thank goodness, they seem to be happy to oblige by eating it all up.
Then they ask for the recipes... I’ve decided to share them here. Enjoy!
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup brown sugar (lightly packed)
1 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
185gm butter, softened
1 cup apricot jam* -- slightly warmed, so that it spreads more easily
a pinch of salt
a little ground cinnamon and cardamom (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Set aside a square pan (8" x 8").
Mix the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, spices, oats and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. (Even better, do this by hand.)
Pat 2/3 of this mixture into the pan. Spread with the jam. Cover with the remaining crumb mixture.
Bake about 35 minutes; remove from the oven and allow to cool. Cut into bars or squares.
* You can use any flavour of jam or preserves -- plum or raspberry would be good.
1 large fillet of salmon (with skin on)
170 ml 3% plain yoghurt
1 lemon
1 6oz. tin of whole hummus (garbanzo) beans, drained
a handful of fresh mint or coriander (or both, if you prefer), finely torn
freshly-ground black pepper
a pinch of salt
2 healthy cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
Line the baking dish (in which you intend to cook the fish) with alumunium foil or – even better – baking paper. Rinse the fish very lightly and quickly (essentially, just to ensure that there are no scales floating around); pat dry with a paper towel; place in dish. If it doesn’t fit, you’ll have to chop it down to size, but place the pieces side by side.
Using a vegetable peeler, carefully peel off a few strips of lemon peel, chopping them into long, slim slivers. Make sure you don’t include any of the pith: it’s bitter. Extract the juice.
Mix all the other ingredients. Spread over the fish. Cover thoroughly with plastic wrap, if you don’t want your fridge to reek of garlic. Chill (the fish, not you).
A half-hour before cooking, take out of the fridge to allow it to come up further toward room temperature, then bake at 150-180 degrees C (300-350 degrees F) for 20-30 minutes.
Serve with tiny spring potatoes, a green salad of some kind, and chilled white wine.
