Pea Tortilla with Mint and Yogurt
Posted: February 27, 2015 Filed under: Eggs, Tapas, Vegetarian | Tags: Brunch, Eggs, Food and wine, frittata, mint Yoghurt, Peas, tortilla Leave a comment
Tortilla or frittata? You can go on for hours debating over the correct name for this dish… still, my strong recommendation would be to eat it straight away from the over with a bit of toasted bread and a dollop of yogurt.
Pea Tortilla with Mint and Yogurt (adapted from a recipe by Francis Mallmann found in Food and Wine magazine)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 250g of frozen baby peas—thawed, drained and patted dry
- 1 1/2 cups (=350 mL) plain Greek-style yogurt
- 8 large eggs
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Method
Preheat the griller.
In a large, ovenproof, nonstick skillet, melt the butter. Add the peas and cook over moderate heat until warm, about 3 minutes.
In a large bowl, beat the yogurt with the eggs, mint, salt and pepper until smooth.
Pour the eggs over the peas and cook over moderately high heat until set on the bottom and around the edges, about 4 minutes.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and broil 20cm from the heat for about 3 minutes, until the top of the tortilla is set and lightly golden in spots. Slide the tortilla onto a plate, cut into wedges and serve with the remaining yogurt.
Brunch pina colada
Posted: February 23, 2015 Filed under: Drinks, Fruit, Vegetarian | Tags: Basil, Brunch, Coconut, Pineapple Leave a comment
A no brainer for brunches… very easy to do and always a smashing success. Add a little bit of rum for a more festive occasion.
Breakfast pina colada (adapted from a recipe by Allegra McEvedy found in the Guardian)
Ingredients
- 1 400g can of pineapple pieces (no skin or core)
- 6-8 leaves Thai basil
- 400 mL of coconut milk
- 400 mL of coconut water
- Shredded coconut to taste
Method
Put the pineapple and basil in the blender and top up with half coconut milk and half coconut water. Blend to form a liquid.
Taste and adjust the flavours if necessary. Add the shredded coconut.
Garnish with basil and serve
Polenta cake with mascarpone and rosemary
Posted: February 18, 2015 Filed under: Dessert, Pastry and Baking, Vegetarian | Tags: Brunch, Cake, Eddie Russel, Food and wine, Honey, mascarpone sauce, Polenta, rosemary, Sugar 1 Comment
The name reads really well – the sort of high maintenance dish that requires hours of dedicated work in the kitchen. The truth is that it is a lot easier to bake than it sounds… After all, it is a slightly modified pound cake, with 2 very easy elements on the side. The cake itself has a pleasantly crumbly and grainy texture, ideal to combine with the rosemary infused honey. The creamy mascarpone sauce just makes everything come together. Try it with a double expresso for even better results…
Polenta cake with mascarpone and rosemary (adapted from a Eddie Russel recipe found in Food and Wine Magazine)
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 3/4 cup (=220g) flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 cup (=65g) polenta
- Pinch of salt
- 2 sticks (=220g) of unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (110g) of sugar
- 6 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Rosemary syrup
- 1/2 cup honey
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 rosemary sprigs
Mascarpone sauce
- 1 cup (=225g) mascarpone, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (200mL) heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped
Method
Preheat the oven to 325°F (= 190°C). Butter and flour a metal loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the polenta and salt.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between additions. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon juice.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, beating the batter at low speed until just incorporated. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
Turn the cake onto a rack and let it cool until warm.
In a small saucepan, combine the honey with the water and rosemary sprigs and simmer over moderate heat for 2 minutes. Let the syrup cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes. Discard the rosemary sprigs. While the cake is still warm, lightly brush the top of the cake with the rosemary syrup.
In a medium bowl, whisk the mascarpone with the cream, sugar and vanilla-bean seeds.
Using a serrated knife, cut the cake into thick slices and transfer to plates. Top each slice with a large dollop of mascarpone, drizzle with the rosemary syrup and serve.
Gluten-free carrot coconut spiced cake
Posted: February 13, 2015 Filed under: Dessert, Gluten free, Vegetarian | Tags: Cake, Carrots, Gluten free, Mafalda Pinto Leite, Spices, Sugar Leave a comment
Can gluten free cake be as good as “normal” cake? Well, it depends… in this case, it was. It is also a very long list of ingredients to make it taste like and feel like cake. Worthwhile the effort? Well, yes. It was pretty good cake, with a unusual texture. The beasts My lovely co-workers had it all in a single meeting… I still have to let them know this was a specially healthy version of what they usually get…
Carrot cake (gluten free; adapted from Dias com Mafalda blog)
Ingredients
- 100g of brown or unrefined sugar
- 100mL of vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- 3 slightly beaten eggs
- 3 grated carrots
- 1 grated apple
- 100g of crated cocunut
- 100g raisin
- the zest of one orange and 1 tablespoon of orange juice
- 175g gluten-free flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/2 of powdered clove.
Method
Grease a loaf tin and preheat the oven to 180oC
Combine the sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs with wooden spoon. Fold in the grated carrots, apple and coconut together with the raisins, the orange zest and juice. On top of this mix, sift the flour, the spices, baking-powder and baking soda.
Put the batter in the tin and transfer to the oven. Let it bake for about 20min. Test with a knife before taking it out – it should come out dry.
Take it out from the tin while still hot, and let it cool down before serving.
Crushed puy lentils with tahini and cumin
Posted: February 8, 2015 Filed under: Eggs, Pulses and lentils, Vegetarian | Tags: Brunch, Eggs, Lentils, Tahini, Tomato, Vegetarian, Winter, Yotam Ottolenghi Leave a comment
Stop. Start. But, start with a tradition: a lentil dish on the menu for the first post of the year. Of course it had to be a Yotam Ottolengi’s . Quick, easy and totally delicious, this is a hearty dish that will warm you to the soul in a cold winter day.
Crushed puy lentils with tahini and cumin (adapted from Yotam Ottolengi’s column in The Guardian)
Ingredients
- 200g puy lentils
- 30g unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 3 medium tomatoes, cut into 1cm dice
- 25g coriander leaves, chopped
- 4 tbsp tahini paste
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt and black pepper
- ½ small red onion, peeled and sliced very thin
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
Cook the lentils according to the instructions on the packet,until completely cooked. Then drain and set aside.
Put the butter and oil in a large frying pan and place on a medium-high heat. Once the butter melts, add the garlic and cumin, and cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes, 20g of coriander and the cooked lentils. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes,
Add the tahini, lemon juice, 70ml of water, a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Turn down the heat to medium and cook gently, stirring, for a few minutes more, until hot and thickened. Roughly mash the lentils with a potato masher, so that some are broken up and you get a thick, porridge consistency. Serve warm with the hard-boiled eggs alongside.
Lucie Loves Food 