Carrot, apple & cardamom salad

Ingredients 1 Carrot, 1 apple, 1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 orange.

Preparation: 5 minutes

To say a salad is supposedly a simple affair for lazy Summer days, the majority that I make involve very little of the "chuck it in a bowl and scoff it" mentality. But whilst life is too short for artfully decorating a plate with blobs of apple gel and dill emulsions at home, I do believe a little marinating goes a long way.
This salad is breathtaking in its simplicity - shaved apple and carrot with a gorgeous, zingy orange and cardamom dressing to bring out the flavour of the carrot and stop the apple from browning (should you wish to brown bag it.)

1) Peel the carrot and apple, discard the skin and then simply carry on peeling! Transfer the slivers of fruit and vegetable flesh into a bowl and set aside.

2) Combine the olive oil with the juice of the orange, season with a tiny smigdeon of salt (no, not a pinch - a smidge!), black pepper and the cardamom.

3) Pour the dressing into the bowl, toss the carrot and apple until the cardamom and pepper is evenly distributed and either serve or set aside until required.

Baby Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients 75g butter/oil, 125ml orange/apple juice, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 2 bananas, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp honey (or agave syrup), 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 250g self-raising flour, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 100g dried cranberries, 100g mixed seeds.

Makes: 16 Preparation: 45 minutes

OK, so this is not a baby recipe. Shaddap, it's not. It's NOT OK. It's a recipe for muffins which are sugar free and if you want them to be, dairy free. Healthy seeded breakfast muffins that are totally delicious and I just happen to feed to my twelve month old son... 

1) Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190 degrees and add the cranberries to the orange/apple juice.

2) Add the bananas, vanilla essence and honey to a blender and puree thoroughly. Add the eggs and melted butter/oil and pulse again until completely combined

3) Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and bicarb of soda, then mix in the seeds.

4) Pour the puree in with the dry ingredients, add the juice and cranberries and mix roughly.

5) Spoon into muffin cases and add to a muffin tin, sprinkling some extra seeds onto the top. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the tops begin to colour and a skewer inserted to the middle cupcake comes out clean.

Roast tomato & sweet potato soup

Ingredients 1 lb tomatoes, 1 can coconut milk, 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 2 sweet potatoes, coriander, chilli flakes, 1 orange, butter.

Serves: 6 Preparation: 1 hour

This soup was a sort of Frankenstein's monster, I'll be honest, but whilst the majority of time I plan to create a specific recipe - sometimes something evolves from a "bung it" and turns out to be spectacular! I've been all about pistachios this week and whilst roasting some tomatoes to make bruschetta with my pistachio pesto I had a glut of roast tomatoes left over and also some baked sweet potato so decided to make soup. To make the juicy tomatoes go further and add a silky feel to the thick sweet potato I combined it with coconut milk and then suddenly this scrumptious spicy warm Autumn soup emerged!

1) Add the tomatoes, whole, to a lidded ovenproof dish and roast at 200 degrees for 25 minutes. This keeps every bit of that luscious tomato juice and has a completely different flavour from just boiling the tomatoes in stock. Bake the sweet potatoes in their skins for the same amount of time.

2) Peel and slice the onion and sautee in a little butter. When the onions are soft, add the garlic cloves, crushed, then take off the heat before they begin to brown.

3) Add the onions and garlic to a food processor along with the tomatoes - juice and all - and blend thoroughly. Pass through a sieve and back into the pan, then peel and blitz the sweet potato and add the smooth puree to the concentrated tomato flavoured juice in the pan.

4) Add the coconut milk, season and taste. At this point I added the juice and zest of an orange but depending on the variety of tomato you use, your soup may not need this additional tang. It's a judgement call! Simmer for a further 20 minutes.

5) Serve with crushed chilli flakes and chopped coriander.

Carrot & Wensleydale salad

Ingredients Carrot, Wensleydale, pistachios, clementine.

Preparation: 5 minutes

I know, I know I only posted a carrot salad recipe the other day but with flavours this wonderful, can you blame me for sticking with a good thing? This salad is so quick to make, travels well and with a double hit of protein from the cheese and pistachios it's satisfying too. Tangy sweet clementine juice goes perfectly with carrots but the peppery pistachio and sharp cheese contrast beautifully.

1) Grind the pistachios in a mortar and pestle with a pinch of sea salt and black peppercorns. I like the nuts to be mostly powder with a few bigger chunks but if you prefer a completely fine powder, go for it!

