Rustic Spanish Chickpeas

Well, it's been a while, but I'm posting this recipe for Leigh.
I had a Spanish-themed dinner and, among other dishes, I made this chickpea dish, dead easy and tasty:

olive oil for the pan
1 large foccacia roll
4-6 cloves of garlic
2 cans of chickpeas (organic if poss)
I large bunch english spinach
1 lemon
sea salt

pan-fry the foccacia roll and cloves (with their skin on) until the bread is nicely toasted.
cut the bread into small cubes and skin cloves, return to the pan.
add chickpeas and roughly cut spinach.
continue to cook until the bread softens and forms a paste with the wilted spinach.
season with salt, and before serving add lemon juice and 2 tbsp of zest into the pan.
enjoy!

Red Room Slice

I was asked to make a signature slice for the Red Room Company and this is what i came up with:

Red Room Slice

For the base:
150 g Nuttelex
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Seeds from a Vanilla bean pod

For the filling:
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp agar agar powder
1/2 cup coconut cream
250 g raspberries
the Vanilla bean pod from the base
2 tbsp Brandy
2 and a half cups dessicated coconut (I used half shredded coconut for texture)

For the topping
150 g dark vegan chocolate
3 tbsp Nuttelex

Base:
In a big mixing bowl, blend the nuttelex and sugar together with a fork, and make sure all the clumps of sugar are not clumps anymore.
Sift the flour and baking powder over the top of the butter/sugar, as well as the Vanilla bean seeds, give it a good mix.
Mix this together well (I started off mixing with my fork but ended up having to use my fingers). Once it’s mixed together it will be very crumbly not hold together much. That’s good!
Press the mixture very firmly and evenly into slice tin lined with baking paper.
Bake at 180 for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Filling:
In the smallest saucepan you have, put the water, sugar and agar powder. Leave while you get the rest of the filling ready.
Cook the Raspberries in a separate saucepan with the Vanilla pod and Brandy. Mix in a big mixing bowl together with the coconut cream and coconut.
Put the saucepan with the agar and water and sugar on the stove, and bring to the boil, covered. Simmer for about 5 minutes, covered, stirring every now and then to incorporate the sugar and agar from the sides of the pan.
Pour over the glace cherry mixture and mix well.
With slightly wet hands pack this mix firmly and evenly onto the biscuit base.
place in the refrigerator while you prepare the topping.

Topping:
Melt the chocolate gently in a double boiler. Carefully and slowly stir in Nuttelex.
Pour evenly over the top of the slice, and spread with a spatula.
Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before slicing into small pieces.

baked mushrooms from the middle-east

Last night I threw some stuff together and it came out really well.
I remembered a dish Kat Egan used to make that was like a baked potato casserole almost braised in tomato paste and olive-oil... this is inspired by that very dish, only spicier with whole mushrooms instead of spuds, practically no prep...
Oh yeah!

1/2 kilo button mushrooms (whole)
3 medium tomatoes, diced
spanish onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
4 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp sweet paprika
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp mustard
zest of 1 lemon
salt n pepa

I threw all of these into a casserole dish (no lid) and baked in a hot oven for 30mins.
after that time I put a heaped tbsp of nuttlex stirred through and baked for another 10 minutes.
it was rich and delicious.

I served with a variation on trad. lebanese rice and lentils where I cooked the rice with the lentils, fried onion and a tbsp of paprika in the rice cooker, it worked really well!
Of course there was a green salad as well.