Month: October 2013

Roasted Vegetable & Feta Quinoa

Posted in Dinner, Lunch, SaladsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Veg Quinoa

Oh quinoa, how I love you! Quinoa is always the answer when you’re after an easy to make, healthy dinner after a hard day’s work. In fact, for me, it’s always the answer even when I’ve had a lazy day. It’s the perfect base to salads or side dishes and barely a week goes by without me boiling up a batch.

Veg Quinoa

For the uninitiated, quinoa is kind of like couscous, but it’s much more nutritious, gluten free and its texture is much less dry and sandy. (Can you tell I’m not a couscous fan?) It’ll soak up the flavour of your dressing and sits happily with almost any flavour. Apparently you can even use it in baking, although I haven’t tested this theory yet! If you haven’t tried quinoa yet, you really have to! Promise me you will, okay? (Pushy? Me? Never)

Veg Quinoa

Now that autumn has enveloped us, it’s time to fall back on some trusty and comforting roasted veg. It’s squash season right now and I beg you to make the most of it. Sure you can go with a boring old butternut squash, but why not hunt out something a little more exciting. Crown Prince, or in this case Onion squashes are simply incredible and a decent sized supermarket should stock them or something similar. They both have a slight hint of chestnut to their flavour and are frankly gorgeous simply sprinkled with dried thyme and rapeseed oil and roasted as a side dish, but here they work wonderfully in an autumnal salad. (continue reading…)

Cardamom Rice Pudding with Spiced Plums

Posted in DessertsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 11 Comments

Rice Pudding 1

The time has most definitely come for comfort food. Large bowls of fabulous, spicy concoctions, to be enjoyed as the rain pours down the windows and the evenings roll in. Ideally there should be a log fire involved, although if I started one in my flat I fear that my service charge would increase exponentially.

Rice pudding 2

Rice pudding has always had a place in my heart, but I’ve never made it, having assumed that it would take hours to cook and being, essentially, lazy. But recently, Joy the Baker and Tracy Shutterbean have shown me that it’s possible to make a completely amazing rice pudding in only half an hour! This was a total revelation to me and this weekend I finally got round to testing out the recipe. Let me tell you, I’m glad I did!

Rice pudding 4

The key is to replace the usual pudding rice with risotto rice, which cooks much faster but still has the requisite starchiness to make the pudding beautifully creamy. Cooking the rice for half an hour retains some of the bite, resulting in texture perfection. (continue reading…)

Spiced Honey Roast Almonds

Posted in SnacksTagged , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Honey Spiced Almonds 1

A lovely weekend back home with my family, involving plenty of good food and a wonderful Christening, (Yes, I finally have my first Godchild, Harry, and he is utterly gorgeous!)  resulted in no daylight time in my own kitchen. Therefore, I was forced to invade the family kitchen and whip up something quick, simple, yet oh so good!

Honey Spiced Almonds 2

Is it just me, or are almonds just the best thing ever? Not only do they taste amazing in their natural raw state (and apparently lower your cholesterol), but they’re also a dream cake ingredient, the perfect addition to granola, essential for a beautiful macaroon (I simply must master these soon!) and the key ingredient of my all time favourite, frangipane. But what’s more, roast them up, drizzle them with honey and spices, and you’ve got something seriously special on your hands.

Honey Spiced Almonds 3

This was my first attempt at home roasted nuts, but I needn’t have worried, it really is simple. As long as you set your kitchen timer and don’t abandon them, there’s very little risk of them burning, they’ll just turn a slightly darker brown, their taste will be intensified and your kitchen will smell amazing! (continue reading…)

Salted Pistachio & Dark Chocolate Biscotti

Posted in Biscuits, SnacksTagged , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

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Salt and sweet, for me it’s a life long love affair. Despite the fact that I’m as British as bangers and mash, my childhood lunch of choice was most definitely the all-American peanut butter and jam sandwich, PB and J if you will / must. (I’m sorry, I just can’t call it jelly, you have to draw the line somewhere!)

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As I’ve matured (umm…) and developed a mildly crazy peanut phobia, so my tastes have evolved, but my salty/sweet love has not abated. I could eat chocolate covered pretzels until they’re coming out of my ears, but my most recent obsession is the salted chocolate chip cookie.

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Having previously whipped up a very tasty batch of salted pistachio and dark chocolate cookies, I was keen to find out whether a salted biscotti would work equally well. And let me tell you, salted chocolate seems to work in just about anything! (continue reading…)