I'm sittin' in the railway station, got a ticket for my destination | panforte for christmas

I'm not sitting in a railway station, but I am sitting in an airport with a ticket to my destination. It almost didn't happen - when you wake up, disoriented and groggy and look at your phone to see it showing 5.45am - the same time the shuttle is supposed to pick you up: well, let's just say I'm thankful I didn't decide to "finish packing in the morning" at 3.30am. Everyone in the shuttle says 'congratulations, you made it!' and it's a bit much when you've (literally) woken up 10 minutes before. As fate would have it, my flight ended up being delayed by a couple of hours so the airline gave us vouchers for breakfast and happily, Dunedin airport recently (finally) joined the 21st century and got itself a bit of free wifi, so this long overdue blog post might actually make it to the blog!

December has been a social month - I think it always is. Everyone wants to catch up before the end of the year - and while it can make you a little weary, it's also really lovely to catch up with everyone, all happy with summer holiday anticipation. December has seen some epic Maitland dinners, celebrations involving decorated cakes "for no reason in particular", farewelling H's seven years living in Dunedin with a pretty epic return to late night dancing of more youthful days, countless beers at Albar or at the beach, ciders in the Maitland courtyard to make the most of the long evenings...

We ended this December social season with a "festive cheers" last night. L, J and I teamed up again to create a pretty colourful array; complemented by broken heart gin and empire tonic - with a slice of cucumber and a wedge of lime, we decided this is the classiest g & t - and all NZ-made ingredients! Despite J and my best efforts to be organised, we neglected to get the sourdough underway in time for it to rise, and so in lieu of a loaf of sourdough, we made flat bread instead. S called it pain perdu which traditionally refers to French toast made from the forgotten end of a baguette; but seems appropriate in this situation also.

But it isn't the festive season without something delicious and rich, involving dried fruit and nuts. I remember spending this time of year travelling around India a couple of years ago, eating dal and chappati, Christmas spent in the desert with three camels and our guide for company. Just before the end of the year, in a different city, we came across a German cake shop. Devouring plate after plate of dark, alcoholic plum cake (it is amazing how much you can eat when you've been living off curried vegetables) - then it truly felt like Christmas.

This year we made panforte, and raspberry and ginger beer cake for our 'festive cheers'. The panforte was a last minute decision when we were trying to think of something sweet, gluten free, and delicious. Panforte is an ideal cake to make gluten free because it isn't meant to rise very much anyway.

panforte

1 cup almonds

1 cup hazelnuts

150 g flour - to make this gluten free, we used 75 g brown rice flour and 75 g buckwheat flour plus 1 tsp guar gum. 

100 g dried cranberries

50 g dried figs

50 g dried apple

50 g dried apricots

50 g dates

3/4 cup liquid honey

200 g dark chocolate

1/2 cup brown sugar

Roast the almonds and hazelnuts in a 200ºC oven. They will take 10-15 minutes. When they're done, vaguely bash them up or 'gently' blitz them in a food processor. I like them to be very roughly chopped, not too small.

Chop all the dried fruit. This is a somewhat arduous task but, bear with me, it's completely worth it. The fruit you use is also interchangeable - our recipe called for mixed peel but we decided to use apple instead. Raisins would be a good addition, as would prunes.. You can't go wrong with all these delicious ingredients. J also suggested a small amount of chilli which I think would be completely amazing but have not tried first hand.

Mix the nuts, flour, and fruit together in a large bowl. Melt the chocolate, honey and sugar over a gentle heat - you don't want the chocolate to seize up. When all the chocolate is melted, pour over the fruit and stir. Don't wait around too much, the warmer the chocolate/honey mix is, the easier it is to stir. Your arm might feel like it will fall off but it should come together in a really thick, sticky dough consistency. If not, add a very small amount of hot water.

