Red Bean Paste

I made this in the middle of my health crisis, when sugar had to be seriously curtailed, but I just couldn't eat anymore brothy chicken soup with rice for breakfast. I needed my warm fruit and grain breakfast. I know that beans are, basically, my body's version of "best food EVER", so I needed to get beans into something sweet. How was I going to do that? Then my mind flashed back to treks into chinatown in New York City and the red bean past balls (wrapped in sweet rice) and how good those were. Red beans are a staple of the Caribbean diet, so I thought -- it shouldn't be that hard. I can cook beans. Just add dried fruit instead of sugar. Dates are the sweetest I know and they have that lovely soft sticky texture.

Basically, the recipe is 60/40 beans and dates. But 50/50 is also good!

Note: If you are going to use Medjool dates, you may need less. I've never used them - cost and all that, but I would love to hear how it comes out for you, if you do use them.

Ingredients:

250g of dry red beans

400g of dates with the pits

Soak beans overnight or (8 hours or more). Rinse and add to a pot with plenty of fresh water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour.

In the meantime, de-pit the dates. Nice meditative

When the beans are nice and soft, drain the beans, but keep the liquid. Add the beans to a blender and two full ladles of the red bean liquid and blitz. You may need to add another ladle of red bean liquid. Basically, if the blender gets stuck add more liquid. Blitz until a thick, smooth mousse-like paste.

Pour into a container (or split into two containers - one to freeze and one to put in the fridge.). Taste - just to remind yourself of how good this is going to be to eat.

One heaping tablespoon is good in the morning. :-)

Cinnamon-Nutmeg Kasha Granola

Kasha has a weird taste. I don't care what anyone says, it smells, tastes and feels funny... and not in a nice way. But then I remembered a cereal I used to get from Whole Foods called "Kasha" and I realized, just like any grain I could roast/dry it, as in a granola. Then it would be crunchy and I could add sweetness and flavor (MUST add flavor)!

I don't eat yogurt or ice-cream anymore, but I imagine this would be a great way to add crunch to these! Yum! I eat it in my warm cereal in the morning (with whatever grain I have going - brown rice, whole-grain oats, millet). It does go slightly soggy and absorbs some of the liquid, so that my cereal is less a purple fruity soup and more of a purple fruity porridge - all nice and thick and comforting. Yum!

For me, though, the point is to make something that is barely sweet and has just touch of spice. You can make this sweeter and/or add more cinnamon, nutmeg, or any other spice. Cardamon? Allspice? Maple Syrup? Blue Agave Syrup? You'll see.

Ingredients:

1 cup of Kasha (roasted buckwheat)

2 cups water

A pinch of salt

1 good tablespoon of honey (you can overdo it, but why?)

1/4-1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp of freshly grounded nutmeg

Oven goes on 165°C (330°F or Gasmark 3) or thereabouts. Prepare a cookie sheet/flat cooking tray by covering in parchment/wax paper.

Put the water and salt in a pot and bring to a boil (it will happen before you know it, so don't go too far away).

Pour the Kasha in and stir until it's all under the water. Put the lid on and turn the fire to its lowest.

After 10 minutes (sometimes it is 11 min for me), when all the water is absorbed, remove from the fire.

Add a good tablespoon of honey, cinnamon and nutmeg (You can play around with this. I never measure, I just put a little in.)

Stir until everything is covered and absorbed. Spread out onto the parchment paper until it is a layer one grain thick (hopefully! If your tray is small, just do it as even as possible). Put the tray in the middle of the oven and put the timer on for 1 hour.

A tablespoon or two will do for whatever you have planned! Enjoy!

Note: I am not consistent in turning the Kasha over while it is in the oven. One time I didn't touch it and it dried wonderfully, but it dried in clumps, which I crumbled up some. I do prefer a cascade of brown nutty nobules. If you like that idea too, at the 40 minute mark, stir the mixture and make flat again. It takes 2 minutes. It will be sticky to the parchment so take the tray out and do it away from the oven, then put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes. This will also help it brown evenly if your oven bakes unevenly (which mine does).

Elderberries To The Rescue

Last week, we went over to our friend's house in the south of Belgium. They live in a small valley, and have woods behind their huge backyard. It was supposed to be the height of the Leo Perseids meteor shower/show. But it was cloudy and rainy all evening and all night. So that ended that.

That didn't stop us from having a barbecue (corrugated metal covered the large grill), while various salads and vegetable dishes (using Olive Oil they got from a friend in Provence) were prepared. It was a cozy evening with good friends, good food, and loads of laughter.

The next morning we woke up and noticed that in most of the elderberry trees were ripening or fully ripe. So, I asked. And they said, of course! It was still drizzling/raining, but we picked from branches we could reach by pulling down the flexible branches, and soon I had a full bag.

And I have FINALLY gotten to all those berries taking up a whole shelf in the fridge.

It is picky and time-consuming work. Next time I do this, I am enlisting help. Because you have to make sure you get all the spidery thin stems and twigs removed. When cooked, they are poisonous (raw too, actually). And then I had this huge bowl to contend with.


