We are awaiting a big event around here at the moment. Part of the reason for the silence on this here little blog.  Cooking and taking photos hasn't been much on my mind lately.  So all I can offer is a few random photos to share with you from this summer.

The only cake I've made this summer and I burnt it!  Blackberry and buckwheat adapted from this recipe. 

Eating a lot of ragù.

Preparations...

Eggs for breakfast.

Re-learning how to knit.  I don’t know what it is at the moment.

Smoothie: frozen banana, blueberries, peaches, chia seeds, almond milk, sheep yoghurt.

Afternoon jaunt to Watts Gallery.

Cooking millet on the stove for my lunch.

Eating millet with roasted veggies.

Shots of a derelict farm on a favourite walk.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s A to Z of summer recipes from the Guardian. Inspired by lunch at my brother’s house.  The flavours going on here are out of this world.

Summer toastie: goats cheese, peach and avocado on gluten free bread. Also favourite napkin.  About the only thing I could afford in the Anthropologie sale.

Obsessed with columns at Polesden Lacey.

Cherries, can’t get enough.

Breakfast: peaches, blueberries, sheep yoghurt, quinoa pops, toasted almonds.

Roasted Summer Vegetables and a Rosy View

There is a rose in our garden coming out in full bloom.  If you knew what bad gardeners we are you would be impressed.  A few weeks ago my husband cleared an over grown and mostly dead flower bed which had been doing a good deal of looking very ugly for the past year.  We took ourselves off to the garden centre and set about buying plants having no clue what we were doing except that we wanted a few hardy shrubs and a rose bush.  We returned home somewhat out of pocket but with a car boot full of promise.  My husband dutifully planted everything while I idled with a book in a chair offering up helpful and sometimes not so helpful directions.  He planted, we watched, we waited.  The centrepiece of our new flower bed is an English rose bush and I’m happy to report this morning there are two lovely heads in bloom.  The rosemary we bought is thriving, the fuscia is doing well.  As for the others, the less said about those the better.  You can’t win them all.  The tenuous link to this salad being that we can now sit outside and enjoy our lunch with a decent view.

I’ve been enjoying roasted vegetables in various incarnations so far this summer.  I buy whatever is in season but the main players have been fennel, courgettes, carrots, tomatoes and of course kale.  In this version I used up some potatoes and threw in an avocado but I’ve also mixed roasted veg with pasta, quinoa and even millet.  The flavour comes from the roasted veg as they caremelise in the oven, the lemon zest adds a bright note to the whole affair, toasted nuts or seeds add crunch and of course goats cheese for tang.

Serves 2

1 large potato peeled and cut in to chunks

2 carrots peeled and sliced to your liking

½ large fennel bulb or whole bulb if smaller, cut in to wedges.

8 or so small plum tomatoes cut in half or quarters if larger

1 bunch of kale or other greens

1 avocado peeled and sliced

Handful of pumpkin seeds, toasted

Goats cheese

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Zest of half a lemon

Teaspoon rosemary

Preheat oven Gas Mark 7, line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Parboil the potatoes, drain and set aside to steam.  Prepare the other vegetables.  Add the potatoes, carrots and fennel to the first baking sheet.  Sprinkle with rosemary and olive oil.  Place on the shelf of the oven.

Lay the tomatoes cut side up on the other baking sheet.  Drizzle with oil and roast in the bottom shelf of the oven.  Keep an eye on the vegetables, turning occasionally.  Everything should be done after about 40 minutes.  The vegetables should be golden and the tomatoes should be beginning to caremelise.

Once the vegetables are ready add the kale to the baking tray to allow it to slightly wilt for about one minute.  Remove from the oven and grate over the lemon zest.  Serve up the roasted vegetables and kale in bowls, top with the tomatoes, avocado, goats cheese and pumpkin seeds.  Season to your liking.

My Week in Lunches

Whenever I have some time off work and I’m spending it at home I like to abandon my work day sandwiches and eat something a little different for lunch.  It’s an opportunity to eat a little bit healthier.  I’ll generally just create something for myself out of whatever is in the fridge and needs using.  It has to be something that comes together quickly as I am usually coming in and going out again.  This week a bag of kale was sitting patiently in my fridge so it featured pretty heavily in my lunch time munching.  The general pattern is veggies, a grain and some protein, usually an egg, cheese or toasted nuts of some description.  I might write up a couple of these as recipes in the coming weeks.  It’s back to sandwiches next week sadly.  What have you been having for lunch lately?

Pink Grapefruit Muffins

So what do you make when you accidently get some free pink grapefruit?  You make muffins obviously.  These muffins are my answer for those of us who fail to see grapefruit for breakfast as a viable option.  I know it’s healthy and I’m obsessed with healthy but I just never feel I want to eat a grapefruit when there are so many other tasty things to have for breakfast.  Maybe this will change one of these days, but for now, I’ll take my breakfast grapefruit disguised in a muffin.  It’s a pretty healthy muffin so really I win. 

