Monica Saigal Bhide's Blog, page 16

 

Peanut Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes and 20 minutes to chill
Cook Time: None
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup peanuts, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon red chili powder or cayenne or paprika
Salt to taste
1 small red onion, peeled and diced
1 small tomato, diced
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced
A few small red radish, diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
In a large salad bowl, add the red onion, tomato, cucumber, radish and carrots. In a separate bowl combine the juice, peanuts and red chili and salt to taste. Pour over the salad and toss well. Chill for about 20 minutes. Serve chilled topped with the cilantro.
Variations: when in season, i add pomegranate arils to the salad. Also play with the ingredients: jicama works well in this salad as well as pineapple to add some sweetness. I dont add pears or apples unless I am serving it immediately or they will brown. Another fav — add a few thinly sliced fennel!
Now, if you are really in the mood, leave out the lemon juice and use a half a cup of yogurt instead. And season it with freshly toasted ground cumin. You will love it. Trust me.

Hearty thanks to Alka at Sindi Rasoi for shooting the photograph for me! She is a delightful photographer and her information is here:

Website: SindhIRasoi.com

Facebook page: Sindhirasoi

Twitter : Sindhirasoi

 

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If you think a book on oatmeal is going to be boring or ho-hum or nothing to call home about, let me stop you right there. Kathy Hester has written a book that will forever change the way you look at your morning oats!  OATrageous Oatmeals: Delicious & Surprising Plant-Based Dishes From This Humble, Heart-Healthy Grain not only features some traditional oatmeal recipes but focuses on very out-of-the-box approach with oats.

 

For instance, here are some of the recipes (all with glorious photos) that Kathy has created:

Baked Apple-Blueberry Pancakes


Pumpkin Coffee Cake Oatmeal


Hummingbird Cake Oatmeal


Chai-Spiced Oat Shake


Blackberry Mojito Overnight Refrigerator Oats


Protein Packed Peanut Butter Cup Overnight Oats


Bourbon-Scented Pecan Granola


Mushroom Sun-Dried Tomato Steel-Cut Oat Risotto


Oats-bury Steaks


Not-from-a-Box Mac and Oat Chez

There are recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner AND DRINKS!! Also, if you thought oats could not get any healthier, she has made a serious effort to keep the dishes vegan and dairy-free.

I am delighted to feature the Indian Oats Upma from Kathy Hester’s OATrageous Oatmeals: Delicious & Surprising Plant-Based Dishes From This Humble, Heart-Healthy Grain. Recipe and photograph are being used here by permission from the author.

soy-free, gluten-free, oil-free option*

Oat upma is toasted rolled oats cooked with assorted veggies and spices, then topped with fresh chopped cilantro. This is not a spicy dish but is very flavorful from the whole spices; it makes a great dinner or a savory breakfast.

 

Makes 4 servings

2 cups (184 g) rolled oats

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil (*or use broth)

2 teaspoons (10 g) cumin seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cardamom pods

10 crushed curry leaves or 1/2 teaspoon curry leaf powder

1/2 cup (80 g) minced onion

1/2 cup (74 g) bell pepper, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons (12 g) minced ginger

2 cups (364 g) bite-sized mixed veggies (peas, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, etc.)

2 cups (474 ml) water

salt and pepper, to taste

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

 

Toast the oats in a large sauteÅL pan over medium heat for about 3 to 5 minutes, then set aside.

 

In a Dutch oven or small soup pot heat the oil over medium heat. Once warm, sauteÅL the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, cinnamon and cardamom. Cook until fragrant, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add in the curry leaves and onion and sauteÅL until translucent about 5 minutes, then add the bell pepper, garlic, ginger and chopped veggies. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes until the pot becomes a little dry, then add the water and turn the heat to high.

Once the water almost comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and let the veggies cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in the oats, cover and cook for 5 more minutes.

Serve topped with cilantro.

 

Per serving: Calories 285.8, protein 8.5 g, total fat 10.6 g, carbohydrates 42.6 g, sodium 44.4 mg, fiber 8.4 g

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I am so pleased to share with you the next recipe in my series: Monica’s Indian Express: Simple & Sassy Weeknight Dishes.

