The Green Familia » Recipes

Chocolate Tahini Fudge

Brenda — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:00:10 +0000

Here is a great recipe that is not only delicious but good for you.

Suitable for Vegetarians, Suitable for Vegans, Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Soy Free, Egg Free, Sugar Free

Makes 20 pieces

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Chilling Time: 3-4 hours

Storage: Keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. Freeze for up to 1 month.

200g / 7oz Essential pecans

200g / 7oz Essential walnuts

Pinch of ground cinnamon

200g / 7oz Essential chocolate drops

75g /3 oz Essential light tahini

150g / 5oz pitted soft dates

In a high speed blender or food processor, grind up the nuts until fine. Place in a bowl with the cinnamon.

Put the chocolate drops in a pan with the tahini and melt over a low heat.

Place the dates in a blender with the melted chocolate and process to form a stiff paste.

Add the paste to the ground nuts and combine thoroughly using your hands to make sure it is completely mixed. It should form a soft dough.

Place the mixture into a lined 20cm / 8 inch shallow square tin and press down firmly.

Chill for 3-4 hours until hard. Cut into chunks to serve.

Nutritional Information

Per square

Calories: 232kcal

Protein: 3.8g

Total Fat: 18.9g of which saturates 3.3g

Carbohydrates 11.5g

Per 100g

Calories: 562kcal

Protein: 9.3g

Total Fat: 45.8g of which saturates 8g

Carbohydrates 27.9g

Feast your eyes on this Vegetarian Christmas Dish!

Brenda — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:00:39 +0000

FESTIVE FAYRE CAN BE QUITE A CHALLENGE IF YOU’RE SERVING UP VEGETARIAN DISHES AT YOUR CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS – BUT TAKE A LOOK AT THIS CULINARY WORK OF ART FROM A LEADING CHEF THAT’S SURE TO WOW EVEN YOUR NON-VEGETARIAN FRIENDS.

Take one great organic vegetarian dish from a top chef, add a quality bottle of natural red wine, invite some friends over and you’ve got all the right ingredients for a fantastic Christmas celebration….naturally.

Aiden Byrne is well known for producing works of art straight from the professional kitchen. At the age of just 22 he was the youngest ever Michelin star chef – and having appeared on TV programmes such as Masterchef and the Great British Menu his face is known to many.

Now Chef Proprietor at 3 AA rosette establishment The Church Green in Lymm, Cheshire and Co-owner of the Hillbark Hotel restaurant at Frankby on the Wirral Aiden is a big advocate of cooking with fresh locally produced – and where possible organic – ingredients. So much so that he has written a cookbook Made in Great Britain that celebrates the very best of our nation’s produce.

His focus on using the best possible quality ingredients extends also to his wines – and he’s recently collaborated with a French vineyard to propose an award winning natural wine that’s produced to organic standards but that comfortably stands its own ground against established wines produced to more traditional methods.

Tour De Belfort is produced in a vineyard that nestles in an eco-friendly EC Natura 2000 zone (so no cross-neighbour contamination) in the Lot region of South West France without the use of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilisers or artificial flavour enhancers. Bees naturally pollinate the land – as well as producing honey – and the whole wine making process is carried out by hand from start to finish. 21,000,000 grapes are literally picked, sorted and processed by the vineyard owners, the Lismonde family, who have worked very hard to ensure that their wine meets Eco cert organic standards.

Their blend of four different varieties of grapes gives their wine great complexity and length which makes it an ideal companion to Christmas food.

This wonderful fine tart of aubergines and cepes from Aiden is easy to assemble – and with Tour de Belfort wine is perfect Christmas fayre. Even for non-vegetarians, it looks good enough to eat! Have it as a starter or increase the ingredient quantities and add side dishes.

Tour de Belfort wine is available from www.tour-de-belfort.com. I’ll be buying a case (free delivery) so I can give even a few away as Christmas gifts – and I’ll be taking them over to friends as our contribution to their drinks parties, eco-wrapped of course thanks to great tips from thegreenfamilia’s recent post on green gift wrapping! Enjoy!

Fine tart of aubergines and cepe mushrooms

Cepes and aubergines are a marriage made in heaven. I use this combination in lots of different ways – for non vegetarian guests with monkfish, lamb, or just as a wonderful vegetables-only starter like this one. You if you’re fish eaters you could also put some pickled anchovies on this tart if you like.

