovely fruity note from the cider vinegar which we are lucky enough to buy straight from the farmer at our local farmers market. Of course if you can add some really fresh herbs to the mix then that is even better. The fresh taste of the olive oil and the herbs combined with the fruity notes from the vinegar to really bring out the flavour of the little cherry tomatoes.

We made a simple meal of it with a bowl of potato salad made with home-made duck egg mayonnaise. (I must ask him to blog that recipe sometime It was divine!)

Anyway, the subtle taste of the organic olive oil in a mild vinaigrette was a perfect accompaniment to the fresh taste of the salad.

Organic blinis

I used to always make Blinis for Christmas brunch & decided it was time to revive the tradition this Easter. Today was a trial run and I think it was a success. Plate was quickly empty anyway! Easier than you might imagine Blinins are made from a fairly traditional recipe. This translates as – I’ve been making these so long their origins are lost in the mists!

Blinis are made from Buckwheat Flour

Buckwheat is not even distantly related to wheat. It is not a grass or a cereal. Humans have been eating it for over 4000 years and it is basically pretty good for us. It contains protein and is lowish in purines. It is believed to be anti-inflammatory. It grows quickly and doesn’t need a very fertile soil. Apart from all of that it tastes really good! All in all we should probably eat more of it.

I like Doves Farm Organic Buckwheat Flour. It is organic and very reliable. For some reason known best to themselves neither Riverford nor Able & Cole stock buckwheat flour so you can’t just add some to your box. Grr!
If you are lucky enough to have one, your local independent wholefood shop will have it or maybe even the supermarket. Do yourself & the local economy a favour & buy it from the wholefood shop, please.

You will need two days for these blinis. You can do them faster but they will taste better if you do them the slow food way. Most of the time is just waiting so they aren’t really that demanding.
These quantities make about 25 very small ones or 12 three to 4 inch ones.
The three to four inches ones are about right for serving with dips, scrambled eggs & smoked salmon. Little ones, maybe 2 inches diameter, are ideal for canapés (Oooh get me!)
Double the quantities and you can store the left overs in the fridge for a few days. Watch out though, they are seriously moreish and surprisingly easy to eat!

To Make Blinis You will need:

A nice big bowl – old fashioned china, stainless steel. Don’t use plastic if you can avoid it. I don’t like food sitting in plastic too long it picks up flavours. It should fit in your fridge if you are doing the over night version.

A wooden spoon for mixing

A balloon whisk for getting the egg white stiff

A small china or metal bowl to whisk the egg white in

A clean tea towel to put over the blinis overnight

A flat bladed knife for turning the blinis when they are cooking.

Hot plate to keep them warm till you’ve cooked the lot. (watch this,cooked blinis have a strange habit of vanishing from the hot pile while your attention is elsewhere!)

A good heavy frying pan or ideally a griddle (girdle if you are Scots, which I am).

I’m going into tablespoons – weighing things isn’t in my nature and spoons are easier to wash up. You can use fancy measuring spoons but personally I prefer a big old metal one!

• 6 flatish tablespoons of buckwheat flour
• 1 teaspoon fast acting bread yeast (never used this before but pleasantly surprised that it worked well)
• pinch of salt (don’t leave it out the yeast needs it)
• 2 teacups of water at blood heat. (1/3 of a cup of boiling topped up with cold x2) (that’s about 1/2 a pint if you must measure)
• 1 heaped tablespoon of good, organic, natural set yogurt.(Not low fat for once!)
• 1 large free range organic egg (duck is best – chicken will do)

What you need to do on Day 1

1. Mix the flour, salt & yeast in the bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle
3. Add the yogurt to the water, adjust the temperature back to about blood heat. (If you stick your clean finger in it it should feel quite warm but not too hot).
4. Separate the egg and add the yolk to the well in the middle of the bowl. (Keep the white in your small bowl for later)
5. Now add the liquids.
6. Give it a good mix and gradually mix in all the flour. Don’t worry if it seems at all lumpy at this stage. It should be a thickish batter. (Very runny? Don’t panic, maybe the egg was a bit big, just add another tablespoon of flour)
7. Put somewhere warm (not hot we are not rushing remember) & draft free with the clean tea towel draped over the the top for about an hour.

Go and have a cup of tea, check Facebook, wander over to Pinterest or talk to Twitter. Bask in the pleasant yeasty smell that is now emanating from the bowl.

