Brussel Sprout Crisps

Oh my word....its happened, I have officially cooked, eaten and photographed brussel sprouts. Something strange is going on.!

As it turns out, after years of being rude about this vegetable, these chips/crisps/chiplets are extremely delicious and moreish. I actually planned to try making them at Christmas, but no brussel sprouts were to be found in store.
Unfortunately you do waste half the sprout, I have not found a use for the bitter half as yet. Also, it
takes a bit of time do do all the separating, so initially don't plan to do this for 20 people unless you have help.

                                             Brussel sprout Crisps
300g Fresh Brussel sprouts
1T olive oil
salt
Chilli flakes - optional

Preheat oven to 200C. Slice the root end off each sprout and carefully separate the green outer leaves. Do not use the white leaves. Toss in olive oil and salt (chilli if using)

Place on a baking tray and bake for 3 minutes, give the pan a good shake and bake again till the edges are brown...possibly only 1 more minute. eat as soon as possible.

Beetroot Tarts

This divine little tart was uplifted from George Jardine's lovely delicious book Jardine. I have made a few changes to make it more common folk friendly...that means me! This makes a beautiful and tasty starter for guests or a light supper for  yourself if you just increase the portion size. It really is quite simple, try it and wow your partner...guests...self.

                                            Beetroot Tart 
 Serves 6 as a starter

250g butter puff pastry ( I use Woollies french butter puff pastry)
2 large beetroots or more smaller ones (I prefer small, they taste nicer but require a bit more effort)
150ml Creme Fraiche
100g horse radish cream (in jars) or 50g fresh
1 packet shimeji mushrooms
50ml white wine vinegar
50ml olive oil
30ml fresh chives, chopped
salt and pepper
1 round feta cheese or fresh buffalo mozzarella
young green leaves/micro greens to garnish
Balsamic vinegar

Roll the puff pastry out quite thinly and cut into 6 squares. Refrigerate to firm up. Heat a large non-stick frying pan and add a little olive oil and fry the pastry until it is golden brown on both sides. Press down lightly to keep flat. (HINT: Don't try and press down till you have turned it, and don't turn or fiddle till you can see it is browning otherwise you have a soggy mess).
Wrap the beetroot in tinfoil and bake at 180C till soft...depends on size. Cool down and peel (Peeling is important...I learned to messy way)
Separate the mushrooms and remove untidy bits. Combine with the vinegar, oil, chives and seasoning and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Combine creme fraiche and horseradish, season lightly.
 Slice the beetroot very thinly with a sharp knife or mandoline. Spread the horshradish cream onto each slice of pastry, spread right to the edges. Place the beetroot on top, overlapping and even overlapping the edges. Now trim the tarts into perfect squares. Drain the mushrooms and scatter them over the beetroot, add the cheese and dress with some leaves and a drizzle of excellent balsamic vinegar.
Can be prepared a short while in advance...I did it about half an hour before my guests arrived and it was perfect

Meatless meat pies

When a vegetarian is desperate for mom's meat pies, lentils prove to be a surprisingly good substitute. These pies  are glorified Cornish pasties, in flaky pastry. You could also do the spinach filling from the ricotta  canneloni and just grate in a bit of extra cheddar cheese and exclude the egg. May I suggest if you don't feel like the whole pastry rolling thing,  try the traditional Cornish pasty dough, given below. It is easy make and  accessible to all pastry dunces out there! If you have a favourite flaky pastry, use that. I use one with 4 cups flour, 2t salt, 12ml baking powder, lemon juice, water and 500g butter.

