Carrot & Tomato Soup

As the days are getting wetter, colder and darker it’s time for warm and wintery soups to make an appearance. At the weekend I bought a huge bag of carrots on offer and knew they were destined for soup. Lentil soup is one of my favourites and I was sure I had a tin of lentils in my cupboard so planned on making carrot and lentil soup. On returning home I discovered the tin was actually a tin of chopped tomatoes. Darn.

Carrot and tomato soup still sounded wonderfully appealing and so I carried on regardless. To compliment the tomato element I added some oregano and paprika and a little cumin to add a warming note.

The finished soup was lovely. I left it slightly coarse rather than super smooth, as I like the texture this gives for eating it as a meal. Perfect for mopping up with a bit of gluten free bread.

At the last minute I added just a smidge of balsamic vinegar and it really lifted and enriched the flavour of the tomatoes.

I live on top of a hill in Sheffield, meaning it’s quite open and exposed. I often get a bit battered by the wind and rain and in these situations a big steaming bowl of soup is just what’s needed. With winter starting to draw in, there will be lots more soup on the horizon I think!

Carrot & Tomato Soup

Ingredients

1 onion

1 large potato

5 carrots

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

1½ pints of vegetable stock

2 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp tomato puree (or ketchup)

½ tsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Method

Peel and roughly chop the onion. Also dice the carrots and potato, although you don’t need to peel them.

Heat the oil and add the vegetables, stir to coat them in the oil and then place the lid on and allow the veg to sweat in the steam they produce.

Cook for 15 minutes, stirring every so often to prevent the veg from burning.

Add the herbs, spices, water/veg stock, tomato puree, the tin of chopped tomatoes and a little salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer and place the lid partially back on, to allow the steam to escape. Simmer for 30 minutes until the veg is soft and tender.

Remove from the heat and blitz in a liquidizer or using a stick blender. You can make it as smooth or as chunky as you like. Season to taste.

Stir through the balsamic vinegar and serve with bread for dipping.

Serves 4-6

Spiced Carrot Fritters

I was going to call these pancakes, but that conjures up images of sweet carrot cake style pancakes, whereas these are savoury, so fritters they are!

At the weekends I love doing a little stovetop cooking to create a whole assortment of tasty pancakes/fritters, both sweet and savoury. I find it adds a little interest and luxury in place of the usual weekday cereal or sandwiches - depending on when I eat them. Sweet pancakes are usually a weekend breakfast treat, whereas savoury ones tend to be more of a lunch time thing. There is just something so satisfying about eating a warm, slightly crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, pancake.

I tend to go with whatever I fancy or have leftover in the fridge. Half an overripe banana or an open can of sweetcorn. I love how you can jazz them up with different spices, chocolate chips or some finely chopped chili. There are so many different styles you can create with just a batter and a saucepan, thick American style pancakes, thin delicate crepes, veggie fritters or more substantial griddle style scones - delicious served with cheese or jams (sorry I tend to get rather carried away with thinking about all the possibilities!)

For the latest batch, it was a half eaten tub of houmous that depicted today would be a fritter day. Carrots and houmous are one of life’s perfect pairings, but I’ve been eating carrots dipped in houmous all week and wanted to jazz things up a bit. Hence these spicy carrot fritters, served with harissa spiced houmous were created.

The grated carrot retained a little texture, and kept the fritters quite moist. The spices in the batter were quite subtle, while the houmous added a wonderful creaminess and occasional fiery kick from the harissa, depending on whether I got a big blob of it or not. I love the process of cutting a bite and dipping it into your ‘sauce’ of choice. It feels much more fun and involved than just taking a bite of a sandwich or a spoonful of cereal. Each bite is given attention and savoured. These tasty fritters fulfilled my weekend craving and went well with some leftover roasted tomatoes I had from last night’s dinner.

Does anyone else have any foodie weekend traditions or treats?

Spiced Carrot Fritters

Fritters

1 large carrot

3 tbsp teff flour

1 tbsp brown rice flour

1 spring onion

1 egg

100ml milk

½ tsp gluten free baking powder

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp chipotle or normal chili powder

½ tbsp oil for frying

To serve

Houmous

½ tsp harissa paste

Salad and/or roasted veg

Method

Grate the carrot and finely slice the spring onion. Add to a small bowl along with the spices, flours and raising agents. Mix together to coat the carrot in the flour and spices.

