Chocolate decadence - Valentine's Day

I’ve never really been the hearts and flowers type, and I'm not all that into Valentine's Day [due mainly to that ghastly boyfriend who dumped me on 13 February many years ago, but then expected to get back together on the 15th! Um, NO!] 

However, I do love the occasional excuse to have a decadent dessert - and what better excuse than Valentine’s Day. 

This is really easy to make and the cake part of the recipe can be made a few days - or even weeks - earlier and kept in the fridge or freezer. I actually think it tastes even better 2-3 days after it’s been made. The best bit about the cake is it’s versatility - it’s perfect for morning tea, a quick after-school treat, or as a dessert for a dinner party. Oh, and it’s also gluten free.

And if it looks familiar, it's virtually the same recipe as the one for my gluten free chocolate cherry cake [nothing like recycling!], but tarted up for Valentines Day. If you're into that sort of thing.

What you need:
250g dark chocolate,broken into pieces (I prefer dark chocolate that has 70% cocoa solids)
250g almond meal
200g caster sugar
150g butter, softened
6 eggs (ideally 59g - if they are smaller use 7 eggs)
1 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water
Cream to serve
Raspberries (fresh or frozen) to serve
Icing sugar* (to serve)

What you do:

1. Turn the oven on to 180c.
2. Line the baking tray with baking paper
3. Place the chocolate pieces in the food processor and whizz until they resemble big crumbs of chocolate (if you don’t have a food processor, place the chocolate in a freezer or zip lock bag and seal, place the bag between 2 tea-towels and bash with a rolling pin or a meat mallet until its crushed). Set aside.
4. Place the sugar, butter, eggs, cocoa and baking powder into the mixing bowl and mix with the electric beaters or a wooden spoon until smooth. Mix in the coffee mixture.
5. Add the chocolate and almond meal and mix well - it might be easier to mix this with the wooden spoon.
6. Pour the cake mix into the baking tray, smooth it over with a knife.
7. Bake on the middle tray of the oven for 30-45 minutes (check it at 30 minutes - you want the centre to be soft to touch but not too gooey).

Leave to cool in the baking tray for 15 minutes then move it to cook on the wire rack.

To assemble dessert
Once the cake is cool, remove it from the wire rack and place it on a flat surface. Cut out heart shaped pieces with the cookie cutter and carefully transfer 1 heart to each plate. You should get 6 hearts out of a cake this size. 

This cake is best served at room temperature or slightly warmed. Serve with raspberries and cream. Dust with icing sugar.

WARNING! This cake is very rich and is easily enough to share. It IS Valentine’s Day after all!
* if you are serving this to someone who requires gluten free, make sure you get pure icing sugar, NOT icing mixture

What to do with leftover cake
All those leftover bits of cake (around the heart cut-outs) are great for dessert or snacks. Serve warmed with ice-cream or cream or thick yogurt. Or just eat them on their own! The cake should keep for 3 months in an airtight container in the freezer or a week in the fridge.

Detoxing - such a January cliche!

Yes I succumbed to the dreaded January detox this year. I've always been a major skeptic of the detox, but after the last 5 days I am prepared to eat my words. Or at least drink my green smoothie and lemon water.

My friend Green Dean launched a 7 day belly detox challenge via facebook and I was intrigued. I met Dean late last year though a mutual friend when I did an urban gardening workshop with him. And I was inspired to re-invigorate my veggie patch. A few weeks later I dragged hubby and Mr12 along to do a chicken workshop - we are now the proud owner of four beautiful chickens who each give us an egg most days. I really like his philosophy to food and life in general so I thought I'd give his detox a go.

Our gorgeous girls scoffing down a bowl of yogurt

But I digress...

I slowly and steadily lost about 7kg over the last six months, but the excesses of Christmas and a week in Sydney and Canberra last week resulted in a couple of those returning, along with a feeling of general malaise. Not to mention the little podgy bloat-belly that resurfaced. Yuk.

Dean's challenge didn't look all that hard. And I loved it was only 7 days. Even though I knew that would be a massive struggle, especially as I had many social engagements during the week! [Note to self, don't book in eight coffee meetings and lunches in detox week...]

