Pep up your winter cooking with some peppery, bitter leaves
It's very easy, when doing a spot of shopping on a cold, dank day, to load up with hearty ingredients with a view to filling bellies and warming cockles. But reserve a space for some leaves, too; great sheaves of them, if possible: crisp, colourful and tart. You'll thank yourself later on.
There's a phalanx of sharp, bitter, peppery leaves that thrive in winter, to be prized for their raw, vitamin goodness and for the snappy, juicy contrast they offer to seasonal comfort food. They'll wake up your tastebuds and refresh your repertoire, be that in vibrant salads or combined with more sumptuous fare, to lift and lighten it.
Your leafy list might include bitter-sharp chicory or hot mizuna, aromatic celery tops or crunchy, chlorophylly baby kale. But my current top trio is radicchio, watercress and flat-leaf parsley. I've squeezed in six very simple recipes this week, so I can showcase each of these leaves in both its perky, raw form, and its relaxed, cooked state.
Radicchio is beautiful: wine-red veined with snowy white and a lovely bitterness that works brilliantly with soft, salty and creamy flavours (chicory, or Belgian endive, makes a great substitute).
Watercress is a year-round staple for me, but it's particularly good in colder weather, tasting nicely peppery, but not acrid. Discard tough or woody stalks, but not tender ones: their fleshy crunch is delicious.
Flat-leaf parsley, meanwhile, is a salad bowl stalwart for me. I hanker for its soft, grassy bite and love to use it in quantity, rather than as a finishing sprinkle. I keep a cloche-topped crop going through the winter. Picked, unchopped leaves are shuffled raw with all kinds of partners, especially pulses and roots, and I often wilt handfuls and serve them as a side dish with a knob of butter; and, once in a while, I make an old-fashioned parsley sauce, though with three times more parsley than I've seen in any recipe. It's lush with salty ham or, as here, smoky fish.
*Radicchio toastie*
Cheese on toast taken to exceptional heights. Hard goat's cheeses or washed-rind cheeses work really well here. Serves two.
*2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil*
*2 smallish, cold, cooked potatoes, thickly sliced*
*¼ large head radicchio, roughly sliced*
*2-3 tbsp crème fraîche*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*2 thick slices sourdough (or other robust bread)*
*About 50g well-flavoured cheese*
Heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the potato slices and cook for a few minutes, turning every now and then, until starting to turn golden. Add the radicchio, cook for a minute or so, until it wilts, then stir in the crème fraîche and season to taste.
Heat the grill and toast the bread lightly on both sides. Heap the mixture from the pan on to the toast, lay the cheese on top and grill until bubbling. Serve straight away.
*Radicchio and boiled eggs with anchovy dressing*
A gorgeous starter (increase the number of eggs to make a light lunch). Serves two.
*2 large eggs, at room temperature*
*A few large radicchio leaves *
For the dressing
*3 anchovy fillets in oil, drained*
*¼ clove garlic, grated or crushed*
*3 tbsp olive oil*
*½ tsp English mustard*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*Lemon juice*
Bring a pan of water to a boil, add the eggs and cook for exactly seven minutes (this will leave the yolks soft). Remove from the heat, run the pan under cold running water for 30 seconds or so, then lift the eggs from the pan.
For the dressing, put the anchovies in a pestle and mortar with the garlic, and grind to a paste. Add the oil and mustard, plenty of black pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Whisk, then taste: you may want a little more lemon juice and possibly some salt, though the anchovies are already quite salty.
Slice the radicchio into thick ribbons and arrange on plates. Peel and quarter the eggs, arrange on top, trickle over the dressing and serve.
*Beetroot, orange and parsley salad*
Red, orange and vivid green, with a splash of sunshine yellow from the dressing: just what you need on a dark day. Serves two.
*2 oranges*
*175g cooked beetroot*
*15-20g bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked*
*1 handful seeds (such as pumpkin and sunflower)*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
For the dressing
*3 tbsp olive oil *
*1 tsp English mustard*
Cut a slice off the base of each orange and stand them on a board. Cut down through the peel and pith, slicing it away in sections. Working over a bowl to catch the segments and juice, cut the orange segments out from between the membranes.
Drain off the juice, and whisk two tablespoons with the dressing ingredients; reserve the rest.
Cut the beetroot into slim wedges. Arrange on two plates. Add the orange segments, then a good trickling of dressing. Scatter over the parsley leaves. Finish with a sprinkling of seeds, another splash of dressing and a grind of pepper.
*Smoked fish with real parsley sauce*
Forget anaemic fillets in a tasteless parsley puddle. A proper parsley sauce is a fine thing. Serves two.
*2 fillets smoked pollock or haddock (about 150g each)*
*1 big bunch flat-leaf parsley (around 75g), leaves and stalks separated*
*½ onion*
*1 celery stick, halved*
*1 bay leaf*
*About 500ml whole milk*
*25g butter*
*20g plain flour*
*Salt and pepper *
Put the fish in a saucepan with the stalks from the parsley, the onion, celery and bay leaf. Pour over enough milk to cover, then put on a lid and bring slowly to a simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside: this should be enough to cook the fish (if it isn't quite done when you need it, turn over the fillets and leave them in the hot milk, still off the heat, for a couple of minutes more). Lift the fish from the milk, put it in a shallow dish, cover and keep warm in a very low oven (50C or so) while you make the sauce.
