Parsnip and Orange Pie with Granola Crust

So this was my thought process:  pumpkin pies -- I love pumpkin pies but I wanted to make it with something different. Another similar root vegetable perhaps, oh carrots! There are carrot cakes, carrot desserts, it would work beautifully in a pie.  Mmm I love carrots roasted with parsnips, you know what, in fact, parsnips are even sweeter than carrots.  Parsnips in a dessert? So I googled, and you know what, I wasn't the only one, there have been other parsnip pies.

Ah then came another vision.  Now I wanted to make it healthy..er. I've been eating nutella and jam and peanut butter out of the jar (I'm not exactly at a high point in my life at the moment), so I felt the need to make the pie slightly healthier.  So instead of the normal buttery shortcrust I decided to make a crust with oats and honey and dried fruits and then I realized -- that's basically the composition of a granola bar! So I whizzed some up in the food processor, added some more oats and honey to adjust the consistency and let me tell you, it was delicious.

So parsnips in a dessert.  I have to say, when you first have it, it's not..amazing.  It's not bad.  It's interesting.  It can be overwhelmingly parsnipy. But. I swear, the more you have it, the better it gets.  The particular taste does grow on you.  And the crust, oh I just loved the crust.

Ingredients
Pie filling
2 cups cooked and mashed parsnips
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
1 cup of greek yoghurt
1 cup of cream cheese
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Crust
granola bars
oats
honey

Method
Preheat oven at 180C.

Make the crust by whizzing up granola bars.  All granola bars are different, so add some more oats or honey to get the perfect consistency.  It should just hold together as a dough.  Line a pie dish with greaseproof paper and press the granola mixture down.

Make the filling by putting all the ingredients in a food processor -- have it silky smooth.  Put in pie dish on top of the granola crust and bake for 40 minutes.  

Red Wine Rice Cake

I love cooking with alcohol.  A dash of white wine as you're grilling your fish, a dash of red wine as you're panfrying your steak, a dash of rum as you're mixing the batter for your cake -- it does miracles.

If you haven't yet, go watch Two Greedy Italians -- a wonderful program about two cute old Italian men travelling and eating around Italy.  In the Calabria episode, they made an orange rice cake. Mmm I was too curious, so I had to make my own version of it.  Oh they also made a sweet blood pudding made with flour, cocoa, sugar and pig blood.  Curious. Yes.

Oh and this cake gets better the next day.  Wait if you can and eat it the next day, or even the day after.

Ingredients
200g arborio rice
175g caster sugar
400ml milk
300ml dry red wine
1 cinnamon stick
5 eggs, separated
a dash of rum

Method
Heat the milk, cinnamon stick, sugar and wine together in a pot.  When it begins to boil, turn the heat down to low, pour in the rice, cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Leave to cool
Preheat the oven to 180C.  Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Whisk the yolks in a separate bowl with a dash of rum or whatever liquore you have at hand.  Stir in the cooled rice, then gently fold in the egg whites.  Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes

Limoncello Flans

After weeks of gray skies, long showers and cold winds, I realized, you know what, life isn't too bad.

Sometimes life gets you down.   Small things, usual things, expected things, perhaps. They pile up like a landfill inside of you all at once.   And they weigh you down.  You become unproductive and useless as a human being, a waste to society.  We've all had those moments, or days, weeks, or even months.  It can seem so difficult to pull out of these periods of slump and recession.  So difficult to pull yourself out of bed and do something with your life.  But you know what, today I realized life isn't too bad.  It may sound silly, but I came to this realization at dinner with food and friends.

Good food and loving friends.  When you're away from home, soaked in rain and you've hit rock bottom -- good food and loving friends.

These are limoncello flans -- just like lemon flans I suppose, but with an exciting kick (life also isn't too bad when you've got alcohol).

Ingredients
100ml milk
100ml limoncello
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
45g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lime
1 tbsp lemon juice
lots of love

Method
Preheat oven to 160C.
Beat the eggs with sugar until frothy and whisk in all the other ingredients, but reserve some zest of lime and lemon.  Pour into ramekans.  Line a baking tray with a towel and place the ramekins on top.  Fill the tray with about an inch of hot water and bake for about 40 minutes until set.  Take out ramekans and top with zests.

Mini Savory Roulades

Well, I suppose this is more about the presentation.  Quite cute aren't they?  Instead of your usual mundane crostinis that you serve in cocktail parties, why not put the topping into a mini roulade?  You could even stick in a fancy cocktail stick to knock it up a notch.

make use of sandwich bread.

Rosemary and Chocolate Polenta Crackers

I love nice crackers with my cheese.  Apricot and hazelnut, black olive, chili and sun-dried tomato -- perfect balance of sweet and savory that complements beautifully with your choice of cheese.  But they're one of those over-priced things that can be consumed in 10 minutes, leaving you still hungry.  So I set out to make my own crackers.

Rosemary is often associated with savory dishes, with your rack of lamb or your crackling pork belly.  It has a robust, woody flavor that stands out in a roast.  Chocolate, on the other hand, is often marked as the queen in the world of sweets.   Together they have an interesting love affair.  Good on their own but have it with a piece of cheese -- it's a good supporting act for the star of the show.