Date Archives September 2014

Almond Blackcurrant Tarts with Salted Lime

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Almond Blackcurrant Tarts with Salted Lime

 

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I spent a gorgeously sunny few days at home in Wiltshire this weekend and had to make a batch of my favourite sweet treat. The recipe is from one of my previous blog posts but adapted slightly with some lime salt which I thought was a quirky experiment. I love salt with sweetness and the sharp lime and blackcurrant in this recipe make sure you’ll never forget the taste. Served with coconut ice cream it would happily top off my last meal…

Recipe

  1. Make the basic tartlets as per the recipe link above adding the zest of 1 lime to the frangipane mixture.
  2. For the icing, mix about 2 tbsp of icing sugar with a tiny amount of lime juice and mix until thick. Add more icing sugar if its too runny. Spoon into a plastic piping bag and snip off the end.
  3. Once cool, ice a neat pattern or random design on top.
  4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 75°C. Place the zest of 1- ½ a lime on a piece of parchment on a baking tray and dry in the low oven for about 20 minutes to intensify the flavours. Alternatively you can leave it to dry overnight. Mix the dried zest with a tiny pinch of salt.
  5. Scatter sparingly on top of the tarts and top with a few dainty leaves of mint.

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Lime Curd Bounty Bites

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Lime Curd Bounty Bites

 

A little experiment from another Greek treat my sister and I recently collapsed over in owe and love on our recent holiday.  ‘Calm down’ you may say, its basically a bounty stuck on a biscuit? Agreed. But a good one and after a 5th evening of baklava, this was most welcome.

On returning home I’ve adapted my own version. I usually use recipes, books and blogs just for inspiration more than a guide and I’m not one to steal recipes like for like without my own twist. But the filling needed a starting point so I’ve used the solid recipe from a fellow blogger (see here….but please return!) and spiked mine with lime curd. Like I say, it was an experiment and apparently lime curd doesn’t freeze? (see recipe for more detail on this) But these still turned out pretty awesome.

PS. No I didn’t stick mine to a biscuit but a ginger snap wouldn’t go a-miss here. Or anywhere for that matter?

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Makes about 15

  • 140g unsweetened desiccated coconut (and some for decoration)
  • 40ml coconut oil, melted
  • 30ml maple syrup
  • Lime curd – optional (enough for 1tsp/bite)
  • Zest 1 lime
  • 100g Green & Blacks 85% dark chocolate (Also good here would be their lemon flavour bar)
  1. Begin by combining the coconut, 35ml of the coconut oil, syrup and a pinch of salt in a food processor until well combined.
  2. Use a ice cube tray or mini cupcake mould and line with cling film. If using the lime curd, drop a small tsp into each.
  3. Fill each hole with a tsp or so of the coconut and push down until compressed well on top of the curd (if using)
  4. Freeze until set for about 2 hours.
  5. After this, melt the chocolate over simmering water and set aside.
  6. Remove the coconut from the freezer and take each from their wells and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. The lime curd will probably be a bit sticky but go with it if you can.image
  7. Dip each piece using two forks into the bowl of melted chocolate until covered fully and place flat side down on the baking parchment
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  9. Repeat with the remaining pieces and top with a sprinkle of coconut and lime zest while the chocolate is still not fully set.
  10. Place in the fridge until set and then store in an air tight container so they don’t pick up any nasty fridge odours…!

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Spiced Lamb, Charred Carrots, Green Coucous, Saffron Yoghurt

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Spiced Lamb, Charred Carrots, Green Coucous, Saffron Yoghurt

 

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I strongly recommend and encourage you to use Organic carrots here but if they’re homegrown, all the better. You can usually tell by their wispy piggy-tail-like ends – these bits always seem to taste the sweetest and nicest. Being simply boiled and charred in a griddle with lemon, the flavour has to good otherwise you’ll just end up chewing on a tasteless carrot stick….

The green couscous recipe is adapted from Ottolenghi and the remainder is a combination of flavours and textures I love and craved last weekend of August that raced by in the blink of my (luckily sun glass clad) eyes!

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Serves 2

Green Couscous

  • 100g cous cous
  • 150ml boiling water
  • 1 small onion, finely sliced
  • Ground cumin
  • 25g pistachios, chopped roughly
  • 1 small green chilli, chopped
  • Large bunch herbs: Parsley, basil, mint, coriander, dill
  • Good olive oil
  1. Place the couscous in a shallow bowl and season well. Add a very small knob of butter if you wish and then pour over the boiling water. Cover and set aside.
  2. Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan and gently and slowly fry the onion until soft and beginning to colour. Add a big pinch of cumin and fry for a few minutes before taking off the heat.
  3. While the onion is cooking, make the herb paste. Blend the herbs in a food processor, adding a slow stream of oil until blended nicely into a paste (The amount of oil you add here is up to you. The more you add the more moist the couscous will be).
  4. When the couscous has absorbed all the water, use a fork to fluff up the grains and add to the pan with the cumin onions. Add the green chilli and pistachios and finely stir through your herb paste.
  5. Taste and add a touch or lemon juice or seasoning or more olive oil to loosen.

