Mandelbrot

A friend who likes Jewish food was coming to visit, so I made mandelbrot for him. These cookies are like Jewish biscotti.

 

This is based on my grandma’s recipe. If you keep them in a Tupperware container, they will last a long time.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

4-6 cups flour (start with 4 and if it isn’t thick enough, slowly add in some more)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 cup chopped nuts (almond is traditional, hence the “mandel”, but you can also use peanuts, walnuts, etc)

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon, if desired

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

zest and juice from 1 orange (you can use lemon if you prefer)

 

topping, optional

sugar

cinnamon

 

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together except the topping in a large mixing bowl and blend well. This will be quite stiff to stir, so a wooden spoon is helpful.

2. Shape the dough into two or three logs and place on baking paper on baking trays. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 C, until golden.

3. Leave to cool for 20-30 minutes, then slice into biscotti-like shapes (on the diagonal is an easy way to do it).

4. Place the cookies on their sides and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

5. Bake at 150 C for 10 minutes, until dry in the middle and golden.

6. Flip over, sprinkle with more topping, and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Vegan Rhubarb Cupcakes

M’s mum gave me a bunch of rhubarb from her garden, so I decided to do something with my rhubarb curd recipe. Sweet rhubarb cupcakes seemed liked a good idea, and they were perfect for a late spring afternoon.

 

For the curd, you can replace 1 tbsp flour with 1 egg, if you eat eggs.

 

Ingredients:

 

rhubarb curd

350 g rhubarb

zest and juice from 1 orange

30 g sugar

2 tbsp flour

 

cupcakes

¾ cup rice milk

1½ tsp lemon juice

¼ cup coconut oil

1 cup flour

½ cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

 

Instructions:

1. Wash and chop the rhubarb. Place it in an oven-safe dish.

2. Toss it with the zest and juice from 1 orange and 30 g sugar.

3. Bake it for 25-30 min at 190 C.

4. Blend it well, until smooth, and then mix with the flour and blend again.

5. Mix the rice milk and lemon juice together and set aside for 10 minutes to curdle.

6. Melt the coconut oil (if you have it in solid form).

7. Mix the dry ingredients together. Stir in the vanilla, coconut oil, and milk mixture.

8. Pour about 2-3 tbsp cupcake mixture into muffin cases and then place 1-2 tbsp rhubarb curd on top. Add another 1 tbsp cupcake mixture on top of the curd.

9. Bake for 10-20 minutes at 175 C.

Raw Chocolate Mousse

At the library, I randomly picked up The Raw Food Diet by Christine Bailey. I’ve done some raw cooking before, so I was intrigued.

 

The first recipe I tried was her chocolate-orange hazelnut mousse, but I adapted it quite a bit to suit what we had at home and our tastes.

 

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado

1 orange

25 g cocoa powder (or 10 g cocoa powder plus 20 g dark chocolate)

1 tbsp agave

2 tsp icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

30 g chopped hazelnuts

¼ cup water

 

Instructions:

1. Halve, pit, and chop the avocado. Put the flesh in a food processor.

2. Juice and zest the orange and add to the avocado.

3. Mix in all the other ingredients. Process well, until smooth.

4. Chill for 30 or more minutes, then serve.

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.

Rhubarb Compote

Hurray! It’s rhubarb season. I love the long and beautiful blushing pink stalks and I plan to spend the next weeks trying out a variety of recipes that use them. The first thing I made this year was a rhubarb compote. It can be served with yogurt or cream or ice cream, or you can use it in the rhubarb cake recipe I’ll post next.

Ingredients:
400 g rhubarb
1 clementine or orange
1 vanilla pod
5 tbsp sugar

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the rhubarb. Put it into a pan.
2. Juice the clementine or orange into the pan. Halve the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Add them and the halves to the pan as well.
3. Add the sugar. Stir everything together.
4. Cook over low heat for about 10 or so minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove the vanilla pod and serve the compote.

Suzette Sauce

This simple orange sauce can be used over crepes, as in crepes suzette, or regular pancakes, or spooned over a dark chocolate cake.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
4 tbsp sugar
a dash of vanilla

Instructions:
1. Grate the peel of the oranges. Juice the fruit and put the juice and the peel in a saucepan.
2. Add the sugar and vanilla and warm over low heat into a syrup. It takes about 5 minutes.

