Farmers Market to Table: Vanilla Spiced Baked Rhubarb & Mandarin + A Winter Sandwich

When eating fruit, remember who planted the tree; when drinking water, remember who dug the well. 

Vietnamese proverb

The weekly visit to my local farmers market is one of my most cherished weekly routines. Produce is fresh, seasonal, organic and limited. I like that there isn't an endless amount of choice. It's easier to stay connected with seasonal rhythms this way, to live a little more connected to mother earth. 

Wandering around each stall I don't have a list to get through, or planned meals I want to make. I'm lead by the colours, smells and the abundance of what's in season. As I wander flavours and dishes start to emerge in my mind. Roasted fennel with garlic; a fresh salad of rocket; kale with olive oil, garlic and lemon and it goes on as my excitement increases. Lately my basket has been filled with an abundance of leafy greens, grounding root veges and zingy citrus.

The mandarin season is mighty fine this year and I was curious to see how I could make the most of the mandarin season. Everyone loves stewed and baked fruit in winter so I decided to make a twist on baked rhubarb with orange and use mandarins instead. The result- yum! It adds a nice sweetness to the rhubarbs and goes well with the warming spices.

Another simple but oh so satisfying combination I've been eating a lot of has been this winter sandwich combination. Something about the taste and texture of warming toast topped with the strong and salty taste of anchovies and finished off with crisp greens, makes it melt and zing in your mouth all at once.

Both recipes are great anytime of the day to satisfy winter cravings for warm and comforting food. Enjoy x 

(p.s you may have noticed a few new buttons on the side. You can now follow me on bloglovin' and facebook).

Winter Sandwich

good quality sourdough bread (I love Sol Bread's pumpkin and rice gluten free)

avocado, smashed

anchovies (from a jar)

cucumber, sliced

tomatoes, sliced (small variety, tomatoes not quite seasonal but a local farmer had managed to harvest some!)

rocket, baby spinach, parsley

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

directions: toast bread and pile ingredients on toast, drizzle with olive oil. season with salt and pepper. yum. 

Vanilla Spiced Baked Rhubarb and Mandarin

3-4 stalks of rhubarb

1 mandarin

juice of 1 mandarin (you could substitute with oranges or lemons)

zest of 1/4 lemon

1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (or cinnamon, star anise and cardamom)

2 inch piece of split and scraped vanilla bean

1 tbsp rice malt syrup

Preheat the oven to 160C. Trim the rhubarb and cut it into short pieces. Place the rhubarb and mandarin into a baking dish in a single layer. Juice the mandarin, I used my hands and squeezed each segment over the mandarin and rhubarb. Add zest, mixed spice and vanilla. Drizzle over the rice malt syrup. Cover with enough water to almost cover the mandarin and rhubarb. Bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes until the rhubarb is soft but still keeps its shape. 

Serve with goat's milk yoghurt, or your favourite yoghurt. 

Serves 2-3

Cardamom and Rosewater Love Tarts

The first time I made these little gems it was to celebrate love. Two beautiful friends of mine were getting married in an old church and I wanted to give a gift in the form of dessert. A dessert that was a little indulgent, romantic and a delight for the senses. With a vague idea to make something with exotic flavours I narrowed it down to Indian and Persian influenced flavours and finally found the perfect 'love' dessert of Cardamom and Rosewater Tarts.

Common to both Indian and Persian cooking, cardamom and rosewater have been used for centuries, and have a sweet and heavenly scent that is quite distinct.  If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting an Indian Sweet cafe you'll know the warm and heavenly scent I'm talking about and the power  those endless rows of soft fudge like desserts have over you.

This really is a recipe to save for when you can set some time aside to lovingly prepare the tarts. The tarts are both delicate in taste and in preparation. They need your attention and patience and most importantly your love.  Raw cashews are a great non dairy cream alternative. They are full of fat,  have no strong taste, and thus perfect for a non dairy cream base. Use organic ingredients where possible, medjool dates (they are softer and moister that 'regular' dates),  raw (not processed) honey and fresh vanilla beans.

Enjoy and share the love. x

updated (P.s I've entered this recipe in a competition at these newish night food markets. Competition closes this Friday 21st June. If you like why not head to Miami Marketta's Facebook page, scroll down, keep scrolling and find my picture entry of the tarts and hit like. I'd love it if you did. thanks.)

Cardamom and Rosewater Love Tarts

for the tart base

1 cup raw pecans soaked, drained and rinsed or 1 cup raw dry pecan nuts
3/4 cup medjool dates
1 inch strip vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut oil
4cm base; 2.5cm height silicone cupcake liners (optional)

for the cashew filling

1 cup raw cashews soaked, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp coconut oil
3/4 cardamom powder
1/2 inch strip vanilla bean or 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp rosewater
3 tbsp raw honey
1/8 cup water

to dress your tarts

handful of pistachio nuts
cardamom pods
food grade dried rose petals (I used rose petals from a T2 loose tea mix I had in the cupboard)

Preheat oven to 175C. Blend all tart base ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. This next step takes practice and patience. Spoon a few tablespoons of nut mixture into silicone cupcake liners and press lightly to form a thin case. If you spread the mixture to thin it will break, the trick is to try and spread it evenly over the cups. Place on a flat tray in oven and bake for 7-10 minutes or until darkened and firm- keep an eye on them. (I burnt my first batch!)  If you want to keep the recipe raw skip the oven and chill them in the fridge until firm, approx 1 hour. I'd love to hear your results with this as I tried the raw method but they didn't firm up enough for me.

