Sweet Potato, Cumin and Ras-el-Hanout Spread

I don't like buying ready-made or processed foods. Instead, I look at the list of ingredients and most of the time find that I can easily recreate a product myself but without additives, preservatives etc. Of course, not all products have "bad" stuff in them such as the dips/spreads available on Saturday at the health food shop for customers to try. One was a sweet potato dip with ras-el-hanout and really tasty. When we saw the price for a 150-g-tub we checked the list of ingredients. Easy! We had all the ingredients at home. 

400-500 gsweet potato
1/2 can chickpeas
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ras-el-hanout
sea salt
black pepper
juice of one lemon
good glug of olive oil

Cut a sweet potato lengthways, drizzle a little EVO into a roasting tray and roast for about 45 minutes at 200 °C/gas mark 6 until soft. Scoop out the flesh and leave to cool. Then season with pepper, salt, toasted ground cumin and ras-el-hanout. Add crushed garlic,  drained chickpeas, lemon juice and EVO. Blend, check the seasoning and enjoy.

Mascarpone Cream and Mixed Berry Compote

Mascarpone isn't something I normally have in the house unless I'm planning to make a tiramisu. When my other half brought a tub from the shops I wondered what else I could do with it and decided to make the tiramisu topping but serve it with a mixed berry compote. I substituted the rum that's normally used in tiramisu with homemade raspberry infused vodka.

(serves 4-6)

Berry compote:
3 handfuls of fresh or frozen mixed berries
2 tbsp unrefined soft brown sugar
Heat over a lowish heat until the fruit has soften and the sugar has desolved. Set aside to cool.

Mascarpone cream:
250 g mascarpone
2 large or 3 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tbsp unrefined soft brown sugar (or more, to taste)
1 pinch salt
30 ml (homemade) raspberry infused vodka (or rum), optional


1. Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt into firm peaks. Set aside.

2.Beat the sugar and egg yolks until creamy. Add the mascarpone, vanilla paste and vodka (if used) and beat till combined. Check the sweetness and add more sugar if necessary.

3. Carefully fold in the the egg whites and place in the fridge to chill for a few hours.

4. Layer the berry compote and mascarpone cream in individual glasses.

Spring Day Salad

I nearly didn't remember that yesterday was the first day of spring even though I enjoyed a very late breakfast in the garden for the very first time this year. After the indulgences of our trip to London last week what we really wanted was a large but filling salad. As usual, I had a rough idea of what I might put into it, e. g. buffalo mozzarella, but in the end it turned out entirely differently. And it took me a while to come up with a title for this raw and cooked salad with fruit and veg topped with tahini and roasted chickpeas.

Please note that you need to roast the chickpeas at least one hour ahead.

(serves 4)

lettuce leaves of your choice
1 ripe avocado
1 ripe pear
steamed sugar snaps
2 hard boiled eggs (optional)
3-4 cooked beetroot (no vinegar)

dressing:
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 part elderflower infused sherry vinegar
2-3 parts elderflower infused extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp agave nectar or runny honey (local if possible)
fresh dill (as an alternative to the flavour of elderflower infused oil and vinegar)

topping 1:
2 tbsp of Greek or Turkish style yoghurt
2 tbsp unsalted tahini
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
touch of lime juice

topping 2:
1 can of chickpeas, drained
1-2 tsp of sweet paprika
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
drizzle of garlic infused extra virgin olive oil

1. First, get your oven on to roast the chickpeas. Place the chickpea into a sandwich tin or similar, season with pepper, salt and paprika, drizzle with olive oil and mix well. Bake in the upper part of the oven (doesn't matter where in a fan assisted oven) at full whack for 10-15 minutes, then turn so the soft side is up. Repeat this until the chickpeas are crunchy. Set aside and leave to cool.

2. Steam the sugar snaps for 3-5 minutes then plunge into ice cold water to stop them from cooking further. Drain and set aside.

3. Prepare your yoghurt dressing next by mixing all the ingredient. Keep refridgerated until neede.

4. Make the salad dressing. If you don't have elderflower infused oil or vinegar use finely chopped dill.

5. Use any lettuce you like, though I'd suggest something a little sturdier and more flavourful than round lettuce, and place into a large serving bowl. Julienne the cooked beetroot, core the pear and cut into chunky slices, spoon out chunks of the avocado with a teaspoon, chop up the boiled eggs (if used) and add to the bowl.

