Malty flapjacks with black and white sesame seeds

You'd be forgiven for thinking that I have deserted my old favourite, the humble flapjack, for more exciting pastures. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth  - I make sugar-free flapjacks at least once a fortnight and have become quite the expert. And as a flapjack expert let me tell you, that these ones are really, really good

I buy the sesame seeds at the Japan Centre whenever I'm in central London, and add them to all sorts of dishes, both sweet and savoury. The crushed, black ones are especially tasty added to porridge and carrots. The malt barley extract is a sweet, gooey substance that tastes like Horlix, if you've ever had the pleasure of tasting that, and has the added bonus of being healthy. Just in case you're not sure how to make flapjacks, let me outline it for you: melt the butter in a pan and add the honey and malt barley, once it's all melted add the dry ingredients and mix well. Transfer the contents of the pan to a buttered baking tin and bake in a pre-heated over at 180 degrees Celsius for about 25min. Score while still warm, then wait until cool before troughing greedily


Ingredients

3 cups oats
1/2 cup black sesame seeds, crushed
1/2 cup white sesame seeds, not crushed
200g butter
1 cup malt barley extract
1/2 cup good quality honey

Wintery pasta - trottole with kale pesto and parsnips

When it's cold out, I love to play mad scientist in the kitchen. So this pasta is a kind of a Frankenstein's monster that's actually turned out damn tasty. Though still green, of course - my metaphor is perfect!

I used spinach trottole, that's why it's so very green, although the kale was (obviously) green too. For the kale pesto blend all the top ingredients until mushy, adding the olive oil slowly as they blend. The parsnips need to be chopped finely, not quite julienned, but not far from it - grill them with some olive oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg for about 10 minutes, or until crispy. Fry the pesto for a few minutes, stirring constantly, before adding the cooked pasta. My friend recently explained to me why we should never add oil when cooking pasta - it's because it makes the surface slippery so that the sauce doesn't stick. So make sure you just use loads of salted water instead when cooking the trottole, if that's the pasta you choose to use (I'd recommend it). Add the sizzling parsnips at the end and grate more cheese on top before serving. That down there makes about 3 servings

Ingredients

100g curly kale

4-5 tablespoons mild olive oil

100g pumpkin seeds

2 garlic cloves, chopped

100d Pecorino or grana padano cheese, grated

Salt and pepper

400g Spinach trottole pasta

Parsnips

Nutmeg, grated

Honey and Ginger biscuits and the most enjoyable baking experience ever

I've never been massively into baking, but now I've understood why some people find it therapeutic and enjoyable. Yesterday, I had one of the most pleasurable baking experiences in my whole life while making these honey and ginger biscuits. There was something about the warm dough that made the whole experience... sensual, for want of a better word. No pummeling something as hard as a brick, no stickiness and mess (the bakers out there will know what I'm talking about), just perfect, warm dough that comes together easily and is a pleasure to work with. A child could make these biscuits, and if I ever have a child, she definitely will be making them. I say "she" not because I'm being sexist, but because for some reason I'm convinced that one day I will have a little girl

Ingredients (makes about 50)

250g butter

250g caster sugar

200g good honey

250g plain flour

1 nutmeg seed

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon baking soda 

 Heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Melt the butter on a low heat, add the sugar and honey and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Grate the nutmeg into this and heat for a couple of minutes longer, then take off the heat, and allow to cool slightly. Sieve the flour, baking soda and ground ginger into a bowl and mix together. Now, add this to the pan and blend until you get a soft, warm dough. Now is the fun bit - enjoy. When the dough appears smooth take little bits of it and form into balls, placing each one onto a tray with greased baking paper on it. Flatten each one down and leave plenty of space between them. I fit 7-8 on one tray. Bake in the middle of the oven for 10min. Allow to stand for a few minutes before placing on a rack or plate to cool properly. We ate these washed down with warm, spicy mulled wine

Black garlic hummus (no tahini)

I should have told you about this earlier. I don't know why I didn't - the time never seemed right until now. And black garlic hummus is a dark and seductive thing - sweet yet intense, strange yet familiar,  it definitely lends itself to being kept a secret

But a secret is no fun unless it's shared, so here we are... blend the chickpeas with the lemon juice, paprika and black garlic. While they are blending, slowly add the olive oil, in a trickle. Add some sea salt too while it's blending. Keep doing this until the mixture is mostly smooth with a few cheeky chickpea bits here and there. Serve with more paprika sprinkled on top

Ingredients

Tin of chickpeas

Juice of 1 lemon

1 black garlic bulb

1 heaped teaspoon paprika

Sea salt to taste

About 1 tablespoon mild olive oil