FOOD DIY: What the SEASON team are cooking in lockdown

One silver lining in the chaos, and football void, has been our collective rediscovery of cooking. We all just have more time to go for it, to try out recipes word for word, also McDonald’s and many restaurants shut down like everything else. After the initial pasta rush (as scarce as toilet roll at one point), there was the banana bread boom to use up overly ripe, forgotten bananas. Then came #dalgonacoffee for the caffeine lovers – ridiculously frothy (and photogenic) two-tone coffee finished with a soft peak. At SEASON, we’ve certainly been experimenting in the kitchen and, to add a few more tasty recipes to your repertoire, we’ve collated the dishes and drinks we’ve been making below. Bon appétit!

Dawn’s Delicious Veggie Stew

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

Knob of butter

1 red onion, diced

1 leek, chopped

3 carrots, diced

4 mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cauliflower, chopped

1 tin of canned tomatoes

1/2 bag of kale

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 lemon juice

Serves 1-2

Method

Place the knob of butter in a large frying pan on a medium heat.
Add the red onion and leek to the pan, and allow to brown for about three to four minutes.
Add carrots, cauliflower, and mushrooms to the pan and stir until golden brown. This should take approx five to six minutes.
Add one tin of canned tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
While simmering, gradually add the kale. Lower the heat to let it gently wilt.
Sprinkle rosemary, oregano and any other herbs you like. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and bring off the heat.
Time to dish up! The stew is best served with fresh pasta, couscous, or mashed potato. Enjoy!

Naomi’s Zesty Pistachio and Eggplant Spaghetti

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

70g spaghetti

3 teaspoons virgin olive oil

1/2 eggplant

1 firm Sicilian lemon

50g crushed pistachios

Serves 1

Method

Put water on to boil in a saucepan for the pasta. In the meantime, chop the eggplant into small pieces and juice half a lemon, after washing it and grating its zest. Set the zest aside. In a non-stick pan, I like to use a wok, preheat the oil.
Dump the chopped eggplant into the oil and allow it to brown for three to four minutes, then lower the heat and add the lemon juice. Let it simmer until the eggplant becomes mushy and soft, but not creamy.
Once the water reaches the boil, add the spaghetti and let cook for 10 minutes for ‘al dente’.
Seven minutes into the cooking, take one tablespoon of pasta water and add it to the eggplant/lemon mixture. Raise the heat allowing all the juices to evaporate and turn the eggplant into a creamy texture.
Drain the pasta, lower the heat under the non-stick pan to the minimal setting and add the spaghetti to the pan, making sure the creamy mixture blends in. Add the crushed pistachios. Turn the heat off and stir everything well.
Plate it and add lemon zest on top, et voilà! Buon appetito!

Sian’s ‘uh oh need to go shopping’ French Omelette

She's learning

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

3 eggs

A knob of butter

Seasoning: parsley, chervil, chives, tarragon

Love and passion

Method

Crack eggs on a flat surface and put the contents into a jug.
Chop up your herbs super fine.
Use a fork to whisk the eggs.
Add the butter to a non-stick pan – when it sizzles into a creamy foam, it’s ready.
Pour in eggs. It should be hot enough that they cook on contact. Tease it gently at the corners with a fork or spatula, the eggs shouldn’t brown.
Sprinkle on some herbs, leaving some for the top.
Roll the omelette in at the corners, fold to centre twice and flip (but only when a fork/spatula leaves an impression in the omelette).
Tip your omelette onto a plate and sprinkle on the final herbs and black pepper.
Eat, served with black coffee while wearing a robe. Pretend you’re eating in a French hotel room, even if you’ve never actually done this.

Kelsey’s Wild Garlic Pesto Pasta

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Tagliatelle, or another pasta of preference

1 large bunch of wild garlic, washed and roughly chopped

1 small bunch of basil, chopped

60g pine nuts, toasted

60g parmesan, freshly grated

150ml of olive oil, half extra-virgin and half regular olive oil

1 dash of lemon juice

Sea salt and ground black pepper

Method

Cook your pasta in salty boiling water, how you usually would – al dente!
Meanwhile, toast your pine nuts for a little while and set a few aside.
Blitz the rest of the nuts in a blender with remaining ingredients, apart from the olive oil, for a minute or two: that’s the wild garlic, parsley, parmesan (keep some aside to serve), and lemon juice.
Then, slowly add the olive oil, pouring in until blended to your desired texture – some like it chunkier! Season, taste, set aside.
When your pasta is done, let it meet your pesto!
Serve with a good sprinkle of parmesan, toasted nuts, some leftover basil or wild garlic leaves, and some garlic flowers (garnish) if you’re feeling fancy.

Felicia’s Basic Roast Dinner

Time: 80-100 minutes (prep and cook time)

Ingredients

2 duck breasts with skin on one side (can be any meat)

5 sweet potatoes

1 broccoli

Coarse black pepper, Caribbean curry powder, and thyme to season

2 pinches of salt

Olive oil

Gravy granules

(I’d add stuffing and Yorkshire puddings if I had time to make/buy them) :)

Serves 2

Method

Combine the herbs and spices above, then wash your duck breast (if that’s what you do), scorch the skin, apply the seasoning all over, then leave to marinate in a covered container in the fridge.
Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them up and put them in a pot of cold water. Rinse them a few times, add salt then boil the water and potatoes. This will soften them up before roasting. Preheat the oven to gas mark five.
Drain the water from the potatoes and put them into an oven tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with the spice mix, and toss the potatoes into the tray. Make sure they’re all coated and then roast the potatoes for 45-60 minutes.
Transfer the duck breasts to a baking tray, and put into the oven. Roast them for 30 minutes and then cut a piece to see how pink it is. If too pink, put it back for a little longer. If ready, let the duck rest for a while.
Wash your broccoli, then cut it up into florets and steam them by putting them in a saucepan of water with a pinch of salt. Bring it to the boil.
Put gravy granules and some of the spice mix into a small saucepan. When you take the duck out, pour the juices on top and top up with water, then bring the boil.
When the potatoes are as crispy as you’d like them, plate everything up and pour gravy over it all. Dig in!

