More green issues ...

Baking has never come completely naturally to me, not like my mother or grandmother who both seem to bake so effortlessly, no, it has always been a bit of a recipe following exercise as far as I am concerned. Bread I’m OK with, I’ve practised enough to have developed a ‘feel’ for it and I like the scientific element to the whole process. So I was somewhat surprised in myself as to why I was drawn to these little pancakes when I was looking for something new to try.

It started with a beautiful bunch of organic Spinach that had arrived on my doorstep courtesy of my weekly Riverford veg box. I was browsing through the cook books to find something interesting and new to do with this wonderful bag of bright green leaves, when I stumbled upon this recipe in my new Ottolenghi book Plenty. For some reason this recipe just jumped off the page, not too fussy and plenty of room for a more rustic method, and so, as if by fate, green spinach pancakes it was!

I was considering augmenting these delightful pancakes with some chopped up bacon or pancetta but in the end I left well alone and followed the recipe. These would make a great brunch or breakfast dish, served with a tomato relish maybe, or just eat them straight from the frying pan as I did, fold them in half and munch like a sandwich, absolutely delicious!

Green Spinach pancakes

(from Ottolenghi Plenty)

Serves: 2

• 300g spinach
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp cumin
• 4 spring onions chopped
• 1 green chilli chopped
• 150ml milk
• 110 self raising flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 50g butter, melted
• Sea salt
• 1 egg white
• Olive oil

Wash and dry the spinach then wilt in a dry pan over a medium heat. When soft place the spinach in a roll of kitchen paper and squeeze out as much water as possible. Lay the spinach out on fresh paper for a while then roughly chop and set to one side.


Place the flour, baking powder, whole egg, salt, cumin, in a bowl and whisk until a smooth. Add the chopped chilli and spring onions and stir into the pancake mix. Now stir in the spinach and season well, then, whisk the egg white to stiff peaks and fold this into the pancake batter.

In a hot non-stick frying pan drizzle some olive oil and add two tablespoons of the pancake mixture into the fat. Pat down a little so the pancakes don't get too thick and cook more evenly. Fry for two minutes on each side until golden and cooked through. This recipe makes about 6 pancakes.

You could call this Ratatouille

Aubergine, Courgette and Tomato, such a classic combination of ingredients, used all over the world by different cultures to produce stunning full flavoured dishes that never disappoint. This is a really easy and somewhat refined version of a Ratatouille, but by cooking each ingredient individually it retains much more of each elements intrinsic qualities.

Ratatouille ... my way

• 1 Medium Aubergine
• 2 Courgettes
• 200g Cherry Tomato 
• 1 glass of white wine
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 100 ml water
• 1/2 a garlic clove , crushed
• 1 tbsp of chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 tsp of dried oregano
• 1 tsp sugar
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Cut the Aubergine into thick chunks and fry in a little olive oil in a very hot pan until they are charred but not burnt, set to one side on a piece of kitchen paper.

Slice the Courgette into batons and in the same way as the Aubergine fry the batons until brown and golden . Set aside on a piece of kitchen paper

In a saucepan over a medium heat put the white wine and tomato puree, stir well together and cook off the wine for a few minutes. Add the sliced cherry tomato's, crushed garlic, sugar, dried oregano and season well. Top up with a little of the water as required and simmer down for a few minutes to thicken.

Now stir in the Aubergine and Courgette, toss around in the sauce, place a lid on the pan and gently simmer , stirring once, for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on the pan though as you don't want the vegetables to over cook and lose their colour and texture. Stir in some chopped parsley just before serving in a big bowl. Great as a lunch dish with crusty bread , a terrific side to slow roast lamb or as a salad.

