Despite the odd cold blip, spring has largely sprung, and where it has been squashed back by snow I am sure it will soon spring back again.

On my mantelshelf I have a vase containing a twig with blossom and freshly opened green leaves.  It is decorated with Easter decorations – small hanging eggs and bunnies – and is a reminder of the new life and renewal that comes at this time of the year regardless of your religious affiliations or absence of them.   Ed and I went for a planning meeting yesterday, to map out the next few months and to set some goals.  It was the right time of year for us rather than the darker colder days of early January.

The dish was inspired by a Masterclass I attended last week with Florida Grapefruit and Lisa Faulkner winner of Celebrity Masterchef and the UK face of Florida Grapefruit.  (Having consulted Wikipedia I also realise that Lisa played Helen Flynn in the first series of Spooks who suffered the horrific death in the deep fat fryer incident – Google at your peril.)

Florida grapefruit is pink, sweet and juicy and delicious, without the acidity of many other citrus fruits.   It also seems to be very good for you, with loads of healthy benefits.

Lisa used it in salmon ceviche, as a salad dressing with smoked chicken and in a cheesecake.  All delicious.

It is time to bring some spring into my diet, and this souffle omelette served with sweet pink segments of grapefruit is the perfect spring weekend brunch.    Not too heavy, and easy to whip up it is perfect for the start of the warmer season.  Prepare the syrup and fruit the night before to make for a speedier breakfast preparation.

For my souffle omelette you will find the fruit is far nicer if you segment it – a useful tutorial is here – once segmented you can store the fruit in the fridge for several days.  If you do not have time to make the syrup then a drizzle of honey will do nicely instead.

Layer leftover fruit and syrup with the remains of the Greek Yoghurt for a quick and easy pudding, add some pistachios or toasted pinenuts for extra indulgence.

Recipe: Souffle Omelettes with Florida Grapefruit

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 Florida grapefruit
Sugar
2 Cloves
2 Cardamom pods
1/2 Star Anise
4 Eggs
2 Tsp butter
2 tbs Greek Yoghurt – I use Total 0%

Segment the grapefruit, and squeeze the juice from the left over core and membranes.  Add an equal volume of sugar to the juice, and place in a pan along with the cloves, cardamon and star anise and simmer on a low heat until it is reduced by about a half.   You should have a pale pink light syrup.

Separate the eggs – it is best to do this one at a time – place the whites into a large bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks.   Beat the eggs with a fork and gently fold into the whites.

Melt half the butter in a small frying pan, add half the egg mix, gently spread around the pan and allow to cook for about a minute.    Once the bottom and sides are solid place under a hot grill to finish cooking.   Keep a careful eye on it as it can go from underdone to burnt very quickly!

Once done slide onto a plate, top with some segments of Florida grapefruit, them fold the omelette over.  Add a dollop of Greek Yoghurt and drizzle with the syrup.

Serve immediately.

Many thanks to Florida Grapefruit for the invitation to the masterclass and inspiration for the recipe.

Although I profess not to be a girlie woman (working from home I can usually be found sans makeup, sans brushed hair, sans jewellery, dressed in jeans, fleece and slippers), I am quite girlie when it comes to baking.  Give me some pretty food colourings and edible glitter and I am as happy as happy can be.

Regular readers will know that I am a huge fan of meringue, it is also my Mother’s favourite pudding, so I have had considerable practice in making them over the years.

This pavlova can be made in advance, and is perfect for a romantic supper at home this Valentine’s day.      If you want to make individual ones then just reduce the cooking time a little, but I think it is more fun to share?

A few hints for successful meringue making

• Do not use ultra fresh eggs – the meringue is more likely to flop
• A speck of grease or yolk will stop the egg whites whisking, make sure your equipment is spotless and take care when separating the eggs
• Add half a spoon of sugar when you start whisking the whites
• Egg whites freeze well
• Although some recipes call for the addition of cornflour and vinegar I find it makes no difference.
• Cook them last thing at night, and leave to cool in the oven

I far prefer gel food colouring to liquid, it gives a deeper colour and does not change the texture, if you use liquid colour then add a little more sugar.  Use a cocktail stick to add the colour to the meringue, a little goes a long long way.

Snip the corner off a thick sandwich bag if you do not have a piping bag.

The delightful cake stand is from Waitrose

Recipe: Valentine’s Day Pavlova

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 egg whites
90 – 100g caster sugar – 1.5x the weight of the egg whites
few drops pink gel food colouring
edible glitter

100ml double cream
(1 tbs 0% Greek yoghurt – I use Total)
Fresh berries

Whisk the egg white with 1/2 tsp of the sugar either in a stand mixer, or with a hand held electric whisk until white and frothy.  Add the sugar gradually whisking all the time until the meringue stands in soft peaks.    Add a dab of food colouring, and whisk to check the colour, you want the mix to be a shade darker than you want your finished meringue.

