Updated muhammara

I hadn't made muhammara for a while, but S bought some in the supermarket and it was really sweet and didn't have any walnuts in it and just made me pine for the real thing. And then I remembered it was an excellent use for walnuts - am always looking for excellent uses for walnuts, since we have a big old walnut tree in the garden. I have been testing out a few different combinations and textures for muhammara, here is my old version, and here is my latest:

3 red peppers
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon)
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Roast red peppers at high heat, c. 220C, until collapsed and with blackened spots. Cover and let cool, then remove peel and seeds. Can be kept in the fridge for a day or so until ready to make the muhammara.

When ready to make the muhammara, first toast the walnuts. Then put the peppers, breadcrumbs, garlic, chilli, pomegranate molasses, citrus juice, cumin and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth. Crush the walnuts with a pestle and mortar, and then mix in a bowl with the pepper mixture. Check consistency and taste for seasoning.

Christmas food 2015

We got a veg share from the coop we just joined, and based our Christmas Day food around that. We ate:

Maple-roasted parsnips and celeriac (similar to this)

Roasted brussels sprouts with pomegranate molasses (a simplified version of this)
Red cabbage and sesame salad (similar to this, with coriander instead of chives and no carrot or radish)
Potato, mint and edamame salad
Tahini-lemon sauce

Zimtsterne (these take ages to make but keep very well)

S was in charge of Christmas Eve since that is the special day in Germany. We ate cheese fondue (which is apparently traditional) with broccoli, cauliflower, gnocchi, bread pieces.

Crunchy rice carpet with lentils, onions and pomegranate

I went to Cambridge to see Dad, S and B a couple weeks ago. I hadn't realised when I planned it, but it was so close to Christmas that it made a lovely Christmas warm-up. I got to have my first (probably only) mince pie of the year, and we ate well, played games and exchanged presents (still wrapped though!). I also got to buy a Saturday Guardian for the first time in years. This has been frustrating - it is available in Europe but they don't put the supplements in, so irritating. So anyway, I am still reading it on and off. And I came across a recipe for stuck-pot rice and thought why not just spend the afternoon making that because I can? I didn't really follow the recipe, but I liked my version.

rice:
180 g brown basmati rice, soaked for 1 hour
60 g butter
A few pinches saffron threads, soaked in 1 tbsp boiling water

lentils:
1 1/2 cups brown or green lentils
1 tsp allspice
1 bay leaf
2 1/2 cups water

onions:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
salt+pepper
1 tsp pomegranate molasses

to serve:
pomegranate seeds (optional but lovely)
yoghurt
chopped coriander (optional)

Bring a deep pan of salted water to a boil and cook the rice for about 15 min until al dente. Drain, then briefly rinse in water. Wipe out the pan, then melt the butter in it, and pour into a cup. Return the drained rice to the pan, stir in half the melted butter, then smooth the top of the rice. Pour over the remaining butter and saffron, cover with a clean tea towel, put on the lid and cook on the lowest heat for 30-40 min, until the rice is cooked, with a golden crust on the bottom.

While the rice is cooking, cook the lentils and onions. For the lentils, put them in a pan with allspice and bay, cover with water and bring to the boil, then simmer low until water is gone and they are done. For the onions, heat oil in a large frying pan, then add onions and cook medium-low for about 30 min, until they are brown and soft/crispy in places. Add pomegranate molasses and seasoning to taste.

To serve, put crunchy rice in a bowl and add lentils, onions, pomegranate seeds, yoghurt and coriander. Yum.

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.

Green leaves and beans, pomegranate molasses, sesame

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

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

Hedgehog cake (orange, carrot and pistachio cake with mocha-sunflower icing)

This is S's birthday cake. He mentioned carrot cake at some point, also mentioned cake in the shape of a hedgehog at some point, he likes nuts and coffee, and I'm still trying to find the perfect carrot-coffee-nut combination after he requested it a few years ago.

Cake recipe adapted from this one (my quantities are weird because I scaled it down to make two layers instead of three).

For the cake:
50g tahini
83ml sunflower oil
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
zest of 2 oranges, and 67ml juice (juice of approx 1 orange)
150g soft light brown sugar
2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 tbsp boiling water
133g carrot, grated finely
67g chopped pistachios
117g plain flour
1 2/3 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/3 tsp grated nutmeg

For the icing:
(this made too much - half or two thirds this quantity would have been sufficient)
16 oz firm silken tofu, drained
1 tbsp veg oil
1 tbsp very strong coffee
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup smooth sunflower seed butter

To finish:
~1 cup slivered toasted almonds
3 raisins (1 big one for the nose and two smaller, equal-sized ones for the eyes)

Heat the oven to 360F / 180C. Grease two 8 inch round cake tins and line the bases. In a large bowl, whisk together tahini, pomegranate molasses, orange zest and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in linseed mixture, then stir in the grated carrot, pistachios and orange juice. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and spices with a fork. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and fold together until just combined. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tins.

