Monday, July 30, 2007

Roast Whole Garlics

Baste whole garlic heads with olive oil and a little salt
Place in casserole and cook for 30 min.

Cut off the bottoms, squeeze out paste

Serve with vegetables or bruschetta (video).

Inspired by Enjoy: New Veg, Nadine Abensur

Seasonal Fruit Flan

Mix Quark (curd cheese), Yoghurt, Honey, one beaten egg and some real Vanilla.
Top with seasonal fruit (here: apricots, blueberries and apples) and a bit of butter.
Cook
in the oven for approx. 25 min.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Cinnamon biscuits filled with Davidson plum jam

get
450 wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
1.5 heaped teasp ground cinnamon
250g butter
200g blanched almonds(+)
250g Davidson plum jam
1 tsp ground cinnamon




do

Mix honey and egg in the middle of the flour in a large bowl.
Add cinnamon, butter flakes, ground almonds
Knead to a pastry. Add extra flour if sticky.
Cool in fridge.
Roll out thin and cut out circles (or shapes)
Bake at 190°c for 10 minutes on a baking tray. Cool.
Spread Davidson plum jam to cover the surface of half of the cookies. Place the other cookies on top of them and press lightly.
Sprinkle cinnamon on each cookie through a fine sieve.
Store in a tin lined with greaseproof paper.Davidson's plum jam is made in the oven at 200°c in a baking dish. The plums are halved, sprinkled with raw sugar and stirred from time to time in the oven, adding more sugar until it tastes right. This may take a couple of hours. Then press through a sieve and bottle it up. This method of baking results in a rich, dark-red jam.
See Davidson plum sauce

Mushroom Nut Burgers

get
6 medium champignon mushrooms chopped small
150g finely ground macadamias or cashews or mixed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 - 2 Tbsp tahini
3 Tbsp wholemeal flour (spelt flour)
herbs (e.g. parsley, thyme)
4 tbsp cold-pressed organic olive oil

do
Mix the finely chopped onions, the chopped mushrooms, herbs and the ground nuts in a large bowl. Add the tahini.
Stir well until a sticky mixture forms. Mix well.
Press the mixture down with a spoon so it is compressed.
Spread the flour on a large dinner plate.
Half fill a dessert bowl with water. Dip a tablespoon in the water and wet your clean hand with water.
Scoop out small amounts of the mixture with the tablespoon to make a spoon-shaped little burger. The water prevents the mixture sticking to the hand and spoon. It also moistens the outside of the burger.
Squeeze the burger onto the spoon and push it off onto the floured plate. Repeat until all the burgers are made.
Turn the burgers so there is flour on both sides. Add more flour if necessary. Let the floured burgers stand on the plate for some time turning occasionally so they are well covered with flour.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan at a low temperature.
Fry the burgers in it until deep golden. They must be well cooked but not burnt. Add more olive oil if necessary.
Serve hot immediately or cold on a sandwich.
Complementary to rice with pine nuts and currants.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Rice with pine nuts and currants

Found this flaky rice dish in Cooking with Kurma by Kurma Dasa. As the link to his Turkish Rice Pilaf with Currants & Pine Nuts does not work I give a short summary with my local additions.
GET:
3 cups of stock
oil
½ cup of (pine/macademia )nuts.
1 ½ cup of Basmati
4 cloves
6 cm sliced ginger
2 bay leaves
2 stalks fresh thyme
some orange zest
Tasmannian pepper
1/3 cup soaked currents
3 Tsp. chopped parsley
A few pomegranate kernels

DO:
-Boil stock
-Stir-fry nuts in oil, lift out
-Add washed rice, stir till they are whitish
-Add boiling stock, cloves, ginger, bay,thyme, orange zest & pepper
-Raise heat, then lower, cover, simmer for 20 - 25 min.
-Remove from heatsource, let stand for 5 min. remove unsightly stuff.
-Fold in currants, nuts,parsley and pomegrante
-Serve hot (or cold) with Tofu or Mushroom Nut Burgers