Sticky crabapple jelly

These were very tiny, somewhat unusual crabapples (I'm pretty sure they were crabapples) that I collected with M from outside BU.

1 large yoghurt pot full of tiny red crabapples, washed and stalks removed
water
sugar (175g)

Wash the crabapples, put in a pan and cover with water. Simmer for ~30 min, until they are softened and collapsing. Put into a jelly bag, string up and let drip into a clean pan overnight. If you want it to be clear you should not squeeze the bag. When ready, measure the juice (I had 250ml) and add seven parts sugar for ten parts juice (ie approx 175 ml or 175g). Bring to the boil and simmer until setting point is reached, then transfer to sterilised jar(s) and allow to cool before labelling.


I wasn't paying enough attention and accidentally went beyond setting point, tried to rescue it by adding boiling water, think it is OK but very dark in colour and rather sticky! Better not to work with such small quantities really I guess. The stuff has a very sharp, interesting sweet-sourness to it.

Edit: M stopped by with more apples yesterday and we opened the jar to try it. He was loving it and I have to agree it's quite good. Reminiscent of pomegranate molasses, he said, I think it's true.

Apple, kohlrabi, beetroot, leaves and seeds

A daydream of a salad: we had lots of salad greens, but the apple, beetroot and anise were begging to play together. Kohlrabi, onion, poppy and pumpkin seeds jumped into the mix...

2 small apples, peeled and cored
1/4 of a giant kohlrabi, peeled
1 small beetroot (I used candy striped but any would be fine), peeled
juice of 1/2 lemon
~3 handfuls of salad leaves (any)
~1 tbsp poppy seeds
~2 tsp anise seeds
1-2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
~1/2 tbsp finely chopped white onion
2 tsp white miso
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil
black pepper

Cut the apple, kohlrabi and beetroot into matchsticks. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the apple to stop it going brown. Wash the salad leaves and put them in a serving bowl. Add the apple, kohlrabi, beetroot and seeds. In a separate, small bowl, mix the chopped onion with the rest of the lemon juice, miso, honey, vinegar and olive oil, beat together and taste for seasoning. When ready to eat, pour the dressing over the assembled salad and mix well.


And this turned out delicious. Really pretty: colourful beetroot, shards of apple and kohlrabi, speckles of seeds. Just enough sweetness, loads of textures and crunch. The anise, apple, beet and greens go great together, with the pumpkin and poppy seeds providing an earthiness to counteract the sweet. Love how exciting salads can be, whatever the weather (yesterday super windy and below zero).

Moghrabieh with turmeric, cumin and mustard oil

A quick starch to go with the lion's mane turned out good:

1 cup moghrabieh (massive lebanese couscous)
2 cups water
~2 tsp veg bouillon powder
1-2 tsp cumin seeds
~2 tsp mustard oil
1-2 tsp turmeric
1 bay leaf

Put all the ingredients in a pan together, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer until the moghrabieh is tender and all the liquid is absorbed.


The first time I cooked moghrabieh I wasn't sure about the texture / if I had cooked it right. Now I am into it - it is wonderfully stodgy, almost a little bit chewy - perfect filling warmth for cold days, especially when hotted up with cumin, turmeric and mustard oil.

Lion's mane mushroom

I went over to Egleston Square Farmer's Market at the weekend - I hadn't been there since the Winter version started again, they were having a cranberry slam, and I was curious about the mushroom farm our friends A+B were sharing a stall with (travelling in from Western Mass). A+B were not there this time, but mushrooms were. I bought some Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) - a mushroom I had neither seen nor eaten before. It looks a bit like a hedgehog mushroom, with really long, shaggy teeth and no discernable cap. Off-white. Looks fancy!

I sliced the Lion's Mane and fried it in olive oil, with finely sliced onion, chopped garlic and thyme leaves, finished with a little white wine and seasoning. It had a slightly chewy texture and mild taste. It was fine, but not going on my top mushrooms list. I wonder if wild mushrooms automatically taste more interesting than cultivated?

