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Spicy strawberries and dunking hens
To follow on from my previous post, my husband decided that the softly softly ‘I’m listening’ approach was not going to be the way forward with our moody, hormonal hen. Anyone who has met my husband will appreciate that this is said without even a trace of irony. So bottom-dunking in a bucket of cold water three times it was. The cussing was impressive, but in fairness, so were the results; she has lost the will to phantom nest and is back to scutteling around happily after her friends, no doubt wishing much harm upon the mad dunker in her mind. Problem solved you might think. Perhaps, but the horses who had been witness to the unceremonious bucket-dunkings are now traumatised and scared witness of their master. They do 0-60 faster than I ever thought possible as soon as he approaches, leaving hens, humans and dogs in their wake. They can rest assured though; we don’t own, and aren’t about to own buckets big enough for him to dunk their hindquarters in.
This has absolutely nothing to do with stawberries of course, for which I’m about to give you details of an original and ultra-healthy way to serve…
Ingredients
Strawberries
Yacon syrup
Juice of half a lemon
Fresh mint
Chilli powder
Grated ginger
Black pepper
Prepare the strawberries by cutting off the leaves, rincing and cutting into two. Place in a bowl and then add the syrup, lemon juice, grated ginger, mint and peppers. Chill for at least an hour and serve with greek yoghurt.
The combination of antioxidents in the strawberries and peppers, the alkalising effect of the lemon juice, the anti-inflammatory action of the ginger and the many virtues of yacon syrup makes this dish practically medicinal. Consume without moderation. -
Vagrant rhubarb cake
We have a garden full of nomadic rhubarb. Originally I had inadvertantly planted it over our sewage system, so my husband moved it and it randomly became the ‘pièce de resistance’ by the edge of the pool; I don’t know what that was all about. As much as I love rhubarb, it isn’t the plant of exceptional beauty that you might expect to see in such a prime location, so it was moved again – to the vegetable patch, oddly enough. This time, the dog took exception to its location and dug it up in a fit of frenetic hysteria one night when we weren’t looking. I decided enough was enough and maybe rhubarb just wasn’t meant to be in our garden and chucked it unceremoniously onto the compost heap, where it took root of its own accord and has prospered ever since.
Rhubarb is a little tart (particularly ours, as it gets around so much!) and really needs more sugar than I’m willing to use. I get around this by stewing it with yacon syrup, which has a low GI and deliciously fragrent caramel taste. Made from the roots of the yacon plant which is indigenous to the Andes, it is used throughout South America for its nutritional properties; it is said to help diabetes as well as renal and digestive problems.
Ingredients
Stewed rhubarb:
4 stalks of rhubarb
2 tbsp yacon syrup
1 cup of water
stem ginger, chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of raisins
Cake:
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp yucon syrup
1 cup of chickpea flour
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup milk
Start by stewing the rhubarb. Peel the stalks and cut into pieces of approximately 2cm. Add the yucon syrup, ginger, cinnamon and about a cup of water. Gently braise for about 20 minutes or until the rhubarb forms a runny jam-like consistency.
Prepare the cake mix by creaming the warmed coconut oil and butter until light and fluffy. Add the yucon syrip until the mixture is blended. Next beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda and combine with the milk. Add little by little to the egg/fat mixture until well blended. Finally fold in the stewed rhubarb and spoon into a greased cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes at 180°C. -
Almond chocolate cake
You may have noticed that I never use normal flour in my recipes. This isn’t only because eating refined wheat flour is about as nutritious as snacking on yesterday’s newspaper, but because I’m wheat-intolerant. It’s not something I harp on about a) because it’s boring and b) because I’ve noticed that not ‘tolerating’ is something that brings out the devil in a lot of people. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have offered me something that is quite patently going to have me doubled up in agony within the next twelve hours and refused to take no for an answer when I decline: ‘Oh go on, I’ve just made it, a little bit won’t hurt, surely…’ It’s as if I’m saying no to be awkward, or to be interesting or different. Err no, if I wanted to be awkward I’d ask you to serve it to me sprinkled with powdered rhino horn, and if I wanted to be interesting or different I’d dye my hair indigo and take up mud pit belly flopping.
This cake, regardless of your ‘wheat status’, is divine. It will leave you wondering why you ever made chocolate cakes with wheat flour. The fact that it uses powdered almonds means that, for a chocolate cake, its GI is quite low and that it contains valuable nutrients. It also has a fairly low sugar content.
Ingredients
5 eggs
130g cane sugar
140g powdered almonds
60g butter
60g coconut oil
125g dark chocolate (preferably 90% coco)
pinch of bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Melt the chocolate with the butter and coconut oil. Once melted, add to the sugar, egg yolks, almonds, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and pour into a 20cm cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes.
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Floating islands
After three years’ pretending that he’s So Not Bothered by storms, our neurotic labrador has suddenly decided that they absolutely terrify him. He’s gone from superior nonchalence to quivering wreck in one furl swoop; no half-measures with Hugo. Which means that when it’s stormy (which is quite often here in the Spring), I gain an appendage of 30 kilos of black fur, which is a bit of a hindrance for moving around the kitchen (and certainly not a good look).
In spite of my appendage (or perhaps thanks to), I somehow managed to make this which is really delicious. The recipe came from my late mother-in-law.
Ingredients (serves about 6, depending on greed)
1 litre of full-fat milk
120g cane sugar
1 vanilla pod
1 tablespoon of cornflour
4 eggs (preferably free-range)
1 tablespoon of rum (optional)
Heat a glass of the milk and sugar mixture in a saucepan until it starts to simmer. Dilute the cornflour in a tiny bit of water and add to the milk and sugar mixture. Separate the eggs and four yolks to the mixture.
Beat the egg whites (adding a pinch of salt) until firm, then separate with a serving spoon and cook in the remaining milk which should be simmering (this should take about two minutes; one minute on each side). Sieve once cooked.
Add the cooking milk to the milk/cornflour/egg mixture with a whisk and bring to the boil until the mixture thickens (a couple of minutes). Add the rum and pour into a bowl and place the cooked egg whites on top. Refrigerate and serve chilled.