To serve 4 portions (starter size – increase ingredients accordingly depending on guest numbers )

4 sheets of filo pastry
3 onions (peeled)
4 large sprigs of thyme
250 grams of cepe mushrooms
6 baby aubergines
1 tablespoon of picked thyme leaves
100 mls olive oil
100 grams butter
2 cloves garlic (sliced)
50 grams of Parmesan cheese (shaved)
Buckler sorrel leaves to serve

Method

1. Place a sheet of greaseproof paper on a heavy baking tray then place the first layer of filo. Brush with olive oil, just enough to cover the filo, sprinkle with a small amount of salt and then sprinkle ⅓ of the thyme leaves, place another sheet in top then follow the same process as before. Place a third and final sheet on top and again brush with olive oil. Cover with another sheet of greaseproof. Put the other baking tray on top ensuring the filo is fully covered and the two trays are as close to each other as possible. Place in the oven with a heavy weight on top. A heavy pan will do. Bake for about 20-25 minutes and then remove from the oven. Once crisp, place on a cooling wire and allow to cool.

2. Slice the onions as finely as possible. In a warm pan, with butter slowly sweat the sliced onions, the thyme sprigs and a sprinkle of salt under a lid until the onions become very soft. Remove the lid and then the onions will begin to caramelize. This should take about 30-40 minutes. When the onions are golden brown, check the seasoning, you should be able to taste the salt and the natural sweetness of the onions should come forward. Pour the onions out onto a tray to cool down. Set aside.

3. Slice the cepe mushrooms and the aubergines lengthways at an even thickness so you can see their natural shape, simply pan-fry them both with a slice of garlic and a sprinkle of salt in olive oil until golden brown. Drain on a wire rack to cool.

4. Spread the filo tart with the onion, layer the aubergines and cepes on the tart filling it up as much as you like.

5. Top with the majority of the shaved Parmesan and simply bake for a couple more minutes in a hot oven. Serve the tart with the crisp sorrel salad and some more shaved Parmesan.

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

Brenda — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:00:31 +0000

Chocolate Avocado Mousse and many more surprises at www.ethicallyessential.coop

A vegan chocolate mousse recipe devised by renowned chef Rose Elliot is just one of the tasty surprises you’ll find at the new ethical online food store www.ethicallyessential.coop.

Rose developed this recipe especially for Essential alongside others such as the Layered Salad with Sprouted Seeds and Tahini Dressing. The idea is to demystify some of the more unusual, eclectic ingredients that can be found at www.ethicallyessential.coop and show how easily they can be used in recipes.

Intriguing ingredients such as Red Quinoa, Black Rice, Vegan Pesto, Cacao Nibs, Blueberry Fruit Spread, Rice Cakes with Sea Vegetables, Atlantic Sea Spaghetti, Broccoli Seeds and Midnight Feast Mix can be found alongside larder staples including Organic Pasta and Wild Rice, Tomato and Aubergine Pasta Sauces, Milk Chocolate Covered Brazils, Manuka Honey, Fairtrade Coffee, Biodynamic Tea and Whole Cashews.

This diverse range of over 350 products offers great variety. But they all have one thing in common: all are ethically sourced and traded. www.ethicallyessential.coop makes it easy for you to make a sustainable choice by offering an ethical shopping basket at the push of a button. Here you can shop with confidence, knowing that every single product has proven provenance and is ethically and/or fairly traded.

Recipe of the Week: Roast Rump of Daylesford Organic Lamb

Brenda — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:00:36 +0000

Roast Rump of Daylesford Organic Lamb

prep time: 2 minutes

cooking time: 25-30 minutes

serves: 2

season: spring

Ingredients

330g rump of lamb

sprigs of rosemary

1 drizzle of olive oil

Method

1 Preheat oven to 200 degrees- 190 degrees fan oven/gas mark 6

2 Drizzle the 330g rump of lamb with a high quality extra virgin oil, season with salt and pepper, and lay the sprigs of rosemary on the rump of lamb

3 Roast in the oven for 25 minutes for rare, 28-30 minutes for medium/well done. Remove from the oven and allow to rest, covered, in a warm place for a good 10 minutes.

4 To serve, carve the lamb into thick slices and arrange on a plate, drizzling over the juices from the resting tray. Delicious served with seasonal vegetables like honey and rosemary glazed parsnips and Red Russian kale.

Recipe kindly shared with us by Daylesford Organic.