An Interlude…

Yet the human heart is disheartened by the most unreasonable self-judgements, because even when we take on giants, we too often confuse failure with fault, which I know too well. The only way back from such a bleak despondancy is to shape humiliation into humanity, to strive always to triumph over the darkness while never forgetting that the honour and the beauty are more in striving than in winning. When triumph at last comes, our efforts alone could not have won the day without that grace which suprasses all understanding and which will, if we allow it, imbue our lives with meaning. – Dean Koontz

January.
(the month when everything christmas, dies)

    
(Leon lunch)

Pea, Broccoli and Almond Soup

♡ 2 tbsp olive oil
♡ 1 onion, chopped
♡ 1 broccoli, chopped
♡ 200g frozen peas
♡ 2 cloves garlic
♡ 1 litre vegetable stock
♡ 75g toasted  flaked almonds
♡ 2 tbsp almond cream
♡ salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pan, then add the onion and chopped garlic and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes.
2. Adding the broccoli to the pan, pour in the vegetable stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender.
3. Add the 200g of frozen peas and simmer for a further 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the almonds, then blend the soup in batches until smooth.
5. Season well and serve either with a dash of almond creme and a sprinkling of almonds or a drizzle of olive oil.
6. (Season to taste).

 Winter Spelt and Butter Bean Bowls

♡ 1 medium cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
♡ 1 large onion, diced
♡ 1 tsp cumin seeds
♡ 1 tbsp olive oil
♡ 100g pearled barley
♡ 100g red rice
♡ 2 x 400g butter beans, drained
♡ 2 lemons, juiced
♡ 4 tbsp tahini
♡ 2 garlic cloves, crushed
♡ 70g lambs lettuce
♡ 100g radishes, finely sliced
♡ 1 punnet salad cress, snipped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Toss the onion, cauliflower and cumin seeds in 2 tbsp olive oil and spread out on a large tray. Roast for 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, put the spelt and rice in a medium pan and cover generously with cold water. Add a pinch of salt. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the grains are tender. Add the can of butter beans and warm through for a few minutes. Drain and return to a pan. Set aside.
3. Put the remaining can of drained butter beans in the small bowl of a food processor with the juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbsp tahini, and 1 crushed garlic clove. Season and whizz until very smooth scraping down the sides, adding a slpashing of water if the blades dont turn easily.
4. In a bowl, whisk the remaining tahini together with the remaining lemon juice, 1 tbsp oil and 1 crushed garlic clove. Season and add enough warm water to make a sauce the consistency of double cream.
5. To make each bowl, start with a bed of warm spelt, rice and butter beans. Top with 1/4 of the roast cauliflower and onion, a generous helping of the butterbean hummus, a handful of lambs lettuce and 1/4 of the sliced radishes. Spoon some tahini sauce on top and finish with a little cress.

Currently obsessed with – this