Za'atar Lamb Salad

by Diana 

Salads have been our main evening companion over this last summer, particularly after long days out in the heat. As much as I love a challenge though, It’s hard sometimes to keep up with creativity and offer my family a surprise bowl of freshness on consecutive nights over an entire season without going a bit mad in the kitchen. I am one of those people who enjoy cooking for others rather than for myself so the incentive of caring about my love ones through food allowed me discover new and unexpected concoctions that made our summer around the table a delightful and pleasurable feast of togetherness. Who would have guessed that the humble salad would ever give us such privilege. 

There is not much humbleness in this recipe though with the dried apricots, toasted pine nuts and not to mention the lamb marinated in Za’atar! it can easily be a one-bowl autumn warmer now that the heatwave is long gone. I hope it brings you an unforgettable evening too! 

© The Teaspoon

Chocolate and Almond Cake - sugar free

by Diana 

As a therapist working in mental health, one of the things I always recommend - and i have tried myself at those struggling phases we all go through from time to time- its a lifestyle modification plan, targeting diet amongst all things. Expectedly, this comes with certain limitations rather than indulgences which is counterproductive when I also encourage self-reward and the occasional praising treat. Not surprisingly most people, myself included, would  have a preference for sugary self-affection as we get the false impression that this will impact our mood positively when, as we all know by now, a sugar excess could have quite the opposite effect. Some will argue that we can’t have all we ask for in life, but the recipe below, replacing sugar for stevia actually works so you can actually have your -tasty- cake and it it! I hope you like it too. 

© The Teaspoon

Cornish Hevva Cake

by Diana

When we first visited Cornwall earlier in Spring I never expected I’d come back with any recipes different than the famous Cornish patties. Having grown up in a culture where going to the beach implied dogfish stocked empanadas, machete opened coconut and fried green plantain topped with soft white cheese, the idea of encountering a lard-based fruit cake was definitely not in the agenda of our little British seaside adventure. I guess finding sunshine was not in our plans either so discovering the Cornish Hevva cake compensated for the layers of coats that covered our unused bathing suits.  

We learnt that Hevva cake was traditionally a fisherman’s treat prepared by their loving wives to warm up their husbands after a successful fishing trip. It definitely kept us warm whilst hiking around Falmouth and now, half way through the summer, triggers newly formed memories and associations of what a beach trip is like in our adoptive island.

© The Teaspoon

Cornmeal and Almond Bake Tray

by Diana

I think we have quite a healthy lifestyle at home, despite any assumptions you may have made from the recipes I publish here. If you pay enough attention to detail I am sure you would have noticed I post recipes only once every few weeks, meaning the rest of the week we are ‘well-behaved’. Nevertheless, it’s inevitably for a cooking aficionado not to try following the trend of using alternatives to traditional ingredients, in order to save the planet and our souls, from the ‘evil damages’ of sugar and gluten consumption! 

The truth is that if we restrict everything from the grocery shopping list then we risk becoming a highly anxious foodie, and we all know that anxious foodies don’t genuinely earn that title, as being a foodie should arise from a place of enjoyment and pleasure instead of one of worry and preoccupation. Balance should always be the key, rather than extremism.

This is quite a versatile bake tray though- with cornmeal as the main base and only a few grams of regular flour -not for the sake of causing dispute alone but because the original recipe calls for it and maybe I am too anxious myself this week to experiment without it. Having said that, if you are feeling 'green' enough you can substitute plain flour for any chosen kind - but let me know how it works out. And if those grams of gluten weren’t enough then you’ll have sugar there as well to deal with.. not Muscovado, not coconut or Demerara but plain, sinful, white sugar, to give us the necessary energy to ruminate whilst enjoying a richly delicious piece of cake!

© The Teaspoon

Spice and Nuts Challah Bread

by Diana 

For Easter Sunday - seven weeks ago now- I switched on my bread making engine but seem to have forgotten my Catholic brain as I didn’t have a better idea than to experiment with nonetheless than a Jewish challah recipe! I could use the excuse of the Passover meal Jesus celebrated with His disciples on Easter Thursday, but challah was of course not part of the menu. They ate a better type of bread instead...

I don’t often make bread as I am too impatient. For this nutty and spiced challah version I had to do the starter three times! I cursed 'Allison’s' easy bake ‘inactive’ yeast and appropriately, the depression essay I was working for my CBT course. But persistence does pay off, as my husband has role-modelled for me over the course of the last ten years! meaning that our now forgotten Easter Sunday dessert was a warm slice of multicultural and sinful concoction topped with a scoop and a half of half price branded vanilla ice cream. I hope you try it at home too, perhaps to celebrate Pentecost now as per my delay in posting this recipe -  it’s so much easier than it seems plus really fun and rewarding. You can also play with the fillings. Enjoy!

