Rice with chick peas and tomatoes

We had this for lunch yesterday and JP loved it!  So here it is!  It is so easy to make, especially if you se canned chick peas.  I have so much corriander in the garden and this is a great way to use it up.

Cooked short grain brown rice
1 can of chick peas (if using dried, soak 350g over night and cook as usual)
2 large onions-finely chopped
6 tbsp olive oil4 cloves garlic, crushed
450 gr fresh tomatoes, skinned and sliced
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
2 tbsp lemon juice

Fry the onion in the olive oil in a large sauce pan, until soft-about 10 mins.  Add the garlic, chick peas and tomatoes and cook for a further few mins until they are nice and hot.  Use a fork and lightly mash the chick peas, then stir in the coked rice, coriander and lemon juice,  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Lentil Pie

This is an old school favourite of mine from Rose Elliot's "Bean Book" -she describes it as an 'economical wartime dish'!!!
Anyway I love it!

175 g split red lentils
1 large onion-diced
350 g mashed potatoes (mine are made with original, organic soya milk)
1 tbsp chopped parsley, or fresh corriander
1 tablespoon tomato chutney-or I use a chili jam
sea salt
black pepper

Wash the lentils, put them with the chopped onion into a sauce pan with enough wayer to cover, and cook gently until the lentils are soft 20-30 mins.  Drain and mash them lightly with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (mark 6).  Beat the mashed potatoes into the cooked lentils, together with the fresh herbs, chutney, salt and pepper to taste.
Put the mixture into a shallow baking dish and smooth the top over with a fork.  Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until crisp and browned. 

As promised- Delicious Vegan Chocolate Cake!!

My friend from school, Alix, sent this to me to try and I thought I would share it with you all! 

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Although it is apparently an American classic, I only stumbled upon Wacky Cake when I was trying to find something to bake for my sister. She had recently been diagnosed with vicious allergies to Soy and Eggs, and the years of searing joint pain that she had suffered was attributable to these nefarious ingredients. So, I was on the hunt for delicious soy-free, vegan recipes for my dear sister, who is a fan of all things chocolate. Clearly this is buried deep within our Faulhaberian DNA; not only do I routinely find guilty little wrappers strewn on my nightstand, but my nephew (My sister’s baby) arrived at my house last time with chocolate smeared all over his face after he had noozled a KitKat bar until he fell asleep.

The Wacky Cake is certainly wacky, especially to those who have done a lot of baking. The procedure is decidedly odd, but trust me, it’s the right way. I’d never blaspheme chocolate!

Wacky Cake

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour (for Gluten free use all purpose gluten free flour)
3 Tbsp. Cocoa
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 C. Brown Sugar (you can also use white sugar. I sometimes use homemade Vanilla Sugar- just stick a Vanilla
bean in the Sugar jar and be patient.)
1 tsp. Salt
5 Tbsp. Canola/Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp. White Vinegar (I use Apple Cider as well, it’s lovely)
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 C. Cold Water

Set oven to 350(F)

-In a very large bowl, combine the dry: Flour, Cocoa, Baking Soda, Sugar & Salt

- With your finger, make three deep holes in the dry mixture.
-In one hole, pour your Oil
-In the next, your Vinegar
-In the last, Vanilla

-Pour Water over all three! WEEEE! Wacky!

-Mix well.

-Using a 9” x 9” brownie pan, bake your Wacky Cake for 30 minutes.

-When done, let cool on racks.

-This cake is best the next day, after cooling and refrigerating. Wrap tightly to avoid fridge funk (and I’m not talking Bootsy Collins….)

Delicious as a breakfast cake with Mimosas for a decadent brunch!
(Perfect for newlyweds J)

Enjoy!!

Tisanes-herb teas!

One thing most of my friends remember about me from university Is the vast quantity of peppermint tea that I consumed.  Now I have an incredible herb garden here I can make fresh mint tea-I love it.

For peppermint, use five leaves for one mug, leave to steep in boiling water before you pour.  Spearmint is one up from peppermint, a bit stronger and still yummy. Both are excellent for digestion and colds.

 Sage tea is all right - famously good for night sweats and apparently invaluable during menopause-not that I would know first hand!  I enjoy the robust delicious taste of rosemary. Pick a 2in sprig for one mug and leave it to stew for the usual five minutes. This is the one to get you going when you're feeling grotty and lethargic, a useful hangover cure and an invigorating stimulant for anyone who gets SAD.  

