Glazed Beetroot, Wood Sorrel, Walnut and Goats Cheese Salad

I have been a long time fan of eating weeds but my interest has reasently spiked due to the purchace of an amazing book called The Weed Foragers Handbook. It's written by some fellow melbournians and it can be purchased here from their website. For $25 delivered to your door it is a must for any australian home, as learning how to identify and gather free and nutrient rich food is so worthwhile.
Wood sorrel is found in most parts of the world. I remember picking the stems of the yellow flowers and chewing on them for their sour taste. My son enjoyed the flower stems in the same way when he was younger and called it sour grass. Wood sorrel very high in vitamin c and is helpful in treating influenza, urinary tract infections, diarrhoea, sprains, insect bites, open wound and hookworm. It is also said to have anti-cancer properties. Like most edible weeds and lots of fruit and vegetables, wood sorrel contain oxalic acid. Oxalic acid has many benefits and is also produced in the body. However very high consumption of it can be toxic and should be avoided in high doses by pregnant women and people who suffer from gout or kidney problems. I recommend reading this really good article on oxalic acid here.
Wood sorrel looks a lot like clover but is easily distinguishable by it's sour, lemony taste. Clover is also edible so don't be afraid to have a taste. The lovely wood sorrel is best used as a herb and its lovely lemony flavour is a great addition to many dishes.
Because of my new enhanced love for weeds and my abundant source of wood sorrel growing in my front yard I decided to make a twist on an old favourite. If you cant find wood sorrel then you can substitute with another salad green. the wood sorrel has such an intense lemony flavour that this salad does not really require further dressing. If you use another salad green then dress lightly with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

INGREDIENTS
Serves two as a light lunch or four as a side

4 small - medium beetroots
2 tsp of virgin coconut oil
2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
1 heaped tsp of raw honey
a pinch of good quality sea salt
a couple of handfuls of wood sorrel romove most of the stems
75g of goats chevre
a handfull of walnuts, lightly toasted and roughly broken up

DIRECTIONS

Put your beetroots in a pot of water and bring to the boil, reduce to medium heat and simmer until a fork can pierce through. Drain the beetroots and rinse under cold water rubbing the skin off with your fingers. If the skin doesn't come off easily (it should if there cooked enough but occasionally it won't) use a vegetable peeler. Dice the beetroots then return to the pot at medium heat with the oil, vinegar, honey and salt and let it bubble away, stirring occasionally until the liquid has reduced and the beetroots are completely covered in the glaze, about ten minutes. Let them cool a little, then assemble them on a plate the the remaining ingredients.

Enjoy!

Cheats Pizzoccheri (Buckwheat Pasta with Cavolo Nero, Cabbage and Potato)

 This dish is a cheats version of a classic northern Italian dish from Lombady. Traditionally it's made with fresh buckwheat pasta that is shaped like a short tagliatelle. As I am aware its the only traditional Italian pasta dish that is not made from wheat. I am yet to make this pasta from scratch but I have made this dish many of times using buckwheat pasta bought from the health food store. You can usually buy it in either spirals or penne and it is sometimes mixed with rice flour. I'm a big fan of pasta, but now that I don't eat wheat anymore it's not in my repertoire so much. I do eat spelt pasta, I find that it is a great substitute to wheat pasta without compromising the flavour. If you are gluten intolerant this is a great dish. It's rich, filling, tasty and great for the winter months. 

Best part is that I made this entirely in one pot! Dream dish.

Ingredients

250g of buckwheat pasta
 2 medium size (350g) organic all rounder potatoes like dutch creams, peeled and cut into small cubes
2-3 cloves of garlic minced
100g of pecorino
1/4 cabbage finely shredded
6 leaves of cavolo nero leaves removed from steams & sliced into thin ribbons
80g of taleggio thinly sliced
chunk of organic butter
good quality sea salt

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. If you have a cast iron pot use this as it can be used for the entire process. When the water is boiling add the pasta and potatoes and cook until the pasta is al dente and the potatoes are cooked through, about 7 minutes. Take out some of the cooking water using a mug and set aside. Drain the pasta and potatoes, set aside.
Put the pot back on the stove on medium heat. Add the butter and garlic cook for a minute or so. Add the cavolo nero and cabbage and cook for another few minutes until wilted. Take off the heat add the pasta and potatoes, pecorino, salt to taste and add a little bit of the reserved cooking water to loosen it up. Top with slices of taleggio and bake in the oven at 200 degrees celsius for 15-20 minutes.
Serve with a green salad and freshly cracked pepper.

