Mulled wine / goodbye Boston

The clock is ticking through our final week in Boston. Doesn't quite seem real... Yesterday we had a birthday / christmas / solstice / goodbye / freeloading party - I guess things started to feel more real... Lots of friends came by to say goodbye and help us out by taking some of our stuff away (I was taken aback by the attendance, given the time of year). Seb rolled out his pretzel factory for one last time in Boston, and I kept a pan of mulled wine going on the hob all afternoon / evening.

The mulled wine is made the same way I used to make it as an undergrad, and ever since - lots of Christmassy memories. I am in the less-is-more camp when it comes to alcohol levels: I like to add orange juice rather than spirits. The orange juice provides sufficient sweetness for me, but in you like it sweeter you can add honey or have it nearby so people can add some to suit themselves.

I can't imagine there'll be much more cooking this Christmas - everything is in boxes and we have hardly any food left. So I suppose this is it.

(makes ~20 servings)

~ 2 bottles red wine (not the cheapest, but not the best either)
1.5 litres fresh orange juice
1 medium-large orange, sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
8-10 cloves
~5 whole green cardamom pods (optional; allspice / nutmeg might also be good)
honey on the side

Pour the wine into a large saucepan and add the orange juice. Add a bit at a time and taste in between until you get a wine-juice balance you like. Add the sliced orange, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom to the pan and heat over a low heat until it is just below a simmer. Keep the heat really low, so the mulled wine stays warm but does not boil. Ideally keep like this for ~30 min before ladling out the first serving. You can keep it going (below boiling) a few hours, and you can top up the liquid a couple of times before the spices lose their power.

Parsnips / Thanksgiving

We were invited to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving with our friends M+G. We had heard so much about M's famous Pittsburgh family we just couldn't resist. G drove down - 11 hours through a blizzard. I quite like long car journeys so long as someone else is driving (and he likes driving). There was a lot of (American) football and a lot of food. A cornucopia. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows. All the stuff. The following day we saw turkeys in South Park, so I guess some of them made it.

And so, December is here. Tis the season for root vegetables and cheer. Although, soooo much to doooo. This recipe uses things we had in store - a necessary requirement when I am desperately trying to use up everything we have. Suggested here.

~ 6 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks
almond milk
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 small clove garlic, peeled
1-2 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/3 lemon
salt+pepper
toasted flaked almonds (optional)

Put the parsnip chunks in a saucepan and cover with almond milk. Simmer until the parsnips are soft, turn off the heat, drain and let cool a bit. Transfer to a blender cup along with the ground almonds, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust. Good stuff, warm or cold. Decorate with toasted flaked almonds and use as a dip, if you like.

Red cabbage, radish, sesame and wasabi

We had a red cabbage in the fridge, and three tubes of wasabi to use up before we leave (not going to happen)... I'd stumbled across these coleslaw recipes a couple of times, and this time thought I'd borrow the wasabi dressing idea for a red cabbage salad.

~1/2 a smallish red cabbage
2 medium-large purple radishes, peeled and grated
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
~ 1 tbsp chopped chives

~1 tbsp peeled, finely chopped ginger
~1 tbsp wasabi paste
~ 2 tsp honey
juice of ~ 1/3 lime
~1 tsp umeboshi plum vinegar (optional)
~1 tbsp cider vinegar
~1 tsp sesame oil
~ 1 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp white sesame seeds and 1 tbsp black sesame seeds, toasted

Finely shred the cabbage and put in a medium bowl with the grated radishes and carrots. Add the chives. In a small bowl, whisk together the ginger, wasabi, honey, lime juice, vinegars and oils. Pour the dressing over the vegetables, add the toasted seeds, toss and serve. Best eaten immediately but keeps OK for a couple of days in the fridge.


Another fresh+tasty Winter salad.

Grated Petersilienwurzel (parsley root), carrot and apple

I discovered Petersilienwurzel the first time I went to Germany with S, and was instantly intrigued: it's like parsley (+S loves parsley), but it's a root not a leaf. I didn't get to try it that time, but I bought some seeds and tried to grow them back in Norwich. No success.

While M was here we took her to Wegmans to stock up on Thanksgiving in a tin (based on a conversation with our Bostonian friend N, most traditional Thanksgiving dishes involve combinations of things out of tins). She ended up with a good selection - some things Thanksgiving-y (tin-shaped cranberry jelly, tinned pumpkin); also other American / local specialities (Boston brown bread in a tin). While there, S+I accidentally ended up in the produce section, where we came upon chestnuts (kurigohan happened, and it was fiiiinnne), elephant garlic, celeriac, and, resplendent beside said celeriac, petersilienwurzel! Wegmans truly does have EVERYTHING!

We roasted some in chunks with a mixture of other roots (carrots, celeriac, beetroot) and tofu, and it was really delicious - incredibly sweet (reminiscent of parsnip; they are quite closely related), with a delicate, slightly parsley-y / perhaps more parsnip-y taste.

After chatting with S's Austrian friend L, and eating her excellent vegetable strudel and beetroot, horseradish and caraway salad (from her grandmother's recipes), I decided to also follow her / her grandmother's suggestion for petersilienwurzel and grate it with carrot and apple. I threw in a few other things too, and it ended up a really yummy Winter salad - juicy and fresh and sweet.

5 small petersilienwurzel (parsley root), peeled and grated (celeriac is a good alternative / addition)
3 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1 medium apple, cored and grated
1-2 tbsp cider vinegar
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
~1 tsp chopped chives
handful of raisins (preferably golden)
handful of pecan pieces

Grate the petersilienwurzel (and/or celeriac), carrots and apple into a medium bowl. Add the cider vinegar, olive oil and seasoning (quickly, to avoid browning) and toss. Add the chives, raisins and pecans and toss. Ideally eat straight away, but it keeps OK in the fridge for a few days (consider just adding the pecans last minute if you want to serve it later).

Bircher muesli

I've made bircher muesli before, and been totally unconvinced - it's like porridge, but without porridge's comforting warmth. And it's like muesli, but muesli that's been left overnight and lost its crunch.

Anyway, I read this article and thought maybe I'd give it another go.

(one serving)

25 g oats
handful of chopped unsulphured dried apricots
~6 tbsp fresh apple juice (fresh apple cider in American)
1 apple
almond milk (optional)
toasted flaked almonds

Put oats, chopped dried apricots and apple juice in a bowl and leave in the fridge overnight. In the morning, grate the apple into the bowl and mix it all together. If it's too thick thin with a little almond milk. Add some toasted flaked almonds (to taste) and eat.


It's nice enough, OK for a change, but didn't change my mind about any of the above. I'll stick to normal muesli.

Chocolate, ginger and orange biscuits with golden syrup

S discovered a new word while surfing Urban Dictionary the other day: procrasturbaking (meaning, baking as a form of procrastination). Yesterday I was a little short of sleep / hungover after aerial show and subsequent drinks, and just really didn't feel like working (it was Sunday!). So I read some Guardian online instead, and found this biscuit recipe. And then I procrasturbaked.

The recipe was easily veganisable, which tempted me. And I love golden syrup. Also it's another good opportunity to use stuff up - this time weird hot chocolate in the form of dusty chocolate chunks, and homemade crystallised ginger and candied peel.

(makes approx. 20 biscuits)

50 g golden syrup
150 g light brown soft sugar (I used a mixture of this and raw sugar and it was fine)
90 ml sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
60 ml fake milk
210 g plain flour
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
100 g candied ginger (used a mixture of candied ginger and candied peel)
100 g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks
Zest of 1 orange (added candied peel to the ginger instead)

Heat the oven to 180C / 350F and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Measure the golden syrup, sugar, oil, vanilla essence and fake milk into a large bowl and mix. In a separate bowl mix the flour with the bicarb and salt, then add this to the wet ingredients. Stir until the just combined, then add the candied ginger, chocolate and orange zest (or candied peel).

Put teaspoons of the batter on the prepared baking trays, leaving space for spreading. Bake for 15-17 min, until the cookies’ edges are golden brown and the centres are puffy. Leave to cool for ~10 min then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.


I had to put one tray in the bottom of the oven, which it turns out is really hot. So those ones were a little burned. The rest were excellent though - nice texture, and the ginger / orange / chocolate combination is definitely a good one. Clever idea to use syrup to make a chewy texture. I think these would be easily made gluten-free as well (I'd sub plain flour with an almond-rice-cornflour mix similar to this) - the golden syrup may help with binding.

