To celebrate the arrival of summer, we asked our FoodCycle volunteers what they’ve been whipping up in community kitchens across the country…
Grape and Raspberry Clafoutis from FoodCycle Benwell
Ingredients
5 eggs
125g melted butter
200g flour
50g caster sugar
½ pint milk
1tsp vanilla extract
800g grapes and raspberries or any leftover fruit you fancy
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
- Grease a large baking tray
- Put grapes and or raspberries or any other fruit in the bottom
- Make a sweet batter by mixing together the eggs, vanilla extract, melted butter flour, sugar and milk (batter should be quite liquid but thicker than water)
- Pour batter over fruit and cook in the oven for about an hour until the mixture is golden brown on top and doesn’t wobble
- Serve by itself or with custard or vanilla ice cream
Asparagus Salad Recipe from FoodCycle Exeter
Ingredients
Salad:
1 head of lettuce roughly chopped
1 cucumber deseeded and chopped into half or quarter slices
500g baby plum or cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
2 red or yellow peppers deseeded and thinly sliced
4 spring onions or 1 red onion thinly sliced
A handful of bean sprouts
A handful of basil torn or chopped
250g asparagus tough bottoms chopped
Dressing:
4 tbsp of olive oil
A good pinch salt
A good pinch black pepper
Juice of 1 citrus fruit (lemon, lime or grapefuit)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Method
- Heat a pot of water, when it gets to a boil put all the asparagus into the pot to blanche (this should only take a couple of minutes so don’t forget about them)
- When they have softened a little but still have their bite and vibrant colour, drain the asparagus into a colander and run them under cold water to stop them cooking further because we don’t want soggy asparagus
- In a large bowl mix all the salad ingredients
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients (or use an old jar and shake), season to taste and poor over the salad
- Toss everything together and serve
Summer Veggie Curry from FoodCycle Westgate
Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
2 bulbs garlic, finely chopped
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp groundnut oil
2 tbsp of tomato puree
2 fresh red chillies finely chopped
2 tablespoons of ground almonds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tin chopped or plum tomatoes
1 tin coconut milk
500g jersey or new potatoes
1 sweet potato, chopped into chunks
Half a butternut squash, chopped into chunks
2-3 carrots, chopped into chunks
Half cauliflower, chopped into chunks
500g runner or fine beans
½ a bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped
½ a bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped
Method
- Parboil potatoes for 8-10 minutes and drain
- Meanwhile make the curry paste by blending together the dried spices, with chillies, ground almonds, groundnut oil and tomato puree
- Sweat onions, garlic and ginger in a large cooking pot on low heat until soft then add the curry paste and cook for a further 2-3 minutes
- Add tinned tomatoes, parboiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots and cauliflower with a pint of water and cook until tender then add coconut milk and simmer
- Meanwhile, blanche beans in boiling water for a few minutes then drain and run under cold water to stop them cooking
- Once the curry sauce has reduced by one third, turn off the heat and add the beans
- Serve with basmati rice cooked in coconut milk, a few cherry tomatoes and garnish with the chopped herbs
