Smokey-Spooky Pumpkin, Chorizo and Butter Bean Stew.

I searched all the shops yesterday and eventually found a pumpkin for Halloween carving tonight.  I decided to cook the innards last night so that we would have to shell ready to lantern-fy tonight.

I came up with this super easy and tasty stew inspired by some delicious chorizo from my pals at Chuck and Bobs.  I served it inside the pumpkin which looked really fun and kept the meal hot for ages (perfect for seconds...and thirds - it was so yummy).  I'll definitely make this one for a dinner party (and not just a Halloween one).  Serve with steamed broccoli and mash, or a crusty loaf.

Ingredients (serves 4)

3 tbsp oil
1 medium sized pumpkin
3 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped into chunks
375 g good quality free-range chunky cooking chorizo, sliced into inches
120 g mushrooms, sliced or halved if big
1 tin plum tomatoes (plus 1/2 a can of water)
50 g tomato puree
2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika
pinch dried red chili flakes
1 small glass red wine
salt and black pepper
1 can of butter beans, drained and rinsed
sour cream to garnish

Method

1. First tackle the pumpkin bearing in mind that you want it as your serving dish - slice off the top...

...and scoop out the innards, leaving a good inner layer to stop any leaks.

Discard the seeds (or wash, dry and pan fry for a salad), and chop up the flesh into chunks.

2. Heat the oil  in a large saucepan and fry the garlic and onion until translucent and soft.  Then add the yellow pepper, chorizo and mushrooms.  Fry, over a moderate heat, for 5 minutes, stirring.

3.  Add the remaining ingredients plus the pumpkin chunks but not the beans and bring to the boil.  Turn down the heat and allow to simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes.  Add the butter beans and warm through.
4. Ladle the stew into the pumpkin shell, dollop over some sour cream and then return the lid.  Serve on the table with a large audience..

So much fun.

Lemon, Poppy Seed and Marzipan Biscuits. Wheat-Free.

Continuing on the wheat-free theme, yesterday I decided to have a go at making biscuits.  However, if you start googling 'wheat-free recipes' you are bombarded with a plethora of unbelievably random and no doubt impossible-to-find ingredients.  Given that we are just experimenting with a wheat-free life I'm not up for trying to find tapioca flour or xantham gum or or... So instead, here is an accessible and delicious lemony-almondy-crumbly biscuit recipe using polenta and rice flour.

Ok, so rice flour maybe on the random side of normal household ingredients but a packet  has been sitting unloved in the back of the larder for weeks thanks to a brief flourish of dim sum making.  Nonetheless, given how delicious these little biscuits are, like my wheat-free chocolate and peanut butter cake, I recommend you go out and buy a packet.  Serve these little biscuit treats with a cuppa or alongside strawberries for a summery pudding.

Ingredients (makes 10)

90 g caster sugar
125 g polenta
50 g rice flour
85 g unsalted butter, softened
1 lemon, zest and juice of half
1 free range egg
1 vanilla pod
10 g poppy seeds
50 g marzipan

Method

1. Mix the sugar, polenta, flour and poppy seeds together in a bowl.

Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Stir in the lemon zest and juice.
3. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and the seeds scraped from the inside of the vanilla pod.

Place the seedless pod in a jar, fill with caster sugar and cover with a lid.  Allow to sit for a week and use in baking or with fresh fruit - top up as you go for a constant source of vanilla sugar.

4. Mix the egg and vanilla pod seeds into the mixture.
5. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and divide the dough into 10 balls.  Place a piece of the marzipan in the centre of each ball and cover over, rolling in between your palms until smooth.

Place on the baking tray in the fridge for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C. Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes in the oven.  Remove and allow to cool on the tray.

Delicious with a cup of tea. Yum yum.

Thai Fish, with Sesame Edamame and a Nutty Sauce.

I love the lottery of shopping in Kwazulu Natal.  There is absolutely no guarantee that the product range will ever stay the same from week to week - some days there are piles of free-range beef mince in the Woolworths fridge section, while other weeks you can find absolutely no free-range beef at all but instead there will be fresh mackerel and limes.