 



This is another adaption of Heidi Swanson’s lemon millet muffins from her wonderful book Super Natural Every Day.  Although the original recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour I’ve adapted them to be gluten free and I’ve made these with banana thrown in many times.  Here I simply subbed the lemon for pink grapefruit.  I loved how well the grapefruit infused the muffins, giving them a gentle kick of citrus.  Full of healthy ingredients, the raw millet lends texture and crunch to the muffins.  They are sweetened with honey and the natural yoghurt will give your stomach a nice dose of friendly bacteria.

 

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

280g (10oz) brown rice flour (I’ve also made them with AP gluten free flour)

60g (2oz) raw millet

1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt

225g natural yoghurt (I used sheep milk yoghurt)

2 large eggs beaten

120ml unsalted butter slightly melted and cooled

120ml honey

Grated zest of ½ pink grapefruit plus 2 tablespoons pink grapefruit juice.

Preheat the oven Gas Mark 6, 200°C, 400°F.  Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, millet, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. In a small bowl or jug mix together the eggs, yoghurt, butter, honey, grapefruit zest and juice until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry until the flour is just incorporated. Spoon the batter in to the muffin pan until all of the mixture is used up. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown and beginning to crack on top. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then turn the muffins out on to a wire rack to cool completely.



A Year in Books



Happy New Year everybody!  I’m a little late with this but better late than never.  Since the new year is a time for looking forward but also taking stock of the past year I thought I’d share with you my year of reading.  This has nothing to do with food but since this is a food blog I put some gluten free banana millet muffins in the picture to make us all feel comfortable.  Recipe here.  (They are really good by the way).  Regulars may know I have a big commute to my day job.  I honestly don’t think I would keep my sanity half so well on this commute if it wasn’t for the joy of reading a good book on the train.  Reading transports you away from the train delays, the dubious smelling person you are sitting next to, the man coughing up phlegm behind, the tall woman resting her newspaper on your head (I’m short and this actually happened).  I don’t keep track of what I’ve read but I wish I had.  I know I average about one book a week. I’m guessing maybe 45 in a year.  The reason for this review is purely self indulgent.  In about a month my job relocates (even further away) and I will have to drive to work instead of getting the train.  No more stories to transport me into another world as I sit staring at the bumper of the car in front of me.  Books will have to become my occasional friends rather than my constant companions.  Books, I will miss you...unless anyone fancies sitting in my car and reading to me...

If I had to choose a top five:

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: If you read one book on writing this should be it.  I’ve seen it recommended on quite a few different blogs.  It is instantly readable and it tells the truth about writing, warts and all. I devoured it in one sitting and found it so inspiring.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: Beautifully written, a chilling mystery set in an elite New England college.  So good I made my husband read it too so we could discuss.  He devoured it as speedily as I did.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain:  The story of Hadley Richardson, Ernest Hemmingway’s first wife.  Set in the glamour of Jazz age Paris among artists and writers.  I love everything about this era.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield:  A chilling and twisted tale of twin sisters and a mysterious house.  This prompted an American lady sitting next to me on the train to start up a discussion about how great this book is.

The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy:  I’ve read quite a few Kennedy books this year.  His writing is always instantly gripping and this is probably the most well known and best of his novels.  Set in post war Manhattan during the time of McCarthyism this is a thrilling tale of love and betrayal.  If you are reading this Mr Kennedy, please get your book covers re-designed.  They look like Mills and Boon.

 

Gluten Free Banana Millet Muffins



These muffins proved to be a godsend last weekend as we faced a six hour drive to visit family.  On long road trips where I’m not driving I tend to do the following things.  1) Talk so much that my husband checks I’m ok if I’ve fallen quiet for more than five minutes.  2) Fall asleep, usually with my head back and mouth open catching flies.  3) Complain that I’ve hurt my neck because I’d fallen asleep with my head back at some weird angle.  4) Thinking about food and when I can next eat something we’ve packed for the journey.  In this case, these muffins were foremost on my mind.  They made a great breakfast when we faced the return drive on a dark Sunday morning.  More importantly they did a good job of keeping me quiet for a few minutes on the road.  I adapted these from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day, one of my all time favourite cookbooks.  I had a batch of over ripe bananas to use up and decided to turn her millet muffins in to a banana version.  These muffins contain some wonderful healthful things.  I made them with brown rice flour, they are sweetened with honey, contain natural yoghurt, a bit of butter, a kick of lemon zest and crunch from the millet.  They are light and airy.  The bananas add a little extra moisture which in gluten free baking is always helpful.  They are the answer to road trip boredom.

