tabletop lately

breakfast bar, orange, yogurt, tea

carnations, elle decoration

scrambled eggs, beans, coffee, toast

veggie dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad

whole wheat blueberry pancakes, coffee

 

so much good food in our house, all the time.

this table, dragged in from the yard, just coming up to about a year now since we set up home on coronation road.

nutty butty

February frost has left me constantly chilled. A damp air, these streets. Such is a problem only chewy fruity goodness can solve. Enter homemade bars, of a sort. Goes nicely with a cup of ginger tea and my slipper socks (yes).


peanut butter fruit bars

ten dates chopped

one cup chopped figs

quarter cup dried cranberries

one cup peanut butter

one cup sliced almonds and chopped brazil nuts

two tablespoon pumpkin seeds

three tablespoon shredded coconut

four tablespoon ground flaxseed

two tablespoon water

two tablespoon orange juice

In a food processor combine nuts, seeds, coconut and pulse until finely chopped. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Next in the food processor combine dried fruit with water and orange juice, and pulse until a paste forms. Add to dry nut/seed mix and stir in peanut butter. If too dry add more orange juice, if too wet add more ground flax.
Line baking dish with parchment paper and press mixture into dish. Let harden in the refrigerator for one hour+.

 

Slice into bars and eat while sitting on your couch contemplating spring holidays and new nail polish colours.

tabletop lately

leftover takeaway pizza

homemade apple pie

raisin bread french toast and melon

beans and veggie dogs with burnt toast

lunches and breakfasts mostly, by evening the soft light is gone.

curl me up

The rain kept stopping and starting, the sun teasing us between cloudy patches. So I made cinnamon buns. Risen atop the wood burning stove, and shared with our hillside neighbors.

Cinnamon Buns

dough -

one cup warm milk

half cup white sugar

two and a half teaspoon yeast

four and a half cups bread flour

one teaspoon salt

third of a cup melted butter

two eggs, beaten

filling -

one cup of soft brown sugar

third of a cup melted butter, plus extra

two and a half teaspoon ground cinnamon

one third of a cup raisins

zest of an orange + juice

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in milk. Set aside for a few minutes.

Place flour in large bowl, add salt, and make a well in the middle. Add in eggs, butter, and milk mix. Stir with a spoon until dough forms, easily coming away from the edges of the bowl. Turn out onto floured bench and knead for a good ten minutes. Place dough in a covered bowl and allow to rise for one hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Roll out dough on a floured bench into a large rectangle, maybe use a wine bottle if you are missing a rolling pin. Mix ingredients for the filling, brush dough with extra butter, then spread sugar filling evenly, right to the edges. Roll up dough tightly, then slice into round sections. Grease baking tray, and place dough slices well spaced. Bake for fifteen to twenty minutes until bubbly and golden.

I prefer them plain and sticky, no icing for me. A touch of citrus, orange keeps me going in the winter, and now it's sunny outside, trees still dripping.

french canadian

My first full winter in England, and I have succumbed to the ritual of the Sunday roast. Carbs and gravy, you can't really go wrong when the sky is grey and the cider is sparkling. British Sundays are good days.

But I have missed one Canadian treat, Tourtière. My mother would bake, making two or three at a time, and they would appear on Christmas Eve, a Réveillon tradition. 

Bringing back the Quebecois, so follows my vegetarian version, perfect for winter days.

 

Puy Lentil Tourtière
adapted from my Mother's recipe

one cup puy lentils

vegetable stock cube

one cup TVP (texturized vegetable protein)
olive oil

four garlic cloves, finely chopped

half white onion, finely chopped

two tomatoes, roughly chopped

three tablespoons tomato paste

salt + pepper

one teaspoon savory

one teaspoon brown sugar

two shortcrust rolls

soy milk for brushing

In large pot bring one cup of water and lentils to the boil, add stock cube then simmer gently for twenty minutes. In a small bowl add one cup of boiling water to the TVP to reconstitute, let sit for ten minutes. Pan fry the garlic and onion in olive oil, then add tomatoes and paste. Cook slowly to soften.
Once lentils have cooked and absorbed most of the water add in moist TVP and onion garlic mixture. Mix in spices and sugar, salt and pepper to taste. reduce heat and simmer for thirty minutes. Remove from heat and let sit.

Preheat oven to 230 C.
Roll out base crust and line pie tin. Pour in filling, levelling out, and roll out second crust to create lid. Slash the center to allow for steam, and brush the lid with soy milk for golden brown crust. Bake pie for ten minutes, then reduce heat to 180C and continue baking for forty minutes.
Serve with pan fried winter greens, and red wine aplenty.

