Scandinavian Beetroot Fritters with Horseradish Dill Yoghurt Sauce

Scandinavian & Nordic food is hot right now. This is due mainly to the fact that the two Michelin star restaurant Noma in Denmark has been named Restaurant of the Year for the last three years. The chef Rene Redzepi is responsible for starting the reinvention and redefinition of traditional Nordic cuisine and is leading the way in the “wildculture” and foraging revolution.

No wanting to be left out ( but in no way tempted by the pickled herrings or live ants )I decided to have my own revolution. Thanks to The Washer Up’s dad, Jim, who sends me everything food related that he has cut out of English newspapers, I have a constant input of recipes from the frontline of food fashion.

These caught my eye because they contain three ingredients that, for me are (or used to be) quite challenging. I didn’t used to like beetroot at all now I love it especially in this Beetroot Hummus. Dill used to be my least favourite herb, I never used it and avoided it wherever possible. Now, thanks to a few weeks in the summer cooking for an Iranian family who use dill in and on everything, I love that too. It’s brilliant with beetroot as in this Roasted Beetroot Salad with Dill Hazelnut Pesto.

Horseradish on the other hand is a whole different can of worms. Does Rene do worms too?

I hate horseradish. Can’t even go near it. At the restaurant we served horseradish sauce with the roast beef, it would make me heave just clearing it from the table. So I didn’t. You may be wondering why I have such a strong aversion to it. Well I’ll tell you why. Dad, the truth will out.

When I was very young, about four year’s old I think, we went to my Nan & Grandad’s house for lunch as we did most weekends. My grandad used to grow his own horseradish and make it into horseradish sauce by grating it fresh into large jars that were stored in the larder. Now for some reason best known to his evil self, my dad decided to open one of these jars, stick it under my little four year old nose, and told me to take a big whiff of it.

I screamed and cried for what felt like quite a long time. I can still feel it now, the burning nostrils, watering eyes and numb brain. And what was my dad doing? Laughing he was, thought it was hilarious. As did my grandad come to think of it.

Still not forgiven him for that. Should have reported him to the NSPCC.

So in the spirit of Noma and the food revolution I decided to give it a try. I decided to move on and give closure to my horseradish hatred by using it in this recipe. And do you know what, I liked it. It actually tastes really good in this dish. It’s still not my favourite thing and I held my breath while spooning it out of the jar but I can see what all the fuss is about. Beetroot and horseradish is a fabulous flavour combination.

Just don’t go making young children sniff it. Because that would just be mean.

I made about 12 fritters out of this recipe which should feed four people as a lunch or starter with a salad. You could serve it with some boiled new potatoes for a main course. You could also make smaller flatter cakes and serve them as canapés with drinks. Just top with a blob of the sauce and a sprig of dill.  You should get about 24 and they will obviously not take as long to cook.

Beetroot Fritters with Horseradish & Dill Yoghurt Sauce

Serves 4, makes about 12. Vegetarian, gluten-free. Adapted from The Times Food & Drink

• 450 g beetroot, peeled & grated (use gloves dad)
• 150 g carrots, peeled & grated (could use parsnips)
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 50 g blanched almonds, finely chopped
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 100 g rolled oats
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• salt & black pepper
• dill sprigs to serve
• toasted cumin seeds, to serve
• crumbled feta, to serve (optional)

For the Horseradish Sauce:

• 200 ml Greek yoghurt/goat’s yoghurt or crème fraiche ( or a mix)
• 2-4 Tbsp horseradish sauce (or fresh grated horseradish)
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp honey
• salt & black pepper
• fresh dill, chopped

Mix together the peeled & grated beetroot & carrot with the shallot, almonds, thyme, coriander, oats, eggs, salt & black pepper in a bowl until well combined, cover and leave in the fridge for at least an hour. I left some overnight for lunch the next day and it was still good.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Using gloves, take a handful of the mix and squeeze it into a fritter shape (squeezing out any liquid) and place on a plate while you make the rest.

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a frying pan until hot. Then cook the fritters over a medium high heat on both sides until crispy, about 2 minutes a side. Remove with a slotted spoon to an ovenproof dish and bake for about 25 minutes.

