Fig and Walnut Hot Cross Buns
Tuesday, March 28, 2023These popular Easter bakes are made sweet, juicy with dried figs and coconut milk, aromatic with cinnamon and nutmeg, crunchy with walnuts, and sticky with maple syrup. Top these beauties with lashings of butter for a satisfying treat that is perfect with a cuppa. Or you can follow the original recipe and serve them with cinnamon butter.
Scallop, Frisée, and Kumquat Salad with Mango Dressing
Sunday, March 26, 2023A delightful option for a light and wholesome meal, these ghee seared scallops are served with a frisée, red onion, and kumquat salad drizzled with a aromatic fruity mango dressing. Scallops are the filet mignon of the sea and you don't want to overcook them. Sear them in a cast iron skillet for 2 minutes, flip and cook one more minute. Make sure to thoroughly dry your scallops before seasoning and searing. They should be springy, not mushy (undercooked) or firm (overcooked) if properly cooked.
Purple Sweet Potato Bites with Creamy Horseradish Sauce and Caviar
Friday, March 24, 2023Striking colours and bold flavours packed into these small, delicious bites – the perfect starter for your holiday dinner party.
Purple sweet potatoes are fun to cook with and can be used in many of the same ways as the regular sweet potatoes. They add a fantastic pop of colour to food and are high in Vitamin C, potassium, fiber, flavanoids and anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants and have been linked to reducing dementia and maintaining brain health. The violet hue comes from anthocyanins, the same pigment that gives red wine, berries, purple carrots & cabbage, and other vegetables their colour.
Purple sweet potatoes have a rich, creamy texture. They are denser and more floury than regular sweet potatoes, which is why you need to cook them longer than you would a regular sweet potato (from 1 1/2 to 2 hours at 180C/350F). They are so easy to prepare, but not so easy to find and will cost a little more.
Purple Sweet Potato Soup
Wednesday, March 22, 2023This purple sweet potato soup has the fun and beautiful hue. It’s naturally gluten free, and if you want to go nut free and dairy free, just leave out the topping. Easy and quick to make, full of flavor and perfect for busy weekdays. Like regular sweet potatoes, they have a low glycemic index, making them a good option for a diabetic diet.
Tea Eggs
Monday, March 20, 2023Tea egg is a popular Chinese snack with marble patterns, in which the boiled eggs are cracked all around and then boiled again in a spiced tea made with soya sauce and spices (I used star anise, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, chilli pepper, and orange rind). These eggs are so flavourful and usually have a greenish gray ring because they cook much longer. It's harmless and perfectly edible. If you prefer soft runny yolks, skip the 2nd boiling, just steep the cracked eggs in the spiced tea for 24 hours. The leftover spiced tea can be reused. Freeze it if you don’t plan to make another batch soon.
Feel free to choose any tea you prefer or have on hand. Use dark soya sauce if you could, as it helps to create the marble effect. The longer the eggs stay in the spiced tea, the more intense the marble effect. Enjoy them as a snack or breakfast!
Prosciutto Fennel Salad with Hazelnuts and Kiwiberries
Saturday, March 18, 2023Simple, slightly tangy salads work so well with prosciutto. This fresh shaved fennel, prosciutto crudo, hazelnuts, and Parmesan salad recipe is great served for a light yet satisfying lunch or light side dish. Substitute the shaved fennel with celery, arugula or Brussel sprouts if you don't like anise or licorice flavour in fennel.
Blanched hazelnuts are shelled hazelnuts that are blanched in boiling water to remove the skin. Use other nuts (walnuts or almonds) if you like.
Kiwiberries (aka cocktail kiwi and grape kiwi) are like mini kiwifruit with smooth green skin. This grape-sized fruit, native to China and Korea, similar to kiwifruit in taste and appearance and are rich in vitamins C and E and naturally low in fat, cholesterol and sodium. They’re also an excellent source of fiber, magnesium and potassium.