Remove from liners, place on plate or base you are going to serve on (the less transferring from dish to dish the less chance of the base breaking- yes they are delicate!) and fill with the cashew cream.

Cashew Filling

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Spoon into cashew tart bases.

And now for the fun part. Place a few cardamom pods in the centre of each tart. Roughly chop pistachio nuts into small pieces. Loosely sprinkle pistachio and rose petals over the top.

Makes:  8 small beautiful tarts.

Free of refined sugar, dairy, grain and egg (vegan if honey is replaced with agave, coconut sugar, rice malt syrup or sweetener of your choice).

NOURISHING WEEKEND RECIPES: FRENCH LENTIL SALAD

It's been a lovely sunny week with ocean swims, reading and ample time to make a mess in the kitchen.

Tomorrow I'm going on a little road trip down south, yippee! to the Ukitopia festival, a small community festival in, yep you guessed it, the town of Uki. Yippee! With a strong community focus the festival is run by the local arts collective showcasing live music, art displays and workshops. All this nestled amongst the beautiful surrounding mountains and rivers sounds good to me. 

Before I go, here's a tasty lentil recipe I made by Sarah from My New Roots, a food blog I discovered this week. I used leftover French green lentils I had stored in the freezer and as I didn't have all the ingredients I just used what I had. I did have fresh mint and coriander and they added that extra freshness. It really is one of the best lentil salad recipes ever!

If you're looking for something on the healthy and sweet side of things I did a spot of baking earlier this week from a 101 cookbooks recipe, and posted the recipe today- Rustic Carrot Cake Recipe. I'll definitely make it again, but next time gluten free for me. Delicious!   Enjoy x

French Lentil Salad Recipe

2 1/4 cups French lentils
1 medium red onion, diced
1/4 cup dried currants, or sultanas
1/3 cup capers

Dressing
1/3 cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp strong mustard
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or paprika)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Optionals
baby spinach, rocket
walnuts
goats cheese
Fresh herbs: parsley, coriander, mint, basil
Fresh salad or vegetables

Prepare lentils- rinse lentils well, drain. Place in medium sized saucepan and cover with 3-4 inches of water, bring to the boil, reduce to a summer. Cook for about 20 minutes, until lentils are soft, but are still holding their shape. Rinse lentils under cold water. For the dressing..place all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to mix well. When lentils have cooled slightly, toss with salad dressing. Add onion, capers and currants. If using other optional ingredients add use before serving.

Serves 4

Rustic Carrot Cake Recipe

Growing up, dessert was always a much anticipated ending to the main meal in my family, from homemade cakes to plain old fruit and ice-cream. This week in an attempt to encourage dad to eat healthier sweet options, (because the truth is he's not going to forego sweets so better to accept and provide healthier options) I tested out this carrot cake recipe from 101 cookbooks which uses whole flours and natural sugar ingredients. 

Not your traditional carrot cake, I kept calling it a banana cake for a while, it's packed with dense and rich all natural ingredients. I stuck with using wheat flour, as using a gluten free option just would have been too 'strange' in dad's eyes. The natural sweetness of bananas and dates works really well, and I really like the inclusion of yoghurt and walnuts to increase protein and good oils. I made a few small changes, used half wholewheat and half white flour, replaced one of the eggs with 2 egg whites and used slightly less than 1/2 cup of dates.  Even with skipping the icing I still made a HUGE mess in the kitchen!

The result...success! Though dad did comment he could taste the absence of sugar, he enjoyed it and was very happy to eat another piece the following day.Next time I'd like to try a gluten free option using rice and amaranth flour as mentioned in the readers comments on 101 cookbooks.

Rustic Carrot Cake Recipe

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup good quality white baking flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup walnuts, chopped finely

110g unsalted butter, just melted

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 1/2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup plain Greek yoghurt

1 egg and 2 egg whites, lightly whisked 

Preheat oven to 175C. Butter a 9x5x3 loaf pan or 8x8 cake pan and line with baking paper. Sift together flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in walnuts. Stir the dates into the melted butter, breaking up the dates into smaller pieces.

In a separate bowl combine bananas and carrots. Stir in the date-butter mixture, breaking up any date clumps. Whisk in eggs and yoghurt. Add the flour mixture and stir gently until everything just mixed. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean in the centre of the cake - bake for around 45minutes if you are using the cake pan. Remove from oven and cool. Best stored in the fridge.

Makes one cake. 

Gluten and Sugar-free Ginger Spice Biscuit Recipe

Gluten and Sugar-free Ginger Spice Biscuit Recipe

I love this quick and easy to make biscuit recipe. They are light, easy on the digestion, and good for everyday.

