Chickpeas with Pomegranate Molasses

I am a very big fan of chickpeas. There is something about them that makes me eat non-stop. It’s horrendous. I can easily eat 400g in one sitting. I have, however, been working really hard on my self-control. I now restrict myself to eating them socially. It was in my social mission of sharing chickpeas with my dear friends that I prepared this wonderful recipe. It has a strong North African influence.

The recipe is from the Casa Moro The Second Book. If you are not familiar with this book I recommend that you borrow it from your local library and have a browse. The influence is from the cuisine of South Spain and North Africa. Having been to their restaurant in London I became an even bigger fan of theirs.

Back to the recipe:

450g home-cooked chickpeas (200g dry weight) or 2 x 400g cans cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons Pomegranate Molasses ( I bought mine in a Morocan store - I also have a recipe for home made molasse ; let mek now if you would like that)

200ml cold water or a mixture of chickpeas liquor and water

About 60 threads saffron, infused in 4 tablespoons boiling water

3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh coriander

Seeds of 1 pomegranate

Sea salt and black pepper (I used cumin instead)

Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil. When hot but not smoking, add the garlic and fry until nutty brown. Now add the drained chickpeas, pomegranate molasses, water and saffron infusion and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in coriander and season with salt and pepper. Finally, sprinkle in the pomegranate seeds. Taste and serve with fish or on its own as part of a selection of mezze. It goes really well with toasted pita bread.

Salad of Lettuce Boats with Minced meat

I am in salad mode. I’ve been like that over the last two weeks. Luckily I have come across some pretty amazing ones. Most of them pretty simple, straight forward…and terribly delicious. This one here could not be simpler and nevertherless more scrumptious to my eyes. Lovely for a yummy and informal meal. Just grab the lettuce boats with your fingers if you feel like it. Don’t take me wrong, I love the whole table setting and all. However I equally take pleasure out of eating without ceremony sometimes. Just for the pleasure of the food.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 red birdseye chillies, finely chopped

375g beef mince

Tablespoon of Thai fish sauce

4 spring onions, dark green bits removed, finely chopped

Zest and juice of 1 lime

3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

1-2 iceberg lettuces or romaine lettuce hearts

I like buying my meat and mincing it at home. I just chuck it in the food processor. I heat the oil in a frying pan on medium heat and then chuck the chillies in there. They have to be minded so that they don’t burn so please think of them as babies who are somehow frail and that need your attention. Turn the heat up, throw the minced meat in the pan and use a wooden spoon to separate the mince. Cook for around 4 minutes – until you cannot see any pink meat. Add the fish sauce and mix it until it evaporates. Remove it from the heat. Put the spring onions, coriander, zest and juice of lime in together with the meat and mix well.

Take each lettuce leaf and arrange the minced meat on it. They will look like little boats, carrying their load. Grab each boat with your fingers and enjoy this lovely treat. I enjoyed every single one of mine.

Papaya, Rasbperries and a Squeeze of Lime

In Brazil papaya is something that we always have in our shopping list. It's cheap, abundant..and terribly sweet. We often have it for breakfast. Growing up I would also have papaya smoothies - often with a banana and milk. I am talking ripe papaya. Not the unripe ones I see quite often around here. No wonder many of my friends who have tried it do not like it. I don't eat it often enough these days as they are terribly expensinve in the UK - at least £1 for a quite often unripe one. Even so every so often I indulge and buy myself a couple. I eat them with no reservation. Do not even like to share. I was watching TV last night and saw Nigella Lawson cutting one little papaya in half, scooping the seeds out and filling each half with fresh raspberries. To finish it off she squeezed some lime juice on it. I have to admit to an initial shock horror expression on my face at seeing that. After all I always had my papaya untouched, not mixed with anything. However, curiosity killed the cat, and this morning I reserved half of a papaya I had lying around and tried to replicate what I saw. To my surprise the result was a lovely surprise. The lime does indeed brings out the papaya flavour, and it all combined with the sharpness of the raspberries adds up to a wonderful experience. Have you ever tried it like that?

Chocolate Panna Cotta

The original recipe asked for white chocolate and pistachio and I did prepare half of it so that I could test it. I have to say that I did not enjoy its taste. It was awfully sweet to my taste – nealy sickening - picture at the bottom of post . It was served with a crispy dark chocolate biscuit on top to add a bit of crunchiness to contrast with the softness of the panna cotta.

However I like the texture that panna cotta gives so I decided that I would check how it would turn out if I used dark chocolate instead. I was pretty happy with the result. It is quite intense so it is great for chocolate lovers.

