Coffee Glazed Chocolate Tomato Loaf Cake
Thursday, September 08, 2022Adding tomatoes to the sweet baked goods is nothing new. Think about zucchini, sweet potato and pumpkin in the baked goods that you have been seeing and enjoying. As you probably know, tomatoes are botanically a fruit and they are sweet and juicy. So using tomatoes in chocoalte cakes or muffins is just as naturally as using bananas and carrots in cakes. Bakers having been using tomatoes for at least the past 50 years to enrich the flavour of baked goods and help the texture stay soft for longer. This chocolate loaf cake is rich with melted chocolate, butter, olive oil, eggs and cocoa powder, using tomato paste and juice to enhance the flavour and texture. If a loaf doesn't feel like a cake to you, feel free to use a muffin pan, or a round cake pan. While the coffee glaze is not absolutely necessary, but the intense and robust flavour of coffee pairs perfectly with dark chocolate.
Tomato Carpaccio with Eggplants
Tuesday, September 06, 2022This simple and seasonally tomato carpaccio with eggplants is refreshing and deliciously healthy. Make use of different shapes, colours and sizes of those peak summer tomatoes from your local farmers market or your own garden. It's quick and shockingly easy to make, and will become a favorite if you enjoy tomatoes and eggplants. Despite taking only 20 minutes to prepare and cook, it looks super impressive when served.
Tomato and Red Pepper Soup
Sunday, September 04, 2022Soup isn't just for winter. For me, every season is soup season. This creamy, vitamins-loaded, simple tomato red pepper soup, adapted from olive magazine, makes a great light lunch with some homemade bread on a warm day or anyday and will use up the glut of tomatoes from your garden or farmer markets too. If you don't have roasted bell pepper, then use the fresh one or roast some yourself.
Sweet Potato Toast with Avocado and Cherry Tomato
Friday, September 02, 2022This savoury sweet potato toast with avocado, cherry tomatoes, olives and fresh herbs tastes equally good for breakfast, as a midday snack and for dinner. They make a surprisingly delicious and satisfying gluten-free substitute for toast. Sweet potato slices are toasted in your toaster or oven until tender, then top them with your favorite toppings and flavours (scrambled eggs and bacon bits, ricotta and honey or tahini and blueberries) to make each meal fun and interesting. Be creative and enjoy your food responsibly!
Coconut Panna Cotta and Blueberry Jelly Terrine
Wednesday, August 31, 2022Wow your guests with this fun and festive dessert, which features a layer of blueberry white wine jelly sitting atop the layer of creamy, rich coconut panna cotta with blueberries and fresh mint leaves. This decadent, dairy-free, grown-up dessert is perfectly delicious and elegant for special occasions, or an after dinner treat to end a summer menu. You can make this in individual glasses and don’t need to unmould and slice for serving.
Mirabelle Cake with Caramelised Almond Topping
Sunday, August 28, 2022A rich, buttery, moist mirabelle (or any fruit) cake, adapted from here and here, topped with a crisp caramel-almond Florentine-like topping, which was inspired by a popular German Bienenstich, is simply too good to miss in life - great for afternoon tea or morning coffee. I used mirabelles, but any other seasonal fruit would be fantastic too.
Spiced Plum Ketchup
Thursday, August 25, 2022A sweet, sour, and aromatic condiment made from foraged mriabelles and cherry plums. You can also use damsons or any other varieties. This is delicious served with cold meats, sausages, pork and cheese and will keep for up to 9 months outside of fridge in a cool, dry, dark place since it's water bath processed. You can skip the process, but the ketchup has to be stored in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.
Blackberry Spelt Muffins with Sourdough Discard
Tuesday, August 23, 2022These blackberry loaded sourdough discard muffins with a combination of white and whole spelt flour are a great way to put excess starter to work. They are excellent for a mid-morning treat or a snack on the go or even as a dessert served with vanilla ice cream. Use fresh or frozen blackberries, or go foraging to find some in the summer months. The use of rye sourdough discard adds a very pleasant tangy flavour and moisture that helps these wholesome muffins stay moist and fresh for longer. I baked these muffins in a jumbo 6-cup muffin pan. If you want to use a standard-sized 12-cup muffin pan, adjust the baking time accordingly.
Baby Octopus Salad with Mango Salsa
Saturday, August 20, 2022Baby octopus salad is an exciting appetizer for kicking start a dinner party or makes a perfect lunch to enjoy your own. The baby octopus are marinated with a mixture of garlic, coconut sugar, 5-spice powder, lime juice and red chilli pepper, then cooked to perfectly tender and served with a fresh mango salsa and greens / herbs. If you're using frozen octopus, it will need to thaw in the refrigerator overnight, so plan ahead. I cooked them in a grill pan, and they turned out great. Chargrill them if you could.
Mirabelle Coconut Pizza with Wild Yeast Water
Thursday, August 18, 2022Pizzas don't always have to be savoury. Try this simple dessert pizza made with mirabelles and coconut cream. The dough is prepared with white spelt flour flavoured with Dutch-processed cocoa powder and naturally leavend with wild yeast water and sourdough discard. It makes a perfect summer treat, late afternoon pick-me-up or even as a late-night dessert.
Sourdough Bread with Blackberry Rosemary Pomace
Monday, August 15, 2022Baked with Blackberry Rosemary Pomace | Baked with leftover pulp from juicing |
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A pomace is the pulpy remains after fruit (or vegetable) has been crushed in order to extract its juice or oil. It contains skins, pulp, seeds and stems of the fruit. It's a cheap source of dietary fibers, antioxidants, pectin and other nutrients. Pomace can be turned into the distilled products, used to make animal feed, recycled as mulch, processed to make grapeseed oil and flour.
In this recipe I am incoperating blackberry and rosemary residues from making fruit curd into the sourdough bread. The add of pomace adds more freshness, fruitiness, depth and colour to the bread. Last but not least nothing is wasted. You can bake the bread into a batard, boule or a regular sandwich loaf. Although pomace is absolutely compostable and perfectly okay inside a composting bin, it's still better if it ends up on the plate.