National Trust Biscuits

My Mum used to make these - they were a regular request from my sisters and me - we loved them. I guess she got the recipe from the National Trust somehow or other: they were always National Trust biscuits, never any other or more descriptive name. I started making them myself as a teenager - they were easy enough for me to manage with limited skills, and always went down well... Despite my not knowing what a 'cup' measure was - I'd just pick a cup or mug from the cupboard and use that, so every time I made them they were different, depending on the cup I'd chosen. I still need to figure out my favourite interpretation of the 'cup' volume - sometimes they were slightly bendy and chewy when cooled; sometimes they'd spread out massively and all run into one another. The version I made yesterday (because I felt like it, because I wanted biscuits for journal club, because they seemed seasonal with all that warming ginger and treacle) came out fairly crispy and didn't spread that much - perhaps not my favourite - this recipe may be updated...

Mix in a bowl:
1 cup SR flour (1 cup plain flour plus 2 tsp baking powder)
1 cup sugar
1 cup oats
1 tsp ground ginger

Heat in a pan:
4 oz margarine (or coconut oil)*
1/2 tbsp black treacle (or molasses)

Mix in a mug:
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tbsp boiling water.

Heat oven to 300F / 150C. Grease a couple of baking sheets. Add the contents of the pan and the mug together to the bowl and mix until combined into a dough. Roll into balls, flatten slightly and space out on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-15 min, until golden brown and slightly spread. Let cool for 10 min or so on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to finish cooling (they will be floppy when you first take them out; you want to transfer them at the sweet spot when they are slightly bendy and not completely hardened and crisp yet).

*tried using 3 oz sunflower oil, felt like would need a bit more?

Midwestern collard greens

I'd never felt much love for collards. Compared with most of their Brassica relatives, they just seemed way less exciting in every way. Some came in the CSA last week. I remembered G saying that N made excellent collard greens, so when I saw him at Happy Hour on Friday I asked about them. He divulged his secret recipe: boil them for seven minutes then saute with garlic (he then segwayed into the best things about Michigan (where he comes from)). Makes sense - collards are tougher than your average green. So S+I thought we'd give them another chance. Turns out it's true: N does make excellent collard greens - the seven minutes' boiling was enough to make then incredibly tender without making them taste or look overcooked. We ate them all.

Unsweetened apple butter

I came across this method at some point, and it got me thinking about trying to make jam or spread without adding sugar: just using the sugar already present in the fruit. I went up a tree with M on Saturday and picked more apples. Small, yellowish-green ones with a pinkish blush on some; M described them as having a rosewater / lychee flavour and I had to agree when I tasted them. So then I had fruit to experiment with. I peeled and cored the apples and cut them into chunks, then blended them til smooth (adding a splash of pineapple juice to get the blender started)*. Then I transferred the whole lot into a saucepan and simmered, uncovered, for 6-7 hours. I occasionally added a splash more pineapple juice if I thought it looked like it was sticking. Probably added about 200 ml pineapple juice all told. It reduced massively (~ 2 full blenders of apple chunks became ~400 ml of thick apple stuff); took on a brownish colour and a slightly caramelised taste. I turned it off when it was really thick and starting to stick a lot. I decided to call it apple butter - it seemed more like apple butter than anything else. It's quite sweet - you're definitely not wondering where the sugar is.

My original thought had been just to extract the juice and reduce that, with the aim of making something more like a fruit molasses - I love all the fruit molasses I've tried (date, pomegranate, mulberry, carob, grape...). But I couldn't bring myself to chuck out so much of the apples so decided to liquidise and then reduce all the flesh and see what happened. I wonder if doing this with grapes or plums or similar would give something stickier and more like a molasses - apples contain a lot of fibre.

But still, this apple-y experiment is pretty tasty.

*Note: I think I might have got smoother results if I'd liquidised after cooking the apples to soften them instead of doing it before cooking.

Brown rice with sweet potato, spinach and miso-tahini sauce

This is yet another variation on something I make really often - some grain, some steamed veg (most often something green (e.g. broccoli, spinach, leeks, edamame) and something orange (e.g. carrots)), some tofu, some sauce, some herb and some seeds. It really hits the spot; I especially crave it after an aerial evening; it's quick, super simple, flexible and good.