Monica’s Indian Express: Chickpea crepes (gluten-free)

I learned to make these from my dad. Perfect for the nights where you dont feel like cooking much. Simple and filling, these crepes are just perfect for an easy meal. To serve them: I use cilantro chutney as a dipping sauce or, if you feel like it, you can make a simple dip with fromage blanc, minced garlic and cilantro. The coolness of the cheese and the heat of the crepes pair well. Enjoy!

For the crepes:
1 cup chickpea flour
Water as needed (about 1 ¼ cups)
1 teaspoon red chili powder or red chili flakes
2 small shallots, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 green chili, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
Table salt to taste
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
To prepare the crepes:
Place the chickpea flour in a bowl and add the water slowly with one hand while mixing it in with the other hand.  You can use a spatula but I find using my hands works the best. Keep adding the water, and mixing to remove all lumps. The final consistency should be like that of pancake batter (pourable but not thin.) Add the remaining crepe ingredients, except the oil, and mix well.
Heat a small pan on medium heat. Add ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil. Pour in about ¼ cup of the batter (the crepes should be about 1/3 inch thick). Cook for 2-3 minutes or until bubbles begin to form. Using a spatula lift the crepe and flip it over. If it does not flip easily, it needs to cook a little longer. After flipping, cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place on a plate lined with a paper towel. Continue until all the batter is used.  These crepes are not soft; they are in fact a bit crispy.

Hearty thanks to Alka at Sindi Rasoi for shooting the photograph for me! She is a delightful photographer and her information is here:

Website: SindhIRasoi.com

Facebook page: Sindhirasoi

Twitter : Sindhirasoi

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BUY NOW — BURNT TOAST MAKES YOU SING GOOD 

I was one of the beta readers of Kathleen Flinn’s newest book – Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good, and I have to tell you that each time I read something by her I am reminded what it is like to be in the hands of a good storyteller. Her book transported me to a world I knew nothing about – Michigan in the 1960′s. The book traces her culinary history and roots and is a fascinating read about her family and their food traditions. The book will make you laugh ( “I’m Swedish, which makes me sexy, and I’m Irish which makes me want to talk about it.” ) and cry and then, when all is said and done, it will make you treasure your own food memories even more. 

Kathleen had been kind enough to write this blog post for my blog last year when she was in the middle of researching her book. I think it merits another read.

The Tricky Business of Tasting the Past

BUY NOW – BURNT TOAST MAKES YOU SING GOOD 

By Kathleen Flinn

Behold what I call “The Shroud of Turin Chicken Pot Pie,” a scan of a page unearthed from the bottom of my grandmother Inez Monk Henderson’s recipe file. Folded carefully, it marked  an obvious attempt to capture in the barest forms a recipe she didn’t want to forget, or perhaps, had planned to give to someone else to decipher. She had made notes on the folded exteriors for recipes as well, one too faded to detect, the other for dill pickles.

I’ve been going through my family’s recipes as part of research for my third book. It’s best described as a multi-generational memoir with recipes. I don’t even show up until Chapter 6. (I’ve not quite figured out how to tackle that part, actually.) My mother’s recipes are a bit neater, captured in two spiral notebooks. Originally, grandma stuffed hers in an old accordion envelope, but in the late 1950s, someone gave her a green box and she transferred them all there. Grandma didn’t collect many recipes for daily cooking. It’s notable that nowhere in her files does she have any recipes for soup or roasts, for instance. Why would she? You made soup with leftovers and she knew all her standards by heart.  Older, more yellowed pieces of newspaper involved cakes made with mayonnaise or cookies starring cheap ingredients. Later recipes leaned toward more ”elegant” or “modern” recipes for her time, such as Chicken Divan.

Mom and I think this page comes from the late 1940s. Notice the short-hand: “Two onion – cut up.” “One chicken – 3 1/2 pounds, boiled until tender.”Also, I point your attention to the absence of salt, pepper or other seasonings but the inclusion of “1 can mushrooms soup.” All of it in “chicken scratch,” how she referred to her own handwriting. She left formal education at age 13 in the early 1920s, when her father was killed in a lumber mill accident. She was forced to stay at home and help rear four  brothers and sisters. She married my grandfather, Charles, when she was 16 presumably because taking care of one husband was easier than a bunch of kids. Of course, she then proceeded to have five kids herself, most of them born in the grips of The Great Depression.

As I’ve wandered down this flour-and-bacon-grease-splattered memory lane, I’m struck by how the language of recipes changed even in the short years spanned in my grandmother’s recipe box. Some of the recipes she wrote or collected from friends were little more than ingredient lists with a couple of notes. Everyone understood the language of the kitchen. One of her recipes starts, “Kill and clean two good-sized chickens.”

