Medjoul Dates Cake

by Diana

When I was a child I learnt to draw palm trees with coconuts on top- and not because I would have necessarily seen them during our frequent trips to the beach - which I did- but only because I was told that coconuts grow on palm trees and I never questioned it. Probably in the same way I then learnt to draw a house, the sun, the stars, trees, mountains, a boat - I adopted a pre-established imagery repertoire from which I produced automatic pictures that were not much different from the ones other kids in my class did. In art therapy I often encounter adults saying they don’t know how to draw but I feel I actually learnt to draw properly when I started university- by giving me permission to contemplate and to challenge preconceptions. Only then I discovered that palm trees also produce delicious dates and, perhaps in Middle Eastern countries, kids draw Palm trees without the coconuts on top. When the time comes, I want to be able not to teach my child how to draw, I want him to discover the world himself through his pencil case and to observe and capture it freely. To make it up for dates I made this cake full of deliciousness-  the best Medjoul dates as ever, are from my friends in Zaytoun. Enjoy!

© The Teaspoon

Sweet Potato and Turmeric Tortilla

by Diana 

With the reopening of parks and gardens we have embraced the opportunity to escape to nature and to restore there all our lockdown wounds. I always reference nature’s containing quality, and the immediacy in which helps you reconnect with everything that goes beyond oneself. For me nature is the place where I feel held as it gives me perspective, reminding me that I am just a tiny element belonging to a much wider landscape. It's hopeful when offering me multiple routes ahead and inviting as there are other challenging mountains to climb out there. Hence nature gives me awareness, balance and tranquility. But peacefulness can’t be found in starvation and hence the need of  making wise choices when it comes to reflective picnicking. As we are not a sandwich fan type of family I have been committed to offer my love ones a cold food solution that will fulfil their tummies whilst nature does the rest. This tortilla was a complete success measured by every mouthful that my little nearly one-year-old food critic kept to himself!

© The Teaspoon

Carrot Cake

by Diana 

Anyone would have thought that carrot cake is just one of those basic, amateur recipes that could blindly be made. I remember it was possibly the first cake recipe that I followed as a child. It was a good recipe though, the one they used to make at my grandma's house. She lived in a place that translates from Spanish as 'The Paradise', and, funnily enough, it may well have been that it was just the abode of cake, baking heaven, where nothing could possibly go wrong in the oven. From a more objective perspective, my grandma had the most extraordinary cook living with her, an Ecuadorian lady blessed with talented skills- my brother even named one of his children after her- so you get an idea of how much we loved her carrot cake!  With the pass of time I lost my ‘little mermaid’ recipe notebook and with it the grace of carrot cake making. Years of carrot cake curse followed and I then gave up and was terrified to use the orange-coloured root to make anything other than bland soup. But the pandemic lockdown have empowered me with courage and I decided to break with the curse once and for all. Apologies in advance to any cream cheese icing fans out there, but I like my carrot cake just at it is, simple, spongy and a bit 'nuts' as I am,  but ‘paradisiac’ as this recipe turned out to be.  Enjoy it!

© The Teaspoon

Preserved Aubergines

by Diana

I am in the home stretch of what seems to has been a fugacious maternity leave. Time has always played a part - either a hero or a villain - and I always dread it one way or another as it represented a beginning and an end of moments where I wanted to stay still and forever capture. But time, as it is, was inevitably going to run out and hence, I raced against it.  Sometimes I wanted to be a sponge and I certainly achieved it by absorbing every possible second of the experiences I planned for me and my baby and, as much as I love my job, I knew these last 10 months were simply temporary. I know there is another journey to embark upon straight after this and I am excited about it but also conscious that the time curse will be looming wherever we go. 

Perhaps these preserved aubergines were just an excuse for me to offload some of these thoughts or possibly they are a way to project my desire of conserving such precious time but ultimately they are indeed a time saver and a delight to keep at hand when running out of moments or when rushing about in the kitchen when the only important thing is just to open the jar and remain still. 

