Gluten Free · Salad

Celery Salad with Dates, Almonds, and Parmesan

Belinda

Sweet from dates, sour from lemon, bitter from celery, and salty from Parmesan, this salad manages to get all taste buds firing at once.

Wonderful recipe from Joshua McFadden from his “Six Seasons” cookbook. Well worth buying!

Serves 4

½ cup raw almonds, roasted
8 celery stalks, peeled of “string” and thinly sliced (1/4″) on a diagonal, leaves separated
7 Medjool dates, pitted, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 oz Parmesan, shaved with a vegetable peeler
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes or to taste

Preheat oven to 350°.
Spread out almonds on a small rimmed baking sheet; toast, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 8–10 minutes. Let cool; coarsely chop.
Keep the celery in the fridge to keep it crispy. If it starts wilting, immerse in a bowl of iced water for 20 mins, then drain and pat with paper towels

Toss almonds, celery, celery leaves, dates, and lemon juice in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper.
Add Parmesan and oil and toss gently; season with red pepper flakes.

Dairy-free · Fish

Lemon salmon piccata

Belinda

Recipe by Alyssa Rivers

This easy salmon piccata is a delicious yet elegant meal that is great for a weeknight meal or for when you have guests over. The flakey pan-seared salmon nestled in a bed of a creamy lemon and caper sauce will definitely be a crowd-pleaser!

2 tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets
salt and pepper
1 cup flour
3 garlic cloves minced
1/3 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 tbsp fresh thyme
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp Capers
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water

In a medium nonstick skillet add the olive oil over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper the salmon filets. Add the flour to a shallow bowl and coat each side.
Add the salmon skin-side down and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. Flip and continue to cook until the top has a golden brown cut and the salmon flakes easily.
Remove the salmon and set it aside on a plate. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 20 seconds. Add the white wine and fresh lemon juice, and whisk to deglaze the pan. Stir in the thyme, capers, and chicken broth.
In a small bowl whisk the cornstarch and water. Add to the sauce and whisk until it starts to thicken.
Add the salmon back to the sauce and spoon the sauce on top. Serve immediately.

Baking · Do-ahead

ANZAC “biscuits”

Belinda

ANZAC Day, celebrating the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp in the 1st World war, is almost here, which means it’s time to start making our favorite quick and easy “biscuit” of the year. This recipe is very close to the traditional version we all know and love, but with slightly higher amounts of coconut, golden syrup and butter, the end result is more chewy than crumbly.

1¼ cups (110g) rolled oats
1 ¼ cups (110g) desiccated coconut
1 cup (150g) plain flour
150g unsalted butter
¼ cup (90g) golden syrup
1 cup (220g) raw sugar
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 180°C/350F.
Combine the oats, coconut, flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Set aside. Place the butter, golden syrup and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until butter melts. Bring to a simmer and cook for a further 1-2 minutes until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, cool slightly, then add the bicarb soda and 1 tbs water. Stir to combine, then pour over the oat mixture.

Using a wooden spoon, combine butter and oat mixture. Using 1 tbs mixture each, roll into 24 equal-sized balls. Divide between two baking paper-lined baking trays, leaving 3cm between each.

Flatten biscuits slightly, then bake for 10-12 minutes until the top tray is slightly golden. Swap trays and cook for a further 6-8 minutes until all “biscuits” are golden.
Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Do-ahead · Fruit · Holiday Food · Meat

Braised Lamb With Dried Fruit

Belinda

Recipe by Mark Bittman and Sam Sifton

The flavors of North Africa and the Middle East are utilized for this lamb shoulder. Braising the meat in red wine yields a tender cut of meat without a lot of work.