Lindsey's photo

I have discovered ornamental sweet potatoes (thanks to M from LUrC). They were planted all around where I work and now the frost has killed the plants and they have been removed, but some tubers are still there (+some are crazy spiral shapes). I tried a few and they are tender and sweet. But I am not sure whether I should eat more - perhaps they use bad pesticides on them. Anyway, interesting - I'd never noticed them before but they are everywhere.

1 cup brown rice (used TJs brown rice, black barley and radish seed mix)
2 medium sweet potatoes, trimmed and chopped into chunks
1/8 of a large kabocha squash, chopped into chunks
generous handful of spinach, washed and torn into pieces if leaves are large
2 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp tahini
1/2 clove garlic, crushed to paste
2 in piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1-2 tbsp mirin
1-2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1/3 block firm tofu, diced fairly small
fresh coriander, chopped
sesame seeds (black or white)

Put the rice on to cook with 2 cups of water - should take 20-30 min. Meanwhile, prep the sweet potatoes and squash and put on to steam - should take 10-15 min. When the squash is done take it out of the steamer and put the spinach in - will steam in 2-3 min - take out and refresh in cold water to stop cooking before squeezing all liquid out. While you're waiting for stuff to cook you can make the sauce: mix miso, tahini, garlic, ginger, mirin and vinegar in a small bowl, taste for balance. Also prep the tofu and coriander and toast the seeds (if you like). To eat, dump your chosen proportions of everything in a bowl, mix and enjoy.


Everything I love at the moment seems to involve some combination of miso, sesame and ginger. This is no exception.

Pumpkin soda bread

This is an adaptation of classic Delia. I first made the original a long time ago, in an effort to use up a whole pumpkin lantern - after souping most of it, why not make some quick and easy bread to go with the soup? That recipe contained cheese and eggs; this is an up-to-date, animal-free version.

8 oz plain flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz raw pumpkin or squash (peeled weight), grated
~2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
~3 tbsp white miso paste, broken up into small (~1/2 tsp) pieces
1 oz pumpkin seeds (and some extra for the top)
1/2 oz sesame seeds
2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 6 tbsp boiling water
1 tbsp fake milk (plus a little more, if needed)

Heat oven to 375F. Grease a baking sheet fairly liberally with olive oil. Put flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix with a fork. Add grated pumpkin, thyme leaves and miso (in small pieces) and toss together, then mix in the pumpkin and sesame seeds. Beat the milk into the linseed mixture, then add this to the pumpkin-flour mixture. Mix until it comes together into a sticky dough, using your hands towards the end (add a little more milk if needed).

Transfer the dough to the greased baking sheet and press into a 6 inch, flattened round. Make a cross on top using a blunt knife, then sprinkle with flour and pumpkin seeds. Put in the oven and bake for 45-50 min, until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven and let cool for ~ 30 min. Best eaten warm, although perfectly fine at room temperature or toasted.

Pumpkin and tofu roasted with miso and thyme

At last I decided to butcher the squash (I think it was a red kabocha) I got from Drumlin the day I volunteered there way back in September. It was one of the first ones they harvested, and I was excited to eat it, but of course squashes keep well, so it had been sitting patiently in the pantry ever since. It was still in great condition when I finally got to it over the weekend. Some of it became soda bread - I had an old Delia recipe on my mind I wanted to veganise. Some I roasted with miso, tofu and thyme like this. I toasted the seeds with spices, and they came to L's birthday party with me and one of two soda bread rounds. And I still have half the squash left in the fridge!

1/4 of a large kabocha squash (about 9 oz, prepared weight)
2/3 of a pack of firm tofu, drained
2 tbsp white miso
~2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp mirin
1-2 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp maple syrup
black pepper

Heat the oven to 400F. Wash and deseed the squash or pumpkin and cut into large chunks (don't bother peeling). Cut the drained tofu into similar sized chunks. Put both into a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients to make a smooth, viscous liquid. Pour the liquid over the chunks and mix well to coat all the chunks, with your hands or a big spoon. Transfer the mixture to a roasting tin (in a single layer), put in the oven and roast for ~45 min, until the squash is tender and all is nicely browned.


