After weeks and weeks of waiting, this morning my magnolia finally decided to blossom. For the last years it always showed the first bloom in my garden. This time it had built the buds at the end of February as usual, but then nothing happened any more. The forsythia started to be abloom, the lilac followed, the magnolias in the neighbour gardens started withering already, but still the buds of mine didn´t develop any further. Finally I supposed it would skip the blossom, maybe because I cut it down this year for the first time. To my surprise, as I opened the shutter this morning it was in full blow.

Since we had pretty mild temperatures today I decided to have this year´s first breakfast in the garden and enjoy the view of the magnolia. Suited to the somewhat special occasion I indulged myself with one of my all time favourites: quick and easy oat yeast pancakes.

Oat Pancakes

serves 2

Ingredients:

125 g oats, ground in a food processor or coarse oatmeal

100 g wholemeal flour

500 ml warm water

2,5 g yeast

4 g salt

1 tbsp honey or sugar

Method:

1. Whisk everything together until smooth, the batter will thicken a bit and should have the consistence of double cream.

2. Cover, leave for 1 – 1,5 hours until batter bubbly and frothy

3. Give the batter a good whisk and bake the pancakes, the surface should become crispy and golden brown and show a lot of wholes.

4. Enjoy hot with maple syrup, bacon, a knob of butter,  jam or whatever addition you fancy with your pancakes.

Recipe source: River cottage Handbook No.3: Bread by H. Fernley-Wittingstall

I love a hearty breakfast and crumpets are an all time favorite of mine (not only for breakfast!). I don´t know how much recipes I had tried before I found the River cottage Handbook No.3: Bread. I liked the bread recipes a lot and so I gave Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall´s crumpets a go.

Usually I wake up as hungry as a hunter and want to eat immediately. Hence until that day, I made crumpets only for special occasions or when it happened for some strange reason that I would wake up very early in the morning and had enough time for the yeast dough to rest. But when I read in the bread book that it didn´t matter if the dough rests for 1 hour or 4 hours, I invented my easy overnight-method: I just combine the ingredients in the evening, let them bubble for a while, put them in the fridge and in the morning the dough is ready for baking.

I bake the crumpets in a cast iron pancake form. This way they are not quite as thick as baked in crumpet or muffin rings, but still fluffy and soft as a pillow, and I don´t have to worry about them beeing crispy on the outside but still a bit raw in the middle.

The crumpets are perfect with butter and jelly, but also great with cheese, ham, bacon, maple syrup, cream, fruits, …

Ingredients:

450 g (15,9 oz) flour

350 ml warm milk

350 ml warm water

5 g (0,18 oz) powdered yeast

5 g (0,18 oz) salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp baking powder

Method:

1. Whisk together flour, milk, water, sugar and yeast to a runny batter, cover and leave for 1 hour minimum until really bubbly, can be 3-4 hours, or longer if you put the dough in the fridge after becoming bubbly.

2. When ready for baking, oil and heat a pan. Wisk salt and baking powder into the batter and spoon into the form. (If you use muffin rings, try first if the dough stays inside the ring. if it leaks out beneath the ring, add a little flour to the batter.) After one or two minutes baking time the dough should develop a lot of bubbles on the surface.

3. Bake on one side until the dough sets on the surface and the crumpets are crispy and golden brown at the bottom. Turn and bake for another few minutes, about 4 min. each side.

4. Serve hot.

I love Falafel but I do not deep fry. My kitchen is too small for a deep fryer and I don´t like the smell of hot fat lingering in the house. So I just fry my Falafel in a non stick skillet with some olive oil for the taste and usually they look more like patties. On the hunt for the perfect Falafel recipe I tried a lot but until now I was never completely satisfied. This one is the best by far I´ve ever made, crispy on the outside, a slightly moist, almost meaty texture on the inside. (I suppose you could as well deep fry them if you prefer.)

They are not only delicious but the sprouted chickpeas make them also exceptionally healthy. During the germination process vitamin content and accessibility jump up. You don´t taste that the chickpeas have been sprouted because in this recipe they are used in a very early state of the germination.

I served them with the Creamy Feta-Red wine Vinegar Dressing by David Lebovitz and it was so good!

Ingredients:

sprouted chickpeas made from 2.5 cups of dried ones. * (See how to do the sprouting at the bottom of the post.)

0.5 cup bread crumbs

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp. coriander seeds

1 small onion

1 tsp. baking soda

0.5 tsp. baking powder

1 large egg

1 tsp.cumin

1 tsp.paprika

1 tsp. thyme

Salt, pepper

olive oil for frying

Preparation:

1. Put the chickpeas in a food processor with the garlic, onion and spices. Grind until you get a rough moist texture. Add a little water if needed.

2. Move the mixture into a large bowl, add the rest of the ingredients, combine, and put aside, covered, for 30-60 minutes.

3. Wet your hands, shape little balls (about the size of apricots), pat gently to flatten them. Heat olive oil in a non stick skillet and fry until crispy, for about 5 minutes each side.

3. Serve hot!

Sprouting chickpeas:

Rinse the chickpeas well and soak them in water for 12 – 24 hours. Drain, rinse and leave the chickpeas just in the colander on a warm and bright place. I don´t bother covering them. After about 6 hours they have built a kind of tiny tale and are ready to use. If you prefer to sprout them a little longer rinse them 2 -3 times a day until they form a longer tail, but for the Falafel I would recommend using them at the latest on the second day.

Today I have to come up with a new synopsis for a romance novel and not much time for cooking (or anything else, for that matter. Definitely I shouldn´t be blogging right now but creating a touching love story to please my editor.) About noon I couldn´t concentrate anymore since I got hungry. Unfortunately my cupboards were nearly empty. I had just a few staples left, and one egg and some carrots were sitting lonely in the fridge, so instead of a heart breaking romance I invented a little recipe for carrot and sesame patties. They turned out to be quite delicious, even if they do not look completely convincing.

I ate them with Nuoc Cham, a vietnamese dipping sauce I saw the other day at Viet World Kitchen, the recipe can be found here.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 big carrots, finely shredded, about 2 cups

1 large egg

2 minced medium onions

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 Tbsp. finely grated ginger

2 Tbsp. water

vegetable oil or ghee for frying

Method:

1. Toast the sesame seed in a dry skillet until golden brown.

2. Mix carrots, onions, garlic, ginger and sesame seed.

3. Add flour, egg and water, stir well.

4. Heat oil or ghee in a skillet, for medium size patties add a heaping Tbsp. batter to the skillet, flatten with the spoon.

5. Fry until golden brown and crispy, turn, about 5 min. per side.

6. Serve hot with Nuoc Cham.