The Cottage Smallholder

I’m not a great one for being imaginative about small leftovers. They are usually shoved into the dogs as a relish on the top of their complete dog food. In the past I used to put them into small bowls, hoping for inspiration and they would be forgotten as they were gradually pushed to the back of the fridge.
Danny calls these “offerings to the fridge gods” as he removes them two weeks later.

Now I’m enjoying using up everything that I can. The little scrappy handfuls are the most fun to transform into something that might have Danny reaching for more. Especially when he is goggled eyed when I secrete them into the fridge.

Last night we ate Claudia Roden’s roast shoulder of lamb with a date, almond and couscous stuffing. The stuffing surpassed the lamb. It was superb. We had loads left over so I earmarked it to eat with the bean casserole this evening. There were also four new potatoes and a handful of cabbage. Surely these could be transformed into a side dish?

We now buy most of our herbs and spices from the Daily Bread food cooperative. They sell the Soma packs of herbs but their own packs are far more tempting. These are chunky and inexpensive and, apart from the mustard powder, they challenge the traditional brands (Bart and Schwartz) for flavour and freshness.

This potato and cabbage side dish was quick and easy to make. I did fry the green ends of the continental spring onions before braising the vegetables in the spices and added a dash of cream so it wasn’t zero fat. I was just so pleased to produce a delicious dish that didn’t taste like rehashed leftovers and enhanced the other elements of our meal. Bean casserole, on a bed of sweetly spiced couscous with a home made cucumber raita

Spicy new potatoes and cabbage on the side recipe

Ingredients:

• Green stalks from 2 continental spring onions
• 4 plump new potatoes cooked, sliced and halved
• A handful of cooked Savoy cabbage
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of coriander powder
• 1 tsp of turmeric
• Quarter tsp of chilli powder
• 1 heaped tsp of garlic granules (or a fat clove of garlic added with the spring onion stalks)
• 1-2 tsp of fresh lemon juice
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 100ml of vegetable stock (I made this with half a tsp of vegetable powder and boiling water)

Garnish:

• 2 tbsp of cream
• 1 tablespoon of fresh Greek basil leaves, torn.

Method:

1. In a small saucepan fry the green spring onion stalks for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the spices and stir for a few seconds. Add the sliced potatoes and cabbage, stir.
3. Add the vegetable stock and lemon juice, stir and simmer for three minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper and remove the saucepan from the heat, pop on a lid and allow the flavours to infuse.
5. Just before serving stir in the cream and the fresh basil leaves.