Vegetable Ribbon Tart with Pesto and Ricotta
Sunday, September 22, 2019This delicious vegetable tart is filled with a layer of homemade pesto and ricotta and top with a spiral of thinly sliced ribbons of zucchini and carrots. Spelt flour gives the pastry a nutty flavour which works so well with the pesto filling. This vegetable tart is lovely for either lunch or as an appetizer.
Crust | Filling |
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- Tip the flours into a bowl with black salt. Add the butter and rub in using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir through the cheese with a knife. Drizzle over buttermilk, then use the knife to stir it in until clumps of dough start to form. Turn out onto a work surface and bring the dough together with your hands into a smooth ball. Alternatively, you can make the pastry in a food processor. Shape into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to thinly slice carrots and zucchini lengthways into long thin ribbons. Stir together the pesto and ricotta. Season with salt and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Lightly grease the base and sides of an 22cm tart pan with removable base. Roll pastry between 2 sheets baking paper until 3mm thick and large enough to line prepared pan. Press pastry into the pan. Trim edges. Line pastry with baking paper. Fill with pastry weights or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and weights or rice. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until light golden and just crisp.
- Remove the tart shell from the oven and reduce oven to 180C/350F. Spoon the prepared filling into pastry case, pressing down gently with back of spoon to level.
- Starting from the outside, arrange the vegetable ribbons to form concentric circles to fill the shell. Brush all over with the avocado oil, and sprinkle with freshly milled salt and pepper to taste. Return it to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through. Sprinkle some extra pine nuts over if desired. Slice into wedges to serve.
Yin Yang Butter Cookies
Wednesday, September 18, 2019Two different flavours of cookies, orange and chocolate, put together in perfect harmony to create this playful, slice-and-bake yin-yang cookie.
The Yin-Yang is one of the most famous symbols represented in Taoism--a Chinese religion and philosophy.
Butter Cookies | Chocolate Cookies |
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- Cut the butter into smaller pieces and place them in a mixing bowl. Add caster sugar gradually at the side of the bowl while mixing, beating thoroughly after each addition. Switch to medium speed to beat sugar and butter until the mixture fluffy and pale. Scrape the bowl down to make sure everything is thoroughly combined. Beat in egg yolk and orange extract until smooth. Add in the flour and fold to combine. Wrap up the cookie dough and chill for 1 hour.
- Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and place them in another mixing bowl. Add caster sugar gradually at the side of the bowl while mixing, beating thoroughly after each addition. Switch to medium speed to beat sugar and butter until the mixture fluffy and pale. Scrape the bowl down to make sure everything is thoroughly combined. Beat in egg yolk and rum extract until smooth. Add in the cocoa flour mixture and fold to combine. Wrap up the chocolate cookie dough and chill for 1 hour.
- Divide each dough into 4 logs, about 1 inch in diameter, and reserve about 10 grams of each dough to make the dots. Press one side of each log with your thumb to make a comma shape. Cover and chill 1 hour until firm.
- Dust a work surface lightly with flour. Place one orange dough log with round side down on the work surface. Brush the side lightly with water and turn the chocolate dough log on top of the orange dough, creating the yin-yang pattern. Gently roll the log until round. Repeat with the remaining logs. Wrap and chill 1-2 hours until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 175C/350F. Cut the cookie logs into 5mm thick slices. Arrange the cookies on a parchment paper lined baking pan, about an inch apart. Pinch a bit of reserved chocolate dough, and roll it into a small round ball. Gently press it into the orange part of the cookies. Do the same with the reserved orange dough and press them into the chocolate part of the cookies. Bake in the center of preheated oven for about 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the rack.
Rijstevlaai / Dutch Rice Pudding Pie
Saturday, September 14, 2019"Rijstevlaai" (pronounced as raced-a-fly or raced-a-fla, depending on where you are from in Holland) is a delicious, creamy rice pudding pie that uses yeast dough instead of a pastry crust. It's filled with short grain rice cooked in milk, enriched with eggs and sugar. It can be served plain or whipped cream and some chocolate shavings atop. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Dough | Rice Pudding |
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- In a bowl whisk together the milk, yeast and sugar. Combine flour and salt together in another mixing bowl. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour. Beat in egg and butter until the dough is fairly smooth. Cover with a cling film and let rise until doubled. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan. Press down the dough to release the air. Pat dough over bottom and sides of prepared pan. Cover and allow to rise until doubled.
- Bring milk to a boil in a large saucepan. Stir in rice, salt and vanilla bean, which can be used either whole or split to reveal the seeds and scraped into the rice. Bring them to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until most of milk is absorbed and mixture is thick but still creamy, stirring frequently, about 30 minutes. Whip together 2 eggs, 80 grams sugar and pudding powder. Add the mixture into the rice and stir 2 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and cool to lukewarm.
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Pour the rice pudding into the risen dough and sprinkle the almond slices on the top of the pudding if using. Bake in the middle of preheated oven for 1 hour. Cool the cake completely in tin placed on a wire rack.
Black Rice Banana Muffins with Chia Seeds (Gluten free, Dairy free, Refined sugar free)
Wednesday, September 11, 2019These healthy black rice muffins with chia & avocado oil are naturally gluten free, refined sugar free, and dairy-free. They’re so tender, fluffy, and very delicious too. Apart from that, they are sweetened naturally with 5 very ripe bananas. Bake a batch for breakfast, afternoon pick me up treat or anytime you have a dessert craving. Feel free to swap the black rice flour for brown rice or white rice flour.