6. Dress the salad, top with a little tahini dip and a tablespoon of roasted chickpeas and serve the remaining tahini dip and chickpeas on the side for everyone to help themselves. Alternatively, serve on individual plates as in the photo at the top.

Rocket, Orange and Avocado Salad

Last week, there weren't any blood oranges at my favourite discounter and I thought that's the season over. Yesterday, however, they were back so I grabbed another bundle. Last night, we had a vegetarian carbonara, which I was going to acccompany with a rocket salad. That's when I discovered two very ripe avocados and decided to try something a bit different. Ordinary oranges will work well with this recipe.

1 bag unwashed wild rocket (approx. 100 g)
1 ripe avocado
2 (blood) oranges
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
balsamic
extra virgin olive oil (EVO)
1 tsp orange marmalade, optional

1. Make the dressing. Squeeze one of the oranges. Add salt, pepper, balsamic, EVO, orange juice and marmalade, if used, to a bowl and whisk together.

2. Wash and spin the rocket. Place into a salad bowl.

3. Peel the second orange and chop into the segments. Add to the rocket.

4. Cut the avocado in half, twist and separate the two halves. Gently squeeze the half that contains the stone so it drops out. With a teaspon, scoop out the flesh in chunks straight into the salad bowl.

5. Pour the dressing over the salad, mix and serve immediately.

Baked Avocado with Feta and Lime

I've not had baked avocado in more than 20 years and have to admit that I'm not that fond of it. Yesterday, a post in my foodie group reminded me of baked avocados and since we had guests for dinner I decided to experiment and make this for the only pescatarian among us. Having been a vegetarian for more than two decades and only eating meat again for a few years I do not like for the non meat eaters to have "an empty space" on their plate. It turned out really well and since my friend let me taste it I think I may even make it for us in future.

As I always found baked avocado too rich I decided to use a salty feta cheese and lime juice to make it feel less greasy. Even before baking this looks absolutely delicious and I'm sure it would also be great uncooked.

When baking avocados it's really important that the fruit is very ripe. Otherwise, the baked result may be slightly rubbery in texture and may also taste bitter.

(serves 2)

1 ripe avocado
60 g feta cheese
1/2 spring onion
freshly chopped red chili to taste, optional
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
freshly squeezed lime juice to taste.

Half the avocado and remove the stone. Using a tea spoon, scoop the flesh out in small chunks. Drizzle with a little lime juice. Set the empty skins aside. Crumble the feta and add to the avocado. Thinly slice the spring onion and chili, if used. Season with pepper and salt and carefully mix. Check the seasoning adding more lime juice if required. Spoon the mixture into the avocado skins and bake at 220 °C/gas mark 7 for 15-20 minutes.

This is what it looks like before baking. Scrumptious, don't you think?

Carrot and Carrot Top Pesto

While I've used a small amount of feathery green carrot leaves when making stock I've often wondered if I could use them in larger quantities in other ways, such as pesto and salads. Last week, I bought some bunched carrots with the intention of making either one of these carrot pesto recipes. The tops were so fresh, I had to explore how they could be used and my fellow foodies in a Facebook group confirmed that it is indeed a very tasty herb and came up with all sorts of suggestions. While intending to still go ahead with my original pesto idea and intending to turn the leaves into a thick herb oil I changed my mind halfway through the preparation. The result is stunning. As I didn't loosen the pesto too much it's thick and creamy and will make a great sandwich spread. Next time, I buy bunched carrots I'll make carrot top pesto.

500 g bunched carrots, including the carrot tops/leaves

50 g fresh Parmesan

1 handful of hazelnuts

3 garlic cloves

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

extra virgin olive,  as required

Cut the leaves off the carrots and trim off the stems from below the bottommost feathery leaf. Top and tail, then peel the carrots and slice them into 5 mm thick slices. Bring a pan with about an inch of water to the boil. Steam the carrots for 10-12 minutes until they are just tender.

Coarsely chop the carrot tops and place into a food processor along with all the other ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Add a generous amount of olive oil and process to a paste adding more olive oil until the desired consistency has been reached. Check the seasoning, then put in the fridge until ready to use. If you're not eating all the carrot pesto over the next day or two, transfer into a sterilised screw top jar and top with olive oil to seal. This wy, it should keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Perada

When I made membrillo (quince cheese) for the first time last autumn I realised that fruit "cheeses" have been around for a long time. Knowing I couldn't get quince for another year and expecting the batch of membrillo to be finished well before then I made a mental note to try and make perada (pear cheese) some time.

