Monday, August 11, 2014

Blackberry Date Buckwheat Muffins #MuffinMonday #GlutenFree #Vegan

With dates for sweetness, coconut cream for richness and fresh blackberries mixed through, these blackberry date buckwheat muffins may not be the best looking on the block but they sure are tasty.

Food Lust People Love: With dates for sweetness, coconut cream for richness and fresh blackberries mixed through, these Blackberry Date Buckwheat Muffins may not be the best looking on the block but they sure are tasty.


We’ve raised our daughters to follow their hearts and find their own ways, while guiding them in what we think is right. But I tell you true, this learning thing goes both ways. I value their opinions and really do try to listen when they send me links or tell me about things I should know or reconsider. Both of them now eat mostly vegetarian fare, limiting their meat consumption to the rare burger (no pun intended) and special occasions.

They have friends who eat only vegetarian with a vegan or two in the mix. Add in a gluten-free friend or three, some my own, and all of this has made me more open to trying new dishes and new methods and even some substitutions that I would never have considered four or five years ago.

I’m still not a fan of most of the faux meats but, I've discovered, prepared properly, they can be delicious. (If you are ever in the Boston area, I can highly recommend a little Thai place called My Thai Vegan Cafe, where every dish we’ve tried is fabulous. My only complaint was that the curry “duck” didn’t have enough sauce, because it was that good.)

Our younger daughter is in London now for an eight-week internship and it has given her a chance to catch up with some old friends from our Kuala Lumpur years. She and her roommate took the train down to Brighton to see the sights, pick some blackberries and hang out. I understand there was a great deal of laughing over old photos as well. We were chatting yesterday and she told me about the wonderful vegan buckwheat pancakes that they had made for breakfast one morning, using dates, coconut milk and some of those blackberries. That was all the inspiration I needed for this morning’s muffins.

If you’ve never baked with buckwheat before, it’s pretty dark and, I must admit, doesn’t make the prettiest muffin. Even using half buckwheat and half white gluten-free flour, these guys are very dark, which I am sure was not helped along by the pureed dates and mashed blackberries. Maybe I’m blaming buckwheat flour when the dates are really more responsible! But the bottom line is that they weren’t heavy and actually have a light texture. If the color puts you off, just close your eyes and bite!

Blackberry Date Buckwheat Muffins


The recipe for these tasty muffins was adapted from this recipe for Vegan Buckwheat Pancakes.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 355ml coconut cream (unsweetened)
1 cup or 145g dates, pitted (weight with pits = about 5 3/4 oz or 165g
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup or 150g fresh blackberries or berry of your choice
1 cup or 130g buckwheat flour
1 cup or 150g gluten-free white flour blend (I use Dove Farms.)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Optional: 1-2 tablespoons pearl sugar for decorating before baking

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups.

Pit your dates, if they haven’t come already pitted, by slicing them open with a sharp knife and pushing the pit out.

Process them in a blender or food processor with the coconut cream until they are reduced to mostly small pieces. The occasional larger bit is okay, in fact, possibly desirable for added texture and chewiness in the muffin. (This, according to my daughter. She suggested adding even more chopped dates but I decided that the blackberries were enough.)



In a large mixing bowl, combine your flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

That's the buckwheat flour on the right, peeking out from under the baking soda, baking powder and salt. Apparently buckwheat, despite its name, has no relation to wheat but comes from the rhubarb family. Who knew?!




In a small bowl, mash your blackberries lightly with a fork and cut any really large ones in half.

Add in the blended date/coconut cream mixture and mix well with the fork.



Pour the wet ingredients into your dry and stir until well blended.



Divide the batter between the muffin cups.



Top with pearl sugar to decorate, if desired.

I know, I know, it doesn't really help their looks but I was trying!

Bake for 15-20 minutes. You can’t really tell doneness by golden color with these, so test if an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Food Lust People Love: With dates for sweetness, coconut cream for richness and fresh blackberries mixed through, these Blackberry Date Buckwheat Muffins may not be the best looking on the block but they sure are tasty.


Remove from the pan to cool on a wire rack.

Food Lust People Love: With dates for sweetness, coconut cream for richness and fresh blackberries mixed through, these Blackberry Date Buckwheat Muffins may not be the best looking on the block but they sure are tasty.
Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: With dates for sweetness, coconut cream for richness and fresh blackberries mixed through, these Blackberry Date Buckwheat Muffins may not be the best looking on the block but they sure are tasty.
An inside shot! 

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Apricot Habanero Jam

This spicy apricot jam is fabulous with some cheddar or cream cheese on crackers or toast, but our favorite way to enjoy it is as a glaze and/or topping on pork chops. 

This week we are Saving Summer with lots of great recipes that take advantage of nature’s bounty during the growing season and extend its use into fall and winter. Farmers’ markets and roadside stands are redolent with summer produce, if you are fortunate enough to live or visit some place that’s not hotter than the hinges of the gates of hell right now. 