Lucy recommends Martha’s ‘Roasted Portobellos with Pesto’

I’ve been pretty useless in the kitchen my entire life. My mum has always asked me to help out and learn and watch how she does things, but cooking never really interested me. I don’t really plan -- I eat when I’m hungry and so the thought of preparing for 30 minutes or an hour before is lost on me.

But since moving to Portland (and getting older), I tried to make a concerted effort to add a few recipes to my rotation. Of course, being in self-isolation has sort of kicked that into overdrive. I’m cooking every day, so I need a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner meals that are both not monotonous and easy enough (and quickly prepared) for a novice like myself.

One recipe I’ve really come to love is ‘Roasted Portobellos with Pesto’ which I found on The New York Times Cooking App. (Sidenote: this app is really incredible and I highly, highly recommend.)

This recipe is by Martha Rose Shulman, whose food I’ve really come to enjoy. The NYTCooking app has a roster of cooks, such as Alison Roman, whose recipes you can search. Martha focuses on healthy eating and whilst some recipes have prep and cooking times that take over an hour, I’ve: a. got plenty of time on my hands these days and b. dare I say, am actually learning to love the process?

Find the recipe here. However, my ONE variation (if I’m even skilled enough yet to make one) is that although the recipe calls for medium-sized portobellos, I’ve been using larger ones and leaving them in the oven for about five minutes longer. I find it’s a bit easier on the prep side.
Bottom line: It’s healthy, it takes 30 minutes, it’s good for the planet. And even I managed to not mess it up.

Flo’s not so fancy ramen

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

One packet of instant ramen (any brand you like, I normally go for Lidl’s curry flavoured instant ramen)

5 mushrooms, if you only have portobello/big mushrooms then just use one

A very generous handful of spinach

1 piece of fresh ginger (as much as you’d like)

1 clove of garlic

1 egg

1 spring onion

300ml water or chicken/veggie stock

A sprinkling of chilli flakes

1 teaspoon Mirin ( Japanese sweet rice wine if you have it, can sometimes be hard to find in smaller supermarkets)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Serves 1

Method

Boil the water in the kettle, unpack your packet of instant noodles and put it to one side.
Dice the ginger and garlic into small pieces, make sure you peel the ginger as the outside is not nice! Slice the mushrooms and spring onions.
Grab a wok or medium-sized saucepan and once the water is boiled, pour it into the wok/saucepan and put on a medium heat. Place the noodles and seasoning into the pan, and stir so the water covers the noodles.
Throw in the mushrooms, garlic, ginger, mirin and soy sauce. Simmer for about seven minutes.
While it’s simmering, boil the kettle again and fill a small saucepan with enough water to soft boil your egg. I normally boil it for about five minutes as I like to still have a softish centre but it's up to you.
Once the mushrooms and noodles look like they’ve softened, add the spinach and stir so its start to wilt.
Your egg should be done so take it off the heat and run under cold water so it stops cooking. Once it’s cooled, peel the shell off and set aside.
Take the ramen off the heat and pour into a ramen bowl, if you don’t have one, then a deep bowl is fine. Serve with sliced spring onion and your egg cut in half.

Maudlyn’s One-Pot Spicy Eggs with Fried Butternut Squash

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Half butternut squash tube, heated in boiling water for a few minutes (until slightly soft)

2 eggs (or however many you wish to have)

Handful basil leaves, torn

Black pepper (ground or peppercorns)

Seasoning: a pinch of salt. I used Knorr Aromatic seasoning and chilli flakes too

3-4 tablespoons olive oil (or butter)

1 tablespoon cold water

Optional: finely grated parmesan or tinned mackerel fish

Serves 1

Method

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a medium-sized pan. Add a pinch of black pepper.
Crack in the eggs and season as desired.
As the egg cooks, sprinkle in the torn basil over the eggs and leave to brown a bit more at the edges.
With eggs partly but not fully cooked, throw in the butternut squash, adding half a tablespoon of oil. Add a pinch of salt and the tablespoon of water. Place eggs on top of the diced butternut squash so that they don’t burn. Cover partly and allow both the eggs and the butternut squash to cook further for three to five minutes .
Check the butternut squash is firm but not hard and, if desired, sprinkle with tinned mackerel (broken into pieces) or parmesan. Add a few droplets of oil and serve!

Georgina’s Post-workout Protein Shake

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 frozen banana

Half cup oats

Half cup coconut milk

Tablespoon of smooth peanut butter

Optional: 1 scoop protein powder (I use MyProtein)

Handful berries of your choice

Serves 1

Method

Chop up your ripe bananas and freeze in a freezer-friendly bag in advance.
Layer up your ingredients in your blender of choice, I like to use a NutriBullet.
Blend! Blend! Blend!
Your shake is ready when it’s nice and smooth, and lovely and cool – perfect for after a sweaty workout!

Judith’s Vegan Caramel Frappe

Time: less than 5 minutes

Ingredients

Half cup soya milk

1 tablespoon caramel

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 sachet of Nestle caramel latte mix or espresso shot

1 cup of ice

Food Heavenly Whipped Cream (it’s vegan)

Serves 1

Combine all ingredients and mix them in a blender.
Blend! Blend! Blend!
Finish with whipped cream and caramel to garnish.

Editor: Felicia Pennant

Photography: from the team and credited