This week saw a pretty poor show on the veggie front bar a new arrival to the north-coast Woolies - fresh, shelled edamame beans! Hurrah! (They can also be found in the freezer section of mainstream supermarkets).  I love ordering the little green packages of goodness when we spy a sushi bar -they are just divine sprinkled with some good sea salt (this week I succumbed to the temptation of Maldon).  So in an edamame excitement I made this yummy fish dinner last night.  As I was cooking I had one eye on 'For Your Eye's Only' - there seems to be a Bond extravaganza on SA tv this month.  Does anyone else (apart from me and my friend Frankster) laugh at the countess when she seriously balls up her accent with 'ooo my nightie slipped'?!  Such a funny Bond moment.

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the fish -

1 large white fish fillet (I used a hake fillet from the fresh fish section at Woolies)
4 tbsp wasabi paste
2 tsp dried lemongrass (or 1 stick of lemongrass, sliced finely)
1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

For the edamame beans -

120 g fresh podded (or frozen) edamame beans
sesame or peanut oil for dressing
sea salt

For the nutty sauce -

3 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp chunky, no salt/sugar added peanut butter
1 inch of fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp runny honey

For the rice -

1/2 mug jasmine rice
1 mug boiling water

black sesame seeds to garnish

Method

1. Get the rice on - place the boiling water in a saucepan and add the rice, stir, bring to the boil then lower the heat, and simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes, or until cooked as per the packet.
2. Mix the wasabi paste, lemongrass, garlic and ginger for the fish over the fillet and place under a hot grill for 10 minutes, or until just cooked through.

3. Mix all the nutty sauce ingredients together in a jar.
4. Steam or boil the edamame beans for 5 minutes, or until just cooked but still crunchy.

5. Plate up by spooning some rice and edamame beans on a warmed plate, add a slice of the fish on the side.  Sprinkle over some sesame/peanut oil and some salt over the edamame, then drizzle the nutty sauce over the whole lot and finish with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds.

It is so yummy, healthy and easy to make.

The Ultimate Chili Con Carne.

I'll eat chilli con carne if it's put in front of me but I'd never ordinarily go out of my way to order/cook it.  Or that was the case until a couple of years ago - when we were still in our early days of romancing, the hubbie made me a truly delicious chili in a VW campervan.

Although the novelty of being in a campervan on the north Norfolk coast (and being in new-found love with a very handsome doctor) probably meant that I would have found anything he cooked as completely wonderful, it did open up my eyes to the place chili con carne has in a cooking repertoire.  It is a quick and easy use for mince that doesn't involve layers of pasta, on a cold rainy night it certainly warms the cockles, and wonderfully you can cook it over a single gas burner in a field - although I'd recommend mixing up the spices at home first rather than lugging all the pots with you.  I like to serve mine with rice, sour cream and guacamole, although a hunk of crusty bread would work just as well.

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
100 g smoked back bacon, chopped into strips horizontally
500 g lean free-range beef mince
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
2 large brown mushrooms, finely sliced
1 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 20cm stick cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp chili powder
a dash of tabasco (optional)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
70 g tomato puree
2 dsp balsamic vinegar
2 dsp treacle/muscavado sugar
1 tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
salt and black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes over a moderate heat or until soft and translucent but not coloured.
2. Add the mince and bacon to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, or until browned.

3. Add the mushrooms and red chili to the pan and cook for 3 minutes, stirring.
4. Add the spices, cocoa and cook for a further minute, then add the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, vinegar and sugar.  Season and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat and pop in the lid, allow to smmer away for 30 minutes.

5. Add the red kidney beans and heat through, stirring.

Either remove from the heat, allow to cool and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before eating (the flavours often get better over 24 hours), or serve immediately with rice and perhaps some guacamole and sour cream.

Scrummy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. Wheat Free.

My word, if I do say so myself, I have invented THE BEST cake ever. And the wonderful thing for those gluten intolerant bods out there - it is wheat free.

