Spiced Parsnip, Hazelnut & Pear Loaf

by Liz Child

This loaf has everything I love in a cake. Great texture (thanks to the grated parsnips), not too sweet, lovely fruity bursts from the pear slices and it’s deliciously nutty and spiced, perfect with a hot mug of tea on a chilly Autumn afternoon! I hope you enjoy it as much as I am enjoying it right now. You’ll need a food processor to grind your linseeds and hazelnuts, and a grater for the parsnips, but apart from that it’s a pretty straightforward, one bowl cake.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp flaxseeds, ground into flour in a small food processor
  • 1 tsp each: ground cinnamon, ginger and cardamom (or use mixed spice?)
  • a pinch of salt
  • 150ml vegetable oil
  • 250ml oat milk (or any milk you like eg hazelnut)
  • 200g sugar
  • 250g hazelnuts, ground into a rough flour in a food processor
  • 250g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 250g parsnips, grated
  • 2 large pears

Method

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 175C and line a large (or two small) loaf tin with baking parchment.
  2. Mix the ground flaxseeds, spices, salt, oil, milk and sugar in a large mixing bowl and let it sit while you grind the hazelnuts and grate the parsnips. This time will allow the flaxseeds to absorb some liquid and turn ‘eggy’.
  3. Tip the ground hazelnuts, flour, baking powder and bicarb into the mixing bowl and fold it into the wet ingredients. Don’t over-mix! Just fold it in until it’s fairly well incorporated.
  4. Then fold in the grated parsnip. You should now have a spoonable, thick batter.
  5. Peel the pears and cut them lengthways into quarters. Cut out the cores then cut the quarters into long slices.
  6. Spoon half the batter into the lined loaf tin. Arrange half the pear slices on top, then spoon over the rest of the batter. Smooth it out and place the other half of the pear slices on top. Sprinkle with a few pinches of sugar if you like, then place the tin in the middle of the oven to bake.
  7. Depending on your oven and the size of your loaf tin, this cake should take roughly 90 minutes to bake. Check it at 40 minutes in, then check on it every 15 minute or so after that. It will still be deliciously moist inside because of the pear slices and parsnip, but not wet. You can test it with a skewer. When it’s done to your liking, allow it to cool in the tin. Then carefully move it to a chopping board and enjoy in thick slices with a hot cuppa!

FAST FAKEAWAYS – Thai Yellow Curry with Jasmine Rice

by Liz Child

Being a chef, I do mostly make everything we eat from scratch, but Thai curry paste from scratch involves buying lots of specialist ingredients. Our organic sachets contain no nasty preservatives, have authentic, top quality ingredients and make life simple and delicious!

This is one of our most-made fakeaways at home. Thai yellow curry paste is absolutely delicious, quite mild so the kids love it, but absolutely packed with complex flavour. Simply simmer a sachet with a can of coconut milk, add some cooked veg and you’re good to hunker down with a steaming, vibrant bowl of Thai food. This quick method is so flexible, chuck whatever veg you have handy into the roasting dish with some firm tofu – cubed butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots, aubergine, peppers etc… and simmer any tender green veg with the sauce – asparagus, kale, spinach… I love it with fragrant jasmine rice or quickly boiled wide, flat rice noodles.

Let me know if you try any of our organic, ready made sauces and what your best recipes are with them. I’m working my way through them all to give you some fuss-free fakeaway ideas for those days we really can’t be bothered to cook from scratch.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 2)

  • 1 sachet of Thai Yellow Curry Paste
  • 1 tin of coconut milk
  • 1 pack of firm tofu
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 purple sweet potato
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 big pinch of salt
  • 2 handfuls of kale
  • Jasmine rice or Thai rice noodles to serve
  • optional toppings – fresh coriander, lime wedges, chopped scallions, toasted cashews or sesame seeds, salted peanuts, sliced red chilli…
Watch how I put the meal together here or read the method below.

Method

Preheat your oven to 200C. Cube up your tofu, carrots and sweet potato and add them to a roasting dish. Of course you should feel free to use alternative vegetables.

Drizzle the veg with a little oil and season simply with a big pinch of salt. Toss the vegetables with the oil and salt and put them in the hot oven to roast for around 20 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile make the curry sauce. It’s as easy as emptying the contents of the sachet into a pot with the contents of the can of coconut milk. Turn the heat on and allow the ingredients to mingle and simmer.

Then put on your jasmine rice. For two people I measure out an espresso mug of rice into a fine sieve then give the rice a good rinse. Then tip the rinsed rice into a small pot with 2 scant espresso mugs of water. Put the lid on the pot and put it on the hob on the highest setting. As soon as the rice comes to the boil, turn the heat to the lowest setting and leave it to absorb all the water. Do not stir the rice or remove the lid. This whole process should take about 15 minutes for white jasmine rice – brown rice takes considerably longer.

While the rice is cooking and the veg is roasting, turn your attention back to the pot of curry sauce. You can add tender, fast cooking greens to the pot just before the veg is ready to come out of the oven. I used kale this time. Strip the leaves from the tough stems and slice the stems very thinly. Add them to the pot of simmering sauce to soften well before you add the leaves. Add the leaves 3 minutes before you take the veg out of the oven.

Once the roasted vegetables and tofu are cooked through, take them out of the oven and scrape them into the pot of curry sauce and kale and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning. You may wish to add some lime juice or salt.

Serve the curry and rice in bowl and top with chopped coriander, spring onions, chilli and lime wedges. Additionally add toasted cashews or salted peanuts for some welcome crunch. Enjoy!