Flourless Hazelnut Kisses

These are an amazing decadent little treat, that are really just a rustic version (or ugly cousin) of a macaroon. They are comparatively healthy, Gluten free and Dairy free.You can make these without the filling if you like, the biscuits are equally delicious on their own and they do keep for longer. And although there is a few processes involved they are very easy to make.

This recipe uses a small amount of orange zest with I think makes them exceptional. I have a member of my family that hates rind of any kind so I make half the batch with and half without it.  So if you happen to be a rind loather by all means leave it out.

INGREDIENTS

Biscuits

Makes 30-35 individual biscuits and around 15 kisses

200g of raw hazelnuts

2  organic eggs 

pinch of salt

1/2 a vanilla bean seed scraped out

1/2 a cup of raw organic sugar

1 tsp of orange zest

Filling

50g of raw hazelnuts

1/2 a cup of cacao

1/2 a cup of organic icing sugar *

4 tbsp of coconut butter

*you can get organic icing sugar that has had less refinement at your local health food store or you could use coconut sugar or agave etc etc instead.

 

DIRECTIONS

Roast all your hazelnuts (250g) in a hot oven (about 250 degrees celsius) for around 5 minutes, their skins will be darker and cracked. Place them in a clean tea towel and rub their skins off, don't be too concerned if there is a little skin left on them. Take 50g back and set aside for your filling.
Flour your hazelnuts in a blender and set aside. Separate the eggs. Lightly beat the egg yolks, vanilla seeds and orange zest and 2 tbsp of the sugar with a fork and set aside. In a beater beat the egg whites and a pinch of salt on high spread until soft peaks form then beat in the remaining sugar a little at a time until stiff and glossy.
Fold your hazelnut flour into the egg whites and and then your egg yolk mixture until just combined.
Use two teaspoons to form your biscuits onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and cook for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees celsius.
Cool on a baking tray and fill them they are quite cold.

For the filling first ground the hazelnuts in the blender then add the coconut butter blend for a few seconds more then add your icing sugar and cacao powder whizz for another 20 seconds or so and then place in a bowel in the fridge for 20 mins or so till it thickens a little. Then gently spread on to your biscuit and top with another and voila!

Enjoy!

Parsley and Pistachio Pesto

I really love pesto, its one of my favourite things to make and eat. I learnt how to make it when i was a teenager from my mother so it's one of the oldest in my repertoire.

Unfortunately basil is only really good in summer. Luckily parsley makes an equally good pesto and is plentiful all year round.

I tried to grow my own parsley but it went to seed last year and died. I have recently found it again away from the veggie patch sneaking up behind some pot plants though he is not really ready to be picked.

A very good friend has been far more successful than me and she brings me over huge bunches of the best unadulterated parsley ever. Thank goodness for good friends.

Use the best parsley you can find for this recipe.

INGREDIENTS

makes about two cups

A big bunch of parsley or two small bunches (home grown or organic preferably)

200g of shelled pistachios

A small clove of garlic

Juice of one lemon

1 tsp salt

2 tsp of apple cider vinegar

1 cup of olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Remove the large stems from the parsley so your left with just the leaves and the smaller steams, skin the garlic and place all the ingredients into the blender. 

Use the pulse action on your blender or food processor, you don't want the consistency to smooth.

I regularly stop the processing and move it all around with a butter knife to make sure it's all getting blended. Alternatively you could make this with a mortar and pestle.

Place in a clean jar, top with extra olive all and store in the fridge for up to a week.

Use on your favourite pasta (I like to use spelt) or raw sweet potato (winter) or raw zucchini (summer) pasta or use the recipe below.

Its also really good served as a dip with organic corn chips and hummus.

My daughter likes it instead of butter on her toast for eggs and soldiers (camouflage soldiers)

I love pasta but I try not to eat it to often. I used a purple sweet potato instead of pasta and I have to say it was better. 

It has a lovely soft and starchy texture comparable to gnocchi  but it is much sweeter and complex in flavour and is better for you.

Bake the sweet potato in the oven at 250 degrees celsius in a oven proof pot with a lid on it. I use this method rather that tin foil, again it's better for you and the environment.

This should take around 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your sweet potato. Test it with a knife, it should be nice and soft and you will see little bits where it has caramelised on the sides.

Open it up through the middle, top with the pesto and some goats feta( if your not vegan of course), olive oil and cracked pepper and serve with a green salad.

This is lovely as a main or served as a side dish.

Enjoy!

Raw Pistachio and Almond Chocolate

This is so easy to make, I usually have all this stuff on hand and if you have a super hankering for chocolate you can soothe the beast in around half an hour. The best thing is that with these ingredients your better off eating this chocolate than not.

 INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup of Raw Honey

1 cup of Cacao powder

2/3 cup of Coconut butter

1 tsp of Cinnamon

a pinch of Salt

 a large handful of raw shelled Pistachios

and a large handful of raw Almonds

DIRECTIONS

Melt the honey and the coconut butter over a very low flame, stirring constantly. When melted take off the flame and stir in the rest of the ingredients. Pile the chocolate onto some baking paper and wrap it up so its a nice rectangular log shape. Place it in the fridge or the freezer (if you need it pronto). Take it out when its firm (about half an hour in the freezer) cut into thick slices and eat.

Enjoy!

Parsnip soup with Cavolo Nero chips

This is my favourite way to eat parsnips. It's a lovely sweet and creamy soup and it's super easy to make. Parsnips contain compounds in them that are anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory and protect against cancer.

They are packed full of vitamins such as vitamin C and B complex groups including folic acid and B6. It's also high in potassium as well as other healthy minerals.

