Observer Dary Free Recipies

8/7/2019 Observer Dary Free Recipies

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Chocolate Beetroot Cake

330g cooked unseasoned beetroot, cubed

4 eggs

4tbsp acacia honey

1tsp vanilla essence

1tbsp cocoa

1tsp baking powder

1 pinch salt

125g ground almonds

125g chocolate

4tbsp olive oil

50g cherries/ prunes

Oven at 180

23cm round cake tin grease and lineblend beetroot eggs, honey, essence, cocoa, bpowder, salt until thickand creamy

put chocolate and oil over boiling water until blended

add chocolate mix to blender and blend

fold in cherries/ prunes

bake for 35/ 40 mins

top with melted chocolate


2/11

Sherried apple tart

For the third recipe in our four-week series on baking without dairy or

eggs, I've used an oil and almond pastry to line the base and

decorate the top of this apple tart. By using lots of apples and making

them, rather than the pastry, the ultimate star of the recipe, you won't

miss the butter too much. Be a little careful and stand back when you

add the apples and sherry to the caramel, because it will spit and

splutter at first. Serve this tart warm with a little dairy-free ice-creamor a simple caramel syrup. Croft sherry is thought to be vegan-safe,

though you can use brandy instead, if you prefer.

200g plain flour tsp salt50g ground almonds50g icing sugar

50ml sunflower oil120ml sherry, plus a little extra for brushing6

dessert apples, peeled and coredDemerara sugar1 tsp cornflour

Put the flour, salt, almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and mix evenly.

Add the oil and 50ml of the sherry, mix everything to a smooth dough,

then wrap well in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and use it to line a deep round 20cm tart tin; cut

the excess dough into small 5cm discs you'll use these to decorate

the top and return them, covered, to the fridge.

Press some nonstick baking paper weighed down with baking beans

inside the tart case and lightly blind bake at 180C (160C fan-

assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 for 25 minutes.


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Cut the peeled and cored apples into eighths. Spoon 50g demerara

sugar into a frying pan along with a few tablespoons of water, and

cook over a high heat until it turns to a golden caramel. Add the

apples and 50ml sherry (stand back!), lower the heat and simmer

until the caramel melts, the apples are almost tender and the liquid

has reduced. Stir a tablespoon each of sherry and demerara with the

cornflour, and mix this through the hot apples.

Brush the reserved pastry circles with sherry and sprinkle with

demerara sugar. Spoon the apples into the pastry case, decorate with

the pastry circles, and bake at 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas

mark 4 for 35 minutes, until golden.

Mocha fig muffins

For the final recipe in my four-week miniseries on dairy- and egg-free

baking, I've used a combination of tricks. It's very difficult to get egg-

free cakes as light as the regular sort, so the best approach is to play

on the moist, slightly dense crumb you can achieve and make it a

positive point in the recipe. For example, if you describe a cake as

having a gingerbread texture, then no one will mind that it doesn't

taste or look like a lovely and light Victoria sponge.

Here, the dried fig pure helps give the muffins a richness, and

a slightly sticky texture to the crumb, while the combination of cocoa

and coffee adds a mocha flavour that makes them well suited as a

breakfast snack. I've added mixed spice to the mix here, but
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paper cases.

Sprinkle a few extra flaked almonds over the top of each muffin, then

bake for about 25 minutes, until firm. Remove from the oven andleave to cool a little before extricating the muffins from their tray.

Dan Lepard's olive oil pasties recipe

Creating a dairy- and lard-free pastry that has a light, delicate texture

is tricky, especially if you also want to avoid palm fat or some

chemically hardened nasty. Light vegetable oils are the obvious

choice, but they can leave the pastry feeling greasy because they

stay liquid at room temperature. What I like to do is make two doughs

one rich with olive oil lightened with baking powder, the other plain

and simple and roll them together as if making puff pastry. Though

the effect is very subtle don't expect mille-feuille flakiness the

result gives the crust on these vegetable pasties a mighty fine

texture.

For the olive oil dough225g strong white flour, plus a little extra

for rolling tsp salt75ml extra-virgin olive oil tsp baking

powder75ml cold water

For the plain dough250g strong white flour tsp salt150ml coldwater

For the fillingSeasoned roasted vegetables and olive-oil mashed

potatoA little paprika mixed in oil


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First make both the doughs separately, mixing the ingredients and

kneading each one until smooth, then wrapping individually and

chilling them for 30 minutes.

Lightly dust a worksurface with flour, and with a flour-dusted rolling

pin roll out the olive oil dough to about 1cm thick, then lay on a plate.

Roll the plain dough to about 0.75cm thick, or large enough so it will

evenly envelop the rolled-out olive oil dough.

Place the olive oil dough on top of the plain one, then fold over the

edges so they meet in the middle. Roll the combined dough to 1cm

thick, fold in by thirds, repeat the rolling-out and folding procedure

and chill for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 190C (170C fan-assisted)/375F/gas mark 5. Repeat

the roll out and fold twice more, chill again, then give the dough a

final double roll and fold.

Roll out the dough thinly, cut out large circles, and spread each with a

little mashed potato and a spoonful of vegetables, then crimp the

dough neatly over the filling. Brush all over with paprika oil and bake

for about 35 minutes until golden.

