Cooking with Hazelnuts

Yesterday I realized that the hazelnuts on a local tree were ripe and ready for picking and it was a case of collecting them before the local children got to them. As a result there's an update on this blog about within a week of my last post. I know that my aim here is to post about a new wild food every week, but sometimes you have to pick wild foods when they're available rather than when you would like to do so. So here's an unexpected update on hazelnuts and the hazel tree.

Because I now have the hazelnuts and they're green (some I will set aside to dry) here are some of my favourite recipes for green hazelnuts or cobnuts. But, before I go to the recipes here's a brief introduction to hazelnuts:

People have been eating hazelnuts for millennia and we have evidence for large scale hazelnut collection and preparation from 7000 years ago. If you would like to explore what our ancestors may have made with these hazelnuts, check out these ancient hazelnut recipes.

These days, in the main, it's the common hazel, Corylus avellana that's most commonly grown. But development of the wild stock in orchards and gardens has led to a whole range of cultivars and in Britain one of the commonest is the Cobnut or Kentish Cob, originally developed around 1830 and which is now by far the commonest variety. It has a large shell and nut and is noted by remaining green in the shell for a long time after being picked, which makes it excellent for transportation. Another common variety of hazelnut is the filbert Corylus maxima which is native to southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia and most commonly comes from Turkey.

In the recipes below any of these hazel varieties can be used.

We'll start with one of my favourite recipes, a green hazelnut pesto:

Cobnut Pesto

Ingredients:
120g cobnuts (shelled weight), lightly toasted
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
100g mint (leaves and tender stems)
2 garlic cloves
salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:
Simply combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until a smooth purŽe is formed. Transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator (for a slightly richer flavour you can add 50g freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. This pesto makes an excellent crust for lamb chops and also goes well with rich fish such as mackerel, herring or tuna.

(this recipe is adapted, with permission, from the following cobnut or hazelnut posto recipe.)


Hazelnut Halva

This is an adaptation of the classic Middle Eastern dessert/candy that uses hazelnuts rather than the more typical pine nuts or almonds in the mixture.


Ingredients:
280g sugar
100ml water
150g blanched hazelnuts, toasted
340g tahini (sesame seed paste)

Method:
Begin by laying the blanched hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast in an oven pre-heated to 180°C until lightly coloured. Take out of the oven and immediately transfer to a bowl and when cool chop each one in half with a sarp knife.

Beat the tahini in a large bowl until smooth then set aside. In the meantime, combine the sugar and water in a pan and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until the mixture reaches 125°C (between the Hard Ball stage and the Soft Crack stage). Add the hazelnuts at this stage and stir to combine.

Take the pan off the heat and gradually beat the syrup mixture into the tahini, whisking constantly. Continue beating briskly until the mixture begins to set then press the mixture into the base of an oiled cake tin lined with greaseproof paper. Place in the refrigerator and leave to set for 24 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator, take out of the tin and cut into squares with a sharp knife whilst still cold.

(This recipe is reproduced, with permission from the original Hazelnut Halva/Halwa Recipe.)



For many more hazlenut and cobnut recipes check out the Celtnet Cobnut and Hazelnut recipes collection, which is a part of a much larger collection of nut-based recipes.

For all the wild food recipes on this blog, see the wild food recipes page.

Cooking with Rowan Berries

This is this week's entry in my attempt to find a new autumn wild food every week and this time it's rowan berries (for a list of autumn fruit and when they are ready, along with links to recipes using them see this List of Autumn fruit and recipes).

Rowan berries are everywhere in late autumn and the bright red berries tend to stand out in scarlet bunches from the parent tree. These are the fruit of the Rowan tree, Sorbus aucuparia a member of the Rosaceae (rose) family of plants.

Many believe that rowan berries are poisonous and that's why they're not often picked. In a sense this is right as raw rowan berries contain parasorbic acid that can cause stomach upsets and liver damage. However, if frozen (and most especially if cooked) the parasorbic acid is converted into inert parasorbic acid (this is what makes rowan berries bitter) and they are safe to eat. This is probably the origin of the folkloric practice of not picking rowan berries until after the first frost. But these days you can pick them as soon as they are ripe and then freeze them for 2 weeks. This both makes them sweeter and renders them safer. But if you're cooking them for any period of time they will be safe anyway.

Rowan berries have a tartness and a sweetness that makes them excellent for making jellies and they also have a natural affinity for game meats, so rowan jelly is often used in game sauces.

