Featured/ Sides & Snacks/ Vegetarian

Goat’s Cheese & Roasted Beetroot terrine

Featured/ Vegetarian

Rainspotting Porcini Mushroom Risotto

Bread/ Salads/ Vegetarian

Blackberry, Goats Cheese & Spelt Toast Salad

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Basic Recipes/ Pasta

Authentic Italian Pasta Recipie

Authentic pasta

Basic Pasta Recipie
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 340g Tipo 00 flour
  • 160g semolina flour
  • Large pinch of salt
  • 3 large organic eggs and 2 egg yolks, at room temperature, lightly beaten
  • (if the mixture is still too dry with 2 yolks, add a third!)
Instructions
  1. For the pasta dough
  2. Mix the ingredients on a lightly floured surface, then knead the dough, incorporating additional flour as necessary, until smooth and flexible (minimum 20 minutes)
  3. OR
  4. Mix the ingredients using a food processor, blending the flour and eggs until the mixture just begins to form a ball. Depending on the size of the eggs, it might be necessary to add more or less flour in order to obtain a soft but not sticky dough.
  5. Tip: The dough can be used immediately but may be made 1 hour in advance and covered with a cotton tea towel. This resting period relaxes the gluten in the dough and makes it much easier to roll it.
  6. To roll the pasta dough:
  7. Set the smooth rollers of a pasta machine on widest setting.
  8. Cut the dough into several pieces. Flatten one piece of dough into a rectangle and feed through the rollers.
  9. Fold the rectangle in three and feed through the rollers. Then fold again in half, roll and repeat 3 or 4 more times.
  10. Fold each time and dust with flour (but only if necessary) to prevent sticking.
  11. Turn dial down to next (narrower) setting and feed the dough through rollers without folding. Continue to feed the dough through, without folding, making the space between the rollers narrower each time, until the narrowest setting is reached.
  12. Arrange the sheet of pasta on a dry flat surface or a large wooden board.
  13. Roll out the remaining dough in the same manner.
  14. The pasta should dry for 5 minutes and up to 30 min. before cutting.
  15. Cutting
  16. Fit the tagliatelle cutter to the pasta machine and feed the sheets through the cutter. Return the pasta pieces to the wooden board or hang on an air dryer if you have one.( I’ve been known to use a coat hanger) Dry. at least 10 min. before cooking.
  17. For Ravioli
  18. Using a hand cutter, cut pieces of pasta to size and fill.

 

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Recipes/ Sides & Snacks/ Vegetarian

Speedy Tomato & Chai Seed Chutney

Vegan Chutney

A quick & easy tomato and chai chutney – to brighten up a tired Tuesday evening!

I had some leftover tomatoes from the Lentil salad I made the other day and I didn’t really want them to go to waste, so I decided to try and put together a sort of chunky tomato chutney to eat with cheese and crackers.  Tonight I fancied a snackette for dinner rather than a full-blown meal so this speedy chutney, not one that you have to wait on for weeks is perfect. You can opt for vegan cheeses, but I have a medium sized slab of this punchy organic blue that I have big plans for this week! For tonight, I’ll steal a few slices to keep my chutney company. Wash it down with a crisp white, a blushing rose or a rich red – I’ll be eating mine whilst catching up on the ITV drama, Marchella, my most favourite drama and top of my TV watch list.

Vegan Savoury Tomato & Chai Seed chutney
 
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Author:
Recipe type: vegan
Ingredients
  • 200g Cherry tomatoes
  • 50g Brown sugar
  • 1 Roughly chopped onion
  • 2 Tablespoons chai seeds(this will give it a thick texture)
  • 1 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 Teaspoon of cinnamon
  • ½ Tablespoon mustard powder
  • 4 Tablespoons soya sauce
  • Olive oil
  • Water
  • Black Pepper
Instructions
  1. Pour a small amount olive oil into the bottom of a heavy based pan
  2. Add the cinnamon, cayenne pepper and mustard powder.
  3. Gently brown the spices to activate the full flavour – Be careful not to burn
  4. Add the chopped onion, fry on a low heat until soft.
  5. Chop the tomatoes and add them to the mix.
  6. Heat until they have broken down but still have some shape.
  7. Add the brown sugar, soya sauce and just enough water to barely cover the tomatoes.
  8. Heat further and mix through.
  9. Add the Chai seeds, mix in and bring to the boil.
  10. Depending on the consistency add a little more water if too thick
  11. If too watery, reduce further.
  12. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
  13. Serve with simple crackers and a selection of cheese.

 

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Cakes & Bakes/ Featured

Dark Chocolate & Boozy Blood Orange Fondant

Chocolate, Valentines day, fondant, fairtrade

Valentines Day & Chocolate!

Blood OrangeBlood Orange

The best time of the year for Chocolate sales. But how sustainable our these chocoholic habits of ours?

Last year, the average Briton consumed 11.2kg (24.7lb) of the stuff – To put that into context, that’s the equivalant of  getting through 266 Mars bars in one year! This is far from  healthy and with the ever increasing population and our desire for sweet treats – where will this end, both in terms of personal health, environment and the challenges of supply & demand?

