Coconut Panna Cotta and Blueberry Jelly Terrine
Wednesday, August 31, 2022Wow your guests with this fun and festive dessert, which features a layer of blueberry white wine jelly sitting atop the layer of creamy, rich coconut panna cotta with blueberries and fresh mint leaves. This decadent, dairy-free, grown-up dessert is perfectly delicious and elegant for special occasions, or an after dinner treat to end a summer menu. You can make this in individual glasses and don’t need to unmould and slice for serving.
Mirabelle Cake with Caramelised Almond Topping
Sunday, August 28, 2022A rich, buttery, moist mirabelle (or any fruit) cake, adapted from here and here, topped with a crisp caramel-almond Florentine-like topping, which was inspired by a popular German Bienenstich, is simply too good to miss in life - great for afternoon tea or morning coffee. I used mirabelles, but any other seasonal fruit would be fantastic too.
Spiced Plum Ketchup
Thursday, August 25, 2022A sweet, sour, and aromatic condiment made from foraged mriabelles and cherry plums. You can also use damsons or any other varieties. This is delicious served with cold meats, sausages, pork and cheese and will keep for up to 9 months outside of fridge in a cool, dry, dark place since it's water bath processed. You can skip the process, but the ketchup has to be stored in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.
Blackberry Spelt Muffins with Sourdough Discard
Tuesday, August 23, 2022These blackberry loaded sourdough discard muffins with a combination of white and whole spelt flour are a great way to put excess starter to work. They are excellent for a mid-morning treat or a snack on the go or even as a dessert served with vanilla ice cream. Use fresh or frozen blackberries, or go foraging to find some in the summer months. The use of rye sourdough discard adds a very pleasant tangy flavour and moisture that helps these wholesome muffins stay moist and fresh for longer. I baked these muffins in a jumbo 6-cup muffin pan. If you want to use a standard-sized 12-cup muffin pan, adjust the baking time accordingly.
Baby Octopus Salad with Mango Salsa
Saturday, August 20, 2022Baby octopus salad is an exciting appetizer for kicking start a dinner party or makes a perfect lunch to enjoy your own. The baby octopus are marinated with a mixture of garlic, coconut sugar, 5-spice powder, lime juice and red chilli pepper, then cooked to perfectly tender and served with a fresh mango salsa and greens / herbs. If you're using frozen octopus, it will need to thaw in the refrigerator overnight, so plan ahead. I cooked them in a grill pan, and they turned out great. Chargrill them if you could.
Mirabelle Coconut Pizza with Wild Yeast Water
Thursday, August 18, 2022Pizzas don't always have to be savoury. Try this simple dessert pizza made with mirabelles and coconut cream. The dough is prepared with white spelt flour flavoured with Dutch-processed cocoa powder and naturally leavend with wild yeast water and sourdough discard. It makes a perfect summer treat, late afternoon pick-me-up or even as a late-night dessert.
Sourdough Bread with Blackberry Rosemary Pomace
Monday, August 15, 2022Baked with Blackberry Rosemary Pomace | Baked with leftover pulp from juicing |
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A pomace is the pulpy remains after fruit (or vegetable) has been crushed in order to extract its juice or oil. It contains skins, pulp, seeds and stems of the fruit. It's a cheap source of dietary fibers, antioxidants, pectin and other nutrients. Pomace can be turned into the distilled products, used to make animal feed, recycled as mulch, processed to make grapeseed oil and flour.
In this recipe I am incoperating blackberry and rosemary residues from making fruit curd into the sourdough bread. The add of pomace adds more freshness, fruitiness, depth and colour to the bread. Last but not least nothing is wasted. You can bake the bread into a batard, boule or a regular sandwich loaf. Although pomace is absolutely compostable and perfectly okay inside a composting bin, it's still better if it ends up on the plate.
Pepita Frangipane Tart with Mirabelle and Elderberry
Friday, August 12, 2022A delicious late summer tart made with a melt-in-mouth buttery spelt-pepita crust, filled with a mildly nutty pepita frangipane cream and topped with a mixture of mirabelles and ederberries (or any fruit you have on hand).
Mirabelle is another delectable European heirloom plum. Small round yellow fruit with yellow red dots. They’re the smallest of the more than 2,000 plum varieties found worldwide, weighing only about 10 g each. The ripe mirabelle plums are delicately aromatic, juicy, sweet, low in calories and rich in vitamins. The mirabelle was probably named after plums grown in Southern France where they were cultivated under the name of mirabel, which means look (mira) and, of course beautiful. Mirabelle plums are very good for compote, jam or cakes and tarts.
Elderberry is dark purple fruit from the elderberry shrub. It's a rich source of antioxidants and vitamins. It has long been used in traditional medicine and appears to have some medicinal benefits.
According to Webmd, elderberries could help tame inflammation, lessen stress, and help protect your heart, too. Some experts recommend elderberry to help prevent and ease cold and flu symptoms. Raw and unripe elderberries contain a poison called cyanide. So they should always be cooked before they're consumed.
Classic Biscuit-Topped Cobbler with Mirabelles and Blackberries
Wednesday, August 10, 2022Make the most of foraged Mirabelles and hedgerow blackberries in this wonderful baked fruit dessert. There’s something rather satisfying about foraging food in nature and turning them into something delicious to enjoy. This cobbler recipe works great with all types of fruit and is an excellent dessert that is light on sugar and doesn't compromise on flavour--a healthyish and comforting summertime dessert, especially when served with a drizzle of coconut cream or top with a creamy scoop of vanilla ice cream for an indulgent treat. I baked this in a 30-cm cast iron pan, but a casserole dish or mini cast-iron skillets would work just great.
Sourdough Jam Rolls
Sunday, August 07, 2022These soft, overnight sourdough rolls with no added commercial yeast are the perfect breakfast or afternoon tea treat! Baked with an enriched sweet dough, a homemade wild blackberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar. I used rye sourdough starter with 100% hydration, but spelt or wheat starter would work just fine. Sourdough adds so much flavour and really brings these jam rolls up a level. You can frost them with a cream cheese glaze if desired.
Cucumber Snack Boats with Creamy Carrot
Friday, August 05, 2022These cucumber boats with the creamy, garlicky carrot filling are a tasty snack during the hot summer months. It is also perfect for an evening with friends or as a quick finger food. The combination of juicy cucumbers, creamy cream cheese and crunchy carrots tastes simply delicious. The recipe is super easy and can be thrown together in a jiffy.