Apple Carrot Cake with Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting

I am sure I can’t be alone in having a recipe folder on my computer of ‘must bake’ recipes that I have gathered over the years from food blogs, magazine articles and other random places. I was recently having a sort out and came across a recipe for Carrot and apple cake with a lime cream cheese frosting that I immediately remembered I’d longed to bake the first time I saw it on The Passionate Cook blog. Image my surprise (and horror) at discovering the recipe was from 2009 – 3 years ago and I still hadn’t baked it! I dread to think how many other recipes I’ve got saved, waiting patiently to be baked. Far too many I fear.

Anyway, I decided it had waited long enough and a few weeks ago I finally got round to baking it – with a few of my own twists naturally. The thing that first attracted me to the recipe was:

1)      it's carrot cake – my absolute favourite

2)      it also contained apple – another big bonus

3)      it looked so incredibly, unbelievably moist

Carrot cake is probably my favourite cake. I just love the combination of textures, flavours, spices, crunch…delicious! Looking at the ingredients list it seemed to be lacking some of my favourite carrot cake components and so I decided to tinker with the recipe and add some sultans, walnuts, extra spice and brown sugar in place of some of the white sugar.

 

I also changed the frosting from being a lime cream cheese to a honey & lemon ricotta. Why? Well the cake itself sounded relatively healthy with all the apple and carrot, so I wanted something a little lighter and fresher. Ricotta flavoured with lemon and only marginally sweetened with a little spoonful of honey seemed to fit the bill.

 

The baked cake was certainly very very moist. However, on day of baking I found it quite tricky to cut due to the strands of apple and carrot, which were not easy to slice through due to the sponge mix being so soft and tender. Instead it tended to snare onto the knife and drag the crumb structure apart as I tried to slice it. This didn’t affect the taste – which was spicy, fruity and flavoursome, but didn’t make for great presentation. However, after a night in the fridge the cake firmed up and was much easier to slice.

 

I actually preferred it better the second day, firmer yet still very moist. The flavours had mingled together giving a more well rounded general flavour. The frosting too had firmed up, the excess liquid in the ricotta being absorbed by the cake, making it become more like a cheesecake style top than the softer, wetter mix it had been originally. It tasted very fresh and I liked that it was barely sweet, giving a nice contrast to the sweeter cake beneath.

 

The cake was delicious and I loved the slight chew or crunch from the added walnuts and raisins. It’s not my ultimate carrot cake, a recipe for which I’ve have yet to find, but it’s certainly a tasty version of one. It’s cooked at a low temperature which adds to it being a very soft cake and making it more of a pudding cake than an afternoon tea cake. The apple adds a great freshness when paired with the carrot. Use a sharp cooking apple for a slightly tart flavour, or a dessert apple for a sweeter one.

Apple Carrot Cake with Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting

Apple Carrot Cake

300g peeled carrot
150g peeled and cored apple (cooking or dessert, your choice)
150g butter
175g light soft brown sugar

50g sultanas

50g chopped walnuts
180g gluten free plain flour
3 eggs
3 tsp gf baking powder
1½ tsp ground ginger

1½ tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting
250g ricotta cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp honey (or more to taste)

Apple Carrot Cake

Preheat the oven to 150C and line an 8inch spring form tin with greaseproof paper.

Grate the apple and carrot using a coarse grater and set aside.

Add the sugar to a large bowl. Melt the butter and pour it over the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each one.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and spices. Beat lightly until most of the flour has been incorporated. A few streaks are fine.

Add the grated apple and carrot and fold in using a spatula. Then fold in the sultanas and chopped walnuts.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 1 hour. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean and it should be slightly firm to the touch.

Allow to cool almost completely before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the frosting

Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting

Place the ricotta into a bowl and beat lightly until quite smooth. Add the honey and grated lemon zest and fold together well. Taste and add more honey if you want it sweeter, 1 tbsp makes it only faintly sweet.

Chill until required, before spreading over the top of the cake. Finish with a final scattering of fresh lemon zest.

