2016 has been a strange year, no doubt about it. The US took centre news stage in November and left many of us feeling a little joyless inside and in need of reminders that there is still a lot of good out there. Somewhere. Hiding very well. But it's there. So I decided to create a little tasty reminder of two things I lovingly associate with the States; pumpkin spice and peanut butter.
The recipe uses roasted and salted nuts, which admitedly is naughtier than using the nuts raw, but that's ok you know. The end result is delicious with the lingering saltiness and the roasted and spicy flavours that I think does the trick of making you forget about all that's wrong with the world, which is a worthy compromise for a little lost nutrition. God bless. INGREDIENTS 1 cup roasted and salted cashews 2 cups roasted and salted peanuts 2 tsp pumpkin spice MAKE IT Firstly, we need to get rid of some (most) of the salt. To do that, and because the nuts are naturally oily with a lot of the salt being stuck on them, place all the nuts between two clean tea towels and give them a gentle rub to loosen the salt. Then put them in a sieve and shake them about a bit to allow the salt to fall off them. Repeat the process with the tea towels and the sieve once or twice more, until you see very little salt left on the nuts. This is most of the work done now. To make the butter, place the nuts and the pumpkin spice in a blender and keep blending until smooth. At first you may have to stop and push the crumbly mixture down in the blender a couple of times but soon enough, oil coming out of the nuts will be making blending very easy. Stop when you reach your ideal consistency - I prefer smooth, so I carry on going past the crunchy stage. Enjoy on toast with jam, or honey, or marmalade, or simply on its own straight out of the jar, whilst pretending that 2016 didn't happen.
0 Comments
Remove After Eights from your shopping list this Christmas and make these beauties instead. You only need three ingredients and about 5 minutes of your time. If, like the Greeks, you associate mint flavour only with toothpaste, you can use orange extract instead. Or make some with orange, some with mint and mix them up in a bowl for some thrill and excitement! The Christmas evening with the extended family will just fly by!
Ingredients 100g dark chocolate (I used 74% cocoa solids) 1-2 tbsp brown caster sugar 1/2 tsp mint (or orange) extract Make it In a bowl, break up the chocolate pieces and melt them either in the microwave or in a bain marie. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar with the extract (note: you can use 1 or 2 tbsp of sugar depending on how crunchy you want the thins to be. The ones in the photo are with 2 tbsp and they are very crunchy). When the chocolate has melted pour it over the flavoured sugar and stir well. Pour on greasproof paper and spread very thinly using a spatula. Mark the shapes you want the final thins to have while the chocolate is still soft. Allow to cool, break up and serve/eat! We were thrilled last weekend to have one of our best friends visit us in Greece! First night we took him to a favourite, trendy/swanky place for food and drinks. I ordered a few things off the menu for him to try, some with a slight twist to the classic recipe for something authentic yet different. What does he fall in love with the most? The humble fava with the caramelised onions. So much so that we ordered another portion of it at the end of the meal. There's no helping some people.
To be fair, truffle oil was added, which is not a classic but is a sensation. INGREDIENTS For the fava 1.5 cups yellow split peas 4.5 cups water 2 onions quartered 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil For the caramelised onions 2 onions 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tsp sugar 0.5 cups water or vegetable stock MAKE IT in a large pan put the yellow split peas and water and bring to the boil, keeping an eye on them as they foam and boil over quite quickly. remove the foam, add the onions quartered and turn the heat down to low. let the peas cooking until all the water is absorbed, stirring a few times in the process. once done, the peas will have lost their shape and will be appearing mushy. put everything in the blender, add the olive oil, season and blend until very very smooth. to make the caramelised onions, slice the onions and put them in a pan with the olive oil over medium/high heat. once the slices are coated in oil, sprinkle the sugar, salt and pepper and stir frequently until they change colour (caramelise). once they start getting sticky, pour in the water or stock and stir well. turn the heat off. put the caramelised onions on top of the fava on a plate, drizzle some more olive oil or truffle oil (if using) and enjoy as a dip, light main, midnight snack, lunchtime treat or any other time you fancy a bit of deliciousness. Is it a jam?
