Beetroot Hummus : One of Your Five a Day

This hummus subtle earthy flavour is the main reason for giving it a go but, it's not the only one.

Beetroot Hummus is also an easy way to incorporate a vegetable in your five a day. It may be lurid pink but it's also smooth and totally yummy. Perfect with pita or veggies.

For this recipe, I boiled the beetroot though normally I bake beets. Baking beetroots brings the flavours out however it also takes slightly longer. A friend of mine microwaves hers and she swears by that method. Either way, you'll need a cook beetroot.

Beetroot Hummus

Ingredients

1 small cooked beetroot
250 g of cooked chickpeas (tin will do)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 or 3 cloves garlic crushed
2 tbsp tahini
virgin olive oil
Salt, pepper and if you feel advanturous a pinch of ground cumin

Method

Nothing could be simpler
In a food processor, whisk the beetroot with the garlic cloves and the lemon
Add the chickpeas, tahini and pulse
Add the oil a little at the time until you have obtained the consistency you need
Season and serve

Another unconventional Hummus Recipe from Pebble Soup

More inspirated healthy recipes with

Coffee Mousse– Mousse au café

When I first arrived in London, all these years ago, ask for a cup of coffee instead of tea and you may as well have had two heads. People would whisper, “she is French, you know.” Sadly, the tea/coffee swap was not always possible. Later on, when coffee became a more familiar brew, I made do with mugs of coffee. I have to say, at times it was difficult to discern what I had been handed over, was it a mug of tea or coffee?

Enter coffee capsules, a charismatic actor, a series of brilliantly managed ad campaigns and Expresso got the wind in its sails, it becomes “The” coffee to be seen sipping. Suddenly, new machines allow cappuccino, macchiato without too much effort. The UK gets it own “Coffee Week”. Every April coffee lovers flock to their favourite haunts to enjoy what is by now a staple of modern British culture.

The fact is that coffee is so popular that it is replacing tea in many UK households. Millenials are by far the least passionate about tea and the coffee-shop culture seems here to stay. According to a commercial survey, people aged 50-64 are the biggest coffee lovers, spending £52 on coffee each year. I can tell you that at Pebble Soup HQ, we spend 3 times that much. The growth of coffee culture in the UK goes further than just the drink as we like to treat ourselves to a slice of cake too. Tiramisu anyone.

It’s great to see an industry grow so fast and not showing signs of abating but there is another side to the coin: Coffee jargon can make you feel like a bit of a jerk. Can you, hand on heart, differentiate between a Cubano, a Cortado and a Babyccino. How do you decide which coffee is best for your machine(s)? A friend of mine buys samples at the time or a different type of capsule every now and then, he tries them, notes them in a little book, marks them out of 10 before moving to the next one. That seems like a lot of work to me.

But don’t get me wrong I am not complaining, nobody looks at me like if I was from another planet anymore when I ask for a cup of coffee so, I thought this could be a good time to step it up and introduce Coffee Cuisine starting with Coffee Mousse if you want to play coffee-snob at their own games “Mousse au café”.

Coffee Mousse – Mousse au café

Ingredients

60 g caster sugar with a couple of gelatine leaves or a mix of 50g sugar 10g pectin sugar if you prefer
1 small cup of coffee brewed with Gourmesso coffee capsule any of the 28 varieties.
3 eggs
150 g cream (double or whipping)

Method

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the mix looks whitish. Prepare the gelatine leaves if using

Add the cream and transfer to a saucepan. Cook on low heat until the mix thickens, don’t let it boil

In the meantime beat the egg whites to a soft peak

When the cream is thick, cool it for a little while, add the gelatine leaves and add the egg whites, a spoon at the time.

Pour in your chosen serving glass or return a large bowl. Keep in the fridge for 4 hours before serving

Disclaimer : This post is sponsored by Gourmesso -the recipe is my own and as usual, so are the words

City Break : Why Go Ghent?

The sun wasn't at the rendez-vous. On our arrival in Gent, the sky was grey and menacing but, we were ready to explore a city new to us, in search of the answer to "City Break : Why choose Gent?"

Gent is crisscrossed by waterways, therefore one of the best ways to visit the city is to take a boat tour (7 euros for adults or use City card see fact box) the boat doesn't go very far but the guided visit gives a good idea of Gent's past.

We learnt that the older name of Ghent/Gent, Ganda, is derived from the Celtic word for "confluence". Our modern hippy-looking guide was most proud of the rich history of his city. Ghent has a reputation for going its own way – and raising the proverbial finger to any Duke, Emperor or King inclined to meddle in its affairs.

Castle of the Counts - Puzzling Statue at the Exit -

The citizens have a lively history of revolts and rebellions against the invaders through the centuries with a little help from the divine, that includes archangels fighting past and present demons.

