Things I have been cooking lately #33: Grilled asparagus and courgette salad with haloumi, semi-dried tomatoes and basil oil

As the weather warms up, I am finding myself craving salads more and more for dinner. I am not much of a leaf eater though. The best way to put me off a salad is by putting in piles and piles of leaves, which is why I love this hearty salad, which made a great main meal for Paul. I and it packs both a flavour and colour, which is precisely what a spring salad should do.

Grilled asparagus and courgette salad with haloumi, semi-dried tomatoes and basil oil
Adapted from cooksister.com, originally a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe

350g cherry tomatoes, halved
24 asparagus spears
2 large courgettes
250g haloumi, sliced into 0.5mm thick slices
A large handful of rocket
Olive oil
Black pepper
Sea Salt
A little flour

For the basil oil
60ml olive oil
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
25g fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper

Preheat your oven to 170 C (160 C for a fan oven). Toss the cherry tomatoes in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and season with a good whack of salt and pepper. Spread the tomatoes out skin side down on a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper. Bake in the centre of the oven for 50 minutes.

In the meantime, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Trim the hard woody ends off the asparagus and add them to the boiling water. Boil for 4 minutes. Then drain the asparagus and put them in a bowl of cold water. Drain and repeat until the asparagus spears are cold. Toss the asparagus spears in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cut the ends off the courgettes and slice very thinly using a vegetable peeler or mandolin. Toss the slices in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Now grill the asparagus spears and courgette slices. You can either do this using a hot griddle pan on the stove top, or like I did it, using a George Foreman grill or similar. Either way you want to grill the veggies until they are just tender and have those sexy grill marks on them. No more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time.  If you are going to use a pan I would suggest adding a little oil to it to make sure things don’t stick. Set aside the veg to cool a little.

Lightly dust the haloumi slices in flour and grill for 2 minutes on each side in your griddle plan or on the George Foreman.  Set aside to cool a little.

To make the basil oil, put all the ingredients in a blender and whizz until smooth.

Arrange the rocket leaves in the bottom of a large salad bowl or platter. Arrange the remaining veg and haloumi over the top. Drizzle with basil oil

Serves 2 – 3 as a main course or 4 -6 as a side.

Things I have been cooking lately #32: Carrot cake with maple cream cheese icing

I used to have this amazing carrot cake recipe a few years ago. It was everything a carrot cake should be – moist, spicy, light… except that somewhere in one of my many moves, I lost it. Bereft and somewhat annoyed with myself for not writing it down, I haven’t made a carrot cake in ages. But after we accidentally ended up with a surplus of carrots, I decided to take the plunge and find a new recipe. This is the result. I think it is every bit as good as the original but why not try it out and see for yourself.

Carrot cake with maple cream cheese icing

Adapted from Rasa Malaysia

2 Cups flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 Cup golden caster sugar
1 Cup soft light-brown sugar
1 Cup grape seed oil
1 240g can pineapple slices in juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3 Cups peeled, grated carrots (5 -10 carrots depending on size)
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Large handful of pumpkin seeds
½ Cup raisins or sultanas

Icing

500g full fat cream cheese
110g butter
2 Cups of icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ Maple syrup

Turn your oven on to 100 C. Put your pumpkin seeds on a baking tray and pop them onto the top shelf of the oven while you grate your carrots. I use pumpkin seeds because I am allergic to nuts and I think they made a great substitute but feel free to use roughly chopped pecans or walnuts if you prefer.

Now grate your carrots. I suggest using the finer side of a box grater and doing it by hand. This will ensure that you get a light and fine textured cake. If you use the thicker side of a box grater or a food processor it can get a bit chunky.

Take the pumpkin seeds out of the oven. Return the shelf to the middle of the oven and turn the temperature up to 180 C (or 170 for a fan oven).

In a medium sized bowl stir together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger.

Put the pineapple slices in your blender with a couple of tablespoons of their liquid and blend until pureed.

In a separate large bowl whisk together pineapple pure, sugars and oil until well blended. Add in the eggs one at a time. Now stir in the flour mixture until just blended. Add in the vanilla, carrots, fresh ginger, pumpkin seeds and raisins.

Lightly grease and line three 20cm layer cake tins. Divide your batter evenly between them. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 25 – 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for five minutes before removing from the tin and allowing to cool completely on a cooling tray.

Making cream cheese icing can be very tricky and it easily turns to gloop so be careful. First cream together the butter and cream cheese together until mixed together. Always use full fat cream cheese or it will destabilise. Add the maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Now add the icing sugar half a cup at a time. As soon as it starts to get a little runny stop and do not add any more sugar. You want something runnier than a buttercream but not so runny it slides off the cake. Put your icing in the fridge for at least an hour before icing the cake to help it keep its shape.

Once your cakes are completely cold, spread each layer with icing and sandwich them together before covering the entire cake with the remaining icing.

Store the cake in the fridge in order to keep the icing stable. This cake refrigerates and keeps well for 3 – 4 days.

Things I have been cooking lately #31: Italian style potato salad

With spring finally making an appearance, I feel like it’s time to celebrate barbeque season. All South Africans are born with an in-built “braai” switch that flicks the minute there is a hint of sun sending us clamouring for coals, chops and a fireside brew. Unlike British barbeques, which seem to the uninitiated eye to be a somewhat haphazard affair that involves incinerating a bunch of low quality sausages over an open flame before it starts raining, a South African braai is an art form which requires creating the perfect mix of proteins, sides and libations. With this in mind I have been subtly converting my husband to my sub-Saharan way of thinking and turning him into a real man. In South Africa, you are not a real man unless you can handle a pair of braai tongs.

