Oh hi! Long time no speak, huh?
So, as I may well have mentioned in my previous post many moons ago, I've had a bit of time adventuring Stateside - a couple of days in D.C, another two in Charlottesville, Virginia, just over a week in Vail, Colorado & a precious few days in New York before heading home. All of those adventures will be duly documented here but unfortunately I've been beset by an essay deadline since I touched down in London town so haven't had a moment to collect my thoughts (or really, being honest, admit that it's over)
As befits the eponymous 'beet' of The Beet Generation I thought I would instead do a culinary round up of what I've been cooking since I got home to my kitchen. Travelling is always a joy with its opportunity to explore new places & people (& tofu scramble in Virginia, oh my) but so too is coming back home to my boyfriend & a big ol' meal plan for the next few days ahead.
Okay, so I can explain this first photograph. You may well be thinking - wait a minute, Olivia, you've told us that you've just gotten back from America, do you honestly think that you been deprived of pizza? Ha! As if. Far from. I'm willing to admit that I might even have gotten a little pizza-dependent. My intention here was a means of weaning myself off of the stuff. It started with this cauliflower crust. This was a labour of love. Actually, scratch that. This was a labour of oh-my-god-this-is-going-in-the-bin-right-now-I'm-making-spaghetti. Or rather yet another realisation of oh-my-god-just-buy-a-food-processor-already. I used something of a mix between this recipe from Lisa of That's Food Darling &, quelle surprise, that from Anna Jones' A Modern Way To Eat, featured here. Following an arduous hour or so spent finely chopping a head of cauliflower, cramping up & then painstakingly immersion blending it a tablespoon at a time, the batter eventually came together into something I could at least press into the edges of the pan. The oats & ground almonds that Anna suggests definitely help to crisp up the base while it blind bakes & you can get your toppings (favourite bit!) going. I've now made this recipe twice & I'm starting to get a sense of its any-night-of-the-week ease - a soft, sweet crust with a crisp edge, a rich tomato sauce, plenty of melted mozzarella & artichokes that fall apart as you lift the from the jar, delicious.
Elsewhere, given the volume of sweet potato & leafy greens that I've been eating, I guess you can say that I successfully weaned myself off of a predominantly ALL-OF-THE-CARBS diet that I enjoyed while on holiday. (I was skiing, okay? I needed all of the help I could get!) Alongside an expensive amount of raw almonds that came to fill the pockets of all of my jackets, I got to thinking about study snacks once I got home to, err, 6,000 words that needed writing. This beautifully simple recipe from Nigel Slater (i.e the old faithful) came to be cooked up & spooned into jars, often eaten hurriedly in library corridors but always savoured as something wholesome & nourishing in the midst of it all.
As if I just couldn't get enough of it in that pizza up there ^^, cauliflower has featured elsewhere on my table this last week, roasted with a dash of cayenne pepper & served with coconut quinoa (absolute revelation & soon-to-be-regular-feature, for sure) as per this recipe from Cookie & Kate. The addition of sultanas to the coconut milk & quinoa gave the dish an added sweetness that offset the spice of the cauliflower perfectly. Cardamom is another flavour that I'm just discovering & that I was pleased to see in this ingredients list.
& last, but by no means least (just wait until the dressing, seriously) - last night was the turn of Minimalist Baker & this recipe for her sweet potato chickpea buddha bowl. It was so easy to put together - sweet potatoes, tenderstem broccoli, red onion & kale roasted in my biggest pan & then piled into bowls with spiced chickpeas & drizzled with an incredible maple/tahini sauce. I also don't know how it is that I've never pan-fried chickpeas before, only ever stirring them into stock or chopped tomatoes, but they were so crisp & moreish that I'd happily eat it all again. Right now. Please.
So, what've you been dishing up lately?
& are you as much of a sweet potato fiend as me? I doubt it!
Speak soon - O.