This was really delicious - the squash is tender, deep red, and very sweet and flavourful; I am really into baked / grilled tofu with sauces right now (had some good stuff at the LUrC potluck last night too).

Apple and cinnamon fruit leather / dried apples

A couple more preserving experiments with my haul of somewhat bruised, needing-to-be-eaten apples, to add to the apple chutney, apple jam, and apple, treacle and caraway muffins I already made with them...

I dried some in the conventional manner (in my dehydrator), and tried some just as they were (peeled, cored and sliced ~20 mm thick), and some where I dipped them in ascorbic acid solution aka pineapple juice before drying (both times dried ~140F for ~6 hours). I didn't expect to find a difference, and it is not huge, but I think I do like the juice-dipped ones best.

I also tried out making fruit leather. I filled a pan with chunks of peeled, cored apples (and the juice of half a lemon), covered and simmered, stirring occasionally, until they were soft. Then liquidised using a wand blender. I took the plastic sheets that came with the dehydrator (without holes), and greased them lightly with oil. Then spread the apple puree out across the sheets, to a thickness of about 1/4 inch / 1/2 cm. I did some just as it was, and the rest I mixed in cinnamon before spreading it out. It dried in approx 6 hours @ 140F. It is just like leather, texturally, and tastes quite intense and appley. I think I like the cinnamon one best - adds another flavour dimension, and some sweetness.

Big thumbs up from S - he discovered these a week later on a self-described snack quest when I was out, and made sure to tell me how much he liked them later.

I also tried liquidising raw apples and then drying those. These worked reasonably well, but the texture of the cooked apple version was better - think because the puree was itself smoother and thicker before drying it could be spread out thicker and dried more evenly. Taste-wise both are good. But we did a blind taste test of the two versions and found the uncooked version to have a better, more intense taste. So, need to figure out a way of intensifying the thickness (adding a second layer of apple puree after a hour or two of drying?), but otherwise go with uncooked.

Sweetcorn, tempeh, parsley and paprika

As I rode home last night I was thinking about how evocative food is for me - how both cooking and eating can make me feel connected to people, places, or times in the past. Then, as I parked my bike, I thought about my favourite childhood dinner - sweetcorn and cottage cheese pie with paprika and chives - and wondered why I'd never tried to make it. I couldn't really be assed with pie crust last night, and I don't really eat cottage cheese any more. But decided to substitute tempeh and see how it went.

1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 pack soy tempeh
1 1/2 cups frozen sweetcorn, defrosted
~1 tbsp chopped parsley
~1 tbsp chopped chives
~2 tsp paprika
salt+pepper
juice of 1/2 a lime (optional)

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Crumble in the tempeh and stir and fry for a few minutes to heat and brown. Add the sweetcorn, herbs and paprika and fry for a bit longer, until everything is combined and hot. Season to taste, and add lime juice if using.


I liked this. Not sure how accurate it was, but perhaps a little evocative. I didn't add lime juice, but did wonder if it could have used a little acidity. We ate it with cooked tomatilloes, so in this case lime wasn't needed but otherwise might have been nice? S pointed out it is quite similar to my favourite chicken of the woods preparation, which is totally true. It's also true that the tempeh is fairly similar in appearance and especially texture to chicken of the woods, although different in taste - also hadn't occurred to me til he pointed it out.

Quick quinoa salad

I felt like eating quinoa. While it was cooking, I thought I may as well mix it up with some stuff to make it more interesting. This was very quick and easy - herbs from the balcony (how much longer will they last as it gets colder?), and a few other things from the pantry / fridge / freezer, all requiring minimal prep. We both really liked it - not bad for an afterthought.