After about an hour, check your bowl. There should be a pleasant yeasty smell and little frothy bubbles breaking the surface.

Now for the hardest bit. Time for a little kitchen workout. Use the balloon whisk to beat the egg white until it is stiff enough to leave firm peaks when you lift the whisk out. You could use a machine but come on, this is slow food and anyway, we all need the exercise!

When the egg white is done, (and no, you don’t have to hold the bowl over your head to prove it is done!) fold it gently into the batter. Use that big old metal spoon and a cutting & folding action. You don’t want to undo all the hard work you just did on the egg white, just mix it in.

Back goes the tea towel and the mixture goes in the fridge until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back to what ever social media rings your bell, safe in the warm glow of being a domestic god/godess.

Making Blinis Day 2

Remove the batter from the fridge about an hour before you need to cook it. Put it back in a warm, draft free place. It will bubble again, the yeast only having got dozy in the fridge.

Heat your pan, griddle or girdle. Some very fancy people have special blini pans. I wouldn’t bother if I were you. They taste better when imperfectly shaped. Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Once it is quite hot get a pad of kitchen paper and a tiny amount of organic butter. wipe over the surface with the pad. You are not trying to leave much fat on the surface, you don’t want them to fry!

You want an even heat, not smoking but hot.

Get your big metal spoon and fill it with mixture from the bowl. Drop a spoon full on to the hot surface. It will spread only a very small amount. If you have a big girdle (don’t!) like mine then you can do 6 three/four inch ones at a time. In a frying pan maybe one large one or three small ones.

Watch them carefully. Little bubbles will burst on the surface. This is a very good sign. They will start to look set. Lift up one edge with your flat bladed knife & check they are turning golden brown. Good

Using your knife flip the blini over and cook till that side is golden too. It will be less even

Elizabeth David’s Bread & Yeast Cookery (I’m on my 2nd copy!) has a somewhat similar recipe and lots of information about all sort of other yeasty goodies.

A bit of research and I discover that red onion squash are also known as red kuri squash and are much loved in Japan. They have a velvety texture and are quite dry compared to the watery pumpkin. They are said to have a firm flesh with a slight chestnut flavour. OK, I’m feeling much more cheerful now! The French even call them Potimarron (marron meaning chestnut, of course).

More than that they are full of goodness.  A good source of fibre they also contain a range of vitamins, potassium and iron. Red onion squash are low in purines and full of beta-carotene.

I thought I’d try using them in a variation on my old favourite, 3 Potato Spiced Roast. This recipe is so old I’ve no idea where I got it and it is endlessly flexible depending on what root vegetables are available. I know it says 3, and I suppose it must have been originally but it has drifted over the years. I’ll just use what I’ve got, which on this occasion is going to be red onion squash, leeks, turnip (that’s swede if you are English) and potato.  You could try parsnips, sweet potato or even carrot if you’ve got nice big ones.

Spiced, roasted red onion squash and friends

Cut the squash into melon slices and scoop out the seeds first. I might turn them into chew strew later. Then cut them up into bigish chunks, maybe around 2″? We don’t want small dice we are definitely after hearty chunks!  My research suggests the red skins are edible once roasted so I’m going to leave them on.

Cut the leeks, turnip and potato into chunks about the same size as the squash pieces.

Tip them all into a shallow oven proof tray. I tend to use an old orange china Le Creuset one but whatever you’ve got will be fine.

Now for the herbs and spices. I’m going to use a couple of sprigs each of rosemary and thyme as I think they will combine well with the chestnutty flavour. I’ll chop them finely.

Then roast a few cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan till they just start to pop.

Chop up a fresh red chilli and a couple of cloves of garlic. I’ll probably throw in a few whole garlic cloves to roast at the same time. Yum!

Put the herbs, spices, garlic and chilli into a small bowl , add some freshly ground black pepper and cover with olive oil.

Pour this mixture over the vegetables and stir until everything is well coated.

Pop the whole lot into a fairly hot oven. Baste every 10 minutes or so, turning the veg as you do so.

It should take about 35 to 40 minutes.

Serve hot straight away.  You can serve it with meat but I think it is yummy just on its own. If you really must add protein try adding some chopped devilled nuts, sunflower seeds, or even pumpkin seeds!

I will let you know how I got on.