There were ten simple rules:

1. No dairy - this would be my toughest challenge, despite not eating a wide variety of dairy I do love my cheese. Far more than it loves me. Luckily a bit of plain yogurt was allowed
2. No wheat products - I love bread too. It also doesn't love me. Oh well... 
3. No meat or animal products including eggs. This was a toughie as I have an egg for breakfast nearly every day. 
4. No sugar - surprisingly this was the easiest. I did sneak in a few medjool dates
5. No salt - again, not too difficult given there were no eggs, one of the few things I do add salt too. 
6. No caffeine - I am sick of drinking peppermint tea! 
7. No alcohol - again, surprised by how easy this was. No, I was shocked. 
8. No white or refined foods - including pasta, white rice, pastry, bread
9. Drink at least 2L of water a day - something I already did
10. Make and drink the two green smoothies Dean recommended every day. 

Dean's belly fruit smoothie - banana, blueberries, green leaves, yogurt, mango, prunes, linseed, sunflower seed, aloe vera juice

This was my favourite. Dean's belly green smoothie - banana, avocado, cucumber, green leaves, mint, honey, sunflower seeds, almonds

So. There you have it. Not too difficult.

So how did I go? Well, I lasted five days, with one meal including haloumi and a tiny bit of seafood on a couple of occasions. I was very impressed with myself.

My almost-detox lunch - stunning salad with a few different tomatoes, basil, red onion, olive tapenade, avocado, haloumi. From Kitchen Sanitarium cafe on Eagle Street. One of the best lunches I've had in town for ages. A vegetarian cafe that I will definitely return to.

Over that five days I lost 2.7kg of gunk and bloat and I feel great.

I'll definitely incorporate a lot of what I did over the last five days into my regular diet. Including:

• starting the day with a mug of warm-hot water with the juice of half a squeezed lemon
• eating a bit more fruit - aiming for 1 piece a day
• eating lots of veggies, especially raw. I'm a big veggie eater anyway, but usually cooked. Aiming for more raw
• limiting how much cheese I eat - I probably don't need it every day. Sigh. 
• we had cut down our meat consumption significantly in 2012 but I'm aiming for 2 vegetarian days a week in 2013 - a great excuse to use all my vegetarian cookbooks
• I don't eat a lot of sugar anyway, but I love baking. I've discovered rapadura sugar and am using maple syrup a lot more as a sweetener - the real stuff, not that fake nastiness
• less alcohol - aim for 4-5 alcohol free days a week
• a few green smoothies every week 
• much less wheat - I've just bought 10kg of organic spelt flour so am going to do more baking and bread making with that so I'm not tempted to eat wheat based products. Spelt flour makes great muffins and pizza bases AND my tummy loves it!
• I don't drink a lot of caffeine - 1-2 cups of tea a day and usually only 3-4 coffees a week, so I doubt I'll change that
• I also don't eat a lot of salt as I don't buy or eat many packaged foods. A blood test a few months ago actually showed my sodium levels were on the too-low level so I add a bit of salt to foods to get it into the healthy range. And yes, the odd pack of chips. 

Celebrating the premature end of my detox with scrambled egg, sauteed mushroom, smoked salmon and a much loved cup of tea [Twinings English Breakfast of course!]

So that's me. What are your detoxing experiences? Have you ever done one? Would you consider one? This one was very gentle, and apart from a headache on the second afternoon I felt great for most of it. I also didn't feel too hungry, other than 2-3 occasions when I snacked on a few nuts and dates. Unsalted of course! 

In my Thermomix - my favourite new summer drink

Like so many, I'm starting 2013 with a list of new food goals. I refuse to call them resolutions, as that is a sure fire way for them to fail [no alcohol in January for example...]. But moving right along...

Minty lime lemon cordial

One of my food goals for 2013 is to use my Thermomix more. And to blog my experiences with it. And share a few recipes. I've had this wonder-toy for nearly three years, and while I use it more than any other appliance, I definitely don't use it every day, or even close to its potential.

Luckily I now have many friends who also have a wonder-toy and who are happy to share recipes. Such as this one that my friends Brad and Cathie made me when I popped over for afternoon tea a few weeks back.

