Three ways with... picnic food

There's a long weekend on the horizon and - though the weather is unlikely to be playing ball - I'm still hopeful that there will be enough sunshine for a picnic.

Photo: Ross Giblin/Fairfax Media

This week's Three Ways With... has a trio of picnic-friendly recipes for you to try. If all else fails, eat them while sitting on a picnic blanket in the lounge. Add lashings of ginger beer and some spy-catching for a frisson of Famous Five-style fun.

Happy weekend!

Three ways with Guinness

Let's get something straight: I've never been one to join in the 'fun' of St Patrick's Day. Not for me the early morning pints of Guinness, the purposeful wearing of Kelly green or the joining of parades on March 17. Not my circus, not my monkeys, as the saying goes.

So it has come as a bit of a surprise to find that I'm actually a little bit partial to Guinness. I'm probably more likely to find a four-leaf clover than drink a pint of it in one go, but it's not a bad drop, all told. And it's quite fun to play with as an ingredient, especially if you get the cans with the little ball in them that help you pour it just like they do at the pub. Here are three ways to get some of that Guinness goodness into you...

Guinness Granita with Irish Cream
This idea came to me like a vision while I was running up Mt Victoria in the half-dark one hot and sticky late summer morning. It's every bit as refreshing as I hoped - and it makes one can of Guinness go a very long way. The granita will hold in the freezer for a couple of weeks and you should get at least six to eight servings out of it. The cream is best made just before serving - the amount specified below is enough for four.

1/2 cup caster sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 x 440ml can Guinness
1/2 cup cream
2 Tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream (or Irish whiskey)

Put the sugar and water in a bowl and stir well to dissolve the sugar. Slowly add the Guinness and stir well, then pour into a shallow freezer-safe container.
Put in the freezer and leave until partially frozen (about 1 to 1.5 hours), then scrape up the crystals with a fork and stir well. Return to the freezer for another 1.5-2 hours, then scrape up the mixture into large crystals. At this point you can serve the granita, or scrape into a covered container and leave in the freezer until you're ready.
When you're ready to serve, whip the cream with the Baileys or whiskey until soft peaks form.
Scrape about half a cup of the granita into a glass, then top with a large spoonful of the cream.
Serve immediately.

2. Black Velvets
This isn't my invention but I've always loved the story associated with it. After the death of Prince Albert in 1861, a London bartender invented a drink that looked suitably sombre for those in mourning by mixing Guinness and champagne together. It takes a little bit of skill to get it right without the glasses overflowing, but it's otherwise a very simple drink. Just half-fill a champagne flute with sparkling wine (not your best French champagne, unless you're a member of the Guinness family or similar), then carefully, carefully, carefully, top up with chilled Guinness.

3. Guinness Affogato
If you don't have time to make a Guinness granita, as detailed above, you can still have a Guinness-y pudding. Scoop some best-quality vanilla ice cream into a chilled glass, then pour over half a shot of espresso coffee and half the same quantity of Guinness. Top with some shards of very dark chocolate.

Have a great week, everyone. Slainte!

Raw beetroot bliss balls

A dear friend of mine calls herself an alternative eater - wholefoods, no meat, no refined sugar, the whole kit and kaboodle. While that makes her a rather challenging dinner guest, she's also one of the most appreciative people a cook could hope to create for. After I got over feeling daunted by her request for a birthday cake last weekend - especially one that could withstand a car journey and an afternoon in the sun - I had a burst of inspiration and these pretty-in-pink bliss balls were the result. 

Raw beetroot bliss balls - for Catherine

You don't have to be an alternative eater to love these. In fact, you don't even have to like beetroot. Soaking the almonds makes them easier to whizz up.

1 cup loosely packed grated beetroot
1 cup dates

1 /2 cup whole almonds

1/2 cup roughly chopped best quality dark chocolate or cacao nibs, optional

1/2 cup desiccated coconut, plus about 3/4 cup for rolling

Put the dates and almonds in a small heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 15 minutes, then drain.

Tip the beetroot into a food processor and whiz until finely chopped. Add the drained dates and almonds, the chocolate (if using) and the 1/2 cup measure of coconut. Whizz until it clumps together.

Put the second measure of coconut into a shallow bowl. Form teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls, then roll in the coconut. Store in the fridge. Makes around 36 small balls.