Oyster mushrooms

We went on a Musical Bike Ride the other day: starting at Longwood T, progressed from there to first music stop above Jamaica Pond, next JP Honk Band in the Arnold Arboretum, then a spot in Franklin Park overlooking the golf course, and finally the bear cages. We looped around Forest Hills Cemetery for a while on the way to the golf course spot, and I spotted at least two trees carrying oyster mushrooms. One in particular had masses (they looked exactly like the picture above taken from my mushroom book, even down to the delicate cobwebs), and I couldn't resist stopping quickly to grab a handful. Unfortunately they fell out of my pocket and I had to stop again and by the time we got going we'd lost everyone except a chap called Jonathan towing the music trailer...

Despite the drama we found the next spot (with music, thanks to Jonathan, even before everyone else), and the mushrooms made it home. We stir-fried them over high heat with garlic, chilli and soy sauce, and ate them with rice. I don't love oyster mushrooms. They are great in that they are substantial, have good texture, and come in large amounts, but the taste doesn't really do it for me.

Kahlua cakes

It's baking season now. Nights are getting cold and dark. The urge to switch on the oven is here. Also trying to use things up: in this case it's kahlua and cocoa powder. I tried this recipe.

(makes 12)

1/4 cup fake milk
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup cold coffee (used an extra 1/4 cup kahlua instead)
1/2 cup kahlua
1 tbsp ground linseed
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup veg oil
3 tbsp coconut oil (softened)
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350F and prepare a muffin tin.

Whisk together the fake milk, vinegar and coffee. Add kahlua and ground linseed and whisk some more. Let sit for 5-10 min. Add the sugar, oils and vanilla, and beat with a fork.

In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and mix until combined. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 min, until a skewer comes out clean.


These were OK. Not great. Perhaps using the coffee instead of extra kahlua would have been better.

Cajun spiced potato wedges with dilly cream cheese dip

These were an afterthought - I had the oven on to make roasted brussels sprouts with birch syrup, and thought I may as well root through the fridge and see what else I could bung in the oven while I was at it. I found potatoes.

For the potato wedges:
3-4 medium-large potatoes
pinch of salt
~1 tbsp cajun spice mix (mostly paprika I think)
1-2 tbsp olive oil

For the dip:
~5 tbsp vegan cream cheese
juice of one small lime
~1 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or chives)
pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 400F. Wash (don't peel) the potatoes, trim off any dodgy bits, and cut into regularly-sized wedges. Toss the wedges with the salt, cajun spice and olive oil, then lay out on a baking tray, if possible with a skin side down. Put in the oven and bake for ~20 min, then take out and turn, checking they are golden underneath, and put back in for another 15-20 min. Let cool for a few minutes before eating.

While the potatoes are cooking, make the dip. Beat together the cream cheese, lime juice, dill and salt in a small bowl.


Really simple and good - these disappeared like lightning when S found them. The dip really made them (nb it is just as good although different with chives instead of dill... and TJs vegan cream cheese is so very surprisingly good).

Acorn squash with pecans and birch syrup

Ever since I bought birch syrup I had been meaning to make something with it that really let it shine. As autumn rolled around squash appeared, and reminded me of a recipe I'd seen in a leaflet that came with the birch syrup. This is an approximation, filtered through my memory, S's ideas, and what we had in the kitchen.

2 small acorn squash, cut in half and seeds removed
~ 2 tbsp chopped pecans
1 apple, cored and finely chopped (or use dried apricots, soaked for 10 min in hot water)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
~ 2 tbsp birch syrup
salt+pepper

Heat the oven to 400F. Lightly grease a baking sheet then put the squash halves on it, cut side up. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl, then scoop into the hollows left by removing the squash seeds, distributing between the four halves. Put in the oven and bake for 30-45 min, until the squash is soft right through and lightly browned. Take it out and devour.


It's somewhere between real food and a pudding, sweetly lovely.

Food for when you cannot really chew

I had an impacted wisdom tooth out a week or so ago. I had been reluctant to have it done, since it had never hurt at all. But dentists kept telling me it was going to cause trouble one day, and having pursued the assessment far enough it seemed like I may as well get it done before I have to go start negotiating a whole other health system.

I was pretty trepidatious about how it was going to affect me - this was the only surgery I'd ever had, almost the only time I'd been in a hospital apart from being born. A bit about the pain. But mainly about eating - would I be unable to eat afterwards? That would suck. I tried to think of soft foods. These were all useful, especially the savoury ones - sweet things were relatively easy.

Breakfast:

Porridge / instant oatmeal
Banana smoothie
Açaí bowl (made with added oat yoghurt / without granola)

Real food (lunch / dinner):
Yellow split pea dal
Avenotto

Pudding / snacks:
Chocolate tofu pudding
Oat yoghurt

Sorbet / frozen yoghurt

So, I ate a lot of dal and a lot of sorbet. I don't feel like I've really cracked avenotto taste-wise, but it cooks up quickly and was a good way of getting some greens in (spinach, salad leaves or alfalfa/clover sprouts soften up nicely and become edible). I'd forgotten how delicious that chocolate pudding is.

Actually, it was not as bad as I feared. I could still chew perfectly well on one side since I only had one tooth out. And it was not that painful - after the painkillers wore off I was surprised by the lack of pain. Still a bit achey, especially when I open my mouth wide-ish, though. And I am a little paranoid about stuff getting stuck in the hole.

Pink Pearl Apple

This was a surprise. I bought one apple from Harvest Coop because I did not recognise the variety. While it was pinkish on the outside I didn't for a moment expect such a vibrant colour inside. I just looked at our phone and realised all the photos on it are of unexpectedly-coloured living things - the rest are my attempts to photograph an albino squirrel I came across yesterday in splendid autumn sunshine.

Pickled shiso and chickpeas

I almost let the shiso go off in the fridge before tasting a bit and realising it is spectacular stuff. It tastes really fresh and tangy, a little bit like mint if I had to pick something, but its own thing.

This was an accident really. I had some pickling liquid over when I pickled carrots, and remembered having pickled shiso in among the umeboshi plums we used for onigiri, cast around for another vegetable to chuck in with the shiso but (surprisingly) didn't find anything suitable. I had some freshly-cooked chickpeas hanging around though, so bunged some of them in.

Amazingly, it turns out pickled chickpeas are delicious, and since they have a mild taste of their own they really take on the shiso flavour (and colour, a little - it was red shiso, so the chickpeas became soft pink). The pickled shiso leaves are good too - I ate some on toast with a bit of miso.

Buckwheat breakfast bowl

Our trip to Brattleboro naturally featured a trip to the Coop (best food shop ever)! I tried to be restrained (because of our imminent big move), and just picked up a few favourites (nori cashews, sesame sticks), plus a few random things to make me proud of remembering to bring reusable containers (roasted tahini butter; jasmine kombucha)... and a few things I couldn't resist (raspberry dust chocolate, figs, pecans). It made me realise I still had some stuff left from our last trip there around Easter, and resolve to use that stuff when I got back...

The most notable was raw buckwheat groats. I'd been interested in them but didn't really know what to do with them. I'd sprouted a few, and they were good, with a gentle aroma reminding me of buckwheat honey. But that was about as far as I'd got. I made the amazing seed+nut bread yesterday, and spotted a raw buckwheat porridge recipe on the same blog: tipping point on a recipe I'd seen one too many times - so this time I should make it...

(makes about 3 servings; start the night before)

1 cup raw buckwheat groats
1 tbsp cider vinegar
warm water
1 banana
almond milk
hemp seeds
buckwheat honey
blueberries
toasted flaked almonds
raisins
cinnamon

The night before you want to eat buckwheat for breakfast, put the buckwheat groats in a container with the vinegar and plenty of warm water. Let soak overnight. In the morning, they will be soft enough to nibble. Drain and rinse them. If you want to use them for salad etc just stop here.

To make into a buckwheat bowl (somewhere in between porridge and an acai bowl?), put the rinsed groats into a blender cup and add the banana, about 1/2 cup almond milk and a good sprinkle of hemp seeds, and blend. It should end up about the consistency of yoghurt (except not as smooth, unless the blender is high-speed).

To serve, transfer to bowls and drizzle with buckwheat honey (or other honey, or maple syrup, or no additional sweetener... I had  buckwheat honey though and the combination seemed too serendipitous to pass up). Sprinkle with blueberries (mine were frozen), almonds, raisins and cinnamon. Mix up and eat.


I was amazed by how good this was, and by how much of it I managed to eat!

When I asked S if he wanted to try buckwheat breakfast he was not excited, but he's the kind of chap who'll always give something a go. He did, and he liked it enough to request it for breakfast the next day too (this time mixed with cupuaçu, so even more like an açaí bowl hybrid)! Only downside is, we've now worked our way though that stash of buckwheat groats, so unless another trip to Brattleboro ensues, there'll be no more of this for a while.

