Autumn Recipe: Beetroot & Apple Overnight Oats

This breakfast recipe celebrates fresh autumn ingredients - apples and beetroot - that can be found in abundance during autumn in Cornwall, and it packs it’s plant-powered punch offering a vibrant, nutritious start to the day. Prepare this simple recipe the evening before then pop in the fridge overnight. Delicious served on its own or with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkling of granola.

Beetroot & Apple Overnight Oats

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 80g oats

• 1 tbsp chia seeds

• 1/2 tbsp flaxseed

• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds

• 1 small apple (approx 60g when peeled and cored)

• 1 small beetroot (approx 60g)

• A few shavings fresh ginger

• 250ml almond milk (or alternative milk)

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Optional – granola and yogurt to serve

Method:

1. Place the oats, chia seeds, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds and grated ginger in a mixing bowl

2. Peel and core then apple, then grate and add to the mixing bowl

3. Wash, top and tail the beetroot then grate and add to the bowl, mix well

4. Add the almond milk, maple syrup and vanilla extract to the bowl, mix well.

5. Place a lid or plate on top of the bowl and place in the fridge overnight.

6. Take out of the fridge approx 10 minutes before eating to warm slightly, give a good stir before serving

7. Optional - add toppings of your choice such as a dollop of yogurt (plant or milk based), and a sprinkling of granola

As shared via the Muddy Stilettos Cornwall blog

Recipe: Nettle & Gorse Syrup Cake

With lockdown and home schooling in full flow, we’re spending the afternoons gardening, foraging and cooking, making the most of the beautiful weather with bucketloads of gratitude that we live in place where we step out across fields in isolation. For anyone else with access to the countryside at this time, we hope you might enjoy this recipe. We adapted it from a recipe we found online, making it gluten free and using up a couple of different flours we have in the cupboard, plus adding some gorse syrup into the recipe and and using this in combination with oil as a replacement for butter, as well as drizzling some of our syrup on top once the cake was baked.

We hope you enjoy the recipe, Cyra was in charge of writing out the ingredients and process while the twins helped me make a big gooey mess. Interestingly, no-one was keen to lick the cake batter and it was met with “ooooh this is going to be GROSS Mummy!", but it’s turned out to be a true family favourite!

For anyone having to isolate indoors, you are in our thoughts and we very much hope it won’t be long before you too can be foraging outside. Gorse is used as a remedy for regaining hope. Sending hope and love from us all,

Tia, Cyra, Otto & Nell x

Nettle & Gorse Syrup Cake

Ingredients

• 40g nettle leaves

• 3 eggs

• 250g honey

• 100ml vegetable oil

• 100ml gorse syrup (for recipe, see below)

• 250g gluten self-raising free flour

• 100g ground almonds

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground ginger

Method

• Heat oven to 180 C. Grease a cake tin approx 20cm diameter.

• Steam the nettles for 5 minutes then set aside to cool. When a little cooler and easier to handle, chop into small pieces.

• Put the honey, vegetable oil and gorse syrup into a pan and heat gently for 5 minutes so they combine together

• In a medium sized bowl, crack the eggs and stir with a fork. Add the nettle and mix together.

• In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder and spices. Add the egg and nettle along with the honey, oil and gorse syrup, and mix well.

• Pour into cake tin and bake in oven for approx 40 minutes - insert skewer to check, when the cake is ready it should be golden on top and the skewer come out clean.

• When cake is ready leave to cool a little before removing it from the tin.

• We decorated our cake by pouring over a little gorse syrup to help the flowers stick, sifting some icing sugar on top then laying primroses and gorse flowers (both of which are edible - see foraging guidelines below) onto the cake.

To make gorse syrup
We used 1 litre water and 400g granulated sugar, combined them in a saucepan and simmered for 10 minutes then removed from heat and added 5 large handfuls of gorse flowers. We left it overnight then simmered for another 10 minutes in the morning before straining through muslin, bottling and popping in the fridge. This makes lots of syrup - enough for a good few cakes, drinks, salad dressings and anything else you care to make with it - and we’d love to know if you have any good ideas!

