I haven’t had a lot of energy or creative cooking inspiration lately, for whatever reason. I can’t pin down exactly what it is, but I feel like time is slipping by and I can’t figure out where it’s going. Lately when it comes to cooking, I just to get it done and relax.

In that spirit, and because maybe you’re feeling the same, here’s my my cheaty cheesy sauce. The only caveat – you need to use an actually-flavorful goat cheese. (Step away from the cheap stuff.) Try to get some delicate tasting goat-milk cheeses that don’t have the “goatiness” of a French chevre. Mine is from the local Wobbly Bottom Farms, a new favorite. (Also… that name!)

Cheese is one of the greatest creations of all time. Truly. It’s up there with the internet, Mad Men and contactless credit cards. Did you know that one of the oldest cheeses ever found was from 2300 BCE? So while Stonehenge was being built in England, cheese was being eaten in Egypt.

Cheese is a marvel, I tell you.

Gnocchi with Cheaty Cheesy Sauce (and veggies)

Serves: 4
Total time: 30 mins including chopping and cooking
Note: This recipe is easy to halve, or even make for 1, and uncooked gnocchi is freezable

Cheaty Cheesy Sauce

120 mL (1/2 cup) creme fraiche or sour cream
50 g (2 oz) soft goat cheese
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp finely milled salt (or table salt)

Gnocchi with Spinach and Mushrooms

1 kg (2 lbs) gnocchi
60 g (2 cups) fresh spinach, chopped
75 g (about 1 cup) mushrooms, your choice, sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 knob of butter (about 1 tbsp)
1/2 leek, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 tbsp of fresh chopped parsley (optional)

In a wide, flat skillet or frying pan, melt the butter until it’s liquid and hot. If you sprinkle a bit of water on it, it should sizzle.

Throw in the leeks and sweat them over low heat until they soften, about 5 minutes. Make sure to stir them frequently so they don’t burn.

Add in the mushrooms and cook them until they release all their liquid. At that point, turn up the heat slightly and cook them for a few minutes longer.

Add in the garlic, stir it up and cook for another 30 seconds, until you can smell that lovely garlicy perfume.

Then toss in the spinach for another 30 seconds, until just wilted. 

Take your veggies off the heat.

If you’ve made your own gnocchi – great work! If you haven’t, don’t worry, it still cooks the same way. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook your gnocchi until it floats, which usually takes about 2-3 minutes.

Drain the gnocchi, saving the water (for now), and add it back into the pot. Add in the veggies.

If you’re feeling super-cheaty, you can stir in the creme fraiche, then the milk, then the goat cheese, until it’s melted and incorporated. Stir carefully, not vigorously, or you’ll end up with mashed potatoes. If it feels a little dry, add a tablespoon at a time of the gnocchi water.

Otherwise, quickly combine all the cheaty cheesy sauce ingredients in a small bowl, stir them together and then in with the gnocchi and veg.

If you have parsley on hand, sprinkle it over each serving of gnocchi. And … you’re done!

You may have noticed, if you’ve here, that I like food. I like writing about it, reading about it, taking photos of it and even eating it.

One of the basics when it comes to being passionate about all this is understanding where the things that become food come from.

On a blog where I try to focus on relatively easy recipes with accessible ingredients, I don’t want to start preaching to everyone about how they should eat. I’m also the kind of person who wants to be sure of what I’m saying before I go on acting like I’m an expert in anything, and advocating for things I don’t understand.

But I’ve thought about this a lot, and I’ve done my homework. (There are some great resources out there for understanding what this all means on a grand scale.) You can do good things by thinking about how sustainable it is to grow something. Whether that something is cherries or chickens, it really is worth it, for the sake of being able to keep producing food, and to have land and water that can support its own ecosystems, among many other reasons.

To me, sustainability means a few things. It means that I try to eat organically for the environmental impact, seasonally and locally for the small business impact (and for the environment…), and with animal welfare in mind for the animals (and, well, the environment for this one, too).