Using a large round tip fill a piping bag with the meringue.

Print out my Fuss Free Flavours Heart Stencil, and place onto a baking tray, under a sheet of baking parchment, and pipe out meringue to fill it, then pipe a raise edge.   This should use about 2/3 of the mix.   Alternatively make the shape using a spoon and clean fingers!   The remaining 1/3 of the mix should make 4 meringue shells.

Sprinkle with some edible glitter and place in an oven pre heated to GM2 / 300F / 150C, immediately turn the oven down to GM1 / 275F / 140C.  Cook for about 30 – 40 mins.  When the pavlova is hard and sounds hollow when lightly tapped then turn the oven off and allow to cool inside the oven.

Fill with whipped cream (I like to add a little yoghurt to cut through the sweetness of the meringue) and decorate with fresh berries.

The unfilled pavlova and meringues will keep for a week or so in an airtight tin.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Here is the last of the festive recipes from Miisa Mink at the Nordic Bakery.

Recipe: Frozen Lingonberry & Ginger Biscuit Cream with Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

Serves 6

40 g powder sugar (icing)
50 ml water
2 egg yolks
5 tbsp lingonberry jam
300 ml whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
50 g ginger biscuits, roughly crushed

Sauce:

50 g unsalted butter
150 ml double cream
3 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp Golden syrup
2 – 3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

To make the cream add sugar, water and egg yolks into a pan and bring to boil. Keep mixing well until sauce reduces. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Add lingonberry jam and place in the fridge. Whip the cream in a separate bowl until it becomes fluffy. Fold whipped cream, vanilla extract and crushed ginger biscuits into the cooled down lingonberry sauce.

Pour into six individual serving pots or one round pie tin and place into a freezer for a minimum of 2 hours or over night. Take the frozen cream out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving.

To make the sauce, place all ingredients into a saucepan and slowly bring to boil. Simmer for 20 – 25 minutes mixing occasionally. Remove from the heat when sauce thickens. Pour hot sauce over the cold lingonberry and ginger biscuit cream and garnish with more ginger biscuits. Serve immediately.

Thank you to Miisa for letting me reproduce her recipes.  If you like this I thoroughly recommend the Nordic Bakery Cookbook.

I am quite a fan of the liquid breakfast and will have a smoothie 3 or 4 times a week.   That one glass can easily hold all of your 5-a-day, and by pulping rather than juicing the fruit and veg they can count towards multiple portions!

This month the theme for Breakfast Club is Stars and Stripes, and with Thanksgiving at the end of the month, what could be more appropriate than pairing cranberry and pumpkin.      Not only is this a glorious cheerful colour on a dismal November morning it is also delicious, with the tartness of the cranberry providing an excellent wake up call to your taste buds.

This was inspired by both Dom, who also submitted a smoothie for breakfast club this month, and Johanna, who gave me the idea of thickening a smoothie with pumpkin.

Like the green smoothies which I regularly make which have no hint of spinach or kale, you really cannot taste the pumpkin here.     The next time I roast either squash or pumpkin I shall prep extra (without salt or pepper) specifically for smoothies.

If you get a taste for smoothies keep a box of ingredients in the freezer.    With a good blender chunks of banana, pineapple, stone fruit and individual berries and grapes can all be whizzed up from frozen for your breakfast.     Whizzed frozen banana is especially thick and creamy, and by itself makes and excellent ice cream.   A stick blender should be enough to whizz soft fruit with a few frozen additions.

I added some ground linseed for some added omega-3.

How do you style a smoothie to look photogenic?

Recipe: Pumpkin and Cranberry Smoothie

Quantities are approximate – use what you have.

Per Person

2 heaped tbs roasted pumpkin or butternut squash
1 handful cranberries
2 handfuls grapes
1 tbs ground linseeds
1 small glass orange juice

Place all the ingredients into your blender and whizz.   Add water if needed to thin.

Pour into a glass and serve immediately.

Most people know at least something about food and wine matching, even if it is just following the most basic rule of white with fish, red with meat.    For the novice wine drinker the first differences you learn are between red and white, light or heavy, dry or sweet.   As you drink more wine your palate develops and you learn to identify and label many different tastes.   It is very similar with both chocolate and coffee.  I have realised that both are easily as complex as wine, but I have been lazy about properly tasting them, I tend to munch and gulp rather than actually taste and think.

I have been to two amazing coffee events recently that have really forced me to think about my coffee, the first was with Union Roasted (the post is coming) and the second was with Cafe Direct who invited me to a food and coffee matching class and to taste their range of Fair Trade coffees.

