I wouldn’t have thought of combining beetroot and celery, but thumbing through Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking I was intrigued by her description of this “admirable winter salad”. Continue reading
Tag Archives: vegetarian
Japanese sesame spinach (horenso no gomaae)
20 Feb
This dish of blanched spinach in a sesame seed dressing takes me straight back to my time living in Japan. Tokyo was (and is) an expensive city, and we ate in most nights — Japanese food mainly.
The local shops didn’t sell anything else, and anyway, it was fun to buy unfamiliar ingredients and figure out what to do with them.
Lemon poppy seed muffins
14 Jan
I almost always make muffins for breakfast on Saturday morning.
For years, my go-to recipe has been these blueberry bran muffins, but in last few months lemon poppyseed muffins have been giving them a run for their money. Continue reading
Trifle
22 Dec
I make trifle only once a year – over the Christmas holiday, when a big creamy, custardy, boozy bowl of indulgence seems like just what Santa ordered…;-)
This is a very different trifle to my Grandma Ivy’s, which calls for red and green jello, candied fruit and optional coconut macaroons(!).
(If I’m to realise my ambition of cooking every family recipe in Fern’s Food, I’ll have to give it a go some Christmas, but we’re keeping it classic this year.) Continue reading
Endive, pear, walnut and blue cheese salad
19 Dec
This is one of my favourite winter salads, especially at this time of year.
Fresh and light without being worthy, endive, pear, walnut and blue cheese salad is nice counterpoint to the the rich food we’ve been indulging in.
It’s also delicious, with each ingredient bringing something to the party. Continue reading
Onion-tahini sauce
31 Oct
Onion tahini sauce is a legacy of my student days, when I would make this dish most weeks.
And not just because it was dirt cheap. The tahini, cumin and soy sauce come together in an unexpectedly delicious, savoury, satisfying way, delivering a wallop of what I now know to be umami. Continue reading
Fake soufflé
13 Oct
Fake soufflé was one of mum’s dinner party staples in the 1970s, but I remember she found the name embarrassing.
As if she was cheating her guests by not providing a “real” soufflé instead of this light, fluffy, delicious concoction.
I think fake soufflé could do with a rebrand. Continue reading
Pita bread
1 Oct
Despite doing a science degree at university (or maybe because of it), I find regular moments of magic in cooking.
Egg whites stiffening into peaks, eggs and oil transforming themselves into mayonnaise, sugar melting into caramel – these things bring me genuine, uncomplicated pleasure.
Watching pita breads blowing themselves up like little balloons through the glass door of the oven is another one.
Spinach and water chestnut dip
27 Sep
Spinach and water chestnut dip was all the rage in the 1970s, and I adored it.
An unlikely cast of ingredients – spinach, water chestnuts, powdered soup mix and mayonnaise – come together in the most silky, savoury, crunchy way imaginable.
As I remember, it was usually served in a hollowed out bread loaf, surrounded by chunks of bread for dipping. Continue reading
Lotus salad
17 Sep
Years ago, my cousin part-owned a funky café-gallery called The Whip, in what was then a pretty scruffy part of east Vancouver.
The first time I ate there, I ordered the intriguingly named lotus salad – baby spinach tossed with blue cheese, dried cranberries and sunflower seeds, drizzled in a blackberry vinaigrette.
It was love at first bite, and I’ve been making my own version ever since. Continue reading
Plum butter (pflaumenmus)
13 Sep
Plum butter – or pflaumenmus – is a German plum spread. Unlike the other jams I make, pflaumenmus is baked slowly in a low oven, which seems to intensify the flavour.
I made pflaumenmus for the first time last autumn. We hoovered up the first batch so fast, I had time to make a second one before the plum season ended.
Spinach mushroom kitchri
9 Sep
This thick porridge of mung beans and rice might look like something Oliver Twist would have declined, but for me, a warm bowl of khitchri is pure comfort food. Continue reading
Waffles
5 Sep
This is Ten More Bites first-ever guest post, brought to you by my daughter Lyra:
Hello! This is Lyra, writing this blog post today about how to make waffles.
We love to make waffles for breakfast and so long as you have a waffle iron it takes no more then fifteen minutes.
P.S. this recipe makes six large waffles…
Sweet potato fries
24 Aug
When the girls were small, I’d usually have a bag of oven chips in the freezer to serve alongside fish fingers and peas when they had friends round for tea.
