Plum Crumble with a Hit of Chilli Honey

Tags

baking, chilli, cream, crumble, dessert, fruit, Gran Luchito, honey, oats, plum

Intrigued by the title? I’ll get right to the point. One of the best things I tried at the FBC5 food blogger conference was the Gran Luchito Smoked Chilli Honey. I spent quite some time skulking around the Gran Luchito food stand during the breaks, trying to look inconspicuous while eyeing the crackers and cheese, ready to pounce as soon as there was a tiny bit of space among the crowds. I would grab a chunk of cheese, pop it on a cracker, and smother the whole thing with the smoked chilli honey. Then I’d walk away, wait 3 minutes and go back, hoping the lovely girl at the stand had forgotten me. I’m sure she must have been rolling her eyes every time!

May I just say at this point that this is not a sponsored post or anything. I just loved that stuff. It’s made with a special type of rare Mexican chillies. Now, it is actually possible to order it on Amazon, but the postage to Greece for one jar is more than what I paid for a big box with an electrical appliance in it a couple of weeks ago. So, having been lucky enough to snap up a sample of the Smoked Chilli Paste (the base for the honey and the gorgeous Gran Luchito Mayo) I decided to improvise and made my own. It was not the same, but it was still very good. Greek honey is top quality and the paste packs so much amazing smoky flavour that the result was far from disappointing. Ever since trying it in London, I’ve been thinking I would like to add it to a dessert. Don’t ask why, it just stuck in my mind. When I recently found myself with a batch of wonderfully ripe and juicy plums, I had one of those light bulb moments. Macerate them in this honey, cover them with a dark sugar and oat crumble, and bake. It just sounded so right. And it was. So so right. Every once in a while I have some bloody good ideas – if I may say so myself!

In case you are worried, this is not spicy hot. You can’t really tell there is chilli in it. But it gives the fruit a depth and warmth that is hard to explain (wow, depth and warmth… I’m becoming a real food writer… I’ll be saying the flavour “pops” next). But seriously, depth and warmth are the closest I can get to helping you imagine its awesomeness (aaand the writer has left the building).

Ingredients

For the fruity bit

60g clear runny honey (sorry, I forgot to measure in Tbs – I think that’s about 2?)
1/8 tsp Gran Luchito Smoked Chilli Paste
500g (7 smallish) ripe plums, cut into quarters
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbs all purpose flour

For the crumbly bit

½ cup (8 Tbs) rolled oats
4 Tbs dark muscovado sugar
4 Tbs white granulated sugar
5 Tbs all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
4 Tbs cold butter, cut into cubes

Instructions

1. Mix the honey and chilli paste in a medium sized bowl and heat in the microwave for 15 seconds or so, just so it liquefies a little.
2. Toss the plum pieces in the honey so they are all coated and set aside for half an hour or so to macerate, mixing once in a while.
3. Preheat oven to 180C (or 160C on fan).
4. In another bowl mix the dry crumble ingredients, then add the butter and rub with your fingers till the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Add the nutmeg and flour to the plums, and mix well. Pour into a pie dish or pyrex dish, and sprinkle the crumble mixture over the top.
6. Bake for approx. 30 minutes, till the top looks crispy and the fruit is bubbling up the sides of the dish.
7. Serve with cream. Or try mixing a little bit of single cream into a tub of mascarpone and using that. You’ll like it (unless there is something seriously wrong with you – sorry).

Note: Obviously if you are lucky enough to get your hands on some Gran Luchito Smoked Chilli Honey, you can use that instead of making your own. Or you can just send it to me, I don’t mind.

Other wonderful looking plum crumbly things
Plum Crumble by Orangette (it has ginger in it!)
Plum Crumble Bars by The Cilantropist
Hazelnut Plum Crumb Tart by Smitten Kitchen

Hazelnut & Golden Syrup Rice Crispy Treats and Some “Preparing Ahead” Tips

Tags

chocolate, dessert, golden syrup, hazelnut, honey, nut butter, nuts, rice crispies, rice crispy treats, sweet, vegan, vegetarian

Well, this is new to me. Just diving in and writing about a recipe that is barely even ready to eat. In order to do this, I had to rely on Instagram for my photos, as there was really no time to find the right spot/light/props for each photo I was taking. But let me start from the beginning.