Foraging guidelines
Do remember to follow responsible foraging guidelines, ensuring you only take plants when there is a plentiful supply, just picking what you need, and never taking the roots.  Seek permission before foraging on private land.  Here at Botelet Farm there the hedgerows are teeming with primroses, however be aware that in some areas these primroses can be scarce and are therefore not suitable for picking.  It’s a good idea to check foraging guidelines before setting out, see for example Wild Food UK’s Foraging Code.

Spring Recipe: Lavender Infused Rhubarb Compote

The seasonal shift we’re in is, this year, going hand-in-hand with the most extraordinary social shift as we all prepare - as best we can, and in our own ways - for the weeks and months to follow. How lucky we are to be facing this period of home ‘cocooning’ with spring beginning to emerge. We very much appreciate how lucky indeed we are as a family to be doing so in a rural area, surrounded by countryside. So much love to those facing being home-bound within the confines of a city.

For those with access to gardens, local growers (through popping to a farm shop or via deliveries) or even via a supermarket, this seasonal compote celebrates the fresh produce that’s growing around us right now in our gardens and farms. Never has there been a more important time to connect with what’s around us, pare back and embrace the seasons, support local and spread the food load as we all hunker down, making use of what’s around us where we can.

For this recipe I used rhubarb and lavender that are growing in the garden, local honey from and apple juice from Cornish Orchards just a few miles down the lanes.

I love to cook with natural sweeteners (in this recipe I used honey) but you could up the honey quantities and also play around with other spices such as cinnamon and cardamom to soften the taste; but I personally love the simplicity of this recipe, where the rhubarb flavours aren’t overly muted with sweetness. Highly recommended with a bowl of granola and yogurt to set up your day.
Tia x

Lavender Infused Rhubarb Compote

Makes approx 4 - 6 servings of compote

Ingredients

• 500g rhubarb (this weight is once they have been topped & tailed)

• 200ml apple juice

• 2 tbsp honey

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 3 sprigs fresh lavender

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp chia seeds

Method

• Top and tail the rhubarb, wash then dice to approx 1cm, then pop into a large saucepan

• Add apple juice, honey, ginger, nutmeg and sprigs of lavender (leave the sprigs whole and place in pan)

• Simmer for approx 10 mins, stirring regularly, until fruit is soft. Take off heat, remove lavender stems. Add chia seeds and vanilla extract. Stir again and leave to sit for 10 mins.

• Can be served warm or cold, and kept in fridge for a few days.

Recipe: Oat Slices with Sea Buckthorn

Sea buckthorn: my latest foodie obsession. I was introduced to these golden gems a few weeks ago when I met Seth of Cornish Seaberry who is growing a few acres of the beautiful berries at a site just down the lanes from us. Seth came across sea buckthorn when he was travelling in the Himalayas, where they were used as a tonic for altitude sickness. Intrigued by the superfood, he discovered they also grow wild within Cornwall, and over the past couple of years he has been juggling his day job as an agronomist and family life with a young daughter alongside growing, harvesting and gradually building his seaberry business.

Tart and tangy, these berries pack their punch not only on the flavour front, but their status as a superfood is assured when you examine their credentials: each berry contains 190 different nutrients including ‘vitamins (A, B, C, E); essential fatty acids ( omega 3,6,9 ) along with omega 7, which as a plant only appears in sea buckthorn and macadamia’ (The British Sea Buckthorn Co).

I’ve started to play around with the berries, using them in smoothies, making compote, I have flash fried them from frozen with oils and spices and served them with vegetables such as cauliflower, and this morning I made some oat slices to serve to guests at one of my massage courses. This recipe is very versatile, you can easily swap the dried and fresh fruit for alternatives - and it happens to be vegan, sugar free and can be gluten free if you opt for GF oats. I am always inclined towards the savoury, but if you have a sweeter tooth a drizzle of honey could be added to the top before serving, or mixed into the recipe before cooking.

A tasty, family-friendly snack that celebrates these local gems? I’d love to know your thoughts …
Tia x

Sea buckthorn oat slices

Makes 16 - 20 squares

Ingredients

• 200g oats

• 180g dried fruits, chopped small (I used a combination of dates and raisins)

• 100g sea buckthorn berries (I used them from frozen)

• 200g apple purée (see recipe from Deliciously Ella at the bottom of the page - I made then batch froze this in autumn using apples from the orchard)

• Handful of flaked coconut

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 100ml sunflower oil

• 1 tbsp melted coconut oil

• 1 tsp ground ginger

Method:

• Heat oven to 180 C.

