I've been trying hard to eat local. To cook as seasonally and as healthily as I possibly can. It's darn hard too! And it seems the easiest way to achieve that, is to develop an apathy for supermarket shelves.  So, I spend more time in market stalls. Meeting the hands that have grown the food on our table. I have a huge respect for them and in love with the beautiful produce they bring us each week. I'm so grateful for these passionate farmers and farm shop owners and thankful for their efforts. 

I've also developed the habit of looking out for trees on our journeys. So far, I'd know where to get walnuts and figs and blackberries too. Last week, we found a bountiful apple tree, So heavy, it's branches reached the ground. So I made pie! Foraged apple pie, with homemade red gooseberry compote and flavoured it with Vanilla bean and thyme from my tiny urban "jungle". And we ate it while it was pipping hot with a hot cup of Earl Gray. 

P.s: I've held onto some apples for a day that perfect for baked apples. I'll sprinkle them with cinnamon and douse them in Moscatel and cream...

Apple, Red Gooseberry, Thyme & Spelt Pie

Ingredients:
Pastry
280g Spelt Flour
30g Soft Brown Sugar
180g Coconut Butter 
5g Salt
60g Icy Water

Filling 
6 Medium Sized Apples, Peeled and Sliced
30g Brown Sugar
40g Almond Meal
50g Red Gooseberry Compote
5g Cinnamon poder
3g Nutmeg 
2 Sprigs of Thyme
1 tsp Vanilla bean paste

Preheat the oven to 200 degs C.
In a bowl mix thinly sliced apples with sugar, thyme, vanilla bean paste and spice and let macerate for an hour or so. Add almond meal and mix gently.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, coconut butter and salt with the tips of your cold fingers until you get a fine crumbs. Slowly add icy water until you have a soft dough. Cover in film and place in fridge for about 30mins.

Remove the dough from he fridge. Gently pat half of the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll to a 3mm thickness and line tart tin. Don't trim the edges just yet. Add the apple filling and gently stir in gooseberry compote. 
Roll the other half of the dough and cut into equal sized strips. Weave it over the filling. Cut off excess dough and pinch the ends. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with brown sugar. 

Bake at 180 degs C for 30 mins or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, or if you're like me, eat warm with a nice cup of tea. 

For the past few years my mission has been to replace the ingredients in my pantry and bubbling pots, with unprocessed ingredients & whole foods. I've discovered the wellness that comes with keeping ingredients as natural as possible. I've slowly seen myself turn into, a make it all yourself (from scratch), kinda girl!

I've made milk from pretty much anything I could find: Oats, soya, white beans & rice. I have substituted cows milk with Water or natural juices; spelt for wheat; wild honey, raw cane sugar or maple syrup in place of the refined white stuff. There was even that time my husband and I decided to go vegan for a whole two months. Not easy - I'll assure you, so admire those that do. 

 All this healthy eating isn't for everyone and I must confess to feeling a little guilty when we have our friends around and there's nothing but grains and 'brown' food to offer them in the pantry. However, because we love our friends dearly, we occasionally steer away and indulge them and ourselves!! After all, life is short. And we don't really like rules all that much!  Or so I tell myself after a big indulgence.

But these pancakes are both healthy and indulgent! 

Chocolate, Spelt & Poppy Seed Pancakes

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Spelt Flour
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
2 large eggs ( separated)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp Poppy Seeds
1 tspn Baking Powder
1/2 cup Hot water

Place a Skillet on gentle heat. Do not over heat!

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar. Slowly add boiling water until well blended. Sieve flour and cocoa into the bowl and gently incorporate. Add poppy seeds. 

Add baking powder to egg whites and whisk until stiff.  Gently fold into pancake batter, 

Thinly spread olive oil onto skillet and remove excess with kitchen towel. Spoon dollops of pancake batter onto skillet.
Flip pancakes as soon as you are able to lift the edge with a palette knife. Allow to cook gently.


Serve with chocolate sauce if you've been good lately!!

Our Sunday tables are invariably a journey back home. Both my husband and I are Portuguese, and can't help but set our table with a little from what we grew up with. We have this weakness for flan. Perhaps because its such a quick an easy thing to make, or perhaps its the satisfaction of making delicate desserts on top of stoves with bubbling pots. 

I'd never thought of making Pumpkin Flan before, but as they sat patiently on my counter tops, and rather than turn them into pie or soup or cake. Flan seemed the natural thing to make. 

Pumpkin & Spice Flan

400ml Milk
6 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs Plain Flour
1/2 cup cooked pumpkin
1/4 tspn cinnamon powder
Orange zest
pinch of nutmeg

To make caramel lining. Place 1/2 cup of sugar in a sauce pan on medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent from burning. When caramel turns a honey tone, remove from heat and line the flan tin, ensuring sides are well coated. Set aside to cool.

For the Flan mix. In a medium sized bowl, blend cooked pumpkin until smooth, add eggs and milk and whisk gently to prevent froth from forming. Dissolve flour and spice, in a small quantity of milk, to prevent lumps. Add mixture and zest to bowl and whisk gently, but thoroughly. Add flan mix to caramel coated flan tin. Cover tin, seal and tie with a string to prevent leakage.

For the "Banho Maria"
Place two fingers depth of water in a large pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Place sealed flan tin in water bath and cover pot with lid to retain steam. Cook on medium heat for 30 minute. Once flan has cooked, remove from heat and set aside to cool fully. 

Turn flan into a deep dish. Serve chilled! 

I love a challenge and when Norfolk St Bakery asked me to design their cake to celebrate their first birthday, I couldn't help but have the urge to recreate their delicious bread selection. This chocolate sponge layered with chocolate mousse was made to look like one of their bread baskets. A hand woven basket, filled with hand painted cakes to realistically represent Corn Bread, bloomer and spelt loaf. Safe to say, everyone was pleased about the chocolate flavoured bread.