Mixed Spice / Gingerbread / Kruidnootjes cupcakes

To complete my Sinterklaas trio of recipes I decided to prepare some cupcakes with mixed spice speculoos and also kruidnootjes.

Since all our belongings are currently on a ship somewhere in Asia I had to prepare these cupcakes by hand. The end result might have been fluffier and looked better if I had my kitchen tools.

Quantity: 8-9 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 100 grams selfraising flour
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 200 grams butter
• 2 eggs
• around 20 kruidnootjes
• 100 grams cream cheese
• 75 grams icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons speculoos spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsisus;
2. Mix 100 grams of the butter, flour, granulated sugar and the eggs in a bowl into batter;
3. If you're not using cupcake wrapper, butter up the cupcake forms so that the cupcakes won't stick to the form;
4. Crumble half of the kruidnootjes in the batter and mix;
5. Add the batter in the cupcake forms, filling each slot until the middle of the form;
6. Place in the oven for around 20 minutes;
7. In the meantime mix the remaining butter, icing sugar, cream cheese until the mixture is smooth;
8. Mix in the speculoos spices. Reserve a small amount for later use;
9. Once the cupcakes have cooled down add the cream cheese topping on top of each cupcake;
10. Finish off with a kruidnootje on each cupcake and cover with the remaining spices.

Kruidnootjes (Speculaas/Spice/Gingerbread cookies)

Just before Sinterklaas we decided to keep some of the Dutch traditions in our new home in Australia. Therefore my lovely husband baked some gingerbread cookies for us.

Recipe Origin: Kruidnootjes - Recept

Amount: 60-80 cookies

 

Ingredients:

• 185 grams flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 85 grams dark brown bastard sugar
• 15 grams speculoos spices
• a pinch of salt
• 125 grams butter

Method:

1. Sieve the flour in a mixing bowl;
2. Add the baking powder, spices and salt;
3. Cut the butter in small pieces and added to the mixing bowl;
4. Knead the mixture until the mixture has a dough texture;
5. Warm the oven to 150 degrees Celsius;
6. Add a baking paper on top of an oven baking tray;
7. Roll small balls from the dough with the palm of your hands. The ball should be around 1cm in size;
8. Place the balls next to each other on the baking tray;
9. Cook in the oven for around 20 minutes or until they cookies are browned;
10. Let rest and eat!

Notes:

• You can substitute the flour with wholemeal flour;
• There are other versions of this recipe that use milk. I never tried the recipes with the milk but there shouldn't be much difference in taste;
• The cookies will grow in size so the cookie dough balls should be quite small.

Speculoos Spices

The Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on the evening of 5th December. This day has it's own set of sweets like the chocolate letters, kruidnootjes (speculoos biscuits/Biscoff biscuits) and pepernootjes. The ingredient that is nearly always present in these traditional sweets is speculoos. In the Netherlands you can buy the speculoos spices however I haven't yet found these spices in Melbourne. So to savour these typical Sinterklaas biscuits I prepared the spice mix myself.

Recipe origin: Dutch Food - Speculaskruiden

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground mace
• 1/3 tsp ground ginger
• a pinch white pepper
• a pinch ground cardamom
• a pinch of ground coriander seeds
• a pinch of ground anise seeds
• a pinch of grated nutmeg

Method:

1. Mix all spices together;
2. Use in any Sinterklaas recipes!

[Image Source: Culicool Recept Speculaaskruiden]

Rabbit Sauce for Pasta

On popular request I'm going to post a very successful rabbit recipe. This recipe produces a very rich and slightly sweet sauce which goes especially well with pasta.