Original recipe - change the white chocolate for dark chocolate, and pistachio for other nuts if you desire:

568ml cartoon doublé cream

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 sheets leaf gelatine

150g good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped

50g hazelnut

Put the cream and sugar in a pan over medium heat. As soon as bubbles appear, turn the heat down to very low and cook for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes.

Add the chocolate to the hot cream and stir until smooth. Lift the gelatine out of the water ( no need to squeeze it ) and stir into the hot mixture to dissolve. Remove from the heat.

Grind the hazelnuts finely in a mini processor or coffee grinder. Add to the cream mixture and allow to infuse for 15 minutes. Pass through a sieve into a jug, then divide between 4 x 150ml dariole moulds or ramekins. Chill for 2 hours, until set.

To turn out, dip the bases of the moulds very briefly in hot water, then invert onto serving plate. Decorate with ground nuts.

the original white chocolate panna cotta

Vin Santo Risotto with Prosciutto

One of the magazines I subscribe brought up this issue entitled Italian Special. I find that in the UK there is a bit of an obsession with all things Italian. Anyhow, flicking through the magazine I came across this risotto recipe and the vin santo was what attracted me to it.

Don’t take me wrong, I love rice and risottos. Being Brazilian by birth I find it nearly impossible not to like rice since it is ‘staple’ food for us, we eat it every single day. What attracts me to dishes is the twist given to the ‘ordinary’, the special touch. I had NEVER eaten anything cooked with either vin santo or Marsala. I ended up using Marsala as there was no vin santo in the cupboards.

I have printed the recipe as it has been published but I made a few adaptations: a) I used vegetable stock – bouillon; b) I didn’t use celery – only the onions; sometimes I find celery quite overpowering; c)as I have already told you, I used the Marsala as opposed to the vin santo. The result was a lovely dish, with a beautiful, slightly sweetend taste to it. Not too sweet by any means. It had a sophisticated sweetness to it.

1 litre chicken stock

150g unsalted butter

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

250g risotto rice

350ml vin santo (Italian dessert wine) or dry Marsala

100g Parmesan, grated

8 slices prosciuto to serve

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer and adjust the seasoning. Melt half the butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Gently fry the onion and celery over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the rice and stir until each grain is coated. Add 250ml vin santo or Marsala and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until it has almost been absorbed by the rice. Start to stir in the stock, a ladleful at a time, only adding more stock when the last has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock and stir until the rice is cooked – about 20-25 minutes.

Remove the risotto from the heat and stir in the remaining vin santo/Madeira and butter and the grated Parmesan.

Spoon into shallow bowls and top with the prosciutto slices and extra shavings of Parmesan to serve.

Brazilian Carrot Cake

This is a Brasilian carrot cake. A very big nation favourite. It is quite different from the carrot cakes that are baked in this country. There is no dried fruit added to the Brasilian one. As for the icing, as you can see it is made of chocolate. If you fancy knowing a bit more check the post in the Tapioca blog. It is a blog that I keep to tell other blogers of Brasilian baking habits.

Two Different Recipes with Blueberries

In preparation for the Easter weekend I have been looking for a nice dessert to serve on Sunday for lunch. My first attempt was this lovely blueberry pie recipe from the blog Kitchenspace. Ana's has a cookie crumb crust and looks absolutely divine. I can imagine the wonderful crunchiness of the base against the blueberries. Unfortunatelly I used some short crust pastry I had ready made. It had to be used as soon as possible so I chose to use it as the base for my pie. The filling is gorgeous but I have decided that I will not use an ordinary shortcrust pastry as base. It doesn 't do the pie justice. One thing I absolutely adore about this recipe is how simple and quickly it is to make. Don't be fooled though as the result is delicious. If you want the recipe just visit the blog via the link above and have a look. You will not be disappointed. It is a great contender for my Sunday lunch.

The second attempt was this recipe by Julie Le Clerc, the New Zealander food writer and cook. It is a mini Madeira cake soaked in blueberry syrup. The original recipe asked for raspberries but I decided to try with blueberries instead. The cake has a nice citrus taste. I have reduced the lime juice amount required for the syrup as I thought that it was a wee bit too much. As much as I like this recipe I am not too sure about whether I will bake it again. The cake becomes quite moist due to the syrup which is a bit runny and it might be a bit awkward to serve it. Apart from a big glass of water I am not too sure what the best drink to have with it would be. If coffee was chosen it had to be unsweetened as the cake is pretty sweet in my opinion. I am posting the recipe here in case you want to have a go yourself. Let me know what you think of it.