While I do know women who take charge of their own braais and it was me who taught Paul how to make a cooking fire, the woman’s braai role is traditionally in the kitchen, doing the much more challenging job of creating delicious side dishes. One of the most popular standards is of course, potato salad, which I love… but I don’t love the lashings of mayo that always seem to come with it. With that in mind, I present to you a twist of the classic potato salad that you might want to try at your next braai – all the flavour with much less fat.

Italian style potato salad

1kg new potatoes, halved or quartered if large
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh basil
Salt
Black pepper
¼ red onion, finely chopped

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water by an inch. Season well with salt. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes, or until you can easily push a fork into the potato.

In the meantime, whisk together the oil, vinegar, basil, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the potatoes and run a little cold water over them to bring the temperature down. When the potatoes have cooled down a little add the onions and toss in the olive oil mixture.

The flavours intensify as the salad is stored and it keeps well so you could easily make it the day before and pop it in the fridge in anticipation of your braai.

Serves 4 -6 as a side dish

Things I have been cooking lately #30: Gluten-free gooey dark chocolate cookies

Gluten-free recipes can be a bit hit and miss but these cookies do not disappoint. Despite having no oil or butter in them they are rich and chocolatey with a satisfyingly chewy centre. I took them to work and they disappeared within minutes. I will admit that I wasn’t sure they were doing to work while I was making them but stick with it because the pay-off is totally worth it.

Gluten-free gooey dark chocolate cookies
Adapted from divine-baking.com

3 large or 4 medium egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 ½  cups icing sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon rice flour
Pinch of salt
1 ½ cups (about 180g)  good quality dark chocolate chips (or if you can’t be bothered with chips, just hack up 2 slabs of Green & Blacks. The quality of the chocolate makes all the difference, so don’t skimp.)

Pre-heat your oven to 180 C. Put a pot of boiling water on the stove and rest a glass bowl on top of it. The bowl should not touch the water. Add one cup of the chocolate chips to the bowl and allow to melt, stirring occasionally. You can melt the chocolate in the microwave but if it goes wrong there is nothing you can do to salvage it. I prefer the old school, safe method. When the chocolate is completely melted, set aside to cool a little.

Now beat the egg whites to soft peaks with the cream of tartar using an electric mixer. This can be tricky, so here are my tips for doing it right:

• Always use a glass or metal bowl – never plastic.
• It won’t work if there is a drop of fat or yolk in the bowl so separate your eggs carefully and wipe your bowl with a piece of kitchen roll and a drop of vinegar before you start
• The cream of tartar really helps
• You will know you have soft peaks when you can lift the beater out of the egg white and it makes a little peak that flops over at the end. If the peak doesn’t flop over, you’ve gone too far!

Once you’ve got your soft peaks, add one cup of the icing sugar a little at a time, continuing to beat. Once all the sugar is in, keep beating until you get a creamy marshmallow texture. It shouldn’t take more than the few minutes. Don’t panic if you become surrounded by a cloud of white powder. Just make sure you vacuum after.

In a separate bowl, mix together another cup of the icing sugar, the cocoa, flour and salt. Now turn down your mixer to a slow speed and add the dry ingredients a little at a time. Then stir in the melted chocolate and remaining chips.

Put your mixing bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes for the dough to stiffen up.

In the meantime, grease two baking trays with a little oil and put your remaining icing sugar in a bowl.

When your dough is nice and stiff, take a tablespoon of mixture at a time, roll into a ball and then roll in the remaining icing sugar to thickly coat. Place on the baking tray. You should get 9 – 10 per tray. Bake each tray for 10 minutes. Prepare to be amazed!

Makes 18 – 20 cookies

Things I have been cooking lately #29: Ham boiled in Coke

This is my go-to “big meat” recipe. Although it’s traditionally a Christmas dish, I recently made it for Easter with my family. I know most people’s immediate response to this recipe is, “Coke, really?” But trust me, it is deeeee-licious!

Ham boiled in Coke

Adapted from Nigella Lawson

2kg mild cure gammon

2 litres of full fat Coke (no diet here)

1 large onion, peeled and cut in half

3 bay leaves

A handful of cloves

A few tablespoons of black treacle

A few teaspoons of mustard powder

A few teaspoons of soft dark brown sugar

These days most gammons have been pre-soaked to get the excess salt out. Check the label though and if your gammon has not been soaked, pop it in a large pot, cover with water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Once you have a de-salted gammon, pop it in a large lidded pot, skin side down, and pour in the Coke. Add the onion and bay leaves. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently with the lid at an angle for two hours. If your ham is bigger than 2kg, boil an extra 30 minutes for every half a kilo. If you ham is not completely covered by the Coke, make sure to turn it a couple of times during the cooking process.

When the boiling process is done, heat your oven to 220 C (200 for a fan oven). Drain your ham and using a sharp knife carefully remove the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat. Put the gammon, fat side up into a foil lined roasting tray. Using your sharp knife, score the fat in a crisscross pattern. At every point where the cross meets, push in a clove. Once you have all your cloves in, spread a layer of treacle over the top of them, being careful not to dislodge any cloves. Sprinkle over a thin layer of mustard powder and then pack on a layer of sugar.

Put the ham into the oven for 10 minutes until the glaze is bubbling. Serve hot or cold.

You can do the boiling process in advance if you like and then glaze at a later stage, but if you have allowed the ham to cool down you will need to put it in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes to heat through.

Serves 8 – 10