Burrata and rhubarb (or stone fruit) salad

Mild and creamy burrata with the sweet and sour notes of British rhubarb (or in season stone fruits) is such a delicious combination in a salad.
This recipe would make a great starter for 2 or a tasty lunch for 1.
Here are a few notes on the ingredients:

Burrata - meaning “buttered” is an Italian cheese whereby mozzarella is wrapped around a creamier version of mozzarella. The resulting cheese has a mozzarella-like exterior but a super creamy and soft centre. Its mild flavour makes a nice base for salads.
Look for it near the mozzarella in supermarkets.
For best results, season it well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and drizzle a generous amount of olive oil on it. Which brings me nicely onto the next ingredient:

Olive oil - The type of olive oil you use can make or break this recipe. Aim for a milder flavoured olive oil rather than the more bitter versions. Quality is worth paying attention to because a lot of olive oils are oil blends rather than pure olive.
The olive oil I’m using is the newly launched Positively Good For You Spanish olive oil.
As well as having an utterly beautiful flavour, it is also packed with heart-healthy antioxidants. Before you pose the legitimate question of “aren’t all olive oils packed with heart-healthy antioxidants?”, let me just answer this for you. Yes, polyphenols/ antioxidants are present in most olive oils but the longer the olive oil is stored, the more those antioxidants disappear. It is rare for a company to test for the polyphenols, guarantee their presence and provide a best-before date that is a true indication of freshness.
Also, the Positively Good For You olive oil is incredibly well priced (read: it’s cheap) considering the quality and care that goes into every bottle.

Rhubarb or stone fruits - At the time of making this recipe, British rhubarb was in peak season; however, burrata pairs well with any stone fruit. As the seasons change, juicy peaches or nectarines, gooseberries and plums would all work well.
To substitute the rhubarb in this recipe, simply use some grilled or roasted fruit and some raw fruit.
This will provide the best version of that sweet & sour flavour that makes this recipe so nice.

Ingredients (serves 2 as a starter or 1 as a lunch)

1 burrata cheese
2 sticks of rhubarb (or a handful of gooseberries, 1-2 peaches or 2 plums)
Great quality olive oil (I used this one)
5-6 mint leaves, finely sliced
5-6 basil leaves, roughly torn
A small handful of parsley, roughly chopped
3x radishes, thinly sliced
1/3 of a cucumber, thinly sliced
A large handful of watercress or a mix of bitter leaves such as watercress and rocket
A handful of blanched hazelnuts, toasted
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

For the dressing:
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Roughly slice 1 stick of rhubarb into 1-2” chunks. Pop this on a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 10 minutes until soft but not falling apart. Allow it to cool slightly.
3. Very thinly slice 1/3 of a stick of rhubarb. This will add a lemon-like flavour and a different texture profile.
4. Put your burrata in the middle of a plate. Cut the shape of a cross in the top of it and pull it apart so it spreads out. Season really well with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle some olive oil over the top of it.
5. Sprinkle the herbs over the burrata.
6. Put the radish, cucumber, raw and roasted rhubarb on top of the burrata.
7. Make the dressing by mixing the maple syrup, olive oil and lime juice. Taste it to check the flavour. It should be sweet to balance the tartness of the rhubarb. If you are using a sweeter stone fruit then you can get away with less maple syrup.
8. Spoon the dressing over the salad.
9. Put a handful of bitter leaves on top. Season again and serve straight away.

Transylvanian pea and spinach stew

Certain dishes evoke a great deal of nostalgia.
It’s a little trip back to your childhood, a holiday, your nan’s kitchen etc etc.
This recipe is a fully nostalgic one for me, taking me straight to my childhood home of Transylvania.
At the time of growing up, imported food was still exceptionally rare. (Post-communism had its merits, albeit none that I truly appreciated at the time.)
The lack of imported food meant we had to entirely rely on seasonal produce, preserve foods when there was a glut and make the best of every morsel of every foodstuff.
It’s a hipster dream now but back then it was, an often difficult, reality.

I always looked forward to spring.
Preserves (think A LOT of sauerkraut & similar items) were replaced by fresh, vibrant greens. Blossoms and berries added colour to the otherwise bleak landscape.
Pea season would soon be looming.
I loved fresh peas as a child.
I still do.
This recipe brings together the best of those greens that appear during spring and combines them with tasty peas.
The recipe works with any greens but spinach is perhaps the mildest. If you want to go wild with it, young nettles are a great alternative.
Give it a go.
I’m biased but it’s super tasty. (and very very frugal)

Ingredients to serve 2:

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of flour or gluten-free alternative
1 entire bag of spinach (200g approx)
1 mug of frozen peas
1 mug of milk or plant milk (it’s better with milk but you do you)
1 stock cube
A small bunch of parsley (10-15g approx)
Sea salt & black pepper to season
A drizzle of whatever oil for cooking