 



Recipe adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

Makes 12 Muffins

225g (8oz) Gluten Free flour (I used brown rice flour)

60g (2oz) raw millet

1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt

225ml plain yoghurt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

100ml unsalted butter slightly melted

100ml honey

Grated zest of one lemon

3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven Gas Mark 6, 200°C, 400°F

Butter a 12 cup muffin tin and set aside.  In a large bowl mix together the flour, millet, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.  In a small bowl or jug mix together the eggs, yoghurt, butter, honey and lemon zest until smooth.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry until the flour is just incorporated.  Gently stir in the bananas.  Spoon the batter in to the muffin pan until all of the mixture is used up.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown and beginning to crack on top.  Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then turn the muffins out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Lunching at Home

After our trip to Paris I’ve been enjoying the rest of the week at home.  Having time to cook a lunch at home is such a luxury for me.  I am a tad frustrated with my work lunches.  We don’t have a proper kitchen at work and I swear the fridge warms food up rather than cools it down.  That combined with a long commute means I don’t often take cold foods to work.  As a result my lunch comes down to almond butter sandwiches with gluten free bread or oat cakes, rice cakes, sometimes a salad.  Not very inspiring... So, I love this time at home to make wholesome lunches from scratch.  It feels so much more healthy and satisfying.  This week I made this warm beetroot and kale salad bowl with millet inspired by a recipe from The First Mess blog.  (There are about a million things I want to make from this site).  I have to confess I’m rubbish at cooking millet, it always ends up looking more like mash potato but I keep trying.  Either way this dish was lovely.  The earthy rich flavour of the balsamic beets with the kale work so well together and the sugar gives a hint of sweetness.  The tangy goats cheese adds a salty element and rounds out the flavours perfectly.  I changed a few things from the original recipe, mainly dialling back the sugar and vinegar as I love the strong flavour of roasted beets on their own.  I also wilted my kale in the oven with the beets for a couple of minutes.  I find this is a great way to cook kale and saves on washing up.  Try to catch it before it crisps up although crispy kale is pretty good too.  Come Monday morning I will be making sandwiches at 6am again and it will be dark outside.

Recipe adapted from The First Mess

Serves 2

1 large beetroot cut in to wedges

Bunch of kale (I used cavolo nero aka black kale)

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp demerara sugar

Extra virgin olive oil

Goats cheese for the top

Quinoa or millet to serve

Preheat oven Gas Mark 6, 200°C, 400°F.  In a baking dish toss the beets with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Sprinkle with demerara sugar.  Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.  Check the beets and give everything a mix, remove the foil then return to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes.  Wash the kale and roughly chop.  About five minutes before the beets are ready add the kale to the baking dish and coat evenly with the oil and vinegar mixture.  Return to the oven for five minutes until the kale has wilted.  Meanwhile cook your quinoa or millet according the pack instructions.  Serve the beets and kale over the quinoa/millet and crumble the goats cheese on top.  Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil if you like.  Season with salt and pepper as desired.

 



 

Adventures with Millet

Last weekend I took my first foray in to cooking millet which is a gluten free grain.  I had used millet flakes in porridge before but never tried cooking the grain.  Apparently it is commonly used as bird seed but I didn’t let that put me off!  Inspired by a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe in his book Plenty which involved caramelising fennel in maple syrup, I decided to roast some fennel with olive oil and maple syrup to go with my millet.  I also added some kale and coconut flakes (seen in Heidi Swanson’s book Super Natural Every Day) and it turned out to make a nice healthy lunch.

I think I need a little more practice cooking millet as I found it hard to stop it sticking together but it still made a nice basis for this meal.  You could also use brown rice or quinoa.  This isn’t so much a recipe as a record of my experiments.  I’d encourage you to try your own flavours but the maple syrup definitely added a lovely subtle sweetness to the dish.  Maple syrup is always a good plan in my book.

Serves 2

100g (4oz) ½ cup millet

300ml or 1 ½ cups water

1 fennel bulb chopped and fronds removed

1 bunch of kale, chopped and stems removed

1 handful of unsweetened flaked coconut

1 x tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 x teaspoon maple syrup

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6, 200°C, 400°F

Bring a pan of water to a boil and add the millet.  Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.  Fluff with a fork, cover with a lid and set aside to steam.

Meanwhile mix the oil and maple syrup together.  Place the fennel on a baking tray and toss in the oil/syrup mixture.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes then remove and add the kale and coconut.  Toss in the oil and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes until the coconut is toasted.  Try to avoid letting the kale become too brown and crisp by tossing it regularly.  Finally add everything to the millet and mix together.  Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.

I’d love to know how you like to cook with millet!