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Posts Tagged ‘nuts’

  1. Rosemary & Parmesan Crackers

    June 22, 2012 by Tali

    A wine tasting you say!?

    Well, but of course! But… What shall we snack on while tasting these wines!?

    Cheese!

    Obviously.

    Now, I’m not one to pass off the opportunity to have a sip of wine here and there, so when duty called…

    With our wedding coming up (less than 60 days to go! Arghhhh!) we needed to taste some wines to be served at the reception.

    I suggested the brilliant idea of tasting the reds with a nice spread of cheese. So I popped over to the local store, and bought myself a good selection of quality cheeses.

    Danish Blue, Goats cheese, Camembert, Smoked Brie & Gouda – with that sorted I searched the shelves for a chutney to accompany (that contained no wheat or corn flour as a thickener) and set off home to assemble the cheeseboard!

    But… wait a minute! What am I going to serve the cheese on!? I can’t very well serve them a-top a generic cheese cracker – No. This called for a primal cracker like no other!

    I took the recipe I used for my Onion and Sesame Almond Crackers and flipped it a few degrees to make these delectable cracker babies. By swapping a few of the flavour elements and adding in some shaved parmesan cheese (because the cheeses on the cheeseboard weren’t nearly enough, obviously) I transformed some punchy crackers into serious taste-bud spiking gems!

    Like the crackers I’ve made before, these are simple to throw together, easy to bake and satisfy the primal eater’s need for something to put that cheese onto (assuming, of course, you’re one of those primal eaters that can tolerate dairy).

    On top of the fact that these hold up some fabulous flavours, they’re also gluten free!

    Rosemary and Parmesan Almond Crackers

    Makes:50 pieces  Takes:35mins

    Ingredients:
    2 cups Ground Almonds
    2 Tbsp Dried Rosemary
    2 Tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
    2 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
    1/2 tsp Onion Granules
    1/4 tsp Sea Salt
    1 Egg (beaten)
    2-3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

    • preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
    • measure and combine all dry ingredients – mix well
    • add beaten egg and olive oil mix until it forms a ball
    • divide mixture in 2
    • roll between 2 pieces of parchment paper until about 2-3mm thick. score the surface into desired size and shape of crackers
    • place onto a baking sheet, bake for 20-30mins until golden brown
    • cool on wire rack, break apart and serve as desired

    I chose to serve these with a cheese board but they could be just as delicious if served up with some dips or used as part of a lunch box.

    I’m looking forward to playing around with a few more flavour combinations!

    … Now I’m sure you’re wondering how the wine tasting went – aside from the delicious cheese and crackers of course. Well, Let’s just say we finally came to a decision and we were all pretty merry by the end of it!

    Good Times!


  2. Almond Crusted Fish Sticks & Tartar Sauce

    April 1, 2012 by Tali

    YOU AWESOME MONKEY BACON!

    Have you ever wondered what to do with your almond flour that is just too coarse for making macarons?

    Here is a super delicious and healthy idea!

    Making breadcrumb-free ‘breaded’ fish fingers (or as you wonderful people across the pond like to call them – fish sticks) is a great way to keep meals fun and makes a change from all those fancy herbs and posh crusts people seem to be adding to their fish these days (not to say I dislike such things!)

    Who doesn’t LOVE a portion of fish fingers – especially when you have some tartar sauce to drench them in!

    I reckon there are a lot of you out there whose parents fed them fish fingers far more than they should have, I know it certainly happens now. Parents feeding their kids breaded, processed ‘meats’ and ‘fish’ – it’s enough to make you sick!

    I should really thank my parents; I may have been overweight for all of my childhood but my parents were just doing what they thought was right, keeping up with the conventional wisdom of healthy eating. At least they had the sense to know processed foods weren’t great for my brother and I but certain childhood memories stick…

    Fish fingers to me were more than just a quick weekday meal, even more than just a treat! Fish fingers remind me of some very distinctive smells, emotions and tastes. My brother and I always got fish fingers when my parents went out with their friends for dinner.

    When I think of fish fingers – I think of the smell of my mom’s YSL Opium perfume, I think of the smell and taste of Koo tomato sauce, I also remember crying (because I wasn’t allowed to go out with my parents) but my tears were always wiped away with the promise of mighty fish fingers!

    Now that the sentimental story is out the way – let’s get down to it!

