The "Brighton Rock" meeting

Meeting at Sarah's 24th January

Menu

Pea Soup
Granary Rolls


Spinach and Feta Filo Pie
Tomato and Horseradish Salad
Tomato Salad
Potatoes
Fennel and Orange Salad

Spotted Dick and Custard


Recipes


Pea and Mint soup

Fran doubled the recipe and added a small pot single cream

Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra for serving
¼ stick /25g butter
1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
5 cups/750g fresh peas, shelled (or frozen peas)
1 cup/ 75g mint leaves, roughly chopped
1 3/4 pints/1 liter vegetable stock
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
½ cup/75g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (optional)
Preparation:

Serves 4

Gently heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan, add the chopped onion and cook on a gentle heat for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for a further 3 minutes.
Add 3/4 of the peas, the chopped mint leaves, and 3/4 stock. Cover the saucepan with a tight fitting lid and cook on a medium boil for 10 minutes.
Blend the soup in a food processor, you will have a thick puree. Return the puree to the pan, season with salt and pepper and add the remaining peas and stock. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
Serve with crusty, fresh bread.
If using Parmesan cheese place a small mound in the center of the bowl and pour the soup around. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil. This soup is also delicious cold, but not chilled.


Tomato and Horseradish salad

ingredients

• 4 large handfuls of mixed tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• good red wine vinegar
• ½ a clove of garlic, grated
• 2 teaspoons fresh horseradish, grated, or jarred hot horseradish
• a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely sliced

Cut the bigger tomatoes into slices about 1cm/½ inch thick. You can halve the cherry tomatoes or leave them whole. Then sprinkle them all with a good dusting of sea salt. Put them in a colander and leave them for 30 minutes. What's going to happen here is that the salt will draw the excess moisture out of the tomatoes, intensifying their flavour. Don't worry about the salad being too salty, as a lot of the salt drips away.

Place the tomatoes in a large bowl and dress with enough extra virgin olive oil to loosen (approximately 6 tablespoons), and 1–2 tablespoons of vinegar, but do add these to your own taste. Toss around and check for seasoning – you may or may not need salt but will certainly need pepper. Add the garlic. Now start to add the horseradish. Stir in a couple of teaspoons to begin with, toss around and taste. If you like it a bit hotter, add a bit more horseradish. All I do now is get some finely sliced flat-leaf parsley (stalks and leaves) and mix this into the tomatoes. Toss everything together and serve as a wonderful salad, making sure you mop up all the juices with some nice squashy bread.