Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

8 oz sun dried tomato in oil and a good splosh of the tomato oil

2 cloves garlic

30 or so basil leaves

1 or 2 chili pepper/s (optional and to taste)

Method

Pop the lot in the blender and wiz

'bloomin' marvelous sauce keeps for ages in a jar in the fridge and very versatile.. it's excellent with pasta, just dilute with a little of the pasta cooking water and add some parmesan cheese.. I spread it as a base on homemade pizza, use on crostini with a slice of cheese and lightly toasted or just spread on bread.. go for it

Lemon Ginger Syrup

This is a wonderful remedy for winter blues it warms the cockles of your heart! It is also an effective defence against the symptoms of colds and chills.

Take a tablespoonful (or more to taste) of the syrup in a tumbler full of hot water and add a slice of lemon and enjoy.

You will need

Sterilised bottles for storage

Ingredients

113 grams/4oz whole ginger

1 litre/2pints water

2 lemons

A tablespoon of citric acid (available from chemists or Asian stores) 

A Quantity of sugar

Method

1.      Bruise the ginger and place in a saucepan with the water and the thinly pared rind of the lemon

2.     Bring to the boil and simmer with a lid on for ¾ of an hour

3.     Strain and measure and for every pint of liquid add 450 gm (1 lb) of sugar and the juice of a lemon

4.    Return the lot to the pan and re-boil for ten minutes

5.     Bottle, label and seal for storage.

Delicious Dandelions

So what can we do with dandelions then? Well The young leaves are eaten as salad. Some find the older leaves too bitter... there is however, a good way of reducing the bitterness in the leaves... keep them out of the light by covering them with flowerpots. The roots may be grated or chopped and again eaten in salad or they may be roasted and used to make coffee. Dandelion flowers are fermented to make a pleasing country wine.

Italian style dandelion salad (for one for lunch)

You will need

A mixing bowl and a serving bowl

Ingredients

For the salad

A large handful young dandelion leaves

 ¼ cup chopped spring onion

 ¼ cup pine nuts,

¼ cup walnuts

2 sliced radishes

Dressing

Squeeze of lemon juice

1 tablespoon good olive oil

Also

A generous sprinkling of shaved Parmesan and a few croutons  

Method

1.      Place all salad ingredients in mixing bowl

2.     Wiz up the dressing pour over salad and toss

3.     Arrange in serving bowl with Parmesan shavings and croutons 

Passata... easy but time consuming..

You will need 

A quantity of tomatoes we used about 5 kg

A large pan

A small flame

A good deal of patience

1. Chop your tomatoes and place in a large pan

2. Cover pan and place over a small flame after a couple of hours it will look like this

After a couple of hours

3. keep bubbling away and after about eight hours it will look like this

After about eight hours 

4. Now pass through a sieve.. I blended mine first it makes it easier but is not essential

Blended tomatoes 

Sieve to remove skin and pips

5. Gently simmer resulting mush until required consistency

Finished Passata

6. Pack into freezer bags and store for use in winter months

Crudatrerra Link

Hey guys here is a link to my raw food blog... http://crudaterra.blogspot.com/ and my holistic dimension web site http://www.holisticdimension.co.uk/welcome.htmlhttp://www.holisticdimension.co.uk/welcome.html
Enjoy

Lovely Lemon Posset

This is a truly delightful thing

serves 4-6

1 600 ml carton double cream
45 grams of castor sugar
2 large lemons (juice of both zest of 1)

Method

1. Bring cream and sugar to boil stirring constantly. Simmer for 3 mins
2. Off the heat add zest and juice of lemon stirring well
3. Cool for a few moments then pour into either a large or several small containers to set
4. Chill for at least 3 hours in the fridge by which time it will be set 

Absolutely delicious served alone but is also good with raspberries or some fruit compote

Elderflower syrup

A superb syrup lovely mixed with either still or sparkling spring water or poured over ice cream

Ingredients
10 heads of elderflower
2 lemons
1/2 oz citric acid
3 lbs sugar
3 pints of water

Method

1. Remove elderflowers from main stem leaving behind very little green
2. Halve the lemons squeeze juice and put the lot including elderflowers in a large mixing bowl
3. Bring sugar and water to the boil pour it over the elder and lemon
4. Cover and leave overnight 
5. Next day strain and reboil add the citric acid and bottle
6. It's ready to drink straight away