Lunch: Lemon Balm Drizzle Cake and Indian Inspired Potato and Chickpea Salad

Some of my colleagues and people I am meeting through Zoom are saying that they are losing track of days, but I am like - Is it Friday yet ? 

I have been busy at home during a crisis trying to work.  In fact, I think I am sure I am working harder from home more than i ever did in the office, unless it feels that way from staring at the computer screen for hours on end. But on balance, working from home means my lunch has never been so good.  

There always seems to be cake of my own making of course! 

I  teased some of you with a glimpse of this Lemon Balm  Drizzle Cake in my In My Kitchen blog post, but here it is in all its golden gorgeousness. 

Lemon Balm also known as Melissa Balm is a lemon scented perennial herb.  I often infuse the  lemon balm leaves (like mint) in hot water and drink like a herbal tea.  It can also be used in a number of recipes  like ice-cream and custard, but here I added it to cake. 

The 'Lemon Balm - Lemon Drizzle Cake' was splendid, with flecks of green lemon balm running through it, I even topped the outside with lemon balm leaves for adornment. Only comment, perhaps it could have been a bit more lemony, but I know whay that was - I did not have enough lemons, so made do with what I had.

Also a change from sandwiches and pasta salads, I made a Indian inspired Chickpea Salad Potato Salad smothered in mild spices and mango chutney.  I don't think my mother would approve, but I know my nephews and nieces would.  It was still warm when we ate it and I liked that as often my salads at work are cold or just room temperature. 

This lockdown potato salad recipe comes from The Guardian to which we subcribed to about a month ago. To be honest we should have subscribed to it a while back as it perhaps the only online newspaper that I consistently read for news, not just recipes. 

And the 'Lemon Balm Drizzle Cake' comes from Mary Berry which you can find online.  I substituted lemon balm for Lemon Verbena Drizzle Cake.  

I am sharing  this Indian Inspired Potato and Chickpea Salad with Kahakai Kitchen, for Souper Sundays,  a space where bloggers can come share together to share homemade comfort foods like soup, salads sandwiches.

Portobello Mushroom Ragu

I  was attracted to the photograph in the cookbook.  

The Mushroom Ragu pictured in the cookbook was serves with polenta.

I served mine with plain Basmati rice, but on reflection I think it would have been better served with brown rice. 

The Mushroom Ragu was really quick to put together, close to 30 minutes and it was ready to serve, but that is me not including the soaking time for the dried mushrooms, some of which were textually 'meaty'. 

D said he did not mind it, but found the flavours a bit low key, even though I had added 1/2 teaspoon some paprika. I agree with him. I also found it a bit watery, even though I cooked it down to thicken. It may be one of those dishes that is better the following day.  You can find the original recipe for Mushroom Ragu here. Adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly.

Celia Brooks SuperVeg and Baked Mexican Eggs

Yesterday, I spent much of it in the garden greenhouse up-potting vegetable plants, whilst D made wigwam frames for climbing beans and peas.  I have said it before and I will say it again that we are very fortunate to have a garden in these challenging times, as many people do not have this outdoor green space.

I will share progress in the vegetable garden plot tomorrow, today I want to share what I made for brunch a few weeks back with what I had in the house - Baked Mexican Eggs. 

We don't normally have a cooked breakfast during the working week, often only munching on a oatmeal flapjack.  Cooked vegetarian breakfast is reserved for weekends, but since the lockdown and working from the safety of our homes, we have been having breakfast, or rather brunch quite a lot.  

The recipe for these Baked Mexican Eggs comes from Celia Brooks, but don't ask me which cookbook - I can't remember as I have all 9 of them - Yes, I am a fan. I think it may be Entertaining Vegetarians also called Vegetarian Party Food. 

The eggs are baked into a tortilla, beneath the egg either harissa or chipotles in adobo is smeared. The cracked egg is then topped with grated cheese and spring onions, with a little dusting of paprika.  These are really good and I recommend them.

Those of you who read my blog, may remember the name Celia Brooks.  She is one of my favourite vegetarian food writers and chefs. I have featured many of her recipes on my blog over the years from Rhubarb Lentil Curry  and Avocado Soup with Tortilla Cheese Topping .  See bottom of blog post for further recipes.

Her last cookbook is called SuperVeg:  Over 100 Recipes Celebrating the Joy and Power of the 25 Healthiest Vegetables on the Planet.

