Year: 2012

Wanstead dinners, VII: Courgette supper

Wansteadium food blogger Suki Orange writes: Is it warm woolly tights time yet? Some days it really is. But I find it hard to give up completely on the tastes of summer – I want to hang on to every last morsel of ripened vegetables and fruit. So I’m glad that Karen Poole’s recipe below makes the most of this – I hope you enjoy it.

Karen writes: This recipe fell at my feet while on a walk the other day near Pleshey. We came across an honesty table covered with sunny, bright-yellow courgettes. And, as I love an honesty table, I couldn’t resist bulk-buying as everything looked so beautiful and fresh.

This cheap and cheerful recipe is light on preparation but high on taste and brimming with goodness. It does need a little attention during the cooking though as yellow courgettes can take a long time to soften, so be careful not to overcook the filling in the process. Blanching the prepared courgettes beforehand and covering the dish with foil for the first 20 minutes will do the trick..

You can also use the stuffing for peppers, tomatoes, aubergine or whatever takes your fancy.

Ingredients ( serves four )

2 large yellow courgettes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 medium mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp of grated fresh parmesan
1 cup of cooked brown rice
80g of toasted pine nuts
1 handful of chopped parsley
1 egg ( optional)
1 dsp of breadcrumbs
salt and black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c or Gas Mk 4.
Cut the courgettes in half and scoop out the middle, put the flesh aside.
Blanch the courgettes in boiling water for 5 minutes.
Gently fry the onion, garlic and chilli until soft and add in the chopped tomato
Cook for a further 3 minutes.
Put the cooked garlic, onion, chili and tomato mix with the remaining vegetable ingredients into a bowl with the courgette middles, add in the cheese, rice, pine nuts and beaten egg to bind (optional) and then mix well.
Divide the mixture between the courgette boats.
Top with breadcrumbs, drizzle with olive oil, cover with kitchen foil and put into a medium oven for about 20 minutes.
Remove the foil and cook for a further 20 minutes to brown the breadcrumbs.
Grate a little more cheese over the stuffed vegetables and serve with a salad of
mixed leaves and dress with lemon, olive oil and balsamic vinegar glaze.

Health Benefits

Courgettes are a good source of Beta Carotene the precursor to vitamin A and can
help
• bone development
• hormone synthesis
• maintenance of mucus membranes including skin, hair and eyes.
• the ability to fight infection
• the ultilisation of iron

Brown rice offers Biotin to aid
• cell growth
• fat & glucose metabolism
• hair & nail development

Eggs offer B12 to protect the gut lining & bone marrow

Chili provide B1 to increase energy metabolism & collagen synthesis

Karen Poole Dip Nutrition CNM MBANT can be contacted at K.E.Poole@hotmail.com Or www.karenpoolenutrition.co.uk
You can also follow Karen on Twitter – @karenpoole7

Wanstead’s Provender makes it to Michelin Guide

Bravo to Provender, the modern French bistro on Wanstead High Street, which is to be named as one of Michelin’s “Bib Gourmands”, a title which denotes “good food at a moderate price”.

There are just 137 restaurants in Britain and Ireland which will be given the title when the new Michelin Guide is published next week, including Rick Stein’s restaurant in Padstow (the full list is available here).

Congratulations to chef Max Renzland, who is noted for his previous restaurants including Monsieur Max in Hampton Hill which was Michelin-starred. Earlier this year he defended his inclusion of pate de fois gras on the menu at Provender, after local Green Party activists called for it to be removed. He said at the time: “You can eat and buy foie gras in any European country because it’s not inherently cruel. There are bad foie gras farms like there are bad chicken farms and chicken is eaten by a far bigger proportion of the population. A tiny proportion of our customers eat it but it’s about freedom of choice.”

You can read reviews of Provender from our own food blogger Suki Orange and fellow Wansteadium readers here.

 

Live on the edge… spend Saturday at Nice Croissant

It’s not probably anyone’s idea of living dangerously, but try this: pop in to Nice Croissant this weekend, and sip your coffee in defiance of planning regulations.

Nice Croissant has been on Wanstead High Street for more than 15 years, but in getting their local authority licensing updated they needed to demonstrate that they had been operating in the same spot for 10 years. The evidence submitted to the council did not meet the requirements (in spite of the evidence of everyone’s eyes and memories, including several councillors who are long-time customers). So the application for a “certificate of lawful development” has been rejected.

A spokesperson for Redbridge Council told Wansteadium:

“This is not retrospective planning permission, it is submitted to establish that the use at the site has been in operation for 10 or more years, which would mean it is lawful and would not require planning permission. The application was refused due to lack of information but the applicant would be able to submit a further application at any time. This means there is currently not planning permission for the use outlined however, if there is sufficient proof that the use currently operating at the site has been in place for 10 or more years, an application for Certificate of Lawful Development or Use (Existing) would be approved.”

So it seems there is no reason to panic – and boss Kerrie Dainty is certainly not panicking – and that the red tape can be solved with the right forms. But if the coffee feels like it’s got a bit of extra kick, you’ll know why.

Er… excuse us, Wanstead, but WTF???

Wansteadium readers love Wanstead for its tranquility, civility, and for the shared belief that it’s a jolly nice place. So, with all due respect, Wansteadium feels duty bound to ask: “Wanstead? WTF?”

We refer to headlines from the past two weeks.

• Wanstead man steps in to tackle mugger at Santander cashpoint in Wanstead High Street
Scaffolder Tommy Stapleton, sitting at Bar Room Bar and telling his mate how nice Wanstead was, sees an old man getting mugged. He chases and catches one of the muggers and, in his words, gave him a “proper hiding”. There was blood. Some people apparently accused Tommy of committing a racist assault. The mugger ran off.

• Cat is shot in Drummond Road, Wanstead
A two-year-old girl was distraught after her pet cat Coco came home having been shot with an air rifle. In Drummond Road.

• A 22-year-old man was shot in the hand in Sidney Road (not strictly Wanstead, but on the edge of Wanstead Flats)

• OAPs are mugged at Barclays and Natwest cashpoints on Wanstead High Street within space of three days
TWO pensioners have slammed plans to close the area’s police stations after being robbed within three days of each other at neighbouring cashpoints.

• Wanstead is named as 13th worst area in the country for car thefts, according to Swinton Insurance. South Woodford is 10th worst.

All readers are requested to suck their teeth and shake their head slowly while staring into the middle distance.