© The Teaspoon

Marble Shortbread

by Diana 

Shortbread has been one of many happy British discoveries. It’s probably one of the first recipes I learnt when arrived to the UK and my greatest tutor was none less than The Ritz London Book of Afternoon Tea (a low-budget-student-pre-owned £0.01- Amazon deal of course). I remember buying it as I wanted to recreate an afternoon tea for my parents-in-law when they visited us for the first time since we emigrated about 9 years ago.

As I adopted aspects of British culture I noticed how shortbread became one of those so embedded indulgences that I use as self-compassion reward over my midday cup of coffee twice a week or so - when working in the private sector of course, where such indulgences can be afforded to keep up the good spirits. It’s surprising what you can achieve by applying some generosity over buttery tea treats. There is something about butter that is quite comforting but I can’t yet put my finger in what exactly it's all about. Perhaps it’s to do with the fact that it’s a milk product hence we unconsciously associate it with breastfeeding and maternal love or is that too much of a psychodynamic interpretation? I wonder about the vegans's opinion on the subject. I'll keep thinking about it. Enjoy the recipe though, another one with a chocolaty twist.

© The Teaspoon

Pan de Bono - attempt 1

by Diana 

Pan de bono is to me the Colombian snack per excellence. I used to crave them after a long day at uni when living in Caracas as there is a large Colombian community in the city, at least back then when economy in the neighbour country were not as fruitful as it is today.  I attempted making them once with a Galician heritage friend of mine of the time who enjoyed a cooking challenge as much as I did. We were both surprised with the outcome and the satisfaction was so elevated (and over fulfilling) that we didn’t need to eat them ever again! Here I am 15 years later attempting them once more with the naive believe that my settled blogger experience would compensate London’s inaccessibility of the right tropical ingredients. The outcome this time (hence the title of this post) is possibly more similar to a savoury British scone than an actual pan de Bono though. Perhaps I have immersed in the culture so much that I unconsciously and intuitively ended up with a British produce - not necessarily a bad thing but nevertheless something I unfortunately can't use as evidence to support my ‘life in the UK’ test due to be taken later this year. 

I hope you enjoy this European version of Pan de Bono which is still a delicious recipe, just not quite the right one! and do keep an eye on the blog as I will make version #2 to make up for it.

© The Teaspoon

Zucchini Preserve

by Diana 

Matera is now officially the European Capital of Culture 2019. This remote little village in Southern Italy is an enchanting place that not only burst with a fascinating and thought provoking social history but also with the usual and conventional Italian hospitality, generosity and passion for outstanding cuisine.

I spent 48 hours in Matera a couple of weeks ago visiting my beloved friend who, I can proudly say, is leading the team of volunteers there. Although she is originally from a town in Basilicata located about 1.5 hours drive from there, she was the best possible tour guide. The town has probably one traditional dish per inhabitant (it’s not as small as you think though!) and as much as my friend made the effort, it was physically impossible to try all of Matera’s typical meals in such a compressed period of time. I returned to London with quite a comprehensive list though and I will eventually share my poor attempts to some of those southern Italian delicious recipes here in the blog, but today I won’t be sharing any. 

Out of everything I tried I must admit there was something that completely stood out for me. As the good Italian daughter my friend is, she obediently accepts all the food her parents generously bring her from Basilicata every weekend. One of these parental indulgences was a jar of homemade preserved zucchini that I became completely addicted to. I got hold of the recipe with the warning and hence submissive understanding that I will never find quite the right flavour in the 'bland British courgettes' and that I needed to return to Italy if I wanted another genuine dosage of the delicious courgettes. 

© The Teaspoon

Rice Pudding

by Diana 

Venezuela’s crisis reaches BBC headlines (at last!). And whilst the government burns trucks containing humanitarian aid, basic food shortages persist and people remain hungry, ill and frustrated.

Mi Father, who has always been a ‘foodie’ has learnt to be restrictive and resilient in order to survive the hyperinflation. Nobody escapes devastation. I would never have imagined that a practicing doctor who once traveled the world with his four children, would ever struggle filling in his cupboard with the most basic of supplies. One of his hobbies during the week was to go through the multiple collection of recipe books and encyclopaedias, in search for the perfectly paired menu for the Sunday family meal. It was his way of celebrating the weekly gathering and of demonstrating his love.