Cafe Direct's Coffee Tasting Flavour Wheel

I was challenged to come up with a recipe for Cafe Direct’s Kilimanjaro coffee, which they describe as bright, lively with berry and citrus flavours.   I was given a bag of apples, lemons and limes, access to some basic pantry ingredients, and set to work.

I loved my lemon & lime posset which I paired with an apple filo strudel, but was quite disappointed in the filo pastry, the resulting strudels were heavy and soggy; frankly not worth eating.  I realised after cooking them that the packet of pastry had about a quarter of the sheets that my usual brand does, but weighed the same, so the sheets were 4 times the thickness!

Photo by Cafe Direct

I have tweaked and recreated the pudding, layering the posset on top of the apple.    Served in a wine glass I think this makes an elegant, and easy pudding that you can make up to 48 hours in advance.  Perfectly fuss free!

Recipe: Apple, Lemon & Lime Possets

Makes 4

Ingredients

For the Apple Compote

2 small apples – peeled and finely chopped (this will be about 8oz / 200g prepped apple)
30g / 2 tbs golden syrup
Juice of 1 lemon
Scant amount of water

For the Posset

284ml carton double cream
Juice of 1 lemon (reserve 2 slices for garnish before juicing)
Juice of 1 lime
75g / 3oz sugar

Place the ingredients for the compote into a small saucepan and gently simmer until the apple is soft.   Allow to cool (pouring something hot into a cold glass could easily crack it) and divide between 4 wine glasses.    I use a jam funnel to ensure the fruit lands at the bottom of the glass rather than sliding down the sides.

Put the cream into a medium sized pan and bring to the boil.  Add the juice and  sugar and simmer for a minute or two stirring well.   Remove from the heat.   Allow to cool, to avoid cracking the glasses,  and then pour over the apple compote.   Chill to set for a few hours in the fridge before serving.

For an extra indulgence pour a little more cream over the top of the possets before serving.

You may also like this recipe for elderflower and lime possets.

Click for a printable recipe for  Apple, Lemon and lime possets.

Thank you to Cafe Direct for a lovely and informative evening.

For a chance to win vouchers for £500 to spend at the famous London cookery school L’atelier des Chefs, and a night for two in a hotel, head on over to Cafe Direct’s Facebook page and come up with your own recipe to match with one of their coffees.   Closing date is the 25 November 2011.

Also sending this to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts, where this month the theme is apples hosted by Nayna.

I have a confession to make that I actually made this for supper last night, but it would make a lovely weekend breakfast that is not too sinful.

At the moment people seem to be throwing yogurt at me, not literally, but in the last few weeks 3 cool bags of the stuff have arrived.  I have already written about Total and The Collective.  Both Onken and Twekkelo are in the review queue.

Making toffee yogurt by sprinkling dark brown soft sugar over natural or Greek yogurt and leaving it to dissolve is an old, but useful trick.   The resultant mixture is delicious, sticky and toffee like, but still not too sweet and with none of the nasties of many commercially produced flavoured yogurts.   Being allowed a sprinkle of dark brown soft sugar on cereal was a weekend childhood treat.

I combined my toffee yogurt, with sliced bananas, Dorset Cereals new pecan and toffee good honest crunch cereal and a few raspberries.   Dorset Crunch’s slogan of  “life is too short for boring breakfasts” reminded me that we are nearing the end of the month and I have not yet made anything for Breakfast Club, which this month is hosted by Nayna with the theme of berries.

Breakfast Club: Because breakfast should be more interesting
than tea & toast or coffee & cereal!

Recipe: Indulgent Breakfast Banoffeeish Pots

(Serves 1)

1 small banana
about 4 oz / 1/2 cup natural or Greek yogurt
2 tsp dark brown soft sugar
2 tbs crunchy cereal
handful raspberries

Slice the banana and place in a glass, cover with the yogurt, then sprinkle the sugar over and leave in the fridge overnight.

Just before serving sprinkle over the cereal and the fresh berries.

 

I see no reason why this would not work with non dairy or soy yogurt.

Thank you for having me over! I normally write at The Brightside a happiness blog, where you’ll find Helen today. She’s got a lovely post up about spotting Morris Dancers whilst having a few days away in Kent.

Right now where I live in Southern Ontario, rhubarb is fresh and just ending its season, while strawberries are just beginning. It’s the perfect time to make Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie – a truly fuss-free recipe!

In fact, this recipe is so simple it’s easy to adapt it to other fruits. Try it with whatever is in season in your own area. If I was lucky enough to be in the UK in the summer, after making a strawberry-rhubarb pie I’d definitely try gooseberry, or later on combine blackberries with apple.

