Go Ahead Honey! Its Gluten Free...

Oh how my heart sings with hope when I hear the words; 'Go ahead honey, its gluten free'. Well here at Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried, we are always gluten free and today I bring you some delicious contributions from other pioneers and experimenters on the frontier of baking without gluten; for a dedicated gluten free baking event. Just click on the link in each listing to visit the recipe.

This month's theme is Tea-time Treats; those morsels that we nibble in the afternoon with a cup of tea or glass of milk. It's a tradition that I love, celebrating the art of dropping round to a friend for a chat and a little something, or having a bit of special time with the kids after school while you read together, an excuse to stop what we're doing, munch and connect with someone we love.

You may have read the story of my contribution to this particular teaparty. Myself and Fin made some boozy babycakes, but found we were out of most of the ingredients and had to improvise enormously - luckily, the results were delicious, who would have known mayonnaise could be so versatile?

First to arrive is Linda of Make Life Sweeter who bought a delicious plate of pistachio cookies (pistachio moppen), pale green and crunchy, they made my mouth water and long for a glass of mint and rose tea to nibble them with.

Hang on, I'll just get the door... Hey, it's Gabi of The feast Within and she bought the most wonderfully indulgent coconut dacquoise chocolate caramel mousse stacks! Those babies would require a little R&R post tea-time to fully savour and digest. Gabi presents them beautifully with a Peter Rabbit tea set that I might have to hide before she leaves it's so covetable.

Here's Stephanie the Crockpot lady of A Year of CrockPotting, yes, I wish she'd leave that thing at home, but you know she is obsessed with her crockpot and as long as she's ok with it, I guess she's welcome to bring it along. She puts her crockpot to fabulous use with these peanut butter brownies - Stephanie, I had no idea honey, so creative. She truly is an original guys and one always likes to invite quirky people to liven up one's tea party.

When Lyra of Gluten Free Hippie arrived she told us she was all out of chocolate last night and was happily struck with inspiration before desperation set in, to create these blackberry molasses tarts. Folks, if you don't already know - I love molasses; I could eat it by the spoonful. It gets short shrift around here because Nick is most definitely not a fan. So Lyra, come in! I'll fight you for the last bits....

Esther of The Lilac Kitchen arrives looking a little sweaty as it's getting to that time in her pregnancy when just walking down the street feels like completing a marathon with a bag of shopping in each hand. Put your feet up Esther while I put the cheese scones you bought on a pretty plate. I'm so glad you made it.

Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita sashays in like the pied piper bearing the most decadent and delicious looking torta di noci, a fantastic combination of chocolate, walnuts, candied orange peel and Godiva liqueur. I had told her previously that I didn't know what flavour Godiva liqueur was and bless her, she bought the bottle to show me - chocolate and booze, you know I'm a fan!

Sheltie girl of Gluten A Go Go arrives with the most amazing looking creation. She tells us it's a Kronans Kaka, translated roughly as the crown's reward. It looks incredible, with a dark chewy crust and a decadent pool of icing waiting to be cut through. Shall I be mother?

Ellen of I am Gluten Free bought the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. Her husband didn't want her to post the recipe because he is convinced that they are a potential gold mine, but she is nothing if not generous and bought a who batch of the things for us to try ourselves. Well tell me what you think, they seem pretty fantastic to me.

A smiling Jeena of Jeenas Kitchen brings us a deliciously summery mango and coconut cake, moist and fluffy with golden mango shining on top when she turned it out of the tin. Mmm, bet it's good with a generous helping of whipped cream....

Finally, it's Carol of Simply Gluten Free with a delicious batch of Mocha Macaroons. They look dark and crispy, but I bet if you bite into them they have a gooey centre - shall we find out? Carol, keep and eye on that cup you bought with the macaroons - I would love to add it to my collection of retro crockery!

Thank you all for coming over for tea, I just loved what you bought! Next month's event is hosted by Linda of Make Life Sweeter and the theme is Birthday Baking for Kids - gluten free of course! See you there x x x

Another Meme So Soon?

It seems that us food bloggers have been overcome with meme madness and I'm tagged again, with hardly a blink since my last meme exposed some lesser known morsels for your delectation.

This time Katie of Apple and Spice has tagged me with a blockbuster meme that involves naming endless lists of things in fives. Not making much sense? Check out Katie's very own meme to see what I mean.

Now what I have to do is nominate five other bloggers to continue the meme themselves, let them know as best I can that they are tagged and get on with the business of writing my meme.

But every time I went to start this particular meme, I felt constrained by the enormous amount of information required and wished I could linger over just one of those lists. And so it was that I found myself reluctant to share five things I would do if I were a millionaire, five bad habits and five favourite toys. I wanted to look inside and pull up something that might surprise and delight you, so I'm subverting the meme just for now and choosing a list of my own making:

five tastes that I could not live without.

People I tagged, go back to Katie's meme if you would like to follow the original form, or if you like the line I'm taking, chose a five item list of your own, whatever you like, and tell us about it in gorgeous evocative language that calls us to respond with our hearts. Be creative; make this truly just about you. I can't wait to read what you have to tell me..... 

Five Tastes I Could Not Live Without

Butter

Mmm butter, the essence of comfort. Oozing sleepily from a warm pitta. Salty, smoky, nut brown butter, shimmering as it bubbles toward perfection, drizzled carefully over squash soup.

The hot pillowy flesh of a baked potato calls out for some cool butter to be soothingly mashed in. Butter melds with a pile of mint strewn bright green peas, gives the rich snap to a piece of shortbread and bastes that minute steak, sizzling savoury for a valentine.