As much as I love Dubai, there is no other way to describe our summer heat index. Just recently, though, I was able to visit the island of Jersey in the English Channel and I was practically skipping with joy to buy eggs and Jersey Royal potatoes at roadside stands. It’s all on the honor system. You just take what you need and drop the money in the box!
Photo credit: Glenys Claverie

Here in Dubai, the farmers’ markets close for the summer but fresh produce is flown in from everywhere around the world. These apricots were from Lebanon, if I remember correctly. I try to buy those items that have traveled the least distances.

Make sure you scroll on down to the bottom and check out all the lovely recipes and “how-to” instructions we have for you this week. And many thanks to my co-host, Tara, from Noshing with the Nolands. She’ll be leading the Saving Summer Twitter chat this evening so be sure to join in!

Ingredients
2 lbs or 910g fresh apricots
1 small habanero
3 1/2 cups or 700g sugar, divided
Half pack pectin - Just less than 1 oz or about 25g (I use the Sure-Jell brand and the box says 1.75oz or 49g.)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
 1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup orange juice, most pulp

3-4 clean, sterilized jam jars
Wide-mouth funnel for filling jars

N.B. Make sure your jars and lids are thoroughly sterilized because this quick canning method does not require a hot water bath or pressure cooking. If you have any doubts whatsoever, store the jam in the refrigerator once cooled.

Method
Halve your apricots and remove the pits. Pull the stem off of your habanero and discard it.



In a large pot, heat your apricots with the habanero, 3 cups or 600g of the sugar, the sea salt and the lemon and orange juices.

Cook over a low to medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming any white foam that forms around the top. The apricots and habanero should start falling apart and turning to pulp.



Get your jars ready for filling by lining them up on some paper towels (to catch the inevitable drips onto your countertop) and inserting a metal teaspoon into each one. A wide-mouth funnel will make this so much easier! Put the funnel into the first jar, at the ready.

Meanwhile, mix your pectin with the remaining half cup or 100g of sugar.

Remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool for just a few minutes. Use your hand blender to puree the mixture to your desired consistency.



Return the pot to the heat and add in the sugar/pectin mixture. Mix well and bring the pot to a full rolling bowl for at least a minute.



Ladle the boiling hot jam into the clean jars, moving the funnel along as you go. Do be careful not to splash jam on yourself.

I completely missed taking a picture at this stage so here's one from when I made tomato chutney for Sunday Supper. Pretend this is apricot habanero jam. :) Same process.



Remove the teaspoons and screw the lids on the jars very tightly, using a towel to hold the jars and turn the lids, starting with jar one. When you get to jar three or four, start over at number one, trying to tighten them all just a little more.

Turn the jars upside down so that the hot jam further sterilizes the insides of your clean lids.



Leave the jars upside down until the jam has completely cooled, which could take several hours. Turn the jars upright and check that the center button on the lids have popped in, if your lids have those. Any jars whose buttons have not popped in should be stored in the refrigerator as this means the seal is not good and bacteria could get in. If this jam lasts that long. :) I could eat it with a spoon.


Enjoy!



Garden growing overtime? Fruit and veg box overflowing? Can't resist the local produce at the farmers' market? Then this is the Sunday Supper for you!

Learn how to …

Sip sunny cocktails and smoothies

Scoop up special salsas and sauces

Jump into jellies, jams and preserves

Pucker up for pickles

Slurp and spoon soup and a side dish

Dive into divine desserts


Friday, August 8, 2014

Candied Habanero Bacon

Smoky bacon, topped with brown sugar and ground habanero then baked to a lovely crunchy sweet and salty crispiness, could well be a great snack for cocktail hour. I may never know. My advice: Don’t make it too early in the day because there won’t be any left before the sun sets. It’s irresistible. 


If you are a lover of bacon and hot chilies, there is only one downside to this recipe: It only makes eight slices. As I researched candied bacon on the internet, I came across various recipes and techniques but almost all of them called for about eight slices of bacon, either thin or thick cut, so weights varied. I snorted at them to myself and thought, where are you going with only eight slices?

Then I tried to fit more than eight on my wire rack and I realized why. “Oh, curse you, small wire rack!” I cried, making my helper tilt his head sideways with concern. I either needed to suck it up and leave the oven on for a double batch or settle for only eight. Summer temperatures being what they are in Dubai, I gave in. But I vow to do this again, and in greater quantities, once the scorching stops! It’s too good not to.

Ingredients
8 slices of streaky bacon
1/3 cup packed or 65g dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground habanero or to taste

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. and line your baking pan – with sides to catch the rendering fat! - with foil. This is just to make cleanup easier. Place your wire rack on top of the baking pan. Just for the record, my pan is 11x16 inches or 28x40cm.

Arrange bacon in single layer on top of rack.



Bake in the preheated oven for about seven minutes.

Meanwhile, mix your brown sugar and ground habanero together in a small bowl.

Isn't the ground habanero a most wonderful deep red?!



Sprinkle the bacon with half the brown sugar/habanero mixture.



Bake 5-7 minutes longer. Turn the bacon over and sprinkle it with the remaining brown sugar and pepper.


Bake 3-4 minutes longer or until the sugar is melted and bubbly.



Remove from oven. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.


Enjoy!