The Simplest Pastry Ever

I learned to make my favourite pastry from my Mum. It’s so fuss-free that at this point I simply eyeball it, but maybe measuring would be a good idea the first time you bake this. :) This recipe makes a tender, rich pastry that’s more melt-in-your-mouth than flaky.

200 g / 315 mL / 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
120 g / 160 mL / 2/3 cups soft margarine
3 tbsp / 45 mL cold water

(Where I live, most soft margarine comes salted, so I don’t add any salt – adjust to your own preference and ingredients.)

Cut fat into flour with two knives or a pastry-cutter. Sprinkle water on top and with floured hands, gently squeeze into a ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling out on a floured surface.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

I measured the ingredients I used so you can replicate this recipe exactly, but it’s truly forgiving. You could use more strawberries, or more rhubarb – you only need enough fruit to fill the pie, enough sugar to please your palate, and enough flour to cope with the juiciness of the fruit. I used all the rhubarb in this picture and about half of the strawberries shown.

500 g / 1 1/4 lb rhubarb stalks
400 g / 1 lb strawberries
170 g / 180 mL / 3/4 cup brown sugar
50 g / 75 mL / 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Ground ginger to taste

Wash and trim rhubarb; chop into 1 cm/1/2-inch slices. Sprinkle with salt; let stand about 20 minutes. Wash and hull strawberries; cut larger ones in halves or quarters.

Roll out pastry and cut out pie lid; roll out remaining pastry and line bottom and sides of pie pan.

Stir strawberries and rhubarb together; stir in sugar, flour, and a pinch of ginger if you like ginger. Scrape mixture into pan; top with pastry lid. Crimp edges and cut vents.

Place pie on a baking sheet to catch drips. Bake in 200°C / 400°F oven for 45-55 minutes – until filling is bubbling and pastry is golden.

If you make this pie with another fruit, you can adjust the sugar and flour. Rhubarb and strawberries are both rather tart and juicy, so they need more sugar and flour than other fruits. On the other hand, I don’t like my pies too sweet, so I only used 3/4 cup/180 mL sugar. If you have a really sweet tooth, you might use as much as a cup/235 mL. Apples probably only need half a cup/120 mL of sugar (and a heaping tablespoon/25 mL of flour) unless you use a super-tart variety. The fun of experimenting is how many pies you get to make! :)

Enjoy and happy pie-making.

Janet Rowe

Many thanks to Janet for her delicious pie!   I am very pastry unconfident, but this seems so easy so will be trying it soon.

Ever since my Cuisinart Blender arrived last month, I have become green smoothie obsessed.    At first I was just chucking in everything, but now have become a little more methodical with my breakfast green smoothies, and am focussing on flavours a little more.

Just before Easter I was lucky enough to be asked to a Total Greek Yogurt Master Class, held at the fabulous L’atelier des Chefs, tucked behind John Lewis on Oxford Street.     During the day we cooked a wide variety of dishes with Total, and were treated to a talk and Q&A from a celebrity nutritionist.

I feel that I have little need for a dietitian, nutritionist or nutritional therapist (all are quite different roles), but I am always interested to hear what people have to say. My nutritional philosophy is simple, eat what makes your body feel good and is sustainable. I aim to eat more raw food and less animal products than the average person, as this makes me feel fantastic and is also good for the environment.

If you need some pointers I highly recommend this article on how to make healthy eating incredibly simple on nutritionist Sophie’s wonderful blog (please do hop over there and encourage her to post more often!)  I am also an avid reader of Limes  & Lycopene by Australian nutritionist Kathryn which is packed with wonderful advice and recipes.    To learn more about increasing your intake of raw food visit Amber’s site and read about her training as a raw chef.  All three of them tackle nutrition by encouraging people to make their own healthy meals.

However I digress.    Although I aim to eat less than average, I do enjoy my meat & fish, eggs & diary, and Total Yoghurt is one of my favourites.

After the talk we moved on to the class held in the demonstration kitchen, where we were shown how to cook six very different dishes all using Total yoghurt.    Total is a highly versatile ingredient which works well as a cream or crème fraiche substitute, it contains far fewer calories and all the flavour, as well as being live and thus full of good bacteria.   The higher fat varieties are also heat stable, making cooking with them a breeze as they should not spilt when heated.  (I have successfully cooked with the 0% but you need to be very gentle with heating it.)   It is also delicious on its own!

I especially liked the Mackerel Tartare with Minted Cucumber Soup and the Chestnut Tiramisu recipes.