Just think of the Madeira cake, butter cream, lemon curd, omelettes, late night toast and tea-time crumpets that would mourn the absence of butter.

Lemon

A clean astringent slice plopped into my morning Earl Grey tea. Squeezed over fish, stews and soups to balance the richness. The fragrant scent of zest on my hands after juicing a lemon, not sharp, but rounded, floral, the essence of summer, the smell of yellow. Ice chinking in a jug of lemonade, the yellow twist of zest lying casually in a Manhattan. A perfect partner for almonds in a rich, dense almond sponge, or cutting through the cool thick cream in a lemon syllabub. Lemons make the most refreshing sorbet to end a summer meal.

My favourite pudding when I was small was Magic Lemon Pudding. In a home where we were pleased to gobble up a piece of Guinness cake; dense, dark and bitter - Magic Lemon Pudding was the apotheosis of all things light, lemony, sweet and well, magical. The magic came from a sauce that the pudding made all by itself in the alchemy of the oven. The result was a light lemony sponge and unctuous lemon curd that lay in a bright yellow pool underneath.

Chocolate

Ah, my love, my dark, sweet, mouth filling buttery true love. Where some have wine, I have chocolate, finding a multitude of nuanced flavours in each different bar. I'm talking about the dark kind here. Don't bring no milk near my chocolate and definitely don't let the good stuff drop below 70%. I don't want sugar here, I want bitter, melting, cocoa rich chocolate that I can feel reaching the parts other foods leave untouched. Sometimes I like a little geranium or cardamom in my chocolate, or even some mint, but mostly I just want purity, like a musician listening to a single string and hearing the pluck, the key, the timbre and the fall.

Having said that, I do love to sink my teeth into a moist chocolate cake, sandwiched with creamy ganache. Nothing says christmas to me like a cardamom truffle, rough and home made, rolled in bitter cocoa, yielding to the bite and melting on my soon to be licked fingers. 

I often thank the universe for allowing chocolate into my life and sigh for those who cannot eat it, because lets face it - carob ain't no substitute for the good stuff.

Roots

Ok, so this is a collection of tastes. I couldn't choose one root over another! How could I favour the sweet juicy crunch of a raw carrot over a parsnip chip, hot from the oven, aniseedy, coconut fluff surrounded by a toothsome caramelised crust? How could I put either of those above the deep burgundy of borscht with a bright swirl of sour cream, or beets roasted dark and intense and drizzled with garlicky yoghurt, turning fuchsia pink where the juices run?

Roots are the very essence of winter, the starchy padding and the wondrous highlight. Roots ground us, filling the house with a warm sweet bready smell. When we need a bit of cosseting I'll make a steaming clutch of thyme scented stoved potatoes. Fin can never believe the dark toffee that oozes from a baked sweet potato, snatching a long sticky piece like it was forbidden. Raw roots are great, but roasted roots make my winter heart sing.

Cream

Now this choice may seem perilously near to butter, but let me tell you, I could not live without it and butter it ain't. I could (and have been known to) stand at the fridge door and spoon neat cream into my mouth. I'm like a cat with the cream, I'll lick the bowl if there's cream in it. 

The best cream you can buy where we live is unlike the thin, bland, pasteurised cream we get in the supermarket. It has a luminosity, if that's possible for something so opaque. A luminosity that lends the pale pale cream a golden colour. It clings to the spoon densely and tastes of grass and sun and the sea breezes that blow over the cliffs where the cows graze. It hasn't been pasteurised, or homogenised, only eulogised and smeared lovingly over deserts and cakes, and eaten in private moments, silently and thoughtfully, from a spoon, standing by the fridge, purring.

I nominate the following bloggers to take up the baton and run:

Klay of KlayDoughDreams

Nikki of Crazy Delicious

Chou of Balance

Esther of The Lilac Kitchen

Ellen of I Am Gluten Free

Forty Days In The Wilderness

Ok, I really hope it won't be forty days, but I am in the wilderness without an internet connection. I'm posting from the library just now...

I have a MeMe in the pipeline for Katie of Apple and Spice, a round up of the gluten free baking event, 'Go Ahead Honey, its Gluten Free!' and some other bits and pieces bubbling away, just waiting for the router, or the line, or whatever it is to sort itself out and let me come home again.

Bear with me....

x x x

Boozy Babycakes

This is my entry for 'Go Ahead Honey its Gluten Free!’ a gluten free baking event with the theme, 'Tea-time Treats', hosted by yours truly. I will be posting a round up of the other contributions to the tea-party at the end of next week.

Of course as you know my faithful darlings - there is always a story to tell in my kitchen. Well today that story is the age old favourite, triumph from adversity.

It starts with a grumpy boy who is annoyed with his new shoes (and tired of breaking them in) and a frustrated mum, who paid quite a lot for those shoes and wishes they would hurry up and get comfortable. We were going to Spike's house for the afternoon and Fin knows that it is just plain shabby not to turn up with a little something to share. We planned to make flapjacks and hastened to the shops to buy some fruit sugar for them.

On our return we found that we had only an ounce of butter in the house and only some walnut oil - not even a drop of any other kind (mummy has been busy blogging darling). But we didn't have time to go out again for the butter. Fin looked like a crumpled balloon as I started suggesting other items we could take. Until I mentioned chocolate cakes. Ok, chocolate cakes it was.