She died in 1979, ahead of a world filled with arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and truffle oil. Yet, she also fell somehow ahead of the curve. She lived seasonally and organically for most of her life not because it was trendy or she worried about climate change or felt dissatisfied or disillusioned with her options at the supermarket. She grew up poor, so it wasn’t a choice. Up to the day she died at the untimely age of 69, she grew the vast majority of her vegetables. She and grandpa canned every autumn. They didn’t believe in store-bought jelly. When grandpa was alive, he grew his own pigs and made his own ham and bacon. They raised chickens and taught my mom at age 11 how to kill and clean them.

As I work through trying to recreate these dishes, as much as I long for a taste of the past, I have to admit how much I’ve been influenced by the present. That stewed chicken I loved so much as a kid? It tastes so bland to me now. More than once I’ve wondered, does every dish really need paprika? I’ve found myself adding garlic and cayenne, a hit of lemon or sprigs of fresh herbs to bring the flavor in line with the palate that I have now.

Which leads me to a dilemma. Do I present the recipes as I think they were made originally without any changes? Or do I adapt to modern palates? I think my grandmother would have loved garlic – she just never used it growing up, so it stayed in her blind spot. Sure, she made cakes with mayonnaise. But is that helpful or interesting, or just a culinary anachronism? Just what I am to do with those Campbell’s Soup-based casseroles?

When I wonder all of this, I think back to this recipe and to the spirit of my grandma, an outspoken pragmatist who herself was never a slave to a recipe. After all, for 26 years Inez lived in a remote town where the nearest store was a dozen miles away – and she never learned to drive. She could only cook with what she had on hand. Plus, she felt it a sin to let food go to waste. How else to explain minced rhubarb in a chocolate cake? Or sweet potatoes in chicken stew? Or that despite calling for butter, she made virtually everything with the bacon grease she kept in a coffee can on the back of her stove?

If I presented this dilemma to her, I know exactly what she’d say. “Really, Kathleen Inez, have you nothing better to do? Then go sweep the porch.” She’d shove a broom in my hand and send me out as she finished dinner the way she always cooked: A bit of this, a bit of that and a fistful of green beans leftover from last night and why not just throw in that extra gravy? Grandma was not a chef, but she a real cook. She was driven by love and economy, and in neither could she afford to be a purist.

BUY NOW – BURNT TOAST MAKES YOU SING GOOD 

*** Here is more information about Kathleen and her work —

w: http://kathleenflinn.com

e: [email protected]
f: http://facebook.com/katflinn

t: http://twitter.com/katflinn
****************

“This could be the most important book you’ll ever read.” - Morgan Spurlock

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School:
How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks (now in paperback!)


2012 Non-Fiction Book Award – American Society of Journalists & Authors
Four stars from People magazine, raves from The Wall Street Journal, an Indie Next Pickand starred review from Kirkus Reviews.
Take a look at the video book trailer http://kathleenflinn.com/media

“Like Julia Child before her, Flinn aims to demystify rarefied culinary know-how and bring basic cooking lessons to the simplest level…” - Publisher’s Weekly.

New! Check out the site supporting the book – CookFearless.com
Cover photo: istock.com

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Cauliflower Sautéed With Turmeric and Rosemary

by Monica Bhide developed for AARP-The magazine and AARP.ORG

Serves 4

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 small head cauliflower, broken into florets

1 teaspoon turmeric

Leaves from 1 sprig rosemary

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.

2. Add the cauliflower, turmeric and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is brown and caramelized, about 8 minutes.

3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Stir in the raisins and pine nuts and cook about 1 minute more, until everything is heated through.

5. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with paprika.

 

Gorgeous photo of cauliflower taken by the terrific Sala Kannan

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BUY NOW - A Pinch of This, A Handful of That

  A Pinch of This, A Handful is a terrific book by a well-known Indian food writer Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal. I have known Rushina for a long time and have even attended some of her cooking classes in Mumbai. The book is just like her — full of stories, colorful anecdotes, recipes that tell tales and provide comfort. You will enjoy reading the book, that reads more like a memoir than just a cookbook, about all the people she has met and how they have helped her create her culinary repertoire. And if you think about it – isn’t that how we all live our food lives — a collection of diverse meals that we create from all those who have helped us get where we are in our culinary journey!!  “The book is a food diary with lots of fabulous recipes and the stories behind them. It includes popular and lesser-known dishes, as well as her own creations — Gujarati Undhiyu, Sindhi Kadhi, Curry Leaf Fish, Goan Sausage Pulao, Clove-Scented Lamb in Red Wine, and Chindian Manchurian — that cross barriers of community and region to become part of the colourful whole that is Rushina’s kitchen,” reads the book description and I could not have said it better!