1 cup quinoa, cooked in 2 cups of water
1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame, defrosted
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1-2 tbsp chopped chives
2 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1-2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp honey
salt+pepper
1/4 cup dried sour cherries (or cranberries)

Put the quinoa in a small pan with the water, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer over a low heat til the quinoa is tender and the water all absorbed or evaporated (~10 min). Meanwhile, defrost the edamame (pour boiling water over), toast the pumpkin seeds and chop the herbs. Mix the dressing in a small bowl: beat together olive oil, lime juice, red wine vinegar, mustard, honey and seasoning. When ready, transfer the cooked quinoa to a serving bowl and add the dressing. Mix thoroughly. Add the edamame, pumpkin seeds, sour cherries and herbs, mix and serve.


I liked this so much I made a second round to take to the LUrC potluck last night - I thought it would be cool to make something savoury that featured some of the LUrC fruit (sour cherries). I forgot about edamame actually, so this version was just herbs, pumpkin seeds, sour cherries and dressing - I only remembered just now so obviously didn't miss the beans too much! Was psyched that my parsley was still alive on the balcony despite a few -3 or -4C nights. And the chives! So, although the quinoa and other ingredients are from distant lands; the sour cherries were from Cambridge, the herbs right outside my kitchen, and the honey from a friend of S's in Brookline.

Tomatilloes and thyme

A brought me the last tomatilloes from his allotment. He'd gathered them after the frost - perhaps these really are the final harvest? So some had squishy patches, but in general they were fine. I put them together with a couple I had from ECO, and wondered what to make. I have previously just used tomatilloes raw, in sauces. This time, a chilly evening, I felt like cooking them. Simply. So I did this.

8-10 medium sized tomatilloes
1-2 tbsp thyme leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper

Remove and discard the husks from the tomatilloes and give them a good wash to get rid of their stickiness. Chop into ~ 1 cm dice. Prepare the thyme leaves (wash and remove any twiggy bits). Heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and then add the tomatilloes. Fry for a minute or so then add the thyme. Continue cooking until they have released their juice and then it has reduced back down - about ten minutes. Season to taste.


This was great - I'd forgotten how sweet tomatilloes are, while still being tangy and savoury - halfway between green tomatoes and physalis, perhaps. The tomatilloes and thyme became kind of a sauce for this, and went very well.

Green tomato cake (+gluten-free option)

I had just about dealt with all the green tomatoes from my roof when I was gifted a pile more from ECO (thanks to D, K and A!). I actually still had lots of unrealised green tomato ideas, and ended up going with green tomato cake for these toms - a new one in my repertoire of weirdo vegetable cakes...

4 cups chopped green tomatoes (chop fairly fine)
1 tbsp salt
1/3 cup veg oil
1 1/3 cups sugar (used mixture of white and brown)
2 eggs (or 2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 tbsp boiling water)
2 cups plain flour (or 2 cups TJ's GF flour mix plus 1/4 tsp xanthan gum)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Put the green tomatoes in a bowl with ~1 tbsp salt. Mix and let sit for ~ 10 min, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients and start on the cake. Heat the oven to 350F. Beat the vegetable oil and sugar together in a bowl with a fork. Add the eggs (or linseed mixture) and beat until reasonably well combined and aerated. Mix the flour, xanthan gum if using, 1/4 tsp salt, spices and bicarb in a separate bowl with a fork. Add the raisins and walnuts to the dry stuff and mix. Add the wet to dry and mix until just combined. Rinse and drain (try to get most of the liquid out) the green tomatoes and then fold into the cake mixture. Grease a loaf tin and line the base. Dollop the cake mixture into the tin. Bake for 45-60 min until a skewer comes out clean (exact cooking time will depend on shape of tin used). Let cool in the tin for at least half an hour before lifting out.


This was really, surprisingly good. The green toms are hardly noticeable - visually only if you look for them, and taste-wise hardly at all. So it is basically a moist, spiced cake rich with walnuts and raisins. The GF version was a little bit crumbly when sliced but really just a little bit - quite acceptable in this type of cake (made with eggs; rose beautifully). We took it for D's birthday party, and it went down well (especially with A).