Recipe Origin: Rabbit with Aniseed Liqueur

Serves: 3-4 persons

Ingredients:

• 1 rabbit cut in pieces
• 2 chicken cubes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 shot of Aniseed/Anise/Ouzo/Pernod liqueur
• 475ml red wine
• 1 tablespoon Worchester Sauce
• 100grams currant/sultanas
• 500g frozen peas
• 250g tomato paste 
• 2 tablespoons curry
• 1/4 teaspoon mixed spices
• 5 bay leaves
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 200g butter
• salt
• pepper

Method:

1. Saute 3 bay leaves and the garlic cloves in 2 tablespoons oil and 150g butter. Stir occasionally;
2. Add the rabbit pieces, turning frequently until browned all over;
3. Add a glass of red wine and the anise liqueur. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes turning  the rabbit occasionally;
4. Transfer the rabbit to a warm serving dish and keep it covered;
5. In the meantime, fry the onions in the remaining oil and butter. Add the tomato concentrate, the sugar, salt and pepper. Stir;
6. Add water gently to this mixture;
7. Add curry, mixed spices, the chicken cubes, currents, the remaining bay leaves, the remaining red wine and the Worchester sauce;
8. After a few minutes add the fried rabbit including its sauce and simmer on low flame for around 30 minutes;
9. Cook the pasta according the packets instructions;
10. At this point I usually remove the rabbit bones since the sauce tastes much better without the bones. Return the boneless rabbit meat to the sauce;
11. Add the peas and simmer for another 15 minutes;
12. Serve with the cooked pasta.

Modifications from the original recipe:

• I usually buy 2 rabbits and use the front and hind legs in another rabbit recipe (rabbit in white wine and garlic) while using the remaining rabbit body parts for this stew;
• I reduced the amount of chicken cubes from the original recipe so that's the stew is less salty. Add another chicken cube if you want a saltier sauce;
• The original recipe uses canned peas however I prefer using frozen peas.

[Image Source: Paul's Flickr]

Tradtional Maltese Easter Figolli

Figolli are a traditional Easter dessert made from a biscuit pastry with an almond filling. Typically they are decorated with icing or chocolate. Most figolli are given a shape, in the past this used to be an Easter related shape however nowadays shapes vary from fish, baskets, heart shapes and many others. In my family we also had Garlfield's face as a standard shape! We used to bake these every year with my mum when young and nowadays even though I don't prepare them on a yearly basis anymore I still use the same recipe that we used back then.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 800 grams plain flour
• 1.5 packets margarine (roomboter)
• 2 eggs
• 250 grams sugar
• 1 lemon juice and peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Filling:

• 400 grams pure almonds
• 400 grams sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond essence
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice (Specific ingredients vary from brand to brand but typical components are(1/4 tbsp cinnamon, 1/4 tbsp nutmeg, 1/4 tbsp allspice, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 tsp mace, 1/4 tsp ground cloves)
• 1 orange juice and peel

Design

• 2 big milk/dark chocolate
• A couple of easter eggs

Icing Design

• 225-250 grams sieved icing sugar
• 1 egg white
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Method:

General Directions:

1. Prepare pastry and leave for 2 hours or overnight;
2. Mix filling ingredients together;
3. Prepare figolli design;
4. Cook at 180 degrees;
5. Once cool, melt chocolate and cover pastry;
6. Once dried add icing design.

Preparing the pastry:

1. Mix the margarine and sugar until the mixture turns whitish in colour;
2. Add the flour, eggs, lemon juice, lemon peal and vanilla essence;
3. Continue mixing until the pastry is of the right consistency. If the pastry is still sticky add some more flour. If the pastry is very dry add a teaspoon of water;
4. Leave to rest.

Preparing the filling:

1. Crush the almonds into powder consistency;
2. Mix all ingredients together.

Icing directions:

1. Beat the egg white;
2. Add lemon juice and icing sugar bit by bit;
3. It should now be smooth and shiny;
4. Make sure the icing is not very wet and can keep a given shape;
5. Add more icing sugar if icing is very wet.

