COCONUT FLAPJACKS



This recipe is for Dane, who had not eaten flapjacks before I made them. For those of you who are not British, flapjacks are a staple treat in the UK. For some reason they have a reputation of being on the healthy side, which is insane if you look at the amount of butter and syrup they have. But certainly better than a frosted cake. 
You need: 
- 200 g butter
- 6 tablespoons golden syrup. If you cannot get golden syrup just try a combination of corn syrup and brown sugar.
- 320 g oats
- 3 tablespoons shredded coconut
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries (chopped thinly)
- 2 tablespoons linseed 

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees (350 F). Combine all the ingredients but the butter and syrup in a bowl. Separately put the butter and syrup in a pan and heat it until the butter melts (best way to do this is greasing the spoon a little bit with a flavourless vegetable oil first). Add the butter and syrup to the dry ingredients, mix, and put it all in a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden. 

When you take the tray off the oven, score them into squares with a sharp knife. As soon as they get cold you can cut them along the knife marks.  

You can substitute the coconut and cranberries but any other dried fruit you fancy. But you may want to keep the linseed, as it gives the flapjacks a really nice crunch.












PICKLED RED ONIONS


I am addicted to these, love them in salads, with smoked salmon, fresh salmon, lentils, cured meats... I even like them with burgers. And could not be simpler to make. You need:

- a red onion (sliced very thinly)
-  a bay leaf
- 10 black peppercorns
- half a teaspoon of salt
- 100 ml vinegar
- 200 ml water

Heat the water, vinegar, salt, bay leaf and peppercorns in a pan. Put the onions in a jar. When the liquid starts to boil, pour it over the onions, close the lid of the jar and wait for at least one hour. They last for a week and a half or so in the fridge.