Cook sister!

Cranberry & pear upside down cake

Isn't it wonderful when winter slooooooowly starts to recede and bit by bit, you can see the selection of fruit (and vegetables!) improving?  Where before there were only forlorn and ridiculously out of season mangoes and strawberries, suddenly the wonderful deciduous fruits are reappearing - and English cherries and strawberries can't be far behind! 

As a professed non-sweet-tooth, I put my recent flurry of sweet stuff (peach clafoutis, cherry muffins) down to being overexcited at the sight of all this fruit,  And when the raw materials are so beautiful, how on earth are you meant to resist popping it in your basket and making something special with it?

I have written about synchronicity before - the unlikely convergence of seemingly unrelated events - and this cake is another example.  Let's see...

1.  Invite friends to lunch and start pondering what to make for dessert.  (As an aside, the day before the friends came to lunch, a colleague asked what I was making.  I rattled off the details of all three courses and she was amazed.  "So you already know EVERYTHING you are going to make?".  Realised that the idea of being 24 hours away from having 6 friends over for a meal and NOT knowing what I am making is enough to make me break out in hives.  You know you're a food blogger when...!)

2.  Find these glorious Rosemarie pears and buy a few without really knowing what you want to do with them.

3.  Chat to a friend who says I must check out this restaurant she went to, called Ottolenghi.

4.  Have a look on the web for said restaurant, browse the site and come across a cake recipe featuring... pears!

5.  Make the cake as a dessert for abovementioned friends and it is declared a roaring success.  One of friends leaves behind a Guardian Weekend magazine.

5.  After the guests leave, Nick flicks through the magazine and says I should look at it as there are some yummy recipes.  I take a look and who are the recipes by?  None other than Yotam Ottolenghi, who has just released his first cookbook.

Synchronicity at work!

Of course, this did mean using an untested recipe from a source that I had never used before... But I'm not known for my caution of foresight in the kitchen so I plunged in despite the fact that the cake was being baked on the morning of the lunch.  And there was no Plan B if it flopped.  The best advice I can give anyone embarking on this mission is to keep your wits about you and never assume that the recipe is correct just because it is in black & white! 

Although the recipe talks about "pouring" the batter into the cake tin, once my batter was mixed, there was NO WAY it was of a pouring consistency, and I was a little short on ground almonds so my batter would have been wetter than most.  Read the recipe again but no - no mention of liquid, apart from the tsp of vanilla essence! So I took an executive decision to add some milk to get it to proper batter consistency.  I didn't measure the milk, so please exercise discretion with my guesstimate of 150ml.  Add half and see if you get something pourable.  If not, add more.  The original recipe also did not call for cloves, but I added some to mine and was very happy with the result. 

The biggest crisis of confidence came with the baking time.  The recipe said 35 mins at 170C.  But after 35 minutes, the centre of the cake resembled the texture of cooling magma:  crisp on top but oooh, see how it jiggles below the surface! Bearing in mind that I was going to have to flip this baby upside down at some point to serve, I took another executive decision along the lines of "that damn thing is staying in the damn oven till it's firm - I don't care how long it takes!".  Eventually after 75 minutes, a skewer in the middle came out clean. 

And if, like me, you use a springform cake tin, unless you particularly like scraping burnt caramel off the inside of your oven, put the tin in the oven on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil - the caramel WILL escape the tin, and at least that way you can discard the foil and laugh off the oven-cleaning.

Enough technicalities - how did it turn out?  Absolutely fabulously!  It was spicy and gooey and the tart cranberries were the perfect foil for the sweet pears.  One of our guests who never really cares for dessert practically licked his plate clean, and as far as I'm concerned that's the best testimonial you can get.

CRANBERRY & PEAR UPSIDE DOWN CAKE (serves 8)

Ingredients

For the poached pears:

3 ripe but firm pears
750ml water
150g sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
2 strips of zest and the juice of 1 lemon

For the caramel topping:

90g sugar
20g butter
40g dry cranberries or 50g fresh

For the cake batter:

200g butter
200g sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
150ml milk
200g ground almonds
¼ tsp salt
80g plain flour
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves

Method

Peel the pears and then in half lengthways. Immediately place the fruit in a saucepan  containing the water, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest and juice. You can Place a disc of greaseproof directly on the liquid so the pears remain submerged, but I just turned them to float cut side down and they were fine.

Bring the liquid to the boil and then simmer until the pears are just slightly undercooked - this should take anywhere between 8 and 15 minutes. Check with a sharp knife that they are tender outside but firm in the centre. Leave them aside to cool down in the cooking liquid.  The poaching of the pears can be done the day before and the pears kept in the fridge overnight in their cooking liquid, which is what I did.

Heat up the oven to 170°C. Lightly grease a 20cm round cake tin and line its bottom and sides with greaseproof paper.

Place the sugar for the caramel in a clean heavy-based saucepan together with just enough water to moisten all the sugar.  Place on a low heat. Without stirring, watch the sugar turn into a rich caramel colour. Make sure to keep your eyes on the sugar at all times as it can easily burn.

As soon as you reach the desired colour, remove the pan from the heat quickly but carefully. With your face at a safe distance, add the butter in a few chunks. Stir quickly with a wooden spoon until the butter has melted and pour onto the base of the cake tin. Carefully tilt the tin to spread the caramel evenly.

Drain the pears.  If using dried cranberries, soak them in some of the pear cooking juices. Drain after 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut each pear half into into 3 wedges lengthways. Remove the stem and core with a knife.  Arrange the pears and the cranberries over the caramel.

To make the cake, sieve together the flour and the spices. Use the paddle attachment of the mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and airy. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla and milk. Add the ground almonds and citrus zest and mix just to combined. Repeat with sifted flour but stop when all ingredients are moist - don’t over-mix.

Once the batter is smooth, pour it carefully over the pears and cranberries making sure you don’t move them too much out of their place. Smooth the batter with a palette knife.  Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 75 minutes. Test with a skewer to make sure the cake is dry inside and then emove from the oven.

Whilst the cake is still warm, but not hot, place a flat plate upside-down on top of the tin and briskly turn over. Remove the tin and the paper, and serve decorated with cranberries and accompanied by whipped cream with an added splash of brandy.

