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Tag Archives: Walnuts

Red Pepper & Walnut Pate

23 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by Nevenka in Food for One, Sauces, Starters, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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Pate, red peppers, Vegan, Vegetarian, Walnuts

This rich, spicy pate is popular throughout the Middle East with each country having their own variation of flavourings added to the two main ingredients of walnuts and roasted red peppers. In Turkey it’s name is Acuka, and it’s fiercely picante, in Syria it’s Muhammara. You, of course can make it as mild or spicy as you prefer.

For the red pepper flesh, either roast about 400 grams of thick fleshed peppers in a hot – 180C – oven until the skin is slightly charred and blistering.
The peppers can be roasted over a glowing fire or barbecue as well of course.
Remove to a container with a lid and leave to cool.

Skin the peppers and remove the seeds and stem keeping any juice that flows out of them.
We are aiming for about 300 grams of flesh including any juices.

Alternatively, if you can get hold of a jar of ready roasted and skinned Pimientos de Piquillo, these can be used for making a quick dip.

So you will need –

300 grams red pepper flesh

50 grams walnut pieces

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon allspices/ pimienta de Jamaica

1/4 teaspoon black or mixed peppercorns

1 clove garlic

1 small chilli or more to taste

4 tablespoons virgin olive oil

zest of 1 lemon plus 2 tablespoons of its juice

salt

2-3 heaped tablespoons dried breadcrumbs


Toast the walnut pieces in a thick based pan on a low heat, turning them over from time to time until they ara golden colour at the edges and you can smell their rich scent emerging.

Put to one side to cool.

Now put the cumin, allspice and peppercorn seeds in the same pan and toast until their aroma is detectable.

Put them into a small food processor and whizz to a powder.

Add the pepper pulp, garlic, olive oil, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice and zest. Whizz to a fine purée.

Add 2 of the tablespoons of breadcrumbs and pulse to mix in.

Leave for about half an hour for the breadcrumbs to absorb the liquid in the purée and thicken it. If it is not the texture of a spreadable pate and is too liquid add more breadcrumbs.

Add the toasted walnut pieces and pulse to mix in to the pate and be cut up a bit smaller but not too small.

Check seasonings and enjoy

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Roasted red cabbage with apples &walnuts

14 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by Nevenka in Main Courses, Vegan, Vegetable Dishes

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Apple, Red cabbage, roast, Walnuts

This is a Sunday roast with a difference and meat free so suitable for vegans. I have a lovely crop of red cabbages in my plot at the moment, the best that I have ever grown, so I’m feeling quite proud of myself. I have braised the cabbage in the past with apples, onions walnuts and spices, but roasting it results in quite a different texture, more solid but tender.


Roasting vegetables is so simple and tasty. The variations are many, the roast can be winter vegetables as in this case. When I’m in Northern Europe I love to add parsnips and celeriac. A summer roast would include peppers and aubergines flavoured with garlic and Rosemary. For the non vegetarians pieces of chicken or rabbit can be roasted with the vegetables. Rabbit with thyme is particularly good.

The only work is calculating in what order to add them to the roasting pan so that they are all perfectly cooked at the same time. Most vegetables need about 40 minutes, while potatoes need ten minutes more, so they are always first into the oven. I then usually put in anything from the onion family, onion wedges or leeks, roasting them for five minutes before adding the rest of the vegetables. Any nuts that you are adding only need a short time to heat and brown, so these go in ten minutes before the end of cooking.


For 2

2 or 3 medium potatoes – scrubbed and cut into wedges

1/4 red cabbage – cut in half as a wedge

6 small carrots – scrubbed

1 onion – peeled and cut into 4 wedges

1 leek – white part only – cut into 3 centimetre lengths.

1 courgette – cut into chunks

1 large apple – cored and cut into wedges

80 grams walnut halves

olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper


Put the oven on at 200C or if a fan oven 180C to heat up with a large roasting tray in the oven.

Season the potato wedges and toss with enough olive oil to coat. Once the oven is hot, put the potatoes in the tray and roast for ten minutes.

Season and oil the onion wedges and leeks then add them to the potatoes. Roast for about 5 minutes

Season the rest of the vegetables and the apple and toss with olive oil to coat. Add to the roasting tray and put back in the oven. Roast for 30 minutes tuning the vegetables over half way through the cooking.

Add the walnut halves and put back in the oven to roast for another ten minutes.

Enjoy with a glass of red wine.

An Autumn Lunch

12 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Nevenka in Main Courses, Starters, Sweet Things, Vegetable Dishes

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Beef, ceps, Cheese, Chilli, Grilled Vegetables, Honey, Meatballs, Orechiette, Pasta, Peppers, Sweet & Spicy Pepper Sauce, Tarragon, Walnuts

At this time of the year my southern Spanish vegetable garden is lush with green vegetables that in the north are considered spring vegetables. There are several varieties of lettuce and endive, Cima Di Rapa, crispy dark green chard, french beans, Mange-Toute and the sweetest baby courgettes……… So I want to feature this abundance in my meal. I dither between choosing to prepare a composed salad, or grilling some of the vegetables. In my other veg patch I find some small purple and white striped aubergines and a few asparagus spears. That helps me to make up my mind, grilled vegetables with a sweet and spicy pepper sauce. IMG_1390 My regular readers will know that I preserve whatever surplus I have of garden produce as I go along, so the sauce is based on a couple of these, the recipes for which you will find on previous blogs. SWEET AND SPICY PEPPER SAUCE Half a small jar of Red Pepper Salad 2 tablespoons Chilli Jam Juice of half a lemon Simply whizz together in the food processor The main course was Orechiette Pasta with Beef and Tarragon Meatballs in Mushroom Sauce. IMG_1389 BEEF & TARRAGON MEATBALLS WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE FOR 6 400 grams lean minced beef 2 garlic cloves – peeled 1 medium egg 25 grams dried breadcrumbs – preferably from good bread that you have dried and crumbed yourself Half a dozen sprigs of fresh tarragon Salt and freshly ground black pepper Plain flour Olive oil 100 grams fresh mushrooms, preferably ceps, but chestnut or oyster will do 20 grams dried ceps 300ml chicken stock Put the dried ceps in a small bowl and pour over enough boiling water to just cover. Leave to reconstitute. Crush the garlic cloves with a small amount of salt. Take the leaves off the tarragon stalks and chop finely. Put the minced beef in a bowl with the garlic, tarragon, breadcrumbs and egg. Mix thoroughly. Season with black pepper. Leave for about half an hour for the breadcrumbs to absorb moisture and bind the mix. Take small amounts of the minced beef mix and roll into balls and then roll in the flour. It is tedious to make the balls small, about 1.5 cm across is ideal, but they mix so much better with the pasta and are a perfect little mouthful this size that it is worth the effort. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and fry half the meatballs in one batch over a medium heat, turning from time to time to lightly brown them on all sides. Remove to a dish and fry the other half of the meatballs. Remove these too. While the meatballs are browning cut up the mushrooms into quite small pieces. Once the meatballs are out of the pan, add the mushrooms to it together with a little more oil if needed and gently fry them for about five minutes. Add the stock, soaked dried mushrooms and their liquid and bring to a simmer. Simmer for five minutes then add the meatballs and any juices that have seeped out of them. Simmer for five to ten minutes. Serve with pasta and parmesan cheese. For dessert, the Spanish classic, Cheese with Honey and Walnuts, the recipe appeared in a previous post. IMG_0389

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