Going green

Having been on the road for the last two months on various photographic assignments in the USA, Canada, Scotland and Ireland I have returned home with what might be described as an attack of scurvy. It’s not exactly a case of an ancient maritime disease but I’m convinced it’s not far off. I’m craving green. Is it really so impossible to eat healthy food whilst travelling on the highways and byways of North America and the UK, it would appear so. Many of the cities I visited have a plethora of healthy food outlets I’m sure, you just don’t see them when you’re on the road and like many other travellers there just isn’t the time to make detours into a city to satiate a hunger and so we all just have to make do with what’s on offer. Chain Restaurants, sandwich bars and coffee shops. Most of the American roadside stops feature the familiar delights of Starbucks, Taco bell, Arby’s, pizza this and pizza that as well as the usual array of awful hamburger joints. Everything is served in ridiculously large portions, it’s full of fat, salt and sugar. No I don’t want to ‘go large’ thank you very much. Even in the UK the best you’re likely to procure is an M&S sandwich, maybe a salad and a portion of sweaty sushi which I will admit is a vast improvement on what our American counterparts have to offer but the whole experience is so lacking that inevitably it just becomes a ‘fuel’ stop.

So life on the road has left me wanting and to be quite honest, a little bit weightier. Nothing therefore could have been a more fitting antidote and a source of inspiration on my return than to pick up a copy of the new Ottolenghi book Plenty. The pages are bursting with beautiful images of delightful food. The sort of recipes that excite the palate, tickle the taste buds, inspire new culinary challenges and frankly kick any threat of scurvy right into touch. Why couldn’t someone open a motorway café based on this kind of fresh, seasonal, vitamin packed and downright tasty food. How amazing would it be to walk into a service station and be hit by the fragrant smells of garlic, mint, lemon, cinnamon and see spread out in a clean well lit and comfortable environment, huge colourful platters of couscous, trays of roasted Mediterranean vegetables, slithers of perfectly cooked roast beef, fish, something as simple as marinated buffalo mozzarella with roasted tomato, fresh humus, lentil salad, great breads, cakes and bowls of fruity compote. It couldn’t turn out to be any more expensive than the fleecing your wallet gets for a soggy sandwich and a coffee, that doesn’t even taste of coffee. There must be a demand for it out there, somewhere. Surely the concept here is fast food, not fastfood.

My return to the UK also happens to coincide with some lovely produce coming into season. Broad beans, garden Peas, Courgette, Aubergine, Spinach, Salad leaves, green beans, Turnips and Watercress. None of these need any degree of lengthy cooking, blanch, griddle, sear, sweat or steam, served in interesting combinations as stand alone dishes or as sides. All are easily adaptable and in this Couscous recipe I have added the peas and Broad beans to the original recipe to give a nutty texture.

Green Couscous with broad beans and peas

Serves:4

• 150g couscous
• 160 ml boiling water / stock
• 1 small onion
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 50g toasted pistachio nuts crushed
• 3 finely chopped spring onions
• 1 fresh green and red chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 50g rocket chopped
• 150g broad beans (shelled weight)
• 150g fresh peas (shelled weight)

Herb salsa

• 20g parsley
• 2 tbsp dill
• Chopped mint, a handful
• 1 clove garlic
• Olive oil
• lemon juice to taste
• Salt & pepper

Blanch the shelled broad beans in boiling water for a few minutes, drain, plunge into cold water and set aside then pop them out of their shells by making a small pinched hole in the rounded end and squeezing out the bean with a thumb and forefinger.

Do likewise with the shelled peas. 

Fry the onion in a little olive oil until golden and soft, sprinkle with a little cumin and set to one side.

Blitz the ingredients for the herb salsa in a food processor until smooth. 

In a large bowl place the couscous and add a tbsp of olive oil, then cover with boiling water or stock, cover with cling film and leave to stand for ten minutes. When ready, fluff up the couscous with a fork and add a little olive oil and stir through.

Now add the chopped nuts, chilli, spring onion, rocket, cooked onion, broad beans and peas to the couscous and 

gently stir in, add the herb paste and lemon juice, season well with salt and pepper, stir through a couple of times. Serve on a large platter.