WHB Beetroot Gnocchi with Pea Pesto

The celery’s in the salad
The mint is in the punch
But I’m in the freezer til Sunday’s lunch
I’m a green pea, freeze freeze
I’m a green pea, freeze freeze
I’m a green pea, wont you thaw my frozen heart!
From: I’m a Green Pea by John Shortis

This is the story of my vision of a riot of colours! You’ll see below why I started to think of this above song from my childhood. My story started with Nupur’s list of links to bloggers’ best of 2007 posts. Firstly it took me to Haalo’s best of 2007 with her amazing gnocchi made of purple congo potatoes. She even served it with peas which made me think of Holler’s amazing green pea pesto. But chances of me finding purple potatoes at the same time I fancied making gnocchi were slim. Then I saw Stef’s best of 2007 which included brilliant coloured beetroot gnocchi (as well as amazing meatloaf cupcakes that I’d love to try with nutloaf!). Stef described her gnocchi as bright pink but I think mine was a deep enough pink to be purple. Hey, I was the little girl who liked purple not pink, and the student who loved purple and green because they were worn by feminist heroines. These were my colours!

I don’t really like the idea of cooking dumplings in water – it seems unnatural to put dough or batter in water – the stuff is too delicate to survive such cruelty and seems unlikely to come out in one piece! It is little comfort that people have been doing it for centuries. But when I have the chance to cook something of such great colours, I throw caution to the wind. I think I have made boiled gnocchi before but most gnocchi I have made in the past has been baked. Beetroot is easily available so I thought I would have a go at Stef’s recipe.

Well, I wont say it was quick or easy. Stef warned that more flour was needed than the recipe required – I put in two and half times the recipe’s suggested cup of flour and still found the dough hard to work with. Possibly I still needed to mix in more. But with a lot of flour on my hands, the knife and the board, I was able to tame the sticky beast sufficiently to form the little dumplings.

It was a good night for E to ring to say he’d be home a bit later. When he got home the kitchen was still a mess of flour and rows of purple dumplings. I think it took me half an hour to roll the dough into little balls and make fork prints on them. I finally got them whirling in the boiling water and turned my attention to throwing the ingredients for the pesto into the food processor. As I started blending it, I wondered if I should have defrosted the peas. The resulting pea pesto sorbet gave me my answer. (‘I’m a green pea, wont you thaw my frozen heart’!) Nothing a quick defrost on low in the microwave couldn’t fix. Microwaving pesto is probably not at all traditional but I am not sure if beetroot gnocchi is either.

We sit down to eat our purple and green feast. The Grim Eater pushes at a wee gnocchi with his fork and asks what the purple blobs are. Pearls before swine! But we both enjoyed it.

The gnocchi was a bit bland, as gnocchi can be. Might have been improved if I’d remembered to add the salt. The pesto also needed a bit more seasoning and I found adding a bit of garlic gave it the bite to balance the sweetness of the peas. But I liked the combination. The chunky and nutty texture of the pesto worked well with the soft gnocchi pillows.

I had been keen to make Holler’s wonderful pea pesto and I will definitely be making it again. It stays a vibrant green in the fridge, unlike traditional pesto, and feels mores substantial for use as a spread or dip. And according to the George Mateljan Foundation, Green Peas are high in vitamins K1, C, B1 and B6, and also a good source of folate and iron so they will be good for your bones, your heart and boost your energy levels.

However, E said that the purple colour of the gnocchi seemed unnatural so I fear when I next attempt gnocchi it wont be such an exciting colour. But if I find some purple congo potatoes when I fancy making gnocchi – if fate is kind enough to present me with the opportunity – then E will have to put up with more purple blobs!

I am sending this to Rinku at Cooking in Westchester who is this week’s host of Weekend Herb Blogging, which was started by Kalyn at Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Beetroot Gnocchi
From Iron Stef
Serves 8 as first-course or 4 as main-course

3 small beetroots (to make up ¾ cup when grated)
375ml fresh ricotta cheese
1 egg
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2½ cups flour, or more if needed, plus extra for handling dough
Additional freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Trim beetroots, wrap in foil and roast in 230 C oven for about an hour or until tender. When cooked, cool for at lest 15 minutes and then rub skins off.

