Category: Love food

Categories
Love food Main event

Cauliflower cake

I know cakes are usually sweet but this savoury cake is very good indeed, from the genius Yottam Ottolenghi. The use of the term ‘cake’ did get us talking about what the definition of a cake is – any thoughts dear readers?

The recipe is below but if you have Ottolenghi’s Plenty More cookbook you will find it there, page 258.

CAULIFLOWER CAKE
Serves 4 to 6

• 1 small cauliflower, outer leaves removed, broken into 1¼-inch florets (1 lb/450 g)
• 1 medium red onion, peeled (6 oz/170 g)
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
• 7 eggs (scant 1 lb/440 g)
• 1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoons round turmeric
• 5 ounces coarsely grated Parmesan or another mature cheese
• Melted unsalted butter, for brushing
• 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon nigella seeds
• Salt
• Black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200ºC.

Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon salt. Cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes, until the florets are quite soft. They should break when pressed with a spoon. Drain and set aside in a colander to dry.

Cut 4 round slices, each 1/4-inch thick, off one end of the onion and set aside. Coarsely chop the rest of the onion and place in a small pan with the oil and rosemary. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until soft. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Transfer the onion to a large bowl, add the eggs and basil, whisk well, and then add the flour, baking powder, turmeric, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon salt, and plenty of pepper. Whisk until smooth before adding the cauliflower and stirring gently, trying not to break up the florets.

Line the base and sides of a 9 1/2-inch springform cake pan with parchment paper. Brush the sides with melted butter, then mix together the sesame and nigella seeds and toss them around the inside of the pan so that they stick to the sides. Pour the cauliflower mixture into the pan, spreading it evenly, and arrange the reserved onion rings on top. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown and set; a knife inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Remove from the oven and leave for at least 20 minutes before serving. It needs to be served just warm, rather than hot, or at room temperature

Categories
Love food Sweet stuff

Peanut Butter Crispies

If you are in need of a quick treat during this horribly unsettling time, give these yummy Peanut Butter Crispies a whirl. They’re very quick and easy to make, with no cooking. You will have to leave it an hour or so though to set so a little patience is required.

Ingredients

  • 95g rice krispies
  • 120g peanut butter
  • 175g malt syrup* (rice or barley) or 175g agave syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Topping: 250g dark cooking chocolate and 1 tbsp peanut butter

* – malt syrup can be found in most supermarkets with the baking ingredients. Don’t be tempted to substitute golden syrup, it will be far too sweet.

Instructions

Put the peanut butter and syrup into a pan and heat until the peanut butter is melted into the syrup. Try to heat slowly as ideally you don’t want it to get too hot as if it gets too hot you will need to let it cool down before adding the rice krispies. Adding the rice krispies when it is too hot will soften them too much and then they won’t be crispy! Mix in the vanilla extract to the syrup and peanut butter and then mix in the rice Krispies. When thoroughly coated press into a greased baking tin. I use a tin measuring 23cm X 20cm.

For the topping, melt the chocolate and peanut butter. Pour over the crispies and put in the fridge to set. I recommend cutting before the chocolate hardens too much. Store the crispies in the fridge. If they’re not all eaten straight away, they will keep for a few days before going soft.

Categories
Breakfast/brunch Love food Other

Welsh rarebit

For a cheesy supper or brunch snack not much beats welsh rarebit. I know you could simply grill some cheese on toast but this is really worth the additional 20 minutes or so to make. There are many variations of the basic welsh rarebit recipe, I particularly like this one made with Guinness (or any other stout).

As you can see from the pic above we had it here on toast. Although I didn’t do it this time, my favourite way of serving it is atop a portobello mushroom. If going with the mushroom option then brush them all over with oil and place in the oven for 15 minutes to cook before spooning the rarebit mix on top.

Whether topping toast or mushrooms, when ready to eat pop under the grill for a few minutes to heat through, until golden brown in spots and bubbling.

This quantity will make enough for 4/6 servings. If you have spare mixture left over it freezes well to be used another time.

The left over Guinness can be used to make soda bread or find yourself a Guinness chocolate cake recipe. Of course, if you are being really organised you can make the bread first to use as your toast base.

Ingredients

  • 25g butter
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 75 ml Guinness
  • 140g mature cheddar, grated
  • 1 tsp English mustard
  • 2 eggs beaten

To make

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry onion for 10/15 mins until soft and translucent.
  2. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute.
  3. Gradually add the Guinness to make a smooth sauce; add the cheese and mustard.
  4. Finally add the eggs on a low heat until the mixture thickens. Do NOT overcook or have the heat too high otherwise your eggs will scramble.
  5. Your mix is now ready to top on your toast (toast both sides of the bread) or mushrooms and grill.
Categories
Breakfast/brunch Love food Vegan

Granola

This is easy but I won’t lie it can seem a bit laborious; there’s a lot of nut chopping and then regular turning of the Granola in the oven. It makes a lot though so you don’t have to make it too often.

You can eat this granola as is but you can also add dried fruit once cooked.

