January 2016

15 Jan // fritterlicious

If I hear one more person talk about giving up carbs for their new year's resolution, or that their clothes are tight after their summer holiday, or that they are unironically shredding for a wedding, I very may well scream. I am all for health, and eating lots of veggies, and getting exercise that you enjoy, but I am not at all for hating oneself, obsessing over calories, negatively comparing our bodies to others, or deprivation and guilt and self-loathing around food. It's food. You have to eat it three times a day, you might as well eat and enjoy and move on. Actually liking the body you're in, and yourself, is an incredibly powerful thing. Actually believing those inspirational quote photos on instagram instead of just posting them, and loving your body in all it's differences to everyone else and eating seasonally and enjoying it are just all great things I think we should try a bit harder to do. I despair, I utterly despair at the number of beautiful, intelligent, funny people I know who obsess over this shit. What if we all put that energy into something actually worth while? 

In the immortal words of Sarah Knight, maybe it's time to declutter your life and stop giving a fuck? About what other people, the bazillion dollar diet industry, or general society think? Hmmm? 

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Recipe inside!

Zucchini, mint and feta fritters

Like most of my recipes, the quantities are approximate. Fritters are a very forgiving recipe! 

Ingredients

2-3 zucchini, grated 

Small bunch fresh mint, finely chopped

Small crumble of feta, about 1 tbsp – I use Zany Zeus, it’s SO good

3 heaped tbsp flour – I use spelt flour as it’s a little lighter and just really nice

¾ tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt and crack of black pepper

2 fresh, free range eggs  (although if you only have one egg, that should do it – just reduce the flour slightly)

Method

Put all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well with a fork.

Heat a frying pan to medium-high heat and melt a knob of butter until bubbling. Reduce heat, and fry the fritters in batches, adding more butter or oil as necessary.

Serve with labne or good quality thick greek yoghurt. Add a green salad or a poached egg to make more of a meal. These are great made as minis as a canapé with labne and a dollop of beetroot relish too.

Note: to make labne, just mix 500g natural yoghurt with a teaspoon of salt and a few drops of lemon juice, then strain overnight either using a cheesecloth tied to a wooden spoon hanging over a conatiner, or a colander lined with paper towels, resting over a container. There's another recipe here if you're interested.

// Posted by Delaney at 3:44 PM

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10 Jan // 2016, come at me (with pudding)

Well would you look at that, a new year. Life eh? Just continuing to happen, with its ups and downs, and deaths, and holidays, and babies and exes and sisters and former flatmates and great old friends and new ones too. Weddings and rain and brunch and beaches and espresso martinis and stone fruit and pork buns and, ahem, rice pudding. 

Because January starts to feel just a teeeeeency bit like unemployment when you're a freelancer, I thought there was simply not a better time than now to dust off ye olde food blog, and write up some damn recipes. Because just like in the glory days of my food blogging career (heartbreak pie circa 2010-11) I'm single and home alone and ever so slightly melancholy on a Sunday night.

Keep reading!
Recipe inside!

Summer rice pudding with fresh peaches

This recipe is adapted from Annabel White's one here. 

Serves 4-6 

Ingredients

1 cup brown sushi rice (or any short grain rice you have handy)

4 cups full-fat milk (I used Lewis Road Creamery Silver top and Blue top)

1 scant tablespoon brown sugar

1 tsp good quality vanilla extract 

Small handful currants (or raisins)

Small pinch ground cinnamon 

Small knob butter

Method

Grease a small casserole dish with butter, then add the rice, milk, and sugar.

Add the currants/raisins, and the cinnamon and stir together gently. Add the knob of butter.  

Place in the oven at bake at 150C for about an hour and half. Turn the oven off and leave in there for another hour or two, or until you're ready to serve it. May I politely suggest putting this on during your sundowner G&T, turning it off as you start eating dinner but leaving it in the oven, then it will be the perfect temperature for pudding, and it's even better the next day for breakfast. Serve with fresh, ripe slices of peach.  

// Posted by Delaney at 9:36 PM // Labels: pudding, summer

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