 

Rushina Munshaw – Ghildiyal tells me: A Pinch of This, A Handful of That. This book is a recipe memoir of growing up in Ullas, my maternal home, and the culinary influences that have made me into the cook I am. Its a sweet little book that pays tribute to the often unsung culinary heroes (who are not professional chefs etc.) that nurture us through our life with their love filled cooking, our mother, grandmothers and in my case Maharaj, the family cook that has been around since I was born.

Recipe from ‘A Pinch of This, A Handful of That’ by Rushina M. Ghildiyal  

(Published by Westland Ltd., December 2013, Paperback, 326 pages, Rs. 595)  

MAGHAS LADDU (Page 286) (Gram Flour Fudge) In the Gujarati community, these confections are symbolic of a grandmother’s love: the process of making them is long and tiring, so they are made for someone who is very treasured. Maghas (literally meaning brain) is a combination of coarsely ground gram flour mixed with milk and ghee that is considered good for the brain. Family lore says that two or three of these walnut-sized treats washed down with a glass of milk are enough to fill the stomach. Young mothers are advised to feed picky children a couple of these a day.

Time: 20 minutes Makes: 24 laddus

Ingredients 2 cups gram flour /chickpea flour (besan) 1 tbsp + 1¼ cups ghee ½ cup milk, + a few tbsp for moistening 2¼ cups powdered sugar ½ tsp green cardamom powder

Method Place the gram flour in a large thali or platter of 2-kg capacity. Using your hands rub about 1 tbsp of ghee into the gram flour. Add ½ cup of milk, mix well and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Knead the dough, till it reaches the consistency of uniform crumbs — this is called maghas. Heat the remaining ghee in a large kadhai or pan of 2-kg capacity. Add the maghas and fry on medium to low heat, till it cooks to a golden-brown colour. Remove from heat and allow it to cool slightly, till it is hot but can be handled. Add the sugar and cardamom powder and mix while still warm. Shape into balls with palms moistened with milk. Store in an airtight container after they are completely cool, till ready to consume.

Picture Credit: Mrigank Sharma, Indiasutra.

 

About the author -

Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal is a food blogger, gastronomy writer, food stylist, author and consultant. She started her food career as one of India’s pioneering food bloggers, with her popular blog A Perfect Bite. She then went on to explore the world of food through a delicious career in food journalism. Rushina currently heads the firm A Perfect Bite® Consulting, which recently launched India’s first state-of-the-art home-kitchen studio, the APB Cook Studio, in Mumbai to inspire people to cook.

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BUY NOW — The Jewelled Kitchen 

The Jewelled Kitchen   is a book that I fell in love with quite by chance.  I was sitting at the home of a friend and this book was on her coffee table. I began to read through the gorgeous book and it took me back to my childhood spent in the Middle East. Beautiful dishes from Middle East and Northern Africa grace the pages of this must-have collection. Dishes include —   Tuna Tartare with Chermoula and Sumac-Scented Chicken Parcels, to Cardamom- Scented Profiteroles and Ma’amoul Shortbread Cookies. A few months after I found the book, I ended up meeting the author, Bethany Kehdy in London at a blogging conference she organizes. I was one of the speakers. Bethany also did a signing of her book at the conference and we were treated to some of the dishes from the book. A promise kept – great recipes that taste delicious. I picked one here that my family loves and is just perfect for this warm weather we have been having. I hope you will enjoy it.

 BUY NOW — The Jewelled Kitchen 

Moroccan Citrus Salad

Citrus salads, whether sweet or savoury, are very popular in Morocco. As in many parts of the Middle East, most meals

end with a vibrant array of seasonal fruit: ruby pomegranates, oranges, apples, grapes, loquats, bananas … It’s hard to provide a recipe for such a basic salad since it really should come about by following one’s instinct and mood, so regard this as more of a suggestion than a hard-and-fast recipe: it’s now up to you to bring it to life in whatever way you choose. If you want to attain more savoury notes, add thin slices of red onion, a creamy cheese, olives, a dash of paprika and a drizzle of argan oil. The combination of fruits and vibrant colours will revive you at first glance, let alone at first bite. Serve with some ginger yogurt, if you like.