    Almond Crusted Fish Sticks and Tartar Sauce
    Inspired by Paleo Comfort Foods

    Makes: 15 pieces  Takes: 30-35 mins

    For the Fish
    Ingredients:

    600g cod loins (or any other strong white fish)
    60g ground almonds (coarse is good)
    1/2 tsp paprika
    1/4 tsp black pepper

    • preheat oven to 180 C/350 F and line or lightly grease a baking sheet
    • start by mixing together the ground almonds, paprika and pepper into a wide shallow dish
    • rinse and then dry your pieces of fish
    • place fish onto a chopping board and cut into evenly sized long portions
    • place a few pieces at a time into the ground almond crumbs and coat evenly
    • place the well coated pieces of fish onto the baking sheet
    • repeat the process until all pieces of fish are evenly coated
    • once the fish sticks have been coated and the oven is at the correct temperature, place the tray in the oven, and bake for 20-25mins
    • serve with tartar sauce (and maybe a side dish)

    For the tartar sauce-
    Ingredients:

    2 egg yolks
    1/2 cup light olive oil
    2 tsp of lemon juice
    salt & pepper to taste
    1 large pickled cucumber – finely chopped
    2 tablespoons capers – chopped
    1 tsp cider vinegar

    • start by making your mayonnaise, whisking your egg yolks briskly while VERY slowly adding in the olive oil – refer to this website for detailed instructions if you’ve never made mayonnaise before
    • once the mayonnaise reaches the right consistency, add the lemon juice, salt and pepper
    • VERY finely chop your cucumber and capers, add into the mayonnaise with the vinegar
    • mix, taste and adjust with salt and pepper to your taste

    These could be enjoyed as an addition to a buffet table, eaten as a snack or served with a side dish to round it off as a whole meal.

    Mo and I ate these with a portion of oven baked potato ‘fries’ (we need to work on those) but that was a special treat and I made sure to keep my carbohydrate intake low for the entire day in order to enjoy the potato. It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten potato.

    If you’re being good I recommend serving with a generous portion of long stem broccoli. You can pretend they’re fries!

    If you don’t like broccoli – you’re crazy!

    Ooo peas! mush some of them up and be all British… although personally I can’t say I’ve ever understood the appeal of mushy peas…

    These are great to make ahead of time and re-heat OR make a huge batch and freeze half to use as a convenience meal during the week, just reheat in the oven for 15-20 mins


  3. Blackberry Macarons

    March 14, 2012 by Tali

    3 weeks into my 4 week 100% Primal challenge, and I’ve found myself baking a batch of macarons…

    Don’t worry though people! I’m keeping on track – rather impressively in fact! Considering my weekend was spent on a hen/bachelorette weekend, where pretty much all food on offer was processed, coated in breadcrumbs and/or involved some form of bread or pastry.

    I managed to control any urge to eat anything I shouldn’t have, and I took along some primal snack items including my onion crackers and some primal chocolate chip cookies which I had been experimenting with a couple of days before.

    I know, I know – I probably shouldn’t have eaten treats such as cookies during a pure challenge, but I anticipated the junk food and thought its probably better to have primal snacks to nibble at, rather than eat what was on offer. I was pretty pleased with my efforts – except I did get back on Sunday evening feeling like I needed to eat as much as possible to make up for being deprived. Thankfully it was all primal approved fodder!

    I did however drink a crazy amounts of wine :S

    Oops!

    Well… it’s full of antioxidants right?!

    Now, “why on earth am I making macarons during this challenge?” you ask. “You have but a mere 5 days until your challenge is up!”

    WHY!?

    I’ll tell you why!

    Yesterday evening I attended a book launch. (HA! I love how that makes me sound all important, like I rub shoulders with stars of the literary world! I suppose in such circumstances, I did)

    Mo’s Aunt Miriam is launching Illegal the second book in her cycle of three novels set on Hayling Island, Hampshire, UK.

    I was asked to make a tasty treat for the exclusive family-only after party – and I was very quick to accept the challenge, and immediately jumped at the chance to make some more macs! After my last batch of salted butter popcorn macarons, I was back with the mac buzz, and raring to go!

    My only concern was what flavour to make them!