YIELD At least 8 servings
TIME 3 hours, largely unattended

1 lamb shoulder, boned, about 4 pounds. (I know people who have used leg of lamb but the shoulder has more fat therefore is more tender and flavorful)
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon ground cumin ( I roast mine)
2 tablespoons ground coriander
10 allspice berries or a pinch of ground allspice
½ to ¾ bottle not-too-soft red wine
¾ cup dried prunes
¾ cup dried apricots
Chopped parsley or cilantro for garnish

Season the meat with salt and pepper and put it in a pot that will fit it snugly and can later be covered.
Add the spices and a 1/2 bottle of wine.
Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a slow bubble, and cover. Cook about an hour, then add onion, garlic, ginger and dried fruit, and check to make sure the liquid isn’t evaporating too quickly; turn and continue to cook. Add the remaining red wine if the mixture looks dry, but essentially cook this without fuss.
When the meat is very tender — after about 2 1/2 hours — uncover. Check and adjust the seasoning as necessary, and at this point it’s optional whether you remove the cinnamon stick and allspice berries and puree half of the sauce to get it thicker.
garnish and serve.

Chocolate · Dessert · Do-ahead

No-bake chocolate cheesecake

Belinda

Don’t you just love those desserts that require no baking? For those in the USA< you can buy Digestive cookies in Costplus World market, Bristol farms or on Amazon.

100g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for the tin
110g dark chocolate digestive cookies
160g digestive cookies
60g porridge oats
3 tbsp Nutella
360g soft cheese
250g mascarpone
60g icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted
200g dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly (minimum 55% cocoa solids)
2-3 tbsp whole milk
2 tbsp roasted hazelnuts, chopped

Lightly butter a deep 23cm square cake tin and line with baking paper, ensuring that it comes up and over the sides of the tin, and put it in the fridge.

Reserve two of the dark chocolate digestives, then put the rest of the biscuits into a food processor and blitz until fine. Add the oats, melted butter and 1 tbsp of Nutella, then blitz again until it comes together. Tip the crumbs into the chilled tin, spreading them evenly and into all corners, before compacting flat with the base of a glass. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Use an electric whisk to beat together the soft cheeses and icing sugar. When all the sugar has been incorporated, add the melted chocolate, remaining Nutella and 2 tbsp of milk, and beat until fully combined. If the mixture looks a little thick add the extra 1 tbsp of milk. Spoon the filling onto the chilled biscuit base and spread level with a spatula. Crush the last two digestives to crumbs, mix with the chopped hazelnuts and sprinkle evenly across the top of the cheesecake. Chill for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

When completely chilled, release one side of the cheesecake by gently pulling up one length of the baking paper. Holding the paper firmly, angle the tin and pull to slide the base of the cheesecake flat onto a chopping board. Use a sharp knife to cut into slices or squares. This will keep, chilled, for up to a week.

Baking · Breakfast · Dessert · Do-ahead · Egg based · Gluten Free · Rice

Nigella’s rice pudding cake

Belinda

From Nigella
“This is every bit as wonderful as it sounds: an Italian torta di riso, refracted through the prism of someone who loves a bowl of very British rice pudding. The Italians like to stud their rice cake with candied peel, bake it in a tin lined with breadcrumbs or crushed amaretti, and eat it cold; I sprinkle mine with nutmeg, and serve it warm, most frequently with a jewel-bright jam sauce. But it’s also lovely with poached fruit and I can’t help thinking it would be fabulous with a bit of golden syrup drizzled on top, too.

I’m very happy to eat leftovers cold, should I be lucky enough to get them (very much recommended for breakfast) but first time out, I feel, it must be warm, by which I mean to indicate a gentle warmth, rather nearer room temperature than hot. This means the cake is still quite tender, so I should caution you against trying to remove it from its base.”

