Search Results

These are an adapted version of a muffin recipe I got from my mother-in-law. They are packed full of vitamins, fibre and protein and are super tasty. The only down-side is that they are a little dense, but they are very worth it despite that! I switched out the sugar from maple syrup to honey and grape molasses, and changed the spicing and nuts around a little. Some of those decisions are taste based and some are pantry based. The grape molasses was because I recently picked some up and wanted to try it out. Ingredients: 1 c ground hazelnuts 1 c ground almonds 1 c oats 1/2 c raisins, chopped 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cloves 1 tsp baking soda 3 eggs 1 c zucchini, grated 1 c carrot, grated 1/3 c butter (scant), melted 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 c honey 1/4 c grape molasses 1) Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. beat in the eggs then add the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. 2) Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake at 175°C for 25-35 minutes until golden brown and a knife comes out clean. I like these either plain, or with just a little butter. They are tasty, with a rich flavour and make a great breakfast on the go. I might play around with spicing and flavours a little more though just to sharpen them up a little.

Like cream of spinach soup, but made with leftover whey I had on hand from my cheese making experiments. Carrying on our habit of having soup for lunch, I pulled this together in about 10 minutes and it was tasty! It had a little less richness to it than cream of spinach soup, as is to be expected, but it didn't suffer at all for it. Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 2 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, chopped 2 potatoes, chopped 1,5 l whey (about 6c) 400-500 g spinach 1 tsp sumac Pepper 1) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed soup pan. Sauté onions and garlic until soft and translucent. Add the potatoes and cook for a few minutes. 2) Add the whey and bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender, then add the spinach. Cook only long enough to blanch the spinach, then remove from the heat and blitz until smooth. 3) Season, add sumac, and serve. Best with crunchy bread and a good cheese. I was very pleased with this, both the ease with which it came together for a busy weekday lunch, and with the flavours. I added perhaps a little too much whey, but the pot looked so full of spinach! I would use a cup or 2 less next time, as it was a bit too watery, but otherwise, I was delighted with it!

My second attempt at making my own ricotta went well, but I scalded it a little (Little Bit waking up at a crucial moment was not part of the plan!) The scalding actually gave the ricotta an interesting caramelised flavour though. The plan had been to make ricotta gnocchi with it, so I went ahead with that but decided to use the caramelised flavour and have a slightly sweeter, more robust sauce to stand up to the ricotta. I made a pumpkin sauce with a little red wine and balsamic, caramelising the onions first. Using my own home made ricotta for this also had the advantage of allowing me to drain it in its little basket for a couple of days so that it was nice and firm to start making the gnocchi. I must say, it came out nicely! Ingredients: For the gnocchi: 1 c ricotta 1 egg 1 c grated aged cheese (eg parmesan) 1 - 1 1/4 c flour 1/2 c cornmeal, and extra for sprinkling Pepper For the sauce: 3 onions, sliced fine 1/2 head of garlic, crushed 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp sage, crushed 1/2 sweet potato, grated 2 c roasted pumpkin (I pulled mine from the freezer stash of pumpkin I put aside when it was in season) 1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 3/4 - 1 c red cooking wine 2 c water salt to taste 1) Place flour and cornmeal in a bowl and form a well. Crack eggs into well and add ricotta. Mix to form a dough, adding a little extra flour if it is too wet. Mix in the cheese and pepper. 2) Cut the dough into quarters and then roll these into long snakes. Cut the snakes obliquely every 1 cm or so to form the little pillowy gnocchi, then toss these in a little cornmeal to coat them (this absorbs excess moisture from the outside and gives them a little bite). Leave to rest while you make the sauce. 3) Heat oil in a pan. Sauté onions, sage and garlic over medium-low heat to sweat them. Add the sweet potato and pepper and cook for a few more minutes. Add the balsamic and wine and bring to a simmer. Add the pumpkin and break it up. At this point, the sauce should be quite thick, but coming together nicely in terms of the flavours. 4) Add the water and salt to taste and bring to a simmer. Add the gnocchi and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the gnocchi are tender but firm, not mushy. Serve, with a little more grated cheese over the top, optionally. I loved this dish! I wasn't sure until I started exactly what I was going to do with it, and then had my doubts mid-way in, but it was tasty, with nicely layered flavours without being heavy. It had some creaminess, and some tang, and some sweetness, and some umami. Overall a well balanced dish, in my opinion.

