Recipes, Inspiration, Planetary shifts

Recently a good friend, a soul sister, asked me where I get my recipes from and I actually sat down and wrote a list of the cookbooks that I read, re-read both for pleasure and for the recipes. 

This led me to reflect on a recent cleansing and clearing experience that happened after a good few weeks of doing very little creative inventive cooking after a loss of a good friend, I went through all my books looking for inspiration and found none - a tried and tested method of shifting and raising my vibrations.

I resorted to a new fangled way of seeking inspiration to create and shift my energies into a better flowing space. At a friends I used an iPad and searched on a website for images of cakes. I scrolled through until something piqued my interest; the inner creative faerie that lives inside woke up and my faerie guide Griselda - she of laughs, gigles and the occasional hammer blow to my head - stamped her foot and shouted in my ear 'THAT ONE!!!"

http://www.delsole.co.uk/2009/04/21/ricotta-and-almond-cake-with-vanilla-honey-and-very-berry-syrup/

A recipe seen on a website, found at random, visually triggered into a creative flow and allowing  myself to shift energies, raising my vibration to move into union with the universe. 

The recipe - Ricotta and Almond cheesecake with honey berry vanilla syrup. - something new to try. As is often the way the only ingredient missing from my stock was Ricotta, which after a trek through 3 shops I acquired and hurried home to create.

This recipe, which will eventually follow, was a departure for me - a new way of being in this world. Normally I trawl through my cookbooks or the blogs that inspire me, and of course I am visually triggered by beautiful images, and yet this was a purer form of the process where the usual habitual old and out dated methods of triggering creation were left behind as I took off the blinkers and looked in a new way for inspiration. In these times of back to back planetary alignments and movements we are all being pushed by the energies into a period of accelerated clearing and growth -whether we like it or not.  

Everything is happening on such a deep, intense level that we can be depleted very easily and shifting our energies is much harder while we cling to old habits and processes. This process of cleansing is faster and deeper than anything ever before and moving into automatic mode of dealing with such intense energies will no longer be useful or even valid.  The current energy transformations as they impact upon us will no longer require us to take pages and pages of journalling to integrate the changes, nor will running off to the nearest healer help - because whether we are conscious of this or not, the changes are occurring right down to DNA level; within each cell of our physical body, within our energy bodies.  We are all being cleared of the debris and detrius of old patterns and institutions which are being brought up into our face for us all to see. 

My old tried and tested method of triggering my creative flow is no longer valid to the being I am becoming, the intuitive process or tapping into the guidance of my Higher Self leads me to a more random process that is not mired in tradition or habit, I have been well and truly kicked out of the safe rut of cooking old favourites.

So with that in mind I am going to list the cookery books I have used a lot in the past and may use again in the future, but only while in the moment  - a time to release and move forward methinks.

A relatively recent buy is The Popina Book of Baking - Isidora Popovic. This is the blog of the lady in question -

http://www.popina.co.uk/new.php?id=20

– the lady with a stall on Portobello Market.
Really good recipes, great pics and inspirational ideas for tarts, muffins and cakes, and I often do the strawberry, nectarine and white choc muffins as a quickie bake for a morning event.

Popina book of Baking

  A recipe here - http://leitesculinaria.com/36359/recipes-butternut-squash-tart.html

 A Recipe book I have used mostly for great pictures and wonderful recipes, rather than reading and absorbing is the Ottolenghi book - the original one which has an oft used recipe for Granola bars, or the cinammon & hazelnut meringues, or even the sumac and za'tar chicken dish I frequently cook.

Ottolenghi The Cookbook 

 A wonderful book for Middle Eastern cooking by an amazing writer - something to read as well as use - Claudia Roden's book Arabesque

Arabesque - a taste of Morroco, Turkey and Lebanon 

 The use of pomegranates is always intriguing and mysterious. Each time I see or use a pomegranate I think of Persephone and the voyage into the underworld, of fertility, richness and abundance.

Each country has a chapter, some writing and tips and the recipes of course. Evocative writing that impels you towards the kitchen and perhaps the internet too for some of the ingredients. Great and lipsmackingly good!

THE MORO COOKBOOK - Spanish and arabic deliciousness

 

In London there is a restaurant called Moro’s where they serve Spanish and Arabic Mediterranean food that is stunning. The Moro refers to the Moors occupation of Spain and the influences that had over the cuisine. The recipes can take time but they are not complicated. 

