Oxford SlowFoodStudent

these are the recipes from my class this week if you didn't come you missed out and if you did i look forward to seeing you all next time.

Susie's squealingly sweet squash:

This is really really simple and very tasty, a great way to use a much undervalued vegetable:

take one butternut squash, ours weighed about a kilo, shove it in the oven whole and unpricked at 200 until its all gorgeously brown on the outside and soft in the middle.

peel and chop the squash (be careful it's hot), them mash it in a large heatproof bowl, add in 2 tbsp of maple syrup and a1 tbsp of grated ginger, taste and adjust.

You could take this in so many different directions: cinnamon and nutmeg would make it sweet; a shortcrust pastry with half the flour replaced with ground pecans would be a great direction to take... make the shortcrust base and bake it blind, fill with the squash mix and bake for about 10 minutes, i'm going to try this and update you all.

Candice's chargrilled coley:

This is pretty simple but it takes advantage of a great, cheap fish. Don't use haddock or cod which will cost over twice as much. Coley has just as good a flavour and is much more sustainable. Make sure to ask the fishmonger to scale it for you if you like the crispy skin. If you can't get coley try pollack.

take your coley fillet ( 1 between 2), slice deep scores into the skin side, pat it dry with a tea towel and salt it then liberally brush it with your watercress pesto, grill on high for about 5 minutes then turn, so it's skin side up and brush this side with the pesto; grill until the skin is all crispy and it is cooked right through. Serve with more pesto and some new potatoes which you could also drizzle pesto on.

no stress nutless watercress pesto:

No cooking in this one but you'll need a whizzy stick blender or similar (you could try in a pestle and mortar too.) We used 1 bunch of watercress (blend that up) then added 2 tbsp of pine nuts (blend again) 1 SMALL clove of garlic (blend) then add olive oil to get the consistency to that of pesto. then season to taste and adjust flavours accordingly.

This is such an adaptable dish, i'd put parmesan in there if i had some (2 tbsp should do it) also gran pandano is just as good. You could add rocket instead of or with the watercress, spinach too. you can also mix up the nuts i.e. watercress and walnut would be great at this time of year, broccoli and almond (steam the florets first) would be good in the summer. Go nuts! (unless you have a nut allergy...)

stout's sesame sprouts:

Nobody eats enough brussel's sprouts, but if you cook them like this i guarantee you'll get enough to make sure nobody sits next to you in the library....

first slice up 1/2 an onion nice and small (use the chessboard technique) and fry it off in a tbsp of sesame oil. Then chop the ends (the bottoms) off your sprouts also remove the yellow leaves and cut the sprouts into quarters vertically. add 2 tbsp of water to the wok then your sprouts, stir them about until they are beggining to brown. now you add the killer flavours: 2 tsp of grated fresh ginger (store it in the freezer then its always there for you) and 2tbsp of soy sauce (use tamari type if you can) 1 tbsp of sesame oil. take off the heat and enjoy

this was great with some of suzie's sprouted chickpeas (just soak for 48 hours) and would have been awesome with some sultanas.

in need of a swede:

Ok so chop the end off your swede at both ends and stand it vertically now peel off the purple skin using your knife to follow the shape of the swede. then dice the little feller into dice sized pieces and boil in salted water until very soft.

when it is soft drain the swede and return to the pan. Mash it up with 1tsp of cumin, turmeric, ground ginger 2 tsp of mustard seeds and liberal amounts of black pepper and sea salt. For a rich smooth mash add about 3 tbsp of butter per kilo of swede then when all is mashed in whip in 100ml of whole milk

for the healthier option dollop in 3-4 tbsp of live yogurt and mash away, some lemon juice in this combo would lighten it up a treat.

This goes nicely with a grilled pork chop (get a free range one, the pigs'll thank you for it) and some mango chutney

that's all for now, stay hungry