Have a great weekend, everyone x

Double chocolate beetroot cakes

Delusion is a wonderful thing. It's why dress shops have flattering mirrors, why cosmetic counters have soft lighting and why a whole industry has sprung up around 'healthy' baking.

There are two ingredients required for 'healthy' baking - either fruit and vegetables (hello, carrot cake) or oats (to whit, the entire British flapjack industry). Now, few people will dispute the merits of vegetables or whole grains, but they're not enough to mitigate the ingredients needed to turn them into cakes or biscuits. Far better, I think, to concentrate on the deliciousness imparted by a couple of juicy beetroots to a trayful of chocolate-studded cakes than angst about whether they're good for you or not.

Double chocolate and beetroot cakes
This is a good school holiday activity for idle hands - especially if you can get them involved in the dishes afterwards. This recipe makes around 18 cakes, which keep well in an airtight tin and can be frozen very successfully for lunchboxes or unexpected visitors.

It's also a fitting entry for October's Tea Time Treats, a blogging event run by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Jane of The Hedgecombers. This month, they're looking for recipes containing fruit and vegetables. If you subscribe to the theory that chocolate is derived from a fruit, then this fits the bill on both counts.

2 cups wholemeal flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4Tbsp good quality cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup coconut
3/4 cup roughly chopped dark chocolate
3 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1/4 cup yoghurt
3 cups finely grated raw beetroot (about 2 medium beetroots)

Heat the oven to 160C (fanbake) and line 18-muffin pans with cupcake liners (not essential, but makes for easier cleaning up and no anxiety when it comes to getting them out of the tin).
Sift the flour, cocoa, spices and baking soda into a bowl. Stir in the coconut and chopped chocolate and set aside.
Beat the eggs, sugar, yoghurt and oil together until thick and pale. Fold in the dry ingredients, then the beetroot. Divide between the prepared tins - each one should be about two-thirds full - and bake for 20-25 minutes.
I like these just as they are, but they're also very good with a simple cream cheese icing (beat together 1 cup soft cream cheese with 2 Tbsp honey and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla) and a scattering of chocolate. (That does make them less 'healthy' though!)

What's your favourite 'healthy' baking treat?

The best stuffed mushrooms, ever

One of my favourite childhood memories is of picking mushrooms with my father. It’s funny, because I detested mushrooms, but I loved picking them. There was something special about it; something almost magical. Maybe I’d read too many fairy tales or maybe it was the novelty of doing something with Dad, but I loved those little jaunts. We’d collect as many mushrooms as we could - once we picked such a lot we took off our woolly hats and turned them into mushroom carriers too - before returning home across the farm with the spoils. As long as I didn’t have to eat them, I was blissfully happy.

The Best Stuffed Mushrooms, Ever
The giant Portobello mushroom is the fillet steak of fungi. Slather one with this rich, olive and caper butter and you’ll convert the most ardent mushroom hater. Trust me, I used to be one. If you’re picking your own mushrooms, remember to leave the toadstools or the fairies will have nowhere to hold their meetings.

4 large Portobello mushrooms
1 cup kalamata olives, stoned
100g soft butter
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp capers
½ - 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
Grated rind of 1 lemon
A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
3 slices of stale rustic bread

Heat the oven to 210C. Line an oven tray with baking paper and put the mushrooms on top, flat side down.
Put the olives, butter, garlic, capers, chilli flakes and lemon zest in a food processor and whiz until it forms a smooth mixture. If you don’t have a processor you can use a stick blender or a mortar and pestle. If you don‘t have any of these things, just chop the olives and garlic finely, then mash everything together with a fork.
Divide this mixture between the mushrooms. Put the stale bread in the processor or blender (no need to wash it first) and whiz to form crumbs. Scatter these over the mushrooms.
Put the mushrooms in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are golden. Scatter the finely chopped parsley over the top, then serve with a crunchy green salad and some good bread. Serves four.

Shocking pink beetroot bread

Do not adjust your screen: this bread really is THAT pink. I've been having a little bit of fun in the last couple of weeks, experimenting with adding vegetable purees to bread dough. I told the Small Girl I was going to do a magic trick and waved my 'wand' (a wooden spoon) over the teatowel-wrapped loaf while chanting the following:

Ala kazam, ala kajink

Make this bread purple-y pink!

As you can see, it worked a treat. Unfortunately she wasn't that keen on eating it - and I admit, the colour is pretty arresting - but the bread is lovely. Here's how to play the same trick at your house.

