Heaven Sent Hummus & Scarlet Rosita Fuls

What a weekend! Got robbed again – do I look loaded?

So just have to keep going hey, what else is there to do?

Also got the online shop ‘live’. And that has been well received.

In case you would like to join in on the chance to win a selection of goodies then go to the FB page
https://www.facebook.com/ScarletRosita
and ‘like’ it, then share the below status to your own page 🙂

The draw is on the 24th May 🙂

Then have a bowl of this, the most divinely creamy hummus and fuls you will have eaten

😀

Heaven Sent Hummus

1 medium white onion
450g / 15 oz chickpeas 
30 ml / 1 fl oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves garlic crushed through a garlic press
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
125 ml water or reserved chickpea cooking water
125 ml Olive oil

I suggest you use a can of chick peas but you are very welcome to use dried chickpeas if you can get hold of good dried ones. There are lots of very nasty dried chick peas that never seem to cook properly, so I leave that decision to you. But please note what I say. Not all dried chickpeas are born the same, do not feel that you have in any way cheated by using a can 🙂

To cook from dried: put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with at least twice their volume of cold water and leave them to soak overnight. The next day, drain the water and, pop them in a medium saucepan, cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Skim any foam that floats to the surface – otherwise it will boil over. Cook for 30 to 50 minutes, sometimes even longer, depending on freshness, to become tender. When cooked they will break up easily between your thumb and forefinger.

Peel the onion and cut into quarters, slather in olive oil, wrap in foil and roast in a hot oven for 20 minutes until it is tender and sweetly fragrant.

Scoop a cup of the cooking water and set to one side. Now drain the chickpeas and refresh in cold water to cool completely.

Now if you have used the dried or canned chickpeas you will gently squeeze each pea to remove it’s skin. If you have chickens they will love these skins.

In a food processor, blend the chickpeas with the cooled , roasted onion and add in through the funnel the lemon juice, garlic, salt and olive oil and blend until pureed. Check the consistency (you’ll want it like a nice thick custard as over the next few hours, if left in the fridge, it will firm up nicely). If its too thick drizzle in some water or the reserved chickpea cooking water until you get the texture you want.

Pour it into a bowl and pop it in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the garlic to develop and the texture to firm a bit, but if you can’t hold off, then just grab a cracker.

Scarlet Rosita Fuls
1 Romano Red pepper
450g / 15 oz kidney beans 
30 ml / 1 fl oz balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic crushed through a garlic press
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
125 ml water or reserved cooking water
125 ml Olive oil
1 handful of fresh flat leafed parsley

Again I suggest you use a can of kidney beans but you are very welcome to use dried if you prefer.

To cook from dried: put the kidney beans in a large bowl and cover them with at least twice their volume of cold water and leave them to soak overnight. The next day, drain the water and, pop them in a medium saucepan, cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Boil very ferociously for 2 -3 minutes, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 40 to 60 minutes, until they are nice and tender.

Wash the pepper and remove the green top and inner white seeds, slather in olive oil, wrap in foil and roast in a hot oven for 20 minutes until it is tender and sweetly fragrant. Allow to cool.

Drain the kidney beans and refresh in cold water to cool completely.

In a food processor, blend the kidney beans with pepper and add in through the funnel the vinegar, garlic, salt and olive oil and blend until pureed. If its too thick drizzle in some water until you get the texture you want.

You can add in a teaspoonful of Engervita B12 as it is essential for anyone following a Vegan diet to make sure they have a certain source to supplement this vitamin as it is not for sure that it will be eaten from natural yeasts etc.

‘Scarlet Rosita’s Utterly Delicious Date Slice’ Dairy Free, Vegan, Egg Free, No Added Nut, Gluten & Wheat Free

When I was expecting Daughter No1 I had a visit from Big Bro with my delightful Niece No4, who was 14 months old at the time. I made a tray of these as I thought they would be a nice treat we could all enjoy over a cuppa. Big Bro was talking about how my Niece No4 was going through a phase of not eating. Well you can probably guess what happened next. We had to restrain her from finishing the entire plateful. I was really pleased as Big Bro was anxious about her refusal to eat and I thought we had had a break through on that day ……However 2 days later I had a call from Big Bro, Sis In Law was none to pleased with the resulting multiple well filled nappies that were the inevitable result. (tee hee hee hee hee)

I had a frantic phone call on Monday – Daughter No1 needs to come home from Uni for a few days……..Hurray!

