The Corkless Mind

Tag: Comfort food

  • Spiced date and pecan nut pudding

    Spiced date and pecan nut pudding

    This gorgeous dessert is straight out of this month’s issue of PnP’s Freshliving magazine, and oh what a decadent treat it is for the cold days that are still ahead!

    I don’t get to shoot much these days, it however feels amazing to be back behind the lens and it feels like second nature to me. There is no better reminder of your passion than to constantly put it to practice. This I am glad I made the time for. We all need reminders of what we love doing or what we are good at when times are turbulent.

    This dessert is a spectacular as a hearty addition to any Sunday lunch or dinner for that matter. I love that the flavour reminds me of Cinnabon, especially with the caramel sauce I added, crushed pecan nuts and subtle notes of cinnamon. Eat with caution should certainly be the caveat that should accompany this dessert.

    I wanted to serve this dessert with a molten, salty, dripping caramel sauce to complement the nutty sweet flavours of this pud. I improvised and made a smokey salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce to drench the pud with. Butter being the key in this recipe 🙂 butter indeed does make everything taste so much better!



    Spiced Date and Pecan nut pudding with a salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce. 



    Ingredients:
    – 150g Medjool dates

    – 100g Butter, melted.

    – 250ml Milk

    – 2 free-range eggs

    – 8ml vanilla extract

    – 125g caster sugar

    – 3ml salt

    – 300g self-raising flour

    – 50g pecan nuts, chopped

    – 10ml cinnamon

    – 5ml ground ginger

    – 5ml ground cardamom

    – 250ml sugar

    – 310ml boiling water

    – 60ml sherry or clemengold mandarin juice (I used a combination of both)

    – Smokey salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce to serve.
    Method:

    Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease any dish. I used a Bundt mold.

    Whisk eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Using my NutriBullet or you could use any other blender, blitz half of the dates together with the melted butter until a paste-like consistency is achieved. Roughly chop the rest of dates, I did this for extra texture in the pud. Add this to the date paste.

    Add the date mixture, milk, vanilla extract to the egg mixture. Combine the flour, salt, nuts and spices together then fold into the egg mixture.

    Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin or dish, sprinkle over brown sugar evenly over the batter.
    To make the topping: 

    Mix together the water and sherry/mandarin or orange juice, pour over the back of a spoon to cover the pudding. Bake the pudding for 35 minutes or until just cooked. Serve with cream and the salted buttermilk butterscotch sauce drizzled over.

  • Souper!

    Souper!

    This year, much to my delight, Winter has arrived a lot earlier than expected in Cape Town. My sister says, that being born in a particular season affects not only one’s personality but obviously how we take to the elements in that particular season, and me, being a Winter baby, I absolutely relish at the advent of Winter. Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing better than a perfect beach day with the sand in between your toes and ice cream melting everywhere. So to celebrate the start of Winter, today is such a lovely rainy and overcast day, and of course I crave something warm and comforting.

    image
    Pumpkin and Leek soup.

    The photo above, is a Pumpkin and Leek Soup with Chunky Croutons, pumpkin seeds and pomegranate seeds to garnish and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil with a pinch of salt.

    The recipe is developed by myself and is rather unconventional for a soup recipe, but in my kitchen there aren’t any rules.

    Recipe:

    1.5kg of Pumpkin cut into chunks
    2 leeks washed thoroughly and roughly chopped
    1 large onion
    4 cloves of garlic smashed and roughly chopped
    1.5 liters of water to cover contents in the pot
    500ml Vegetable or chicken stock(I find chicken stock makes the soup that much richer in flavour)

    Method:

    On a medium heat, sauté the onion and leek and then garlic in Extra Virgin Olive Oil. When the onion is translucent, add the pumpkin and leave to caramelize for 5-10 minutes. Add vegetable/chicken stock and water. Allow to simmer on a medium to low heat for 25-30 minutes or until the pumpkin has a really soft consistency. If you own a stick blender, blend to a smooth consistency or if like me, you like your soup chunky, serve with crisp croutons. To make the croutons, take a slice of bread and tear into chunks, heat olive oil in a pan on a medium to high heat to toast the croutons, once a toasty golden to brown colour is achieved, add to the soup and serve hot.

    Enjoy!

    Wishing you all a warm and wonderful winter x