2) Peel the carrot and grate into a bowl. Add 3/4 of the pistachio powder and stir through before squeezing in the clementine juice

3) Grate or crumble through the Wensleydale and the remainder of the pistachio powder to season and either serve or save!

Beetroot, carrot & feta salad

Ingredients Garlic, walnuts, olive oil, 1 carrot, 1 beetroot, 150g feta, poppy seeds, 1 clementine

Preparation: 15 minutes

This stunning salad, using my walnut & garlic paste, is a complex mix of flavours and textures but the juicy carrot and beetroot, the tangy rich feta and the savoury garlic marry together beautifully. A wonderful quick lunch for one or a great side dish to share.

1) Peel and grate the beetroot and carrot, zest the clementine and squeeze in a little of the juice. Stir through and set aside.

2) Cut the feta into cubes and roll in a dish of poppy seeds.

3) Stir a tablespoon of walnut paste into the carrot and beetroot mix, then serve with the feta.

Cinnamon, orange & sultana scones

Ingredients 225g self raising flour, 50g butter, 50g sugar, juice and zest of 2 oranges, 20g sultanas, 1 tbsp cinnamon.

Serves: 10 Preparation: 30 minutes

I adore making scones. If someone calls to tell me they're coming over for a cuppa, it's the work of but 15 minutes to prepare the pastry and pop them in the oven. These orange and sultana scones are something that I have been planning to make for some time - the scent of cinnamon and orange that fills the house is incredible and the plump spice infused sultanas make a wonderful contrast to the light, crumbling pastry. I served these with a little butter and marscapone whipped with orange juice and sugar.

1) Juice and zest the oranges and leave the sultanas to soak in the orange juice for at least 10 minutes.

2) Sift the flour, cinnamon and sugar together, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3) Mix the orange juice and sultanas in with the dry ingredients until a dough has formed. It's best to work scones with cool hands so if yours are warm, run them under the cold tap first (and dry them) before working it.

4) Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and then fold it in half and roll again. Cut out rounds of pastry with a scalloped cutter and brush with a little milk to help the surface colour.

5) Bake at 200 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Toasted goats cheese with fig pesto

Ingredients 2 dried/fresh figs, 1/2 orange, 75g hazelnuts, 150g basil leaves, olive oil, goats cheese, rocket

Serves: 2 Preparation: 15 minutes

In my previous post, I brought you paprika pesto - earthy and comforting it's the exact opposite of my fig pesto which sets the tongue tingling with flavour stimulation. My personal favourite pesto is Genovese style, with the addition of black kamalata olives to add a juicy richness, but I can honestly say that this fig pesto goes to another level and will blow your mind. Some rich cheese and soft bread and you've got yourself the perfect summer lunch. I have always used fresh figs when making this, but as they're out of season, I tried using sticky, sweet, meltingly soft dried figs and it gave this a delicious, autumnal twist.

1) Add a good handful of fresh basil leaves to a mortar bowl and grind to a fine pulp.

2) Add a pinch of coarse sea salt, the hazelnuts and grind thoroughly.

3) Add a squeeze of orange juice, the olive oil and finely diced figs and stir to combine.

4) Spoon onto the goats cheese and toast under the grill for 3-4 minutes, serve with rocket as a salad or spread onto fresh bread.

Moroccan roast vegetable salad

Ingredients 1 sweet potato, 1 carrot, 1 tsp garam marsala, 1 tsp coriander, olive oil, 2 oranges, 1/4 cup sultanas, 1 cup wild rice, Quorn "chicken" pieces

 
Serves: 2 Preparation: 1 hour

Well my little toasties, it has been quite some time since I have updated this blog. Everything Goes With Toast will be 2 years old in March, which is coincidentally the same month I will be giving birth to my Starchild, and the same month David Bowie releases his first album in 10 years. A month of excitement all round! Due to the whirlwind of pregnancy I have neglected this horribly, but I hope this lovely Eastern spiced rice salad will make up for it.

1) Peel the carrot and cut into chunks, then cut the sweet potato into equal sized chunks. Add to a casserole dish along with the juice and zest of 1 orange, a teaspoon of garam marsala and a teaspoon of olive oil. Put the lid on the dish and shake thoroughly to coat the vegetables, then roast at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, shaking again after 15 minutes.

2) Add the Quorn pieces and shake to coat with flavour. Roast for a further 30 minutes.

3) Juice the other orange and put the sultanas into the juice to plump up. Set aside.

4) Rinse the rice and put on to boil. When the rice is cooked, strain the water away and add the sultanas and orange juice.