We have just had so much rosemary growing we have chopped down my forest and placed it all over the veranda in terracotta pots to try and control it!  James is always trying to get me to reduce my herb garden-not going to happen, but I did give in to the rosemary battle. 

Fennel-seed tea is another one for cold days - pour a teaspoon of seeds into your mug or pot and after 10 minutes strain them off like tea leaves. Fennel has a fresh aniseedy taste and diuretic properties that make it popular with dieters. It is also much more effective than parsley for freshening the breath.  We save all our fennel seeds from the garden to ensure they are organic. 

Fennel Ratatouille

I have this aversion to normal ratatouille-i might infact go so far as to say I really dislike it!  I made it this past weekend for sunday lunch, and I still dont like it!  I think it comes from when I first turned vegetarian/vegan about 15 years ago people didnt know what to feed me so invariably the ratatouille would come out-urgh!
Anyway I have found a version that I do like, from Sarah Raven, and seeing as my fennel is never ending in the garden it is a good way to use it...

Fennel Ratatouille:
4 tbsp olive oil
sprig of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 tsp fennel seeds
3 large onions cut into quarters
2 peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped-I dont like peppers, so I use Jalapeno instead!
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
4 fennel bulbs, outer leaves discarded and roughly chopped
2 X 400g tins good quality chopped tomatoes-or 900 grms fresh tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
grated zest of one lemon
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp runny honey
salt and black pepper
small bunch of dill-roughly chopped
handful of black olives-or kalamata olives.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy based casserole, with the thyme, bay leaf and fennel seeds. Add the onions, peppers, garlic and saute for 5 mins. Add the fennel, tomatoes, chilli, lemon zest, tomato puree, honey and a little salt and pepper.
Cover the dish and simmer gently over a very low heat, stirring every so often, for an hour or more.   Take the lid off, add the dill and olives.  Increase the heat slightly to reduce until the sauce becomes thick and treacly. Taste and season as necessary.
Can be served hot or cold and if you have left overs makes a good soup, pureed and thinned with vegetable stock. 

Pound cake

This is just to balance out my last post!  A friend of mine has just started keeping chickens and last week gave me 12 of her eggs.  I dont eat eggs and JP doesnt like eggs...so I had to find a recipe where the eggs are hidden-in comes the pound cake!
It's a gently sweet, dense textured cake-lovely and simple.  Serve with earl grey tea!

450 g unsalted butter, soft.  Plus a little extra melted butter to grease.
450 g plain flour, sifted, plus extra to dust
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
450g golden caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract-I use a vanilla paste
6 organic, large, free range eggs
125 ml whole milk
finely grated zest of one lemon or two limes

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.  Line a loose bottomed 23 cm round cake tim with foil, and then baking parchment.  Brush the parchment and sides of the tim with melted butter, then dust with a little flour.
Sift the flour, salt, bicarb and baking powder together into a bowl and set aside.
Using an electric mier, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together on a low speed for 2 minutes.  Then increase the speed and to high and beat until pale and fluffy.  Turn the speed to low again and beat in the eggs, one at a time, alternately with the milk.
Using a large metal spoon, fold the flour into the mixture in three batches, followed by the lemon zest until evenly combined.
Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared cake tin, and gently level the surface with the back of the spoon.  Stand the cake tin on a baking sheet, in the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 1.5 hours, or until the cake has begun to shrink away from the sides of the tin and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.  Best eaten when still slightly warm

Gluten free & vegan Bread

A few months ago I invested in a bread machine-about the same time that it was mentioned in 'The Week' as being the least used bit of household equipment!  Well I love mine, and finally I have found a great way to make vegan and gluten free bread!  I thought I would share it with you all, just incase any one is like me!
Basic white bread(750g loaf)-gluten free:

290ml water
1.5 tbsp olive oil
450 g multipurpose gluten free flour
4 tsp channa (chick pea) flour
1.5 tsp salt1 tbsp sugar
1.5 tsp easy blend dried yeast
3 tbsp golden flax seeds

Now this is the easy part, place all ingredients into the bread machine in the order they are listed and set it to a gluten free setting!

Eat with marmite and avocado! :)