Grate beetroot to make up ¾ cups. (I had half a beetroot over and cut it into chunks and scattered on gnocchi when I served it.) Add ricotta, egg, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Mix in flour gradually til the dough comes together in a ball. As I commented above, my dough was still very sticky so I was unsure if I needed more flour but I was able to flour the board and my hands and make it into a plump sausage that I could slice with a floured knife.

Haalo suggests making gnocchi the size of fingernails but I think my dough was too sticky for such elegance so mine was a lot larger! Both Haalo and Stef used the tines of a fork pressed into the dough to make lovely looking gnocchi (by balancing the gnocchi on a finger so there was a finger dent on the other side). I found the dough very sticky for such decorative touches but I could press a floured fork each side which made mine look like floured lumps of gnocchi but when cooked you could see the indentations. (Stef says you should dip each dumpling in a bowl of flour but I didn’t find this easy to do.)

Gnocchi should be transferred to a floured baking sheet after you have made the fork indentations (waiting for the hot water like lambs to the slaughter!)

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and reduce to a simmer (I didn’t salt mine but maybe it would help). Drop batches of gnocchi in water (I only did about 10 at a time). They are cooked when they begin swirling to the surface and can be transferred with a slotted spoon to a serving plate. (Stef transferred hers to a saucepan of rosemary infused butter as this was the sauce she served hers with.)

Serve with pea pesto (below), fresh black pepper and extra freshly grated parmesan cheese. The first night I also served some roasted pumpkin and the second just did some tomato and cucumber on the side!

NOTE: Stef says that gnocchi dough can be made a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge, and that the gnocchi/dumplings can be made 6 hours ahead. I actually only cooked half my batch and put the other half in the fridge til the next night. It seemed to work ok but despite liberal sprinkling with flour they stuck to each other a bit so maybe layers of baking paper between gnocchi would be a better way to store them in fridge (or even freezer).

Pea Pesto
From Holler at Tinned Tomatoes

225g/8oz frozen peas (thawed)
1 large handful fresh basil
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1 tbsp cashew nuts (I used ¼ cup)
1 tbsp soft cream cheese (I used 40g)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed (optional)
salt & freshly ground black pepper

I have to quote Holler on this one because she says it so perfectly: ‘Basically just blitz it all in a food processor and voila, the most volumptous green sauce!’ I agree with Holler that is it that easy and that tasty.

On the stereo:
Black Magic Woman: Santana

You say biscuits, I say scones!

It’s not that long ago I was musing on the cultural differences in the international (English-speaking) world of blogging. But here I am again finding myself slightly bamboozled, albeit in a pleasant way!

I made some soup this week, which was most delicious. I had a yen to bake some ‘biscuits’ that I had seen on Lisa’s Kitchen. They interested me, as sometimes I want to bake something quick and savoury that can become part of dinner. As I started following the recipe, I began to question my assumption that we were talking about the same thing when Lisa and I referred to biscuits. It didn’t take me too long to find out we weren’t.

It has struck me previously that what Americans refer to as biscuits is more like what we in Australia and the UK call a scone. As usual, I have gone to Wikipedia to check out what is a biscuit. Apparently the word comes from Latin (via Middle French) and means twice baked. So in UK/Australia it makes sense that a biscuit is hard baked product. How this translated into its softer scone-like cousin, I am not sure. But the other difference is that in the USA biscuits means predominately savoury scones and the sweet version is referred to as shortcake (which clears up another misunderstanding of mine – I always thought shortcake was more like shortbread!).

So now I think I’ve got it! I say biscuit when Americans say cookie (ie sweet), I say dry biscuit when Americans say crackers (ie savoury), I say scone when Americans say biscuit, and when my scones become sweet (and usually topped with sweet stuff like fruit and jam) Americans say shortcake. When I say dry biscuit, the Brits say water biscuits or cream crackers (it took me a long time in the UK to realise these biscuits weren’t filled with cream!). But I am still not sure about digestive biscuits in the UK – I think they are just at the plain end of Australian biscuits. All I can tell you is that chocolate digestives taste good and were often my best friend while travelling in the UK (but in Australia we would call them chocolate wheatens). How confusing is that!