Assembly:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius;
2. Roll the pastry to around 3 mm consistency;
3. Cut into desired shape. This will be the base of the figolla;
4. Cut more pastry in the same identical shape. If possible cut it 5 mm bigger than the base;
5. Place a 1 cm layer of filling on top of the base;
6. Keep the filling around 1 cm away from all borders;
7. Wet the border of the base with water;
8. Cover the base and filling with the top pastry layer;
9. Press the top and bottom pastries together at the borders;
10. Place in oven and cook until the pastry has a bit of colour;



11. Melt chocolate;
12. Cover the shaped figolla with the melted chocolate;





13. Let dry completely;
14. Once dry decorate with the icing sugar.

Traditional Maltese Bread Pudding - Pudina tal-Hobz

Maltese people eat a lot of bread and on many occasions they have extra bread that is not fresh enough to eat by itself but would be a waste to throw away. This is when making a bread pudding comes in handy. I have come up with the ingredients from my mum's recipe which didn't have any amounts at all! What makes a bread pudding great is that apart from the bread you can add whatever ingredients you like best.

I myself barely eat bread nowadays (you know all those carbs!)  so tried to buy the old store bought bread that's usually also on discount!

I've served this recipe a while back to a few Maltese people living away from Malta to make them remember the tastes from home!

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of stale bread. Both white or brown will yield a good pudding
• 3 cups of milk (or more if necessary)
• 125 grams butter. You can opt for less butter if you wish.
• 1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 100 grams sugar (or to taste)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves
• 100 grams chocolate chips
• 10 tablespoons coconut flakes
• Dried/fresh mixed fruit and nuts of your choice. I use:
• 1 banana
• 1 apple (shredded)
• 1 pear (shredded)
• handful of sultanas
• handful of cherries
• handful of candied peel
• 100 grams hazelnuts
• 1/2 mandarin peel
• 1/2 lemon peel
• 1/2 orange peel
• 100 grams dates

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C;
2. Smear a dish that can go in the oven with butter and line with baking paper;
3. Use only the soft part of the bread and break into small chunks;
4. Dip the bread in milk. Make sure that the bread absorbs all the milk. Throw away any extra milk by squeezing the milk out of the bread;
5. Kneed the bread into a mush;
6. Add the sugar, butter, eggs, cinnamon and cloves and mix together until smooth;
7. Cut/shred all dried and fresh mixed fruit in small pieces. The bigger pieces the chunkier the pudding;
8. Mix all dried and fresh fruit and chocolate chips in the bread mixture;
9. Add most of the coconut flakes to the mixture leaving a small portion to cover the top;
10. Move the pudding to the oven dish and cover the top with the remaining coconut flakes; 
11. Place in the oven and cook for around 45 minutes to an hour;
12. Leave the pudding to rest before serving.

How the recipe was written before! No measures at all! The language of the text is Maltese. Please ignore all my spelling mistakes.

Affogato - Ice cream drowned in espresso

An affogato is an Italian dessert in which ice cream is drowned into espresso. This dessert is very easy to make and tastes delicious. The only necessarily ingredients are ice cream and coffee, while all other ingredients are options. I have added a liqueur (Amaretto), some Ameretti and chocolate to add the crunch and caramel since it's just so good!

Ingredients

• Ice cream (I used coffee ice cream with caramel swirls)
• Caramel
• Amaretti biscuits
• Amaretto or Kahlua or Tia Maria
• Chocolate (milk, white or pure or if you prefer a mix of all tastes)
• Espresso

Method

1. Pour a liqueur shot in each of the serving glasses.
2. Chop the chocolate pieces and the Amaretto biscuits.
3. Prepare between half or one espresso shot for each serving glass.
4. Place a couple of scoops of ice cream in the glass and top with the chocolate and biscuits mix.
5. Pour the espresso over the ice cream.
6. Top off with caramel.
7. Serve immediately since the coffee melts the ice cream quickly.

Coffee ice cream with caramel

Over Christmas week I had to prepare desserts for a lunch and a dinner with different people so I decided to re-use certain elements of the desserts. Both desserts used ice cream and caramel. You can find the recipe for the salted caramel sauce here.

Whenever I prepare ice cream I always try to choice interesting tastes. This coffee ice cream with streaks of caramel sauce hit the right taste buds.

You cannot really see it in this picture but the ice cream has caramel in it as well.