My wonder-toy. AKA Thermomix 

 It comes from the [I think] 2011 Thermomix calendar. This is my version:

Minty lime lemon cordial
by Mel Kettle [with thanks to Thermomix]

What you need:
80-100g sugar [I like it quite tart - makes the gin taste better]
generous handful of mint leaves
250g ice cubes
3 limes with skin, scrubbed, cut in half
2-3 lemons [2 if big and juicy, 3 if smaller] with skin, scrubbed, ends trimmed, cut into quarters
300-350g fizzy water [preferably sparkling mineral water]

What you do:
Place sugar and mint into Thermomix and blitz for 10 seconds on speed 10.

Add the ice and blitz for 6 seconds on speed 8.

Add lime, lemon and water. Set the dial to closed lid position and push the turbo button 2-3 times.

Strain through the Thermomix basket into a bowl. Once the bulk of the liquid is out, use a nut milk or a curd and jelly bag (or some muslin or a clean chux) to strain and squeeze out the remainder of the liquid.

A curd and jelly bag - just a very fine polyester bag. Great for squeezing out excess liquids

Pour the cordial into a clean bottle and keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. Discard the solids [if you have a good recipe for these I would love to hear it!].

To serve, pour equal amounts of cordial and fizzy mineral water over ice, garnish with a slice of lime and fresh mint.

Or, even better, add a generous [very generous...] splash of gin or vodka in place of some or all of the fizzy mineral water. Or replace mineral water with a bit of tonic for a posh G&T. SO GOOD!

This bottle doesn't last long in our house!

What is your favourite summer drink? With or without the generous splash?

In my kitchen - December

This is my second "In my kitchen" post and I'm really enjoying having a look in my cupboards to see what interesting stuff I can share. Thanks very much to Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for introducing me to this concept - if you check out her blog you can see what other bloggers have in their kitchens this month too. 

One of my favourite fruits is mango, so I was really happy to buy a tray to help support my 4yo nephew's preschool fundraising efforts. These have taken a week or so to get to eating stage, but they are absolutely gorgeous now. I've been making frozen mango fruity dream in my thermomix for Mr12 who has just had braces put in, and will be using a few over the next day or so to make some mango chutney. My 7yo niece loves it instead of tomato paste on pizza. Of course, they are perfect eaten over the sink with mango juice dribbling off your chin. 

Mango goes really well with coconut and I've been making a fair bit of coconut milk lately [also in my thermomix]. HUGE thanks to Jo from Quirky Cooking for giving me the idea and telling me how! I've been using the leftover coconut pulp in banana bread. If you're not sure about the wonders of a thermomix, check out Jo's blog - it's full of great meal ideas.

Our local fruit shop has a brilliant seconds table that I scour ever time I go in. Last week it was full of very ripe cherry, mini-Roma and other gourmet baby tomatoes. I grabbed a few packets and slow roasted them with a drizzle of olive oil and maple syrup [inspired by a recipe from Heidi Swanson's STUNNING book Super Natural Every Day. Her blog is one of my absolute favourites and a must read]. Pop them into a glass jar with a bit of olive oil on top and they will last for ages in the fridge.

I did a super cooking class with Jude Blereau a few weeks ago and was thoroughly motivated to eat more creatively. I was really excited to find her out of print book Coming Home to Eat: Wholefood for the family at my local lifeline bookshop about a week later. So many ideas packed in here. 

Thanks very much to Roza's Gourmet Sauces for sending me a sample pack with three of their sauces recently. I've been a fan since first tasting them at the markets about 9 years ago. I think my favourites are their blue cheese dressing, blue cheese and walnut dip and the tomato chutney, but when I tried the smokey mayo I was pretty impressed too. Not opened the remoulade yet - might need a few prawns for that one. I've been dolloping the pesto on toasted chicken wraps - a quick and easy lunch. 

I often wonder why I struggle to lose weight. Then I look at the massive pile of food mags and cookbooks I have. And wonder no more. Sigh. These are two of my favourites and I'm REALLY hoping someone gives me a subscription to Feast for Christmas [hint hint...]. My hubby was given a subscription to Healthy Food a couple of years ago and we've kept it up and it is full of great ideas.

