Delicious persimmons cake

Do you have certain ingredients that you simply cannot resist? The type of ingredient you see in the markets or supermarket and just HAVE to have? I’m pretty terrible when it comes to things like that, so I tend to end up in a lot of cases with ingredients that have no immediate need or use. Or maybe terrible is not the right word. To me it is the perfect reason to try out new things, recipes that you have never tried before or ingredients you have no clue what to do with.

That is more or less how I ended up with a couple of persimmons. Persimmons are not very well known here in Holland and they’re also known by the name of sharonfruit or kakifruit. I kind of forgot to take a photo of the whole fruits for easier identification so I

Persimmons, kaki fruit or sharonfruit

got a stockphoto here to do that for me.

 

 

We do not want you to get confused… Now I love these fruits and I have known them for a while. But then again, like I said, I am the kind of girl who will buy any unknown ingredient. Just to see what it is and discover – maybe – a new taste. So I’ve known these orange lovelies for a while, love to eat them but had only eaten them in their raw shape and form.

I can’t remember exactly how the conversation went but Meeta and I were chatting on twitter and she mentioned she had a recipe for persimmon cake on her blog. Naturally I immediately looked and liked the sound of the spices so that is what I wanted to make. And I can tell you, it was delicious!! The persimmon inside the cake makes it lovely and moist and great to eat and it also stays edible for quite a long time (no, no.. I’m not talking weeks here but trust me this cake will not last you a week!!)

Instead of a regular cake tin I used a Bundt pan. It might be an old-fashioned shape (is it??) but I love it and it came out looking very pretty indeed. The only thing I changed from the original recipe is the addition of pistachio instead of walnuts. For the simple reason that I had those in the kitchen.

I also used only 4 persimmons. Mine were pretty big and I figured the 400 gram of puree that came out of those 4 (!) would be sufficient. Unfortunately mine could have been a little bit sweeter but still the cake was entirely delicious and definitely one I will be making again! If only to please my dad who has been eyeing my blog too closely and is disappointed he does not get more cakes brought to him. Sorry dad, I will make up for that soon!

 

Spicy cake with persimmon

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Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Meeta at What’s for Lunch Honey

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 50 mins

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 4 – 6 ripe and soft persimmons – peeled and puréed. You can use an electric mixer or blender for this.
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 115 grams butter
• 200g brown sugar
• 350g all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove powder
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 60g roasted pistachio – coarsely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Add the baking soda to the puréed persimmon. You will notice that the persimmon will set and become more solid. No cause for alarm. Although this might look strange it is perfectly normal.
3. In a mixing bowl whisk the butter and sugar with and electric mixer, until creamy and fluffy. Stir in the persimmon and egg, beating until well combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the dry ingredients to the persimmon mixture. Blend in well and stir in the nuts.
4. Spoon the batter into a round greased cake pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until the knife comes out clean.
5. Take out and allow to cool on a rack. Sprinkle generously with icing sugar. If you would like to freeze this cake then skip this part and freeze in an airtight container.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

2.1.7

Moist with a crunch from the pistachio!

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The ultimate comfort food

When the alarms rings at 7 am I am already awake. Not wide awake but my dear old kitty friend Gizmo usually thinks that 6 am is a perfectly fine time to wake up and get fed. So around 6-ish she starts walking over my head, all the while miauwing loudly. She is getting a little deaf at the age of 19 so she doesn’t hear her own voice anymore… Annoying to say the least. So she wakes me up but I refuse to get out of bed before the alarm goes so I stubbornly ignore her, but it’s pretty obvious that any real sleep is not an option anymore.

Outside it is still dark and I can hear the wind howling around the house, telling me that I should stay in bed, but unfortunately duty calls so a little past 7 (snooze button!!) I swing my legs over the edge and go and feed a screaming cat (who then eats one tiny bit and follows me into the kitchen, so she can annoy me a little bit more. Typical start of my day… )

Italian sausage stew

The wind and rain keep it up the entire day and it is one of the first autumn days that is grey, dreary and mostly very wet. It’s a good thing that I do not suffer from autumn depressions but I can see how it easily would effect people that are more prone to weather changes. Me, I love autumn. I think I can safely say that I’m a season-girl. I love all seasons. I am not even sure I would like to live in a country where the sun always shines. That would be boring now wouldn’t it? Autumn is such a wonderful and comforting season. The season to snuggle up indoors, while the rain pounds on the roof, warming your hands around a mug of hot chocolate (preferably with whipped cream ofcourse) and gorgeous glorious stews.

Needless to say on that very first very real autumn day, my mind immediately went to stews. I had recently bought a bag of puy lentils (more lentil recipes here, here and here) so I figured I should make something with them and searching on the BBC Good Food site (my favorite recipe site) I quickly found the recipe for this delicious stew. The ultimate comfort food! We had it with baked potatoes but I think it might even be better with a nice potato mash. O or a potato/celeriac mash… Hmm, gotta try that next time!

