Almond and raspberry soft serve ice cream

Posted on May 10, 2013

Ingredients
1 cup almond milk
300g frozen raspberries
1 dessert spoon agave syrup

Makes
3 serves

Method
Place ingredients in VitaMix and blend on high for 30 seconds or until smooth.
Don’t overblend or it will melt.

Depending on how thick your almond milk is, and the water content of your frozen fruit, you might need to adjust the milk/fruit ratio to achieve the desired consistency. If unsure start by putting in half the almond milk and all the fruit. Then slowly add in more liquid until you reach the soft serve texture.

Serve immediately.

That’s it!

Categories: My book, Raw, Recipes

Homemade almond milk

Posted on May 10, 2013

Ingredients:
2 cups raw almonds
Water for soaking
1 litre good water

You will also need:
1.5L jug or jar for soaking and storing
Cheesecloth for straining
Sieve or colander
Large bowl for straining almond milk into

Makes 1.2 litres (approx) of very creamy almond milk.
(you can water it down a bit with spring water if desired although this is the perfect consistency for making soft serve ice creams).

Method

Put the almonds in a jug or jar, fill with water and soak in the fridge overnight.
Drain, discarding the water.
Put almonds into blender.
Top up with good water.

Blend on high 60 seconds until smooth.

Lay the cheesecloth over a sieve in a bowl and pour the liquid through the cheesecloth into the bowl. The sieve will ensure the cheesecloth doesn’t collapse under the weight of the almond pulp.

As the cheesecloth fills with liquid gather the edges of the cheesecloth and carefully squeeze out the liquid into the bowl and wring the cheesecloth. Make sure none of the almond grit spurts out the top!

You will be left with almond pulp in the cheesecloth – you can keep this for other recipes or discard.

Continue to pour and wring until the liquid mix has all been filtered.

Pour almond milk into a jug or a jar, seal, and keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Categories: My book, Raw

Celeriac waldorf salad

Posted on March 7, 2013

Written for Sister Mag Daylesford feature.

Ingredients

1 good sized celeriac, peeled and either julienned or grated on the biggest grater option
1 stalk of celery, finely sliced
2 small winter apples, chopped into half centimeter chunks
½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped

½ cup crème fraiche
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp caster sugar
3 sprigs french parsley, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

In a medium bowl mix the celeriac, apple, walnuts. Whisk together the crème fraiche, lemon juice and sugar and add to the salad ingredients. Mix together well without overhandling the food. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Makes 4 sides

Categories: Food, Salads

Curried cauliflower salad

Posted on March 7, 2013

Written for Sister Mag Daylesford feature.

Ingredients

1 small Cauliflower
1 small Red onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, de-seeded and thinly sliced into 3cm strips
¼ Cup Raisins
Small bunch of coriander, chopped
¼ Cup flaked almonds

Dressing
½ Cup Olive oil
2 tbsp White wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp Ras el hanout (middle eastern dry curry spice mix available from arabicafoodandspice.com)
1 tsp Mustard seeds
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Break the florets off the cauliflower and cut the big ones into manageable bite-size chunks.

Put chopped red onion, red pepper and the cauliflower into a medium bowl, add the raisins and set aside.

To make the dressing whisk the olive oil and vinegar. Add the lemon juice and Ras el hanout and whisk again to mix well. Add the mustard seeds and salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the dressing and the salad ingredients to mix together well. Marinate in the fridge for 3 hours minimum or for a better result marinate overnight.

Just before serving toss in the flaked almonds and chopped coriander.

Serves 4

Categories: Food, Raw, Recipes, Salads

The daily bread

Posted on February 4, 2013

We have been baking bread every second day. I bought a bulk load of gorgeous flour from Doves Farm (5 white spelt, 5 einkorn, 5 organic white).

We have learnt how to make bread from Baking Bread with Children by Warren Lee Cohen. The girls love it. They each have a loaf to look after, to put in the hot water cupboard and to supervise the removal from the tin. So far they aren’t so keen on kneading, but a lot on watching and eating.

The whole family loves it – being involved in the process of the creation of the daily bread adds a whole new dimension to mealtime and the way we go about our days.

Recipe

Makes 2 proper loaves

3 tsp yeast
3 tbsp sugar
600ml luke warm water
2 tbsp salt
1kg white spelt flour
2 tbsp extra water
Extra flour for kneading (I usually end up using about a cup’s worth)
Vegetable oil for greasing

In a 1L jug mix water, yeast and sugar. Rest in a warm place for ten minutes until bubbly and yeasty smelling.

