Changes

Wow, nearly a year and a half since I blogged!  I totally lost my crochet mojo.  I have done some but not blog worthy.  However I miss blogging and have decided to blog about my cooking which I am passionate about.  My cooking is mostly vegetarian with the very occasional chicken or fish dish.  Today I want to share some recipes using sorrel.

Sorrel is thriving in my autumn garden.  The cold doesn’t seem to have harmed it. What is sorrel may you ask?  Some books class it as a herb, but European cooks regard it as a vegetable, especially the French whose Sorrel soup is a classic.  The best way to describe it is similar to spinach but with a lemony flavor. 

I have been growing it for a couple of years and it has grown into a nice big clump.  I just break of the seed heads and it seems to grow and grow.  I often have it as part of a mixed salad, but a few weeks back thought it was time I was a little more adventurous.  So I googled it and came up with some interesting dishes and some new sources for vegetable recipes.  One in particular is: http://www.mariquita.com/recipes  there are recipes for almost any vegetable you can think of.  It is a farm in California that does weekly csa boxes of heirloom vegetables.

I am going to give two recipes that I have tried and in my usual manner I have adapted them to suit what was in my kitchen and to my taste. 

 N.B. One thing about cooking sorrel is that it melts down quickly even quicker than spinach.

The first is Mushroom and sorrel sauce with pasta.  It took two attempts to get it right; while it may not look colourful it is to die for.

Sorrel and Mushroom Pasta

Ingredients

2 cups dried pasta of choice (I used spiral)

2 cups of sliced button mushrooms, (the first time I used field mushrooms and the sauce was a little grey)

One large handful of sorrel well washed and sliced roughly.

1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon of butter (the mix stops the temp getting too hot)

2 shallots sliced thinly

½ cup sour cream

Method

Cook chosen pasta in your normal way.  While cooking, fry the shallots and mushrooms in the butter and oil.  Add the sour cream and when hot add the sorrel (it is important not to overcook the sorrel as it tends to go mushy very quickly.)  Heat and pour over the drained pasta and serve with some fresh shredded sorrel on top.  Simple but Yummy!

Serves 4.

The other recipe is my variation on a classic spinach quiche. There are a lot of recipes around for Sorrel, Leek and Goat Cheese Quiches, but to my mind I would think that the Sorrel and Goat cheese would fight each other for supremacy!  I could be wrong, if I am going to buy goats cheese I prefer to enjoy it as the star.

Leek, Feta and Sorrel Quiche

Make your favourite short crust pastry, today I used a whole meal one as I think the nutty flavor complements the filling.  If you would like to try a whole meal pastry the following recipe is always a success.

Whole Meal Short Crust Pastry.

4oz Whole meal flour

4oz plain flour

1 tsp. baking powder

4oz butter

1 tablespoon water

Soften butter, add flour and rub in till crumbly.  Add 1 tbsp. water and mix to a soft dough; you may need to add more depending on your flour.  Put in airtight bag and refrigerate for ½ hour.  Not too much longer or it will be difficult to roll out.  Roll out and line a quiche or flan dish.  Blind bake it for 20 minutes.

The Quiche

2 tablespoons butter

1 leek (small) or half large, thinly sliced

4 to 8 ounces sorrel leaves

3 medium eggs

½ cup cream and ½ cup sour cream, for a lighter result use 1 cup of yoghurt.

2 ounces Feta cheese, crumbled (or you could pull the boat out and use a goat cheese.

Pepper and salt, (taste before adding salt as the feta can be salty enough)

Method

Prepare the tart dough, partially prebake it, and set it aside.

Melt 1 tablespoons of the butter in a wide pan; add sliced leeks and the salt. Cover the pan, and stew slowly until the leeks are soft, about 10 minutes. Check it occasionally and give it a stir.

While it is cooking, cut off the stems of the sorrel leaves and roughly slice the leaves. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a pan, and add the sorrel by large handfuls. Although the amount of leaves will seem voluminous, they will quickly cook down to almost nothing. Cook over a low heat until they have wilted and turned a greyish-green colour, 3 to 4 minutes.  I tend to turn the heat off and let it cook with the residue heat, that way it doesn’t melt down too much.

Whisk the eggs with the cream and sour cream; then stir in the leeks, sorrel, and feta. Taste for salt, and season with freshly ground black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.; then pour the filling into the crust. Bake in the centre of the oven until the custard is set and well coloured, about 35 to 40 minutes. Serve the tart while it is hot. This is nice with a chardonnay wine! 

Although I have to say it is delicious the next day served with a salad.

ENJOY!