The hubbie and I are currently experimenting with cutting out wheat to see if it does have the good effect some people claim.  It is now a week into the experiment and I'm not missing wheat at all although I'm not sure whether my 'lighter' feeling is psychosomatic rather than actually due to a lack of wheat.  Anyway, regardless of whether we start eating wheat again, I will always make this cake.  It is a little like a french macaroon - a slightly crispy brownie outer with an unbelievably soft and light middle.

The combo of peanut butter and chocolate is not ground-breaking, but is incredibly delicious.  I like to eat this with a cup of tea and a dollop of creme fraiche but it would also work incredibly well as a smart pud.  It doesn't need any sort of icing it is just perfect as it is.  Oh and while I used delicious unsweetened cocoa powder that I picked up in Madagascar...

...if you can't find any unsweetened stuff reduce the sugar a little.

Ingredients  (20 cm cake)

55 g bornville/dark chocolate
150 g butter
50 g ground almonds
50 g rice flour
100 g chunky peanut butter (a non-added sugar variety, ideally get a 100% peanut one, like the organic Woolworths version)
50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
100 g brown sugar
100 g caster sugar
3 eggs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 20 cm circular cake tin.
2. Place the chocolate and butter in a large bowl and place in the microwave.  Heat for a minute of so, or until the butter is melted.  Remove and stir until the chocolate is melted and combined with the butter.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients to the bowl bar the eggs.  Mix well.  Add one whole egg and the egg yolks of the other two, keeping the whites.

4. Whisk the whites in a separate bowl until stiff and then gently fold into the cake mixture.

5. Pour into the prepared tin, level the top and pop in the oven for 45 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack, then turn out of the tin and allow to cool completely on the rack.

Store in an airtight container. Divine.

Mixed Berry Frozen Yoghurt. A Healthy Treat.

It is getting warm out here in SA so I've pulled out my ice cream machine and started churning.  Although, in light that bikinis come hand-in-hand with sunshine, I've created a sweet icy treat that won't see you hiding behind a kaftan this summer.

It is so easy to make, so delicious and guilt-free thanks to the use of low fat yoghurt.

Ingredients (makes a large tub)

1 kg tub low fat plain yoghurt
500g frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries etc) often found in the frozen food section at the supermarket
100 g icing sugar, sieved

Method

1. Make sure your ice cream machine is ready to go.
2. Take the fruit out of the freezer and pop in the microwave.  Heat for 2-3 minutes until softened but still cold.  Blend the fruit together until smooth.

3. Add the fruit to the yoghurt and mix together with the sugar.

4. Freeze the mixture using your machine.

Serve cold, although make sure you take it out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving to allow to soften slightly.

Pasta Carbonara. Hurrah for Chuck and Bobs.

Unlike the hubbie I'm not much of a creamy-meal lover - the idea of my ordering a spaghetti carbonara is as far fetched as asking for a hot-dog at the cinema.  But nonetheless, I do enjoy making creamy meals to keep my loved-one happy and this is the best and easiest one I know.

It is a traditional Italian dish usually made with bacon; however, over the past months I've found it impossible to find free-range back bacon and so I've been using mushrooms instead.  But no more...at last I've found a free-range pork (and other) supplier - 'Chuck and Bobs' http://www.chuckandbobs.com/Chuck_and_Bobs/Home.html.  Amazingly, while they don't ordinarily make back bacon, in favour of the streaky kind, they said they'd prepare some especially for us.  So this week I drove, ironically, to MacDonalds in Durban to pick up a brown paper-bag full of THE MOST DELICIOUS bacon either of us have ever eaten.  It is free from injected brine so there is no curling and horrible scum when frying, and it smells and tastes divine - just like a French alpine charcuterie.  I used some to top my salad while the carbonara was apparently the best the hubbie had ever tasted.

So to those of you this side of SA - get your meat from Chuck and Bobs, and for those further afield - make the effort to find the best meat you can, not only for the animals' sake but also for your own.