Lisa, you are messing with my head but your ‘biscuits’ were delicious, simple and a fine accompaniment to our soup. Plus you provided much fodder for dinner table conversation – picture me picking up one of these and asking E if it was a scone or a biscuit. Definitely a scone, we decided, after careful consideration. Not a traditional scone dough that you roll out and cut into round circles but still a scone in our countries!

As if my head wasn’t spinning enough, I also found the soup wasn’t as I expected. It had cashew nut butter in it and I was thinking nutty soup rather than creamy soup. I should have known about this too because I have been interested in lots of recipes using cashew nuts to make them creamy. Cashew nut butter adds a sweet creaminess to soups that is quite different from adding peanut butter. I increased the vegetables and found it was still quite rich so we only needed small servings. This also tasted really good. Dinner was a pleasant surprise indeed!

Olive Oil Parmesan Scones
From Lisa’s Kitchen
Makes 12-15 scones

1¾ cups self raising white flour*
½ teaspoon of sea salt
5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of milk
¼ - ½ cup of parmesan cheese
* I was out of baking powder so I used self raising flour but you could use 1¾ cups plain white flour and 1 tbsp baking powder which is what Lisa used.

Line a baking tray with baking paper or grease tray lightly. Put flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add the olive oil, milk and cheese. Stir until just combined. Drop the dough onto prepared baking tray using a dessert spoon (or generous tablespoonfuls ). Bake in a preheated 230 C oven for 12 - 17 minutes or until lightly browned. Taste good served with soup or spread with jam, peanut butter or promite!

Curried Cashew Vegetable Soup
(adapted from Nava Atlas’ Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons)
Serves 4 (with scones or salad accompanying it)

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large celery stalk, finely diced
3 cups water, or as required
½ cup cashew butter
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp curry powder, or to taste
½ tsp ground cumin
pinch of nutmeg
½ tbsp lemon juice, or to taste
juice of ½ an orange (approx ¼ cup)
3 cups steamed green vegetables (I used broccolini, asparagus, zucchini)
seasoning
cashews and spring onions for garnish (optional)

Heat oil over low heat in a medium to large saucepan. Fry onion, celery and garlic til soft. If it starts to stick tip some water in (or you can use more oil which is what Nava Atlas did). Nava also pureed this mixture but I didn’t bother and prefer the chunkiness for this soup – of course it is also the path of least resistance!

Whisk the cashew butter and remaining water in a small bowl, by gradually adding the water. Add to onion mixture. Add spices and juices. Simmer for 5-15 minutes. (Nava says 15 minutes but I don’t think it needs so much time and I found mine was getting quite thick.) Add more water if getting too thick. Stir in steamed vegetables and serve with garnishes of spring onions and cashews.

On the stereo:
1998 – the album [Melody Maker freebie]: various artists

Scrumptious Sugarfree Slice

Some days I feel I could live without sugar. I love chocolate and fruit and spices in cakes and biscuits but I don’t need them to be too sweet. So I was excited to make a slice this week that is sugarfree, egg free, dairyfree, butter/oil free and could easily be converted to gluten free (by substituting GF flakes for the oats) or nut free (by substituting seeds for the nuts).

The recipe comes from Kathryn on Limes and Lycopene. She adapted a recipe from Cassie at Veggie Meal Plans. Both Cassie and Kathryn said they were eating it for breakfast. I laughed at the idea of slice for breakfast because I don’t eat sweet baking for breakfast (as a rule). But these are so good that I have indeed found myself eating one for breakfast the last few days. As Kathryn says, they really fill you up.

This slice is much less sweet than a lot of food I bake but the jewels of dried fruit give a pleasing tartness, as well as colour. The tahini, nuts and seeds all contribute to a nutty flavour and great chewy texture. I loved it. And the lack of sugar gives me the perfect opportunity to share one of my favourite paragraphs from all my cookbooks. It comes from Helen Stephens who wrote the Australian Family Vegetarian Cookbook:

Most drug users, alcoholics and habitual criminals would not be where they are today if it were not for sugar. Sugar should be banned as a food and developed into an alternative to petrol for fuelling our cars!