For the baby madeira cakes:

125g butter
1 cup icing sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
4 egg yolks ( small egg)
¾ cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup milk

Pre-heat the oven to 160oC and flour 12 individual cake or muffin tins or one 20 cm spring-form cake tin.
Cream together butter, icing sugar, lemon zest and egg yolks. Stir in sifted dry ingredients and then milk. Spoon into prepared tins and bake for 15-20 min or until skewer inserted comes out clean. Please only fill in half of the tin as the cake rises a bit.
Remove from the tins to cool. Secure non-stick paper collars with string and saturate cakes with blueberry (or raspberry) crush syrup.

Blueberry ( or raspberry crush ) syrup

1 1/2 cups sugar ( I used only 1 cup as I felt that it would be too sweet otherwise)
1/4 cup water ( a bit less)
juice of 2 lemons
300g blueberries ( or raspberries)

Place sugar, water and lemon juice into a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved.Boil for 2-3 minutes.
Add blueberries (or raspberries) and lightly crush. Boil for another 2-3 minutes. Pour over cakes.

Around the World meme

I saw this meme when visiting The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz. As she left the invitation open to whoever would like to answer it I have decided to give it a go. There are so many lovely blogs that could have also been mentioned..

1. Please list three recipes you have recently book marked from food blogs to try:

Well, recently is a concept that sometimes I hold on geological terms. On 7^th February Paz from The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz published a great recipe of Crab and Corn chowder. Crab and corn are two passions of mine. I am still to prepare this recipe. Another recipe that is actually fairly recent is a recipe from the blog KitchenSpace, Blueberry Pie. I love blueberries and Anna’s recipes are always so lovely and she talks about them all with such passion. A third recipe is the one for Fried Ochra from Flavours. I have eaten loads of Okra’s whilst growing up but never fried ones so this is a must.

I just want to say that it has been a very hard task selecting only 3 recipes.

2. A food blog in your vicinity

Not too sure about a close one. However I will select one in England as well – Nordljus. Keiko has such fabulous photographs and recipes. Every time I visit her blog I feel transported to another dimension. You MUST visit her blog. The photographs are pure poetry.

3. A food blog located far from you

Far from me, further than my home country, is Pecado da Gula. It is a blog by Clarice Akemi. It is in Portuguese but Clarice lives in Japan.

4A food blog (or several) you have discovered recently (where did you find it?)

This is a difficult one since I have not been able to visit the web much recently. However I did get a lovely message from a site I had not heard of before, Posy Party Cakes. She has lovely cakes – small ones , just the way I love them. Check it out! Another new one is Nami Nami. Pille has some great recipes.

5. Any people or bloggers you want to tag with this meme?

I will leave it open to whoever would like to answer them.

Three Cheese Tart

Another lovely little recipe from issue 5 of the Donna Hay magazine. It kept tickling me for a while and I finally gave in and prepared it. It tastes really lovely. The recipe says ‘eat cold or hot’. Personally I prefer it hot. Lovely with a beautiful green salad.

It is pretty quick to put together. You could even say that the most laborious bit is the buttering of the filo. When you put it on the table it looks really pretty which is also nice as I am a firm believer in that eating starts with the eyes.

8 sheets filo pastry

60g butter melted

Filling

500g fresh ricotta cheese

2 eggs

½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese

100g mild blue vein cheese, finely chopped

1 tablespoon oregano leaves

Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Rectangular tart tin with removable base – 11 cm x 34 cm

Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 160o fan/ 350oF. Brush a sheet of filo with melted butter. Top with another sheet and brush with more butter. Repeat with the remaining sheets and butter. Place the pastry into the tart tin and trim any excess.

To make the filling, combine the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, blue vein cheese, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Spoon into the pastry shell and bake for 30 minutes or until the filling is set and golden. Serve warm or cold. Serves 6.

Flat Apple and Vanilla Pie

This recipe was in the cover of the Good Food magazine, Oct 2005 issue. I am somehow fascinated by cooked desserts with apples. This one was just irresistible. It is also dead simple and quick to prepare. Providing that you have some puff pastry sitting around in your fridge you can prepare it in no time. Be it a treat to an unexpected guest or to yourself and your family. I can see it going really well with a dollop of Greek yoghurt, or cream fraîche or ice cream. You get the crunchiness of the tart and the creaminess of the latter.