I am submitting the picture of the bowl of beautiful Rosemarie pears as my entry for April's Click event.  This monthly photo event is hosted by my lovely friends Bee and Jai over at Jugalbandi and the theme for the month is au naturel, or food in its raw state.  The deadline is today, so get your fresh & raw snaps in ASAP, using their nifty entry form!

Smoked salmon eggs Benedict for an anniversary breakfast

Fact:  marriage is hard work.  And I have a suspicion that everyone reading this who is married will agree with me on this...! 

Of course it's also fun, rewarding and comfortable, but anybody entering into it with the idea that it is going to be moonlight and roses is in for a painful reality check.  You know that part about "for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health"?  Well, the minister is not making that bit up - it pretty well sums up the gist of the thing!  But when it works it's also a wonderful thing.  If two people can figure out a way of meshing together their two hitherto separate existences and share every aspect of their lives, 365 days a year, for any significant length of time, something new and surprisingly comforting is created that is both fragile, yet stronger than the two original parts. 

And the longer you can maintain this arrangement in a state of approximate equilibrium, without a family murder, the bigger the celebration should be :o)

Which is why Nick and I renewed our wedding vows in Vegas in 2005, and why in two years time I hope we will be doing so again somewhere in a beach surrounded by friends.  This year, though, things are more low key but I could not let our anniversary this week pass by unnoticed!  So today while we spent a day cocooned at home I declared it Anniversary Brunch Day and treated us to a little taste of affordable luxury in the shape of smoked salmon eggs Benedict.  The ingredients are relatively simple... but together they make up more than the sum of their parts.  Like me and Nick.

There is some debate about the origins of eggs Benedict,  but is generally accepted to have developed in the USA in the late 1800s.  The two stories that are most likely are:

• In 1894, Lemuel Benedict, a Wall Street broker with a hangover wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in New York and ordered "some buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs, and a hooker of hollandaise sauce". The Waldorf’s legendary chef, Oscar Tschirky, was so impressed that he put the dish on his breakfast and luncheon menus after substituting Canadian bacon for crisp bacon and a toasted English muffin for toasted bread.
• In the 1860s, a Wall Street banker named LeGrand Benedict and his wife, regular patrons of Manhattan's Delmonico's restaurant, complained that they were bored by the menu. The response of chef Charles Ranhofer was toasted muffins topped with ham, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.  This version is further supported by the fact that Charles Ranhofer's cookbook The Epicurean contains a recipe for eggs benedict (although apparently not the first 1984 print).

Either way, it has become a byword for luxury breakfasts and therefore the ideal treat for a cosy morning at home.  The only problem is that I'd never poached an egg.  Sure, we're always frying, boiling and scrambling them - even coddling.  But never poaching.  It always seems like an art, and never having tried it I wasn't sure if I would master the art.  But recently week I saw something on a blog which made me decide to throw caution to the wind and give poaching a go.  Nicky of Delicious Days shares with us a novel way of getting your poached eggs into a regular shape:  trap them in plastic wrap!  Being the proud new owner of a bag of handy resealing clips from Ikea, I decided that the universe was conspiring to steer me down the path of poached eggs - who was I to refuse?

Despite slightly overtoasting the English muffins (read: doing too many things at once!) and slightly overpoaching the eggs (read: performance anxiety!), the dish turned out fabulously well and is definitely being added to our brunch repertoire when we feel in need of luxury.

SMOKED SALMON EGGS BENEDICT (serves 2)

Ingredients

2 English muffins
4 eggs
About 100g smoked salmon (I used trimmings because they were in the fridge - probably prettier to use slices)
A jar of Hollandaise sauce (I used Maille)
For this method of poaching you will also need polythene wrap, plastic clips and 4 ramekins for preparing the eggs.

Method

If you are making your own hollandaise sauce, you should probably start by doing that.  I decided to be lazy and bought a jar of the excellent Maille hollandaise.  Besides, all the eggs in the house were needed for the poached eggs!

Line one ramekin per egg with polythene wrap and brush with a little sunflower oil.  Carefully break one egg into each lined ramekin, taking care not to break the yolk.  Seal the plastic, trapping a little air inside to keep the surface of the poached egg smooth.

Bring a pot of water to boil, at least 2 inches deep.  Lower the egg parcels into the water and boil for 2.5 minutes (for small eggs) or longer (for large eggs or for a solid yolk), turning the parcels every 30 seconds or so to ensure even cooking - the parcels tend to want to lie on one side only!  The original recipe suggests removing your eggs after 2.5 minutes and plunging them into cold water to stop the cooking process. I, on the other hand, removed mine and noted that parts of the white were still translucent, and popped them straight back in the boiling water!  I think getting the timing just right will take a bit of practice.

Split each muffin into 2 discs and toast lightly (they are meant to be crisp and warm but, ahem, not brown!).  Butter each lightly and top with smoked salmon.  Remove the eggs from the polythene wrap (they come away fairly easily) and top each muffin half with an egg, then top each egg with hollandaise sauce.  What could be easier!

Mine also benefited from a generous grind of black pepper and then just I sat back and enjoyed the delights of brunch... and married life :)

I'm submitting this post as my entry into this month's Waiter, There's Something In My... event, hosted on a rotating basis by Johanna, Andrew and me.  The theme Johanna chose was breakfast and you still have until the end of the month to get your inspired breakfast dishes to her!

Oat and cherry muffins

The older I get, the more I envy people who can look dispassionately at all the things they have accumulated... and one day decide to ditch them all - or at least, a large proportion of them. 

A good friend of mine who I knew at university and who had always said that whan he really wanted to do was go sailing, recently did just what he said he was going to do:  he went sailing.  But I don't mean a little recreational weekend boating on the local lake.  Oh no, not Neil.  He waited until he had a wife, two kids, a house, his own business and all the things that the rest of us would think make up a pretty good life.  And when he went sailing, he bought a boat with the intention that all four of them would live aboard for at least two years while they traveled the globe.  Which necessitated getting rid of all the abovementioned accumulated stuff - even most of the kids' toys.  Now he sends me periodic e-mail updates: "Venezuela is awesome!" or "Just setting sail for the Galapagos Islands now!", just in case I didn't feel like enough of an underachiever ;-)

Or take Paul, who sold his apartment and used the money to buy a plot and build his own house.  While the building was going on, there was obviously nowhere for all his furniture and other worldly possessions to go, so he bought a big shipping container, fitted it with multiple security mechanisms and locked everything in there on his plot, pending the completion of the house.  In the intervening couple of years he was working here in Europe and had accumulated, at the very least, a new wardrobe and enough computer books to keep him happy.  And one day he realised that he had lived very well, thank you, for two years without his container full of possessions so he gave it all away, other than a couple of paintings and books.  Did the world stop turning?  No - and he no longer has to worry about anything happening to his container full of stuff.

