White Beans with Fresh Herbs

This simple combination of ingredients has become my saving grace. I make Pan-Fried White Beans and Greens at least once or twice a month. It’s an absolute weeknight staple in our house and we devour it. But as many times as I’ve made that dish, I always soak and cook too many beans and am left with a giant pile. I’ve found that cooked beans don’t last especially well and so I’ve wasted them more times than I’m really happy to admit.

White Beans with Fresh Herbs

Molly Katzen has single-handedly saved me and my beans from that fate with this little recipe. It’s so simple as to be a fantastic reminder that smaller – lighter – less – are often the best things to focus on when it comes to food. There are no bells and whistles to this salad – no other vegetables at all in fact – just a jumble of fresh herbs and some olive oil and acid. It makes a really great lunch salad and I imagine a buttered hunk of crusty bread would go well but it’s quite filling alone.

I typically throw in some lemon zest and chopped walnuts because (you guessed it) I have them left over from the Pan-Fried White Beans and Greens. You don’t have to include them but they certainly add a nice touch.

White Beans and Fresh Herbs

White Beans and Fresh Herbs
adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook by Molly Katzen

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups dry white beans
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • Small handful walnuts, toasted and chopped
  • Lemon zest from about 1/2  lemon
  • 1/2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
  • Large pinch of salt
  • Lots of freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Soak beans: place dried beans in a large pot and cover with about 3 inches of cold water. Set aside to soak for at least eight hours or overnight.
  2. Drain soaked beans and return to pot. Cover generously with water and bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for about 1 – 1.5 hours, adding water as necessary and stirring occasionally, until tender.
  3. Once beans are done, drain and place them in a medium sized bowl.
  4. Add remaining ingredients to the beans and mix gently. Taste and adjust seasoning.
  5. Cover tightly and chill until cold.

10 comments     posted in:   Healthy Food, Recipe



Socca

I can’t quite express how addictive and wonderful I find socca to be. The first time I tried it I was home alone on a sunny Sunday afternoon and kept saying out loud to no-one at all, “oh my god, oh my GOD” as I took greedy bites. So if you’re wondering just how tasty and moreish socca is, now you know. It is talk-out-loud-to-yourself good.

In my opinion it’s best eaten straight from the cutting board that you use to slice it into squares. Just drizzle a generous amount of good olive oil, sea salt, and crushed black pepper on top and dig in with your fingers. That’s really all you need and I dare say, the first time you make it, that is exactly how you should experience it. Those flavours alone are plenty and allow you to taste the wonderfully nutty socca throughout. You’ll have bites that are crisp as crackers where the socca has blistered and begun to burn, and bites that are soft and pancake-y, and each bite is likely to make you fall in love anew.

Socca with Black Pepper

I first heard of socca from Stephanie Meyer on her blog Fresh Tart, which is full of imaginative, beautiful, gluten-free recipes. Socca is a thin unleavened pancake-type deal made very simply with chickpea flour, water, and olive oil.

It’s a specialty of Southeast France, particularly in and around the city of Nice, which was news to me because despite spending summers there in my teens I never came across socca. I think I need to go back and look harder. Apparently in that neck of the woods it’s formed into a flat cake and baked in an oven, often on a huge cast iron pan, and then seasoned generously with black pepper, wrapped in paper, and eaten while hot with your hands. It’s street food, intended to be washed down with a plastic cup of icy rosé. Put that on the must-do list.

Socca with Greens

I found some great advice both from Steph’s blogThe Kitchn, and the inimitable David Lebovitz on how to make socca and I’ve used that combined wisdom in my various attempts, all of which have happily been very successful. I like to eat socca plain as described above (and imagine myself standing on the stony beach in Nice, rosé in one hand; socca in the other), but there are lots of ways to enjoy it. Steph recommends it with a fried egg and spinach or as a grilled cheese-type construction. I also like it warm from the oven, piled high with some peppery greens dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, and honey. If you want to make more of a meal out of it, then this variation with pesto and a spring salad looks amazing and I’ve also heard wonderful things about adding a smear of olive tapenade.