5) Add the coriander to the casserole dish and shake to coat the Quorn and vegetables, then serve the vegetables with the rice.

Mulled wine cake

Ingredients 250g butter, 250g plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 250g icing sugar, 4 eggs, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, 1 3/4 cups red wine, 1/4 cup stem ginger, 2 tsp allspice, 2 tsp ground ginger, 3 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 150g marscapone, juice and zest of 1 orange

Serves: 10 Preparation: 1 hour

The lovely and fabulous @tiger_tea and I were recently discussing alternatives to Christmas fruit cake this week. Quite frankly, I love a nice slice of fruit cake at Christmas, especially with a slice of cheddar on the top (oh come on, you know by now that for me, cheese goes with everything!) but as not everyone likes it, I present this magnificent alternative. After all, what is more Christmassy than mulled wine? Booze, spice, citrus, warmth. OH MY LORD! GET IN MY BELLY! This cake is rich and dark with a layer of creamy orange marscapone in the centre.

1) Sift together the dry ingredients and chop the crystallised ginger.

2) Cream the butter and sugar together, and then whisk in the eggs, wine and orange zest.

3) Beat in the dry ingredients and the ginger bit by bit.

4) Pour into two cake tins and bake for 40 minutes at 175 degrees, until a skewer comes out clean. Set aside to cool. Your house will smell incredible. You're welcome.

5) Whip together the orange juice and marscapone and sweeten to taste with a little sugar. Leave to firm in the fridge at the cake cools, then use to sandwich the two halves together.

6) Dust the surface of the cake with a little cinnamon, cocoa powder and icing sugar mixture.

Stuffed Pumpkin: Saffron & orange cous-cous

Ingredients Pinch saffron, zest & juice of 1 orange, paprika, chilli powder, giant/Israeli cous-cous

Preparation: 45 minutes

Halloween is a comin' and I'm filled with festive ideas for serving food. These TEENY PUMPKINS are adorable but there's not a lot of good eating in them, so they're merely a receptacle for this exotic mixture of meltingly soft giant cous-cous and tangy spices.

1) Slice the top from your munchkin pumpkin and carve out the flesh and seeds.

2) Roast in the oven for 25 minutes and set aside.

3) To make the filling - Pour the cous-cous into a pan of boiling water with a pinch of saffron and stir through for 6-8 minutes before straining in a sieve. Stir in the orange zest, iuice paprika and chilli powder.

4) Spoon the filling into the munchkin pumpkin and bake for a further 15 minutes before serving.

Roast carrot & ginger soup with Wensleydale

Ingredients 5 Carrots, 100ml orange juice, 1/4 medium ginger root, rapeseed oil.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 2 hours

Winter is drawing in and we need to carb up! This soup is fresh and zingy with a gorgeous sticky crumble of Wensleydale to finish. When you boil carrots to soften them for soup, the colour always leaches away and they loose that lustrous orange hue. By roasting the carrots they maintain their natural sweetness and don't lose any of the flavour.

1) Peel the carrots and top and tail them, then peel and dice the ginger. Drizzle with a generous glug of rapeseed oil and roast in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour and a half, until the surface begins to colour and they become "bendy"

2) Pulse the carrots in a blender, adding the orange juice about half way through. Thin out with a little water, though personally I like this soup to be quite thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3) Transfer to a pan to warm through, and serve crumbled with a little fruit Wensleydale.

Beetroot hummus

Ingredients 1 beetroot, 1 can chickpeas, 1 clove garlic, orange juice, orange zest, Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt.

Preparation: 35 minutes (plus soaking time if using dried chickpeas)

I adore hummus, Adam Sandler's Zohan has NOTHING on me! I had thought until recently that my ginger hummus was the best adaptation, but this beetroot hummus is absolutely marvellous and really does have the most fabulously exotic colour. 

1) If you are using dried chickpeas leave them to soak in cold water for a minimum of 6 hours (ideally 10-12) and cook them for 1 1/2 hours, changing the water frequently to avoid a bitter aftertaste.

2) If using canned chickpeas drain them and rinse well with cold water. It's entirely your choice whether you shell the chickpeas first - personally I prefer a bit of texture - but to shell them - Pour over boiling water and let them sit for 1 minute before straining, then pinching them gently to slide the chickpea from the shell.

3) To prepare the beetroot, wash it and slice off the stalks and leaves. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Carefully peel the beetroot with the nick of a knife.

4) Roast one clove of garlic in the oven for 10 minutes, then squeeze out the pureed garlic from the skin.