Now on to the Kale chips.

You can find many other dressed up recipe's on the net. This is simple and suites the soup. Kale chips are delicious and so easy to make. I used Cavolo Nero because I grow it in our backyard (so easy to grow) and the flavour of it suits the Parsnip soup but you could use any kind of Kale.

INGREDIENTS

serves 4

Olive oil or Virgin Coconut butter

2 large Onions

6 Parsnips

1 Large Potato peeled

Freshly grated nutmeg (half a whole nutmeg)

Good quality sea salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Dice onions and cook in oil over medium heat until translucent. Add roughly chopped potato and parsnips, nutmeg and a good pinch of salt. Just cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook until the potato and parsnips are tender.

Let it cool then chuck it all into the blender. Add a little more water if you need to until you have a good, creamy consistency. Season to taste.

For the chips. roughly chop the leaves of a large bunch of washed and dried kale. Very lightly toss in olive oil with a touch of salt. Spread out onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a pre-heated oven at 150 celsius for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them though as they can burn. I took about half out 5 minutes before the rest.

Heat the soup and serve toped with a handful of Kale chips.

Enjoy!

Diakon, Carrot and Chervil Salad

I'm quite fond of Thursdays. Thats when we get our box of organic veggies from Ceres.

It's great for a few reasons; it's seasonal, it's fresh, it's affordable, it's a nice surprise and see whats in there for the week and it's great getting veggies that you might walk past in the store. 

We'll last week I got two things that fit into the later statement, Chervil and Diakon.

This salad is fresh, seasonal, easy, delicate and satisfying.

The same day that I had made this salad for lunch I had had a blueberry danish for breakfast as a "treat". Well after a weekend of wine and rich food it felt more like a punishment and the salad the treat.

I got to thinking....whats the real treat when it comes to food?

INGREDIENTS

serves 2 or 3-4 as part of a spread

1 Diakon

1 Large Carrot

a large handfull of the following

Chervil, Parsley, Macadamias, Currants

To Dress

Good quality sea salt, Olive oil and a squeeze of Lemmon 

DIRECTIONS

First peel and then ribbon the Diakon and Carrot with a vegetable peeler.

Roughly chop the macadamias.

Hand pick the leaves of the Chervil and the Parsley (sounds pretty tedious but it's worth it to maintain the simple and delicate nature of this dish).

Add the currants and lightly dress and toss. 

This can be made and served all on the one board.

Enjoy!

Note to self

For the past month or so I have been drinking a lot of warm water with rose petals, orange slices and calendula petals( and sometimes a bit of raw honey)

I find it's the only way i keep my water intake up when it's cold.

And I eat less when I drink more water.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a name for this from great article here that has many great suggestions which I originally found from here.

Now it's getting a little warmer I've been moving on to room temperature Spa water with lemon, orange and peppermint.

There are so many variations, try and stick to what is seasonal and readily available.

Enjoy!

Staple: Black Bean Tacos

I came across something quite exciting on the weekend and I'm going to have to use a dirty word to explain. Safeway(not too keen on promoting the giant but....) now makes white corn tortillas. In Melbourne they have been quite hard to get until now. I've heard a rumour that a Mexican bakery is opening up soon that will make them fresh. Until then....thanks Safeway!

Now the real recipe here is for the black beans (turtle beans). On it's own it's very simple, basic and easy but it is a great base for other recipes. This recipe is a large quantity. I buy these beans in a kilo bag and I like to make up the whole lot split it into three lots and put the remaining two in the freezer. Which is great for when you feel like Mexican on the spot. This base recipe for black beans has no chilli, you can add it if you like but I like the option of the individual adding their own heat to the dish. These beans are great on Nachos, Quesadillas, with corn bread guacamole and a green salad etc etc.

Black beans have the same amount of protein as as beef , Fibre (beef has none), no saturated fat, and no cholesterol.

                                                            BLACK BEAN RECIPE

makes enough for about 3 x 4 serves

1 kg black beans soaked for 8hrs or overnight

2 large onions diced

1 large elephant garlic clove or 3 or 4 regular cloves minced

1 Tbsp of smoked paprika

1 Tbsp of cumin freshly ground in a mortar and pestle

1 Tbsp of coriander freshly ground in a mortar and pestle

2 Tbsp of good quality salt (I use macrobiotic sea salt). It sounds like allot but it's allot of beans. However it would be wise to put the salt in a bit at a time and taste as you go.

DIRECTIONS

Boil the beans in plenty of water for 45 mins - 1hr or until they are soft.

Drain.

Cook the onions on medium heat  in olive oil or coconut oil until translucent. Add the garlic and spices and cook for a minute longer. Add the beans, salt and 2 cups of water and continue to cook on a medium flame until they are a nice thick consistency about 25 mins.

These beans tend to absorb more liquid that any other legume. So if they start to look a little dry when you are reheating them add a little more water. You don't want the beans too loose for tacos though, otherwise you'll loose them out the sides.

TACOS

Corn Tortillas

Beans

Salad mix

Good quality rennet free/organic cheese grated

Good quality/organic sour cream

Avocado

Jalapenos

Hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

Heat the tortillas individually in a pan so they're ever so lightly charred and then stick them in the oven until you've finished the lot and you are ready to go.

Stick it all on the table and let them build their own.

VARIATIONS

Vegan

Beans, Salad mix, Guacamole, Jalapenos, Spring onions and Coriander

or

Beans, Rockett, Spring onion, Roast sweet potato, Goats curd and Green chilli

Enjoy!