I vaguely remembered reading about mayonnaise chocolate cake somewhere and dug out a jar from the fridge, setting it next to the ounce of butter and walnut oil. 'Yuck!' shrieked Fin, 'you can't put that in my cakes!’

'Just watch me, honey' I drawled, like Jack Nicholson about to do something wicked.

However, when we got the cocoa powder out of the cupboard, there was only an ounce of that left - and we had to make 8 cakes to feed everybody at Joy's house. I abhor chocolate cakes that are not deeply chocolaty, and these already had mayonnaise in them. Fin looked anxiously into the cupboard again in case inspiration was lurking there.

It was then that my desperate eye veered towards the booze cupboard and lighted on the Kahlua. Aha! We set it beside the other ingredients and set to work mixing and beating as though we were conjuring life out of the philosopher’s stone. Into the oven they went and we stood back, not knowing quite what to expect.

Twenty five minutes later, eight fluffy Kahlua scented cakes came out of the oven. Fin broke off a piece and proclaimed them a success. As soon as they were cool enough we packed them into a box, jumped on our bikes and cycled into the wind, laughing in the face of adversity, all the way to West Bay.



Emergency Kahlua Babycakes (Gluten free, makes 8)

If you don't have walnut oil (or don't like it) then use vegetable oil. This recipe produces quite a light chocolate flavour - if you like it stronger, substitute 1oz of cocoa for 1oz of the maize flour. If you want to make fairy cakes, you'll get around 16 - bake for about half the time and check to see if they are done.

Wet Ingredients
1 oz butter
3 oz good quality mayonnaise (using free range eggs)
1 oz walnut oil (or vegetable oil)
2 medium free range eggs
4 oz fruit sugar
50 ml date syrup (or molasses)
50 ml Kahlua (or Tia Maria)
50 ml soda water (or milk/still water)

Dry Ingredients
1 oz cocoa
2 oz tapioca starch
3 oz sorghum flour
2 oz maize flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 160C fan assisted, 175C if not. Put 8 muffin cases in a bun tray and fill the spare holes with water. Put a tray of water in the bottom of the oven.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, allow it to cool for five minutes while you measure the dry ingredients and sift them into a bowl.

Put the butter saucepan on the scales and measure in an ounce of oil, 4oz fruit sugar and the 3oz of mayonnaise. Off the scales, add the date syrup, eggs and Kahlua. Whisk or beat until smooth and thick.

Pour the Kahlua mixture onto the dry ingredients, pour in the soda water and fold gently but thoroughly, until you have a smooth batter. Pour and scrape it evenly into the waiting muffin cases and bake for 25-28 minutes until the tops are springy and risen and a skewer comes out cleanish. Don't over bake or they will be dry. Cool on a rack until teatime and only let people know what's in them after they have finished!

Teff Pitta Breads

These pittas are rich and dark. Teff gives the crumb a sourdough density and tang, and lends the crust a chew. Pecan meal lends it a shortness and opens up the texture to produce a bread that is rich, satisfying and great with both cheese and pickle or creamy butter and honey. Brazilnut meal is also fantastic here, producing a creamier taste - if you're not too keen on pecans. If you can't eat nuts - I guess you'd want to try my sweet potato pittas instead.

I was eating the last of this batch yesterday for an afternoon snack, toasted and split, smeared with butter and honey. As I leant over my book with half a pitta in my other hand, Fin swooped in like a baby seagull and snatched it clean away. Chomp, chomp, chomp and my snack was gone. 'Mmm mmm! That was good! Can you make me one?' said Fin innocently. I went to the 'how do I feel?' chart and chose; 'frustrated'. Opened the fridge and peeled a carrot....

Teff Pitta Breads (Gluten Free - makes 7-8)

I used fast action yeast for these as it's what I had - it's the kind you use in bread machines. If you have another kind then just use the equivalent and take the water needed to froth it from the allowance given in the recipe. If you keep your flours in the freezer or fridge, warm them up before starting or leave for a couple of hours at room temp.

Dry ingredients
4 oz white teff flour
4 oz pecan meal (or ground pecans)
1 oz millet flour
1 oz tapioca starch
2 oz sorghum flour
1 tsp fast action yeast
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp xanthan gum

Wet ingredients
1 tsp lime or lemon juice
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs date syrup (or 1 tsp honey & 1 tsp molasses)
160ml (2/3 cup) warm water
1 large free range egg

Sift all the dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl.

Beat all the wet ingredients together and beat into the dry ones until smooth. It will be unmanageably sticky at this point - fear not! Leave to rest in a warm place for ten minutes to let the dough firm up.

Oil a few trays ready for the pittas and flour your work surface with one of the flours above. Scoop off peices of dough about the size of a small satsuma, roll into a ball on the floured surface and roll into a flat oval using a floured rolling pin.

Put these onto the trays, not touching - but they don't rise much so you don't need to leave lots of space. Leave them to rise for at least an hour in a warm place - covered if you have drafts. When the surface looks like it has bubbles underneath it and they appear to have puffed up slightly, put a shallow tray of water in the bottom of the oven and turn to 200C.

When the oven reaches temperature, sprinkle the pittas and trays with warm water and bake straight way for 8-10 minutes, until puffed and starting to take a golden brown colour at the edges.

Cool on a rack and freeze any you don't eat that day. They are great toasted straight from the freezer, with some butter - just shut the door to keep out seagulls.