                                                        Lentil Filling
(This is a direct swop from mince to lentils, so you can use 500g mince!!)
1 cup brown lentils
Vegetable stock to cover
1 onion chopped
1 potato, cubed (small)
1 carrot, cubed
1 punnet peas (or 3/4 cup frozen)
salt, pepper
1T chopped parsley
1T tomato paste
1T soya sauce or Worcester sauce

Boil lentils in vegetable stock 10 minutes. Fry onion till soft, add lentils and all other ingredients, except salt. Cover and cook till lentils and veg are soft and liquid all absorbed. Check and add salt if needed. Leave to cool completely.
                                                Cornish  Pastry
270g Butter
375g flour
1/2t salt
60ml cold water

Rub butter into flour till it resembles bread crumbs, add salt. (Food processor or mixer does a good job of this!) Add the water and mix till pastry collects together in a mass. Knead briefly into a ball and rest 1 hour (in fridge if hot). I usually find I need a bit more water. On a floured surface roll dough out to approx 50mm thick, cut into rounds - use a saucer or side plate. Put filling in the centre, brush the edge of one half with egg and draw up the sides to meet on top of the filling in half moon shape; press edges together well. OR  just fold over and press together well. Brush with egg, cut 2 slits in each pie and bake at approx 25min at 180C, or until golden. Serve hot or cold.

Vegan Caramel Date Cookies

Hmmm, I am on a bit of a sweet tooth roll here. My grandson and I needed to do some baking....note the "needed"! As his parents are trying to keep him away from sugar and gluten whenever possible, I went recipe hunting. This is slightly adapted from fragrant vanilla cake and well worth a try. The coconut sugar adds a delicious caramel taste, but I am going to reduce the"sugar" content next time and will then update here if needed. I am also going to try and make my own gluten free flour as I discovered the premixed one I bought was sweetened. So, watch this space.

However, these are really delicious, even if you are not trying to be healthy. The dough is quite oily, but that disappears once baked.

                                   Vegan Caramel Date Cookies
Makes 35

2T ground flax seed
1/4 cup plus 2T filtered water
1 cup virgin coconut oil, warmed to liquid
1 + 1/4 cups coconut sugar
1t vanilla extract
1t bicarb (baking soda)
3+1/4 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I found 2 and 1/2 cups enough)
 pinch of salt (NOTE: you can add more for a salted caramel biscuit- 3/4t)
2 cups soft medjool dates, pitted and cut into pieces ( nice chunky pieces not little tiny bits)

Preheat oven to 180C
Mix together the ground flax and water and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Mix the coconut oil and sugar together, add the vanilla and flax seed mix. Combine well. Add bicarb and salt, stir. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing between each addition. Stir in the dates.
Place in the fridge for 5 minutes to firm up the oil slightly. (Too long and it will set! ) (I never cooled my first batch and they were fine, just my hands were dripping coconut oil)    
Roll into largish balls, press down halfway. They do spread a little bit, so allow some space in between.  Bake for 12 minutes at least and if possible slightly longer even if you reduce the temp a little bit. It just allows them to get a bit crisper.   Cool and enjoy and eat at least one while they are still warm. 

PS: My grandson thought the dough tasted really good too!           

Flourless Orange and Almond Cake with Rosewater

I have planned to make this cake for about 4 years, but then get sidetracked by the gooey, rich, chocolate cakes! A recent recipe purchase included the recipe, so bravely ignoring the siren call of all the chocolate recipes, I got baking.This is really unbelievably easy to make and very pleasant to eat. There is a slight hint of bitterness, as you would expect with the whole oranges, but it is not unpleasant. Be sure to give yourself 2 hours before baking to boil the oranges.
Once it is baked and cooled, decorate with your prettiest edible flowers, invite some friends for tea (that you drink out of your prettiest cups), and sit back and enjoy their praises.

                                    Orange and Almond Cake
Cake:
2 Large oranges
1 cup castor sugar
6 eggs
2 cups ground almonds
 
Place the oranges in a pot of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 hours, adding more boiling water as needed to cover the oranges. Drain and cool.
Preheat oven to 160C.
Split oranges open and remove seeds then puree in food processor. Mix all cake ingredients together and pour into a greased 24cm springform cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until done when tested. Allow to cool in tin.