Beat in the egg, followed by enough milk to make a thick batter. It should be thin enough to spread slightly in the pan, but thick enough to retain its shape when spooned out.

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and place a plate into the oven to warm slightly.

When the oil is hot, spoon tablespoons of the batter into the pan and allow the fritters to cook until the batter looks set around the edge, about 1 minute.

Flip the fritters over and cook for a further 30-50 seconds, before removing from the pan and placing on kitchen paper. Transfer them to the warm plate in the oven while you use the leftover batter to make more fritters.

When ready to serve, place a generous blob of houmous onto the plate and swirl through a little of the spicy harissa paste.

Serve with salad and/or leftover roasted veg.

Makes around 6 small fritters. Serve one for a main meal or 2 as a starter

Roasted Pumpkin & Feta Quiche with Mint

I bought a large pumpkin a few days ago in order to make a pumpkin risotto. After making the dish I was left with three quarters of a pumpkin still to use and decided to simply roast it in slices as I love any sort of roasted veg. Even after eating some in salads, with houmous and general munching I was still left quite a considerable amount leftover. I hate to waste food and so decided to use it in a quiche. I had a rummage through the fridge to see what else needed using up and came up with half a block of feta cheese and some fresh mint. Right pumpkin, feta and mint quiche it was to be!

I was a little unsure about adding the mint to the quiche and nearly didn’t do it, but I’m so pleased I decided to take a chance any include it. It really adds a freshness to the finished quiche, the same way lemon does, only…more minty! It tasted delicious with the little cubes of salty feta and peas (I add peas to most savoury things!) I must use mint more often in my cooking, it was a revelation.

The tiny cubes of feta seemed to melt into the egg quiche mixture, become very soft and creamy. You could taste when you bit into a chunk, but the chalky, crumbly texture was gone, which worked really well. The cubes of roasted pumpkin were delicious too and I loved how each slice looked so pretty, orange, cream and green.

I cut most of it into slices and stashed it away in the freezer for when I’m in need of a quick dinner. I love how using leftovers can often produce the best tasting meals.

Roasted Pumpkin & Feta Quiche with Mint

Gluten Free Pastry

200g gluten free plain flour (Doves Farm)
20g brown rice flour
½ tsp xanthan gum
85g butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 - 2 tbsp cold water

Filling
170g roasted pumpkin or squash*

80g feta cheese

50g frozen peas, thawed

3 eggs

300ml milk

8 large mint leaves

Salt and pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Have an 8inch/20cm tart tin ready.
Mix the flours and xanthan gum together in a bowl to combine.
In a separate bowl, add your butter, (it should be soft, if not blast it in the microwave for a few seconds) along with half the flour mixture, the egg and 1 tablespoon of the water. Beat with a spoon or spatula to form a paste. (Yes I know this goes against all traditional pastry making!) Add the rest of the flour and bring the mixture together to form a dough, switching to your hands at the end. Add a little more water if it seems dry. Knead the dough gently for 1 minute to ensure everything is well combined.
Roll out the pastry between two large sheets of clingfilm to the size and shape of your tart tin, plus an extra 1-2 inches for the sides.
Peel off the top sheet of clingfilm, and use the base sheet to help you flip the pastry into the tin and press it down gently. Trim off the excess and patch up any cracks with the off-cuts of pastry.

Prick the pastry lightly with a fork and place on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden, then remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. (You don’t need to add any baking beans as GF pastry doesn’t shrink like ‘normal’ pastry as there is no gluten!)

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Increase the oven temperature to 190C.  Cut your roasted squash or pumpkin into 2cm cubes and the feta into 1cm cubes.

In a jug, whisk together the eggs, milk and a little salt and pepper.

Scatter the pumpkin, feta and peas over the base of the tart. Chop the mint into shreds and arrange over the top.

Place the tart into the oven and then pour the egg mixture over the top, using the jug to help you.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the middle is set when gently shaken.

Allow to cool slightly before serving. Also tastes delicious cold.

