22.10.15

Roasted Vegetable Salad


Our house recently went through a meat and carb dinner phase due to feeling quite uninspired and lacking in energy when it came to dinner time. We have all been there am I right?

So to break our funk, I decided a good hearty vegetable based meal was in order.
Roasted Vegetable Salad has been on our meal rotation for many years now, and it never fails in it's simplicity and tastiness.

You can change out the vegetables as you please, I usually use a mixture of any of the following that I have on hand; beetroot, kumara, carrots, onions, potatoes, pumpkin, garlic or parsnip. Brussel sprouts, broccoli, capsicums, and tomatoes are also delicious - just add them in halfway through your cooking time.

Ingredients:

2 large beetroot
2 large kumara
4 large carrots
2 medium onions
1 tbsp garlic paste
oil for tossing
salt and pepper
30g feta cheese
2 sprigs of spring onions
2 good handfuls of baby spinach

Preheat your oven to 180C (fan bake).
Chop up your veges, keeping them all around about the same size (for even cooking times). You can decide what size the pieces are, I usually aim for bite sized.
Put all your vegetables into a generous size roasting pan.
Coat the vegetables in the garlic and a little oil, then sprinkle with a healthy pinch of salt and pepper.
Roast for 20 minutes, before turning them and roasting for a further 30 minutes, or to your liking.
Roughly crumble the feat cheese and finely chop the spring onions.
When the vegetables are ready, top with the feta, spring onions, and baby spinach and toss gently.
Serve while still warm - easy.




Ugandan Ginger Tea


When I was living in Uganda one of the most comforting recipes I learnt to make was a simple ginger tea. Sometimes this is termed 'chai' or 'milk tea' - and it is great for aiding digestion and adding some calm to your day.

Ingredients:
(per cup)

1 cup milk (fine to use your preferred non-dairy choice)
1-2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh ginger

Combine the milk and ginger in a saucepan and simmer for 5-10 minutes. The longer you simmer the stronger the ginger flavour.
Strain and pour into your favourite mug.
Boom.






12.10.15

Nordic Nut Bread




This wholesome bread is sometimes nicknamed 'stone age bread' as it is very similar to traditional rye pumpernickel bread, which is made mainly from very coarsely ground rye. Nordic Nut Bread is mainly made up of nuts and seeds, with eggs to bind, and a little apple for sweetness. A lively addition to your lunchbox with beautiful texture (I mean just look at that cross section!!).
And just between you and I, it is divine toasted.


Ingredients:
(Makes 1 medium sized loaf)

100g Sunflower seeds
100g Pumpkin seeds
100g Almond meal
100g Walnuts
100g Sesame seeds
100g Poppy seeds
100g Dried apple, chopped
70g Hazelnuts
30g Brazil nuts, chopped
Good pinch of salt
5 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted


Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and mix thoroughly until no whole egg parts remain.
Pour into a greased or lined loaf tin and bake at 160C for 60 minutes.
Let the loaf cool in the tin completely before removing (patience is paramount here!)
To serve I recommend slicing it thin, and accompanying it with your favourite cheese or spread.

8.10.15

Almond and Sunflower Seed Crackers


These delicious wholesome crackers are a great protein packed snack, and are so simple to make that you likely won't have any excuses left to continue buying packaged crackers.

Ingredients:

1 cup sunflower seeds (*Pre-soaked: see note)
1 cup almond flour
a decent pinch of your favourite fresh or dried herbs
salt and pepper

*Pre-soaking note: Pour the sunflower seeds into a bowl and cover with water. Cover and leave to soak for a minimum of 1 hour (I usually prep mine the night before and leave on the bench overnight).

Preheat your oven to 150C (fan bake), and line a tray with baking paper.

Rinse the sunflower seeds and strain before adding them to a food processor.
Add all the other ingredients and pulse until the mixture is well combined and start to form a sticky 'dough'.
Taking teaspoon size scoops of the mixture, form a ball shape and flatten out on the prepared tray. You want to aim for a 2mm (ish) thickness.
Sprinkle a little more salt on top if you wish.
Bake the crackers for around 30-45 minutes, or until they are just starting to turn golden and feel dried out when pressed.
Leave to cool completely before removing from the tray and eating gleefully.