Due to Popular Demand

I did want to include Fin's egg in my post on parsnip soup, but he had planned to show it on his own blog and felt there would be a conflict of interest. When a few of you lovely readers asked, 'where's the egg?' I approached him again. He drove a hard bargain - insisting that this was a one off and he didn't want any industrial espionage to blight the half term holidays. However, after some special pleading and not a little flattery, I have managed to obtain consent for use of these photos. Enjoy!

Spiced Parsnip & Coconut Soup

It's half term this week and the house has temporarily become a craft workshop. This morning, I was making soup whilst Fin was at the kitchen table fondling a bewildering assortment of felt fragments, bits of ribbon and clouds of wadding.

Fin was all fired up about creating a felt egg that would split open and reveal a white and yellow interior; he was going to fill a real egg box with them. Whilst I chopped and stirred, he explained his idea in the tumbling, enthusiastic way of a six year old with a plan; quelling my sensible questions with a stern look from under a pair of theatrically raised eyebrows. Soon Fin was forming some felt around an egg shaped shaker and stitching in great big ham fisted loops, as I tried to get on with soup making.

It sounded like a plan, Fin sews at the table and I cook happily across the kitchen, doting fondly on my darling boy. But I found that with each knot in the thread, pricked finger and new stage of the process, I was required to advise or kiss or fix something. My soup making crawled along and my stomach started growling.

Eventually both felt egg and soup were made, so I flopped into a chair to examine the egg which Fin proudly presented to me as though I had never clapped eyes on it before. 'Fin that's just amazing!' I congratulated, in my best children's TV presenter voice. He popped it into the box and cleared a couple of spaces at the table for our bowls.

Of course, I had to photograph my soup first, and when I bought it to the table a few minutes later, all that was left of Fin's meal was an empty bowl and grinning yellow smeared face. 'That has to be my favourite soup' he mused, getting down from the table to introduce his egg to the other members of his toy family.

Spiced Parsnip and Coconut Soup (serves 4-6)

This soup is creamy and subtly aniseedy, with a light curry flavour, if you want a strong curry flavour, double amounts of all the spices except turmeric. You can heat it up by adding cayenne or sprinkling chilli flakes on as I do (I use Pul Biber). Some fresh coriander leaves or toasted cumin, nigella and sesame seeds are also delicious sprinkled on top. Put a plate of lemon wedges on the table for those who like something a little more piquant.

Some dusty orange, Sweet Potato Pitta Breads with yellow butter oozing through them would be perfect for mopping your bowl, and bring some bright early daffodils to the table to banish any lingering winter blues.

1 medium onion
1 large carrot
3 medium parsnips
Half a medium celeriac
1/2 can of coconut milk (200ml)

1tsp fennel seeds
1tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3 green cardamoms
1 1/2tsp ground turmeric
Walnut sized piece of peeled fresh ginger

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large sauce pan, chop the onion and add it, turning the heat low, so the onions just soften slowly, but don't catch.

Peel and chop the carrot and parsnips into chunks and add to the pan to sweat. Peel the celeriac half and chop half of this piece into dice, reserving the rest for later. Add the celeriac dice to the pan and increase the heat to medium, stirring every couple of minutes for about ten minutes.

While the vegetables are sweating, grind the whole spices in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt. Chop the ginger finely. Add the ground spices, ginger and turmeric to the pan and fry for a couple of minutes stirring occasionally, to cook off any bitterness.

Add the coconut to the pan with a litre of water and cook until the vegetables are really soft. Puree the soup until velvety smooth in a blender and return to the pan. If it is too watery, cook uncovered until you have the right consistency - too thick, just add water.

Grate the reserved piece of celeriac and add to the pan, bring back up to a simmer and cook until the celeriac is soft but still has a little bite - about 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Poppy Seed Bread

It being Valentines Day, this is a post about love. There are no chocolates or hearts in this story, no romance or champagne. It's about some bread and a six year old boy and a virus. Sounds unpromising no?

Anyway, here it is. I made this bread yesterday for Fin's lunch. Nick was away in London and we had nothing in the house. I dropped him at school, peddled home, threw this bread together and cycled back with a wholesome lunch all wrapped in brown paper. I stood outside his class out of sight for a moment and watched him giggling over his work with a little shiny haired girl before heading home again.

Ten minutes after I got home, the school called to say that Fin had been sick, so back I went to pick up a pale quiet boy, who insisted he could cycle, no taxi please. I unpacked his untouched lunch.

Fin tossed and turned through the long afternoon until he finally fell asleep, tiny in my huge bed, with the fairy lights on, clutching piggy. I sat there for a while, drinking him in. Long black lashes lay heavy on his pink cheeks, a comforting thumb stuck in his mouth. I remembered that for all his chutzpah, he was still a baby, my baby.

This morning he was up with the lark, smiling and bouncing, all restored to health. I felt less perky and struggled to surface from the long broken night I'd just had. Fin rattled downstairs and reappeared in the doorway with a glass of water, asking could he do anything for me? I sat on the edge of the bed as he helped me on with my socks like an old lady.

Downstairs, he presented me with a heart sticker and pointed to his 'How Do I Feel?' chart, it was set to 'happy'. We decided that some toast was in order to celebrate his recovery and sat companionably munching. Chatting about this and that; glad to have this stolen day together. Waiting for Daddy to come home and complete us.



Quick Quick! Poppy Seed Bread

This makes a very small loaf, double the quantities if you want a larger slice and cook for extra time.

Double line the inside of a small loaf tin or butter and flour it. Preheat the oven to 180C fan assisted, 200C if not.