    I knew that a lot of the audience might not have appreciated the wacky flavour combinations of Adriano Zumbo, so I tried to think up a more tame choice. I got Mo to help me out, and with blackberries being one of his favourite fruits, and them being on offer at the supermarket, I decided to tackle the mighty blackberry.

    I turned to the master of macs, Pierre Herme and my go-to book when making macarons. I searched through the entire book, and there was NO sign of blackberry anywhere, so I moved on to my SIX other macaron dedicated books, which also showed no sign of a  blackberry inspired recipe.

    Of course, I could have worked up some kind of simple blackberry buttercream… but I don’t work like that. I wanted to create something AWESOME!

    I went back to Monsieur Herme’s Macarons and decided to adapt his recipe for blackcurrent macarons. I mean, they’re both a type of berry!

    The recipe was decided upon, I was to make a blackberry ganache in the same way M. Herme makes his blackcurrent ganache, and macerate the blackberries in much the same way he macerates his blackcurrents. SORTED!

    Blackberry Macarons
    Adapted from Pierre Herme’s Macarons Cassis

    Makes: 50 generous sized Macarons (72 regular)  Takes: Long times

    Ingredients for the macerated blackberries:
    200g blackberries (the smaller the better)
    200g water
    100g caster sugar

    • start by making your macerated blackberries the day before
    • place water and sugar in a small-medium saucepan, bring to the boil.
    • once boiling, add your blackberries and wait until the water just starts to come back to a boil, remove pan from heat and transfer to a bowl. Leave to cool, then cover and refridgerate until needed. (preferably overnight)

    Ingredients for the ganache:
    450g blackberries
    400g white chocolate

    • next, make your ganache.
    • Puree your blackberries, and then pass the puree through a fine sieve to remove all the seeds and tough pulp
    • place the puree into a small saucepan
    • transfer the white chocolate to a bain marie
    • while the chocolate is gently melting, slowly heat your blackberry puree
    • stir your chocolate constantly and once is has all melted, remove from heat and pour in your warm puree 1/3 at a time. stirring well between each addition
    • once the ganache has come together, pour into a dish and cover the surface with clingfilm/plastic wrap
    • place ganache in the fridge to cool and set

    Ingredients for the macarons:
    300g ground almonds
    300g icing sugar
    300g caster sugar
    75g water
    220g egg whites
    red gel food colouring
    blue gel food colouring

    • prepare your baking trays with parchment paper or silicone mats
    • sift the ground almonds and icing sugar to remove the coarse pieces of almond
    • in the bowl of your mixer with whisk attachment weigh out 110g of egg whites
    • place the remaining 110g with your almond/icing sugar mix
    • place water and caster sugar into a small saucepan, and start to heat it up – placing a thermometer in the pan
    • while the sugar is heating up, combine the egg whites with the almond and icing sugar into a paste
    • at this point add colouring. Blackberries aren’t actually black, so you’ll want to bring your mix to a purple. be sure to make the shade extra intense, once you add the meringue the colour will dilute, a lot
    • once your sugar syrup has reached 115C/239F turn your mixer on high speed to begin whipping up your egg whites.
    • when the temperature reaches between 118-121C/224-249F carefully take the pan of boiling sugar over the the mixer
    • turn the speed down to very low and gently pour the boiling sugar down the side of the bowl
    • once all of the sugar has been poured in, increase the mixer speed back up  to maximum, and let the meringue whip until it has dropped in temperature
    • fold meringue into the almond mix 1/3 at a time, being sure to break up the paste-like mixture. once all the meringue has been added, you can start to work the mix to the correct consistency.
    • fold, and work the mix so that that it changes to a lava-like consistency. A good way to test this is to allow the mix to ribbon, then wait a few seconds and the definition of the lines should disappear
    • transfer the mix to a piping bag fitted with a 6mm round nozzle
    • pipe uniformly sized rounds of mix onto your ready-lined trays
    • once piped, turn your oven on to 140C/280F
    • the macarons will need to be left to dry out for about 30mins to an hour – once the oven has warmed up, and the macarons have formed skins, and are no longer tacky to the touch, you can place your first few trays in the oven to bake.
    • they should take 12-14mins to bake, check regularly, and maybe turn them about 8mins into the cooking time
    • to check if they are done, the top of the macaron shouldn’t wobble very much
    • when out the oven, remove paper/silicone mat off tray and leave on a counter-top to cool down
    • once cool, pair up the macarons ready to fill them
    • drain the macerated blackberries and lay them out on paper-towel to dry off, if they are large, cut them in half
    • place a small blackberry or half a blackberry onto the centre of a macaron half,
    • tranfer the ganache into a piping bag, pipe your ganache neatly around the berry
    • place the macaron top over the filling, and pack away into an airtight container and place in the  fridge
    • allow macarons around 2 hours to come up to room temperature for an optimum indulgent experience
    • eat and enjoy!

