Blueberry and Lemon Buttermilk Pancakes

I'm on holiday this week and since I have a nice sunny flat I've been having heaps of people around for lunch!

Today a good friend is in town for the week and I've invited him for brunch. On the menu is lemon and blueberry pancakes.

I've started always putting lemon rind in my pancakes after a woman we stayed ith in Kenya did it. Its so subtle but makes them just that little bit more luxurious!

A friend who came for lunch earlier in the week brought me blueberries (Fresh and delicious!) so I'm working with what I've got.

You can always use frozen berries or any other fruit you have in the house. I prefer to keep my toppings simple, usually lemon and sugar or maple syrup (today I'm using golden syrup- a kiwi fav) and then stuff my pancakes full of fruit.

I'll also include a vegan option for this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1c buttermilk**

2c flour

1/2c sugar

1tsp baking powder

1 lemon- juice and rind

Handful of blueberries (or other fruit)

Extra milk if needed

Butter or margarine for frying. 

**If you don't have buttermilk you can make it by pouring into a measuring jug 1 tsp of white vingar and topping it up to the 1 cup mark with regular milk. Leave for 5 mins and then use.

Method:

In a mixing bowl beat together the two eggs and add the buttermilk. Sift in the flour, sugar and baking powder and combine. Add milk until thin enough that it flows freely from your whisk or spatular but still retains a thick batter consistency.

Add lemon juice, rind and berries and fold through. 

Gently heat a frying pan, using a knob of butter for each pancake fry until bubbles appear then flip and fry until bottom no longer sticks.

First one is often a dud, as the pan is often not hot enough, so best to make it quite small.

The mixture can be made the night before and left covered in the fridge for best consistency.

It can also be stored in an airtight container and used over the course of a few days.

Vegan option: Swap eggs for 1 ripe mashed banana and buttermilk for soymilk (or almond, oat,rice etc). Swap the lemon for vanilla essence. 

Bon appetite!

Green & blue quiche

My first crack at French cooking since my arrival in Paris. A vegetarian quiche I improvised with green summer vege, blue cheese and caramelized red onions.

Prep time- 30 mins
Cooking time-20 mins
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
-1 savoury pie crust (make your own or store bought is fine. I use store bought cause often its cheaper and the result is way more consistent)

-1 TBSP olive oil
- 1 red onion (thinly sliced)
-1 TBSP brown sugar
-1 head of broccoli (chopped into small pieces 1-2cm big)
-1 green pepper (thinly sliced)
-1 courgette (grated)
- 4 eggs
-1 cup milk
-30g blue cheese
-salt and pepper
-1/2 cup grated cheese

Method:
-Roll out the pastry into a (greased or paper lined) pie dish and freeze for 15 mins (best to do this before you start prepping the vege).
-Sauté in a heated pan of olive oil the red onion with the sugar until caramelized.
-Throw in the green vege and cook until tender.
-Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius
-Beat eggs in a large bowl and add milk. Combine the cooked vege in the bowl and add the blue cheese  with salt and lots of pepper.
-Blind bake your chilled pastry for 10 mins.
-Take out pastry, pour in your egg/vege mix and make sure its spread out evenly so every part is covered with an even amount of vege.
-cover with grated cheese and more pepper.
-Place back in your hot oven and cook for 20 mins or until it rises and every part looks cooked. To check take out and give it a little shake, if it wobble it needs to cook a bit more.
-Let it set for 15 mins before eating.

Bon appetite!

Vegan Hot Cross Buns

My personal twist on an easter fav...

HOT CROSS BUNS (vegan)

Buns:

½ cup soy milk
½ cup boiling water

½ cup cold water
1 teaspoon raw sugar
1 level tablespoon yeast (make sure its fresh)
4 cups white flour
1/3c raw sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon margarine
1 cup mixed crasins and orange glace peel

1½ tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon all spice

½ Teaspoon cardamon

½ teaspoon coriander (dried spice not the leaf!) 

Crosses:

1 tablespoon margarine.