5) Place your chickpeas into a blender along with 1 tablespoon of greek yoghurt, a tablespoon of orange juice, salt and black pepper, the beetroot and the garlic and pulse thoroughly.

6) After blending thoroughly, stir through a little orange zest.

Roast carrot & goji berry soup

Ingredients 5 carrots, 100ml orange juice, goji berries, rapeseed oil.

Serves: 2 preparation: 2 hours

This soup is LOADED with vitamin C and A and I just love the vibrancy of it. When you boil carrots to soften them for soup, the colour always leaches away and they loose that lustrous orange hue. By roasting the carrots they maintain their natural sweetness and don't lose any of the flavour.

1) Peel the carrots and top and tail them. Drizzle with a generous glug of rapeseed oil and roast in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour and a half, until the surface begins to colour and they become "bendy"

2) Pulse the carrots in a blender, adding the orange juice about half way through. Thin out with a little water, though personally I like this soup to be quite thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3) Either transfer to a pan to warm through, or zap for a minute in the microwave, adding the goji berries before serving. Stir them through, allowing them to soften in the soup as they're really quite unpleasant (tough and chewy!) otherwise.

Orange & maple roast parsnips

Ingredients 4 parsnips, 2 oranges, maple syrup

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

I adore parsnips - such a spicy, earthy flavour which caramelises perfectly when roasted. Glazing parsnips with orange juice and maple syrup brings out the natural sweetness and forms a fabulous sticky crust.

1) Rinse but do not peel the parsnips, then slice into chunks. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and pour over the parsnips. Drizzle with maple syrup and stir the parsnips until they are evenly coated

2) Roast in the oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour at 200 degrees until the insides are fluffy and soft and the outsides begin to crisp.

Orange & kiwi glazed duck

Ingredients 3 oranges, 3 kiwis, caster sugar, new potatoes, samphire, duck.

Serves: 4 Preparation: Size: 1.75kg to 2kg = 2 ¼ hours
                                          2.50kg to 3kg = 2 ¾ hours


I recently acquired a 2.5 kilo wild duck, much to the excitement of my best beloved. I had been playing with a kiwi and orange glaze for a few weeks, loving it but not happy with it for ham or chicken. Duck was the only way in my humble opinion and how right I was. This recipe takes time, but it will leave you with a crispy, delicious duck - the meat flavoured with fragrant orange steam and the ultra crispy skin glazed with orange and kiwi and melt-in-the-mouth potatoes.


1) Pierce two of the oranges all over with a knife, then stuff them in the cavity of the duck. Squeeze the juice from the remaining orange into a milk pan along with three peeled, quartered kiwi fruit and half a cup of caster sugar.


2) Bring to the boil, mashing the kiwi into the orange juice until it is the consistency of a coulis. Set aside to cool and thicken.


3) Arrange the duck in a roasting tin and score the duck liberally with a knife. Ducks have less meat and far more fat than chicken - as it heats, the fat will begin to run from the duck to cook the potatoes, but it's pointless applying the glaze at this stage as it will not flavour the meat! Blast in the oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour.


4) Remove from the oven and poke with a knife or skewer to release ever more fat and juice. Add the new potatoes, stirring them in the fat to ensure they are coated and return to the oven for 1 hour (30 minutes for a smaller duck) at 150 degrees.

5) Liberally coat the duck with the kiwi and orange glaze and return to the oven for 45 minutes at 150 degrees before carving and serving.


I served this with sauteed samphire

Spelt-otto: Orange & saffron

Ingredients   1 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 white onion, butter, 1 orange, pinch saffron, salt, paprika, chilli powder, Pimms, 1 cup spelt

Serves: 2 preparation: 25 minutes

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. It's this process of releasing starch into a sauce which makes a risotto a risotto and I was delighted to learn that spelt (a kind of wheat) can also be used. It has a fabulous texture and flavour and really brings out the sweet hay-like scent of saffron. I read recently that monks used saffron as a treatment for melancholy and this struck me as good inspiration for the exotic Eastern combination of orange and chilli.


1) Soak the spelt in cold water for 5 minutes

2) Finely dice the onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Drain the water from the spelt and stir into the onions. 

3) Add a glug of Pimms and the juice and zest of one orange. Once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock along with a pinch of saffron and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time until the spelt has fluffed up and softened. Add paprika and chilli powder to taste and serve.

