Zucchini Fritters (Gluten Free)

Chickpea flour, otherwise known as Gram flour across the subcontinent, is what is usually used to bind vegetables together in bhajis or pakoras (South Asian fritters). Whereas plain flour weighs the fritters down and may need a pinch of baking powder to give lightness, the chick pea flour in this recipe makes them very airy and crispy. The batter becomes sticky and no egg is needed, so you can really taste the star ingredients: courgettes, pockets of salty Feta, garlic and fragrant basil.

Healthy Breakfast Muffins (No Sugar)

This one is for those of you and you know who you are on a diet this summer. When put to the challenge of making light muffins, I rose up to meet it and after two attempts, this by-no-means humble muffin surprised me. It packs a healthy punch with a list of superfood ingredients; perfect to start your day with.

Simple Spicy Sliders

On holiday back home I had spent all week eating veg and was very happy to do so knowing that in my part of France I would never be able to find veg like bitter gourd (kerala), or  those baby aubergines with silky skins and not to mention all the lovely alternatives to spinach:  fresh mustard and fenugreek leaves. These are veg with sharp flavours that never let you forget them.

However, once the holiday was over I began craving some meat and naturally this primal urge had to be satiated through a no fuss, hands on experience: cue sliders (burgers or kwaab as my family calls them) with some nostalgic spicy notes to satiate my homesickness for the food of my youth.

Poached Black Cherries

This doesn't need an introduction; a great late spring-summer fruit whose steamy embrace stains fingers, lips and clothes, so be warned! Poaching cherries enhances their sweet and tart flavour. With spices thrown in to the mix it becomes a very grown up dessert. Serve the cherries and the delicious juice with vanilla ice-cream, yoghurt, sponge cake or absolutely whatever takes your fancy.

Purple Carrot Soup with Oregano and Chipotle

'I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.'

(Quote from Alice Walker's The Colour Purple)

 

This looks deceptively like a beetroot soup but it is not, besides beets are not the only purple vegetable. Ancient varieties of carrots are purple, yellow and  even white. It is unfortunate that the popular orange variety, which came about in the sixteenth century through cross breeding in the Netherlands, is the only variety available at the supermarkets.

Moreish Double Chocolate and Banana Muffins

These muffins are melt-in-the-mouth moist with mashed banana,  cocoa powder and 70% cocoa chocolate chips to boot. Very moreish indeed. Dieters look away now!

Marché des Lices in Rennes, France

There are several markets in Rennes, big and small, held on most days of the week. If you want to get the complete list of Market days see the tourist office link here. Today's shopping spree took place at the Marché des Lices in the old town centre, open from 7.30am to 13.30pm every Saturday. It's one of the most beautiful market places in France and also the third largest with around 300 farmers who come to sell you their produce. You can find anything food related here from seasonal fruit and vegetables produced from around the corner literally (my Green Zebra tomatoes in a previous post came from Pacé, just 8km from Rennes), artisan breads and jams, rotisseries and snack food (think galette saucisse here rather than chips and burgers), cheese and meat, seafood and fish, herbs and spices and even coffee. There is also a flower section and the other usual suspects: buskers, petitioners and cute kittens looking for homes.