Whisk the following together in a bowl until frothy.
100ml vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3 tsp honey (or 2 tbs of agave syrup)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Sift these dry ingredients into the bowl.
2oz sorghum flour
2oz white teff flour
1 oz maize flour
1 oz ground almonds
2oz brazil nut meal (or Brazils ground fine)
tbs poppy seeds
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Sprinkle over the juice of half a lemon and 150ml soda water (plain water will do) and stir everything gently until mixed. Scrape into the loaf tin, level the surface and bake for 25-30 minutes until springy and deep golden brown on top. If you like a crisper crust, take the loaf out of the tin and give an extra 5 minutes in the oven.

Cool on a rack and eat when cool. Slice and freeze any you don't eat there and then, to toast for breakfast.

When it Just Ain't Fun Anymore

Last night I pulled out of the band. I'd been chewing over whether to do it for a few months, feeling that things would have to get just a little bit worse before I made a move. We were due to play a gig on Wednesday night and when it got cancelled, yet one of the band members wanted us to play it for free anyway, I started thinking, hmmm. When we found out last night that they had promised we would play it for free to the owner of the pub, I thought, ho?

After a few minutes of wrangling about whether we would do 40 minutes for free or an hour for all the whiskey we could drink, or half a set all together, followed by half the band limping on into the night just for sympathy. I thought, Naomi this is no longer a productive part of your life and needs to be gently set free, in order to welcome something better in its place.

I said my brief piece and we all sat around silently as though attending a wake, naked instruments in hand, wondering how to move forward.

One member of the band was convinced it must be their fault and started trying to elicit reasons and justifications. Yes, they were right, and it was this very act of prodding and pleading for reasons, that convinced me I had made the right decision. They were acting like a lover who demands to know every gory detail of an infidelity even whilst each word cuts them to the quick. But I chose not to give the painful satisfaction of knowing exactly what it was I found difficult. I'm not in the dirty business of handing out punishment here. I just want out, honey - yes it is you, but I'm moving on quietly, so let me go.

So for now, I will sing what I want, when I want. I will sing watery in the shower and loudly to the radio, I will sing with Finley when he makes up songs and I will sing in the street after a night out. I will miss those beautiful strings accompanying me as I sing, but I will not miss the angst and the pressure of having to dance about someone else’s neurosis. I will remember Jonathan Kay and that lesson about singing from the soul - because if my soul ain't in it, whatever is the point?

A Little Nut Brown Butter?

A while ago now, I discovered that you could caramelise butter to produce a deeply nutty, salty, version of its cool mild self. Drizzled over a soup, Turkish style, this nut brown butter adds a depth and savouriness; a fabulous counterpoint to chilli flakes, yoghurt and fresh lemon juice or the clean herbal notes of coriander. Included in a butter icing it takes on the smoky caramel notes of butterscotch. Added to cakes and breads it gives a wonderful rounded flavour that is harder to identify, but definitely there, warm, almost like wheat germ oil.

Lying in bed one morning contemplating swinging my legs out of the warm covers and pulling on a pair of knee high striped socks, I had one of those sensory premonitions that suggest how something might taste. Like a moment of synaesthesia my mouth sensed brazil nuts as my mind thought 'nut brown butter'. Without bothering to rummage for anything resembling day wear, I hastened to the kitchen and threw some butter in a pan, digging the Brazil nut meal out of the freezer whilst the butter sizzled, spat and underwent a touch of culinary alchemy.

I was right, my mouth was right! These muffins are a deliciously bready, nutty breakfast comfort. They are not cakes, but neither do they need augmenting with butter and jam. Just put the kettle on, crease open your novel and hope the neighbours don't mind you cooking in your underwear.

Nut Brown Brazil Butter Muffins (makes 10 large ones)

4oz unsalted butter
4 large eggs
6 tbs maple syrup (English dessert spoons)
2 1/2 cups Brazil nut meal (or Brazils ground fine)
1/2 cup millet flour
Large pinch of salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbs lemon juice (2 English dessert spoons)
4 tbs water or milk

Preheat the oven to 160C fan assisted (180C if not). Fill a muffin tray with paper cases.

Fill the sink with a few inches of cold water. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a high heat, stirring constantly until a golden brown sediment forms on the bottom of the pan. Don't let it get too dark or the butter will taste burnt. When it's ready, plunge the bottom of the pan into the sink of cold water and leave until the butter has cooled to luke warm.

Into the pan of nut brown butter add the maple syrup, lemon juice and break in the eggs. Whisk, or beat until smooth and thick.

Put the Brazil nut meal into a large mixing bowl and sift all the remaining dry ingredients on top. Fold in the butter mixture and extra milk or water until just combined and spoon evenly into the cases.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown on top and springy to the touch. Cool on a rack until warm and freeze any that are left over after breakfast.

Rhubarb Jewel Cake

Each time I visit the green grocers at the moment I linger by the sugar pink rhubarb stems like a shy teenager. I love rhubarb, even though it means sugar, which I don't love. Unsweetened rhubarb can be used almost like lemon juice, even served with fish or added to a rich Persian meatball stew with a sprinkle of rosewater. But when I see it lying there pinkly, all I want is to smother it in sweetness and scarf it down with a generous dollop of the richest cream I can find.

This week I succumbed to desire and bought some of the most luminous stalks I have ever seen, pale cloud colour at the tip and the deepest cerise at the root. I wanted to include them in some sort of cake and thought I would try using them to punctuate a rich sponge, rather than cooking the rhubarb down to a pulp. I wanted to see those pink pieces when the cake was cut.

