Archive for September, 2009

Now that Autumn has arrived we can enjoy some weird and wonderful mushrooms once more. Beautifully mysterious and full of earthy flavours, they will add a bit of magic to your cooking.

Fresh this week are the pleurottes. Delicate and subtle they have a faint flavour of oysters. Also try the French chanterelles, with a beautiful golden colour and a truly exquisite taste.

Probably the most delightfully rich are the cépes, also known as porcini or penny bun. These are champagne cork shaped and equally as extravagant. Whilst the dried alternatives are supremely packed with flavour, they will never match the meaty richness of these fresh ones. Try them with persillade as per the recipe below. Delicious!

Cépes en Persillade

250g Fresh cépes
100g Fresh Breadcrumbs
1 Bunch of Flat Leaf Parsley
3 Cloves of Garlic
Salt and Pepper
Juice and Rind of 1 Lemon
Olive Oil

First make the persillade. Persillade simply means a sauce made with parsley, garlic, oil and seasoning. To make this variant, put the breadcrumbs in a food processor with the parsley leaves, pressed and chopped garlic, salt and pepper and thinly sliced lemon rind. Blend well until the crumbs have turned a vibrant green colour, but be careful not to overwork. Tip the mixture onto a tray.

Now pre-heat your grill to medium while we prepare the cépes. Slice and quickly fry them in 1-2 tbsp olive oil with a little seasoning. Continue until they have turned a pale golden colour, then add the juice of one lemon. Transfer to a shallow oven dish, spreading out evenly. Sprinkle with the persillade and dribble over 3-4 tbsp olive oil.

Place under the grill, but keep some distance so that the breadcrumbs brown gently. This way they will soak up the cepes juices as they crust. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

400g Cavolo Nero
4 Pork Chops
4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Garlic
180ml Dry Red Wine
Salt and Pepper
2 tbsp Chopped Parsley
Sage Leaves

Rinse the Cavolo Nero under cold running water, then roughly chop. Boil in salty water for 20 minutes, then drain well. Heat the extra virgin olive oil and gently fry the crushed garlic until golden. Now the garlic has done its work in flavouring the oil, you can discard it.

Now add the 4 pork chops to the pan, pour in 180ml dry red wine and season with salt, pepper and sage. Simmer until the wine has evaporated. Remove the chops from the pan and keep warm in the oven.

Add the Cavolo Nero to the pan, along with the chopped parsley, a couple of sprigs of sage and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring all the time.

It’s finally time to enjoy the rich delights of Autumn. Whilst some may be mourning the end of Summer, at Natoora we’re celebrating the beginning of Autumn with some amazing September flavours. With luscious Muscat and Chasselas grapes, crunchy William’s Pears, and juicy red currants, the transition from Summer to Autumn is sure to be a sweet one. There’s also a bounty of earthy flavours to enjoy with fresh mushrooms, pumpkins and chestnuts. In case you need some persuading to join the celebrations, we have a delicious offer this month. When you order any of our Autumn Picks, we’ll give you a very tasty 20% off your whole shopping basket! Simply enter the code “AUTUMNFRESH” at the checkout and make sure your basket is over £60 (Offer expires 7th October). Does September get yummier any than that?

Our Autumn Picks

Fresh Mushrooms

Muscat and Chasselas Grapes

Black Cabbage (Cavolo Nero)

Delica and Violina Pumpkins

Red Currants

Quince

William’s Pears

Organic Pork Chops

Reblochon

Beaufort D’Alpage

Pumpkins. They tend to get a bit of raw deal. Even in fairytales they are used as nothing more than a mode of transport for that pesky Cinderella. Perhaps she should have walked to ball and enjoyed gallons of pumpkin soup afterwards instead. In the real world they are hacked into grotesque faces and stuffed with a candle for Halloween. I bet pumpkins dread October 31st.

Thankfully, we have over a month until pumpkin doomsday, so it’s time to stop (or at least delay) this abuse and give them the love and attention they deserve…by pulsing them into a soup, or hacking them up for pies.