Ingredients

150g gluten-free plain flour (I used Orgran's all purpose plain flour because I had it in the cupboard. I'd like to try it with rice and buckwheat flour).

150g butter, at room temperature

80g xylitol (here it really depends on how sweet you like it. Original recipe called for 90g caster sugar. 1 tsp sugar=1tsp xylitol, but I usually find you don't need as much)

60g ground almond meal

1 tsp ground ginger

1tsp mixed spice

1/4-1/2 vanilla bean paste (found in good quality grocers)

Heat your oven to 170C. Grab two baking trays and line with baking paper.  Place all ingredients in a bowl and using your hands blend until you have a soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap (save and re-use for another time) and pop in the fridge for about an hour. 

Grab your rolling pin and roll out the dough on a lightly floured work bench until 1cm thick. Here is the fun part. Select the cutter shape of your choice (will yours be classic, fun, pretty?), cut away and lift onto the baking trays. If you need to re-roll the dough keep in mind that by adding more flour the dough mixture will be more crumbly when baked.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden on top. From my experience they are best eaten within 3 days if kept in an airtight container at room temperature or longer if kept in the fridge.

Makes 20.
(Recipe inspired by Manna from Heaven's Gluten-free Ginger and Cardamom Biscuits)

Berry Kale Smoothie Recipe

Berry Kale Smoothie

Not technically a very much in fashion 'green smoothie' (these are water based, there's loads of recipes on the internet), but still packed with lots of goodness. I put any powdered vitamins I'm taking (currently magnesium) in my smoothies, it's an easy way to get them down and disguise their taste!

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened Almond Milk

1/4-1/2 cup berries

1 big handful of baby kale leaves (or other green of your choice- spinach, parsley, lettuce, cucumber)

1tsp-1tbsp chia seeds

1 large pinch of coconut flakes

1 tsp-1tbsp of flaxseeds soaked overnight 

Mix all ingredients in your blender until smooth. Yum!

Berry, Coconut Flakes and Chia Snack Recipe

Berry, Coconut Flakes and Chia snack

Super easy, yummy and surprisingly filling afternoon snack. Fruit for a natural energy pick me up. Chia seeds for protein. Coconut shavings give it crunch and that extra 'I'm having a treat' element.

Ingredients

Berries (strawberries, blueberries, mulberries), fresh or frozen.

Organic Coconut shavings (all natural, nothing added)

Chia seeds

As much or as little as you like.

Recipes for the Weekend: Three healthy gluten & sugar-free treats

My biggest food challenge eating mostly sugar-free is finding new ways to satisfy my love of baking and my love of sweet treats that taste good. I love trying new healthy cake and biscuit recipes made from real ingredients. The less refined and processed the ingredient the better. It does take a little more prep time using real whole ingredients, but with a bit of organisation and experience it becomes easier. Saying that, you don't want to get obsessed by every single little detail, if you're only going to end up unhappy and stressed. 

Flexibility and having a good hard think about what is important to you and for your body can be really useful. A good strategy is to work out what your negotiables and non-negotaiables are in the food department, and put in the best effort you can to achieve them. I'm ok with using ready made gluten-free flour blends or packaged unsweetened almond milk but I'm not ok with using sugar as an ingredient, so if I'm going to cook I'll make sure I have a substitute, such as xylitol or stevia, on hand. Good luck with discovering what works best for you. 

And now for the recipes. Three easy gluten and sugar-free sweet tasting delights on my radar this week. I hope you enjoy them too... 

Happy weekend x

RECIPES

Gluten and Sugar-free Ginger Spice Biscuits

Berry, Coconut and Chia snack

Berry and Kale Smoothie

More gratitude. More hope. More love. #9 (Gluten & sugar free blueberry muffin recipe)

24.09.12
Gluten and sugar free blueberry muffin goodness. 

I love baking with the music turned up and was grateful to have time in the afternoon to indulge this pleasure. I made these lovely muffins singing along to Regina Spektor's - 'What we saw from the cheap seats'. 

I adapted and halved the recipe from gluten-free goddess.
Makes 6 muffins.

Ingredients:
1 cup plain gluten free flour (mix from packet)
1/4 cup xylitol
1 teaspoons double acting baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup olive oil
1.5 free-range organic eggs, beaten
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste (the paste makes all the difference- expensive but worth it)
1 cups frozen blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease a 12-muffin tin- as I was only baking 6 I filled the empty tins with water so they would cook evenly.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, xylitol, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Add in the olive oil, eggs, almond milk, and vanilla and beat to combine. Continue beating for 2 minutes until the batter is smooth. It should not be overly wet or too dry- this batter is a fairly moist batter, akin to thick cake batter. If the flour has absorbed too much liquid and the batter appears dryish, add another tablespoon of almond milk to loosen it. Stir in the blueberries by hand, using a big spoon.

Using a spoon, drop the batter into the 6 muffin cups, leave the top a bit messy with a bit of a peak and the muffins will rise nicely. Bake in the center of the oven for 22-25 minutes, until risen and golden brown. A cake tester inserted into the center should emerge clean.

Cool on a wire rack of five minutes, then turn out the muffins to continue cooling on the rack. Delicious when still warm.