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Chickpea flour pancakes (gf) and hens with attitude
Hello it’s Salt writing today. Just so you know, I’m the prettiest of the hens.
It also seems that I’m the only one to be doing any work at the moment. Pepper has been nesting for the past ten days (to no avail – when will she learn? 🙄 ) and we have two new recruits: ginger adolescents with huge feet and no brains. The first day they arrived, the big black dog called Hugo came to say hello and put his paw on one of their wings, not in an unfriendly way I thought. She was so traumatised that she completely disappeared for a whole day. How silly – what a chicken! Any fool knows that Hugo wouldn’t harm a flea. In fact, he’s such a wuss that he’s probably even scared of us *evil cackle*. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I’m in favour of anything the yellow-haired one cooks, especially when there’s lots left over. The only things I’m not keen on are her chicken dishes for some reason. Anyway, I must dash – there are eggs to lay, dogs to unnerve and teenage hens to boss around.
These deliciously fragrant savoury pancakes are gluten free and may be served with Indian food or as a standalone. Chickpea flour is rich in vitamins A, K, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid and folate. It is also an excellent source of minerals: iron, manganese, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, copper and selenium. What’s not to like?Ingredients (serves four)
140g chickpea flour
250ml water
half tsp salt
half tsp cayenne pepper
1 small red onion, very finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
2 fresh green chillies, very finely chopped
olive oil and coconut oil
nigella seeds to garnish
Put the chickpea flour into a large mixing bowl, slowly adding the water to obtain a smooth batter. Add the salt, cayenne pepper, onion, garlic and chillies, stir and set aside for at least 15 minutes.
Melt 1 tsp of olive oil and 1 tsp of coconut oil in a non-stick frying pan. Once the oils are hot, pour enough batter to cover the pan once tilted in all directions. While the batter is still raw sprinkle with tsp of nigella seeds. Cook as you would cook a crêpe until reddish golden brown on both sides. Remember to stir the batter before each new pancake. -
Chinese pork salad and dogs with bones of contention
Hello! It’s Hugo again. Today I have a bone to pick with the cook (I use that expression at every opportunity – it’s a personal favourite ;-)). I did say I wouldn’t be unkind about the bossy one as she takes me for walks, but I’ve changed my mind. Apparently only fools never change their minds and I may be a bit mad, but I’m not a nincompoop. My problem is this: all it takes is for the sun and a few yellow flowers to appear and she gets all enthusiastic about salad. Salad is for rabbits and perhaps other herby fours, but it certainly isn’t for dogs. We used to have a rabbit called Madeleine until one of the horses let her out of her hutch and she did a runner. I know that the noisy yellow-haired one that shoots me with plastic bullets agrees with me, because we’re on the same page when it comes to food. I feel a bit sorry for him sometimes; she really gives him an earful about ‘not eating enough vegetables’. We both wish that she’d knock this healthy eating fixation of hers on the head. Anyway, please don’t compliment these unappetising green creations, because she’s a bit of a sucker and it’ll only encourage her. Perhaps you could suggest she get all gung ho about red meat?
Ingredients:
Crisp lettuce, washed and shreded
White cabbage, washed and cut finely
1 carrot, peeled and cut into ‘sticks’
1 orange, peeled and cut into small pieces
Thin slices of pre-cooked pork (or duck)
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons cashew nuts
Dressing:
Rice vinegar
Sesame seed oil
Maple syrup
Soya sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
Assemble the salad ingredients in a bowl, add the dressing and serve. To be consumed away from petulant dogs 🙂 -
Chicken tagine with prunes and almonds and black labrador narration
Hello! It’s Hugo writing today’s recipe. I have a feeling the bossy, yellow-haired one often refers to me as the ‘neurotic canine’ or some such. She’s a fine one to talk — you should have seen the state she was in when I was ill recently *evil cackle*. I’m not going to say anything bitchy about her though because she takes me for a nice long walk everyday, if I do abandon her the second we set out, only coming back to shake my dripping, muddy self all over her. This tagine was paw-licking-good, although I might suggest that next time she remove the prune stones. I don’t mind crunching on bones, but stones are for girls. In fact, I spat them out and left them for the hens!
