Mandarine and almond syrup cake

I get my fruit and veg delivered by The Local Grocer these days, partially because I can't deal with Woolworths and Coles, my local IGA is pretty shit, and they pay farmers fair prices for their goods. Everyone is a winner - especially those who have to endure me whinging about how evil the duopoly supermarkets are, or me whinging about why some IGA's are awesome and why mine is crap and THEY HAVE NO BREAD AT ALL? I'M GOING HOME! I just let The Local Grocer do it. I don't even have to make a decision about what I want that way, they just tell me - this is what is in season, this is what we can get, so this is what you have. You can choose, I just choose NOT to choose.

This time I got 6 mandarines. I don't mind them, but I don't really like the smell of them when you peel them, and it sticks under your nails and on your skin all day. Do not like.

Photo c/o The Local Grocer with the caption "Eating seasonally? Time to start on the mandarins as local valencia orange supply has stopped. Only Californian and Egyptian navel orange imports available in any quantities at the moment and we won't be selling those! Our local navels come in around late May to early November so if you can hold off on oranges for just a few weeks you can avoid any imported produce :-)"

So these were my options;

Option 1 - let them sit in the box until they go off without eating them.

Option 2 - let them sit in the fridge until they go off without eating them.

Option 3 - eat them.

Options 1 and 2 have happened before. Don't judge me, you too have left stuff in your fruit n veg drawer in the fridge so long it no longer resembles what it once was. I refuse to believe I am the only one this happens to.

Anyway obviously, option 3 has to happen, because waste sucks.

I made cake. It is delicious. 

Dense but not claggy, sweet but with a punchy lemon edge. Much better than a similar cake I had made before, which requires the lengthy boiling of the mandarins, that stunk the house out. This one is just gorgeous, all over.

It looks plain... Don't judge a cake by it's cover.

Mandarine and almond syrup cake

Adapted from Ottolenghi's cake from Jerusalem

Ingredients
200g unsalted butter
380g caster sugar
4 clementines, zest grated, and juiced
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
280g ground almonds
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
5 medium free-range eggs, beaten

Method
1) Preheat the oven to 160C. Lightly grease a 24cm spring-form tin, and do what you gotta do to stop the cake sticking.

2) Put the butter, 300g of the sugar (the remaining 80g is for the syrup) and citrus zest in a mixer bowl, and use a paddle attachment to combine. Add about half the ground almonds a spoonful at a time and continue mixing.

3) Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as you go. Add the remaining almonds and ground cardamom and work until the mix is smooth.

4) Spread the cake batter inside the tin, and bake for 50-60 minutes - a skewer should come out a little bit moist.

5) When the cake is almost cooked, in a small pan bring to a boil the remaining sugar and citrus juices (the juices should add up to about 120ml), then remove from the heat. The moment the cake comes out of the oven, pour over the hot syrup, making sure it all soaks through. Leave to cool down in the tin. 

Healthy foods, Ottolenghi style

I haven't really been on much of a health kick recently, the exercise has really fallen by the wayside, mostly due to a case of bung legs. Turns out after a couple of expensive trips to the osteopath (including $120 parking fine - City of Perth better spend that well, wankers), it turns out my gluteal muscles aka arse muscles, are not firing {insert fart joke here}. This has caused all kinds of problems from achilles pain, tight and aching calves, and now my lower back is totally rooted. I went to school hopped up on codeine today, and let me tell you, my speech in front of the school about a sports carnival was just gushingly lovely, as was my health class afterwards. I talked. A lot. 

Anyway, without the exercise, I've turned into a bit of a apex predator - eating everything in sight with reckless abandon. This included bowling club priced booze and masses of cake at the Beaufort Bake and Bowls.

But all is not totally lost (the weight sure isn't anyway). I did cook SOME healthy things. I have more healthy things planned too. But not rabbit food, not look-how-alternative-I-can-be-with-my-weird-grains-that-taste-like-wet-cardboard kinda healthy.  