While the cake is baking, make the icing. Crumble the drained tofu into a blender jug, add the oil and coffee and blend until smooth. Add the icing sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add the sunflower seed butter and blend until consistent. Transfer the icing into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for an hour, until thickened.

When the cakes are cool and the icing chilled, you can assemble the cake. For a normal cake, just layer it up and stop here.

I wanted to make a curved, bilaterally symmetrical hedgehog shape. I made 4 layers (plus a little bit more on top, using almost all of the two circular cakes. I took one of the circular base papers (cleaned of cake bits) and cut out a template for the bottom layer (approx egg shaped; long side length equal to diameter of circle), then cut this shape out of one of the cakes with a sharp knife (save the offcuts for the upper layers), cutting at an angle of ~45 degrees. I then trimmed about 1 cm around all the edges of the template and cut this shape out of the other cake (working at the edge). Stack them so you can see how it is looking. Trim another centimetre off the template and cut the shape out of a combination of offcuts. Repeat. Use remaining offcuts to create a rounded top. Hopefully the stacked shape will look OK, if not you can do some rearrangement / trimming.

Next, put the bottom layer on a plate. Cover it with icing then add the next layer, Repeat until all the layers are done, also using the icing to stick the pieces together where the layers comprise more than one piece. Once the pieces are all layered up, cover the outside with icing. Make sure to fill in all the cracks and to go right down to the plate; you can use the icing to correct minor irregularities in shape. Smooth it out when done. Starting about 1/4 of the way back from the pointed end, stick slivered almonds into the icing to make spines. Cover the entire back part of the cake with these. On the part without almonds, make striations with a fork to look a bit like fur. Finally, choose your raisins, squish them into shape, and press into position on the cake.


This looks really fun - the almonds and raisins are quite effective, as good as I might have hoped. The cake is delicious - bit of a faff with all the chopping and grating and zesting and juicing and so forth, but tasty enough to warrant it on a special occasion. They didn't rise much but they did hold together very well as I cut and layered them. Carrot cake should be dense anyway, so I don't think the lack of eggs mattered much.

The icing is very soft but does stay in position. I wondered if the seed (or nut) butter was a necessary addition or if it would have been just as good without. Same with the cocoa - I added it mainly for colour but it might have been brown enough without. It definitely doesn't taste of tofu at all. Does taste of sunflower butter though, and with that plus the cocoa once again I have managed to drown out the coffee flavour. Tastes fine in combination with the cake though: the flavours work together well. (note: I may have been eating the leftover icing out of the tub with a spoon like pudding, this was kind of good - it's fairly light)

Chard, caraway and pomegranate molasses

One way or another, we came by a lot of chard recently - from Ang+Brian's Yard Birds; from Alvin's CSA extras and generosity, from my balcony pot...  My go-to, quick and tasty approach to any dark leafy greens (chard, spinach, beet greens etc) is to saute them with some garlic, but having gone through a few bunches like that I was feeling some variations.  Caraway was calling (probably partly because of this recipe), and I was thinking of making a chard, caraway and rice filo package (similar to this one), but then thought 'hang on, that would mean switching on the oven, bad move, how about I just do the rice and chard and not bother with the filo or oven?'.  So that's what I did.  The pomegranate molasses was a last-minute thought - I feel like chard needs a hint of something sweet-tart to bring its flavour out (could also try tamarind, or lemon/lime juice, or balsamic vinegar).

1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 bunch chard, stalks separated from leaves and both chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp caraway seeds
salt+pepper
2 tsp pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp toasted flaked almonds (optional)

Prep the vegetables then heat the oil in a large frying pan with a lid.  Add the onion and chard stalks and cook at medium with the lid on for a few minutes until they start to soften, then add the garlic and caraway seeds and cook for a few more minutes, until it is all quite well softened.  Remove the lid and cook for a minute or two more to brown a little.  Then add the roughly chopped chard leaves and salt and pepper, cover again and cook for a few more minutes, removing the lid after the chard begins to wilt and continuing to cook until the chard is all wilted but still a good strong green colour.  Finally, add the pomegranate molasses (and almonds) and taste for seasoning.



