Sophia Lindop - A Unique Food Experience

Upside down pear cake

I am going through a baking phase...or should I say, craze?! I love this cake because it is a dense drier cake and is perfect served with Greek yoghurt, custard, or cream. Hope you enjoy it too!

Upside down pear cake

Ingredients
2 heaped T honey
2 heaped T treacle sugar
1 large can (425g drained) pear halves
100g butter, softened
110g caster sugar
2 t baking powder
240g cake flour
2 heaped t ground allspice
A pinch of salt
120ml juice from the canned pears

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Heat the honey and sugar in a small saucepan or in the microwave until the sugar has dissolved.

Prepare a 20cm spring-form tin by lining it with parchment paper. Pour the sugar and honey mixture onto the paper and cut the pear halves into slices. Arrange these around the base of the tin.

Beat the softened butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the juice from the canned pears, followed by the flour, baking powder, salt and allspice. Mix well.

Spoon the mixture over the pears and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until brown. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes in the tin before flipping it over onto a serving plate. Remove the parchment paper.

Serve warm with thick Greek yoghurt.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raspberry and pistachio cake

The weather's changing slowly and the autumn days in Cape Town are cooling down - I am sitting here in the morning sun wishing I had a slice of this delicious cake on a plate.

Serves 10 – 12
Difficulty – easy
Preparation time – 30 minutes
Baking time – 50 minutes

Ingredients
125 g butter, softened
270 g castor sugar
5 ml (1 t) vanilla essence
Zest of 1 orange
2 eggs
240 g cake flour
7,5 ml (1½ t) baking powder
250 ml (1 C) buttermilk
225 g frozen raspberries
80 g pistachios, chopped
40 g almonds, chopped
Icing:
200 g icing sugar (more if needed)
250 ml (1 C) cream cheese or Mascarpone
Juice and zest of 1 orange

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Line a 9 cm x 26 cm loaf tin with baking paper.

Beat the butter, castor sugar, vanilla essence and orange zest until pale yellow.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold through the mixture.  Add the buttermilk and fold through.  Gently fold through the raspberries, pistachios and almonds, stirring as little as possible.

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake, about 50 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar over the cream cheese and add the orange juice.  Blend with a stick blender until smooth.  Add the zest. 

Once the cake has cooled, cover with icing.

 

Stay tuned for more recipes or click here...

 

Chinese black rice salad with preserved ginger

I just love the colours and flavours of this easy recipe.

Serves 4
Difficulty – easy
Preparation time – 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 C Chinese black rice
2 C salted water
30 g chives, finely chopped
30 g sunflower seeds, toasted
2 T preserved ginger
1 wheel of feta, crumbed
¼ C mild peppadews, roughly chopped
4 T good quality olive oil
Maldon salt to season

Method
Cover the rice with the salted water and bring to the boil.  Turn the heat down and simmer until cooked.  Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, toast the sunflower seeds in a little olive oil.  Set aside to cool.
Mix the chives, preserved ginger and peppadews with the olive oil in a bowl and season.  Add the rice and toss.

Place the rice mixture onto a platter and top with the sunflower seeds and feta.

 

Click here for more ginger recipes...

Flapjacks with raspberries and honey

It's Sunday morning, and here's a great breakfast idea. Enjoy!

Serves 4 (makes 12)
Difficulty – easy
Preparation time – 15 minutes
Cooking time – 15 minutes

Ingredients
250 ml (1 C) cake flour
10 ml (2 t) baking powder
Pinch of salt
30 ml (2 T) sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
150 ml full cream milk
1 T butter, melted (plus some to brush the pan)
250 ml fresh raspberries
125 ml crème fraîche
125 ml honey
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl.  Beat the egg and milk lightly and add the mixture to the dry ingredients - whisk until smooth and set aside.