YUMMY healthy food.

Ottolenghi healthy. Plenty.

One night we had Mushroom Ragout with Yoghurt Flatbreads, which was fuggin amazing. Those flatbreads are soft, the dough is easy to make, even easier to work with and when cooked up, but the easiest thing is scooping up bits of tasty grilled mushroom and wine, with swirls of tangy yoghurt and fresh bursts of parsley. Leftover mushies were piled up on buttered toast in the morning and devoured - they kept me going all day (well, until about 10:30 when I went apex predator on some cake I forgot I had).

I also tried the herb stuffed tomatoes, which were Mediterranean in their flavours, salty olives, capers with a bite and surprisingly hearty from the breadcrumbs. I really enjoyed them, and would be great as a starter or as a side to something else - I used some local Gingin Beef mince and cooked it up very simply with basic seasoning and olives in the same pan I  made the stuffing in - it was gorgeous. The best mince I've ever had. 

The highlight though I think was the Quesadillas. These were awesome, and I am planning on making a bunch of these in advance when we go for a bbq, because once they're assembled, all you have to do is grill them. We added chicken to ours, but it's not really necessary. Next time I'm going to amp up the flavours in the beans, and maybe add a tangy, crunchy coleslaw for a bit of a tex mex vibe. Either way, we scoffed them. I made a toasty the next day with the leftovers, and they were still awesome.

You have to have a go at this book. If you're feeling like you're eating yourself outta house and home, the least you can do is eat healthier food. 

I will be eating more outta this book. 

Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters - Yotam Ottolenghi, Ottolenghi; The Cookbook

We always get cauliflowers and I never know what to do with them... I grew up with them being covered with white sauce and cheese then having the bejeezus grilled out of them. Dont get me wrong, I love cauliflower cheese! But you cant have that all the time... and you need some variety! So I stumbed upon this recipe and thought Id give it a try - my first Ottolenghi recipe! Its from his first book, "Ottolenghi".

 Cauliflower and Cumin Fritters with Lime Yoghurt

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the fritters

1 small cauliflower (about 320g)

120g plain flour

3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley plus a few extra leaves to garnish

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 shallots, finely chopped

4 free range eggs

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground tumeric

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

500ml sunflower oil for frying

For the lime yoghurt

300g Greek yoghurt

2 tbsp finely chopped coriander with a couple of leaves reserved to garnish

grated zest of 1 lime

2 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Method:

1. Make the yoghurt sauce first by whisking the ingredients (reserving a little oil and sprig of coriander) all together in a bowl. Put aside in the fridge, pour over a little oil and sprinkle with a couple of leaves of coriander to serve.

2. Prepare the cauliflower by removing the leaves and dividing into small florets. Cooking in a large pan of simmering salted water for around 15 minutes until soft. Drain.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together in a bowl the eggs, flour, parsley, garlic, shallots, spices, salt and pepper. When mixed well, add the soft warm cauliflower and stir breaking down the cauliflower into the batter.

 mmm spices and parsley!

 batter without cauliflower

 batter with the cauliflower

4. Heat the sunflower oil (at a depth of 1.5cm) in a wide pan and heat.  When very hot, spoon 3 tbsp worth blobs of batter carefully into the oil to cook.  Avoid overcrowding them, cook maybe 3 at a time spacing them apart with a fish slice.  Fry for 3-4 minutes each side then remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

5. Serve immediately with the yoghurt sauce.

This pic is obviously served without the sauce because we ate it, I didnt make much of it, we gobbled up the fritters and then I remembered to take a pic of them once they were cold! Oooops!

They were quite nice, but a bit heavy. Id say thats because I only had 2 eggs to use and the recipe asks for 4...... again, oooops! If I made them again Id go easy on the tumeric, I could taste too much of it and it was all I could taste. Its a good recipe to use I think, if you wanna get veges in the kids without them knowing (or your bf for that matter!). Id be tempted to see how they cook in the oven, not fried, to make them a bit healthier?