Entry for Recipe Competition at Sheepskin Life

brunch

weekends and quiche go hand in hand. most recent lunch in clifton was less than disappointing though, flavourless with long cumbersome vegetable pieces, and i can only assume it was eggwhite only (boring).

this sunny saturday i was determined. brunch would be served, quiche would be had.

spinach + feta quiche

shortcrust pastry sheet

red onion

raw spinach

feta cheese

lemon zest

four eggs

one cup soy milk

ground nutmeg

salt and pepper

preheat oven 190C.

roll out the crust into flan dish. tiny pinches and pop into the oven until golden brown, twenty minutes.

meanwhile, wilt spinach, then squeeze extra liquid out, chop. caramelize chopped onion in butter or oil, cooking slowly until softened. layer onion, spinach, crumbled feta, and top with lemon zest.

separate the eggs, whisk whites and then add back in yolks, plus milk and spices.

pour egg mixture over the crust, patting down any cheeky bits.

bake in oven for twenty minutes, take out of even and let rest for ten minutes.

perhaps the greatest quiche i have ever made, no word of a lie. sweet and simple, flaky and light. served well to a man who worked the nightshift and needs coercion out of bed.

i love you so

vegan chewy ginger cookies

adapted via bread and honey

half cup demerra sugar

two cups flour

one teaspoon baking soda

quarter teaspoon salt

two and a half teaspoon ground ginger

half teaspoon ground cinnamon

half cup vegetable oil

quarter cup golden syrup

quarter cup light soy milk

one cup sugar

preheat oven to 176 C

lightly grease cookie sheet, set aside. mix together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. in another large mixing bowl combine oil, syrup, milk and sugar. pour dry into wet and mix well. roll dough into one inch balls, flatten slightly, and press cookies into demerra sugar. place sugar side up on cookie sheet, bake for ten minutes or so, and do not overbake. let cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transfering to cooling rack.

vegan vanilla bean ice cream

adapted via a vegan ice cream paradise

one cup soy whipping cream

one cup soy creamer

two cups soy milk

one vanilla bean

three quarters cup sugar

two tablespoon arrowroot powder

mix quarter cup of soy milk with arrowroot powder and set aside for later.

mix soy creams and milk together in a sauceman, and split the vanilla bean scraping the seeds into the milk. drop the bean in as well, and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower and simmer gently for thirty minutes.

remove the bean shell, stir in the sugar and bring to a boil again. when the mixture has just started to boil remove from the heat and add in the arrowroot. this should immediately thicken the milk. set saucepan aside to cool, then place into the fridge for up to twelve hours.

freeze according to your  ice cream maker's instructions.

sandwich ice cream between ginger cookies and eat chewy goodness. creamy cool bites with the ginger warming your belly. vanilla dripping down your hand and i'll nibble your fingers. ice cream by the spoonful, straight from the freezer standing in the kitchen, then let's eat ice cream in bed, watch the sun turn into gold. it's back to work in the morning.

good gravy

 

poutine

double fried chips

+

wensleydale cheese, crumbled

+

vegetarian gravy

+

pint of cider

a canadian treat i mention fondly, my british man decided something needed to be done.

cheese curd being hard to find here, wensleydale subbed in nicely. homemade veggie tamari gravy was delish, a la Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. and the chips, perfection, skins on, proper shoestring fries.

hot and cheesy, these pommes frites were finished off slowly, and washed down with cider, pretty alright combo.

little days

i couldn't help but choose these plums, greens and reds and oranges, slightly oblong and specked with much more colour than the spanish plums they sat next to. i managed to nip to the shops before the rain hit today, and i felt the warmth on my back as i headed home. now it's pouring, leaves dripping.

something sweet and tart, the ground almond makes it hearty, on the edge of fall it's necessary, especially on this grey day. a touch of colour, and symetry never hurt.

almond english plum cake

via la tartine gourmande

six or seven small english opal plums

two thirds of a cup butter, softened

half cup sugar

two eggs

one cup almond flour

quarter cup flour

quarter teaspoon baking powder

preheat oven to 160C, prepare baking dish by greasing bottom and line with parchment paper.
wash and slice plums, and remove the pits. place facedown in a frying pan over medium heat, sprinkle with sugar and cook until dissolved.
cream together butter and sugar until smooth. mix in eggs, both flour and baking powder, until just combined. pour mixture into prepared dish. place plum halves face up equally throughout the batter. sprinkle with sugar and bake for thirty to forty minutes. eat warm with a cup of tea as the rain falls outside your second floor flat.

the fruit sings and the cake holds a nice crumb. equally good cold with a glass of red on the couch, still grey skies and projector movies up on the wall.

home cooked

homemade ciabata, white bean salad

espresso, shreddies with berries

tempeh and roasted beets, lemon couscous, homemade sourdough

veg sausage and gravy, turnip and runners and roast potato