Asparagus with Egg and Soy Butter Sauce

Eggs are placed in 75ºC water for 13 minutes, then removed to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Meanwhile asparagus is sliced in two, beans top and tailed and likewise cut into manageable portions and spinach sliced. A pot put on a low heat with a good portion of butter and generous pinch or three of pepper added, soy sauce is swirled into the melted butter. The eggs now move to 60ºC water to heat through for 10 minutes. The vegetables are sautéed in a little butter, and when cooked tossed with a little bit of the soy-butter. A nest of greens placed in the bowl, a warmed through egg cracked and slid out to nestle in place, a glaze of soy-butter spooned over and around and finished with a sprinkling of bonito flakes.

Warm bean and citrus salad

This recipe was originally created for Urban Harvest, do go check out their website for some great produce and other recipe ideas.

---

This is a great way to kill two birds with one stone, take advantage of the abundance of beans available at this time of year and utilise the citrus on offer. It’s not too complicated and definitely not time consuming to make, I used a variety of beans to profit from the various sizes and textures, but if you prefer green beans will do. The salad makes a satisfying light lunch or a ideal salad to accompany a BBQ, the weather giving us all an excuse to dine al fresco.

400 g Beans
2-3 Oranges
2-3 Lemons
Ewes milk feta
Olive oil
Dijon mustard
Mint (optional)

Put a pot of decently salted water on to boil. Pinch (or cut) the stem end of the beans off and discard. When the water is up to the boil, blanch the beans for about 4 minutes, you want them to be almost cooked, still have a good bite, as we’re not shocking them in ice water the beans will continue to cook once strained.

Peel the oranges with a knife and cut the segments by running the knife down each side membrane, or in other words supreme the oranges.

In a bowl combine 1 part lemon juice, 3 parts olive oil, a spoonful of dijon mustard and whisk together, the mustard helps emulsify the oil and juice together to create a homogeneous sauce. Season well with salt and pepper.

When the beans are cooked, drain off the liquid and tip into the bowl with the vinaigrette along with the orange segments, toss the beans and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

Arrange the beans on a serving plate, scatter some finely sliced mint over top, crumble over the feta and finish off with any remaining vinaigrette.

Baked beans

Prepared these last night for tonight's dinner, Beans, pork sausage and sautéed potatoes


Cook and drain your beans (canned is fine). I used pinto beans, and thanks to the pressure cooker they only take 25 minutes. They were cooked with a chili, garlic and bay leaf. Do not add any salt when cooking the beans, as this toughens the skin and inhibits their cooking.


For the sauce, I used 1 onion finely diced, grated garlic clove, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 3 tbsp molasses, 2 tbsp tomato sauce, bay leaves, sugar (I used palm sugar as i had no brown sugar), cayenne pepper, mustard powder, salt, pepper, and 1 tin of tomatoes.


Pass the tin of tomatoes through a sieve.


Using the pressure cooker again set on sauté (but you could easily do this on the stove), I cooked the onion and garlic till soft but not browned. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a minute so the flavours meld.


Add the beans and simmer for a about 5 minutes, till the sauce is reduced to the desired consistency. I put mine back on high pressure for 3 minutes.

Sirloin and sun-choke

Sirloin marinating with garlic, bay leaf and lemon peel (in a vacuum bag, yay to new toys)

Served medium rare, with crushed potato and sunchoke (Jerusalem artichoke), sauteed green beans and finished with a Calvados sauce

Best steak for a long time, melted in the mouth and had a great taste, totally in love with the vacuum sealer.