Now I also wanted you to see them, as that cake looked pretty fine, but when I came to download the pictures only that of the cut rhubarb you see above, was left on the camera. Nick had unwisely emptied the camera trash before a site visit - without consulting me,

'you didn't have anything precious on there did you?' he asked on his return, with not a little trepidation.

'nothing worth worrying about my darling!' I cooed whilst sprinkling salt in his coffee.....

Rhubarb Jewel Cake serves 6-8

8oz pink rhubarb
5oz fruit sugar (fructose)
3oz softened butter
2 large eggs
4oz ground almonds
2oz tapioca starch (or arrowroot)
1oz millet flour
1oz fine polenta
1tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
Juice of 1 small orange or 2 clementines
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 160C fan assisted (170C without) and generously butter and line the bottom of an 8 inch deep sided cake tin.

Chop the rhubarb into 1/2 cm slices and put it into a glass or china bowl with half of the fruit sugar. Mix to coat and leave for 10 minutes before starting the cake.

Cream the butter with the remaining fruit sugar. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl and beat into the butter mixture a little at a time. If the mixture starts to curdle, add a teaspoonful of the millet flour between each addition of eggs.

Sift all the dry ingredients together and fold gently into the butter mixture until just incorporated.

Lastly, add the juice, vanilla extract and rhubarb to the mix and fold again to incorporate. Spoon into the tin and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top is springy to the touch and pale golden brown. Cool in the tin on a wire rack and unmold when cool. Serve with some cream on the side or a vanilla flecked crème anglaise or simply eat as it is with a nice cup of fragrant earl grey.

Gluten Free, Sweet Potato Pitta Breads

Fin's lunchbox has often been the subject of scrutiny by his friends or even the bemused dinner ladies drawn over to look at the contents as though they were an exhibit. Fin told me that one of his friends refused to sit next to him one day because egg features so often! Not that his lunches seem odd to me; there are always carrots in there for crunching and some other raw veg to keep the carrots company, maybe some fruit too or a piece of gluten free liquorice, or maybe a slice of cake or muffin.

The main part of the meal though does tend to be either a rice salad/eggy rice or a pitta bread filled with something mashed, on the mornings when I can't be conjuring up much at 7.30am. I had been buying these gluten free pitta breads purely for convenience at £1.99 for four! Eeek! They were overpriced and underwhelming, not to mention being composed of real high GI ingredients; rice flour, potato starch and tapioca, that woosh in and out of the blood stream like the TGV. I may as well have packed Fin's lunch box with sweets and crisps (like the other kids). So I decided to crack this gluten free pitta bread thing and make my own more wholesome versions. Since then I have made white Teff and chestnut pittas, incredibly moreish Brazil nut pittas and now Roasted Sweet Potato Pittas which I give you the recipe for below. I will work on the others some more and try to get photos before they are all gobbled up.

These pitta breads really are orange! They have a sweet soft crumb and a nice chewy crust, they even puff up properly to make the requisite pocket and they won't ruin your blood sugar. Keep them in the freezer and turn to them gratefully in times of need - just sprinkle with water and grill or toast straight from the freezer.

Roasted Sweet Potato Pittas (makes 8-9)

1 large sweet potato roasted until soft (8oz weight)
6oz sorghum flour
2oz maize flour (or millet flour)
2oz sweet potato flour (or 2oz arrowroot)
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fast acting yeast
25ml date syrup (or 1tsp honey)
50ml olive oil
1 large free range egg

Oil two or three large flat baking trays and set aside.

Roast the sweet potato with its skin on for about 45 minutes until soft. Peel and cool till warm.

Sift all the other dry ingredients over the cooled sweet potato and add the oil, date syrup and egg to the bowl and squidge together with your hands or mix briefly with a fork.

Add in enough warm water to make a really soft sticky dough - about 100ml. The dough really should be almost unmanageably sticky! Squidge it through your hands, enjoying the warmth and orangeness of the dough, until it’s really smooth and the colour is uniform. Leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle your work surface with some flour or fine polenta. I used fine polenta which gave the crust a really nice crisp bite, but Nick didn't enjoy the slightly sandy quality it gave - so use your judgement here. You could use any gluten free flour you like; it's just to stop things sticking

Scoop a large egg sized lump of dough out of the bowl with a spoon and roll it in the flour to coat and form a neat ball. Roll the ball out into an oval with a floured rolling pin - aiming for a thickness of about 3/4 of a centimetre. They don't rise much, so don't make them too thin. Place the pitta onto a prepared tray and finish up the mixture in the same way.

Don't worry about trying to get all the pittas on to two trays - any that don't fit in the oven can go in when the first batch is cooked as they only take 8-10 minutes.

Leave the pittas to prove for about an hour in a warmish place. You can cover the tray with Clingfilm or a cloth, but I find they are usually fine uncovered. If you like, brush them with milk or egg wash and sprinkle on some seeds.

Heat the oven to 200C. Just before the pittas are due to go in, sprinkle them and the trays with water, to help them rise and form a nice crust. Bake for 8-10 minutes, during which time they should puff up. Some will puff up like balloons - great if you can catch it happening - like watching one of those speeded up films of a flower opening. They are done when the crust is golden brown around the edges. Don't over bake or you will have crackers. Cool on a rack and enjoy one straight away with some creamy butter. Freeze once cold.

Carrot and Sweet Potato Muffins

I stayed with my sister Amelia on my first night in Brighton. Tash arrived with icy cheeks for us to kiss and we two sat with Shaun whilst Amelia busied herself with supper. As time passed the most incredible bready, cakey, fruity smell wafted through from the kitchen. Tasha's birthday had only just passed, so we wondered if Amelia might be baking up some sweet treat for later. Soon, the wait was over and we sat down to hake with fresh thyme, bowls full of watercress and local rocket and roasted root vegetables.

