• Steak tartine sandwich – For the carnivores like me! Sourdough bread sounds delish, along with the garlic aioli and caramelised onions. Courtesy of Chef Spike Mendelsohn
• Open prawn sandwich – Came across this on the Jamie Oliver recipe network and liking the idea of zucchini (orcourgettes), rocket, mushroom and prawns.
• Arugula and goat’s cheese tartine – My best friend is a vegetarian, so I think she’d love this. You can’t go too wrong with goat’s cheese either in my book.
• Hot tartines – This is less of a recipe but more ideas for tartines, from the New York Times

  Do you love tartines too? Any recipes you recommend?

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Louisiana sweet potato pancakes

Makes roughly 8-12 smallish pancakes or I imagine 6 large ones?  Whatever you choose, you get a good yield!

Prep + cooking time = 40 minutes 

• 3/4 pound or 12 oz sweet potatoes (I used one sweet smallish potato that I zapped in the microwave for about 10 minutes – but according to the recipe I should have technically used about 2 small potatoes or 1 large one, which would taste better) 
• 1 1/2 cups or 340g  plain flour 
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt  (I’d recommend cutting this down to 1/2 a teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I didn’t have ground nutmeg in my cupboard so I used mixed spice as an alternative)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk) 
• 1/4 cup or 4 tbsps butter, melted (alternatively you can use an oil like coconut or vegetable) 

Directions

1. Place sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan of boiling water (or zap it in the microwave)  and cook until tender but firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, and immediately immerse in cold water to loosen skins. Drain, remove skins, chop and mash
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg or mixed spice. Mix mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, milk and butter in a separate medium bowl. Blend sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture to form a batter.
3. Preheat a lightly greased griddle  or fry pan over medium heat. Drop batter mixture onto the prepared griddle by heaping large spoonfuls and cook until golden brown, turning once with a spatula when the surface begins to bubble.
4. Keep cooked pancakes warm by putting them on a baking tray (with baking paper) in the oven on 100-150 C.  When all the pancakes are cooked, serve with toppings of your choice. 

Papaya smoothie: You know, I never bought a papaya in my life (!) until I came across this recipe from the Hemsley cookbook. I tweaked it a tad using a whole papaya, 1 banana, lime juice (I used lemon) a little bit of ginger , roughly 200 ml water and honey to taste). Blend it and bam! Trés dope.

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a solid week trying out everything from smoothies to cauliflower mash and I’ve got to say, it’s a pretty fabulous book, featuring a broad range of creative and tasty recipes. It’s also a good look for those trying to kick the refined sugar habit – like me! – or lower their carb intake. My favourite recipe so far is for the muffin frittatas. It’s easy to make, looks and tastes gorgeous and costs hardly anything to whip up – plus, if you’re inviting friends around for brunch, this would go down a treat (although I’m planning on giving it a Jamaican twist by serving it with ackee and salfish next time I give it a whirl). Check out the recipe on the Daily Mail website, and for more details about the book visit www.hemsleyandhemsley.com.    

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