Pickled carrots

K and I made an adventure to Brattleboro at the weekend. It was kind of a distraction from S being away; also I thought if I make sure I have plenty of fun on the Saturday I could get on with work on the Sunday? Never mind about Sunday though; Saturday in Bboro was lovely.

We went to the farmers' market, which I had never found before and was positively idyllic. It was in the woods, with most of the stalls in little wooden semi-permanent stands. Lots of prepared foods (two Thai, two Indian, tacos, dim sum, Malian, pizza... surely some more I forgot). Farm stands heaving with beautiful fruit and veg; cheeses, local pottery, maple syrup, flowers: everything looked really high quality.

We carefully budgeted out our cash, and bought: a pint of maple syrup each; a punnet of the most beautiful raspberries, hot chai. And back to the prepared food: as we were going in a man recommended the tacos, and we ended up following his advice - mine was with potatoes, salsa verde, yum... I also had a tasty steamed greens bun from the dim sum stall. Food tour!

The taco came with some simple but really good pickled carrots. Since I had a load of carrots at home D gave me, those pickled carrots got me thinking about making some. I've pickled carrots before but wasn't totally happy with the results. This is another go around.

~ 1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into diagonal rounds
~ 1/3 a large red chilli, deseeded and cut into rounds
1 in piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water

Layer the carrots in a big lidded jar with the chilli and ginger. Put the salt, sugar, vinegar and water in a pan and heat gently until just about to boil. Pour over the carrots so they are covered. Put the lid on the jar, let cool, and store in the fridge for up to a month. Ready to eat after ~ 24 hours.

Carrot, chickpea and ginger soup (with shiso and sweetcorn)

D gave me a big bag of reject carrots from his farm (perfectly good, just broken or slightly nibbled and therefore unsaleable) after a lovely evening at ECO.

I bunged them in the fridge and forgot about them for a few days, but then peeled one and dipped in it hummus, and it was such a tasty carrot I started to think about what to do with them. Some I pickled, and I also decided to make soup, for an unknown reason totally unlinked to the fact it just got hot again...

We had shiso from the CSA last week, and I didn't know what to do with it... I tasted some and I actually like it - tangy and slightly minty, but different. Sprinkled on soup seemed like it could work?

1-2 tbsp olive oil
~5 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
2 in piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
~4 cups chopped, peeled carrots
~2 cups chickpeas
~5 cups water
~4 tbsp chickpea miso
~1 tsp honey
salt+pepper
~4 leaves shiso, shredded
kernels from 1/2 a sweetcorn cob

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the spring onions and ginger. Cook until softened. Add the carrots and cook for a few more minutes. Add the chickpeas and water, bring to the boil and simmer for ~ 20 min, until the carrots are just tender. Let cool, then blend until smooth. Add the miso, honey and salt and pepper to taste and mix well. To serve, sprinkle generously with shiso and sweetcorn kernels. Think it might also be good cold: will test this later.

Oatcakes

Gosh, I can't believe it's taken me this long to discover how easy it is to make oatcakes... They are one of the few British / Scottish foods I love and have missed - so much so I've been known to buy a few packets in Orkney and cart them all the way back to Boston. It honestly never occurred to me that I could make them! Nor that they are pretty much vegan and gluten free, without any adjustments. And super simple: they're basically just oats and a bit of fat! I referred to these two recipes.

(makes about 20 small ones)

200g oats (use gluten-free oats if making gluten free)
1/2 tsp sea salt, crushed in a pestle and mortar
1/2 tsp black peppercorns, crushed in a pestle and mortar
50 ml olive oil*
1-2 tbsp boiling water

Heat the oven to 180C / 350F. Grind about half the oats in a blender or food processor, then put in a bowl with the rest of the oats, salt and pepper. Mix, make a well in the middle and add the oil. Combine until the dough sticks together in a ball, adding boiling water until this happens - don't add so much water to make it sticky, but use enough that it binds together well. Let rest for ~30 min.

Roll out the dough to about 5 mm thick, and cut rounds of the size you desire, using a cutter or the top of a glass (used smaller, transparent water glass). Sprinkle a baking tray with flour (use GF flour if making GF), arrange the oatcakes on it, and bake in the oven for about 20 min. Take out, carefully turn over the oatcakes and bake for another 5-10 min. They should not really colour, and they will harden a bit but will finish hardening out of the oven. When done, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

*another (perhaps more traditional) oil or fat could be used instead


I took some to a picnic at ECO and they were good. I thought they'd be dippable, so took them with hummus, but they weren't really: too crumbly. Think I was a little cautious with the hot water - should have used a little more, think that'd have helped stick them together. They were good though. Was kind of funny: most people brought some version of chips and dips. Mostly tortillas - with salsa, with black bean... Realised oatcakes are pretty much like Scottish tortillas.

Summer

We made an adventure to Roslindale today - first to the farmers' market, reputed to be the best in town. Where I found this awesome local soy and quinoa tempeh. Then we stopped by our friend S's place, where he showed us the tiny house and the tiny library of German books he built. Onwards through the woods of Stony Brook Reservation to Turtle Pond. Seb spotted this little Chicken of the Woods by the path. We lazed on the dock awhile, then rode down the big hill and along the corridor park back to JP, where ice tea was to be found at Ula. From there, we collected our CSA on the way home, including the first (much anticipated, and suitably sweet) corn of the year.

Apart from the above-described chicken of the woods (which was pale in colour when we found it, but took on a much more distinct chicken of the woods vibrant orange when cooked), corn and tempeh, the above also incorporates spring onions, chilli and garlic from previous CSAs, coriander grown on my roof, South River (Western Mass) chickpea tamari, and a squeeze of lime juice. Such delicious ingredients - this is one of my favourites (pretty much this recipe).

Aubergine, peanut and tamarind curry

One of our favourites round here is Yoma - a little Burmese place. I've never eaten Burmese food anywhere else so cannot speak for its authenticity, but we love the tastes - all the best bits of Thai, Vietnamese and Indian food, pretty much. Tea salad is a favourite, and their chickpea tofu, and the coconut-pumpkin-tofu curry. The okra is also good. And aubergine, peanut and tamarind curry.

We had an increasing mass of various aubergines (including cute little green ones called Kermit) from the CSA. I was going to make the classic aubergine curry, but then on the way home went right off the idea of following a recipe and decided instead to make something up involving aubergine, peanut and tamarind. This is that.

~3 medium aubergines (or equivalent amount of small ones), trimmed and cut into ~2 in wedges
olive oil
salt
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 in piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 small onion (or ~5 spring onions), peeled and chopped
~2 tbsp tomato puree
~2 tbsp peanut butter
~1 tbsp tamarind paste
juice of 1/2 lime
salt
water
peanuts (optional)

Heat the oven to 400F. Prepare the aubergines and put into a roasting tin. Sprinkle with salt and olive oil and mix. Put in the oven and roast for ~ 30 min, until tender and lightly browned.

Meanwhile, heat 1-2 tbsp oil in a large saucepan and add the chilli, garlic, ginger and onions. Cover and saute until soft. Mix the tomato puree, peanut butter, tamarind and lime juice in a bowl with ~ 1/2 tsp salt and enough water to make a thick, creamy sauce. Add to the chilli-garlic mixture and saute for a minute.

When the aubergines are ready, take out of the oven and add to the pan. Mix it all together, taste and adjust for salt and acid. If you have peanuts, you could chop and dry-fry some, then sprinkle over.


Different from the Yoma one, but good nonetheless. Even better the next day when everything has mellowed together. Even cold.

Chocolate cherry coconut

My Mum used to make this sometimes - it's from the WI Book of Biscuits. I have that book now, with her annotations in places. I don't make stuff out of it that often, but it's ace - all the recipes are minimal and pictureless and simple and they work. I've made this every once in while since I was about 12 (although this is the first time I attempted a vegan version).

I love glace cherries even though I know they are wrong - I like to think of them as cherries with all the cherry removed and replaced with sugar. Yum. Coconut, cherry and dark chocolate is an amazing combination.

I veganised the recipe slightly by replacing the egg, but otherwise the recipe was vegan (and gluten-free) already.

5 oz / 150 g chocolate
2 oz / 50 g margarine
4 oz / 100 g sugar
1 egg (I replaced with ~2 tbsp soy yoghurt and ~2 tsp cornstarch - other egg replacements should also work)
2 oz / 50 g glace cherries
4 oz / 100 g desiccated coconut

Line a Swiss roll tin (flat-based tin with straight sides) with tinfoil (if you only have large tins you can make a false wall with the foil). Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (small bowl set over almost-boiling water), then spread it out over the foil evenly and leave to cool.

Once the chocolate has set, heat the oven to 170C / 335F. In a medium bowl, cream the margarine and sugar together. Beat in the egg (or soy yoghurt+cornstarch). Chop the cherries and fold them in, along with the coconut. Spread over the chocolate and bake for 15-20 min. Let cool in the tin and when cool cut into slices.