And of course she started talking about the foods she has been dreaming about eating whilst she is home, and this is one of her all time favourites. She used to make these on a regular basis when she was at home. It is a nice straight forward recipe. The original recipe is from the fabulous Cranks recipe book (circa 1967 Soho London).

Their’s is a wholemeal recipe, delightfully typical of that time, but of course I have tweaked it and made it my own.

I do prefer mine, it has more complexity of flavour and I like it being Vegan and Gluten & Wheat Free as it is kinder to the digestion. But if you like you can use butter and wheat flour and ordinary oats, yours will have a slightly more unctuous quality and it will be a delight just the same.

Great for packing in a bag for when you are out and about too, especially in children’s packed lunches, just don’t let them eat too many in one go 😉

Scarlet Rosita’s Utterly Delicious Date Slice

90g / 3oz Muscavado Sugar
330g / 10oz Medjool Dates (or ordinary chopped are fine, but the Medjool are fabulous!)
60g / 2oz Lemon juice
60g / 2oz water
180g / 6oz Sunflower Margarine
330g / 10oz Self Raising Gluten & Wheat Free Flour
120g / 4oz Gluten Free Oats
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (you can omit this if you are avoiding salt, it will only affect the taste not the chemistry)

Grind in a food processor the below for the topping
90g / 3oz Gluten Free Oats
60g / 2oz Cranberries
60g / 2oz Pumpkin seeds
30g / 1oz Chestnut flour
30g / 1oz Dried Figs

Parchment line a 15 cm x 15 cm tin. (of all the recipes, this is the most forgiving if you do not have a pan of this exact size and shape)
Set oven to 350˚F/180˚C/Gas 4.
Poach the dates in the lemon juice and water for a minute then beat with a wooden spoon until they are fully pulped.
Melt the margarine in a large pan over a medium heat and stir in all the first lot of dry ingredients.
Really work at getting it all coated.
Press 3/4 the mixture into the tray using a food bag over your hand.
Top with the date mixture.
Add the ground oats, fruit and seeds onto the remaining 1/4 of the oaty mix and use your hands to rub the mixture together, almost like making pastry.
Spoon this on top of the dates and then make an even spread of it over the top.
Now I suggest you cover it with a sheet of cling film and press firmly (without pushing the dates out the side!) You must do this as it will be crumbly but if you skip this it will just fall off the top of the slices.
Bin the cling film
Bake at gas 4 for 1 hour -1 hour and 15 minutes. It should just be turning golden and a delightful smell filling the kitchen.
Allow to cool for 30 minutes before dividing.
Allow to cool completely before lifting from the tin.

Yum

🙂

Perfect Eggs #2 Scrambled

This is the second in a little collection inspired by my delightful Daughter No2. As I have said has had a confusing relationship with eggs, she likes the look and smell of them, we kept hens ourselves until a few years ago.

And we loved them, they were a daily visitor into the house and of course we had to feed them and clean them and take care of them if they were poorly.

And there is nothing as exciting for a small child, used to animals, than to go out gathering the eggs in the morning. But she couldn’t eat them. Until recently!

And now a love affair has truly begun, she wants to learn how to cook them so that she can prepare a quick nutritious meal for herself. (‘ats ma gurl!)

Already her fragile confidence has started to build. I had hoped that my love of and daily practice of cooking would be somehow absorbed by my children, but it seems as though what it has done has created a very high standard that they feel they have to attain. I would never have wanted that. Sadly my mad love of the art that I have practiced with determination since the age of 8 has given the impression that it is effortless.

I regret this. I have had and still do have failures, recipes that do not work out and I have to try again.

I think my Mum did me a great favour, all be it ostensibly as in reality she was just very busy, fruit and veg to grow, 3 kids, animals everywhere. There wasn’t huge amounts of time for any instruction. But I was allowed to go in the kitchen and just ‘try’ to cook and everything was eaten with varying amounts of pleasure but always with gratitude as we were always hungry.