• If using apple purée from the freezer, take it out the night before to defrost.

• Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together. Leave for 20 minutes to allow berries to defrost and the wet ingredients to soak into the dry.

• Press into a greased baking tray, approx 22cm square

• Bake in oven for approx 50 minutes until becoming golden. Check while cooking to ensure they don’t burn.

• After removing the tray from the oven, place a knife around the outside to prevent sticking to the sides, then leave to cool before cutting into squares and removing from the tray. By leaving to cool the slices will keep their shape rather than falling apart while still hot.

Notes:

• This is a very flexible recipe - play around with the dried fruits (I used a combination of dates and raisins as that’s what I had in the store cupboard) and fresh fruits such as blueberries in summer work well too.

• If you prefer a sweeter flavour, you could drizzle the slices with honey or melted dark chocolate.

Apple purée recipe (from Deliciously Ella)

The quantities below will make you a stock of apple purée that you can use in multiple meals or save in the fridge or freezer.

Ingredients

• 10 apples, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Method

• Place the apple pieces in a large saucepan and cover the bottom with a couple of centimetres water.

• Cook the apples for about 40 minutes, until they’re very soft.

• Drain any remaining water and place in blender or food processor with maple syrup and cinnamon. Blend until smooth and creamy, then put into storage pots and place in fridge (for up to five days) or freezer.

Botelet Breakfast Club: A Seasonal Space?

Seasonal eating - a buzz word of our time. A fabulous intention - to eat that which is produced locally to us in harmony with the seasons, reconnecting with how our bodies were no doubt designed to eat before food was a global commodity and we became accustomed to eating fresh fruits and vegetables at any time of year, simply because our tastebuds fancied it or a recipe required it.

I am always drawn to restaurants offering a seasonal menu, it speaks to an intuitive sense of what is ‘right’. But then again, are there many eateries these days that aren’t using the term ‘seasonal’ to describe their offering? It feels as though we have collectively acknowledged the importance of seasonal eating - for freshness, for quality, for nutritional content, to support local producers and reduce food miles - but when a dish or menu is promoted as ‘seasonal’ it may be simply because one or two components are, with plenty of others shipped in, seriously degrading the sustainability of the meal. I know, as I’ve done this too! I have prepared and offered food as ‘seasonal’, referencing elements that are grown locally - for example an overnight oats topped with a compote that’s made with primarily with garden produce, but with oranges, grapefruits and pomegranates featuring within the recipe. They may be considered ‘winter’ fruits, but clearly not from the UK!

Seasonality has been playing on my mind. Perhaps living in the countryside where I’m so directly immersed in nature’s shifts; perhaps through my role of planning and delivering food for our monthly pop-up breakfast café Botelet Breakfast Club - but certainly through a recent weekend away as part of a creative collective, hosted by chef James Strawbridge at his family’s home, the beautiful Chateau de la Motte Husson. James set the themes for this immersive weekend retreat around seasonality, sustainability and collaboration. I am eternally grateful for the chance to have been part of such an extraordinary experience, working alongside chefs, musicians, artists, artisans, designers and more in a multi-disciplinary space to make, eat and create.

During the weekend I was lucky enough to meet (and eat the insanely delicious food of) Jamie Park, Head Chef at The Frog Restaurant in Hoxton. Jamie has taken seasonal eating to a new level, creating a significant challenge for himself and his team by committing to sourcing the majority of fresh produce from within the British Isles - and making careful decisions within these parameters about the sustainability of produce that he includes in the menu. Committing to be truly seasonal when working on a restaurant-scale, and with the expectations of an ever-changing menu, I was hugely inspired by Jamie’s approach. Not only in terms of what is happening at his particular restaurant, but the broader message it conveys which can extend through to influence our food choices and eating habits outside of restaurant experiences, too. Jamie talked about reactions to having repetitions of certain food groups through the menu - especially in winter when plant-based produce that’s grown in the UK is more limited. Yet you can cook - say, a cauliflower - many different ways, catering to different tastes and preferences. I love this boldness: this produce is in season locally, so it’s what is on the menu. Here are different ways in which you may like to eat and enjoy. If we extend this approach into home cooking, how often do we feel pressure to create a menu for the week (even one that’s spontaneous rather than overly planned) that’s based on variety of ingredients, rather than celebrating and getting creative with the repetition of seasonal items, and feeling comfortable with continuing to eat the same foods until they are finished rather than throwing away and starting again the next day - especially when we are cooking for others and are mindful of their expectations?