© The Teaspoon

Strawberry Cardamon Traybake

by Diana

As a child I remember no dessert could ever beat a bowl of fresh strawberries. For me they were always a treat as in my house they only bought them a few times a year when we visited la Colonia Tovar, a town located an hour or so from Caracas, founded by a group of German immigrants in the 19th century and well-known for its temperate crops. It still amuses me that my very German sister-in-law, referred to the little Deutsch -Venezuelan village as a sort of Disneyland when we excitedly took her and her family there - but that's material for another story. 

It was complete by chance that my baby's first ever solid food was a strawberry, as it was given to him by a friend of mine during a lunch party - and here I am 5 months later with a boy that seems to be totally obsessed with the fruit. I am glad we can get them for him more than a few times a year as otherwise I am sure he'll be on hunger strike! Our daily walk has a mandatory stop every other day by the supermarket to get yet another package for him to devour. I am convinced they are the reason why he smiles on his sleep. 

This cake was an attempt to treat him with another version of his edible red hearts and I naively thought he would be delighted but, to my surprise - probably not yours- he picked the decoration and my husband and I had to settle with the cake itself - at least it had some cardamom there for us. Hope you enjoy a complete slice! 

© The Teaspoon

Coconut Granita

by Diana 

Ahead of the summery days forecasted for next week I am thinking of recipes that could help us pretend we are on a beach holiday as far as we possibly can from our concrete East London jungle. Since I don't have an ice cream machine I just convinced myself that gelato and 25C+ simply don't go well together so granita is the best semi-frozen and yet Italian dessert. Isn't my defensive way of thinking fantastically problem solving? I may be an ostrich but a cooled one refreshed by the tropical flavours of my homemade reality denial. I am taking my family with me on our little adventure so needless to say it's also a baby approved recipe! Enjoy! 

© The Teaspoon

Mini Pizzas

by Diana 

Whenever I feel a bit restless, cooking with yeast seems to be the answer to my agitated thought process. I am not a patient sort of individual and like to embrace the immediacy of the moment and to hold the tangibility of results in the things I do. Yeast did not help me survive the reality of life though but the art of ceramics did and so did my art therapy training. Waiting does not offer tranquility as it comes with what can be sometimes terrifying uncertainty. Not-knowing has never felt so deeply as it feels now, neither has felt so collectively. As I don't have a studio space anymore, I had to transfer the art of waiting to the kitchen so whenever I want to slow down and manage anxiety I opt to bake. And it's somehow a relief to know that I am not the only one baking coping strategies. There is a reason why the flour shelve in the supermarket remains empty - and is not because I am stockpiling!

With the above in mind, I hope you enjoy the slow process of making these mini pizzas, being conscious of the fact that if eating with a 10 month old baby you may spend even more time on the dinner table than on the making and certainly with twice the amount of uncertainty. Keep safe and sane!

© The Teaspoon

Oat Digestive Biscuits

by Diana

Empty supermarkets shelves at the beginning of the lockdown encouraged me to think a bit more creatively as I was running out of flour, very much needed to continue topping up the breastfeeding energy supply and surviving what it seems to be our endlessly energetic baby!

As I never buy ready made cookies and wanted to save as much gluten as possible y opted to go for -mostly- oats - and coincidentally, I have read- probably from an untrusted source-  that oats are recommended for breastfeeding mums. So even for the sake of embracing the placebo effect I made this utterly delicious digestive biscuits. I guess the placebo effect is maximised here as in my experience these don't add any magic to the function of body digestion but somehow the sound of it masquerades the guilt free enjoyment. Hope you like them too!