I've been making brownies for as long as I can remember. My mom used to bake them with my sisters and me when we were little, using them to teach us fractions and to occupy us in one place, with one mess - and once they were baked, to teach us self-control. and moderation. I used to think that brownies were an all-afternoon affair. And then I discovered that in actual fact they take all of 5 minutes to mix and then a half hour to bake. Given this, I am not sure why brownie mixes exist, but then I make everything from scratch. In high school, I went through a phase of making brownies multiple times a week with a friend. The recipe I grew up with is excellent, but it was then, and afterwards in University, that I began playing with it, adding fruit here, or a spice there, or tweaking the ingredients slightly. With a teething baby, I needed something easy to make and chocolatey the other night, so I decided to make brownies. It being blood orange season, one thing led to another and... Ingredients: 4 eggs 2 c sugar 1 c oil 1/2 c cocoa 1 3/4 c flour 1/4 c blood orange juice (the juice of 1 blood orange, really) Orange peel of the orange you juiced, the pith removed and sliced into thin strips. 1 tsp (generous) of vanilla 1/4 - 1/2 c milk 1 blood orange, thinly sliced 1) Beat the eggs and sugar together. Add oil, and combine. Add the cocoa and flour and stir. Add orange peel. 2) Mix in vanilla and juice. When WELL combined (you don't want to curdle the milk) stir in the milk. Start with a small amount and add more until you get the desired consistency. 3) Pour into a brownie pan, or a cast iron skillet will do very well, which is what I used. Arrange orange slices over the top and bake for 25-35 minutes at 175°C (or until done but still gooey in the centre). These are the best brownies I have ever made. The flavours, intensity, texture and consistency were all perfect, both when they were fresh out of the oven and the next day. I baked them in my heirloom skillet, which belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother. I have been promised that I will be haunted by them both if I mistreat the skillet. Well, I think in this case they would have enjoyed it, so the haunting is not set to begin yet! Book Pairing: This recipe I associate with listening to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. It is about Savannah, its society and characters (of which there are some fantastic ones!) and an Occurrence during the author's time there. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this (and can't wait to see the movie now), and while making the brownies, I was listening to the very end of the book. Coming to the end of a good book is always bittersweet, and this was. It is satisfying getting to the end, but then where does that leave you? You've left the people and places behind and emerged out the other end. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

As I may have mentioned a couple of times, we love light lunches, with a more substantial meal in the evening. Lunch therefore often tends to be soup or a savoury tart. Savoury tarts are great for this because of how quick and easy they are to assemble, light and satisfying without losing out on flavour. You can either make your own crust or use a store bought one. Either way tarts are worth a try! Many of these work either hot or cold, leaving you with wiggle room, especially on a weekday. They do look fancy enough for company or a pot luck though. Here are some of our favourites! Have a browse and click the links to see the recipes! Aubergine and Courgette Tart With Mediterranean hints to the flavouring, this one is particularly light but flavourful. Check out the recipe here. Onion Tart This is an old favourite. It works with bacon or as a vegetarian dish, with tomatoes or other extras over the top, or plain onion. In any case it is fragrant and flavourful and I absolutely love it! Check out the recipe here. Pumpkin Tart This was a new recipe I tried this year and loved it! Sweet yet savoury, Bright and colourful to cheer a grey day, and so very tasty! Check out the recipe here. Cheese and Apple Tart This is a twist on an old favourite. For years cheese tart has had bits of bacon, onions or tomatoes, sometimes a little spinach, but the addition of the apple is truly special. It adds a sweet note in counterpoint to the salty cheese, and a textural bonus lacking in the original. Best had hot, check out the recipe here. Tomato Tart Colourful and bright, the tomatoes are complemented by rounds of mozzarella and basilic in this tart, this tart bears trying! Check out the recipe here. Chanterelle Tart This one is seasonal, but definitely bears sharing, just so it is on hand when the time comes. Juicy chanterelles bring a depth of flavour to this tart and a beautiful golden hue. Check out the recipe here. Rosehip and Pumpkin Tart And lastly, a bit on the sweet side for lunch, but who knows? This is a sweet tart (as long as you use a sweet pumpkin!) but colourful, beautiful and delicious! Check out the recipe here.