Beetroot bread
Last year when I interviewed the lovely Ruth Pretty for work she showed me her prized collection of Time-Life 'Foods of the World' cookbooks and recommended that I look out for them. I think she cast a good spell over me, because I went through a particularly good period of finding gems in charity shops or on Trade Me immediately afterwards. One was a Time-Life Bread book, sadly not from the same edition as Ruth's, but edited by Richard Olney and absolutely loaded with amazing recipes and bread knowledge. There's a recipe dating from 1654 in the book that uses pumpkin, which inspired me to try beetroot. The 1654 recipe uses a lot of yeast and lets the bread rise for hours - I just adapted my normal recipe and it worked out fine. This makes a very springy, soft loaf. The beetroot taste is discernable, but not as shocking as the colour might suggest. A tablespoon of fennel seeds would be a nice addition, especially if you're going to eat the bread with salmon and cream cheese.

500g beetroot, topped, tailed and halved
500g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp dried yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
60-90ml warm water

Prepare the beetroot first. Boil it for 20-30 minutes, until easily pierced with a knife. Drain, then puree in a food processor or with a stick blender. Set aside to cool. You can do this well in advance, but the puree should be at room temperature when it comes to making the bread.
Mix the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl, then stir in the beetroot. Mix well, adding a little water, until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Lightly oil the worksurface, then tip the dough out onto it. Pick up one side of the dough, stretch it up, then bring it down again on top of itself. Repeat from the opposite corner. Do this another three times, then scrape the dough from your hands and walk away. Leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes, then come back and repeat the pick up and stretch process again. Then leave it again for 10 minutes. Do this process once more, then scoop the dough into a well-oiled large bowl. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until nearly doubled.
Heat the oven to 200C. Tip the dough out onto the bench and knock back gently, pressing it out into a rectangle. Roll this up into a large baguette-sort of shape, or shape to fit a large loaf tin. Leave on a lined tray (or in an oiled tin) for 25 minutes, then bake for 30-35 minutes. Tip onto a rack to cool completely before slicing.

Treat me: Spelt Apple Bread

You know those smug, holier-than-thou people who announce they've given up sugar/caffeine/alcohol/oxygen? I'm not one of them. And I'm glad.
Yesterday I met a woman who told me about her bizarre bodysculpting diet and all I could do was feel sorry for her, despite the fact she could probably crack an egg between her thighs.
For her, food was just fuel - I suppose that's the only way to look at it when you are eating seven 'meals' of broccoli, spirulina and tuna a day - which I thought was profoundly depressing. In hindsight, this explains why we met at a café where there was nothing to eat. And why she works in fashion PR. But I digress.
Despite not wanting to give up any of my vices, last week I gave an old recipe of mine a makeover - reducing the sugar, the oil, adding in fruit and using wholemeal spelt flour instead of white flour. It turned out pretty damn well - and completely different - which has made me wonder about changing a few other things. But don't worry, I'm not about to become a bodysculpting fiend. Stripper heels and diamante bikinis aren't really my style...

Spelt Apple Bread
I go a bit mad for apples at this time of year and frequently buy more than our fridge/bench can hold. I even dreamt we had an apple tree the other night and woke up cross at myself for buying apples when we had our very own tree. Anyway, this recipe uses four of them, which is a good start. A nice thick slice of this is a good on-the-go breakfast and it freezes well.

3 eggs
150ml oil
200g brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
80ml (1/3 cup) yoghurt
260g wholemeal spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
3 large apples, grated (to make about 300g grated apple)
50g rolled oats
100g walnuts, roughly chopped
1 large apple, quartered, cored and thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 170c and grease and line a large loaf tin. Put the eggs, oil, sugar, yoghurt and vanilla in a large bowl and beat well. Sift in the dry ingredients and stir gently to combine, then fold in the apple, rolled oats and walnuts.
Pour into the prepared tin and arrange the sliced apple on top. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer plunged into the loaf comes out cleanly. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I'm hoping to plant some Chilean guavas and baby papaya trees in my garden, which must be as good for you as lifting weights, don't you think?

Emergency bacon and egg pie

As much as I try to be one of those organised meal plan types, there are often times when the wheels come off and we veer perilously close to having toasted sandwiches for dinner. My latest emergency dinner is a good old bacon and egg pie - there are no dishes, you can throw the whole thing together in minutes, and if you're lucky there will be some leftover for lunch tomorrow.