Ingredients (serves 4)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
8 chicken thighs
Juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon coriander
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bay leaf
Two generous tablespoons of orange marmalade (or apricot jam)
400g dried prunes
200g almonds, roughly chopped
500ml chicken stock
Fresh coriander to servePreheat the oven to 180°C. Gently brown the onions, garlic and chicken in the olive oil in a medium-sized casserole dish. Once golden brown (after about eight minutes), add the lemon juice, seasoning and spices and continue to brown for a further five minutes. Add the marmalade (or jam), prunes, almonds and chicken stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook in the oven for about an hour and a half or until the sauce is beginning to caramelise slightly.I served this with spicy cauliflower. -
Easy fisherman’s pie (gf) and assorted ailments
I have been anything but a Healthy Epicurean this past week 🙁 If I ever give tips on flu-dodging, please feel free to ignore – I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about. My endless witterings about optimal vitamin D levels and the like, have proved to be as useless as they are boring. Having said that, so far, neither husband nor son have caught it, so maybe I’m just better at dispensing advice than implementing it. True to form, poor Hugo developed piroplasmosis, a potentially fatal tick-borne canine disease, as a mark of sympathy. One syringe full of antidote and two raw steaks later and he was raring to go again. I only wish the same could be said for me #whingemoan 🙄
I adapted this fish pie from a recipe by Tana Ramsay. My version is gluten-free.
Ingredients (serves 4)
300g white fish (cod or haddock), skinned and boned
200g salmon, skinned and boned
150g prawns, peeled
200ml milk
200ml vegetable stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 leeks, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
3 large potatoes, peeled
half a celeriac, peeled
knob of butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
150ml double cream
4 tablespoons grated cheese (cheddar, compté, parmesan)
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Place the fish and prawns in a frying pan and cover with the milk and stock to poach (for approximately ten minutes). Fry the onion, leeks, carrots and mushrooms in olive oïl to soften. Cut the potatoes and celeriac into large chunks and boil until tender. Drain and mash with a knob of butter and the seasoning.
Add the drained fish to the fried vegetables and double cream and combine well. Place this mixture in an ovenproof dish. Spoon the mashed potato/celeriac over the top, sprinkling the grated cheese on top. Cook for about 30 minutes until the potatoes and cheese are golden brown and bubbling. -
Healthy cheese scones (low-GI)
This week it snowed everywhere in France except here; we got the torrential rain option instead. Yesterday, I donned my guise as a North Sea fisherman (waders are definitely the way forward) to take Hugo for a walk. I squelched my way through sodden fields for 20 minutes before cottoning on to the fact that he wasn’t actually with me. My dog may have ‘issues’, but he’s certainly not stupid. I came home to find him bone-dry and curled up in front of the fire. One nil Hugo.
I used Comté cheese, which I call French Cheddar, to make these scones. I suspect the French might be rather mortified if they heard this moniker, but that’s OK because, as of this week, I am French. This gives me the right, amongst other things, to Cheese Irreverence, so there.
The photo is of the second batch of scones, as my rain-fearing labrador ‘sampled’ the first batch. All of it.
Ingredients (makes 12-15)
150mg spelt flour
100mg buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)
3 tsp baking powder
large pinch sea salt
1/2 tsp paprika
100mg strong cheddar cheese (or Comté, or similar), grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
125 ml milk
1 egg
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Sift the flour, baking powder, chia seeds, salt and paprika into a large bowl. Add the cheese and mix well.
Beat the egg and milk together in a separate bowl and add the olive oil. Pour the milk/egg/oil mixture into the flour mixture and using a metal spoon / fork, mix the dough until it clumps together, but is not too dry. If it seems too dry, add a tiny drop more milk.
Press the dough out on a clean floured surface until it is about 5mm thick, then fold it over ontop of itself (this gives the finished scones the natural “break” to cut open), flatten it again, using the palm of your hand. Do not use a rolling pin as it is too heavy and will prevent the scones from rising.