Ingredients (serves 1)

1/2 small onion, finely chopped
3 fat garlic cloves, finely sliced
100 g pasta (spaghetti is the norm but I'd run out so penne took it's place)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 free-range egg
150 g single cream
90 g smoked back bacon (free range, or a selection of mushrooms if you're a veggie), cut into small pieces
80 g hard cheese, parmesan or pecorino (plus extra to serve), finely grated
Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil and add the pasta.  Cook according to the packet.
2. Meanwhile heat the oil in a frying pan.  Add the onion and garlic and cook over a moderate heat, stirring, until translucent.  Then add your bacon or mushrooms and fry until just cooked.

3. Whisk the egg, cream and cheese together in a bowl and season with pepper.  Then add the onion/bacon mix.
4. Drain the pasta and place back in the saucepan.  Pour over the creamy sauce and stir well.

Serve hot, with an extra sprinkling of cheese and grating of black pepper.

Chana Aloo. With Sweet Potato.

I always like to make a veggie curry to serve alongside a meat or fish curry.  As the base sauce is a slight bore to make, using it to make two curries makes the whole thing seem 100% worthwhile.  So this is my take on the traditional Chana Aloo (chickpeas and potatoes) using sweet potatoes in place of the traditional white potatoes.

It tastes divine and is perfect as a stand alone main served with some rice or roti.  The leftovers were packed off to the hospital for the hubbie's lunch - a perfect and healthy portable picnic.


Ingredients (serves 4)

225 g sweet potatoes
a can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
5 tbsp vegetable oil
275 ml curry sauce http://bizandthebear.blogspot.com/2012/04/basic-curry-sauce-essential-reading.html
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
4 tsp garam masala
2 tsp chili powder
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp ground fenugreek
fresh coriander to garnish

Method

1. Boil the sweet potatoes in their skins until just soft.  Allow to cool then peel and chop into chunks.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the curry sauce.  Boil until thickened.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the sauce, bar the potato, bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes, stirring.

4. Add the potatoes, allow to heat through then serve hot with the coriander garnish.

Delicious with rice.

Pilau Rice. A Scented Side.

Pilau rice from the curry house is normally an electric yellow colour thanks to food colouring.  While I have been known to sneak a little food colouring into the curries for a more authentic look, it seems a bit wrong to colour delicate grains of rice.  So here is my au natural scented pilau rice, using a stick of cinnamon from Madagascar.

A lovely slightly scented alternative to roti or plain rice.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 mugs rice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
6 green cardamons
a small stick of cinnamon
4 cloves
2 bay leaves
3 mugs of water
1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion over a moderate heat until translucent.  Add the spices and cook, stirring for one minute.

2. Add the rice and stir in, then pour over the water and salt.  Bring to the boil, then cover and cook at a simmer according to the packet.

Serve hot with any curry.

Chicken Tikka Masala. Standard Yumminess.

We are back from Madagascar.  It was a wonderful trip full of amazing wildlife, cocoa and vanilla plantations and delicious seafood.  As we only ate seafood for the whole 2 weeks on our arrival home the request for curry was sharply followed by 'not fish curry'.

I think it will be a while before I can sneak a piece of haddock past the hubbie.  So this week I made the old favourites, chicken tikka masala, chana aloo (sweet potato stylee) and pilau rice.  The latter two will follow, but first here's the masala...

Ingredients

For the Curry

4 tbsp vegetable oil
425 ml curry sauce http://bizandthebear.blogspot.com/2012/04/basic-curry-sauce-essential-reading.html
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
2 tsp chili powder
a couple drops of red food colouring
5 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin
4 chicken breasts, skin removed, cut into chunks
6 tbsp single cream
1 tbsp green coriander

For the Tikka Marinade

4 tbsp plain yoghurt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a shallow dish.  Add the chicken, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 days but overnight is fine.

2. About 20 minutes before serving, remove the chicken from the marinade, place on a baking tray and place under the grill until just cooked.

3. Make the curry - heat the oil in a saucepan, add the curry sauce and bring to the boil.  Add the paprika, salt, chilli powder and food colouring.  Cook over a moderate heat, stirring, until the sauce has thickened slightly.
4. Turn the heat down and add the garam masala and cumin.  Cook for a couple more minutes.  Add the chicken pieces, cream and cook for another couple of minutes.

Serve hot sprinkled with coriander with rice or roti.