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Carrots

  • 6-8 Organic/home grown carrots, cleaned
  • 1 lemon, zest
  • 1tbsp olive oil
  1. Leave the carrots whole and cook in simmering water for about 4 minutes or so but just until tender when pierced with a knife but still with lots of bite and a bit of crunch. Drain and leave to cool and dry a little.
  2. Heat a griddle pan until hot and add the oil.
  3. Griddle the carrots until beginning to char on the outside for a few minutes
  4. Serve warm with the couscous, with the grated lemon zest scattered over the top.

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Lamb Steaks and Yoghurt

  • 2 lamb leg steaks (You can also use lamb cutlets if you wish)
  • Ras el Hanout, Smoked paprika, spice mix (see here)
  • Olive oil
  • 150g plain yoghurt
  • Pinch saffron threads
  1. Sprinkle a good pinch of the dry spices and spice mix over your lamb steaks. Drizzle with olive oil and massage the spices into the meat. Set aside at room temperature.
  2. Put the saffron in a small cup and add 1 tbsp of hot water. Leave to infuse.
  3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan or griddle pan until hot.
  4. Fry the steaks for 2 minutes per side (for a piece the thickness of mine, about 2cm, for medium) and then wrap tightly in foil and leave to rest for at least 5 minutes while you assemble the dish.
  5. Take the saffron water (which should be a vibrate yellow) Pour into the yoghurt with some generous seasoning and stir to combine.
  6. When ready to serve, carve your rested lamb and serve on top of your couscous and carrots with a generous dollop of yoghurt. Drizzle with the resting lamb juices!

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Wine suggestion: Sijnn White 2012 (Chenin-Viogner)

I devoured this with a glass (or two) of Sijnn White 2012. South African, 84% Chenin Blanc, 16% Viogner. Stony fruits, peach, mineral and nutty flavour went deliciously with the spices in this dish.

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Apple Pie ‘Duffins’ and a 2nd Birthday

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Apple Pie ‘Duffins’ and a 2nd Birthday

 

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This weekend called for a belated blog birthday celebration and naturally a cake! Celebrating not only the last day of August which was blissfully sunny and spent wakeboarding on a glass-like lake in Wiltshire with some friends, but also the 2nd birthday of ‘forage in the pantry’ or FITP as its been recently named. Since my first ever blogged recipe and still one of my absolute favourites (see here) it has been two years of new experiments, flavours, combinations, styles, and ingredients which have flown by deliciously. A LOT has happened and changed in these past 2 years but the blog has been ticking over loyally and creatively in the background. Maintaining my sanity and satiety.

It pains me to say it but as Autumn approaches on the horizon in the form of darker nights and colder mornings, the apples are abundant and I felt it only natural to choose them as the star in my birthday cake. Taking inspiration from the controversial Starbucks ‘Duffin’ (muffin filled with jam) I have concocted a cinnamon cake filled wickedly with a slow roasted spiced apple puree and a tangy ginger lemon frosting. I refrained from rolling in sugar. Delicious served fresh on the day bitten into with no prior warning of the jammy filling.

Apple Puree – see here

Apple Crisps

  • 1 apple
  • 65g caster sugar
  • 35ml water
  • cinnamon
  1. Preheat the oven to 130° C and line a baking tray with parchment.
  2. Slice the apple on the horizontal using a mandolin to very fine slithers.
  3. Heat the water and sugar in a pan until the sugar dissolves and it bubbles into a lovely clear syrup.
  4. Lay the slices on the tray and brush with the glaze. Dust with a little cinnamon and sugar if you like and bake in a low oven for about 30 minutes until dry and crisp. Leave to cool.

Cinnamon Muffins – I actually found these too big and dense. I think they’d work much better as cupcake with a lighted spongy texture so I have included a recipe below but feel free to make them GIANT and muffin like as titled.

  • 115g unsalted butter
  • 115g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 115g flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 35g chopped hazelnuts (optional)
  • 2-3 tbsp milk
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  1. Preheat the oven to 180° C and line a cupcake tin with cases.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together very well until pale a fluffy.
  3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla a bit at a time.
  4. Now sieve in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold in gently until just incorporated.
  5. Fold in the nuts and loosen with a dash of milk if needed.
  6. Fill your cupcake cases and bake for about 15 minutes until golden and set in the middle. Leave to cool.

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Ginger Lemon Buttercream

  • 125g softened unsalted butter
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp ginger syrup (from a jar of stem ginger. You can also add some chopped stem ginger if you like)
  • 1 lemon, zest only
  1. Combine all (in a food processor) until well mixed. Fill a piping bag and use to decorate the duffins.

Assembling….

  • Take your cooled cupcake/muffin and slice the top off (usually easier if they have risen with a dome!)
  • Cut out the middle to create a small whole keeping the removed cake.
  • Fill with about 2tsp of apple puree.
  • Top with a little bit of the filling to hide the puree, eat the excess.
  • Pipe the buttercream over the top in any pattern you like
  • Top with a wafer
  • The best bit….serve to a greedy worthy friend.

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