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...

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.

Okara cornbread (gluten free)

After my tofu making escapade, I had about two cups of okara going begging. Last time I had okara I scramble-fried it but I didn't love it like that. I think its vocation is as a filler - it has a pleasant texture and mild taste - would be good in burgers and that kind of thing. This time I tried baking, veganising this cornbread recipe.

1 1/3 cups cornmeal
1 1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2/3 tsp salt
1 1/3 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 3 1/2 tbsp boiling water
1 1/3 cups fake milk (used dried soymilk)
1 1/3 tbsp molasses
2/3 tbsp veg oil
2 cups okara

Heat the oven to 425F. Grease a loaf tin and line the base. Mix the cornmeal, bicarb and salt in a bowl with a fork. In a separate bowl beat together the linseed mixture, fake milk, molasses and oil. Add the okara to the wet mixture and mix well. Transfer the wet to the dry and mix til just combined (use your hands if you like). Put the mixture in the tin and bake for ~45 min, til firm in the middle.


This remains kind of squishy, but is surprisingly savoury and moreish. Good with green tofu spread and mashed chickpeas. Think the same mixture would have worked quite well shaped into patties and baked on a greased tray.

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?

Pumpkin in June (M's birthday): Pumpkin muffins

I defrosted a cup of pumpkin puree to use for M's birthday pumpkin granola, and since I had half a cup left over I decided I may as well make something else pumpkinny too. Muffins seemed like a straightforward option, and this recipe looked irresistible. I have made pumpkin muffin type things a couple of times before, but neither were quite right, and besides I wanted to try these ones.

(half the quantities below made 9 small muffins)

1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves (left this out)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup fake milk
1/2 cup veg oil
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup raisins (or cranberries, or walnuts, or pecans, or some combination of all of those)

Heat oven to 400F. Prepare a muffin tin. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl with a fork. In a separate bowl, beat together pumpkin, fake milk, oil, and molasses. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for ~20 min, until they are lightly browned on top and a skewer comes out clean.

Triple ginger - (including ginger wine) - bread

Inherited a tub of crystallised ginger after our weekend in VT, and wanted to make something with it before it all disappeared straight out of the tub into my mouth. I wanted something as intensely dark and intensely gingery as I could make it. I saw recipes using stout, we had no stout but I browsed our alcohol collection and came across ginger wine - of course! What better way to maximise the gingeriness than with a little sweet, alcoholly goodness, in addition to plenty of ground ginger and the aforementioned crystallised ginger. I used date molasses because I had some (an equal quantity of light molasses would also be fine), same with the oat "yoghurt" (other non-dairy yoghurt or regular flax eggs would also be fine).

(makes 12 muffins or one loaf)

1/4 cup ginger wine
1/2 cup dark molasses (or black treacle)
1/4 cup date molasses
1/2 cup veg oil
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup light brown soft sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup wholemeal flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oat "yoghurt"
1/3 cup crystallised ginger, finely chopped
finely grated zest of 1/2 a lemon (optional)

Heat oven to 350F. Put ginger wine, both kinds of molasses and oil in a saucepan and heat until just boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarbonate of soda until it fizzes. Add the sugar and mix well. Leave to cool. Mix the flours, baking powder, salt and spices in a bowl with a fork. Whisk the oat "yoghurt" into the oil-sugar mixture. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. In the last few strokes, mix in the chopped crystallised ginger. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.


I fucked up and mixed the yoghurt into the dry stuff instead of the wet stuff, and so ended up with a rather lumpy batter I was sure I'd overbeaten (also forgot about lemon zest). However, it's come out beautifully risen, good and gingery, and with an amazingly moist, soft, fluffy texture, so maybe I got away with it... It's not quite as dark and sticky as I hoped, but perhaps it will get more that way as it cools?

