Salsa di noci (walnut sauce for pasta)

We are hooked on the great Italian supermarket in Sydhavn. S snuck a pot of salsa di noci into our shopping basket last time we were there, despite my protestations at buying anything walnut-based, considering our epic quantities. But it turned out to be delicious, and a little different from any walnut-based pesto I'd tried before. I googled for a recipe, and it seemed pretty simple. So I tried this one. And it was great! So there is an argument for buying walnutty things after all - new ideas for our supply!

35 g white bread, crusts removed

100 ml milk

150 g walnuts, toasted

10 g parmesan, grated 

1/2 garlic clove 

40 ml olive oil 

lemon juice, to taste 

salt, to taste 

pepper 

extra chopped walnuts (optional)

chopped parsley (optional)

 

Put the bread into the milk and leave to soak for a few min.

 

Put the soaked bread in a blender along with the walnuts, parmesan, garlic and oil. Blend to a smooth paste, slowly adding the leftover milk back in to reach the desired consistency

Season the sauce with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

Often served with gnocchi or long, flat pasta shapes such as tagliatelle (we ate it with penne and it was still good). Garnish with extra toasted walnuts and chopped parsley if you like (we didn't have any so didn't, and it was still good). Had some roasted aubergine pieces on the side and that was nice mixed in, as an option. Oh and I think a bit of ricotta salata as an option too.

Walnut miso magic sauce

I stumbled across this recipe, which just seemed to tick a lot of boxes for me, including many things I love (miso, tahini, olives, lemon), and having a good lot of walnuts in it (we have endless quantities from our tree, it feels like sometimes)... So thought I'd better try it. Pretty tasty.

10 oil-cured black olives, pitted and chopped (we only had the dry salty kind so I rinsed them a bit before using)
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
1 1/2 tsp miso
1 tbsp tahini
1/4 tsp oregano (used dried)
juice of 1/2 a lemon

Toast the walnuts, let cool, and then pound them gently in a pestle and mortar until they have a roughly-chopped consistency. Tip into a bowl, then use the pestle and mortar to smash the olives and garlic together.

Put the olive oil in a small saucepan, add the olive mixture, and stir over low heat, until the garlic is aromatic, a minute or so. Remove from heat, and then add the walnuts, miso, tahini, oregano, and lemon juice. Use immediately, or cover and store refrigerated for a few days.

Walnut pesto (and walnut-cauliflower pasta salad)

Our heap of walnuts remains, as yet undwindling. Seb is mocking me for spending all my spare moments cracking nuts with my Granddads favourite nutcracker from 1981. But the proceeds are so nice. Some went into cookies for people waiting to be deported in Jutland at J's bday get together. For a totally different use, I thought of walnut pesto, I think inspired by this. I adapted that recipe only in as much as I substituted stuff we had in the house.

1 cup shelled walnuts
1 small garlic clove
1/4 cup grated parmesan
3 tsp mixed dried thyme, chilli and salt
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp red pesto (subbed for 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes - used a bit less oil and cheese accordingly)

Toast the walnuts and let cool. Put in a blender with the garlic and pulse until roughly chopped. Transfer to a bowl and mix in grated cheese, herbs and salt, vinegar, oil and pesto. Mix together, taste for seasoning and vinegar, and eat on everything.

Some became an awesome pasta salad, with roasted cauliflower and tomatoes, white beans, parsley and diced mozzarella (or feta) - this is recommended. But it works with everything - a spoonful on top of some pasta e ceci, for example...

Roasted carrots, chickpeas and cauliflower with yoghurt-tahini sauce

More cauliflower. I fancied roasting some chickpeas, and roasting carrots with coriander and spices. They all got roasted together and it was very very good.

