Honey + Fruit

I love honey.
It's one of those gloriously simple, yet inexpressibly comforting, foods that remind me just how incredible nature is, and how connected we are to our environment.
It doesn't hurt that honey is one of those flavours that is versatile enough to be appropriate year-round. The wide variety of honeys available - those whose depth, darkness and complexity depend on the pollen the bees have collected, be it alfalfa, clover, acacia, dandelion, wildflower, forest flower... the list goes on - allow one to adjust the flavour of a dish accordingly.
I'll often use a rich dark amber-coloured mountain honey during the winter to sweeten my oatmeal or in a Jewish-style honey cake. Conversely, when summer rolls around (which always leads me to crave fresh-from-the-earth flavours like honey, berries + nuts) I use a lighter, golden, drippy, pale honey for subtle little cakes and biscuits like this recent creation:

These were adapted from an incredibly simple recipe that appealed to me because it came from a Japanese children's book and is called "Honey Buzz-Buzz Cake". With a name like that, I couldn't resist. I found, and adapted, it from one of my favourite blogs: Coco & Me.

 

I adjusted the recipe to eliminate dairy (dairy-free Earth Balance sticks instead of butter and Greek goat's milk yogurt instead of sour cream), mixed the almonds into the cake instead of sprinkling them on top, and baked them in these little cakelette pans instead of in a single large pan. Oh! and the most important bit: I added fresh raspberries to the batter just before baking for an added layer of flavour (and because I had loads of gorgeous fresh raspberries lying around - I tend to be overzealous in my berry-buying when they first start appearing in stores and markets in the summer).

The cakes were a *huge* success with my picky family. They were quite literally gone within 24 hours. They ended up having a very subtle, refined flavour with the caramelized paleness of the honey playing with the juicy tang of the raspberries, and the mixed-in slivered almonds giving a pleasant crunch to the rather delicate, airy texture of the cake. These "Honey-Raspberry Almond Cakelettes," as I've dubbed them, are have gone straight into my book of repeatable recipes.

The other honey recipe that I made recently, and loved, were Dorie Greenspan's Honey-Wheat Cookies from her book, Baking: From my Home to Yours, which I recently checked out of the library and which is HUGE and chockablock full of the most tantalizing desserts. I don't know how I'm ever going to return this one. It is like a holy grail of delicious desserts.

Unfortunately I have no pictures as I ate them too quickly. These are soft, plain, golden little cookies made with honey and wheat germ (honey I was craving, wheat germ I had lying around and needed to use). I added cacao nibs to add some texture and complexity to these magical little cookies. They go wonderfully with a cup of earl grey tea (the tea brings out the honey flavour exquisitely). I can't wait to try more of her recipes. I <3 Dorie.


In other news, I forayed into the intimidating world of savoury food again recently and made Donna Hay's Chicken and Mushroom Filos.

These suckers were super-impressive to look at, but unfortunately were just a bit bland. I would try them again but only after figuring out the perfect filling, as the brushing of butter between filo layers is time-consuming and - let's face it - not really worth it if the final product is not stellar.

I leave you now with a gratuitous picture of my cat:

Fidel Catro looking evil, as usual.

Hidden Legumes + Simple Summer Fare

The increasingly summery weather where I live has been leading me to crave things I've never craved before. This time around, specifically: soba noodle salad. I've never had a soba noodle salad, nor have I ever had any desire to try one. But when a naturopath friend told me to try cutting wheat out of my diet for awhile (much harder than it sounds), the cogs in my little brain began to turn and being aware that soba noodles are traditionally (and conveniently) made from buckwheat (not technically wheat!) - well, everything just fit right into place.

The ones I found were a combination of spelt (which I happen to have a strange and inexplicable affinity for) and buckwheat. The recipe I ended up making was the bastard child of about seven or eight different soba noodle salads I found through Foodgawker and Tastespotting. It was DELICIOUS! Light, tasty, satisfying and overall, healthy! It even got a rave review from my mum, who is very French and spurns food that is not carb, cheese, meat or booze-laden, and has trouble understanding the way I eat (save for my outrageous sweet tooth, which I must have inherited from her).