Put the flour into the bowl of a mixer that has a dough hook, add the salt into the yeast mix and slowly pour into the flour with the motor on low. At this stage I usually add 2 tbsp water to ensure the mix is more wet than dry. Mix for a few minutes then take the dough out and flour a working surface for kneading.

Knead the bread with energy(!) for five minutes, adding flour to your surface as needed to avoid the dough sticking to you or the surface.

Grease a large bowl with oil, cover with cling film and put in a warm place for one and a half hours to rise.

When the dough has risen gently push down and knead a couple of times to release the gases. Break the dough into two pieces and knead briefly on the floured surface to create two loaves.

Oil 2 large loaf tins and put your loaves into them. Put these back in your warm place to rise again for a further half hour.

Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C. Or 200 deg C if you have a slow oven.

Once loaves have risen again, bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Remove from loaf tins and allow to cool on a wooden breadboard or wire rack. The bread should sound hollow when you tap the base.

Allow to cool for at least twenty minutes before slicing any bread as this allows the bread to finish its baking process.

Categories: Bake, Food

The daily pizza

Posted on January 31, 2013

For the first time ever we made pizza dough – what a great thing to have in the fridge ready for afternoon snack time when the girls get home from school. Every day we’d break off a bit and make a small simple tomato pizza. One day we actually made a proper entire meal pizza with tomato, tuna and tinned mushrooms.

The pizza base recipe is from River Cafe Cook Book Two, which is the basic pizza dough recipe from Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. I switched spelt for plain flour – you can probably use any flour you like.

Step 1
4 teaspoons granular dried yeast
125ml warm water
150g rye flour

Step 2
250ml warm water
2 tbsp milk
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
500g spelt flour

Warm large mixing bowl at a low temperature in the oven (make sure it’s oven-proof).

Step 1 method
In the bowl, mix the yeast with the warm water. Add the rye flour and stir to combine. Cover and leave in a warm place for at least 30 minutes to do the yeast thing.

Step 2 method
When the mixture has expanded add the remaining ingredients and knead for 10-15 minutes – either by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook. Wet and sticky dough is fine.

Grease a bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl and drizzle with a jot more oil.

Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for 2 hours to rise.

Gently press the air out of the dough and knead again a few times before returning to the bowl.

Return the dough to the warm place for a further 40 minutes.

When the dough is ready you will have enough for six small pizzas. We would take a small ball from the mix, make our pizza and return the dough to the fridge where it will keep for up to three days.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg C.

Roll the dough out on a floured baking sheet, as thinly as you can.

Using the back of a spoon spread tomato paste and add topping of your choice.

Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

Categories: Cook, Food, Recipes

Victoria Sponge

Posted on December 17, 2012

In typical Lovely Food style I use my usual white spelt flour and a bit of almond meal instead of white flour. It makes for a slightly heavier sponge, but it feels a bit more healthy and rustic.

Ingredients

6 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups spelt flour
½ cup almond meal (finely ground almonds)
2 tsp baking powder
100g melted butter, slightly cooled

300ml cream, well whipped – for filling
½ jar blackcurrant jam – for filling
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180°
Grease and line 2 deep 20cm round cake tins with baking paper.

In a mixer, beat eggs and sugar until thick and pale and doubled in volume (2-4 minutes).
In a medium bowl sift or stir baking powder into the spelt flour and almond meal.
Add to egg and sugar mix and quickly mix in for 5-10 seconds. Don’t overwork the mix.
Fold in the melted butter.

Pour half the mix into each cake tin and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until the cakes feel springy to touch and are a light golden brown on top.

The cake at the top of the oven will probably be ready first. In which case take it out and put the other cake on the higher oven shelf a further 5 minutes or until golden brown as above.

Leave the cakes in tins for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire racks to cool.

To make the filling, spread the top of one cake and the base of the other cake evenly with jam. Top the base with whipped cream and place the top piece, jam-side down onto the base cake.

Dust lightly with icing sugar.

Serves 8

Categories: Bake, Food, Recipes

Leek and onion miso tart

Posted on October 15, 2012

This is a delicious alternative to the Alsace tart that we love so much. The Alsace tart is full of eggs, creme fraiche, butter and bacon – this is a much lighter version with the rich taste of the miso really packing the punch. Lemon and tofu make a great creme fraiche and the filling is so full of flavour the whole family genuinely loved it.

