LIZ NOLAN CLASS

 
This sounds wonderful, a Christmassy cookery class with the lovely Liz Nolan - I would so be there if I weren't going to be in Lisbon. Liz is the author of My Goodness, a stunning book. Great Xmas prezzie - class or book! From Liz:

Next vegetarian cookery class - Saturday 8th December with a hint of Christmas!
For those of you interested in coming to my next vegetarian cookery class with a 'hint of Christmas' about it, please see the recipes I'll be cooking under the 'classes' section on my website and contact me if you'd like to put your name down.

IRISH HALLOWE'EN BRACK

Happy Hallowe'en! Here is my brack recipe. The brandy really makes this cake - gives it a lovely richness. You could use whiskey or just use 210ml of tea if you don't want alcohol in the cake.

I had no ring to add to the cake this year so I wrapped a one cent coin in greaseproof paper and popped it in the centre of the brack. Traditionally, the person who finds the coin in their slice of brack will enjoy good fortune.

Eat plain or buttered with a cup of tea.

RECIPE

180ml tea
30ml brandy
250g raisins
75g brown sugar
1 beaten egg
25g melted marg
255g wholegrain spelt flour
1tsp bread soda
1 tsp mixed spice

METHOD

- Soak the fruit, sugar, brandy and tea in a bowl - leave until cold
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Grease and line the bottom of an 8" round tin
- Add the melted marg to the fruit mix. Stir through.
- Add the beaten egg. Stir through.
- Sieve then fold in the flour, bread soda and spice
- Pour into the lined tin (insert wrapped coin or ring at this point, if using)
- Bake for 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean
- Cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack.

Hallowe'en breakfast with bat zogabongs

EMILY DICKINSON'S COCONUT CAKE

Emily Dickinson by Nicole DeClerck

I have a poem coming out in the spring in the American journal Prairie Schooner. It's called 'Miss Emily Dickinson's Coconut Cake' and is based on Dickinson's recipe and a little on her life. I've been a fan since I was very young. When I workshopped the poem at my writing group, I made the cake for our tea break. I've made it again today, so here is the recipe.

Emily Dickinson's Coconut Cake

This makes a lovely, simple, light cake. The recipe was adapted by some ED fans to suit modern weights/measures etc. I decided to use the American measurements as I own a set of measuring cups and am leaving them that way here. If you don't have measuring cups, be careful with the weights/volume. There's a conversion chart here.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dessicated coconut

2 cups flour (I used half self-raising, half wholemeal spelt)

1 cup sugar (I used light brown muscovado)

½ cup butter (I used Pure marg)

½ cup milk

2 eggs

½ tsp bread soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C

Line an 8" square cake tin on the bottom, grease the sides

Mix butter and sugar

Add beaten eggs and milk

Sieve the flour, bread soda and cream of tartar and mix

Add the coconut and mix

Bake for 30 minutes

Cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out

OPTIONAL

I have also made this cake with raspberries. If you want to do this add in 150g of frozen raspberries with the coconut.

Coconut Cake with Raspberries

BRENDAN'S BAKING RECIPES

I am madly excited to discover that Brendan Lynch from the Great British Bake Off has his own site chockers with recipes. Coffee and Walnut Cake anyone? Chocolate and Vanilla Bagels?!?

I'm not just rooting for Brendan because he is clearly the best baker there, he is also Irish :) His gingerbread birdhouse was masterful never mind what stuffy old Paul said.

CHOC ORANGE SPELT BUNS

You can use wholewheat flour instead of spelt flour for these buns, if you prefer, but the spelt flour gives a lighter texture. These are a great snack: low in sugar but sweet because of the orange. This recipe makes 12 small, tasty, low GI buns.

Preheat oven to 180˚C

INGREDIENTS

250g (9oz) wholegrain spelt flour
25g (1oz) light muscovado sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1 tblsp of cocoa powder
1 tsp mixed spice
zest of 1 large orange
juice of 1 large orange
50ml soya milk
1 beaten egg (OR 1tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water)
2 tblsps vegetable oil
12 muffin or bun cases

METHOD

• Put muffin cases into bun tray
• Sieve the flour, spice, cocoa, sugar and baking powder into a bowl
• Zest and squeeze the orange
• If using, make up the NoEgg as per pack
• In a jug, mix together the soya milk, oil, orange juice and egg mixture
• Make a well in the flour and beat in the milky mixture
• Mix in the orange zest
• Divide the mixture between the muffin cases
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes

OPTIONAL ICING
We decorated ours with about 10 squares of dark chocolate, melted, with one teaspoon of icing sugar mixed in. Also jelly beans!

My chocolate splattered helper :)

Fundraising vegetarian cookery class

On Saturday 28th July Liz Nolan of WholeFoodMatters is running a special fundraising vegetarian cookery class in Galway.

This class is in aid of Lily Mae Morrison, the 4 year old daughter of dancers Judith Sibley and Leighton Morrison. Lily-Mae has been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer. Class will run from 10am 'til 1pm. More details in ‘classes’ section of Liz's site. If you’d like to attend the class please ring or text Liz on 086 8099604. Cost is €50 and all proceeds will go to the Lily- Mae trust.

CANNELLINI BEAN BURGERS

Cannellini Bean Burgers

Two of the kids have their party today, so there will be a few adults present too, including my sister. We always seem to serve the same food when she is here so today I decided to try something from Liz Nolan's beautiful book My Goodness. I've adapted her mung bean burger recipe, which she in turn adapted from one by Madhur Jaffrey.

The mixture

My mixture was loose (I gather it's meant to be) but I found that made it hard for turning the frying burgers so I added two small handfuls of wholegrain spelt flour to thicken the mix.

Makes 12 burgers

RECIPE

254g tin of cannellini beans, drained
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped small
2 tsp mixed herbs (use 1 tsp if you don't want a very herby taste)
1 crushed Oxo veg stock cube
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium carrot, grated
1 medium courgette, grated
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 small handfuls wholegrain spelt flour
rapeseed oil for frying

METHOD

Using a hand blender, blend the cannellini beans, garlic, onion, herbs, stock cube, salt and olive oil until smooth
Grate the carrot and courgette into a large bowl
Add the sesame seeds and cannellini bean mixture and mix well
Heat oil in frying pan, when hot, use a tablespoon to drop a blob of the mixture, pat it down with the spoon
Cook on medium heat for 4 mins then carefully turn it over and cook the other side for a further 4 minutes
The burgers should look golden brown.
Serve on a wholemeal bun with salad and hummus. Yum! I just hope my sister approves :)

The burgers frying