Valentine Plum Cake

Valentine Dessert-4244

A sweet and sour cake, vanilla cream and plums, combined with a nutty, not too sweet crust – a rich and delicious dessert!!

Plum Topping:
100 grams of pitted and halved plums
1 tsp of ground Ceylon cinnamon
A little bit of water

1. Gently simmer the topping over low heat until soft and well combined.
2. Set aside to cool

Crumble:

200 ml almonds
200 ml oat flour
1 tablespoon date paste (made by softening 1 date with a bit of water, then mixing using a handheld blender or mini-prep)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Salt
1-2 tablespoons of water if the dough isn’t moist enough (but you don’t want it to be wet – just moist!)

1. Crumble the almonds and oat flour in a blender
2. Add remaining ingredients in blender and process until a crumbly dough
3. Spread on baking sheet in crumbles and dry in oven at 100 C for 25 minutes

Vanilla cream:

100 ml cashews
50 ml hazelnut milk (or almond milk)
1 tablespoon agave
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1. Soak the cashews in water for 3-4 hours, rinse
2. Blend all ingredients, except the oil, until smooth
3. Add the oil last, this will thicken the cream, but do not over blend
4. Refrigerate to thicken.

Assembly:

1. Press the crumble into a mold
2. Spread the cream on top
3. Finish with a layer of plum topping

Fall Garden Quinoa

170906 Fall Garden Quinoa-7632

Quinoa, Grated Veggies, Plums and Kale

This is a typical fall recipe, using many of the goodies from the garden. I love the multicolored quinoa, both for the look and the texture, but, of course, any quinoa will work in this recipe. The dish is full of colours and taste. Can be served on its own, or, deliciously with some grilled halloumi cheese.

Serves 4

Quinoa:
250 ml quinoa and water according to manufacturer’s instructions
1 leek, thinly sliced
¼ of a head of kale, torn into thumb size pieces
200 ml roughly chopped plums
1 small red chili, seeds removed, finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Olive oil

1. Cook the quinoa as per instructions on package.
2. In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the kale. Remove.
3. Fry the leek until soft, add the plums, chili and salt.
4. Return the kale to the pan.
5. Combine the vegetables with the cooked quinoa.

Veggies:
2 small grated beet roots
2 grated carrots
½ large red onion
½ stalk lemon grass
50 ml loosely packed coriander leaves (cilantro)
Salt and pepper
Cooking oil of choice

1. Rinse the grated beets in cold water, combine in a bowl with the grated carrots
2. Slice the onion thinly and add to bowl.
3. Remove the outer layers of the lemon grass, crush a bit by hammering the stalk with the back of a large chef knife, chop finely and add to bowl.
4. Chop the cilantro and add
5. Add the spices.
6. Heat a generous amount of oil in a large frying pan and spread the veggie mix in a thin layer.
7. Leave to fry a few minutes over medium heat, turn and fry another few minutes.
8. Empty pan onto a layer of paper towels (to soak up some of the oil).

Coriander/cilantro oil:
100 ml loosely packed coriander leaves
100 ml spinach leaves
50 ml olive oil
Salt

• Run in small food processor/mini prep until smooth.

Kale layer:
¼ head of kale
Oil
Pinch of salt

1. Tear the kale into large pieces.
2. Fry in a pan a few minutes.
3. Season.

Serve the kale, veggie mix and quinoa on a plate and drizzle with coriander oil.

Sweet Potato Plum Pesto Starter

170900 Sweet Potato Pesto Plum Starter-7702

This starter really has it all; it’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s sour and it has crunch!!
My garden is overflowing with plums so I try to create as many varying dishes with plums as I can. This is a layered sweet potato dish that can be served with or without a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.

Serves 4

Sweet potato:
1-2 large sweet potato, peeled
Olive oil
Coarse salt

1. Heat oven to 205 C
2. Slice the sweet potato (you need 3 slices per person)
3. Coat with olive oil and sprinkle some salt on top
4. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes

Plum mix:
75 ml cut up (pitted) plums
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• Gently fry the plums in the oil. If you, like me, have sweet plums, add the vinegar. If the plums are really sour, add a few drops of agave instead.

Pesto:
75 ml shelled pistachios
100 ml loosely packed basil leaves
½ tablespoon lemon juice
1,5 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of salt
1 clove crushed garlic
½ tsp chili flakes

Plus some extra basil leaves for decoration

• Combine all pesto ingredients in a mini prep and run until well combined but still chunky (crunchy).

Plate:
• Start by drizzling some plum mix on the plate, then layer the sweet potato, plum mix and pesto with three layers of each. Decorate the plate with some drops of juice from the plum mix and some basil leaves. Enjoy.