All posts filed under: Winter

Vegetable Tagine

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  Although tagines hail from the warm climate of Morocco, I find them perfect for the winter time, with their deep flavours and comforting aromas. Vegetable tagines are also really easy to cook, as there is very little hands on time, when you prepare them in the oven in a lidded dish. And fluffy couscous is also the quickest carb to prepare, ever! This is a beautifully fragrant and delicious dish, full of vegetables and aromatic spices, sure to warm you up and uplift your senses! Serves 4 2 courgettes, roughly chopped 1 large beetroot, peeled and diced 1 large onion, roughly sliced 2 gloves garlic, minced ¼ butternut squash, peeled and diced 1 carrot, chopped 12 cherry tomatoes, sliced 5-6 dried apricots, halved  1 ½ tbsp tomato puree 2 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp curry powder 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper a large bunch of coriander 500ml vegetable stock 250g/9oz couscous 1 pack halloumi extra virgin olive oil for the couscous and for drizzling    Preheat oven to 190°C/ 170°C fan/ …

Warm Sicilian Cauliflower Salad

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Sicilian Cauliflower Salad Happy New Year! With a new baby in the household, we didn’t stay up for the bells last night. However we were beautifully rewarded with plenty of energy this morning, as we awoke to perfect blue skies and winter sunshine. I don’t feel like I sinned very much over the festive period, hardly a drop to drink, and only a few Christmas treats passed my lips. I just don’t have the time to pig out with a new baby! I didn’t even manage to do any holiday baking, like I usually do – such as this yummy Christmas Spiced Beer Cake. But I did succeed in hosting Christmas dinner for 9 (crazy crazy with a new baba!)…but my new 8 ring cooker came in very handy! Bring on industrial sized cooking equipment, yeah! But, never the less, I thought I’d share a delicious and healthy vegan recipe for Sicilian Cauliflower Salad, which is easy to make, after you’ve just had enough of cooking… Salads aren’t just for summer, you can get very creative experimenting with …

Orange and Almond Cake

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  Wherever you call home, you don’t have to stick to the traditional Christmas pudding or desserts, you can branch out! How about bringing a little Spanish flair to your Christmas table this year with my vibrant Orange and Almond Cake. Its delightful sticky and syrupy texture means a little goes a long way…but you will return for more, I can guarantee it!   Making this cake will fill your kitchen with the fragrant scent of oranges and sweet almonds. It always puts me in a good mood whilst baking this glistening and sweet cake. Orange and Almond Cake Serves 8   200g/7oz butter 380g/13oz caster sugar 2 oranges, zest and juice of 280g/10oz ground almonds 5 medium organic eggs 100g/3.5oz plain flour, sifted long strips of orange zest to garnish (use the zest from the syrup oranges)    For the syrup  2 oranges, juice of  80g/3oz caster sugar    1. Preheat oven to 170ºC/fan 160ºC/Gas 5 and grease and lightly flour a 24cm spring form cake tin. 2. Beat the butter, caster sugar and zest …

Beer and Honey Roasted Winter Carrots

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As we are getting closer to Christmas, I thought I would share another great recipe for you to adorn your winter table with i.e.. Roasted carrots done in beer and honey! The carrots go really tender using this roasting method. And the sweetness of the root vegetable is really enhanced. They are buttery, slightly beery and very delicious! We still have carrots in the garden, and you can tell these are homegrown by the little kinks and bends, which I find cute, rather than off putting. They won’t be growing anymore in the cold earth, but they are safe to stay in the ground and overwinter, unless we get a very hard bout of frost.  I like to leave a little top on my carrots, its purely aesthetic, but it does look good!     Beer and Honey Glazed Carrots Serves 4   500g/17oz carrots with tops 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 3 tbsp butter 4 sprigs thyme 70ml/2.4 fl oz beer 3 tbsp honey salt and freshly ground black pepper   1. Preheat …

Chocolate Winter Berry Pavlova

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Over the last few months I have put Camera & Clementine on the back burner, but it has not been out of sight out of mind. I have been extra busy with weddings during late autumn and early winter. Plus I have had a load of recipe deadlines to finish before Christmas for Kitchen Garden Magazine and Amateur Magazine. They are now almost completed, just in time for me to share some of my favourite Yuletide recipes! First up is this fabulous Chocolate Winter Berry Pavlova! It looks so majestic on the Christmas table, yet it is in fact quite quick to assemble – making you look like a domestic god/goddess without breaking a sweat. Pavlovas are an Australian favourite at any time of the year, but when topped with a vibrant selection of winter berries and cranberry coulis, it just screams Christmas! (or ‘The Holidays’ if you are state-side) You can choose to decorate and flavour this indulgent pavlova with many types of fruit, use whatever you have available, it will be delicious regardless.   …