Socca (Chickpea Flour Pancakes)

Makes 2 thin 10″ pancakes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (92 g) chickpea flour (also known as gram flour)
  • 1 cup (240ml) water (add an additional tbsp water for a thinner pancake)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan
  • Sea salt
  • Optional seasonings: 1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano), pinch of spice (chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, za’atar)
  • Optional toppings: try fresh arugula dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, and honey – or – olive tapenade with some fresh greens – or – a fried egg and wilted spinach

Directions

  1. Sieve the chickpea flour into a bowl and whisk together with the water, olive oil, a pinch of salt and any other seasoning you’re trying. Cover with a tea towel and let the batter rest for 1/2 hour to 2 hours to give the flour time to absorb the water.
  2. Set an oven rack six inches below your oven’s broiler and turn on the broiler. Set a cast iron skillet on the rack to warm for five minutes.
  3. Add a teaspoon or so of olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat the bottom of the warmed pan. Whisk the chickpea batter quickly and then pour half into the hot skillet. Tilt the pan so the batter coats the entire surface of the pan.
  4. Broil the socca for 3 to 5 minutes or until you see the top begin to blister and brown. If you find the top browning before the batter is fully set, move the skillet to a lower oven rack until done. The socca should be fairly flexible in the middle but crispy on the edges.
  5. Carefully remove from the oven and use a spatula to work your way under the socca and ease it from the pan. Slice it into wedges or squares, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with a little good olive oil. Repeat with any remaining batter.

25 comments     posted in:   Food and Culture, Recipe



Buckwheat Soba Noodles with Sesame-Lime Dressing

It’s been more than a while since I’ve written in this space. So much time has passed that I’ve had something like nerves about putting pen to paper, as it were.

But here I am. And hopefully, there some of you are.

I’ve been incredibly excited about food and cooking over the past couple of months and I began brimming with excitement and inspiration about a return to blogging in this space again.

As you may well have noticed, Eating for England also has a rather wonderful fresh new look. I’m incredibly lucky to have had my good friend Holly working on this redesign. Holly and I have been friends for four years now and she knows me well enough to understand my style and aesthetic perfectly. Didn’t she do a beautiful job?! A new layout, logo, and lots of other design features – it’s all new and I feel doubly inspired to share in this space again after the wonderful work she’s done. Check out her blog to see how multitalented this lady is; I’m pretty amazed by all she does.

So, here we are and here is a new recipe for you.

Buckwheat Soba Noodles with Sesame-Lime Dressing

I recently discovered a lovely blog called Farmhouse Delivery, authored by the farm-to-table company of the same name based in Austin, TX. The blog is full of inspiration for making the most of a CSA box overflowing with a wealth of vegetables and features stunning step-by-step photos of most dishes too.

Farmhouse Delivery is where I first stumbled upon the idea for a buckwheat soba noodle salad and it seemed that from then on I kept seeing similar inspiration all over.

Buckwheat Soba Noodles with Sesame-Lime Dressing

The great thing about a dish like this is that you can really easily adapt it to suit whatever you have in your fridge. Snap peas were abundant when I made it and I happened to have some asparagus and green onions but you could easily go with green beans, if you have those around or maybe lima beans or edamame. Throw some cucumber in if you like – add lots of crunch.

The two things I love most about this dish are the gingery-sesame dressing with a real zing from the lime juice, and the crunch factor. Don’t miss out on that by eschewing peanuts and some crunchy vegetable, as both make it such a pleasure to eat. The added bonus to this dish is that it’s ready in the time it takes you to boil some noodles so weeknight staple, here you come.

Buckwheat Soba Noodles with Sesame-Lime Dressing

Ingredients

For the noodles

  • 8 ounce package buckwheat soba noodles
  • 6 ounces asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces, tough ends discarded
  • 4 ounces raw snap peas, sliced into halves
  • 1-2 green onions, thinly sliced
  • small handful cilantro leaves
  • small handful roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
  • sesame seeds, to garnish

For the dressing

  • Freshly squeezed lime juice from 2-3 limes (you want about 5-6 tablespoons)
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp tamari sauce
  • 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • Salt

Directions

  1. Cook the noodles to al dente per package instructions. Drain, rinse in cool water, and set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Prepare an ice-water bath. Place asparagus in boiling water and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and immediately transfer asparagus to ice-water bath until cool; drain and set aside.
  3. Make dressing: Place lime juice, ginger, garlic, sugar, and tamari in a large bowl. Whisk in sesame oil until well blended. Taste and season with salt.
  4. Add noodles and other salad ingredients to the dressing, toss well, garnish with cilantro, peanuts, and sesame seeds, and serve. Serves four.

19 comments     posted in:   Healthy Food, Recipe