Tomorrow we are having friends round for a barbeque. The next day, we are going to a (different) friend’s house for another barbeque. I always make stuff to take to her parties, as she likes my food and.. well, any excuse for me to make stuff. This time, she has invited around 50 people (it’s a house warming do) and that’s not counting the 15 or so kids. Yikes. My friend has it covered, she always does, as she has a talent for throwing things together that taste lovely, but I would like to help out and do something special in support! Also, my friend and her partner are fitness freaks, so I’m the one who makes the really fattening sweets that their kids are normally deprived of! (just joking… but they do get an extra hit of sugar when I visit).

So after much thought, I set about planning my 3-day weekend. This is an operation that requires much organisation and fine tuning! Today was Day 1 – Prep Day. I don’t like making things too far in advance, as I get anxious about whether they will be good enough to serve when the time comes. But there are many little things that can be done; things that help enormously when it’s time to actually make the final dishes. Here are some tips.

Plan. Make a note of what you are cooking. If you’re like me, write them down, then cross at least two off the list. Try and include some things that can be made ahead, or at least have some steps that can be completed beforehand. Check you have the recipes, and check what ingredients you have/need. Then, do the shopping list.

Next, make yourself a schedule. I am a fan of schedules, so that’s not too difficult for me. I don’t mean down to the last 5 minutes of your day. But think about all the things you will need to do, like supermarket (allow for botched credit card machines and shops that don’t have rice crispies..), other irrelevant tasks that might take time (catching up on Twitter and Facebook), and a break for lunch.

An important part of the schedule are the “make ahead” steps for each recipe. For example. Salad. You think, I can’t possible make it a day in advance. True, but you can wash the veggies. And mix your dressing and keep it in a jar in the fridge. That has just saved you more than half the prep time on the day. Are you baking? You can probably bake a day in advance, especially brownies! But if you don’t want to do that, go through the recipe and complete any steps you can. For example, measure and mix the dry ingredients and keep them in an airtight container. Measure the butter or oil, chocolate, beetroot (brownies on my mind again) and mix if the recipe tells you to. It might seem that all this is unnecessary, but I find that measuring out ingredients is the most time consuming of all stages in baking. But that’s me! Label your containers so you know what’s what.

One has pieces of Twix in it!

For tomorrow’s BBQ, one of the things I’m making is a pasta salad. Again, I could probably have prepared the whole thing today, they are usually better the next day anyway, but mine will have raw courgettes (zucchini) in, so I don’t want it to get very watery overnight. So, I boiled the pasta, coated it in olive oil and it’s now patiently waiting in the fridge. The only downside to these methods, is the full-to-the-brim fridge, and the washing up of all the containers! But desperate times call for desperate measures! The dishwasher can do most of the work.

If you are wondering what the sponge is doing next to the courgette, read on..

Finally, if you have a lot planned, splurge on something you wouldn’t normally, to save time and energy. For example, I am making a potato salad on Sunday. I like it with new potatoes, the little ones. My supermarket does these packets of pre-washed new potatoes that need 7 minutes in the microwave. Definitely worth the extra money. Pre-cut and washed salads are also life savers, although these can be much more expensive and not cost effective for a large number of guests. Washing lettuce though? One of my pet hates.

At this point I would like to share another couple of tips, which have nothing to do with planning. As mentioned above, lettuce. Love to eat it, hate washing it. I do however have a good method that keeps it fresh for quite a while. If you’re eating it the same day or the next, chop (after getting rid of the outside leaves), put in a colander, wash and leave in the colander to drain, shaking up at regular intervals to get rid of water. If you’re keeping the lettuce for a bit longer, peel off the leaves whole (disgard the outside ones), wash them and spread them out on some kitchen paper to dry. Try to shake as much water off first, but be careful not to bruise the leaves. Do something else for a while. When they are just about dry (don’t leave too long as they will wilt), layer them in an airtight container with kitchen paper between the layers. Yes, I use lots of kitchen paper. If you have chopped the lettuce, pop a sheet of… kitchen paper in a zip lock bag, add the lettuce and seal, trying to push as much air out as possible without crushing the salad. Gosh, how long can one talk about lettuce…?

