Cottage Cooking Club Month of March

It's the 28th of the month and time once again for the Cottage Cooking Club to come together. We are a group of international blogger's that collectively post our pictures and experiences as we cook along with two of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cookbooks. The books are, "River Cottage Every Day" and "Love Your Leftovers". Our group is meant to be a project aimed at incorporating more seasonal dishes in our everyday cooking. Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness is our dedicated founder and will be leading us on our newest adventure, this time it’s a six month stint. The goal is to cook and share as many recipes from either cookbook of our choosing. Currently we are in month two and I prepared 4 recipes.

Spiced Fig Compote with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

The first recipe I started with was the Spiced fig compote. Here dried figs were soaked in water and then drained. The liquid was reserved and then the figs were added back in along with some brown sugar, honey, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon stick and a peel of an orange. This flavorful mixture was cooked down until a syrup consistency was achieved. I served this fruit dessert warm with vanilla bean ice cream. Hands down my all-time favorite from all of the recipes I've tried from Hugh's cookbooks…. Nirvana!

Roasted potatoes with lemon and thyme was another favorite. For this dish I used fingerling potatoes but any variety would work. The actual recipe used rosemary but thyme, basil, oregano, za’atar or even herbs de province would be another great choice. I baked these potatoes on a large sheet pan in under an hour. Chicken, pork or sausage could be added making this a one pan meal.

Tuna Pasta and Arugula Salad

The third recipe is from “Love Your Leftovers”, Cookbook, the chapter Launchpads for Leftovers. This section is really a guideline based on adaptable ingredients that can be transformed into complete meals. Ingredients like bread, eggs, grains and lettuces make good bases. I had some plain sea shell pasta leftover that I combined with pole caught canned tuna. Chives, green onions, celery, lemon juice and a little mayo was combined and served on top of a bed of fresh arugula and avocado. This made a lovely satisfying lunch.

Wild Rice Salad with dried cranberries, celery and pecans

The fourth and last recipe was from the chapter Launchpads as well. Here I had leftover wild rice and added celery, green onions, roasted pecans and dried cranberries. This was served with a robust red wine vinaigrette mixed with Dijon and parsley, another delicious lunch.

These recipes have been adapted from the "River Cottage Every Day" and "Love Your Leftovers” by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the LYL post for March 2017 on the CCC website, by clicking here.