Leekie Welsh Rarebit

Leeks are one of my absolute favourite vegetables and an absolutely undervalued Allium in my eyes. Not to mention their rather colourful history... In the troubled 15th century, displaying a leek signified allegiance to Henry Tudor (Henry VII, father of the notorious Henry the 8th), the Welsh contender to the English throne. Others had adopted the leek before him, but for Henry, the adoption was most apt. The green and white Leek matched the colours of his coat of arms. The same colours of the daffodil stem. Both of these plants, which grow so well in Wales became Welsh emblems and are worn even today, but only on special occasions such as  St David's Day (March 1st) and at Welsh rugby matches.

Welsh rarebit (or rabbit) is traditionally a supper dish of bread soaked with a little ale and shallot vinegar, a slice of cold roast beef spread with horseradish and mustard and crowned with a voluptuous veil of melting strong cheese. Delicious I think you'd agree. But today its a strictly veggie affair, and I think it seems rather fitting that the Leek is the shining the star of this thoroughly Welsh-inspired show. This lovely Leekie welsh rarebit is for the Spring a Leek Recipe competition, so wish me luck :).

Ingredients
1 large leek, washed & sliced.
A hefty knob of butter.
A little glug of olive oil.
4 thick slices of good bread.
1 teaspoon of English mustard.
2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar (balsamic will do the job too).
100 grams of strong cheddar, sliced.
A pinch Ground black pepper.

Method
Fry the leeks with the butter and oil in a large frying pan with the lid on, over a medium heat, stirring regularly, until the leeks are tender (about 10 mins). Meanwhile, under a medium grill toast one side of the bread. Turn the slices over and dot with the mustard & vinegar, pile the leeks on each slice and top with the sliced cheese. Return to the grill, and heat until the cheese is bubbling. Sprinkle with black pepper and serve immediately, (but beware of burning the roof of your mouth on the hot cheese)!

Feeds 2 (2 slices each). Prep time 3 mins. Cooking time 15 mins.

Chocolate, beetroot & hazelnut fairy cakes for Mothers Day

Getting the balance between completely delicious and at least a little bit healthy is tough, but fear not, this tiny little wandering fairy cake is coming to a mother's day near you to save your buns! Part vegetable, part molten chocolate, part sheer awesome! Most beetroot cakes I've tried before are very beety, which isn't always a good thing, especially in a chocolate cake. This one however uses cooked beetroot, so the flavour is much more subtle. 

 Ingredients
4 oz cooked beetroot, blended into a course mush.
4 oz spelt flour (or other plain white flour).
2 eggs (Medium, free range).
4 oz butter.
5 oz brown sugar.
1 tsp baking powder.
2 oz dark chocolate, melted.
1 tablespoon cocoa powder.
70g hazelnuts, toasted & blitzed to a course powder.

Method
Cream together the butter and sugar, until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and mix well. Add the hazelnut powder, baking powder, cocoa powder and flour and stir until just combined. Add in the beetroot & chocolate and stir again until just combined. Divide between cupcake cases and bake in a preheated oven at 180 oC for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins. Once they are cool enough to handle, get 'em out of the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

The icing I made was - 200g of cream cheese, 4 tablespoons of icing sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 2 tsp lemon juice. Mixed together and spread generously over the cooled cakes.

Makes about 12 small fairy cakes. Prep time 20 mins. Cooking time 15 mins.

Paprika chickpeas with roasted sweet peppers

So it's coming to the time when my lease is up and its time to get moving. And it that vain trying to eat some of the mass of tinned & jarred food stuffs I've accumulated over the last year. So far is so good, and at the moment we stand at 2 tins of soup, 2 tins of tomatoes, 3 tins of beans, 1 tin of pineapple chunks (fairly normal so far, yes?), then there's 3 tins of sardines (good intentions never really came into fruition), 1 tin of hot chicken curry, a tin of new potatoes (?!) and a jar of Hot Shito, (which is an African condiment concocted mostly of chilli & fish in case you were wondering). The recipe below is how the tinned chickpeas came to their sticky and delicious end (insert evil laugh here). Serves 2. Takes about 45 mins, all in.

Ingredients
1 400g tin of chickpeas in salted water, rinsed.
3 teaspoons of paprika (the unsmoked variety).
1 clove of garlic, crushed.
4 tablespoons of your fave cooking oil (veg, olive, hemp or whatever).
1 teaspoon of runny honey.
4 small shallots, peeled & halved.
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved.
A pack of 6 mini sweet peppers (or a couple of normal sized peppers), cut in half.
A handful of rocket leaves
A handful of Pistachios, roughly chopped
A sprinkling of seeds (any will do and lightly toasting them in a dry pan will lift their flavour a treat).
Salt & pepper.
Method
Arrange the peppers, tomatoes & shallots on a baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle with salt and bake in a medium-hot (190 oC) oven for about half an hour to 45 mins (until the peppers are starting to turn slightly black in places). Remove from the oven and set aside.
Put the chickpeas in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring up to the boil and allow to simmer very gently for a couple of minutes, just to warm them through. Turn off the heat and leave them in the water until your ready to chuck them in the frying pan. In the meantime, add 2 tablespoons of oil to a frying pan and fry the garlic gently for 2 mins. Add in the paprika & honey and allow to fry for a further 2 mins, stirring regularly. Add the warm, drained chickpeas to the pan and toss to coat well. Season and remove from the heat. Stir through the rocket leaves and divide between 2 plates, sprinkle with seeds & nuts and top with the roasted veg.

Plum & Macadamia nut Flapjacks

This recipe started out in life as a crumble, but when it came down to it.. I really couldn't be bothered with all the rubbing together business, so my plums, instead became a lovely, lazy, sweet & sour flapjack. There's only one kind of flapjack in my mind and that's the gooey, sticky, sweet, syrupy kind. Those healthy, dry, hard, dry fruit filled ones have no place here. So, apologies if that's what you were looking for :). The plums are a fantastic contrast to the buttery, sweet oats, they're sourness cuts through the richness beautifully, but if you prefer apples would be good too, maybe with a few frozen raspberries thrown in for good measure? 

Ingredients
2 ripe plums, de-stoned & cut into segments
1 & 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons of golden syrup
1/4 cup of Macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup of sesame seeds
3 oz (1/3 cup) Butter

Method
Melt the butter, sugar & golden syrup in a saucepan over a gentle heat, until melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and add into the pan the oats, nuts and seeds. Mix well. Pour out into a small baking dish, lined with baking parchment, and smooth with the back of a spoon into an even layer. Put the plum segments on top and dribble a little more golden syrup over the top (sugar will work fine instead, if you don't have a squeezy golden syrup bottle). Bake in a preheated oven at 250oC for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180oC and bake for a further 10 mins. Allow to cool in the dish for at least 10 mins before turning out and cutting into 4 large chunks. Best serve 'em warm with thick cream.