Make the sauce by mixing the yoghurt/crème fraiche with the horseradish. Start with 2 Tbsp horseradish and add more if needed, I am a horseradish wimp though. Then add the lemon, honey, dill salt & pepper and taste. Adjust as required.

Toast some cumin seeds in a pan until fragrant.

To serve: make a little tower of beetroot fritters and generously drizzle over the horseradish sauce. Sprinkle over some cumin seeds, some crumbled feta (if using) and top with a sprig of fresh dill. I served them with a radicchio and watercress salad with a lemon & olive oil dressing.

Enjoy!!

Caribbean Sweet Potato Patties with Spicy Coconut and Spinach Sauce

I was looking for recipes containing scotch bonnet chilli peppers because our plant is producing more chillis than we can cope with at the moment. Apart from making more of my Scotch Bonnet Hot Pepper Sauce, I am trying to find ways of including them in every meal.

I found a Trinidadian recipe for crab cakes that were coated in grated sweet potato and served with a Callaloo sauce. Callaloo is a popular Caribbean stew or soup of West African origin made with leafy greens called Callaloo or Taro that are similar to kale and spinach. There are many different versions but in Trinidad they use coconut milk, okra and peppers as well as the greens. In Jamaica they use tomatoes and spring onions. The African-American dish Collard Greens is also a version of Callaloo.

In this recipe the callaloo is blended to make a smooth sauce to serve with the cakes. I omitted the crab (obviously) and used roasted and mashed sweet potato as the base for the cakes mixed with Caribbean herbs and spices and our lovely scotch bonnets for heat.

Caribbean Sweet Potato Cakes with Callaloo Sauce

Serves 2-3. Vegan, Gluten-free.

For the cakes:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled & cut into 1″ cubes (550gr)
• 1 or 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• whole bulb of fresh garlic (outer leaves peeled off but still held together)
• 1 or 2 scotch bonnets chillies, deseeded & chopped
• 3 spring onions/scallions, chopped
• salt & black pepper
• a handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
• the zest of 1/2 a lime
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 200C. On a lined baking tray, toss the sweet potato cubes with the olive oil, allspice, cumin, dried thyme, chilli flakes salt & pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes until soft. Roast the head of garlic at the same time.

Mash the sweet potato in a bowl with half of the roasted garlic cloves that have been squeezed out of their skins. Cook the spring onions and scotch bonnets with a pinch of salt,  in a little oil for a few minutes until softened. Stir this into the potatoes with the chopped coriander and lime zest. Check for seasoning, add more salt or lime zest if necessary. Cover and leave to rest in the fridge while you make the sauce.

For the Callaloo Sauce:

• 1 tin coconut milk, 400 ml
• 100-150 g fresh spinach leaves
• 1 small onion, chopped
• the rest of the roasted garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 scotch bonnet chilli (whole)
• 1 green or red pepper, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs, whole
• salt & black pepper
• the juice of 1/2 a lime
• a handful of fresh coriander, chopped plus extra for garnish

Put everything except lime juice & coriander in a med-large saucepan, season with salt & pepper and bring to the boil stirring to wilt the spinach. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 20-25  minutes, then remove the whole scotch bonnet (don’t throw it away) and thyme sprigs.

Carefully blend with a stick blender (cover with a towel) or in a food processor until smooth. Taste, if it is not hot enough cut the flesh from the scotch bonnet and add that to the sauce and blend again. Add the lime juice and chopped coriander and taste for seasoning, add more salt if necessary.

Pour the sauce back into the saucepan and keep warm while you cook the cakes.

Shape the sweet potato mix into 6 patties or smaller ones for canapes if you like. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan/skillet over a medium high heat. when the oil is hot add the cakes to the pan and cook for a about 2 minutes on each side until browned and crispy.

Pour enough sauce into your dishes to cover the base and top with 2 or 3 cakes. Sprinkle with some fresh coriander and serve with extra lime wedges to squeeze over.

We served this with a side of Caribbean Chargrilled Sweetcorn to carry on with the theme.