Store the finished cake in the fridge and eat within 3 days.

Note: I found the cake was even better after a night in the fridge, when it was easier to cut and the frosting had firmed up.

Spinach & Sweet Corn Tamales

I have been longing to make my own tamales since tasting them for the first time on my visit to LA last Febraury. I ate a dish of green spinach tamales in a fabulous restaurant called Hugo’s and it remains the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. The textures and flavours just blew me away and were unlike anything I have ever tasted. Imagine my delight when I discovered that the restaurant had created a video, showing exactly how to make the dish. Once I discovered this I knew I had to try and recreate them.

 

Before I could get cooking, I had to buy some Masa Harina, a special type of fresh, dried and ground corn/maize flour used for making tamales and also traditional tortillas. Thankfully a quick hunt online produced two online Mexican stores that sold it. Spying they also sold corn husks – the dried outer leaves of corn in which tamales are traditionally rolled and steamed, I got some of those too. I was now ready to get tamale making!

 

My spinach mixture refused to puree smooth as I only had a small food processor rather than a powerful blender, but this didn’t seem to affect the recipe. It made my tamales speckled green in appearance, rather than being completely green, but I think this was actually rather attractive. Another thing I liked about this recipe compared to others I’ve seen is that is uses roughly blitzed fresh sweet corn for extra texture rather than relying purely on the corn flour. It’s also a gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian and vegan recipe as it uses no fat (lard is traditional) in making the tamale dough. (I did add cheese and sour cream as finishing accompiments, but this is optional.)

 

I was actually surprised how quick and easy the tamales were to make. From start to unwrapping the cooked tamale was just under an hours work. I had fun wrapping and rolling my tamales, and experimented with using both the traditional corn husks and squares of parchment paper as wrappers. I must confess I found the parchment paper squares a lot easier to work with.

 

In LA my tamales were served on a pool of green tomatillo salsa, another thing not readily available in the UK (boo). Instead I used a jar of good quality tomato sauce which I spiced up with some chipotle chili paste. It turned out to be rather fiery, as I hadn’t realised the tomato sauce was actually a fresh chili and tomato sauce, so the addition of a blob of sour cream was quite welcome to cool my tongue.

 

The texture of the tamales was just as I remembered them. Quite thick and stodgy, but also soft and flavoursome as tamales are steamed rather than baked or fried. The texture may not appeal to everyone, but I love it! The spinach gave it great fresh flavour and speckled appearance while the little chunks of fresh sweet corn added a subtle sweetness and a pleasing texture against the spicy tomato sauce. So satisfying. I can’t wait to experiment with other flavours or maybe even attempting a few stuffed tamales.

I know many people in the UK may not have even heard of tamales before, let alone tasted one, but I urge you to give them a go. I have given some links of where to get the Masa Harina flour below. Click here to see the video recipe of Hugo’s Green Tamales.

Spinach & Sweet Corn Tamales

Ingredients

200g spinach

100ml water

400g sweet corn

30g caster sugar

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

130g fine cornmeal (not cornflour)

120g Masa Harina corn/maize flour *(see below)

Corn husks or baking parchment for wrapping

* Masa Harina is made from fresh sweet corn that has been dried and ground into flour. You can buy it and the corn husks from online Mexican grocers or some specialist shops. Mex Grocer and Cool Chili Co are two such places.

Method

Cut out 6-7 inch squares of baking parchment or soak some corn husks ready for filling.

Place the spinach and water into a food processor. Process until a green thin puree has formed. Mine remaining quite chunky, giving it a mottled appearance but this is fine.

Place the spinach into a large bowl.

Place the sweet corn into the processor and blitz until broken down, but still quite chunky (if using fresh corn, cook it first, but canned or frozen are already pre-cooked) Add the sweet corn to the spinach.

Sprinkle over the remaining ingredients and fold everything together using a spatula.

Place 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture in the centre, about 1inch up from the base of the corn husk or baking parchment square. Fold over the bottom edge, to cover the tamales mixture, and then fold in each of the two sides to prevent the mixture from escaping out the sides, then roll up. Repeat until you have used all your tamale mixture.

