This old favourite recipe has been in the making at Kitcheninspirations since the late 1980’s but I first posted about it in 2008 during the first year of the blog. Believe me when I say it is probably the most made recipe over here and it never disappoints. It is very chocolate-y and rich tasting. I usually serve it with a thin base of cherry jam or seedless raspberry jam but today, it is bold and beautiful on its own. This recipe is a little more complex than the first rendition only because I am using date sugar and as you know, fruit sugars tend to absorb a lot of moisture so I had to compensate and add a bit more milk into the batter which resulted in a smooth, almost pudding-like cake that kept its structure.
I first posted a version of this cake in January 2008, the first year of this blog.
Since my initial post, we are trying to cut down on processed sugars and some carbs but sometimes dessert is a must at the end of a dinner party so I am converting some of my old recipes to a slightly healthier version.
Revamping the Classic Molten Lava Cake using Date Sugar and Date Syrup
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 2 ramekin cakes
Ingredients:
75 g bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate
15 g butter, unsalted
12 g cocoa powder, unsweetened, sifted
1 egg, separated
50 g date sugar, sifted and divided
150 mL milk (any kind)
5 mL pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
10 mL date syrup
Directions:
Prepare the ramekins with the cake release mixture (see notes).
Melt the chocolate and butter together in the top of a double boiler or in a microwave, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the sifted cocoa, whisk until smooth. Set aside.
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites in a stand mixer or by hand until they form soft peaks, add the sifted date sugar and beat a few moments more, set aside.
Beat the egg yolks with 25 g of sifted date sugar (no need to clean beaters). Add the egg yolk mixture to the cooled melted chocolate and beat further, adding the milk until a smooth batter forms.
Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate with a rubber spatula, thoroughly incorporating. Gently fold in the rest.
Reserve 10 mL of the batter and add 10 mL of date syrup, mix well, set aside.
Fill the ramekins about two-thirds full of the chocolate batter , and create a divot in the centre that doesn’t expose the bottom of the ramekin; ensure there is enough batter left to cover each cake. Add about 10 mL of the chocolate date syrup mixture into each divot and then cover with the remaining batter, smooth over. Repeat with the other ramekin.
Refrigerate covered for 30 minutes or until almost ready to serve. Bake from the refrigerator, do not bring to room temperature.
Bake the ramekins at 400° F until they have risen and cracked on top but are still a bit runny in the center, about 12-15 minutes.
Let the cakes sit for a few minutes, then turn them out and serve immediately.
It’s the perfect combination of firm cake and a molten, oozing chocolate centre.
Notes:
Dates have a low glycemic index (GI) and allegedly do not cause significant blood sugar spikes when eaten in moderation. Do your own research.
This batter is significantly thicker than the original, that’s why I added the milk. Date sugar, like many other fruit sugars, tend to absorb a lot more moisture than regular granulated sugar.
Cake release is equal parts of vegetable shortening, vegetable oil and flour (I generally make a combo of 15 mL each and it lasts in the refrigerator.
I have been trying to find a safe alternative sweetner as I have read some nasty things about Erythritol so I was very excited to find date sugar. Apparently, dates do not impact blood glucose levels as other sugars but moderation is key. I have been trying to limit our carbs, including sugars baked into treats so when I discovered date sugar, I was excited to give it a go. This brownie recipe is easy because it is assembled in the large bowl of your food processor. This is not an overly sweet so it’s right up our alley.
Preheat oven to 350° and line a 23 cm x 33 cm baking pan with parchment paper.
In the large bowl of your food processor, combine the butter, cashew butter, eggs, cocoa powder, almond flour, baking powder, salt, water, vanilla extract, and coffee and process until smooth and you can no longer feel granuals when pressed in between your fingers.
Pour the mixture into the baking dish and smooth with an offset spatula. The batter will be thick but spreadable.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until just set. Overbaking the squares will make them dry. Start checking for crumbs on an inserted toothpick around the 20 minute mark.
Allow to cool for 20 to 30 minutes before cutting into it.
Notes:
I used cashew butter because it is what I had on hand, but you may use any nut butter.
Next time I will skip adding water and up the coffee to 95 mL.
Drizzle sugar-free melted chocolate over the top for an added layer of chocolatey-ness.
I have seen this type of rice paper dumpling for quite some time and I have been curious about them but until I saw them on Lorraine’s beautiful blog, I was hesitant to make them as I have been duped before! These are the real deal and they are easy to make. I just made six to test the recipe but it would be very easy to double or triple it. I think they would freeze well in an air-tight container, not touching each other or oiled lightly. I would freeze them before pan frying.
Chuck full of shrimp.
Shrimp and Scallion Rice Paper Dumplings
Makes 8 x 2-bit dumplings
Ingredients:
125 g shrimp, cut into large chunks
2 scallions, sliced thickly (around 2 mm each)
2 g ginger, finely grated
5 mL date syrup
3 rice papers (20 cm x 20 cm), each cut into 10 cm squares
30 mL sesame oil
Directions:
Combine the shrimp, scallions, ginger and date syrup and mix well.
Take one 20 cm square of rice paper and place about a tablespoon of the shrimp mixture in the centre (see folding technique below. Pull up each side corner and secure it onto the other, then pull in the top and bottom and secure them onto each other. Smooth out the corners if they stick out to make a round-ish dumpling. Repeat with the other rice paper square, turning the corners so the two don’t overlap the same way.
Fry each side until golden and crispy.
Crispy and chewy at the same time.
Notes:
I used 20-30/lb shrimp that I cut into fifths (yes, they still refer to pounds on the shrimp bag, even though they are sold by the gram or kilogram!)
I also used square rice paper about 20 cm by 20 cm.
You could use a 20 cm round but I would use 1 per dumpling, folding over only once so there is only one layer.
The sauce is a simple recipe of 15 mL each of soy, mirin, rice vinegar, and water, 5 g date sugar,and 5 mL toasted sesame oil with about 2.5 mL finely grated ginger, mix well and serve.
I had quite a lot of cabbage left over from my cabbage fresh roll post, so I wanted to create something new and different. I spotted oven-roasted cabbage and fell in love. The roasting creates charred bits that don’t taste as bitter as you would think, which adds a lovely contrast to the rich casshew sauce. Truth be told, I wanted tahini Sauce but I tossed the tahini because it had expired but then I remembered I had some casshew butter I made before we left for Spain and decided to use it instead.
The cabbage roasts up sweet and the tangy Cashew dressing is a lovely foil for it. The duqqa provides texture and some flavour.
Roasted Cabbage with Duqqa and Cashew Sauce
Serves 4 as a meal, 8 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
1 cabbage head cut into eighths
Olive oil for rubbing
Sea salt and pepper for taste
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Rub the olive oil over both sides of each slice and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, then turn each slice over and bake for 10-15 minutes. Light charring is acceptable and preferred.
Cashew Sauce
Ingredients:
5 g Roasted Garlic
3 g Sea Salt 1/2 tsp salt
60 g cashew paste
40 mL freshly squeezed lime juice
65 mL cold water, more if needed
Freshly chopped Cilantro
Directions:
Place all the ingredients except the water and cilantro into a bowl which can take an immersion blender. Blend until smooth, adding extra water to make a pourable sauce.
Place all the ingredients except the Aleppo pepper into the bowl of your food processor. Blend until everything is about the same size. Stir in the Aleppo peppers.
Assembly:
Divide the cashew sauce evenly amoungst the plates leaving a little to drizzle on each cabbage. Place 1 or 2 slices of the cabbage onto each plate and drizzle with the remaining cashew sauce.
Sprinkle with the Duqqa and serve warm.
Notes:
Crumbled bacon, or crispy serrano ham would be wonderful on this dish.
At Kitcheninspirations, we LOVE carbs, sadly they don’t love us, so I am always on the lookout to find alternatives that are low-carb friendly. Let me just say this recipe isn’t my idea. I saw it in several virtual world places and absolutely LOVED it! Using cabbage as the rice paper wrap is genius! There are a couple of ways to make the cabbage more pliable, like freezing the entire head and thawing it for a few hours. I did not have time for this method, so I just blanched the cabbage leaves individually. Both methods are good. If you blanche, some cabbages like Cannonball Cabbage will take longer because of the thick spine. The other cabbage I experimented with was the Korean Flat Cabbage, it took less time to blanche because the spine is thinner than the Cannonball Cabbage. Even after blanching the Cannonball Cabbage for 10-12 minutes, I still had to trim the spine of the Cannonball Cabbage to make it easier to roll, like a fresh roll. I also discovered that bigger is better, as the leaves become significantly smaller as you peel them off the cabbage. I ran out of decent-sized leaves in the Flat Cabbage sooner than I did with the Cannonball Cabbage. From a medium-sized head, I netted about 8-12 fresh rolls. Surprisingly, these fresh rolls are pretty filling, so I would count 2-3 per person, depending on what else you are serving.
JT loved them.