I hear these stories and I gaze wistfully around my house.  We have only been here 8 years and we arrived in this house with one suitcase each and a box full of borrowed cooking utensils.   We rented it furnished so you'd think we would not have accumulated much stuff.  And you'd be thinking wrong.  Sometimes I feel as if I'm merely a servant in the house and that the real boss is Our Stuff - it demands care and cleaning and sorting, and sometimes I think I can almost see my way clear to doing a Neil/Paul manoeuver.  Look at all those toiletries you don't need! Look at all those clothes you don't wear!  Look at all those recipe books you've (ahem) never used! 

But....

Then The Book People pay a visit to my employer's cafeteria and bring a selection of great discounted cookbooks with them.  And one look at Muffins Galore is enough to send me reaching for my wallet.  This one will be different, won't it?  I mean, I'm not buying it for the pictures, I actually do make muffins.  And there are so many lovely recipes...  And as I walk back to my office with my purchase tucked under my arm, all aglow with muffin-making happiness, I see Neil's yacht pulling further and further away from me, and slipping over the horizon.

One of the things that sold me on the book was the great section on healthy muffin recipes - ones featuring wholegrain flour, oats and bran rather than chocolate chips and caramel!  Because it uses only one egg, no butter/margarine and both oats and wholegrain flour, I'm submitting this recipe as my contribution to this month's brunch-themed Heart of the Matter event, hosted by my friend Joanna of Joanna's Food.  If you have a heart-healthy breakfast or brunch recipe that you'd like to have included in the roundup, submit it to Joanna by midnight tonight!

As regards recipe tweaks, if you are using plain wholegrain flour like me, add an extra 3tsp baking powder.  I also found the icing pretty but unnecessary, so next time I would rather put all the chopped cherries into the batter and leave out the icing step altogether.

OAT & CHERRY MUFFINS (makes 10)

Ingredients

50g rolled oats
275ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
225g self-raising wholewheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
150g light muscovado sugar
75g dried sweetened cherries, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 Tbsp sunflower oil
40g icing sugar, sifted

Method

Preheat oven th 190C.  Grease 10 cups of a standard 12-cup muffin tin.  Alternatively, line the 10 cups with paper muffin cases.  Next time, I will do the latter as two of my muffins totally lost their tops when I tried to coax them out of the pan!

Put the oats in a medium-sized bowl and pour over the mil and vanilla extract.  Stir briefly, then set aside and soak for 10 minutes.

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and muscovado sugar in a large bowl.  Add half the chopped cherries to the flour mixture. Stir the egg and sunflower oil into the oat mixture.  Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the oat mixture.  Mix briefly until just combined.

Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups.  Bake in the oven for about 20 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.  Muffins should be well-risen and firm.  Coll in the tin for 5 minutes (no longer!), then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. 

Blend the icing sugar with 2 tsp warm water in a small bowl to make an almost transparent, thin, smooth icing.  Stir in the remaining dried cherries.  Spoon some of the icing over each muffin and allow the icing to set before serving.

Seeing as I am a judge this month, I can't enter Snackshots, hosted my Michelle at the Greedy Gourmet, but this seems as good a time as any to remind you that the theme this month is... muffins (what else?!).  Get your entries to Michelle by 6 May.

Other muffins on CookSister! include:
Peppadew & parmesan muffins
Ham, cheese & paprika muffins
Cranberry apple & bran muffins
Sweet potato muffins   

Peach and cardamom clafoutis

Food blog events - bless 'em!  Pick a weird acronym and I can almost guarantee it has already been used in the wonderful world of food blogs - IMBB, SHF, WTSIM, EOMEOTE, WHB, HHDD, DMBLGIT, WBW...  need I continue?? And they're all designed to make you cook out of your comfort zone:  make puff pastry!  Stuff some vegetables!  Drink Turkish wine!  I feel performance anxiety coming on...

So isn't it lovely when a blog event comes along requiring:

a) something you have made before and are quite good at making; and

b) something that you in fact made at the end of last summer but, erm, never blogged at the time?!  Mea culpa.

I have always been a believer in a high impact-to-effort ratio in recipes.  Of course I can spend four hours slaving over the components of a complex dish and the end product will look and taste as if it took four hours to make.  But how much better it is when something takes 20 minutes to make but impresses people as much as something that took four hours to prepare.  And no, I am not venturing into the Delia territory of using frozen discs of mashed potato intead of the tremendously onerous (not!) task of boiling and mashing an Actual Raw Potato... 

Nope, I'm talking about that Holy Grail of dishes - the minimal effort, maximal WOW-factor recipe.  Slow roast lamb is one of them; home-made soup is another; and almost all fruit crumbles qualify.  When you bring these dishes to the table, there will always be appreciative oohs and aahs, but you will just smile your secret smile because you will know that you spent most of the afternoon on the sofa with a good book, rather than sweating over a hot stove in a steamy kitchen.  Honesty is NOT always the best policy when it comes to catering ;-)

A dessert that I've written about before and that, in my book, definitely passes the low-effort, high-impact test is clafoutis.  It's a classic country dessert from the South-west of France that consists of a baked custard in which pieces fruit (traditionally, cherries) are suspended.  When well-made, it can puff up as impressively as a low-maintenance souffle, but in terms of how easy it is, you would be surprised.  The hardest work is cutting up the fruit!  The batter actually prefers an hour to rest before baking, so you can make the batter, then get on with the rest of lunch, and pop the clafoutis in the oven when you sit down to your main meal.  What could be easier? 

Another thing that will astonish you with this recipe is how easy it is to infuse cream.  I have never made clafoutis with infused cream before, but after falling in love with the flavour of cardamom in fruit desserts with my pear & cardamom tarte tatin, I decided that it might be a good match for the peaches too.  And it was - not overpowering, but it defintely lent the whole dessert a grown-up and slightly exotic flavour that everybody loved. 