Press into a round cake tin. The recipe called for one that had a 30cm diameter, but we used a 20cm one and it was thicker than usual but wonderful just the same. Bake at 180ºC for 40 - 60 minutes. It should be firm to press the top, and darker around the edges. Remove from tin and if you lined the tin with baking paper, remove as soon as possible - if it cools in the paper you will never get it off prettily. Try (but not too hard) to not eat all of it at once, although it's pretty amazing to eat warm. It's dairy free, gluten free (if you choose), and vegan (apart from the honey) so it's able to be enjoyed by people of all different dietary persuasions, and it's also quite good for you. Personally, I am taking panforte next time I go on a climbing/tramping weekend.

And now it's three days later since I sat in the airport and wrote the above in a sleep deprived state. It's good to be home, very very good as it always is to spend time at Mum and Dad's, spend time with my siblings, missing the other brother S who won't make it home this year (hi, love you!), spend time with Wellington-based friends, and being thankful for all the good surrounding us all. Hope you and yours have a merry and bright festive season. Thank you for reading these somewhat sporadic posts, and see you in 2014!

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title from simon & garfunkel - homeward bound

let's not try to figure out everything at once | baked polenta with tomato

There are many things in life you can't control. Sometimes I find it best to deal with these things by distracting myself - with work and cooking and people and food. This works for a while, and then there's a week where everything catches up with you.... I had that week last week. But even though there were many moments when I questioned my sanity or purpose - it all worked out in the end.

Now I'm feeling a little burned out, but looking forward to less chaotic June filled with winter dinners and lab work. As it would happen, the other morning we woke up to silence - true silence.. and a blanket of snow covering our hill and city. It's an unusual enough occurrence to spell a snow day for us - so we made porridge this morning and ate that in our pyjamas, before venturing the long way into town to look at the snow.

After a few slips and slides down the hill, I purchased a few more onions and made french onion soup to warm us up - I used red wine this time, as it was all we had, and it made a hearty, salty broth. It warmed us up - especially needed as that day the temperature didn't get over four degrees!

This time of year can be hard - it's dark when you have to get up, dark when you come home from work, difficult to get out of bed in the mornings, and there's still another month of the days getting shorter to get through before the solstice. Also, it can be cold - the kind of cold that settles in your bones and stays there all day; the kind of cold that requires thermals underneath your pyjamas and at least two hot water bottles ... the kind of cold that requires a hot, warm, easy to eat dinner.

This dish is perfect for those times where you feel a bit unnecessarily irritable, or flighty, or unsettled. When all of a sudden there's a wind through the house, slamming doors and making maracas out of the leaves. When there's so much to do you don't really want to spend time cooking but you don't have the money or inclination to go out. When it has been cold for a while and, despite loving soup, you're a bit tired of it. You can make it any time of year, it's gluten free, and you could easily make it to be dairy free too. It's hearty, filling, and simple to make.

baked polenta with tomato

You won't believe how little this recipe requires in terms of effort. It's inspired by this recipe with just a few changes.

2 cups coarse polenta/cornmeal

1.5 L water

1 tsp salt

50g butter

1 tsp chili flakes

1/2 cup grated, or about 50g cheese - any kind, the stronger the better! 

2 onions

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 can tomatoes (or fresh, if you've got them)

1 tsp chili flakes

bay leaf

optional - other grilled vegetables like aubergine, olives, mushrooms, courgette.. 

Pour the polenta into a large, oven-proof dish, large enough to contain 1.5 litres of water. Add the salt, and water, and stir until the water goes a bit cloudy. Bake at 180ºC for 45 minutes.

While the polenta is cooking, make the sauce. Lightly cook the onions, add the tomatoes and chopped garlic and spices, and let reduce for a while. If you have some red wine handy, you could add this in for a heartier flavour. Keep warm until the polenta is ready.

After 45 minutes, take the polenta out of the oven and stir through the butter, cheese and chilli flakes, and cracked pepper if you like. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes. It will be done when the top is dry, and the polenta doesn't wiggle too much. The polenta will hopefully be the consistency of a thick porridge, creamy and delicious.

To serve, spoon the sauce over the polenta. Eat with grilled vegetables if you like, and you can add extra cheese to the top if you so desire as well. Enjoy!

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I've been finding myself thinking lots of India recently - perhaps because I am in the process of finalising a different trip overseas - this one is a lot more unexpected and I am feeling very lucky to have the privilege of travel.

