Treacle pancakes

Based loosely upon a Dora Yaki recipe (Japanese mini pancakes, akin to Scotch pancakes), I thought I'd try out treacle instead of syrup. (I was out of syrup.) Sweetly soft, chewy, and just the littlest bit dense - good with sweet chestnut spread.

5 tsp sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp dark treacle

1/2 tsp agave nectar

1/2 cup flour (I used 2 dsp ground almonds, 1/4 cup rice/tapioca/potato starch mix, and 1/4 cup sorghum flour)

1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 cup water

Whisk the egg, sugar, treacle and syrup lightly until smooth. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Whisk to incorporate some of the flour, then pour in water and continue to mix until a slightly stiff batter has formed. Leave to stand for a few mins.

Heat up a frying pan to medium heat, and wipe with a paper towel holding a bit of grapeseed oil. Spoon in one dessertspoon of mixture, and wait until the top surface has some bubble holes and has solidified (2-3mins). Flip, cook for another 30sec - 1min. Remove onto handy plate.

Serve with chestnut spread, an (sweet red bean paste, Japanese style), sirop de liège, honey etc. Good with a cup of spiced tea.

Spiced chickpea ragoût

Twas a cool and wet evening, and the wild winds did blow! "Stew," I thought to myself, and went shopping for such.

Olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp coriander seeds

1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (or 5-6 sweeps of a nut over the grater)

1/4 tsp harissa paste

1/2 onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

1/2 aubergine, cubed

1 small green pepper, diced

2 small red peppers, diced

1/4 vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water

1/2 tin tomatoes

1 tin chickpeas

Sultanas

Lemon juice

Black pepper

Pinch of seasalt

Optional:

Spinach

Rye bread

Goat's milk soft cheese

Fresh coriander

Toast whole spices in a dry frying pan on medium heat, then grind up before dropping into a pan of medium-heat containing a splash of olive oil. Add chilli flakes, cinnamon and nutmeg, and let the oils release for a minute or so. (Take care not to scorch the spices on too high a heat, or you'll have to start again.)

Stir in the harissa paste, then add the onion and let sauté for a few minutes.

Add in garlic, aubergine. Stir for a minute, then add peppers and let cook for another minute or so.

Now stir in the tomatoes and chickpeas, and pour in the vegetable stock (can just use water or a meat stock if you prefer.) Stir everything well, sprinkle in a 1/4 handful of sultanas, squeeze in a wedge of lemon, and add some black pepper and a pinch of seasalt. Let simmer for 15mins or so.

Check for seasoning (the sauce will taste a little sweet/sour, but this is balanced by the chickpeas.) Vegetables should be cooked but not overdone - for well cooked chickpeas, cook for longer but I'd reserve the peppers and add 10-15mins before serving. (I only remembered this right at the end, however.)

Serve over a few handfuls of fresh spinach, alongside some toasted rye bread with goat cheese. (The La Soignon brie is pretty good.) Add a little fresh coriander if desired.

Enjoy!

Strawberry feta salad

I hadn't thought of putting strawberries in a salad until someone prompted me to reconsider the humble fruit - and so, this was created!

Feta cheese

Strawberries

Avocado

Almonds

Baby leaf spinach

Chicory

Baby gem lettuce

Balsamic vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Seasalt

Tear up lettuce and spinach, add finely sliced chicory and cubed avocado. Drizzle on a bit of oil and vinegar, a pinch of salt, and lightly mix up. Cube some feta cheese, slice up some strawberries and add to the salad. Then very finely chop some whole almonds (with skin) into wafer-thin slithers, and scatter on top.

Recipes

This is mostly a place to remind me of what I've cooked, as much of it is newly invented or an adapted recipe that may prove to be handy inspiration later on. (There are a lot of mystery photos for which I can no longer recall the particulars.) As such I've taken to describing the cooking process, as I find it simpler than composing a quantitative list of ingredients followed by a precisely timed set of instructions. (You may note a lack of baking entries, dear reader.)

It seems to be working quite nicely so far, we shall see how it goes! I am thinking an ingredient list at the beginning is a handy shortcut to see what the post is all about though. Hm.

I should add that while most recipes will be things from within the previous day or two, a few others for now will be catch-up work. Should at least be appropriate for the season, though!

Ginger sesame salmon with strawberry salad

The evening called for something very lightly seasoned and with plenty of raw crispy salad. Salmon it was!

1 salmon fillet
Ginger root, spring onion
Green (bell) pepper
Lettuce, baby leaf spinach, celery, cucumber, red chicory, etc.
Strawberries
Lime juice, sesame seed oil, soy sauce
Grapeseed oil

Slice up 1/3 of a green pepper into long thin slithers, and sauté over medium-high heat in some grapeseed oil.

