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About
| A quick and easy spring or summer dish made with pearled spelt. Pearled grains are a lighter and faster cooking alternative to wholegrain cereals, but this recipe would work well with any grain - or any pulse for that matter. |
We made this recipe at the end of the hungry gap - the period between March and May when most winter crops have finished but before spring and summer crops are ready - so we used frozen chargrilled vegetables. This makes the recipe especially easy and frozen vegetable are a great option when many things are out of season. Freezing can also often help producers reduce food waste during a glut. Alternatively you can easily make your own chargrilled veg by roasting aubergine, courgette, pepper, onions and tomatoes.
Making your own "ricotta" is so simple you'll be kicking yourself for not trying it earlier. True ricotta is made by separating the little remaining curd from whey that's already the by-product of production of other cheese. This is strictly a fresh curd cheese though very similar to traditional ricotta. Don't waste the whey, it can be used as a flavoursome alternative to water in baking, cooking or even for soaking pulses or grains.
For a vegan version of this dish, just use agave syrup instead of the honey and a vegan ricotta alternative (cashew is very nice!) or add tofu instead.
Serves 2
Ingredients
For the "Ricotta" or Fresh Curd Cheese
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Method
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This dish allows the leeks and peas to cook and soften together slowly, lending their flavours to each other. Cooking the peas slowly helps release their starch, giving the dish an overall creamier consistency. The salsa verde adds a great savoury tang. Author Eden Owen-Jones is an avid listener of the Home Cooking podcast with Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway and there is only so many times she could hear Samin talk about this salsa without trying to make a version for herself – we think it works really nicely here.
Much like chickpeas, flamingo peas really come into their own once they’ve had time to soak up flavour. Here, Eden Owen-Jones cooks them marinated with lemon, garlic, fennel seeds and soft herbs, creating a punchy, fragrant base you’ll want to keep on hand for salads, toast toppers and more.
