Caponata

I made this for the first time years ago.  It's really good - kind of like ratatouille, but better.  I'd make it more often if it wasn't that we don't often have aubergines, celery and pine nuts all in the house at once.  I think this is a fairly simple version - stuff like cocoa and artichoke hearts can be added; the key ingredients remain aubergines, celery and capers.

600g aubergines, chopped into ~2cm chunks
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
~5 big stalks of celery, chopped (or substitute ~3/4 tsp crushed celery seed)
1 clove garlic, chopped (optional)
1 tbsp sultanas (or golden raisins)
~3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tin chopped tomatoes
~2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp capers
2 tbsp olives, pitted and chopped
1 tbsp pine nuts (or substitute slivered toasted almonds)
1 tbsp chopped basil (optional)
salt and pepper

Salt aubergine and put under a heavy weight to drain (for approx half an hour).

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan, add onion and celery (and garlic if using), and cook for ~5 min until starting to soften. Rinse the aubergine and press it dry. Add the aubergine to the pan with the onion, and cook for ~10 min, until softened and starting to brown.

Add sultanas, vinegar, tomatoes, sugar, capers and olives (and celery seed if subbing for celery). Bring to a gentle boil and simmer until everything is soft and thick (at least 30 min). Finally, stir in pine nuts, and basil if using. Taste, and add more salt, sugar, pepper or vinegar if it needs it. Let cool. Ideally keep it for at least a day before eating - the taste and texture improves.


Check for seasoning, then eat - hot or cold, with pasta or with bread or on its own.

Flower flour - marigold and sunflower rolls

I was daydreaming about underground restaurants and found myself looking at MsMarmiteLover's blog and coveting her cookbook...  I found this page and loved the idea so much - I even have marigolds growing, nearing the end of their season and begging to be used.  My idea with planting them was that they would be pretty and edible - they grew well and were bright and fun all season, and now I've at last got around to eating some.

For eight:
7g dried yeast
160 ml lukewarm water
1/2 tsp honey
250 g strong white flour
10 g (~2 tbsp) semolina
1 tsp salt
25 ml olive oil
45 g sunflower seeds
1/2 handful marigold petals
1/2 tbsp olive oil for brushing

To make the dough; into your mixer add the flour, semolina, olive oil, sunflower seeds, marigold petals, honey and yeast. Then pour in the lukewarm water.

Let this mix on a low setting for at least 10 minutes, adding the salt at this point. If you don't have a mixer you can knead the dough by hand.  When well kneaded, cover the bowl and leave to rise for an hour or so in a warm place where it should double in size.

Tip the dough carefully onto a floured work surface and gently divide into balls of 40 - 50g in weight, using a digital scale to measure this quite accurately (if possible). Roll each ball in the palm of your hand and pull the sides down tucking the seam underneath.

Use a pair of scissors or a credit card to cut the balls of dough across the top. Make three crosses / six segments.  Pull each segment out from the middle to form a rough petal. Once finished, each ball should look like a little flower. Alternatively, you can leave as round rolls.

Put the dough flowers (or rolls) spaced apart on an oiled baking tray. Cover and leave for 30-40 minutes in a warm place. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F).

Bake the marigold bread rolls in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden. Finish by brushing with olive oil and sprinkling on more marigold petals. The rolls are nice served warm or, once cooled, can be frozen until needed.


These are so much fun!  I wasn't able to weigh the ingredients very accurately (the original was for double), so wasn't sure if they would work.  But they look good to me!  And S said they were exciting....  Brilliant idea with the freezing, why didn't I think of that before?  The remainder are going in right now.  Also the bread machine seemed to work - I haven't used it like that before, but seemed to be a decent labour saver.

Peanut and vegetable stew

We're running low on veggies, which is fine, as we're going to be away this weekend (Nuit Blanche!  Toronto! Niagara Falls!).  I was super tired this afternoon and took myself home around six to make this stew - kind of a mishmash of the veggies we had left / storecupboard stuff, but also kind of exactly what I felt like making and eating.

1 tbsp light olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large, not very hot green chilli, chopped
~1 in piece of ginger, chopped
1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 carrots, peeled and chopped into rounds
1 tiny green pepper that fell off my pepper plant, chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
~5 large kale leaves, chopped
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp sunflower seed butter
1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup frozen peas
3/4 cup chickpeas
~1 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large frying pan and add onion.  Cook until light gold, ~5min.  Add the chilli, ginger and garlic and fry for a minute or so.  Add the spices and toss for a minute or so.  Add carrots and green pepper.  Stir, then add the tinned tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, some salt+pepper and half a cup of water.  Put the lid on and cook for about 15 min, until the carrots are just tender.  Meanwhile, take out approx 2 tbsp of liquid from the pan and mix in a small bowl with the peanut butter and sunflower seed butter.  Add in the frozen chickpeas and cook for another 5 min.  Add the frozen peas and cook another minute or so.  Add the kale and cook til wilted.  Add the parsley, turn off the heat, season with soy sauce and taste to check seasoning.  Let sit for five minutes before eating.  It's pretty filling, so fine to eat on its own.


That turned into a long ingredient list... belying its origins.  Was simple, hearty and comforting for an autumn evening.

