everyday experiments with food
This isn’t a new salad idea of mine, but here’s last night’s version.
Ingredients
3 medium-sized beetroot, peeled and quartered
2 small to medium blood oranges, peeled and cut into segments
12-15 cherry or baby roma tomatoes
Haloumi, cut into cubes or rectangles
Seeds from 1/2 a pomegranate
Handful of chopped parsley
Pomegranate syrup
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar (optional)
Sea salt
…
Here’s my second baked cauliflower. I used the same spice mix as last time.
2 tsp turmeric,
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil (add a bit more if needed)
Double the above quantity if needed.
This was a huge cauliflower so I only baked half of it. I learned to use a smaller cauliflower next time, as the core won’t bake quickly enough. Cut a deep X into the core to help it cook through.
Bake at 180C and check at 20 mins and then every 5 mins after until it is done.
Baked wedge of pumpkin (about 20 mins at 180C)….
The is duck recipe comes from Diane Holuigue’s “The French Kitchen.”
The figs are poached for 2 mins in a syrup of 2 tbsp sugar, 6 tbsp water and 1 tbsp brandy.
The duck was pan-cooked and then baked. As always I had some difficulty getting the duck right.
The sauce was made in the duck pan with most of the fat drained off. Add 2 diced eschallots and 30g butter and fry very briefly, then add 4 tbsp ginger wine and 300ml chick stock and simmer to reduce to half. Finish by adding 40g butter and season.
I served the duck in cauliflower puree with baked cauliflower, carrot puree (cooked in orange juice), peas and beetroot.
Here’s a soup that I made last night. we’re still eating it so I added some zing tonight with toppings and some bread. This recipe will work with pretty much any combination of similar vegetables.
Serves lots!
Ingredients
1 large brown onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed (not minced)
1/2 bulb of fennel, diced
2 sticks of celery, opeeled and piced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 large cauliflower, cut into florets
2 parsnips, outsides not cores, peeled and diced
1/2 leek, sliced
5 cm root ginger diced
400g tin of tomatoes
Small tub of tomato paste
Water or chicken stock
Spices
1 tbsp toasted cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp cardamom seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp ajowan seeds (optional)
2 bay leaves
Cracked black pepper
Sea salt
Cook the chopped vegetables in olive oil and a little butter on medium to high heat until starting to brown.
Meanwhile, if you have cumin and coriander seeds, toast them in a dry pan. Add the mustard, cardamom and carway seeds towards the end. Grind these in a mortar and pestle.
Add just enough water or chicken stock to just cover the vegetables. Also add the tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to a simmer.
Add the spices and simmer for 90minutes.
Remove bay leaves. Use a stick blender to mix to a coarse puree. Season with salt an pepper.
I served this topped with yoghurt, red and green chilli slices (so people could determine their own level of heat), preserved lime from our garden, and coriander leaves.
The bread was topped with garlic oil, sea salt, cooked onion and nigella seeds.