Apple, Ginger and Treacle Tart
Monday, November 05, 2012Treacle tart, a classic English dessert, is sweet, comforting and moreish. It is made using shortcrust pastry, with a decadent filling made of golden syrup, also known as light treacle, breadcrumbs, and lemon juice. The tart is normally served hot or warm with fresh cream or custard. The use of lemon and apple cuts through the sweetness and turns this into an unforgettable treat.
The word treacle refers to all forms of syrups made during sugar refining, from golden syrup through to black molasses. I have used walnuts to replace half of the breadcrumbs and added 2 tablespoons of crystallized ginger for a nutty and spicy filling.
Apple, Ginger and Treacle Tart
adapted from Food, Fork and Good and TasteCrust | Filling |
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- To make the pastry, mix the spelt flour, ground walnut, icing sugar, salt and butter to a crumb-like consistency. Add the egg and, if necessary, a tiny drop of water to bring the dough together. Shape dough into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour.
- Heat the oven to 190C/375F. Roll out the dough thinly on a lightly floured surface and line the base and sides of a 28 cm/11 inch tart tin. Trim the excess, line with baking parchment and dried beans, and bake for 15 minutes until starting to colour. Carefully remove the paper and beans, then bake for a further 10 minutes until pastry is golden. Cool.
- In a food processor, blend together the buckwheat bread, walnuts, chopped crystallized ginger and raw sugar until fine breadcrumbs form. Set aside.
- Place invert sugar syrup, butter, palm sugar, lemon juice, coconut cream, vanilla extract and nutmeg in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until the mixture bubbles and well-blended. Whisk in prepared breadcrumbs until combined. Pour into tart shell.
- Quarter apples, core and cut each into 2-3 wedges. Starting at the edge of the tart, arrange apple wedges in concentric circles. Scatter the chopped almonds over if using.Bake for 35 minutes or until firm to the touch. Cool for 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature dusted with extra icing sugar or whipped cream.
Black Radish Salad with Truffle Vinaigrette
Friday, November 02, 2012With the black rough peel and pungent white flesh, black radish, aka black Spanish, can be grated or sliced, eaten raw or cooked. They are a good source of vitamin C and very low in calories.
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- Rinse and dry the black radishes. Using a grater with small holes, shred one radish. Cut another radish into thin half-mooned slices.
- In a medium sized bowl whisk together the white balsamic and truffle oil until combined. Season lightly with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the grated radishes, grape tomatoes and spring onion rings to the truffle vinaigrette. Toss so that all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
- Arrange the sliced radishes on a serving plate, and mound the grated radish in the center. Crumble rose peppercorns over and serve.
Black Rice Bread with Peanuts
Tuesday, October 30, 2012A nutty, mild sweet loaf made with a mix of wholegrain spelt and bread flours. Thanks to the black venus rice and roasted peanuts, this light-textured everyday bread is exquisitely nutty, nicely moist, distinctly delicious and makes a nice change from a plain sandwich loaf.
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- In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the spelt flour, bread flour, and dried yeast. Make a well in the center, add in milk, olive oil, egg, raw sugar and sea salt. Stir at first on low speed until a rough dough begins to form. Increase the speed and beat until the dough is smooth and elastic. Now adjust the speed to low again, add in cooked black rice and chopped peanuts. Stir until they are well-distributed throughout the dough.
- Turn out the dough and shape into a ball. Return it to the mixing bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel leave it in a warm place for an hour or until it’s doubled in size. Divide the dough into 3 portions and shape each into a round. You can also divide the dough 12-15 portions and make them into dinner buns.
- Place 3 round balls into a parchment paper lined loaf pan. Cover again with the towel and set aside in a warm place for a 50 minutes to rise.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. When the loaf has risen, brush the surface with water and bake for 30 minutes until nicely golden brown.
Marinated Fig and Parmesan Salad
Saturday, October 27, 2012Fresh sweet figs marinated in mild tangy balsamic marinade contrast with powerful pungent shaved Parmesan in this elegant salad adapted from Tom Kime via BBC Good Food.
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- Cut each fig lengthways into four wedges. Make a marinade by whisking the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice with salt and pepper to taste.