The version with egg is (unsurprisingly) a bit fluffier on top, but either way this is amazing - like a Bounty bar made with good ingredients, and with cherries in it!

Toasting giant couscous / revisiting reliable recipes

I have been making a lot of things over again: as vegetable friends I haven't seen since last year turn up in the CSA I have been tending to return to things I made before and liked. Improvements and refinements instead of novelties. Also lots of salad. Familiarity feels good.

Beetroot (OK these haven't been absent since last year, but we have been getting a lot of them recently):
This is my favourite way of cooking beets. Becomes an instant salad if you peel+mash the roasted garlic, mix it through with some extra balsamic, let cool and keep in the fridge.

Carrot greens: I have never really prepped them any way other than this paste, because it's so so good.

Basil: pistachio pesto - need I say more?

Cucumbers+tomatoes: overnight couscous (and quicker variant)

Aubergines: caponata - excellent, especially with toasted couscous (see below); baba; miso aubergine

Courgettes, fennel, aubergines, peppers: roasted veg with harissa dressing and couscous / wheatberries (or, lately, orzo)

Peppers: muhammara

Yes, and, that giant couscous I mentioned - I have always found it a bit bland, and obviously it lacks the ready-in-ten-minutes-with-no-pans-involved charm of normal couscous. So this time I tried toasting it with a little olive oil in the pan for a few minutes, until lightly browned, before adding the water and cooking as usual (finishing with salt, pepper, olive oil and white wine). Sooooo much tastier! Definitely recommended if you have a few extra minutes!

Black Trumpets and True Chanterelles

 

Mushrooms hadn't really crossed my mind so far this year. Well, not since morel season (which we missed) anyway - we didn't go back to the place we found them last year, but G's family go there every year on Memorial Day weekend so I wanted him to check for them again (he didn't go either in the end)...

Anyway, coincidentally we went for a walk with M+G last weekend in Western Mass - similar kind of location to the morel find. Was all very unplanned - we found ourselves heading up Little Monadnock (hang on, actually that's in NH - just over the state line). And, right next to the lookout, I found a patch of black trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides)! We'd eaten these once before with C+J, but never found them ourselves. Small and literally-named (they really are trumpet-shaped, and black); easy to pass by as they are well-camouflaged on the ground. They smell incredible - very rich, almost truffley. I picked them into S's hat, then kept plunging my face in there to inhale that heady aroma all the rest of our walk. We snacked on plentiful wild blueberries. On the way down we spotted a few chanterelles and added them to the hat - much easier to see than the trumpets owing to their large size and bright orange colour, but not growing in such a big group. After the walk we went to find a quarry to swim in, and on the way up to the quarry and the way back down we came across more chanterelles - we even found some right on the bank of the quarry! So, now we had one hatful of frilly orange mushrooms, and another hat full of delicate, velvety black ones.

When we got back we consulted our books, to be sure of identification (both these species are really distinctive so there wasn't much of a question), and for tips on cooking. We had a good amount of both kinds of mushroom, so we decided to just saute them (after a good clean - the trumpets especially can hide all sorts of bugs and leaves and dirt down inside their holes) together with a smidge of garlic, finish off with butter, salt and pepper, and see how that went. Trumpets have a stronger flavour than chanterelles - complementary though, and not overwhelming. But trumpets also tend to collapse into little floppy black blobs, while chanterelles are more robust and hold their shape and texture better. So they made a good team. The trumpets especially seemed to release a lot of liquid, and by the time it cooked off the mushrooms were quite shrunken. We tossed the saute through spätzle (the bought kind, through laziness), and it made a simple but excellent dinner.

Note: these were true chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius): larger, more robust and more brightly orange than the related Winter Chanterelles (Craterellus tubaeformis) we found previously. Similar in taste, but the true chanterelles are firmer and hold their shape better when cooked - the Winter Chanterelles are almost like a hybrid between true chanterelles and black trumpets in texture and appearance.

Simple pickled cucumber slices

I have enjoyed all the pickled cucumbers I've made (bread and butter; faux-Grillos) a huge amount - both those recipes are keepers.

But I saw this recipe, and was feeling lazy - it's one of those things about these hot, thick summer days - they bring a vegetal bounty, but no energy and no inclination to either turn the gas on or spend any time cooking. So the quicker you can throw together a refreshing pickly snack you can eat right out of the fridge, the better.

So, even simpler than the other pickles - no heating, no garlic, no spices.

1 medium-large cucumber, washed, ends removed, thinly sliced
~1 tbsp chopped dill
1 cup white vinegar
~1 tbsp coarse salt

Pack the cucumber slices in a large, clean jar. Add the dill and salt and then pour in the vinegar. Put the lid on and shake well to distribute everything. After about 8 hours check the liquid level and top up with more vinegar/water mixture if the cucumber slices are not covered in liquid.

Kale salad with cashew dressing

One night a week or so ago S had an express wish for a kale salad with white sauce. He wanted to use almond milk, but I couldn't work out how that would make things thick and creamy enough for his dream. So I suggested soaking cashews. I put some in water in the fridge a couple of nights ago, and last night S completed his dream salad. I was sure I'd seen the cashew dressing idea somewhere, but now I have no idea where, so we just made it up.

For the dressing:
1 cup raw cashews
2 cups water
1-2 tbsp white miso
1/2 clove garlic, peeled
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp lemon juice (or cider vinegar)
1-2 tbsp almond milk (and more for good consistency)
black pepper

Rest of the salad:
1 bunch kale
2 medium tomatoes
~2 tbsp toasted flaked almonds
~1 tbsp dried sour cherries

Put the cashews in a container with the water and leave in the fridge to soak, at least overnight; fine for several days (we used ours after ~ 48 hours).

When ready for salad, drain the cashews. Put into blender cup and add miso, olive oil, lemon juice, almond milk and black pepper. Blend the dressing until smooth, adding more almond milk if needed, until a good, creamy consistency is reached. Taste for seasoning.

Wash the kale, remove stalks and tear the leaves into bite sized pieces. Put in a serving bowl. Add the dressing and mix well with your hands, massaging the kale as you go.

Chop the tomatoes roughly and add them to the salad with the almonds and sour cherries. Toss and taste for seasoning. Eat straight away, or keeps pretty well in the fridge (consider keeping toasted almonds separately if planning to store it).

Birch syrup

I heard about birch syrup a while ago, from a Swedish friend. I was instantly intrigued - maple syrup is amazing stuff, surely birch syrup is equally amazing, if not more? But rarer, and uniquely Northern: made from the birch forests of the far North: Russia, Scandinavia, Alaska. We ate a smidge of it at Relae in Copenhagen, but it wasn't distinct enough to satisfy my curiosity. On reflection, I decided that even if it was expensive and hard to find, I would like to try some. The only place with real commercial operations is Alaska, especially one 'Birchworks'. So I bought some from there, soon after the Spring run this year (one bottle, mid run). I bought it on Monday and it was in my apartment by the end of the week.

It is darker and more complex than maple syrup - somewhere between molasses and maple syrup, but almost tastes malted.

I have been using it whereever I'd use maple syrup, although it seems like it'd have more of an affinity with savory foods as well.

Cupuaçu

Somewhere, probably here, I read about cupuaçu, and was instantly intrigued... A fruit closely related to cacao (another Theobroma), but not cacao? Surely this is something for me?!

Almost immediately after, I noticed our local Brazilian bakery seemed to sell it in some form - it was on their take-out menu but they didn't have it when I asked. So I forgot about it for a while...

Until we were browsing the ice fruit section in the Brazilian grocery (different from the bakery), while stocking up on açaí, and discovered a wealth of other exciting fruits in addition to the açaí - cupuaçu! Also cacao fruit, cashew fruit, acerola... We bought acerola, açaí, cupuaçu and cacao... how could we resist?

The lady in the shop said cacao and cupuaçu were really good together. I prepared a packet of each (sampling them separately along the way), blended together, then eaten, in the same way as our favourite açaí preparation.

I have to say, the light-yellow cupuaçu tasted kind of weird - nice, although not reminiscent of chocolate, and with a delicate, slightly fermenty, fruity flavour. I loved the cacao fruit (which I guess I knew already since sampling it in Belize) - it is light brown and has a milder taste. I think it could be good blended with açaí.

This was breakfast on Friday, followed by watching football World Cup (including Brazil vs Colombia), during which I also made Brazilian cheese rolls, so in spite of the all-day Hurricane Arthur rain, it felt pretty Brazilian in our house.