1/3 cup flour

2 tablespoon icing sugar

2 tablespoons water

Glaze:

2 tablespoon brown sugar

1/3 cup boiling water

Pour milk and water into a bowl. Stir in sugar, sprinkle over yeast. Set aside for approx. 5 minutes or until yeast mixture is frothy. Using a larger bowl, mix together flour, extra sugar and salt. Rub in margarine, add fruit and spices. Make a well in the centre, pour in yeast liquid mix thoroughly, dough should be slightly sticky - a little more warm liquid may need to be added. It could be up to an extra 1/4 cup. Turn onto a lightly floured bench and knead for 10 minutes. Return dough to a warm, greased bowl, leave in a warm place to double in bulk. Approx. 1 hour. Punch dough down, turn onto a lightly floured bench, knead 2-3 minutes.

To shape buns: Divide dough into 16 pieces. Shape into balls. Place onto a lightly greased tray, one finger width apart. Return to a warm place to double in bulk. Approx. ½ hour. At this stage carefully place on crosses.

Crosses: Rub 1 tablespoon margarine into flour and icing sugar then mix to a soft dough, using 2 tablespoons cold water. Divide into 2 portions then roll each into a long string the thickness of your cross. Cut into appropriate lengths and place carefully onto risen buns just before they go into the oven. Press down ends with a little water so it sticks.

Glaze: Mix the sugar in the boiling water until it dissolves. Using a pastry brush onto the buns for the last 2-3 minutes of their baking time.

Bake at 220degC for 8-10 minutes.

Should make approx 16 buns.

Filling in the blanks

Sorry I've been crap again with keeping up with the recipes. But to be honest I haven't come with with many new ones lately which is a little depressing. I am going to make a conscious effort to get in the kitchen more over the next few weeks but in the meantime I will post some old favourites.

We've made it through the year from hell. The city is slowly re-opening small bit by bit and water just stopped being chlorinated which is a huge step forward. Made it through my 3rd and final compulsory year of law. I feel like I'm over the hump now and things get easier now.

Also going on an exchange to Paris next year. Mmmmm french food!

In a month's time I am off to Kenya to help build an orphanage which is super exciting. On the way we will stop in Thailand and I hope to be able to visit a Thai cooking school and bring home some sweet tips. Kenyan cuisine looks really cool too so will try get some nifty recipes to bring home with me.

We've been fundraising heaps and have finally reached $6800 with the help of all our awesome supporters. Sending it away tomorrow will be a big milestone and I can start getting excited about our trip. 

We then fly straight back into Wellington for Camp A Low Hum which is back at Wainui this year.

And next week I'm off to Melbourne for the Meredith Music Festival which I've been attending (or its sister festival Golden Plains) for the last 5 years. Pretty exciting stuff lined up...

#thisisgonnabethebestsummerever!!!!!

Fun with icing

Here's some fun I've had with icing recently...

I made Fionn a cake a while ago for his birthday. The different colours were all different flavours...

I also made T'nealle a cake for her birthday and it matched the card I gave her which was made by one of the Kenyan orphans we are going to visit. Pretty cool huh?

Cake becomes art. Thinking of ideas for cool and creative Christmas cakes now (but not those gross fruit cakes!)

Tofurkey

This has got to be every vegan/ vegetarian's dream...

While this seems like something that The Simpsons would come up with I first came across a real life tofurkey at an Orphans Xmas in Melbourne a few years ago..

The local paper had run a Christmas dinner on a budget special and the tofurkey was the centre piece.

I still have a cutting of the article somewhere but have adapted and refined mine over the years...

Its a hit with both non-meat and meat eaters as long as you make sure the tofu has some serious flavour to it. Plus the novelty factor is always a bonus.

The 'Turkey'

700g firm tofu

2tbsp vege or fake chicken stock

lots of pepper and a bit of salt

The Stuffing

2 grated carrots

1grated courgette

1 finely chopped green pepper

1tbsp soy sauce

1tbsp oregano

1tsp cayenne pepper or other chilli powder

100g Cranberry sauce

1 cup cous cous

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/3 cup shelled walnuts

Marinade

100g cranberry sauce

2tbsp balsamic vinegar

1tbsp olive oil

3 sprigs rosemary

lots of cracked pepper

Method

1) Foodprocess the 'turkey' ingredients until a thick paste. Line a colander with cheese cloth or other thin fabric. Spread 2/3 of the mixture around the inside of the colander to make a 1inch thick lining.

