#throwittogether

[youaretheairinmyalveoli]

ThrowItTogether Pumpkin Soup spachethespatula.com recipe

[toysforthestateofexception]

ThrowItTogether Pumpkin Soup spachethespatula.com recipe

[thequeenofcoils]

#queenofcoils #breakfasttime #throwittogether #apples #cinnamonlove Threw this together for breakfast this morning, is an apple cinnamon bubble bake #familylovedit (at Austin, Texas)

[petralefluf]

Throw it together by supersmartygamergirl featuring a steampunk corset ❤ liked on Polyvore

[lovethechefswife-blog]

Hemp Basil Pesto

I have a huge basil plant in my backyard and it has been encroaching on the mini avocado tree. It also go a bit damaged in a recent storm, so I have been breaking off large branches and hand picking the basil leaves into a bowl.

I’ve been using organic hemp seeds now for quite a few years and I like them in my pesto or sprinkled over salad.They have quite a nutty flavour so I replace almonds or cashews in the pesto with hemp seeds.

I add parmesan, olive oil and a touch of salt. Throw it in the wizzer! & use recycled jars to contain! Love my pesto as a dip, in gluten free pasta with sundried tomatoes & black olives or however the occasion calls for it.

My pesto is never the same twice generally I use the amount of basil I’ve got as a ratio guide so in order: basil & hemp seeds (2:1) then olive oil & parmesan will vary depending on the taste as I go along, adding a bit more accordingly.

Mwah!

love

thechefswife

[lovethechefswife-blog]

Mirch Mirch & Vegetable Bounty

This was a collaborative effort. In our tiny kitchen, we work seamlessly together. Moving in & out, to & fro. Catching a kiss in between, working the line. I joke that I’m his commis chef & he tells me I’m more like his sous. Bless. He’s just being polite, obviously.

Chefs Mirch Mirch is essentially paneer cheese with indian spices stuffed in peppers & baked.

My vegetables came from a gardening group I am part of. We had a ‘swap’ day & we ended up with all manner of root vegetable, climbing vegetables, herbs, seeds & more than I knew what to do with or for that matter put a name to! I now have arrowroot & tapioca planted in my garden, along with a new pawpaw tree, madagascar climbing beans, asain spinach, fig tree, avocado tree & all manner of herbs / edible plants.

So here, I have used logic to first cook the hardest vegetable first to soften them up. I like to add a bit of honey to assist in the softening & browning up the vegetable. I like my vegetables to be part stirfry - part salad, so I’ll add crunchy bits like nuts & keep the greens crunchy. Always a touch of salt & depending on where the flavour is going for a western spin, I’ll use a teaspoon of seeded mustard & lemon to keep it fresh, simple & give it depth.

love

thechefswife

[lovethechefswife-blog]

I call this dish, “Two Halves to One Whole” inspired by my love affair with Chef. Its a Gunpowder & Chocolate Tart (gf & df).

I am gluten free at home & began experimenting with various diets such as, sugar free, dairy free, biodynamic & vegetarian when I was having digestive & weight issues. Going gluten free & dairy free however has been exactly what my body responds well to. 

Here, I made the gluten free shortcut pastry from scratch. I don’t always get the pastry right. Its a mood thing. I only bake when I’m in the baking zone. I have to want to bake sweets to get it right.

As a whole, the gluten free flour doesn’t have much structure so i use an organic guar gum to thicken it up. There is no secret for me. I don’t tend to follow a recipe religiously. I use a recipe as a guide for types of ingredients & ratios, then I go ahead and make the version i want to make. Personally I think most of the extras added in are unnecessary. Salt, though, you always need a pinch of salt. LOL.

So pastry is simply what my mother taught me to do. Getting the flour (& in the gf case guar gum) kneaded with the butter to a crumbly consistency, then add liquid (milk or water), a touch of sugar and salt (more sugar if using water) & possibly an egg. 

The fun part is spreading it out on a clean bench showered with flour to rub the dough to get the stickiness out. I then wrap it and set it in the fridge for an hour or two. When im ready i simply roll it out with more flour and use a glass to cut the base of the little baking tins, then I cut long strips and mold the sides of the base.

The chocolate custard is basically the dairy free packet you get in the health food section of the supermarket. Yet with this one I added pure cocoa. It sets quite quickly. 

The gunpowder is sachets I bought in Japan last year of pure Matcha Tea powder. It gives the pastry a bitter twang and offsets the sweetness in the custard. i used a bit of icing sugar for decoration. 

I think the takeaways to this dish are I need to perfect my pastry & invest in the proper equipment to get it right. I think I’m going to need a larger kitchen though to store all these extra tools.

love

thechefswife