Aspic Jelly Eggs with Ham, Sweetcorn and Sweet Pepper
Thursday, March 16, 2023Aspic is a clear, savory jelly, traditionally made with a clarified meat / fish broth, sometimes with added gelatine, flavoured with spices, herbs, peppercorns and vegetables. It is rich in amino acids and minerals. This colourful, fun and make-ahead aspic jelly appetizer looks great on a festive holiday table at Easter, Christmas or any brunch buffet. These aspic jelly eggs are made of homemade beef broth, ham, bell peppers and sweetcorn and not only look appetizing, they also taste super delicious.
Egg Salad Stuffed Snow Peas
Wednesday, March 15, 2023Crunchy, light and delicious, these stuffed snow peas so easy to prepare and are great as an appetizer or anytime snack. If you are making them for a crowd, blanch and split the snow peas ahead of time, chill until ready to fill. The egg salad can be prepared ahead too. Besides egg salad, you can also use herb-flavoured cheese, chicken, tuna or crab meat to fill the pea pods.
Greek Yoghurt Rye Bread
Monday, March 13, 2023A quick and delicious no yeast bread made with full fat Greek yoghurt, organic wholegrain rye and bread flour. Adding yoghurt to the bread dough is the easy hack for a fluffy and soft crumb. The crust will stay crunchy for a couple of hours and will become softer after it cools down. The bread is scrumptious slathered in butter and / or homemade marmalade. You can substitute for plain yoghurt, which is slightly runnier, thus add an extra 30 grams of flour if using.
Mesclun, Snow Peas, and Quail Egg Salad with Parmesan Dressing
Saturday, March 11, 2023This vibrant Mediterranean salad showcases a colorful mixture of arugula, baby beet leaves, spinach and snow peas. Mesclun's fresh, complex flavour and tender, crispy texture work beautifully alongside sweet tender snow peas and creamy quail eggs, all finished with a rich, nutty dressing made from Parmesan, red wine vinegar, olive oil, honey, salt and voatsiperifery black pepper. Boil the quail eggs to your own liking, two minutes (soft-boiled), three minutes (medium-boiled) or four minutes (hard-boiled).
Mesclun, the French word for “mixture”, is a mix of tender, young salad green leaves. The mix often includes leaf lettuce, arugula, endive, frisée, mizuma, oak leaf, mâche or lamb’s lettuce, radicchio, sorrel, chervil, groundsel, and dandelion. Mesclun can be made from a blend of different types of wild and cultivated plants with varying tastes, colours, and textures.
Voatsiperifery pepper is a wild pepper grown in southern Madagascar. Voatsiperifery pepper is one of an exceptional variety of peppers that are much smaller than the standard black pepper, and easily recognizable thanks to its comet-like stem. Rustic and above all very fragrant with an intensely herbal, floral and citrusy aroma and flavour. It comes in three colours, corresponding to the different stages of ripening: black, white and red. Voa, the Malagasy word for fruit, and tsiperifery, the local name of the plant.
Tandoori Cod
Thursday, March 09, 2023Tandoori Cod is a delicious fish recipe that involves marinating the fish fillet in a bright and smoky tandoori masala marinade and then pan frying it to perfection. Use any kind of white fish you like or even a whole fish, like pomfret, sea bream or trout if you don't mind that your meal staring back at you and the bones of course. Serve the dish with rice or Indian flatbreads for a great weeknight dinner. Kashmiri chilli powder and tandoori masala both can be found in Indian food shops. Smoky paprika and garam masala are great substitutes though.
Blackberry Rye Loaf Cake
Tuesday, March 07, 2023This simple and easy loaf cake does very well with any kind of berry, fresh or frozen. Don't thaw them if using frozen. You can also turn it into muffins. Just increase the baking temperature to 190C/375F and bake for 18-22 minutes. It can be enjoyed as breakfast or served with extra crème fraîche as a dessert, or sliced up and served with a cup of tea for an afternoon pick-me-up.