Those roots were delicious, parsnips, carrots and sweet potatoes, cut into chips and roasted until the sugars were caramelising on the cut edges. Amelia explained that there was no desert - we had been fooled by the vegetables. 'But these are amazing!', piped Shaun, who had been quietly munching while we chatted, 'it's like having sweets for supper'. Everyone else politely declined to eat the last sweet potato piece, so I gobbled it up before they changed their minds, enjoying the contrast of smooth fruity orange centre and crisp, chewy caramelised skin.

After supper, even though we had already had 'sweets', I broke out the Valrhona 70% and some Rococo Cardamom chocolate and thanked the universe for taste buds. When I got home, I knew I was going to have to bake some sweet potato into a bread or cake, and here's what I came up with.

Carrot and Sweet Potato Muffins (makes 8)

As you know, I love a muffin. When I am mulling over tastes and experimenting with flours, I like to trial them in muffin form before I move onto anything more adventurous, or arduous. I tried making some sweet potato muffins with cooked potato and found them just a touch dense. This second effort with grated carrots and lemon zest, hit that carrot cake, baked root button square on. I think they could easily count as one of your vegetable portions - if you think about life like that. Me - I'm just glad to find another way I can eat those orange darlings, go ahead and munch on a raw carrot while you're making them why don't you? I know this looks like a long long list of ingredients, but you should have most of them or substitutes for them in your cupboard - and the mixing is the work of minutes. So get your pinny on, dig out the roots and potter, in under an hour you could be peeling the paper off a moist cinnamon scented muffin....

3 1/2 floz vegetable oil
3 medium eggs
3tbs date syrup (or 1 tbs molasses and 2 tbs honey)
1 tbs honey
zest and juice of half a lemon
4oz carrots (scrubbed or peeled weight) grated
4oz Sweet potato (peeled weight) peeled and grated
2oz green raisins (or black raisins)
2oz sorghum flour (or millet or white teff)
2oz ground almonds (or other ground nut)
2oz sweet potato flour (or tapioca starch or arrowroot)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Grating of fresh nutmeg
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp xantham gum

Preheat the oven to 170C (fan assisted) 180C if not. Fill a muffin tray with 8 paper cases.

Grate the carrots and sweet potato.

Sift the dry ingredients into a largish bowl and set aside.

Mix together the oil, eggs, honey, date syrup, lemon zest and juice until thick and smooth, and mix them into the dry ingredients with the grated vegetables and green raisins. Just mix enough to get everything amalgamated.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the cases and bake for approximately 25 minutes until springy and golden brown on top. Cool on a wire rack while you wander through the house inhaling the delicious scent of cinnamon, baking roots and homeliness

Seven Things You Oughta Know About Me

I've been tagged by Carol of Simply Gluten Free to write seven random things about myself and nominate seven others to do the same. So here goes....
 
Raised By Hippies. Yes, I was raised in a hippie commune on the gorgeous Dorset coast. There we lived in a huge gothic pile, like lentil munching kings; surrounded by terraced lawns and rolling fields where dun coloured cows ruminated and naked folks tended the walled garden that provided most of our vegetables. There were no drugs; well at least none that couldn't be picked from the fields. We didn't laze about contemplating our navels; we were hard working hippies, with an almost Protestant attitude to life.

It was the best of times - it was the worst of times. It shaped me into the complex person I am and I do give thanks for that. I learnt how to milk those cows, what a talking stick is for, how to smudge someone correctly and which end of the incense to light. But I also got chilblains every winter, didn't see any TV for years and all my clothes smelled of soup. So I guess it was a mixed blessing, a fondly remembered time and one which I wouldn't recommend if you are averse to armpit hair or nudity.

Home Schooled. So I guess this may be obvious now from what's written above. I didn't attend secondary school. I went my own way, learnt how to make paper, print, weave, felt, dye, marble paper, made a spinning wheel out of a bike and learnt how to spin fleece into yarn, drew lots of chickens and a few cows. I learnt how to judge the water in a pan of rice for 30 people, how many carrots to pull up for a salad for 25 and how to avoid being put on the rota with someone I didn't like. I learnt how to meditate and how to take the piss out of nearly every group therapy going, especially Reikian therapy, by standing outside the window of the group room with the other kids shouting, 'NO - YES! NO - YES!' for far longer than anyone else found funny.

I found out how I like to learn - and it might not be the way you learn things, or the way you think things should work, but it works for me. I may not know the capital of every country and I definitely don't know all my kings and queens; but I do know a lot of useful stuff, and some esoteric stuff too and I'm coming to terms with the fact that I am every bit as good as someone who had a conventional education. Hey sometimes, I may even out shine them! I also have lots of qualifications; to show the world that I can get those bits of paper that say you know something.

Hypermobile. What? Sounds like some sort of deluxe touring vehicle, yes? It means that my joints move more than most. It's great for showing off at yoga classes - watch me put my foot behind my head suckers! I can put my head between my knees, stretch my thumb all the way back to my wrist, swing my arms in a complete circle back past my ears and sit cross legged like a child. It's not all fun and games though; actually not at all. Sometimes my hip decides to part company briefly with my leg joint - a real problem when I'm cycling.
It also nearly ruined my trip to Brighton. I was mooching around the shops in my smart double breasted winter coat when my shoulders started to ache horribly. After half an hour the pain was so bad I thought about stopping by a tattoo shop just to have a distraction from it. As I was considering this dubious course of action, I remembered that it might be my bra causing the problem. How so, you might ask? Well, this bra was padded (a girl needs a little help sometimes) and the combination of increased bust size and nicely fitted coat was pulling my barely joined shoulder joints out of their sockets. I rushed to the nearest M&S and purchased a sensible bra without a hint of padding and my shoulders sighed back into place with relief. Underwear - it's not as innocuous as it looks.

