Rye, hazelnut and pumpkin bread
SocialJoy
Welcome to my April blog and all the news from this month. I hope we have been enjoying going to the pub, albeit in the garden and it is still freezing out in the evenings but at least lovely blue skies in the daytime and meeting friends in our gardens.
I had a big 0 birthday this month, so was spoilt rotten. My only request was for seafood and the bar was set high, with oysters to start and Chapel Down English fizz, followed by tuna tartare, sautéed octopus and lobster. What a treat! Five friends joined me in my garden in the evening to continue the celebrations! And really it is a month for ongoing mini parties, any excuse for socialising ! And thank you to all my friends for all the wonderful flowers and pressies :)
I have gone back to my gym for outdoor classes on the tennis courts and it is actually invigorating and uplifting working out, outside.
I hosted my book club this month and made an Ottolenghi style dish with minced lamb, fresh mint leaves, aubergine, crumbled feta, pine nuts & sumac spice - all baked in the oven, so all the flavours married together. I also made a vegetarian version which i swapped the mince to slice potatoes, with aubergines and goats cheese. This was followed by a salted chocolate tart by Nigella, which was decadent but delicious!
WorkJoy
It is a really exciting month, as I have launched three new courses, not only “in person” but an online option too!. Firstly “breads” which means healthy non yeast breads that I have made many times, two savoury and one sweet. The above photo and recipe below, is one of my favourite breads, Rye, hazelnut & pumpkin seed bread, which is delicious toasted. Other recipe samples are soda bread with fennel seeds & dried cranberries, plus a goats cheese, potato and thyme bread. Secondly, “vegetarian” as my vegan classes are so popular, thought it would be a good idea to have a general vegetarian class as well. And finally “foods around the world” which incorporates the many countries I have lived in and experienced different cuisines from West African peanut stew, a twist on a gazpacho shot, Japanese miso glazed salmon, Swedish blueberry yoghurt cake and a Lebanese flourless chocolate & coconut cake. I think these courses will really appeal to my Not on the high street (NOTHS) platform customers.
KitchenJoy
I have now opened up the cookery school so clients are coming back for in person classes and started with No Sugar at the end of this month. It is lovely to actually teach and see people face to face. But the online classes will continue and as ever popular, the chocolate online class replicated many times over this month. The final class of this month will be a No sugar online. The intention is to use recipes without sugar, or at least no refined sugars and incorporate natural sugars such as honey or maple syrup which is a better choice if you are craving something sweet.
Please contact me for more details if you are interested in any other types of medicinal cookery classes or 121 tuition. This also applies to online private cookery classes and team work building sessions.
SEEDED HAZELNUT RYE LOAF
Makes 12-15 slices
Ingredients
100g milled flaxseeds
250g rye flour
125g ground oats
100g hazelnuts
1 tsp sea salt
60g pumpkin seeds
100g runny honey
3 tbsp light olive oil
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180C. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and grease lightly with oil.
Stir together the linseeds, rye flour, oat flour, hazelnuts, salt & pumpkin seeds in a large bowl.
Combine the honey, oil and 350ml warm water in a jug. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. Spoon into the loaf tin.
Bake for 1hr 20 mins, or until a skewer poked into the centre, comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out to cool completely for a few hours or until the next day. Slice thinly and toast to serve. Store in an air tight container. Can also freeze
. 🙂
Enjoy ……..