- Stand the fig wedges up in the middle of a large shallow serving dish, keeping them close together. Scatter the lemon zest and thyme on top, then drizzle with the marinade. Leave to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- To serve, lightly torn arugula leaves round the figs, scatter with Parmesan shaves, and drizzle with a little olive oil.
I am sending this to October Your Best Recipe.
Black Venus Rice Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Pistachios
Wednesday, October 24, 2012Black Venus Rice is a medium-grain rice with a dark purple colour and a mild, nutty taste that requires slightly longer cooking time than traditional white rice. This black rice, with Chinese roots and modern Italian applications, is also know as "forbidden rice" or "emperor’s rice".
With a mix of luscious textures, rich flavours and bright colours, this salad makes for a delicious and nutritious lunch.
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- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Toss the diced sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss well and place them in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast for 20 minutes until they are fork tender.
- Bring black rice and water to a boil in a sauce pot on high heat. Season lightly with salt. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Add white balsamic, argan oil, and orange juice in a bowl. Whisk to blend. Mix the rice, roasted sweet potatoes, chopped scallions, pistachios, diced mango if using and dressing. Toss gently to combine. Taste to season.
Pumpkin Puree layered with Pepita Pesto
Sunday, October 21, 2012Silky puree of roasted hokkaido pumpkin flavoured with coconut milk and lemon juice layered with pepita pesto with lemon balm and parsley that will leave your picky family members begging for more. Indulge yourself, family and friends with this light and wonderful seasonal appetizer!
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- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Quarter the hokkaido pumpkin. Remove the seeds and place them, cut side down, in a baking tray. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in 1 cup of water and wrap with a large piece of tin foil. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Toast pepitas in a heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden in spots and puffed, about 4 minutes.
- Place lemon balm, parsley, pepitas, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and salt in food processor. Cover and process just until smooth. Gradually add in olive oil with machine running. Process until well blended and smooth.
- Allow the pumpkin to cool 10 minutes. Then, scoop out the cooked pulp and discard the skins. Puree the pumpkin pulp in a blender with coconut cream and lemon juice until smooth. Layer the pumpkin puree with pesto in glasses.
Pumpkin Spelt Doughnuts
Thursday, October 18, 2012I am really LUCKY enough to win a copy of Carla Sandrin’s debut book, Uncorrupted, August giveaway event hosted by Beth on Of Muses and Meringues and October Doughnut Pan Giveaway - a special gift to celebrate Kelly's generous nature held on Susan's
My Mother's Apron Strings. I'm thrilled, honoured and grateful :) Thank you so much, Beth, Susan, for the fantastic giveaways!
I am almost halfway through the book and trying not to rush it -- a truly inspiring and intelligent book.
Uncorrupted tells the story of Clare McTavish, a young woman whose atheist mother has just died. However, the more Clare gets to know about her, the more she realizes there is much more to her mother’s story than Clare ever knew.
A story of family bonds, the power of love, and finding goodness in a world littered with misery and evil, Uncorrupted reminds us to remain open to different perspective, yet stay firm in our conviction in what is right. Most of all, it speaks to tolerance, decency and justice, with hope as the cornerstone of all.
Now for the doughnuts, the recipe is slightly adapted from "Black & White Chocolate Pumpkin Doughnuts", also from Susan. Instead of all purpose flour and sour cream used in original recipe, I have used refined spelt flour and plain yogurt. They are so moist and delicious, that I couldn't resist eating one soon after they were out from the oven. Great even without any icing or glaze!
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- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a doughnut pan with melted coconut oil and set aside. Sift together the spelt flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Cream the butter and raw sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin puree and mix to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add in half of the flour mixture and stir on low until just incorporated. Mix in plain yogurt, then the remaining flour mixture, stir until combined.
- Spoon half of batter into the doughnut pan openings with a 3-tablespoon scoop. Bake 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes then invert pan onto a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- Mix confectioners’ sguar and hot water in a bowl until smooth. In another bowl, add the chopped white couverture chocolate. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and melt the chocolate. Coat the doughnuts with powdered sugar icing or melted white chocolate and sprinkle the chopped pumpkin seeds on top.