Roast:
5 large carrots, scrubbed and top-and-tailed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tbsp paprika
1-2 tsp sumac
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1-2 tsp nigella seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
salt+pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cauliflower, broken into florets
about 1 cup cooked chickpeas

Sauce:
4 tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp lemon juice

Heat the oven to 230C. Put the carrots in a large baking tin along with all of the spices and seeds, salt and pepper and the olive oil (be generous with these - remember the cauliflower and chickpeas will be added partway through and they want to be coated with goodness too). Mix well and put in the oven for 10-15 min. Take out and mix in the cauliflower and the chickpeas. Put back in the oven and roast for another 20-30 min, until everything is tender and starting to crisp. While it's roasting make the sauce just by mixing together the yoghurt, tahini and lemon. Serve together.


Both roast and sauce are definite make-agains. S particularly loved the roasted chickpeas.

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.

Creamy mushroom sauce (pancake day fail)

This is a basic white sauce made with vegan ingredients and intensified with mushroom powder. Then mixed with sauteed mushrooms, walnuts (and optional artichokes). The sauce comes out nice and thick and creamy, and the mushroom powder makes up for any flavour lost due to not using real milk or butter. My intention was to wrap pancakes around it (we attempted pancake day yesterday, one day late as I had no time on the day), but my pancakes completely failed and I don't understand why - they just kept sticking to the pan. I've used both pans and batter recipe many times before, am stumped. So anyway, we gave up and ate the sauce with noodles instead, which worked just as well - I guess pancake day this year was not meant to be.

For the sauce:
5/8 cup fake milk (used almond, soy might be better), heated
1 tbsp fake butter
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp mushroom powder
salt and pepper

For mushroom fry:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
~5 medium-large mushrooms
1-2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1-2 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Heat the milk. In a separate, small pan melt the butter. Add the flour to the butter and stir / let bubble for a few minutes (do not colour). Add the hot milk and mix well for a few minutes, until smooth and starting to thicken. Keep stirring and heating gently for a minute or two more, then add mushroom powder, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a medium frying pan, heat the olive oil, then add the garlic and sizzle for a minute or so before adding the mushrooms and walnuts. Cook for a few more minutes, until the mushrooms are lightly browned. Finally add the parsley, stir for a minute or so more, add salt and pepper to taste and turn off heat.

Mix the mushroom fry into the sauce, toss and then serve, either as a pancake filling or mixed through pasta.

Sticky crabapple jelly

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Lindsey's photo

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

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

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


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

Tomatilloes and thyme

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

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

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


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

Fresh tomatillo salsa

A gave me some tomatilloes from his garden. They were probably the ripest tomatilloes I've ever seen - bursting out of their husks. I think the only thing I've ever eaten made with tomatilloes (besides this sauce, where I actually subbed green tomatoes) is a fresh, green salsa (Mexican salsa verde) served with tamales and all sorts of other Mexican eats. I like that sauce, so I decided to try and make it.

6-8 ripe tomatilloes, husks removed and fruit washed

1-2 tbsp chopped sweet onion

1/4 clove garlic

1-2 tbsp chopped coriander

1 medium green chilli, halved and seeds removed

good pinch of salt
squeeze of lime juice

Put the onion and garlic in water and set aside for 5 min. Quarter the clean tomatilloes and put them in a blender. Drain onion and garlic and add to the blender. Add coriander, chilli, salt and lime and blend to make a coarse paste. Taste for seasoning and eat with whatever you like.

We ate this with chicken of the woods sauteed with sweetcorn, paprika flatbreads, guacamole and rice with lime zest and coriander. It all went down very well: fresh and tasty summer-meets-autumn food.

Pancake Day Pudding: 'Nutella' pancakes

I consider it necessary, every Pancake Day, to eat an entire pancake-based meal: both savoury and sweet. This year I hit upon scallion pancakes for the savoury round, but still felt the need for a traditional / pudding pancake. I was considering Nutella, when it occurred to me that perhaps an even more delicious option would be to break Nutella apart and have pancakes with hazelnuts and chocolate sauce. So that's what we did.