Today, my favourite discount supermarket hat 25 % of Abate pears and I seized the opportunity. I came home with 2.5 kg of pears, went on the internet and found two recipes I liked. One is from a blog called LondonEats, the other from whatscookingamerica. I based my perada primarily on the LondonEats recipe but added apples instead of pectin as suggested by whatscookingamerica.

After cooking the fruit pulp for three hours without my spoon leaving a trail I decided I'd settle for a soft spreadable rather than a firm perada that can be sliced. I'm sure it'll be just as tasty.

2.5 kg pears
0.5 kg apples
soft brown (unrefined sugar), 1 part to 2 parts of fruit pulp
300 ml water
juice of 2 lemons
rind of 1 lemon, cut into strips with a speed peeler

1. Rinse the fruit, don't remove the skin but place whole into a couple of saucepans so there's just the one layer and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the fruit is soft. The fruit is soft when a pointed knife slips easily into the pears. As my pears were still firm, this took 30 minutes of simmering. I removed the apples earlier as their skin burst when they were done.

I thought the boiled pears looked reallz funky.

2. Drain and leave to cool. Once the pears are cool enough to handle, remove the skin and discard. The fruit now needs to be passed through a sieve using the back of a (wooden) spoon. You can either chop it up or run it through the food processor with the coarse grater disc inserted. The latter tip I gleaned from the membrillo recipe and it makes pulping the fruit much easier.

3. Measure out the pulp. The above recipe resulted in 1.8-2 l of pulp. As it was quite sweet already I used only 1 part sugar to 2 parts fruit.

4. Place the fruit pulp, sugar, lemon juice, water and lemon rind into a stainless steel saucepan. Stir well and bring to the boil. Simmer until the mixture is thick enough for a spoon to leave trails. Mine took 3 hours but never got that thick, perhaps because I didn't use pectin.

Remember to stir regularly to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Warning: Do be careful. The thicker the mixture gets the more it spatters and those spatters are roasting. My right hand got hit numerous times. Eventually, I got wise to the danger and put on an oven glove to stir.

5. Remove the lemon rind. It seemed a shame to discard it so I set it aside and placed a slice or two on the top of each filled jar. Pour into sterilised jars , screw on the lid and turn upside down until completely cool. Store in a dark cool place.  

Baked Chocolate Cheese Cake on Gluten Free Almond-and-Chocolate Base

When I saw this recipe on Indre's blog I knew immediately I had to try it out, the base alone sounded wonderful. Here in the UK, it's really hard to get the German "quark", if I'm lucky I can find the French fromage frais but mostly with 0 % fat and that means additives to give it its consistency. I was going to try ricotta but the local supermarket didn't have any in that day and I almost went for Greek yoghurt or crème fraîche when I spotted fromage frais with 0.2 % fat. I decided to make an exception and buy it. I don't object to the low fat content but the drawback is that thickening agents have to be added to make it thick and creamy. And I try to avoid all sorts of additives. Next time I'm going to use ricotta.

Update 27/06/14: Ricotta worked a treat! Will try a baked German cheesecake with ricotta next.

The other item I can't get here is chocolate custard powder so I researched this on the internet and made my own. I also reduced the amount and type of sugar, added a pinch of salt. The changes I made to the recipe are printed in italics.

As I expected, the base is fantastic – as is the topping – and I already have plans to use if for other cakes, the recipes for which I'll no doubt publish in this blog.

200 g ground almonds
200 g dark chocolate, min. 70% cocoa solids
1 pinch of salt
200 g butter
200 g sugar/150 g fine unrefined sugar
4 eggs
vanilla extract
1 sachet (15 g) baking powder

Topping:
1 sachet of chocolate custard/30 g custard powder mixed with 10 g cocoa/ home-made chocolate custard powder made of 10 g cocoa, 30 g cornflower and a little vanillin
250 g fromage frais or ricotta
100 ml milk
150 g sugar/120 g fine unrefined sugar
2 small or medium eggs

1. Melt the butter and chocolate over a low heat in a saucepan. Leave to cool
2. Beat the almonds, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract and eggs together.
3. Mix in the chocolate butter.
4. Pour the mix into a greased spring tin/silicon mold (26-30 cm)
5. Bake for 45 min. at 180 °C/gas mark 4.
6. Mix the chocolate custard powder with the fromage frais/ricotta.
7. Add the milk, eggs and sugar and beat to a creamy consistency.
8. Spread over the base after the inital baking time of 45 minutes, then bake for another 35-45 minuts.