I had a lovely few hours trawling through my favourite food places in Brisbane last Saturday. A quick trip to Inala, the Vietnamese capital of Brisbane, to stock up on fruit, veg and herbs, then home via Balaclava Street, Woollongabba to visit Pennisi and All India Foods. I've never tried paneer so thought I'd grab some. No idea what to make with it, so please let me know if you have any ideas. Finally I stopped at Samios Fine Foods to grab some of their wondrous homemade halva. This has been my favourite sweet treat since I was a little girl of about 5 years of age. It's made with sesame seeds, honey and this one has chocolate and almonds. The missing bit was gobbled in the Samios carpark. I just couldn't wait! I bought it for Christmas but will need to go back and buy more as there is only the teeniest of skerricks left.   

I met Ben from The Stock Merchant at the Good Food and Wine show and had a very enjoyable chat about some of the challenges facing small food producers and suppliers. It certainly made me more aware of many of the challenges they face. I make a lot of my own stock, but I'm looking forward to trying these, especially the Master Stock, as I have heard many rave reviews about it. Ben and Kate have a delectable sounding recipe on their website for a free range chicken or duck braised in master stock, which I simply MUST TRY. 

What is in your kitchen this month? Any new-to-you or exciting ingredients? I'd love to hear. 

Food for thought

December is one of my favourite times of year. Not because it’s nearly Christmas (although that is pretty good too), but because it’s the annual fine amnesty at Brisbane City Council libraries. Yes I confess. I’m a library lover who doesn’t always return my books on time. Smacks on the wrist for me.

How it works is this: return your overdue books and take a donation of canned or other non-perishable food. Any overdue fines, processing and holds fees waived in exchange for your donation. This includes any fees you may have racked up over the year. For the record I only have about $3 outstanding. And this was mainly for holds I had reserved.

This year, the library amnesty will donate all food to Foodbank Queensland, a brilliant organisation that distributes food to charities and community organisations who assist those in need. I was shocked to read that each year two million people rely on food relief – around half of them are children. That’s one in every ten Australians in need. Foodbank is Australia’s largest hunger relief organisation, and in 2011 provided over 32,000,000 meals.

So I did a bit of a pantry clean out the other day to find a few things to donate. Mainly foods we rarely eat [and I have no idea how they ended up in my pantry - cans of pineapple, kidney beans and a packet of Uncle Ben’s instant rice].

Not all that sure where these even came from!

The next day I saw a tweet from ex-Masterchef, all-round great guy Callum Hann.

 What it said was:

For the next seven days my girlfriend Chloe and I are only going to eat foods which appear on the Wesley's Food For Families appeal top ten most donated foods.

Wow, how cool, I thought. Then I read the top ten:

• Baked beans
• Pasta
• 2 minute noodles
• Tinned vegetables
• Tinned tuna
• Rice
• Packet potato mash
• Long life milk
• Tim tams
• Jam and honey

Um, good luck Callum and Chloe. I know that would be a massive challenge for me. No herbs, no spices, no sauces, no tea, coffee, hot chocolate, no cereals, no chips! Let alone nothing fresh!

They are doing this challenge to encourage people to donate food, but also to think about what food specifically they are donating. Well, Callum, you certainly made me think about it. I’m going to donate my canned pineapple, beans and rice, but also going to pop down to my local shops and buy some packets of my favourite spices and a few other foods that aren't on the list to add to my donation.

If you are in Brisbane and want to participate in the amnesty, pop along to your local Brisbane City Council Library between 1-31 December 2012 with your overdue books and a donation of canned food. But maybe go via the supermarket to buy a couple of foods that aren’t on the list.

The Brisbane Library amnesty is also accepting pet food. 

To help Callum and Chloe, what meal ideas can you give them from the list above? 

In my Thermomix: Beetroot and mint pesto

This is one of the best things I have made with beetroot. Ever.

I was a late convert to the wonders of beetroot. Largely because all I knew for many years was the beetroot in a can. With that overly vinegary tartness. Which my tastebuds definitely didn't like [and still don't].

