Posts

Posted on

Torta di Susine (Plum Cake)

I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of an obsession with cookery books, there is nothing I enjoy more than an evening reading through various books and planning what I might make. One of my favourite food writers is Tessa Kiros. I discovered her books when I went to Florence on a school trip! I was wandering around Sienna and buying as much food as I thought I could squeeze into my suitcase to bring back. In one little eaterie was a copy of ‘Twelve’ a Tuscan cookbook Tessa Kiros. The thing I love most about her books is their simplicity. I’ve since bought ‘Apples for Jam’ and ‘Falling Cloudberries’

Anyway, today I made a simple plum cake from Twelve. I’m not going to print out the full recipe as I really want you to buy the book ( it’s on page 212).
But you put plums in the bottom of the tin


you whisk the sugar, vanilla and eggs together until they are pale and fluffy


You add the flour, baking powder, melted butter and milk and mix to make a batter which you pour over the plums before adding the rest of the plums on top and sprinkling with sugar


And after an hour this is what you get


Not pretty and perfect but really rather delicious

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

Plum crumble

I LOVE crumble. There is something very comforting about it, especially when it’s in a big bowl with some custard ( and I often give myself permission to cheat and buy ambrosia ready to heat custard) My favourite crumble is Plum crumble.

You will need
For the filling:
A punnet ( or two) of plums
A little butter and some soft brown sugar
Halve and stone the plums and arrange them in a large fairly shallow dish. Dot a little butter over the plums and sprinkle over some soft brown sugar to taste


Put in the oven at 180c for 20 minutes to soften

For the crumble topping:
100g hazelnuts
75g butter
175g flour
110g Demerara sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Put all the topping ingredients in a food processor or mini chopper and blitz


Put the topping on the softened plums and return to the oven until the topping is golden brown and the plums bubbling underneath.


Serve with custard

Apple crumble

I use a mix of about 5/6 cooking apples and 4 eating apples ( usually cox or braeburns) peeled and sliced
I add 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves and 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the apples and about 25-30g brown sugar and mix well.


I make the same crumble mix as above but often replace the hazelnuts for almonds and add a little more cinnamon to the mix

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

Lemon(ish) meringue cupcakes

A few weeks ago we went to the Chatsworth farm shop suppliers fayre and I bought ALOT of curd. So the experimenting begins…..

For the cupcake
80g softened unsalted butter
280g golden caster sugar
240g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
Zest of a lemon
2 large eggs
240ml milk
Lemon curd ( I used Chatsworth lemon lime and mandarin curd for a twist)
Preheat the oven to 190c GM5 and line a muffin tin with paper cases
Beat together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and lemon zest to make fine breadcrumbs ( I used a hand mixer)
Whisk the eggs and milk together
Pour the milk and egg mix into the dry ingredients and combine to make a smooth batter
Spoon into the paper cases ( I usually fill about two thirds full ) and bake for 20 minutes or until springy to the touch
When completely cooled cut out a bit from the middle of each cupcake and spoon in some curd before putting the bit of cake back in
Making the meringue topping
2 egg whites
150g caster sugar
Whisk the egg whites and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for approximately 5 minutes (this is until the sugar has dissolved – when you rub some of the mixture between your fingertips it won’t feel grainy). Take the bowl of the heat and using a hand mixer mix until stiff peaks form and the mixture is thick and glossy.
Pipe this on top of the cupcakes and use a cooks blowtorch to brown the topping ( you could put them under the grill briefly if you don’t have a cooks torch)
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

Guinness and rye bread, rhubarb chutney

I’ve enjoyed reading my new cookery books recently. I was bought a book by Irish food blogger Lilly Higgins called Make, Bake, Love. The first recipe that caught my eye was the Guinness and rye bread. It’s a fantastic and quick recipe. The bread was great with some strong Wensleydale cheese and homemade chutney.


I highly recommend you buy the book and make the bread. I’m going
to play around with the recipe to make the bread in my bread pot. I’ll post my variation when I do. In the meantime here is my rhubarb chutney recipe

About 900g rhubarb cut into small pieces
15g garlic
25g root ginger crushed
Peel of 2 lemons
25g salt
15g cayenne pepper
450g sultanas
900g demerara sugar
600ml vinegar

Put the ginger and lemon peel in muslin.
Put the rest if the ingredients in the pan, add the muslin and simmer gently ( stirring regularly) until the chutney thickens.
Remove the muslin and pot in jars.
It works best if you leave it at least a couple of months to mature.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

Pork belly with dipping sauce sushi rice and greens

Another experiment today after buying a nice piece of pork belly at our farm shop. I used some ideas from the bbc food site to come up with this

Piece of pork belly ( skin scored)
chinese five spice
Sea salt

Dipping sauce
4 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 shallot finely diced
Piece of ginger finely diced

To serve: steamed spring greens and sushi rice

I rubbed a couple of teaspoons of Chinese five spice and sea salt into the pork and left it in the fridge for a couple of hours

I then cooked it for 15 minutes at the highest heat in the oven then turned it down to 160C and cooked it for a further 1 3/4 hours

For the dipping sauce I simply mixed everything together

Once the pork had rested I cut it into chunks and served it with some sushi rice some spring greens and drizzled over dipping sauce.