Blueberry and almond salad with blueberry vinaigrette

We biked to Wegmans in Chestnut Hill. It's a big, new supermarket; S was excited to go there. Their main appeal (to us) seemed to be selling fruit and veg in 'family packs'. We were restricted somewhat by having to carry them on our backs, but ended up with a lot of blueberries anyway. We were attempting conversation on our bikes, considering dinner and salad and our recent purchases: I thought S suggested blueberry salad, our wires were crossed, but it seemed like a good idea anyway.

leaves of 1/2 a butter lettuce, washed well and torn into bite size pieces
1 spring onion, washed and finely chopped
~1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, washed
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper
1/4 cup toasted flaked almonds

Put the lettuce and spring onion in a serving bowl with a cupful of the blueberries. Put the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries in a blender with the vinegar and blitz til smooth. Transfer blueberry mixture to a small bowl and whisk with the olive oil, salt and pepper til homogeneous. To serve, scatter the flaked almonds over the blueberries and lettuce in the bowl, then add the dressing and toss.

One pot red lentil, coconut and greens dal

Making dal with coconut milk instead of water had been in the back of my mind for a while. Also adding stuff other than spices and aromatics. Someone recommended this recipe, thought I'd give it a try (with modifications).

This is a pretty good summer dal. Since it uses red lentils the cooking time is short (relative to other dal like chana), so less time spent over the stove. Coconut and greens also seem like summery additions.

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 in piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped (used ~1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes)
1 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 cup (approx 250 g) red lentils
1 ~400 ml tin coconut milk made up to ~800 ml with water
~ 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup spinach or other tender greens (I used a mixture of the green parts of napa cabbage and butter lettuce)
1 small bunch of coriander, chopped

In a medium saucepan, heat the coconut oil, then add onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and fry gently til lightly browned. Add the mustard seeds and heat til they pop. Add the turmeric and garam masala and fry for a minute or so before adding the lentils. Add the coconut milk-water mixture to the pan, then cover and cook gently for 15-20 min, stirring occasionally. Add the salt and taste for seasoning. Finally, add the greens and coriander and cook for a few minutes more, until they are wilted but still bright green.


I really enjoyed the rich coconuttiness of this dal (makes it a bit richer than most dal, but totally delicious). Also the greens. This is a different cooking method to my usual dal - adding everything to one pot rather than frying the onions and spices separately and adding them last. Think it is fine, and obviously saves washing up etc, although perhaps uniquely possible for small, quick-cooking dal like the red lentils.

Lavender cupcakes

In honour of our Grandma, Iz and I decided to make lavender cupcakes. She always loved flowers, and baking (especially for us). And we had access to plenty of lavender in the garden she and my uncle / her son S had nurtured together. So it seemed very fitting.

We made them in the kitchen at S's, which meant a few little screw ups due to unfamiliar equipment. But nothing that wasn't fixed by the time they were iced and decorated.

The recipe was from I's Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. It contains eggs and dairy (no one else eating them has vegan tendencies), but the key is the infusion of milk with lavender both for the cake and the icing, which could easily be done with non dairy milk and a vegan cupcake recipe.

(makes 9-12, depending how deep you fill the cups)

For the cake part:
120 ml milk
3 tbsp dried lavender flowers (we used fresh)
120 g plain flour
140 g sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
40 g butter, at room temperature
1 egg

For the icing:
25 ml milk
1 tbsp dried lavender flowers (we used fresh)
250 g icing sugar, sifted
80 g butter, at room temperature
A couple of drops of purple food colouring (optional)

For decoration:
~5 fresh, pretty lavender inflorescences

The day before, or at least several hours in advance, put the milk and lavender flowers in a jug, cover and refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight if possible. Do the same with the milk and lavender flowers for the icing, in a separate jug. We used fresh flowers and I crushed them a bit as I put them in the milk as we could only leave it to infuse for a few hours, and the flavour came out well.

When ready to bake the cakes, heat the oven to 170C/325F. Line a 12 cup tin with paper cases. Beat the flour, sugar, baking powder and butter together until they are well combined and a sandy consistency. Strain the lavender-infused milk (for the cake) and slowly pour into the flour mixture, beating well until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the egg and beat well.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full (ours were not this full, even though we only did 9 not 12, but they did rise right to the tops of the cases - perhaps the recipe used smaller cups?) and bake for 20-25 min, or until the sponge bounces back when touched /a skewer comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, beat together the icing sugar, butter (and food colouring if using: we did not) until smooth and well mixed. Strain the lavender-infused milk and slowly pour into the butter mixture. Once it is mixed in, continue to beat until the icing is light and fluffy (at least five minutes), ideally with a food mixer or electric whisk.
When the cupcakes are cool, smooth the lavender frosting on top. Pick off the flowers from the lavender heads and sprinkle them over the tops of the cakes (think mine ended up with 8-10 flowers scattered over the top of each one).


They looked very pretty with the flowers on top and white icing. Both icing and cake were quite light and fluffy, and there was just the right amount of lavender flavour. It is reminiscent of lemon in its fragrant sharpness: I think it's lovely, although it is not necessarily for everyone.

Parsnip, almond and garlic soup

We got these parsnips in our CSA weeks ago, then started getting loads of greens that required immediate preparation. So the parsnips lurked accusingly in the refrigerator, while temperatures rose and I felt less and less like turning on the oven to make the soup I had earmarked them for, and we ran out of almonds and then out of garlic and I felt guiltier and guiltier about neglecting my little beige roots.

Yesterday S went to watch USA vs Portugal, and I decided to stay home and get on with some stuff, including granola (while the oven was on...) and soup.

300 g parsnip (approx 6 small ones)
1 garlic bulb (10 cloves)
1 onion
~1 tbsp olive oil
125 g / 1 cup almonds, blanched
4 cups hot water, or more to taste
1 tbsp cider vinegar
~1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400F / 200C. Peel parsnip, garlic and onion. Cut into smallish chunks. Put in a roasting tin and toss with olive oil. Bake for 15-20 min, until tender and lightly browned. When the vegetables are done, remove from the oven and place in a blender. Add almonds, hot water, vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning and acidity.


I haven't decided yet what temperature I like best for this - it could be warm or cold, like a white gazpacho (mmm white gazpacho). Note: may be a good idea to soak the almonds overnight if your blender is not awesome - this wasn't all that smooth (although totally acceptable).

Tacos

We got some spectacular corn tortillas (from Mi Tierra in Western Mass) in our CSA - who would have thought such a simple thing could be so good?

They inspired tacos. Again, something very simple and very good. I'd just cooked a lot of beans, so I made a kind of white bean hummus and mango and corn salsa (plenty of lime juice, chilli and herbs), and we filled dry pan heated tortillas with the white bean spread, salsa and avocado, folded and ate. So quick and tasty and adaptable: all kinds of contents. Definitely worth getting really good CORN tortillas.

I was almost inspired enough to put some of the huge bag of masa harina S bought by accident to use and make more tortillas. But not yet - cooking has been minimal lately.

Flourless oat and seed bread

This was one of those recipes that cropped up one too many times. Eventually I could no longer resist and bought some psyllium seed husk, despite the fact I am supposed to be only using things up in the pantry these days. It is a sort of a gluten-free bread, but with no flour at all - it is packed with seeds and oats and the binding is purely by chia, flax and psyllium seed husk.

I made this shortly before leaving for Scotland (ten days ago), and froze some slices. I remembered it on the journey home and looked forward to its deliciousness all the rest of the way.

The first time I saw this recipe was here (thanks to LB), and the deciding time, the one that precipitated me making it at last (and the one I followed), was here.

2 1/4 cups (235g) oats (GF oats if you want it to be properly gluten free)
1 cup (160g) sunflower seeds
1/2 cup (65g) pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup (90g) almonds, roughly chopped
3/4 cup (120g) flax seeds
1/3 cup (25g) psyllium seed husks (I bought from Trader Joe's)
3 tbsp (25g) chia seeds
2 tsp (12g) sea salt
2 tbsp (40g) maple syrup
1/4 cup (55g) olive oil
2 1/2 cups (600g) water

Oil a loaf tin. If you like, toast the almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add the oil, maple syrup and water and mix well with your hands. Transfer to the oiled loaf tin and put in the fridge for somewhere between two and 24 hours (overnight might be convenient).

Take the loaf tin out of the fridge and let come to room temp. Heat the oven to 400F / 200C. Bake for about an hour, then take out and let cool a bit before tipping out onto a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely (at least two hours).


This reminds me of a seedy soda bread I used to make - dense and full of crunch and delicious toasty seeds. Basically, if you like toasted seeds, you'll like this. Toasts well (including from the freezer); good with hummus or avocado. I pretty much decided that toasting seeds is unnecessary faff. Lots of substitutions possible - the flax, chia and psyllium have to stay but the sunflower and pumpkin seeds could be mixed with other seeds, the almonds switched for hazelnuts or other nuts, dried fruit would probably be interesting, honey or brown sugar instead of maple, coconut or other oil instead of olive...