Cabbage Wrap Fresh Rolls
Makes 8-12 Fresh Rolls (about the same size as a rice paper fresh roll)
Ingredients:
8-12 blanched cabbage leaves, spine trimmed if necessary
Meat filling for the fresh rolls, I used this recipe
Shredded carrot (omit if you are low-carb)
Shredded cucumber
Pickled shredded cabbage (see notes for quick recipe)
Peanut dipping sauce (see below)
Directions:
Take one cabbage leaf and lay it in front of you, stem side closest. Put a small amount of each filling onto the end and spread it out to about the width of a standard fresh roll.
Begin to roll the cabbage leaf toward the far side, folding in the ends as you roll. Set the roll on the loose end side to help “glue” it.
Serve with Peanut Dipping Sauce (I used the recipe below)
They look like fresh rolls too!
Quick Pickled Cabbage
Ingredients:
125 mL white vinegar
250 mL hot water
30 g sugar substitute (I used date sugar)
10 g salt
Very finely sliced cabbage
Directions:
Combine the vinegar, water, sugar and salt and mix until the granuals have dissolved.
Add the vinegar mixture to the finely sliced cabbage and allow to stand, at room temperature, undisturbed for 15 minutes, while you prepare the other inclusions for the fresh rolls.
Sweet, tart and salty dipping sauce.
Peanut Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
20 g sugar substitute (I used date syrup)
50 g peanut butter or peanut sauce
30 mL rice vinegar
10 mL soy sauce
30 mL warm water
Directions:
Mix all together to create a homogeneous sauce, adding water if necessary.
Notes:
I can never figure out the exact amount of filling I need to make anything that is rolled or in little pockets. My general rule of thumb is about 250 g of ground meat and handfulls of the filler veggies.
If you have leftovers, they make an excellent salad the next day or you could freeze the meat mixture for another time.
Truth be told, I have been in search of a flakey laminated biscuit that is Keto so there are a lot of experiments going down in the Kitcheninspirations’ Kitchen! This is one experiment that actually worked out but instead of being a flaky laminated biscuit, it immediately reminded me of cornbread, yet there is nary a grain of cornmeal found anywhere near this delicious biscuit. These biscuits are delicious warm right out of the oven with some butter. We had them with a bowl of creamed cauliflower soup.
Keto “Cornbread” Muffins
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 8 Muffins
Ingredients:
100 g superfine almond flour
50 g oat fibre
2 g salt
15 g baking powder
15 g Erythritol
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
90 g Greek yogurt
100 mL milk (any kind, unsweetened)
39 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
100 g shredded cheddar cheese (plus more for garnish, if desired)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400° F. Prepare 7 muffin cups with cake release generously brushed into the cups.
Combine the dry ingredients and whisk so they are evenly incorporated. Add the shredded cheddar and mix evenly.
Add the eggs, yogurt and melted butter to a large measuring cup and whisk well.
Create a valley in the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and stir to combine so there are no dry areas.
Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop a well-rounded scoop into each muffin cup. Garnish with a little shredded cheese.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
These muffins have a delicious buttery flavour.
Notes:
To make these a little more flavourful, add 30 g of the following:
finely sliced green onions (~30 g)
finely diced jalapeños or hot chilli peppers (or more if you really like it hot!)
Since our return to Canada from Spain in early December 2024, I have not been able to warm up. Truthfully, I am so done with winter, the cold, the snow and the dreariness. I am already counting the days until our next trip to Spain. Needless to say, soups have been high on my priority list and this beauty showed up on my reels and I was smitten. It does seem like a lot of mushrooms, but other than cleaning them, there is not much individual attention to them.
Easy, Peasy, Creamy Mushroom Soup
Makes 1 L of soup
Ingredients:
680 g mushrooms, any kind, cleaned and stems removed but saved
1 onion, cut into fourths
Olive oil
30 mL cognac
30 mL roasted garlic
750 mL beef bone broth
30 mL cream or milk
toasted walnuts for garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Lay the mushrooms stem side down on a baking sheet, and fill in the gaps with the stems. Drizzle with olive oil.
Add the cut onion in between the mushrooms.
Bake the mushrooms/onion for 20 minutes, drizzle with the cognac and return to the oven to bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and place the mushrooms (reserve about 10 mushrooms for garnish) and onion into a large blender, along with the liquid in the pan, the roasted garlic, beef bone broth and cream, if using. Blend until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
Press through a fine sieve for an ultra-creamy soup.
Serve hot with slices of the reserved mushrooms and toasted walnuts as garnish and a drizzle of cream.
The mushrooms add the creaminess to this wonderful soup.
Notes:
If you don’t like mushrooms, don’t make this soup.
For a heartier soup, add 100 g of roasted, peeled chestnuts and purée until smooth.
I usually don’t politicize my blog but I just can’t sit silent. Saying Canada should be the 51st state is extremely offensive to Canadians, it’s no joke. So, even if you try to lighten the implications of that statement as frivolous humour, please stop. It is extremely offensive. There, back to our regular programming.
My socials are mostly food-focussed and the more I look at my socials the more disenchanted I become. Don’t eat this because it contains more than acceptable amounts of lead, don’t eat that because it has forever chemicals, don’t eat this because it kills the rainforests. Does it ever stop? Then there is the question of whether you trust the labels as the manufacturers are becoming increasingly sneaky and renaming unhealthy ingredients! Thus, I have often wondered whether store-bought yogurt actually has any benefits that real yogurt has?
The last two weeks of November during our sojourn in Spain, I became quite ill with some sort of stomach bug which I suspect morphed into complications of a pre-existing condition which lasted through mid-December! Once I started feeling like myself, I started thinking about getting some good pro-biotics in me and by coincidence, I had lunch with a dear friend who told me about her experience in making probiotic yogurt! She mentioned that it is very easy and her family loves it so much! So, she gave me some samples of probiotics and prebiotics to make two one-litre batches. They turned out OK because she had told me to use 18% cream and I used 3.25% milk instead so my batches were a bit runny. I strained it in the fridge and it was incredible! My most recent batch, I succumbed and used 18% cream and WOW! What an incredible flavour and texture. Now, if you’re thinking you’d love to make your own yogurt, but you have to buy some new equipment, fret not friends because I made yogurt in my Instant Pot without the Yogurt setting! Yes, you read that correctly: no Yogurt setting.
The trick to thick, creamy, rich yogurt is the process. You have to take the cream to 195° F and hold it there for 10 minutes. Then cool it to 99° F and mix in the pre and pro biotics (details in recipe). You then pour this mixture into sterilized jars that fit into the stainless steel bowl of your Instant Pot and fill the Instant Pot bowl with warm water to the level of the milk mixture, cover with the standard lid. Set the Instant Pot to “Sous Vide” at 99° F for 15 hours. I would check at 5 hours, then 10 hours but 15 hours should yield a super thick and creamy product, no need to strain (I put mine on overnight so I wasn’t checking but by the time I saw it it was around 15 hours and super thick and creamy).
I still recall my grandmother making yogurt from slightly spoiled milk on the top of the gas stove (away from the pilot light but near enough for the heat).
Homemade Probiotic Yogurt
Makes about 2 litres of yogurt
Ingredients:
2 litres of 18% cream
250 mL 35% whipping cream
2 probiotic pills (powder only, not the pill)
30 g prebiotic powder, such as Inulin
Directions:
In a large pot, combine the creams and stir well. Slowly bring the cream up to 195° F and hold for 10 minutes. Cool to 100° F.
In a smaller glass measuring cup, measure out about 250 mL of the cooled cream mixture and mix in the probiotics and prebiotics, stir well to dissolve any lumps.
Pour the mixture back into the cream and mix well. Pour this liquid into sterilized jars that fit into the Instant Pot bowl. Fill the Instant Pot bowl with warm water to the level of the cream. Set the lid on top (mine didn’t lock but that’s OK) and set the Instant Pot to the Sous Vide setting at 99° F for 10 hours. Check the thickness at 5 hours and if still a little too jiggly, check again at 10 hours. I just jiggled the glass to see how jiggly it was. When it has reached the thickness you want, remove them from the instant pot, add lids to the jars and refrigerate until needed.
Notes:
I have noted the brands of pre and pro-biotics I used in the photo above but you can check in your health food store to see what they have. They don’t impart any particular flavour so it really doesn’t matter, but you need both.
I don’t pretend to know anything about the science of yogurt making, but I did read that pre-heating the cream will result in a sweeter and thicker product than not pre-heating.
When I used 3.25% milk, I did not pre-heat and the yogurt was quite tart and runny but it was easily fixed by straining it overnight.
I use yogurt exclusively in my cooking instead of sour cream so this batch will last about 7-10 days, also it depends on how much we snack on it.
In my latest batch, I used 1.25 L 3.25% Milk with 1 L 18% cream. Heated to 195° F and held for 20 minutes, then cooled to 100° C. Beautiful, thick creamy yogurt was the result. The difference is preheating the milk/cream.
