fresh peach and raspberry coconut and almond upside-down cake (gluten free)

I am pretty excited to be writing some posts inspired by Hill Street Farmer’s Market, of which this is the first. Not only is the produce fantastic, but in order to get to the market and back, before Saturday football, I have to duck out of the chaos that is family breakfast time. Shortly after 8am, with just the littlest member of the family under one arm, I was able to close the door behind me and breath in the still morning air. Anyone with kids will relate to what a luxury that is.

There was no traffic, a few students with remnants of last night’s fancy dress to smile at, evoking memories of footloose and fancy free days …and the promise of good coffee. No one asked me the same question 15 times in steadily higher pitch, from the back seat, or tried to draw me into refereeing side by side seat kicking match. Within moments of leaving the house I had decided this was a little outing I really needed to take every Saturday. So I figured I had better get something good. Something I couldn’t get from the local supermarket.. something I really needed to visit the farmers market for. I got a basket full.

First up, it’s the turn of the perfectly ripe peaches and sweet end of season raspberries. Some of which were just eaten fresh, but some formed the base of this gorgeous peach and raspberry upside -down cake. You start by lining the base of a cake tin and greasing it – sprinkling it with a little granulated sugar and covering it with peach slices. They don’t need to be beautifully chopped because it looks completely stunning anyway and having the peaches a bit randomly cut just adds to the charm. Between the peach slices, dot a few raspberries.

For the cake bit I used bigger quantities than usual as hoping it might actually last through the weekend, rather than be demolished in one sitting. 100g of melted butter , just less than a cup of soft brown sugar, 4 – 5 spoons of yogurt – beat it all together then in with 4 eggs, just under a cup of coconut flour, 1 cup ground almonds and a couple of spoons of brown rice flour, 1 tsp gf baking powder. It looks like quite a dryish cake mix so you kind of need to spoon it fairly carefully over the fruit – smooth it over and bake it. Once again I forgot to check the timings but it was probably close on 40 mins. It goes quite brown on the bottom and springs up.

More market treats coming later.

plum and coconut upside-down cake (gluten-free)

Got some omega plums at the market today – the colour of the flesh is just fabulous. Lends itself to the upside down cake I had in my head. Started by lining the bottom of a cake tin with baking paper, greased with butter and sprinkled with brown sugar. Then laid out wedges of plum across the whole bottom of the tin – took about 10 plums I think.

Made the sponge by beating 50g melted butter with 1/2 cup soft brown sugar, 2 scoops of yogurt, 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence, then added 3 eggs, 1/2 cup coconut flour, 1/2 cup brown rice flour and just under a cup of ground almonds – added a bit more yogurt at the end because the mix seemed a bit thick. Baked for about 20 mins. If you find it quite exciting to turn cakes out of their tins and watch the steam waft up then the upside-down cake is right up at the top of the pops.

lamb and aubergine curry with potato curry

Made a paste out of a couple of spoons of coconut oil, tumeric, cumin, 2 chopped fresh chilis, grated fresh ginger (couple of tablespoons) and garlic. Heated this in the le creuset and seared some lamb leg steaks (bone in). Meanwhile chopped an aubergine into chunks and salted the chunks, added them to the lamb with a couple of handfuls of sultanas, covered the lot in vegetable stock and slow cooked for a couple of hours with the lid on in the oven. About 1/2 and hour before serving added a tin of coconut cream. Sprinkled with fresh coriander when ready.

We had this with a fantastic potato curry and homemade roti – cooked by J & L – will get the recipes for these up later.

pumpkin, carrot, kumara, ginger, coconut and mint soup

A pre-birthday party soup based on the coconut, carrot, ginger and orange recipe I’ve made a few times this summer .. only without any orange as we didn’t have any so replaced with lots of orange veg – pumpkin and kumara made it pretty filling and autumn-y which suited the weather.

Start by cooking garlic and a heap of grated ginger in coconut oil with tumeric. Add all the other vegs and stock and simmer for an hour or so. Add a tin of coconut milk and some mint just before blending.

orange, ginger, carrot and coconut soup

Have made a few versions of this soup over the last month – it’s a perfect summer lunch – even young J had a bowl today. This time I put more ginger and more orange in – about a 2cm sq chunk of grated fresh ginger and the whole zest and pulp / juice of an orange. Also added tumeric.

Soften onion and garlic in coconut oil, added grated ginger and orange zest and tumeric, add chopped carrots and a sweet potato, cover with veg stock and simmer for 20 -30 mins then add a tin of coconut milk and blend. Served with oil drizzle and parsley.

celery, carrot, ginger, coconut and chili soup with fresh mint

One of the downers of living with a gluten free (almost) hubby is that the old weekend lunch staple of bread n cheese n chutney just isn’t that great anyone – because gluten free toast is just about passable for breakfast with jam but it really can’t replace freshly baked crusty bread … so it makes the weekend lunch a bit harder – unless there are leftovers , which today there weren’t. So not feeling very energetic I looked at the fresh packs of soup but just couldn’t bring myself to pay $6 for a tiny pack knowing I could make a nicer batch, way more so they’d be lunches in the week and way cheaper.

Chopped onion and garlic and grated fresh ginger (couple of spoons), softened in coconut oil, chopped in a couple of sticks of celery and about 500g of organic carrots with skins on. Covered with boiling water and salt / pepper and cooked for half an hour – then added a tin of coconut cream and blended – served the kids then added some fresh mint leaves and a small spoon of chili powder.

summer carrot, orange, ginger and coconut soup

Made a stock from last night’s chicken bones and would usually make a risotto but was inspired by the spices to use it as a soup base. Started with onion, garlic, orange zest and juice and grated fresh ginger fried up in coconut oil – then added the stock and a decent amount of carrots – about 8 medium sized organic (scrubbed not peeled). Also chopped in a sweet potato because it was lying around and the right colour. Simmered it for an hour or so and then added a tin of coconut milk and blended. This was seriously the best soup I have made in a long time and definitely a recipe I will enjoy mucking around with in the future.