375g pack puff pastry, preferably all-butter

5 large eating apples

Juice of 1 lemon

25g of butter, cut into small pieces

3 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp caster sugar

3 rounded tbsp apricot conserve

Heat oven to 220oC/180oC fan/gas 7. Roll out the pastry and trim to a round about 35cm across Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and toss them in the lemon juice. Spread over the pastry to within 2cm of the edges. Curl up the edges slightly to stop the juices running off.

Dot the top with the butter and sprinkle with vanilla and caster sugar. Bake for 15-20mins until the apples are tender and the pastry crisp.

Warm the conserve and brush over the apples and pastry edge. Serve it hot

Soft-centred chocolate puddings

This is a great recipe. So practical and delicious too. I decided to make it at the last minute and as the recipe is not too laborious it was no trouble. The result is a lovely pudding that is moist inside and so chocolatey.very yummy. I served it with strawberries to break the sweetness of the desert. Plain yoghurt is also a lovely combination or crème fraîche even. I got the recipe out of Bill Granger’s Bills Open Kitchen book. I always go for his books if I want last minute treats. And I have to say that I am very rarely disappointed with the outcome.

200g good quality dark chocolate, chopped

100g unsalted butter, chopped

3 eggs, lightly beaten

115g caster sugar

2 tablespoons plain flour

To serve

Thick (double/heavy) cream, strawberries, crème fraîche

Preheat the oven to 200oC (400oC/Gas mark 4). Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water, and stir until just melted.

Place the eggs, sugar and flour in a bowl and mix until just combined. Gradually mix in the chocolate mixture. Pour the mixture into four 250ml ovenproof ramekins and place on a baking tray. Bake until the edges are set, about 15 minutes. Serve with cream or crème fraîche plus strawberries or other berries.

Chocolate Cookies

The original recipe was taken from Culinary in the Desert, the wonderful and inspiring blog by Joe. The recipe is called ‘Chocolate Pretzel Cookies’. I couldn’t bake the cookies on the day I prepared the dough and it sat in the fridge for a few days until I was finally able to bake them. I can assure you that the dough keeps beautifully in case you want to get it done in advance. Why didn’t I make the original pretzel shaped cookies? Laziness. I know, it’s not something to be proud of. However, it is good to know that there are different ways of baking these cookies. They are truly lovely and reminded me a lot of Orio cookies. A friend who was here when I baked them mentioned that they reminded her of these cookies we have back in Brazil called Negrescos. They are related to Orios.

½ cup icing sugar

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softned

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons good quality vanilla extract

¼ cup unsweetened good quality chocolate powder

1 ¼ cups plain flour

Egg wash

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in salt and vanilla. Mix in the flour and cocoa until everything is combined. Wrap dough in some plastic wrap and flatten it to a disk. Set in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180oC gas oven/160oC fan assisted oven/ 350oC/gas mark 4.

Take table tennis ball sized pieces of dough from the disk. Shape each dough piece into a 10” long rope and form the ropes into a pretzel shape and set on parchment lined baking sheet. If you would rather have cookies just shape them to your preference and line them on the lined baking sheet.

In a small bowl, whisk egg white an water together until foamy. Brush each cookie with egg white glaze and sprinkle coarse with white sugar on the top. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are firm. Transfer to a wire rack to cook completely. Makes about 24.

More cookies

Blueberry muffins

Muffins are a passion of mine. I love giving them to friends as well as eating them of course. This is a lovely recipe which is not very sweet, just about right. Each muffin is filled with blueberries, and terribly moist. Pure goodness. If I am up for an early start I will prepare the dry ingredients and put them in a bowl the night before. As I wake up I only turn the oven on, melt the butter and mix all the liquid ingredients. By the time the oven is ready I just mix dry and wet, pour in the muffin cases …and we have lovely muffins within 20 minutes.

75g unsalted butter

200g plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

75g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

200ml buttermilk (or 100g yogurt and 100ml semi skimmed milk)

1 large egg

200g blueberries

Muffin tray

Pre-heat the oven to 200oC gas/180oC fan/gas mark 6. Prepare the muffin tray with 12 paper cases.

Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Melt the butter and let it cool. In the meantime put the egg and buttermilk in a separate bowl.When the butter is cool add it to the wet ingredients and beat it all up. Make a well in the centre of the bowl with the dry ingredients and pour the wet one. Mix it al with a fork so that the mixture stays lumpy. Fold the blueberries in and mix it just gently. Spoon the mixture in the muffin tins and leave it in the oven for 20 minutes approximately.