Recipe Origin: Buck ´n Run Ranch

Ingredients

• 540 ml heavy cream
• 140 ml whole milk
• 2 shots espresso
• 165 g granulated sugar
• 5 egg yolks, at room temperature, beaten with a fork
• 4 tbsp caramel sauce
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp vanilla

Method:

1. Warm the milk, sugar, 240ml heavy cream and salt in a saucepan.
2. Heat the mixture but don't bring to boil. Once the mixture is hot and steaming remove from heat.
3. Stir in the espresso and vanilla. 
4. Use 1 cup of the mixture and add into the beaten egg yolks a bit at a time, whisking constantly.
5. Pour back the egg mixture into the sauce pan.
6. Add the remaining heavy cream to the sauce pan.
7. Continue heating on low heat until the mixture thickens slightly.
8. Remove from heat and strain into a bowl.
9. Place the bowl in an ice water bowl and stir until cooled.
10. Chill in the refrigirator until cold.
11. Prepare the ice cream according to the ice cream machine instructions.
12. Place the ice cream storage container in the freezer and take out when ice cream is ready.
13. Drizzle some caramel sauce at the bottom of the container. Add a layer of ice cream followed by more caramel.
14. Continue layering the ice cream and caramel sauce.
15. Use a butter knife to make swirls of the caramel.
16. Add a final drizzle of caramel on top.
17. Freeze until firm.

Salted Caramel

I've always wanted to try and make caramel but never had a dessert that needed caramel in the past. I had heard that it's difficult to get right especially if you don't have a thermometer. I didn't have the right thermometer but still tried the recipe and it came out perfectly.

This caramel tastes like you're eating the caramel of a Mars bar. You can drizzle it over cake, brownies, ice cream, cup cakes or anything sweet really.

I got this recipe from Two Peas and their Pod and basically stuck to their recipe apart from using normal sea salt and no thermometer use.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 170 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon sea salt flakes

Notes:

• The melted sugar can be very hot. Be extremely careful not to burn yourself.
• If the caramel burns it won't taste good, so you have to pay close attention not to burn it.
• If sugar starts sticking to the whisk you can use a wooden spoon. 

Method:

1. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat in a heave saucepan. When the sugar start to melt start whisking the sugar. Continue until all the sugar melts. You can swirl the pan to move the sugar around.
2. Continue cooking the sugar until it turns into a deep amber colour. Many recipes suggest to use a thermometer. Temperature should reach 176 ^oC.
3. At this point add the butter in small batches, whisking continuously until the butter is melted.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour in the heave cream.
5. Whisk until the caramel is smooth.
6. Whisk in the sea salt flakes.
7. Let cool for around 10 minutes n the pan.
8. Pour the caramel into a jar and cool to room temperature.
9. Place the caramel in the refrigerator for storage. The caramel can be stored for up to a month. 
10. When you want to use the caramel take out of the refrigerator before use so that it is more easy to drizzle on your desserts.
    
    
    
    

    

    The salted caramel drizzled over a brownie

Recipe Origin: Two Peas and their Pod

Pastizzi tal-Pizelli - Pea Cakes

Pastizzi come in 2 tastes - pea and cheese cakes. Last time I gave the recipe of the cheese cakes, but these pea cakes are just as important.

My recipe is a quicker and modified version from the original but it tastes just as quick.

Recipe Origin: Celt Net

Ingredients:

• 300g canned peas. You can substitute with dried peas but then you should soak the peas for at least 5 hours.
• 100g finely chopped onions
• pepper
• salt
• curry powder
• 1 egg
• 750g puff pastry
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

1. Heat a little oil in a pan.
2. Add the onions and fry until golden (about 8 minutes)

3. Add the peas, mix thoroughly then season with salt, black pepper and curry powder, to taste. 



4. Take off the heat and set aside. 
5. Pre-heat the oven at 180°C.
6. Roll out the pastry thinly. 
7. Cut out circles about 9cm in diameter from the pastry then brush the edges with egg wash. 
8. Put some of the pea mixture in each (offset from the centre)



9. Fold the pastry circle in half and seal the edges together. 







10. Transfer to a lightly-greased baking tray then brush the tops with egg wash. 
11. Transfer to an oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and cooked through. 
12. Serve warm.