    [I used fresh blackberries, but you can use frozen, just remember to allow time for them to defrost]

    Phew! As always – A LOT of work and time – but totally satisfying!

    The hardest part for me was not being able to taste them – I’ve stashed some away in the freezer so I can have a binge taste on Sunday – my cheat day! Woohoo!

    Mo, the official taster, gave his verdict – it was positive. Everyone else who tried one last night seemed to enjoy them – I noticed some people even went back for thirds and fourths!

    I, however, will have to verify their success on Sunday!

    If you yourself are interested in making a batch of macarons and are new to the skill, I found Mad about Macarons by Jill Colonna to be a really helpful starter guide to making macarons. Pierre Herme’s Macarons is also an excellent book (even despite the few translation errors) for anyone who is a macaron fan – this is THE book to own – even if its just to gawk at the pictures!


  4. Tzatziki with Onion Almond Crackers

    March 9, 2012 by Tali

    I have always loved Tzatziki.

    Long before I realised how healthy it can be!

    Recently, Mo and I discovered that store bought tzatziki (from Sainsbury’s) was one ready-made dip we could trust (in an emergency at least – no nasty artificial additives etc).

    I know the Primal community encourages making your own, well, everything – but sometimes there just isn’t enough time! And in situations when you have last minute guests coming over or lots of people to cater for – knowing that something ready-made is just about OK… well that rocks!

    We’re not being lazy or pushed for time here, so while I may not have the patience to make my own yoghurt, I’m more than happy to make my own tzatziki (with store bought yoghurt).

    I mean, it’s made up of just a few very simple ingredients, it takes mere minutes to whip up and it just tastes YUM!

    Mo and I decided to make some last weekend. So using the best full fat Greek yoghurt we could find, we whipped up a serving of this Grecian sensation.

    Tzatziki

    Makes: 2 cups   Takes: 5 mins

    Ingredients:
    1 cup full-fat Greek yoghurt (strained)
    1 cup cubed and de-seeded cucumber
    2 cloves garlic
    handful fresh mint
    salt, to taste (optional)

    • we found a greek yoghurt that is basically ready-strained. If you can’t find such wonders, strain about 1 1/2 cups of yoghurt in cheese cloth overnight) this should leave  you with about 1 cup of strained yoghurt
    • place your cup of yoghurt in a bowl
    • peel and mince/finely chop your garlic. mix well into yoghurt.
    • cut about half a cucumber down the centre lengthways,  and scrap out the seeds. Then cut into strips, and chop into small cubes.
    • throw the chopped cucumber into the yoghurt
    • pick the mint leaves off the stalks, and very finely chop – add to yoghurt cucumber and garlic.
    • salt to taste if required – I didn’t.
    • transfer into serving dish along-side chopped up veggies or primal crackers (recipe below) and enjoy!

    This is a super easy dip to throw together. It’s fresh, tasty and contains only good stuff (assuming you’re a dairy eater).

    Mo and I thoroughly enjoyed our tzatziki with a batch of super more-ish and delightful onion crackers.

    I’ll admit that I didn’t make these. These are Mo’s babies, but he has allowed me the honour of sharing the recipe with you…

    Thanks Mo!

    Mo adapted his own recipe with a lot of inspiration from Life As A Plate.

    I’ll be honest, before I tried them, I was a little skeptical. It’s started to become fairly natural for me to turn down anything resembling a wheat product, but I gave these a taste, and my goodness, they’re YUM! So addictive!