Salty liquorice popcorn

We had a Eurovision party on Saturday (at least partly because it was in Copenhagen). Was pretty fun, and quite a lot of people came (Esther and Freddy, Dane, Hannah M, Alvin, Morgan and Matt, Nate and Glynis, Ben H, Martin L, Daniel and Viola, Adam, Nick S, Ian S, Dave and Nathaniel, Katy, Zeba and Rishi).

I had lots of liquorice powder left in the pot S brought back from Denmark on his first visit. I learned from my ketchup making experiment that I needed to be more sparing with it. For some reason I decided it might be good on popcorn. I liked the idea of it being optional, and being able to put on just a little (or a lot!).

2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup popping corn
~1 tsp liquorice granules, ground fine
~1 tsp salt

Put oil and corn in a tall lidded pan. Cover and turn to medium-high. Heat, shaking occasionally, until the pops have died down. Take off the heat and uncover. Tip into a bowl and toss with the liquorice and salt.


This really was surprisingly good!

Relae, Copenhagen

We visited Copenhagen a week ago. A week or so before, we came across an article on top food destinations, checked out the recommended restaurants in Copenhagen, found that Relae does a vegetarian menu, and spontaneously booked a table online. Well actually, I had to apply some dedication and luck - we initially signed up to a waitlist, I checked the booking website some time after, found a dinnertime table free, and grabbed it. We never heard back from the waitlist, and I never saw another free table before or since, so what luck indeed. They are only open four nights (and two lunchtimes) a week, which goes some way to explaining the challenge.

Our booking was for our first night there (the only time they'd be open during our trip). So we were somewhat bleary from timezone crossing when we wandered in their direction. But sunshine overcame that weariness, with green spaces and bike buckets full of merry Danes. Relae is on a very lively street, amid shops of beautiful ceramics, interesting clothes, good coffee and so forth. Seems like a hip hood. We wandered a while before we reached our booking time and settled in.

Space was a touch cramped - passing between our table and the adjoining two person table almost impossible. But each table was a magic box - menus and cutlery hidden in a drawer. So when we sat the table was empty but for water glasses - on reflection, a good metaphor for the deceptive simplicity and elegant understatement of the food to come. Our meatlessness made ordering simple, although we did end up with an aperitif we weren't aware of ordering. We took the pre-snack too (intentionally in this case): one perfect spear of white asparagus, raw but coated in pistachios. Simple, beautiful and delicious: I'd eaten white asparagus only once before and been unimpressed by the subtlety of its flavour, but here not cooking it and treating it so simply let its taste stand out.

Then onto our four courses. First rolled red onions with Icelandic seaweed hidden inside and a smattering of birch syrup and salt crystals. Very pretty - a pinkish star on the plate. But a little disappointing - red onions are not made to be boiled or steamed, I find (bad camp food memories). Second was stunning: green soup of ramps and wild garlic, with leaf-thin mushroom slices balanced on top and cooked grains within. Nothing much to look at (chlorophyll-y DNA extraction-esque), but rammed with flavour and texture and perfect balance. Third was intriguing and clever and although not as immediately wonderful as number two no less full of depth. Purple carrot so dark you'd think it was beet, sliced so thin to be almost crisps, in a flowerlike form. Served with hollandaise scattered with oxalis (wood sorrel) leaves and flowers - so so pretty, yet still simple. Taken together the richness, sourness, sweetness and earthiness made it special. Last was ice cream: vanilla with orange. A swipe of perfectly smooth creaminess, with different driednesses of orange each bringing slightly different tastes and textures.

Fun, and clever, and thoughtful, but not overwhelming. Yesterday I noticed it is now the 53rd best restaurant in the world.

Easter eggs: Rhubarb clafoutis

I'd always fancied making a clafoutis, indeed was just looking at this recipe the other day and thinking it sounded nice and do-able. But definitely something to be filed away until I have good eggs and dairy (rare) - it really needs the eggs for consistency, and with such a simple recipe much of the flavour is coming from them so they ought to be good.

This weekend is Easter, and all of a sudden I had half a dozen beautiful Brattleboro eggs. Four became shakshuka for lunch, the remaining two I earmarked to try a clafoutis. As luck would have it our visitors last weekend had left behind some milk (which I turned into yoghurt) - so I was all set, ingredients-wise, for clafoutis to happen...

Again, I felt that clafoutis was something that would really show off the eggs - couldn't make it without them. I'd bought some rhubarb in Brattleboro as well - first time I'd seen it this season. So rather than the traditional cherries I thought I'd make a rhubarb clafoutis, spiking it with a little vanilla and using yoghurt in place of some of the milk, in the hope of ending up with kind of a fancy rhubarb and custard in cakier form. I tweaked this recipe (second recipe down).

(makes about 10 slices, I used 21 x 21 cm square Pyrex dish)

133 g flour
80 g sugar
little pinch of salt
2 eggs
53 g (fake) butter, melted
266 g milk (used a mixture of almond milk and yoghurt)
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
333 g rhubarb, washed, trimmed and chopped into ~2 cm chunks
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Heat the oven to 400F/200C and generously butter a tart dish (see above). Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl with a fork. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. When the batter is smooth, mix in the melted butter. Then gradually add the milk (followed by the vanilla), mixing well so no lumps form. If there are lumps, strain through a sieve. Toss the rhubarb with the demerara sugar, then scatter rhubarb and demerara mixture into the buttered dish and gently pour the batter over (the rhubarb floats!). Bake until golden and quite firm (FZ said this would take 30 min, in my hands it took more like 75 - perhaps the Pyrex, perhaps my oven is on the cool side, perhaps I could have taken it out sooner...). It can be slightly wobbly but a skewer inserted in the middle of the clafoutis should come out clean. Allow to cool (best eaten slightly warm or at room temp), and serve in thick wedges (with more yoghurt, if you like).


I don't know why it took so long to cook, but anyway, the finished article is not pretty (well, maybe in a rustic sort of way it is...), but it is delicious. The batter puffed up in the oven and then sank right down to make a really smooth base for the fruit, almost like a super thick custard. The rhubarb floated so it sits pinkly on top, beckoning you in among the golden custard. It sliced well once cooled, and pieces stayed together nicely. Lovely, and not too sweet. S ate three pieces in rapid succession so that's a good sign! 

Note: Apparently a true clafoutis is only with cherries so this is more like a flaugnarde. But such an ugly word!

Easter eggs: Shakshuka with fennel

Yesterday we made a trip to Brattleboro. It's a little town just over the border in Vermont, and we first went there on a rainy weekend during our first Spring here. That time we pretty much just picked our destination by closing our eyes and poking the map - it was in Vermont and we'd never been there, but was close enough for a day trip (two hours drive). We found a pretty little place next to the wide Connecticut River, with a smaller river running energetically over rocks right through town (reminds me of the Lynn in East Linton). It's nestled among the beginnings of the Green Mountains, and full of interesting secondhand clothes shops, outdoor gear purveyors, a striking Art Deco hotel (Latchis), a great coffee stop (Mocha Joe's - grinds just down the street), and hippies. We love it, and can happily potter around there for hours. But the dealbreaker that really blew our minds the first time, and keeps calling us back again and again, is the Brattleboro Co-op. It is hands-down the best supermarket I've ever been to, especially its gigantic dried stuff by weight section.

Since it was Easter weekend and we were out in farm country, in the best supermarket ever, it seemed very appropriate to buy a half dozen happy, local eggs. Since eggs are such a rare occurrence in my kitchen these days I was more excited about those eggs than about any chocolate ones - just right for Easter. I spent some time today doing justice to those beautiful eggs - first for lunch (brunch?), shakshuka (nb second, clafoutis).

I wanted to make something kind of special but very egg-centric (no pun intended...). Shakshuka had popped up a few times recently - on brunch menus, at dinner at N+G's the other night... Time to make one myself. I used Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe, with a few modifications (like fennel).