Pastizzi ta' l-Irkotta - Cheese cakes

Pastizzi are traditional Maltese cheese cakes. You can buy them in every town or village at Pastizzerias across the island. There the oldest fast food on this island.

The result didn't look perfect but the taste was quite nice.

Ingredients:

• 300g ricotta
• 3 eggs
• Finely chopped parsley
• 50g grated cheese
• Pepper
• 600g puff pastry

Method:

1. Make an egg wash from 1 egg.
2. Mix the remaining eggs, ricotta, cheese and peppers.



3. Pre-heat the open at 180 degrees Celsius.
4. Divide the pastry in equal hand size balls.



5. Roll the pastry thinly into circles of 9cm in diameter.
6. Egg wash the edges.
7. Put some of the ricotta mixture on the pastry on the edge.



8. Fold the pastry circle in half and seal the edges.
9. Egg wash the top.
10. Place in the oven for half an hour or until the party is ready.
11. Serve while still warm.

If you're not a fan of ricotta you can try out the pea pastizzi.

Recipe origin: Malta Bulb

Tomato Sauce

This tomato paste is very simple with just 2 main ingredients. I use this sauce with ravioli.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 10-15 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon tomato concentrate (kunserva)
• 1 can tomato passata (300-400ml)
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• Chicken seasoning cube
• Parmesan cheese ( optional)

Method:

1. Slice the garlic into big chunks.
2. Warm the oil in a pan and reduce heat.
3. Add the garlic and simmer for a few minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
4. Ad the tomato concentrate and passata, together with the sugar, the chicken cube crumbs and some water.
5. Cook on slow heart until it's thick for around 30 minutes.
6. Steve on top of pasta with parmesan shavings.

Fresh Ravioli - traditional Maltese

One of my favourite dishes is ravioli with a garlicky tomato sauce. At Christmas I got a pasta maker so I took the opportunity to prepare fresh ravioli.

Makes 2-3 dinner portions

Ingredients:

For the pastry

• 300g flour
• 3 eggs
• Pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 300g ricotta (cottage cheese)
• Bunch of chopped parsley
• Pepper
• 1 egg

Method:

1. Mix all the pastry ingredients and start making the dough.
2. Work the pastry until is not sticky. Add a little bit more flour if the pastry remains sticky.
3. Shape the pastry in a ball shape and wrap it in cling film.
4. Leave the pastry to rest for an hour.
5. Beat the egg for the filling and mix with the ricotta and parsley.
6. Add pepper to taste.
7. Use a pasta machine to thin out the pastry. If you don't have a pasta machine you can use a ruling pin but make sure the pastry is quite thin.
8. Divide the pastry sheets into 2 equal sheets.
9. Place one sheet on you working area which was covered with a bit of floor.
10. Start adding a spoonful of mixture  at around 4cm apart.
11. Once the pastry sheet is covered with the ricotta mixture pace the remaining pasta sheet on top.



12. Gently press with your finger in between the mixture.
13. Use a pastry cutting tool to cut the ravioli into squares of around 4cm each.



14. Use your fingers to press any ravioli sides which are not completely closed.
15. Let the ravioli rest for a few minutes before cooking.
16. To cook boil 2 litres of water and place the ravioli in the boiling weather.
17. Boil for around 5-7 minutes or until the ravioli start floating.

The tomato sauce that this perfectly for this recipe will follow tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everybody

I hope you all had a great Christmas spent with family or friends. Mine was spent together with my family in Malta. We had enough food to serve us for another couple of days - I will enjoy lunch tomorrow!

I'm writing this entry from my new tablet - a gadget I wished to own for a few years but never got around to get one myself.

Mushroom Risotto

This risotto is a staple dish in our kitchen. It's one of the few vegetarian dishes in which we don't miss meat!