Serves 4 – 6 with leftovers

You will need:

Pastry
2 cups spelt flour
Pinch of sea salt
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1/3 cup water, chilled

Filling
3 large onions
3 leeks
Oil for frying
1 tbsp miso (paste – not soup mix)

Topping
1 1/2 tbsp kuzu (or arrowroot)
⅓ cup lemon juice
600g (2 blocks) tofu
1 tbsp agar flakes (optional – not essential if you don’t have any)
Pinch of sea salt

How to make:

Pastry

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
In a big bowl, sift the flour and sea salt together
In another bowl whisk the sunflower oil and chilled water together – you will see the mixture becoming thicker as the ingredients emulsify (ie join together)
Add the wet mix to the flour and mix and knead until it forms a dough- avoiding overhandling.
Set aside for 10 minutes
On a floured surface roll the pastry out to fit the shape of your flan tin – note the pastry is quite crumbly so you need to be careful when lifting it. Don’t worry if it breaks as you will press it into the tin in the next step.
Press the pastry into your lightly oiled flan tin (use a 9 inch / 22cm round – or a 14” x 5” oblong dish with a removable base)
Blind bake* the pastry for 10 minutes – make sure you use a timer!!

Filling

On a low heat, sweat* the onions in a frying pan.
Once onions are transparent stir in the miso and continue to cook, remembering to stir every so often – on a very low heat for a further five minutes.
Set aside.
In another pan sweat* the leeks until soft (about 20 minutes). Try not to brown them.
Set aside.

Topping

Dissolve the kuzu in the lemon juice
Blend lemon juice and kuzu, tofu, agar flakes, and sea salt together in a food processor
Set aside

Assemble

First put the onion and miso layer into your pastry case in the flan tin.
Followed by a layer of leeks.
Finally top with the tofu mixture and spread evenly to form a smooth topping

Bake

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot with sliced spring onion as a garnish – tastes even better the next day.

NOTES:

*Blind bake: Put pastry in your lightly oiled flan dish, poke holes on the bottom with a fork to allow steam to escape, and cover with baking paper. Weigh the baking paper down (and the pastry) with some dried beans.

*Sweat: To cook on a very very low heat. The onions and leeks should not brown but instead go soft and transluscent

Categories: Bake, Food, Macrobiotic, Recipes

Tagged: macrobiotic, recipe, vegetarian

Lemon and pistachio biscuits

Posted on October 10, 2012

These biscuits are very un-sweet so if have have a sweet tooth I’d suggest you use maple syrup, honey or agave syrup instead of the rice syrup. Don’t give them to chaps who like chocolate bars from the corner shop – they won’t like them!!

Makes 24

You will need:

125g sunflower oil
½ cup rice malt
Rind of 2 lemons

1 tbsp ground flax seed
⅔ cup white spelt flour
⅔ cup almond meal (ground almonds)
1 tsp baking powder
130g whole raw pistachios

How to make:

Pre heat the oven to 180°C

In a plastic bag pound the raw pistachios until fairly well smashed. You are looking on average to get each nut into quarters.
Mix the sunflower oil, lemon rind and the rice malt together thoroughly.
Mix the flour, ground flax seed, almond meal and baking powder together.
Add the pistachios.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. Do not overwork the mixture.
Line two baking sheets with greasproof paper.
Using a desert spoon, take a lump of biscuit dough and roll into a ball.
Line the balls up evenly with a good amount of space – 12 to each large baking sheet.
Gently press the biscuits down with a fork to approx 1.5 cm thickness.
Bake for 15 minutes, swap top tray to bottom position and bottom tray to top position (this is to ensure they both brown evenly), and bake a further 5 minutes or until very gently browned.
Using a fish slice, gently transfer biscuits to a wire rack to cool (they might come out of the oven a bit soft but will harden as they cool).
Store in an airtight container.

Originally written for Sister Mag – Issue 2

Categories: Bake, Food, Macrobiotic, Recipes

Tagged: bake, dairy free, macrobiotic, sugar free

A London foodie and flowery Sunday

Posted on October 8, 2012

What a lovely weekend we had. The usual Sunday Melrose and Morgan trip for coffee – and this time we had lovely yoghurts sitting outside in the lovely Autumn early morning sunshine.

We then headed over the Columbia Road for more plants for our New Zealand in London garden. It was crisp and bright – the flowers had changed from Summer to Autumn. The pansies so bright and ready for Winter bedding.

Then of course, we nipped over to Violet Cakes. Of course. Sometimes I’m not sure why we don’t live in East London – the food is great. The flowers for the table are lovely. The Heath is fantastic too though. And we have Primrose Hill right on our doorstep.

Next week we’re going to get up early for Maltby Street Market – we went on Sunday and it was perfect at 9.30am, virtually nobody there yet. Beautiful light. Fresh amazing food and good coffee.

Categories: Food, Market, Shops