I made this batch of Tangzhong cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas Day. We didn’t have any plans as Christmas Eve was celebrated on the twenty-fourth and JT’s Christmas was on Boxing Day, December 26. I love that the Tangzhong makes the dough pillow-soft but it also is an amazing preservative. Google says this, “Tangzhong is a Chinese technique that creates a starch gel that can be used in baking to improve the texture of bread but also to increase its shelf life so it doesn’t go stale as quickly.” Although we would love to scarf down the entire batch in one sitting, we restrain ourselves and have only one for breakfast. Would you be able to resist these soft Cinnamon Rolls?
Combine all of the ingredients in a small pan. Whisk on low heat until it becomes thick. Set aside to cool.
Ingredients for the Dough:
248 g unbleached “00” flour
11 g nonfat milk powder
8 g instant yeast
all of the tangzhong (above)
170 g whole milk, lukewarm
1 large egg
48 g unsalted butter, melted
5 g table salt
Directions:
Whisk to combine the flour, milk powder and yeast in the large bowl of your stand mixer. Set aside.
Combine the remaining ingredients, except the salt and mix well.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry and knead the dough until it comes together. All it to rest for 20 minutes.
Once rested, add the salt and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside covered, in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes. It doesn’t necessarily need to double in size but mine did.
Ingredients for the filling:
245 g packed brown sugar
18 g cinnamon
76 g unsalted butter, room temperature
5 g orange zest
75 g walnuts, toasted
Directions:
Cream the butter with the cinnamon, brown sugar and orange zest.
Fold in the walnuts. Set aside at room temperature.
Assembly:
Prepare a pan with cake release and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Preheat the convection oven to 350° F
Punch down the dough and roll it out to 48 cm x 20 cm.
Spread the filling to three edges leaving a long edge about 1 cm clear. Roll from the long edge with the filling to the edge and pinch the remaining edge to seal. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for about 35-40 minutes.
Cut into 12 equal lengths and lay cut-side down in the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature is 188° F.
Allow to cool in the pan.
Ingredients for the icing
50 g confectioners’ sugar
A pinch of table salt
14 g butter, melted
2 g pure vanilla extract
14 g milk or heavy cream, enough to make a thick but spreadable frosting
35 g cream cheese, at room temperature
Directions:
Combine the ingredients to make a runny glaze.
Drizzle the glaze over the warm rolls.
Serve warm.
Pillowy, soft cinnamon rolls, definitely a treat.
Notes:
These rolls freeze well. Bring them to room temperature to reheat.
To reheat the rolls, wrap them in parchment paper and foil and reheat at 275° F for 20-30 minutes.
We started watching America’s Test Kitchen because our new internet plan has included some additional channels and one of them is the AMK Channel, playing all of their episodes all the time. This Tomato and Feta Tart Tatin hit a cord with JT and I and I knew had to make it, my way. Tomatoes are not great in winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, in fact, they can be pretty dismal so I developed a technique that caramelizes the tomatoes before they are added to the tart tatin which really concentrates their flavour. JT said I can definitely make this again!
Tomato Feta Tart Tatin
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 20 cm tart
Ingredients:
20 g unsalted butter
15 mL garlic olive oil
30 mL balsamic vinegar
3 tomatoes, skinned, seeds and jelly removed
5 mL salt, more for taste
65 g sweet onions, diced finely
1 all-butter puff pastry sheet
100 g sheep’s milk feta, crumbled
Handful of pinenuts, toasted
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Salt the tomatoes for 15 minutes, pat dry.
Cook the tomatoes in the air-fryer on 400° F until most of the moisture has evaporated and the tomatoes are beginning to caramelize, about 20 minutes..
Melt the butter and olive oil in a cast iron pan. and cook the onions on medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the Balsamic vinegar and stir well to incorporate.
Bring the vinegar mixture to a slow boil. Add the tomatoes, exterior side down. Add the puff pastry sheet, tucking the edges in well. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
Allow to sit for about 20 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Wait about 10 minutes until cutting into it so juices can be absorbed by the pastry.
Serve with additional Sheep’s Milk Feta crumbled over the tart.
This is a wonderful, light lunch full of flavour for the dreary winter days.
You may recall that I have posted this recipe back in 2019. That recipe technique was similar to what one uses for Gourgiers; Melt a fat, add the flour then the eggs and the cheese. This ingenious recipe does everything in the blender or food processor, making the process a lot simpler. Back in December, just after we returned from Spain, I was filling the freezer with quick and delicious appetizers and this one made the list. I did not blend the cheese because I wanted pieces of cheese in the little balls but I have seen people blend the cheese as well. These have the same chewy texture that the original recipe has but with half of the work. I also used mini-muffin tins generously brushed with cake release and it worked like a charm.
Blender Brazillian Cheese Bread
Makes 50-60 little balls.
Ingredients:
390 g tapioca flour
8 g baking powder
10 g plus 2 g salt, divided
3 eggs
200 mL milk
25 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
115 mL grapeseed oil (any vegetable oil)
212 g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450° F. Prepare the mini muffin pan with cake release generously brushed in the cavities.
Combine the tapioca flour, baking powder and 10 g of salt in a dish and whisk to combine everything evenly.
In your food processor or blender, add the eggs, milk, melted unsalted butter and oil and blend to combine well. Slowly add the dry ingredients by the spoonful and blend/process until it is a homogeneous batter. Pour the batter into a bowl and fold in the cheese.
Drop by 15 mL spoonfuls into the prepared pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden.
Cool completely on a wire rack. Eat immediately or store in the freezer in a ziplock bag.
I have once again succumbed to the wiles of the internet, the gluten-free chocolate apple cake! What is intriguing about this particular concoction is that the apple replaces the flour. The result is a brownie-like texture. The consensus at Kitcheninspirations was that it tasted best cold right out of the refrigerator OR even, dare I say, frozen. Many recipes call for only 2 ingredients, the cooked apples and melted chocolate but I found the mixture too thick so I added a little milk and vanilla, of course, which puréed beautifully. Many recipes go right into the refrigerator to set, I baked mine for 30 minutes.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Apple Cake
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Males One 20 cm cake
Ingredients:
4 large apples, peeled and cubed
250 g 85% dark chocolate
100 ml milk
15 mL pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° C.
Prepare a 20 cm round pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and brushing the sides with cake release.
Cook the apples until soft in a frying pan, adding as little water as possible.
Melt the chocolate.
Combine both apples and melted chocolate in a food processor and process until smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
It’s a rich, chocolatey, dense cake. The sweetness of the apples was enough for my taste with the 85% cocoa chocolate but if you use a higher percentage, you may wish to add some sort of sweetener.
We spent the month of November in Spain. The weather was fantastic, low 20° C during the day and high teens in the evenings. The sun was shining and there was a little humidity so it felt warmer. We were with our dear friends A and M who have decided to move to Spain. Unfortunately, the second week we were there, I picked up a stomach issue and spent the remainder of the month in bed. Apparently eating a high-fibre diet really helps my particular situation, so when I returned home, I went to my kitchen office to begin converting some favourites into high-fibre favourites. Here is the first one.
A nutty, textured breakfast bread,
Low Carb, High-Fibre Banana Bread
Makes one 21.6 cm x 11.4 cm (4″ x 7″) loaf pan, about 12-14 servings, depending on slice thickness
150 g date powder
61 g blanched finely ground almond flour (see Notes)
120 g flax meal
30 g psyllium meal
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs, well beaten
3 large very ripe bananas, well mashed (375 mL)
1 tbsp vanilla
80 g walnuts, chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper.
Add all the dry ingredients to large bowl and whisk to blend.
Combine the eggs, banana and vanilla and mix well. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until well blended, leaving no clumps of dry ingredients. Fold in the walnuts
Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, carefully lift out of the pan and cool on a rack.
Slide when cooled thoroughly.
Notes:
I use Kirkland blanched finely ground almond flour
Almond flour has always been a little bit of a bug-a-boo for me. I usually find baked goods using almond flour instead of wheat flour too heavy and grainy, but I think I’ve cracked the code. Instead of using a mixer, use your food processor. So easy, and as long as you have sufficient liquid in the dough, it shouldn’t turn to marzipan! I love this recipe because it uses one appliance so much less cleanup!
It’s a nicely textured doughy cookie.
Low-carb Chocolate Chip Cookies
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Ingredients:
60 g butter
45 g erythritol
5 g vanilla
230 g almond flour
2 g salt
1.5 g baking powder
2 g xantham gum
60 g low-carb chocolate chips (see notes)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
In the large bowl of your food processor, combine the butter, erythritol and vanilla and process until smooth.
In another bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, baking powder and xantham gum and whisk until thoroughly combined.
Add the almond flour to the butter mixture and process until well mixed and there are no dry spots.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for about 1 hour if baking immediately.
Using about a 15 mL spoon, scoop out cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes.
Notes:
I like to keep unbaked cookie balls in the freezer so that I can have freshly baked cookies at a moment’s notice.
Low-carb Chocolate Chips
The more irregular, the more homemade the chips look!
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 170 g of chocolate chips
Ingredients:
170 g unsweetened chocolate
45 g Erythritol, pulsed in a food processor until it is a powder. (if you like sweet chocolate chips, you might want to add a bit more Erythritol).