Well done to my lovely friend Bron for choosing clafoutis as the theme for this round of Hay, Hay, It's Donna Day!  This is my entry, but you still have until Monday to get your recipes in, so get a move on!

PEACH & CARDAMOM CLAFOUTIS (serves 8)

Ingredients

6 eggs
240ml cream
4 green cardamom pods
240g castor sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
140g cake flour, sifted
50g softened butter
about 4 peaches, stone removed and cut into thin wedges
100ml Amaretto (or brandy)
100g flaked almonds
icing sugar
vanilla ice cream/creme fraiche to serve

Method

Break open the cardamom pods, remove the seeds and crush lightly to release the flavour.  In a small saucepan, heat the cream and crushed cardamom seeds until the liquid is almost boiling, then remove from the heat and allow to steep for at least 30 minutes.  Strain, pressing down on the seeds in the sieve to extract maximum flavour.  Allow the cream to cool to room temperature or lower.

Beat the eggs, cream, sugar and vanilla essence together in a bowl.  Add flour and beat with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute.  If time allows, set aside to rest for 1 hour at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 220C and butter a 2 litre ovenproof dish.  Spread the peach wedges evenly over the base of the buttered dish and drizzle with the Amaretto.  Pour the batter over the peaches (they will float - don't worry - this is normal!) and bake on the top shelf of the oven for about 25 minutes.

Sprinkle with the almonds and cook for a further 15-20 minutes or until golden, puffy and set.  Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche.

Another winner's badge and the WTSIM theme for this month

Well it took me long enough but I've finally put up my two fabulous winner's badges from   the SA Blog Awards 2008 in my sidebar!  And hot on their heels comes the good news that I can add ANOTHER badge to my trophy cabinet.  My friend Michelle at The Greedy Gourmet let me know last week that my leek and smoked haddock chowder post has won the Word 4 Word award in last month's Snackshots competition - *blush* thanks!  And as a proud winner, I will be helping out with the judging of the next Snackshots event.  Good thing, then, that the theme is close to my heart: muffins!  Make them savoury, make them sweet - just make them and send your post along to Michelle by 6 May 2008.

Also looming in the not-too-distant future is my event that I co-host with my buddies Johanna and Andrew, Waiter, There's Something in My...  Your charming host this month is Johanna and knowing what a big fan of breakfast foods she is, it doesn't surprise me one bit that the theme she's chosen is breakfast foods.  That leaves the field wide open for you all - anything from your granny's famous granola, to the local delicacy involving smoked pork in your area, to the best pancakes in the world, to billows of fluffy scrambled eggs and smoked salmon.  This is your chance to tell us what you would make for breakfast to impress your friends, delight your family or treat yourself. Entries are due by 30 April.

The other two events that I'm looking forward to is the Hey, Hey It's Donna Day!, hosted this month by my friend Bron.  As the theme is clafoutis, one of my all-time favourites, I don't see how I can resist... The deadline has been extended so get your entries to Bron by 28 April.  And then there's the lovely Jai & Bee's Click event, where the theme this month is au naturel  - in other words fresh produce iin its pristine and unprepared state.  So head for your nearest farmers' market, get clicking and send them your farm-fresh photos by 30 April.

And last but not least, another punt for a fellow-African.  Long-time readers of my blog will know that one of the longest-running mutual fan clubs on this site is between me and the talented Rethabile, of Sotho and now also writing wonderful poetry at Poéfrika.  Rethabile has been nominated for as 2008 Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere and I encourage you all to go along and read, and then to cast your vote in his favour. Viva Afrika!

Lunch in a flash - cheesy vegetable quesadillas

I love my weekends at home.  Which I know some of you will find hard to believe, given the number of weekends I spend away from home in some exotic foreign land!  But the truth is, I get very excited about the prospect of a weekend at home.

I love the fact that I have no deadlines to keep and can sleep till I wake up without the aid of the alarm clock.  I love the smell of Nick making coffee wafting up from the kitchen (on weekdays I have herbal tea).  I love spending a day with no make-up on.  I love having time to bake AND being able to photograph what I made in natural light.  I love sitting with my laptop by the garden door, looking out at my extravagantly coloured tulips.  And I love the fact that there are all kinds of food that we only really eat on weekends - pizza on a Friday night; croissants for breakfast; corn on the cob slathered in butter; and fun DIY meals like fajitas or filled pita breads.  The only rule, really, is that nothing should be too complicated or time-consuming - I mean, we wouldn't want to waste valuable relaxation time, now would we??

So there I was this weekend, lunchtime approaching, assuming my usual position when I have nothing specific on the menu, i.e. standing with the fridge door open and peering into it as if all the secrets of the universe will be revealed if only I stare intently for long enough.  There were various bits and pieces floating about - some bell peppers and zucchini that needed eating and some tortilla wraps.  Which reminds me - why do they always come in pack sizes that are not quite right for two people?  Even if Nick can plough his way through 3 fajitas, there is no way I can, so there are always a couple left, and once the packet is open it's only a day until they are dry and unusably hard.  So after some of the aforementioned intent staring, I came up with a plan that would use up both the peppers and the leftover tortillas:  quesadillas! 

Now I'm sure there are many fine and authentic Mexican recipes for quesadillas, but speaking as someone who first discovered them when they appeared on the menu at the Spur (a South African franchise of child-friendly steak restaurants) together with a handy pronounciation guide (who knew you don't pronounce those pesky Ls!), I don't pretend to have any knowledge of the traditional version.  These are simply me take on the theme of a toasted tortilla sandwich, and I have to say they were super-easy and delicious.  The tortillas contained flax seeds which gave them a particularly delicious nutty flavour,  but any flour tortilla will work.  And you can be as creative as you like with the filling - just remember not to overfill them, and use enough cheese to keep everything together.

CHEESY VEGETABLE QUESADILLAS (serves 2)

Ingredients 
4 flour tortillas
1 large onion, sliced into thin wedges
1 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin wedges
1 large zucchini, sliced into discs
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1.5 cups of grated cheese (I used cheddar)
sunflower oil for frying
appropriately Mexican seasoning - I use a dried coriander, lime and jalapeno mix from Woolworths in South Africa, but you can make your own

Method

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based frying pan.  Add the onion, garlic and peppers and saute over low heat until the onion is translucent.  Add the peppers and zucchini and continue to cook until they are soft.  Season to taste.