Orange syrup:
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
zest and segments of 2 oranges

Cook all syrup ingredients together till thick and syrupy

Icing and assembly:
40g butter
30 ml milk
2T rosewater
zest of half an orange
200g icing sugar
Optional; some chopped pistachios

Heat milk, sugar, rosewater and zest in small pot over low heat. Remove and stir in sufficient icing sugar to make a thick pouring consistency

Remove cake  from tin, pour rosewater icing over (you may not want to use all of it). Leave to set for 15 minutes, then drizzle syrup over. Decorate with pistachios if desired or flowers or both.

The sugar means this cake is not "healthy", but it is wheat free and yummy!
Adapted from:House and Garden Gourmet Winter 2015

Meusli - updated and upgraded

Saturday mornings after gym are supposedly the mornings we eat some muesli with our fruit...a treat breakfast. However, this muesli is so good I want to eat it EVERY morning. Not good for my waistline at all. I have posted 2 recipes before and you can read the original post at muesli.

I have discovered the joys of organic cereals that I now add to my muesli, as well as coconut oil and Jaggery - a raw cane/palm sugar. The cereals are processed to a degree, but with no additives or sweeteners. It adds a lovely crunch and a variation to the muesli. You can stick to the original recipe and substitute the oil and honey for the "healthier" option if you like. The thing to remember is to use the foods that you enjoy and like to eat. I tend to tip the stuff in and hope for the best...but here is a recipe for you!

                                                  Pan fried Muesli - Take 2
180g Coconut oil (I use organic, virgin)
180g Jaggery ( buy at health shops in a bucket or use honey or sweetener of choice. I like my muesli quite sweet...adjust to taste)
3 cups organic oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds (optional)
2T poppy seeds
1 cup cashew nuts
1 cup organic cornflakes (I use Good life)
1 cup organic puffed brown rice (ditto)
1/2 cup organic puffed millet (ditto)
1/2 cup organic coconut flakes
1 cup raisins or cranberries or a mix

Melt the oil and jaggery together gently in a LARGE frying pan. Add all the ingredients excluding the raisins and stir constantly over a low heat until the oats start to toast and turn brown. Stir the raisins through, turn off the heat and turn out onto a large sheet of foil or baking paper to cool.

This stuff is delicious and some days I even eat it for lunch. There is a serious food love affair going on here. 

Potato Gnocchi with Cauliflower Puree

Well, yes...alive and kicking and eating. Trying lots of recipes and rejecting the vast majority as being too fussy or not tasty enough. However, this one deserves a go. It does require some effort and the kitchen may resemble a flour bomb victim after the gnocchi, but the result is so delicious you won't mind the mess!
The recipe for Gnocchi can be found by following the link at gnocchi 
For the recipe below you will need to increase the quantity to 6 large potatoes and 2 eggs. Baking really does improve the quality of your gnocchi!

                                                Potato Gnocchi with Cauliflower puree
Serves 6 with ease.

Make the gnocchi bigger than indicated previously. I press them slightly flat with a fork and cook. Remove from water and immediately rinse very well with cold water and place on trays lined with clean cloths to dry. This can be done well in advance.

Puree:
1kg Cauliflower
200g onions, chopped finely
20g Garlic
5g Thyme
100g Butter
20g salt (use half initially)

Oil, butter
Grated Parmesan cheese

Method:
Steam all the ingredients EXCLUDING the butter till soft and tender. Strain the liquid without squeezing. Puree in 3 batches and add a third of the butter to each batch. Strain and check seasoning.
(I have a high speed blender so did not strain...up to you. The sauce will be very smooth if you do strain)
Heat 3T olive oil and 60g Butter in a large frying pan. Fry the gnocchi over fairly high heat, turning once to brown both sides nicely. Serve on top of the reheated puree. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese and enjoy with a salad and and other bits to decorate your dish