Pasta with Chilli and Bacon

Mid week, long day in the office, it is great to get home and to be able to knock something out that will be rushed but nice. This is a very quick recipe to prepare but nonetheless really lovely. Up to the moment right before you add the mascarpone it looks like any other pasta dish. The mascarpone adds creaminess. Really lovely. During the week I use a lot of dried pasta as there is not much time to prepare my own. If you have your own homemade pasta just adjust the cooking time.

450g spaghetti

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 red chillies, seeded and chopped

6 rashers of bacon, rind removed, chopped

¾ cup mascarpone

½ cup shredded fresh basil

Cracked black pepper

Parmesan cheese to serve

Boil the pasta according to the instructions in the packet. While the pasta is cooking, heat frying pan over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, chillies and bacon and cook for another 4 minutes, until the bacon is crisp.

Drain the pasta and return it to the hot saucepan. Place over low heat and add the chilli and bacon mixture together with the mascarpone, basil and pepper. Mix to combine. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Raspberry and pistachio cake

This cake is just like the ones I like: practical, quick to prepare and delicious. The buttermilk makes the cake very moist. When you take a bite you have a very fluffy and moist cake, with a fabulous tangy taste of the raspberries and the crunchiness of the pistachio. Soooooo good. You can omit the icing if you just want to have a nice, straight forward cake. I got this recipe from Donna Hay magazine, issue 5.

125g unsalted butter, softened

280g sugar

2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind

2 eggs

250g plain flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

250ml buttermilk

1 cup frozen raspberries

½ cup chopped pistachios

Icing

1 cup icing sugar sifted

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC/350oF/160o fan assisted oven. Line a 9 x 23 cm loaf tin with a non stick baking paper.

Place the butter, sugar and orange rind in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 6 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the eggs and beat well. Fold through the flour, baking powder and buttermilk. Gently fold through the raspberries and pistachios.

Spoon the mixture in the prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack.

To make the icing, mix the sugar and orange juice until smooth, then drizzle over the cooled cake.

Victoria Sponge with Raspberry Icing

I made this recipe thinking of my neighbour’s little girl. I think that this is a child’s type of cake, the colours, and the dream like look. The wonderful thing about baking for children is that they show straight away whether they like it or not. I chose the icing with the fruit for colouring as well as flavour because I am not too keen on artificial food colouring.

I recommend you bake it when you have children around or for when you fancy a girly tea session with loads of sweet treats and no guilt. This is a cake to have fun with. The sponge is really delicious and I felt like a little girl as I tucked into the layers of naughtiness.

200g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 eggs lightly beaten

200g butter, softened

200g sugar

2 tablespoons milk, room temperature

Pre-heat the oven to a temperature of 190oC. Grease two 17.5cm tins and line the bottom with parchment paper. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat them until a soft mixture is achieved.

Divide the mixture equally amongst the two prepared tins. Smooth the top and bake in the middle shelf for approximately 20 min. Let it cool in the tin form approximately 10min.

Icing:

190g sugar

190g unsalted butter, softened

100g raspberries

In a bowl, beat the butter and icing sugar together until creamy. In a separate bowl sieve the raspberries. Incorporate the sieved raspberries to the butter and icing sugar mixture and mix well until the colour has changed – you can add it gradually until you achieve the colour you like.

Place one of the cakes on a stand and spread the icing thickly over it. I also threw the pulp over the icing so that there was no waste. Place the other half of the cake on top and dust it with icing sugar. To finish it off put raspberries on top and serve straight away.

Spiced Beef with couscous and a salad of cucumber, tomato and onion

This is a lovely meal that can be put together very quickly. It is recommended for when either you don’t have loads of time or are too hungry to wait for too long till dinner/lunch is ready. The meat has a lovely taste of cumin and coriander and it goes really well with the couscous. The three minutes are recommended if you like rare beef. For medium I suggest 4 minutes, and 5 if well done. The lovely salad adds a bit of colour to the dish as well as goodness. You can add some chopped chilli to the salad if you would like to give it a bit of a kick.

750g rum steak, trimmed

1 teaspoon each ground cumin and coriander

Oil for greasing

For the sambal:

1 tomato, finely chopped

1 cucumber, finely chopped

½ red onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil extra-virgen

2 teaspoons lime juice

Sal and pepper

For the couscous:

2 cups of vegetable stock

2 cups couscous

20g butter

3 green onions, finely chopped

Prepare the salad: combine the tomato, cucumber, onion, oil and lime juice. Mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Prepare the couscous: prepare the stock mixing it with boiling water. Place couscous in a heatproof bowl and pour the hot stock over the couscous. Cover the dish with a clean tea towel and leave it to rest for 5 minutes. Stir with a fork to separate the grains, and then stir in butter and green onions. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Sprinkle steak with combined cumin and coriander. Cook in a deep frying pan over high heat for 3 minutes on each side.

