No Dough Halloumi Pizzas with Spiced Carrot, Puy Lentil and Feta Salad.

So, it's Wednesday - hump day - but we've certainly not hit a bump in the road here. No slump in eating a week full of tasty autumn dishes will be had! Who said that all hearty, warming Autumn meals have to be unhealthy? Well not this one, no siree. Here we have a very flavoursome; very delicious and nutritious dish comprising of a scrumptious salad and a very different and very delightful no dough pizza. No dough? I hear you say with a touch of horror in your voice but, I must assure you that these little pizzas are really quite addictive and you honestly would not have a clue that the base was made from a combination of ground cashews, oats and grated parsnip - it is unbelievably moist and doughy! Topped with a scrummy tomato and sage sauce; slices of salty halloumi; wedges of sweet caramelised red onion and a sprinkling of crunchy pecan nuts and you have yourself  a lovely little snack or the perfect partner to this tasty salad; complete with its earthy puy lentils; refreshing flavours of lemon and mint; creamy crumbling of feta and the gleaming star of the dish; the luscious lightly spiced roast carrot batons. Yum.

I decided to try these no dough pizzas after watching Jason Vale whip them up on Lorraine a couple of weeks ago. You can find the original recipe here however, I have made a few tweaks to make it more autumnal; with the replacement of basil with sage in the tomato sauce and the use of caramelised red onion and pecans to top the pizzas rather than cherry tomatoes and pine nuts.

Recipe

Makes 4 servings... or 2. It's healthy afterall, why not help yourself to an extra portion? Nobody will ever know!

For the Halloumi Pizzas:
Base:
100g oats
120g cashew nuts
A pinch of salt and pepper
2 large parsnips, peeled and grated
Sauce:
2 cloves of garlic
14 cherry tomatoes
A large handful of fresh sage leaves
160g sundried tomatoes
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to season
Topping:
250g halloumi
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium red onion, sliced
1/2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
1/2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
20g pecan nuts, chopped

For the Spiced Carrot, Puy Lentil and Feta Salad:

2 tbsp. olive oil                                                                   

1 tbsp. cumin powder and 1/2 tbsp. cumin seeds  

500g carrots, peeled, halved and cut into batons

1 tbsp. clear honey or maple syrup
250g pouch cooked Puy lentils 
1 red onion, finely sliced 
½ lemon, juiced 
large handful mint leaves, roughly chopped 
100g lamb's lettuce
100g feta cheese, crumbled

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/ fan 180°C and start by preparing the pizza base. Place the oats, cashews, salt and pepper in a blender and whizz for 10 seconds to form a 'flour'. Now, pour the flour into a mixing bowl with the grated parsnip and mix, scrunching until the mixture comes together and forms a dough. 

2. Next line a large baking tray/ sheet with baking paper. Divide the base dough into 4 and flatten each one with your hands onto the baking tray, forming a round. Place the baking tray into the oven and cook the pizza bases for 15 minutes. Set aside.

3. Now move on to preparing the spiced roast carrots. In a shallow roasting tin, toss together the oil, the ground cumin and cumin seeds, carrots and some seasoning. Roast for 30-35 mins, turning halfway through cooking. Once softened drizzle over the honey or maple syrup, stir and roast for 5 mins more.

4. Whilst the carrots are cooking, prepare the tomato sauce. Into a blender, add the garlic, cherry tomatoes, sage, sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. 

5. Caramelise the red onion. Into a small saucepan, heat the red onion in oil until softened. Add the brown sugar and stir until dissolved and the red onion sticky- stir through the balsamic vinegar. 

6. Spoon the sauce onto the cooked pizza bases and spread evenly leaving a small gap around the edge. Arrange the slices of halloumi on top and finish with the caramelised red onion and a sprinkling of chopped pecan nuts. 

7. Pop into the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, finish the salad. Gently heat the lentils in a frying pan with the onion, lemon juice, remaining oil and some salt and pepper. Allow to cool slightly while the carrots finish cooking. Toss the dressed lentils with mint and lamb's lettuce and lay the warm spiced carrots on top before scattering with the crumbled feta. Serve a pizza alongside a big pile of salad and enjoy!

Thank you for reading!

Garden Cake.

As the warm summer days draw to a close and more thankfully our bodies are no longer called upon to be bikini ready - let’s drown our sorrows for the soon to be forgotten sunshine filled days with a good old slab of cake, and just in time to tuck into with tonight’s second helping of bake-off as well. Slightly delayed is this post for Garden cake as last week was cake week in the tent whereas this week is all about biscuits however, it is always a good time to indulge in cake and this is a very good cake to indulge in indeed. Largely taken from Justin Gellatly’s Bread, Cake, Doughnut, Pudding cookbook; just scaled up and paired with my favourite orange cream cheese frosting; this cake is scrumptious. Sweet; lightly spiced; nutty and mind-blowingly moist. I love a good carrot cake, in fact it is my favourite of all cakes and this is up there with the best I’ve tried. Walnuts and courgettes are a very wonderful and welcome addition too but, do perhaps warn any eager eaters who aren’t avid bakers that the green flecks in the sponge are in fact courgette and most definitely are supposed to be there and no your wonderful cake is not speckled with mould. How very dare you!?

Decorate with edible flowers from; rose petals to violas; and fuchsia to lavender and you have yourself an utterly delicious cake ready to devour as you bid a fond farewell to the sun-kissed days August brought us.

Recipe

Makes 1 ginormous and delicious 3-4 tier naked layer cake, aren't you lucky?

For the cake:

190g carrots, peeled and grated

190g cougette, grated

210g walnuts, finely chopped

zest of 1 1/2 oranges

6 eggs

330g caster sugar

330g light brown sugar  (yep, that's one hefty amount of sugar to coat my teeth but also one delightful dollop of sweetness to fill my belly. I know which one wins for me!)

450ml vegetable oil

450g plain flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

3/4 tsp. grated nutmeg

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground ginger

a pinch of salt

For the cream cheese icing: (For the most tantalising, terrific icing you have ever tasted in your life, please see below:)

100g softened unsalted butter

250g full fat cream cheese 

zest of 1 orange

600g icing sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/ fan 160°C and grease and line the bottom of 4x 20cm loose-bottom cake tins.

2. Add the grated carrot and courgette to a large mixing bowl with the chopped walnuts and orange zest and mix well. 

3. Add the eggs, sugars and oil and beat well for a couple of minutes with an electric whisk. 

4. Sieve in the flour, spices, baking powder and bicarb and fold in until fully combined. 

5. Pour equal amounts into the prepared cake tins and bake for 30-35 minutes until bronze, risen and the surface springs back when pressed gently with a finger. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

6. Prepare the icing. Add the softened butter, cream cheese and orange zest to a bowl and sieve in the icing sugar. Beat together until thick, stiff, pale, smooth and fluffy. 

7. Sandwich each layer together with icing, covering the cake entirely and scraping the sides with a clean spatula to remove excess and create a naked layer look. Scatter with edible flowers and mint leaves. 

Note. I produced 4 layers of carrot, courgette and walnut cake however, only used three layers to make my cake as I felt it was tall enough. If you feel the same, why not make cake pops with the remaining sponge? Just crumble your cake to fine crumbs and stir in some remaining cream cheese icing before moulding into small balls. Place on a baking paper/parchment lined tray and cool in the freezer until fairly solid. Melt white chocolate and coat the cake balls before returning to the freezer to dry the chocolate. To decorate why not stick on a crystallized flower or two before the chocolate dries?  

8. Tuck in!

Thank you for reading!