Yoghurt Tartare of Mackerel with Minted Cucumber Soup (serves 6)For the Tartare

• 12 Fillets of mackerel
• 1 Banana shallot (Echalion)
• 25g Pickled gherkins
• ½ bunch Flat leaf parsley
• 50g 0% TOTAL Greek Yoghurt
• 10g Ketchup
• 3ml Tabasco
• 10ml Worcestershire sauce
• 25g Capers in vinegar

For the Soup

• 1 Cucumber
• 1 Garlic clove
• ¼ bunch Fresh mint
• 3 pinches Fine salt
• 10ml White wine vinegar
• 50g 0% TOTAL Greek Yoghurt

Start by preparing the mackerel: fillet the fish if necessary and remove the pin bones. Remove the skin from the fish and then cut the flesh into dice. Keep refrigerated while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

Peel and finely dice the shallot. Chop the gherkins into small pieces. Pick the leaves from the parsley and roughly chop. Mix these chopped ingredients

with the mackerel and add the capers and Greek yoghurt.

Mix well and then add the ketchup, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce. Taste the tartare mix and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

To make the soup: peel the cucumber and the garlic and pick the mint leaves. Place these ingredients in a blender with the salt and the white wine vinegar. Blitz for a minute to make the soup.

Add the Greek yoghurt and pulse the mixture for 5 seconds. Check the seasoning.

To serve: place a large quenelle of the tartare mix in the middle of a small bowl and pour the soup around. Serve immediately.

Recipe reproduced with permission of Total

Greek Yoghurt Chestnut Tiramisu Rapide (serves 6)

• 1 Egg yolk
• 50g Caster sugar
• 300g Sponge fingers
• 80g Sweetened ‘crème de marron’
• 125ml Double cream
• 250g 10% TOTAL Greek Yoghurt
• 20g Unsweetened cocoa powder
• 100ml Espresso Coffee
• 30g Caster sugar
• 25ml Cognac

For the cream: whisk together the egg yolk and the sugar until the mixture turns white and fluffy. Add the chestnut cream and mix well.

In a separate bowl, whip the double cream until thick and then gently fold in the Greek yoghurt.

Add the chestnut mixture to the Greek yoghurt and the cream mixture and gently fold together.

To assemble the dessert: mix the coffee with 30g sugar and the cognac.

Dip the biscuits into the coffee and then place in the bottom of your glasses. Top with a layer of the cream and then a sprinkle of cocoa powder.

Repeat this until you glasses are full. Finish with a layer of cream and a dusting of cocoa powder.

Recipe reproduced with permission of Total

Lots more recipes can be found here, including one of mine!

Many thanks to Total for a lovely day and the lovely cocktails afterwards – the perfect start to the first long weekend!

Totally Green Breakfast Smoothie (serves 2)

1 glass orange or apple juice
1 large handful of spinach
2 small bananas
2 kiwi fruit
1 handful green grapes (mine were frozen)
6 mint leaves
2 heaped tbs Total 0% Greek Yogurt

2 sprigs of mint to garnish

Simple throw everything into your blender and blitz (I run the smoothie cycle on mine several times) until smooth.    Thin with water if desired.

For a thicker and creamier smoothie use frozen bananas.

I am sending my smoothie to Only Cooolers & Mocktails which is hosted by Nayna at Simply Food this month.

What is nicer than homemade bread topped with homemade jam for breakfast?  This is a jam with an Asian twist, with hint of chilli and ginger.  Certainly different, but not too startling for first thing in the morning.

This jam is based on a recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, which I visited a few months ago, when we had the most amazing bright pink rhubarb and  ginger jam.   Becca asked for the recipe, and made some more jam which she blogged.

I based my jam on recipe Becca used, but played with the flavours, using Thai ginger, or galangal, and adding some chilli.    My jam is sadly not as pink as the original, my rhubarb was long past the first flush of youth, but is still delicious.

Taste the syrup before cooking to test the chilli levels.   This recipe is very easy to scale up or down, with equal weights of rhubarb and sugar, 1 chilli per 150g fruit.   After the jam is cooked allow to cool for a few minutes and always pour into hot jars.   Boiling hot jam being poured into cold jars may cause the inside of the jar to expand faster than the outside, which can make the jar crack or shatter.

Rhubarb, Ginger & Chilli Jam (makes 3 250g jars)

450 g rhubarb
450g sugar
3 dried red chillies
2cm finely grated Thai ginger or galangal
Juice of half a lemon

Cut the rhubarb into 2cm chunks and place in a bowl, pour the sugar over and give the bowl a shake.  Add the chillies and leave for 24 hours. (I left mine in the fridge for about 5 days)

After a day the sugar will draw the juice out of the rhubarb making a lovely pink tinged syrup.   Taste to check the level of chilli, if hot enough, remove them, if not leave them in for the cooking.

Place the rhubarb, syrup, ginger & lemon in a saucepan and gently simmer until setting point is reached.