Courgettes/zucchini. Have you ever started to wash them only to find tiny prickly invisible hairs on them? Keep a clean dish sponge (the one with the rough green side used for pots) in your draw. Use it to lightly scrub the zucchini skin. You can also use it to scrub potatoes, if you want to cook them in their skins. You probably already knew that…

And now, a recipe. A recipe I never imagined would be this good. This is my own version of Chocolate Covered Katies’s 5 Ingredient Rice Crispy Treats. They can be stored in the freezer, so I decided to make them today. They’re for the kids on Sunday. Well, they were until I tasted them. Now I think the kids can have the beetroot brownies and the grown-ups will have the Rice Crispy Treats. The Hazelnut & Golden Syrup Rice Crispy Treats. Or maybe I won’t take them with me at all…

Hazelnut & Golden Syrup Rice Crispy Treats

Ingredients

1/2 cup (8 Tbs) hazelnut butter (in the UK this is available at Holland & Barrett)
1/2 cup (8 Tbs) golden syrup (you could use honey, unless vegan)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups rice crispies or similar puffed rice cereal (mine was the Lidl brand – use an appropriate version if you are vegan)
160g dark chocolate, cut into pieces
1 Tbs golden syrup
Optional: 1 Twix Xlarge bar (42.5g), cut into small pieces (I had one left over, it was either that or eat it..)

Instructions

1. Place the hazelnut butter, syrup, salt and vanilla in a small saucepan and warm over low heat till melted and combined.
2. In a large bowl, combine rice crispies and hazelnut butter mixture. Stir gently and patiently with a spatula till all the rice crispies are coated.
3. Transfer mixture to a baking tin lined with grease-proof paper. Put another piece of paper over it and press down on it with your hands or the bottom of a glass. Press down well making sure you get into the corners. Put the tin in the freezer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
4. In the meantime, melt the chocolate and 1 Tbs of syrup in the same saucepan you used earlier, over low heat, stirring constantly. When it’s melted, add the Twix pieces and stir until these too have melted. You will have some lumps from the biscuity part of the Twix.
5. Spread evenly over the rice crisy base and return to the freezer till the chocolate topping sets. Use the parchment paper to lift out the set mixture, carefully cut it into pieces (won’t be very easy!) and store in the fridge (or return to freezer). They would also be fine at room temperature (unless you are here in Greece) for a few days.

A sliver, just to taste test!

Other Rice Crispy Treats from around the blogosphere
50+ Rice Krispie Treat Recipes from Something Swanky (need I continue?!)
Rocky Road Rice Krispies Treats from Brown Eyed Baker
Homemade Coconut Luna Bars from V. K. Rees Photography

A Glass of Dessert Part 3 – Lenten (and Vegan) Chocolate Mousse

Tags

chocolate, coconut milk, honey, Lent, mousse, tahini, vegan

Antique English spoon dating from the late 1800s, on kind loan by The Collector

It’s Good Friday today, a day of strict fasting in Greece. It is really hard to believe this chocolate mousse is actually allowed. But it is. I, however, would make this any day of the year. Out of all the chocolate mousses I’ve tried, this might just be the best. And not a raw egg in sight!

I give you two versions and two methods of preparation. The original version, adapted from an insert in Ta Nea newspaper (Feb 2012), uses honey and a food processor. Honey is allowed during Lent even though it comes from bees; this is not the case with veganism. So, I thought I would make it again replacing the honey with golden syrup, making it suitable for vegans. This time I also ditched the processor, purely because I couldn’t be bothered to wash it. Surprisingly, this actually made a big difference in the texture of the mousse, and produced a much softer, lighter and well, mousse-ier result. The original is very smooth and dense, and might be better described as a chocolate pot de crème. Taste-wise they are very similar and I can’t choose which one I like more. But texture-wise, my own version wins hands down. You’ll just have to make a double batch, one of each, and decide for yourself!

Lenten Chocolate Mousse – The Original (with Honey)

Adapted from Ta Nea insert Feb 2012
Makes 4

Ingredients

1 c. coconut milk (not cream, not water)
100g dark chocolate, chopped
3-4 Tbs honey
2 Tbs tahini
1/8 tsp cinnamon
sesame seeds and slivered almonds to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the coconut milk in a small pan till just below boiling point.
2. In a food processor, whiz the chocolate pieces with the cinnamon.
3. Add the warm coconut milk to the processor, along with the honey and tahini, and whiz till it froths up. Be careful, the warm milk might make it froth up too much, or even overflow and make a mess everywhere. That might put you in a bad mood.
4. Empty the mixture into 4 glasses or small bowls, let cool and refrigerate till set (at least 3 hours).
5. Garnish with the sesame seeds and serve. To get the margarita effect in the photo, I put some golden syrup on a plate, twirled the rims of the glasses through it, and then twirled the rims round a plate sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Note: The recipe in the newspaper used almond milk instead of coconut. I haven’t tried this; if you try it please come back and let me know what it’s like!