Yields: 8-12 slices

¾ cup arborio rice
scant 3 cups whole milk
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 lemon
5 tablespoons soft unsalted butter (plus more for greasing tin)
3 large eggs (at room temperature)
⅓ cup superfine sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
nutmeg (for grating)

FOR THE SAUCE
1 cup seedless raspberry jam
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Put the rice, milk and salt into a heavy-based saucepan – I use one of 18cm / 7 inches diameter – and finely grate the zest of the lemon into it.
Over high heat, and stirring regularly, bring to the point where it looks like it’s just about to boil, though do not let it actually boil. Turn the heat down to low, and continue to cook the milk and rice for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the rice is cooked and the milk is absorbed. Keep an eye on it, as you don’t want the milk to start boiling, nor do you want the rice to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Take the pan off the heat, and stir in the 75g / 5 tablespoons of butter until melted. Scrape the contents of the pan into a bowl large enough to take all the remaining ingredients. Leave for about 1 hour to cool. Once it’s at room temperature, you can move on, so heat the oven to 160°C/140°C Fan/325°F, and butter a 20cm / 8-inch springform cake tin.

Separate the eggs, letting the whites fall into a large grease-free bowl (which could be the bowl of a freestanding mixer) and drop the yolks into a wide measuring jug (or a bowl). Whisk the whites until stiff, and set aside for a moment. Add the sugar to the yolks, and whisk – I use a balloon whisk with vigor, rather than an electric one here – until pale and mousse-like.
Add the vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of juice from the zested lemon to the yolks and sugar, and then pour gradually into the cooled rice, folding it in well as you go.

Dollop a large spoonful of the stiffly whisked whites into the rice bowl and stir briskly to lighten the mixture, and then fold in a third of the remaining whites gently but thoroughly, then another third, and when that’s incorporated, fold in the rest. Pour and scrape this mixture gently into the prepared tin.

Grate nutmeg over generously and bake for 45 minutes; by then the top will have set, with no hint of wobble underneath.
Sit on a wire rack for about 1 hour, until it’s just slightly warm.
To ease the unmolding, slip a small spatula all around the edges, unclip the tin, and transfer the cake, still on its base (unless, like me, you don’t mind risking damage trying to remove it), to a flat plate.

Just before you are ready to serve the cake, gently heat the raspberry jam with the lemon juice in a small saucepan, giving it the occasional stir, during which time leave a suitable pitcher filled with hot water in the sink. When the sauce is hot, fill the warmed pitcher (obviously, emptied of its water!) with the garnet-glossy sauce.

Dessert · Do-ahead

Banoffee fridge cake

Belinda

Recipe by Janine Ratcliffe

Everyone knows banoffee pie tastes even better the day after making, when all the flavors have had a chance to meld, so this easy fridge cake takes advantage of that

oil, for the tin
750ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp icing sugar
½ x 397g can Nestlé Carnation Caramel or Nestle “La Lechera” available from supermarkets in the USA
30-32 (about 450g) digestive cookies or Graham crackers
6 small bananas, sliced
50g milk chocolate

Lightly oil a deep 23cm springform tin, then line it with clingfilm (the oil will help the clingfilm stick to the tin).

Whip the cream, vanilla and icing sugar until soft peaks. Scrape the caramel into a bowl and beat with a spoon to loosen it.

Put a layer of cookies in the bottom of the lined tin – you should get about seven in a 23cm tin. Break up another cookie to fill in the cracks.

Dollop over a quarter of the cream and spread out. Top with a layer of banana slices then drizzle over 1 tbsp of caramel sauce.

Repeat with another layer of cookies, another quarter of cream, banana slices and another tbsp of caramel. Repeat again with a third layer.

Add one more layer of cookies but this time only add the rest of the cream, swirling it into a nice pattern. Put in the fridge to chill overnight. Chill the remaining caramel sauce, too.

Unclip the tin and carefully peel away the clingfilm.
Transfer to a flat cake plate. Just before serving, drizzle over more caramel (warm it a little first so it’s drizzle-able) and then sprinkle with chocolate shavings.
Cut into wedges to serve.