Taste the jam whilst cooking and add more ginger, or remove the chillies, if desired.

Remove the chillies (if you have not already done so), pour into clean warm sterilised jars and seal.

Setting Point – Place a blob of the jam onto a saucer and allow to cook for a minute, if a skin forms and the jam wrinkles with a gentle poke the jam is ready.   If  still runny carry on cooking.

To Sterilise Jam Jars – Remove the lids and place in a low oven for 20 minutes,  pour boiling water over the lids, or run through the dishwasher.

Green smoothies?  Trust me here, they are delicious and fantastically good for you.  After a few days of one of these for breakfast you will feel the benefits, getting all 5 of your five a day for in one glass for breakfast can only be a good thing right?

I am the first to admit that my diet is not the most, shall I say, mainstream?  I try to blog about what most people would consider the more normal things that I eat, resisting the tendency to be too green and raw and vegan.       I have absolutely no objection to animal products.  However I prefer mine to be both organic and free range, which is expensive and thus makes them a treat rather than an everyday staple.

I was delighted when Cuisinart recently contacted me and asked if I wanted to trial one of their products.   As soon as I looked at their website I knew that one of their blenders would be just the ticket for making green smoothies.

A green smoothie is simply a smoothie made with the addition of greens.      The sweetness of the fruit takes away any bitterness from the raw greens and the end drink is  delicious, refreshing and engergising.

The blender powers through the seeds, kale leaves and frozen fruit.  I used a glass of orange & apple juice, frozen plum & nectarine pieces, half a carrot, mixed seeds, kale and a banana and some water to thin it out a little.

The resulting green goodness in a glass!

A full review of the blender is to be posted soon.

Thanks to Cuisinart for my blender.

Muffins are pretty much my catch all emergency bake, and a usual weekend breakfast.    My standard muffin is egg free; a shout for fewer ingredients, and to mark my mantra of “If you cannot afford free range then leave it out”.    This is usually shouted at the telly during a cooking programme, when Hugh, Jamie or whoever, are telling us to buy free range chicken and eggs, but missing the point that some people simply cannot afford to.     You try and persuade a parent on a low income that they should not buy their 15 eggs for £1, in favour of free range at 5 or more times the price.   I suspect that their prime motivation is to feed their families rather than towards animal welfare.    

Personally I think that chefs and cooking programmes are all missing a trick and maybe they should focus on encouraging people to consume fewer animal products, and to stop regarding meat, eggs and diary as a cheap and daily source of food.   I am sure it would be altogether better for many peoples’ health, wallets and the environment.   I do not think it is wrong to eat meat, eggs and diary, but I know I feel a whole heap healthier when I eat less of them.   Whether this actually is because I am eating less animal products, or by the fact that by not eating them I will be consuming more fruit and vegetables I do not know.   A bad vegetarian or vegan diet can be just as damaging as any other, imagine how grim you would feel if you ate nothing but chips for a week?

However I will get off my soap box for, despite my words, these muffins do contain egg, in the blood orange curd I baked into them.    I would think that marmalade or jam would make a good alternative should you wish to bake vegan.

I am sending these to the March Monthly Mingle, hosted by Sarah at Maison Cupcake.   These are not quite as pink as I had hoped, the batter was gloriously bright then faded in the oven.

Recipe: Think Pink! Blood Orange Juice and Curd Muffins (Makes 6)

“Dry” Ingredients
6oz plain flour
2oz  sugar
Zest 1/2 blood orange
1tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
6oz blood orange juice (top up to 6oz with milk if needed)
2oz  sunflower oil
Orange pulp from the juicer (remove the seeds)

6 tsp blood orange curd

(Optional) Sprinkling of oats

Method
Whisk the oil and juice mixture with a fork.   Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Divide half the mixture out into the muffin pan, add a blob of curd to each muffin and then top with the remainder of the batter, sprinkle with oats if using.  Bake at GM5/190C/375F  for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

Eat warm from the oven, but beware of hot scalding curd!

All this wonderful produce for only £6!  For details of finding your local food Co-op see here.

I find that fruit every week and vegetables 2 out of 3 weeks is perfect!

The season is short, and availability is patchy, so far this year I have only found them twice.   Joyfully I have just returned from the market with another haul.  Most stalls did not have any,  “The price has gone up! 3 weeks ago they were £3 a box  now they are £11″ I was told.   Or “Sorry, ‘Girlfriend’ we can’t get them”.   Feeling slightly disillusioned, and resigned to waiting another few days I discovered that the last stall had them!   9 glorious blood oranges for £1.  I bought 2 bowls full.