I am writing this listening to helicopters and light aircraft flying low over our house. Last night a friend, Andrew rang me at about to say that he could see lots of smoke coming from the mountains where we live. He was staying in his house across the valley at the time. I walked upstairs and opened the door onto the outside terrace and was greeted by huge plumes of orange smoke coming from the mountains in at the edge of our town. The view from the roof terrace was even worse and confirmed our fears.

The Barranco Blanco valley was on fire.

Totally unbelievable and shocking photographs started to appear on social networking sites as we heard about thousands of people being evacuated from their homes.

The fire was spreading rapidly, helped by the wind conditions, down the valley towards the coast. Friends of our were extremely worried about a dog rescue centre that was in great danger. Many people came to help and all 300 dogs were helped to safety along the riverbed towards Fuengirola before the fire reached them.

Our thoughts are with the families whose homes have been damaged or destroyed and we hope beyond all hope that this tragedy was not premeditated.

The area affected is one of the areas where we walk with dog. This morning we went out with heavy hearts to see if some of our favourite beauty spots were still there. Thankfully our favourite hill where we love to sit and look down to the coast has only been blackened on one side. The other side is as yet untouched, the firebreaks actually worked.

The whole valley is devastated, all the wildlife and plants destroyed. This is how it looked before.

Looking through all the photos of how it looked before is really upsetting. Rufus on top of the world….

Stay Safe Everyone

Spiced Chickpea Falafel Cakes with Tahini, Yogurt and Mint Sauce

It may surprise you to find that this is the first time I have posted a falafel recipe. Falafels are emergency vegetarian food, especially when out and about. Wherever you are there is normally a Turkish kebab shop that can save your life when starvation takes hold and you need something quick and tasty.

I have a theory though. A falafel conspiracy theory, if you like. I think that the falafels you buy in most Turkish or Lebanese restaurants or cafes are made out of a packet mix. I know, controversial. My reason for this slanderous outburst is sound and based on personal experience. Theirs hold together and mine, do not. See the picture below for an example of a very lovely falafel we bought from an Israeli vendor at the market.

 Along with a delicious tabouli salad, spicy tomato dip, broad bean dip and cheese and potato puffs. Perfect picnic food. For when your friends have very kindly allowed you to spend the day by their pool while they are away.

I also some bought some gorgeous gladioli and a big box of irresistible looking plums at the market. I see plum recipes coming up. Anyway back to the falafels.

Correct me if I am wrong, and I am sure you will, but aren’t falafels made from chickpeas? The ones you buy seem to be made from bulgur wheat or couscous. They have a distinctly grainy inside that looks and tastes nothing like a chickpea, cooked or uncooked. Am I the only person that has noticed this? Don’t get me wrong they taste great and I love them but pureed chickpeas they ain’t.

That’s my excuse anyway. I’ve tried with cooked chickpeas and dried, soaked overnight chickpeas. Whatever, I have always had a disaster. Either too dense, hard and chewy because I’ve added so much chickpea flour to make them hold together or too sloppy and they fall apart and disintegrate as soon as I start to cook them in the oil. Until now that is…..

…actually that is a little bit of a lie. The first lot of these I cooked in oil and they disintegrated as usual. Tasted good but had to be scooped into a flatbread and eaten.

My success came about through baking them rather than frying. Mould them into patties, dust with a little polenta or cornmeal, brush with a tiny amount of oil and bake for about 30 minutes. They are still not the most stable of snacks, you couldn’t throw one at someone from the other side of the pool, for instance but they are soft, delicious and a little crumbly.

And they taste of chickpea. Enhanced with a few herbs, spices and harissa. Perfect. You just need a little tahini yoghurt sauce and a squeeze of lemon.

Spiced Chickpea Falafel Cakes with Tahini Yoghurt Sauce

Serves 3, makes about 9, vegan, (without the sauce) gluten-free.