This week we have two unusual varieties to tempt you – the Delica and the Violina. The Delica has a very orange flesh, which holds well during cooking, so it’s perfect for roasting. Try it with rosemary, runny honey and plenty of salt and pepper. The Violina pumpkin is sweeter with a more yellow flesh. This type is perfect for pasta fillings and even for cakes and muffins. Which brings me to this amazing recipe!

Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 12-15

125g Cooked Pumpkin (peel and remove seeds* and soft flesh then boil small pieces for 25 minutes)
225g Caster Sugar
150ml Sunflower Oil
2 Eggs
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 Vanilla Pod
75g Chopped Walnuts
225g Self Raising Flour
150ml Soured Cream or Crème Fraîche

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4, 350F or 180C. In a large bowl, mix together the flour (sifted), ginger, cinnamon, salt, vanilla (scrape out the seeds) and the bicarbonate of soda. Combine well.

Pour the oil into a separate bowl and add the soured cream, eggs and sugar. Beat well until smooth. Add the pumpkin and mix or blend. Pour this mixture into the flour mixture. Add the walnuts and stir well.

Pour into muffin tins or greased cases and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until firm and risen.

Optional: Once cooled, sprinkle the muffins with vanilla sugar or top with frosting. Enjoy!

*Don’t waste the seeds! Roast the seeds in butter, cinnamon and vanilla, turning regularly for around 30 minutes.

No, I’m not talking about a new porcine weapon, rather an unusual dish made with two outstanding ingredients. It may sound scary, but the mix of organic pork and fresh prickly pears is a real treat. Pork has always loved fruit like apricots and apples, but it can also take the more unusual flavour of prickly pear. Prickly pears and pork; a match made in both culinary and alliterative heaven!

Diced Pork with Prickly Pear (serves 4)

4-6 Prickly Pears
500g Diced Pork
2 Small Shallots
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Sichaun Peppercorns

First prepare the prickly pears. These will already have the spikes removed so slice off the top and bottom, then score a line down the side of the pear. Slip your finger into the slice and grab the skin. Peel away the skin and dice the rest of the pear.

Now fry the thinly sliced shallots in olive oil. Add the diced pears and stir gently. Now add the peppercorns, followed by the diced pork and mix. At Natoora we get all our pork from our expert butcher Jack O’Shea, so we can guarentee it is all from organic Dorset pigs. Give the dish a splash of balsamic vinegar for extra flavour and cover for 2 minutes. Once the pork is cooked, serve and enjoy!

Welcome to the brand spanking new blog from Natoora. For those of you who don’t know us, we sell some amazing food from our website (www.natoora.co.uk), from the best in fresh fruit and veg, to quality meat and fish, fine cheeses and charcuterie, and gourmet groceries. Everyone here has a real passion for good food, not just from sourcing the very best available, but to preparing and cooking. With our professional and personal experience with food we have set up this blog to share our recipes, talk to other food lovers, and help you get the best out of what you buy or grow.

We’ll update you regularly with brand new recipes using the best of the season’s produce, hints and tips on how to prepare the everyday and the unusual, plus give you the inside information from guest bloggers and staff. We’d love to get your comments and photos and every month we’ll feature one of our readers recipes in “Recipe of the Month”. The lucky cook will also receive a prize of Natoora gift vouchers yippee.

It’s our expertise that makes us able to source amazing produce for you. The Independent agrees, using our very own Franco Fubini as a guide around a Parisian food market:

“The next day we met our guide, Franco Fubini, in the hotel lobby at 5.30am. Fubini is the English head of [...] Natoora. This is an online company which delivers food – hand-picked from quality markets such as Rungis – and delivers it direct to your door. [...] We get a large proportion of stuff from them at Petersham, including delicious olive oils and vinegars. Natoora has recently been importing wonderful salad leaves and early-spring vegetables from the markets in Milan. Wonderful, wild dandelion, watercress and wild fennel have arrived at Petersham in pristine condition. As (omega) well as more unusual things such as erbette, (young spinach leaves) and tiny bitter lettuces known as cicorino. We were keen to accompany Fubini on his fact-finding trip to see what the French markets had to offer.”

Read the whole article at The Independent, “A Taste of Paris”, 1.4.2007)