Video explains all about the different types of squash that may appear in your vegetable boxes

*Most children will eat most fruit & vegetables without any fuss if you introduce them early, make trying new foods exciting and normal and don’t force them to eat things. Obviously there are exceptions but there are far fewer of them than you might think.

Here’s something that might convince you. I’ve lost track of the number of times friends (and clients – I used to be a child-minder) brought their children to my house and gave me a long list of things they absolutely would not eat. I even had mothers prepare a child’s ‘favourite’ lunch so convinced were they that there was no chance he’d eat what everyone else was having. Their amazement on picking up their happy, full child and his lunch, still in it’s box, was often quite amusing.

How was this miracle performed?

Quite simply. I never forced a child to eat. That would just be horrible.

Lunch when I was child-minding was usually a collaborative affair and we allowed plenty of time for it. So many skills and so much learning went on in that time, everything from talking and listening to gross and fine motor skills.  Even quite little people can learn to use a plastic knife to cut up softer vegetables, apples and pears, round bladed scissors to snip chives from the garden or they might collect sugar snap peas straight from the plant. Hands washed and aprons on of course.

The main thing was to end up with several small bowls of tasty, nutritious  food, some they’d tried before and often something new to ‘just try a taste’.

Salad faces are good for getting children to eat vegetables

Then we would  maybe build a ‘salad face’ or we might make home made pizzas. Sometimes we’d build our own sandwiches or fill a tortilla wrap. On cold days we’d make ‘special soup’. This was a clear vegetable stock with the fresh ingredients just added for a few minutes to soften, finished off with rice pasta or tiny alphabet pasta. Serve it not too hot in a child size mug with a teaspoon to eat the bits. Often a fair bit of the raw food disappeared into the cooks before it ever got to be lunch, and that was fine too. On wet, miserable days we’d bake our own bread rolls to fill or eat with soup. Each child got to make and shape their own roll. The smell of fresh baked bread cooling does good things to little appetites!

The magic trick…or  3 secrets.

1. Children will almost always eat what they’ve helped to make and what they make does NOT have to be special kiddie food.
2. Children copy each other, including what they eat. It is much easier to get a group to try something new than an individual.
3. Talk to them. They often understand far more than we realise and tend to respond well to logic. Explain simply when you are preparing the  food that it takes our mouths three or four tries to be able to decide if we like something. Don’t make a fuss or let them see you want them to try something. Always let them spit it out if they don’t like it.

Footnotes:

*Some children really do have serious eating problems. If yours does, get help! Start with your doctor or health visitor. This post is not about that.

*I’m not saying don’t ever make treats or that carrot cake is evil. Just don’t kid yourself that you are doing your children good by stealth.

[Photo Credit CC zeevveez]

Later I made these drinks for my family & numerous other children over the years and they were very popular. Orange and Lemon Barely Water is first on the list as it was always my favourite.

Dilute it by at least 50% in the glass and add ice.

Nana’s Orange & Lemon Barley Water

Nothing like the stuff you buy in the shops from that well known brand. This is refreshing and nutritious. Even so, it’s not for every day, but perfect for hot summer days and holidays. It brings back memories of tents in the garden, long summer days and grown ups having something in their drink that wasn’t in mine!

This is a messy job. Clean hands, clean surfaces and an apron are all important. (See it even gives you an excuse to buy a pretty apron and play Domestic Goddess!)

The big old fashioned mixing bowls are great for this job. You can use either a glass or wooden lemon squeezer. Don’t use metal stuff for fruit as it can make it taste funny.

BTW – child labour is perfect for squeezing oranges & lemons. Older children can also be taught to remove the rind.

We’re using elegant tea cups here as a measure. Nana’s was good china but had a broken handle. You could use a mug, I suppose, but a cup is better. Nana didn’t like scales – too much washing up!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of organic pot barley
• 10 cups of water
• 2 organic, unwaxed lemons
• 6 organic unwaxed oranges
• A small amount of organic honey to taste

Method

1. Simmer the barley in the water for about an hour.
2. While it simmers cut the fruit into halves and juice it. This is easily done with an old fashioned lemon squeezer. Give each one a roll on a wooden board first to loosen the juice & start to break it down. Don’t follow any fancy tips about microwaving it first to get more juice. You’ll destroy all that lovely vitamin C!
3. Peel the rinds from the fruit. You can use a potato peeler but make sure you just get the rind not the white.
4. Add the rinds to the simmering water
5. Leave to cool
6. Strain the cooled water into a large bowl. Throw away the barley (ouch – if you have any good ideas what to do with it leave a comment! I put out for the birds. Then throw it away!)
7. Add the fruit juice
8. Taste and add a little (as little as you can) honey
9. Pour it in a covered jug
10. Keep it in the fridge

Serving Suggestions

A tall cold glass, ice & a slice of lemon.

