Our seasonal feast….

When we were challenged to cook a three course family meal using seasonal ingredients by Floral and Hardy, I  decided I was going to cook some of our favourite foods so you can see that cooking with seasonal food doesn’t mean doing anything any different really.

Some of the seasonal ingredients I’ve included (and lots more beside) can be grown in your own back garden and used to create delicious meals – with the added benefit of not having to pay for them because you’ve grown them with our own hands!

Starter: Mackerel Pate
Seasonal ingredients: Horseradish and mackerel

Mackerel pate is one of thise things that you can just whip up really quickly and look like you’re a bit of a domestic goddess in the kitchen!  Not only is it quick, it’s easy to make and works out to be a really frugal dish.  For convenience you can use horseradish sauce but if you can, grate some fresh horseradish in to the pate and you’ll really notice the difference.

1 smoked mackerel fillet
1tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp creamed or fresh horseradish
1 tsp dijon mustard (although normal tastes almost as lovely)
1/2 a lemon zest and juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives

• Remove the skin from the makerel fillet and flake the fish into a bowl.
• Add the cream cheese, horseradish, mustard and lemon and break the mix down with a fork – you can have it as coarse or as smooth as you like it.
• Serve however you like it, topped with fresh chives.

Main Course: Lamb with citrus jewel cous cous
Seasonal Ingredients: Pomegranate and Clementines

I always think that cous cous goes lovely with lamb but it can sometimes be quite bland so I decided to make a fun, fruity version using some lovely brightly coloured fruits to try and get the children interested.  We had it with lamb but it goes lovely with any meat and would be delicious with a nice fillet of fish – halibut is in season at this time of year I believe.

250g cous cous
250ml water
150g pomegranate seeds
handful chopped mint
2 tbsp olive oil
The juice of 2 clementimes (or 1 orange)

• Boil the water and pour over the cous cous.  You need to cover it and leave it for five minutes now to let the cous cous absorb the water.
• Fluff the cous cous up with a fork and then gently mix in the herbs, pomegranate and the cranberries.
• Mix the olive oil with the orange juice to make a quick and simple dressing and then mix to the bowl of cous cous.
• Season well and it’s ready to serve.

Desert: Baked Cinnamon Apples
Seasonal Ingredient: Apples

This is a great winter warmer desert and it’s one that Miss Frugal loves to make.  The only bit I don’t let her do is the coring of the apple as that can get a bit tricky for this recipe.

4 large apples
brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
cashew nuts
brown sugar
1 tbsp butter
boiling water

I haven’t put quantities for most things as it depends how big the holes are that you need to fill and I don’t want you to have loads left over.  Also, you don’t need to be exact with this, just bung in however much you like.

• The hardest part of this recipe is preparing the apple – you need to remove the core down to about an inch away from the bottom of the apple.  Mine usually looks like I’ve hacked out half of the apple!
• Stuff it with a mix of raisins, nuts, cinnamon and sugar and then add a blob of butter on top.
• Bake in the oven at around 200 c for about 3o minutes – times depend entirely on the size of the apple but the finished apple should be soft but not mushy.

Do you have a favourite seasonal ingredient for this time of year?

Disclosure – Floral and Hardy garden design asked me to share my favourite seasonal meal with you and will be paying for the ingredients for me. The Floral and Hardy website is lovely – everything from contemporary garden designs to beautiful country garden ideas.