Arugula & Pine Nut Savoury Bread

arugula and pine nut bread - trust in kim

Here’s a really easy and delicious bread you can make as an appetizer or to pair up with a meal.  It uses eggs and baking powder for leavening, so no need to wait for it to rise. I brought a loaf to a party where we slathered our slices with a bit of butter, and the whole loaf went really quickly. With picnic season coming up I can see myself making this one a few times to eat al fresco.

I substituted spinach for the arugula, which was delicious, but I imagine the arugula would give it even more flavour. She uses self-raising flour, but I changed the recipe a little so I could use all-purpose flour.  This bread is light enough that you could use some whole wheat flour.

This recipe is from Yvette Van Boven’s book Home Made Summer.

What you need:

  • 100 grams washed and dried arugula or spinach
  • 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 & 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream (I used 2% yogurt)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts

What you do:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325F and grease a 5-by-9 loaf pan with butter.
  2. Chop the arugula and set it aside.
  3. In a bowl whisk the baking powder, salt and pepper into the flour, then add the eggs, sour cream or yogurt, olive oil and mustard.  Mix on high for about a minute – this makes a very thick batter, but don’t worry, it will make a nice light loaf.
  4. Fold in the arugula and pine nuts, then pour the batter into the pan and press it into the corners.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the loaf cool for about 5 minutes, then remove it from the pan.
  6. Serve it either hot or at room temperature with a bit of butter.

spinach and pine nut bread - trust in kim

 

Fruit wrapped in Prosciutto with Arugula

Well, this one started out as just persimmons, but I was growing frustrated trying to wrap each of the slippery little things up neatly with some arugula tucked inside.  So I cut my losses and grabbed the apples and asian pear I had on hand.  In the end it was great to have some variety.

What you need:

200 grams prosciutto

fruit – persimmons, crisp apples, asian pear

arugula

What you do:

1.  Cut the fruit into wedges.

2.  Place  a few pieces of arugula on a slice of fruit, then wrap with the prosciutto.  For the smaller pieces of fruit I used half a slice of prosciutto.

3.  Arrange on a platter, along with a few unwrapped pieces of each fruit.

Serve right away, especially if you are serving apple: the apples will brown and the prosciutto will dry out if it sits of long.

Quick Lemon Pasta

Looking for ways to use up my bumper crop of arugula, I made up this easy pasta dish.  You can easily substitute the arugula for fresh basil; just use a little less.  It’s a super fast meal to prepare!

What you need:

Pasta (I used brown rice spaghetti by Tinkyada)

fresh lemon juice

parmesan (I use lactose-free l’Ancetre)

arugula or fresh basil

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  Cook the pasta in lots of water.

2.  Squeeze lemon juice, about 1/2 a lemon per person.  Mix it with a tablespoon or two of parmesan per person, a big drizzle or olive oil, and salt and pepper.

3.  Chop arugula roughly and place in the bottom of a bowl.  Place hot pasta on top of the arugula so the arugula wilts a tiny bit from the heat of the pasta.  Pour the lemon mixture over top and mix it all up.

4.  Enjoy!

lemon block print