Below are a few rowan recipes for your to try yourselves. Rowan berries tend to contain little pectin. As a result I tend to add a few crab apples to my jelly to ensure setting.


Rowan Jelly

Ingredients:
1.3g rowan berries
3 crab apples, chopped
1.5l water
sugar (75g per 100ml of liquid)


Method:

Pick the rowan berries, remove any stalks then dry and freeze over night to help destroy the parasorbic acid in the fruit. The following day thaw the fruit. Wash the whole crab apples, removing any bruised parts and place the fruit in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, adding just enough water to cover them. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for some 25 minutes, until tender. Strain the jelly through a bag or muslin cloth (this will take up to 5 hours) but do not squeeze, otherwise the jelly will become cloudy.

Measure the volume of liquid you have and add 75g of sugar per 100ml of liquid. Add the sugar in an ovenproof bowl and place in the centre of an oven pre-heated to 170°C and bake for about 10 minutes.

Return the juice back to a clean heavy-bottomed pan and add the sugar, stirring until fully dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook rapidly for about 15 minutes, until the setting point is reached. Test for setting by placing a teaspoon of the mixture on a place cooled in the fridge. Allow to cool for a minute and then if a skin forms when you push the mixture with your fingernail it's ready to pot. If you don't get a skin continue boiling for a further ten minutes and test again.

Skim the surface when ready, allow to cool for about 7–8 minutes before potting. Then spoon into warmed, sterilized jars using a ladle.


Now you have your rowan berry jelly, you can make a red wine game sauce with it:

Rowan Berry Sauce

Ingredients:
3 tbsp fat from game meat roasting (use duck fat or butter at a pinch)
2 tbsp flour
100ml water
150ml red wine
2 tbsp rowan berry jelly


Method:
Add the fat to a pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour over the top then stir into the fat to form a smooth roux and cook for 1 minute, stirring continually. Combine the red wine and cold water then slowly add the liquid to the roux mixture, stirring all the while to ensue you have a smooth sauce.

Bring the mix to a boil then stir in the rowan jelly. Continue cooking and stirring until the jelly has dissolved and the sauce has thickened. Serve hot with game.


This recipe is reproduced, with permission, from the Celtnet Rowan Berry and Red Wine Game Sauce recipe.

There is more information about Rowan Berries and plenty of Rowan Berry recipes on the Celtnet Rowan Berry Wild Food information and Recipes page.

For more rowan berry recipes, including pies, jams, jellies and sauces look at the Rowan Berry Recipe collection.

For all the wild food recipes on this blog, see the wild food recipes page.

Rose Hips for Food

In my quest to find and collect a new wild food each and every weekend in September and October I've come to a little bit of an Impasse. So far I've had blackberries (link), elderberries (link), ash keys and haws.

The past few weeks have been so wet that I've not had much of an opportunity. But yesterday was a very fine day. However, guelder roses aren't quite ripe yet and the same is true of rowan berries.

That really only leaves rose hips. Now, I've nibbled on these in passing several times in the past and I really like the taste. But they do strike me as being just a bit of a faff to prepare, as you have to remove each and every seed.



But, needs must... and as there was nothing else to pick (at least not properly) I decided to harvest the rose hips instead (of course I picked more elderberries and haws as well). Admittedly it's still a little early for the rose hips to be fully ripe (the dog rose ones at least), but the wild Rosa rugosa hips were nice and dark and there were quite a few bushes growing on waste ground so I harvested those and will pick the dog rose Rosa canina hips later this month.

Having picked the rose hips I needed to find things to do with them and it's only when searching the web that I found out just how versatile this food could be. So here are a couple of recipes that I've been able to try out for myself.

First we'll start with a classic method of air drying rose hips for later use:

Dried Rose Hips

Ingredients:
600g rose hips

Like many late autumn fruit it's best to pick rose hips after the first frost when they are fully ripe. Snap off the tails of the hips as close to the fruit as possible then spread the hips out on a clean surface (I tend to spread newspaper on a table and spread them out there). Allow to dry partially (when the skins begin to wrinkle) then split the hips and remove all the seeds with a small spoon or a pointed knife (be certain to remove all the seeds, as these can catch in the throat).

Return the hips to your drying surface and allow to dry our completely (they must be completely dry, or they will not store) then either freeze in bags (they will keep indefinitely) or place in a clean jar and store in the refrigerator (they will keep for several months).

As well as being used as replacement for fruit you can add these to trail mixes, eat them as snacks or use as toppings for salads. Rose hips are very high in vitamin C and make an excellent winter supplement.