Enthusiastic eaters are an amazing spur to a keen but unskilled novice cook 😉

😀

We had these with

Cheese Scones (Best, Most Tasty, Fool Proof Recipe)

Perfect Eggs #2 Scrambled

2 or 3 eggs
Small non stick pan
a pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon of butter
a splash of milk or water
a little chopped parsley (we like the taste)

Crack the eggs into a small bowl and whisk with a fork to break it up well. I add a pinch of salt at this point as it helps to break down the structure making a creamier dish. But if you do not take salt then just leave it out.

Melt the butter in the pan over a medium heat.

Once it is melted , turn the heat up and tip the egg into the pan and start stirring, making sure you get every tiny spot on the base of the pan.

Once the dish is about 1/3 scrambled, turn the heat down to low and keep mixing very well.

As the egg looks 3/4 done, remove from the heat and ad the splash of milk or water.

There is enough heat to finish cooking the egg. This way you get a delicious soft dish that is easy on the digestion as opposed to a dish you could bounce off the walls and sits in your stomach refusing to move on.

Carefully tip the egg mixture out onto your plate.

Maybe add a flourish of chopped parsley.

Great stuff.

🙂

Come and see me on Saturdays’ at Bermondsey Square Farmers Market in Southwark. It’s just off Tower Bridge Road, a short walk from The White Cube, Southbank and Borough Market.
All new customers will get a lovely washable cotton shopper as a ‘Thank you and please come again next week’ (While stocks last!)

Every Friday at about 6 pm GMT I publish photos of the items I have cooked for market. Have a look at the Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/ScarletRosita

Chocolate & Apple Cake

I have had so many people contact me recently because they are suffering from a wheat and/or gluten sensitivity. I have suffered this at various points in my life and I know how miserable and difficult it can make life. But unless you are allergic or a Coeliac, it can get better and as long as you do not eat gluten strengthened bread, pastries, biscuits etc, you will be able to eat wheat again. After all it is a lovely sweet grain, but I know I can never eat cheap bread, or anything from a high street or supermarket bakery (just set me off again). So no Cheese and Onion Pasty for me, but I can very happily make Cheese and Onion Pie at home (Oooh now there’s an idea!)

I made this as a practice recipe, but it turned out really well. I put the photo onto Facebook and it was really well received, so I said I would blog it today.

So not the usual amount of photos but you can see what a lovely moist cake it is.

If this is too large a cake then halve the recipe and bake in a 23 cm cake tin.

Chocolate & Apple Cake

180g / 6 oz Butter
180g / 6 oz Muscavado sugar
6 Eggs
7 oz Gluten Free Self Raising Flour
90 g / 3 oz Cocoa powder
240g / 8 oz sweet eating apples
a pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder

Set oven to 350˚F/180˚C/ Gas 4.
Parchment line or greaseproof paper or butter and flour a 29 cm cake pan.
Wash the skins and then grated the apple on a large hole.
Break the eggs and beat with a fork to break up.
Sift together the flour, salt, cocoa and baking powder.
Melt the butter in a large pan.
Cool slightly then beat in the sugar.
Add the egg and beat to incorporate.
Add in the flour mixture and grated apple then fold to mix.
Divide between the pans.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 -15 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
Turn onto a cooling rack (make sure you turn it again so that the bottom of the cake is on the rack as the top will still be a little tender and a little stickier than a usual sponge).

If you like you can top with a Chocolate butter cream

120g / 4 oz Butter
240g / 8 oz Icing sugar
90 g / 3 oz Cocoa powder
60 ml / 2 fl oz strong black coffee

Have the butter at room temperature.
Beat until soft. then sift the icing sugar and cocoa and start to fold, stir and then beat it into the butter.
Finally add the coffee and beat until very light and fluffy.

Come and see me on Saturdays’ at Bermondsey Square Farmers Market in Southwark. It’s just off Tower Bridge Road, a short walk from The White Cube, Southbank and Borough Market.
All new customers will get a lovely washable cotton shopper as a ‘Thank you and please come again next week’ (Whie stocks last!)

