Friday 16 May 2014

Nut crusted chickpea burger


The other day I was talking about food with a friend ~ a mum who works, and cooks a lot of meat in the slow cooker for tea. She said she would like to cook something vegetarian for her kids, something that's protein packed. So, with the power of the internet I  worked out that 100g of this chickpea burger has about the same amount of protein as 100g of chicken. Weather your kids would actually eat it is a different question?? Mine didn't but he's fussy, but then he wouldn't eat chicken either. Me and Jamie loved them though, and they can be made in advance, then baked for 30 minutes when you get home.

The nut crust is made from Brazil nuts which can only be produced in a healthy rainforest ecosystem, so they are good for the planet! 
I've served it with home made roast tomato ketchup, and a flatbread made with yoghurt.
This recipe makes 4 x 6oz burgers.

For the burger you will need:

1 tin of chickpeas ~ 250g when drained          75p
250g potatoes                                              20p
80g cheddar cheese                                       60p
50g flour                                                       3p
A pinch of salt                                                1p

140g broken Brazil nuts                             £2.20

TOTAL                                                    £3.79

Chop and cook the potatoes, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Mash them together, add the cheese, flour and salt. Then on a floured surface bring the mixture together.



Chop the Brazil nuts then toast them in the oven, gas 4 / 180c for 20 minutes, keep stirring them about every 5 minutes to stop them burning.  When they are cool, whizz or bash (in a bag, with a rolling pin) them into crumbs.


On a floured surface divide the chickpea mix into 4 and shape into burger shapes.  I then decided to add some pesto into the middle just for some excitement! So if you want to do this too just slice them open and spread some pesto on then close and re~shape.


Next whisk an egg, brush it on one side of the burger then lay the eggy side on the crumb mix, then egg and crumb the top side.


Place them on a lightly oiled tray and bake in the oven gas 5 / 190c for  30~35 minutes.


This is I made my own ketchup, although my own 7 year old prefers the boring one from the bottle!


Roast:

700g tomatoes 
2 small sliced onions
2 cloves garlic 
1/2 tsp Smoked paprika
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp  mixed spice
1 tsp salt 
3 tsp sugar
6 dsp Olive oil

When they were done, put into a pan over a medium heat.  Add 50ml wine vinegar I used red but you can use white. Leave to bubble for 30 minutes and add more sugar if you think it needs it and tomato puree if you have any. Blend it when it's cool.

And to make 8 flat breads:


You need:

200g g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
200 ~ 250g plain yoghurt
1 tsp salt

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix in the yoghurt until if makes a soft dough. Roll them out into a roundish shape on a floured surface, and cook in a lightly oiled frying pan for a few minutes each side.

Put it all together with some salad leaves and................voila!




Friday 9 May 2014

White bean & herb cheese salad


This weeks recipe is a protein packed delicious and refreshing salad. I didn't really make with protein in mind, I just wanted to make something white & green to go with the wild garlic flowers that have filled our garden. I've also been getting some more free food week from Fruity Corners which is a a beautiful community garden in Lancaster where edible plants are grown and they're available for picking.


For the beans I felt I should soak and cook them from dried ~ I don't know why?? beacause they took hours to cook!  I usually use tinned beans which are maybe a bit soft but also, they're fine.  
For this recipe you will need to make your own cottage cheese! 


You will need:

A bunch of herbs ~ this is what I picked ~ Sea beet, Mint, Dill & Marjoram           FREE
140g    Dried Butter beans or Cannellini beans, or 1 & 1/2 tins                               83p
4 Spring onions                                                                                                  40p
1 Lemon, zested and juiced                                                                                  30p
1 ltr  Full fat milk ~ I used organic                                                                   £1.00
5 dsp double cream ~ not needed if you already have creamy topped milk               15p
1 tsp salt                                                                                                            3p
A spoon of olive oil                                                                                               3p
A piece of muslin or cheesecloth  (1mtr X 150cm makes 4)                                     75p

Total                                                                                                            £3.49

This makes enough for at least 4 portions.


First, in fact yesterday, soak the beans in cold water over night.
Then cook the beans in water for an hour and a half ~ or until edible. Or drain and rinse the tinned beans.  

At the same time put the milk on to stove.

I have read, that to cook cheese all your utensils must be very clean and I also read this only too late! 'Since cheese making involves an acidification of the milk the use of aluminum or cast iron utensils are not appropriate' Ooops. 