Makes 1 x 8inch quiche

Note

* I had leftover roasted pumpkin from a previous dinner, but if you don’t, then simply cut your pumpkin into large slices, drizzle with a little oil and roast at 200C for 25-30 minutes. You can leave the skin on, as its edible once roasted

Minty Broad Bean & Ricotta Bruschetta

Every few weeks my sister and I like to get together for lunch, to catch up on each others latest news. Sometimes we meet at a restaurant, but more often than not we meet up and cook something together, which is exactly what we did last weekend. We have a few rules for such occasions:

1)      The food must be something neither of us has made before

2)      It must be vegetarian

3)      It must be gluten free

With a little recipe hunting, this is not actually as difficult as it sounds. We sent a few emails back and forth, discussing ideas, but in the end it was a simple dish by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall that won. Some of you may remember he did a River Cottage Veg series on TV a few months back, where he lived and cooked only vegetarian food for the summer. I absolutely adored the series, and a dish that really stood out to me was his broad bean bruschetta.

We ended up making a few tweaks to his recipe, but the essence of it was Hugh’s. We didn’t have enough broad beans and so substituted some peas, used extra mint in the puree and added some fresh lemon juice and zest to the mix, which I think always goes wonderfully with fresh mint and peas. Oh, and obviously we served in on toasted gluten free pitta and ciabatta bread.

The results were absolutely delicious! Considering how simple the ingredients and method is, the flavours and textures at the end were fabulous. The broad beans were soft and creamy, while the peas stayed a little chunky, giving it a nice texture. The dollops of ricotta on top were milky and fresh, while the mint and lemon were the perfect summery seasonings. I really don’t use mint often enough. So good, we both agreed it’s definitely one we’ll make again.

It would be delicious to take along on a picnic too, sealed in little pots with some breads or crisps for dipping. Thanks Hugh!

Minty Broad Bean & Ricotta Bruschetta

(Recipe adapted from River Cottage Veg Every Day)

Ingredients

1 x 300g tin broad beans (200g drained weight)

75g thawed frozen peas

15g butter

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp fresh lemon zest

8 fresh mint leaves (approx)

Salt and pepper

60g ricotta, feta or goats cheese

To Serve

Toasted GF pitta or ciabatta bread

Method

Drain the broad beans and remove their outer skins. Place into a bowl along with the thawed peas. Mash roughly using a potato masher.

Melt the butter in a small frying pan, finely chop the garlic and add to the pan. Fry gently until the garlic is just beginning to colour, you don’t want it brown though!

Add the butter and garlic to the bean mixture and mash well to create a chunky puree. (The peas won’t break down much, but this is fine.)

Finely chop the mint and add most of it to the bean mix, reserving a little for garnish. Stir in the lemon juice, zest and season with salt and pepper. (Add a little olive oil if you thick it’s too dry)

Lightly toast your pitta bread or ciabatta and place onto warm plates.

Pile the minty bean puree on top of the hot bread and dot on a few spoonfuls of ricotta or crumble over some goats cheese or feta. Scatter over the reserved mint and a final squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve with a colourful side salad and enjoy!

Serves 2

Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes with Almond Cream Cheese Glaze

On my last morning in LA I decided I wanted to enjoy some gluten free pancakes. The English pancake is usually thin and flat, very similar to a French crepe, but I absolutely adore American pancakes, which are thick, fluffy and often made with buttermilk and served with all sorts of syrups and added nuts or chocolate chips etc.

After a little online research I found a café that had rave reviews for its gluten free pancakes. They had some specials, including a delicious sounding pumpkin pancake. To get there involved a 40minute bus journey, but I set off to the bus stop and waited…and waited….and waited. An hour later, with a rumbling tummy I admitted defeat and mooched back to the flat instead. I’ve no idea why the bus failed to turn up and yes, I was waiting at the right stop! I might have been tempted to find an alternative route, but as I had a plane to catch in a few hours time I didn’t want to risk getting lost.

So I never got my American pancakes – waaaaa :(

Once back home I was determined to enjoy some American style pumpkin pancakes and decided now was the time to open the can of pumpkin puree I’d picked up. Just look at its gorgeous vibrant orange colour! Why oh why can’t we buy pumpkin puree in the UK, or at least a decent pumpkin to make our own. I’ve found the best thing to do here is to mash a sweet potato, but it’s not quite the same…anyway, rant over.

After sampling the delights of Babycakes NYC creations I went online and discovered they had shared a recipe for pancakes on their blog. It was both vegan and gluten free, made using rice milk and applesauce as the wet ingredients. I simply substituted the pumpkin puree for the applesauce and used regular milk as that’s all I had on hand. I also added my own mix of spices and some little chucks of dark chocolate, which I think always work well together.

