Egg White Chocolate Bundt Cake
Sunday, January 09, 2022This chocolate bundt cake is quick, foolproof and simply delicious. Besides that, it uses up all the egg whites left from preparing the raw food for my carnivorous cats. The cake has a moist and fluffy crumb and not overly sweet. I served it with a dust of icing sugar and fruit. You can pour a chocolate glaze over or serve with some whipped cream at side or atop a good vanilla ice cream if desired.
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- Butter a 24 cm bundtcake pan thoroughly and flour it well (besides flour, you can also use cacao powder or almond meal). Tip off the excess. Set aside.
- Place chopped butter and dark chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir occasionally as they soften. As soon as the chocolate begins to melt, remove the bowl. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F.
- Place egg white in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a balloon whisk. Beat until fluffy, then slowly add in sugar and continue beating until glossy and stiff.
- Sift the spelt flour and cornstarch together. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the egg whites and fold to combine. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture in two additions. Now add in chocolate-butter mixture and fold until well combined.
- Spread the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface. Bake in the middle of hot oven for 20-22 minutes until a wooden skewer or chopstick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Remove and leave the cake in the pan for 5 minutes, then carefully revert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit if desired.
Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Peanut Crunch
Wednesday, January 05, 2022This silky smooth, super versatile vegetarian soup is perfect for the fall and winter months. It's naturally gluten-free and quick and easy to make. The crunchy garam masala peanut topping makes it over-the-top delicious! It can also be frozen for future lunches and dinners. If you need it dairy-free, just use thick coconut cream (without the coconut water) and a teaspoon of lemon juice instead of crème fraîche.
Peanut Crunch | Soup |
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- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. To prepare the peanut crunch, mix honey, oil, garam masala, tomato paste and peanuts together. Spread on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Season. Bake in the mddle of hot oven for 12 minutes. Remove and sprinkle the chopped rosemary over. Set aside to cool.
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrots and cook until softened. Stir in the ginger, garlic and chilli flakes and fry for 2–3 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Stir in the cubed sweet potatoes and stock. Turn up the heat and bring the pan to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes, or until the sweet potato is tender.
- Use a stick blender to process until smooth. Alternatively, tip it into a food processor and blend. Stir in crème fraîche. Taste and season.
- Serve in bowls topped with peanut crisp and a good grinding of black pepper.
Smoked Trout Salad with Escarole and Persimmons
Sunday, January 02, 2022This everyday lettuce salad is given a gourmet make-over with the addition of smoked rainbow trout, cherry radishes and persimmons. I’ve paired it with a creamy, tangy mustard vinaigrette that really brings out the best flavour of the smoked fish which will also be great with curly endivie or with butter lettuce or peppery arugula. If you like, add some jammy boiled eggs or boiled potatoes to the salad if want it a little heartier and more substantial.
Mustard Vinaigrette | Salad |
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- In a small bowl, whisk Dijon mustard, vinegar and lemon juice together. Slowly add in olive oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly until all the oil is added and dressing is creamy and emulsified. Season with the salt and pepper.
- Pile the escarole salad leaves on two plates and divide the persimmon wedges and cherry radishes between them. Flake over the smoked trout. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and garnish with the dill and lemon wedge.
Crispy Greek Chicken with Pumpkin Puree
Thursday, December 30, 2021This is truly one of the great ways to cook chicken – the golden brown colour and crispiness of the chicken skin is just irresistible. I have used Greek gyros spice mix to marinate the chicken, but you can use any of your favourite spice blend. Any root vegetable puree is great with chicken--celeriac, sweet potato or parsnip, just experiement and enjoy!
Pumpkin Puree | |
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- For the pumpkin puree, place the diced butternut in a saucepan and add cold water until it sits just below the top of the pumpkin. Add in half of the sea salt and simmer until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain any remaining water and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat 30 g of butter in a heavy-based saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and the remaining sea salt and saute until the onion is very soft, about 5 minutes. Add in the drained butternut pumpkin and cook for a further 2 minutes. Reserve some for the garnish if desired. Puree the rest in a food processor or blender. Stir in the remaining butter until completely melted. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- For the chicken, remove them from the refrigerator 1-hour before cooking. Season the chicken drumsticks with Gyros spice.
