Category: Gluten Free

Whole orange, coconut and saffron cake

I have made Claudia Roden’s whole orange and almond cake in various guises and with many tweakings for years and years since I first eagerly bought her encyclopedic book “A new book of Middle Eastern Cookery” while at university – somehow the co0kery book section at “Dillons” was always more interesting than the engineering one! Glancing at the book now, I see my handwritten notes about adding in some polenta in Romania and some fine cornmeal with musky mastic while visiting the Greek island of Kefalonia for a reunion.

The recipe is a Sephardic Jewish recipe which they took from Spain and Portugal when they fled the peninsula in the Inquisition and were welcomed to Turkey and other countries of the region including Egypt, Claudia Roden’s country of birth. This inspired me to add some saffron which deepens the colour and imbues the cake with that subtle smoky sweet saffron type taste.

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Golden Goddess Soup


Golden Goddess Soup/ Dahl

This is my go-to January/February blues tonic. It warms, revitalizes and gives me the central heating I crave – so I glow like a “goddess”! If you are want to cleanse after the season of excess, if you are doing “Veganuary”,  if you are feeling the “SAD” then this is your liquor!

The method is simplicity itself and as it thickens it becomes  “dahl” to serve as a nourising and cheap meal.

Ingredients: for 6-8 generous portions

  • 500g red lentils
  • 1 large onion chopped lazily
  • 5 cloves of garlic chopped in half
  • 2 tbsp olive oil,
  • 50g-100g ginger, peeled with teaspoons – chopped roughly
  • 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
  • 3 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp cardamom pods (remove before blitzing)
  • 1.5 litres of organic vegetable stock
  • Optional: 300g boiled carrots, pumpkin, squash (use leftovers)
  • Salt to taste

How To

  1. Lightly fry the onions and spices and garlic until just translucent. Do not brown.  Add any veggies the stock and the lentils and the ginger.
  2. Bring to the boil
  3. Lower to a very gentle simmer and cook until the lentils and veggies are soft – approximately 30minutes
  4. Take out the cardamom pods
  5. Blitz until smooth. If it is thick – reserve a portion to eat as dahl with rice. Thin the remainder with water to serve as your soup.
  6. I like to serve the soup garnished with olive oil and fresh coriander but thick yogurt is nice too.  The dahl I serve with rice, a fresh chutney and slices of avocado.

Wild Garlic (“leurda”) Pesto

This is a pesto that screams out that Spring is sprunging. It also packs a mighty punch of chlorphyll, vits and all things immune system boosting which is welcome relief after a long winter.

Its vibrant and warming with “Urda gnocchi”  excellent as a pasta sauce with young green beans and a personal fave…use as a sauce for grilled halloumi. But pungent it is – eat with those you love or those who love garlic!

In strange times it guarantees “social distancing” and aids social isolation greatly.

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