No Is it fruits in syrup? No Is it a spoon sweet? Yes! Wtf is that? Something in between, obviously! In Greece spoon sweets are in every house and every Greek mum who respects herself will offer it to all her guests at any given chance. They are actually really really lovely and can be eaten on their own, just a spoonful of sweet with your coffee, or as jams, breakfast toppings, ice cream toppings and additions to cakes, granolas and even cocktails. They can be made with a variety of fruits and grape is one of my favourites. The end result is something thicker than fruits in syrup but runnier than jam and with the fruits still whole or in big chunks. They keep well for ages in the fridge once opened, so you might as well make a big batch and enjoy it for a while. INGREDIENTS
MAKE IT start by washing the grapes and taking them off their stalks. put them in a large pan together with the sugar and water and bring them to a fast boil. once boiled, take the pan off the heat, cover it with a clean cloth/towel and leave overnight or for 8 hours. put the pan back on medium/high heat, add the vanilla extract and keep the mix boiling until it reduces quite a lot, the bubbles forming are bigger and slightly darker and the syrup is slightly thicker. the old school test of checking whether it's done is taking a spoonful of syrup out of the pan, letting it cool slightly (important!) and putting a drop of it on your nail (see why cooling is important now). if the drop stays there and doesn't run down your finger, you're good to go! if not, boil for a bit longer and repeat the test. once ready, add the lemon juice, stir well, take the pan off the heat and put the sweet in sterilised jars. enjoy for weeks to come! Do not be fooled by the humble appearance and limited ingredients list of this dish. The flavours in it are absolutely divine and in complete harmony. It's not a classic for no reason, you know!
If you cannot find fresh artichokes, tinned ones work well too. Good quality frozen peas are great. Dill should ideally be fresh but if you can only get your hands on the dried stuff, don't let it stop you. INGREDIENTS 1 large onion 500g frozen garden peas 3-4 small potatoes chopped in 6-8 pieces each 8-10 fresh artichoke hearts that have been boiled for 10 minutes (or 1-2 tins) 1 large lemon 1 large bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped olive oil MAKE IT Chop the onion and saute it in a little olive oil over medium heat, Once soft and translucent, add the potatoes and stir for a couple of minutes before adding the garden peas, seasoning well, giving them a good stir, lowering the heat and letting them defrost with the lid on the pan. After about 10 minutes, open the lid, stir again and add the artichokes, the rind and juice of the lemon and 1/2-1 glass of water, to create enough juice and steam to allow the potatoes and artichokes to be cooked through (shouldn't take much). Once done (check that a sharp knife goes through the potatoes and artichoke hearts easily), take off the heat, add the chopped fill and some extra virgin live oil, stir and serve with optional lemon to be added on top! Oranges feature in both photos below because fruit are simply not getting enough publicity nowadays and/or because I forgot to take any decent photos not featuring oranges. Like a pro. This granola is fun! It is sticky and crunchy and chocolatey and orangey and turns milk into chocolate milkshake. It also gives you an excuse to make a batch of lovely orange marmalade or use up the one you have. What more can you ask for?
INGREDIENTS 300 g rolled oats 100 g rye flakes 3 heaped tbsp cacao powder 2 handfuls of raisins 3 tbsp tahini 170 g orange marmalade 30 g vegetable spread zest and juice of one orange MAKE IT Preheat the oven to 150C. In a big bowl mix all the dry ingredients together including the orange zest. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, mix the marmalade with the spread, the orange juice and tahini. Stir well until combined, this should only take 2 minutes or so, and pour into the dry mix. Using a spoon or your hands (be careful of the hot marmalade mix) , combine everything together well and pack the mixture in a large (I used a round one that's about 28cm in diameter) or two smaller roasting tin(s) so that it's about one inch thick when packed lightly. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 25-30 minutes. Leave to cool down completely before breaking up into chunks and storing in airtight containers or jars. As a testament to how good this corn bread is I'll tell you the following; last Tuesday I made it for my mum and dad. On the Wednesday my mum informed me that my dad had devoured half the bread as a midnight snack. Actions speak louder than words so this is massive compliment (thank you, dad). Unfortunately, it's also slightly problematic given that my dad is a diabetic with clearly limited self control (sorry, dad).
