V-stitch fest.....

What is it about multicolour that gets me all fired up?

I just love a colour fest.

I might be dull and boring, but I don't DO dull and boring.

I just love the way different colours play together.

Why does a granny square send me into paroxysms of delight?

What is it about multicoloured rows of v-stitch that gets my inspiration juices going?

I'm just working on the border on this one.

Can't decide if I'm happy with the green or not.  

Any suggestions?

I want to make a nice wide border on this one.

Dog turd pendant, anyone?

I love my daughter.

She's so complimentary of my creations.

"What is that?  It looks like a dried dog turd!"

Thanks darling.

I love you too.

It doesn't look remotely like a dog turd.  Does it?

Well, maybe, just a piece.

It's a gnarly old barnacle encrusted shell.

If I turned it over, you can see quite clearly it's a shell.  But I'm not going to.

It's organic.

I like organic.

Here's another organic pendant.

Driftwood.

And very fortunately, that one doesn't look remotely like a dog turd.....

Cauliflower Pizza

Eh?

Yup, you read it right.

One thing that so many people miss when having to avoid wheat/gluten, is pizza.

Now, I don't know about you, but I was never fond of the chewy soggy bread pizza bases so would tend to make a scone-type base.

This actually reminds me of that.

Ok, you can taste the cauli a weeny bit, but not enough that it overwhelms.

Want to give it a try?

Cauliflower pizza.

Grate about 2 cups of cauliflower into a bowl, add 100g of ground almonds (optional), about a cup of mozarella cheese and 2 eggs.

Mix well.  Put into an approximately 10" round tin lined with baking paper, or into a round silicon flan dish. Press flat. Bake on 160c/325f for approx 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven.  On to the top add sugar free tomato paste or pasta sauce, and any other topping you like.  Sprinkle with more mozzarella and/or cheddar and bake for a further 15 minutes.

Enjoy.

I topped ours with crispy crumbled bacon, thinly sliced cooked GF sausage, sweated mushrooms and onion, spinach, basil, sliced tomato and lots of cheese.  It was VERY cheesy.  And very filling.

Nom, nom, nom.....

Now look what I HAVE to do.....

Chocolate cake.

Chocolate cake covered in Ganache.

Chocolate cake made with beetroot.....

???

Yup.

You know those really dark coloured chocolate muffins you see in the supermarket?  How do they get them that dark?  Beetroot.  

It's actually pretty awesome in a chocolate cake.  Makes it moist and fudgy.

This is my version.  it's gluten free, and very, very decadent.

Would you like the recipe?

Gluten free chocolate beetroot cake

150 gms ground almonds

50 gms coconut flour

50 gms self-raising gluten free flour

2 medium chopped beetroot (approx 200 gms)

50 gms butter

2 tablespoons virgin or light olive oil

100 gms soft/cream cheese

75 gms cocoa powder

100-150 gms sugar (depending on how sweet you like your cake) 

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda

Juice of 1 squeezed clementine/tangerine and some zest

Put all the ingredients into a food processor.  Combine well.

Bake at 165c/325f for Approx 40 minutes, or until an inserted skewer/knife blade comes out clean.

Cool on a rack.

Ganache

300 gms double/heavy cream.

100 gms dark chocolate

Bring the cream to the boil in a pan.  Let it simmer for about 30 seconds.  Switch off.  Add the broken up chocolate to the pan and melt it into the cream whilst stirring.

You can either leave it to cool, or pop the pan into a bowl with a little cold water in the bottom and cool it down.  When it is almost cool, it can be gently spooned over the cake and be left to set.  Popping it into the fridge for an hour will help it set faster.

Deep and dark.  Dark and deep.

I didn't eat all that, honest.  The family helped.

But......I just HAD to try it.  Didn't I.

I couldn't possibly make all that effort and then not know what it tastes like......

Could I......

You don't know what you're missing......

I blame it on the Chicken Liver Pate

Yup.  The Chicken Liver Pate is definitely the culprit.

One bite, and I knew.

It was just crying out to be blogged.

See, it's not just any old chicken liver pate.

I don't know about you, but it seems that virtually every liver pate recipe out there is same-old, same-old.  Liver, onion, brandy.  Or slight variations on same.

It's hard to find a liver recipe that fires the tastebuds.

I know liver is good for you, but I still struggle to get excited by it.

Liver and onions, liver and bacon, liver pate.

I thought, let's try something different.

Would you like the recipe?

Ok.


Chicken Liver Pate

Ingredients

400g raw chicken livers (or thereabouts, depending on pack weight)

2 eggs

200g cream/soft cheese

60g butter or an equivalent drizzle of Olive Oil

1 teaspoonful Umami paste (gotta try that if you haven't yet)

A good pinch of salt and pepper

And Ta Da!

One teaspoon smoked paprika

Combine all the ingredients well in a food processor.

Pop into a greased dish, top with one or two bay leaves if wished and cook in a hot oven 180c/350f for around 40 minutes.

Of course, you can experiment with this.  It may be nice with the addition of garlic, or you may prefer more, or less paprika.  You could even add chunks of chorizo instead of the paprika.

If you would like a kick, you could add cayenne or chopped chili.

There's no end to the way this could be played with.....

Well, there we are.

I took the plunge into Blogland.

The Chicken Liver Pate has a lot to answer for......