3.10.15

Doughnut Diaries: Fail-nuts

When I wrote my introduction post a few weeks back I mentioned two things; that I love doughnuts and hope to find the holy grail of recipes (for both cake and yeast based doughnuts), and that I would share my fails with you.

So today I humbly invite you to share and giggle through some experimentation I attempted on my quest to doughnut glory.


Often I set out to bake with plenty of confidence. Baking is something I have always enjoyed, and have been rather successful in. So a weekend or two ago, as I set out to bake as per usual, spatula in hand like I was about to conquer some great floury feat, I had no idea of the slice of humble pie I was about to be served.

Lets be frank here, sometimes what starts out as a friendly cake doughnut recipe, actually rapidly evolves in to what I shall now term 'Fail Nuts'.
And we are talking so many fail nuts. Serial fail nuts all over my kitchen. On every surface.
This is what happens sometimes when you get cocky and push the recipe too far.

I had managed to create my near perfect cake doughnut recipe for deep frying, but the oil based cooking method still bugged me. So baking experiments started in the hope to eradicate this, and that is really where all the trouble began...


I have always been annoyed by many cake doughnut recipes requiring a specialized doughnut mold if you want to bake them instead of deep frying. I turn my nose up often at specialized 'one use' kitchen things as they take up space and rarely get used. But after the fail nuts, my opinion may be beginning to shift...

I just have a simple dream, to bake the cake doughnuts, not fry them. And without the aid of a doughnut mold. But I still want to achieve the quintessential doughnut hole 'look' in my doughnuts. You know, not picky or anything.

I also thought I would just flag adhering to the 'egg yolks' required of the recipe and just throw the whole egg in. Naive.

The above picture is my altered recipe simply baked until golden, rather than deep fried.
Result: Bready as heck, dense, chewy (not in a pleasant way), and all round unpleasant on the mouth feel front. The shape displeased me as the hole disappeared almost entirely. Definitely no improvement gained when a simple glaze icing was applied.

Then genius struck me! WHAT IF I TREAT THEM LIKE BAGELS!!! I swore I was onto a good thing here. I took my altered dough, and boiled the doughnut for a few minutes each side. The hole closed up and I was sad (see below). I then baked it until golden.
Result: Shinier exterior, but inside was just as bready, just as unpleasant.


I decided the original recipe was a better idea, so I remade the dough. I also decided that keeping the doughnut hole look was of paramount importance (#dreambigdreams), so I persevered with the bagel method and boiled the doughnut for longer, sealing in the shape.
Success on the hole keeping! I then baked the doughnut until golden.
Result: Nope. Just the same as the other two. Just better on the shape side of things.

Sigh. Below shows where I tried to selvage them with glaze icing. Do not be fooled, they are doughnuts of disappointment and lies. I had two flatmates try them, both took one bite and left the rest back on the tray. FAIL.


So I had all these fail nuts left, as I had had lots of the dough from the wrong recipe leftover. So I figured I better try and resurrect the situation somehow so as not to waste all the ingredients.

I introduce you to one of the most heinous desserts I have ever made; The Bread and Butter Fail Nut Pudding Of Despair.


Oh she might look pretty with her mixed berries and custard, but don't let her fool you. She is actually just a really big helping of fail nut amalgamation.
Sometimes you just need to let it die. So I did. The whole lot ended up in the bin, along with the untouched glazed fail nuts.

At least I got to try out styling with my Citta cork place mats. Look, arty:

On reflection of the methods I have tried, and with the help of feedback from many friends, I have determined the following:

- The recipe should stay as yolks only.
- Baking the doughnuts with the current recipe and method is potentially overcooking the dough (hence the bready result).
- Never try to selvage a fail nut, they are not to be toyed with.
- If I want to bake the doughnuts, I may need a new recipe altogether.

Things I think I will try in my next experimentation session:

- A higher oil temperature to avoid excess oil absorption.
- Adding apple cider vinegar to the dough to encourage oil repelling.
- Baking the dough nuts at a higher temperature for less time.
- Creating a new cake doughnut recipe that is oven friendly.

If you have any ideas of what you think I could try, feel free to comment below or get in touch with me. I still believe we can get there! And then it will be all sitting-back-with-our-doughnuts-on-the-veranda-in-the-late-afternoon-as-the-sun-goes-down*, like it was never an effort at all.


*Don't have a veranda? Me neither.