Tag Archives: Autumn

Autumn Vegetables with Feta recipe

Autumn Vegables with Feta

Autumn Vegetables with Feta

Time 50 minutes.
Per portion: 454 Kcal, 23g fat (8g saturated)
Serves 4

Butternut squash 450g (1lb), about ½ the squash
Sweet potato 450g (1lb)
Parsnips 450g (1lb)
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Paprika 1 tsp
Olive or sunflower oil 4 tbsp
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Runny honey 1 tbsp
Feta cheese 200g (7oz)
Chopped mint 2 tbsp to serve (optional)
Warmed pitta bread to serve (optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and then peel away the skin. Peel the sweet potato and parsnips, then cut all the vegetables into similar-sized chunks.

2 Crush the cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar or improvise using a mug and the end of a rolling pin. Add the seeds and paprika to a large plastic bag with the oil and a generous amount of salt and pepper. Squeeze the bag to mix, then add the vegetables and shake.

3 Preheat a large roasting tin in the oven for 5 minutes, then tip the vegetables out of the bag into the tin and spread into an even layer. Roast  the vegetables for 30 minutes, turning once.

4 Turn the vegetables again and drizzle with the honey. Roast for 5–10 more minutes until browned around the edges. Crumble Feta over the top and scatter with mint, if using. Serve with warmed pitta if you like.

Cook’s tips
The beauty of this dish is that you can use whatever root vegetables you have available. Chop the leftover squash and use for soup: fry an onion, add the squash and 1 tbsp curry paste. Cook for 1 minute then cover with vegetable stock. Simmer until tender, then purée.

Recipe taken from Fantastic Food for Less.

 

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Autumn – the best season in Europe?

Autumn is my favourite season

It has been a glorious weekend. As I have three small children I am always up early – rarely by choice – but yesterday it was a pleasure.

The view from the kitchen window – sipping my coffee in an attempt to wake up – showed the valley shrouded in mist, bathed in autumnal sunshine with russet coloured trees dotted along the horizon.

Autumn is my favourite season, I love the change
in temperature, the gorgeous colours and the excuse
to unpack my favourite snuggly clothes!

It has got me thinking about the places I have visited in the autumn and some of the delicious seasonal meals I have eaten whilst on my travels.

In England, one of my favourite haunts is Chatsworth, which is breathtakingly beautiful in October. One year, I had the pleasure of bumping into Antony Gormley whilst admiring a sculpture exhibition. I enjoyed a wonderful wander around the gardens and a delicious roast beef dinner – with the most AMAZING roast potatoes in the estate restaurant.

For beauty, an autumnal Lake District is hard to beat. One climb to Catbells above Derwentwater particularly sticks in my mind – complete with a delicious flapjack on the summit courtesy of a very kind couple we bumped into on the final scramble to the top.

A little further afield, just a short budget plane journey took us to the Bienniale in Venice – a wonderfully eclectic collaboration of art from all around the globe. We had a wonderful few days in the autumn sunshine soaking up the sights, enjoying a proper Italian Bolognese and indulging the occasional ice cream.

Another gorgeous place to visit this month is Bavaria, Germany. The colours in this region are out-of-this-world, especially around the fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle. A coffee and slice of strudel in a café in quaint Dinkelsbuhl will always be on my list of favourite cake moments!

So, though the beauty of my surroundings leaves its
indelible mark on me, it’s the food on my travels that
leaves a lasting impression too.

I’d love to hear about your favourite autumnal stamping ground and the meals you have enjoyed there.

Autumnal recipes from the Dairy Diary and Dairy Cookbooks

 

I’d like to some of my favourite autumnal recipes from Dairy cookbooks and Dairy Diaries… Sausages Baked with Apples & Squash, Red Cabbage Salad and Plum Streusal Tart.

Hello autumn!

Finally my Dairy Diary tells me it is Autumn, here in Sheffield it has felt like it for weeks.

For once my husband has managed to do a little house job at just the right time, well, a year previously would have been more of the right time, but it’s the critical time of this year, and I guess that’s what matters. He has fitted the remote thermostatic control to our boiler. Hurrah!

Every year he is away the first week in October exhibiting his wares at The Goldsmiths Fair.  As soon as he has driven out the driveway I go into ‘winter mode’. The winter duvets go on all the beds and I set the heating to come on, just for a couple of hours, every morning and evening. Out go the light suppers and in come dishes such as ‘Ruby Beef Stew‘ (Page 93 of the Dairy Diary). CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

The trouble with living in a draughty old house is that some rooms feel tropical and others barely off-freezing.

18 months ago we bought the thermostat, with the hope that we could place the thermostat in the most used room of the house, leaving the heating to adjust itself accordingly. So, two weeks until he goes away, the thermostat has been fitted for three weeks already and he asked me if I’d used it yet. “No” I said quite truthfully, as that particular day it had been warm and sunny. “Will you?” he asked. “Now?” I said. “Yes” he replied. I fell off my seat.