Preheat a large frying pan until a droplet of water beads when dropped on the surface.  Brush the pan with a little butter and spoon the batter, about 3 T at a time, into the pan.  Cook for about 2 minutes until bubbles appear on the surface, and then turn the flapjacks over and cook until golden brown.

Serve the flapjacks hot. Stack 3 flapjacks, one on top of the other, sandwiched with crème fraîche in between each.  Top with a blob of crème fraîche and fresh raspberries.  Drizzle with honey and dust with icing sugar before serving. 

If this leaves you wanting more, click here...

Fish with ginger, lemongrass and spring onion en papillote

Wondering what to prepare for supper tonight? Wonder no more - here is a quick, easy and healthy idea. Bon appetit!

Serves 6
Difficulty – easy
Preparation time – 15 minutes
Baking time – approximately 15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients
1,5 kg white-fleshed fish, whole and filleted
1 stalk of lemongrass, cut into strips
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
8 spring onions, sliced lengthways
1 carrot, julienned
Maldon salt
Freshly milled black pepper
¼ C good quality white wine
1 lemon
3 T good quality olive oil
4 T salted butter

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

In a bowl, mix together the spring onion, the carrot, the lemongrass and the ginger, and toss with the olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.

Line a roasting dish with parchment paper and place the fish inside.  Season the fish to taste.  Top with the ginger and vegetable mixture.  Place a few thin slices of fresh lemon on top, and end with the butter in blobs along the length of the fish.

Fold the parchment paper up around the edges and pour the wine over the fish.  Now fold the edges in tightly to seal the package well so as to contain the steam.  Bake for between 15 and 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. 

Serve by cutting the packet open and placing the fish in the parchment paper on a dish, retaining the juices.

 

If this doesn't tickle your tastebuds, then click here for more ideas...

 

Red heart raspberry biscuits

Guess what I am craving...?

Makes +/- 30 biscuits (i.e. 60 halves)
Difficulty – easy
Preparation time – 20 minutes (plus 30 for the dough to rest)
Baking time – 15 minutes

Ingredients
185g butter
1 C castor sugar
1½ t vanilla extract
2½ C cake flour
1 egg
6 T raspberry jam
6 T icing sugar, sifted (and more to decorate)

Method
Place butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a food processor and process until smooth.  Add the egg and flour and process until a smooth dough forms.  Shape into 2 balls, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface (± 5mm thick).  Stamp out 60 biscuits into desired shapes using a 6 cm wide heart-shaped cutter.  Line cookie trays with baking paper and place 30 of these on the cookie trays.  Using a 3 cm cutter, cut out smaller hearts from half the biscuits, and place the small hearts on the baking tray as well.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool cookies on a rack. 

Mix the raspberry jam with the icing sugar.  When the biscuits are cool, spoon a little of the jam onto each whole biscuit, then carefully sandwich the other biscuits on top. 

Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with a hot pot of coffee.

For more recipes using raspberries, click here...

 

Chicken goujons

This snack from Issue 22 of Crush! magazine is quick and easy to make.

Chicken goujons

Serves 4
Difficulty – easy
Preparation time – 20 minutes
Cooking time – 7 minutes

Ingredients
400 g mini chicken breast fillets
4 egg yolks, beaten
Desiccated coconut
Credé coconut oil
Sea salt to season

Method
Dip the mini chicken breast fillets in the egg yolk and then in the desiccated coconut.  Set aside to rest for 15 minutes.

Heat the Credé coconut oil in a pan and fry the fillets until golden brown.  Drain on a sheet of roller towel and season with salt.

Serve with a sweet chilli dip as a snack or starter.

Red pepper pesto

Red pepper pesto with pinenut oil

Makes 1 cup
Difficulty - easy
Preparation time - 1½ hours

Ingredients
4 large red peppers
150 g sundried tomatoes
10 peppadews
15 g basil
3 cloves garlic, roasted
50 g pinenuts, lightly toasted
2 Tbsp balsamic reduction
¼ C (62.5ml) Credé pinenut oil
Maldon salt to taste

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Rub the red peppers with Credé olive oil and place in the oven for 1 hour.  After 45 minutes, add 3 large cloves of garlic, unpeeled, to the oven tray and roast for the last 15 minutes.  Remove from the
oven and place the peppers in a bag to sweat.  Allow the garlic to cool.