(makes enough for a meal for two fairly hungry people, with bread)

½ tsp cumin seeds
2-3 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
1/2 a bulb of fennel, washed, trimmed and sliced to similar dimensions as the onion
3 1/2 tsp demerara sugar plus 1/2 tsp molasses
2 bay leaves
2-3 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes plus 1 tbsp tomato puree
½ tsp saffron strands
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
up to 250ml water
4 eggs

In a large, wide saucepan, dry fry the cumin on high heat for a minute, until fragrant. Add the oil and sauté the onion for two minutes. Add the fennel, sugar, molasses, bay, thyme, parsley and two tbsp chopped coriander, and cook on high heat for a few more minutes until light golden. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, saffron, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes, adding enough water to keep it the consistency of a pasta sauce. Season to taste. You can prepare this mix in advance. Turn the heat down to very low, then make four evenly-spaced hollows in the mixture in the pan*. Break the eggs one at a time into a small mug (try not to break the yolk), then pour each egg into one of the hollows in the mixture. Sprinkle with salt, cover and cook very gently until the egg just sets (this took at least half an hour although YO said it would be more like 10 min). To eat, sprinkle with coriander and have some bread on the side.

*The elegant way to do this would be to use one pan per person; I didn't feel like making that much washing up; perhaps the eggs would have cooked quicker in a smaller pan though?


This was really good - kind of a perfect combination: eggs, tomatoes, herbs, fennel, bread, plenty of salt and pepper. Great for any time of day. Other additions I was tempted to make include chives, olives, capers, fennel seed, sumac, chilli, oregano, peppers...

Making yoghurt

I've tried a few kinds of ferments or cultures, but none have been as successful for me as yoghurt making. When we first moved into this apartment the pilot light in the oven confused me, but I soon realised it creates a perfect incubator for stuff like yoghurt. So I started making yoghurt, using a plain old supermarket yoghurt as a starter culture and any whole milk. I kept it going for about six months before deciding to quit eggs and dairy.

Yoghurt is definitely the thing I miss most (followed by eggs). We had visitors last weekend from Germany (T+C), along with their 18 month old (she shares my name!) who needs milk to sleep at night and loves yoghurt. They left some of both behind in the fridge and I had a field day - the yoghurt didn't last long, but before it was all eaten I used some to make the milk into yoghurt (I've never cared much for milk).

 (do this in the evening and the yoghurt will be made by morning and ready to eat (although I prefer it chilled))

1 quart (~1 litre) whole milk
2 tbsp yoghurt (this time it was Greek; any live, plain yoghurt seems to work; this is the starter culture)

Put the milk in a large saucepan and heat. Bring it almost to the boil, so it just starts to froth (aiming for 85C). Then switch off the heat. Fill the sink with cold water (iced ideally) and bathe the base of the pan in it to speed cooling. Bring it down to 37C (body temperature - test with inside of wrist). Take out of the sink and whisk the yoghurt thoroughly through the milk. Pour the milk mixture into clean plastic tubs with lids (I use old yoghurt tubs), then put the lids on and put the tubs in the switched-off oven*. Leave for about 8 hours or overnight.

In the morning, open and check - it should have thickened and soured so it is recognisably yoghurt. Stir and then put the lid back on and keep in the fridge. I found it keeps well for up to two weeks. When it starts getting low you can use the homemade yoghurt as starter culture for a new batch with fresh milk - you will never have to buy yoghurt again!

*Must be an oven with pilot light so always warm. If you don't have this you need another way of maintaining 37C - airing cupboard, hot water bottles and towels wrapped around the tub... If you use the oven leave yourself a note so you don't forget it's in there.


This works really well. In those six months it worked every time (texture and taste varied a bit but it was always unequivocably yoghurt, and always tasty). It does tend to come out a little thinner than commercial yoghurt but that doesn't really bother me - you can strain it or try adding powdered milk if you'd like it thicker. I wondered if using Greek yoghurt culture might help with thickness, but I suspect this wouldn't last beyond the first few goes around as the proportions of bacteria probably shift. I have tried this yoghurt making protocol with non-dairy milks but never had any success.

Roasted baby artichokes

We have been trying to make weekend days when we have to work and do other unexciting things feel more like holidays. Mostly, this seems to entail a short circular walk in the morning, perhaps via a coffee shop to have a fancy coffee and a little snack, then up the hill to Whole Foods to pick up a few fancy (and quick to prepare) ingredients for lunch and later meals. Then back down the other side of the hill, with one of the best Boston cityscapes around in view. And home.

Today is a beautiful day - perfect temperature and sunshine. We bought a box of baby artichokes. They got roasted for lunch, as below.

~10-12 baby artichokes
half a large lemon 
2 cloves garlic, peeled
salt
pepper
olive oil

Heat oven to 400F / 200C. Prepare the artichokes: remove outer leaves, then trim off the outer, fibrous part of the stem. Cut off about an inch of the top to remove the tougher parts of the leaves and the sharp points at their tips. Cut in half lengthways. If there is any thistle-seed-fluff in the middle of the artichoke cut it out carefully without removing much surrounding tissue. Right away, rub all the cut surfaces with lemon (to stop them going brown). Put the halves in an oven tin.

Crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar with about half a teaspoon of coarse salt. Transfer to a small bowl and add the remaining juice from the lemon, about 2 tbsp of olive oil and a good grinding (~1/4 tsp?) of black pepper. Mix well and then pour over the artichoke halves. Toss them well to coat with oil mixture, then rearrange them so all have the cut side up. Put in the oven and roast for ~20 min until tender.


We ate these on slices of toasted sourdough, some with squashed avocado, some with shavings of hard cheese (e.g. parmesan), some with a scraping of hummus. Delicious any which way, or just on their own. We ate them all between two of us, but I bet they'd be yum as a cold antipasto type thing the next day as well. Artichokes are so much work and so much waste for so little food (I like to think of them as the vegetable lobster equivalent), but they are so worth it.

Chocolate and cinnamon biscuits (gluten free)

First community garden workday tomorrow. Some gluten-free baking in order. Tried a new recipe. This one.

(makes ~22)

2 tsp demerara sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup / 130g brown sugar
1 cup / 100g fine brown rice flour (used 125g TJ's GF flour mix instead of brown rice flour and cornstarch)
1/4 cup / 25g cornstarch
1/2 cup / 60g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup / 60ml fake milk
1/3 cup / 80ml veg oil (used grapeseed)
1 tsp vanilla essence
50g chocolate, chopped

Heat oven to 180C / 350F. Grease and/or line a baking tray with baking paper.

Mix demerara sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

Mix brown sugar, rice flour, cornstarch, cocoa, bicarb, 1 tsp cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl with a fork. Make a well in the middle and put in fake milk, oil and vanilla. Mix to a firm dough. Add the chopped chocolate and mix.

Take small lumps of dough (~2 tsp), roll into balls and flatten slightly, then place on the prepared baking tray, leaving a little space for spreading. Sprinkle with the cinnamon-demerara sugar mixture, then put in the oven and bake for 10-12 min. Let cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.


I wasn't sure about these at first: think they improved after sitting in a box overnight. Pleasant, soft texture; held together pretty well for GF; very chocolate-y / cocoa-y; all disappeared @ lunchtime so I guess that was a good sign.

Oven-baked polenta chips

This recipe uses cold polenta, ie leftovers. Usually, we don't have leftovers when it comes to polenta. But I had some polenta with bean stew for lunch when working at home the other day, and there were leftovers! So I put them in a loaf pan in the fridge until Friday, when I tested oven chip-making, using a method similar to that for panisse. I'd found the panisse stuck to the tin really easily, so thought it might be smart to use a coating here to try and prevent sticking.

For the polenta:
1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
3 cups water

For coating / baking:
grapeseed oil 
~1 tbsp cornmeal
~2 tsp paprika
~1/4 tsp salt

To make the polenta, mix cornmeal and salt in a bowl. Heat the water until just boiling in a small saucepan. Add the cornmeal mixture, gradually, while whisking constantly. Keep whisking until it thickens. Turn heat really low, cover and let cook for a minute or two. Pour into a greased, straight-sided tin, let cool and either make chips immediately or refrigerate the tin until needed.

To make the chips, heat the oven to 400F. Grease a baking tray with grapeseed oil. Turn the polenta out of its tin onto a board (it will hold its shape). Cut into chunky chip shapes (~2 cm thick). Mix the paprika, cornmeal and salt in a small bowl. Roll each polenta chip in the paprika-cornmeal mixture so that all sides are coated, then transfer to the greased baking tray. Put in the oven for about 20 min, turning halfway through. The outside should be lightly browned and crispy. Take out and eat immediately, dipped in whatever sauce you fancy.


We ate with the last of the bean stuff and some liquorice ketchup. The polenta chips were pretty delicious, and the coating really made them.

Beetroot and orange salad

A said she found beetroot inspiration (beetspiration?) on here the other day, which in turn inspired me to make something with the candycane beetroots festering in my fridge.

Of course they keep pretty much forever so no rush (same with the oranges), but I've been on a bit of a using-up kick so it felt good to eat them up.

