Quinoa with Roasted Olives, Cashew Nuts and Oranges

Photo provided by Sadiq Food Photography (Click here)

Here's a incredibly healthy and hearty salad that'll keep you sustained throughout the day. Very tasty and fully satisfying which is quite tricky to achieve when it comes to a vegan lunch.

250g quinoa
150g black pitted olives
1 long red chilli
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
100ml extra virgin olive oil
100g cashew nuts
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
Sea salt
2 oranges
1 small bunch basil
70g rocket

Method:
Place a large pot of salted water on to the boil. Thinly slice the red chilli and garlic and lay out on oven tray with olives, bay leaves and half the olive oil, place in oven set at 180ºC for 20 minutes. In a separate oven tray lay out cashew nuts, drizzle over remaining olive oil and season with tumric and salt, place in oven with olives and cook until golden in colour.
Once the water is boiling add quinoa and cook for about 7-10 minutes until tripled in size, drain and cool under cold running water.
Slice the top and bottom off the orange and using a small paring knife run the blade round the orange removing the skin and pith, then slice the segment out of the oranges. Pick the leaves off basil and roughly chop, and in a large bowl add the quinoa and mix in the basil, oranges, olives and cashews until evenly combined. Serve with washed rocket leaves. 

Carrot Marmalade

A revived version of one of my older recipes, like most things I cook over time evolution kicks in and I find ways to improve on the original. I first tasted this jam whist working in the Sahara, some of the local Berber people ate it on there version of a pan-cake. At first I wasn't sure what it was but after some miscommunication I learnt the vibrant orange colour came from carrots. Since I've developed my own version and has become a signature item on all the tables in Kaffeine.

1 kg peeled and grated carrots
3 un-waxed lemons
3 oranges
1 liter water
1 kg granulated sugar

METHOD:
Place the carrots and water into a large heavy based pot, using a peeler peel skin off the lemons and oranges, roughly slice peel and add to the pot. Over a strainer squeeze the juice out of the oranges and lemons and pour into pot.  Keeping the seeds and pith place in muslin cloth and tie into a tight bundle and lastly add to the carrot and citrus mixture. Place pot over a high heat and bring to a simmer, once simmering turn the heat down slightly and cooking for 1 hour.
After the hour is up remove the muslin bundle, add sugar and turn up the heat, once rapidly boiling cook marmalade for 20 minutes. To test if marmalade is ready place a tablespoon of jam on a cold plate and leave to cool for 1 minutes then run your finger through the middle of marmalade if the jam doesn't merge back together it is then ready. Carefully pour the marmalade into sterilized jars and cover with lids, leave marmalade to cool and set for a couple of days before using.

Orange, Apricot and Pumpkin Seed Loaf

3 to 4 times a year I change the fruit bread Kaffeine serves for breakfast from cinnamon'n'raisin to honey, milk and almond. However I've gotten bored with just these 2 varieties of fruit loaf and decided to mix things up a little and throw a third loaf into the mix. After a few trials and epic fails I've finally mastered the recipe, best served toasted with loads of artery coating butter.

650g strong flour
250ml whole milk
50g sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
250ml buttermilk
3 tablespoons olive oil
100g dried apricots
100g pumpkin seeds
1 orange
1 teaspoon cinnamon

METHOD:
Place milk in a sauce pan and warm the milk over a low heat till about 40oC (Luke warm) and remove from heat. Add sugar and yeast to milk and leave to stand for 10 minutes in the mean time roughly dice the apricots and zest orange on the fine side of the grater. Put flour in a large mixing bowl with apricots, pumpkin seeds, zest and juice of orange, cinnamon then pour in the fermented milk, buttermilk and olive oil. Knead together for at least 10 minutes, if you don't want to knead it yourself you can always use a cake mixer and attach a dough hook. Grease a separate bowl with a dash of oil and place bread dough into bowl, cover with cling film and leave to ferment in warm place for an hour.
Grease a loaf tin 24x12cm (8cm deep) with butter or oil spray then dust by tapping a little flour round the tin. Roll the dough onto a clean bench and knock back the air, knead for a minute or 2. Mold the dough into a shape that roughly resembles the size of the tin and place in side. Cover bread dough with either a clean damp cloth or tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove again for 1 hour and pre-heat oven to 180oC.
Once the dough has proven for a second time fill a small tray with warm water and place on the bottom shelf of oven and place the bread dough on the shelf just above, bake for 35 minutes. Once cooked leave bread to cool for 10 minutes before turning out, when the loaf has cooled completely you can slice. I like my slice's of bread very chunky and I usually get 7 piece from this recipe, best toasted and served with butter.