Now that our fish finger days are behind us, I almost never make chips (oven or otherwise), but I’ll occasionally rustle up a tray of sweet potato fries. Continue reading
Turkish bread
29 Jul
Whenever I eat in a Turkish restaurant, I resolve not to stuff myself with Turkish bread and dips leaving no room for my main course. And invariably fail…
The bread is fresh, warm and pillowy soft, the dips so creamy, garlicky, and moreish, it’s almost impossible to resist.
Asparagus with wasabi mayonnaise
21 Jul
Asparagus with wasabi mayonnaise is a really nice, simple summer appetiser.
It contains so few ingredients – and is so straightforward to make – that it’s more of an idea than an actual recipe. Continue reading
Salame de chocolate
15 Jul
Portugal’s salame de chocolate is a little bit of kitchen fun.
A rich chocolately mixture studded with biscuits and nuts, shaped into a sausage and rolled in powdered sugar to resemble one of those dry-cured salamis. Continue reading
Fainá
12 Jul
Fainá is a thick pancake (or flatbread) made of chickpea flour – and not much else.
It’s baked in a pizza pan in a hot oven, emerging crispy on the outside with an eggy-creamy interior.
Apparently, Uruguayans like to top their pizza slices with a wedge of fainá.
Continue reading
Basler leckerli
10 Jul
There’s something gingerbready about basler leckerli – despite the absence of ginger. And something Christmassy too, with the cloves, nutmeg and mixed peel.
So they weren’t my first choice for our World Cup cook-off, but the thought of eating cheese fondue in the sweltering heat tipped it in their favour.
Ful medames
9 Jul
Mashed fava beans for breakfast… and why not?
It’s only a small step from the baked beans slopped onto every full English served in the UK.
And Egypt’s ful medames are all the nicer for not being in a sickly sweet tomato sauce. Continue reading
Churros with chocolate sauce
8 Jul
Churros and chocolate sauce and another day of sun… It’s enough to make you feel like you’re on holiday… Continue reading
Kanelbullar (cinnamon rolls)
7 Jul
Swedish kanelbullar are more wholesome than the Canadian cinnamon buns I grew up with – smaller, more bready, less sticky and sickly-sweet.
I was surprised at how well the citrusy cardamom stood its ground against the cinnamon sugar. All in all, a very satisfying thing to eat.
Tarte tropézienne
6 Jul
I first discovered the marvellous tarte tropézienne on a family holiday in Provence.
Queueing in the local bakery, I noticed several of the customers ahead of me were choosing what looked like a large, cream-filled hamburger bun.
Jollof rice
5 Jul
Jollof rice is an excellent dish to bring to a buffet or barbeque.
Moderately spiced, with layers of flavour from the pepper-tomato paste and mix of spices, it’s definitely a crowd pleaser.
I usually keep it vegetarian so that everyone can eat it, but any leftovers reheat very well. Continue reading
Alegrías
2 Jul
I’m always on the lookout for easy, healthy-ish snacks to make for the kids, and I thought these Mexican alegrías sounded promising.
Amaranth is a great source of protein and nutrients, but there’s too much sugar involved for me to consider alegrías healthy.
Zapiekanka
30 Jun
A zapiekanka is Poland’s answer to cheese on toast. Sautéed mushrooms are heaped onto a split baguette, covered with grated cheese and browned under a grill.
Zapiekanka is an excellent contender to represent Poland in our 2018 World Cup cook-off. Tasty (points all round), cheesy (ditto) and easy (extra points from me).
I even tracked down some Polish ketchup for authenticity. Its spicy sharpness was well received, and definitely worked in Poland’s favour.
The only thing dividing the judges was my younger daughter’s dislike of mushrooms.
Krompir salata (Serbian potato salad)
27 Jun
With its sweet and sour dressing, krompir salata is a departure from our go-to potato salads – French potato salad and mum’s potato salad.
I made it to accompany these outsized Serbian hamburgers in our World Cup 2018 cook-off.
Papas a la huancaina
26 Jun
In this Peruvian salad, thick slices of potato are blanketed in a delicious spicy cheese sauce and teamed with hard-boiled eggs and olives.
It all plays very nicely together, and unlike the Peruvian team it is in with a chance in our World Cup 2018 cook-off.
The huancaina sauce is definitely the star of the show. It tastes like you hope that nasty yellow nacho cheese sauce is going to taste (and never does). Continue reading
Orange and olive salad
25 Jun
I love this classic Moroccan salad. Sweet orange slices and salty olives are a winning combination in my book.
Also in its favour, it takes minutes to make and looks beautiful arranged on a contrasting platter. Continue reading
Salatu niebe
24 Jun
Bright, colourful, spicy, fresh… Senegal’s salatu niebe is something I’ll definitely make again after our World Cup 2018 cook-off is over.