Use a round cutter to cut out the scones. Place on a baking tray and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden. Serve hot or cold. -
Antioxidant chocolates
Happy New Year to everyone. It hasn’t been easy to blog recently, what with being surgically attached to the oven and all that. Christmas went swimmingly and canine meltdown was forestalled. Despite my agonising, the Great Christmas Tree Standoff was averted at the last moment with some subtle but timely psychology. Hugo’s chair was moved the day before the tree was put in place, completely avoiding arboreal negative thought association and attendant angst. Hugo and the tree are still co-existing happily as I type; I am nothing short of a genius 🙂
These chocolates are NOT for dogs, however depressed they might be (chocolate is very toxic for them). Dark chocolate with a high cocoa content really is a powerful antioxidant (great excuse to justify eating them ;-)). And of course hazelnuts and pears are positively virtuous, making these chocolates practically medicinal. Obviously you can fill them with whatever takes your fancy, but I particularly love the combinations pear/chocolate and hazelnut/chocolate. I think next time I’ll try ginger too…
Ingredients (makes 24 chocolates)
For the shells:
200g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
A silicon mould
For the filling:
100g dark chocolate, minimun 70% cocoa solids
40ml cream
15 hazelnuts, chopped
1 pear, chopped into tiny pieces
Melt 150 g of chocolate in a bain-marie, then add the remaining 50g of non-melted chocolate. Mix with a spatula until the mixture becomes shiny and thickens slightly. Pour into the moulds, immediately turning over to allow the excess to run out. Clean the edges with a spatula and leave to cool for 30 minutes.
To make the filling, bring the cream to a gentle simmer then pour over 100g of chocolate. Separate the mixture into two and mix half with the chopped hazelnuts and the other half with the chopped pear. Cool for 15 minutes and then fill the chocolate moulds three-quarters full with one mixture or the other. Set aside to cool.
Finish off the chocolates by ‘sealing’ with the remaining mould chocolate. Leave to cool for an hour and remove from the moulds by gently tapping. -
Healthy gluten-free chocolate brownies. Take II.
Despite living a kilometre from our nearest neighbour and more from the nearest tarmac road, there are nights I hardly sleep a wink due to noise pollution. First, there are the cuckoos that I find very challenging; there’s something extremely provocative about the way they ‘cuck’ at random intervals. Then there are the barking deer – they apparently ‘bark’ to mark out their territory. Deer: as appealing as you are, please go and mark out your territory out of ear-shot, or in the daytime. Alternatively, take a leaf out of Hugo’s book and cock your leg (silently) on a tree. On cool nights, the horses rejoice with much noisy, vigorous galloping and bucking. Then there are the ‘break dancing toads’ that amuse themselves at night by dancing in front of our light sensors to switch them on and off, making Hugo bark furiously and at great length. Idem, hedgehogs (the dancing, not the barking). Lastly, from November to February, we have migratory cranes that fly overhead in the very early morning squarking loudly as they go.
These brownies somewhat compensate for lack of sleep. For me dark chocolate and prunes is a match made in heaven.Hugo and Léo catching up on some sleep
Ingredients (makes about 12):
10 prunes, pitted
55ml Armangnac or rum
1 tin of cooked chickpeas (400g), rinsed and drained
50g almonds
2 tablespoons organic cocoa powder
2 eggs
2 tablespoons agave syrup
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids min.)
20g butter
20g organic virgin coconut oil
Ideally, you should soak the prunes in the alcohol overnight. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Blend the chickpeas well, then add the soaked prunes, cocoa powder, almonds, agave syrup and eggs. Blend a little more until the almonds are roughly chopped and the eggs are beaten. Slowly melt the chocolate, butter and coconut oil in a saucepan or bain-marie, being careful not to burn. Once melted, add the chocolate mixture to the chickpea mixture and combine well. Spoon into a tin roughly 25 x 25cm (or equivalent). Cook for 25 minutes. -
Spicy roast cauliflower and the Christmas tree standoff
It’s exhausting being me; in the aftermath of Bonegate, I have to mediate another potentially explosive situation. Every year the delicate decision of when to put our Christmas tree up presents itself. On the one hand I have Léo, a ten-year-old boy, extremely talented in the practice of strategically ‘fighting his corner’, and on the other I have Hugo, a four-year-old dog, exceedingly accomplished in the induction of overwhelming guilt. The space the tree occupies is usually dedicated to Hugo’s ‘throne’ and apparently a tastefully decorated tree is not compensation enough for the upheaval and attendant inconvenience of temporary relocation.
