Granola

I like having granola for breakfast, but most ready-made granolas include honey, which I am allergic to, or other items I don’t want to eat, plus they’re expensive. So I tried making it myself and it turned out quite well.

Ingredients:

1 cup dried fruit (raisins, apricots, prunes, cherries, etc)

water

1 cup nuts (I’ve tried hazelnuts and almonds)

2½ cups oats (or 2 cups oats, ½ cup quinoa flakes)

¼ - ½ cup seeds (I used pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds)

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup vegetable oil

¼ cup maple syrup (perhaps agave or honey would work as well)

Instructions:

1. Chop the fruit, then place it in hot water for 10 or so minutes, so it plumps up.

2. Chop the nuts. Mix them with all the other ingredients.

3. Make sure everything gets coated with the oil and maple syrup.

4. Put a piece of parchment paper or baking paper on a baking tray, then spread the oat mixture on it in a thick layer.

5. Bake for 20 minutes at 160 C, then rotate the tray, and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

6. Leave to cool, then break up the granola into whatever size pieces you prefer. Drain the fruit and add it. Store in Tupperware or similar.

7. Serve with milk, as desired.

Spicy Aubergine Stew

The spices and herbs here can be varied as you like – add more chilli peppers, if you want it hotter, or use garlic or cinnamon or mustard or anything else. The veg can be varied too. I served this over couscous.

Ingredients:

1 onion

oil

1 tsp sugar

2-3 tsp chopped ginger

1-2 tsp coriander (fresh, frozen, or dried)

1 chilli pepper

1 red pepper

2 aubergines

liquid (water is fine; I’ve used rice milk)

1-2 tsp dried mint

Instructions:

1. Peel and dice the onion, then sweat it in the oil in a large saucepan. Add the sugar after a few minutes.

2. Add the ginger and coriander. Wash and dice the peppers and aubergines and add them to the pan.

3. Add a little liquid. Cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring now and then. If it is dry, add some more liquid. You don’t want the veg to stick to the pan.

4. Season with the mint. Serve with rice or couscous, as desired.

Rhubarb Meringue Pie

This is delicious and looks gorgeous on a table.

Ingredients:

1 portion sweet shortcrust pastry (see previous recipes)

2 portions rhubarb curd (see previous recipes)

1 portion meringue (see previous recipes)

Instructions:

1. Roll out the dough and place it in a pie dish. Pre-bake for 5-10 minutes at 190 C.

2. Pour the curd on top of the pastry. Bake for 20-30 minutes until set.

3. Spoon the meringue on top (into any pattern or style you want). Bake for 10-12 minutes.

4. Let cool, then serve.

Meringue

You can bake this meringue into cookies or nests or you can spoon it on top of pie for a beautiful meringue topping. See the next post for an example.

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

160 g sugar

1 tsp vanilla, optional

Instructions:

1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the sugar and, if using, the vanilla, continuing to whisk.

2. Spoon onto a baking tray and bake into meringue cookies (or nests for fruit) or put on top of a pie and then bake for 10 minutes at 180 C.

Rhubarb Curd

This is like lemon curd, but with rhubarb (obviously). You can spread it on toast or you can use it in the forthcoming rhubarb meringue pie recipe. I’ve made this curd with orange juice or apple juice; I personally prefer the latter, but many people like the combination of orange and rhubarb. You can also experiment with other liquids and/or spices, such as ginger or cinnamon. A ginger, apple, and rhubarb curd I made was really lovely.

This recipe can be easily doubled and in fact should be doubled for the pie recipe.

Ingredients:

400 g rhubarb

30 g sugar

zest and juice from ½ orange or 3 tbsp apple juice (and thus no zest)

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp flour

Instructions:

1. Wash, trim, and chop the rhubarb. Toss it with the sugar and zest and juice.

2. Bake the rhubarb for 20-30 min at 190 C.

3. Blend it in a processor until smooth, then warm over low heat and let simmer until it thickens (10-20 min).

4. Leave it to cool. Mix about 1 tbsp of the rhubarb with the yolks and flour, then slowly add this mixture back to the rhubarb. Mix well.

5. Cool or chill, then use on toast or in recipes.

Vegan Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

We’ve been experimenting a lot with shortcrust pastries that don’t use butter. This is a good sweet dough. You can easily vary it by adding ground almonds or flavourings.

Ingredients:

200 g flour

110 g Cookeen

2 tbsp sugar

2-4 tbsp cold water

Instructions:

1. Mix the flour and Cookeen until the mixture is like breadcrumbs.

2. Add in the sugar and mix again. Slowly add the water and mix well.

3. Chill, covered, for 20-30 minutes, then roll out and use as needed.

Pine Nut Bread

I like to make this in little rolls. It’s great with butter or sunflower spread.

Ingredients:

5 cups strong white bread flour (about 500 g)

2 tsp yeast

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp honey

4 tbsp sunflower oil

1 cup warm water (about 225 ml)

about 50-100 g pine nuts, to taste

Instructions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add in the honey, oil, and water. Mix with a bread hook in a stand mixer or else knead on a floured surface. We mixed it in the mixer and then M kneaded it too.

2. Leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

3. Knead again. Separate into equally sized rolls. You can also make one large loaf.

4. Place 5-6 pine nuts in the centre of each roll. Fold the rolls over and place another 5-6 pine nuts in the centre. Then fold over again and decorate the tops with a few pine nuts. (In other words, you’ll end up with layers of pine nuts in the dough.)

5. Leave to rise another 20-30 minutes.

6. Bake for about 15 minutes at 200 C.