Heat a pan of water until simmering. Place a steamer or sieve over the top of the water and arrange your wrapped tamales inside. The water should not touch the sieve/steamer. You don’t have to cook them all at once.

Place the lid on the saucepan and allow the tamales to steam for 30 minutes. They should feel firm when cooked.

Remove the tamales from the steamer. Carefully unroll them from the parchment or corn husks and place two per person on a pool of spicy tomato sauce/salsa. (Green tomatillo salsa is traditional but very hard to find in this country) Put a blob of sour cream or crème fraîche on top of the tamales and finish with a fine grating of cheese.

Eat and enjoy.

Makes around 8 small tamales (enough for 4 people)

Note: I've just realised this is my 500th post - whoop!

Prune & Beetroot Brownies

Yes I know another beetroot recipe, but this is the last one I promise, at least for a few weeks! I decided to have another go at making beetroot brownies. I made some about 5 years ago and remember them being very tasty. Recently there seems to have been a surge of beetroot brownies and chocolate beetroot cakes around, which got me craving one again.

Back in my uni days I actually did my dissertation about the acceptability on taste of replacing the butter in brownies with fruit and vegetable purees. Beetroot was one of the veg I used and worked very well, producing a moist and tender brownie with no added butter. Another variety I tried was using pureed prunes. This too worked well, although it gave a denser and very sweet tasting brownie.

 

I hit upon the idea of using pureed beetroot to replace the butter in my brownies and combining it with pureed prunes, this time to replace the sugar in my brownies, as both prunes and beetroot are naturally very sweet. I had a quick internet search for prune and beetroot brownies and was actually quite chuffed when I couldn’t find a single one. There were plenty of prune OR beetroot brownies, but no prune AND beetroot brownies – a new brownie innovation hurrah! Feeling very excited I set to work.

The brownie batter turned out quite thick and a little coarse from the blitzed prunes and beetroot, but smelt very rich and inviting. I did use chocolate in the recipe, but as it was dark chocolate this would have contributed very little sugar or fat to the recipe. The lick of the spatula also tasted lovely.

 

After baking the brownies had puffed up slightly and yet set into quite a heavy feeling brownie. On slicing I was pleasantly surprised it was actually very light, moist and fudgy in texture, similar to a flourless chocolate cake. It had a fabulous deep chocolate colour with a dark ruby hue to it.

 

The top surface was slightly crackled and nicely sticky. The flavour was of a strong earthy chocolate, largely down to the beetroot, with a fabulous springy bite and nice chew from the pureed prunes. It was perfectly sweet and almost treacly in flavour which I think was contributed by the prunes. It was really rather addictive and I didn’t feel at all guilty eating 1 or 2…ok 4 squares in one afternoon as they must be relatively healthy brownies. Not that you’d know it!

 

The following day the brownies had become more compact and a little dense, but stayed wonderfully fudgy with a slight chew. So if you are looking for a chocolaty Easter treat that won’t pile on the pounds, maybe give these prune and beetroot brownies a go! Gluten, wheat, dairy (if non dairy choc), added fat and added sugar free! Probably higher in fibre, lower GI with added vitamins and minerals too. Now you can have your chocolate brownie and eat it too!

Happy Easter Everyone

Prune & Beetroot Brownies

An Apple & Spice original recipe

Ingredients

200g cooked beetroot

100g soft prunes

150g dark chocolate 60-70%

15g cocoa powder

60g brown rice flour

2 eggs

¼ tsp gluten free baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 175C. Line the base of an 8inch tin with baking paper.

Place the prunes into a food processor and blitz until a thick sticky paste is formed. You may need to scrape down the sides of the mixer every so often.

Remove the prunes, and add the beetroot. Puree until very finely chopped and almost pureed.

In a medium sized pan melt the chocolate until smooth and glossy, then remove from the heat.

Lightly beat the eggs and then quickly mix them into the warm chocolate mixture, followed by the vanilla.