Returning from the weekend retreat in France my mind has kept returning to the question: if Jamie’s dedication to sustainable eating enables him to offer a seasonal menu in a fast-paced London restaurant, what more can I be doing (even in the smallest of ways) at home in rural Cornwall, where I’m surrounded by local organic growers and home-grown as well as foraged food options - with our Botelet Breakfast Club offering, and by extension with our family’s food? I have pitched our ‘Breakfast Club’ as being seasonal, but is it - really?

The first task I set myself in examining the true seasonality of our current offering was to do an audit of the fresh produce I used at our last Breakfast Club, and track back where it was sourced from. It’s worth noting that I reference plant-based and dairy produce as our Breakfast Club offering is vegetarian. This is what I found:

Produced in the UK: cauliflower, leeks, sea buckthorn, apples, yogurt, milk, butter, primroses

Imported from outside the UK: lemons, oranges, grapefruit, pomegranate, fresh coriander

Seasonal? Definitely embracing some fantastic locally grown (and garden) produce but, I believe, could be better. Do I really need to use the fruits that are shipped over from Europe and beyond?

My answer to this question, having returned from France, is: no. So I’m going to be bold, inspired by Jamie’s approach, and use the (albeit tiny) space in which we offer food through our Breakfast Club to explore true seasonality in vegetarian cooking. Going forward, the fresh produce that is part of the menu will be sourced from Cornwall.

We are lucky enough to have a small vegetable patch here at Botelet with scope to grow plenty, but I’m not an especially green-fingered soul, so whilst I am looking forward to challenging myself to increase the time I spend in the garden I also want this journey to be a chance to learn about more about foraged foods, and to become more connected to the fantastic local producers surrounding us. So, no more avocados, bananas or pomegranate appearing on the Breakfast Club menu.

I have chosen to set the locally-sourced parameters just to fresh produce - plants and dairy. Clearly there are issues around importing store cupboard items as well; however fresh produce seems the first and most obvious to source locally thereby maintaining freshness and nutritional value, and without the same need to rush goods into the UK from overseas before they spoil, with a potentially heavier environmental footprint where food travels by air.

I am also aware that there is a balance to be struck between purchasing seasonal and therefore local whilst also supporting global producers, acknowledging the significant economic contribution that UK food exports make especially to farmers in developing countries. It strikes me that we need to celebrate the local, but not at the risk of cutting out global producers who rely on selling their products to us. The global food market has some starkly differing standards of sustainability within it both environmentally and socially, and our role as conscious consumers must surely be to make the best choices we can that take account of these. So it seems that fresh produce is the obvious one to aim for as local, and for all other items - that originate from within our country and beyond - to be “sourced from the best possible places” (to quote Jamie Park), taking account of organic and fair-trade options, as well as looking at issues around packaging when considering an item’s environmental footprint.

And so as I start planning for our next Botelet Breakfast Club, I am excited to become more attuned to the rhythms of the seasons as they unfold, celebrating what they have to offer. My starting point has been to explore the fruits and vegetables that may be available each season (see chart below) and consider not only what can be used fresh, but how I might utilise pickling, preserving and freezing to extend the availability of the produce - all areas that I’ve never thoroughly explored.

I hope to use this space not only to cook seasonally, but to open up conversations around the breakfast table and beyond regarding how we cook and eat. We all make choices in relation to where we source our food from, and as consumers these choices ultimately impact upon how sustainably food is produced. I am excited - and daunted - by the challenge of presenting a truly seasonal offering through our Breakfast Club, and look forward to the ripple effect it may have on our family’s eating habits too.

What strikes me as I consider the topic of seasonal eating is that, once again, a more sustainable approach seems to be all about keeping things simple. Stripping back: the menu, the variety, the expectations of what will be offered. Yet in doing so, embracing the challenge to be more creative with what we have; the beauty of simplicity.

I do hope you can join us for an upcoming Botelet Breakfast Club - and as I embark on this journey, I would love to know your thoughts on seasonal eating, and any tips for locally-grown produce, especially here in Cornwall!