Orange Cumin Madeira Cake

The  oranges I picked up well before quarantine are still rolling about in my fruit bowl, as D has failied in his duty as orange juice crusher. They are still super juicy and tasty, so can be eaten naturaly, but I find that I am left to be creative with them. Regular readers will know that I have already I made Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake early this April.   

Today I have this Orange and Cumin Madeira Cake to share; and tomorrow I have a Orange Carrot Soup for you. 

This recipe for Cumin and Orange Maderia Loaf comes from a cookbook called Spice Trip by Stevie Pearle and Emma Grazette. I had not heard of either of these chefs before, until I bought the cookbook from Oxfam second hand bookshop about 6 years ago. And although many of the recipes are meat based, there is lots of good stuff to read around medicinal use of spices.

For those of you who want the recipe, well its essentially a Orange and Caraway cake with cumin instead.  It was wonderfully buttery. 

I hope your all keeping well and are finding things to keep you occupied, by the way let me know what you have been baking? 

Sweet Potato, Sweetcorn and Red Pepper Soup

Again, its another soup made mid week for light lunch at home.

I also found a bag of sweetcorn in the freezer which is due to expire April 2020.  I have no idea how long its been there, but i am glad D went through the freezer contents last week to see what was buried there that had to be used up.  I also found some frozen cooking apple slices, so maybe a few apple crumbles and cakes will appear on the menu.  

This was a lightly spiced  Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn soup enhanced with red peppers. I like a bit of texture, so partly blitzed my soup with a handheld blender. It had a really nice flavour and colour.  The Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn Soup comes from Rachel Demuth Green Seasons Cookbook. you can find the original recipe link here. 

D really loved the flavours of this soup and said, he would be more than happy to eat it again - good job I thought, you have got it again tomorrow for lunch!

I am sharing this  Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn Soup with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. 

Creole Hoppin - Jean Rice from Vegan Soul Kitchen

Blackeye Peas continue to feature in my kitchen now that I have rediscovered them.  I also haven't had rice for a while and by rice, I especially mean brown rice. So this Creole Hoppin - Jean recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry appealed to me as it sounded like comfort in a bowl.  

In between blogging, reading, gardening, cooking, baking - I have also given my cookbook shelf a tidy up.  D had commented at how dishevelled and disorganised they were beginning to look. I think he exaggerated by describing them as disorganised, but I agreed that the shelves could benefit from reshelving. And in doing so, I found myself flicking though some old cookbooks - wow I cannot believe Vegan Soul Kitchen cookbook was published in 2009 and that is how long ago I cooked from it. And it hit me, that I too am growing old. 

Anyway, this Creole Hoppin  - Jean Rice was really tasty and it was comfort food in a bowl. I ate mine with a spoon, whereas D ate his with a fork.  Now how do I describe this Creole Hoppin dish to my readers, I hate to do this - comparing different world cuisines to different ethnic cuisines, but I did find this to be a cross between and South Asian Savoury pilau and Italian risotto.  It was sweet from the tomato and savoury from the spices. 

This Creole Hoppin Rice dish was served with some sauteed chard from the garden, though collard greens would have been more authentic.

Other Creole Style Dishes
Baked BBQ Peas and Rice

Cajun Black Eyed Peas with Summer Vegetables
Creole Style Rice and Beans with Avocado and Kiwi Salad
Creole style Yellow Split Pea,  Red Pepper and Sweetcorn Soup
Green Gumbo 
Southern Style Okra Gumbo

Sweet Potato and Blackeye Bean Soup

My toes have been cold. I think i may need to get myself some slippers when things return to some form of normality, as the thick slipper socks just ain't keeping my toots warm.  Feeling nippy also makes me hanker for a good bowl of homemade soup, both to warm my hands which are also often cold and for my belly.  

We have an abundance of sweet potatoes in the house, as one of our back up meals during the working week is often Double Potato Feta Bake, so it wasn't that hard to make soup with what we had at home.  I also have a stash of blackeye beans, so something a little more heartier was called for. 

We are eating twice a day, namely brunch and then supper, but sometimes in between we want something light and its a welcome excuse for us to have a lunch break at home from the solitary work, so soup is a good solution.  

This Sweet Potato and Blackeye Bean Soup was a well flavoured soup, not just from the sweetness from the sweet potatoes, but also hints from the other herbs, namely the sage.  I haven't had blackeye beans for a little while, so the soft nuttiness added both flavour and melt in the mouth texture.  On the last day of eating and reheating the soup, the sweet potatoes disintegrated completely. 

I am sharing this  Sweet Potato and Blackeye Bean Soup with Soup, Salad and Sammies hosted by Kahakai Kitchen. 

