Lebanese Feasting: Sticky Cardamon Buns

Here's the final recipe from Monday's Lebanese Feasting menu; Sticky Cardamon Buns.

This is my favourite recipe (from Delicious Magazine 2010) of the three in the menu, partly because I have a sweet tooth and partly because the flavours just work so well. As ever, I think making any bread based dish with kneading, rising and resting is a labour of love and 'kneads' (forgive the pun) to be worth the effort. This one certainly pays dividends and offers lots of scope for non-Lebanese variation....

Next time, I'm going to try an apple butter, cinnamon and raisin combination. Closely followed by a Nutella and chopped hazelnut calorie-extravaganza. Yum!

Enjoy cooking,
Helen x


Sticky Cardamon Buns

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter (50g cubed, 50g softened + extra for greasing)
• 450g strong white bread flour (+ extra for dusting)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 7g sachet fast-action yeast
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 225 ml milk (warmed)
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp unsalted pistachios (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp cardamom seeds (roughly crushed)
• 50g sultanas
• 50g currants
• 50g light muscavado sugar

Step 1: Grease large, deep square cake tin (suggest 23cm) with butter

Step 2: Rub flour and butter (50g cubed) together to make fine crumbs and stir in dried yeast

Step 3: Whisk sugar and egg and add to flour mix. Gradually add milk (you may not need it all) and pull mixture together into a soft dough

Step 4: Knead dough (by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook attachment) until it feels smooth and elastic (about 15 minutes). Cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour (dough should double in size)

Step 6: Give the dough a gentle punch to release the air and roll out on a floured surface. You're aiming for a rectangle about 25cm by 35cm (rough 3/4 cm thickness). Trim the edges if required to get the right shape.

Step 7: Spread to remaining 50g of softened butter over the pastry and then scatter over the muscavado sugar, raisins, currants and crushed cardamom

Step 8: Roll-up lengthways

Step 9: Slice into 9 evenly sized rounds and place in tin. Leave for 45 minutes in a warm place to rise

Step 10: Preheat the oven to 180c/ GM 6 and bake the buns for 30 minutes or until golden (don't overcook though).

Step 11: Remove from oven. Leave in cake tin, spread honey and scatter pistachios over the top and leave to cool for 10 minutes

Step 12: Remove from the tin and serve (great with mint tea!)

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Berry Nice Low Fat Vanilla Panna Cotta

There are times with puddings when you throw any attempts at low-fat out of the window and revel in the sheer naughtiness of what you're eating (my Chocolate Pavlova Supernova is a case in point). Any attempt to swap devilish ingredients for those slightly less hip-scaringly bad would ruin the whole essence of what these dishes are about.

However, there are also times when calorie-consciousness creeps through and, as much as you may want a creamy dessert or sweet, soft cake the guilt factor is too high and they are resisted.

This dessert is perfect for those times (also good for dinner parties which may have featured a heavy main course or a hot summers day). It's light, creamy, fruity and refreshing all at once. Additionally, it's easy to make and low-fat, substituting double cream (a usual feature in a panna cotta recipe), for the far more angelic natural yoghurt. How many reasons do you need to try it out?!

I don't think you need to advertise this as low-fat, because it still manages to taste like a treat and therefore passes the man test where other low-fat, tasteless dishes may give rise to scorn and disdain.

You could easily adjust the compote too to reflect seasonal fruit. A spiced plum compote would be great for Autumn and a cranberry compote super for Christmas.

Berry Nice Vanilla Panna Cotta

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp boiling water
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 vanilla pod
• 2 sheets gelatine
• 420g low-fat natural yoghurt
• 300g frozen berries
• 40g icing sugar

Step 1: Place the sheets of gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes to soften


Step 2: Combine water, gelatine and honey in a heatproof jug. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and add both to the jug.

Step 3: Stand jug in a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until gelatine dissolves. Remove jug from water and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Discarding pod when cool.

Step 4: Combine honey mixture and yoghurt in a bowl and then pour into 4 125ml moulds (I used ramekins). Cover and place in fridge for 3 hours/overnight

                                                   

                                                    

Step 5: Combine berries and icing sugar in a saucepan and heat on a low heat for about 5 minutes. Only stir occasionally to ensure fruit keeps its shape. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate until required.

Step 6: Remove from mould (see top tips) and serve with berry compote

Top Tips

• To easily remove the panna cotta from the mould either wipe round the outside of the mould with a very hot cloth (if using metal moulds). Or, if using porcelain moulds, stand briefly in a bowl of hot water to loosen the panna cotta from the sides
• When it’s loosened, place your serving plate on top and flip over so the panna cotta drops out in the centre of your dish
• Don’t rush the removing part or you hard work will be ruined!

Hope you enjoy,
Helen x

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Sexy Sides!

Some may say that writing an entry tenuously linking food and, ahem, sex is a blatant attempt to get more people to find my page in google....you may be right but go with me a little.....

I think the way people react to food is a very personal thing. Some people get giddy over chocolate, some weep for cheese and some hanker for a nice, juicy steak over all else. I think I'm still finding my true food love but there are certainly some things that fill my head, heart and tummy with happiness.

There are foods that make me smile (soft piles of marshmallows), some that provide comforting warmth (silky, smooth risottos) and some that make me want to feel the sun on my skin, reach for the wine glass and laugh uncontrollably with loved ones. It's this food that I think of as sexy food.

My requirements for sexy food are quite specific:

1. It must promise pleasure on the plate
2. It's flavours must surprise
3. It's textures must interest
4. It must be light in the mouth and light in the tummy
5. It must inspire thoughts of summer
6. It must take very little effort and not detract from all the fun that will ensue

A hard task! However, I'm not prescriptive on what course this applies to. It could as easily be an elderflower granita for dessert as a whole, roasted sea bream for main. So, here I share a few of the side dishes I consider to meet the bill:

• Roasted red pepper, goats cheese, walnut and honey
• Baked fennel, stuffed with orange and feta breadcrumbs

It was only after a little research that I realised there may be a little bit more in the appeal of these dishes than meets the eye! Both fennel and honey are natural aphrodisiacs, popularised by the Egyptians. Well.... if it was good enough for Cleopatra.....

Red Pepper, Goats Cheese Walnut and Honey Salad (serves 2)

2 long red peppers

2 handfuls of large walnuts

100g soft, crumbly goats cheese

2 tablespoons best honery

seasoning

salad leaves (to serve)

Step 1: Halve and deseed peppers

Step 2: Place peppers on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake in the oven (160c) for 10-15 minutes until softening

Step 3: Sprinkle goats cheese and walnuts over the peppers and roast for 10 minutes (careful the walnuts don't burn)

Step 4: Remove from the oven, season lightly and serve warm drizzled with honey

Baked fennel, stuffed with orange and feta breadcrumbs (serves 2)

 
2 fennel bulbs
olive oil
1 orange
50g feta
100g dried breadcrumbs
seasoning
orange slices (to serve - optional)
 
Step 1: Halve the bulbs and remove the core to create a sort of fennel bowl

 

 
Step 2: Drizzle over oil, season, cover with foil and roast for 15 mins (160c)
 
Step 3: Whislt roasting, zest and juice the orange. Mix zest, half the juice, feta, glug of oil and breadcrumbs together to make a fragrant, mouldable stuffing (if it's too dry, add more juice/oil). Season to taste.
 
Step 4: Remove the foil from the fennel and press the stuffing into the bulb cavity. Roast for 15 minutes until the stuffing is golden and crispy.
 
Step 5: Serve with slices of orange
 
I've reverting to type with my next post.... the waist-expanding delights of Pavlova Supernova!
Helen x

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