They turned out perfectly. I’ve never had such light, moist and fluffy pancakes before. The pumpkin gave them a wonderful orange hue and a natural earthy sweetness. The spices just added a background note of warmth, while the little chips of dark chocolate were wonderful to come across, in every other bite.

I’m not a big fan of maple syrup, so to make them extra special I concocted a little cream cheese glaze which I spiked with some almond extract. Drizzled on top of the hot pancakes it melted into a great butter-like consistency. They were fabulous and more than made up for me missing out on them while in LA. Haha!

I got three large pancakes out of the mix below, but you could easily double or triple it depending on requirements. I bet they would work brilliantly with other purees too, banana, apple, orange, pineapple…!

Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes with Almond Cream Cheese Glaze
(Recipe adapted from Babycakes NYC blog)

Ingredients
100g Doves Farm plain flour mix (mix of rice, maize, tapioca, corn & buckwheat)
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
80g pumpkin puree (or mashed sweet potato)
120-150ml milk (any kind you like)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp mixed spice
10g dark chocolate, chopped (dairy free if you like)
1 tsp agave nectar or honey
Sunflower oil for frying

Almond Cream Cheese Glaze
25g cream cheese (dairy free if you like)
40g icing sugar
1 drop almond extract

Method
Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the icing sugar and mix to incorporate. Beat in the almond extract and set aside. Heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to melt until just soft and gooey. Stir and set aside.
To make the pancakes, place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and gently mix together. Add the agave nectar and pumpkin puree and mix so that it starts to form a thick batter. Add a little milk and beat until smooth. Add more milk until you achieve a thick spoonable batter, the consistency of a thin cake batter.
Finally stir in the chocolate chips.
Heat the oven to low and place a plate with a sheet of kitchen paper on it in the oven to keep warm.
Lightly grease the base of a frying pan and heat until warm but not too hot.
Spoon around two tablespoons of the pumpkin batter into the pan and gently spread it into a thick even round if necessary. Leave it alone for 45-60 seconds to cook and brown undisturbed. Then quickly flip the pancake over to cook the other side, with the help of a fish slice or palette knife.
Once cooked, transfer to the kitchen roll lined plate in the oven to keep warm and continue to cook the remaining pancakes.
Serve stacked on the warm plate, topped with a dollop of the cream cheese glaze. Eat and enjoy!

Butternut Squash & Red Lentil Soup

Winter certainly seems to be closing in. It’s not been overly cold, but the days have been dark, damp and dreamy. Filled with three endless days of mist and drizzle that seems to seep into your clothes and skin making you feel cold and miserable. On waking up to yet another day of swirling mist I decided there was only one thing for it – a nice big bowl of steaming hot soup!

Ahh soup. Is there anything more warming and satisfying on a cold dreary day than a bowl/mug/ladle/bucket full of piping hot soup?! It seems to warm you up from the inside out, from the tips of your fingers down to your very soul. Ideally it must be thick soup too, rich and satisfying, not those horrible watery packet mixes. But a soup packed full of winter veg and goodness.

One of my favourite soups is red lentil soup. It’s thick and creamy with a bit of texture and bite from the lentils. Lentils, being rich in protein and fibre also help transform the soup into a filling meal that keeps the winter chills away.

I had a hunt through my fridge and basically comprised the soup from whatever I had to hand or that needed using up. That’s one of the perks of soup, it can transform even the most tired or gnarled shaped vegetables into something delicious. This time the main flavour component of my soup was a whole baby butternut squash. I simply scooped out the seeds and membrane from the middle and diced it up, leaving the skin on. As it all gets blitzed into a puree you can’t detect the skin so it’s not worth the hassle. Plus, there’s a lot of extra goodness hidden in those skins, the same applies to the parsnip, although I would recommend peeling the papery skin off the garlic.

The vegetable base is cooked and pureed first, before the lentils are added and cooked in the soup for a further few minutes. This means they add texture while being suspended in a creamy velvety smooth soup. The soup base looks a little thin when puréed, but once the lentils are added, they swell up, absorbing some of the liquid and releasing their starch, creating one glorious thick and satisfying soup.

Creamy, comforting and warming to the soul. There’s nothing better on a day like today.