Toppings (entirely optional but totally recommended)
Creme fraiche - find it near double cream in supermarkets, it’s a cultured version of cream and is the traditional way to serve this dish. Almost everything has creme fraiche on it in Transylvania.
A boiled egg - for extra protein
A few extra herbs to sprinkle on top
Nuts or seeds for added crunch - I popped a few macadamias on top because I had some left over
Sliced avocado - entirely untraditional but it brings a different texture profile to the dish

Method:
Pop a saucepan on a medium heat.
Add the onion, garlic and a splash of oil.
Cook gently until the onion has softened.
Add the flour and cook for a further minute.
Time to add the spinach. You’ll likely need to do this bit by bit as the spinach wilts. Keep cramming it in there and cooking it down.
Once the spinach has wilted, pour in the milk and cook for a further minute.
Grab the parsley and pop it in a blender.
Pour the spinachey liquid over the parsley, season well with sea salt and black pepper and blend it until it’s mostly smooth (it doesn’t have to be perfect).
Return the green sauce to your saucepan.
Add the frozen peas and gently heat up it the peas are no longer frozen. Avoid boiling it too heavily because that’ll turn the vibrant green colours brown. It’s better to gently heat it and allow it to slowly bubble.
Check the seasoning and season again if it needs a bit more salt and pepper.
Top with any/ all of your chosen toppings.
Serve immediately.
The full video instructions are available here: Recipe video

Green mole

I was deep into researching Spanish food for the Ibiza retreat held last April when I stumbled across a recipe for mole.
It turns out the Spanish conquered a bit, leaving their influence on the food culture of whole swathes of South America. I was thankful for this discovery because the Ibiza retreats are fully vegetarian and Spanish cooking is anything but.
Cue hours of South American food research and the discovery of green mole.
Mole, arguably one of the shining stars of Latin American cuisine, is a sauce made from a combination of onion, chilli, nuts, seeds and fruit. It has a rich, sweet and sour flavour profile with a mild chilli kick that forms a flavoursome base for anything that is added on top.
I’m underselling it here, it’s actually super tasty.

Mole comes in MANY varieties. I’m semi reliably informed by an episode of ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ that every family has their own secret recipe.
The one that appealed to me the most during my research was a recipe for pistachio green mole. It’s a half-cooked, half-raw combination finished with lime and balanced with earthy nuts.
Long story short, I ended up reworking the recipe because unsurprisingly, we aren’t into chilli varieties as much as the Mexicans so it was hard to obtain 30% of the ingredients needed for the authentic version.

The end result is a nutrient-dense, amazingly flavoursome sauce that will elevate anything you may happen to throw on top.
For me, the toppings ended up being roasted courgette & leek, black rice, greens, edible flowers, pistachios and a Clarence Court egg (not pictured). BUT, you pop whatever you fancy on top. It goes just as well with proteins as it does with plant-based toppings.

Ingredients for 4 portions:

1 medium onion, roughly diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1” piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
2x medium Bramley apples, roughly chopped & the core removed
1 yellow pepper
1 green chilli, roughly chopped, deseeded if you like less heat
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
100g of hemp seeds - I used Good Hemp, available in most supermarkets
1 handful of coriander
1 handful of parsley
2 large handfuls of spinach
2 limes
Sea salt and black pepper
Cooking oil of your choice

For the top:
Black rice, cooked according to packet instructions
4x Clarence Court eggs, hard or soft boiled
4x small courgettes, sliced and roasted
Any soft herbs
A handful of roasted & salted pistachios, shells removed

Method:

Put the grill on maximum heat.
Slice the pepper down each side so it forms 4 flat pieces.
Put the pepper pieces on a roasting tray and put under the grill until the skin on the pepper has charred. This makes the pepper pieces sweet and smokey, adding extra flavour.
Set aside to cool.
Once cool enough to handle, remove the skin from the pepper pieces.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Put the apple pieces on a roasting tray, drizzle with oil and roast until you make the sauce.
Put a saucepan on a medium heat and add a splash of oil.
Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and cook until softened (around 5 minutes).
Add the tomato, pepper pieces and hemp seeds to the sauce. Add a couple of splashes of water and cook for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes have cooked down.
Throw in the roasted apple pieces and cook for another couple of minutes, adding a splash of water if it’s beginning to look dry.
Season well with sea salt and black pepper.
Transfer the sauce to a blender, add the coriander, parsley and spinach and squeeze in the juice of 1.5 limes.
Season again with sea salt and black pepper and blend until completely smooth.
Check the flavour and add more lime juice, salt or pepper as required.

To serve, divide the sauce between 4 bowls and top with the desired toppings.

Muhammara as a salad base

Muhammara is a Middle Eastern dip made with breadcrumbs, walnuts, charred peppers and pomegranate molasses. It is an utterly delicious combination of sweet and sour flavours with a hint of smokeyness from the peppers.
If you are a regular here or follow me on social, you’ll know my love of adding flavour bases to salads. Muhammara is one that I keep going back to.
Here I added crunchy lettuce leaves, chicken, parsley and toasted seeds to that base to create a wholesome salad that is packed with flavour.
Feel free to swap the chicken for eggs, chickpeas or halloumi. The same thing works with other protein combos.