If serving it in a glass jug you could add slices of fruit or a sprig of fresh tarragon.

Also tastes great from tin mugs if glamping! Decant into screw top bottle and take it on picnics with you but don’t keep it for more than a day without a fridge.

Oh, and if it’s for a special garden party,  those grown ups might try it with a dash of gin or vodka (personally I’d add it to a little Ricard!) but then grown-ups are very naughty like that

[Photo Credit CC Brandon C Warren]

My Nana in her best hat

Now this is not a recipe like those you get in books. This is my ancient Scots Nana’s receipt (yes, she would have called it that). She’d be 115 if she was still around and she baked these scones for her large family where ever she found herself from Dumfries to Detriot and back again by way of Vancouver and all before the First War!
My Nana never weighed anything. She used her hand, her eye and her judgment. So that’s how I make them too.
Don’t be scared. Trust yourself. “It a eats” as my Nana used to say.You mustn’t be too precious about the results. How ever they turn out they will be good to eat. If they are a wee bit burnt just scrape it off.
You will need:
You are going to use your hands for this so extra clean please!

• Heat a heavy based frying pan or ideally a girdle (griddle if you are English) or even a bakestone if you are Welsh!
• A floured wooden board – just use your work surface if not.
• A rolling pin. I use a wooden one.

1. About 1/2 a pound, 2 tea cups, or 3 large potatoes worth, fairly moist left-over mashed potatoes (ideally mashed with a little butter & milk but I’ve done this with soya milk before and it works fine!)
2. Start with a handful of flour (organic white but you can use spelt, wholemeal or even buckwheat). You might need a little more.
3. Optional – a teaspoon of baking powder. It will make them lighter but it’s not easy to get organic.
4. 2 tablespoons melted butter or organic sunflower marg. DO NOT USE REDUCED FAT Sorry to shout but it has too high a water content for baking and even it it claims to be organic is full of things you really don’t want to eat.

That is all. Simples

What you do
I learned to make these by sitting in a corner of the kitchen with a book! My Nana had 10 children and she couldn’t stand them under her feet when she was baking. I’m not sure how many of them learned her secrets but she’d mellowed a bit by the time I, the youngest female grandchild, came along. So long as I was quiet she’d let me stay. One too many daft questions and I was chased out to play.
Make sure your girdle is hot and throw a small amount of flour over it. Spread it round with a wad of kitchen paper or a pastry brush. (Use an old one as it might singe!) The girdle is ready when the flour turns golden brown. Turn the heat down to keep it at the right temperature.
Take the left over potato and place in a china mixing bowl. Squash and squeeze it gently through your fingers to make sure it is totally smooth. Don’t be too rough with it. It should feel quite moist and a little sticky.

In another bowl sieve the flour with the baking powder, if used. Sieve it anyway to add air. My Nana hadn’t the patience to hold it high and bash the side of the sieve with her hand so often shed get a metal tablespoon and whizz it around the sieve.

Once you add liquids the baking powder starts to act so move fairly quickly now.
Take a small amount of flour and mix into the potato along with a dribble of butter. Use you hand to mix it round. Now keep adding flour and butter a little at a time and mixing. You will find that the dough stops being sticky and starts to become smooth and pliable. Catch it at this point. Don’t over handle it or be tempted to knead it. It’s not bread.

Flour your board, rolling pin and your hands. Pop the dough onto the floured wooden board and roll it out to a circle. Not too much rolling, and don’t lean on it, keep it about as thick as your pinkie (little finger). I cheat and use a round board. It helps me to get the shape right.
This dough is fragile but it shouldn’t be too crumbly. If it is you might have added too much flour. Use less next time. You should still be able to pat it into rough triangles.
If the dough seems too sticky use your hands to gradually work in a bit more flour.
I usually use a flat bladed knife to gently cut it into quarters and a fish slice to lift them onto the waiting girdle.

Watch them and turn them once they’ve browned. This will involve a bit of guess work and gently lifting the edge with your flat bladed knife or fish slice.