Strain and reserve the milk. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and stir in the flour. Cook gently for a couple of minutes, take off the heat and beat in 250ml of the fishy milk a third at a time, to get a smooth sauce. Once the milk is incorporated, simmer very gently for two to three minutes. Meanwhile, finely chop the parsley leaves, then stir them into the sauce and cook for a minute or two longer. Season to taste, then add any milky liquid that has seeped from the fish while it's been resting, and a splash more of the reserved milk if necessary, and serve straight away with the poached fish.
*Watercress, mushroom and blue cheese sandwich*
A serious sarnie to keep you going all afternoon. Serves one.
*1 small knob butter, plus extra*
*A dash of oil*
*2 big flat mushrooms, thickly sliced*
*½ garlic clove, chopped*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*About 50g blue cheese*
*A little yoghurt*
*2 slices brown bread*
*A good handful of watercress*
Over medium heat, heat a knob of butter with the oil in a frying pan. Add the mushrooms, garlic and some salt and pepper, and fry until tender and browned.
Crumble the cheese and bind with a little yoghurt. Butter the bread.
Put the cheese mix on one piece of bread, top with the hot mushrooms and finish with the watercress. Top with the second slice of bread and serve.
*Pasta with watercress and walnuts*
A lovely, throw-it-together-in-15 minutes supper that still manages to look very elegant. Serves two.
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*150g pasta shapes*
*75g walnuts*
*About 150g watercress*
*1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve*
*1 large clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped*
*3 tbsp crème fraîche*
*Finely grated zest of ½ lemon*
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Bring a pan of water to a boil, salt it well, add the pasta and cook according to the instructions on the packet.
Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in the oven for five to eight minutes, until just coloured, then break them up roughly with your hands and set aside.
Remove and discard any tough stalks from the watercress, then roughly chop. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low heat, add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the watercress and stir for two to three minutes, until it wilts. Stir in the crème fraîche and lemon zest, then add a few tablespoons of pasta water until the sauce has a nice coating consistency, and season generously.
Drain the pasta, toss with the sauce and transfer to warmed bowls. Scatter over the walnuts, give it a final trickle of oil and a shake of salt and pepper, and serve.
• Go to rivercottage.net for the latest news from River Cottage HQ. Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.
It's very easy, when doing a spot of shopping on a cold, dank day, to load up with hearty ingredients with a view to filling bellies and warming cockles. But reserve a space for some leaves, too; great sheaves of them, if possible: crisp, colourful and tart. You'll thank yourself later on.
There's a phalanx of sharp, bitter, peppery leaves that thrive in winter, to be prized for their raw, vitamin goodness and for the snappy, juicy contrast they offer to seasonal comfort food. They'll wake up your tastebuds and refresh your repertoire, be that in vibrant salads or combined with more sumptuous fare, to lift and lighten it.
Your leafy list might include bitter-sharp chicory or hot mizuna, aromatic celery tops or crunchy, chlorophylly baby kale. But my current top trio is radicchio, watercress and flat-leaf parsley. I've squeezed in six very simple recipes this week, so I can showcase each of these leaves in both its perky, raw form, and its relaxed, cooked state.
Radicchio is beautiful: wine-red veined with snowy white and a lovely bitterness that works brilliantly with soft, salty and creamy flavours (chicory, or Belgian endive, makes a great substitute).
Watercress is a year-round staple for me, but it's particularly good in colder weather, tasting nicely peppery, but not acrid. Discard tough or woody stalks, but not tender ones: their fleshy crunch is delicious.
Flat-leaf parsley, meanwhile, is a salad bowl stalwart for me. I hanker for its soft, grassy bite and love to use it in quantity, rather than as a finishing sprinkle. I keep a cloche-topped crop going through the winter. Picked, unchopped leaves are shuffled raw with all kinds of partners, especially pulses and roots, and I often wilt handfuls and serve them as a side dish with a knob of butter; and, once in a while, I make an old-fashioned parsley sauce, though with three times more parsley than I've seen in any recipe. It's lush with salty ham or, as here, smoky fish.
*Radicchio toastie*
Cheese on toast taken to exceptional heights. Hard goat's cheeses or washed-rind cheeses work really well here. Serves two.
*2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil*
*2 smallish, cold, cooked potatoes, thickly sliced*
*¼ large head radicchio, roughly sliced*
*2-3 tbsp crème fraîche*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*2 thick slices sourdough (or other robust bread)*
*About 50g well-flavoured cheese*
Heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the potato slices and cook for a few minutes, turning every now and then, until starting to turn golden. Add the radicchio, cook for a minute or so, until it wilts, then stir in the crème fraîche and season to taste.
Heat the grill and toast the bread lightly on both sides. Heap the mixture from the pan on to the toast, lay the cheese on top and grill until bubbling. Serve straight away.
