Mango and Ricotta Muffins for Marci

I miss my Canadian friend Marci. She left Australia in May this year and gave me the most incredible muffin cookbook as a leaving present. So after chatting to Marci this morning, I made muffins to remind me of all those mornings we drank coffee and shared a muffin at Single Origin in Surry Hills. I am a big fan of ricotta in muffins, it adds a dose of animal protein to an otherwise carb heavy snack and it tastes yummy. There are no ricotta muffin recipes in the book so this is my version.

I have used organic stone ground spelt flour which does not rise as well as refined white flour but has a better glycaemic index (GI).  The glycaemic index is a measure of how much a food raises blood glucose levels after eating. This year, we were lucky enough to be lectured in carbohydrate science by Professor Jennie Brand-Miller who is well known for her work on the GI. Conventional milling is very efficient in removing all of the bran from the endosperm, which increases its digestibility and thus its GI. To make wholemeal flour, ground bran is simply added back into refined flour. Stone ground flour is a lot coarser and it is less susceptible to gelatinisation resulting in a lower GI. The GI of food is important for those with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes and low GI foods have been shown to improve these conditions. You can read more about the glycaemic index here.

• 2 cups of whole spelt flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cups of sugar
• 1 cup of unhomogenised whole milk
• 70 ml of grapeseed oil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chopped mango (not overripe)
• 100 g crumbly whole milk ricotta

Combine flour with baking powder salt and sugar and in a separate bowl mix the egg with milk and oil. Add the wet to the dry ingredients but do not over mix. Add the chopped mango and crumbled ricotta and carefully fold into the mixture. Spoon into prepared muffin tins and bake for 17 minutes at 220^o.

Prawn and mango salad with tamari and lime dressing

With the house full of dust and builders, I am currently living in a serviced apartment which makes cooking a bit of a challenge. I am already missing my cake and muffin tins and my beloved mortar and pestle but with summer around the corner, there are plenty of simple recipes that require little preparation. This is my favourite Sydney salad utilising some of the best produce Australia has to offer. Mangoes are coming into season and reed avocados are cheap and creamy. I love macadamias but you can add other nuts or seeds instead.

Serves 4 as starter or 2 as a main

Salad

• 250 – 300 g of cooked Australian prawns
• Red capsicum thinly sliced
• 3 large handfuls of rocket
• ½ large kensington mango, cubed
• ½ large reed avocado, sliced
• 1 handful of mint leaves chopped
• ¼ cup of macadamias –chopped or smashed

Dressing

• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp of tamari
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 red chilli sliced finely
• salt and pepper

Toss the rocket and capsicum and top with avocado, mango, prawns, nuts and mint. Mix the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the salad.