Every Friday at about 6 pm GMT I publish photos of the items I have cooked for market. Have a look at the Facebook page.

email me scarletrositafood@btinternet.com
phone or text 0792 310 9170
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ScarletRosita
or follow me on Twitter

Tweets by ScarletRosita

Frugal Feast, Gorgeous Green, Super Simple, Meatless Monday

Just a quicky – cheapy- nutritious – delicious dish.

This brings together the sweet and salty with the mellow and sharp, perhaps not to everybodies taste, but I like those contrasts.

Get yourself down to the market and you will save yourself a fortune. Have a look here

However I concede that some trendy food markets are more expensive than shops. I popped into Borough Market yesterday and they were charging £26/Kg for Medjool dates and they were nowhere near as good as the ones I bought on my local food market.

Everyone says they are broke, so let’s save money and eat really well too

😀

Frugal Feast, Gorgeous Green, Super Simple, Meatless Monday

2 heads of Calabrese
1 large Sweet potato
3 cloves of garlic
1 dssp rosemary
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
125 ml olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
Seasalt
500g Penne Pasta
12 -15 leaves of fresh basil, washed and torn.

Pre heat the oven to a furnace like 475˚F/240˚C/Gas 9.

Wash the Calabrese and cut into thumb sized ‘trees’.

Peel the sweet potato and cut into 1- 1.5 cm cubes.

Place the potato onto a baking sheet and add the Rosemary, a slick of the olive oil , the vinegar and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Roast for about 15 minutes, shaking and turning the pieces once every 5 minutes. You want them nice and caramalised on the outside.

Cook the Calabrese in salted boiling water for 5 minutes, so it is softened but not totally collapsing.

Cook the pasta as instructed on the packet.

Peel the garlic and crush in a press.

Once the Calabrese is cooked, drain it, refresh with cold water, drain and set to the side.

Remove the sweet potato from the oven and set to one side.

Drain the pasta and save 125 ml of the pasta water. Leave the pasta to one side.

Add the remaining olive oil to the now empty pasta pan and quickly cook the garlic for maybe 30 seconds to a minute – just enough to take away the acrid bite of the garlic.

Add the tomato paste and cook for a few seconds. NAd the basil, just to wilt it.

Add the reserved pasta water, bring up to the boil.

Add in the pasta, the potatoes and the Calabrese, the basil and mix with little pity so that the green and the orange of the vegetables starts to break down around the pasta.

This is delicious.

Come and see me on Saturdays’ at Bermondsey Square Farmers Market in Southwark. It’s just off Tower Bridge Road, a short walk from The White Cube, Southbank and Borough Market.
All new customers will get a lovely washable cotton shopper as a ‘Thank you and please come again next week’ (Whie stocks last!)

Every Friday at about 6 pm GMT I publish photos of the items I have cooked for market. Have a look at the Facebook page.

email me scarletrositafood@btinternet.com
phone or text 0792 310 9170
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ScarletRosita
or follow me on Twitter

Tweets by ScarletRosita

Coconut Potato Curry For Frugal Feeding on Meatless Monday with a promise of Daisy Chain Dinners

This is an absolute favourite in our house. It is very savoury, nice and zippy on the taste buds, filling without being stodgy and good> And for all you meat eater, you will not even think about the fact it is meatless.

This recipe was born at a point in my life when I was seriously skint. I lived in a little terraced house and I made the tiny back garden really work for me. I grew my own herbs, carrots, tomatoes (I have wonderful memories of Daughter No1 getting up in the morning to climb over the grow bags of tomatoes strung up towards some overhead timber beams, as she feasted on a breakfast of freshly plucked tomatoes straight off the vines). I grew strawberries, apples, pears and I had an amazingly over enthusiastic Victoria plum tree -Daughter No1 would use a butterfly net to poke and prod and pull at the fruit to make them fall – she is made of plundered fruit and vegetables. How secretly delighted I was this October when she admitted to scrummping apples from some near by land to then spend the next month making apple crumbles, pies, cakes, cookies – I did try to sound cross 🙂

Actually, she Skyped me as I was photographing this and got very excited and made it for her house mates 🙂

At the time Creamed Coconut was super cheap, 19p a box, it now costs £1.39 a box, but it is still a really frugal meal. And …. AND it is really good for eating a day or two after you have made it – so Daisy Chain Dinners – ahoy!