Tia x

With special thanks to James Strawbridge for his endless inspiration, Jamie Park for his thoughts, time and lessons in all things foodie, and to each and every one of the Chateau Crew who created a space for ideas to evolve and thoughts to thrive.

Foodie chats with James

Botelet pomme

Jamie Park

Seasonal?

The humble carrot

Breakfast Clubbing

Images by Holes in the World, Richard Tamblyn and me

Sourced from: www.eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/calendar/

Autumn recipe: vegan pumpkin risotto on roasted fennel

This is one of my favourite autumn dishes, I served it at as the cooked dish at our October Botelet Breakfast Club. I love this recipe - the sweet aniseed of the roasted fennel that make a firm-to-bite boat on which to place in the oozy risotto.

Vegan risotto has been a revelation for me, I couldn’t believe that you could take out all of the butter and cheese and still be left with something so creamy and delicious. This recipe can so easily be adapted to accommodate whichever vegetables are in season. I sourced the pumpkin and fennel from this dish from the fabulous Ollofruit based just a couple of miles from us here at Botelet, growing beautiful organic vegetables.

I do hope you enjoy - and would love to know your feedback

Tia x

Vegan Pumpkin Risotto on Roasted Fennel

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized pumpkin, skin peeled, seeds taken out (these can be dried toasted to use another time)

• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

• Olive oil

• Salt & pepper

• Dried thyme - approx 6 tsp in total

• 3 fennel bulbs

• 1 large onion, peeled & finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped

• Leftover fennel that isn’t used in fennel ‘boats’ - chopped

• 1/2 head celery, chopped

• 400g risotto rice

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• Juice of 2 lemons

• 2 pints vegetable stock

• 2 tins coconut milk

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 C.

• To prepare the fennel bulbs - cut off the stalks that come out of the bulb (I like to leave a couple of cm on) and the leaves - put aside to use later and cut the fennel bulb in half length ways. Slice a little off the hard end of the fennel. With a small paring knife, scoop out the inside of the fennel, reserving it for use in the risotto. Leave a couple of layers of fennel, creating a boat shape. Turn the boat on its side and cut a small slice off the bottom so that the boat will stand up without tipping over.

• Boil a kettle of water, pour into a baking tray that has high sides and add a few good pinches of salt. Place the baking tray over heat on a hob. Carefully lower each of the fennel boats into the baking tray, making sure they are submerged in the water. Simmer gently for 5 minutes then remove from heat and carefully pour away the water.

• Once you have discarded the hot water, use the same baking tray and place the fennel boats in it, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried thyme. Bake in oven for 30 minutes, checking regularly. Aim for the fennel to be pliable and starting to brown - but not withering. Remove from heat or keep in the oven for longer if needed. If the fennel have cooked before the rest of the meal is ready, you can keep them warmed in an oven set at a very low heat.

• Prepare the pumpkin - peel off skin, remove seeds and chop into small chunks. Place on baking tray making sure they aren’t piled up (if they are, use a second baking tray), drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, pepper and the cinnamon, give a good mix together. Place in oven for 30 minutes, checking and turning a couple of times.

• To make the risotto - put 4 tbsp olive oil in large pan, add chopped onion, garlic, celery and leftover fennel to the pan and cook slowly for about 15 minutes until they soften.

• When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat a little. Keep stirring, when the rice starts to go translucent in colour add the herbs (3 tsp dried thyme & 1 tsp cayenne pepper) and turn the heat back down a little, continue cooking for another couple of minutes.

• Prepare the stock. Add 1 or 2 ladlefuls at a time, keep stirring as the rice absorbs the stock. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Keep adding the stock and stirring until nearly absorbed, then add the coconut milk in a similar way.

• After approx 15 minutes, when there is still a little liquid left around the rice and it’s almost cooked but with a slight bite, take off the heat, add the lemon juice, stir in the pumpkin from the baking tray and place a lid on the pan, give it a good stir and leave to sit for 5 minutes.

• Chop the fennel leaves to use as a garnish.

• To assemble - place roasted fennel boat on plate, spoon over risotto, garnish with a dash of olive oil, some cracked pepper and a sprinkle of fennel leaves.

• Note - depending upon the size of the fennel bulbs, you may have quite a lot of risotto per boat! You may wish to serve a suitable size for the fennel boat, then offer those you are cooking for to come back for more if they wish!