I have been down on candycane beetroot of late - you just cannot cook them as they lose their pattern and colour and their flavour isn't as intense as the fully-pink ones either. But if you keep them raw they are lovely, so if you have candycane (Chioggia) beetroot this salad is the right sort of thing to do.

juice and zest of 1 orange (ended up with zest of normal orange and juice of Seville orange)
1/4 clove garlic, crushed with salt
1 tsp pomegranate molasses (or honey - if using honey and normal orange juice add a squeeze of lemon as well)
1 tsp white miso
2 tbsp olive oil
4 small beetroot (mine were candycane and very pretty but normal would be fine too), peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
handful of chopped coriander
Put the orange juice and zest in a small bowl and mix in the crushed garlic. Add pomegranate molasses, miso and olive oil and whisk together to make the dressing. Set aside. 

Prepare the beetroot and carrot and put the matchsticks in a serving bowl. Add the sesame seeds and coriander, then tip the dressing in and mix well. Good immediately or after being in the fridge overnight (perhaps keep the sesame seeds and coriander separately if overnight is the plan).


This was nice. The Seville oranges contain masses of juice so it ended up quite juicy and sharp - think this would be softened if normal orange was used, probably no bad thing. Very pretty - striped beetroot, orange, green and seeds; just enough crunch.

Bean and tomato stew

I am trying to use things up. I don't eat cheese, but S does, and I couldn't let him throw away a perfectly good parmesan rind. This also used up some beans and red wine that had been waiting for their moment for too long. And it's a good combination: beans and tomato and herbs and lush, rich sauce.

~2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tin tomatoes
~2 tbsp tomato puree
1 parmesan cheese rind
1 tin lima beans
~1 1/2 cups white beans (cooked and frozen)
~1/2 cup red wine
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp dried thyme
pinch of dried red chilli flakes
2 bay leaves
1-2 tsp dark soy sauce
salt+pepper

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add onion and garlic, cover and cook until softened. Add the remaining ingredients (except salt, pepper and soy sauce), cover and cook for at least 45 min, before turning off the heat, tasting for seasoning (salt, pepper and soy sauce) and letting sit for another half an hour. Remove the cheese rind and bay leaves and reheat to serve. Good with bread or pasta or polenta.

Liquorice ketchup

S brought loads of liquorice back from Denmark, and also a little tub of liquorice powder. I have never had a particular love for liquorice, although I have grown to like it. So I was quite stumped what to do with it. Luckily the liquorice powder brand has some suggestions. I decided to try a liquorice ketchup. We'd liked the idea of making fancy ketchups before but I'd never got round to it.

1 red bell pepper
olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 apple, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tin of tomatoes (or 1/2 tin plus 2 large tomatoes, seeds and skin removed)
7 tsp liquorice powder
1 tbsp liquorice syrup (used maple syrup)
25g brown sugar
pinch of black pepper
fresh red chilli (optional), deseeded (used dried)

Grill the pepper in the oven until skin blisters and peppers softens, and remove skin (I used roasted red pepper from a jar instead). Let cool a little then chop roughly.

Heat ~2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a few min. Add the pepper, apple and the fresh tomatoes if using and cook until soft. Add the liquorice powder and the tinned tomatoes and stir. Add the remaining ingredients: liquorice (or maple) syrup, sugar, black pepper, and chilli (optional). Simmer slowly for at least 15-20min.

Finally, blend the ketchup to a purée and put in the fridge to cool. When it’s cold, it’s ready.


Ohhhh this is really liquorice-y and there's loads of it. Not sure if my liking for liquorice has graduated to this level of liquoriceyness yet.

Shaved asparagus salad

Well, it is raining, and due to rain for another two days solid. And still not warm enough for almost-April. But the first asparagus of the year makes it feel like Spring (even if it has come all the way from California). Half the bunch we sauteed with garlic, the rest I made into this salad - thought it might be fun to try something different, and I've never really eaten it raw before (apart from nibbling on trimmings).

1/2 big bunch of asparagus (~8 good-sized spears)
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp white miso
salt and pepper
handful of toasted flaked almonds

Shave the asparagus along its long direction using a peeler. Put the shavings in a shallow serving dish. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, olive oil and miso with a fork, adding salt and pepper to taste. Pour the lemon juice mixture over the asparagus shavings and toss. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve.

Ginger molasses cookies / biscuits

I had finished making dinner for S+I and he still wasn't home, so I decided to make cookies for journal club tomorrow. I was tired so wanted something quick and easy and foolproof, also in the mood for using things up and had an inverted jar of molasses in front of me waiting for that last tbsp or so to get eaten... So I looked for a molasses cookie recipe, and this was the one I used.

(makes about 25)

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
2½ tsp ground ginger
½ cup marg
¾ cup sugar, plus extra for rolling
½ cup molasses (used mixture of normal, carob and date molasses)
1 tsp water (reduced from 1 tbsp as date molasses is runnier than normal molasses)

Heat the oven to 350F. Line two baking trays with baking paper. In a medium bowl, mix flour, bicarb, baking powder and ginger together with a fork. In a separate, medium bowl, cream marg, sugar, molasses and water with a wooden spoon. Beat in the flour mixture gradually. Take around one tbsp of dough at a time, roll and flatten between your hands, then invert and dunk the rounded side in sugar. Put on the baking trays, sugar side up. Bake for 10-12 min. Let cool on the baking tray.


Successfully used up two jars of molasses (normal and carob) and a tub of margarine. Cookies not bad either, S had two last night and two for breakfast this morning. Nice chewy texture, look pretty with the sugar on top. Perhaps a bit sweet.

Massaman curry (from tinned paste)

Sascha bought this little tin of curry paste when he stayed with us (and S demanded he make us dinner when we got home from work / before going to basketball). The remainder of the tin had been in the fridge ever since - I wasn't sure how long it'd last but guessed it needed using up before too much longer. Last night I got home before S and decided it was time for curry. I filled it with a pretty random selection of stuff from the corners of fridge, freezer and cupboards. Which actually worked out really well.

The paste is good, and tinning means it has no unidentifiable ingredients. In case I want to try and recreate it / find it again, it is labelled Massaman curry paste, and the ingredients list is: garlic, sugar, soybean oil, dried red chillies, tamarind juice, shallot, salt, lemongrass, spices (coriander seeds, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, lesser galanga, cloves), kaffir lime, galangal, citric acid (E330).

1/2 tin Massaman curry paste (see above)
1 tin coconut milk
1/4 butternut squash, deseeded and chopped into ~2 cm chunks
2 medium potatoes, washed and chopped into ~1 cm chunks
~1/4 cup okara (optional - chucked it in because it needed eating)
~1/2 cup frozen chickpeas
1/2 block super firm tofu
~1/2 cup frozen peas
~2 tbsp crushed toasted peanuts
~2 tbsp chopped coriander

Heat a deep frying pan with a lid. Put the curry paste and half the coconut milk in and stir-fry for ~ 3 min. Add the potato and squash. Cover and simmer for ~15-20 min, until the potato is almost cooked, adding the okara after about 5 min if using. Add the chickpeas and tofu and heat for another 5 min or so, then add the frozen peas and heat for 2-3 min, until they are cooked. Take off the heat and stir in the toasted peanuts. Serve with rice, and with coriander sprinkled on top.

Glass noodle salad (peanuts, sweetcorn and sprouts)

I was making tofu salad from my last batch of homemade tofu, we needed something else, this was quick and complementary. I have made versions of this many times and always get frustrated with how the dressing fails to coat the noodles and the other vegetables etc get all clumped down the bottom of the bowl. I was actually quite pleased with this one, so here it is. Think key things are: slightly undercook the noodles and drain them well; don't skimp on the sauce; make veg / additions small and/or clingy so they stay in among the noodles as much as poss.

4 bundles of glass noodles
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh lemongrass
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp light miso
2 tbsp rice vinegar (or lime juice)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp mirin
2 tbsp peanuts
1/2 cup assorted little beansprouts (used lentils and alfalfa)
3/4 cup frozen sweetcorn, defrosted
1/4 cup coriander, chopped (or a mixture of coriander and mint)

Put the noodles in a pan of boiling water and simmer for about 5 min, until the bundles loosen and the noodles become bendy but not soft - make sure they are al dente. Drain and run under cold water to stop cooking quickly.

While the noodles are cooking you can start preparing the other ingredients: toast and crush the peanuts, defrost sweetcorn, wash and chop coriander, ginger, lemongrass. Put ginger and lemongrass in a small bowl with the peanut butter, miso, rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and mirin and whisk together with a fork. Check for consistency (should be runny but thick) and taste for sweet-sour-saltiness and modify.

Put the noodles in a serving bowl, add the peanut butter mixture and toss well with a spoon and fork so the noodles are all coated. Add the toasted crushed peanuts, sweetcorn, beansprouts and coriander (and/or mint), toss again and serve immediately.