This cake will keep covered and stored in a cool place for 3-4 days.

Chocolate Cake (gluten free)

When I saw this recipe on Éva's blog Emil und die großen Schwestern, I had to try it straight away as it seemed so simple. Thanks Éva for allowing me to add it to this recipe collection.

Éva suggests reducing the amount of sugar for a more chocolatey taste. The amount and type of sugar in brackets is what I used. I've added a pinch of salt because it brings out the taste of chocolate.

With regards to the different types of sugar, I have to admit I've not tried it with white sugar because I never have it in the house. Both the unrefined and the moscovado lead to stunning results, the unrefinded giving a caramel flavour and the moscovado making the cake even richer in flavour and adding a treacly, toffee-like flavour. Absolutely wonderful!

6 eggs
200 g fine sugar or 150 g fine unrefined, brown sugar or 150 g moscovado
125 unsalted soft butter plus a bit extra for greasing the tin
pinch of salt
250 g chocolate with at least 70% of cocoa solids
cocoa powder or icing sugar for dusting
soured cream or Greek yoghurt  and a handful of raspberries, if they're in season, for serving

Separate 4 of the eggs and place the egg white and yolk into two mixing bowls. Beat the egg yolk with 100 g/75 g of sugar until creamy. Add the butter and the two remaining eggs and beat until all the ingredients are combined.

Melt the chocolate in a bain marie, add the salt and mix with the batter stirring continuously.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then beat in the remaining 100 g/75 g of sugar. Carefully fold into the chocolate mix.

Pour the cake mix into a greased 25-30 cm flan dish. Bake in the oven at 175° C/gas mark 4 for 40-45 minutes. Do not open the oven for the first 30 minutes. To prevent the cake from drying out avoid fan-assisted oven/setting. The cake is meant to crack on top while baking.

Dust with cocoa powder or icing sugar.

Variations:
Try adding chili flakes, rosemary, lavender, xmas spices or similar to vary.

I have tried fresh raspberries and fresh blueberries which I scattered over the top and pressed down with my finger. The didn't sink to the bottom of the cake. And with the blueberries, I used moscovado sugar. OMG! It was unbelievably delicious. Maybe too rich. Next attempt: Half and half, i. e. moscovado sugar in the pastry, light brown sugar with the egg white.

August 2014: Two chocolate cakes with moscovado sugar and fresh blueberries.
They looked so good I didn't bother dusting them with cocoa.

Imam Bayildi (vegetarian version)

February 2016: Photos at last! I can't believe I never posted photos. We eat this dish a lot. This time I used cherry tomatoes as we had a few punnets. I just simmered the topping until the tomatoes were soft.

After Fabiana's guest recipe for the meat version - here is the way I make the vegetarian/vegan/gluten free (replace couscous with rice or quinoa) version.

I just love aubergines - and this is one of my favourite ways to prepare them as this dish is delicious hot or at room temperature. When served cold it can be prepared in advance, for example for a summer lunch or BBQ. I ususally serve the hot version with couscous but it also tastes great with warm crusty bread. For the

Depending on your appetite and the size of the aubergines, use either 1/2 an aubergine or a whole aubergine per person.

(serves 4)
2 large aubergines
2-3 mixed peppers (or any colour you prefer)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (in thick juice, if available)
1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 fat garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 tsp. freshly ground cumin
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch of fresh coriander, coarsely chopped

250 g couscous
a little sea salt
500 ml boiling water
fresh herbs, chopped (optional)

1. Heat a good lug of olive oil in a large non-stick pan. Cut the aubergines length-ways and cut the flesh in a coard criss-cross pattern.
2. Fry the aubergines cut-side down until golden. Remove, season with pepper and a little salt and place cut-side up into a roasting tray.
3. Add more olive oil to the frying pan and sauté the onions, garlic and cumin for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the peppers to the pan and keep sautéing for a nother 3 minutes.
5. Season the vegetable with pepper and salt.
6. Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to the boil.
7. Take off the heat and stir in half the coriander.
8. Heap the mix onto the aubergine haves and cover the roasting tray with tin foil.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 5-6/175-200° C for approx. 45 minutes or until the aubergines are soft.
10. With about 15 minutes of cooking time to go boil the kettle and soak the couscous in a bowl covered with a lid. If using fresh herbs mix them in before serving.