Weirdly, I'd never really made chocolate sauce before. My initial thought was just to melt some chocolate mixed with a little almond milk and maybe a little sugar, but I found this recipe and was convinced enough by the description to give it a try.

For the pancakes:
-use this basic recipe - you will never miss the eggs and milk

For the chocolate sauce:
1/2 cup water
80g / 1/4 cup light corn syrup, agave or liquid glucose (used golden syrup)
50g / 1/4 cup sugar
38g / 3/8 cup cocoa powder (ideally Dutch Process)
1 oz / 30g dark (~60%) chocolate, chopped*

Additional:
~20 toasted hazelnuts, chopped
1/2 a banana, sliced (optional)

Make the chocolate sauce a little in advance as it will need time (1-2 hours at least) to cool. Mix the water, syrup, sugar and cocoa in a small pan and bring to the boil, whisking steadily. Once just boiling, remove from the heat and mix in the chopped chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, set the pan aside at room temperature and allow to cool and thicken.

While the sauce cools, you can make the pancake batter and cook up the pancakes (keep them warm on a plate covered with a folded teatowel, or in the oven on a covered plate if you need to wait longer), and chop the hazelnuts.

When you're ready to eat them, drizzle a pancake with chocolate sauce, sprinkle with hazelnuts (and chopped banana if you fancy that), roll up and eat as delicately or as uncouthly as you wish.


This combination was great, and worked really well with banana too. The sauce kind of separated as it cooled - tasted great but the texture wasn't right. Perhaps I cooled it too quickly (I put it next to an open window)? Or perhaps the golden syrup was not an appropriate substitution? It is worth another attempt! As well as these I of course had to have a classic one with lemon and sugar.

*I made this recipe again, being very careful to stick to the recipe, not cool the sauce too fast etc, and still found that it separated. A review of the comments on the original site indicated that the chocolate may be the issue - although 70% is nowhere near 100%, perhaps it is still too intense and acidic and caused the separation. I rarely have anything less than 70% in the house, so to continue with this recipe may need to work out a way of neutralising it?

Chinese Spring Festival meets Pancake Day: Scallion Pancakes

With all the snow and the pre-Valentines baking I got distracted from the fact it was Chinese New Year at the weekend: happy new Year of the Snake!

And then Pancake Day was already upon us (yesterday), demanding a pancake feast... Scallion pancakes seemed to be the perfect way to celebrate both at once, in food form (of course... both celebrations seem to be mainly about food, perhaps that's why I like them so much...).

I mainly referred to this recipe, also this one.

(makes 4 fairly large pancakes)

For pancakes:
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup scallions (aka spring onions aka green onions - about 4), sliced
1/2 cup veg oil mixed with 1 tbsp sesame oil
salt+white pepper

For dipping sauce:
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sliced scallions (about 2)
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1 tsp chopped root ginger
1 tsp sugar

Mix flour and baking powder together in a bowl with a fork. Dribble in the boiling water gradually and steadily, mixing with a wooden spoon the whole time. Bring together into a ball of dough and then let rest (covered with a damp cloth) for 30 min or so.

While the dough rests, chop the scallions and prepare the dipping sauce by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

To make the pancakes, roll the dough out on a floured surface into a large rectangle about 8 mm thick. Brush the rectangle with the oil mixture, sprinkle the chopped scallions all over, then season with salt and ground white pepper. Next, carefully roll the rectangle up as if rolling up a swiss roll, going from a long side, so you end up with a long sausage shape. Cut the sausage into four. Take one piece, pull it out and squish it a little, twist it three times, then wrap it round into a flattened spiral. Roll it out into a thick (~8 mm thick), round pancake, about 5-6 inches diameter. Repeat with the other three pieces.

Heat any remaining oil mixture (or additional veg oil) in a frying pan. When hot, place a pancake in it and cook on one side until browned, then flip and brown the other side. Eat hot, cut into wedges and dipped in the dipping sauce.