Yummy puy lentils

Stew with sausage and lentils

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Serves:	2
Prep time:	10 minutes
Cook time:	50 minutes
Total time:	1 hour
Meal type:	Main Dish
Misc:	Serve Hot
Region:	Worldwide
Website:	BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 3 large baking potatoes
• olive oil
• 4 pork sausages
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• 1 pinch chili flakes
• 2 carrots (diced finely)
• 2 sticks celery (cut into small dice)
• 4 sprigs rosemary (needles only and chopped finely)
• 1 tin canned tomatoes (400 gr)
• 300ml white wine (Using chicken stock is also fine)
• 3 tablespoons puy lentils

Directions

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Cut the potatoes into 2cm chunks, toss in olive oil then spread out on a non-stick baking tray. roast for 40 minutes until crisp and golden, turning a couple of times during cooking.

Meanwhile, cook the whole sausages in a little more olive oil in a large pan until browned all over. Take the sausages out of the pan then add the onions and garlic and cook until softened.

Add the chilli (if using) carrot and celery, then cook for 5 minutes. add 2/3 of the rosemary, all of the tomatoes, wine or stock and lentils. Slice each sausage diagonally into 4 thick chunks then add back to the pan. Simmer with a lid almost covering for about 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.

When the potatoes are cooked, toss with some sea salt and the rest of the rosemary, then serve with the stew.

Related Posts:

• Roasted butternut squash salad
• Pavlova with pomegranate and cranberry sauce
• Tarly salad with orange hazelnut dressing – living leaner
• Spicy cake with persimmon
• What would the chicken be without the egg?

Our few golden days of sunshine seem to have vanished and have been replaced by storm, rain and thunder. In fact while I am writing this I can hear the thunder rumbling in the distance… I’m always amazed at how quickly the weather patterns can change. A few days ago it was t-shirt weather and now I’m wondering if I should bring out the winter jackets already!

The good thing about autumn is that there is a whole range of new produce coming to us. Gorgeous chanterelle mushrooms, quince, pomegranates and these pretty figs. Figs are an interesting fruit really. I like them but they can also be really bland. But whatever the flavor, pretty they are; always!

Gorgeous figs

I was really surprised to find both figs and pomegranates in our supermarket the other day, so of course I had to buy some. I bought only four figs as they don’t keep very long and I knew we had to finish them rather quickly. I totally love them with blue cheese; one of the best combinations out there, but unfortunately Tom hates blue cheese (why, why, why??) so it had to be something sweet for this time. I could have baked but then I figured four pieces wouldn’t get me very far, so I browsed around on one of my favorite apps from Epicurious and found a recipe that I liked. I adapted it slightly to what I had in the cupboard. I had previously bought rosewater when I was out browsing through my favorite store where I also found the Bull’s blood leaves and spotted rosewater. Heard about it many times but never cooked with it so I figured I give it a go with this dessert.

Figs with honey-rose mascarpone and hazelnut brittle

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Serves:	2
Prep time:	15 minutes
Cook time:	5 minutes
Total time:	20 minutes
Meal type:	Dessert
Region:	Worldwide
Website:	Ep

Ingredients

• 3 figs
• 125g mascarpone
• 1 orange
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon rosewater
• 2 tablespoons Whipping cream
• 75g hazelnuts (roasted)

Directions

Put the sugar in a small saucepan and add 1 tbsp of water. Put on the heat and let the sugar melt. DO NOT STIR! Prepare a sheet of baking paper on a tray and lay that ready to go. Have your roasted hazelnuts close by to put into the caramel once ready too. As soon as the big bubbles of sugar disappear it will brown really quickly so do not walk away as it can burn in seconds! As soon as the sugar has a nice golden brown tint (you can also smell when it's ready too) take of the heat and add the hazelnuts and stir through. Put it onto the baking sheet quickly and leave to cool. Spread it out a bit so it will be easier to cut later.

Finely grate some zest from the orange and put in a bowl with the mascarpone, rosewater, honey and whipping cream. Stir together and add more of one or the other to taste

Cut the figs into halves and arrange three halves on one plate (you can do more but I thought 3 halves per person is more then enough for dessert).

Once the caramel is cooled chop it up with a knife until you're left with crumbly bits. Put the mascarpone on top of the figs and sprinkle some of the caramel nuts on top.

Note

Quick and delicious dessert. I loved the rosewater in the mascarpone but think I will add just a tiny bit more. I was afraid it would overpower the other flavors but it could have been a tiny bit more.

And I loved it; the caramel with hazelnuts was delicious with just the right hint of bitterness in it and the ripe fruit with the orange mascarpone… great combination too! Now next on my list are the quince!