Lenten and Vegan Chocolate Mousse – My Version

Adapted from the same recipe
Makes 2

Ingredients

1/2 c. coconut milk
40g dark chocolate, chopped
2 Tbs golden syrup
1 Tbs tahini
a pinch of cinnamon
sesame seeds to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the coconut milk in a heat-resistant measuring jug in the microwave (in 15 second bursts, checking after each burst).
2. When hot, add the chopped chocolate and stir till melted.
3. Add the tahini and golden syrup and whisk till incorporated.
4. Add the cinnamon and continue to whisk till smooth.
5. Poor into glasses, let cool and refrigerate till set.
6. Garnish and serve.

Other Chocolate Pot or Mousse Recipes
Instant Chocolate Mousse by Nigella Lawson (tried, tested and loved!)
Chestnut Chocolate Pots by Nigella Lawson
Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt by The Kitchn (also tried and tested; gorgeously interesting and different)

Chocolate Tahini Bites – Lenten Sweet Treats

Tags

almonds, chocolate, healthy, honey, Lent, nuts, tahini

Today is Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Holy Week. Holy Week is one of the most beautiful times of the year in Greece, not just because the weather is usually gorgeous, but because Easter is the most important religious holiday. It’s actually bigger than Christmas, which has sort of caught up in recent generations but is heavily commercial with many “foreign” traditions having infiltrated its celebration. Did you know that traditionally people in Greece used to decorate miniature wooden sail boats and not trees? Hang on, why am I talking about Christmas? Easily distracted? Me?

Back to Easter and Lent. As I mentioned a few weeks back, there are many recipes flying around, in magazines, on tv shows, on blogs, all with great ideas on how to enjoy good food even if you’re fasting (meaning no meat, dairy, eggs etc.).  One such recipe is this little gem. It’s amazingly easy, lusciously chocolatey, and actually quite healthy! The taste leaves behind a hint of halva (the type we call Macedonian, referring to Northern Greece) which is made of tahini and sugar or honey. Now I’m no expert, but dark chocolate, honey, tahini, almonds and even cinnamon, are all said to offer great nutritional benefits. These Chocolate Tahini Bites contain exactly these ingredients and nothing else. Also, they are very rich, so you only need a bite or two!

The recipe is from Sweet Stories, a magazine by Greek pastry chef Stelios Parliaros.

Chocolate Tahini Bites

Ingredients

125g dark chocolate, chopped
125g tahini
50g honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
50g almonds without skin (I used slivered because it was all I had, use chopped if you want more crunch)
Icing sugar or cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

Instructions

1. Toast the almonds. Put a non-stick frying pan on high heat, wait till the pan is very hot, then add the almonds. Shake them around or stir with a wooden spoon or spatula. As soon as you start to smell the almonds and you see a few starting to brown, take them off the heat and continue to stir. They will finish toasting on the hot pan. Set aside.
2. Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave (or over a pan of boiling water). I always do this in 15 second bursts on high, taking the bowl out and mixing after each burst. It should be ok after 3 goes. Stir well to smooth out any last lumps.
3. Add the tahini, honey and cinnamon and stir well or whisk to combine. Add the almonds and stir again till they are all coated.
4. Pour mixture into a lightly greased, shallow baking tray or pyrex dish. Mine was 16x25cm. Leave it to set at room temperature for at least 2 hours, or, when cooled, pop it in the fridge for about one hour. Cut into squares or bars, and dust with icing sugar so they look pretty! The original recipe uses cocoa powder for dusting, but that would be too bitter for me, so I went with the white stuff.

Other Chocolate and Tahini Combos
Molten chocolate cake with tahini and millet by La Tartine Gourmande
Chocolate Tahini Cookies by Pixels + Crumbs
Chocolate Tahini Dressing by Where’s the Beef?

Macadamia, Olive Oil & Honey Granola – Clumpy, Crunchy, Crave-Worthy!