So every night until the tree goes up, I have to listen to the interminable list of my son’s friends that already have their tree in place. And once the tree is finally up, I have to deal with a distressed labrador, his head bowed in seriously under- medicated silent reproach, sitting in a chair in an undesirable location.
Neither Léo nor Hugo are big fans of this cauliflower dish. More fool them – it’s delicious!
Ingredients (serves four to six):
1 cauliflower
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chickpea flour
2 teaspoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C. Cut the cauliflower into ‘florets’ and blanche in salted boiling water for five minutes and then drain. Mix the seasoning with the chickpea flour. Toss the drained cauliflower florets in olive oil and then the chickpea flour mixture. Add to a roasting tin with the remaining olive oil. Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes or until golden.
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Coral lentil potato cakes and a strangely obsequious dog
I never thought I would see the day that one of our animals proved too yielding; I’m used to them giving me a withering ‘WTF is your problem?’ look if ever dare to raise my voice. Even making allowance for his delicate psychological history, Hugo (over-cosseted, ergo neurotic labrador) surprised me yesterday. We had given him a bone which he immediately hid before checking for potential bone-stealing predators. Once satisfied the coast was clear, he returned to retrieve his ‘treasure’ to discover that the black hen had ‘borrowed’ it. Instead of, at very least, snarling dangerously in an attempt to intimidate her into giving it back, he just cocked his head to one side philosophically and sat down to watch her. Whilst I do admit that the sight of a hen chewing on a bone five times the size of her head is a sight to behold, I found myself almost urging him to ‘swing for her’. Of course, he was only doing to a ‘T’ exactly what we had spent weeks teaching him, which is : ‘even if they’re incredibly annoying, we don’t beat up, eat or even intimidate our fellow inmates.’ In the end, his pathetic expression won me over and I took the hen out on his behalf. He and the bone disappeared for the rest of the day.
These delicious patties contain protein in the form of lentils, but obviously no bones. My nerves are in shreds where bones are concerned for the time-being.
Ingredients (makes about eight patties):
120g coral lentils
3 medium-size potatoes
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon paprika
Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
3 tablespoons chickpea flour
Boil and mash the potatoes and cook the lentils according to instructions. Drain the lentils well and mix into the potato mash. Fry the onion, garlic, red pepper and cumin seeds in a small amount of olive oil until soft (about ten minutes). Incorporate into potato and lentil mixture and season with salt, pepper and paprika. Form smallish round patties about 4 cm in diameter, coat them in the chickpea flour and set aside. Coat a largish frying pan with olive oil and a small amount of coconut oil and fry the patties on each side until golden brown, adding more oil if they appear too dry.
Reasons to love lentils:
Not only are they delicious and very versatile, lentils are also an excellent source of fibre and protein. They also contain iron, folate and potassium in high quantites. Lentils are gluten-free and last but not least, have a very low glycemic index…
Beware of the ferocious dog!
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Gluten-free crumble topping and luxury for horses
I’m a big fan of pashminas (yes I know, they’re so last decade darling but see if I care) and have always thought they must be one of the most versatile, luxurious garments ever invented. I now have further reason for thinking this; out walking Hugo (the bi-polar canine), I spotted a familiar equine shape in the distance; Texas, my husband’s retired racehorse. We are pretty relaxed about freeing him to graze in the grounds during the day, based on two assumptions: 1) being 30 (positively ancient in horse years), he won’t stray too far and 2) he sometimes needs a bit of ‘downtime’ from the others’ hijinks. Apparently our first assumption is wrong as he was about a kilometre from home. Anyway, off came my pale pink pashmina, which I used first as a lasso and then as a halter and leading rein. You don’t get much more versatile than that. It did the trick and then some; he usually shakes his head in irritation and fusses when being led with a halter but you could see the bliss in his eyes when I slipped the soft cashmere around his neck and he followed me home like a lamb.
Crumble topping is also extremely versatile, although I don’t think you could use it to lead a horse home. It can however be used sweet on fruit crumble or savoury on vegetable or meat dishes. In this case I used the topping for a fruit crumble of pineapple, banana and pear that had been poached in rum and a tablespoon of yacon syrup.
Ingredients