Cocoa farmers are often forced to sell their harvest to middlemen who have the monopoly on pricing and payment. Even as cocoa prices rise, farmers have not been capturing their fair share. Growers in West Africa on average receive just 3% to 6% of the final value of a chocolate bar. Poor conditions, low incomes, child slavery show the stark contrast between the delicious treat and the difficult conditions of the people who produce it.

From a health perspective more than three million people in the UK are being treated for diabetes – an increase of nearly 60% in the past 10 years. Putting strain not only on our fragile existence but on the purse strings of the health care system. Roughly 90% are type 2 diabetes, which is the form closely linked to diet and obesity.

Therefore I promote this Dark Chocolate & Boozy Blood Orange Fondant with extreme caution. Whilst it is nice to indulge once in a while, do so in moderation. If you make this, you have an obligation to share it with family & friends and be mindful of the bittersweet journey the chocolate has made.

For this recipe, I used left over chocolate bars pre-dating Christmas. When buying, look for a Fair-trade logo above the Organic Label. If you can get both – even better! Anything about 70% is perfect for this Recipe.

fairtrade-logoWhere to buy Fairtrade Chocolate

Dark Chocolate & Boozy Blood Orange Fondant
 
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A rich dark chocolate and boozy blood orange Fondant
Author:
Recipe type: Sweets & Treats
Ingredients
  • 200g Dark Chocolate
  • 200g Unsalted Butter
  • 250g Golden Caster Sugar
  • 60g Coco Powder
  • 6 Large Organic Eggs
  • 2 Glugs of Cointreau
  • Juice of 1 Blood Orange
  • 1 pinch of Salt
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven. Approx gas mark 4/ 180c
  2. Prepare a 20cm cake tin
  3. Separate the eggs
  4. First start by whisking the whites until fluffy white
  5. Heat a medium heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water on a low heat
  6. Add the butter and melt
  7. Break the chocolate and add to the melted butter, stirring until rich and glossy.
  8. add the Cointreau to the chocolate mix, stir and remove from heat.
  9. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar
  10. Add the juice of the blood to the yolk until thouroughly mixed.
  11. Add the melted chocolate to the yolk mix & using a spatuala mix together
  12. Slowly fold in the whipped egg white mix
  13. Pour into the prepared oven tin and place in the oven for approx 50 mins
  14. Top with slice blood orange and serve with ice cream

My husband received his Valentines slice of Boozy Blood Orange Fondant whilst working in the garage!

Chocolate, Valentines, Fairtrade

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Puddings/ Vegetarian

Old Year, New Year: Balls, Balls, Balls!

Old Year (as the Dutch call it) New Year as we say in the UK and here we are, however you say it standing firmly on the first day of the calendar in 2017! How did we arrive here?

2016 seems to have steam rolled by bringing with it a wave of crazy world events, the loss of legends both the musical and the talented sort and change. For me 2016 will be remembered as the year of fundamental change – on all fronts. Personal, professional and political.

So, what better way to wave goodbye to the old year than continuing a tradition that started 6 years back in our former home town of Hilversum: Making Dutch Oliebollen, directly translated: Oily Balls! Now I know Oily Balls may not sound like everyone’s cup of tea, although I’m sure there will a select few out there that beg to differ (and I’m not talking about the Dutch here…) but trust me, these are the Dutch golden balls of the doughnut world! It involves hot oil, frying deeply and intense enjoyment. A perfect ‘must try’ before the calorific saint like behaviour kicks in the day after.

Over the years, we have deviated away from the simple oily ball to more enticing concoctions – we’ve made a competition of it in our house! This year, my son was the firm winner with his Deep fried, Banana & Chocolate filled Ball. Dusted with icing sugar, the crispy edged pillow like dough that oozed with the warm mix of chocolate and banana was just mouth-wateringly memorable!

Close second was the Battered Apple Rings, laced with Golden Syrup – Equally divine! The mix costs next to nothing to make, the fun factor is through the roof and after such a year of tough times and change, it’s nice to say Balls, Balls, Balls to it all!

Happy 2017 to each and to all, may it be filled with good food, good friends, happy memories, fun, love and laughter! x


Old Year, New Year: Balls, Balls, Balls!
 
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The Dutch golden balls of the doughnut world! Deep fried Oliebollen (doughnuts) with Banana & Chocolate or Apple and Golden Syrup
Author:
Recipe type: Dutch Sweets & Treats
Ingredients
  • 500g Organic Plain Flour
  • 500ml Warm Organic Milk
  • 9g Dried Yeast
  • 1tsp Salt
  • 1tbsp Sugar
  • 1 Apple
  • 1 Banana
  • Toppings of choice
Instructions
  1. Dough Mix
  2. Warm the milk up until it was around 40oc (do not boil)
  3. Mix the yeast into the milk.
  4. Add the milk mixture to the flour, add salt and sugar.
  5. Mix with a dough hook for around 2 mins
  6. Place mix in a slightly oiled, stainless bowl, cover with a dark cloth in a warm place for 2 hours+
  7. Heating & Eating
  8. Heat oil in a deep fat fryer to 190oc
  9. Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop out balls of the mix and drop carefully into the oil
  10. Stuff small pieces of banana, apple (whatever) into the formed dough ball prior to frying
  11. Fry for 5 mins, turning carefully with a spoon half way through
  12. Using a metal slotted spoon, remove and place on kitchen roll to remove excess oil
  13. Once they have cooled slightly( the filled ones take a little longer) sprinkle with icing sugar or toppings of your choice.
  14. Enjoy whilst warm, save leftovers in a air tight container - eat for breakfast the next day: Wrong but great for clearing up a fuzzy head!