Asian flavors · Baking · Do-ahead

Shirni Parwana’s masala carrot cake

Belinda

Shirni Parwana shares their recipe for a carrot cake with garam masala spice, topped with cardamom and lime cream cheese icing. My sister made it recently and it turned out beautifully, although she said she would have not made it quite so sweet

Recipe c/o Gourmet Traveller Magazine

360g coarsely grated carrot (about 2 carrots)
360g caster (superfine) sugar (1 2/3 cups)
250g wholemeal flour (1 2/3 cups)
200ml vegetable oil
4 large eggs, at room temperature
70g sultanas (golden raisins) (1/3 cup)
70g pistachios, coarsely chopped (½ cup)
2½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp ground cloves

Caramelized pistachios
110 gm caster sugar (½ cup)
50 gm coarsely chopped pistachios

Cardamom and lime cream cheese icing
375 gm cream cheese, at room temperature
180 gm pure icing sugar, sifted
Finely grated rind of 2 limes, plus 2 tbsp lime juice
3 tsp coarsely crushed cardamom seeds

Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and butter and line a 20cm-square cake tin with baking paper.
Combine carrot, sugar, flour, oil, eggs, sultanas, pistachios, baking powder and spices in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on low speed until combined, then mix on medium speed until mixture becomes lighter in color (1-2 minutes).
Spread into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven until the cake is golden brown, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre withdraws clean (1¼-1½ hours).
Leave in tin to cool (10 minutes), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely (2 hours). Halve horizontally with a serrated knife.

Meanwhile, for caramelized pistachios, oil a large flat non-stick baking tray and set aside. Heat a large frying pan over high heat and scatter caster sugar evenly over the base and toss occasionally until half-melted (2-3 minutes), then stir to remove any lumps until caramelized (1 minute). Pour into prepared baking tray, scatter pistachios over and set aside to cool (10-15 minutes), then coarsely chop.

For cardamom and cream cheese icing, combine ingredients in an electric mixer bowl, and beat until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Spread half the icing over the bottom half of cake, sandwich with the top, then spread remaining icing over the top. Scatter with caramelized pistachios and serve.
Cake is best eaten on the day it’s made, but will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two days.

Accompaniments · Appetizer Vegetarian

Feta, pine nut, olive and date dip

Belinda

This starter contains crumbled feta, chopped olives, pines nuts and dates. The preserved lemon cuts through the rich creamy taste.

5 fresh Medjool dates, pitted, chopped
1/3 cup mixed olives, pitted, drained, chopped
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
200g feta cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped, plus extra to serve
2 tsp preserved lemon rind, finely chopped, plus extra wedges to serve
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp honey
Crusty bread, toasted, to serve
Vegetables, chopped, to serve

Set aside 1 tablespoon each of the chopped dates, olives and pine nuts.

Place feta, parsley, preserved lemon, oil and the remaining dates, olives and pine nuts in a medium bowl. Season with pepper. Stir to combine. Transfer to a serving plate.

Drizzle dip with honey. Top with reserved dates, olives, pine nuts, extra preserved lemon and extra parsley.
Serve with toasted crusty bread and chopped vegetables.

Accompaniments · Appetizer Vegetarian · Do-ahead · Nuts

Fig and walnut roll

Belinda

This sweet, fruity loaf is perfect with the tangy bite of blue cheese.
Recipe from Alison Adams of “Taste” magazine

100g dried figs
1 cup red wine
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch allspice
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
Icing (confectioner’s) sugar, to serve
Blue cheese, to serve
Crackers, to serve

Chop the figs and place in a small saucepan with the red wine, ground cinnamon and allspice. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Set aside for 1 hour to macerate. Drain well.

Place in a food processor. Process until smooth. Add the toasted walnuts. Process until coarsely chopped.

Sprinkle a piece of baking paper with icing sugar. Place the fig mixture in the middle of the paper and roll. Wrap in plastic wrap and seal.

Store in the fridge for 1 hour or until set. Serve with blue cheese and crackers