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flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp cinnamon 273 c butter, soft 3/4 c sugar 3 large eggs 3/4 c ground nuts and pitted Crumble topping: 1/4 c oats 1/8 c chilled butter in pieces 1/8 c light brown sugar 1/2 c nuts Add a little of the flour mixture, stir, and add in the rest and the ground nuts. 2) Spoon (yes, not Sprinkle nuts over the top. 4) bake at 177°C for 45-50 minutes until golden and knife comes out clean

using some of the sugar that would go in the batter to candy the ginger, and I would use a few more nuts a little richer than I needed, but tasty and moreish... and healthy because of the pear, ginger and nuts

This is a dish that was inspired by something similar-ish we had on our trip to Ticino in the autumn. It was creamy and sweet yet savoury. I wanted to recreate that and so made it up as I went along and am very happy with how it came out! I had whey left over from making ricotta (that I used in the White Lasagne) so I used that as the cooking liquid. Whey itself is salted and a little acidic while also still being dairy, so it brought some of all of that to the dish. It was less creamy and rich than making risotto with milk (which was desirable, given the caramel chestnuts), and less acidic than using white wine, and less salty than store bought stock. Instead it brought a lovely balance of all these flavours. If you don't happen to have extra whey on hand, I would use some milk and maybe a dash of lemon juice at the end. Given the season, the chestnuts were frozen, but they worked well nonetheless. Ingredients: 300g Arborio rice 2 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, chopped 2 tbsp olive oil 1 l whey 0,5 - 1 l water 1 tsp sumac 1 tbsp butter 1 c parmesan pepper 250g chestnuts 2 tbsp butter 1/3 c ground almonds 1/3 - 1/2 c sugar 2 tsp molasses 1 c water 1 c milk 1/4 tsp cloves 1/2 tsp ginger 1) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan and sauté onions and garlic for 3-4 minutes, then add rice. Stir until rice begins to go translucent as well. Add whey. Stir almost constantly (this is what allows the rice to release its starches, and keeps it from burning). 2) In a separate saucepan, melt the butter and stir in chestnuts, allowing them to cook through slowly for about 2 minutes, add the almonds, sugar, molasses, spices and water and cook, stirring regularly. Add milk when the caramel has started to form, and taste test for sugar. Remove from heat and cover 3) Once all the liquid is absorbed by the rice, add the water gradually, not adding more than necessary. Add sumac and pepper and stir. Once the rice is cooked and has thickened, add the butter and cheese. Stir. 4) At this point, either add the chestnuts into the risotto and stir it in, mixing thoroughly before dishing, or serve the rice and spoon chestnuts and caramel over the top. Depending on how vigorously you stir, the chestnuts might start to fall apart, but this is ok. The consensus on this from my sister, hubby, Little Bit and myself is that it was a success. I thought that the caramel chestnut concentration could be higher, and that the proportion of those could be increased by half. My sister and hubby didn't think so. Beyond this though, it was well balanced, creamy and very very tasty! I highly recommend this to anyone who can be bothered stirring a risotto and is in the mood for comfort food.

chopped 1/3 c walnuts, finely chopped 3 tbsp chia seeds 1/2 c hazelnuts, finely chopped 1/4 c pine nuts

I tried to grow all sorts of things on my balcony this year - thyme, rosemary, beets, strawberries, peppers, basil... Between late frost, two hail storms and a lot of rain this year on the one hand and a very enthusiastic, helpful toddler on the other, not much survived. The carrots did though. I had to bail them out at times, but I grew them from seed and was excited to watch them grow taller and taller. Eventually, by early November, the carrot tops were each about 2 cm wide, if not bigger, and the greens were easily 40cm tall. I excitedly kept an eye on them and left them in the ground, figuring them I would harvest them in time for Thanksgiving. When I did harvest them on the Thursday of Thanksgiving, two days before our dinner, I was rather bewildered when the first one left the ground. Had I broken it? No. There were root hairs hanging from the bottom of the carrot. That was all there was. Each of the carrots, 2 cm or more at the top, was only 2 to 3 cm long. I cleaned them up and supplemented them with store-bought carrots for Thanksgiving dinner and laughed off the failure. The tops were big and bushy though. I didn't want to just chuck them in the compost, especially given how meagre the carrot harvest had been. Some went into the stuffing instead of celery - which couldn't be had even for ready money - but that still left me with a big bunch. Needing to clear it off the counter before cooking Thanksgiving dinner, the cleaned greens went in the blender with olive oil, lemon juice and water and became Proto-Pesto. For a while, that is all it was, as we ate through leftovers. This proto-pesto proved very handy though, on savoury French toast, in the Leek and Cheese Tart, and the Pumpkin and Stuffing Casserole, and in little leftover pies. The Proto-Pesto then went in the freezer to await the end of the festive season, with all its traditional meals, time away and masses of food. This week I pulled it back out though and turned it into pesto. It is tasty as a dip for tortilla chips, or spread on little puff pastries with tomato paste and parma ham, with or without cheese, and of course, the classic, with pasta. I still have some left, so we'll see what we use it for! Ingredients: 1 very large bunch of carrot greens (6 ish cups when chopped) Juice of 1 lemon 1/2 c water (or enough for the blender to be able to run) 1/2 c olive oil 1/2 c parmesan 1/4 c ground hazelnuts 1 tbsp sumac 1 tsp dried orange peel Salt to taste 1) Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Taste test and adjust as necessary. Add to pastry or pasta, use as a spread, or simply dip. Enjoy. This one has been a while in the making, given that I started it way back at Thanksgiving, but it was worth it. I enjoyed it every way we've tried it so far. Book Pairing: When I first made the Proto-Pesto, I was listening to the Bayou Trilogy by Daniel Woodrell. I enjoyed it, but it is definitely Grit Lit, which I sometimes have to be in the mood for. Finishing this Pesto and making my little Pastry Swirls, I was listening to Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. I didn't really think about it while cooking yesterday (there was rather a lot else going on), but reflecting back now, the difference in tone in these two books is striking. I enjoyed both a great deal, but in very different ways and for very different reasons.

