Vegetables – Myfrenchkitchen

We still have sweet peppers in the potager and they are super sweet and colourful. This will probably be the last batch for this season. So I decided to make piperade which we love. I do it a bit different than the original way that comes from the southwest in France, particularly the Basque region. I make mine seperately in the oven and mix it all together at the last minute before serving. Its a bit less juicy and saucy and the flavors of all the ingredients harmonize without losing their individuality. We especially enjoy it on rustic toasted country bread for a lunch.

Piperade with homegrown peppers

Recipe:

4 large pepper of different colours.
On large onion
A big handful of cherry tomatoes, or grape tomatoes, cut in half
4 cloves of garlic, cleaned and lightly squashed
salt and pepper
Olive oil
Fresh thyme
Raspberry flavoured balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 180 degr C.
Wash the peppers and slice into chunks, or thin slices if you prefer. Add to an oven pan with fresh thyme and drizzle liberally with olive oil.
Clean the onion and cut into medium chunks. Add to another oven pan .
Wash the cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes and slice in half. Add the tomatoes to the onion and add the cleaned and squashed garlic cloves.
Roast the vegetables in the oven pans until tender and slithgly charred, for about 30 minutes. Take care not to burn the peppers. If youve sliced them thinly, they will roast quicker.
Remove from the oven, mix the vegetables together, drizzle with more olive oil, season with salt and pepper and drizzle finally with some raspberry flavouredbalsamic vinegar.
Serve warm or at room temperature with crusty bread or as a side with meat or fish.

Serves about 4 people as side dish

A pinch of salt:

Enjoy with slices of toasted whole wheat bread.
Serve as a side with fish or chicken.
Add tarragon instead of thyme if you serve it with chicken.
A full vegetarian meal.
For a meat version, add grilled sliced chorizo before serving.
If you slice the peppers into thin slices, they will roast quicker, about 20 minutes.
Add some piment d’espelette chilli peppers if you’d like it spicy.

A sweet potato soup is very similar in taste to a butternut soup, but it is much creamier. With fall in full swing, we make full use of all the root vegetables available, roasted in the oven, in soups, sautéed, braised. And sweet potatoes lend itself to all those cooking methods. Just in a soup, you can enjoy it in so many ways, see Pinch of salt down the post.

Recipe:

1 large sweet potato(or about 800 g)
1 large onion
250 ml vegetable stock
1 large orange
Peel of an orange, washed with the white flesh of the orange removed from the peel.
fresh sage leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper
4 slices of thinly sliced serrano ham
Cream to taste
Créme fraîche or thick cream

Peel the onion, slice and add to some olive oil in a casserole. Sauté until translucent.
Peel and cut the sweet potato in chunks. Add to the onions along with the stock and the orange peel.
Simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes until very soft and tender.
Remove from the heat and add the juice of the orange.
Mix the soup with a hand blender until smooth and without lumps.
Season with salt and pepper and add cream to taste. Mix and set aside.
Heat some olive oil and fry the sage leaves for about 2 minuts until crispy. Drain on some kitchen towel.
Fry the serrano ham in the same oil until slighly crispy and drain on kitchen towel.
Serve the soup in bowls and to with a dollop of créme fraîche, a slice of ham and some crispy sage leaves.

Serves 4

Pinch of salt:

Omit the orange juice and add a clove of garlic, fresh thyme, chicken stock and grated nutmeg to the soup.
Add chopped fresh ginger along with the orange juice.
Add 125 ml white wine.
Add a bouquet garni (parsley stems, thyme, bay leaves & lemon peel wrapped and tied in the green part of a leek) along with the stock.