Cottage Cooking Club Three Recipes Month of November

Here we are in the month of November, the Cottage Cooking Club a group of international blogger's cooking together and then posting our experiences along with the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cookbook, "River Cottage Veg". Our group is meant to be a project aimed at incorporating more vegetable dishes in our everyday cooking, and is and has been inspired by our dedicated leader Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness. Each month Andrea picks one recipe from each of the 10 chapters and then we pick and choose as many as we have time for. This time of year we are cooking with late fall/ early winter produce.

For the first recipe I prepared the Kale “speltotto” with goat cheese. This was a delicious dish that is made much the same way as a traditional risotto. The recipe begins with onion, garlic and thyme. A vegetable stock is heated in a heavy pot alongside the main cooking pot on the stove. Pearled barley was used instead of rice. Leeks are sauteed, kale is cooked until just tender and everything was added together at the end. The barley gave this dish an unexpected texture that I really enjoyed and opened my eyes to the use of different grains.

For the second recipe I prepared the Lentil and tomato salad. Lentils are one of my favorite foods and I knew from the beginning that I was going to love this dish. Puy lentils are cooked al dente, cherry tomatoes are oven honey-roasted and served with arugula. In this dish the bitterness from the arugula played nicely with the sweetness of the tomatoes. This salad held up nicely after a few days in the fridge. I will definitely make this again.

Chile, cheese and rosemary polenta with tomato sauce was the last dish. Lots of flavor with this one. The polenta is made with chilies, cheese and rosemary, completely cooled; sliced and then fried until a light crust is formed. A simple tomato sauce was made and cooked down to a pulpy consistency and served on the side with the polenta fries. Well flavored and seasoned, another great dish this month.

These recipes have been slightly adapted from the "River Cottage Veg ", by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. First recipe; from the chapter "Pasta and Rice” (page 280). Second dish from the chapter "Pantry Suppers" (page 237). Third recipe; from the chapter “Comfort Food and Feast” (page 58).

To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the LYL post for October 2015 on the CCC website, by clicking here.