My Super Soba Salad

Ingredients:

 For the salad:

- handful of soba noodles

- 1 bunch dino or black kale

- 1 minced garlic clove

- 1 carrot, peeled + grated

- 3-4 brown mushrooms, washed and sliced

- 1/2 small onion, minced finely

- 2 t tahini or sesame oil

- 4 t soy sauce

- 1-2 t honey or agave

- small chunk cucumber

- shredded pre-cooked chicken breast

- toasted sesame seeds

 For the dressing:

- 2 t rice wine vinegar

- 3 t soy sauce

- 2 large t miso paste (dark or light)

- 1 t sesame oil

- 1.5 t safflower oil

- 1.5 t sambal oelek

- 1/2 T agave

- 1 t minced ginger

Cook the soba noodles as instructed by package. Place in ice bath or thoroughly rinse with cold water directly after straining. Strain again and set aside. 

Wilt the kale in a skillet with some garlic and oil. Set aside.

In the same skillet, add the onions, tahini, soy sauce, and honey + stir over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the brown mushrooms + stir until a thick sauce forms and the mushrooms are softened.

Place mushrooms, kale, noodles, grated carrot, and a few bits of chopped cucumber in a bowl. Mix all dressing ingredients together in a cup and pour over salad. Mix well.

Place salad in bowls and top with shredded chicken and toasted sesame seeds. 

Devour.

Another thing I've been loving these days are STRAWBERRIES!! Organic strawberries. Big fat juicy ones. I've been spending way too much money on these but god, it's worth it. There's nothing like something like the beauties below to end a meal on a light, sweet note.

Topped with some of my lactose-free-but-just-as-fluffy coconut whipped cream (1 can thoroughly chilled full-fat coconut milk whipped in a thoroughly chilled bowl with thoroughly chilled beaters - add icing sugar to taste and, if needed, a few T coconut flour to achieve desired consistency). Then add some lemon or lime zest to really make the strawberries' sweetness pop. Oh momma!

Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to address another strange fascination that's come over me recently (almost, but not quite, on par with my soba noodle salad craving). This fascination involves legumes. Specifically, legumes in baking. I'd been wanting to try some version of the adzuki bean brownies I've seen floating around the interweb for some time now - I even went so far as to buy a sack of adzuki beans from my local grocery store - but that involved cooking the beans themselves which is not something you have patience for when you want a chocolate dessert NOW!

So I opted instead for black bean brownies, where I could use a can of pre-cooked black beans (lazy, I know, but delicious nonetheless). After again making a bastard child out of a few internet recipes, I wound up with the below pan of peanut-studded fudgy-as-hell black bean brownies.

Please ignore the ugly knife score marks - I'm still learning to photograph food BEFORE mangling it.
 

While these did not have the chewy, half-baked cakey texture I like in a brownie they were a) dead easy (I mean, come on: place all ingredients in food processor, pulse, and pour into pan? Totally awesome), b) low in fat, high in fiber, flourless, milkless, and c) SUPER CHOCOLATEY.

I found that they were best eaten once refrigerated for awhile, and topped with either peanut butter, hazelnut butter, or cajeta (Mexican goat milk caramel), and with a warm mug of coffee or tea. Again, a nice light dessert that fulfills my every chocolate + legume desire.

Fudgy Black Bean Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 can reduced sodium black beans

3/4 cup cane sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used Fry's)
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
  3 Tablespoons avocado oil (you can use canola or safflower also)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon instant coffee 

Optional:

Peanuts

Walnuts

Any other kind of nut that floats your boat

Chocolate Chips

Marshmallows

Etc.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease or oil an 8 x 8" pan.

Thoroughly rinse and drain the beans.

Place all ingredients except your optionals (nuts, chocolate chips, marshmallows, etc.) in a food processor. Blend + scrape sides of bowl until batter is smooth.

Pour batter into pan and top with optionals.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until they look dry and dark around the edges.

Cool completely before cutting and devouring :)

 

I'm curious: how do you feel about legumes in baking? Does it totally turn you off or are you indifferent? I have to admit, I had a hard time getting my family to eat these once I made the mistake of revealing the 'secret ingredient'... despite their having professed a liking for them beforehand.


Ah well, their loss ;)

Rhubarb Day.