SERVES 4

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

1 lime

1 orange

1 blood orange

1 pink grapefruit

seeds from 1 pomegranate (see page 216)

2 tsp roughly chopped pistachios

2 tbsp clear honey

1?2 tsp orange blossom water (optional)

1?4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp chopped mint leaves, to sprinkle

TO SERVE (OPTIONAL)

4 tbsp Greek yogurt

2.5cm/1in piece of root ginger, peeled and grated

1 Using a sharp knife, trim the top and bottom of the lime so that

the flesh is revealed. Keeping the lime upright, cut through the peel downwards from top to bottom, following the shape of the fruit, making sure to shave off all the peel and pith. Turn the lime onto its side and cut into thick wheels (not too thick, but thick enough so they are not falling apart).

2 Repeat with the remainder of the citrus fruit. Remove the pips and arrange the slices on a serving plate, so they overlap. Drizzle any juice over the citrus slices.

3 Sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds and pistachios. Put the honey and orange blossom water, if using, in a small mixing bowl and stir well, then drizzle it over the citrus fruits. Dust with cinnamon and sprinkle the mint over the top.

4 To make the ginger yogurt, if using, put the yogurt and ginger in a bowl and mix well. Serve with the salad.

Citrus Salad Image: Credit -Sarka Babicka  

 

BUY NOW — The Jewelled Kitchen 

 

 

About the author -

Bethany Kehdy is a Lebanese-American food explorer most notably known by her popular Middle Eastern food blog, Dirty Kitchen Secrets. Born in Houston, Texas to an American mother and a Lebanese father, Bethany grew up in Lebanon during the country’s most volatile civil war years.

To shelter from the war, her family retreated to the mountains of Lebanon where her father set up an eclectic farm on the ancestral land. For a great part of her childhood, Bethany helped to water orchards, harvest fruits and vegetables, chase after chickens, make cheese, and even milk the odd cow.

After competing in Miss Lebanon 2001 and proudly representing Lebanon in Miss World 2002, Bethany traveled the world and built a career around her enthusiasm for Middle Eastern food. Bethany has spent the last 5 years heating up the kitchen and establishing herself as the most provocative Middle Eastern cook online, bringing together her childhood memories of traditional Middle Eastern cuisine and interpreting it in a fresh, modern approach, all the while incorporating her well-traveled palate.

Bethany’s debut cookbook on Middle Eastern cuisine entitled The Jewelled Kitchen (Duncan Baird Publishing) was released on July 4th in Europe, the Middle East and Australia. It was selected as Cookbook of the Week by The Telegraph and featured in The Times.

In 2010 Bethany launched Taste Lebanon culinary journeys across Lebanon and in 2009 founded Food Blogger Connect, the world’s leading international food blogging conference. Bethany lives in the West Country of England with her British husband and splits her time between Lebanon, England and the rest of the world.

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BUY NOW - The Messy Baker! 

BUY NOW - The Messy Baker! 
Are you ready for some fun in your kitchen? Please welcome – The Messy Baker! A wonderful debut cookbook by my friend Charmian Christie. I cannot tell how much much I waited for this book! I was one of her recipe testers and her delicious recipes made me quite the hit with my kids! I am not much of a baker but I did attempt some of the dishes in this book and guess what? I did not fail!

I love how the book is divided into sections like gritty, drippy, smudgy.. totally my kind of cooking!!

There are over 75 sweet and savory recipes.. each one of them worth a try and a permanent spot in your cooking repertoire. Charmian’s voice is warm and friendly and for someone like me, who is not a confident baker, she provides great tips on what to do when disaster strikes!

I am featuring two terrific recipes from this book. First one was an apricot crisp and up now: a lovely tart!

Mushroom, Leek, and Gruyere T art

From The Messy Baker by Charmian Christie. Recipe used here with permission.

If vegetables were looking to elect a spokesperson, I’d nominate mushrooms. A bit of heat brings out the best in them. And when things get downright hot, they maintain their composure, refusing to dissolve into an incoherent mash. They work graciously with almost any herb, are effusively complementary to dairy, and are as comfortable with fancy-dress pastry as they are with a Casual Friday slice of toast. With a support staff of herbs, cheese, and garlic, this recipe lets the earthiness of mushrooms shine.

