Just when I wasn't sure what to make for dinner, a River Cottage link to the Guardian HFW recipes at the weekend turned up on Facebook with barley and spelt recipes. One of them was for Leek and Broccoli Speltotto. As it happened, I had both leek and broccoli which I was thinking of eating tonight, but I wasn't quite sure what to do with them except cook them and sprinkle them with cheese. So I printed out the recipe and went straight into the kitchen to start making it. Amazingly enough I had all the ingredients, even fresh thyme and a little cardboard carton of wine (though actually opening a bottle and using some of it might have been a nice option as we could have drunk the rest of it tonight).
Both Heather and I have noticed the amount of washing up generated by cooking from scratch, and I used a non-stick frying pan and a couple of saucepans as well as various knives and a cheese grater but overall it didn't seem to hard to make - in fact it was relatively simple. But the results were really gorgeous. The spelt was nutty and the veg succulent. I added parmesan cheese but it probably would have been good without.
The more I make these veg recipes, the more I love vegetarian food. This one really stands out as one of my top favourites.
What is this obsession with spelt? This strange ingredient has
suddenly appeared on supermarket shelves, presumably in response to
all the food writers who seem to adore what Wikipedia introduces as a
‘hexaploid species of wheat’. According to the same source you’ve been
able to buy spelt from the supermarket for nearly five years now,
although products made from the stuff can only really be bought from
health food shops. I couldn’t wait to try Tristan on the Spelt and
Apple Stars (note that organic baby biscuits are horribly expensive,
even more so when you consider that half the biscuit will end up as a
crumb on your nicely hoovered floor) in the Baby & Toddler Cookbook
and, although my mother was sure that any old flour would do really, I
determined (this time) to follow Hugh’s recipe to the letter. Living
within walking distance of an Asda, Sainsbury’s and 24 Hour Tesco I
thought it would be piece of cake finding what Hugh specified as
‘unrefined spelt flour’. My quest was unsuccessful however, and
although I did manage to find spelt flour at all three supermarkets,
the place to buy ‘unrefined’ spelt flour remained something of a
mystery. Anyway I didn’t need to look any further than Arjuna on
Cambridge’s Mill Road.
Arjuna is the kind of store that I used to run a mile from, assuming
that they only stocked muesli, incredibly expensive organic skincare
products and everything either gluten, wheat or taste free. However on
the day I decided to make the short walk from my house down Mill Road
to Arjuna (note that my previous pram wouldn’t actually fit through
the door very easily so the trip was only really possible when I had
invested in a lightweight buggy) I was in for a huge treat. I spent at
least twenty minutes in there, eyeing up the different kinds of flour,
chocolates, and lovely baby foods (I don’t especially like muesli so
their display was wasted a bit on me). Most things were much cheaper
than in the supermarket too – this was clearly the place to buy herbs
and spices, as well as porridge oats and exotic juices. Of course I
found my wholemeal spelt flour too and, after I had been to buy a
star-shaped cookie cutter (I told you I was following Hugh’s recipe
diligently this time), I rushed home to make the cookies. Tristan
loved them, and I decided to take them to his swimming lesson so he
could share them with his baby friends. They naturally gobbled them
all up so I had to make another batch. Thankfully though I now have
enough unrefined spelt flour to last until he’s old enough to eat and
enjoy custard creams.
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