Directions:
In a Bain Marie, slowly melt the chocolate with the Erythritol until smooth (there will be some granules)
Pour onto a piece of parchment paper and refrigerate until firm.
Just before we left for Spain in October, we were on a roll having friends over before we left. We had my dear friend from Uni and her hubby over for a brunch and I made a Gluten-Free version of this beauty. The dense, moist texture really lends itself to almond flour. Need to say, it was a raving success!
Gluten Free Sticky Date Cake with Date “Caramel” Sauce
Makes one 20 cm (8 inch) round cake
Ingredients:
300 mL water
275 g pitted dates
5 g baking soda
57 g salted butter
55 g brown sugar substitute
2 large eggs
5 mL vanilla extract
135 g almond flour
5 g baking powder
0.2 g salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare your 20 cm pan by lining the bottom with parchment and brushing cake release onto the sides and bottom.
Add the water and dates in a heavy bottom saucepan (no need to chop). Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the baking soda (it will bubble up) and mix well. Set aside to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, combine the butter and brown “sugar” in the large bowl of your food processor and process until fluffy and light. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Add the vanilla and the cooked dates (dates should not be super hot). Process until smooth.
Add the almond flour, baking powder and salt into the batter and process well so that the almond flour is smooth.
Pour it into your prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Date “Caramel” Sauce
Makes about 250 mL of sauce
Ingredients:
24 dates
1 cup of water, plus more for adjusting the thickness of the sauce
Directions:
Place the dates into a heavy bottom saucepan and pour water over them to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until dates have entirely softened.
Pour the dates into a container that fits your immersion blender and blend until smooth, adding more water for a saucy consistency.
Serve with the Sticky Date Cake with unsweetened whipped cream
Don’t you just love the winter light?
It’s not sickly sweet.
Notes:
Cakes made with almond flour tend to be a bit dense, but don’t let that stop you from making this, the almond flour really lends itself to the moist nature of this cake.
The dates have a coying sweetness so you needn’t worry about the small volume of sugar in this cake.
The added date syrup will help increase the sweetness.
Have you ever heard of toum? Have you had it? Toum is a garlic sauce, a popular condiment in Lebanon. It is relatively easy to make and keeps well in the fridge. Use it as you would mayo.
My dear friend and neighbour brought us some toum because she has fallen in love with it and wanted us to try it! Unfortunately, the strong, raw garlic flavour does not agree with JT or I so she brought us Mild Toum. It was delicious! And not overly garlicky. Toum is traditionally made with raw garlic and a flavourless oil, like peanut or grapeseed. I wanted to make some of our own with my own spin. I did two versions, the first was a roasted garlic toum which was mild but had that nutty roasted garlic flavour, and it emulsified beautifully. The second version was a mild-toum, boiling the garlic until soft and puréing it with a clear, flavourless oil, like grapeseed. The boiled garlic toum was really, super mild so I added a small raw clove of garlic to spice it up and WoW, if you love garlic (and don’t mind smelling like it) this one is for you! My favourite though, is the roasted garlic toum.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday season, whatever you observe. We are spending Christmas Eve with my cousin and her family and Christmas Day with JT’s side as well as seeing some friends over the holidays. What are you doing for the holidays?
The one on the left is the roasted garlic toum and the one on the right is the boiled garlic toum. I am going to have it on my burger.
Roasted Garlic Toum
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 150 mL of toum.
Ingredients:
3 garlic bulbs, separated but not peeled (about 150 g)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
juice of 1 small lemon
salt to taste
Directions:
Separate the cloves but no need to peel. To roast the garlic, place the garlic into a pan and cover it in olive oil, and roast on the stove top or in the oven on medium heat for about 45-50 minutes. The garlic will be golden.
Strain the garlic from the oil and reserve the oil. Allow the garlic to cool.
Peel the garlic and put the cloves into a glass measuring cup that fits your immersion blender. Add the lemon juice.
Blend the cloves garlic with lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
Slowly (very slowly because it has a tendency to separate) add the reserved roasted garlic olive oil into the garlic puree to form a smooth, creamy paste (about the same consistency as mayonnaise). I had to use a whisk to emulsify the oil and garlic after it had been puréed.
Salt to taste.
Store in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Mild Toum
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 250 mL of toum.
Ingredients:
3 garlic bulbs, separate but not peeled (about 150 g)
200 mL unflavoured oil, I used grape seed
juice of 1 small lemon
salt to taste
Directions:
Boil most of the garlic cloves for 5-10 minutes or until soft (hold 1 or 2 small raw cloves back)
Rinse to cool down the garlic so you can easily peel and remove the sprouts, discard sprouts and place garlic into a measuring cup that fits your immersion blender.
Blend the cloves garlic with lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
Slowly add the oil to form a smooth, creamy paste (about the same consistency as mayonnaise).
Salt to taste. Taste the toum, if it’s not garlicky enough for you, add one of the reserved cloves and blend until smooth, taste again and determine if you want to add the other reserved clove. I found one clove to be plenty garlicky, after all, you don’t want to stink of garlic!
Store in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Notes:
If the toum is not emulsifying, add about 5 mL of egg whites and blend.
Toum is great in sandwiches, as a dip, or on kabobs or burgers.
I use toum to emulsify salad dressings. It’s absolutely amazing with a little anchovy paste to make a Caesar dressing.
This recipe came about when I wanted to make Korean bulgogi for a low-carb dinner. Of course, the good old stand-by is cauliflower rice but to be honest, it just doesn’t make the cut replicating the crispy-sticky rice texture that goes so well with bulgogi. So I went to the drawing board and started to think about options. The Italians have Orzo, which is a rice shaped pasta, but have you ever tried to make that from scratch? I saw videos of grating the pasta, or making spaghetti and cutting it into little pieces but neither worked with my low-carb dough, plus I was looking for something a little simpler. Then my Hungarian roots started to shape my thinking and as I was making the dough in my food processor, I discovered that this dough crumbles just like Hungarian Tarhonya (they call it egg barley). Made with traditional flour with eggs and then crumbled into a rough, uneven type of mini pasta. Now this could work! The dough is very rough and using the blade in my food processor, I was able to get uneven, small bits of pasta! By George, I think I’ve got it!
For Bulgogi, I put the pasta into a frying pan and add just enough water to boil the pasta to cook it quickly (2-4 minutes) and evaporate the water, then I add some oil (sesame oil for bulgogi) and pan-fry it to get the crispy bits, like sticky rice! It worked out very well.
This is the dried version. I make 6-8 servings and store them in an airtight container.
Low-Carb Pasta “Rice”
Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
80 g lupin flour
90 g vital wheat gluten
4 g salt
2 eggs
Directions:
Add everything to the food processor with blades in and process until the dough is combined but in smaller, uneven bits.
Use immediately or dehydrate in a food dehydrator for keeping long-term.
Notes:
I dehydrate over 6-8 hours at 100° F; the pasta must be completely dehydrated otherwise mould will form.
These muffins keep very well in the freezer and are easily defrosted in the oven in a foil pouch or on a plate in the microwave. JT made a special request for blueberry muffins when I was prepping for our upcoming visit with Arizonians, Paul and T. These were perfect when we needed just a little breakfast to tide us over until a late lunch.
Blueberry Muffins
Makes about 10 large muffins
Ingredients:
225 g All-purpose flour
10 g baking powder
4 g salt
50 g butter
60 g granulated sugar
1 large egg
195 g yogurt
250 mL milk
5 mL vanilla
130 g Blueberries, fresh or frozen (defrost)
8 g flour
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F and prepare 10-muffin cups by buttering and flouring them (see notes).
Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and make a well in the centre, set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and beat in the egg until smooth.
Combine the yogurt, milk and vanilla and mix into the butter mixture until smooth. Pour into the flour mixture and fold in to moisten, batter will be lumpy.
Combine the 8 g flour with the blueberries and coat evenly. Add the blueberries to the batter and mix well. Spoon into prepared muffin cups. You may wish to reserve a blueberry or two per muffin for garnish before putting them into the oven.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden.
Notes:
You needn’t defrost the blueberries.
Instead of buttering and flouring the muffin cups, mix 15 g vegetable shortening, 15 mL unflavored oil and 15 g all-purpose flour and mix well. Brush into the muffin cups.
We had our friends from Arizona come up for a 5-day visit in August so I made a few desserts to take us through and these lemon squares were one of them. I had purchased a bag of lemons before we went to Spain last February (because one lemon was $1.59 and the bag was $3.99!) so I had to freeze them just before we left. I had two lemons left that I wanted to use. Freezing lemons (washed and left whole) are a great way to store them, about the only thing you can’t really do with previously frozen lemons is to slice them for garnish but they are excellent for everything else! I like to zest them whilst frozen because it’s super easy, then allow them to frost for this recipe.
These squares are very lemony, much more lemony than just lemon flavouring or juice. I didn’t include the pith because it’s too bitter and I didn’t want to add more sugar. Freezing the lemons makes them soft so I didn’t feel the need to boil them like I do with the Whole Orange Cake, but you might want to boil them if you use fresh lemons.