Heat a splash of oil in a non-stick pan with a diameter at least as large as the tortillas.  Place one of the tortillas in the pan and sprinkle a little grated cheese over it.  Then spoon half the onion and pepper mix over the cheese and spread evenly.  Finish with another sprinkling of cheese and place a second tortilla on top, making a sandwich.

Using a large egg lifter, press down on the top tortilla and keep cooking until the base is beginning to brown. When you are sure that the cheese has melted sufficiently to glue the two tortillas together, then carefully slide the egg lifter underneath the bottom tortilla and flip the quesadilla over.  Cook until the base layer begins to brown. 

Remove the quesadilla from the pan and place on a warmed plate in a very low oven or in a warming drawer.  Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make a second quesadilla.

Slice into quarters and serve immediately, preferably with a green salad.  A shot of tequila is optional!

I'm submitting this post as my entry to this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, kindly hosted by Susan at The Well-Seasoned Cook. 

Easy chicken, broccoli and mustard bake

Shortly after I met Nick, I remember going home to my parents' place on the way home from work for a coffee and a quick visit.  My mom was having a bit of a lie-down and I went to sit at the foot of her bed and chatted.  And then I said something to her that I'd never said before:  "Mom, I've met somebody.  And I think you're going to like him."

It's not that I'd never met somebody before - on the contrary!  But I had certainly never announced this fact to my mom.  I was usually so convinced that she would not like them that I refused to let them come near the house and at most she'd be aware that some boy was phoning me more than usual.  In fact, the first time she ever spoke to my first serious boyfriend was at 2 a.m. one morning when she called his flat to find me, after waking the rest of my friends to get his number.  As this was in the good old days before mobile phones, I was already driving home and blissfully unaware of my mom screaming "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?" down the phone to my terrified beloved.  Good times, good times. 

But he was a picnic compared to the next one.  Let's not go into detail, but would you believe it if I told you a boat fell on his head (before we met!) and that within the first month that we were dating, my worried father offered him a free brain scan?  But clearly I'm a sucker for serious head wounds and was desperately in love, despite the fact that he was increasingly exhibiting behaviour that would place him somewhere on the psychopathic spectrum.  You know how it goes. 

Anyhooo.  The year I turned 24, a lot of my friends turned 21 and I felt a little left out seeing as they were all having big, boozy 21st birthday parties, so I financed my own elaborate 24th party, indistinguishable from a 21st but for the numbers on the cake.  The theme was Danse Macabre and we draped the hall in black, and decorated it with cut-out bats and stars - and a giant string-and-pipe-cleaner cobweb complete with spider.  There was a kitchen but no stove, so my mom and I cooked and served a sit-down dinner for 30 people by cooking food at home in large foil roasting tins and then reheating them one by one in a borrowed tabletop oven at the hall.

Where was Prince Charming throughout all this?  Who knows.  Eventually he turned up tipsy and wearing a straitjacket.  Many a true word and all that...  Since he was considerably ahead of me in the drinking stakes, it didn't take very long for him to annoy me, so I took a little break from the party by retiring to the kiddies sandpit outside the hall with a couple of friends for tequila slammers.  As you do.  Prince Charming searched the venue for me in vain, and was quite overwrought when he finally found us in our makeshift tequila bar.  He threatened my friend Catherine with bodily harm for... I can't rememebr what.  Leading me astray, hahaha??  Who knows.  In any event, with remarkable presence of mind for a woman up to her eyeballs in tequila, I drew myself up to my full height and haughtily told him to get the hell out of my sandpit, my party and my life.  Even later in the evening (technically the next morning...), gatecrashers arrived and managed to sneak out about a case of my champagne as well as my camera.  Oh yes, and the beer keg leaked all over and seeped into the wooden floor and I lost my damage deposit.  Oh, to be 24 again.  Not.

So, for the most part, it's a party I try not to remember too vividly.  But what I do remember is how delicious the food was that my mom and I managed to serve out of the non-existent kitchen.  This dish is also a great way to use up leftover roast chicken, but it's worth making even if it has to be made from scratch, and also freezes beautifully.

EASY CHICKEN BROCCOLI BAKE (serves 2)

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
1 small head of broccoli
1 small onion, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chicken stock
a splash of white wine
2 Tbsp softened butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp wholegrain mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated cheddar (optional)

Method

Chop the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks.  Wash the broccoli and break into small florets.

Sautee the onion in the olive oil until translucent.  Add the chicken pieces and sautee on high heat until just cooked.  Add the broccoli in the last few minutes, mixing well, and season to taste.  Spoon the broccoli chicken mixture into a warmed ovenproof dish and keep warm.

Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine, then lower the heat to medium and add the chicken stock.  Bring to the boil.  In the meanwhile, mix the softened butter and flour into a paste.  Add this a teaspoonful at a time to the stock, stirring to eliminate lumps - the sauce should gradually thicken as each teaspoon is added.  When the sauce has reached the desired consistency, stir in the mustard and pour the sauce over the chicken broccoli mix.

Sprinkle half the breadcrumbs over the dish, then the cheese, followed by the rest of the breadcrumbs to form a crust.  Bake uncovered at 180C for about 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the bake is bubbling.  Finish under a grill to crisp and serve on brown rice. 

And stay away from the tequila slammers!!

                                                         

A milestone and some African voices

No, the milestone wasn't some significant birthday (the birthday came and went with the Easter bunny, and it wasn't a Milestone, if you know what I mean...!).  It was the fact that, sometime last Monday night, this blog reached a total of half a million page views over the nearly four years of its existence.  Who would have thought that from this little acorn of an idea born while sitting at my computer one Sunday night, such a mighty oak would grow!  Thanks to each and every one of you who followed the information superhighway to get here - hope I made you feel at home, and don't be a stranger :)

I've also been spending the time since my double win at the South African blog awards discovering some great South African blogs and revisiting some old favourites.  Here is my hand-picked selection of a few that I believe you'll enjoy - some foodie, some not-so-foodie, but all vibrant, passionate and African.