But after debating between jelly or syrup. I decided on both. Well, actually a jam (which is jelly, but with skins and seeds - because I didn't feel like straining out the seeds and skins, again! There are only so many pots in our kitchen). And so, I ended up with 5 1/2 jars of Elderberry Jam and one litre (quart) bottle of Elderberry Syrup. I did a mix of recipes and methods. And because I don't have a kitchen scale, I guessed the amounts of everything. But here are basics:
Elderberry Jelly
Elderberry Syrup
Elderberry Jam


So, here we are Elderberry Jam and Elderberry syrup. The Syrup (and the jam too!) is very good for preventing the onset of a cold or for any throat infection/virus. A couple of teaspoons a few times a day, will keep you in good health. This morning I used those couple of teaspoons over yogurt and sliced apples. The taste was amazing! Next time an elderberry-apple jam/butter! They really complement each other so well.

So why is it "Elderberries To The Rescue"? Not only because I have a bit of a cold coming on that I plan to make disappear, but also we keep getting these apples, and I am getting sorely tired of coring, peeling, or mushing for an apple pie/crumble, or whatever. Now I can just slice and top with elderberry syrup or elderberry jam, on yogurt, on bread with butter (for the Europeans) or peanut butter (for the Americans). I can even have a refreshing drink in this glorious summer heat by adding some cold sparkling water!


That deep velvety luxurious red deepening to purple.

Tomatoes, Tomatoes... Pizza, Arabiatta, Stuffed!

Tomato season has officially started! It's been just over a week that we have 4-5 tomatoes a day. That means if we don't pick or eat tomatoes for one day we have 8-10 to contend with. This morning, however I picked 21 tomatoes! Had it been that long that I had looked into our little greenhouse?! Or maybe the past week as just the teaser!

One day last week, we had collected about 10 tomatoes and I decided it was a good a time as any to make a pizza topped with tomatoes, basil,arugula and spinach from our garden.

And it was hard work! People say pizza dough is easy, but they lie. I could have made two loaves of bread in the time and energy I used (in fact I was a bit lazy, as i didn't do as good a knead as I should have, but it was hot, and it's pizza - c'mon!). Well now I know for next time. there will be another pizza next week using different dough... but all in all...

It was delicious!! And looks pretty... but there is so much to learn! And whoever comes to our house next week is going to get a treat. : )

The next day was pasta arabiatta (chili-garlic tomato sauce). Sorry, no pictures - we were too hungry.

The day after that tomatoes stuffed with breadcrumbs, almond slices, garlic, and a bunch of parsley, to go with lamb chops and mint sauce.

Here are some more pictures:

The Blackberry-Apple Ritual

When we were young, we would spend the summer with our dad in London. He had a house in Wembley with a garden. And in the darkest corner of the garden was a blackberry bush. We always came in August, and were always "lucky" (so we thought) to get the blackberries at their ripest. We would each get a large bowl, wade through that dark corner, and somehow it was always a fantastic surprise. "Blackberries!"

We would pick blackberries until our fingers were deep red with juices -- looking like we had lost the fight with the blackberry thorns. But we would emerge smiling and carrying bounty!

We would walk into the kitchen, where Beverly would have the apples already sliced. We'd help crumble the crumble. Top the pie, put it in the oven. Eat dinner. Take out the pie. Make custard while it cooled just a little. And have the warm deep red blackberry-apple juices peeking from under golden crumble and ochre custard.

So now you know why I had to make this. This is the late summer ritual. Even if our bush isn't that large and our harvest wasn't that huge. Plus, we have apples from our garden. And these were the first ripe ones!

Oh, and I added blueberries (more than the picture shows) - because the blackberries needed some help. So, I guess, it is really a mixed-berry-apple crumble. More than good enough!

Garden Sunshine

Good Morning Sunshine! This lemon yellow sunflower woke us up a few mornings ago. It's sorbet color, plus it's height (about 2 meters) makes sure it gets lots of attention.


A friend of ours, who has a huge organic garden in Hoegaarden (yes, the town of the famous citrus-y Belgian beer), brought us a huge tall graceful bunch of coriander (aka, cilantro) flowers as a house-warming gift last year. And ever since then, I've wanted them in my garden. I made thai curries, ginger-lime soups, and topped salads, honey-ginger glazed chicken with the young leaves. Now I have these beautiful flowers, and tiny pale green spheres that will soon bronze into coriander seeds -- to add to further curries, Indian, Moroccan... Oh, I'm in love!


Another lace-like flower. Melding yellow into green. I planted dill for the chance to make yogurt sauces and delicate, yet flavor-packed fish --- but I also wanted the flowers. And next to the coriander, it creates a lacy curtain in front of our sunflowers.


And one ruby ripening on the vine. We had some on the pizzas I made yesterday. I'll post those pictures soon.

No flour, hardly any sugar... and the shops are closed

This is really going to be a non-post, but I had all these things planned for today and my pantry is empty (well, not as full as it should be). And it is Sunday afternoon, so all the stores are closed. So in the meantime, I'm posting a picture of the red currant-cherry jam on bread with butter. That gorgeous red-purple color looks beautiful in the sun.

Ah, breakfast was on the terrace (or patio in American??). I had blueberries with yogurt and then more blueberries with cornflakes. The start of blueberry season is a beautiful thing. And it may just have inspired us to see if we can buy a bush. Heheheh...

For now, I have a box of red currants that we bought in the shop on the stove transmuting into jam, as I write this. Because, obviously we need more (and the price was cheap)!

ADDED on August 11th - The transmuting into jam