Archangel fighting pollution

We had just been in Gent for a few hours and already visitors and locals were answering the question "why Ghent?". The French family in the tour-boat was marveling at the fact that the town center was lived in. "Not like Bruges where there are only tourists and touristy spots" Lamented the woman behind me

Gent is a city with innovative architectural style built on history

Our hotel was a perfect example with its facade dated back from when brewers and other merchants' buildings lined the main waterways but, push the door and the interior was resolutely modern, absolutely nothing remained from the past, 21st century through and through.

The same went for Volta, fine dining experience set in the shell of an old power station where a diner at the next table told us that "living in Ghent was like living in a big village".

That would be a big village for art lovers. There is so much art to take in, that a couple of days might not be enough and again the spread goes across the centuries.

Street-graffiti artists from various countries whose work can be seen all around town. As street art changes on a daily basis, you'll need to keep abreast of the locations using SORRYNOTSORRY website or download the CIRCA Culture Department app. Circa is responsible for recording graffiti and for the removal of unwanted tags and stickers.

The MSK (Museum of Fine Arts) is a good way to spend an afternoon when the sky is grey. It has an interesting collection of Flemish artists which is striking in itself as the French confiscated many of the city's art. Some are still in le Louvre to this day.

Another of Gent painting which has had a curious history of hide and display is the Ghent Altarpiece by the Van Eyck Brother's dated 1432 now (partly) displayed in St Bravo's Cathedral. The focus of the Triptych is a mystic bleeding lamb which curiously appears to have 4 ears, a result of its hard life ( the painting's life not the mystic lamb's).

I have to confess that I got very taken by the story and followed it from its current place of residence in the Cathedral to the MSK, where restorers can been viewed working on some of the panels in a sound and bullet proof room, via Caermsklooser a medieval friary which holds an exhibition about the story and the restoration

No trip to a Belgium town is complete without a Beer O'clock.

Though I love tucking in national dishes and, what better than a bowl of mussels 'n chips, it's equally nice to experience the food of the main communities so we head to pizza street for a Turkish pizza. However, to be fair there were many Turkish dishes to choose from too.

One more reason to visit Gent: it's the Vegetarian Capital of Europe. Gent the birthplace of the "Weekly Veggie Day on Thursday and has the highest number of vegetarian restaurants per capita and it's only 3 hours away from London by Eurostar

Fact Box

CityCard Gent

Getting There

CityCard Gent is the special all-in access card to the main historical buildings, museums and top attractions in Ghent. You can also use the CityCard Gent on the bus or tram and what’s more, it also includes a boat trip. All you need to do to use this all-in package is pay 30 or 35 euros! This will allow you to explore the city for 48 or 72 hours. You can buy the CityCard Gent in: The Ghent Tourist Office (Sint-Veerleplein 5), all participating museums and attractions, all sales points of public transport company De Lijn, FNAC Ghent (Veldstraat 88) and Uitbureau Gent (Veldstraat 82B)

Eurostar offers fares to Ghent from £34.50 one-way. Standard* Premier fares from London St Pancras International to Bruges start from £92 one-way*. * Price based on a return journey

Situated just 40 minutes from Brussels, it’s easy to reach the heart of Ghent with one easy connection, passengers will reach Ghent in approximately three hours London St Pancras International.

For more information or to book, visit eurostar.com or call 03432 186 186.

My warm thanks to Visit Gent, Visit Flanders and Eurostar for all their efforts in organising and supporting our visit.

July & August Inheritance Recipes with Linky

I am keeping the challenge in August so please continue to link your recipes below with the linky

ABOUT INHERITANCE RECIPES

Inheritance Recipes is a challenge that Margot of Coffee and Vanilla and I have started to celebrate dishes food bloggers cherish. We would love to hear about your friends and family recipes.

Recipes which have been passed down by a family member, a friend, through an ancestral culture and dishes which you would like to bestow to future generations.

Margot has rounded up June challenge, head to Coffee 'n Vanilla for inspiration

We will share your recipes via our social media channels and include them in the round-up (with pictures) at the end of the month. We will also add your recipes to the Inheritance Recipes Pinterest board (that has 2.3 K followers) and include your blog’s handle in our Inheritance Recipes list on Twitter. Don’t forget to subscribe to them both!

HOW TO ENTER

Please, link back to challenge page on both: Pebble Soup and Coffee and Vanilla blog.

If possible, display one of the IR badges on your recipe post. (Click through to open one of the badges, right-click to save it to your computer and then upload badge to your blog.)

Add your recipe via linky -Up to 2 recipes accepted per blogger.

Feel free to link up to past posts but please, update them with links to the challenge pages to qualify.

Recipe suggestions:

traditional recipes or preparation methods,
national recipes from all over the globe,
dishes that you often prepare with your children (starting a new tradition),
recipes inspired by childhood memories,
dishes inherited from a family member or a friend.

Closing date is the 31th August.

Please note that entries that fail to follow “how to enter” instructions won’t be approved.

If you use Twitter to promote your recipe, please use #InheritanceRecipes, tweet it @coffeenvanilla or @solangeweb and we will re-tweet it.

And last but not least, have a look at the terms and conditions if you haven't yet done so.
We can't wait to see your recipes and read their stories.