Edit: Gosh, these are really good. Even better after 2-3 days, and perhaps would benefit from even more time left alone, as parkin does. Glad I persevered through my mistake! The texture and taste are lovely - wickedly gingery and rich. Could be a little darker: if dark brown soft sugar is available that might be better than light brown. I made these in muffin form, would be interesting to see how they rise in loaf form.

Molasses Flood: Boston Baked Beans and Boston Brown Bread

The Great Boston Molasses Flood happened at this time of year in 1919. I was incredulous when I first heard of it - seemed like such a strange and awful source of disaster (21 people died, drowning in a huge flood of molasses after a storage tank burst in the North End). A friend of ours is having a commemorative party. Not sure if it's something that should be partied about, but I guess it's important not to forget.

I thought of making Boston Brown Bread because I'd been keen to try making it for a while and knew it had molasses in it. Then I started suspecting it wasn't the only regional recipe to involve molasses and I was right - Boston Baked Beans also makes heavy use of molasses, as does Indian Pudding. The Boston-molasses connection, it turns out, is through the Triangle Trade and alcohol production. Apparently slaves were shipped from Africa to South American sugar plantations, then sugar and molasses were shipped to New England to be distilled into rum or other alcohol (hence the huge molasses storage tank and the disaster), then the alcohol (and ice, to make up the weight) was shipped to Europe and elsewhere (including back to Africa, completing the triangle).

Quite a series of connections. I made a Brown Bread and a vegetarian Baked Beans (usually it has salted pork or bacon in it).

Boston Brown Bread

(based on this recipe, although I used the flour mix recommended here and this recipe also looked good)

(I used the in-oven cooking method written out below, as opposed to the stove-top steamer method, due to the fact my coffee can was too tall for my steaming apparatus)

I first came across Boston Brown Bread at P's house in New Hampshire - my friend G and his uncle P are from a big New England Irish family, and P had half a can of brown bread in the fridge left over from a fry-up. I'd never seen anything like it before: bread in a can?! But, bread packed with molasses and wholewheat and raisins - sounds like something I'd love (and similar to a malted tealoaf)!

Butter for greasing loaf pans or coffee cans
1/2 cup (heaping) wholemeal flour
1/2 cup (heaping) rye flour
1/2 cup (heaping) finely ground corn meal (must be finely ground)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup molasses (any kind - I used blackstrap)
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup almond milk with 1 tsp cider vinegar)
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

One metal 6-inch tall by 4-inch diameter coffee can, or a 4x8 loaf pan (used a coffee can)

Heat the oven to 325F and boil a full kettle of water (to do oven steaming method). Or heat oven to 350F (for oven baking method - use loaf tin).

Grease the tin with butter. In a large bowl, mix the wholemeal flour, rye flour, corn meal, baking powder and bicarb, salt and allspice. Add the raisins if using.

In another bowl, mix together the milk and vanilla essence (if using). Whisk in the molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir well with a spoon.

Pour the batter into the tin taking care that the batter not reach higher than 2/3 up the sides of the container.

Oven steaming method:
Cover the tin tightly with foil and tie in place with string. Put the prepared tin into a high-sided oven-proof pan that can hold water up to 1/3 the height of the tin. Pour boiling water into the pan until it reaches 1/3 up the side of the tin. Put the pan into the oven. Steam the bread for at least 2 hours and 15 minutes. Check to see if the bread is done by inserting a skewer (or thin metal knitting needle) into it. If the skewer comes out clean, you're ready. If not, re-cover the tin and cook for up to another 45 minutes (I ended up cooking it for the extra time but I think it would also have been fine earlier).

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before putting on a rack. Let the bread cool for 1 hour before turning out of the tin (it turned out quite easily, although the edges were soft from condensation and I wondered if it wasn't done yet, once turned out and fully cooled it was totally good).

Oven baking method:
Put loaf tin in oven (at 350F) and cover the top with a baking tray. Bake for ~45-50 min, until it is coming away from the sides and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tin.

