Green Sauce

My mother found this recipe in the newspaper (I think) and made it for me as the dressing for a cous cous salad and I was completely obsessed. When I was pregnant with Jack (and still slightly now... not slightly pregnant) I was obsessed with salsa verde and this is sort of the same thing but with one major difference. It uses preserved lemons. Before I had this sauce nothing on god's earth could get me to have anything with lemons in (I do use lemon juice in cooking but with caution) but now I usually have a jar of them in the pantry or in the fridge.

This sauce is really easy to make - you need a magimix or blender - and makes something unexciting quite special. For example, tonight I cooking supper for a pregnant woman who may just be one of those who is The First Woman Ever to be Pregnant and I'm assuming a lot of foods will not appeal or be allowed. So I'm playing it safe but for those of us who want a bit of a kick there will be a bowl of this green sauce on the table for the orzo pasta which will be served with butter and garlic salt (there are other things too don't worry).

Wild Garlic Pesto

My brother-in-law picked too much wild garlic so brought us some and I had no idea what to cook with it. Usually we use it with chicken but Joe was going away for a couple of days so I needed to make something that would last. Wild garlic pesto seemed the obvious option but having made it I wasn't sure. It was so garlicky that my taste buds were blown slightly and I love basil pesto so much this didn't seem to quite live up to it. But then I made my supper with it and it was tasty and amazing and now I'm really pleased to have it in my fridge for making things exciting when I can't be bothered to cook properly!

The recipe is taken from Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook and I'm going to put my pasta recipe below it, which looks really unexciting but was in fact incredibly yummy with this pesto. I'm not sure how long it will keep for but I'm assuming quite a while as long as you keep it sealed tightly and covered with olive oil.

Wild Garlic Pesto

For a large jar:

2 handfuls (about 100g) of wild garlic with leaves and flowers
200ml extra virgin olive oil, plus a bit more for sealing
50g pine nuts or walnuts
2 garlic cloves, peeled
50g Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper

1. Check there are no snails on your wild garlic. Blanch the wild garlic leaves in boiling water for about 10 seconds. Refresh in cold water and pat dry on kitchen paper.

2. Put the wild garlic, olive oil, pine nuts/walnuts, together with the garlic cloves, into a food processor and blend to a puree.

3. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the grated Parmesan and season carefully.

4. Put into a sterilised jar and pour a little extra olive oil over the top to seal, cover tightly.

Wild Garlic Pesto Pasta with Feta and Tomatoes

Serves 1

100g dried pasta, I use gigli
1/3 block of feta, cubed
2-3 vine ripened tomatoes
1 small tin of tuna in brine, drained
1 tbsp Wild Garlic Pesto
Salt and black pepper

1. Put the pasta on to cook in salted water.

2. Cube the feta, slice the tomatoes and drain the tuna.

3. When the pasta is cooked drain it and return it to the pan. Stir through the pesto and then the remaining ingredients.

4. Season with salt to taste and a lot of black pepper.

Procrastination Plum Sauce

While trying to avoid work the other day I realised I really must do something with the plums wrongly delivered by Salisbury's and while I don't actually love plums I really like plum sauce and it would be a useful addition to my fridge so I turned to Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook which never seems to let me down in fruit or veg crises.

Very quick and easy to make and I rather pleasingly found that the recipe needed exactly the amount of plums in my punnet which was nice. This can be brushed on lamb, beef, pork or fish before barbecuing or grilling, or can enrich the juices from your pork, goose or duck and can even be thinned a little with a light oil and used as a dipping sauce. I will probably eat most of it in the middle of the night with a spoon... or maybe with a pickled onion dunked in it... I'm not pregnant I swear.

Plum Sauce

For 500ml

450g ripe plums
2-3 garlic cloves
2 dried chillies or 1 fresh red chilli
3 heaped tbsp soft brown sugar
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
4 tbsp soy sauce
salt


You need a heavy based saucepan but not a very big one. I used a fresh red chilli because I had one in the fridge and 3 cloves of garlic because I love garlic. I used a big jar as I only wanted one of these... I'm not sure it's going to last very long once Joe gets back from being away for work.

1. Halve the plums and remove their stones - I found it easiest to cut them in half and then remove the stones over the pan so you don't lose any juices. I kept the skins on but I'm sure you can dig the flesh out of them if you prefer. 

2. Chop the garlic and the chilli, or, if you are using dried chillies, crush using a pestle and mortar.

3. Put all the ingredients into a heavy-based saucepan and simmer for at least half an hour until rich and thick and most of the liquid has evaporated.

All the ingredients in the pan

4. Pour into warm sterilized jars, seal and cover. this keeps very well in the fridge for 3-4 weeks and freezes for up to a year.

Nigella's Apple and Mustard Sauce

I don't eat this and in fact I know a lot of people like their pork plain but for those who don't this is a very good apple sauce and it's really easy to make. You can make this up to two days before and store in the fridge in a non metallic bowl or you can freeze it for up to three months ahead.

NIGELLA LAWSON'S APPLE AND MUSTARD SAUCE

3 large Granny Smith apples, approx 500g
4 tsps, English mustard powder
4 x 15ml tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
juice 1/2 a lemon
1 spring onion, trimmed and left whole

1. Peel and core the apples, roughly chop them into pieces.

2. Put the apples into a saucepan with the mustard, maple syrup, salt, lemon juice and spring onion (left whole just to give flavour).

Is it me or does the mustard look a bit rude?

3. Put the lid on the pan and bring to a bubbling boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the apples are soft, stirring once or twice.

4. Remove the onion and discard, then mash the sauce a little with the back of a spoon if necessary.

5. Taste the sauce and then add more mustard powder if you want although you may want to leave this until the sauce is cold.

6. Sever cold but not straight from the fridge.