I’m not perfect, by any means. I still really like avocados, even though they definitely don’t grow anywhere near England, and I don’t ask the people at the cheap-and-cheerful market stalls near my office where their meat comes from. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. There is nothing wrong with doing what you can afford, and thinking more carefully about what you consume and why.

Starting out

If you’re thinking about how you can #eatclean in the way it matters most, for sustainability and welfare, but not sure exactly where to begin – start small. The first food I made a serious commitment on was eggs. They’re affordable and versatile, and I learned quickly that moving up to higher welfare eggs wasn’t going to significantly change how much they cost, but makes a huge difference for the environment, the chickens, and the taste of my scrambled eggs.

Let’s travel together into the way-back machine, when I was first introduced to the happiest chickens I’ve ever met. Labor Day 2010, Catskills, NY. Handsome Brook Farms.

Our introduction came early. They crashed through the bushes and tried to follow us into the house, then joined us on walks through the fields. The hens of Handsome Brook spent time wherever they pleased; real ladies of leisure. With beautiful, glossy feathers and an active social life, I had truly never seen chickens who seemed so happy to be alive.

The chickens had run of the farm.

Then, we sampled the freshest eggs at breakfast, in French toast and on their own, and it was obvious how the freedom these chickens had to pick at insects, plants and whatever else they wanted to eat affected the quality of what showed up on our plates.

After that trip, I said no to battery cage eggs, and “free range” hens who have never seen the sun. It costs more but not a huge amount more, and I can just think about those chickens and understand why doing something, however small, is better than doing nothing.

So instead of skirting the issue, I am going to start addressing it in my posts. I can’t afford to make everything I eat the most local or sustainable, but when I can, I will. And if I can offer suggestions for people who want to do the same, then I will.

Eating sustainably

This is a luxurious and easy breakfast that showcases farm-fresh eggs, but still includes a guilty-ish pleasure ingredient, avocado. You can find organic, sustainable avocados, though it’s unlikely they’ll be local. This one came in our veg box from Riverford and was grown in Mexico.

Scrambled eggs with avocado and feta

Serves: 2

On the Counter

4 free-range organic eggs
4 tsp milk
1 avocado, sliced thinly, or into chunks
2 oz (55 g) feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 tsp (or a dash) of salt
1 tsp unsalted butter
2 slices of bread, your choice

You’ll need

wide/flat pan or skillet
whisk or fork
wooden spoon or rubber spatula

What to Do

Whisk the eggs, milk and salt together until well combined.

If you’re making toast, put the toast down now.

In a skillet, melt the butter over medium/low heat. Once it’s melted, swish it around the pan until it’s covered the bottom. Add in the egg mixture.

Immediately as it starts to set, push the eggs from the edge of the pan to the middle and keep doing so, making sure that you don’t get giant curds of egg. Once you don’t have any more liquid egg mixture, but they eggs are still a bit wet, you’re ready. It should only take 2-3 minutes until your eggs are finished.

Top the toast with avocado, then egg, then sprinkle on the feta cheese. Serve!

Broccoli after….

And broccoli before. (Time travel!)

It is definitely the post-holiday season. And I can’t believe I’m saying this… but I wish it would snow. It’s been gray and rainy and typically wintery, except that the temperatures in London have been pretty mild. It’s perpetual autumn! When I first came here in the winter, I was actually pretty happy with it… being able to stand outside for more than 5 minutes without feeling like your nose would fall off was a huge perk. You always want what you can’t have though, and now I’m missing delayed openings and snowy mornings.

On the topic of things I miss, I recently found a deli near my office that has freshly-made sandwiches! That’s probably one of the biggest things I miss from back home… knowing that I can choose what goes into my sandwich, and that it’s being made for me, not for the display counter. Long live local sandwich shops.

But now, onto what you’re actually here for – the recipe. While maybe you’re thinking broccoli isn’t that exciting, or that you could never serve it to person-in-your-life-who-hates-broccoli, all I can say is: Try it roasted. Seriously. This is not your grandma’s boiled broccoli that makes the kitchen smell like a locker room. I have even converted a sworn enemy of broccoli with this recipe. True story.