Of course, one of the classic ways of using rose hips is to make rose hip soup. There are classic recipes for this from Sweden (Nyponsoppa) and Germany (Hagebuttem Soup) but the recipe given below is a classic British recipe:

Rose Hip Soup

Ingredients:
1l rose hip purée (or rose hip juice)
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp water
6 tbsp Greek-style yoghurt

Method:
Combine the rose hip purée, honey and lemon juice in a pan. Bring to a simmer then whisk together the cornflour and water to a slurry. Add to the soup and whisk to combine. Continue cooking until the soup thickens then ladle into warmed soup bowls, garnish with a spoonful of yoghurt and serve.

(This recipe is reproduced, with thanks, from the Celtnet British Recipes collection.)


If you want many more rose hip recipes then check out the Rose hips recipes collecton.

For all the wild food recipes on this blog, see the wild food recipes page.

Recipes for Occasions

With Halloween just around the corner I want to talk to your about various occasions. For the next three months we have Halloween, Thanksgiving (Bonfire Night if you're in the UK) and Christmas (or the Winter Solstice) and of course New Year all just around the corner.

Now is the time for thinking about Halloween (and you can learn much more about the Origins, History, traditions and Recipes of Halloween).


Contrary to popular belief, Halloween is not an American festival. It actually has its roots deep in the Celtic past but it was made into a Christian festival in the 9th century when the day became merged with All Saints' Day (All Hallows Day in Old English, and the night before was All Hallows' Eve which became truncated to Hallowe'en and Halloween). As a result there are traditions and recipes associated with Halloween right across the British Isles and here are links to some traditional recipes from England:

soul cakes
toffee apples
Apple Tart with Herb Bennet
Apple Pie


In Ireland, Halloween was traditionally a day of abstinence and no meat was eaten. As a result recipes featuring potatoes were the mainstay. A good example being Northern Ireland's Champ, the recipe for which is given below:

Champ Recipe

Ingredients:
900g potatoes, peeled and halved
240ml milk
1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
60g butter
1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper, or to taste

Method:

Add the potatoes to a pan and just cover with water. Bring to a boil and allow to cook until tender (about 20 minutes). Drain in a colander then return to the pan and cook for a few minutes so the potatoes have a chance to drain.

Meanwhile add the milk and spring onions to a pan and heat gently until just warm. Take the potatoes off the heat and mash with the butter, salt and black pepper until smooth. Stir-in the milk mixture and beat until evenly combined. Season with black pepper and serve in warmed bowls. This also makes an excellent accompaniment to good quality sausages.

Below you will find links to other traditional Irish Halloween recipes.

Colcannon
champ
boxty pancakes
potato farls
apple and potato fadge
barm brack

You might also be interested to know that the Jack O'Lantern, the practice of carving lanterns from vegetables and illuminating them with candles is also a an Irish tradition (though swedes and turnips were used instead of pumpkins [which originate from the Americas]).

These days, however it's the pumpkin that's most closely related with Halloween and no Halloween meal is complete without a pumpkin recipe or two. In fact, the pumpkin is very versatile and can be used for a whole host of both sweet and savoury dishes. Though the dish everyone immediately thinks of is the 'Pumpkin Pie'. Here, however is a slight twist on that classic recipe:

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie Recipe


Ingredients:
enough sweet shortcrust pastry for a 22cm pie dish (about 250g)
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
50g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
generous pinch of salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice blend
300g cooked pumpkin purée (steam the pumpkin until tender, drain in a colander and mash or purée)
100g sugar
2 eggs, beaten
250ml evaporated milk

Method:

First prepare the cheese mix. Add the cream cheese to a bowl and beat until creamy then add the 50g sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy then add the egg.

Roll out the pastry until large enough to cover the base of a deep 22cm pie dish. Trim any excess then spread the cheese mixture in the base of the pastry shell.

Combine the pumpkin, remaining sugar, salt and spices. Blend until smooth then add the eggs and evaporated milk. Mix until smooth then pour the mixture into the pie shell. Place in an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for about 60 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling has stet. Allow to cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving.

(This recipe was adapted from the Celtnet Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie Recipe page.


For more pumpkin-associated recipes from all across the globe check out this list of pumpkin-based recipes.

These recipes are brought to you with the Celtnet Recipes for Special Occasions recipes.




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In this post I'm also going to bring your attention to a new website by a colleague of mine: Foodmad Recipes and she promises to bring you new and surprising recipes from across the globe.