Dan Lepard's walnut black cherry cookies recipe

Dan Lepard's walnut black cherry cookies: Lovely with a shot of


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espresso. Photograph: Colin Campbell for the Guardian

Allergies and special diets can make baking a little tricky, because

the characteristics of some ingredients are crucial to the texture and

flavour of a dish. Apple tart, say, can easily be transformed into pear

tart, but cutting out eggs or butter gets more complex. Though gluten-

free recipes are everywhere, other "free-from" baking ideas are

trickier to locate. So the next four weeks' columns will do without

dairy, eggs and soya, essential if you're a vegan, and canny help if

the fridge is a bit bare. And it's good practice to bake without

ingredients you've become overly dependent on, helping to stir yourcreativity.

Water mixed with flour will bind ingredients together in a dull,

flavourless way, with none of the richness that eggs provide. So

subtle flavours such as malt extract, walnut oil, cocoa and spice help

to fill that flavour void. The malt extract, like egg yolks, helps to give

cookies a chewy texture and the nut oil adds flavour and moistness tothe crumb. Lovely with a shot of espresso and a smidgen of grappa

after dinner.

75g shelled walnuts2 tbsp cocoa100g dark soft brown sugar

tsp cinnamon175g plain flour tsp baking powder25ml walnut

oil2 tbsp malt extract50ml cold waterHigh-fruit black cherry jam

(something like St Dalfour)

Put the walnuts, cocoa, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor and

whizz until finely ground. Tip into a bowl and mix with the flour and

baking powder. In a jug, stir together the oil, malt and water, then
http://www.stdalfour.com.au/products.htm#blackcherryhttp://www.stdalfour.com.au/products.htm#blackcherry


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9/11

2 good handfuls of coriander leaves50g cashew nuts1 large

clove of garlic, peeled and choppedA small handful of mint

leaves90-100ml olive oilSalt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7. Trim the ends off the courgettes and

slice thickly. Trim and slice the spring onions and wash the spinach,

pick off the leaves and slice roughly. Heat the oil in a wok or large

frying pan and start stir-frying the courgettes. Once they begin to

soften, chuck in the spring onions and garlic, cook for a minute then

add the spinach and stir-fry for a minute more until the leaves wilt.

Season with salt and pepper, tip the vegetables into a baking sheet or

roasting tin and leave them to cool. Take the pastry out of the fridge

before you make the pesto. For the pesto: Wash the coriander and

pick the leaves off the stalks. Whizz the cashews briefly in a food

processor then add the garlic, blend again, then the coriander leaves

and mint, and whizz until you have a rough paste. Gradually add the

oil until the mixture has the consistency of a thick sauce. Season with

salt, pepper and lemon juice. Unroll the pastry on to a lightly greased

baking tray. With the point of a sharp knife mark out a rectangle about

1cm in from the edge to leave a border. Spread the pesto over the

base up to the border you've made. Tip the courgettes and spinach

over the top, making sure they don't cover the border. Bake for about

20 minutes until well risen and puffy. Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes.Drizzle over a little olive oil before serving. If you're not vegan, you

could crumble feta over the tart too.

This footnote was added on 20 September 2010. Some ready-made


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puff pastry may contain butter or lard and would therefore be

unsuitable for vegans. Cooks should check the ingredients list on the

packet beforehand.

Yotam Ottolenghi's vegetable and coconut curry recipe

The spice is nice in this tasty, creamy curry topped with caramelised

seeds Yotam Ottolenghi The Guardian, Saturday 21 November 2009

larger| smaller

Yotam Ottolenghi's vegetable and coconut curry: the spiced seeds

add an extra layer of taste; they're also a fab nibble with drinks.

Photograph: Colin Campbell

The seeds make this more special. They're great on their own, so

make extra and store in a jar. Serves four.

50g sunflower seeds tsp fennel seeds1 tsp caster sugarSalt

200g okra, trimmed4 tbsp vegetable oil2 tsp each coriander and

cumin seeds1 tsp mustard seeds1 tbsp cardamom pods1 large

onion, sliced2 carrots, peeled, cut into 2.5cm dice50g ginger,

peeled and grated3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed400ml

coconut milk1 red chilli, finely chopped1 lime butternut

squash, peeled and cut into 2.5cm dice cauliflower, split into

florets30g chopped coriander leaves

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the sunflower and

fennel seeds, sugar and a pinch of salt in a nonstick pan, and place

over high heat. Stir for three or four minutes, until the sugar dissolves
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/yotamottolenghihttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibilityhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibilityhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/yotamottolenghihttp://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibilityhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibility


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and coats the seeds. Set aside to cool.

Mix the okra with a tablespoon of oil, spread on an oven tray, sprinkle

with salt and roast for 12 minutes, until cooked through.

In a frying pan, dry-fry the spices until they release their aromas,

transfer to a mortar and work to a fine powder. Remove and discard

the cardamom skins.

In a large, heavy-based skillet, saut the onion in the remaining oil for

about 12 minutes, until nicely browned. Add the carrots, ground

spices, ginger, garlic, coconut and chilli. Shave off a few shards of

lime zest, add to the pot, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the

squash, cook for four minutes, then stir in the cauliflower. If needed,

add a little water, just enough almost to cover the veg, then replace

the lid and simmer for a few minutes, until the vegetables are semi-

cooked. Uncover and reduce the sauce rapidly until it thickens a bit.

Juice the lime, add this to the pot along with the okra and most of

the coriander, taste for seasoning and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

Serve over rice with the seeds and reserved coriander sprinkled on

top.

Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron ofOttolenghi in London.
http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/

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