Strong stuff! I think Helen Stephens would approve of this slice. I don’t think she would approve of E’s response to it. He said the slice was not really his thing and then he returned to his stash of chocolate covered sultanas and jelly dinosaurs. The Grim Eater had spoken! But I don’t care. This slice is so good I don’t even want to share it.

Fruit, nut and tahini breakfast slice
From Veggie Meal Plans via Limes & Lycopene
Makes 16 squares

½ cup dried dates, chopped
½ cup water
½ cup tahini
¾ cup rolled oats
¼ cup soy flour (or other flour)
1 teaspoon mixed spice
⅓ cup mixed nuts, chopped – I used pecans & hazelnuts
⅓ cup raw seeds – I used sunflower seeds
1⅓ cup mixed dried fruit – I used sultanas, apricots and strawberries

Grease and line a 22 x 22cm square cake tin.

Place ½ cup water and diced dates to a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook about 2 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dates are soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed. (Mixture will be thick.) Allow to cool.

While date mixture is cooling, chop nuts and dried fruit as required and place remaining ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. I took my time using scissors to cup up the apricots and strawberries so that the dates were cool enough by the time I had finished. Stir tahini into date mixture. Spoon date and tahini mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well. (NB I thought it would be too dry because the date mixture was so stiff, but by the time everything was mixed it was a nice thick consistency.)

Spoon batter into the prepared cake tin. Press mixture into tin. I found it easiest to use my hands to do this because it kept sticking to the back of the spoon. Bake at 180 C for 15-20 minutes. Cool in the tin. You can cut into squares when warm or cold. It tastes excellent warm!

On the Stereo:
Songs from the South: Paul Kelly’s Greatest Hits: Paul Kelly

WCC Colourful Carrot Loaf & Asparagus Sauce

It was an inauspicious start to dinner. My garlic crusher broke. The gas oven flame went out and so the oven wasn’t preheated. Then, as the slice went in the oven, I realised I had forgot to add salt. Never mind, I thought, at least I have green sauce and green salad. Green in the colour of hope and cannot fail to cheer me up!

I have made both Alison Holst’s carrot and mushroom loaf and Anne Marshall’s asparagus sauce before. It is a comfort to know they work but also a frustration as my brain grows soggy with too many recipes. I thought the loaf was another one and got a wee bit confused when it didn’t taste as I expected. I also put a little extra salt in the sauce despite knowing from previous times that asparagus is a delicate flavour and doesn’t need much salt.

Minor hiccups aside, it was a delicious weekend dinner. The slice was a little sweeter for the lack of salt but still had lots of flavour. It is a very moist slice. I baked it in a 22 x 22cm square tin rather than a loaf tin and still found it a little soggy but I think it is the nature of the slice rather like zucchini slice, which was a standard in my childhood (lots of grated zucchini, cheese, eggs and a bit of flour).

Most importantly, the meal had bright cheerful colours when served with a simple salad of baby spinach, snowpea sprouts, nectarines, red capsicum, cucumber and lemon juice. And the second night I didn’t have enough sauce left for the both of us so I served E’s with leftover bottled pasta sauce. I took great delight in the sight of my slice with green sauce beside his with red sauce.

Alison suggests serving it with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables to impress conservative eaters. It seems a bit boring to me but I know there are lots of people who like this sort of thing so maybe it would appeal to them. Give me a colourful salad any day! And because I am not the only one who loves my veggies, I am sending this to Sarah at I Like to Cook who is hosting this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge. The theme in January is Veggin' Out.

Carrot and Mushroom Loaf
(from Alison Holst’s Meals without Meat)
Serves 4

2 tbsp oil or butter (I only used 1)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used basil, thyme and chives)
½ tsp salt
black pepper
3 cups (400g) grated carrot (about 3 medium carrots)
½ cup dry breadcrumbs
½ cup grated cheese
½ cup milk
2 eggs
2tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tbsp grated cheese
1 tbsp sesame seeds
Paprika

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a loaf tin (I used a 22 x 22cm square tin).

Heat oil or butter in large frypan. Fry onion and garlic on low heat until onion soft (about 3 minutes). Add mushrooms and continue to cook until softened (about 5 minutes).