I saw a picture of DoctorBowl's Sweet Potato Bhajis on Instagram and thought they looked tasty, so I ran with it and came up with these (matching pantry and tastes at our house). I didn't make them too hot so that Little One could have some, so I spiced them with warming instead of hot spices, and a few different vegetables. I served them up in wraps with some hot sauce, yogurt or home-made mayo, roasted fennel and tomatoes. Ingredients: 3 sweet potatoes 1 carrot 1/2 celeriac root 2-3 tbsp olive oil 1/2 zucchini, chopped 3/4 - 1 c flour 1 tsp fenugreek powder 1/2 tsp orange curry powder 1/4 tsp cloves 1 tsp cumin 1 c bread crumbs Salt and pepper to taste 1) Roast the sweet potatoes, carrots and celeriac in 1-2 tbsp olive oil at 200°C for 20-30 minutes until tender. 2) Mash up with the chopped zucchini (you may need a hand blender for this) and mix in all ingredients except the bread crumbs and remaining olive oil. Check for spice and seasoning. You could add fresh coriander or some chilis or paprika here. 3) Form into patties, roll in bread crumbs and fry over medium heat until browned and warmed through. Serve up with a salad, as a side or in wraps. I loved these! I will definitely try variations of this again. I enjoyed them on their own and in wraps, with or without roasted turkey. A little coconut and banana hot sauce and fresh, home made sage mayo added a beautiful touch!

I know Christmas is past, but we happened to have a turkey in the freezer, so we decided to roast it. There being just the three of us (and given that Little One doesn't eat tremendously much, really only two) we had quite a lot of leftover turkey to try to use. Turkey soup and sandwiches are great, but at a certain point you need some other way of using it or it will go bad - or you'll get sick of turkey. So this is one of the things I made using our left-over roasted turkey. (By the by, this was the juiciest bird I've ever had. I received Salt Fat Acid Heat for Christmas and read through the food science part. I was very interested in the effects of salt on the breakdown of the muscle fibres for meat tenderising and so tried this trick on our turkey. It appears to have worked wonderfully! I have never had such succulent white meat a week later for sandwiches!) Ingredients: 200g spaghetti 2 onions, chopped 1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp lime juice 1 1/2 c roast turkey, shredded 1 c cream 1 tsp sage 1/2 tsp dried orange peel 1/2 tsp sumac Splash of white cooking wine Salt and pepper to taste 1) Cook the spaghetti as per packet instructions. 2) In the mean time, melt the butter in a frying pan. Sauté the onions until translucent, adding the dash of lime juice as it nears the end of its cooking. Add the turkey, sage, cream and orange peel. Cook on medium low heat, stirring almost constantly. Add the splash of white wine, and stir some more. Add the sumac. 3) When the pasta is almost cooked, transfer it to the pan with the sauce and mix well. Allow the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce, adding 1c of the pasta water if necessary. Check seasoning. Serve. I am very happy with this dish. I don't think there is anything I would tweak. If in doubt about the amount of sauce you have, add the pasta slowly, or add a little more cream. Add as much turkey as seems right to you. Rich and creamily satisfying without being a heavy meal. It could work well with chicken too. I definitely recommend this!

Today I made mascarpone using my kit. It came out well, but not perfectly, and I have a few ideas as to why that might have been. For one thing, in a hurry at the store this morning I picked up UHT cream instead of pasteurised. That it worked at all given that it was the wrong type of cream is amazing, but I'd like to see how it turns out at some point with the right cream. Another possible reason is that a minute of inattention at the end of heating the cream led to it being 10°C too hot, 95° instead of 85°. I don't know how temperature sensitive cheese making generally, and mascarpone in particular, are. The temperature rose quite quickly too, and I don't know whether this is desirable or whether it should have been a slower temperature increase. The final thing is that initially I only lined my colander with a single thickness of cheese cloth and the 'whey' coming out was almost as thick as cream. I then tried to double over my cheese cloth while it was full of curdled cream which made a bit of a mess (although surprisingly not as much as I might have expected). It is now draining over a clean bowl and clean, doubled, cheese cloth and it is draining much better with the whey looking more as it should. Over all, it worked ok, and I used it in a variation of Yotam Ottolenghi's butternut and mascarpone tart, which was very tasty, so for my purposes the mascarpone worked well. Remains to be seen what happens when I don't mess it up... EDIT: Having left the mascarpone to drain further for a few more hours, it came out thick and creamy and beautiful. I do wonder what it would have been like had I not messed up a couple of steps, but it is a point in favour of the recipe that it shows such resilience. The whey too now looks more as it should. Hurray! EDIT 2: This recipe made A LOT of mascarpone. 1 l of cream produced 700g (roughly) of mascarpone, so I had to find a series of creative ways of using it: in the tart (above), in hot chocolate, on muffins, in crêpes with a balsamic and honey drizzle... I might make only a half batch next time.