Add the prune and beetroot purees and fold together.

Scatter over the flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold in well to create a thick, slightly coarse mixture.

Spread the mix into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes.

It should be evenly risen, firm yet slightly squishy to the touch. Leave to cool for 20 minutes in the tin before removing to a rack to cool.

Slice and enjoy

Beetroot & Bean Houmous

I think my brain was away on holiday when I went food shopping last weekend. It’s not been long since I finally finished munching my way through a large bunch of fresh beetroot, and getting a bit fed up with it by the end. You might think this would mean I wouldn’t want any more for at least a few weeks. Well, this is what I thought too, but when I saw beetroot on offer over the weekend I somehow ended up coming back with two more packs of the stuff – yes two!

It was on offer, one of those 89p for one or £1 for two offers. My brain thought “oh I have some goat’s cheese in the fridge that beetroot would be really tasty with, I’ll get some.” Then when I spotted the offer, well it was too good to pass up. Thankfully this time the beetroot was the cooked, vacuum packed kind (not vinegary), so it will keep for a few weeks, but honestly! What am I like? I’m not normally taken in by offers, but somehow I can never pass up a fruit and veg offer.

Once home I was determined to use up a good portion of it in a different style to just salads and sandwiches. I decided on beetroot houmous. Perfect fodder for taking to work for lunch. Rather than use chickpeas, I decided to use a tin of black eyed beans. I really like the texture of these beans, they seem softer and creamier than chickpeas, which can sometimes be a bit chalky.

I adore the colour of the houmous once finished, a real vibrant pinky purple. It made me smile just to look at it. It retained a slightly coarse texture which was nice, with little flecks of bean or beetroot scattered throughout. The earthy woodsy flavour of the beetroot was livened up by a generous squirt of lemon juice and zest. Along with its almost psychedelic colour it made the perfect sunny lunch time food, adding a bit of brightness and freshness to what has otherwise been a very cold and dreary week. I’ve been taking little pots of it into work and slathering it onto hot toast at lunchtime, delicious.

So although I may have got carried away buying two packs of beetroot for a single person, long live beetroot I say!

Beetroot & Bean Houmous

Ingredients

200g cooked, peeled beetroot

400g tin black eyed beans

Zest & juice of ½ lemon

2 tsp Henderson’s relish (or balsamic vinegar)

2 tsp olive oil

½ tsp dried oregano

Salt, pinch

Method

Place the beetroot into a food blender and blitz until finely minced, you don’t want puree, a few chunky flakes are fine.

Drain the beans and add to the beetroot. Blitz again until a thick chunky puree is achieved, scraping down the sides when necessary.

Add the oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, oregano, Henderson’s relish and a pinch of salt. Blitz again until a coarse houmous-like texture is achieved. A few little chunks or flecks of bean or beetroot are fine and actually add a nice texture.

Transfer to a lidable container, and store in the fridge for up to one week.

Enjoy with crackers, toast, veg crudités, salads, sandwiches or jacket potatoes…basically anything you fancy!

Chocolate Beetroot Cake with Beetroot Glaze

I’m sorry I have not posted in a while. I had a cake in mind and a blog post all ready to go only to be hit with a nasty stomach bug, meaning food has been the last thing on my mind. I’m pleased to say I’m now well on the road to recovery, my taste buds have rejoined me and I have rediscovered my appetite! So without further ado, here is a rather belated chocolate beetroot cake.

Chocolate and beetroot has now become another ‘classic’ flavour combination, but aside from a chocolate beetroot brownie a few years ago, I have not explored the pairing much myself. I love fresh beetroot, its moody, dark, blood red colour and mysterious earthy flavour always draws me to it. A few weeks ago I picked up a huge pack and enjoyed a happy few days eating it roasted or shredded into salads and sandwiches. However, it got to a stage where every time I opened the fridge I seemed to discover yet another beetroot still waiting to be used. There is only so much beetroot I can take before my mind starts imagining how to include it in a baked treat.