- Heat the olive oil and the butter in a heavy-based skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the chicken drumsticks, skin side down, and cook for 5 minutes, or until the skin is nice and brown. Turn the chicken pieces over. Cover and reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 more minutes.
- To serve, spoon the pumpkin puree onto serving plates, top with crispy chicken, chopped parsley and reserved pumpkin dices.
Arugula White Bean Salad with Grapes and Feta
Monday, December 27, 2021This is basically a clean-out-fridge salad. Just throw whatever you have in the fridge or pantry in the bowl, toss it altogether and enjoy. This recipe is flexible enough that you can make ingredient changes based on what you have on hand. It is a healthy, quick, easy and full of delicious pesto flavour. And honestly, it's one of the favourites, plus that it uses up those bits and pieces from my over crowded fridge and reduce food waste.
Arugula Pesto | Salad |
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- In a food processor, combine the walnuts, garlic, arugula, Parmesan, and salt and pulse to blend. With the machine running, pour in the olive oil through the food tube in a slow, steady stream and process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
- Divide arugula, white beans, and quartered tomatoes onto two serving plates. Top with grapes and Feta. Generously drizzle the pesto over. Gently toss together and enjoy!
Pepita Bundt Cake with Spelt and Buckwheat
Wednesday, December 22, 2021A pepita, which gets its name from the Spanish word for "little seed of squash" is harvested from specific hulless pumpkin variety, known as Styrian pumpkin, which was developed in the province of Styria in Austria. Any other variety of pumpkin produces a hulled seed that’s slightly fibrous and less tender. Both pumpkin seeds and pepitas are packed with a ton of nutrients. Pepitas are a good source of healthy fats and make for a tasty snack.
You can always substitute pepitas for pumpkin seeds, but it’s best to only substitute pumpkin seeds for recipes that call for pepitas as a garnish. So you wouldn’t want to use regular pumpkin seeds to make this cake or pepita pesto recipe, but when it comes to using them as a garnish for the soup Feel free to swap away.
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- Thoroughly grease a standard-size bundt cake pan with lard or butter. Then take a spoonful of flour and lightly dust the greased pan. Shake off any excess flour. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Beat egg yolks and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add in pumpkin seed oil, sparkling water and salt. Continue to whip until combined.
- Whisk the spelt, buckwhweat, baking powder and pepitas together. Add the mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Fold to combine.
- Beat the egg white until the glossy stiff peaks form. Add the egg whites to the batter and fold to combine. Spread the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
- Bake in the middle of the hot oven for about 50-60 minutes until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and turn out on a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Pea and Hazelnut Friands
Saturday, December 18, 2021These friands are easy to make, delicate, delicious and make a perfect afternoon treat with friends. A friand is a small tea cake, similar to the French financier, that are traditionally made with almonds only and browned butter, while friands made with just melted butter and can be flavoured with fruits, and other ingredients. If you don't have oval friand baking pan, by all means use the regular muffin pan.
You can't really see the green colour in those friands as I used ground hazelnuts. Try almond meal from skinless, blanched almonds if you want green colour from the garden peas to stand out. Lemon syrup can be made a week ahead and stored in a jar in the fridge.
Friands | Lemon Honey Syrup |
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- In a small saucepan, combine the honey, lemon juice and water. Cook over medium heat stirring occasionally until boiling. Continue to boil until the mixture is reduced to a third. Cool.
- Cook peas in a small saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute or until they rise to the surface. Drain immediately. Refresh with cold water and drain again. Blend until smooth.
- Beat egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Fold pea puree through egg whites. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease a jumbo 6-hole muffin pan.
- Sift ground hazelnuts, flour, powdered sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Fold three-quarters of the dry ingredients into egg white mixture. Add butter and remaining dry ingredients. Stir until just combined (do not over mix). Spoon mixture into pan holes.
- Bake friands for 25-28 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and a small cracked mound appears on each friand. Leave friands in pans for 5 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto a wire rack to cool.
- Drizzle the friands with prepared honey lemon syrup. Garnish with some shredded mint leaves.