I learned to make scones from a friend in my first year of university, and while living in Scotland, it quickly became a go-to. It takes me all of about 5 minutes to prep the dough and they bake in no time. Baking them at sea level and using self-raising flour, I would roll them out to 1.5 cm thick or so and end up with scones 5 cm high, light and warm inside, melting the clotted cream and honey. Moving back to Switzerland though, living at over 1000m above sea level and without self-raising flour, I had to add a lot of baking powder to make them rise at all, and then they tasted somewhat chemically. I tried tweaking the recipe a few times to fix the issue and then just stopped making them. Reading up on the different properties of baking soda and baking powder recently though for a refresher (good things to know when you experiment with recipes), it occurred to me that if I used something mildly acidic instead of milk, it might activate baking soda. If I could use soda instead of powder, it might fix my chemical taste problem and still allow the scones to rise. I decided to give this a try next time I had whey or buttermilk on hand, and sat on the idea. After making my ricotta for the White Lasagne though, I had about 1.5l of whey on hand - enough for scones and then some (used in the Caramel Chestnut Risotto). So I gave it a try! the broccoli and cheese are a bit of a new addition too. Ingredients: 2 - 2 1/4 c flour (I used a 5 grain brown flour, but use whatever you want!) 1/2 c butter, cold, diced 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 - 3/4 c whey 1 c broccoli in small florets 1 c finely grated cheese ( I used L'Etivaz, a Gruyère type cheese) (optional: corn meal for sprinkling) 1) Lightly steam the broccoli florets and drain well. 2) Place about 1 3/4 - 2 c flour in a large mixing bowl and add the butter. Using finger tips, mix the flour into the butter until it forms crumbs. 2) Add the baking soda and 1/2 c whey, and mix well with a fork until it forms an dough. Add a little more whey or flour as necessary. 3) Mix in the cheese and broccoli, then roll out the dough on a clean floured surface to about 1.5 - 2 cm thick. Cut out rounds (size of your choice) and place on a baking tray. Optionally you can sprinkle them with corn meal at this stage. 4) Bake at 200°C for 15-20 minutes until puffed up and golden. The verdict was that these were very tasty. They didn't puff as much as I would have liked and as I used to get in Scotland (we are still at 800m above sea level though, despite having moved out of the mountains). I don't know if the whey wasn't acidic enough or if I didn't use enough baking soda. Either way though, despite being a little lower than I would have hoped, they were not at all dense and very tasty. Also, huge bonus, they didn't taste in the least chemically. I will play with the rising agents a little further (and keep you posted!) but will certainly be making these again. PS. They also made excellent lentil slider buns!

I received a cheese making kit for Christmas, something I had been looking into for a while. This, alongside a cheese-making book lent me by my dad, have prodded me to actually do something I've though of for a while and start making my own cheese. The kit is for very simple fresh cheeses (a good place to start for a beginner), so I started with ricotta, making my own twice within a week. The first one came off perfectly. The flavour was creamier and richer than store bought ricotta, and it was easy and cheaper. In order to show-case it, I came up with a recipe for my own White Lasagne. The second time, it worked a little less well. Little One woke up while I was heating the milk, and while it was at a low enough heat not to boil over, the milk scalded a little. When the ricotta thickened, it had a caramelised flavour. It was still tasty and rich, but different. In order to work with that change in flavour, I played off the caramelisation specifically and made Ricotta Gnocchi with a rich Pumpkin Sauce. I will play around with this further and see if it is the pot or the temperature, or how much I stir which affects things most, and keep you posted. Over all though, I am delighted with these first two attempts!