Tags

breakfast, granola, honey, macadamia nuts, oats, olive oil

I am a breakfast person. It’s my favourite meal of the day. Maybe it’s because breakfast is the fuel that gets us through the next 15 hours or so. Maybe it’s because breakfast calories “don’t really count” towards our daily intake as we can burn them all off (yes, I will continue to tell myself that, thank you). Or maybe it’s because we can get away with eating anything in the morning! Sweet, savoury, fresh, fried, baked, slow cooked; fruit, veg, sausages, bacon, cookies, porridge, spinach pie, apple pie, cake… literally anything! I draw the line at drinking Coke in the morning, but I know many people do.

Oats are considered one of the best options for breakfast, due to the slow releasing energy they provide, which keeps us going for much longer and helps us avoid snacking. That sounds really cool, slow releasing energy… Makes me feel a bit super-womany! Recently I’ve realized that it’s actually true. Oats and protein rich foods are best in the morning. Carbs are worst. This is my personal opinion and I have no idea if it is backed up by science! My philosophy is that our bodies speak to us and tell us what they need, what they want, what’s wrong. Ok, not always, or we’re not always in a position to understand the language it uses, but if we try I think usually we can get a good idea of what’s best. After being on the Dukan Diet for a couple of months, I came to realize that protein rich breakfasts are what’s best for me. If I have bread, or a pasty (popular in Greece), or fruit or cereal, I’ll be hungry by 10 and will probably get the shakes and a drop in blood pressure (especially if I have coffee as well). Eggs, ham, yogurt, cheese, all keep my energy going for longer, and my mind free of food related thoughts – at least until lunchtime! Oats also do that. I think they are high in carbohydrates so I’m a bit confused as to why, but they are definitely different to any boxed cereals I’ve ever tried.

During winter I love me my porridge. My Grandma used to say if you eat porridge when it’s hot you get itchy (again, no idea what science has to say about that!) so I don’t usually eat it in the summer. Itchiness aside, a hot breakfast in 40 degrees Celsius is not very appealing. A few years ago, I discovered another fabulous way to enjoy oats. Granola! The reason granola came into my life so late is that you can’t get it here in Greece, at least not easily. You definitely couldn’t get it until very recently. So I made my own! And since then I think the only recipe I’ve made twice is this Coconut Cranberry Granola. There are so many variations, so many ways to experiment, so many tasty ingredients to use, I always want to try something different.

Today’s recipe is based on the Coconut Granola by Two Peas & Their Pod. I’ve changed quite a few ingredients but the base is the same, with the same dry to wet ingredient ratio. And it works perfectly. I’ve read many granola recipes and a lot of them mention clumpiness as being a desired but hard to accomplish result. Well, I think the combination of honey with olive oil is great for this. My granola was super clumpy, which is exactly how I love it. It tastes brilliant and it keeps fantastically well in an air tight container or jar. Try it!

Macadamia, Olive Oil & Honey Granola

(adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod Coconut Granola)

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
1/2 cup desiccated (shredded) coconut
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbs vanilla extract (that was supposed to be 1 tsp but I messed it up. It turned out great anyway! If you’re using the expensive store bought type stick to a teaspoon. Or sub with coconut extract)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 150C and line a baking sheet with grease proof paper.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients (oats through to salt on ingredient list) in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Combine the honey and olive oil in a small saucepan and heat gently till the honey has completely melted. Whisk till incorporated.
4. Add the vanilla extract to the wet ingredients and stir.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the oats and stir well with a wooden spoon till the dry ingredients are well coated with the honey mixture.
6. Turn mixture out on to the baking sheet and spread it out so it’s in a single layer. Try to press it down firmly (a rubber spatula is good for that) as this helps make it clumpy.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes or until granola is golden. Don’t let it brown as it will turn bitter.
8. Enjoy with Greek yogurt, milk or –my favourite- buttermilk. It’s also great as a topping over porridge (oatmeal).

More granola goodness:

Morning Time Breakfast Granola Cups by Mommie Cooks
Cookbook: The Homemade Pantry and The Nutty Granola Bar by Food In Jars
Low Fat Granola Bars with Mango, Hazelnut & Ginger Recipe by Cookin’ Canuck
Small Batch Honey-Pistachio Granola by Mountain Mama Cooks