When cool, remove the peppers from the bag, remove the skins and as much of the pips as possible.  Chop roughly and place into a bowl.  Chop the sundried tomatoes roughly, peel the garlic and destalk the basil - add all these, as well as the peppadews and toasted pinenuts to the bowl.  Use a stick blender to blend, while adding the Credé pinenut oil a little at a time to the mixture.

Stir the balsamic reduction into the pesto and season with Maldon salt.

Serve on crostini, in salads or omelettes, or in pasta, tossed with a little extra oil.

Read more of my recipes in Crush! online magazine...

Prawn fried rice

I have really been working on my photography in the past year or two.  I acquired a Nikon with a macro lens especially for my food photography, and I began the journey.  I take my own photographs for my monthly column in Crush! magazine, but, I must be honest, I still feel hugely inadequate behind my lens...not regarding the styling, but technically.  Here, however, is one of my favourite pics...

Prawn fried rice

Serves 4
Difficulty – a little cumbersome
Preparation time – 30 minutes
Cooking time – 10 minutes

Ingredients
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
500 g prawns, deveined
1 cup rice, steamed
250 g frozen peas
3 tsp soy sauce
1½ tsp Credé sesame oil
½ to 1 tsp salt, to taste
3 eggs, beaten
4 spring onions, thinly sliced

Method
Steam the rice for about 30 minutes until cooked.  Place the frozen peas in a pot and heat through.  Make sure there is no water on the peas. 

Wash the prawns and pat them dry.  Heat the vegetable oil in large skillet or wok and sauté the prawns for 30 seconds on high.  Remove from the skillet and set aside.

Pour the beaten eggs into the skillet and keep moving it while cooking so that eggs scramble into small pieces.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Return the prawns to the skillet and add rice.  Reduce the heat to medium and cook for approximately 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the peas, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and cooked eggs.  Cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Serve in a large bowl or on a platter.  Garnish with the spring onions.

 

Gooseberry and flaxseed oil tart

The team at Credé Natural Oils wanted me to develop some recipes for them.  (These were featured in Crush! online magazine, where, by the way, your subscription is free!)  This family-owned business produces cold-pressed, natural and organic oils and their products can be found at health shops around South Africa. 

 

Gooseberry and flaxseed oil tart

Makes 1 tart
Difficulty – a little cumbersome
Preparation time – 30 minutes
Setting time - overnight

Ingredients
400 g (1 roll) ready-made shortcrust pastry
2 C almond powder
3 Tbsp Vino Cotto
½ C water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C Credé flaxseed oil
1 can (425 g) gooseberries (or you could use fresh gooseberries)
½ C Greek-style yoghurt
3 egg whites
50 g almond flakes, lightly toasted
Sprigs of mint to garnish

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Spray a 30cm spring-form tart tin with non-stick spray and press the pastry into the tin.  Poke the bottom with a fork and place into the preheated oven.  Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Mix the almond powder, Vino Cotto, water and vanilla extract in a jug.  Blend with a stick blender while adding the flaxseed oil, in a steady trickle.  Fold in the thick yoghurt.  Place a thin layer of about two-thirds onto the pastry base and spread evenly.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove from the fridge and place a circle of gooseberries around the edge of the tart.  Place back into the fridge for another hour.

Just before the hour is up, beat the egg whites to stiff peak and fold into the remainder of the mixture.  Place this onto the middle part of the tart and spread gently towards the circle of gooseberries.  Refrigerate overnight.

Just before serving, top with the toasted almond flakes and garnish with sprigs of mint.

Tip: I found the almond powder at the Chinese shop.

Recipes and photography by Sophia Lindop...