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake with Cashew "Cream Cheese" Icing

I had my Mum stay with us for a few days last week. It was my brothers birthday and she decided to make him a carrot cake. Mostly it's the small things that make you smile. Watching my kids help my Mum make this simple cake warmed my heart. You miss these moments when it's not something that you get to see often. This is basically the same cake my Mum made just a tiny bit healthier. My Mum decorated her cake with lovely fresh strawberries which was delicious. Anyone who has ever eaten a desert or cake made by me would have most likely had it adorned with flowers. Flowers and food are up there for favourite things of mine so when I have an abundance of edible spring flowers blooming in my garden, well I can't help myself.
The cashew icing is a new and welcomed invention, it makes an excellent substitute to a cream cheese icing.

INGREDIENTS
serves 12 generous slices

Carrot Cake

2 cups of spelt flour
2 1/2 cups of grated carrot ( about three medium-large carrots)
1 cup of walnuts
4  organic, biodynamic or home laid eggs
1 1/2 cups of muscovado sugar (unrefined brown sugar)
1 cup of grapeseed oil
2 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tsp of good quality sea salt

2 /12 tsp of cinnamon

3 tsp of vanilla essence

 Cashew "Cream Cheese" Icing

100g cashews soaked for 4 hrs, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup of organic icing sugar
zest of half a lemon
juice of one large lemon
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tbsp coconut butter

DIRECTIONS

Set the oven at 180 degrees celsius. In an electric mixer beat the eggs and the sugar for about 3 minutes, the mixture will  have thickened and will be lighter in colour. Slowly add the oil and the vanilla. then add the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and beat until well combined. Fold the carrots and the walnuts in with a wooden spoon. Pour the mixture into a oiled and floured cake tin, I used a 22cm spring form cake tin. Bake for an hour and test with a skewer to make sure it's cooked. Let cool in the tin for fifteen minutes then turn out on to a cake rack to cool completely. Carefully cut in half when cooled and ice with the icing
Store the cake in a cake tin in the fridge for up to a week

For the icing put all the ingredients into the blender and blend for a few minutes or until smooth

Enjoy!

Potato Dosa

This is not a very traditional dosa. It's my version of the Sri Lankan Farmers breakfast that they serve at Lentil as Anything  which is essentially a dosa. The pancake (dosa) is made out of buckwheat flour and chickpea flour, it's gluten free and vegan. Buckwheat is technically a fruit not a grain. Both the buckwheat flour and chickpea flour are high in protein which is not the case with other flours. Lots of people have jumped on the gluten free band wagon who are not gluten intolerant, which is great... a lot of us could stand to cut down on our gluten intake. However the gluten free pastas and and flours that you can buy are often very refind and can spike your blood sugar levels even higher than wheat can. You don't have that problem with these to flours I've used here and better still chickpea flour  can be whipped up yourself in the blender from dried chickpeas in minutes.

With the left over dosas, my children ate them with jam after dinner. Which sounds strange but Chickpeas surprisingly make the jump over to sweet-land quite nicely. I once made a cake out of chickpeas and no other grain, it was quite good. So if you are gluten intolerant this dosa recipe could be a good one for you with many a topping.

The filling has cauliflower in it. If you don't have any or it's not in season replace it with a medium sweet potato. It's equally as good.

And for the final part of my rant. I have specified to use organic potatoes. Even if you don't buy much organic food, potatoes are one thing that you should consider buying. As they are a root vegetable they absorb all the chemical used on them. And there is a lot. No amount of washing can get rid of them. Also the price difference is very marginal depending where you go. And they taste very, very different (BETTER).

If you are vegan I've added a little idea at the end to replace the yogurt sauce.