 

Makes 4 to 6 servings | Commitment Level: Ready in an Hour or Less

 

1 sheet commercial puff pastry or

homemade Cheater’s Puff Pastry, defrosted

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic

2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white parts only, sliced lengthwise and slivered into half-moons

16 ounces cremini or portobello

mushrooms, cut into 1″ pieces

Ground black pepper (optional)

3 ounces grated Gruyere cheese

 

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2. On a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit a rimmed baking sheet, roll the puff pastry sheet out to a 10″ square. Using a sharp knife, gently score the pastry an inch inside the outer edge, being careful not to cut all the way through. Place the parchment with the scored pastry onto a rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

3. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. When it bubbles, grate the garlic on a microplane into the pan. Add the thyme leaves. Cook gently for 1 minute. Add the leeks and cook until they begin to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft but not weeping juices. Place the mushroom filling into a strainer and let drain for a few minutes.

4. Spoon the mushroom filling onto the pastry, being careful to keep inside the score marks. Add a grind of fresh black pepper, if using. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the tart from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the pastry is golden brown. Serve while hot. This tart is best eaten as soon as it is cool enough to handle. Leftovers can bewrapped and refrigerated, but the pastry will suffer. To reheat, pop under thebroiler for a few minutes. Do not reheat in the microwave.

 

The gorgeous photograph of the tart was taken by the very talented Andrea Meyers.

The post Mushroom, Leek, and Gruyere Tart appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.

BUY NOW - The Messy Baker! 

Are you ready for some fun in your kitchen? Please welcome – The Messy Baker! A wonderful debut cookbook by my friend Charmian Christie. I cannot tell how much much I waited for this book! I was one of her recipe testers and her delicious recipes made me quite the hit with my kids! I am not much of a baker but I did attempt some of the dishes in this book and guess what? I did not fail!

I love how the book is divided into sections like gritty, drippy, smudgy.. totally my kind of cooking!!

There are over 75 sweet and savory recipes.. each one of them worth a try and a permanent spot in your cooking repertoire. Charmian’s voice is warm and friendly and for someone like me, who is not a confident baker, she provides great tips on what to do when disaster strikes!

BUY NOW - The Messy Baker! 

I am featuring two terrific recipes from this book. First one is an apricot crisp and up tomorrow, a lovely tart!

 

Rosemary, Apricot, and Pistachio Crisps

Recipe from The Messy Baker by Charmian Christie. Used here with permission.

This apricot and pistachio version of Raincoast Crisps is adapted from Julie Van Rosendaal’s recipe for these double-baked treats. Delightfully crisp, these crackers are bursting with dried fruit, nuts, and seeds. A hint of rosemary makes them the perfect match for cheese at parties. If for some reason they outlast the cheese, nibble them plain. Be warned, an entire batch will disappear quickly at parties, leaving the water biscuits and rice crackers feeling snubbed. Are they sweet? A little. Are they savory? A titch. Are they addictive? Totally. Bet you can’t eat just one.

 

Makes 6 to 8 dozen | Commitment Level : Done in Stages

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1?2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup chopped dried apricots

1?2 cup chopped pistachios

1?2 cup pumpkin seeds

1?4 cup sesame seeds

1?4 cup ground flax seeds

11?2 tablespoons chopped fresh

rosemary

2 cups buttermilk

1?4 cup packed brown sugar

1?4 cup honey, warmed

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat two 8″ × 4″ or 9″ × 5″ loaf pans with cooking spray, or grease liberally with butter and dust with flour.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the apricots, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, and rosemary, and toss to coat evenly with the flour mixture. In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, brown sugar, and honey and stir until the sugar and honey dissolve. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Pour into the loaf pans. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch. Remove the loaves from the pans and cool on a rack. The bread is easier to slice when cool, so bake the day before or pop it in the freezer to cool it down.

3. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Using a serrated knife, slice the loaves as thinly as you can. Aim for no thicker than 1?8″ if possible. Place the slices in a single layer on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn them over and bake for 10 minutes, or until they are crisp and deep golden brown.

BUY NOW - The Messy Baker! 

Photograph of crisp by superbly talented Andrea Meyers.

 

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