This also worked well  in muffin form (I like this form because they're easy to freeze and defrost in portions): I filled four cups down each side of my muffin tin (8 total), and filled the middle cups with water / put an oven dish of water in the bottom of the oven to stop it drying out - this might have been overkill. Bake for ~25 min at 350F.


Slice and eat plain, or toast in a little butter in a frying pan.

This is delicious - rich with irony molasses loveliness; definitely reminiscent of malted loaf, and of course pleasingly can-shaped. Loved the cooking process, even if it did take rather a long time - was really pleased to find an actual empty coffee can of about the right dimensions in my cupboard - it had already been repurposed once to store bulghur wheat, now onto its next life... Also made use of some string, a large steel pan, and a knitting needle.


Boston Baked Beans

(based on this recipe, being the tastiest sounding veggie version I came across... there are an awful lot of variants out there)

The molasses contains lots of sugar and calcium (as well as iron, magnesium and potassium) - apparently these are what allow you to cook the beans for so long without them collapsing.

I have never eaten real Boston baked beans, veggie or otherwise, so don't know what this should turn out like. Still, feels right to eat Boston baked beans at least once while living in Beantown.

1 1/2 cups yellow eyed or navy beans, with water to cover (I used ~ 4 1/2 cups pre-cooked kidney and black-eyed beans)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (I used turbinado)
2 tbsp ground mustard (used ground white mustard seeds)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp paprika
2 large onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
16 oz tin chopped tomatoes
1/3 cup tomato puree
1/2 cup molasses (used ~1/3 cup blackstrap - was running out of molasses!)
1/4 cup cider vinegar

Heat the oil in a high-sided frying pan and add onion. Cover and fry until softened and starting to brown. Add garlic and salt and cook for a few more minutes. Defrost beans if frozen, then add the beans, tinned tomatoes and tomato puree to the pan and mix.  Mix the brown sugar, mustard, nutmeg and paprika in a small bowl, then add to the pan along with the molasses and mix. Add vinegar last and stir. Cover and put in oven for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Check for liquid level, adding a bit of water if mixture is too thick or drying out. Uncover and cook an additional 15 minutes.


Really like the texture of the beans - nice and firm. In general a good balance of spiced, sweet and salty.

Apple, treacle and caraway muffins

As soon as I saw this recipe I was dying to make it: apple, treacle and caraway seeds are three of my favourite things right now, it sounded like a wonderful combination, and Dan Lepard's recipes are almost always gorgeous. I had all the ingredients (more or less) at home (including eggs as I am picking up Alvin's CSA while he is in Borneo), so all I needed was time.

(makes 12)

120ml veg oil (or 50ml oil plus 100g melted butter)
50g treacle (used blackstrap molasses)
175g soft brown sugar, any sort
3 medium eggs (used 2 large ones plus a bit of linseed-water mix)
3 tsp vanilla essence
3 tsp caraway seeds
150g plain flour
150g spelt or rye flour (used wholemeal as had no spelt)
2 tsp baking powder
3 small apples, peeled, cored and diced
Flaked almonds, to finish

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/GM5. Beat the oil, treacle and sugar until smooth, then beat in the eggs one at a time, until evenly mixed though. Add the vanilla and caraway, mix well, then add the flours and baking powder, and stir just to combine. Fold in the apples, divide the mixture between lined muffin cups, filling them almost to the top, and scatter almonds on top. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and carefully lift the muffins from the tray and on to a rack, so they don't sweat as they cool.


These were every bit as great as I hoped. The caraway, vanilla and treacle all seemed like quite large quantities of quite strongly flavoured ingredients, but together they meld and make each other brilliant, backing up the soft, sweet apple perfectly. Somehow seasonal, with the treacle and apple and very British caraway - perhaps I'll make them next Bonfire Night.