 

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Geen categorie

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2016! Time to reflect and take a little look at this great article:

The True Cost Of Christmas

Hmmm, difficult to digest? based on this UK article: 1kg of wrapping paper will emit 3.5kg of Co2 during the production process…Wow.

Guess I’ll be looking into my present wrapping strategy next year then…

 

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Inspiration/ Salads/ Vegetarian

Seize The Salad for World Ballet Day

Sustarian Living

Today is World Ballet Day and what better way to mark this occasion with a post relating to my very recent trip to watch the Nederlands Dans Theatre performing Stage One
in Rotterdam.
If there was ever something to kick start a focus on my fitness level, it has to be watching contemporary dance. Last Saturday evening I was treated to a mix of movement, light and sound that stimulated all of my senses. Bodies moved with liquid precision. Streams of emotion, sweat and solid fleshy forms morphed before me into new shapes as they told their tale. It was truly memorising and inspirational.

Sustarian Living

My friend and I left the theatre full of body lust and chatter. Continuing our evening by hitting the damp & drizzly streets of Rotterdam. As seems to be the case with me – I arrive, it rains! Once we’d done the rounds and talked our throats sore we headed back to the Hotel. Why is it, when you arrive back at any given hotel at a small hour in the morning there is always that intense urge to raid the mini bar? As it happened, the more we walked through the mini bar menu (and the accompanying astronomical price tag of each item) we talked ourselves hungry. Moving swiftly on to the room service menu.
The choice was extremely limited, more so when we called and announced at 1.30 am we would like feeding. The 5 options were reduced to 2.
Club Sandwich & Vegetarian Caesar salad it was then.
The equally astronomical room service request, seemed to have caused quite a stir. The front desk got panicky. Food? Room Service at this time of night at those prices? Have they lost their minds? We decided that it ‘must’ be because most Dutch people would probably come prepared, bring their own food rather than suffer the service charge. We imagined the staff frantically running around trying to rustle something up, we suspected by the delivery that no member of  kitchen staff must have played a hand in our food preparation – it had night porter repertoire written all over it!
The Club was so bad, I’m going to focus only on the Caesar salad: made up with a total of 6 WHOLE cos lettuce heads, huge heady clumps, with no effort made to separate the leaves. It was accompanied by 3 lone croutons, a swath of slab like parmesan shavings and NO dressing! Seriously?!
This is not the type of food that satisfies your small hour, wine induced hungers!
So in honour of World Ballet day and my bad salad memories of that evening, I bring you a salad to shake your lettuce at. This beautiful twist on a traditional Caesar. A middle eastern inspired vegetarian feast using fried halloumi, avocado and a low fat yoghurt & lemon dressing. What every salad wants to be; Healthy, crisp and deliscioulsy satisfying.

Seize this salad and serve with croutons or flatbread!

Seize The Salad
 
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Middle eastern inspired vegetarian feast using fried halloumi, avocado and a low fat yoghurt & lemon dressing
Author:
Recipe type: Salad
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients
  • 1 Organic Cos Lettuce
  • 1 Organic Avocado
  • 1 small Red Organic Salad Onion
  • 1 Lime
  • 200ml Organic Low Fat Plain Yoghurt
  • 2 tablespoons of Organic Olive Oil
  • 2 tablespoons of squeezed Lemon
  • ½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
  • 250g Halloumi
  • Oil for cooking
  • Sprinkle of Sumac
  • Flatbread or Croutons to serve
  • Salt & Pepper to season
Instructions
  1. Find a Salad bowl and large frying pan
  2. Salad
  3. Chop the Cos lettuce roughly into large chunks
  4. Dice the avocado and add to the salad bowl
  5. Finely slice & chop one red onion into small pieces, soak in lime juice for 10 minutes
  6. Dressing
  7. Mix the organic plain yoghurt, the lemon juice, olive oil and cayenne pepper together.
  8. Slice and drizzle the halloumi cheese lightly with oil to just enough to coat them
  9. Fry the halloumi slices until golden brown on both sides in a non stick pan.
  10. Drain the onions, discarding the lime juice and add to the salad bowl.
  11. Gently toss the salad, and serve on 2 plates.
  12. Place the halloumi on top of the salad and drizzle with the dressing.
  13. Sprinkle a little sumac over the top
  14. Serve immediately with flatbreads or homemade croutons

Sustarian Living

a delicious plate of grilled halloumi cheese served with a lettuce and avocado salad, seasoned with sumac and other spices.


Sustarian Living

 

Sustarian Living

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