Marrow and tomato masala

Marrow throws out much liquid as it cooks. In fact, so copious are the juices generated it is almost a chunky broth.

If you don't fancy eating the skin of the marrow, simply scoop off the flesh with a spoon and leave the skin behind. However, if the marrow is fresh and young, this should not be necessary. Do try and find curry leaves, however, as they do add to the aroma of the thing.

Serves 4 (more like 5-6 with rice)

1 marrow, about 1 kg
salt
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp masala paste (used Patak's Madras paste from Sainsbury's Camden. Good.)
12 curry leaves, fresh or dried (optional)
750g ripe red cherry or baby plum tomatoes
freshly ground pepper
50g butter, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. Trim the ends of the marrow, cut it in half down through the middle and then halve each piece lengthways. Scrape out the fibre and seeds with a teaspoon and then cut each quarter in half yet again, also lengthways, giving 8 marrow "boats" [next time might be included to slice into chunks, as difficult to fit into anything at this length].

Sprinkle salt generously over all cut surfaces and place the marrow in a colander for about 40 minutes to leach out a modicum of the juices. Rinse and dry in a tea towel.

Meanwhile, in a large lidded pot, fry the onions and garlic in the oil until golden. Add the masala paste and stir around for a few minutes. Lay the marrow pieces, skin-side down, on top and add the curry leaves, if using, then tip over the tomatoes. Season and dot with the slices of butter. Cover and place in the oven to cook for about 1½ hours.

Delicately decant into deep soup plates, so each one has 2 pieces of marrow, a spoonful of the tomatoes and plenty of aromatic broth.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/28/simon-hopkinson-recipes-vegetarian-option

Yomi's Rice and Lentil Salad

-Boil wild rice, set aside till it's cool
-Cook lentils in bouillon - when cooked, let it cool down
-Roast sunflower seeds in hot frying pan, add a little salt
-Split pomegranate, and collect seeds
-Fry some garlic in a small amount of olive oil, add some lemon and a spoon of honey
-Chop parsley
-Mix the whole lot in a large bowl, and let it cool down.

Done.

Chocolate Mousse

Doubled the recipe below and got 7 portions.

125g plain dessert chocolate
4 large eggs, separated
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 3 tsp hot water
1.5 tbsp Tia Maria or other coffee, chocolate or orange-flavoured liquer
3 tsp caster sugar

- Melt chocolate.
- Immediately drop in eggs yolks; beat vigorously until mixture begins to thicken.
- Stir in coffee and liqueur.
- Allow to go quite cold. [not too cold - proved difficult to mix in]
- Beat the whites until they just hold soft peaks.
- Beat caster sugar into whites.
- Pour chocolate mixture into bowl of egg whites and blend. [lose quite a lot of volume while mixing to get even consistency]
- Spoon into large or individual bowls.
- Leave to set overnight.

Source: Evelyn Rose

Chocolate Dipped Vegan Cookie Dough Balls

Made these with Jude. Would be raw apart from the chocolate. Though they would actually be better without the chocolate in the balls themselves. Given that dark chocolate is strong, dipping them in alone would have been sufficient and allowed more of the nuts flavours to come through.

http://ohsheglows.com/2010/12/02/chocolate-dipped-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-balls/

Spiced Roasted Pineapple

Ingredients

• 200g/7¼oz caster sugar
• 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• small pinch saffron strands
• 3 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken
• 8 black peppercorns, left whole
• 10 fennel seeds
• 300ml/10½fl oz water
• 1 tin pineapple, or 1 whole pineapple
• Serve with cream or ice cream

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (try 220c next time?)
2. Place the sugar and spices into a heavy-based pan and pour over the water. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring well so that the sugar dissolves, then reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and continue to simmer for 20(? 10 mins too short) minutes, or until the mixture has thickened and resembles syrup.
3. Strain the mixture into a clean jug, discarding the whole spices (reserve the strained liquid). Set aside to cool.
4. Meanwhile, lay the pineapple pieces onto a roasting tray. Drizzle over two thirds of the sugar syrup, then transfer to the oven and roast for 20(? 10 mins too short) minutes, basting regularly with the remaining sugar syrup.

Adapted from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spicedroastedpineapp_91275.pdf

Pear Streusel Cake

This worked well:

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/crossculturaldesserts/r/pearcoffeecake.htm

Apple & Coconut Pie

Ingredients

• 4 apples
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 150g self-raising flour
• 75g Waitrose Desiccated Coconut
• 175g butter, softened
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 3 tbsp milk
• Juice and finely grated zest of 2 limes
• 6 tbsp apricot jam

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of a shallow oblong tin, about 20 x 30cm.
2. Peel apples and cut into small chunks.
3. But the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, beat until pale and fluffy.
4. Mix in the flour, 50g of the coconut, eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and lime zest.
5. Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the remaining coconut, then scatter the apple chunks over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is risen and golden.
6. Heat the lime juice in a small pan with the apricot jam, stirring until the jam has melted. Drizzle or brush over the warm cake, cut into slices and serve, with crème fraîche.

You can make the cake up to a day ahead, then reheat it at 180°C, gas mark 4, for 10 minutes.

Adapted from: http://www.waitrose.com/recipe/Mango_and_Coconut_Slice.aspx