Plenty - Yotam Ottolenghi - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plenty-Yotam-Ottolenghi/dp/0091933684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339616566&sr=8-1

This book is on my wish list as it is a comprehensive vegetarian recipe book by a wonderful chef.

Recipe from the Plenty book

 Another writer I read a lot is Tessa Kiros who has an eclectic background of various nationalities and this finds its way into her recipe books which can contain a mix of Swedish, Canadian, Georgian, Russian, and Italian recipes. It is fascinating to read and the recipes are uncomplicated and relatively easy, altho' you may have to hunt for some ingredients. It rather depends on how well stock your pantry or kitchen cupboard is. 

Falling Cloudberries - Tessa Kiros 

  I  use this and her other book quite a bit - the other book is 

Apples for Jam - Tessa Kiros 

which has recipes like Rosehip semolina puddings; Pomegranate Sorbet; Green Bean Souffle loaf; Orange Juice and Olive oil cake with pine nuts.

I bought another of her books called Venezia - Tessa Kiros 

While it has a beautiful cover and some amazing photographs, I rarely use it.

A book I received as  a present last year was after my browsing the food blogs - 

Ready for Dessert, My Best Recipes - David Lebovitz 

 He has some great recipes that are relatively easy to make. His sorbet  and ice cream recipes are especially good. I have made the Blood Orange surprise sorbet (the surprise being vodka/brandy), and while some of his cakes are basics that I can always do, some are new and different and a challenge to be taken on and completed. The photographs are truly amazing, vibrant and make me want to lick the page. 

I rarely buy a newspaper, but during one of my forays into the news world I read Diana Henry in the Telegraph who is an amazing writer, evocative, simple and inspirational. Her 2 books Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow

are my winter and summer guides. She writes so well especially about cheese, and all the ingredients she uses as a basis for the sections of the book. Her Roast figs book is to my mind a book for winter, and her Crazy water book is one for summer with a wealth of recipes from the mediterranean and all over the middle east. 

Russian Curd cheese pancakes - a great one for Pancake Tuesday (Shrove)

Peasant girls in the mist - what a glorious title for an apple dish

Russian smoked fish pie - yum, yum, yum

Pumpkin tarts with spinach and Gorgonzola - I used Roquefort because that's what I had.

Morrocan Chicken with Tomatoes and Saffron Honey jam

Morrocan Lamb and Quince tagine

Breast of Duck with pomegrante and walnut sauce

Violet liquer truffles

Middle Eastern Orange Confit

And a final book for now - Red Velvet, Chocolate Heartache - Harry Eastwood

This is a great idea from the 'cook yourself thin' programme. All the cakes look amazing, her humour in writing and her homage to Agatha Christie and quirky photography is delightful - and strange to say irritating to some - but most fun of all is the ingredients. All the array of cakes using grated potatoes, or beetroot, or butternut squash or courgette. The fat replaced by grated vegetables. The brownies made with beetroot are amazing, as is the apricot almond cakes. The book is mostly low fat, always wheat free and a delight to cook from.

And finally a picture of how my Ricotta Almond cake with honey vanilla berry's turned out - I did of course tweak it and added my current fave 'Creme de Mur' to the syrup.

 

BLOOD ORANGES, CHAKRA BLOCKS & PERSEVERENCE

Stubbornness or Perseverance or blocks?

Fennel – do you love it, hate it or does it bring no strong emotions to the surface? For a few weeks each year I receive a plethora of Fennel bulbs in my organic box. Fennel brings up strong emotions within me! It is not a vegetable I can rave on about, nor is a veggie I wish to see every week, even cooked with fish, this vegetable palls after only a week or so. You could say I hate Fennel – an yet that would be too harsh an emotion to describe my feelings about this vegetable – really it is that I  just that I do not find its taste harmonious within my diet.

Thinking about my feelings about Fennel brings up a mirror situation that elicits such feelings – and brings me squarely back into the power of the ‘will’ and  how I use ‘intent’ within my life and world.

What do you do when a really good friend, a girl friend, or a boy friend, starts a relationship with a new partner, that causes a dissonance in your energy? You don’t like that person, not necessarily for the being they are, but for the connection they have made to your friend. Is it jealousy, or is a heartfelt desire for your friend to find their soul partner? Is it ego or is it spirit, or is simple human ickiness!

Now I might plump for all three choices – jealousy of that person for taking away my friends time from me, or that intuitively I feel this is not their soul partner and may cause them soul harm; or indeed that this person gives me the heebie jeebies as their energy interacts with my energy.