INGREDIENTS

Dosa

130g Chickpea flour (1 cup of dried chickpeas)

130g Buckwheat flour

1 tsp of baking soda

a pinch of salt

500 ml of luke warm water
2 tbsp of coconut butter melted + extra for frying

Filling

4 medium organic potatoes (I used nicola) peeled and diced

half a cauliflower roughly chopped

1 large onion diced

150g of podded peas fresh or frozen organic

2 tsp nigella seeds

2 tsp ground coriander

3 tsp of turmeric

1 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp of curry powder

about half a bunch of fresh coriander

1 tsp of good quality sea salt

coconut butter or olive oil

Tomato Sauce

1 large onion

1 jar of tomato pasata

1 tsp of nigella seeds

1 tsp salt

Turmeric Yogurt

1 cup or so of organic or biodynamic yogurt

1 tsp of turmeric

a pinch of salt

1 garlic clove

DIRECTIONS

For the dosa place a cup of dried chickpeas in the blender and blend on high speed for a few minutes. This will yield about 130g of flour. Place all the dry ingredients in a bowel and the melted coconut butter and then the warm water a bit at a time whisking the whole time until you have a smooth batter the consistancy of runny cream. Put a plate over your bowel and set aside while you make the filling.

For the filling bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook the potatoes and cauliflower until tender.

Meanwhile start the tomato sauce. Peel the onion and slice it in half, lengthways and then thinly slice it widthways so you have half circles. Fry them in olive oil until soft but not brown. Add the nigella seeds, the pasata and a pinch of salt and cook on medium to high heat for about ten minutes.

Now back to the filling. Drain the potato and cauliflower when they are tender reserving a teacup of cooking liquid. Fry the onions until they are soft, add the spices and cook for a minute longer. Now add the potato and cauliflower and the cooking liquid, stirring every now and then to prevent the bottom from sticking. After a few minutes add the peas. Cook for a few minutes longer then turn off the heat and add the fresh coriander.

Now get a heavy pan (I used a cast iron pan you may need to test out what temperature works best for your pan) And set it on high heat add a little coconut butter and put in 3/4 of a ladle full into you pan, moving the pan around so you have a thin layer. when the dosa is full of holes and dry on top gently flip over and cook the other side until golden. Repeat method until all the dosa are cooked. Keeping the cooked dosa inside two plates in a warm oven until your ready to go.

To fill the dosa. put one on a plate and put the filling over half of it. Fold the dosa in half and top with the tomato sauce, turmeric sauce (directions below) and fresh coriander.

Turmeric Yogurt

Place the all ingredients except for the garlic in a bowel and stir with a fork. Smash the garlic, skin on with a heavy knife and sit the garlic in the sauce for ten minutes, Remove it before serving.

Vegan Turmeric Sauce.

Soak a cup of cashews in filtered water for four hours, drain and rinse. Put the cashews, a 1/4 of a clove of garlic, juice of half a lemon, 1 tsp of turmeric and a pinch of salt. Slowly add water with the blender on until you have the desired consistency.

Enjoy!

Poached Asparagus with a Fried Dukkah Egg and Goats Chevre

This year has been our strictest year yet in regards to sticking to seasonal produce. And I have really been enjoying honouring and connecting with the earths cycle in this way but it safe to say that now I'm very excited about the change in variety that is now available.
Asparagus is a big favourite of mine. I'm happy to eat it any time of the day and this dish reflects that. It's lovely for brunch, lunch, a light dinner or can be quite impressive as a side.
The dish can also be split in to three parts that you can use in other ways.
The asparagus prepared this way is just lovely and can be used in or on the side of many dishes.When I was a teenager there was a french bakery/deli near my house that used to do the asparagus this way. It wasn't there for very long but I never forgot the asparagus and I always prepare them this way no matter what I use them in. It makes them look like jewels.

The dukkah can be used in many ways. Just with fresh bread and olive oil, In a wrap with hummus, avocado and salad, on top of a salad, on top of home made bake beans etc etc..

And its also nice in a pretty jar as a gift.
And finally the dukkah fried egg which is hands down my favourite way to eat an egg. It's great with all the usual savoury breakfast suspects.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 1 or 2-4 as a side

A bunch of asparagus

1 organic or bio-dynamic local free range egg

Goats chevre local and rennet free

Dukkah store bought or recipe below

Apple cider vinegar

Freshly cracked pepper

Flat leaf parsley leaves picked apart by hand

Dill leaves picked apart by hand

Olive oil

salt

DIRECTIONS

Put a pot of water on to boil big enough to fit the asparagus in length ways. Hold the asparagus at both ends and snap the ends off, the rough end naturally snaps where it needs to. Get a vegetable peeler and peal an inch or two of the skin from the ends of the asparagus. When the waters boiling add two cap full's of the vinegar to the water and then cook the asparagus for 30 seconds to a minute. Drain them and rinse them in cold water, pat them dry with a clean tea-towel. Coat the asparagus in olive oil and cracked pepper and use your hands to make sure they are well coated.