Ingredients:

• 20 g dried porcini
• 1 ltr chicken bouillon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 small onion, chopped finely
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 375 g Arborio rice
• 250 g  mushrooms, sliced. I use brown mushrooms
• pinch of nutmeg
• 45 g Parmesan cheese, grated
• 3 tbsp parsley, chopped

Method:

1. Place the dried porcini in a pan with 500 ml water.

2. Simmer for 30 mins.
3. Take the procini out of the water and cut in small pieces.
4. Warm up the bouillon.
5. In a pan with a thick bottom, heat the olive oil and butter.
6. Cook the onion and garlic.

7. Add the rice and continue cooking on low fire.
8. Mix well.
9. Add the mushrooms and nutmeg to the pan.
10. Mix for 1-2 minutes.
11. Add the porcini and their liquid and cook on high fire until the liquid is absorbed.

12. Start adding slowly the bouillon one ladle spoon at a time.
13. Wait until the liquid is absorbed before adding more liquid.
14. This process should take around 20 minutes. you don't always need all the bouillon and it could be the case that you need a bit more.
15. Once the rice is al dente remove from fire, add the cheese and parsley.
16. Mix well and serve directly.

 Recipe Origin: Smakelijk Italië cook book by Sophie Braimbridge and Jo Glynn.

Egg Nest

In the weekend we usually prepare special breakfasts instead of the usual cereal & milk or yoghurt. The below recipe looks really cute apart from tasting good as well.

I had tried the recipe I found online sometime ago, but this time round I substituted bacon with chorizo since that was available at home and I can't say I regretted the change in ingredient.

Makes: 4 nests (2 nests per person)

Ingredients:

•  4 slices of toast bread
• 4 slices of chorizo (or bacon if you prefer)
• 4 eggs
• 2 slices of young cheese
• salt & pepper
• 1tsp butter 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Cut circles in the bread slices around 3 inches in diameter. You can use a cookie cutter or else just press an upside down glass and cut round the edges.
3. Grease a muffin pan with butter.
4. Press the bread circles in the muffin pan.
5. Cook chorizo in a pan for a minute.
6. Press the chorizo on top of the bread circles.
7. Cut the slices of cheese in half and place on top of the bacon.
8. Place the muffin pan in the oven for 5 minutes
9. Remove from the oven.
10. Crack an egg and seperate out most of the egg white.
11. Drop the egg in one of the cups.
12. Repeat process for all cups.
13. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
14. Cook in the oven for another 8-10 minutes.
15. Remove from the oven and use a spoon to pop  the nests out.
16. Serve directly.

Recipe Origin: The Noshery

Roasted Root Vegetables

The below recipe brings the colours of Autumn in the kitchen. The ingredients are root vegetables, which in this case they were as a substitute for potatoes and side-veggies. A great recipe which can fit perfectly in Paleo diets.

Makes: 2 - 3 portions

Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet potato
• 1.5 parsnips (pastinaak) or rutabaga (koolraap)
• 2-3 carrots
• 1-2 shallots
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• pinch of dried chipotle pepper
• Zest of 1/4 lime
• 1 small jalapeño pepper
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 1-2 sprigs fresh sage
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick, chopped in half
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon dark rum (optional)
• 1 baking apple (such as Spartan, Gala, or Cortland), cored, sliced into wedges, and drizzled with lime or lemon juice to prevent browning
• 1/4 cup raw walnut halves
• Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked salt (optional)

 

Method:

1. Clean the sweet potatoes and peel (optional). Dice the sweet potato in bite size pieces.
2. Peel and trim the parsnips. Cut into 1cm slices.
3. Peel the carrots. Cut into 1cm slices.
4. Peel the shallots and cut into quarters.
5. Preheat the oven to 205º C.
6. Place the sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, shallots, garlic, chipotle pepper and lime zest in an oven appropriate bowl.
7. Add the jalapeno, sprig rosemary, sprigs sage, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick halves.
8. Mix together olive oil, brown sugar, smoked paprika, rum, black pepper, and salt.
9. Add the mixture over the vegetables.
10. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
11. Add the apples and walnuts to the pan, and stir to combine.
12. Roast for another 30 – 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and lightly browned.
13. Remove the pan from oven, stir vegetables, and add smoked salt, sea salt, and black pepper to taste.
14. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Pop Artichoke.