And yet – We are all parts of the same One energy – so how can it be that this feeling arises. I could spend pages going into the many reasons why some energy do not resonate with my vibrational frequency, or your vibrational frequency, but ultimately, it is not the question that is important but rather the resolution.

So when I meet a friend’s new partner and those Goosebumps of ickiness run up and down my aura, I sit on my big mouth and if this relationship looks set to last, then I will invite the couple to dinner with other friends.  A dinner Party – the purpose of which is not only to cook, but to allow me to get to know this person and intuit a path towards creating a way to maintaining a civil relationship with the new partner.  A dinner party generally allows all the friends within each group to meet the new partner in a convivial atmosphere, and allows me and other friends to speak one on one to the new partner without it being blatantly a ‘check out the new guy/girl’ occasion.

And so dishes are created, a clean energy space is created and fun and laughter ensues – and hopefully a way to connect to this new energy emerges when we all relax into the flow.

Fennel is something like that – this is not a vegetable to leave languishing in the fridge or the box until it’s goodness and energy has died away, rather this is something that with the right energy, creativeness and clothing can be a vegetable of beauty, taste and joy to me and brings a new and distinctly different energy to my way of being and my diet.

So to find a way to use this liquorice tasting bulb – and yes I do love liquorice, so I have no idea why I have to work so hard with this vegetable.

After much thinking, time and some inspiration at one of my favourite restaurants (Fox and Goose, Fressingfield) Fox and Goose

James Martin's Chocolate Mouse with Candied Fennel

 I decided to try doing candied Fennel, and braised with orange and blackberry as a savoury and below you can see the result of thoughts on how to use the Candied Fennel.

I had an abundance of Blood Oranges and wanted to try the flavours together which worked exceptionally well. You could use ordinary oranges - or if you can get hold of Blood Orange juice use that instead.

I used a mixture of caster sugar, unrefined, and agave nectar for a slightly different level of sweetness and balance in the syrup, but sugar syrup will work just fine too.

BLOOD ORANGE AND FENNEL CHEESE CAKE

A tinfoil lined 20cm springform tin

Candied Fennel

Juice of 3 Oranges (blood orange for preference)

6 tbspn of Water

1 tbspn Orange Flower Water

3oz caster sugar

2 tbspn Agave nectar

1 Fennel bulb thinly sliced into small pieces

Cheesecake

4oz softened butter

1 egg yolk

1 tbspn caster sugar

5oz plain flour (I use spelt ;)

Juice & zest of 1 Blood orange

2 blood oranges

1lb cream cheese

3 eggs

5oz sugar

2 tspn candied fennel

Blood orange

METHOD – Candied Fennel

1.      Place juice and zest of 3 blood oranges in small saucepan together with water and sugar.

2.     on a low–medium heat and bring to a rolling simmer and allow to simmer for 5 minutes or until a syrup begins to form.

3.     Add the sliced fennel and allow simmering for 5 minutes, before adding orange flower water.

4.     Keep simmering for a further 5-7 minutes until syrup coats the back of a spoon and fennel is cooked.

5.     You will need to add more water if the syrup thickens too much as the fennel must be cooked through.



Blood Orange Syrup

METHOD - Cheesecake

Pre-heat oven to 200°C/ Gas Mark 7 / 400°F

Line a 20 cm tin with tinfoil

1.      Put softened butter into a bowl and add egg yolk and sugar.

2.     Using a fork blend together the ingredients and gradually add the flour. Continue blending together until the dough comes together into a ball.

3.     Press dough into the base of the lined tin, and bake in hot oven for 11 minutes until the base has begun to colour.

4.     Take out and put to one side. Reduce oven heat to 180°C/Gas Mark 5 / 325°F

5.     Meanwhile mix the cream cheese with the sugar.

6.    Add the juice of the Blood Orange, and 3 of the segmented orange pieces, and 1 tablespoon of the candied fennel.

7.     Mix together well and add eggs, and continue to mix gently until the mixture is smooth.

8.     Pour onto the warm base and put into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top begins to colour.

9.     Allow to cool in the tin, and when cool remove tin and base and put into fridge to completely chill.

10. When completely chilled you may remove the tin foil carefully and place the cheesecake on serving plate

11.   Serve with the remains of the candied fennel, the remains of the syrup and double cream if desired.



The music for this process was a rediscovered 2 favourite albums.

