Orange and coconut cake

Orange and coconut cake

It is a surprisingly moist and not so sweet cake, in fact very much on a moist side. It has a distinctive and beautiful orange and coconut flavors, this is incredibly comforting on a cold November day.

The recipe was slightly adapted from  One Bite More


Ingredients:

200g of butter softened at room temperature
25g of coconut oil
1cup of caster sugar
2tbsp brown or dark muscovado sugar
4 eggs
¼ cup of orange juice
orange zest from 2 oranges
1 cup - 250ml natural yogurt
1,5 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup dessicated coconut

Let's do it:
Preheat the oven to 170C and using a brush grease a 20-23cm fluted cake tin with 1tsp of sunflower oil.
Cut the butter and coconut oil into smaller chunks, transfer to a big bowl together with sugar/s. Using a hand mixer beat until light and fluffy, this will take at least 5 minutes.
Next add eggs, orange zest, juice and yogurt. Mix well, the batter will curdle but this does not affect the final product.
Next sift in flower with soda and mix well, finally stir in dessicated coconut.
Transfer to the cake tin and bake for 50 min - 1 hr until a skewer comes clean. Leave in the tin until completely cooled.

Turkish Jewish and Georgian feast

This is what I call a proper feast - mixed flavors from different countries, food that awakes passion and imagination and all washed down with a good bottle of red. This reward is certainly worth three hours in the kitchen!

Wheat dish is one of my all time favourite dishes, it is a such a simple but beautiful creation with a wonderfully addictive taste of pomegranate molasses. The only downside is that the dish does not look as appetising as the description and even in  Ottolenghi's Jerusalem was published with a photo of the ingredients before cooking:) What is important to remember is that it tastes heavenly.
I first saw the recipe in Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Feast on Channel 4 (episode 4 - Israel) and cooked it from memory a few times. Also the tomato and cheese salad is inspired by the Istanbul episode from the same programme; Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Fest episode guide

Wheat, leek and Swiss chard with pomegranate molasses
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
200 g whole wheat
2 large leeks - only white and pale green parts thinly sliced
600g of Swiss chard or mixture of various rainbow, red etc. chard - stalks cut out and cut into 1cm slices; leaves into 2cm slices
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp light brown sugar
3-5 tbsp pomegranate molasses
500ml veggie stock
salt, pepper and yogurt to serve (labneh or Onken natural are my favourite)

Let' s do it:
Heat the oil and butter in a large heavy based pan, add the leak and cook for 3-4 minutes; add the stalks and cook for 3 minutes; add the leaves and cook for further 3 minutes. Next stir in the sugar, pomegranate molasses and wheat. Add the stock, some salt and pepper and cook on a low heat for around 70-80 minutes when the wheat is al dente.  Remove the lead, slightly increase the heat to allow the liquid to evaporate and caramelise the  food so keep on the gas until the base of the pan has a bit of burnt caramel on it. It may take up to 30 minutes but it will allow to cook the wheat properly. Before serving add more salt, pepper and pomegranate molasses to your liking. 

Istanbul episode inspired tomato and apetina cheese salad
 I use to go Turkish groceries to get the cheese and bread for this feast but since I am making my own bread I found a good substitute for the cheese which is apetina - it is alike feta but not as salty so ideal for the salad.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
4 small well ripen tomatoes
pack of apetina cheese, cheese cut into big cubes
a handful of roughly chopped roasted nuts (hazelnuts or mix of nuts)
Olive oil
Dry thyme
Dry oregano
Nigella seeds
Pomegranate molasses
Raspberry vinegar

Let's do it:
In a bowl mix apetina cubes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, Nigella seeds, dry thyme and oregano. Leave on the side.
Slice or cut tomatoes into big chunks and transfer to a serving bowl. Mix pomegranate molasses with raspberry vinegar and pour over the tomatoes. Arrange the cheese on the top and garnish with chopped roasted nuts.

Georgian inspired salad of beans and walnuts
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
a tin of borlotti beans or kidney beans
a small handfull of walnuts
a big handful of fresh chopped parsley
a small red onion diced
olive oil
salt, pepper

Let's do it:
Rinse beans well in a colender and leave to dry, then transfer to a serving bowl, add the onion, parsley, salt and pepper and some olive oil - mix well. Using a pestle and mortar crash walnuts with some salt and sprinkle on the top.


Finally a great accompaniement to all - Turkish bread
This recipe should be really on the top of the post as although the bread is very easy to make it takes 2 hours before it is ready to serve due to the rising time.

Ingredients for a one big flatbread: 

230g of strong white flour
1 tsp of yeast
1 tbsp sugar
200ml warm water
1tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
egg wash - egg beaten with 1tbsp of milk
Nigella seeds
Sesame seeds

Let's do it:
Preheat the oven to 230C (fan assisted)
In a bowl mix warm water with sugar, little flour and yeast - leave to stand for 30 minutes until there is a little foam on the top. Next add flour, salt and oil  mix well and knead briefly. Grease a clean bowl with little oil, transfer the dough and leave for 1 hour until it doubles it size.

Sprinkle some flour on the flat baking tray and transfer the dought using your hand to flaten and give it a shape of the flatbread. Along the whole dough make marks with your fingers, next brush the top evenly with the eggwash. Sprinkle both seeds generously and leave to stand for further 20 minutes.
Bake for around 12 minutes until golden.

Quick butternut squash and carrot soup with toasted pine nuts

Hubby and I came back from run and starving. What do we (meaning I) do? Of course I cook!
Here is a quick, veggie and healthy soup.

Butternut squash and carrot soup with pine nuts
Serves 2


Ingredients:
Half a small butternut quash - peeled, deseeded and diced into 0.5cm cubes

Two medium - big carrots peeled and sliced rather thinly
Veggie stock pot (1) or veggie stock cubes (2)
1 shallot - peeled and diced
Chili flakes
Dash of milk
Salt, pepper
Little oil

Let's do it:
Heat the oil with a small knob of butter in a pan and gently fry diced shallot for 5 minutes adding some chili flakes. Next stir in diced butternut squash and carrots, then add enough water to cover vegetables and veggie stock (1 stock pot but 2 stock cubes).Bring to boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until carrots and butternut squash are tender. Add some salt and pepper and a dash of milk and blitz with a hand blender.
In the meantime heat the frying pan and toast without any fat a small hand full of pine nuts.

Serve with creme fraiche, pine nuts and a sprinkle of paprika and bread if you wish to make it a more substantial meal.