Prep time: 15 mins Cooking Time 30 mins

• 1 tin/jar cooked chickpeas (400 gr), drained, rinsed & dried
• 50 g of fresh peas (not frozen too wet) optional
• 25 g hazelnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
•  a big handful of chopped fresh herbs, I used, mint, coriander, parsley & oregano
• 1/2 tsp or more harissa paste
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sumac (optional)
• 1 tsp honey
• the juice of half a lemon plus wedges to serve
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• polenta or cornmeal fro dusting

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smoothish and it has come together. If you need to, add a bit more lemon juice to get it moving but not a lot. Taste and adjust seasoning. Mould into cakes and put in the fridge to firm up for a while or overnight.

When ready to cook preheat oven to 200 C. Put the polenta on a flat plate and roll the patties in it to lightly coat all sides. Line a baking tray with baking paper place the patties on the tray and brush very lightly with a tiny bit of olive oil. Bake for 30-35 minutes until slightly browned and serve with the tahini yoghurt sauce.

Tahini Yoghurt Sauce

• 1 pot (125ml) Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp tahini paste
• the juice of half a lemon
• a handfull of fresh herbs, chopped I used mint, coriander, parsley & oregano
•  a drizzle of olive oil
• salt & black pepper
• a pinch ground cumin
• a pinch sumac (optional)

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Taste and adjust lemon & salt as necessary.

Serve the falafel cakes with the tahini yoghurt sauce, lemon wedges and some salad leaves. In a flatbread/pita or not, it’s up to you.

I might have to buy a packet mix for falafel just to find out if that’s what they use. Just to prove to myself really. If it’s not I can’t understand it, any ideas?

Creole Chickpea Fritters with Red and Green Pepper Salsa

At the restaurant we aways had some sort of fish cake on the menu and they were always best sellers. One of the most memorable ones for me were the Creole Crab Cakes that we served with a roasted red pepper mayo. There was something about the combination of Creole seasoning, fresh thyme and finely diced peppers that everyone loved.

Everyone except for Nik the Chef.  He hated making them. They were a bit (ok a lot) of a nightmare because the peppers would leak their liquid into the crab cakes and make them soggy so Nik had to spend hours finely dicing peppers and then meticulously drying them out on kitchen towel before combining them with the crab meat. He hated me for coming up with those crab cakes, but the customers loved them.

I was reminded of those crab cakes when I saw a recipe for chickpea fritters on A Little Bit Crunchy. Hers were Mexican in flavour but they had diced red pepper in them which is what caught my eye. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, after all I never ate a whole crab cake because I was vegetarian. I only ever tried a little bit to see if it tasted how I wanted it to.

So I made some Creole seasoning which I added to a jar of cooked chickpeas that I had blended to a puree. I added some fresh thyme and started to finely dice a red and green pepper, a spring onion, garlic & chilli. I stirred a few handfuls of the diced veg into the chickpea mix, but not too much, I didn’t want the mixture to be too wet.  I used the rest of the diced peppers etc to make a salsa to accompany the chickpea fritters by adding a chopped tomato, lemon juice & some Creole seasoning. I used chickpea flour to dust the fritters and then mould them into patties to keep it gluten-free but you can use flour and breadcrumbs if you like.

Creole Chickpea Fritters with Red & Green Pepper Salsa

makes 6-8 patties, vegan, gluten-free

For the Creole seasoning:

• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 tbsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tbsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp ground white pepper
• 1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 2 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt

Put all the ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake well to combine.

For the Chickpea Fritters:

• 1 jar/tin 400 gr cooked chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• 2 tbsp Creole seasoning (see above)
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 red pepper, finely diced
• 1/2 green pepper, finely diced
• 3 or 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 spring garlic or 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 chilli, finely chopped
• the juice of half  a lemon
• 1 big tomato, finely diced
• salt
• chickpea flour/besan/gram flour for dusting
• olive oil for frying

Put the rinsed, drained chickpeas in a bowl or processor and blend until smoothish. Mix the diced peppers, spring onions, garlic and chilli together in a bowl and add a couple of small handfuls to the chickpeas with a tablespoon of Creole seasoning and the thyme leaves. Stir everything together so well combined. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Tip some chickpea flour onto a plate and shape the mix into patties about 1/2 inch thick. Then dust the patties in the flour and put in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes. (No longer or the peppers will start to leak their juice and the patties will be too wet).