Blood oranges get their crimson flesh from the presence of Anthocyanins, a pigment common to many flowers and fruit, but uncommon in citrus.   There are 3 main varieties, Moro, Tarocco and Sanguinello.   I am fairly sure that mine are Sanguinellos, sweet, nearly seedless and with a flesh that is streaked.   Moros are the most colourful and flavoursome.

I learnt to make a microwave lemon curd before Christmas, and adapted the recipe to use my blood oranges.  The result is a pretty salmon pink curd, paler than I had anticipated (I need those darker Moros), both sweet and tart, silky in texture and delicated flavoured.

Blood Orange Curd (makes 3 x 8oz jars and a little over)

110g / 4oz unsalted butter
Juice of 3 blood oranges
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
330g (12oz) caster sugar
4 eggs – beaten

Cut the butter into small pieces and place in a microwavable bowl with the lemon rind and juice.  Place in microwave and heat for at 850 watts

Stir in the sugar and cook for 3.5 mins at 850 watts.  Stir well until the sugar has dissolved and beat in the eggs

Cook for a further 6 mins at 600 watts, whisking thoroughly after every minute until the curd has thickened; when done it will coat the back of a spoon.

Strain into small sterilised jars.  Seal.

The curd will keep in the fridge for up to one month.

Imagine a rich, buttery, velvety smooth chocolate mousse; one so rich that an espresso cup full is more than enough.  Now imagine that the little fat in this mousse is primarily monounsaturated (thus good) and the entire pudding is cholesterol free.    Now imagine that this pudding also contains no refined sugars and takes less than 5 minutes to prepare.

Created using Clearspring’s new organic silken tofu which when whizzed up is deliciously creamy,  this was partially inspired by Jac and by an avocado chocolate mousse that can be found all over the internet.    I need you to trust me here, the finished product does not taste of either avocado or banana although on the surface they do seem to be odd ingredients.

This is probably more of a chocolate pot than a traditional mousse, without raw eggs it is safe for small children to eat, and there is no worry about the mousse separating in the fridge.

So Healthy Chocolate Mousse (serves 6)

1 350g carton silken tofu
1 ripe banana
1 avocado
4 dsp cocoa powder
4 dsp maple syrup
Scant zest of half an orange

Cacao nibs (optional)

Add all ingredients to the food processor and whizz.    Dollop into ramekins, or if feeling fancy, chill and then pipe into espresso cups.   Sprinkle with cacao nibs.

Enjoy and polish your halo for being so healthy.

Sending to this  month’s Sugar High Fridays, where the theme is grain free,  hosted by Z at Z”s Cup of Tea.

Nothing else to say but lovely, lovely, lovely and totally delicious and as easy as anything to make.   I urge you to make them tomorrow!

Served with elderflower cream from Vanessa’s macarons.

The Great British Bake Off.

I am happy to say that I am about to have a giveaway of some lovely liquid chocolate from Hotel Chocolat.   But in the interests of my readers I feel that that it is only fair that I extensively test the product before I post the giveaway, and give your some ideas of what to use it for.  Liquid chocolate as a hot drink is lovely, but liquid chocolate in baked goods is even better!   Muffins are one of the Fuss Free Flavours signature recipes so a muffin using the liquid chocolate it had to be!

There is one banana in 3 of these muffins, so that is one of your five a day sorted.   They are also vegan* so contain no cholesterol.  Positively healthy.   In the interests of my blog I need to go and make another batch as I really need to get better photos.    These were fantastic,  chocolate and banana are perfect partners, the liquid chocolate and the dark chocolate drops are rich and not too sweet.    I am pondering if I could make a quintuple chocolate banana muffin with chocolate batter, liquid chocolate and 3 types of chocolate drops?  For an extra treat these are 50% larger than my usual muffins.

* I try and bake vegan as I firmly believe that there is no excuse for eating eggs that are not free range and organic.    If you cannot afford quality eggs, then you can bake really well without them, seriously just leave them out!

Substitute finely grated plain chocolate for liquid chocolate, regular cow milk would work in place of the soy milk (I really do not like diary milk, although I can eat cheese and cream literally until the cows come home).

Double Chocolate & Banana Muffins (makes 6)

“Dry” Ingredients
7 oz plain flour
2 oz  sugar
2 tbs liquid chocolate or finely grated plain chocolate
2 tbs chocolate chips
1 heaped tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
7 oz  milk (I use soy)
2 oz  sunflower oil
2 very ripe bananas

Whizz the oil and milk mixture with a stick blender or liquidiser until smooth.    Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan (I use this one)  for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

Enjoy warm from the oven.

Thank for Hotel Chocolat for the free samples of liquid chocolate and chocolate drops

Another bumper haul from my local fruit & vegetable Co-op.    All this wonderful produce for only £6!  For details of finding your local food Co-op see here.