© The Teaspoon

Baby-Friendly Banana Cookies

by Diana

As a kid my favourite meal of the day was ‘la merienda’ which I don’t think has an equivalent translation in English that does it justice, the closest perhaps being an 'afternoon snack’. But 'la merienda' was so much more than just a 4pm bite- it felt like a reward when coming back home after my gymnastics practice or swimming lessons or a litte treat after completing my homework. After all, the word derives from ‘mereri’ which means to earn/to deserve/to have merit. Therefore an 'afternoon edible reward' is probably a more accurate translation. As much as I enjoyed my meriendas on weekdays I never appreciated them as much as on Saturdays when we visited 'Mimina', my maternal grandmother. There was something quite soothing about those afternoons at her house, probably because the invitation to snack together implied a dedicated sharing moment, a bite of attention, love and affection translated into a piece of homemade cake - specially made for those family afternoons- and the smell of freshly brewed coffee.

There is still something quite rewarding and indulging about a little afternoon bite - a revitalising prize after a day at work - or play if like myself, you are on maternity leave, which can be equally exhausting! But beyond the energy booster fact, I want my baby to get the idea that a 'merienda' is a time to sit together before the end of the afternoon and enjoy a moment of tranquility with one another whilst enjoying a shared sweet bite of genuine bonding time. 

These banana cookies were our little merienda earlier this week- naturally sweetened and full of texture and flavour- suitable for everyone- no matter how many tooth you have or have left. Enjoy!
  

© The Teaspoon

Creamy Cod Pie

by Diana 

As much as we have been gladly embracing British life, we haven’t been able to adopt their love for potatoes. You’ll be lucky to find one or two potatoes a month in our larder- and if you do they have usually started sprouting as they have been there forever hoping to be used, and is just sad to witness their failure attempt to reproduce in such a potato-unwelcoming home.  

Having said that, I don’t want our 9 month old British tot to grow up and be the unpopular potato avoidant of the class so in order to prevent any form of bullying I am introducing him slowly to the national crop through some of those classic dishes we  ourselves have evaded for the last decade. 

I want to be able to say that this was a success and that the British culture is more powerful than our baby's heterogenous genes but he too hated even the sight of the little dish. My husband got excellent feedback about the pie though, from his British colleagues at the hospital, as he ended up with a choice-less packed lunch to take to his shift. They even discussed recipes and fish pie styles and methods - I knew at least one of us would gain some form of popularity from the old potatoes. Hope you enjoy this recipe more than we did!

© The Teaspoon

Pistachio and Rose Water Cake

by Diana 

The current challenging situation is triggering different things for me everyday but this week in particular the key word has to be nostalgia, a somehow exacerbated sentimentalism for the underestimated freedom I was enjoying until just a few days ago.

This post could go in two directions. I could embrace the longing for the past and hit bottom with a gloomy text about how this was such a delicious cake I did the last time we hosted friends over for lunch in what it seems to be an eternity ago and I could go on then suggesting this would be the perfect 'back to normality' celebratory cake to make once this is all over. Or, I could actually stop the nonsense and be grateful as I still have some flour in my kitchen cupboard and a couple of mouths to feed who wouldn't mind a showstopper bake in the middle of the week, specially if it's one that takes us on a journey to exotic and exuberant distant lands. I hope you also remember to be present and to enjoy every moment as well as every mouthful of this glamorous Persian cake. 

© The Teaspoon

Baby Chayote Muffins

by Diana 

There are little few ingredients my husband really dislikes and that he can be quite fussy about which gives me the wonderful opportunity to prove him wrong. Chayote is one of those little things on his avoidance list -and to be fair it's quite a boring type of Latin American squash with no much flavour and a bland texture but when properly cooked it can certainly bring some dishes to life in a very easy and economical way. Plus, considering the scarcity of food at the moment, the fact that is not very popular would guarantee you’ll still find it all alone in the exotic section of the supermarket, waiting for you, so let’s get the most out of it.

I did these mini muffins for our 8 month old baby which he absolutely adored, almost quite as much as the big boy of the house. If chayote is hard to find then try with any other disliked veggie of your choice- see the recipe for suggestions. Happy lockdown cooking!

© The Teaspoon