As we all know most couples find the man is always hot and the woman always cold.
My man is no exception, wearing shorts from the end of the snow season until he returns from his October show, yet here he was asking me to put the heating on, on a mild September evening. On further discussion it came out that he wants me to use it to make sure it works before he goes away and this has led me to worry…. Could he be thinking of taking it with him? Will it work over a distance of 170 miles?

Wrap up warm.

Karen
Dairy Diary Team

Ruby Beef Stew

Ruby Beef Stew

Recipe taken from the Dairy Diary.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

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Seasonal Garden Ideas to add beauty to your garden

The big news this week is the launch of Seasonal Garden Ideas: a new gardening book that will inspire both novice and experienced gardeners this spring.

Seasonal Garden IdeasSeasonal Garden Ideas is a beautiful book featuring easy half-day projects to add beauty to any garden throughout the year.

Each of the 77 projects is presented like a RECIPE; with ingredients, step-by-step instructions, hints and tips, time required, when to start and aftercare. Now doesn’t that sound simple?

When you turn to a project you will be delighted with how the information is clearly laid out to make the task so straightforward. Each project is illustrated with a beautiful colour photograph.

Excellent value at just £9.75.
Order it from your milkman or online while stocks last.

Celebrate St David’s day with a fantastic Welsh lamb dish

I love Welsh lamb and this Minty Lamb Pattie is the perfect excuse to support Welsh farmers and enjoy one of the best ‘burgers’ you’ll ever taste. Sounds naughty, but this is a nicely balanced meal. Try it and I think you’ll add it to your ‘favourites’.

Save £4 when you buy Around Britain Dairy Cookbook

Minty Lamb Pattie is taken from the popular Around Britain Dairy Cookbook which is available for a short period at the incredible price of just £2.99 while stocks last.

Autumn and Apples

Last night, we enjoyed some delicious home-made toffee apples at our local firework display.

Fresh, hand-picked apples coated in a crunch sweet toffee – delicious and every dentist’s nightmare!

Baked home-grown appleWhat a naughty but very nice way to use up a glut of home-grown apples. I always inherit bags full of garden-grown apples from my parents. They grow eating apples, which are perfect packed with raisins and cinnamon and microwaved for a couple of minutes until soft and steaming. Of course, all the family love stewed apple served with piping hot custard too.

My Grandad was always a big fan of cheese and apple sandwiches, an unusually tasty combination which has been seen in the Dairy Diary in years gone by. I personally, love it made with Camembert and slices of Cox apple on a seeded roll.

For a surfeit of home-grown cooking apples why not try Autumn chutney from next year’s Dairy Diary?

Autumnal offerings

We enjoyed a pleasant walk via local footpaths recently and the children were intrigued by the fattening blackberries on their brambles.
It’s one of the first signs of autumn, which officially begins tomorrow. We will make a special trip – armed with baskets – to pick these delicious fruits when they are fully ripened. With a young toddler, I might need to consult my Dairy Diary stain removal page after our excursion!
It’s wonderful though to be able to enjoy the bounty of our countryside, from picking through to cooking and eating. I might try a bramble jelly this year and I will certainly have a go at the Blackberry and Apple Tartlets recipe – yum. Any more blackberry recipe suggestions gratefully received!
In Britain, in was once considered unlucky to pick blackberries after a certain date, often Michaelmas (29th September), as it was believed the devil would have spat or stamped on them. I don’t think I will be passing that little nugget of folklore on to my son during our forages!
I absolutely adore this season, with crisp sunny walks through rustling leaves, warming autumnal soups, the excitement of bonfire night and fireworks, and the changing colours of the countryside. I can’t wait to try leaf prints with Isaac when they start to fall from the trees – perfect for making cards for those who enjoy autumn Birthdays. It’s times like these when I love living in Britain with our varied weather and beautiful scenery.

We enjoyed a pleasant walk using local footpaths recently and the children were intrigued by the fattening blackberries on their brambles.

It’s one of the first signs of autumn, which officially begins tomorrow. We will make a special trip – armed with baskets – to pick these delicious fruits when they are fully ripened.

With a young toddler, I might need to consult my Dairy Diary stain removal page after our excursion!

Plump blackberries ripe for picking

Plump blackberries ripe for picking

It’s wonderful though to be able to enjoy the bounty of our countryside, from picking through to cooking and eating. I might try a bramble jelly this year and I will certainly have a go at the Blackberry and Apple Tartlets recipe – yum.

In Britain, in was once considered unlucky to pick blackberries after a certain date, often Michaelmas (29th September), as it was believed the devil would have spat or stamped on them. I don’t think I will be passing that little nugget of folklore on to my son during our forages!

I absolutely adore this season, with crisp sunny walks through rustling leaves, warming autumnal soups, the excitement of bonfire night and fireworks, and the changing colours of the countryside. I can’t wait to try leaf prints with Isaac when they start to fall from the trees – perfect for making cards for those who enjoy autumn Birthdays. It’s times like these when I love living in Britain with our varied weather and beautiful scenery.

Do you have a favourite blackberry recipe that you would like to share? Click the “Leave a comment” link below.

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