Roasted apple and fennel seed chutney

I keep thinking this year's harvest is over - I thought the quinces would be the last thing for sure. But then something else crops up. This time it's apples - a LUrC tree five minutes from my house! How could I resist? I spent a fun few hours with M on a busy street corner - our strategy was for one person to try and knock apples out of the tree with a pole while the other (usually M - he is good at catching, I am decidedly not) tried to catch them, all the while trying to avoid hitting people, bashing parked cars, or sending apples to become untimely apple-roadkill-sauce under passing wheels. We grabbed a surprising amount before I had to leave and it was getting dark; at which point M was still up the tree in gathering gloom, unable to resist reaching for the final few.

The other reason I was happy about that harvest was that I'd joined a skillshare group wherein some people wanted me to show them how to make jam. It was starting to seem like it wasn't going to happen, but this last-of-the-season bonus made it possible. So, on Sunday, three ladies came over and I took them through my jam making process using this recipe.

I wasn't really meaning to make any more preserves. But then started constructing an apple and fennel seed chutney in my mind. And, while thinking of it, came across this recipe, which featured an interesting new chutney-making technique (roasting in the oven rather than simmering on the hob - also here), and sounded exactly like what I wanted (and completely delicious).

(made 4 small jars)

90g dried sour cherries, soaked overnight in apple juice (used white grape juice, soaked ~3 hours)
1 kg Cox's apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (used Packard's Corner apples)
2 fennel bulbs, finely sliced across (a mandoline is very good for this) (used green tomatoes instead)
1 red onion, cut in half and sliced lengthways, from the root end to the top (used white onion as had no red)
100g fresh ginger, finely grated
1 red chilli, finely sliced into rings (used dried)
2 tsp fennel seeds (used 2 1/2 tsp)
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 star anise (used 2 1/2 tsp anise seeds instead as liked the taste more than star anise in this context)
250 g demerara sugar
400 ml cider vinegar

Put everything in a roasting dish, cover with foil and place in an oven preheated to 160C/320F. Cook for an hour and a half, stirring once or twice, then remove the foil and continue to cook for about an hour, until thick and browned and a good chutney consistency (cook for longer if necessary). Remove from the oven and spoon into sterilised jars while still hot. Seal immediately.


The roasting worked well although not sure if it is any different or better than doing it on the hob, and does make sterilising the jars a bit more faffy since the oven is occupied. It's a delicious chutney. The ginger is pretty strong, the fennel / anise is present, but the sour cherries are perhaps a little lost. Will taste again when it is mature - for now I am definitely happy with it. Would probably be even better with fennel - just used green toms as that's what I had, but they don't really add anything to the taste.

Green leaves and beans, pomegranate molasses, sesame

half a bag of salad leaves (mostly baby kale and spinach)
~1 cup green beans, topped and tailed and chopped into pieces
1-2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tsp white miso
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp olive oil
water

Boil the green beans for ~4-6 min, until just tender. Refresh under cold water and then drain. Put leaves and beans in a salad bowl. Add the toasted sesame seeds. In a small bowl beat the tahini, pomegranate molasses, miso, mirin and olive oil together with a fork, then beat in water until it is thinned to a good dressing consistency. When ready to serve, pour the dressing over the greens and mix well together.

Ginger-sesame-miso soup

We ate at Life Alive after sauna and it hit the spot - I had something ('The Fool') rich with mushrooms, kale, sesame, ginger and sprouted legumes (and udon); S had a similar beast but with miso broth. Yesterday we had planned a big dinner (East by Northeast), so I wanted something light but filling for lunch. As I biked back from aerials it was chilly but brightening, and miso soup shaped into my answer as I rode. I've made miso soup before and it's so simple it hardly warrants a recipe. But anyway, for this one I merged S's miso with my sesame-ginger and it was really fresh and delicious while still warm enough for a chilly Autumn day.