Beetroot and chocolate seemed the place to start and I decided on a simple cake. I wanted the beetroot to be the star of the show and so shunned anything covered in mountains of cream or frosting in flavour of a simple snack cake. I then hit upon the idea of jazzing it up with a glaze, made a fabulous vibrant pinky/purple using the juice of the cooked beetroot. This added both a burst of vibrant colour and little sweetness, while being completely natural, no food dye required!

The cake itself is on first glance just a chocolate cake, but if you look more closely you can see a definite rustic burgundy hue to the sponge. It also smelt different to regular chocolate cake, slightly earthy, mysterious and yet still very chocolaty. The flavour too was chocolaty, only more complex with an undertone of there being something a little bit extra special included, without it actually screaming beetroot. I would liken it to when you add just a touch of coffee to chocolate cakes, you don’t necessary taste the coffee, but it adds a depth and richness to the chocolate. This seemed to work in the same principle.

On the first day the cake was light and tender but over the next two days it became softer and stickier as the beetroot released its moisture into the cake. I think the cake was at its optimum about 2 days after baking, when I couldn’t stop eating it. The arty drizzle of beetroot glaze worked really well against the flavour of the cake and added little bites of sweetness against the rather intense chocolate flavour of the cake.

This was a delicious cake and I loved its simplicity yet complex flavour. I’ll be experimenting with other beetroot baked treats again, it’s worth the ruby stained hands, although you could always buy the precooked stuff – just not the kind in vinegar please!

Chocolate Beetroot Cake with Beetroot Glaze

Cake

180ml vegetable or sunflower oil

180g gluten free self raising flour

55g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g caster sugar

250g cooked beetroot (or 350g raw)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beetroot Glaze

80g royal icing sugar (*see note)

Juice from the cooked beetroot

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and line a deep 8inch springform tin.

If you are using a packet of cooked beetroot then continue onto the next step. If using raw beetroot, trim the ends and peel the skin from the beetroot. Cut each beetroot into quarters and place into a small glass bowl. Add 1 tbsp water and cover the top with clingfilm. Microwave on high for 8 minutes until the beetroot are just softened. Set aside to cool, but do not throw away any of the beetroot juice created.

Place your cooked beetroot (reserve any juice for later) into a food processor and blitz until you have fine shreds. Add the eggs and blitz again. Add the oil and vanilla and mix again until well combined.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and add the sugar. Pour your beetroot mixture on top and fold everything together using a large spoon of spatula.

Pour the cake mix into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until slightly springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before running a knife around the edge of the tin and releasing the cake from the tin. Leave to cool completely.

Once cooled, place the royal icing sugar into a small bowl and slowly add the reserved beetroot juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you achieve a thick, yet drizzle-worthy glaze. It will be a gorgeous bright purple colour.

Transfer the cooled cake to a serving plate and artfully drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.

Leave to set for 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 1 x 8inch cake

The cake tastes even better as it ages, as the beetroot slowly releases its moisture into the cake making it turn softer and moister. I found 2 days in it was at its best.

* Note: Royal icing sugar sets hard and won’t be so easily absorbed into the cake, making for a better finish. You can use regular icing sugar in place of the royal icing sugar, but it will remain wet and soak into the cake and disappear over time

Creamy & Comforting Macaroni Blue Cheese

Ugh! I am so sick and fed up with all the snow! In Sheffield, I live on the top of a hill which I have discovered means you are very open and exposed to the elements, especially snow. Come Monday, I will have been surrounded by snow permanently for 2 whole weeks. Snow lasting that long is not fun and means my dead-end-road estate where I live has turned into an ice rink. Yesterday was the first time in 9 days that I have been able to get my car out of its parking spot. Not only is it a long way down a dead end road (meaning no gritters have been along it and no through traffic) but it’s also on a steep slope. Every time I’ve attempted to move my car it just skidded and wheel spun. It’s not been a matter of driving slowly, I couldn’t actually get up the incline. I was so overjoyed at being able to drive it free yesterday, and not have to use public transport to get to work. My joy didn’t last as I came out of work yesterday evening to find more snow falling – more?!? This morning I woke to find we’d had another 4 inches overnight – ARGH! Thankfully it’s a lot warmer today, a tropical 2C, meaning the snow is beginning to melt – hurrah!