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delicious roasted pumpkin salad

Outside leaves are turning red, yellow and golden; a sure sign that the end of summer is now official and autumn is making it’s way in. The fact that it feels like it has been autumn for a couple of months now doesn’t make it any less noticeable. It’s the wind that’s telling us and the smell of that typical autumn air.

Pumpkins and squash always remind me of autumn and all that is good about it. You see, I love autumn. Snuggling up indoors, while the wind is blowing around the house and torrential rains that are sweeping any dirt of the streets. Days are getting shorter with the light starting to fade rather quickly now. Evening are becoming colder too and everything is just screaming autumn! I’m actually looking forward to making warm and comforting dishes again. But let’s not forget that officially it’s still summer! Yes, ladies and gentleman; summer has not departed us! At least not officially and hey we can always pretend right?

So when I saw this salad on the Good Food website I just knew that was what I wanted to make. A combination of a salad (summer) with squash (autumn) So here it is! I did love the flavors and adding the puy lentils gives it an interesting twist. But what I will do for the next time is to either add some fried bacon bits or some halloumi cubes in there, as I did miss a salty crunchy note.

A marriage of summer and autumn

Roasted butternut squash salad

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Serves:	4
Prep time:	25 minutes
Cook time:	None
Total time:	25 minutes
Dietary:	Vegetarian
Meal type:	Lunch, Salad
Region:	Worldwide
Website:	BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 2kg butternut squash (peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes)
• olive oil
• 100g puy lentils
• 100g rocket
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (toasted)
• 6 pieces spring onions (sliced)

Soy Dressing

• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 piece red chili (seeded and chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon clear honey

Directions

Heat the oven to 200C. Put the squash on a baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes or until tender, shaking the tray a couple of times to keep it from sticking. Simmer the lentils for about 15 minutes or until al dente, then drain.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Put the rocket in a shallow serving bowl and arrange the lentils and squash on top. Pour the dressing over and top with sesame seeds and spring onion.

Note

I liked the flavor of this salad although I would like it even more if it had some salty cheesy element in it. I'm gonna try this next with little bits of bacon (making it a bit less vegetarian..) or little crispy bits of halloumi.

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Apple walnut clafoutis

Before I started blogging I had never heard of clafoutis, let alone tasted one. But I kept seeing gorgeous examples of this incredibly versatile and yet so easy dish around the internet quite often until I decided it was time to try it for myself. The first clafoutis I mad was of the traditional kind. I have read that “historically” clafoutis are made with cherries, so that is what I did for making my first clafoutis. And it was delicious but I thought at the time that it could be better. I think in all likelyhood that it

Clafoutis

was the cherries that were to blame here as they were not as sweet as I like my cherries to be.

So when I read about the Monthly Mingle subject for this month being “Brunch” I figured I would make another clafoutis. What better dish to serve at a brunch then a lovely clafoutis which can be eaten warm or cold? Perfect!

Given that it is apple season I wanted to make an apple version and thought that walnuts would go well as well as cinnamon. Basically apple pie flavors but without the apple pie… And delicious it was! I mean; the cherry clafoutis was nice, but this one was ten times better in terms of taste!! Now I truly love apple and cinnamon together. The smell alone of cinnamon makes me truly happy. It brings back childhood memories of mum baking apple pie (the only thing she ever baked apart from cake I think..lol ) and autumn in general. We always went to an orchard that I believe was owned by the company my dad worked for and each autumn we would receive loads of apples, so naturally they had to be put into something or eaten as is. So apple pie it was…

Ingredients:

• About 3 or 4 apples
• 2 large eggs + 1 yolk
• 1/2 cup blond cane sugar (100 gr)
• 1 oz cornstarch (16 gr)
• 1 oz all purpose flour (16 gr)
• 7/8 cup whole milk, cold (200 ml)
• 1 vanilla, seeds removed
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (120 ml)
• walnuts, chopped
• ground cinnamon

Steps:

• Preheat your oven at 180 C.
• Peel the apples and cut into cubes or slices whatever you feel is best for the oven dish you are using
• Beat the eggs and yolk with the sugar.
• Add the vanilla seeds and mix.
• Dilute the cornstarch in the cold milk.
• Add the flour and cornstarch to the previous preparation, with the cream. Mix well until homogeneous. Add ground cinnamon to your liking.
• Grease small ramekins (or a larger dish) and sprinkle with sugar. Remove the excess.
• Divide the apple and walnuts between them and pour the cream over.
• Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and place in the oven for 40 to 45 min, until golden. Remove. Eat lukewarm or cold.
• When ready to serve, you can sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.

I think this particular dish is best served while still warm. It’s good when cold, but it is even better when still warm. I sprinkled it with icing sugar for the photo but that is not really necessary as it is sweet enough as it is!

So I am officially sending this to the Monthly Mingle !

Enjoy!

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