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.

 

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.

Misty Mornings, Dimensional Travel, Clementines

This morning I got up early and went out into the foggy misty morning, over field, through hedges and down to the river. Walking in the mists across the fields always feels like I am walking between the worlds, wandering in and out of the dimensions at will. It becomes a walking meditation flowing with nature and hearing the calls of all those beings wandering in the mists between our world and theirs.

When I eventually come back in to the kitchen I am renewed, energised and inspired. Of course there is the all important first and only cup of fresh coffee to be made and imbibed while choosing the music that inspired the above recipe. Still a cold and foggy day outside, and the only place to be is in a warm kitchen filled with music, a sage green candle burning, and some incense burning – a new delivery incense made in Santa Barbra of all places – such amazing aroma - shifting into a higher vibration and cooking and creating to create soul nourishing, light and flowing, heart warming food.

Requests were made for stew, a hearty winter casserole of chicken and vegetables – ‘something to stick to ya bones’ – and yet that wasn’t the energy that returned with me.  I wished to create a summery golden, dish that was bursting with light and harmony and reminiscent of warm days in the garden eating and laughing.

The music of the moment was the Bliss album – Hundred Thousand Angels.
A Hundred Thousand Angels

Another track that invokes a full throated sing along is I am the Light

Looking round the kitchen I saw an abundance once more of Clementine’s – they seem to multiply in the fruit bowl until they spill over and shout out for attention.

I went into the depths of the kitchen cupboard to dig out the perfect cooking dish – a Spanish terracotta dish I bought years ago in Spitafields market, after failing to buy one in Spain.

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts, cut in half lengthways

2 small leeks, sliced in small chunks

1 red pepper, sliced thinly

1 sweet potato, sliced into small chunks

Juice of 12 Clementines

1/2 pint water

1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon

Salt,

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh or dried thyme to taste

METHOD

Pre heat oven to 190C/ Gas Mark 5

1. Put chicken and vegetables into the dish. Season and add thyme and bouillon powder.

2.  Add clementine juice and water and stir a little to mix in powder.

3. Use tin foil to cover the dish and put into preheated oven.

4. Cook for 1 hour and then take out to check chicken is done. Taste and adjust the seasoning as required. At this point I add a little orange zest and use cornflour paste to thicken.

5. I served this with Soba Pumpkin and Ginger Brown Rice Noodles

Soba Pumpkin and Ginger Rice Noodles

So a fat free and gluten free dish - you can serve this with brown rice or even potatoes, but I found we enjoyed this light citrus summer dish as an antidote to the winter blues.