Anyway…all this cold and snowy weather has meant I have been in the mood for comfort food this week. Macaroni cheese is one dish that definitely makes the grade. However, it can sometimes take rather a long time to make, not ideal when you get in cold, tired and soggy. This macaroni cheese takes only minutes to put together, as bypassed making a proper cheesy béchamel sauce and instead used a quick dust with flour, add milk and stir in lots of gooey cheese method.

I discovered an unopened wedge of blue stilton in the fridge and decided to make a blue cheese sauce for my macaroni cheese. Stilton always makes me think of Christmas so I decided to pair it with a few sprouts I had (bought recently, not leftover from Christmas!) and a few other veg. These were simply sautéed in a pan rather than boiling them, which I think gives them a lovely flavour and helps retain some of their freshness and crunch.

From start to finish it was only 15 minutes before I was happily tucking in. I ended up making rather a mountain of it with intentions to save a bit back for later, but I devouring the lot. The tang and saltiness from the stilton went so well with the sweet shallots and sautéed sprouts, with everything being coated in the creamy thick tangy sauce. Delicious and just what’s needed on a cold snowy day. I’ve given only a vague recipe below, as it’s more a case of following a general method rather than weighing out ingredients.

Anyone else have any comforting meals they always crave on cold snowy days?

Creamy & Comforting Macaroni Blue Cheese

Ingredients

Gluten free macaroni pasta*

5 sprouts per person

1 tbsp frozen peas or broad beans per person

1 shallot per person (use an onion for more than 3)

2 large florets cauliflower per person

½ tbsp sunflower oil

½ tsp French mustard

2 tsp gluten free flour (cornflour, gf mix, anything goes)

Freshly ground pepper

20g stilton cheese per person

100ml milk per person

Method

Heat a large pan of water and add the macaroni pasta. Stir and cook according to packet instructions (I always give mine a couple of minutes less than stated, especially for gluten free pasta)

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan with the oil.

Roughly dice and shallot and add to the pan to soften.

Remove the outer leaves from the sprouts, if necessary, and then slice into quarters. Cut down through the stalk each time, so that the pieces remain intact.

Add the sprouts to the pan with the shallot.

Chop the cauliflower into small bites size pieces and add to the pan.

Cook until everything is softened and starting to take on a little colour.

Add the peas or broad beans when there is only one minute left on the pasta.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, leaving a small amount of the cooking water behind.

Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables in the pan and stir to evenly coat. Add the milk and mustard and stir quickly so the flour combines with the milk to produce a sauce.

Crumble in the blue cheese and stir gently to combine. Allow to simmer for 1 minute until the sauce is thickened.

Season with pepper, you won’t need salt as the cheese is very salty.

Add your cooked pasta to the pan, along with 1 tbsp of the reserved cooking water.

Stir to coat everything evenly and allow to bubble until thickened or add a little extra milk if too thick.

Serve straight away with a little more blue cheese crumbled on top.

Eat and enjoy.

Recipe easily scaled up to feed more people

Note: * I’ve never found gluten free macaroni pasta in the shops, but you can but it online. Otherwise you can use penne or any other shape you like.

Smokey Bean Pasties

Brrr it’s suddenly got very cold this weekend and snow is predicted tonight and tomorrow. I hope it’s not too icy, I don’t want my driveway turning into an ice rink again!

I was out in town yesterday, wrapped up against the cold wind and walked past a pasty shop that was wafting out the most delicious and mouthwatering aromas. Warm, buttery and savoury. I couldn’t help but stop and gaze longing in the window. No, I’m not talking about the popular high street chain beginning with G! This is a proper pasty shop, where you can see them baking off the pasties throughout the day. They do about 10 different varieties, including three veggie ones and my favourite always used to be the three bean pasty in a crisp wholemeal pastry crust. During my student days I used to like treating myself to one every so often, sadly they are now off the menu as I have to eat GF.