Meanwhile make the salsa by adding a finely diced tomato to the rest of the diced veg with a tablespoon of Creole seasoning and the juice of half a lemon. Taste for seasoning and add salt if necessary.

To cook the fritters, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Cook the fritters for 4-5 minutes per side until browned and crispy. Serve with the pepper salsa and a green salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

Things That Made Me Smile Today…

A Shetland pony and her new foal…

A white dolomite rock and delicate magenta flowers…..

Caribbean Vegetable Patties with Mango and Coriander Yoghurt Chutney

These little pasties/patties were part of a Caribbean meal I made for friends on Friday night. They remind me of the vegetable pasties they sell in the Caribbean shops in Notting Hill and Portobello Road, the ones in the clear plastic packets. I used to live on them when I was working around there, well working & shopping, actually mostly shopping!! I do miss London occasionally, the multicultural buzz and the food, obviously. The fantastic choice of vegetarian food from all over the world. You could eat from around the world just in one street. Anyway, I suppose that living here, in Spain, makes me more creative. It means I continue to learn about food by cooking recipes from around the world rather than going out to eat, cheaper too…!

Caribbean Vegetable Patties

adapted from an www.101cookbooks.com recipe

makes about 15 mini patties, Vegetarian

• 1 pack (375gr) frozen puff pastry, defrosted in the fridge overnight. If you want to make your own authentic pastry see recipe here
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (I used vegetable oil)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes (I used 1 scotch bonnet fresh chilli, chopped)
• salt & white pepper
•  2 large cloves garlic, minced
• the juice of 1 mandarin & 1/2 a lime
• about 75 ml of veg stock
• 3 tbsp grated coconut
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 sweet potato, scrubbed & diced
• a handful of frozen peas
• a handful of frozen sweet corn
• 1/4 cabbage finely shredded
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• the other 1/2 lime juice
• 1 egg, beaten
• cumin seeds

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat, add the onion, spices & salt and cook for about 5 minutes until the onions are soft and caramelized slightly. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more then stir in the juices, veg stock, carrots, sweet potatoes & coconut. Reduce the heat slightly, cover with a lid and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10- 15 minutes. Stir in the peas, sweetcorn, cabbage, herbs and the rest of the lime juice and cook for 3 minutes more (you don’t want any liquid). Taste & season again with salt & white pepper and leave to cool for at least an hour (I left mine in the fridge over night)

When your filling has cooled preheat the oven to 210 degrees. Flour your work surface and rolling-pin and roll out the pastry, if necessary, to about 2 or 3 mm thick.  Cut out circles of pastry about 12cm (4 1/2 inches) in diameter (I cut around a small bowl). You will have to re roll the off cuts of pastry to get about 12 – 15 circles. Put a heaped tbsp of the filling in the middle of one half of the circle, being careful to leave the edges clear. Get yourself a cup of water, wet you fingers and wet the edges of the pastry. Fold the other half over the filling, press together with your fingers to seal and then crimp around the edges with a fork.

Place the patties on a baking tray lined with baking paper, brush the tops with beaten egg, sprinkle with few cumin seeds and bake until golden brown (about 25 minutes) turning half way through.

These patties are great served hot or cold so they would be perfect for a buffet table or as party food nibbles. Serve them with a chilli sauce or my easy mango & coriander yoghurt chutney. You may have some of the filling leftover, I did, so I made an individual Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie by topping it with mashed potato, grated cheese & breadcrumbs and baking for about 3o minutes. Really tasty Caribbean comfort food!!

Mango & Coriander Yoghurt Chutney

• 2 pots greek yoghurt about 250 ml
• about 3 tbsp mango chutney, if you want to make your own see my recipe here
• a handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• a good squeeze of lime juice

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, taste and adjust as required. You may want more sweetness from the chutney or more lime juice, it’s up to you.

I served these as a starter as well as a Caribbean Lentil Soup (I will blog this tomorrow) and my Caribbean Squash & Plantain Curry with Roti Bread see recipe here.