The Engervita B12 is a great idea for real Vegans (and a cheap way to get B12), but if you eat across the diets then it is by no means essential. But I love the taste too.

I really hope you make this and enjoy it as much as we all do.
Coconut Potato Curry
serves 6 people

10 small – medium sized potatoes (waxy are best)
2 medium onions
4-5 small carrots
3 sticks of celery
2 eating apples
120g / 4oz creamed coconut
4-5 tbsp sunflower oil

440g/ 14 oz kidney beans
500g/ 1lb passata
2 tbsp curry powder (I like a Biryani for this)
1 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
1 bunch coriander
1.5 lt / 3 pt hot vegetable stock or water

2 dssp Engervita with B12 if you can find it. This is an excellent addition to your Vegan pantry.

Peel the vegetables but not the apples and cut them all into a 2 cm chunk.

Heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan.
Add the vege, keep the heat as high as possible and allow the vegetables to start to brown.
Turn the heat to low and add the curry powder and stir, allow that 30 – 50 seconds to open the flavour.

Add the hot stock (be careful it will bubble up). The liquid needs to come up to the top most layer but not actually covering it. The vegetables will collapse somewhat as this cooks and you want a moist dish at the end – not a soup.

Then add the coconut, passata, kidney beans, sugar (if you are using it) and turn the heat right up as you want to bring this to the boil now.

Once it is boiling turn the heat down to medium low, put a lid on and allow to cook for 10 -15 minutes (depending on your potatoes).

Add the coriander and stir.

It is ready to serve. If you want you can finish it with a teaspoon of the Engervita.

Come and see me on Saturdays’ at Bermondsey Square Farmers Market in Southwark. It’s just off Tower Bridge Road, a short walk from The White Cube, Southbank and Borough Market.
All new customers will get a lovely washable cotton shopper as a ‘Thank you and please come again next week’ (Whie stocks last!)

Every Friday at about 6 pm GMT I publish photos of the items I have cooked for market. Have a look at the Facebook page.

email me scarletrositafood@btinternet.com
phone or text 0792 310 9170
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ScarletRosita
or follow me on Twitter

Tweets by ScarletRosita

Three Day Juicing Fast

You will need to forgive me for this post. I am publishing it without any photos because I have promised two people that I will add this but I have not ever taken photos of these in the process of being made.

I will add photos, hopefully by the end of next week as I am planning on doing this particular fast myself once Daughter No2 is back at school.

So this is a fast that will hopefully ease you in and then ease you out without you feeling too ‘shocked’.
Be Kind To Yourself Rules Whilst On The Fast
If you do feel tired then have a nap if you get the chance.
Be good to yourself.
Be patient with yourself.
Have a nice warm (not too hot) bath
Drink lovely filtered fresh water as often as you need it. You don’t have to add anything, but it will help your body eliminate anything it needs to get rid of.
Give herbal teas a try – Fennel is lovely and sustaing and peppermint is enlivening first thing in the morning.

So good luck all!

😀

Three Day Juicing Fast
Breakfast Smoothie. You may decide to serve these as two helpings 2 hours apart, so your body has a chance to adjust to the diet without making you feel weak or light headed.

Day 1
Mango & Honey
2 apples
1/6 lemon (preferably with a scrubbed skin left on – if this makes it too bitter then either omit it or add the sweetener)
1/2 banana
1/2 mango (flesh only)
teaspoon of agave nectar or honey (but only if you really need it)
5 – 8 ice cubes

Juice the apples and lemon (place the lemon between the apples so it juices properly).
Place the other fruit and ice into the blender and blend til very smooth. Add the juice and blend to mix.