When I think of India at the moment, I think of sounds - a camel braying at a camel farm just outside of Bikaner. The hauntingly beautiful Muslim prayers broadcast into the desert air five times a day - the first thing I'd hear in the morning and the last thing I'd hear at night. The soft whumpf-whumpf of the pigeons that nested under the windows in the guest house we stayed at in Pushkar. The deep and sustained snoring of one of the most obnoxious men I've ever had the (questionable) privilege of sharing a sleeper car with. The chai-wallah's particularly unique way of offering their wares. The cracking sound of a stick on a dog's back. Horns, of all different timbres, usually all at once. The loveliest Japanese man playing ravanahatha so beautifully on the first morning of the New Year... so many sounds I'll always remember.

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title from the national - fake empire

wind blow, long low and lonesome | sexy lentil & parsnip salad

There was a severe weather warning in place for strong winds that would appear in the afternoon and drop by nightfall. This is exactly what happened - at 3pm wild winds rocked the trees outside my window, and the ground by our letterbox was sprinkled further with wilted yellow kōwhai flowers. 

I love the wind. It energizes me, blows the unnecessary circular thoughts out of my mind. A good fresh Wellington southerly makes me feel alive. However, I also know for others it makes them feel unsettled, stressed and a bit flighty. A good remedy for such feelings is to eat something substantial and heavy; something to satisfy a possibly anxious stomach. A friend and neighbour, L, was coming around for dinner, planning to introduce us to authentic tortilla espanola after discussion the previous evening of the differences between a Mexican tortilla, a frittata, and tortilla espanola (and the fact ascertained that tortilla is pronounced tor-tiiia, not tor-till-a). We needed an accompaniment to this tortilla espanola, so while L chopped and washed potatoes, I put together this salad.

As I chopped the parsnips, with river cottage Hugh's roasted parsnip recipe in the back of my mind, I located ingredients and thought about the complementing flavours and textures. I had read a very interesting recipe just the day before, which had highlighted the fact that a dish often has multiple different tastes or elements that incorporate and complement each other. Slowly, I gathered bits and pieces from our pantry and our fridge, and a new dish was born.

I was not, however, prepared for the reaction of the two males, T and L, at the dinnertable. Much to J and my amusement their satisfaction bordered on orgasmic - and involved extended, expletive-filled proclamations of delight. L said he saw the lentils and the peanuts and felt a bit doubtful of the end result, but in the end was emphatically won over by his tastebuds (thankfully!). It was even suggested that a dinner of tortilla espanola and this salad could convince even the most devout carnivore that you can have a perfectly filling and delicious meal without meat. As my meat eating friends already know, that is the reason I cook dinner for them (I'm joking...kinda).

Often after finishing a dinner made from a new recipe, we have a bit of a musing on ways to improve it. We'd made hugh's warm parsnip and lentil salad more than once before, following the recipe almost exactly. It was also delicious, and thanks to that recipe I began to appreciate the sweet, earthy taste of parsnips simply roasted with oil, salt and pepper. One thing we wondered after we made the original recipe was if adding walnuts would be good. That is the main difference I've made here - to add pan roasted peanuts. They offer a contrasting crunchy texture and the addition of tahini in the dressing supports their nutty flavour. Hugh's salad is lighter, more zesty and lemony. This is the windy day version! 

sexy lentil & parsnip salad

inspiration for this recipe from hugh fearnley-whittingstall and this recipe from his book, veg everyday.

I know that lentils and parsnips are not exactly the sexiest vegetables in and of themselves. However, the combination of flavours and textures of this group of early spring ingredients looks attractive and tastes unexpectedly delicious - so sexy is definitely a good adjective for this dish. Actually, puy lentils happen to be quite attractive, don't you think?