Ingredients

  • ½ tsp salt
  • 170g oats
  • 170g mixed grains or oats only (I get these from a health food store)
  • 200g mixed nuts, roughly chopped (you have to do this by hand with a sharp knife; don’t attempt to do it in a processor, you will end up with mostly ground nuts)
  • 50g mixed/sunflower/pumpkin seeds
  • 50g coconut shavings
  • 40g coconut oil
  • 120ml/172g runny honey
  • 1 large egg white

Method

  1. Put the dried ingredients into a large mixing bowl and give a good stir
  2. Put the coconut oil and honey in a microwaveable bowl. Heat until the coconut oil has melted into the honey
  3. Pour into the dried ingredients and stir until all are covered in the  oil-honey mix
  4. Fluff up your egg white and mix through the granola
  5. Spread the granola onto a wide baking tray (the biggest you have) and place in the oven on 150C. It will take approx. 40 mins to cook. You will need to stir it regularly to cook evenly. It is ready when it looks ready ie golden in colour.
  6. I leave for 10 mins before doing the first stir and then decrease the time between stirrings as I go.  
Categories
Love food Love London

British Library food season

11am tomorrow booking opens for the British Library’s series of talks and events as part of their now annual food season.

The season runs from 2 April through to end of May and features a number of favourites from the world of cooking such as Ken Hom, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Claudia Roden. Some events will also include tasters from restaurants such as Dishoom and Honey & Co.

Having been to previous events at the British Library, I can happily recommend this series. Each event is in the region of £16. The full list of events and booking details are available via this link.

Categories
Breakfast/brunch Love food Sweet stuff

Twisted cinnamon bread

I love any bread, cake pastry, bun etc with cinnamon. I’m always trying out new recipes. This latest was particularly good.

As the recipe suggests (found on BBC Good Food) it is best eaten the day it is made but it is still very good the next day, especially when spread with a little of the tahini and honey butter as recommended. Beyond that it is probably best to freeze, either whole or in slices.

The icing: I swapped out the icing in the recipe for my favourite tahini icing, which is literally, ‘the icing on the cake’!

Tahini icing: 60g icing sugar, 30, tahini and 1 tbsp water

Making the whole thing (as with any yeasted breads and cakes) in one day can be a bit of a pain as you wait around for each of the proving processes. I did what I often do when I’m making dough, I made it one evening and let it prove overnight in the fridge. The next day I took out of the fridge and let it warm up before rolling out the dough to add the filling and make the twisted log.

Categories
Love food Sweet stuff

Cherry Bakewell pudding

I think the before and after picture speaks for itself with this easy dessert suggestion for you. The recipe can be found on BBC Good Food site.

Finding cherries in syrup for the bottom is harder than you would expect. This last time I made the pudding I found a tin of cherry pie filling, making the whole recipe even easier – I just had to make the topping. If you do use pie filling then you can miss out the cherry jam from the recipe.

Categories
Love food Sweet stuff Vegan

Baked apples

This has been a family favourite winter dessert for as long as I can remember. It may feel old fashioned but it is easy, has a small list of ingredients and healthy. As well as being tasty what else do you need? Oh, I know – it’s gluten free and vegan too!!

The recipe can be found on BBC Good Food.

We used to call this dessert exploding apples because of the number of times I cooked it in the oven for a little too long in a slightly too hot oven. As they do need to be cooked in a low temperature oven for quite a while I now do this in advance of cooking the rest of my meal (without the fruit) and then just re-heating for 15 mins before eating.

I replace the blackberries in the recipe with a few spoons of fruit from a mixed bag of frozen fruit. Also, I don’t add the cinnamon, just personal taste.

A pic of the apples ready for baking.

Categories
Breakfast/brunch Love food Vegan

Spiced apple porridge

I have been converted to porridge over the past few years after a childhood (and adulthood) of avoidance. This spiced apple porridge from Waitrose (once again!) is so good. The recipe says it makes for two but I really don’t know how much porridge you can eat at one sitting but I definitely can’t eat what the recipe suggests.  In case you are wondering – nor can Liora or Andy. I make a batch at the beginning of the week and use it through the week. A word of warning though – it doesn’t look great cold and it will solidify but it tastes just as good as when made fresh. You will just need to add some water to loosen the consistency and then stick in the microwave.

The recipe can be found via this link. Having made this a few times I am a bit loose about the quantities. I always start with two cooking apples, chop them (small cubes) and weigh before cooking then add a proportional amount of porridge but it really doesn’t have to be exact. It is after all just porridge, not a cake.

Once you have cooked the apples give them another weigh and then keep half for the porridge mix and keep half aside for topping off your cooked porridge.

I always use a mix of semi-skimmed dairy milk and water, using much more overall liquid than the recipe suggests.

As well as spare porridge for another day, you should also have some apple left over for topping.

Enjoy ?

Categories
Love food Other

Winter Pesto

I have just made this winter version of pesto. I am so amazed and delighted that I just have to share it with you. Those who know me well know that I try hard to buy reasonably local and seasonal – so that means no strawberries in winter or in the case of pesto basil. I do admit though that it is a minefield as tomatoes can be found in the supermarkets all through the winter grown in the UK but they generally lack much flavour and secondly green houses in the winter are not very energy friendly. But I do admit, I can be a bit inconsistent on some things (eg mangos and avocados). It is a work in progress. Concern for the climate aside, there is something quite special about eating your first strawberry in season, having English asparagus and we particularly get excited about the first brussel sprouts.

Waitrose can once again be thanked for this great recipe of Pesto made with Cavolo Nero. The recipe makes approximately 150 ml. Enjoy.