Day 2
Creamy Green Smoothie
2 apples
1/4 cucumber
1 stick of celery
1/6 lemon (preferably with a scrubbed skin left on – if this makes it too bitter then either omit it or add the sweetener)
1/2 avocado
1 handful of spinach
1 teaspoon of spirulina powder (if you can even just afford a small packet, you only use a small amount each time)
teaspoon of agave nectar or honey (but only if you really need it)
5 – 8 ice cubes

Juice the apples, cucumber, celery and lemon (place the lemon between the apples so it juices properly).
Place the avocado, spinach, spirulina, (agave if you need it – don’t feel bad if you do need it, better you add it and stick to the diet than not bother) and ice into the blender and blend until very smooth. Add the juice and blend to mix.

Day 3
Satisfying & Filling Smoothie
2 apples
1 handful of gluten & Wheat free muesli (whichever you like)
2 heaped tablespoons of live yogurt (which one you like)
2 heaped tablespoons of mixed berries (you can buy bags of frozen berries that make this very easy and somewhat cheaper too)
5 – 8 ice cubes

Juice the apples.
Then place everything into the blender and blend until you get the consistency you like, you can add a little more water if you want it thinner, but now is good to get your body slowly back into having some solid food. But if you need it thinner then make it thinner.

Midday

Day 1
Rooty Juice
2 apples – washed
1/2 beetroot – scrubbed
2 carrots – scrubbed
1 parsnip – scrubbed
1/2 lemon (preferably with a scrubbed skin left on)
5 – 8 ice cubes
Simply pass all the vegetables and fruit through the juicer and pour over the ice.
(One of my favourites)

Day 2 Today you may feel like a little help through the day, so I have added Juice #2 to have 2 hours after Juice #1
Juice #1
1/2 small pineapple
2 sticks celery
1/4 cucumber
A handful Curly Kale
5 -8 cubes of Ice
Pack the kale between layers of the pineapple and cucumber and juice all together.
Again pour over the ice.

Juice #2
2 pears – washed
1 cm piece of fresh ginger (omit this if you cannot digest ginger)
2 carrots – scrubbed
1/2 lemon (preferably with a scrubbed skin left on)
5 – 8 ice cubes
Simply pass all the vegetables and fruit through the juicer and pour over the ice.
(One of my favourites)

Day 3
Build Up Juice
2 oranges – washed, but remove 2/3 of the peel
2 heaped tablespoons blueberries – washed
1/2 banana – peeled
1 heaped tablespoon of Goji Berries (you can get a mix of ground Goji berries and Linseeds in Aldi)
15 -20 Black grapes
1/4 lemon (preferably with a scrubbed skin left on)
5 – 8 ice cubes
Juice the oranges, grapes and lemon.
Blend the blueberries, banana, Goji berries (or the powder I said) and ice. Blend well.
Add the juice and blend to mix.

Dinner
Day 1
Roasted Vegetable Salad
1/4 Butternut Squash
1 red pepper
1 carrot
1 small white onion (I like the sweet italian ones if you can find them)
1 courgette
1/2 large Romaine Heart Lettuce
4 tomatoes
olive oil to drizzle
lemon to squeeze
a handful of flat leaf parsley

Preheat the oven 425˚F/220˚C/Gas 7.
Cut the Squash, pepper, carrot, onion and corgette into 1 cm cubes (ish!)
Toss on the tray with a moderate slick of the olive oil.
Bang them into the oven for about 20 minutes.
Wash and chop the lettuce, parsley and tomatoes (nothing too small or too large – you need to get it into your mouth).
Once the veg is done remove it from the tray into a bowl. Squeeze over the lemon juice.
Add in the lettuce and tomato mix and give it a good toss. There you go – ready!

Day 2
Delicious Seedy Salad
1 bag mixed leaves
1/2 small onion, or 2 scallions/ spring onions
1/4 cucumber
1/2 orange or yellow pepper
2 properly ripe (plum if possible) tomatoes
1 carrot
1/4 small red cabbage
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
sea salt
1 Heaped Tablespoon of Dukkah – get the recipe

Scarlet Rosita’s Dukkah

or use Dssp cashew nuts
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp pumpkin seeds
1 tsp sunflower seeds

Wash the salad. Remove as much water as possible.
Grate in the carrot, slice and add the onions, cabbage, cucumber, pepper.
Dice the tomato and add in.
Now dress with a mix of the olive oil balsamic vinegar and salt (how you like. I’d suggest 1 tsp oil, 3 tsp vinegar, a pinch of salt)
Sprinkle on the Dukkah or the nutty seeds. A good toss and eat.