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- Grease 6-8 jumbo muffin cups with coconut oil or butter. Whisk together black rice flour, chia seeds, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl.
- Mash the ripe bananas in another mixing bowl. Add in eggs, avocado oil, and sherry. Stir to combine. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated. Fold in golden raisins.
- Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Top with almond slices. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Bake the muffins in the middle of hot oven for about 20-22 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the muffins comes out clean.
Fig and Coconut Tart with Pistachios and Mint
Saturday, September 07, 2019A sugar-free, delicious, and fruity dessert recipe from Lorraine Pascale via BBC Food - perfect for when fresh figs are in season. It's so easy to prepare and shows off those beautiful figs really well. Grapes are a good alternative to figs here, but you can make this tart with pretty much any fruit you like.
Crust | Filling |
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- Heap the einkorn flour on the counter and make a well. Put the diced butter, egg, and salt in the middle. With your fingertips, mix and cream the ingredients in the well. Draw the flour into the center and work the dough with your fingertips to a grainy texture. Add the cold water and mix in until the dough begins to hold together. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently until just smooth. Flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
- Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface, then use to line a 20cm x 30cm rectangular fluted loose-bottomed tart pan. (I used a 10cm x 30cm rectangular and a 12cm round) Put in the fridge for about 15 minutes, or until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Remove them from the fridge and cover with baking paper, fill with pastry weights or dried beans, and blind bake for 15 minutes if using two smaller baking pans, 20 minutes if using one large pan. Remove weights or beans and paper. Return to oven for 5 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Scoop coconut cream solids into a mixing bowl. Reserve remaining liquid for another use. Beat coconut cream and stevia using electric mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Put the cream cheese into a separate bowl and fold the whipped coconut cream into the cream cheese. Put the filling in the tart case, then arrange the figs on top and scatter over the pistachio nuts and mint leaves.
Stroopwafel Cream Hazelnut Rolls with Blueberry Glaze
Tuesday, September 03, 2019These tender, sweet rolls filled with a caramel wafel cream and finished with a blueberry glaze are super fluffy, light and absolutely delicious. The combination of colour and flavour is a nice change up from standard sweet rolls and they are equally perfect for breakfast or brunch. Plus they make fantastic use of fresh seasonal berries. A stroopwafel is a caramel sandwiched wafer originally from Holand. Feel free to use other cookie butter if you can't find Stroopwafel Cream.
Dough | Blueberry Glaze |
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- Blend blueberries and raw sugar into juice. Place the juice in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add in egg, melted butter, salt and spelt flour. Crumble the fresh yeast over.
- Stir at slow speed until the dough roughly comes together. Increase the speed and knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl. Cover with a plastic film and set aside for 1 hour to rise.
- Grease and line the base of a 26cm springform pan with baking paper. Punch down the dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth. Use a rolling pin to roll out to a 30cm x 40cm rectangle.
- Spread the stroopwafel cream over and sprinkle with chopped roasted hazelnuts. Starting from 1 long edge, roll up to enclose filling. Cut the roll into 8 portions. Arrange the rolls, cut-side up, in the pan. Cover. Set aside for 45 minutes to rise.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- In the meantime, mix all the ingredients for the icing together and beat until smooth. Drizzle over the top of rolls while still warm and serve immediately.
Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters with Cherry Radishes and Mushrooms
Wednesday, August 28, 2019These budget friendly roasted chicken quarters are easy to make, juicy and delicious. Use your favourite seasonings, though sea salt and freshly-cracked pepper are enough to bring out their natural aromas and flavours. You can store these in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days and reheat them in the oven to recrisp the skin. You can make this with a different cut of meat, but you will want to stick with a bone-in, skin-on cut because skin and bone add so much flavour to the dish.
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- Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Dry the chicken leg quarters with paper towels and rub with 2 tablespoons of avocado oil. Evenly sprinkle black salt, peppers, garlic powder and chopped rosemary on both sides of each quarter and gently pat to make the seasonings stick. Arrange the chicken leg quarters in a baking tray lined with a piece of aluminum foil.
- Toss the mushrooms and cherry radishes with the remaining tablespoon of avocado oil. Season with salt and peppers. Add them to the chicken quarters in the baking tray.
- Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the chicken skin is crispy and golden brown. Different ovens bake differently so the exact time may vary. Remove the chicken from the oven, let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Red Rice Salad with Green Beans, Mushrooms and Sardines
Wednesday, August 21, 2019Chewy, nutty, nutritious, this delicious red rice salad is perfect for outdoor eating on those hot summer days. It is great served with grilled beef, chicken or fish and pack up any leftovers for lunch the next day. It actually tastes much better the next day. The nutty, earthy flavour and crunchy, firm texture of red rice elevate the dish instantly, but you can use any brown rice in its place.
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- Boil the rice in plenty of salted water until just cooked, about 25 minutes. Drain.
- Meanwhile, prepare the roasted vegetables. Toss trimmed green beans and button mushrooms with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with black salt and freshly ground peppers. Roast for 25 minutes or until tender.
- Place apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, the remaining olive oil and the minced garlic in a glass jar with a fitted lid. Season with salt and peppers and shake well.
- Tip the drained red rice into a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the warm rice and mix well. Let it soak in a little, then toss in the roasted vegetables together with roasting juice, sliced celery and chopped chives.
- To serve, place them over some salad greens and top with sardines.