If you are fond of salads, or are totally bored of them and need new ideas, there is a salad guide here: To the 5* salad guide.

Ingredients for 2:

For the muhammara:
1 slice of bread, toasted and left to cool completely
3 red peppers
1 clove of garlic, crushed
50g of walnuts
1 teaspoon each of ground cumin and sea salt
A pinch of chilli flakes
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
2 tablespoons of olive oil plus a little extra for drizzling
1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses plus a little extra for drizzling
Freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:
2 little gem or 1 cos lettuce
A large handful of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons of sprouted seeds (like this one, you can find these in most supermarkets on the salad isle)
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, leaves only
3 tablespoons of toasted seeds, I used this one, it’s in most supermarkets
2 chicken breasts, cooked to your liking
Sea salt and black pepper

Method:
1. To make the muhammara, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Put the peppers on a baking tray or ovenproof dish and roast in the oven for 30 minutes until the skin blackens and bubbles up. There is no need to drizzle oil on top and the peppers should be roasted whole.
Set them aside to cool.
3. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel them and remove the seeds. Discard the skin and seeds and tear the pepper flesh into strips.
4. Cut the toast into cubes and transfer to a food processor or blender.
Pulse the toast to make breadcrumbs.
5. Add the remaining muhammara ingredients to the blender, season well with freshly ground black pepper and pulse again. Don’t over blend it, it should be chunky, not smooth.
6. Divide the muhammara between two plates, pressing everything down so it is flat on the plate.
7. Drizzle olive oil and extra pomegranate molasses over the top.
8. Divide the salad ingredients between the two plates.
9. Season with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle a bit more olive oil on top if desired.

Chickpea burgers with kimchi ketchup

Let’s chat about plant-proteins.
Most aren’t complete proteins, so even if you eat a sufficient amount of plant protein, sometimes it can still fall short of the mark.
Let me explain:

Proteins are made of amino acids.
We have to eat 9 specific amino acids to be able to make protein that our bodies can do something with.
Protein sources of animal origin contain all of these 9 essential amino acids. This means they are a “complete protein”.
Plant-based sources of protein often miss 1 or 2 of the amino acids.
When these amino acids are missing, it doesn’t mean the protein was useless, it just means we can’t use the total package so well. If some of the amino acids are missing, the foodstuff in question is not a complete protein.

Chickpeas are not a complete protein because they miss 2 of the amino acids.
Meaning, even if the tin of chickpeas says it contains 17g of protein, we can’t actually fully make use of this.

There is a small trick however: protein combining.
Chickpeas fall short of the amino acids methionine and cystine.
Hemp seeds contain both of these amino acids.
By mixing chickpeas and hemp seeds in the same meal, you get a complete protein and can therefore utilise the protein present.
Neat isn’t it?

That was a very long winded explanation as to how I ended up combining chickpeas and hemp seeds in these chickpea burgers but hopefully you learnt something new.
Seeds in general are a good way to add more protein to meals.
They are also useful to create “complete” proteins alongside beans and pulses.

A few tips:
- It’s easier to cook the chickpea burgers from cold so if you have more time, refrigerate the patties before cooking. This will help them hold together better. Otherwise, flip them over with caution.
- The chickpea burgers can be frozen. Do this after cooking and cook them from frozen by either warming them up in the microwave or cooking them in the oven at 180 degrees C until piping hot (20 mins approximately).

Ingredients to make 6-8 burgers:
2 tins of chickpeas, drained
3 tablespoons of the chickpea liquid
40g of hemp seeds
10g of chia seeds
3 spring onions, washed and sliced
1 tablespoon of peanut butter (40g), both smooth and crunchy work
1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, paprika and sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For the kimchi ketchup:
80g of kimchi - pick a good quality kimchi, I’m a huge fan of this one
50g of organic ketchup

To serve:
Burger buns
Slaw & greenery as desired

Method:
To make the chickpea burgers, put all of the ingredients apart from the chia seeds, in a blender or food processor and pulse until well combined. Season well with freshly ground black pepper and pulse again.
The idea isn’t to create a smooth mixture, so don’t worry if there are “bits” in it.
Take the mixture out of the food processor and stir in the chia seeds. Mix to combine.
Check the seasoning and add a bit more salt and pepper if needed.

Pop a frying pan on a medium heat with a couple of tablespoons of a neutral oil (i.e. rapeseed or sunflower oil).
Take a heaped tablespoon of the chickpea mix and form it into a pattie using your hands.
Pop the pattie in the frying pan and make patties out of the rest of the mixture.
The chickpea burgers will take 5 minutes to cook on each side so keep the temperature of the pan lower (medium heat) and add a bit more oil after flipping them over.
They should be golden on both sides when cooked.

To make the kimchi ketchup, pop both ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth.

Serve the chickpea burgers in burger buns with a large dollop of kimchi ketchup on top.