The Time for Pumpkins

October is almost upon us, and that's the time for pumpkins. As a fruit, pumpkins are a member of the Cucurbitaceae family of plants (which also includes gourds) and are probably native to North America (the oldest known seeds having been found in Mexico). Indeed, the only squash known to be native to Eurasia is the green Chinese squash and it's this that's referred to in Roman and Medieval recipes (for example, Alexandrine Squash or Gourdes in Potage [Squash Stew]).

Not only are pumpkins and squashes very versatile in cooking, they're also the Halloween vegetable par excellence, whether you're using them for making a Jack O'Lantern or for preparing Hallowe'en dishes. So, here are a few classic pumpkin dishes for you to try.

Most of these recipes call for cooked pumpkin purée. You can, of course, buy tinned pumpkin but it's very easy to make pumpkin purée. Simply peel your pumpkin, remove the seeds and dice the flesh. Either boil or place in a steamer and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain in a colander over the sink and allow the excess moisture to drain out for 10 minutes. After this time press gently with the back of a spoon to remove more moisture. Depending on how fine a purée you need you can either mash the pumpkin with a fork or you can press it through a fine-meshed sieve with the back of a spoon. Use this purée anywhere that calls for tinned or prepared pumpkin. You can even freeze the mixture as it keeps well. If making this for pumpkin pie then you can pre-spice the mixture by adding 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend to every 200g (1 cup) of pumpkin purée.


Now for the recipes:

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
enough sweet shortcrust pie dough for a 22cm pie dish (about 250g)
200g pumpkin purée
150g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves)
3 eggs, slightly beaten
250ml single cream

Method:
In a bowl, beat together the pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices. Mix until smooth then add the eggs and beat to combine. Finally add the cream and beat to mix.

Turn the pastry onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll out until large enough to cover the base of a 22cm diameter deep pie dish. Line the dish with the pastry and trim the edges. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the dish then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 210°C. Bake for about 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 170°C and bake for a further 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the pie emerges cleanly.

Allow to cool on a wire rack and serve either warm or cold.


Spiced Pumpkin Fudge

Ingredients:
150g butter
600g sugar
160ml evaporated milk
100g cooked pumpkin, drained and mashed

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
300g butterscotch chips
210g Marshmallow Creme
120g toasted mixed nuts, chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
In a heavy-based saucepan combine the butter, sugar, evaporated milk, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to boil until the mixture reaches 115°C, as measured on a confectioner's thermometer (the Soft Ball stage).

Take off the heat then stir-in the butterscotch chips until melted before adding the marshmallow creme. Finally stir-in the nuts and vanilla. Pour into a buttered 30 x 22cm pan and allow to cool completely then cut into squares. Wrap in waxed paper and store in an air-tight jar.


These recipes are reproduced, with permission, from the Celtnet Pumpkin and Squash recipes collection and the Halloween Recipes Collection (which also has a history of Hallowe'en and recipes from the Iron Age to the present).

Jams and Jellies for Preserving

With Autum's riches properly upon us now is the time to buy sugar and to begin making proper use of this season's fruit.

Making jams and jellies is an excellent way of preserving fruit for the winter and, depending on the type of jam you make you also have excellent bases for jam-based cakes, puddings and sauces.

In essence, preserving fruit in this manner allows you to keep the essence of the fruit whilst making it suitable for storage at room temperature for considerable lengths of time. The essence of these preserving methods is this: where a jam is made with whole fruit (including skins and seeds) and a jelly is made solely from the juice strained from the fruit. Both are cooked with sugar and use natural (or added) pectin as the gelling agent. They are boiled until they reached the 'setting point' (when a spoonful of the jam or jelly, when placed on a cold plate forms a skin when pushed with a fingernail).

For a jam or a jelly to set you typically need 60% sugar and about 0.2 to 0.5% pectin. And it's the boiling process that concentrates the sugars added to the jam and the natural sugars in the fruit down to this level. Of these components, pectin is probably the most important. Many will want to add pectin to their jams and jellies to ensure setting, whether this is by use of 'jelling sugars' that contain pectin as an additive, or by the addition of additional pectin.

However, the important thing to remember is that many fruit contain natural pectin; with apples, quinces, plums, gooseberries and oranges (or other citrus fruit) containing the most. Apples and apricots typically contain 1% pectin, with crab apples containing up to 3% pectin. Oranges vary between 0.5% and 3.5%, with the zest containing most pectin. Soft fruit like cherries, grapes, strawberries and blackberries contain little pectin and either have to be concentrated down or need to be mixed with apples and other fruit to achieve the setting or gelling point. It should be noted, however that seeds often contain lots of pectin which is why grape jellies are always made with grape seeds and why plum seeds are often added in a muslin bag to plum jams. You can also add citrus peel to other jams to add more pectin to them.