I made some basmati rice (1 cup) as I cooked the chard.  I bunged some cumin and anise seeds into the rice as it cooked, because it sprang to mind how much I liked the cumin in the rice from the Indian take-out place we always go to in Concord NH when we are up there at Pete's.  I also added a little (~2 tsp) coconut oil to the rice at the end of cooking.  Both seeds and oil worked well, and the chard / caraway / pomegranate molasses / rice mixture was definitely a winner, flavour-wise.  I did wonder if it could do with something a bit crunchy, so I'm thinking the filo package version could be bang on (almond addition also working on this).

White bean dip

Prepped a large quantity of lima beans (note, soaking with  1/2 tsp bicarb, draining, rinsing and cooking without bicarb seemed to give good results).  Had been dreaming of white beans with pomegranate molasses and spices, so that is what I made.

2 cups cooked white beans (lima)
1-2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1-2 tbsp tahini
1/2 - 1 tbsp olive oil
1 small clove garlic
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt+pepper

Put all ingredients in blender cup and blend til smooth.  Add a little cooking water if it is too thick, until the desired texture is achieved.


This turned out really well.  Was also very very quick and easy to assemble.  S liked it too, and we polished off the first batch in minutes, so I made more straight away.

Muhamarra (pepper-walnut-pomegranate molasses paste)

Came across this after buying some pomegranate molasses a while ago, when searching for interesting things to do with it...  Basically used this recipe. Also this one.

5 red peppers (or a mixture of peppers and chillies) - used 2 red peppers and 3 poblanos
1 good handful fresh breadcrumbs
120g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1 medium onion, diced
About 125ml olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes - left these out as I thought it'd be spicy enough with the poblanos
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Place the whole red peppers on a greased baking sheet and roast until blackened. Put in a sealed plastic bag to steam for 10 minutes, then peel, core and deseed. In the meantime, put the breadcrumbs in a food processor with the walnuts and pulse until quite fine.
In a small pan, sauté the onion until lightly golden. Add to the breadcrumb and walnut mixture with the peppers and the rest of the ingredients, apart from the oil; pulse to a thick paste. Add olive oil until it's a consistency you like. Taste, add more lime juice, pomegranate molasses, cumin and salt and pepper, if you like, and serve with crudités or toasted pitta wedges.

v.2.
3 red peppers
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon)
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Char red peppers whole on flat cast iron ovenproof pan over stovetop burner. Put in a bowl, cover and allow to cool, then remove peel and seeds and put flesh in blender with the red of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.


It's good! The walnut - spicy pepper taste comes out really nicely, with sour notes from the lime / molasses.  Very more-ish. Version 2 is the simplified version, it is quicker and less faffy, and I think just as good.

Pomegranate and Brussels Sprouts

Another brussels sprout recipe, this time with pomegranate by Yotam Ottolenghi on the Guardian website.


Serves four to six.

600g brussels sprouts
120ml olive oil
300g baby shallots, peeled (or spring onions, white part only) (used spring onions, and not as much - perhaps 150-200g)
2 tbsp maple syrup
Grated zest of 2 lemons (used 1)
2 tsp pomegranate molasses
Seeds of 2 small pomegranates (about 8 tbsp in total) (used 1 large one)
20g purple basil, leaves only, shredded (didn't have, so left it out)
Salt and black pepper

Trim off the ends of the sprouts and cut them in two lengthways.

Heat up a large wok or nonstick pan, and add two tablespoons of oil. Fry half the sprouts on high heat for about four minutes, until nicely golden brown all over but still quite crunchy. Transfer to a mixing bowl and keep somewhere warm. Add more oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining sprouts.

Add two tablespoons of oil to the pan and fry the shallots as you did the sprouts, for four to six minutes. Add to the sprout bowl. Add the maple syrup, lemon zest, molasses and remaining oil to the still warm vegetables. Add half the pomegranate seeds and half the basil, season generously and toss to mix.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with the remaining pomegranate seeds and basil sprinkled on top.

This was really good - exploring two of my current favourite winter ingredients (brussels sprouts and pomegranate syrup) - the sweetness of maple syrup and pomegranate seeds with sour notes from pomegranate syrup and lemon really complements the sprouts and scallions.  I guess I should try it with basil one day (not a very wintry ingredient mind you).

Note - both brussels sprouts and pomegranate are super fiddly to prepare, so this is definitely a recipe for cosy wintry afternoons with nothing much else going on - trying to make it quickly would be tough.