These are also quite yummy frozen.
Chewy Whole Lemon Squares with Coconut
From Company’s Coming Squares by Jean Pare.
Makes 1 pan 23 cm x 23 cm (9×9 inch)
Ingredients, base:
200 g all-purpose flour
50 g granulated sugar
114 g butter, cold
Zest of 2 lemons
Directions, base:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Crumble flour, sugar and butter until mealy (you can save time and pulse this in a food processor, with metal blades)
Press into ungreased 23 cm x 23 cm (9×9 inch) pan (I like to line my pan with parchment for easy removal). Bake for 20 minutes.
Ingredients, topping:
2 eggs
2 whole lemons, pith removed
200 g granulated sugar
2 g salt
40 g all-purpose flour
2 g baking powder
75 g flaked, unsweetened coconut
Directions, topping:
In the large container of the Magic Bullet add the eggs, lemon sections, granulated sugar and salt. Blend until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and blend until well incorporated. Fold in the coconut.
Spread over the par-baked shortbread base. Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes, until set in the centre and golden in colour.
A Pullman loaf pan has been on my wish list for several years and I finally received one for my birthday. JT does that, he never buys current items on the wishlist so I really don’t know what I will receive, we both like these types of surprises. I just love the symmetry of the loaf pan, almost perfect corners to make the perfect sandwich (click here to read about the cool history of the Pullman Loaf Pan). I chose this particular recipe because the author had several pan sizes with varying ingredient quantities. It’s a wet dough but don’t let that hold you back, it’s quite easy to work with and active time is minimal, just some bulk rising in the refrigerator and some shaping and baking gets you to the finish line in no time! I made this regular carb brioche bread for our dear friends from Arizona coming for a 5-day visit. We shall have toast and various sandwiches on this delicious loaf.
This rich and buttery loaf is perfect in every way.
In the large bowl of your stand mixer, add the milk, sugar and yeast and allow to proof for a few minutes. With the whisk attachment, beat in the egg.
Sift in the flour, and using the dough hook attachment, knead for 10 minutes to combine fully.
Using the scrapper paddle attachment, add the softened butter and beat until fully incorporated. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle in the salt and switch to the dough hook attachment and knead for 10 minutes.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in a well-greased bowl cover with a clean cloth and allow to proof until doubled in size (45 minutes to one hour).
Punch down and shape into a ball again and lightly grease the ball. Set in the refrigerator overnight, covered in plastic wrap. The next morning, take the bowl out the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
Shape the dough into a loaf and place seam side down into the well-buttered Pullman pan. Cover with a clean cloth and allow to proof until it almost fills the pan at the top, then place the buttered lid onto the loaf pan and allow to finish proofing with the lid on.
Preheat the oven to 380° F and bake until the internal temperature is 200° F. I removed the lid to finish the top of loaf so it is evenly golden on all sides.
Allow the loaf to cool fully before cutting into it.
Obviously, this is not a low-carb recipe! We were having some friends over for a barbecue and I felt like making a cake we recently had at a Lebanese restaurant in Yorkville, Toronto. The manager gifted us the cake as a thank you for letting him take the table next to us for a larger group, we would have given it to him for nothing but you know, dessert. Interestingly enough, dates do not have a high GI so I could have made this low-carb but I wanted to see if my recipe was similar enough to the one at the restaurant and if it worked well, I would convert it to low-carb. I wrote this recipe for whole dates because I was lazy and didn’t feel like chopping them so I decided to blitz the batter with dates with my immersion blender before I sifted in the flour and it worked like a charm. I might add that I am not the dishwasher in my house, JT kindly does that because I do all of the cooking! Plus, I am terrible at it, wink wink (dishwashing not cooking). The cake is decidedly sweet enough without the caramel sauce, but that is how it was served to us at the restaurant, so I kept it. I will also serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Everyone has their favourite caramel sauce recipe so I won’t repeat it. Mine is this one.
It’s a light but decadent cake.
Sticky Date Cake with Caramel Sauce
Makes one 20 cm (8 inch) round cake
Ingredients:
295 mL water
275 g chopped pitted dates
5 g baking soda
57 g unsalted butter, softened
110 g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
5 mL vanilla extract
135 g unbleached all-purpose flour
5 g baking powder
0.2 g salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare your 20 cm pan by lining the bottom with parchment and brushing cake release onto the sides and bottom.
Add the water and dates in a heavy bottom saucepan (no need to chop). Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the baking soda (it will bubble up) and mix well. Set aside.
Meanwhile, combine the softened butter and brown sugar in the small bowl of your stand mixer and mix until fluffy and light. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Add the vanilla and the cooked dates (dates should not be super hot). Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter and fold it in until there are no more flour lumps.
Pour it into your prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and insert smallish spikes into the cake and pour the caramel sauce over it allowing the sauce to seep into the holes you spiked. Allow to cool completely.
In early October, we finally received our outdoor stacking windows for the deck project! So after three years of my homemade vinyl tablecloth roller blinds, we finally have the classy windows JT was vying for. I think we are done for the back yard for the next while. Click on the photo below for a captioned slide show. We are ready for 3-season entertaining.
With all of these excellent low-carb recipes I have converted, I think I can be on this type of diet forever. Don’t get me wrong, I do eat carbs but I try to limit them to when I go out to eat, like my favourite pizza place or a mouth-watering sandwich, you get my drift. If I don’t overdo it, I don’t gain weight so it’s all about balance. This is by far, one of the best conversions, JT mentioned that they are as good as the carbo ones! Now that’s a compliment.
Slightly crisp exterior and a soft, custardy interior, just like the carb ones!
Some have larger cavities but they are all easily filled, should one choose to fill them.
Low Carb Cheese Gougères
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 28-30 gougères, but it depends on how big you make them.
Ingredients:
25 g lupin flour
30 g tapioca flour
1.5 g xanthan gum
2 g sea salt, finely ground
2 g baking powder
40 g butter
100 g water
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
60 g grated cheese, I used Havarti
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with a wet but wrung-out parchment sheet.
Combine the lupin, tapioca flour, xantham gum, and sea salt and set aside.
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the butter with the water until lightly boiling. Add the flour mixture and stir until it comes together and forms a film on the bottom of the pan.
Pour the mixture into a small food processor. Add the large eggs and process until entirely incorporated. Add the cheese and process again until smooth.
Spoon quarter-sized balls onto the prepared baking sheet about 5 cm apart. Bake for 15 minutes at 400° F until golden.
Serving size is one Gougères
These freeze really well too. Just reheat them from frozen for 7-10 minutes at 200° F.
Notes:
These are made in a food processor which is not traditional but I found that the cheese blended much better to the cooked roux.
Baking powder is essential for the recipe, making without resulted quite flat gougères.
You may add any old cheese, but the more flavourful, the better.
A little smoked paprika might be a nice addition but then it limits you to what you might stuff them with.
These delightful brownies came about because I had some milk going bad so I made a batch of ricotta. The ricotta lends to the brownies’ fudginess, making them creamy and rich. The use of the unsweetened cocoa powder makes these brownies very chocolatey. If you’re not concerned about sugar, add a few chocolate chips into the batter to give them a double chocolate flavour.
You might have noticed that I’m cutting back my posts to every two weeks, I’ve been blogging since 2007 (food blogging since 2008) and sadly it’s getting to feel like a chore every week, after 1,200 posts, it’s no wonder! I will certainly drop by your blog and leave a comment and I hope you will still follow me and leave a comment, I always look forward to hearing from you.
Low Carb Fudgy Ricotta Brownies
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 pan 10 cm x 20 cm (4 inch x 8 inch) pan
Ingredients:
30 g salted butter
50 g ricotta
90 g erythritol
1 egg
30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
5 mL pure vanilla extract
5 g baking powder
100 g almond flour
handful of peanuts
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients (except the peanuts) in a magic bullet and blend for a couple of minutes. This blending allows the erythritol and the almond flour to emulsify within the liquids and will not be ‘crunchy’ in the batter.
Pour the ingredients into a prepared loaf pan and dot with the peanuts. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs on it.
My dear friend Liz posted a no-bake PB and Chocolate cookie back in early July and I couldn’t resist making them Low-Carb! It was a sweltering July so I automatically turned them into freezer cookies so we could enjoy them while cooling us! They are the perfect combination of peanuts and chocolate and they are just sweet enough.
Delicious and refreshing on these hot, humid summer days.
Low Carb No-Bake PB and Chocolate Freezer Cookies
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 16 cookies about 15 g each
Ingredients:
60 g Erythritol
155 g peanut butter, natural (smooth or crunchy)
2.5 g salt
5 mL pure vanilla extract
15 g cocoa powder, sifted
165 g cream cheese, room temperature
Directions:
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the erythritol, butter and peanut butter and heat slowly on medium heat until all everything has melted and the erythritol is no longer grainy (about 175-200° F). Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl.
