Beetroot and Edamame Houmous

After a bit of a sabbatical juggling work and family, I’m back to blogging but just because I haven’t been writing or posting too much on social media, I haven’t been idle. Food has been cooked, recipes created, tested and tweaked for magazine submissions and I have thoroughly overhauled the design and of my webpages with a cleaner and I hope more professional layout.

It’s easy to get carried away in the summer living in the Channel Islands. Family trips to the beach, picnics, and visits to our wonderful attractions and very soon the summer is almost over and you haven’t had time to post anything. As much as I love this blog, I have learned it has to fit around my life and not the other way around.

However, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited to help out with some food for the Eat Local challenge here in Jersey design to promote the wonderful range of produce available on the island. The event was held at the Royal Jersey Agriculture and Horticultural Society in a charming woodland glade. Part of the RJAHS brief is to educate this and future generations in the benefits of local agriculture.

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The event was perfect, a magical summers evening, the area was heated with wood burners and decked out with bunting. Local producers and retailers provided food and informal talks, and everyone present could try oysters and local seafood, a fantastic summer vegetable soup and local bread, cakes, wine, beer, tea and fudge all from passionate local producers and suppliers.

What did I do? Well, I tried to fit the theme with some suitable canapes with crab, lobster, and Jersey Cheddar. But my biggest success of the evening was probably the vegetable crudité and smoky aubergine Baba ghanoush and cream beetroot and Edamame houmous. Platters piled high with the best local vegetables, radishes, celery, peppers, cucumbers, and carrots. Really easy dishes all I needed were a few knife skills and a good entry-level food processor. So to ease my way back into Autumn, darker nights and lots of blog posts here is my very simple recipe for the houmous.