Wow. These were quite delicious. I probably won't get around to making them again til some Pancake Day in the distant future, but damn they were good. The dipping sauce was a great idea: its spicy / salty / sour / sweet ness really cut through the greasy, stodgy (in a good way) pancake beautifully. Despite the large quantity of scallions used, there was no lingering onion taste.

More golden food: vegan 'cheese sauce' with moghrabieh

We had a leaving party at the weekend for a colleague who is moving to France.  My boss's wife has a tradition of making 'American food' for such events, and this time is was macaroni cheese.  S couldn't make it to the party, but I got to thinking yesterday about how he used to love cheese sauce when I made it before I stopped eating cheese, and also how it is a good, warming, comforting thing to eat with cauliflower or chard or similar.  So I was thinking about whether a vegan alternative would be remotely viable (a vegan white sauce would be easy enough, but how to make it cheesy?), and consulted ppk - seemed like the obvious place to start.  I found this recipe there.  The ingredient list looked somewhat weird - sauerkraut?!  But actually we have a huge jar of sauerkraut in the fridge that S bought and decided he didn't like.  And way better than anything involving fake cheese.  So, much though I feared it might turn out disgusting, I thought I'd give the recipe a try.

3/4 cup cashews, soaked (perhaps blanched almonds would be an alternative)
2 cups veg stock, divided
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 cup sauerkraut
1/6 cup plain flour
black pepper
1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp lemon juice

To soak the cashews, put them in a bowl and submerge in hot water. Leave for at least an hour, preferably 2 hours or overnight.

Prep whatever you want to eat with the sauce in parallel or in advance: pasta, cauliflower, whatever (I boiled some moghrabieh in the same way as I would pasta).

Put the soaked cashews and 1 cup of the veg stock in the blender and blend until smooth.

Meanwhile, heat a large pan over medium heat, then fry the onions and garlic and a pinch of salt in half a tablespoon of the oil, until onions are softened.  Drain the sauerkraut in a sieve, squeezing it in your hands to remove as much of the wetness as possible. Add sauerkraut to the pan just to heat through, a minute or two.

Add the sauerkraut mixture to the cashew mixture in the blender. Blend until smooth.

Wipe out the pan reheat it over a medium heat. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil, along with the flour. It should become a gooey clump. Toast the roux for about 15 minutes, until it smells toasty and turns medium brown. Stir constantly so that it cooks evenly.

Gradually pour in the remaining cup of stock, whisking constantly so that it doesn’t go lumpy. Whisk until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add the cashew sauerkraut mixture, and whisk until well incorporated. Add the black pepper, nutritional yeast if using, salt and lemon juice. Heat through and stir occasionally, allowing the mixture to thicken.

(If you want to make a baked macaroni cheese, at this point heat oven to 350F and grease an 11 x 13 oven dish with olive oil, then mix the cooked pasta back with the sauce and put it in the oven dish, cover with tin foil and bake for 20 min, remove foil and bake 5 more min...  Otherwise just mix the hot sauce with whatever)


It worked amazingly well!  The sauce was not completely smooth, neither was it exactly like cheese sauce, but it did have a creamy, comforting texture and consistency, and it tasted really mellow and interesting (the sauerkraut definitely remained secretive).  S liked it too (I only told him about the sauerkraut after he'd tried it).  Perhaps that sauerkraut will get eaten after all (I'll have to stock up on cashews...). This quantity was plenty for S and I - would prob serve 4 - and the leftovers keep well in a pot in the fridge (unlike non-veg cheese sauce).  Other recipes I saw use miso to get that 'matured' taste - perhaps I will try that too (if we ever run out of sauerkraut). 

Baked aubergine

S bought a gigantic aubergine from the market, I think just because it was so huge.  It was massive - almost head-sized.  Used half for baba ghanoush, and the other half for this.