Add in the vanilla, salt and cocoa powder and mix well, add cream cheese and beat with a hand mixer until well blended.
Spoon by 15 g (tablespoon) onto a parchment-lined tray and freeze. Allow to freeze for four hours before serving. Store in the freezer.
This recipe came about as we were knee-deep in a heat wave. High temperatures with high humidity and volatile storms. Thank goodness for Air Conditioning! I remembered an old recipe of Banana Chocolate Avocado Frozen pudding I made in 2011 and since I had a couple of over-ripe avocados, I thought, let’s rekindle this oldie but a goodie. Unfortunately, I did not have any bananas on hand so I improvised and gosh-darn, it turned out pretty good. It’s super creamy and luxurious. To me, it takes like frozen ganache. You can thank me later.
2 small, extremely ripe avocados (about 200 g of flesh)
30 g peanut butter
Directions:
Combine the whipping cream, erythritol and chocolate in a saucepan and melt over low heat so erythritol is no longer grainy and chocolate has completely melted and it’s all emulsified (looks like ganache). Cool slightly.
Combine the chocolate with the avocados and blitz with an immersion blender until very smooth.
In a freezer-proof container with a tightly sealing lid, layer the chocolate cream and dot with peanut butter, continue until all the chocolate cream has been layered and dotted with peanut butter. Freeze until a desired consistency has been achieved (I find that overnight is a bit too hard and it must be left on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften).
I made this tasty salad way back in June, when we were knee-deep in a huge heat wave across Ontario and Québec and it was brutal. Temperatures soared and then there was the humidity which made it “feel like” 31° C (88° F). Fortunately, we have A/C but if you needed to do anything outdoors, like building a new arbour, you were covered in sweat in no time. This is where we landed when we decided to replace our 20+ year old arbour covered in a very invasive, flowering vine. The arbour was in serious decay and every year JT had to reinforce it. My dear friend and her family offered to help us do the demo. We couldn’t have done it without them (we served a grilled 5 kg (11 lb) steak lunch with all the trimmings as a thank you). They pulled the entire thing down and then there was the cleanup which was no small feat. They dropped off 400 kg (882 LB) of debris at the dump and we had about 10 garden waste bags plus about 15 bundles of the old vine. It was a huge job but it’s done now and we feel great about it. JT and I rebuilt a more contemporary arbour with a gate to give us easier access to behind the arbour where the speaker and electrical wires are. I am no stranger to power tools and I love putting on the work gloves and putting some sweat equity into our place and although I am starting to work slower, I can still get ‘er done! Mind you, our dear neighbour, JR had to help JT set the 6x6x12s in the ground because I couldn’t budge them, even with JT’s help. Here are some of the highlights:
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We find both cucumber and mint are extremely refreshing.
Cucumber and Mint Salad
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
about 1/2 large English cucumber, slide into 1 cm thickness and then cut into sixths
a small handful of mint, julienned
15 g sweet onions, chopped into small bits
45 mL EVOO
45 mL vinegar
15 g erythritol
5 mL mustard
salt and pepper
Directions:
Combine the cucumber pieces with the mint and onions and mix well.
In a small measuring cup, combine the EVOO, vinegar, erythritol, mustard and whisk until smooth and emulsified. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.
Refrigerate until needed. Serve cold.
I served this tasty salad with grilled pork tenderloin steaks with a black olive tapenade and grilled zucchini and red peppers
I am converting all of our favourites one-by-one. This way we can stick to the low-carb life-style and only splurge when we go out, which is rarely these days. Let’s talk about why. Restaurant prices are out of control. A simple sandwich is now $20+ at lunch, if you want dinner, main courses start at $30 and that is pasta! Don’t get me started on tipping. Most restaurants begin the tipping choices on the card machines at 18%, up to 25% or, you can choose your own but they don’t make it easy because usually it’s a dollar amount and not a percentage. We were even asked to tip at a bagel counter that only sold bagels to take home, not sandwiches! I recently saw a millennial on Insta and he said, “if I have to pay before I get my food, I don’t tip.” And I’ve also seen someone say that if they order standing up, they don’t leave a tip. Are you fed up of restaurant pricing and the tipping, and how is it in your country?
Low-Carb Cheese Sticks (made without almond flour)
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 35 sticks, depending on how you cut them
Ingredients:
57 g cold butter, cubed
50 g vital wheat gluten
20 g oat fibre
2 g baking powder
Pinch of salt
60 g old cheddar, shredded
Add flavouring like powdered onion, garlic etc.
about 60 mL water
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Combine all of the ingredients in the small bowl of your food processor and process until entirely combined, add water about 15 mL at a time until the dough comes together.
Roll out to 0.5 cm (1/4 inch) and cut into short slices (about 1 cm x 5 cm). Place each slice onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. They will harden as they cool.
I made this cheesecake to take to a friend’s house when they invited us for dinner, I also made a smaller test version to make sure it was good, and it was, incredible. I did not top our test version with the stabilized whipped cream.
It is a dreamy, creamy cheesecake.
Low-Carb Pistachio Cheese Cake
Makes 1 medium ( 18 cm (7-inch)) and 1 small (12 cm (5-inch)) spring-form pan or 600 mL batter
Serves 4-6
Ingredients for the base:
100 g pistachios, roasted and blended to butter
40 g almond flour
40 g erythritol
40 g butter, melted
pinch of salt
Directions for the base:
Combine everything in the small bowl of the food processor and process until everything is well mixed.
Prepare a spring form pan by lining the base with parchment paper and spraying the entire inside with non-stick spray.
Press the pistachio mixture into the bottom of your pan.
Bake for 10 minutes at 350° F. Set aside to cool while you prepare the cheesecake batter.
Ingredients for the cheesecake:
100 g pistachios, creamed to butter
454 g cream cheese
120 g sour cream
70 g erythritol
1 large egg
5 mL pure vanilla extract
5 mL lime zest (about 1 g dried)
pinch of salt
Directions for the base:
Combine all of the ingredients and purée until very smooth.
Pour into the cooled, prepared pan with the base.
Cover the base of the pan with foil.
Place the pan into a larger pan with a 5 cm or 2 inch lip and fill with hot water.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or less time if baking smaller cheesecakes, perform the jiggle test to make certain it doesn’t overbake otherwise the cheesecake will be dry.
Notes:
I did not toast the pistachios in the cheesecake intentionally because I wanted the vibrant green colour.
Have you ever wanted something a little different than hollandaise sauce? I was recently in that predicament, serving broiled cod with asparagus and didn’t feel like fussing with a hollandaise so I found a relatively easy alternative. In fact, it’s more of a mayo with chopped cornichons and capers with tarragon. BTW, it goes very well with grilled asparagus and broiled cod!
Tangy, one might even say piquant but it works well with asparagus and fish. JT thought it would be tasty as a burger condiment too!
Sauce Gribiche
Makes about 200 mL sauce (enough for 2 main courses)
Ingredients:
1 large egg, hardboiled, yolk and whites separated, whites chopped
65 mL EVOO
30 mL red wine vinegar
15 mL Dijon mustard
15 g capers, finely chopped
45 g cornichons, finely diced
chopped tarragon to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Combine the hardboiled egg yolk with the EVOO, vinegar, and mustard in a small food processor and process until smooth and emulsified.
Add the chopped hardboiled egg whites to the emulsified sauce along with the capers, cornichons and tarragon, and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow the sauce to sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving to allow the sauce’s flavours to meld.
The chopped egg whites give the sauce a luxurious texture.
The sauce is extremely moreish so make sure you prepare enough so people could have seconds!
I am continuously evolving old favourites into low-carb because it’s just better for me. Fruit does contain a load of natural sugars but, like all things sweet, in moderation. Like the blueberry jam, this one isn’t overly sweet but it certainly hits the spot for me, particularly on some freshly baked bread with a little delicious Irish butter.
Low-Carb Cherry Jam
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 250 mL
Ingredients:
300 g frozen cherries (pitted)
60 g Erythritol
100 mL water
15 mL freshly squeezed lemon juice
Directions:
Combine everything in a heavy-bottom saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until the erythritol has dissolved and the cherries are soft. Blitz with an immersion blender and pour into a sterilized jar.
This dough is definitely a winner. It has the right amount of chewiness and it can be rolled thinly. I may have put too many toppings on it (I have been known to do that). It’s definitely going on our meal plan over the summer.
Low-Carb Pizza Dough
Makes a 30 cm (12 inch) pizza dough
A kitcheninspirations original recipe
Ingredients:
6 g quick yeast
145 g water
0.8 g honey
15 mL EVOO
80 g vital wheat gluten
20 g oat fibre
2 g salt
50 g grated parmesan
Directions:
Bloom the yeast in the water with the honey.
Mix in the dry ingredients and kneed for 20-30 minutes resting for 10 minutes at 5 minute increments, until it develops a strong window pane. Proof until double in size.
Preheat the oven to 450° F with the pizza stone inside.
Cut a piece of parchment to 30 cm or 12″ in diameter. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the parchment evenly (this is to help the dough crisp up on the bottom).