Apple cinnamon cornmeal pancakes

This recipe is from How It All Vegan! vegan cookbook.

I made them as a Saturday morning breakfast, before we headed out to beach and punkinfiddle.

1/2 cup oats (used wheat flakes as ran out of oats)
3/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup apple sauce
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground linseed plus 6 tbsp hot water, mixed)
2 cups soy milk

Mix dry ingredients.  Mix wet ingredients separately, then add the wet to the dry and mix.  Put about 1 cup into a frying pan and cook til bubbly, solidifying in the middle and golden (~5min).  Turn over and cook on the other side.  Repeat until batter all gone.  Made 4 big pancakes.  Eat with maple syrup.


These were OK.  The cinnamony-ness saved them but they were pretty stodgy.  Won't make the same again.

Rocket and walnut pesto

Had to bring in most of the plants in pots from the balcony as our landlords suddenly proclaimed they were going to repaint the balconies (or something).  Nothing has yet happened on that front (another story), but the weather's getting cooler (though not right now), and I guess it's time to break the pots down in preparation for Winter soon anyway...  One of the things needing used is rocket.  Have been realising that you can make pesto out of just about anything - there are so many different kinds of leaves and veggies, nuts and seeds...

I also made the green sauce from here, as I had come by some green chillies and green tomatoes, and had some lettuce leaves in my pots waiting to be eaten.

1 cup rocket leaves, roughly chopped
small clove garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup walnut pieces
1/4 cup shelled edamame, defrosted
1 tsp nutritional yeast
salt and pepper
water to make a good consistency

Put all ingredients in the cup of a wand blender and blend til smooth.  Eat as a dip with bread or crudites, or as a pesto with pasta.

Carrot dips

I have been making lots of things with carrots - they seem like a kind of bridge between summery veggies and autumnal ones - am almost onto squash, but not quite.  Incorporating the kind of warm spices I used in the chickpea-carrot stew thing I made last week.  I made two different pesto-y dip things.

Spiced carrot and chickpea dip

1 cup cooked, defrosted chickpeas
1 cup carrots (approx 2 large carrots, peeled, chopped into big chunks and steamed for approx 15 min until tender)
1 tsp ras el hanout
1 tsp lemon juice
chickpea sized piece of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper
water to make a good consistency

Put all ingredients into wand blender cup and blend until smooth.  Taste to check seasoning.


Spiced carrot and almond pesto

1 cup carrots (approx 2 large carrots, peeled, chopped into big chunks and steamed for approx 15 min until tender)
1/4 cup toasted, flaked almonds
1 x 1 x 2 in piece firm tofu, cut into chunks
1 tsp lemon juice
splash of red wine vinegar
chickpea sized piece of garlic
2 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
3/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
water to make a good consistency

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds until fragrant and then grind in spice grinder.  Put all ingredients into wand blender cup and blend until smooth.  Taste to check seasoning.


Both were good.  I think I liked the almond one best, but yes, other one good too.  Hard to go wrong with this kind of thing really.  S cooked some spaghetti right after I made them and I realised that the almond one especially might actually work as a pesto - it did - was very tasty and autumnal and orange and interesting.

Spiced carrot and chickpeas

Middle of last week I suddenly started craving some kind of Moroccan-type sweet and savoury spiced stew type thing.  I knew exactly what I wanted to taste.  I had some carrots left over from the carrot jam that seemed just right, and I trawled the internet for a recipe that sounded like what I wanted.  I decided that this one came closest.  And I happened to have almost all the ingredients...

1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp Ras el Hanout, or more to taste (optional; see below for recipe)
2 or 3 tbsp chopped parsley or coriander
4 or 5 carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally into ~1cm thick pieces
1 cup water
1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked chickpeas
2 to 3 tsp honey
1/4 cup golden raisins (optional)

(try also adding – 1-2 tbsp rosewater, 1 -2 tsp cumin seeds, currants instead of golden raisins)

In a large frying pan with a lid, heat the olive oil and then cook the onions and garlic over low heat for several minutes.

Add the spices, parsley or coriander, the carrots and the water. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until the carrots are cooked to desired tenderness. This will probably take 20-25 minutes.

When the carrots are cooked, add the honey, chickpeas and raisins. Continue cooking until the chickpeas are heated through and the sauce is reduced and thick. Taste, adjust seasoning if desired, and serve.


Ras el hanout 

2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp ground mace
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground anise seeds (wasn't sure if this meant fennel seed or star anise - used star anise)
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Grind and mix all the above spices.  I made a half quantity, which 1/4 filled a small spice jar.  I didn't have mace so added a little extra ginger, and also didn't have white pepper so added a little extra black pepper.


This was so good.  It ticks all the boxes of sweet, spicy and savoury that make for something I'm going to love, and was pretty much exactly what I had in mind.  Might want to reduce the pepper a little next time - a tiny bit less heat might let the other flavours shine through more.  I made more of the red lentil mush I made the other day at the same time, and realised they have similar flavour patterns going on - different spices and pulses and so forth, but lots in common too.  Both are really really good.   Might need to think of more things to use ras el hanout for now I have a jar of it.