Brazil Nut Delight

Last weekend I wanted to make a nutty dessert so this dessert came to mind. My mum used to prepare it once in a while but I had up until now never tried it myself. The result matched with my memories of the dish!

Ingredients:

• 150 grams plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 100 grams sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 400 grams Brazil nuts 
• 400 grams dates without stone
• 100 grams cherries (fresh or glazed)
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt
2. Chop the dates and cherries into small chunks
3. Combine the Brazil nuts, dates and cherries
4. Beat eggs and vanilla
5. Mix everything together 



6. Bake in an loaf tin in an oven at 150 degrees Celsius for about 1 hour 45 mins

I didn't have a loaf tin, which is a pity since it's easier to cut straight pieces due to the whole Brazil nuts.

Chicken and Artichokes in Wine Sauce

I love pasta but I tend to fall into a routine of preparing the same 2 sauces over and over again. So when I stumbled on the below recipe I knew I should try it out. 

The result is a very creamy, lemon flavor pasta dish.

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• 2 cups artichoke hearts, frozen and thawed, or canned and drained
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 1 pound 
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 cups dry white wine 
• 1/2 lemon
• Flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, to garnish (optional)
• 300-400g pasta 

Method

 

1. Cut the artichoke hearts in half lengthwise. 
2. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, about 1 inch to a side. 
3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour with about 1 teaspoon salt and a generous quantity of black pepper. 
4. Toss the chicken pieces in the flour.
5. In the meantime prepare the pasta following its cooking instructions.
6. Set a large skillet (at least 12 inches wide) over medium-high heat. 
7. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. 
8. Add the artichokes. 
9. Cook for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned on each side. 

10. Remove the artichokes from the skillet and transfer to a plate. Set aside.
11. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in the skillet along with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. 
12. Lift the chicken pieces out of the flour and arrange in the skillet. 
13. Sauté the chicken pieces for 5 to 7 minutes or until golden brown on both sides. 

14. Add the artichokes back to the pan.
15. Pour in the white wine and and stir and scrape up any bits on the bottom of the pan. 

16. Bring to a simmer and let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes over medium heat. 
17. The sauce will thicken. Stir well to coat everything with the wine sauce. 

18. Stir in a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice.
19. Garnish, if desired, with finely chopped parsley.

 Recipe Origin: Thekitchn

Fish Korma

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 750 gm fish fillets
• 1 lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 oil for frying
• 1 large onion, finley sliced
• 1 medium onion roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
• 3 fresh red chillies
• 2 tablespoon blanched almonds
• 1 tablespoon white poppy seeds (optional)
• 2 teaspoon ground cummin
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 small pinch ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron strands
• 2 tablespoon boiling water
• 1/2 cup natural yoghurt
• 1 salt to taste
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander

Method

• Wash and dry fish, cut into large serving pieces and rub with lemon juice, salt, pepper and turmeric.
• Heat oil in a frying pan for shallow fring and on high heat, brown the fish quickly on both sides.
• Lift out on to a plate.
• In the same oil fry the sliced onion until golden brown, remove and set aside.
• Put chopped onion, garlic, ginger, chillies, almonds, poppy seeds into a blender jar and puree. If necessary add a little water.
• Add ground spices and blend once more, briefly.
• Pour off all but about 2 Tbl oil from pan and fry the blended mixture until colour changes and it gives out a pleasant aroma. The mixture should be stirred constantly while frying and care taken that it does not stick to the pan and burn.
• Add 1/2 cup water to blender container and swirl out any remaining spice mixture. Add to pan.
• Pound saffron strands in mortar aned pestle, add boiling water and stir, add to mixture in pan.
• Add yoghurt, stir and simmer gently for a few minutes, then add fish pieces, turning them carefully in the sauce. Add salt to taste.
• Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, then sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve hot with rice.

Image Source: Fish Korma