I walked away feel a bit dejected, but then remembered the smokey bean chili I made a few weeks ago, of which I had a few pots stashed away in the freezer. I decided to try recreating my favourite pasty at home. I can make my own GF pastry, so why should I miss out on a pasty!?

Once home I defrosted a portion of the bean chili and set to work making my pastry. I added a little white teff flour to the mix which gives a lovely savoury nutty flavour. I was a little nervous about filling my pasties, but I used a sheet of clingfilm to help me lift, shape and press my pastry rounds into pasties, which worked well.

I was worried they would crack and ooze their filling while in the oven, but they behaved perfectly and I ended up with 3 very large pasties. Hurrah! They were so tasty with the smokey bean filling, especially with a dollop of tomato chilli chutney on the side. It was smiles all round for tea!

I’ve since been thinking that you could use all sorts of fillings or leftovers in a pasty format – leftover Indian veg curry with a few crushed Bombay potatoes sounds particularly appealing! You can always make a pie if the idea of individual pasties sounds a bit too fiddly. Haha once again missing gluten doesn’t mean missing out!

Smokey Bean Pasties

Ingredients
Smokey Bean chili or filling of your choice

85g butter

150g gluten free plain flour

50g white teff flour

1 egg

½ tsp xanthan gum

2 tbsp water

Method
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.
Cut the dough into 3 or 4 pieces depending on if you want to make 5inch or 6inch long pasties.

Roll out each piece of pastry between two large sheets of clingfilm to form a rough circle shape. It should be around 4mm thick.  Peel off the top layer of clingfilm and cut out a round circle, using a small plate or bowl as a template.

Set the pastry circle, still on the base layer of clingfilm aside and gather up any off cuts of pastry. Add the pastry off cuts to the next pasty segment and repeat the rolling and circle cutting until you have your 3 0r 4 pastry discs.

Take a general spoonful of your chosen filling and place it on one side of your pastry circle, about 2cm in from the edge.

Flip the plain pastry half over the top of your filling, using the clingfilm to help you maneuver it. Press down firmly around the edge to crimp and seal the filling inside. Carefully transfer the pasty to a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, removing the base layer of clingfilm. Repeat until you have 3 or 4 pasties.

Brush the top of the pasties with milk and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until nicely golden brown.

Allow to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before serving, or transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Freeze or eat on day of baking

Makes 3 – 4 pasties

Note: You can use any filling you like as long as it is quite a thick mixture and will cook in the 35-30 minute oven bake. You could also just make one large pie if you don’t want to worry about making individual pasties. Other flavours could include:
Potato, onion and cheese
Garlic Mushrooms (cooked) with paprika in a thick béchamel sauce
Roasted squash, feta, chili and mint
Leftover Indian curry with a few crushed Bombay potatoes!

Smokey Bean Chili

The weather has turned even colder, windier and wetter. Christmas is over and the leftovers have been eaten or turned into hashes or pies. As the New Year beckons, rather than stay huddled indoors, we have to venture out, returning home soggy and windswept. With weather like this I find myself craving warm, wholesome food and this smoky bean chili really hits the spot.

I always make it in a big batch and stash some away in the freezer for future meals. It’s a great freezer standby meal as it can be eaten on its own, spooned onto nachos and sour cream, served with rice or on top of a crisp fluffy baked potato.

Adding cocoa powder may sound like an odd ingredient, but it adds a slightly darker colour and enriches the earthy smoky flavour of the chili that’s delicious. It doesn’t taste of chocolate!

It’s warm, thick and comforting, healthy while still having substance. The beans add a nice creamy bite while the chili adds gentle warmth that lingers at the back of the throat. It would be great to have tonight, for anyone thinking of venturing outside to watch fireworks to see in the New Year.