Use a heavy glass bowl to keep the shape by placing it inside the colander. Just make sure it leave about a 1 inch gap of tofu between the colander and the bowl. Leave for minimum 2 hours to drain (I leave overnight for best results)

Drain the rest through cheese cloth and leave to the side for the wings later.

2) Fry up the veges and soysauce and herbs and spices until soft and aromatic. Add the cranberry sauce and then the cous cous and crumb. crush the walnuts into small pieces and add them too. Combine well.

3) Pour stuffing into the tofu line colander and press firmly.

4)Tip the colander onto a baking tray so that the whole body slips out and carefully peel away the fabric careful not too peel off any tofu. This is your turkey body.

5)Mould the body so one end is more narrow than the other and take some of the extra tofu and shape a neck. Then shape the legs and wings onto the body and use your fingers to smooth over the lines so it looks like one single object. (I find google image searching "roast Turkey" helps with this lol). Don't be disheartened if it doesn't quite look right, my first attempt looked like a turtle! In the end its the thought that counts

6)Using a pastry brush generously lather the marinade all over the turkey and place fresh sprigs of rosemary on it. Use about half the marinade.

7)Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 40 mins taking care to baste the tofurkey every 10 mins until the marinade is all used up.

Leave to stand for ten mins before eating!!

Easiest to cut it like a cake as taht way you get an even tofurkey to stuffing ratio. Best with some vegan gravy! (the instant brown onion one works a treat)

Chickpea cutlets

Apologies for no posts in ages. You know how life gets away on you sometimes. Anyways, the other day foodblog got contacted by Taste of New Zealand inviting us to meet some celebrity chefs cause they love our work. Not too sure of the details but that's very exciting for us!! It has motivated us all to post more because we have been pretty negligent lately... Also, summer is almost here which means I go on holiday and will have way more time! And T & J are opening a new bar which means more food and drink recipes are on their way. its all very exciting. Anyways, here's a favourite at the moment. Try it out and let me know how it goes. YUMMMMMM!

Chickpea cutlets

A friend of mine linked this recipe to me and I tried it one night when we have some people over. Now I'm crazy about them and it seems all my friends are too! I cannot take credit for this (original link at end of page) but I have altered it a bit. These are delicious and great for non meat and meat eaters alike. The gluten give them a nice chewy texture and the chickpeas give them a delicious flavour. Great source of protein too! Hope you enjoy and get creative with them!

1 can chickpeas or 1.5 cup chickpeas cooked

4 cloves garlic
1TBSP Sesame oil
1 cup gluten flour

Bit of salt and lots of pepper
1 cup plain breadcrumbs (use storebought)
1 TBSP cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp grated lemon zest

1/2 cup water
2TBSP soy sauce

1 egg- beaten or soymilk if vegan

More breadcrumbs and sesame seeds

Heat chickpeas in microwave for 1 min in brine. Then drain and rinse and chuck in a food processor. Add Garlic and oil and blitz for a few pulses until you have small chunks of chickpeas (you don’t want to end up with a paste so check it after every pulse). Transfer to a bowl and add flour, crumbs, spices and zest. Mix well. Then add the liquids and mix with a spoon until you get a dough like consitenancy. Knead for a few mintues until the gluten starts getting stringy. Separate into palm sized balls and then flatten.

Dip each one into the beaten egg or soymilk until covered and then coat in breadcrumbs and seasame seeds. Easiest way is to pour ½ c of breadcrumbs and 1/4c seeds onto a small plate and then drop coated pattie on each side in the mix.

Then fry for a couple of mins on each side until the coating browns. To cook thoroughly don’t make patties too thick. Also you can press down on them using your spatula.

Put on a plate with a papertowl to squeeze out excess oil.

Eat warm in burders or with mash. So meaty!!

Also can be frozen for later or even cooked on the bbq. YUMMO!

Source: http://www.theppk.com/2010/11/doublebatch-chickpea-cutlets/