    Paleo Onion and Sesame Almond Crackers
    Loosely based on a recipe by Life As A Plate

    Makes: 25    Takes: 35-45Mins

    Ingredients:
    2 cups Almond meal
    3 Tbsp onion powder
    1 tsp garlic salt
    2 Tbsp sesame seeds
    3 Tbsp olive oil
    1 egg, beaten

    • place all dry ingredients in a bowl, mix until well combined
    • pour beaten egg and olive oil into dry ingredients
    • stir until the mixture has formed an even dough
    • form a ball, and place onto greaseproof paper, flatten gently
    • place another piece of greaseproof paper on top, roll out until desired thickness, about 2mm
    • cut into a grid of squares or rectangles – leave together (they will break apart easily once baked)
    • place whole sheet onto a baking tray, and bake at 160 C/320 F for 20-25mins. until lightly browned and crisp
    • cool on a wire rack, and break apart crackers once cool

    I’m quite keen on trying these out with half walnut flour as suggested in the original recipe. I’m sure it will give the cracker a pleasant nuttier taste.

    I’m also quite tempted to play around with flavouring.

    Maybe using a generous measure of freshly ground black pepper in place of the onion powder to make black pepper crackers… or using a higher ratio of sesame seeds to really highlight their deliciousness. I shall have to experiment with these, because they really are quite yummy!

    As is, these crackers are VERY pleasant… maybe even too pleasant considering how addictive they are!

    So I would highly recommend giving them a go, but be warned!

    The combination of the onion/garlicky crackers with the super garlicky tzatziki was awesome! Just don’t expect to get very intimate with anyone after eating this!


  5. Banana Bread

    February 22, 2012 by Tali

    Happy Banana Bread Day!

    This is most definitely an American thing. I’ve never before heard of banana bread day… but I’m all for embracing the festivities!

    I decided to make mine primal. That means no wheat flour or sugar.

    6 months to go until my wedding, and I need to get myself sorted! I’ve kinda set myself the challenge of keeping 100% primal for a whole month. I’ll see how that goes, with the intention of extending it out to the next 6 months and beyond.

    Superficially, I want to look good great in my wedding dress but, ultimately, I want to live a healthier lifestyle. This includes eating right and getting the correct exercise.

    I know from personal experience that if I try jumping straight into anything that forces a massive lifestyle change too abruptly, I fail. So I’m not going to force myself to get into an exercise regime right away.

    I’ve been eating the majority of my meals primal for quite some time now, although not being 100% strict. Indulging in too many cheat meals… which turn into cheat days by just giving in to temptations around the house. It’s one of my downfalls and I am determined to resist! Still living at home with the folks and not being able to control what’s in the kitchen cupboards can be frustrating and often difficult, but I have no excuses anymore. It’s all about willpower and a genuine desire to do this right!

    So my plan for the next 4 weeks (I started Monday) is to get my diet in order. Get myself into good eating habits, eating clean, and slowly working-in Mark Sisson’s recommended exercise.

    A whole day of shopping counts as low level aerobic activity… right?!

    Enough about me – more about the food!

    I looked through a number of paleo and primal friendly banana bread recipes. I decided after much deliberation, that the recipe I liked the sound of best, was the one posted on Mark’s Daily Apple.

    [This also could have had something to do with me having all the ingredients to hand…]

    It’s a simple recipe, with a small list of ingredients. I love the idea of using few ingredients. To me it makes the food less complicated and for some reason makes me think it’s healthier. The simpler the better right?

    I found the recipe here.

    Primal Banana Bread

    Makes: 1 Loaf    Time: 40mins

    Ingredients:
    2 cups almond flour
    1 tsp baking powder
    1 pinch sea salt
    1 cup chopped walnuts
    1/2 cup butter – melted
    2 eggs
    2 well ripened bananas (the riper they are the sweeter they are)

    • Preheat oven to 180 C or 350F
    • combine the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Almond flour, baking powder, sea salt and chopped walnuts
    • break eggs into another bowl, and lightly whisk until the eggs are completely broken up.
    • mash the bananas
    • add the bananas and melted butter to the egg mix
    • pour the egg mix into the dry ingredients, and gently fold until the mix evenly comes together
    • transfer into a lightly buttered loaf tin
    • bake for around 30mins (check after 25mins)

    For come reason my dad thought it would be a great idea to buy a huge amount of walnuts the other day… so I threw in a whole cup of chopped walnuts, instead of the 3/4 cups suggested in the original recipe.

    I think it made for a more textured and wholesome bread.

    Now, I made this loaf last night… and the temptation to immediately devour it was incredibly difficult to resist. However I had to wait – because photographing this baby cannot be done at night. And so it wasn’t until this morning that I was able to slice into it.