Stretch the dough into a large circle about 30 cm or 12” inches in diameter with a slightly thicker edge. If it is difficult to stretch, allow it to rest for a few minutes.
Sprinkle about 50 grams of Grated Parmesan on the parchment circle, on the area that will be below the pizza.
Lay the stretched dough on the prepared parchment. Top with desired toppings, keeping the toppings on the lighter side.
Slide the pizza with the parchment onto the preheated stone and bake for 3-5 minutes. Then set oven to high broil and broil until the dough is golden and puffy on the edges.
Serve hot.
It’s a damn good pizza dough!
Notes:
The honey is consumed by the yeast so it doesn’t impact the carb count in the dough.
Option to garnish with fresh basil and chilli oil.
Serving size: 2 slices of pizza (the entire pizza is cut into 8 slices)
May we offer you a slice?
Notes:
I find this dough doesn’t crisp very well, so I added a Parmesan crust to crisp up the bottom; it adds a another dimension of flavour.
I always dry-fry toppings that are wet like mushrooms and zucchini.
Those of you who have been following me may think I’ve finally lost it — a low-carb baguette? Well, yes. This recipe makes a low-carb baguette that looks and tastes very, very, very close to an actual baguette. But when you take a look at the ingredient list, as I did, you might wonder what type of sorcery is this? This freakishly weird ingredient list does indeed come together and make a pretty decent baguette, considering it is very low in carbs. It does take time, as some bread recipes do, or anything good for that matter, but it’s worth it. I sourced most of the ingredients from iHerb.com (the Canadian version) but you may find it locally in a health food store, unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. I also resorted to making my own dried powdered eggs because the cost of ready-made dried powdered eggs was $13 Canadian for 100 g (roughly 9 eggs) so I purchased a dehydrator and got down to it. For roughly $4 Canadian, I can make about 140 g of dried powdered eggs!
I chose this recipe because of the photos, but we all know photos can lie but there were also many, many trials with explanations that I bit the bullet and decided to try it. The author of the Keto Luna Flour is a scientist and if you are interested in low-carb options of some favourites (like croissants) this Instagram account is for you. The pasta made with Keto Luna Flour wasn’t as good as the lupin pasta but this baguette recipe is the real deal. Please let me know if you try it.
It’s almost impossible to imagine this is low-carb! The crust is a bit chewy instead of hard and crisp like an actual baguette.
Makes 4 baguettes about 10 cm x 45 cm (178 g dough each) OR
Makes 12 hamburger buns (~60 g dough each)
Begin the day before you wish to bake the bread
Poolish Ingredients:
125 g Keto Luna Flour
300 g water
2.5 g yeast
Directions:
Combine all three ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Autolyze Ingredients:
125 g Keto Luna Flour
170 g water (to make a loose, shaggy dough, similar to no knead bread dough)
20 g vital wheat gluten
Directions:
Combine all three ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Baking Day
Ingredients:
entire Poolish and Autolyze
250 g vital wheat gluten
40 g oat fibre or psyllium husk powder
4.4 g salt
2.5 g yeast
4 g honey
1 egg wash (optional)
Directions:
Combine both the poolish and the autolyze in the large bowl of your stand mixer. Add the remaining ingredients and knead for 15 minutes then allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes. Knead 15 minutes and rest 30 minutes, three more times.
Preheat the oven to 465° F and add the baking stone to preheat it as well.
With slightly dampened hands, roll out the dough and roll it in the shape of a traditional baguette. Place it on the preheated parchment-lined baking stone and brush with the egg wash (if using). Slice expansion slices into the top (like a traditional baguette).
Add a tray of ice cubes so the bread bakes with steam for 10 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 325° F, remove the pan with the ice cubes and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200° F. And it’s beautifully golden.
Beef dip with a spicy mayo on a low-carb baguette made a very tasty lunch.
Notes
Over kneading will make an extremely chewy baguette.
This recipe is very high in fibre, if you’re not used to eating high fibre, there may be consequences.
This is for ONE baguette (recipe makes 4), but you would probably only eat half of one.
This is for ONE Hamburger Bun. The recipe makes 12.
We had a marathon of dinner and brunches this past weekend (hence my late post today), we had dear friends for a barbeque dinner on Saturday night, then we had my university BFF and her hubby for brunch on Sunday and for dinner we had my dear neighbour. I chose menus that were easy, revolving around the barbeque so JT was busy too. The heat was on high outside so we had cocktails and dessert on the covered deck but dinner was served inside. These lemon bars made a generous 20 cm x 20 cm (8 inch x 8 inch) serving and I cut them into 36 squares which were the perfect size for a small bite of sweetness after dinner. I added some unsweetened, flaked coconut to the topping mixture because everyone loves my regular lemon squares and they have coconut in them.
The almond flour lends itself for a very nice shortbread crust.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare a 20 cm x 20 cm (8 inch x 8 inch) square pan by lining it with parchment paper.
In the bowl of your food processor, combine all of the ingredients for the crust and process until it comes together and a minute longer.
Press into the prepared pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are showing a little colour.
Ingredients for the Lemon filling:
4 large eggs
110 g erythritol
55 g butter, melted
2 lemons, juice and zest (about 65 mL juice)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
85 g almond flour
75 g unsweetened, flaked coconut
Directions for the Lemon filling:
In the same food processor bowl, add all of the ingredients (except the coconut) for the filling and process for 2-4 minutes or until you take a little batter between your thumb and forefinger it no longer feels as grainy.
Add the coconut and mix well with a spoon. Pour the filling ingredients over the par-baked crust and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until it no longer jiggles. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
These lemon squares have a delicious lemony flavour.
This, my dear friends, is the real deal. So many internet recipes show an English Muffin, but they are LIES! They are photos of real English muffins but they are NOT what the recipe produces! Almond flour English muffins do not have the nooks and crannies that a yeasted English muffin has. They cannot, by nature. And yes, I am not afraid to call them out. This, my dear friends is the real deal with amazing texture and wonderful flavour. And it’s only 2 net carbs! Yes, we have a winner!
Look at those nooks and crannies!
Low-carb English Muffins
Make one muffin, multiply the ingredients to get the number you want
Ingredients:
1.5 g quick yeast
30 g water
0.2 g sugar
20 g Vital Wheat Gluten
5 g oat fibre
0.5 g salt
Directions:
Bloom the yeast in the water with the sugar.
Mix in the dry ingredients and kneed a little bit. Allow to proof until double in size.
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Shape the roll into a nice round and heat a frying pan to medium heat.
Fry each side until golden brown then finish baking for around 10-12 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200° F.
We are still actively trying to drop a few more Covid pounds and I must say this low-carb diet is doing the trick. I developed this low-carb blueberry recipe so we could have jam on our toast on the weekends. It’s really quite good, I might even skip the Erythritol next time.
Low-Carb Blueberry Jam
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 250 mL
Ingredients:
250 g frozen blueberries
30 g Erythritol
180 mL water
Directions:
Add everything to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes and then purée with an immersion blender.
Return the purée to the saucepan and boil to reduce to about half. Cool and put into a sterilized air-tight jar and store in the refrigerator.
Note:
Erythritol apparently does have preservative properties will inhibit bacterial growth. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. If you are not using it a lot, I would freeze it.
For our final three days of wintering in Europe, we flew to Dublin. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible, which we were told was pretty normal for them. We did all of the requisite visits and enjoyed them all. We also did a river tour but unfortunately, the tour boat had neither heat nor any anti-fogging equipment and we could barely see out through the teaming rain. I got a refund.
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Low-Carb Kladdkaka (Swedish Chocolate Cake)
Makes one 20 cm cake
Ingredients:
150 g Erythritol
140 g almond flour
50 g cocoa powder
10 g baking powder
10 mL vanilla
120 g butter
2 eggs
75 mL milk
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Add the butter to a saucepan and melt it. Add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved. Cool. Add the vanilla, egg and milk and and whisk well.
Add the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder to the bowl of your food processor. Pulse for a couple of minutes so the almond flour is slightly finer texture and it’s well incorporated with the other dry ingredients.
Pour the butter mixture into the food processor in an even stream while processing. Mix well, scraping down the sides as required.
Lightly grease a round tin about 20cm in diameter (I used a spring-form tin). Spoon the batter into the tin and smooth out to the edges (it is rather thick). Resist the urge to try this batter, it’s seriously good and you won’t be able to stop.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes before removing and allowing to cool for ~10 minutes before carefully removing from the tin. Try not to over-bake the cake. If you do, all delicious gooeyness may be lost!
Serve with a cherry sauce or whipped cream.
It’s not quite as decadent as the Bete Noire but it’s pretty close.
After our cruise, we departed from Athens directly to London, Heathrow is always a mess but they seemed to have a better handle on organization. We spent four days in London, visiting old favourites and new favourites.