Butternut Squash & Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

1 onion

4 spring onions

1 parsnip, skin left on

2 cloves garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small butternut squash, 600-700g whole

2 sticks celery

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 pints vegetable stock, hot

150g red lentils

1 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper

Method

Chop the onion, spring onion, parsnip, celery and butternut squash into a chunky dice. You can leave the skin on the parsnip and butternut squash, although remove the seeds and membrane from the centre of the squash.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan pan, add the veg and the thyme and stir together. Place the lid on the saucepan and allow the veg to cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the edges of the veg is starting to take on a little colour.

Roughly chop the garlic, add to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Pour over the vegetable stock, stirring right to the bottom to ensure you get up any stuck on bits. Replace the lid and allow to simmer for 20-25 minutes until all the veg is soft and tender.

Remove from the heat and puree the soup in a liquidizer until smooth. It should be quite runny/thin at this stage.

Return the soup to the pan and add the salt and pepper to taste. Pour in the red lentils, turn the heat to low and bring the mixture to a gentle bubble. Stir constantly for the first few minutes to prevent the lentils from sinking to the bottom of the pan and sticking.

Half cover the pan with the lid and allow to bubble gently for 15-20 minutes until the lentils are cooked. Stir every 5 minutes to prevent the lentils from clumping together. The soup will thicken up considerably as the lentils cook and swell.

Once the lentils are tender, remove from the heat and serve steaming hot.

Serves 6

Tomato Ricotta Tart

This is a variation on the yummy spinach and ricotta tart I made a few months back. At the time, I cut it into slices and froze it, which made a great standby lunch or dinner. I went to retrieve a slice recently and found it was all gone. I’d enjoyed it so much that I decided to bake another one, only adapting it slightly to incorporate some of my other favourite flavours.

I’ve always enjoyed making my own pastry but it used to hold a slight fear that it would shrink on baking. However, since having to go gluten free, this is no longer a problem. As there is no gluten in gluten free flour (how surprising) to overwork, this means no fear of shrinkage when baked. Gluten free pastry is very easy to work with and actually benefits from a gentle kneading like you would a bread dough. The resulting pastry is silky smooth and results in a crisp pastry that is light in both colour and texture and one I actually prefer to the old regular pastry.

Anyway, back to the tart. I think of ricotta as a very Italian cheese, with green, white and red being the colours of the Italian flag. As I went down a green spinach route last time, I decided to go red by incorporating tomatoes, which resulted in a beautifully blushing red coloured tart.

Ricotta is very light, soft and milky which results in a wonderfully light and fresh tasting tart. I used tinned tomatoes and a generous spoonful of sun dried tomato paste (not to be confused with tomato puree) for a bright bold tomato flavour. I also added some mushrooms which I lightly fried with garlic and thyme along with a few asparagus spears that I had left over the previous nights dinner.

Once baked all the flavours tasted wonderfully together, tomato, garlic, mushroom, thyme, asparagus, balsamic vinegar and the softly set ricotta held in a crisp pastry crust. Delicious. You could use whatever filling you liked for the tart. It’s a sort of lighter version of a quiche.

After making the tart I had a little leftover pastry and so make a few jam and berry tarts, which bought back fond memories of my childhood, when I used to help my mother and grandmother make apple pies. Making jam tarts with the scraps of leftover pastry were always a treat.

Tomato Ricotta Tart
Gluten Free Pastry
225g gluten free flour mix (I used 100g white rice flour, 80g potato flour, 50g white teff flour)
1 tsp xanthan gum
110g butter
1 egg
1 tbsp cold water

Tomato Ricotta Filling
4 spring onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 chestnut mushrooms
8 asparagus spears
100g (½ small tin) chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp sundried tomato paste (not tomato puree)
250g ricotta cheese
2 eggs
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper

Method - Pastry

Have an 8inch/20cm tart tin ready.
Mix all the flours and the xanthan gum together in a bowl to combine.
Make sure you butter is soft, if not blast it in the microwave for a few seconds. Add to a seperate mixing bowl along with half the flour mixture, the egg and water. Beat with a spoon or spatula to form a paste. (Yes I know this goes against all traditional pastry making!) Add the rest of the flour and bring the mixture together to form a dough, switching to your hands at the end. Knead the dough gently for 1 minute to ensure everything is well combined.
Roll out the pastry between two large sheets of clingfilm to the size and shape of your tart tin, plus an extra 1-2 inches for the sides.
Peel off the top sheet of clingfilm, and use the base sheet to help you flip the pastry into the tin and press it down gently. Trim off the excess. Patch up any cracks with the off-cuts of pastry.
Place in the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Tomato Ricotta Filling