Speedy bacon and egg pie
The one in the photograph was made with flaky pastry to Stephanie Alexander's recipe, but for emergency dinners I pull out a packet of the frozen stuff (for New Zealand readers, this one is excellent). Follow these instructions and dinner will be on the table in no time.

500g frozen flaky puff pastry
250g bacon or ham, chopped
6 eggs
A bunch of spring onions, chopped, or a package of my instant caramelised onions
a dollop of your favourite chutney
salt and pepper
a splash of milk to glaze the top

As soon  as you get in the door, preheat the oven to 210C and take the pastry and caramelised onions out of the freezer. Take your coat off, read your child a story/play hide 'n seek/talk to your spouse/put the washing machine on/unload the dishwasher.
When the pastry is mostly thawed, line a pie dish (I use my favourite all-purpose ex-brownie pan, measuring about 20cm x 30cm) with a sheet of pastry. Scatter the ham/bacon and onions on top. Grind over lots of pepper and a touch of salt.
Lightly whisk the eggs together, just to break the yolks up, and stir in the chutney. Pour this mixture over the ham and onions. Top with a sheet of pastry and crimp the edges. Prick the lid a few times with a fork and brush it with milk.
Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden and cooked through. Serves four.

What's your current favourite emergency dinner?

Lucy's Christmas Chutney

There are many pre-Christmas things I have failed to do this year. If you're going to the letterbox every day in the hope that I've remembered to send you a Christmas card, let me save you the trip. It's December 20 and my Christmas cards are sitting on my desk, half-written. At least, I think they're here somewhere. A box unpacked itself on the desk over the weekend and it's a miracle I can find the keyboard.
The only thing that's stopping me feeling like a complete failure is that I had the presence of mind to a) make the Christmas cake and b) make my famous Christmas chutney before we moved house. Yes, the 2.25g cake and a polybin full of jars added to the load, but it was worth it. I've been dispensing jars hither and yon all week and it's done wonders for my festive spirit. I'm just sorry I can't post them.

Lucy's Christmas Chutney
I've been making this since 1997, when the internet was just a baby and I was just a slip of a girl (ish). It's great with ham, cold turkey, cheese and bread, especially if all of these things are consumed while reclining on a deckchair/sofa and reading something you got for Christmas. This year I added walnuts (about a cupful) for a bit of crunch, but it's great just as is.

450g tart green apples (about 3), peeled, cored and cut into 1cm chunks.
225g onions (1 large), peeled and chopped
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 cup dates, roughly chopped
1 cup seedless raisins
1 cup prunes, roughly chopped
2/3 cup crystallised ginger, roughly chopped
2 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder
2 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups white vinegar
Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Reduce the heat and simmer very gently uncovered for about 45 minutes until the mixture is thick and the fruit is soft. You should be able to squish the apple with the back of a wooden spoon and the raisins will look swollen and plump. Don't wander off and forget about the mixture, it will need regular stirring to prevent it from sticking. If it becomes too thick, add more vinegar.
Spoon the chutney into sterilised jars and seal with cellophane or tight-fitting lids. Makes about four 350ml jars.

Let them eat olive cake

Some things sound odd. Bacon ice cream. Caviar foam. Olive cake. But wait, olive cake is actually very, very good. This recipe comes from an amazing woman I met a couple of months ago after discovering her sweet cured olives. Helen knows everything there is to know about olives (and then some) - and this is absolutely delicious.

Helen's Olive Cake
This is like an antipasto all-in-one - a light, fluffy scone-ish dough loaded with good Mediterranean flavours. I've added feta and herbs because I happened to have lots of both at the time. Make this for a weekend picnic or to serve a group of very hungry people with drinks.

1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
leaves from a few sprigs of thyme or rosemary
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup plain yoghurt
1 roasted red pepper (from a jar), chopped
2 cups black olives, pitted and chopped
6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 24cm cake tin. Cook the onion, garlic and herbs in a little olive oil until soft, then set aside to cool slightly.
Beat the eggs, oil and yoghurt together in a large bowl. Stir in the cooked onion and garlic, roasted red pepper, olives, feta and sundried tomatoes. Sift the flour and baking powder over the top and gently combine. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes. Cool to room temperature before cutting into wedges with a serrated knife. Best eaten on the day you make it, but leftovers can be frozen and successfully taken to work for lunch.