My dad brought by some rhubarb from his garden the other day. They are the biggest and longest rhubarb stalks I have ever seen. As well as standard sweet rhubarb dishes, I wanted to use some to make something savoury, and so decided to try a risotto. It was cool and rainy and so a perfect risotto day, too. While assembling it, the rhubarb component was quite tart, but it balanced out with lots of ginger, carrots and some honey, I wanted the risotto itself to be quite creamy so I cooked it mostly with milk. Grabbing something from the fridge though, I noticed a lonely log of goat's cheese on the shelf and thought that would pair quite well, so it went in too. Ingredients: 1-2 red onions, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 head of garlic, sliced 2 carrots, diced 2 long sticks of rhubarb, diced 3 inches of ginger, diced 2 tsp honey 2-3 tsp sage Salt and pepper to taste 1 tbsp olive oil 1 1/2 - 2 c arborio rice 2-3 c milk 1-2 c water Lots of pepper 1/4 c goat's cheese Toasted walnuts to top 1) In a deep sauté pan, heat the olive oil. Add onions , garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant. Add other ingredients and cook on medium heat until carrot and rhubarb are tender. 2) In a saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add rice and cook until rice becomes translucent but do NOT brown. Add 1 c water and cook, stirring almost constantly, until mostly absorbed. Add about half the milk and cook, stirring still, until almost absorbed. Add the rest of the milk and cook further (20-25 minutes in total, roughly). If when this has been absorbed the rice is still a little under done, add the last of the water. Add pepper and goat's cheese and stir until melted. 3) Serve rice topped with rhubarb mix and toasted walnut halves. This was super tasty! The veg was a little softer than I would have liked because poor planning meant I didn't have all the ingredients at the start and so ended up cooking it for a little longer than intended. Other than that though, I would not change anything. We did discover though that Little Bit doesn't eat goat's cheese. Oh well. He had the veg and some frozen blueberries instead.

gnocchi, and adding them, whether in the flour or separately could be a tasty way to add some more nutrients

Risotto is one of my go-to recipes. Sometimes there is a specific kind that I plan ahead, sometimes it is a question of using up what's in the fridge. This one was a bit of both. I've used chestnuts in risotto before (check out my Caramel Chestnut Risotto), but I wanted to do something a little different and a little more savoury. We had a local pork sausage in the fridge, so I decided to see how well the two flavours would marry. Chestnuts always hold special emotional associations for me, reminding me of Christmas magic and family time, so anything with chestnuts to me, is the ultimate comfort food! All the more so when it is a stick-to-your-ribs risotto for a cold evening. And now that chestnuts are available frozen, my desire for such food doesn't have to be limited to November and December (although admittedly November is a cold, grey month needing all the cheer it can get!) Warning: the amount of rice is a bit of a guesstimate on this one. Add liquid slowly, so that there is not too much. If need be, add a little extra liquid. Recipe Cook time: approx 50 minutes -- Servings: 6-8 ( depending on size) -- Cooking level: Easy Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 head garlic, minced 3 1/2 - 4 c arborio rice 4 c beef stock 2 c pork sausage, chopped 8 carrots, chopped 1 tbsp sage 1 tsp tarragon 2 tsp thyme 1 1/2 c red cooking wine 2 c water (if needed) 1 c milk 1 1/2 - 2 c roasted chestnuts, halved or quartered 1/2 c soft cheese, in pieces ( I used a tomme vaudoise, similar to a Brie, but local) Optionally, accompany with: sumac, apple sauce, cranberry sauce, walnuts 1) In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil. Stir in the garlic and fry for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the rice and stir for another minute or two, until the grains turn translucent. Be careful not to burn them! Add the stock and bring to a simmer, stirring. 2) Meanwhile, in a saucepan, fry the sausage and the carrots (if your sausage is not rendering, then add a little olive oil here). Add the herbs. Cook until the carrots are fork-tender, then set aside. 3) Once the rice has absorbed the stock, still stirring, add the wine and continue to simmer. Once that is absorbed, stir in the veg and sausage, the chestnuts and the milk, allowing the flavours to marry as the last of the liquid is absorbed. When almost all the liquid is gone, stir in the cheese. 4) Serve hot, and accompany with toasted walnuts, cranberry sauce, apple sauce or simply a sprinkling of sumac. (we tried all four, individually or in combinations and greatly enjoyed them). We really enjoyed this. I like risottos (risotti?) anyway, but wasn't entirely sure how the different flavours would marry. I was working on a hunch and on the principle of the sniff and taste test as you go method. It worked! Everyone really enjoyed it. The leftovers, we fried up as simple arancini balls in the air fryer, some with a little cranberry or cheese centre, some with some breading on the outside. While those were nice, though, they weren't necessary. Just the simple leftover risotto fried up in balls was tasty. On a smaller scale, the arancini would work as nibbles for party food. Just a thought... I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

If using, fold in cacao at this point. 2) Mix in the nuts, cinnamon and kirsch to form a stiff dough. control batch to the experimental hazelnut cookies from earlier in the week, was that both types of nut Just swap out the nuts in a 1:1 ratio. were now cinnamon cookies, with almond and a little chocolate, rather than chocolate cookies with some nuts

those are unfindable here so we use digestive biscuits or some other plain biscuit type) 1 c chopped nuts left-over melted chocolate for hot chocolate is a little odd when you come across pieces of coconut or nuts