Arrange the steak, couscous and salad on a plate and serve.

Chickpea, Feta & Coriander Salad

Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros is one of those books that have inspired me immensely since I bought it. I keep going back to it over and over again, and always find loads of things that I want to prepare. That’s where I came across this recipe.

I have to admit that my first attraction when I saw it was the word ‘chickpea’. I have a long love affair with chickpeas, and have been known to eating them straight out of a tin. Eating so many to the point of feeling unwell. For many years I would eat them always cooked in stews or in hummus. More recently I have been desperately looking for all sorts of recipes for chickpeas. In this recipe the feta adds a lovely creamy element to the salad, and in my opinion it goes awfully well with the chickpeas. I have made it with and without the coriander and both versions are lovely. I know that many people find coriander too overpowering so don’t be afraid to prepare it without the coriander as you will still have all the lovely flavours. The same can be said for the chillies – they are an optional element.

• 250g dried chickpeas(without skins if possible), soaked overnight in cold water; or 400g tinned chickpeas
• 250ml olive oil
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
• 1 or 2 red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
• 250g crumbled feta cheese
• 4 spring onions, green part only, chopped
• 25g chopped coriander
• 30g chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Juice of 1 lemon

If using dried chickpeas, rinse them and put them in a saucepan, covered with loads of water. Bring to the boil. Lower the heat slightly and cook for 1-1 ½ hours, until they are soft but not falling apart. Add the salt towards the end of the cooking. When cooled, drain them and put the chickpeas in a large bowl, removing all the skin. If using tinned chickpeas, drain and rinse them before transferring to a bowl.

Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and fry the red onion gently until it is cooked through and lightly golden Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a few more seconds until you can smell the garlic. Take care not to brown the garlic. Leave to cool completely.

Add the feta, spring onion, coriander, parsley and lemon juice to the chickpeas and season with pepper and dash more salt, if needed. Add the cooled garlic oil and the remaining olive oil and mix through very well.

Green Beans and Aubergine with chilli and lime

Another aubergine recipe.This time with an oriental touch to it. It is a very quick and straight forward dish. At the same time it offers a variation to the usual aubergine recipe. It is nice to have with pan fried pork or prawns. I have also had it as a main – just by doubling up the portion. I am on a Donna Hay phase and this recipe is also from one of her magazines.

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 long red chilli, seeded and chopped

150g green beans, trimmed

4 slender aubergines (350g), sliced diagonally

½ cup coconut milk (120ml)

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons chopped coriander

Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the chilli, beans and aubergines and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until just tender. Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and lime juice. Simmer for 3-4 minutes. Serve sprinkled with coriander.

Baby apple upside-down cakes

The original recipe is in a Donna Hay magazine, issue 2. When I first made it I felt quite disappointed with the result as it was rather bland. Nothing special about it really. Apart from the apple slice on top there was nothing fruity about it at all. As I really like cakes with apple I thought that perhaps I could jazz it up a little bit. I then came up with the idea of adding the chopped apples and the cinnamon. The little cakes were revided. The chopped apples added needed moisture, and the cinnamon..well, to me there is no apple cake without a touch of cinnamon. The result is this lovely little cake, moist and very pretty. Delicious with a cup of tea. I hope you enjoy it as well.

12 teaspoons golden syrup/honey

2 small Pink Lady apples, each cut into 6, 1cm slices

100g caster sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

160g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

120g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup chopped apple

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC. Place 1 full teaspoon of golden syrup in the base of 12 greased ½ cup capacity non-stick muffin tins. Place an apple slice on top of the golden syrup. Trim the slices to fit if necessary.

To make the cake, beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla using an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes or until thick and pale. Fold in the sifted flour, cinnamon and baking powder, and melted butter, until just combined. Throw in the chopped apples and mix just to incorporate the apples. Spoon the mixture over the apple in the tin only up to ¾ of the full measure. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin.

Don’t worry if the apple stays in the bottom of the pan. Just place it on top of the cake. Spoon the syrup which remains in the bottom of the tin over the apple to drizzle the cake. It goes well with thick cream or vanilla ice cream.