Chocolate Orange Buns

I’ve been on a bit of a baking kick lately, so I decided to make slightly sweet buns that could be eaten with tea or for dessert. I used dark chocolate and orange and very little sugar, so these buns have a hint of sweetness without being too decadent. Instead of making individual buns, the recipe can be used to make a chocolate orange bread.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (I used ¾ cup regular flour and ¼ cup spelt flour, for an extra nutty wholesomeness)
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp dried yeast
3 tsp sugar
a pinch of salt
25 g butter
1 orange
1 tbsp cream (or milk)
½ cup liquid (I use the juice from the orange plus a bit of cold water)
50 g chocolate

Instructions:
1. Mix the dried ingredients together, then add in the butter.
2. Grate the orange rind into the mixture, then add the cream and liquid.
3. Grate the chocolate into it as well.
4. Shape the dough into one big loaf or 6-8 smaller buns. Let the loaf/buns rise for 35 minutes.
5. Bake at 200 C for 10-15 minutes (longer for a whole loaf). Serve warm with tea or coffee.

Orange Sauce

This is a simple orange sauce that you can use over vegetables, potatoes, tofu, or even fish, if you’re a pescatarian. M thought it was too orangey for her tastes, so if you find that’s the case for you too, you can simply use one orange instead.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
2 tbsp butter
½ cup cream
cinnamon
salt
sugar or agave

Instructions:
1. Zest the oranges and mix the peelings, butter, and cream in a pan over low heat, until the butter has melted.
2. Add cinnamon, salt, and sugar to your taste.
3. Serve over vegetables, potatoes, tofu, or even fish.

Endives in a Citrus Sauce

Endives (also known as chicory) are quite bitter, so when I cook them, I like to add sugar, agave, or honey to tame some of that bitterness. Thus I was intrigued by a recipe I noticed for braised endives with tangerines. I thought the bright citrus notes would definitely work against the sharpness of the endives. It only took a few minutes to put this dish together and it was a simple dinner on an evening when I was exhausted. If I’d had more energy, I would have made it as a side dish and served it with something like a chickpea stew.

Ingredients:
2 endives
water
sea salt
olive oil
3 clementines (or 2 tangerines or 1 orange)
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp sugar
black pepper

Instructions:
1. Wash and chop the endives, then boil them in the water with sea salt for about 5 minutes.
2. Drain the endives and put them in an oiled casserole dish. Peel and segment the clementines.
3. Pour the juice and more oil over the endives, then sprinkle with sugar. Braise in the oven at 175 C for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the citrus segments and season with salt and pepper. Toss to mix. Braise for another 10 minutes, then serve.

French Toast

Due to all the bread-and-butter pudding I’ve been making for my beloved lately, I’ve had more white bread around than is usually the case. So to use it up, I decided to make French toast for breakfast. I emailed a friend about my French toast, but I accidentally wrote “toes” instead of “toast.” I should point out that toes are definitely not vegetarian! However, French toast is, and it’s a great breakfast for a leisurely weekend morning. I like to serve it with sliced bananas or other fruit, and it can be topped with icing sugar or maple syrup or anything else you like.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 orange
seeds from ½ vanilla pod (or use vanilla extract or vanilla sugar)
½ cup flour
1 cup double cream (milk works fine too)
8 slices of white bread (the best type to use is challah, if you can get it, but any plain white bread will do)
butter
fruit to serve with it
sugar, icing sugar, cinnamon, honey, maple syrup, or other toppings, according to taste

Instructions:
1. Whisk the eggs. Grate the peel from the orange into the eggs, then add juice from half the orange. Save the other half to serve with the French toast or eat it as is.
2. Add the vanilla seeds, flour, and cream, and mix well, not allowing any lumps.
3. Dip the bread slices into the batter and fry them in butter until golden.
4. Serve with fruit and the toppings of your choice.

Pasta with Orange Cream Sauce

About a month ago, I decided to try an Italian recipe that I’d seen in a magazine. It looked really heavy but luxurious, and I thought it could be a nice treat. It was pasta with fish in an orange cream sauce and I thought that the combination of orange and cream would be something different. Obviously, I left off the fish, and instead I used vegetables, which also served to break up the heaviness a bit. The final product looked lovely on the plate: pasta in a creamy sauce, with spring green scattered amongst it, all sprinkled with bits of orange peel. The orange flavour was unexpected and was a nice change from lemon and vegetable, which is more usual.

Ingredients:
500 g pasta (penne looks nice in this dish, and I always use whole wheat)
200 g green vegetables (peas are perfect, and you can also use fresh spinach, or broccoli florets)
1 cup double cream (heavy cream for you Americans)
1 orange
fresh parsley
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
2. To save on washing up, I boil the vegetables with the pasta. At them to the pot when there are about 5 minutes to go for the pasta.
3. Meanwhile, gently warm the cream and grate the orange peel.
4. Add the peel to the cream and then add the juice from the orange.
5. Drain the pasta and vegetables and mix this with the cream sauce.
6. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley and black pepper.