There was also a memorable experience with borscht when I was about 15. Not memorable in a good way I should hasten to add.

And then there was the first time I decided had fresh beetroot in a veggie juice. I was new to veggie juicing but had heard beetroot was healthy. I was determined to give it a go. Clearly it hadn't been cleaned properly as that juice tasted unpleasantly of dirt. Needless to say it was a long time before I tried again.

I can't remember when I did - probably when I started getting loads of freshly grown beetroot in my CSA box from Food Connect. For many weeks they fed the compost worms. Then I decided to experiment. With dips and with roasting mostly. Now I seek it out and buy and eat it all the time. I'm even growing it in my veggie garden! YUM.

And now my beetroot loving-ness has been turned on its head. Again. Thanks to Mel from Vanilla Zulu cooking school.

I met Mel at a workshop on social media that I spoke at about 18 months ago. We had stayed in touch, but sporadically. She was busy setting up her cooking school. I was busy dealing with some of life's unexpected dramas, and going back to uni. We reconnected recently thanks to twitter. Man I love twitter.

Anyway, I digress.

I caught up with Mel for a coffee and she invited hubby and I to one of her cooking classes. She made a simple beetroot pesto. It was quick, it was easy, it was a flavour sensation!

I had to make it.

This is my version. For the Thermomix, but just as easy in a food processor.

Beetroot and mint pesto

Beetroot mint pesto
by Mel Kettle

What you need:
2 decent sized beetroot, scrubbed and peeled, chopped into quarters
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/3 cup of pine nuts [you could also use cashews]
1 generous handful of mint, leaves only
1/3 cup good olive oil
bit of salt and pepper to taste

What you do:
This is the super-easy Thermomix bit.

Chuck everything into the Thermomix bowl. Whizz on speed 7 for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl, whizz again for another 30 seconds or until smooth.

Serve and eat.

Roast beef with beetroot pesto

Mel served hers smeared over roast beef which was amazing [her version had cumin, not mint]. I think it would also be beautiful with roast lamb. Or just on crackers or beautiful sourdough which is how I've been eating it.

What is your favourite pesto? Do you experiment with flavours, or do you stick to the tried and true basil and pine nut version?

Salad lovin' - salmon and potato

One of my favourite things about summer is all the beautiful salad combos that can be made. And once I realised a great salad didn't have to contain lettuce, I was stoked! Especially as I grew up with the standard salad being iceberg lettuce, tomato [usually less than ripe], cucumber, maybe a red onion ring or 3, and a fairly basic vinaigrette. Not even close to interesting. 

I really love a salad with loads of fresh herbs, so when I picked up a beautiful bunch of fresh parsley from our local crop swap recently [and thanks to Fiona from Tiffin for sharing her haul], I knew exactly what I wanted to pair it with. Beautiful new potatoes and some poached salmon. 

Salmon and potato salad

Salmon and potato salad

What you need [serves 2]:
300g chat or new potatoes, cut in half or quarters depending on size
300g fresh salmon
2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves

Dressing:
100g plain yogurt [I like Chobani]
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 red onion, finely diced
generous bunch of Italian parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste


What you do:
Cook the potatoes - put a medium sized saucepan with water with a bit of salt on the stove and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook until just cooked [mine took about 15-20 minutes]. Remove from the heat, drain the potatoes and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes. 

Poach the salmon. To do this, almost fill a skillet or fry pan with water and bring it to the boil [leave about 2cm for the water to rise once the salmon is added]. Once the water is boiling, add the salmon so they are fully submerged in the water. Once the water is boiling again, turn off the stove, put the lid on the pan and leave it. Allow the salmon to cook in the hot water for about 15 minutes (maybe a bit less, depending on how thick it is). Remove salmon from water and pop on a plate with a paper towel. Leave to cool - the salmon will continue to cook. Once cool, break it ip into chunks. 

Make the dressing - add all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Adjust lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. 

Once the potatoes are cool add the dressing and mix through. 

To serve, arrange the spinach on individual plates, top with potato and the salmon. 

Serve with an extra squeeze of lemon juice.  

What are your favourite salad ingredients?