Wild Greens Soup - Diana Henry - Food from Plenty

I can't find the recipe for Diana's Wild Greens Soup on the internet, but you can go to amazon and look inside and then put in wild greens and the recipe will come up on page 232 and you can copy it out. I made the recipe with fresh nettle leaves and fresh sea beet. I used celery and its leaves instead of carrot as i had the celery and did not have the carrots. It has surpassed my expectations - it is incredible and if served with a slice of sourdough bread and butter, you are in for a treat!!!

Eating Sourdough Bread

I think good bread and good butter (organic of course) is superb!!! If you have made a loaf of real sourdough bread, try spreading a thin coat of butter on it and then spread some unpasteurised miso on it - i do like source miso from south wales - it is really earthy and tastes great over the butter or on its own. Miso should be unpasteurised, otherwise there is not live bacterium which one needs for good health. Clearspring also do excellent unpasteurized misos, but i think they are stronger and thus better used in a recipe instead of on its own. Good jam is also nice on toasted sourdough  - try st dalfours jams which do not use sugar - they arent organic, but is still use them...

Sourdough Bread

Moro - The Cookbook - Sourdough Starter Recipe

The Starter

• 1 bunch organic red grapes
• 500 g unbleached strong white bread flour
• 1 liter water

The Food

• 100 g unbleached strong white bread flour
• 150 ml water

Directions:

1. 1
   Wash the grapes and wrap them in a muslin or fine cheese cloth.
2. 2
   Loosely tie the open end with a string or elastic band and lightly crush the grapes inside with a rolling pin.
3. 3
   Combine the flour and water in a large plastic, ceramic or stainless-steel bowl.
4. 4
   It is best if you can find one with a lid.
5. 5
   Squeeze some of the juice from the grapes into the flour and water mixture, before completely burying the little bag inside the mixture.
6. 6
   Cover with the lid or a plate and leave for 10 days to two weeks at room temperature, around 20 C or 68 F.
7. 7
   The grapes should start to ferment and the bag should balloon slightly with the gases being given off by the grapes.
8. 8
   Pull the bag out of the mixture and squeeze any juice back into the white mixture.
9. 9
   Throw away the grapes and the bag.
10. 10
    Stir the starter, which should now be slightly pink and have a sour, grapey smell.
11. 11
    Now you should pour away about a third of the initial starter mixture and stir in one batch of its food.
12. 12
    In the beginning, you will have to feed your starter twice a day (best done at regular intervals) for two weeks.
13. 13
    Just before you feed the starter, make sure you also throw away 200ml of the basic mixture.
14. 14
    This might seem like a waste but if you don't you will have far too much starter!
15. 15
    After two weeks, your starter should really be alive and kicking.
16. 16
    Taste a bit and it should have a slight fizz to it.
17. 17
    If the starter doesn't taste fizzy, keep feeding it until it does.
18. 18
    A slightly lower room termperature can slow things up a bit.
19. 19
    When it tastes fizzy you are ready to start making bread.
20. 20
    To keep your starter going (it is a living thing, after all) you should only need to feed it once a week and leave it in the fridge, unless you are making bread more than once a week.
21. 21
    If you are not making bread very often, you can leave feedings for two weeks.
22. 22
    Make sure you keep it in the fridge, which slows the starter down.
23. 23
    If it is kept at room temperature, it will need to be fed every day.
24. 24
    Between making bread, give the starter at least a day to recover.

I found this on the internet and it is essentially the recipe from the book - the book is definitely brill and worth buying - best of the 3 moro cookbooks i think.


Once you have your starter you can start making bread. I use Dove's Organic White Bread flour for the starter as it is organic, but not priced over the top. For the bread, I use Bacheldre Mill flours - they are superb - the book recommends shipton mill which i cant buy locally.  Below is the recipe from the book which again i found on the internet. I used half unbleached white bread flour and half rye flour - both are of course organic - the bread is superb - heavy and moist - i could never go back to yeasted bread - more on that another time...

STAGE 1 450g unbleached strong white bread flour (preferably organic) 700ml cold water 250g Sourdough Starter (see separate recipe), stir first to recombine before measuring STAGE 2 100g unbleached strong white bread flour (preferably organic) 150ml cold water STAGE 3 450g unbleached strong white bread flour (preferably organic) 2-3 teaspoons fine sea salt (depending on how sour the dough is) olive oil or sunflower oil for oiling the bread tins extra flour (bread or fine semolina) for dusting Notes: This recipe will make two loaves. We have had good success with New Zealand Biograins Stoneground Organic White Flour and also Kialla Organic Unbleached Plain Flour. Feed the starter organic flour, then you can always make organic bread! A sourdough will need slightly more salt than bread made with a commercial brewer's yeast because of its sour flavour. If you are unsure taste a little bit of the dough to make sure the balance is right. We mix our bread by hand but if you use a dough-hook be careful not to over-mix the dough (5 minutes is sufficient). The gluten of an over-kneaded dough will have lost all its elasticity and this will result in a bread of poor texture and shape. Bread needs warmth. It likes to be made in a modern centrally heated house, not a cold draughty pantry. Nowadays, most houses are warm enough, but do not leave the rising dough next to an open window. Use a hotwater cupboard during winter if you have one. The slower the rise, the better texture and taste the bread has. For this reason the recipe has two rising stages - first overnight and then the next day. This is best suited to sourdough especially. Source: Moro Ebury Press, 2001 pp.14-16