Smokey Bean Chili

Ingredients

1 onion

2 carrots

1 parsnip

1 x 400g tin red kidney beans

1 x 400g black eye beans

1 x 400g chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 red chili

4 tbsp sweetcorn

½ red or yellow pepper
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chipotle chili powder (or regular hot chili powder)
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cocoa powder

½ can water

Method

Peel and dice the onion, carrot and parsnip. Finely chop the garlic and chili.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, carrot and parsnip. Stir, place the lid on the pan and cook for 5 minutes until they are starting to soften, but not brown.
Meanwhile finely dice the pepper. Drain the beans into a large sieve and wash under the cold tap to remove any brine.

Add the garlic, chili, pepper and extra herbs and spices to the pan and allow to cook for a further 3-4 minutes.

Add the extra herbs, spices, cocoa powder and tomato puree. Stir to combine before adding all the remaining ingredients, including the half can of water.
Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 25-30minutes, stirring every 10minutes to prevent sticking.
Taste a carrot for doneness and add more ground chili or seasoning to preference.
Serve in big bowls with sour cream, nachos or cornbread if desired. Also great with rice or served on a crisp baked potato.
Serves 5 – 6

Roast Butternut Squash with Qunioa

Being coeliac limits the types of wholegrains and cereals I can eat. Grains such as couscous, bulgur wheat, spelt, pearl barley and semolina are all off the menu for a coeliac. When recipes call for one of these ingredients it’s usually easiest and quickest to substitute it with rice. However, some days I get a bit fed up with rice, which is where quinoa comes in.

Quinoa is actually a bit of a super food. Unlike wheat or rice, quinoa is a complete protein, meaning it contains all 8 of the essential amino acids that we must get from our diets. Having all 8 is actually quite unusual for a single ingredient/food. Often foods contain 3 or 4 different amino acids meaning we have to eat a combination of different foods in order to get the full set, not true with quinoa. Quinoa is also high in fibre, something else which can be difficult for coeliacs to find from their foods, as well as containing a whole host of other vitamins and minerals. The thing I like about quinoa, is how it looks and behaves a little like bulgur wheat, in that it is firm and slightly nutty to taste. The little grains actually seem to pop slightly as you chew them, which add a nice texture. It tastes quite bland on its own, but adapts well to a whole assortment of flavours.

Last weekend I picked up a butternut squash from the market, my first for many a month, but it seemed fitting now the days are becoming more autumnal. My favourite way to eat squash is to simply roast it with a little olive oil and some herbs, allowing the vegetables natural sweetness to intensify and shine.

In need of a quick lunch I simply added my roasted squash to some quinoa that I cooked with a little veg stock and a few peas for colour. Soft, warm and slightly creamy it made the perfect accompaniment to the roasted butternut. A sort of cross between a bulgur wheat salad and a risotto. I really must remember to use it more often.

Roast Butternut Squash with Qunioa

(This recipe is really more of a combining of ingredients than a recipe with exact quantities)

Ingredients

½ large butternut squash

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh or dried thyme and oregano

Lemon zest and juice

Quinoa

Handful of frozen peas per person

Salt and pepper

Vegetable stock

Firm cheese to finish

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Slice your butternut squash into thick rounds, and then slice each round into 3 strips (no need to peel, the skin is edible when roasted and full of fibre). Arrange the slices on a baking tray lined with foil. Drizzle over the olive oil and some finely chopped fresh or dried thyme and oregano. Mix to coat the squash evenly.

Roast in the oven for 25-35 minutes until soft and just starting to caramelise around the edges.

Meanwhile, cook your quinoa according to the pack instructions, using veg stock in place of the water for extra flavour (not essential). Cook as much as stated on pack for the number of people you are serving.

When the quinoa is nearing the end of cooking, add in a handful of frozen peas per serving.

Once the squash is roasted, reserve a few strips for decoration and chop the rest of it into cubes and stir it through the cooked quinoa. Add the zest of ¼ to ½ a lemon and a squeeze of lemon juice. Stir through some extra herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve onto plates and decorate with a few of the reserved roasted squash strips. Add a little finely grated firm cheese if desired.

Eat and enjoy

Note: Any leftover roasted squash tastes fantastic as a sandwich filling with cream cheese or houmous