Vegan Choccy Ginger Orange Cakes

Vegan Chocolate Ginger Orange Cakes



3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
 1 1/2cups natural cane sugar
1 cup of cold freshly brewed coffee
1 cup olive oil (I tried lemon infused olive oil and it worked well)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
zested orange peel from 2 large oranges
1 tablespoon orange juice ( I used orange and grapefruit juice)
4 tablespoons cider vinegar



Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celcius. Mix all dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Add water, oil, vanilla, orange juice, ginger and orange peel. Stir to combine. Add vinegar and stir quickly to combine. Things will be slightly foamy and lighter in color. Once the mix turns slightly darker again you know you've incorporated all the vinegar and you're set to pour it into muffin tins) or even two cake pans.Bake for 15 minutes for a medium sized cupcake. Allow to sit in pan for 5 minutes, remove and place on wire rack until completely cool.

Broccoli Quiche

This is a wonderful quiche recipe...delicious and no frying of any ingrediants involved!

Ingredients
1 shortcrust pastry sheet, rolled
1 broccoli
4 eggs
200ml creme fraiche
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon dry thyme
1 teaspoon dry basil
salt and pepper to taste
100g grated cheese

How to make it

1.Preheat oven to 180 C/ Gas 4. Roll out the pastry and line it in a pie dish or tart tin. Prick the pastry with a fork. Line with the pastry with baking parchment. Add dry beans and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans; keep the oven on.

2.Cut the broccoli into small florets. Blanch for 5 minutes in salted boiling water.

3.Whisk the eggs with the cream in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, thyme and basil. Add the cheese and mix. Arrange broccoli in the pie dish. Pour in the egg mixture and cook for 30 minutes.

Courgette Soup perfection!

This must be one of the most delicoius things I have ever made. I never knew courgettes and parmesan cheese went together so well.
I added onions to the recipe below and topped the finished product with lots of parmesan and parsley. I made this soup as a 'pick me up' for someone who was feeling unwell but sadly they weren't well enough to eat anything so I can only rely on my own review of the end product but I loved it!

Ingredients:



60ml/2fl oz extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp chopped garlic
handful basil leaves (preferably Italian), chopped
sea salt and ground white pepper, to taste
1kg/2¼lb green courgettes, cut lengthways into quarters then into 1cm/½in slices
750ml/1¼ pint chicken stock (should work well with veg stock too)
60ml/2fl oz single cream
handful flatleaf parsley, chopped
50g/2oz freshly grated parmesan, plus extra to serve

1.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat.
2.

Cook the garlic, basil, salt and courgette slowly for 10 minutes, or until the courgettes are lightly browned and softened.
3.

Add white pepper, to taste, then pour in the stock and simmer for 8 minutes, uncovered. Remove from the heat.
4.

Put three-quarters of the soup mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth.
5.

Return the mixture to the pan and stir in the cream, parsley and parmesan.
6.

To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle over more parmesan, to taste. Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.

O got this recipe from the BBC food website it was devise by a chef called Neil Perry.

Home made chutney!!!

No recipe with this one for a change! Just wanted to share a few pictures of the ingredients used in my recent pickling and chutney making spree.

Keith Floyd's Green Tomato Chutney

What you need:

* 15g/½oz root ginger
* 8-10 chillies
* 2kg/4lb green tomatoes, chopped
* 500g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and chopped
* 250g/8oz raisins, chopped
* 625g/1¼lb shallots, chopped
* 2 tsp salt
* 500g/1lb brown sugar
* 570ml/1 pint malt vinegar



An now for the easy method:

1. Bruise the ginger and tie in a muslin bag with the chillies.
2. Place all the other ingredients in a preserving pan and suspend the muslin bag among them.
3. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and simmer until the desired consistency is reached.
4. Remove the muslin bag. Pour into warmed sterilised jars, cover and label.

OR!!!! Using my tried and tested methos forget about the muslin bag and just put all the items from the bag in the the mix and after the sugar has dissolved!

Irish marrow chutney

Place all ingredients except the sugar in a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2-2hrs, [or until the chutney is thick and the consistency of jam] stirring occassionally. Add the sugar about 3/4 of the way through and stir to dissolve. Stir more frequently for remainder of the cooking time to prevent the chutney scorching.

Spoon while still hot into prepared jars. Seal with airtight, vinegar-proof covers


What you need:

# 3lb marrow/courgette, peeled, quartered lenghtways, seeded and diced
# 3lb cooking apples, peeled cored and chopped
# 8oz onions, peeled and chopped
# 1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
# 4oz sultanas
# 4oz raisins
# 4oz dried apricots
# 4oz preserved ginger, finely chopped or 1 tabsp ground ginger
# 2oz almonds blanched and chopped
# 4tabsp mustard seeds
# 1tabsp chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped or ground chillie powder to taste
# 1tabsp salt
# 1tabsp ground cinnamon
# 1tsp ground cloves
# 1tsp ground nutmeg
# 1 1/2pints malt vinegar
# 5tabsp Irish whiskey
# 1 1/2 lb sugar
# cooking time: approx 2hrs

This makes about 7lb of chutney. It is best kept in the jars for a few months before opening to let the taste mature!

August's indulgent blackberry fool

Ingredients:
300g blackberries
75g sugar
juice of 1 lemon
120ml double cream. I used Elmlea as it has less fat content
50g mascarpone

To make the fool, reserve a handful of blackberries for the garnish and purée the remainder with the sugar in a blender.
Add the lemon juice, then taste and adjust the flavouring.
Whisk the double cream to just soft peaks, not any thicker.
Soften the mascarpone by beating by hand and then whisk the two gently together. It is important not to overbeat this mixture. It can be taken too far and then the fool will have a grainy texture.
Finally, fold this mixture together with two-thirds of the purée. The remaining one third should be kept aside until assembly.
In a sundae dish or wine glass, place a few blackberries tossed in a spoonful of the reserved purée. Fill the glass half-way with the creamy mixture. Place a thin layer of the purée on top of this layer before filling the glass with more creamy mixture.
Fill the other dishes in the same way.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours to firm up the mixture.

This recipe is from Paul and Jeanne Rankin and can be found on the BBC food website.