This recipe makes a lot, so it’s fortunate salatu niebe keeps well in the fridge.
I served it on a bed of shredded lettuce one day, and heaped it into avocado halves the next. It would also work well stuffed into a pitta or wrap. Continue reading
Icelandic pancakes
22 Jun
Iceland brings these delicious, crepe-style pancakes to our World Cup cook-off table.
They couldn’t contrast more with the Japanese fluffy pancakes, but once again the judges awarded them a perfect score.
Thin, light-yet-crisp, Icelandic pancakes have a welcome lack of sweetness. There is no sugar at all in the batter, just a little sprinkle of caster sugar after they are cooked. Continue reading
Lamingtons
21 Jun
Australia looks a strong contender in this year’s World Cup cook-off with their offer of lamingtons.
A delicate chocolate-coconut exterior conceals a substantial cake centre. Kind of like Giggs and Beckham on either side of Roy Keane, back in the day…:-)
The first time I made lamingtons was for an Australia Day celebration. I didn’t notice the advice about baking the cake a day in advance, and had a torrid time of the dipping and rolling.
There was much language and attrition, but the lamingtons I managed to produce met with our Aussie friends’ approval. Continue reading
Japanese fluffy pancakes
19 Jun
Japan’s inventiveness and attention to detail might take them all the way in this year’s World Cup cook-off.
According to my older daughter, these fluffy Japanese pancakes “are practically perfect in every way”.
They certainly look impressive, and have a lovely, soft (and fluffy) texture. Apparently, the mayonnaise is what makes these pancakes so moist.
I did find them a bit fiddly to flip, but I’m sure it’s a matter of practice. (Which I’m certain to get, as everyone loved them so much.)
Soparnik
16 Jun
I’ve yet to visit Croatia, but I’ve heard wonderful things about the food. So I feared my version of soparnik had done the Croatians a disservice in our World Cup 2018 cook-off.
In this Dalmatian classic, a simple filling of chopped greens, onions and garlic is pressed between two thin layers of pastry and baked until golden and crisp.
It sounded lovely, but the first bite was a little underwhelming. But as it sat a little longer, pastry and filling merged into a more cohesive whole, the pastry softened and the flavour emerged. Continue reading
Garlicky aubergine dip (mirza ghazemi)
15 Jun
This garlicky aubergine and tomato dip is the most moreish dish I’ve eaten in a long while.
Rich, deeply flavoured and velvety soft, it is delicious spooned onto warm bread.
I had visions of taking the leftovers for my work lunch. However the rest of the family fell upon this dip like a pack of starved hyenas.
I’ll be doubling the recipe next time. Continue reading
Green borscht
14 Jun
From Russia with… green borscht. Actually, calling this soup green is generous. An unappealing khaki is closer to the mark.
But what green borscht (or shchaveloviy borscht to use its Russian name) lacks in looks, it makes up for in taste. Fresh and bright with lemony sorrel, herbs and gently cooked vegetables, it’s both light and satisfying. Continue reading
Tomato salad with pomegranate molasses
11 Jun
This tomato salad with pomegranate molasses is a recent happy discovery.
Someone brought it to a friend’s barbeque buffet, and only good manners stopped me from eating an unseemly amount.
It turns out freshly sliced tomatoes and pomegranate molasses do very good things to one another.
Tataki kyuri (smashed cucumber salad)
20 Apr
I tried this chilled cucumber salad at a Japanese pop-up kitchen the other day, and was intrigued both by the texture and the depth of flavour.
Turns out giving the cucumbers a few whacks with a rolling pin before dressing them is the secret. Continue reading
Cream of cauliflower soup
5 Mar
This cream of cauliflower soup has the silkiest texture. I sometimes omit the cream– replacing it with more milk – and it still comes out rich and smooth.
Horseradish combines beautifully with cauliflower. Along with the lemon juice, it adds a bit of heat and brightness to the mix. Continue reading
Broccoli spread
28 Feb
I wasn’t sure what to call this broccoli concoction…
It started out as broccoli confit, but I’ve cut so much on the oil that the name no longer fits. I thought of broccamole, but decided the lack of avocados ruled that one out.
Patés are too smooth, dips are for dipping. Which led me to “spread” – so broccoli spread it is.
Whatever the name, it’s very moreish stuff. I serve it as an appetiser on toasted sourdough or crackers. I also eat it with a spoon straight out of the fridge. Continue reading
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