STAGE 1: Friday night, before bed In a mixer, with a dough hook, or by hand in a large bowl, mix the water into the flour, then stir in the starter. Transfer to a larger bowl if the mixture comes above two-thirds, for it will rise a little bit. Cover and leave overnight. STAGE 2: Feed the original sourdough starter Add the flour and water to the original starter and mix until incorporated. It does not matter if there are a few lumps as these will disappear. Cover and leave overnight (out of the fridge). STAGE 3: Saturday up until midday Return the sourdough starter to the fridge. You will need two 450g rectangular bread tins, roughly 22cm long by 11cm wide and 6.5cm high. First stir in the salt, then add the flour to the existing bowl of dough that has been resting overnight and mix by hand until smooth or turn the machine on to a low setting. When mixed in, beat by hand (with the tips of your fingers) for 5-8 minutes until more or less smooth and elastic. If using machine 5 minutes should be sufficient. The dough does not need to be kneaded on a floured board, as it is too wet anyway. Rest for another 5-10 minutes to relax the dough, while you prepare the bread tins. Oil the tins well, then dust the inside generously with flour (bread or semolina). Beat the dough again for 2-3 more minutes. Divide the dough between the tins. They should be no more than two-thirds, full. Lightly dust the top with more flour. Depending on the room temperature and activity of the starter, the dough will need 3-5 hours to prove until increased in size by a third at least, or the dough has risen as much as possible in the tin without overflowing. STAGE 4: Saturday Afternoon When the dough is roughly in it's last half-hour of rising, preheat the oven to 230°C. When the oven is up to temperature and you are satisfied the dough has risen sufficiently, place the tins on the middle shelf. Bake for a good 30 minutes (try not to give in to the temptation to look at it for the first 15 minutes as it can affect the rise). When the 30 minutes are up, remove the bread from the tins and bake for a further 10-15 minutes. If the bread has formed a good hard crust and has browned it is ready. To make extra sure, tap the bottom, which should feel hollow. Transfer to a cooling rack and leave until completely cool. It is always tempting to cut the bread before it has totally cooled, but if you do, the steam will be released and change the texture. Bread with a perfect texture should have even holes and a glossy look to it. If your bread is split or cracked in any way, then it means it had not quite proved enough.

Diana Henry's Chiang Mai Chicken Noodles

Tonight's dinner was superb thanks to Diana Henry and her book Food From Plenty. I first viewed this book at TK Maxx several months back and for some reason, did not immediately snap it up. I saw it again a few months later and read the reviews on Amazon and decided that I must have it - I did go back to TK Maxx and got it cheaper than it was available on Amazon (this is, however, generally not the case)

So I made the Chiang Mai Chicken Noodles recipe:

CHIANG MAI CHICKEN NOODLES

A great change from Thai chicken curry, which I seem to make rather a lot.
You can also make this with leftover pork.

Serves 4
For the noodles
Groundnut oil
1 onion, sliced into crescent moon shapes, or 6 shallots, sliced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp red Thai curry paste
400ml can coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
350g leftover cooked chicken, in chunks
1⁄2 tsp soft light brown sugar, or to taste
2 tsp fish sauce, or to taste
Juice of 1⁄2 lime, or to taste
400g egg noodles

To serve
2 spring onions, chopped on the diagonal
1 red chilli, halved, deseeded and shredded
2 tbsp chopped coriander
Wedges of lime

• Put 1 tbsp of the oil into a saucepan and sauté the onion or shallots until golden. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, then add the turmeric and curry paste. Stir for 1 minute until the spices become fragrant. Add the coconut milk and stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Add the chicken and heat through thoroughly. Season with the sugar and fish sauce and adjust it to your taste; you may want lime or more sugar.

• Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Divide them between four bowls, spoon over the chicken curry and sprinkle over the spring onions, chilli and coriander. Offer wedges of lime to serve.

My notes: I used olive oil as I do not keep groundnut (peanut oil) in my kitchen. I had 2 organic chicken leg/thigh portions and removed the skin and simmered them with an onion, a celery base and bay leaves (all organic naturally) - after several hours I removed the meat from the bones and chopped into large chunks and reserved enough stock for the recipe. I did not have thai curry paste so instead used my standard Patak's Mild Curry Paste. A note on coconut milk - do read the ingredients, you will be amazed at all the crap that can be put into some products - I have to go to the middle eastern market to get a can of coconut milk that does not have anything other than coconut and water in it (Heera is the brand). I cannot find additive free coconut milk from tescos or morrisons!! I don't have fish sauce as I don't use it often and have read that it will not last indefinitely - so i mash up an anchovy and add soy sauce instead (i do use kikkoman soy sauce and although not organic, it is additive free). I am ashamed to admit that I have a bottle of lime concentrate in the frig as i rarely use limes and did not plan to make this when i did - you could i am sure forgo the lime juice and perhaps i will next time. For the noodles i used clearspring organic udon noodles - i certainly did not use 400 gm worth and it was too much - i used 2.5 wrapped bundles.

To serve I cooked up a steamed serving of freshly collected sea beet and mixed with the main dish and also added fresh coriander, sliced green onion, clearspring sweet white miso, alfalfa sprouts, fried chicken skin (i adhere to sally fallon nourishing traditions and that fats are good for you - must be organic and must not be to excess - i fried the skin from the chicken in a pan and will save the fat for cooking - it is better than a lot of oils) and chopped up the crispy chicken skin and put over the bowl of noodles etc. Finally, I put a large spoonful of my home made sauerkraut which of course is alive!!

Sea Beet - ancestor of modern spinach - superb!!