They smell good and in my Nana’s house they were often buttered and devoured by hungry grandchildren almost at once. She’d fight us off and threaten to ‘pin yer lugs tae the merket cross’ for being theives and scoundrals.

Lift them off the girdle onto a metal cooling grid and leave to go cold.

I liked mine rolled up cold with butter and homemade rhubarb and ginger jam She made much larger quantities than we have here and there were always enough kept back to have fried the next day with a cooked breakfast.

They don’t keep so use the same day or fry them up for breakfast.

Bean and Fennel Bake

You will need:

• About a cup of cooked beans. I like Aduki beans for this. Please don’t use tinned beans they go to mush too quickly and don’t give the right texture.
• About 2 cups of fairly finely chopped selection of organic veggies from your box. Ideally about 1/4 inch dice. I’ve used onion, leek, celery and carrot today. Other possibles include swede ( better known as turnip if you’re Scots like me!)
• 1 large fennel bulb chopped a little larger.
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Herbs to taste – today it’s thyme and parsley. Rosemary would also work and some people (not me!) like sage. Marjoram might work better if you are swapping the shoyu gravy for tomato sauce (homemade of course!)
• 1 cup of shoyu gravy (2 tablespoons of shoyu or good soy sauce added to a white sauce made with  boiling water not milk. See below)
• About 4 or 5 good sized potatoes mashed with a tablespoon of olive oil
• Optional – cheese about a tablespoon of parmesan or gruyere added to the mash.

Method

1. Heat a little olive oil over a low heat in a skillet, deep frying pan or similar. Add the veggies, fennel and garlic and cook gently with a lid on. Sometimes described as ‘sweating’ the vegetables. Cook till the juices start to run and the veggies soften. Not something you can wander off and leave! Keep cooking, checking and stirring occasionally for about 15 mins till the veggies are all nice and soft but still have some crunch. You might need to taste them, just to make sure of course! Remove from the heat.
2. Make a shoyu gravy. In a small sauce pan heat 3 teaspoons of olive oil. Add 1 tablespoon of flour (organic white or gram are both good). Cook gently stirring all the time until it makes a solidish mass & comes away from the sides of the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of Shoyu and stir well. I like to use one of those wooden spoons with a pointy edge and a hole in them, a balloon whisk is good too. Gradually add about 1/2 a pint of boiling water. You can use vegetable stock or water left over from cooking other veg instead, if you have it. Stir it all the time over a gentle heat till it thickens & will coat the back of a spoon.
3. Add the sauce to your cooked vegetables. Mix really well so that everything is coated. Resist the temptation to eat it now! Or is that just me…….
4. Top with your mashed potatoes. Roughen the top with a fork and add extra cheese or butter if you are feeling indulgent.

At this point it will keep for later or even tomorrow, if you pop it in the fridge. You could even freeze it! Just move it to the fridge the day before you want to eat it.  Make sure you get it out of the fridge a good hour before you want to cook it.

5. Pop it in a medium oven for around 40 minutes till heated through and the topping has gently coloured, golden brown is ideal. Watch it for the last 10 minutes or so as it’s a short step from golden brown to cinders!

Enjoy!

I tend to serve it with some sort of greens, the first of the sprouts are in boxes now and they are perfect with this!

This is what I like to do with the sprouts

Sprouts Recipe

Wash the sprouts and cut off any damaged bits. With these top quality organic sprouts the amount cut away really should be minimal. Maybe a a piece of stalk here or there and one or two outer leaves, but there is no need to cut off every stalk or peel off all the outer dark green leaves. Try to keep as much of the organic goodness as possible.

Add to boiling unsalted water and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave for another 5 minutes, then drain, retaining the liquid for making gravy with.

Place the cooked sprouts in a shallow ovenproof dish then sprinkle roughly crushed walnut halves over the top. Add slices of blue cheese over the walnuts then put it in a hot oven or under the grill until the cheese has melted to a bubbling sauce and some of the walnuts have toasted. The sprouts should still have plenty of crunch and the special slightly bitter flavour with which they are associated is complemented by the rich cheesy nutty combination.

Whether you are having a vegetarian special or a meat based Christmas dinner, the walnut and blue cheese sprouts from the organic boxes will be a serious rival to the main item. If you are vegan however, I don’t think there is any alternative to blue cheese so I’d suggest using some toasted sesame oil and either vegetarian cheese substitute or tofu.

photo credit johnsu01 recipe by Organic Vegetable Boxes.