One interesting thing is that carrots can contain up to 1.5% pectin so you can add a muslin bag of grated carrot to a fruit jam or jelly to help them set. The same is true of rhubarb which also contains about 1.2% pectin.

This is illustrated with a classic Elderberry Jam recipe (elderberries being the fruit of the wild Elder tree:

Elderberry Jam
(This recipe is adapted from: Elderberry Jam Recipe)

Ingredients:
2.7kg sugar
1.8kg elderberries
1.8l water

Method:
Wash the elderberries, removing them from their stalks with the tines of a fork. Place the fruit in a heavy-bottomed saucepan along with the water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, mashing the fruit against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon until the fruit is tender.

Add the sugar to the saucepan, heat through, stirring until completely dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly for about 15 minutes. Test for setting by placing a plate in the fridge. Spoon a little of the jam onto the plate, allow to cook then move it with your fingernail. If a crinkly skin forms then the jam is ready. If not continue boiling for 5 minutes more and test again.

Skim the surface then ladle into sterilized jars that have been warmed in an oven set to 100°C for 10 minutes. Allow 1cm of head space then secure the lid, allow to cool and store.


To show you the difference if you are making a jelly, the following recipe is for an Elderberry Jelly


Elderberry Jelly Recipe
(This recipe is adapted from: Elderberry Jelly Recipe)


Ingredients
1.8kg elderberries
600ml water
75g sugar per 100ml liquid

Method:

Wash and trim the elderberries then place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan along with the water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, mashing the fruit against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon.

Pour into a jelly bag or a sieve lined with several layers of muslin and allow to drain into a bowl (do not be tempted to squeeze the bag as this will only make the jelly cloudy.

The following morning discard the fruit (I tend to freeze them to make pies later) then measure the volume of the liquid and add 75g sugar per 100ml of fluid.

Place the juice and the sugar in a saucepan, heat through then add the sugar, stirring until completely dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly for about 15 minutes. Test for setting by placing a plate in the fridge. Spoon a little of the jelly onto the plate, allow to cook then move it with your fingernail. If a crinkly skin forms then the jelly is ready. If not continue boiling for 5 minutes more and test again.

Skim the surface then ladle into sterilized jars that have been warmed in an oven set to 100°C for 5 minutes. Allow 1cm of head space then secure the lid, allow to cool and store.


Please note that these recipes come from the Celtnet Recipes for Jams and Jellies collection, which is part of the Sauces, Jams and Preserves Recipes section of the Celtnet website.

French Toast with Wild Berries

Now is definitely the time to make the most of this season's wild fruit and this recipe marries a classic sweet bread French toast with a medley of wild fruit to produce a sumptuous and decadent breakfast.

Sweet French Toast with Wild Berries

Ingredients:
3 large whole eggs
100ml whole milk
60g golden caster sugar
3 tsp ground cinnamon
4 slices brioche or sweet cake (eg Madeira Cake or Banana Bread)
1 wilding apple, peeled, quartered and cored
4 plums, halved and pitted
70g mixed berries (blackberries, elderberries, wild raspberries etc)
1 heaped tbsp butter
1 (generous) tbsp brandy


Whisk together the eggs, milk, half the sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon in a bowl. Pour into a large, shallow, dish (it should be large enough for the bread to fit comfortable and allow some space for movement). Add the brioche (or cake) and allow to sit in the egg mixture for about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut each apple quarter into thirds and toss these pieces, along with the plum halves, in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. When the fruit are well coated melt half the butter in a non-stick frying pan, add the fruit pieces and cook for 1 minute then add the mixed berries. Continue cooking until the apple pieces are browned all over on medium heat.

Melt the remaining butter in a separate pan then drain the brioche slightly and place in the pan. Fry for about 2 or 3 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned then transfer to warmed serving plates.

Pour the brandy over the apples in the pan, carefully light the alcohol to burn it off (its safer to use a taper to ignite the vapours). Then, as soon as the flames have subsided, spoon the apples over the brioche. Pour any of the fruit and brandy sauce over the top and serve hot.

This recipe comes courtesy of the Celtnet Wild Food recipes and Celtnet Breakfast recipes pages.

For all the wild food recipes on this blog, see the wild food recipes page.