Put some olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and sprinkle the pan with dukkah and crack your egg onto it. 

When the egg is well cooked on the bottom and there is just a little bit of uncooked white around the yolk, sprinkle the egg with more dukkah, flip the egg and turn it off the heat and leave it in the pan for about another 30 seconds or so.

Put the asparaus on a serving plate, top with the egg, some goats chevre, the herbs and some more olive oil.

DUKKAH

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup of coriander seeds

1/4 cup of cumin seeds

1/4 cup of  raw almonds

1/4 cup os sesame seeds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 colve of freshly grated nutmeg

cracked pepper

1 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

Toast the seeds in a large frying pan, stirring frequently until quite fragrant and nicely browned. Put in a blender with the remaining ingredients and blend until fine (but not too fine).

Store in a glass jar for up to a month.

Enjoy!

Spelt and Coconut Banana Loaf with Raw Cashew Cream

There always bananas at our house but no one ever eats them and eventually they always go brown. But rather than ceasing to buy them, every week we go through the same charade. So that when they do go brown, we get to eat cake.

It's kind of healthy enough that you can pass it off as breakfast or any meal really. Here I've teamed it with cashew cream and strawberries. It's great on its own, with ice cream or toasted with butter.

The Cashew cream is lovely with seasonal fruit or a myriad of other fruit based cakes.

The addition of the lemon juice to the milk makes the cake light and moist. 

SPELT AND COCONUT BANANA LOAF

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 Cups of spelt flour

3/4 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup of raw honey

1 tsp of bicarb soda

1 1/3 cup milk*

juice of half a lemon

1 cup of mashed banana's (2 large or 3 small bananas)

140g coconut butter

2 eggs (organic, free range & local) lightly beaten with a fork

* I use Bio Dynamic milk or Raw organic milk (sold as bath milk in australia due to pasteurising law's) if you wish to make this cake dairy free use a nut milk.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius and line a tin with baking paper, I use a 19 x 19 cm deep square tin. Melt the honey and the coconut butter on very low heat, set aside. Add the lemon juice to the milk, set aside.

Place the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and add all of the wet ingredients, mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Pour into the tin and bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour. Test with a metal skewer, it will come out clean when it's cooked.

RAW CASHEW CHANTILLY CREAM

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup of raw cashews soaked overnight or min 4 hours

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tbsp of raw honey

1/2 vanilla pod

1/2 cup of  filtered water

DIRECTIONS

Drain and rinse the cashews, scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod (you can put the empty pod into your honey jar or sugar jar for added flavour.....lovely in tea).  Put all of the ingredients into the blender except for the water, put it on high speed adding the water a little at a time until you have a very smooth and creamy consistency. It will take a couple of minutes.

Enjoy!

We did!

Breakfast Quinoa

This is more of a basic formula than a recipe. It's visually pleasing, very satisfying, delicious, quick to make and very good for you.

DIRECTIONS

Cooked quinoa, I find a handful (15-20g) is enough for one person and it only takes ten minutes cook.

Seasonal fruit

Nuts or seeds

Maple syrup

 Labne or yogurt if your not vegan. If you are it's just as good without

I recommend giving the labne a go if you haven't made it before. It turns yogurt into something thats creamy and amazing and it takes little effort and just a bit of planning ahead.
To make lebne place a good quality full cream organic or bio-dynamic plain yogurt in muslin tie up with string and hang in the fridge over a bowl for one or two nights, discard the collected liquid. Un wrap and store your labne in the fridge in an airtight container or a bowl with a plate on top.

Below -  Quinoa with strawberries, kiwifruit, macadamias, labne and maple syrup.

Below -  Quinoa with apples, dried fig, pumpkin seeds, labne and maple syrup.

  Enjoy!

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!

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!