Transfer onion and mushroom mixture to a medium mixing bowl and add herbs, seasoning, carrot, breadcrumbs, cheese, milk and eggs. Mix well. Pour into prepared loaf tin and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, cheese, seeds and paprika.

Bake for 60 minutes. Alison says to cover with foil after 30 minutes but I didn’t as I like a nice crisp golden brown topping and my oven isn’t very fierce. She also says it is done with it feels firm in the middle but I just looked at the topping!

Asparagus Sauce
(from Anne Marshall’s Complete Vegetarian Cookbook)
Serves 3-4

375g asparagus (or a 340g can asparagus)
½ cup (125ml) vegetable stock
pepper
salt (use sparingly)
2 tbsp yoghurt

If you are using fresh asparagus (I have never used tinned and am not sure it would be as green and lovely, but I guess it is an option) trim and chop asparagus. Steam or microwave til tender. Puree in food processor with stock and seasoning to taste. This is the exciting moment when it looks a brilliant green like the fields of Ireland. Pour into small saucepan and mix in yoghurt. Heat gently over low heat.

On the stereo:
Under the Covers 1: 60s Pop Primer - Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs

Challenging Cashew Choc Chip Cookies

Baking gluten free cookies is a challenge I am enjoying embracing. Before Christmas there was a huge list of GF cookie recipes on Ginger Lemon Girl. A few days ago, I finally made a batch of cookies from the list - Ricki’s cashew choc chip cookies which were both gluten free and vegan. When I saw these on Diet, Dessert and Dogs, I was immediately intrigued by the unusual combination of ingredients. Cashews are probably my favourite nuts and I love cashew nut butter, although I don't buy it often.

Having just made an impulse purchase of cashew nut butter, I was pleased to find that I had almost all the ingredients in my kitchen. The only one I lacked was coconut butter which I am yet to embrace. The recipe was fairly easy and appealed because it only made 10 cookies. (My last batch of choc chip cookies made dozens and, over a month later, I am still nibbling my way through the swag of them in my freezer!).

These cookies smelt wonderfully sweet and spicy as they came out of the oven. The texture was so creamy when warm that I thought maybe it was just warm cookie dough. But as they cooled they become more crumb-like inside. Hot or cold they were very crumbly to touch (I think they would have collapsed if I had tried to take them off the tray before they cooled) but they held together well enough when cool – I did wonder if the coconut butter would have made a difference. The cardamom was quite strong and I thought maybe just a pinch next time and perhaps some orange zest might get the taste right for me. Overall I was really pleased with this recipe.

This sort of recipe makes me stop and think how much I have changed in my baking habits. When I was a child making chocolate crackles, grubs, anzac biscuits and honey joys, the idea of such biscuits would have seemed so fanciful. We never even made choc chip cookies. Now I feel I have such weird and wonderful ingredients that recipes like Ricki’s don’t scare me.

Since gluten free food has become an issue for my family last year, I have been determined to cook gluten free food that anyone can make without having to run to the nearest health food store and arm themselves with a box of unpronounceable ingredients that seem more like alien foods in sci fi movies. When I became vegetarian I wanted to prove anyone could (and often did) eat yummy vegetarian food. It was both a challenge and a voyage of wonderful discoveries. Gluten free cooking appeals to me in a similar way. But I am finding that, just as I don’t flinch at cooking with tofu, tempeh, and tahini these days, that gluten free cooking is revealing to me a whole host of exciting new tastes and textures.

So, it seems that one person’s comfort zone is another’s worst nightmare. I think what I am trying to say is that these cookies may seem overwhelmingly foreign in ingredients and taste for some people. It saddens me to think that I can’t please everyone. But fortunately our comfort zones can be a place of change. I love learning just how many different styles, ingredients and tastes are available for my enjoyment in the world of cooking. And I know that I wouldn’t be exposed to so many of them without the wonderful world of blogging. Roll on the next challenge!

Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from Diet Dessert and Dogs)
Makes 8-10

⅔ cup (scant) cashew butter (at room temperature)
1 Tbsp organic coconut butter, melted (I used margarine)
1 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ cup ground flax seeds
⅛ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp baking soda
pinch sea salt
¼ cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, mix the cashew butter, coconut butter, and tahini until smooth. Add the maple syrup and vanilla and mix well. Add remaining ingredients. It makes quite a stiff but soft batter.