Meanwhile very finely slice some crisp heart of romaine lettuce (2 - 3 leaves), and arrange in a dish. Sprinkle on a handful of torn baby leaf spinach. Check and stir green pepper.

Slice up and add half a stick of celery, about 2" of cucumber and a bit of red chicory.

Finely julienne a 1/2" piece of ginger root (into discs across the root, then into thin matchsticks.) Cut a spring onion into 2 or 3 pieces, then slice these into long thin slithers.

Green pepper should now be a little softened and have taken on a bit of colour, so remove from pan into a small bowl and let cool a little. Add some extra oil to the pan; once warmed up throw in the ginger and stir.

Rinse and pat dry one piece of salmon fillet.

Ginger should be a little translucent after 30 - 60 seconds, so then turn the heat down to low-medium and spread out spring onion pieces across the middle of the pan. Lay the piece of salmon skin-side-up onto this. Let fry for a minute or so, then pour a few tbsp of water into the pan and cover with a vented lid. Leave to poach for a few minutes.

Arrange cooled green pepper onto the salad so far, and core and quarter a few strawberries.

Check on the salmon, it should be mostly done with the additional water gone now. Flip to skin side down, and continue to cook uncovered to preferred doneness.

Slide salmon (with ginger and spring onion pieces) onto salad, and surround with strawberries. Squeeze 1/8th lime over fish and salad then drizzle on a 1/2 tsp of sesame seed oil, and a 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce. Enjoy!

Dahl with lime and coriander

The wind and rain have been blowing all day; cold weather food it was. Alas, the fridge was full of salad. "Never fear!" cried my stomach, "We have lentils!" We also had some motley spices that resulted in throwing away the first attempt and wasting half an onion. (Apparently not all spices keep so well after 5 years or so.) The second attempt turned out better, though.

Green lentils
Onion, garlic, ginger root
Madras curry powder, mustard seeds, ground cinnamon
Vegetable stock
Sliced carrot, celery
Green pepper, tomato
Fresh coriander
Lime juice, coconut milk
Pinch of seasalt

Soak and simmer half a cup of green lentils (this is not at all necessary, but I find it makes them more digestible.) Meanwhile heat up some oil in a pan over a medium heat, and add half a chopped onion. Cover pan with a lid. Boil 1 - 2 cups of water in the kettle for use later.

When the onion has softened a bit, sprinkle in 1 - 2 tsp of madras curry powder, a 1/4 tsp of mustard seeds, and a 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon. Stir and let lightly sizzle for a minute or two.

Add 2 - 3 minced cloves of garlic, and a minced 1/2" piece of ginger. Stir for a few minutes, then tip in mostly drained lentils. (At this point I also added a half cup of reconstituted soy mince, as I'm having a cupboard clear-out.) Add hot water to cover, and bring to a simmer.

Slice up two small carrots, and a large half stick of celery. Add to pan, and continue to simmer.

Mix up 1/4 of a vegetable stock cube with some hot water, and stir it in. Add a good few grinds of black pepper too. (Pondered a bay leaf, but didn't add one this time.) Let this simmer for 15 - 20mins, until everything is tender but the carrot and celery are far from mush.

Finely dice a 1/3 of a green pepper, and add this to the pan. Then stir in a handful of chopped fresh coriander, squeeze in a small wedge of lime (to taste), and splash in about a 1/4 cup of thin coconut milk. Stir, and let simmer a few minutes longer.

Shortly before serving, add a tomato cut into 1/8ths and a pinch or two of seasalt. Check seasoning, adding more coconut milk or lime juice as desired.

Serve with an additional bit of fresh coriander and devour in smug delightedness, all vestiges of attempt no.1 quite forgotten. Later discover that fiddling somewhat chaotically with f number settings on the camera made for a far prettier photo than usual, too.

Grilled cheese, à la Américain

I assumed that American grilled cheese was cheese, on bread, put under a grill and retrieved a little later. But no! For their grills are barbecues, and their broilers are grills.

Grilled cheese can simply be made with a frying pan and a few simple ingredients. Yes, it is a fried cheese sandwich, as far as I can tell.

Bread
Butter (or preferred spread)
Cheese
Gherkins, tomatoes, pickle

Take some sliced cheese, something akin to a mild cheddar works well (I actually tried out Monterey Jack, and found it was similar to that.) Place the cheese upon one piece of bread, sandwich it with another slice of bread.

Now butter the top of the sandwich, and place this butter-side-down in a frying pan over a low-medium heat. Butter the new topside.

After a few minutes, flip it. There should be some light golden-brown toasting on the new topside, and the cheese should be looking a little melty around the edges. Leave for a few more minutes until toasted on the second side. Do not hurry! This is the trick of it.

Serve with pickled gherkin, and some cherry tomatoes don't go amiss. And pickle, if you are a fiend for it such as I am.