A topic that is seldom far from my mind these days is the tragedy playing itself out with terrifying predictability in Zimbabwe.  Knowing what we know about the tight rein that Mugabe and his regime keep on what the media may publish, it is good to have a source of first-hand information in the form of This is Zimbabwe.  This blog is affiliated with the Sokwanele civil action support group and provides a combination of political commentary, wry observations about life, and the kind of first-hand accounts of a society on the verge of meltdown that newspapers could never provide (NB - please be aware that the first few posts visible contain graphic pictures of recent victims of post-election beatings).  Yes, here in the UK we hear that there is a possibility of voting irregularities in the election, but then we are reassured by the report that there are lots of election observers in the country, so it'll be OK, right?  Wrong.  Read this first-hand account of elections, Mugabe-style, and you'll understand that the kind of irregularities being talked about are so far beyond the paradigm of most people in the UK as to be inconceivable.  I hang my head in abject shame when I read that my president says that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, and I fear that the world is so busy quibbling about China and Tibet that nobody is focusing fully on the genocide being perpetrated against the people of Zimbabwe. I figure anything I can do to raise awareness of the true situation is a tiny step in the right direction. 

The first thing that caught my eye about Marita Says was the name - it was my mom's.  Curiosity well and truly piqued, I investigated further and discovered a delightful expat South African blog.  Bordeaux is currently living in Bangkok and blogs whatever takes his fancy, from travel, to design to food.  He even won Hey, Hey, It's Donna Day! recently, so definitely one worth adding to your feed reader!

Not foodie but definitely South African is eLuckypacket.  Sue is another South African expat living in San Diego and her blog promises "something sweet and unexpected" every day.  She certainly delivers - especially on 19 March when she posted a quick profile of... Cooksister! 

A fellow-South African cooking site that I have recently discovered via Bron's blog is Rainbowcooking - hardly surprising as they are also based in New Zealand.  Jaco and Marietjie share their passion for South African food and have put together a nice collection of recipes, both South African and more international.

I have no idea anymore how I stumbled across Doula Mel, but I do remember that I was captivated on my first visit.  You see, Mel is a doula - a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during and just after childbirth - in Cape Town, South Africa.  And when she isn't surfing or raising her beautiful kids she helps to run a charity called Bosom Buddies.  Those of you who live in South Africa will know that the standard childbirth facilities at most state hospitals falls well short of what is taken for granted in the developed world and well short of what you would want for your sister/mother/daughter/friend.  The Bosom Buddies volunteers regularly visit state hospital maternity wards, distributing hand-sewn nappy bags with clothing, blankets and products for the newborn as well as hygiene products for the mother. They personally deliver the bags to each mom and spend one-on-one time with each baby and mother.  Where there has been a stillbirth, they will sit and hold the woman and pray with her, as well as providing a plain version of the nappy bag with toiletries, a sympathy card and something pretty for woman.  I was moved to tears that people would be willing to do such a wonderful thing for strangers.  Mel arrives in the US tomorrow and if you want to donate newborn clothes she would be thrilled to hear from you - just make sure you read what she needs first before you e-mail her.  Alternatively you can check out the Bosom Buddies needs list and bank acount details if you want to make a donation.  I know I will.

So there you have it - more blogs with the Cooksister stamp of approval!  I do hope that you can take a few minutes to have a look at each of them as they are all unique voices, intent on promoting or improving Africa, and using the blogosphere to do it.  So go and give them some e-love!

And although it's not a South African blog, it does fall squarely in the category of good causes close to my heart.  So please don't forget to send your entries for A Taste of Yellow to Barbara by this Saturday, 19 April.  In case you've forgotten, this is the yellow-themed foodie event to coincide with LiveSTRONG Day 2008, to raise awareness of and funds for the fight against cancer, and I have already submitted some wonderfully yellow marmalade bread & butter pudding as my entry.  C'mon and join us!

Spring is in the air with a wild garlic risotto

[Before I say anything else, thanks so much to those of you who have been enquiring after Nick's health after I posted about him last week.  You'll be pleased to know Nick is much improved!  The antibiotics have cleared up the lymphadenitis, and the shingles is slowly being beaten into submission by regular doses of L-lysine and vitamins.  So I have my hubby back - hurrah!]

OK, on with today's show.  What do the plants know that we don't?  Despite the unseasonally chilly temperatures and snow (snow!!) last weekend, it would appear that everything is just bursting into bloom left, right and centre.  Here's a small selection - and that's just in my garden over the past month or so!

 

Despite the last couple of mornings being gloriously sunny, the nights are still chilly and I still feel the need for some sort of comfort food.  But at the same time, there is all this great fresh stuff suddenly reappearing at the markets and I just want to buy it ALL and cook with it.  Given the size of my kitchen, this is clearly not an option (!) so I tend to select a couple of special treats, and one of my favourite spring treats is wild garlic. 

Wild garlic is an international man of mystery with many aliases, including ramsons, buckrams, broad-leaf garlic, wood garlic and bear garlic - the latter being derived from a direct translation of its Latin name Allium ursinum.  It is a member of the genus that includes both garlic and onions and is closely related to wild chives, while the bear part of its name comes from the fact that brown bears like to dig up and snack on its bulbs.  Taste-wise, it has the same flavour as garlic, only milder, and it is the leaves and flowers that are eaten, rather than the bulb.  It likes growing wild in swampy, mainly deciduous woodlands where it often shares space with bluebells.  With its broad green leaves, it is often confused with Lily of the Valley, Autumn crocus or the wild arum - which is bad news since these three are all poisonous to some degree!  If you are going foraging, check that you have the right plant by crushing the leaves to check if they release a characteristic garlic odour. 

Or take a trusty brown bear with you.

WILD GARLIC RISOTTO (serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter)

Ingredients
2 shallots, finely chopped
20g butter, plus 20g cubed for later
2 Tbsp olive oil
300g short-grain risotto rice (I used arborio)
100ml dry white wine
750ml vegetable stock
100g wild garlic
100g grated Parmiggiano
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Melt the butter together with the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Add the shallots and saute until translucent and soft but do not let them brown. 

Add the rice and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly stir so that each grain is well-coated with oil/butter.  Add the white wine and keep stirring until the liquid has been absorbed almost completely. 

Add the stock (I used Kallo organic) a ladleful at a time (probably about 150-200 ml per ladle).  Keep stirring until each ladleful has been completely absorbed, but do not let the rice dry out and stick to the pot.  Once each ladleful is absorbed, add the next until the stock has all been added.  The rice should be soft but each grain should retain some bite in the centre, perfectly al dente. 