Place spoonfuls of batter on a greased or lined baking tray. Wet your palms to smooth and slightly flatten each cookie - this is Ricki’s advice – I didn’t do it and found that, once baked, mine looked exactly the shape they were when I dropped them on the baking tray, so next time I will follow her advice. Ricki also says they will spread slightly but mine didn’t.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden. Allow to cool completely before removing from baking tray. They will be too crumbly and soft to remove when hot but will firm up as they cool.

On the stereo:
Everything Must Go: Manic Street Preachers

Wendy’s Apple Green Tea

It is much much too hot when the mecury hits 41ºC. It burns tender leaves, dries the earth and leads to backyard disasters:

- One poor wee lime tree suffering from the scorching sun in our backyard.

- One beach umbrella propped in the hole in our outdoor table to shade the lime tree.

- One gust of wind blows umbrella, table and chairs across the yard.

That was the scene that greeted me upon returning from a hot day out when the trams were slow, the tram drivers grumpy, and the air-conditioned cafes a godsend!

I found another cooling comfort in the Apple Green Tea which Wendy made in June (during her Scottish summer). I have never been one for making fancy schmancy drinks. The most I usually mix my drinks is to combine juice and soda water! But I got some green tea bags in a Christmas giftpack and came across Wendy’s enticing chilled drink. Simple, refreshing and healthy. The first time I tried it, there was too much lemon for me. The second time I added mint and reduced the lemon. Perfect!

- Perfect to showcase my cool cactus glasses.

- Perfect way to greet E when he came home hot and sweaty from work.

- Perfect for a hot summer’s day.

Chilled Apple Green Tea
(adapted from A Wee Bit of Cooking)

650ml boiling water
2 green tea bags
5-6 mint leaves
350ml apple juice
1 tsp lemon juice
iceblocks to serve

Use scissors to finely cut mint leaves into a medium sized jug. Add tea bags and boiling water to jug. Steep for ten minutes. Remove tea bags. Add apple juice and lemon juice. Place in refridgerator til chilled. (I put mine in at 11 and when I got home at 5ish it was pleasantly chilled.) Serve with a few iceblocks in a glass. If you are feeling creative you could also garnish with apple slices, lemon slices and/or mint leaves.

On the Stereo:
The Best Prog Rock Album in the World … Ever! – Various Artists

GF delights and fairy bites

We had a family bbq on the weekend at my brother Andy’s place and I said I would make a cake because we were celebrating two birthdays (Erica’s and Dean’s) and my parents’ wedding anniversary. My family caters for me at bbqs but I like to contribute and to take the opportunity to try out new things. So I also made a tex-mex salad and some gluten free muffins. I managed to make all these in the morning before we saw my family at lunchtime because the previous day was so hot (37 C) I couldn’t bear to turn on the oven.

Since my 3 year old niece, Grace, was diagnosed as a celiac, I have been trying to find something I could bake for her. But she does not have a sweet tooth. Every gluten free cake or cookie I have made does not interest Grace but is eaten in delight by her sister, Ella. So I decided to try these savoury muffins which I saw Heidi post on 101 Cookbooks. Heidi got it from the wonderful Rose Elliot, and inspired Kalyn, while Pille had another version. So it seems that this is a popular recipe of the moment.

I did a plain version of these, having seen too many kids turn up their nose at some funny taste or bits. Heidi added ¼ cup each of sundried tomatoes and fresh basil which I would like to try another time. She also suggests enticing alternatives such as pesto, olives, potatoes and rosemary. I also did them in mini-muffin tins because small is attractive to kids (and minimises waste). As I filled the first pan I wondered at no oil and double-checked the recipe only to find I had not put in the water. I put the water and a tsp of oil for the second pan of muffins and, frankly, there wasn’t much difference.

Heidi warns that these aren’t like normal muffins but are more like a quiche or “souffle's heartier, denser, more portable cousin”. When hot they were a bit quiche-like for me but cold they took on a denser texture. You wont often hear me say this but I thought these were better cold than fresh out of the oven. Having said that, I really liked them and so did my family.