Costume Designer. One of those bits of paper I went after, post home schooling, was a degree in Costume Design. I love fabric, colour, plays, characters, drawing, costume history and corsets, how could this not be perfect for me? You know what, it was perfect - until I had to go on tour with film crews, who air kissed my girlish cheeks and stabbed me in the back with the dressmaking shears when I least expected it. Sure, it looked glamorous, but having to wipe the cocaine off an actor's nose to preserve continuity and being groped by a large perspiring opera singer as you adjust his cravat soon convinced me that - in the words of ACDC - 'it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll'. Bye bye film world - hello sanity.

Singer. I only occasionally mention this part of my life on the blog. I've always sung. My first boyfriend played the guitar like Joni Mitchell and I sang like her, together we were a great little Joni tribute. Can't say much for the relationship - but the music was great! I could do a good impression of Joni, but it wasn't until I took part in a performance workshop with the inimitable Jonathon Kay that I realised what it was to tell the story of a song from the centre of your heart. I sang a Joni song to the circle, imagining that everyone would be delighted until Jonathon stopped me, asking why I wasn't feeling the words? He made me sing that song until the tears ran down my face and my soul rang out with every word. There wasn't a dry eye left in the room.
When someone approaches me after a gig to say how moved they were by a song, I think of Jonathon and the gift of that painful experience.

Telephone Valium. I know this is an odd thing because I have never met anyone else who wasn't annoyed by cold callers. However, I have this odd response to those sales people who call to sell you double glazing or to change your energy supplier. I just drift off while they are talking, into a comfortable trance, like a sheep with a bag on its head. I get the same thing when Fin strokes my hair or I have a massage. Of course, I never take these earnest folks up on their kind offers of double glazing or cheaper power (we get expensive green electricity); I just wish them well and go back to what I was doing.

Rosewater. This isn't really a surprise to any of you who follow my blog, but it is an essential part of me. I love rosewater. I make cocktails with it, pour it into my herb tea, sprinkle liberal amounts over whipped cream and bananas, add it to cakes, meringues, biscuits, ice-cream, syllabubs and even meatballs. I even spray the stuff on my face before I lay my head down at night. It's a love affair that shows no sign of cooling off.

Pride and Prejudice. Every now and then I revisit Jane Austen's ode to the folly of mistaken first impressions. Even though I know every twist and turn and can quote it at will, it draws me back again and again. I guess I'm a romantic fool at heart and I find something incredibly satisfying in the inevitable melting of Elizabeth Bennett’s dislike of Darcy after the discovery of his goodness and his awakening to the folly of excessive pride. It's a book for those times when I need a little romantic cosseting - so no surprise then, that it never gathers much dust.

So there you are! Seven random things to flesh out the mischievous Max of the Wild Things that is my online self. I look forward to reading the following folks, should they choose to take up the baton and carry it. But remember guys, nobody will die if you decide not to - these nominations are just a suggestion of folks that I would like to know a little random stuff about. I nominate:

My Kitchen In Half Cups

Bake My Day

Laura Rebecca's Kitchen

Book of Yum

64Square Foot Kitchen

Ambrosia and Nectar

What's on My Plate?

Somebody Got Me

I just returned from a lovely weekend in Brighton with my sisters; mooching and shopping, eating a delicious spiced parsnip soup at Bills overpriced deli and some clean sweet green curry, infused with the heady scent of holy basil - in their local Thai, where the French waiter praised our order by saying, 'nice order, nice table!' in such a way that it seemed totally genuine. Bet he gets a lot of tips.

Later we played a raucus game of 'Who Wants to be a Millionnaire?' in a cosy pub, complete with authentic suspense building noises from Tash and the correct answering of the £500'000 question by Sam. With great excitement he asked for the Million pound question, but was horrified to find that the cupboard was bare and the box contained nothing higher than the £500'000 cards. Somebody had stollen those cards right out of the box - but why? We cheered him up with another beer, but the shine was off the penny.

Each night of my stay, snuggled up in a makeshift bed, I was free to read my book as long as I liked before I snapped off the light and fell into a deep and undisturbed sleep. I sighed and wriggled my toes, knowing that Fin would not wake me at 6am to tell me that he had found a new use for toilet roll innards. All I had to do was be myself. Thank you my honeys, I really do love you.

When I checked my blog this morning I saw that I had been tagged. My heart sank. I'm not really one for passing on those emails you get every other day from someone claiming that if you break the chain you are letting down the sisterhood or preventing cancer sufferers from getting better (by the way, I do help quite a lot in that direction already....)

I went back to Simply Gluten Free who tagged me and read her post. I love her blog, I loved her post. It was pithy, interesting, I wanted to read it. Damn, I'm gonna have to come up with something now and it better be good. Those of you who who would like to know some things about me that I probably haven't shared on the blog, hang in there - it will be my next post. Everyone else - there will be more baking soon, coming up are: brazilnut breakfast muffins, rhubarb cake and the recipe for that pea torte. Hang on in there.......