1/2 a massive aubergine
2 tsp coriander seed
2 tsp cumin seed
1/4 tsp chili flakes
salt
2 1/2 tbsp cashews
1 clove garlic
squeeze of lemon juice
2 1/2 tbsp almond milk
olive oil
salt and pepper
chopped coriander leaves

Heat oven to ~450F.  Cut the aubergine into 1 cm thick slices.  Squeeze into clean cloth / paper to remove any excess liquid.  Grease a roasting tin with olive oil.  Rub both sides of slices with olive oil.  Toast the cumin and coriander seed in a frying pan til fragrant.  Put into spice grinder and add the chili flakes and some salt.  Whizz to a powder.  Sprinkle 1/4 of the powder on the aubergine slices arranged in the roasting tin.  Put in the oven for 10-15 min.  Then turn over and sprinkle with another 1/4 of powder.  Put back in the oven for another 10-15min, til lightly browned and softened.  Meanwhile, whizz the cashews and garlic in the spice grinder til smooth.  Mix in a small bowl with the remaining spice powder, lemon juice and almond milk til a smooth and creamy texture.  Serve aubergine with sauce and coriander leaves on top.

Tasty.  Plenty of potential for varying spice mix.  Pretty simple.  The sauce was really good - I liked the cashews as an interesting taste / texture.

Steamed veg with tahini sauce / stock / curry / hummus

Friday evening for a quick dinner made steamed veg with tahini sauce - steamed some broccoli and leeks (mmm steamed leeks), then made a sauce like this:

4 tbsp tahini
juice of 1 lime
2cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 lemongrass stalk, soft parts finely chopped (optional)
1 spring onion, finely chopped (optional)
1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp tamarind paste

Mix all of the above together until smooth-ish, then add water to desired consistency.  For a really quick / clean hands version mix tahini, tamarind, sweet chili, soy and a little rice vinegar.

Serve the sauce on the side with the steamed veg.  I did this once before with soft tofu chopped and mixed with the steamed veg, and toasted sesame seeds on top.  I really like this sauce, and it goes really well with the steamed veg.  And the whole thing is really quick to make.  A variation on this.


Sunday was time for a clear out of the fridge.  Found some tired veg in there, so made veg stock out of sprouting onions, kale stems, floppy celery, old fennel, slightly yellowing parsley, dried-out thyme and a few carrots.  Also soaked and cooked some chickpeas and then used them and the remaining kale stems to make chickpea potato kale curry, with purple potatoes this time, which looked really colourful and fancy.  Froze stock and remaining chickpeas.

Lastly, I used some of the chickpeas to make hummus:

1.5 cups cooked chickpeas
3 tbsp tahini
juice of 1/4 lemon
1.5 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
piece of garlic the size of a chickpea
liquid from chickpea cooking (enough for a good consistency)

Put all the ingredients into blender cup and whizz until smooth.  Add more cooking liquid until your favourite consistency is reached.

The ingredients listed above give a good, basic hummus.  I like adding in other bits and pieces to make it more interesting and more unique.  For example, using lime juice or tamarind instead of lemon juice; adding coriander or basil or parsley; adding pesto; adding pitted olives; holding back some whole chickpeas to sprinkle on top; adding ground spices such as cayenne, paprika, coriander seed, cumin; adding sundried tomatoes or caramelised onions...  One variation example is: carrot and cumin hummus.

Cranberry sauce

A quick one, in advance of Christmas:

250g cranberries
100g sugar
juice of 1 clementine, made up to 100ml with white wine
zest of 1 clementine

Put all in a small saucepan and bubble til all the berries are burst (about 10 min).  Cool a little then put into a sterilised jar. It will thicken further as is cools.  Won't keep forever but I am estimating for a few weeks in the fridge.  Haven't fully tasted it yet (although it tasted promising while cooking) - saving it for the big day!  Edit - it was excellent - see full xmas dinner notes.