Sorry, mum (not sure what for exactly, but I feel it's best to be on the safe side). INGREDIENTS 2 tbs ground flaxseed 6 tbs water 10 sundried tomatoes (the ones stored in oil) finely chopped 1 cup non-dairy milk 1/4 cup sunflower oil 1 cup plain flour 1 1/4 cup corn meal 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 tbs baking powder 1/2 tsp salt Options: If you don't have or don't want to use sundried tomatoes, you can just omit them. The corn bread turns out delicious even without them. If you don't have non-dairy milk, you can use dairy milk. MAKE IT Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 15-18cm round tin with greaseproof paper, or if you have a non-stick tin just grease it lightly with oil. Start by mixing the flaxseed, water, milk, oil and chopped sundried tomatoes in one bowl. Leave the mix to one side. In a separate bowl put all the dry ingredients together and give them a good stir. Add the wet mix to the bowl with the dry ingredients and using a spoon or a spaluta mix everything together but do not beat or overmix. Pour in a non-stick or grease-proof paper-lined tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes until the top is golden/light brown. Enjoy with some olives, or as a little extra in your lunch box, or as a snack on its own - the options are endless! Seenamola (trademark) - catchy isn't it? Sounds like it could be any number of things; an exotic destination, a cinema venue or one of the weirder Tarantino movies. The seenamola below happens to be a delicious granola that will inspire you to do great things!
My husband told me that he thinks seenamola sounds like a disease. I said that when he comes up with a recipe, he can call it whatever the *&^* he wants. INGREDIENTS 300g rolled oats 100g rye flakes 2 tsp cinnamon 50g sunflower seeds 50g pumpkin seeds 50g sesame seeds 175g peach jam 50g coconut oil (or other vegetable fat) MAKE IT Preheat the oven to 150C. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, rye flakes, cinnamon and all three types of seeds and give them a good stir to mix well. in a saucepan, mix the jam and coconut oil over low/medium heat until runny and well combined. Add the jamj mix to the dry mix and stir everything well until you have a kind of dry, flakey mix that forms lumps when pressed. Pour the mix on a non-stick baking tray, or a normal tray lined with baking parchment, and bake in the middle self of the oven for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool in or out of the oven and break into chucks before storing in jars. I try to avoid making this banana bread very often as I cannot stop myself from eating it non-stop. Very easy to make and hard to get wrong with some optional modifications mentioned for additional vegan protein. The marzipan flavour is not strong but if you're not a fan at all, you can omit it and add an extra table spoon of brown sugar to the mix.
My Greek mum's tasting reaction: 'What kind of bread is this? You can't have it with your main, can you?' I guess the term 'bread' can be misleading (sorry mum). INGREDIENTS 150 g plain flour 75 g oats 50 g brown sugar 50 g marzipan grated coarsely (or if you'd rather omit it, one tbsp of brown sugar) 3 tsp baking powder 1-2 tsp cinnamon powder 3 bananas, the riper the better 50 g vegetable or sunflower oil 25 g non-dairy milk Optional: 50 gr walnuts 2-3 tbsp chia seeds MAKE IT Preheat the oven to 180C. In a bowl combine the flour, oats, sugar, grated marzipan, baking powder and cinnamon (plus walnuts, if using) and stir until well combined. In another bowl, mash the bananas with a spoon and add to them the oil, milk and chia seeds, if using. Add the banana mix to the dry ingredients and mix everything using a wooden spoon until well combined. Transfer the mix in a loaf or cake tin lined with grease proof paper and bake in the middle of the oven for 50-60 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the bread. Enjoy on its own and/or with chocolate spread, almond butter, tahini and maple syrup, glass of milk, cup of tea. Alongside pop corn, these really are the perfect movie snack. So make a big batch and enjoy tacking into them without the fear of biting into a horrible coffee flavoured one.
INGREDIENTS
MAKE IT Start by putting all the dates in a food processor and mixing them until they turn into one mushy, sticky ball. This will be the basis of your orange, peanut butter and cinnamon flavoured bites. Divide the mixture into three; then add and mix well the cinnamon to one third, the orange extract to the other one and the peanut butter to the third. Shape the mixture into tiny little bite-size balls (I make them about the size of a coffee bean or a little bit bigger) and leave aside. Break the nuts into roughly the same size pieces as the balls of date mix. Now melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over simmering water and start dropping the little balls in it. Make sure each has a good coating of chocolate and take out on a rack or greasproof paper to dry. Repeat with the nuts. This may take a little while, depending on how many bites you have made but it's fun to do and the result is definitely worth it. You can dry the bites in the fridge or at room temperature and they can keep really well for days/weeks (although they probably won/t last that long). |