Other Blackeye Bean recipes
Aubergine, Black-eyed peas, Pepper and Coconut Pot
Baked BBQ  Blackeyed Peas and Rice
Black-Eyed Bean and Lemon Hot Pot
Black-eyed Bean and Squash Stew with Preserved Lemon
Blackeye bean and Vegetable Crumble.
Cajun Blackeyed Peas with Summer Vegetables 
Ginger Blackeyed Peas

Orange Curry and Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake

We woke up early to go to the supermarket to top up on fruit and vegetables, along with other basic essentials. When we got there just before 7am, noticed that had changed the time of opening to 8am. We drove back home empty handed. I must admit, I was a bit anxious. It was my first time leaving the house.  Surprisingly the roads were busy as if we were going into work, which was unusual.  D commented on how busy it was, I stared out of the car window at the windows of the houses we drove past, displaying colourful rainbows. I wasn't sure what this was about, but when I got back home I did a search and learned that pictures of rainbows have started springing up in windows after schools had closed in response to the coronavirus outbreak, and primary schools are encouraging pupils at home to put up paintings to "spread hope". It was genuinely heart warming to see.

No rainbows in my window though...instead in my home was this Orange Cake and Double: Sweet Potato Curry. I say was, as I made it early this week and its all gone. 

Mid March, well before the quarantine  - D picked up a load of oranges to make juice with his manual juice maker, but typically I end up having to find ways of making the most of ingredients he picks up. 

So this egg free Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake was one way that I found myself using some of those oranges, but as I went to make the cake I realised that I did not need to use the whole orange - only the zest!  The cake also contains mixed dried fruit, black treacle aka molasses. 

The Double Potato and Pepper Curry with Chickpeas was made to use up what we had in the house. I found the Double Potato Curry a little sweet, so squeezed the juice of half of zested orange into it for liven it up a little.  It definately perked it up a little for my tastebuds. 

The  Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake was reminisce of steamed pudding or even closer to malt bread which is dark and squidgy, full of dried fruit. The recipe was adapted fromThe Vegetarian Gourmet: Easy Low Fat Favourites cookbook.  This was nice to eat warm (reheated in the microwave), but by day four it began to feel a bit dense and stodgy so we fed it to the birds, by the following day it was all gone. Nothing at home is going to waste, it rarely did before so I can continue to feel smug in that knowledge. 

Brazil Nut Banana Muffins

Well this is week three that I along with many other people in the world have been in social isolation and working from home.

Its the first time I have been fortunate to work for an organisation, that has permitted me to work from home. Its not always been like this, a couple of years ago I worked for an organisation that pressured me to come in from my rural location to the city when we had 'The Beast from the East', even though all public transport from where I lived had been cancelled, afraid of being stranded I ended up taking annual leave that period. I am thankful that I now work for a considerate employer, I know that not everyone has that.  

In fact both D and myself have been working from home.  Its easy to get distracted with all the homely comforts, but we are disciplining ourselves.  D works from one room and I work from the other, the only time we cross paths is for lunch or in the kitchen for a cuppa.  And please don't be impressed with our expresso machine above, we have hardly used it! Its become more ornamental than useful. 

This brings me onto my Brazil Nut Banana Muffins.  I made these in the first week of social isolation.  The recipe is adapted from Heidi Swanson of 101 cookbooks from her Super Natural Cooking.  I didn't have all the ingredients to hand, for a start  I only had one leopard spotted banana. So I halved the recipe quantity and topped off with brazil nuts as I did not have the recommended pecans.  These were surprisingly good, especially the crunchy Brazil nuts which I haven't had in a long, long while - felt like a treat!  

Children of the World Plates and Pistachio Cakes

My Kitchen is very quiet at the moment, not a lot going on. 

I do however have something to share that I was very pleased with.  I picked up these gorgeous plates from a charity shop a little while back.   

These are a collection from Villeroy & Boch called 'Children of the World'.  A quick internet search showed me that there are 12 of them, but I am content with what I have. 

 I found some energy to make some Pistachio cakes over the weekend.

The Pistachio Cake recipe comes from Dina Begum's Brick Lane Cookbook: Food From Everywhere.  The little cakes were dense and flavourful and were absolutely delightful to eat.  D loved them.  They were meant to get a glaze, but I decided to give that a miss.  

By the way, I have been to Brick Lane - see here - it was mostly about the graffiti art.

Anyway, I  am sharing this simple blog post with Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen series, I look forward to seeing what you have lurking in your kitchen cupboards or to see whats new.