*Radicchio and boiled eggs with anchovy dressing*
A gorgeous starter (increase the number of eggs to make a light lunch). Serves two.
*2 large eggs, at room temperature*
*A few large radicchio leaves *
For the dressing
*3 anchovy fillets in oil, drained*
*¼ clove garlic, grated or crushed*
*3 tbsp olive oil*
*½ tsp English mustard*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*Lemon juice*
Bring a pan of water to a boil, add the eggs and cook for exactly seven minutes (this will leave the yolks soft). Remove from the heat, run the pan under cold running water for 30 seconds or so, then lift the eggs from the pan.
For the dressing, put the anchovies in a pestle and mortar with the garlic, and grind to a paste. Add the oil and mustard, plenty of black pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Whisk, then taste: you may want a little more lemon juice and possibly some salt, though the anchovies are already quite salty.
Slice the radicchio into thick ribbons and arrange on plates. Peel and quarter the eggs, arrange on top, trickle over the dressing and serve.
*Beetroot, orange and parsley salad*
Red, orange and vivid green, with a splash of sunshine yellow from the dressing: just what you need on a dark day. Serves two.
*2 oranges*
*175g cooked beetroot*
*15-20g bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked*
*1 handful seeds (such as pumpkin and sunflower)*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
For the dressing
*3 tbsp olive oil *
*1 tsp English mustard*
Cut a slice off the base of each orange and stand them on a board. Cut down through the peel and pith, slicing it away in sections. Working over a bowl to catch the segments and juice, cut the orange segments out from between the membranes.
Drain off the juice, and whisk two tablespoons with the dressing ingredients; reserve the rest.
Cut the beetroot into slim wedges. Arrange on two plates. Add the orange segments, then a good trickling of dressing. Scatter over the parsley leaves. Finish with a sprinkling of seeds, another splash of dressing and a grind of pepper.
*Smoked fish with real parsley sauce*
Forget anaemic fillets in a tasteless parsley puddle. A proper parsley sauce is a fine thing. Serves two.
*2 fillets smoked pollock or haddock (about 150g each)*
*1 big bunch flat-leaf parsley (around 75g), leaves and stalks separated*
*½ onion*
*1 celery stick, halved*
*1 bay leaf*
*About 500ml whole milk*
*25g butter*
*20g plain flour*
*Salt and pepper *
Put the fish in a saucepan with the stalks from the parsley, the onion, celery and bay leaf. Pour over enough milk to cover, then put on a lid and bring slowly to a simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside: this should be enough to cook the fish (if it isn't quite done when you need it, turn over the fillets and leave them in the hot milk, still off the heat, for a couple of minutes more). Lift the fish from the milk, put it in a shallow dish, cover and keep warm in a very low oven (50C or so) while you make the sauce.
Strain and reserve the milk. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and stir in the flour. Cook gently for a couple of minutes, take off the heat and beat in 250ml of the fishy milk a third at a time, to get a smooth sauce. Once the milk is incorporated, simmer very gently for two to three minutes. Meanwhile, finely chop the parsley leaves, then stir them into the sauce and cook for a minute or two longer. Season to taste, then add any milky liquid that has seeped from the fish while it's been resting, and a splash more of the reserved milk if necessary, and serve straight away with the poached fish.
*Watercress, mushroom and blue cheese sandwich*
A serious sarnie to keep you going all afternoon. Serves one.
*1 small knob butter, plus extra*
*A dash of oil*
*2 big flat mushrooms, thickly sliced*
*½ garlic clove, chopped*
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*About 50g blue cheese*
*A little yoghurt*
*2 slices brown bread*
*A good handful of watercress*
Over medium heat, heat a knob of butter with the oil in a frying pan. Add the mushrooms, garlic and some salt and pepper, and fry until tender and browned.
Crumble the cheese and bind with a little yoghurt. Butter the bread.
Put the cheese mix on one piece of bread, top with the hot mushrooms and finish with the watercress. Top with the second slice of bread and serve.
*Pasta with watercress and walnuts*
A lovely, throw-it-together-in-15 minutes supper that still manages to look very elegant. Serves two.
*Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper*
*150g pasta shapes*
*75g walnuts*
*About 150g watercress*
*1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve*
*1 large clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped*
*3 tbsp crème fraîche*
*Finely grated zest of ½ lemon*
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Bring a pan of water to a boil, salt it well, add the pasta and cook according to the instructions on the packet.
Meanwhile, toast the walnuts in the oven for five to eight minutes, until just coloured, then break them up roughly with your hands and set aside.
Remove and discard any tough stalks from the watercress, then roughly chop. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a low heat, add the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the watercress and stir for two to three minutes, until it wilts. Stir in the crème fraîche and lemon zest, then add a few tablespoons of pasta water until the sauce has a nice coating consistency, and season generously.
Drain the pasta, toss with the sauce and transfer to warmed bowls. Scatter over the walnuts, give it a final trickle of oil and a shake of salt and pepper, and serve.
• Go to rivercottage.net for the latest news from River Cottage HQ. Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.