Turkey orange & stilton meatballs

Ingredients 400g turkey mince, 170g white stilton with orange, 1/2 small white onion, passata tomatoes, juice and zest of 1 orange, linguine

Serves: 3 Preparation: 20 minutes

This recipe evolved as a result of a twitter conversation. I was asked what kind of sauce I'd serve with a stilton-based meatball, creamy or tomatoey and I explained that stilton LOVES fruit. Whether cranberry, orange, apricot or ginger - the more tart the flavour, the better. So for me, the only solution would be a simple sauce of orange juice, zest and the rich warmth of tomato. I made these meatballs with lean turkey mince, all the better to balance the naughty addition of cheese!

1) Peel and slice half the onion and add to a blender. Pulse for a few seconds and then add the turkey mince and crumbled stilton.

2) Keep pulsing until the mixture is thoroughly combined - you will see it form a large ball in the blender when it is ready. Remove and form into meatballs.

3) Using a little splash of oil, fry off the meatballs in a hot pan for about a minute - tossing them to ensure they keep their shape and are evenly coloured. Transfer to an ovenproof dish and set aside.

4) Zest the orange and squeeze out the juice. Add the juice and zest to a pan with about 250g passata and warm through. Season and pour over the meatballs, then transfer to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

5) Boil the linguine in salted water for about 10 minutes and strain. Add the meatballs and sauce to the linguine and toss until the sauce has coated the pasta. Serve with black pepper and a sprinkle of basil or parsley.

Carrot, pomegranate & poppyseed salad

Ingredients     5 Carrots, 1 pomegranate, 2 oranges, 1 tbsp poppyseed

Serves: 4 Preparation: 5 minutes


I love the combination of carrot and orange but adding the crunch of poppyseed and the beautiful bursting texture of pomegranate jewels works perfectly. Great in sandwiches or just as a side salad.


1) Peel and grate the carrots. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and stir into the carrots. Personally I like to let this marinate for at least an hour so that the flavours infuse thoroughly but you can eat it straight away if you're in a rush.


2) Slice the pomegranate in half and hold over a bowl, fruit side down. Bang sharply with a wooden spoon to release the jewels. Alternatively, if the pomegranate is very ripe, it's sometimes as quick to just break it in half and peel off the membrane.


3) Stir the pomegranate into the carrots and add the poppy seeds.

Beetroot, orange & olive salad

Ingredients 2 oranges, 1 beetroot, 10 kamalata olives, Peashoots, Spinach, salad leaves, white wine vinegar, olive oil.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 5 minutes


I have been going nuts for olives recently and when toying with creating an orange and beetroot salad I wanted something really savoury to cut through the sweetness, that wouldn't change the texture like a nut would. Olive seemed the natural choice and I am in love with the results. Give this a try, it's sinfully moreish!


1) Wash the beetroot and slice off the stalks and leaves. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Carefully peel the beetroot with the nick of a knife, then once it's cool slice in half, and then into segments. 


2) Peel the orange carefully with a sharp knife, then slice into each section to release the segments, free of pith.


3) Squeeze the remains of the oranges to release any juice into a bowl. Mix equal parts of white wine vinegar and olive oil with the orange juice to form a dressing, then season with salt and black pepper.


4) Toss the salad leaves in the dressing, then arrange the orange and beetroot on the plate. Pit the olives and add to the salad and drizzle over the remaining dressing.

Asparagus with orange hollandaise

Ingredients 4 eggs, white wine vinegar, zest of 1 orange and juice of 3 oranges, butter, asparagus,

Serves: 2 Preparation: 15 minutes

The nutty, slightly sulphuric taste of asparagus is perfect with dairy and eggs, and citrus fruits bring out the sweet freshness so a hollandaise sauce is the perfect partner to these long, green fingers. I prefer not to peel the stalks when served with orange as I think the extra sweetness and flavour stands up well against the slight bitterness.

1) To make hollandaise sauce separate the egg yolks from the whites, discard the whites and beat the yolks.
2) Mix 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar with 1 tablespoon of orange juice and heat. Whisk the hot mixture into the egg yolks in a steady stream and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth.
3) Melt 4oz of butter in a pan on a low heat and pour the egg yolk mixture into the pan in a slow stream whilst continuing to whisk. As the sauce begins to thicken take it off the heat and whisk until thick and glossy.
4) Asparagus can be boiled, steamed or grilled - personally I prefer to grill it for 2-3 minutes, it has a beautiful colour, crunchy texture and doesn't dry out. Heston Blumenthal recommends frying the asparagus off in a tiny amount of oil in a covered pan. It's entirely up to you how you prefer it.