This salad is also vegan, dairy free, and gluten free - making it a good option for pot lucks where you might not know the dietary requirements of all those eating. It is probably worth mentioning that Hugh's original recipe is not vegan as the dressing contains honey. It is not exactly a quick salad to make - so perhaps not suited for those nights when you're extremely hungry or time-pressured; but it's also fairly non-intensive so you can do some chopping and pop things on, then sit down for 20 minutes to peruse blogs, drink chai, send emails, listen to music. . 

for the salad

miner's lettuce (or arugula, watercress, mesclun, sorrel, or a mixture)

3-4 parsnip

1 cup puy lentils

half an onion

2 bay leaves

parsley stems (3-5)

10-20 asparagus spears

half a cup of red raw peanuts

for the dressing

5 cloves garlic - as evidenced below I actually used 11 - our garlic is currently pre-peeled and preserved in olive oil so we're using a lot more than we otherwise would. The pieces of roasted garlic are really good here so if you're a fan of roasted garlic feel free to add more.

rosemary

2 tbsp tahini

1 tsp English mustard (not grainy)

olive oil

juice of two lemons

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

sea salt

cracked pepper

Peel the parsnips and cut them into small cubes. Place in a roasting dish, with a little olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper. Roast at 200ºC for 20 minutes until soft and slightly golden and crunchy. In a separate small container, simultaneously roast the 5 cloves of garlic in some more olive oil, with rosemary sprinkled on the top, for 10-15 minutes or until soft and light brown. If you put them in the same dish, you won't get the uniquely delicious, caramelised flavour of the parsnips.

Put the lentils in a pan with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Let them boil hard for 2 minutes, then drain. Add the lentils back into the pan with new water, and add the onion half, finely chopped, the parsley stems and the bay leaves. If your bay leaves are fresh from the plant, fold the leaves a couple of times first. Have the heat on low and gently simmer until the lentils are soft but not falling apart - this takes around 30 minutes. When they are done, drain them and leave them in a separate bowl to cool. 

Sort your miner's lettuce, trimming any long stems and removing any pieces of grass - our miner's lettuce came from J's parents' garden. If you've purchased yours you may not need to sort and trim quite as intensively! Be careful to let the warm ingredients cool before bringing them into contact with the lettuce or you will end up with wilted greens. This is particularly true if you're using sorrel - which wilts, and turns an unattractive greeny-grey colour. Keep sorrel to the side and serve it separately. 

Snap the ends off the asparagus - my mum taught me to snap the ends off rather than chop them off with a knife, as snapping them means you get rid of any of the end that's dried/woody. Chop the spears into three. After the lentils are done, boil some more water and a little sea salt in the same pan. When it's at a rolling boil, drop the asparagus pieces in. Let it boil for just 2 minutes; then drain and rinse with cold water to end the cooking process. 

Chop up the roasted garlic cloves. Add the tahini, mustard and olive oil. Add the balsamic vinegar, mix. Don't be tempted to use more balsamic vinegar - it has quite a strong flavour and would be too overpowering with more than just a teaspoonful. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. You want to have about 1 cup total of the dressing. If you don't have enough, mix in more lemon juice and oil until you do. 

Lastly, dry roast the peanuts in a medium hot, heavy bottomed pan. You'll know that they're done when the skins start to split. When they are almost done, add just a little olive oil and salt, turning the pan so all the peanuts are coated. 

Assemble your salad, starting with your lentils. As you tip them into the bigger bowl remove the bay leaves and parsley stems. Make sure they're warm, not too hot. Add the parsnip, asparagus, miner's lettuce and roasted peanuts. Finally, stir in the dressing, and serve immediately. Serves five as a side dish (to tortilla espanola!) or three as a main.

You will have to excuse the picture - it does not do the salad or its sexiness justice. The good light (daylight) was gone and my camera struggles without it - partly because I refuse to use the flash, but partly because it's not equipped with good low light capabilities. Unfortunately at the time of eating we were all too ravenous to pause for pictures. When it was served, this bowl was filled to the top - the part you see above is what we saved for flatmate L who was working late and arrived home in time for chocolate and tea.

Hugh suggests serving this with some hard cheese, like parmesan or pecorino, but I would not add cheese to this version. I think that the flavour of the tahini replaces the flavour that cheese might add. It's also worth trying the recipe as Hugh makes it, as it's also delicious - but different. 

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title from woody guthrie - listening to the wind that blows

top picture taken on a ricoh kr-5; film is kodak gold 200