Day 3
Honeyed Salmon Salad
1 Salmon Fillet
1 teaspoon of honey
140g of spinach/rocket/watercress or a mix of any of these.
1/2 cucumber
1 lemon
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea Salt
Black pepper

Preheat the oven 425˚F/220˚C/Gas 7.
Put the salmon skin side down onto a piece of foil that will wrap it up. Add the honey and wrap it.
Pop it into the oven for 10 -15 minutes – it should be just done.
Wash and dry the leaves, Thinly slice the cucumber and add to the leaves.
Make the dressing with the lemon, vinegar, oil and seasoning. Dress the leaves.
Top with the cooked salmon 🙂

Come and see me on Saturdays’ at Bermondsey Square Farmers Market in Southwark. It’s just off Tower Bridge Road, a short walk from The White Cube, Southbank and Borough Market.
All new customers will get a lovely washable cotton shopper as a ‘Thank you and please come again next week’ (Whie stocks last!)

Every Friday at about 6 pm GMT I publish photos of the items I have cooked for market. Have a look at the Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/ScarletRosita

Perfect Eggs #1 Poached

My delightful Daughter No2 has had a confusing relationship with eggs. My Dad kept hens until very recently and I also kept them for a number of years. Such lovely creatures, I have spent many happy hours engaging one way or another with my hems. Plus we had the added benefit in the summer of them keeping annoying pests at a low ebb (don’t leave them too long in the veg patch as they will start on the leafy stuff). During the Autumn and Winter they grub out the slugs and snails and in the Spring (before sowing anything) they eat the weed seeds and the diminutive weeds before they catch a hold.

I miss them! There is nothing as sweet as watching a hen nuzzle down next to a cat to do a little sunbathing 🙂

And with the Spring the hens start to naturally lay and the eggs are at their best. All long the roads the little wooden huts are appearing selling those fantastically good eggs. I know they are not Lion Branded – but they are the best.

So ‘young’un’ wanted to learn how to do eggs, so she can have a tasty selection of ‘just home from school, Mum’s not around, what can I cook’ snacks.

This is basic stuff but by learning these simple items she can build confidence and know how in a way that watching telly or reading a book will never give.

I think she did a great job. We have eaten a lot of eggs recently but seeing her surprise and pride in herself makes it all worthwhile. I’ll have a salad later

😀

We had these with

Cheese Scones (Best, Most Tasty, Fool Proof Recipe)

Perfect Eggs #1 Poached

1 or 2 eggs
Small pan of boiling water
a pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon of malt vinegar
a little chopped parsley (we like the taste)

Get ready a slotted spoon and a warm plate onto which to serve the eggs.

Crack the egg into a tea cup, if you break the yolk I suggest you try another egg – just until you get the hang of what you’re doing.

Bring a 3/4 – 4/5 full pan of water to the boil.

Add the salt and vinegar and stir with a spoon to create a swirling vortex in the middle of the boiling water.
Keep the heat on full (you need it boiling).

Hold the handle of the tea cup (you don not want to dip your fingers into the water) and tip the egg into the middle of the vortex.

Encourage the swirling to continue by a few mare spoony paddles around the edge of the egg.
I say a medium egg (UK) / large egg (USA) takes about 3 minutes for the egg white to be firm and the yolk soft.

Carefully lift the egg out (scoop right under it).
Tip away the water and onto the plate.

A little parsley.
A grind of pepper.
A perfect little meal

🙂

Come and see me on Saturdays’ at Bermondsey Square Farmers Market in Southwark. It’s just off Tower Bridge Road, a short walk from The White Cube, Southbank and Borough Market.
All new customers will get a lovely washable cotton shopper as a ‘Thank you and please come again next week’ (Whie stocks last!)

Every Friday at about 6 pm GMT I publish photos of the items I have cooked for market. Have a look at the Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/ScarletRosita