This year's parkin (+Bonfire Night)

Shane's photo

It's nearly Bonfire Night, and I suddenly realised what that meant as I walked home from work in the wild winds on Monday...  Time to make parkin! I made one last year which was quite successful, this time I decided to go with an old recipe I cut out of the newspaper years ago, and which dates from even longer ago: October 1907, apparently. Interestingly, it is eggless. Other differences include addition of nutmeg, lemon zest and mixed peel. Parkin is generally recommended to be aged - up to a month is good I think - to allow the oats to soak up the treacle and syrup and so forth. I was not that organised, but this one got 5 days.

225g plain flour
3½ tsp ground ginger
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
125g medium oatmeal (used steel cut oats)
100g unsalted butter, softened (used fake butter)
125g light soft brown sugar
zest of ½ lemon
100g treacle (used a mixture of blackstrap molasses and carob molasses)
75g golden syrup
50ml milk (used fake milk)
50g mixed peel, finely chopped

Grease a deep, 20cm square cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Sift the flour, spices, soda and salt into a bowl, then stir in the oatmeal. In another bowl beat the butter, sugar and zest until light and fluffy. Add the treacle and syrup, beat again until creamy and smooth, then add the milk and the dry ingredients, and beat quickly until smooth once more. Fold in the mixed peel, then spoon the mixture into the tin. Cover the top with foil, bake for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.


It came out well enough: the citrus was interesting and good. But a little dry: perhaps I left it in the oven a little too long? It was very brick-like, as ever with my parkins. We celebrated last night, with a bonfire and lots of sparklers at Andrea's, and people seemed to like it.

Savoury caraway-wholemeal muffins

While looking for the carrot muffin recipe, I came across this one and thought it sounded interesting - why not make double the muffins for the same amount of washing up?

1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1/2 cup plain flour (original recipe 1 cup rye flour and 1 cup wholemeal)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cornmeal
2 tsp caraway seeds
2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 1/2 tbsp boiling water
1/4 cup veg oil
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 cups almond milk mixed with 1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Heat the oven to 375F. Prepare muffin tins.

Mix the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl with a fork. Stir in the cornmeal and the caraway seeds.

In a separate bowl, beat together the linseed mixture, oil, blackstrap molasses and milk mixture. Add wet to dry and mix until just combined.

Spoon into muffin cups. Bake 25 minutes, until lightly browned and a skewer comes out clean.


I really like these - the darkness and caraway are great, and they are proving a handy lunch addition - I keep them in the freezer and throw a couple in my lunch bag if I'm short: they take an hour or so to defrost. Perhaps another time I will try with the prescribed rye flour.

Bran muffins

(makes 12, very generously filled in my muffin tin - I can only just fit it all in)

3 cups bran
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup water
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup raisins or dates

Oven 350F.  Mix in bowl the bran, flour, soda, baking powder,.  Add sugar, molasses, oil, water, vinegar, raisins.  Mix.  Put in muffin tins and bake 35-45 min.


Made with a mixture of fine wheatmeal I thought was coarser and more like bulghur (from the Russian shop - label was in Russian, in my defence) and blended-up oats.  Was good - I quite enjoyed the texture from the meal, and they seemed really quite light, in a way - the least heavy vegan baking I've done so far.  I used a mixture of raisins and cranberries and it was good.

This recipe came from somewhere on the internet.  I think it may have originated from the How it all Vegan! cookbook, which is totally on my want list.


Edit 2012/08/27: I made these again recently.  This time I used carob molasses instead of regular blackstrap, and added some cinnamon and sesame seeds.  Still used a mixture of ground-up oats and the ground-up fine bulghur, and used raisins.  They come out very robust but I quite like it.  They aren't very sweet - I might add a little more sugar another time (I served them with strawberry jam on the side).  Would also consider using brown sugar, and/or increasing the molasses a little: I liked the carob molasses but could have used more for a stronger taste.  Also considered using mulberry molasses instead.  Could have added more sesame seeds (prob used ~1tsp - they were a little lost) / sprinkled some on top.