Cafe Del mar Chillhouse Volume 2

887 Structure - Banco De Gaia - Last Train to Lhasa album

Sour Cherry Amaretti cookies - Quick, easy, therapeutic

These are my ultimate, I need a batch of cookies quick, and I’m too tired. Each time I make these I become immersed in the music and the process and the different shapes and sizes of each cookie. The whole point is that these are not all equal in size. They can be small and wonderful, or large and juicy with cherries. Yummy!

A little note about the cherries. I use American dried sour cherries which I buy from a market in Norwich from the grumpy man on the dried fruit and herb stall. I have used in the past the small packets you can get in specialist stores or in the supermarket and sad to say, all cherries are not the same. The best place I bought them was from a visiting French Farmers market a few years ago in the local town but this is a rare occasion. So if you wish to use the small packets and cannot buy the loose cherries as seen in the image below, then try soaking in a little warm water to plump up first. Then dry off the cherries.

SOUR CHERRY AMARETTI – Biscuits

Makes about 20

INGREDIENTS

180g ground almonds

120g caster sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon

A pinch of salt

60g dried sour cherries, roughly chopped

2 free range egg whites

2 teaspoons honey

Plenty of icing sugar for rolling

METHOD

Notes – I like to roast and then grind my own almonds, for a more intense almondyness.

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C /Gas Mark 3. Put the ground almonds, sugar, lemon zest and 3 drops almond extract and salt into a large bowl and rub with your finger tips to disperse the zest and essence evenly. Add the cherries and set aside.

2. Using an electric whisk beat the egg whites and honey until they reach soft meringue like consistency. Gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture.. At this stage you should have a soft malleable paste – if not add some more ground almonds.

3. With your hands, form the mixture into several irregular shapes. Roll them in plenty of icing sugar and then arrange them on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.

Place in the oven and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. The biscuits should have taken some colour, but remain relatively pale and chewy in the centre.

Leave to cool a little before taking off the greaseproof, if they stick they are not done!.

Leave to cool completely before indulging. The music of course is my own made up mix of favourite tracks including

Gamesmaster - http://youtu.be/SnX1DH8FiO4

Space Manoeuvres Stage One - http://youtu.be/-r58xH3YbBk

Babe I'm Gonna - Quivver Remix - http://youtu.be/D6I7_b4vOR4

The Boat - Cloak and Dagger -    http://youtu.be/R1OadpLJyMQ

The Journey - Planet Future - http://youtu.be/Ssx3QDmzlOQ

Plums, Ginger and Cuba

Some days are wet, windy and downright miserable, and when the weather is blowy and cold outside, I need something to warm the insides and create a haven of warmth and comfort within my kitchen.

I've been listening to http://youtu.be/oNxNjd7wADo  - Cuban Allstars - Verdadero

since I've returned from Sunny Cuba - and this music helps the dancing around the kitchen and the creative juices to flow. The products of the fridge and the cupboard produced a punnet of dark plums and 2 bottles of stem ginger - and a cupboard full of various nuts, including a bucket of walnuts awaiting shelling.

 

Plum & Ginger Crumble

1 punnet of Black Amber Plums

3 balls Preserved Stem ginger, and a little of the syrup

6-8  tablespoons water

2oz soft brown sugar

Crumble

4 oz white spelt flour

Pinch of salt

2oz rolled oats

2 oz butter

1 oz toasted pecans or walnuts

2 oz demerera sugar

PRE HEAT OVEN TO 180c/Gas mark 4

METHOD

1. Wash and quarter plums and place in small saucepan with water.

2. Sliced and dice stem ginger and add to saucepan with the syrup.

3. Put pan on a medium heat and bring to a simmer and turn down.

4. When plums have cooked and softened a little, add sugar to taste.

5. Put into crumble dish(s) – I used small cups (from Grandma's cupboard) as I like quite deep crumble and fruit.

6. In a separate bowl sift in flour and add salt.

7. Cube butter and rub into the flour until it resembles crumbs.

8. Add oats, toasted nuts and sugar.

9. Put this crumble on top of the plum mixture and place in oven for 25-30 minutes until the crumble is cooked and plum juice is bubbling up the side.

You don’t need it to be perfect but rather bubbling and sticky and caramelised at the edges.

http://youtu.be/nVK5Hko0KWU - La Familia Valera Miraanda

http://youtu.be/E_zQZWZfsbI - Cuba Libra album

Serve with good homemade preserved ginger ice cream, or cream. Custard doesn’t really cut it with this dish – the contrast of cold against hot works exceptionally well.