Happy Birthday me..Happy Birthday Blog

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It’s my birthday tomorrow, and this month also marks the 2nd birthday of the blog. Happy Birthday Camera & Clementine! I guess birthdays are a good time to pause and reflect on the year just past. It certainly makes it easy that my birthday is in January, when so many others are contemplating new years resolutions. A lot has happened over the last year, as it so often does. I am now not only working for one magazine, but two. Kitchen Garden and Amateur Gardening. It’s a real dream come true, to have my photographs and recipes published in two national magazines every month. And receiving positive feedback is such a gift. This is also a year where I feel I can really look back at my wedding photography with pride. I have been so blessed with beautiful wedding couples, who have gone to such effort with the beautiful details of their special day. It is a joy to photograph a gorgeous wedding, and part of my photography career I really love to do.   …

Kale Gnocchi in Herb and Anchovy Sauce

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“What is a weather bomb!?” I asked a few weeks ago, after hearing the term on the news. Well we sure did find out! We have had weather bomb after weather bomb for the past three weeks. A high altitude black doughnut shape emerges on the horizon, slowly eating the daylight as it moves across the landscape..Then bang, throws all kinds of weather at you – snow, sleet, hail, rain..and a few 100 mph winds too. I had a terrifying experience creeping out into my garden two days ago, to see 2 large panes of glass from my greenhouse had taken flight and landed 10 meters away! They had smashed into hundreds of shards that had penetrated deep into the frozen grass! So, its time to just stay indoors and eat good food, and drink cheap wine until the weather bombs return to just being ‘bad weather’. And what better to that with, that a hearty portion of winter kale from the garden and morish gnocchi. This is one of my favourite food right now, …

Rhubarb and Champagne Custard Tart

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I am to be married! My gorgeous boyfriend of almost 4 years popped the question last week, and I am over the moon! My head is filled with table decor ideas, seating arrangements, menu plans and honeymoons, and when you have an occasion to celebrate, I say – bring out the Champagne! So in the name of happy engagements, I share with you this delicate, subtle and oh so gorgeous Rhubarb and Champagne Custard Tart. This tart does very well for any special occasion, as it looks like a plate of pink and peach coloured jewels. It’s very delicate in its flavours, aided by the creamy custard and light champagne and rhubarb jelly glaze. ________________________________________________ Pastry 225g plain flour 110g butter 80g sugar 1 large egg 1 tbsp ice cold water, if needed Custard 550ml milk 50ml double cream 1 vanilla pod 4 egg yolks 30g sugar 2 level tsp cornflour Topping Syrup: 200g sugar 200 ml water 150g finely chopped rhubarb 1/2 vanilla bean, pod split and scraped 1 thumb of fresh ginger, finely …

Pear, Leek and Veggie Sausage Stuffing

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So we have started the new year, and the festive season is over. We can all breathe easy again! I made it through the holidays in good health, and just as new year passed, I got a big old nasty cold! I think the whole country has a cold this week. So, I thought I’d share with you a recipe that I did for Kitchen Garden Magazine this month, on juicy pears. And this stuffing is perfect for enjoying under the covers on the couch, watching daytime TV, and generally feeling sorry for yourself….! When its cold outside, and you’re stuck indoors, comforting food is the way forward, especially when you have a cold! With sweet pear, and tangy leeks, it’s a delicious winter warming dish to try out. I use veggie sausages, but if you eat meat, try using free-range pork sausages. Serve as a side dish, or as a main. _____________________________________________ Pear, Leek and Veggie Sausage Stuffing Serves 4   4 free range pork sausages, or 4 vegetarian sausages, chopped 2 slices of …

Black Forest Gâteau with Morello Cherries and Whisky. Happy New Year!

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It’s the last day of the year, and although it’s not New Year’s Day yet, I have U2’s song of the same title on repeat in my head. It’s cold, it’s dark and it’s blustery. But the darkness only amplifies the need for a celebration, and highlights the reason that our modern Calender follows the old winter celebratory dates of ancient times. I’m getting ready to have some dear friends over to see in the bells with a bonfire and spiced mulled cider. I’ll be serving up a retro spread of Fondue and Black Forrest Gâteau! Are we entering 2014 or 1980 you ask! Traditionally Kirsch is used in a Black Forest Gâteau, but I had none at hand, so Whisky went in instead…a yummy substitution by the way. In any case, Happy New Year to you all! _______________________________________________________ Black Forest Gateau Serves 8-10 400g morello cherries, from a jar plus a little juice 375g sugar 2 eggs 500ml whipping cream 2 tsp almond extract 250g good dark chocolate 300g plain flour 1 tsp bicarbonate …