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Showing posts with label tahini. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tahini. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Sun Dried Tomato & Sprouted Red Linseed Tapenade

Alive, Alive – ooh!
Firstly, you may or may not have noticed that this little corner of the Internet has been a little quiet of late. Reasons for this being, firstly various holidays taken by me and Lola and secondly has been work – I have been closing up a large and frantic tender – and Lola has recently started a new job. Food, sadly has been low on our list of priorities.

I ate some wonderful Polish food in Gdansk, great sauteed potatoes and pork fillet pounded thin and tender in a  rich creamy sauce spicy with green peppercorns (for breakfast – ahem). The other memorable food experience was cooking a ratatouille in an empty swimming pool in the centre of Berlin.

So following these late nights of both partying and working – with all convenience food that goes with them, I felt like I needed a little cleanse. So I’ve been eating raw food  for the last few days. I’ve been sprouting seeds sporadically over the last few years, it’s great fun and very easy to do.

Simply soak 1 tablespoon of seeds in water over night  - then drain and place on a saucer/plate/sprouter. Rinse the seeds once/twice a day and watch as they triple in size and explode apart with shoots. I’ve bought a few packets of pre-mixed assortments of seeds in health food shops, but have also successfully sprouted mung beans, chickpeas, cress and various lentils. It’s amazing to think of so many store cupboard ingredients being able to transform themselves so readily with just some water and daylight.

I’ve added these most often to salads, but also go great in curries, stews and soups – as garnish or an integral part of the dish. This was the first time I used them as a part of a dip,  Sharp, tangy, hot and garlicy – goes great with crudities.

Ingredients
4 sun dried tomatoes in oil 
a big handful of any kind of sprouts (I used a mixture of brown lentils, red linseed and mung beans) 
1 clove of garlic (less if you’re not a big garlic fan) 
A good squeeze of lemon juice 
2 small cherry tomatoes 
1 tablespoon of olive oil 
1 tablespoon of tahini 
a few sprigs of parsley 
Salt and freshly milled pepper

Add all ingredients,  except the fresh tomatoes, into a blender and blend to your desired consistency -  I added in the two small tomatoes at the end to thin it out a little and give it a better consistency. I’d love to know what you think of this yummy cousin of hummous twice removed !

I’ve been busy in the kitchen – making various things to go in jars – spicy tomato chutney and homemade mustard – can’t post till they’ve had some time to mature so stay posted!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tahini honey oat cakes

Ta honey















These are lovely little biccies to have with your cup of tea, and they are pretty much guilt free as they contain no sugar, wheat, dairy, egg or butter! Also they only take 10 mins to bake and are super easy to prepare, being from the 'throw everything into a bowl and stir' family of recipes.

I love to have something sweet after my dinner and am trying a wheat free diet right now so these are pretty much a godsend and I know I will make them again and again.


















Ingredients:
6tbsps Tahini paste
1/2 cup runny honey
1/2 a cup toasted flaked almonds
1/2 a cup raisins
6 dates, chopped

Blend the tahini and honey in a bowl, then add all of the other ingredients and mix well.

Using a spoon, divide the mixture into cookie shaped heaps on a greased baking tray. This should make about 12. Bake at 180c for 10 mins. Let them cool a bit and them transfer them to a cooling rack so that they don't go soggy underneath. Be careful when transferring them as they are crumbly when they are still hot, but get more solid as they cool.

You could use different variations depending on what you have lying around your kitchen, I will definitely be trying these with some of the following:
-toasted sunflower seeds
-hazelnuts (or any other nuts for that matter)
-lemon zest & a bit of juice
-candied peel
-Maple syrup
-peanut butter + some vegetable oil in place of the tahini (with chocolate chips which would make it not healthy but pretty delicious)



Tahini on Foodista