He remains an inner foodie and sometimes I would get irritated as he would insistently ask me over the phone, to cook things at home here in the UK. Intense emotions invite me to reflect (I am a therapist, at last) on why he gets so fixated on specific recipes. It’s with immense sadness that I realise his insistence possibly comes from a place of restraint projects he is not allowed to flourish, of aspirations he is no longer free to achieve. My dad’s dreams and visions, as many others’s, had been imprisoned. Food is just the smallest of examples but, as with his love demonstrations, it’s incredibly significant (to me). 

Today I am making one of those recipes he can’t stop talking about: rice pudding. So basic, but none of the ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, cinnamon) are to be found on Venezuelan supermarket shelves, and in case you haven’t followed the news recently, then it would surprise you to know there is not even electricity in Caracas since Thursday.  Again, I have this recurrent feeling that we don’t appreciate enough the privileges of living in democracy and this is not just my small way of acknowledging it but also my way of process my own feelings. I hope you enjoy this Venezuelan version of the ultimate of traditional puddings. 

© The Teaspoon

Green Maftoul

by Diana

I learnt to make risotto at the age of 10. My mum and I had a private tutorial from the hand of my dad’s colleague, Ana, an Italian descendent obstetrician and amazing cook. I remember she had a couple of daughters, one of them my age, but I was more interested in learning the secrets of Italian cuisine rather than playing dolls with the other children. My mum wanted me to learn as at the time, I was a swimmer and a gymnast so I had strong arms and the very much needed endurance to sustain the art of clockwise involving movements demanded from good quality risotto, so I could be handed over the task. I still have strong arms but as much as love cooking I don’t think I have the patience of stirring the wooden spoon for 1 hour anymore, so I had to carefully think of alternative dishes that could equally bring a gratifying reward to the dining table. 

I discovered maftoul -giant couscous- a few years ago but I felt I haven’t been experimental enough with it even though it has featured in a few posts in the blog. This is another of those little kitchen pilot projects motivated by effort resistance. 

There is nothing about this dish that resembles risotto, it’s low calorie, lacking cream and wine, it doesn’t even have Parmesan cheese, perhaps the only common ingredients are the humble salt and pepper and the olive oil of course.. and you may wonder whether you missed the analogy or began questioning my reasoning. The point is that at least to my view, risotto is as comforting as this much healthier maftoul approach so, why not give it a go?

© The Teaspoon

Classic Madeira Cake

by Diana 

I believe the happiest people are the ones who find pleasure in simple yet comforting things. I admire those who find beauty in the everyday, in the normal, in the humble little, unobserved things and events that those like me who over complicate themselves perhaps underestimate. The art of appreciation. It reminds me of mindfulness. It reminds me of Buddhism. The act of letting go from all we think we need. 

Everyone that knows my husband would agree that he is the happiest man alive. As much as I would like to, I can’t take the credit for such statement though. From him I’ve patiently learnt to be patient and to choose simply, when I remember to do so. The kitchen is the perfect example. I would spend hours researching appealing recipes and new ingredients to surprise him with after a long weekend of A&E night shifts but whenever I decide to ask him if he has any cravings he would always reply a ‘tortica’ -a little cake- ‘but not too sweet’. I would still ignore him and make what I consider something ‘more special’ and he would always love it (he would never say otherwise but I could tell whether he would as per the rapidness in which the dish disappears over the course of the week). This time I just want to please him with the simplest yet incredibly comforting Madeira cake that I know he adores. I hope you like it too.

© The Teaspoon

Sweet Potato Hummus

by Diana 

The word magic and hummus don’t often go in hand, especially as its accessibility and readyness has made the once exotic hummus almost ordinary. It’s so common nowadays that there are numerous versions already available in the supermarket shelves, hence the challenge to make it interesting again. But why? you may wonder, I’ll go with the magic again. Earlier last year, an excessively healthy approach to diet (combined with a lack of food writing!) had me professionally prescribed by a nutritionist with a daily dose of nuts, avocado and above all, hummus. I had to ‘take it’ everyday in order to recover but in just a matter of months I was back on my feet again. Therefore I am forever grateful to hummus. But no matter the various available options, you have to be creative to tolerate a hummus routine. As ever, my beloved gluttonous husband doesn’t seem to mind but I do get bored of flavours quite quickly. 

My Syrian grandma, of course, had the best hummus recipe, which I treasure solemnly and will only reveal when I publish her kitchen memories book, sometime later in life.

Meanwhile, this is one of those versions I played with over those months last year. The essence of the recipe is maintained (otherwise I would be cursed from the afterlife) and remains ‘medicinal’ but just slightly more spiced up to make it exciting. I haven’t seen this one out there yet so hurry up and make it before it’s easier to just buy it. 

© The Teaspoon