Last Saturday I went down to the Trader Joe's in Bellingham mainly for, I'll admit, cheap and surprisingly decent wine. On the way home, I was chatting to the poor victim I'd convinced to come along with me (my long-suffering father) about the tasty-looking strawberry-rhubarb recipes I'd come across in the May-June issue of Elle à Table. Taken by the tantalizing creations I was describing to him, he suggested we swing by my grandfather's house to relieve him of some of the abundant rhubarb he happens to grow. It didn't hurt either that we'd just bought some hefty cartons of luscious organic strawberries at TJ's...

That evening, thanks to Dad and Elle à Table, we feasted on this lovely strawberry-rhubarb crumble

 

Crumble Fraises-Rhubarb

from Elle à Table.
Serves 6 + is dead easy.

250g strawberries

6 stalks of rhubarb

1 tbsp crème fraîche

20g of sugar (approx. 2 tbsp)
knob of butter

for the crumble:
100g flour (approx. 3/4 C + 2 tbsp)

100g butter (approx. 1/2 C + 2 tbsp)

80 g sugar (1/3 C + 2 tbsp)
80 g almond meal or dessicated coconut (1/3 C + 2 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a casserole dish with the knob of butter. Put the flour, butter, the sugar, and the almond meal (or coconut) in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until you have a coarse meal.

Wash the strawberries until cold water, remove the stems and cut them in halves or quarters. Peel and chop the rhubarb into small pieces. Put the fruit in your casserole dish. Sprinkle with the sugar and add the crème fraîche. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the fruit and cook for approximately 30 minutes or until the top turns a nice golden-brown colour. Serve warm (and ideally with ice cream!)

Note: Feel free to flavour the crumble with cinnamon, ginger, or any other spices that tickle your fancy.

I substituted the butter for Earth Balance baking sticks and the crème fraîche for soy creamer, and cane sugar and sucanat for the regular sugar and it worked like a charm :)

Later that evening, having a decent amount of both the strawberries and the rhubarb left, I decided to make Elle's strawberry-rhubarb jam

300g strawberries (washed, stems removed, and cut in half)

300g rhubarb (peeled and cut into smaller pieces)

300g sugar (approx 1.5 C)

the juice of 1 lime

0.5 C water

Place all ingredients into a large stainless steel pot.

Bring to a boil

Boil for 15 minutes, stirring frequently (almost constantly - otherwise it will stick to your pot which is not cool).

Once all the fruit has dissolved and your jam is a nice thick consistency, let it cool completely before putting it into sterilized jars.

Note: The magazine had 2 tbsp of dried roses as part of the recipe but that a) didn't appeal to me, and b) I am just too lazy to go find dried roses to put into jam. But, heck, if you're interested go ahead and give it a try... and make sure to let me know how it works out! (Remember to remove the roses before jarring your jam as they are just meant as flavouring).

While this jam is super tasty with just the right amount of tang, I found that (like most jams I come across) the sugariness overpowered the fruit flavour a bit too much for my liking. While I'll probably reduce the amount of sugar next time, this jam is like jarred summer as far as I'm concerned + I'm excited for lazy summer mornings with toast and tea and... oh yes, strawberry-rhubarb jam.

  One last sweet thing for you today:

A.

The Sweet Tooth.

Sometimes I come across recipes that are chock-full of sinfully delicious individual components. When this happens, I can't help but be compelled to make them to see how all those scrumtrilescent flavours combine.

This cookie from momofukufor2 is one of those recipes:

Caramelized cornflakes? Check. (Great on their own to snack on.)

Marshmallows? Check. (Again, delicious alone.)

Chocolate? Oh you betcha. (I don't think I need to say anything about stand-alone chocolate.)

The recipe can be found here.

So without any further ado, I present to you my (entirely succesful) attempt at Copycat Momofuku Milk Bar Cornflake, Chocolate Chip, Marshmallow Cookies:

 pre-bake

P.S. I am lactose-intolerant so I made two versions: one for my lactose-loving family and one for myself. The ones above are lactose-free (Earth Balance instead of butter) and made with vegan, gluten-free marshmallows (Dandies - purchased at Whole Foods), which were much tastier and aesthetically-pleasing than the regular Kraft jet-puffed 'mallows.The general consensus were that the lactose-free ones were tastier. This makes me smile on the inside.