Grace screwed up her nose as usual but, surprisingly, came around to trying the muffins. Finally she began to take tiny fairy-sized bites. She is a wee fairy, and with her sisters (Maddy and Ella), cast many spells with her paper fairy wand and even used the fairy mobile phone to ring Elf the Cake Baker. I even heard that after I left she had another muffin!

The chocolate cake was easy and delicious. I just melted and mixed the ingredients and this was out of the oven by 8.30am. No separating eggs and beating egg whites was required. The recipe made a small flat cake which looked a little stingy for a big family group. But it was so rich that small slices were adequate. It was a little undercooked in the middle when I took it out but I didn’t worry as I quite like a gooey chocolatey centre. Everyone loved this cake – even the kids! It is the sort of cake that would go well with a dollop of cream and a swirl of raspberry coulis.

The salad is one I had made before – I wasn’t quite sure I had the dressing exactly right but it is one that is substantial enough to not need much accompaniment. It is from an Australian food magazine but I’m not sure which one. We served it with the corn chips crumbled on top which was interesting texture but had to be done just before serving – when left sitting for a bit the chips went soggy and were much less appetising. On the way home, I was pleased that Ewan said he liked the salad because that was dinner as well - accompanied by vegetarian sausages.

Tex Mex Salad
(serves 6-8 says the recipe, I would say it serves a crowd!)

400g tin of corn kernels, drained
200-300g tin of kidney beans, drained
3 tomatoes diced (about 3 cups)
1 cup green spring onions (about 2-3), finely chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley or coriander, chopped
2-3 outer leaves of iceberg lettuce, finely sliced
1 avocado, chopped (optional)
100-150g plain corn chips, to serve*

Dressing:
juice of two limes
1 green chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 garlic clove, crushed
¾ cup olive oil (I didn’t use)
seasoning (I used ½ tsp salt and pepper mixture)

* If you want salad to be gluten free, make sure the corn chips are gluten free – most plain ones are because they are just corn, salt and oil. I used low-salt ones which was fine.

Place salad vegetables in large salad bowl. Make salad dressing by mixing all ingredients in a small bowl. Add to salad and toss to coat with dressing. This can be prepared hours beforehand (but you should wait til serving before adding avocado). When ready to serve crumble corn chips over salad.

Cheesy almond muffins
(Adapted from Rose Elliot’s Supercook as featured in 101 Cookbooks)
Makes 20-24 mini muffins

1 cup plain cottage cheese
½ cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
¼ cup soy flour*
1 cup (100g) ground almonds**
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water (optional)
Extra grated parmesan cheese for sprinkling (approx ¼ cup)

* Heidi suggests using plain white wheat flour, or you could use a gluten free flour mix
**for nut free version, try substituting ½ cup flax seed meal and ½ cup ground pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 200 C degrees. If not using silicone mini-muffin moulds, line muffin pan(s) with paper liners. I find the silicone moulds don’t even need greasing.

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Then spoon the mixture into muffin pans (each muffin cup should be about ¾ full). Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake for about 25 minutes (or 30-35 minutes if you use regular muffin pans) until golden brown. Leave 5 minutes and then cool on a wire rack. Serve warm for eggy quiche taste and cold if you like it less eggy!

One Bowl Flourless Chocolate Cake
(From Chris Silker at http://www.celiac.com/)

125g (4 ounces) dark chocolate,chopped (I used Lindt 70%)
125g (½ cup) butter or margarine
¾ cup castor sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (I used dutch cocoa)

Preheat oven to 190 C. Grease and line an 18 or 20 cm round cake tin.

Place chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and melt in the microwave (should be no more than 1 ½ minutes – less if the weather is so hot that the chocolate is already starting to melt). Give a good stir after a minute in the microwave as it will continue melting after coming out of microwave – if needed return for another 15-30 seconds.Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs and mix well. Sift cocoa onto mix and stir until just mixed.

Spoon into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. When I put a skewer in the middle of the cake after 25 minutes, it was not quite clean, but I took the cake out anyway. This sort of cake is even more delicious if it is a little gooey in the middle (actually you could probably just eat the mixture without baking because it tastes so good). Sit in pan 5 minutes and turn onto a wire rack to cool.

On the stereo:
The Best of: The Pogues