Heat the milk until it steams, but does not boil. Remove from the heat and add 1 tsp of lemon juice and slowly stir for a few minutes. Let it rest for an hour while the curds separate from the whey.

This didn't work for me first time, maybe it hadn't been hot enough? Maybe not enough lemon juice? Maybe the cast iron pan??  So I put it back on the stove and heated it up again and poured in the rest of the lemon juice which all worked and looked like this:

 
Place the cheesecloth over a big bowl  (I tied it with string.) Pour in the mixture and strain the curds from the whey, let them drain for 5 minutes.


Then rinse the curds by gathering the cheesecloth and holding it under a cold tap until they are completely cooled. Squeeze out all water to the get the curds as dry as you can.

Keep the whey!

You are left with about a litre of whey which can be added, instead of water to all your baking and more.   I'm going to make this here ciabatta bread which will go nicely with the salad.


 Place the cheese in a bowl and add the cream and salt to taste.


For the salad:

Chop your herbs, spring onions, sea beet and garlic flower stems.


Mix them all together in a bowl with the cooked & rinsed beans and then add the cheese.


Add some olive oil & carefully mix it all together.


Add salt and pepper, plate up and garnish with garlic flowers, lemon zest and olive oil.


Nice!  

Friday 2 May 2014

Dukka spiced chocolate truffles



If you live round these parts you may well have eaten at The Masons Arms otherwise known as  'The Strawberry Bank' a lovely pub in a lovely spot, serving very nice food. 
Last time I went there we had Dukka for a starter ~ Oh my!! I'd never tried, or heard of it before ~  I was incredibly excited by it's deliciousness, so I asked the waiter what was in it and he nipped off  and got the recipe for me! 

Then, one Christmas, probably after a few, I thought it would go rather well in a Chocolate Truffle, so the Dukka is made into a Praline then added to a Chocolate Truffle mixture.  
And amazingly enough ~ today is National Truffle Day!!  So here, for your delight, is the recipe.

First make the Dukka.  You can use any combination of nuts and seed, Pistachios work well too.


For the Dukka:

40g Hazelnuts
40g Almonds
40g Sesame seeds
40g Sunflower seeds

Toast these nuts in a pan over a medium heat, keep stirring so they don't burn, leave to cool in a bowl.

2 tsp Coriander seeds 
2 tsp Fennel seeds
2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Smoked paprika
2 tsp Sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

Toast these spices in a pan over a medium heat then add to the nuts ~ leave to cool then whizz them all together in a food processor, or if you don't have one  put the mix in a sealed bag and bash with a rolling pin. 

This makes about 180g of Dukka, next thing is to make this into Praline, but first test out the deliciousness of Dukka  ~ dip your bread in olive oil & balsamic vinegar, then into the Dukka! 
If you happen to live in Lancaster then use the best bread in town from Filberts Bakery, it goes perfectly with it!


For the Praline:

80g Sugar
100g Dukka

Pour the sugar into a heavy bottomed pan, and turn on a medium/low heat. The sugar starts to melt around the edges after a few minutes, DO NOT STIR, just gently shake it now and again until it's all melted and bubbling, as soon as steam appears turn it off, this is your caramel, it's hot!


Add 100g of Dukka to this, stir with a wooden spoon and pour onto a baking tray or baking paper to cool. When cooled whizz or bash or grind into crumbs. This makes about 200g of crumbs as long as you didn't eat too much Dukka before hand.


For the Truffles:

180g Dark chocolate
75ml Double cream
40g Butter
100g of Dukka praline crumbs (the rest will be used later)

Melt the chocolate in a bowl in a pan of water, over a low heat. Don't let the water boil over into the chocolate and don't let it get too hot. Do stir from time to time. 
When it's almost melted ~ chop and add the butter. When the butter's melted turn off the heat and add the cream. Stir gently, then add the Dukka crumbs, stir it all in well and leave to cool. 

I put mine in the freezer to speed things up, taking it out every 10 mins to give it a stir, it won't work if you let it completely freeze though!

Finally roll into walnut sized balls and roll in the remaining Dukka crumbs.  Makes about 20 ~ 24.

You may want to eat them all straight away but if you don't they keep pretty well for some time in the fridge.

Hooray!!