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Low-Carb Retro Olive Bites
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 20 Olive balls wrapped in a cheesy pastry
Ingredients:
15 g unsalted butter, room temperature
60 g cheese, we used manchego
30 g vital wheat gluten
30 g Lupin flour
15 g roasted garlic purée
Pinch of Salt, and pepper
15 mL egg white
20 small olives
2 g cumin (optional)
2 g Aleppo Peppers (optional)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Combine everything but the olives in the small bowl of a food processor and process until combined. If the dough still doesn’t come together, add a few drops of water and pulse until it comes together.
Scoop out a healthy 5 mL (1 tsp) chunk of dough and roll it in your palm, flatten and add one olive to the centre, bring up the sides and enclose entirely, then roll in your palm until the dough is smooth and relatively even around the olive. Repeat until all of the olives are wrapped.
Bake for 10-12 minutes on a parchment-lined baking sheet until golden, serve warm.
After spending a day in Istanbul, we boarded the Viking Saturn for an eight-day cruise on the Bosphorus Strait. Our ports of call in Turkey were Istanbul, Troy (Çanakkale), Ephesus (Kuşadasi), and in Greece Rhodes, Crete (Heraklion), and Athens (Piraeus). We were in port for one and a half days at either end and one day each in all of the rest of the ports. We chose Viking because our cruising friends (Paul and T) had done three cruises with Viking and were very impressed in comparison to the other ordinary cruise lines (Princess, RC, etc). As I previously mentioned, we had not been on a cruise since our honeymoon some thirty-eight years ago so we had tempered our expectations.
Our ship, Viking Saturn is relatively new, built in 2023. It holds only 930 guests and the marketing brags that there are no children (under 18) or drinks with little umbrellas, no casinos and a huge bonus that every cabin has a balcony, which were all true and agreeable to us. The ship was beautiful, with understated elegance. Our stateroom (4014) was the best laid-out “hotel” room I have ever seen, everything had a place. They thought of absolutely everything. We had a minibar, a 48″ TV, a make-up table, plus terry bathrobes, a fabulous shower and a bathroom with a heated floor! The amenities could be replenished every day (but they were enough to last the entire time), as was the content of the minibar (which also contained booze). The in-room seating area was lovely for afternoon cocktails or a quick breakfast on a busy day. The beds were designed with ample space below to tuck away luggage, but they did not need a ladder to get in! The nighttables had European and North American outlets as well as USB and USB-C outlets. The true king-size bed was incredibly comfortable and adorned with absolutely gorgeous linens.
The ship had several restaurants, a couple by reservation only and a couple of walk-ins. About the food: JT found his meat selections were excellent, unfortunately, my seafood selections were quite disappointing (overcooked lobster tails, dry swordfish, overcooked scallops, you get my drift). The buffet restaurant, which we frequented for breakfast and lunches was actually quite good with ample selections and variety day to day. We never had to wait in line to get a seat in any of the restaurants with the exception noted below.
We did a few of Viking’s free tours (you get one free tour at every port) and we also paid for a couple of tours. The free tours were excellent. The paid-for tours were disappointing, particularly the one we took in Rhodes, where there should have been an interactive cooking class but ended up being a demonstration that we really couldn’t even see due to the poor seating configuration. Viking really has a handle on organizing people, we never felt like we were part of a huge group, waiting to disembark, embark, or go on a specific tour, it was like a well-oiled machine. Our only issue was that when we returned to the ship from a tour, the buffet restaurant was a little crowded but we always found a seat without having to wait a long time. Wine and beer are included with meals in all of the restaurants, unfortunately, they are restricted to “house” brands which may or may not be to one’s taste. We subscribed to the Alcohol package, because it provided a wider range of wines, and we were able to get top shelf cocktails. And because everything is electronic, they can see that we have subscribed when they scan our card or type in our room so we never had to tell the servers.
Let’s talk about the on-board entertainment, if you can call it that. My memory of entertainment on our cruise ship some thirty-eight years ago was of epic productions. Full-fledged Broadway-style shows and musicals, with props, costumes etc. Viking failed miserably with the entertainment, considering the price of the cruise, we expected more. We attended one of their Enrichment talks and it too was disappointing. They basically went over what we would experience when we took the tour. We skipped the others.
Now, having said that we haven’t ruled out cruising in the future but would probably like to try other luxury cruises (sans children) as a comparison. If you have had cruise experience with luxury cruise lines, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me an email or a comment.
We discovered these cookies on a trip to Spain several years ago. We had wandered into the “local” area and found the cutest little bakery shop where a young woman baked her grandmother’s recipe of these wonderful cookies. They were exceptionally easy to convert into a low-carb recipe and worked out very well.
These delicious cookies are quite moreish.
Low Carb Almond Tuiles of Sevilla (Tejas Dulces de Sevilla)
A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe
Makes 25 cm x 30 cm (10″ x 12″) sheet, cut to make cookies of various sizes
Ingredients:
30 g unsalted butter
75 g almonds, thinly sliced and toasted
1 large egg, at room temperature
80 g Erythritol
1 tsp almond flavour
1 tsp pure vanilla
50 g Almond flour
pinch of salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 265° F (130° C).
Toast the almonds until golden. Set aside to cool.
Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
Beat the egg with the Erythritol until it reaches the ribbon stage, about 5 minutes. Beat in the flavourings and cooled butter.
Whisk the almond flour with the salt and fold it into the egg mixture.
Pour the entire batter onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and spread out until it is quite thin (about 3-4 mm (about 1/8-3/16 inch) works out to about 25 cm x 30 cm (10″ x 12″). Evenly sprinkle the toasted almonds onto the batter and gently push into the batter.
Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until evenly golden and relatively firm, turn the pan a few times during baking.
Allow the sheet to cool completely and firm up, and break it into desired portions.
Store in an airtight container for about a week, but they won’t last that long!
We arrived in Istanbul one day before embarking on our Viking Cruise. We met our dear friends from Arizona, Paul and T there and they were kind enough to arrange a private walking tour on our first full day in Istanbul. We had lunch at Galeyan, a traditional Turkish restaurant specializing in cuisine from the Ottoman Empire, recommended by our delightful guide. We asked him to order a selection of traditional dishes so we could taste everything. This is one of the excellent dishes we sampled that day and we were smitten. The beef is soft and full of flavour on top of a creamy eggplant purée. We had never tasted anything like this before. Of course, I asked our guide to type the name of the dish into my Phone so that I could recreate it when we returned home. I checked several recipes and came up with this one. Turkish food is generally not spicy hot but it is packed with flavour from their wonderful collection of herbs and spices. The recipe name translates to Sultan’s Delight and it dates back to the Ottoman Empire. Not everyone loves eggplant, JT included, but I ask you to open your mind because this is like no eggplant you’ve ever tasted. We couldn’t get enough of it.
Instant Pot Hünkar Beğendi (Sultan’s Delight, a Turkish Beef Stew on Eggplant Purée)
Serves 2-4
Beef Stew:
Ingredients:
30 mL oil
500 g beef, cubed (boneless sirloin tip, approx 3-5cm cubed)
30 mL of oil
15 g butter
200 g sweet onion
170 g red pepper (1 medium)
5 g red pepper paste
5 g tomato paste
5 g roasted garlic purée
2 tomatoes, skinned and seeded
125 mL beef broth
125 mL hot water
1 g each, salt, pepper, Aleppo pepper flakes, thyme
Directions:
Combine the beef broth and water and set aside. Add the oil to the Instant Pot and set to Sauté on high. Brown the meat on all sides (you may need to do this in batches so they don’t crowd each other and steam instead of brown). Deglaze with a little of the stock/water mixture and set the Pressure Cook lid onto the pot and lock. Choose the pressure cook setting on High for 15 minutes. Manual release the steam and remove the meat carefully and set aside.
Add the oil and butter to the Instant Pot and set on Sauté on High. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Return the meat to the pot and add the red peppers and stir well.
Add the pepper paste, tomato paste, garlic purée and the broth and water, stir well. Add the salt, pepper, Aleppo pepper flakes and thyme and stir well.
Secure the lid onto the Instant Pot and choose Pressure Cook Setting on Low for 30 minutes. Manual steam release and give the stew a good stir. Then set the Instant Pot to Sauté on high to allow much of the liquid to evaporate.
Serve hot with the Eggplant Purée.
Eggplant
Ingredients:
300 g eggplant
10 g of butter
10 g flour
63 mL of cold milk
100 g grated cheese (I used Mozzarella)
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Pierce the eggplants with a fork in several places.
Bake the eggplants until soft. Set aside in a covered bowl for 30 minutes.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for a minute or so.
Slowly pour in the milk and whisk until smooth and thickened.
Add the cheese and stir well to combine. Set aside.
Peel the eggplant and chop it roughly and add it to the cheese sauce. Purée well with an immersion blender until smooth. You may wish to press this through a fine sieve for a really creamy sauce. Serve warm.
The creamy and luscious texture of the eggplant purée is a wonderful foil to the saucy meat.
This is supposed to serve four people, and we did have leftovers of the meat, there was nothing left of the eggplant. For four, I would definitely use 1 kg of meat and a lot more eggplant!
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Kitcheninspirations 