Crispy Fried Onion Seed Bread
Wednesday, July 28, 2021Onion bread not only makes an ideal accompaniment to soups, cheeses and salads, also makes great sandwiches plain or grilled with roast beef, or ham. This crisp onion bread is delightfully easy and simple to make and produce a fantastic golden crust and soft crumb. I used store-bought crisp fried onions in this recipe, but you can definitely make your own or use some leftover onion rings.
Starter | Dough |
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- For the starter, whisk together the rye flour and water in a bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave it on your kitchen counter overnight or up to 18 hours.
- Mix crumbled fresh yeast with coconut sugar in a bowl and set aside for 10 minutes. In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add in starter, flour, water, smoked salt, seeds, crisp onions and yeast mixture. Stir at slow speed until a dough roughly formed, about 5 minutes. Increase the speed and knead until smooth and elastic. Cover with a plastic wrap and set aside at a warm place for 50-60 minutes.
- Dust a round 9-inch banneton basket thoroughly with flour. Alternatively, line a bowl with a non-terry kitchen towel dusted with flour. Turn out the dough and gently shape the dough into a round ball. Pinch seam togethe and transfer the dough to the prepared basket, seam-side up. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise 50-60 minutes.
- Preheat oven with a bowl of water at the bottom rack and baking stone in the middle rack to 220C/425F for an hour. Turn the dough out onto a bread peel dusted with flour. Score the top with a lame or very sharp knife in any pattern you like.
- Slide the bread onto the baking stone and bake for 35 minutes. Open the oven door and spray the bread with water and bake for a further 10 minutes till golden brown and crispy. Cool on a wire rack completely before slicing.
Nectarine Pomegranate Salad with Soft Goat Cheese
Monday, July 26, 2021Make salad less boring and more enjoyable with this vibrant bright summer salad tossed with sweet juicy nectarines, pomegranate seeds and soft goat cheese. Nectarines and peaches are actually the same species, but nectarines tend to have more flavour, aroma and have firmer flesh. You can swap one for the other. Nectarine's skin is safe to eat. In fact the skin has fiber, vitamins, and adds more flavour. So, removing the skin is optional and absolutely a personal choice. And use any mixed leaves you fancy.
Vinaigrette | Salad |
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- In a bowl, whisk ACV, balsamico vinegar, and olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Place nectarines or peaches in a large pot of boiling water for 10-15 seconds or until the skin splits. Remove with a slotted spoon. Immediately place in an ice water bath to cool the peaches and stop the cooking process. Use a paring knife to peel the skin. Halve the peeled nectarines, remove the pit and cut into wedges.
- Wash the lettuce or any leafy greens, then spin-dry. Tear the leaves into bite-size pieces and place them in a salad bowl. Add in sliced red onion, sliced scallions, peach wedges and pomegranate seeds.
- Drizzle the dressing over and gently toss together. Divide the salad into two plates. Top with soft goat cheese. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and a few grinds of black pepper.
Pomegranate Apricot Brownies
Saturday, July 24, 2021With chewy edges, gooey center, and so rich chocolate flavour, these gorgeous foolproof fruity chocolate brownies are guaranteed to disappear in no time. The pomegranate seeds and apricot cut through the sweetness, and a dollop of creme fraiche or a scoop of white chocolate ice cream would make this even more decadent. I baked them for about 38 minute and it came out really gooey and fudgy. If you like your brownies a little less 'wobbly', then bake for 3-5 more minutes.
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- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line a 22cm x 28cm pan with baking paper.
- Place butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
- Place eggs and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk until well combined. Sieve flour and cocoa over the egg mixture and gently fold to combine. Gradually pour in chocolate mixture, stirring to combine.
- Pour the batter into prepared pan and scatter the top with pomegranate seeds and chopped apricots. Bake on the middle shelf for 35-40 minutes or until just cooked through. Set aside to cool completely. Cut into squares to serve.
Chicken and Cucumber Salad with Carrot Top Pesto
Thursday, July 22, 2021This hearty everyday salad is a lean-protein powerhouse thanks to chicken and kidney beans. You can also use black beans, chickpeas or edamame instead. Carrot top pesto can be made 1 day ahead. Carrot tops are high in vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium. Use them as you would parsley, or in place of parsley in recipes. You might not need all the pesto, the rest will keep for a week in an airtight jar in the fridge.
Carrot Top Pesto | Salad |
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- Rinse the carrot top greens thoroughly and dry. Strip the leaves from the stems. Discard stems. Place the carrot tops greens, parsley, chopped garlic, lemon juice, roasted macadamia nuts, grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Pulse several times, scraping sides as needed with a rubber spatula. While the food processor is running, slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula. Pulse until smooth.
- Stir together chicken, kidney beans, cucumber and dill in a large bowl. Add half of the pesto and toss to combine.
- Divide the arugula and chicken salad into 3 plates. Sprinkle some blueberries over. Serve with the remaining pesto.
Red Currant Pull Apart Bread
Tuesday, July 20, 2021Get some fresh seasonal fruit flavours in your pull apart bread! Bursting with the summer flavours of red currants and vanilla butter, this gorgeous pull-apart loaf is a fabulous addition for any picnic hamper or the ideal solution for easy entertaining.
The best part about this recipe, is that you can use any other seasonal fruit if you can't find red currants. Strawberries, raspberries or plums are excellent substitutes. I am just topping this with a simple dust of powdered sugar, but if you want to attempt a more elevated and decadent topping, you could whip up a quick glaze with cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla.
Dough | Filling |
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- Combine milk, yeast and 1 teaspoons of sugar, stir and set aside at room temperature for 10 minutes, untill is gets foamy.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add in eggs (reserve 1 tablespoon for the topping), softened butter, remaining sugar, yeast mixture, flour and salt. Stir at slow speed for 5 minutes until the dough comes together. Increase the speed and knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Turn out the dough and shape into a ball. Lightly grease the mixing bowl with a little bit of oil. Return the dough ball into the bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it proof at room temperature for about an hour or until it almost doubles its size.
- Grease and line a large loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Mix the butter and vanilla sugar in a bowl until well combined. Rinse and pluck the currants off of the stems.
- Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle, roughly 50cmx35cm. Brush the rectangle with vanilla butter. Sprinkle the currants over.
- Cut the dough into 4 strips and each strip into 5 or 6 even pieces. Stack a few of pieces together and place into the prepared baking tin. Repeat with the rest. Depending on the length of your loaf pan you might even have a couple of pieces left. Simply roll them up into individual buns and place in muffin tins. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Brush the top with the reserved egg and bake in the middle of the hot oven for about 30 minutes until nicely golden brown. Remove from the oven let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out and dust with powdered sugar.
Eggless Mayonnaise
Sunday, July 18, 2021Traditionally, mayonnaise is made using eggs, oil, lemon juice and mustard. If you are allergic to eggs or just don't eat egg, you can still enjoy the rich creaminess without the eggs on your burger, sandwich and potato salad with this eggless variant which uses emulsifying agent-milk in the place of egg. Use almond milk or plain soya milk if you want to go dairy-free.
This is a very basic eggless mayonnaise made with milk, lemon juice, Dijon and olive oil. It tastes like real mayonnaise and has the same texture as mayonnaise. It's made in an immersion blender and keeps well in the refrigerator for up to a week.
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- In an immersion blender jar, add milk along with garlic, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard.
- Pulse a few times until frothy. Slowly add in oil while continue pulsing until it's emulsifi ed and thick. Season with salt and pepper. To attain a better consistency, chill for an hour before using.