Stir in the wld garlic, Parmiggiano and remaining butter in cubes and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve either in wide, shallow bowls as a starter or (as I did) as an accompaniment to a main course like chicken with fennel, spices and cream. 

I'm submitting this post as my entry to this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, kindly hosted by my friends Jai and Bee at Jugalbandi, who are so organised that they have a dedicated WHB entry form!  The deadline is tomorrow, so get moving if you want to take part!

WTSIM - the finger-on-the-pulse roundup

If your pulses aren't racing yet, they soon will be.  Gather round, one and all, for the roundup of the 14th edition of the Waiter, There's Something in My... event!  I was your charming host this month and I have battled through my nursing duties (see previous post) as well as mad weather that included 17C on Thursday/Friday and... 2 or 3 inches of snow on Sunday (!!) to bring you this, the definitive collection of recipes featuring pulses.  Just because I like order, I have divided the recipes according to their principal ingredient into bean, chickpea and lentil categories.  Nothing scientific, just my love of categorisation ;-)  So, without further ado, let the roundup begin!

BEANS

First out of the starting blocks was Wilbur of The Red Whisk who goes with a slightly off-beat Easter theme and presents us with smoked bunny sausages gratin with cannellini beans.  As a child, I'd probably be weeping for the poor bunny... but as a carnivorous adult I'm drooling at the prospect of this unusual sausage and bean combo!

In a slightly more Summery (or Springy) vein, Sarah of Homemade in Yuma, Arizona takes her first steps into the wonderful world of food blogging events and treats us to a tuna and white bean salad.  I love this combination - now if only the weather would warm up a little...!

Another newbie follows hot on her heels!  Please welcome Mrs B of fledgling blog Round the Mulberry Bush in Suffolk right here in the UK. She sticks with the tried & tested classics and gives us the glorious Spring dish of braised lamb with flageolets.  Somehow, lamb and pulses is one of those combinations that just works - deliciously!

My fellow-WTSIM founder Johanna of The Passionate Cook takes fusion food to a whole new level as she makes black bean soup reminiscent of Mexican cuisine, adapting a recipe from an Austrian chef, and adding a surprising touch of crab.  It's an edible work of art!

From black beans to white as we pop into Mrs W's Kitchen in New York state, where Amanda is cooking up a storm.  Ever thought that beans were OK, but a bit bland?  Then prepare to have all your assumptions challenged as you feast your eyes on her garlicky white beans with pecorino. Irresistible.

And it seems black is the new... erm, black.  More black beans from Namratha of Finger Licking Food in Atlanta, Georgia, but this time in a different form.  Namratha puts together some black bean and corn cutlets which sound delicious and look even better - check out the design possibilities that ketchup offers.  Who woulda guessed?!

Staying with the same basic ingredients but mixing them up in a whole new way is Ashley of Introducing Ashley in San Francisco.  Instead of making fritters, she chooses instead to toss in some peppers and avocado and voila - black bean and corn salad materialises!  Not only delicious but oh so colourful too :) 

From summery salads, it's back to wintry soups - unsurprising, given the amount of snow we had over the weekend here in the UK!  Fellow-South African Michelle of The Greedy Gourmet here in Canewdon, UK goes grocery shopping and finds she is being flirted with - by a knobbly gourd!  She hears the siren song of kabocha squash and immediately starts dreaming of the fun they could have together - such as butter bean and baked kabocha squash soup.  Mmmm, velvety and delicious.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love pulled pork?  For this reason alone, Gretchen of Canela & Comino in Lima, Peru, is my hero because hers looks amazing.  But we are far more concerned today with what she serves with her pulled pork:  spicy black beans!  Just look at the three types of chile involved - chipotle, ancho and amarillo.  Phew!

Staying with the theme of beans with chile we wander into Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe's kitchen in Melbourne, Australia, attracted by the delicious smells.  Not only is she baking cornbread, but she's also making a vegetarian chile non carne with the traditional Australian addition of... a can of lager!  I can't wait to try this one :)

Back in good old Blighty, WTSIM co-founder Andrew of SpittoonExtra, just west of London, is usually a dessert man.  But man cannot live by sugar rushes alone and so we find him giving a gourmet makeover to a simple store cupboard staple - a tin of mixed beans.  His delectable beans with black pudding and pancetta lifts these humble ingredients into the realms of the extraordinarily tasty.  Now all I want to know is where's my lunch invitation?!

And last but not least in the bean section I present... myself, the CookSister!  Seeing as I have had both an extremely extended winter and one times very sick husband, I have felt somewhat in need of comforting lately.  And when I need comfort, I know to turn to my hero Nigel.  This smoked haddock and flageolet beans in a creamy mustard sauce is, without a doubt, one of the most gently comforting dishes I have ever made.  Do yourself a favour and try it - because you're worth it.

CHICKPEAS

Divya of Easycooking in Chennai, India, kicked off the chickpea section (and her participation in WTSIM - welcome!) with a cousin to one of my all-time favourite dishes - channa masala.  Divya made channa upkari-sundal - a chickpea dish flavoured with coconut, chillies, mustard seed and curry.  Spicy heaven!

Funny how the same ingredient can completely change character in the next dish.  Chris of Melecotte in Atlanta, Georgia comes up with a wonderful Garbanzo soup (aka chickpea soup) which she served over Easter.  With chickpeas, sausage and mushrooms all featuring in the ingredients, this could be renamed the "my favourite things" soup ;-)

The third appearance of chickpeas as chickpea curry is thanks to Zlamushka of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen in Malmo, Sweden, and it's a totally different beast again. No sweet coconut this time, and no meat or mushrooms - just a list of spices as long as your aram, from sweet cinnamon to spicey chillies.  But all the effort is worth it in the end as Zlamushka pronounces the curry to be delicious.

Lisa from Lisa's Kitchen in London, Ontario has a rather different take on chickpeas.  You know felafel, the middle-Eastern chickpea balls sold at fast food outlets around the world?  Well imagine if felafel were given a spicier makeover and served alongside a deliciously fresh red onion and coriander salad - then you'll be close to imagining Lisa's spiced chickpea cakes. 