(makes enough for one person, for lunch)

3 small carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 inch piece of daikon radish, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups boiling water
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2-3 savoy cabbage (or other cabbage, or kale) leaves, shredded
2 inch cube of firm tofu, chopped into ~1 cm dice
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2-3 tbsp good-quality white miso
~1 tbsp shredded fresh mint (or coriander)

Put the carrots and daikon in a small pan with the water and the ginger. Bring to the boil. Boil for a few minutes, until the carrots are just starting to get tender. Add the cabbage and tofu and bring back to the boil. Turn off the heat and mix in the sesame oil and miso. Pour or dollop into a bowl, top with the mint, and eat (add more water, more miso or more sesame oil to taste).


This is amazing - a week later it's still all I want to eat. I've got S into it too, and we have made various versions, all successful - one with shredded kale, sliced turnip, sweetcorn, peas and edamame; another with noodles as well to make it even more beefy. Yum. Only thing that didn't really work was eating some cold without broth - thought it'd just be like steamed veg with some miso flavour; it turned out to be a bit peely-wally.

Vanilla essence

A while ago, inspired by this and a rapidly hardening vanilla bean in my cupboard, I decided to try making vanilla essence. It hardly needs a recipe, but here it is.

rum
vanilla bean(s)

For one vanilla bean, I used 1/3 cup of rum. Put the rum into a small glass jar with a screw cap. Split the vanilla bean(s) lengthwise and then cut crosswise until you can submerge them completely in the rum. Close the jar tightly and store in a dark cupboard for two months, shaking occasionally and keeping an eye on it.


I'm not sure if this is as vanilla-y as store-bought. Also I usually buy the non-alcoholic version, which I think is better, especially for non-baked items. But this stuff is nice too, especially if you want to insert a little rum flavour along with your vanilla. It keeps well - has been in the cupboard for at least a year and is fine.

Sweet-pickled carrot and radish

We had a daikon in the CSA, and mounting carrots. I was interested in sweet-pickled slices - I looked at a few recipes and settled on something like this.

1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup demerara sugar
1 tbsp fine desert salt
150 ml coconut vinegar
150 ml cider vinegar
600 ml water
3-4 medium carrots
1 small-medium daikon radish
1 green chilli, thinly sliced crossways

Put the sugars, vinegars, water and salt in a pan and bring almost to a simmer. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then turn off the heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Peel the carrots and daikon and then slice into matchsticks. Put in a bowl with the chilli.

When the vinegar mixture has cooled, pour it over the vegetables. Transfer to sterilised jars and store in the fridge (will be fine for several weeks).

Chocolate rosemary biscuits

We went to the Pembroke sauna for the first time in ages. I wanted to take something in case we needed a post-sauna snack. Biscuits seemed like a sensible, easily portable, easily eatable, quick to make option. I didn't have much time before we had to go, so I had a quick look at ppk and immediately settled upon these. I didn't have fresh rosemary so I used dried.

(makes ~15)

1/2 cup refined coconut oil, solid state (room temperature - not cold)
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (used 3/4 tbsp crumbled dried rosemary leaves)
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup fake milk
1 tbsp ground linseed
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate (or chips)

Heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two large baking trays. In a large bowl, beat the coconut oil and rosemary with a fork until fairly smooth. Add the sugar, and beat a bit more. Add the milk and linseed and beat. Mix in the vanilla. Add about half the flour, as well as the salt and bicarb, and mix with a spoon. Add the rest of the flour, along with the chocolate, and mix to combine. Take out walnut sized pieces of dough, round them up, flatten and place on the baking trays (they will spread a little). Bake for 10-15 min, until bottoms are golden brown. Take out and let cool for 3 minutes or so, then transfer to cooling racks to finish cooling.


These were good - decent texture and taste. I find refined coconut oil a little dull (thus it needed using up!), might prefer these with real coconutty coconut oil. I'd also like to try these with olive oil - could imagine chocolate, rosemary and olive oil being beautiful together. Difficult to get the balance of rosemary and chocolate quite right - some bites I couldn't find the rosemary, others missed chocolate, others it was bang on. Quite salty - could reduce the salt. Nice and quick and easy though, and a pretty good post-sauna snack.