    It was well worth the wait!

    It’s been a while since I’ve eaten banana bread of any sort but – if I remember correctly – this tastes practically  identical to your ‘normal‘ banana bread. Pretty cool when this is loaded with healthy nuts, fruit and good fat, instead of being laden with gluten, sugar and other nasty stuff.

    Make yours, let it cool for a while, and then cut yourself a slab slice, spread some butter (or a primal friendly nut butter)onto the warm tasty banana bread, and enjoy – with a cup of tea or coffee. Maybe have it as part of a meal… perfect with some scrambled eggs.

    Mo enjoyed his slice with melted chocolate (90% cocoa solids) poured over the top. Made me regret not throwing chocolate chips into the mix, or maybe a dash of cinnamon… Damn!

    This banana bread is YUM! It’s also quite filling – and I like this fact. Especially as I found however tempted I was to cut myself a second slice, that I just didn’t have the room for it!

    Now that I’m trying to keep things 100% primal, I’m quite keen on having healthful treats around, just in case I feel the need for something sweet or indulgent. But obviously not too many because any treats, healthy or not, should not be over-eaten.


  6. Primal Chocolate Ganache Tart

    February 8, 2012 by Tali

    Oh the excitement! February the 14th is drawing ever nearer!

    Yup!

    Can you feel it? All that love in the air! The romance?  – No, neither can I!

    I’ve never been a massive Valentine’s day fan. It’s just a way for card companies, chocolatiers and florists to make money! right?!

    I think (as most girls do – however unconventional they are) that it would be nice if that special someone made some kind of gesture on St Valentines’s day [even if we do say we’re not into it].

    Yes, I think we are probably testing you!

    I don’t expect diamonds (though I would never decline!) but maybe cook us a nice meal? Take us out, plan a random surprise, it doesn’t have to cost much, or anything at all. Just… make us feel like you haven’t completely forgotten about us.

    Asking to be acknowledged romantically is not very lady-like!

    Oh, and a set of gym weights is NOT an acceptable Valentine’s day gift!

    I honestly never meant for this post to turn into a rant so I shall move on!

    I had been meaning to make Mo a chocolate tart for quite some time.

    It was after seeing some in the window of La Maison du Chocolat in Paris, about a year and a half ago (just a day before he proposed to me). See! Keeping it all romantic and stuff!

    Now, I’m pretty sure the tarts we saw in the window were baked chocolate tarts having referred to the photo above, I see that the ones from La Maison du Chocolat, are indeed ganache tarts, which involve very careful baking in the oven makes this whole process so much easier for me to pull off!

    My reason for choosing a ganache tart is not out of laziness. In fact, I plan to one day find/discover/invent a recipe for paleo/primal baked chocolate tart. For the purpose of keeping the number of ingredients to a minimum and to avoid adding sweeter, I decided to make Mo a primal friendly dark chocolate ganache tart!

    For Christmas, Mo’s mom made some primal pumpkin pie (we had a Thanksgiving meal for Christmas). The recipe she used was from Mark’s Daily Apple. In the post Mark mentions that the crust can be used for any number of pies and tarts, and so I was very keen to attempt to make his walnut pie crust, as a tart shell, and make some primal appropriate chocolate ganache to fill it!

    The crust is simple to make, as is the ganache. So I really had no excuse to hold out on Mo any longer!

    Primal Chocolate Ganache Tart

    Makes: 6 x 10cm tartlets   Time: 30-40mins

    Ingredients:
    280g Walnuts
    30g Unsalted Butter
    1 tsp Baking Soda
    1/4 tsp Salt

    300g Dark Chocolate (I used 72%)
    165ml Double Cream

    • Pre-heat oven to 175C or 350F
    • Place walnuts into a food processor, and pulse until nuts are ground.
    • add baking soda, salt and cubed butter (Mark suggests melting the butter, but the pastry chef in me was keen on using cold butter) pulse once again until the mixuture is fully combined, and begins to clump together.
    • divide the mixture between 6 10cm (4 inch) tartlet tins and press into the sides and bottom until even and well packed in
    • bake these for 15-20 mins until evenly browned.
    • once the crusts have cooled, make your ganache.
    • chop the chocolate finely, and gently par-melt in the microwave at 50%.
    • gently warm up your cream in a pan, and once the chocolate is melted and the cream is warm, (but not boiling!) Pour cream over chocolate, and gently stir until you have a nice glossy ganache.
    • pour the ganache into the tart shells and let them set in the fridge.
    • when ready to serve, VERY gently remove from the tartlet tins, and serve with some whipped cream and a complementary fruit (the tartness – pun intended! – of the fruit will be a welcome contrast to the rich chocolate).