Back to the classics now as we visit Ranji of Ranji's Kitchen Corner in North Attleboro, MA.  She makes one of my all-time chickpea favourites - chana masala! Can there be anthing more comforting that a steaming bowl of spicy, saucy chickpeas?  Possible, I guess... but unlikely!

Ever need to make dinner, but just could not bring yourself to go to the grocery store?  Well, now you don't have to!  Jessica of Fearless Kitchen in Braintree, Massachusetts proves this by rustling up her pantry chickpeas from what she found on the shelves of her pantry.  And I love the addition of harissa...

Over on the other coast, we visit Divya at Dil Se in Los Angeles to see what's cooking.  If you're feeling peckish and want a high-protein snack, you can do a lot worse than Divya's aama vadai or split chickpea fritters.  They look so tasty and so easy to prepare :)

It seems that chickpea fritters in some sort are a popular option because Jayashree of My Experiments with Food in India just joined the WTSIM party and guess what she brought? Chickpea vada!  She remembers washing down many of these nutritious little snacks with weak tea in her hostel days, but I imagine they would make great snacks to accompany drinks as well.   

Aha!  And now for something completely different.  Katie of Other People's Food in Herndon, Virginia, had had chickpeas in hummus and loved them, so it should be a logical conclusion that she'd love them in a soup?  Correct!  And just look at the amazing flavours in this spicy chickpea soup recipe - coconut milk, cilantro, garam masala and apple juice.  Intriguing.

Whan Kazari of I Think I Have a Recipe for That... in Canberra, Australia heard the theme for this month's event, there was an agony of indecision.  Was it to be chickpea burgers, dhal... or maybe these little chickpea fritters, tantalizingly laced with paprika and served with a yoghurt sauce.  I'm thinking little spicy canapes...!

OK, OK I know that split peas are a very different thing to chickpeas... but I didn't want to create a whole new category for just one recipe, so I thought they would enjoy each other's company for a while.  Over in Melbourne, Australia, the lovely Haalo from Cook (Almost) Everything At Least Once has me drooling with her green split pea and chorizo soup.  Pulses and cured meat are always a match made in heaven, but this seems particularly tempting :)

LENTILS

Ronell of My French Kitchen, a fellow South-African in France, tells a story distressingly similar to what's happening here:  the daffodils are out, the clocks are on daylight saving time... and yet the weather seems incapable of warming up! At least Ronell will have a few more weeks to enjoy soups like her roasted red pepper and lentil soup - comfort in a bowl!

Y of Lemonpi in Sydney hasn't had time to participate in WTSIM for a while but has this month managed to rustle something up - hurrah!  Ever thought of baking lentils into bread?  Nope, me neither.  Now go and check out Lemonpi's lentil rolls - genius!  Not only will they appeal to all lentil-lovers, but they are also the perfect disguise to get lentilphones to eat the little pulses with a smile on their face :-)

Jessica of RD-2B in Montreal, Canada, ia another WTSIM newbie.  She usually likes her lentils in some sort of curry, but today she goes for a classic combination of Puy lentils and sausages.  A woman after my own heart - and a perfect comfort meal for London where it's been snowing most of the day!

It seems like this particular classic combo is a big hit in Canada because Elizabeth from Blog From OUR Kitchen in Toronto, Canada also offers us Puy lentils and sausages!  Elizabeth also ponders whether I have a secret spy camera in her kitchen, after she made this dish on exactly the same day as I announced the theme.  Better not tell her, then, that this recipe is almost exactly the same as the one I make! :o)

From the classics, we move on to something different entirely from Lili of Pikelet and Pie in Sydney.  She turns green lentils into spicy lentil and anchovy dip which works as an accompaniment to fresh fish, but would be just as good on chunks of her potato flatbread.  Inspired!

Staying with creamy-textured lentils for a moment, we pop in to visit Allen at Eating Out Loud in California.  He wows us with khicheri (creamy lentils and rice) - and I still can't believe that something that looks so indulgent and creamy can actually be good for you.  Bonus!

You'd think by Autumn the weather would be about ready for a hearty soup, right?  Actually not, as Kit from Food & Family near Cape Town, South Africa discovers as she finds herself cooking soup and closing the kitchen doors to keep the hotter outside air out!  Check out her truly scrumptious lentil soup with its Super Secret Ingredient:  stock from the Christmas gammon.  Genius!

In a far more summery vein, we cross over to California where Scrumptious at In My Box is looking at the produce box and thinking salads rather than soups.  But first there is a visit to a local cheesemonger where the feta cheese is anything but local and the bad attitude is on the house... BUt the day improves markedly with a lentil salad with feta, mint and orange.  Can I come to lunch please??

You can tell by the nature of the recipe that we're back in England for the next one - Niamh of Eat Like A Girl in London, UK, is clearly as much in need of comfort as I am following the dready weather.  She makes a dish that is beguiling not only in it simplicity but also in its sheer, downright, mouth-watering deliciousness.  I challenge you to go and look at her picture of braised sausages with potatoes and puy lentils and disagree!

Staying in the UK, we have Kittie of Kittens in the Kitchen in Brighton.  She took a decision to eat more pulses and vegetable this year but was still craving risotto... what to do, what to do?  But she comes up with a brilliant solution of making a pulse-otto instead.  Think creamy green and red lentils spiked with red pepper and broad beans - a perfect bed on which to serve her stuffed pork tenderloin. 

Staying with lentils, but moving from a supporting to a starring role, we visit James' kitchen at Biggest Jim's Food Blogs right here in London.  Ever thought about going vegetarian but coudl not stand the thought of giving up your beloved burgers?  Well with Jim's delicious lentil and spinach burgers... you don't have to!  In fact, these sound a lot more interesting that beef burgers, and a lot better for you too :)

The lovely Pille of Nami-Nami in Tallin, Estonia, recently had some friends round for dinner.  If the weather in Estonia has been anything like the weather here, I'm guessing everyone needed a little warming up - and what better way to do that than to indulge in a little Egyptian spicy red lentil soup?  And I love the idea of serving it with coriander cream - clever Pille!

So there you have it - a smorgasbord of pulses to please the pickiest palate - from salads to soups to fritters to dips to delicious main courses, they're all there.  If I have managed to leave anybody out, a thousand apologies and please do give me a shout and I'll add you ASAP.  Thanks to everyone who participated and a special thanks to all those of you who said nice things about my choice of theme :)

Next month's host is Johanna and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us!