PS: If you’re a strict vegetarian, you can skip the Parmesan entirely (it’ll still be tasty!), or replace it with a hard cheese that’s made without animal rennet.

Roasted broccoli with garlic and Parmesan

1 head of broccoli (about 250 g or 9 oz), cut into florets
2 medium garlic cloves (about 2 tsp or 10 g), minced
1 tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin)
sprinkling of cayenne pepper OR pine nuts (optional)
1 tsp ground sea salt or table salt
juice from 1/2 lemon
a small mound of grated Parmesan cheese (or vegetarian hard cheese)

What to do

Toss the broccoli florets in minced garlic, olive oil, pine nuts/cayenne and salt.

Spread the broccoli out in one layer on a baking sheet or wide baking dish.

Roast for 20-25 minutes at 200 C or 400 F. It’s ready once the blossoms turn slightly brown and toasty, and they are fork tender.

Squeeze on lemon juice, toss, and top with parmesan. Serve!

With summer winding down, it’s the right time to enjoy the last of the warm-weather barbecues, picnics and salads-as-main-dishes before the season of pumpkins, blustery walks and wooly sweaters comes in. I think pearl couscous salad is a fitting farewell to summer.

I’m sure it helps that pearl couscous is one of my new favorite things to eat. I can’t get enough! It takes no time at all (well, ok, maybe a few minutes) and it’s just perfect for a light lunch or as a side for a barbecue. Protip: Try it with lamb.

I have no idea what made me want it so intensely, I saw a recipe online and I decided that I absolutely had to have it … and I just keep going back for more bags of it. Giant/pearl/Israeli couscous is surprisingly different from regular couscous, even if it’s made from the same stuff, semolina flour. The chewy, springy texture makes a big difference, and it holds its own with other ingredients.

In the UK, you can find it at Waitrose and Tesco – probably the other shops too, but I haven’t tried. I’ve been getting my 500 g bags from Tesco at £0.89 each… not a bad investment for what ends up being quite a bit of couscous. Those suckers really grow in size.

There are so many different things you can pair with this big, chunky couscous, but I’ve decided to show you what I’ve been doing with it lately.

I think Greek/Mediterranean flavors work really well in the summer – even when I’m stuck inside a flat in the middle of London, I can imagine sitting by the beach with a big plate of couscous, cucumber and feta. (Everyone daydreams about that… right?) Since I’m not sure a warm, sunny holiday is in the cards this year, I think I’m just going to have to keep on indulging in chewy couscous and summery ingredients.

On the Counter

Serves: 4

200g (8 oz) pearl couscous
1/2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil + 2 tbsp reserved
200mL (1 cup) water
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 small cucumber (or 1/2 English cucumber) diced
1 roasted red pepper
50g (2oz) feta cheese
10 Greek olives, pitted and chopped
3 sprigs fresh parsley (or coriander/cilantro), chopped
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

salt

pepper

Other ingredients I’ve used:

baby spinach

bok choy

cherry tomatoes

super-crispy bacon

diced chorizo

What to Do

Heat the 1/2 tbsp. olive oil in a saucepan until shimmering. Add in the couscous, and stir frequently until it starts smelling nutty and turning slightly brown, about 2-3 minutes. (If you don’t stir frequently it will burn, so be careful!)

Add water, bring to a boil.Cook for about 6 minutes, or until the couscous is still chewy, but not hard in the center.

Meanwhile, combine the onion, cucumber, herbs, feta, olives, lemon juice, remaining olive oil, salt and pepper and set aside.

Once the couscous is cooked, wash thoroughly with cold water.

Toss the couscous and the rest of the ingredients together, and add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

And – that’s it!

Pearl couscous salad handles itself very well in the fridge, and makes for good leftovers. For the last barbecue of the season or a breezy picnic in the park, you can easily make it a day ahead.