It doesn’t look pretty but it tasted delicious


– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

Wild garlic pesto

At the weekend we went to the Dales Food and Drink Festival in Leyburn. We had a great time exploring the food hall, listening to music, watching morris men, eating great food and drinking fine beer!
I decided to experiment with a couple of my purchases – rapeseed oil and wild garlic leaves

here is the result
100g ish of wild garlic leaves
50g finely diced shallots
50g pine nuts
150ml rapeseed oil
55g finely grated Parmesan
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of brown sugar
Put the oil, pinenuts, garlic leves and shallots in the food processor and blitz
Mix in the cheese, salt and sugar
Put in sterilised jar(s) and top with some extra rapeseed oil as a seal
Hey pesto

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

The French photo blog

We visited The French on 20th April 2013, very much looking forward to another opportunity to eat Simon Rogan’s food and we were not disappointed.  This was also the first time we tried Nyetimber… This has led to an expensive habit, if you haven’t tried it you really must. It is the most stunning British sparkling wine. 

Not photographed 

Nyetimber classic brut 2008 – West Sussex

Butternut squash ‘pebble’ with natural yoghurt 
Photos: not the best quality but a record of the meal.

Manchester ale bread, French baguette, chestnut bread 


Parsnip crisp, smoked eel, pork belly 


Pickled mussel and apple gel on a pastry shell coloured with squid ink 


Beetroot mousse, laxholme goats cheese, salted hazelnuts, apple marigold 


Razor clams, egg yolk, celeriac, roasted crispy garlic and sea herbs 

Boiled sole, onions, truffle, ramsons and onion consommé  


Ox tartare in coal oil, pumpkin seeds, kohlrabi and chrysanthemum  


Fresh crab and caramelised January king cabbage, horseradish sauce, chicken skin and crow garlic 


Early spring offerings, vegetables herbs and flowers with lovage salt ( broccoli custard, carrot purée, salsify, cauliflower, radish, grilled brassicas, pea shoots, chilli garlic sauce) 


Hake fillet, buckwheat, watercress, smoked roe butter 

Reg’s duck, ruby chard, king oyster mushroom, mulled cider, nasturtiums ( duck cooked sous vide then in oven very low then coloured in the pan) 


Chamomile ice cream, chamomile crisp, rhubarb and rhubarb purée, toasted oats, Douglas fir  


Pear, pear granita, pear gel, meadowsweet mousse, rye crisp, buttermilk, linseeds 


Saspirilla parfait, saspirilla meringue, saspirilla soda 


Coffee from a small local roasthouse called Mancoco roastery 

Posted on

Hot cross bun pudding

So I thought I’d use up some hot cross buns and made this up- it was really rather delicious….

Prepare the dish:
6 ish hot cross buns sliced in half and buttered
Few dollops of marmalade
Handful of raisins soaked in Cointreau


Butter the dish and layer the hot cross buns, raisins and marmalade

Make the custard:
500ml milk
500ml double cream
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks

Put the milk and cream in a pan and bring near to boiling point
Whisk the egg, the yolks and sugar in a bowl, when the milk and cream are near boiling pour over the whisked egg whisking continually

Pour over the hot cross buns and leave to soak in for a few minutes.

Cook in the oven for about 45 minutes at 160


– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

Raspberry bakewell cakes

I was given some beautiful individual cake cases for Christmas and decided to try something different today. Here it is

250g unsalted butter
250g golden caster sugar
280g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
150 ml natural yoghurt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon each of vanilla and almond extract
Raspberry jam
Flaked almonds
Heat the oven to 160 (fan)
Using a hand mixer, mix the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, yoghurt, baking powder, vanilla and almond extract to make a smooth batter.
Spoon into the cases ( or you could do this as a cake if you like)
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes
Remove and quickly put a dollop of raspberry jam in each case and sprinkle with almonds
Bake for a further 15 minutes ( or until a skewer comes out clean)

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Posted on

A rather fine steak dressing

So tonight we had steak, delicious steak and sweet potato fries. I tried a new dressing for the steak and it was really rather delicious.

Here it is:
chop 2 shallots and put in a bowl with 2 tsp of white wine vinegar for 5 minutes
add a couple of tablespoons each of chopped tarragon and parsley, a couple of teaspoons of chopped toasted hazelnuts some salt and a drizzle of oil.