    WARNING: These tartlets are INCREDIBLY rich! Don’t be surprised if you can only manage a few mouthfuls!

    They are rich, and they are not exactly sweet. So not for the faint hearted, but great for the dark/bitter chocolate lovers out there!

    You could maybe use a slightly less intense chocolate for the ganache, but bear in mind, the higher cocoa content your chocolate has, the better it is for you! Also, chocolates from different origins will have different flavour notes, so use a chocolate you enjoy eating!

    I found the walnut crust to be pleasing, particuarly with the added salt! Mmmm salted chocolate! But walnuts tend to be a little on the bitter side, so next time, I’ll probably try using pecans (possibly a walnut/pecan mix) or maybe hazelnuts (Mmm nutella style!) in a bid to reduce the bitterness.

    I reckon these are the prefect valentines dessert to share with a loved one, and I’m serious when I say share! good luck attempting one of these alone, in one sitting! (I do NOT condone, suggest OR recommend this!)


  7. Paleo Granola

    January 26, 2012 by Tali

    This is my recipe for Paleo/Primal/Gluten-free/wheat-free/dairy-free… trying to think of more…can’t…..Tasty Granola!

    I have started trying to eat a more primal diet. Staying away from processed foods as well as wheat, grains, pulses, and trying to limit my intake of high sugar foods.

    Primal diets largely consist of meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. It is these nuts and seeds play a big part in this post! Just think what caveman would have available to him, add in some modern cooking methods and some imagination – and that is what we’re looking at!

    Breakfast on a primal diet can sometimes be tricky, especially when you need something fast and easy. ‘Regular’ people would grab a bowl of cereal pour on some milk, and off they go! But this isn’t so easy. Cereals contain grains, and are more often then not HIGHLY processed. completely ridding all of the ‘nutrition’ from the food product… cereal companies tend to add vitamins and nutrients back into the product artificially. Not sound so good to me!

    But… give up cereal!? Now you’re thinking ‘So, I’m going to have to change my entire morning schedule because I shouldn’t eat cereal!?’ Well… not necessarily!

    You can make your own!

    I tend to make a batch once a week or once every two weeks. It depends how much people nibble on it throughout the day, and how often I eat it for breakfast!

    Its pretty easy – you can use wherever nuts and seeds you would like. If you don’t like certain nuts, are allergic to them or can’t get hold of any leave them out! Use something else!

    I apologise in advance that this isn’t a ‘real’ recipe. It takes a little guess work and is subject to personal taste.

    This time I used:

    Paleo Granola

    150g shelled pistachio nuts
    200g slivered almonds
    150g cashew nuts
    100g sesame seeds
    50g sunflower seeds
    50g pumpkin seeds
    50g pine kernals/nuts
    100g unsweetened dessicated coconut
    25g pecan nuts (these were just lying around so I threw them in)

    1 1/2 Tblsp coconut oil
    honey/agave nectar

    Heat oven to 140-150 C.

    • Place all of your nuts and seeds into a big bowl. Warm your coconut oil and about 45g honey/agave nectar until it is runny. Pour coconut oil and honey/agave over the nuts and seeds, mix well.
    • Once it is all coated, pour mixture onto two lined baking trays. Spread out into even layers. Place in the oven.
    • After 10-15mins, check and gently move the parts that are starting to colour around the edges. Place back in the oven, swapping the trays for another 10-15mins. You will want to keep checking it from this point, it may need a little longer.
    • When the trays are a nice golden colours, take them out the oven, and leave on cooling racks to cool down.
    • Once cool break the pieces up and store in an airtight container.

     

    Before baking...

    ... after baking!

    Serve with yogurt (if your diet allows) & fruit. Maybe in a  bowl with milk?

    Great as a snack as it is! – My mom likes to do this… its the main reason I find myself wondering what happened to all that granola I just made!?

    But its fine, its healthy! So indulge!

    This is quite filling because of all the nuts and seeds, so bear that in mind when considering portion sizes!