Preheat the oven to 190C.
Slice the mushrooms, heat the oil in a frying pan, and gently fry the mushrooms until beginning to brown. Crush the garlic and add it to the mushrooms along with the spring onions and the leaves from the fresh thyme. Cook until the mushrooms are golden brown. Slice the asparagus in half and add to the pan at the last minute.
Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and balsamic vinegar to the pan and allow to bubble away until any excess liquid has evaporated and you have quite a thick intense tomato mixture left. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Remove from the heat and stir through the ricotta cheese. Lightly beat the eggs and beat them in too.
Spread the filling into the chilled pastry case and bake for 30 minutes until set, slightly puffed and the pastry is lightly golden brown.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the tin and serving.
Tastes great warm or cold the next day when it goes more quiche-like. Also freezes well in slices.
Makes 1 x 8inch/20cm tart

Spiced Zucchini Cake

Do you call them courgettes or zucchinis? In our house they are courgettes, but I’ve decided to call this a zucchini cake as I think that makes it sound much more exciting and exotic.

Before making this cake I had never tried nor baked a zucchini cake. I have seen them popping up on blogs for years, and every summer tell myself ‘I will bake one this year’ but somehow I never achieved it. However, this year I finally managed it and am now kicking myself for not trying one sooner, I can’t believe what I’ve been missing all these years!

I was prompted to finally attempt this cake after Monica of Lick The Bowl Good recently talked about her favourite recipe for a chocolate zucchini cake. I’ve had another plain zucchini cake recipe saved in my ‘to bake’ file for years, but Monica’s recipe looked so good that I was torn between them. In the end I decided to use Monica’s recipe as the base, but remove the chocolate from it and use the other recipes additions of nuts and spices for flavour.

I decided against making a chocolate zucchini cake as I wanted to see the grated shreds of dark green courgette scattered throughout the cake and taste its subtle flavour. I was worried adding cocoa would overpower this. This turned out to be a good call as I loved the appearance and flavour of the finished cake.

The cake was incredibly light with a fine tender crumb and very moist from both the zucchini and use of oil instead of butter in the cake. I used a mix of ground cinnamon and a little freshly grated nutmeg in the cake which gave it a wonderfully spicy after note that went so well with the pecans I also added. My first slice crumbled slightly, this was partly because I used gluten free flour, but also because the cake was still a little warm – I couldn’t wait any longer! The following slices cut more cleanly.

Once baked and cooled it was topped with a simple drizzle of lemon glace icing. You could add a thicker frosting or cream if you like, but I think the zingy tang from the lemon helped enhance the other flavours in the cake, rather than overpower them and helped keep everything light and fresh tasting. Sometimes simple is the way to go.

The cake reminded me strongly of carrot cake (one of my all time favourites), only slightly more sophisticated with its streaks of emerald green. It’s the perfect summer cake and the ideal way of using up a glut of courgettes. I bet this would be a hit even with courgette/zucchini haters.

Don’t do as I did for so many years and let this cake pass you by – go make it now!!

Spiced Zucchini Cake

Ingredients
100ml vegetable oil
200g Doves gluten free self raising flour
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
2 eggs
230g caster sugar
270-300g zucchini/courgette
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
50g pecans

Lemon Glace Icing
80g icing sugar
Juice of ½ lemon (approx)

Method
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease the sides and line the base of an 8inch/20cm deep springform tin.
Grate the zucchini and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until lighter in colour and increased in volume.
With the mixer still going, drizzle in the oil until all combined. Add the grated zucchini and spices. Roughly chop the nuts into chunks and stir them in too.
Sift over the flour and baking powder before folding it in using a spatula, turning the bowl as you go. Do not over mix, stop once the flour is all incorporated.
Pour the mix into tin and bake for 45 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before running a thin knife around the edge and releasing the cake from the tin. Leave to cool completely.
Mix the lemon juice into the icing sugar, a little at a time, until you have a thick smooth glaze. Use a fork or tip of a spoon to drizzle the icing over the top of the cooled cake.
Makes one 8inch/20cm cake.

Note: If not making this cake gluten free then use plain flour and increase the baking powder to 1½ tsp