By: Lash

Serves 4.

Well hi there! It’s getting all autumnal, and that means that the vintagetraceygoodness kitchen is going for hearty, filling, warm-the-cockles dishes that we can bung in the fridge/freezer and dig into when we’re home from a long day. I learned to make this dish yonks ago (I think it was probably in one of my mum’s Good Housekeeping mags or something similar), and although I’ve completely forgotten what was in the original recipe, the overall dish is something that has stuck with me. I put it in a big stew pot and let it all cook down. It takes about an hour, but once it’s done you’ll be in sweet potato heaven…or something…

Ingredients

One tablespoon vegetable oil
One large red onion (chopped)
Two large garlic cloves (finely chopped)
An inch-and-a-half sized piece of fresh ginger (finely chopped)
Two teaspoons of cayenne pepper (or to taste)
Two teaspoons of ground cumin
Four medium sweet potatoes (chopped in bite-size chunks, about an inch in size)
One chicken or vegetable stock cube
Hot water (enough to cover the sweet potatoes – amount depends on the size of your pan)
One can of chopped tomatoes
Chunky peanut butter (about ¼ of a jar, or to taste)
400g canned chickpeas
180g fresh green beans (top and tailed)
A large handful of fresh coriander (roughly chopped)
Black pepper

How to make it…

• Heat the oil, and fry the onions until they are soft. Add the garlic and ginger, and fry for two minutes. Then add the cayenne pepper and cumin and fry for a further minute.
• Add the sweet potatoes and heat them in the pan for about two minutes, then add the boiling water so that it just covers them. Crumble in the stock cube, stir well, and bring to the boil.
• When the mixture is boiling, turn the heat down to medium, and add the chopped tomatoes, peanut butter and chickpeas. Stir well and simmer for about twenty-five minutes.
  Make sure that you stir in the peanut butter really well, as this thickens the sauce as it cooks down.
• Add the green beans and half of the coriander. Cook for fifteen to twenty minutes, until the sauce is quite thick and the sweet potatoes are easily breakable with a spoon.
  After about ten minutes, have a taste of the sauce. You might want to add a bit more peanut butter at this point (if you like a really peanutty curry). I like this to have almost a satay-level of peanut-ness, but it’s entirely up to you!
• Give a good grind of black pepper, then serve. Sprinkle with fresh coriander, and you’re good to go!
  I like to serve this with basmati rice and a bit of naan bread. The naan containing black onion seeds work really well with this curry. 

By: Lash

Serves 2.

These beans are inspired by the amazing homemade beans on toast that are served up at The Edinburgh Larder – an amazing Deli and Café, and my favourite place for brunch in Edinburgh! Unfortunately, I live around four-hundred miles away, so I decided to come up with my own version. They take a bit of time to make, but the recipe is really simple and they add a bit of a twist to your average Sunday brunch. Hope you like!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
½ red onion (finely chopped)
1 small carrot (very finely chopped)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
2 large tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
1 tablespoon tomato puree
500g can of plum tomatoes (good quality)
¼ teaspoon of sugar (you can add more if you prefer)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g can of cannellini beans in water

How to make it…

• Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the carrot and the bay leaf and fry gently for about four minutes, until the carrot starts to soften.
• Add the onion and fry for about six minutes or until the onion is soft, but not brown.
  It’s best to keep the ingredients moving in the pan at this point to make sure they don’t burn.
  
• Add the garlic and fry for about one-and-a-half minutes, making sure it doesn’t brown.
  When you add the garlic, it’s a good idea to move the pan off the heat to begin with, keeping the contents of the pan moving, and only put it back onto the heat for the last thirty seconds – that way the garlic will start to cook but won’t burn.
  
• Keeping the pan on the heat, add half of the chopped parsley and stir it through the mix. Then add the tomato puree and stir this through, cooking for about a minute.
• Add the can of tomatoes and stir it through the mix, breaking down the tomatoes with a spoon. Cook on a low-medium heat for about fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by about half.
  You’re aiming for a thick sauce that holds its shape when you push it around the pan – these beans aren’t meant to be runny! Using good quality tinned tomatoes really makes a difference to the flavour and texture of the sauce.
  
• Add the sugar to the pan and stir well. Cook for a further five minutes.
  I only use a small amount of sugar in these beans, but you can add as much as you like. Add with caution and keep tasting!
  
• Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Then add the rest of the chopped parsley and stir well. Remove the bay leaf from the pan.
• Drain the cannellini beans and rinse them well with water. Add them to the pan and heat through – you may need to turn up the heat at this point to get the beans nice and hot.
  Once the beans have been added, stir the sauce through gently so that they don’t break up.

Once the beans are piping hot, serve them up with some nice crusty toast, or as part of a fry-up. They also make a good base for an Italian-style sausage casserole!

So, here we are. Three years and counting. And what should we do to celebrate three years of ShiverWriggle goodness? Why, introduce you to a new contributor of course! And not just that: how about a brand new column?! Don’t say we never give you anything. Because we do. Oh yes, we do…

Some know her as Miss Whiplash. Some know her as Spot. To us she’s Lash. And she’s here to introduce into your lives a degree of luscious, delicious ShiverWriggle goodness that we hope, wherever your travels may take you hereafter, you will carry with you for many years to come.