Food poverty is a very real issue and I am delighted that by supporting my co-op I am helping make affordable produce available for all.   I am delighted to have shared some of my recipes using produce from my co-op, and a minimal amount of other ingredients with SustainWeb.

This is the pudding that I came up with for the recent foodbloggers’ Masterchef cookoff with Miele.    When planning a menu it is perfectly normal and reasonable to come up with a pudding first and then plan a main course to go with it?   I wanted a very summery pudding using my homemade elderflower cordial;  it also had to be very quick to make, impossible to mess up and hopefully delicious.   I think that I have attained all 3 requisites here.   Looking back over my archives it would also seem that possets will freeze well too.

As these possets have extra liquid from the cordial added to them I used extra thick double cream to make sure they set.

Lime & Elderflower Possets (makes 4 – 6)

284 ml carton extra thick double cream
2 oz sugar
juice and zest of one lime
1tbs (15ml) elderflower cordial

Simply scrape the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil keep a close eye on it as  it can very rapidly (and messily) boil over.  While the cream heats zest the lime into the pan.   Once it boils, add the sugar, lime juice and cordial.   Simmer for a minute stirring well until the sugar has dissolved.     Pour into serving dishes – 4 ramekins or 6 espresso cups.   Chill until set before serving.    I made these and they were set in under an hour.

I served with strawberries marinated in elderflower cordial and Irish lace biscuits (recipe to come)

London is hot hot hot and humid to boot.    I am positively enjoying my supermarket trips at the moment as I linger  and closely examine every object in the frozen section.    And what better for these hot summer mornings than ice cream for breakfast?    This is totally healthy, unprocessed, raw and vegan and tastes fantastic.   What better way to start (or end) your hot summer days?

This is another contribution to my series of easy, economical and healthy recipes of what to do with the contents of the co-op “boxes” for the Food Co-ops and Buying Groups project run by Sustain – also part of the Making Local Food Work programme funded by the Big Lottery.

The secret behind this ice cream is blended frozen banana which has been written about all over the internet many times before.   When put into the food processor the frozen banana transforms into a fluffy creamy mousse like ice cream, add some milk and it makes the perfect smoothie base.    Try it and be amazed!  Peel and slice the bananas into 2″ pieces and freeze on a baking tray.  When frozen pack into boxes.   I now always have several boxed of bananas and soft fruit in the freezer for smoothies and ice cream.     I think that this would also be perfect for fruit hating children.

Banana & Strawberry Ice “Cream” (serves 2)

3 frozen bananas
handful frozen strawberries
handful fresh strawberries
Cacao nibs to sprinkle (optional)

Put the banana and strawberries into your food processor and leave for a few minutes to slightly soften and then process.   Depending how powerful your machine is you may need to add a little milk and scrape the sides of the bowl down to speed the process along.      The fruit will slowly transform into a fluffy whipped ice “cream” resembling Mr Whippy ice cream.    Serve immediately with some more fresh fruit and a sprinkling of cacao nibs.   Eat immediately.

This week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient is hosted by Jenn who is responsible for the wonderful Jenn Cuisine,  she has choosen honey as her secret ingredient.

For my submission I wanted to make a springtime deeply feminine cake, with spelt flower and almonds, sweetened with honey and flavoured with orange blossom water.   I would have liked few drops of pink food colouring in the frosting to make it even more spring like, girlie and carefree!

Having written the post I discovered that sadly the cake is utterly horrible – with a nasty bitter aftertaste.    If anyone has any ideas why please let me know.     At least the frosting is nice – I do recommend a bowlful and a spoon!  I still really like the idea of a apricot and orange blossom cake, I shall try again without the nuts and honey.

Honey, Apricot & Orange Blossom Cake (serves 6)

Dry Ingredients
4oz / 100g spelt flour
2oz / 50g ground almonds
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder
6 or so dried apricots chopped up small

Wet Ingredients
2oz / 50g  honey
2oz / 50g sunflower oil
40z / 100g milk – I used soy milk
1/2 tsp orange blossom water

Give the wet ingredients a good whisk to dissolve the honey, throughly mix the dry.    Pour the wet into the dry fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in a linied 6″ / 15cm cake tin for 20 – 25 mins until risen (when a tooth pick poked into the middle comes out clean it is done).   Leave for a few minutes, turn out (I find cakes made from spelt are very crumbly so be gentle) and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
1 oz / 25 g butter or diary free spread
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp orange blossom water
4oz  / 100g icing sugar

Place all ingredients into a pudding basin and mix for a good few minutes with an electric beater until light and fluffy.   You may need to add a little more icing sugar or a drop more orange blossom water.

Frost cake, and decorate with a few nuts.