There is something so loving and nostalgic about the scent of a Jewish honey cake baking in the oven. That lightly spiced, sweet and floral aroma is enough to make you want to sit eagerly at the oven door like a drooling puppy.
While I adore honey cake (or lekach) it is often quite dry and lifeless. But this recipe guarantees a soft, light, fluffy, moist and sticky cake –almost like a giant honey muffin.
And, as a bonus, it is lower in fat than an ordinary sponge, carrying only two tablespoons of oil along with the fat contained in the eggs.
Honey cake
Ingredients:
7oz plain flour
3oz dark sugar
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp allspice
2 eggs, beaten
10flozhoney melted with 4floz strong coffee
2tsps oil or melted butter
Do it:
1. Prepare a brownie tin with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 180c.
2. Mix together all of the ingredients, using a hand mixer if possible.
3. Pout the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 minutes.
4. Serve warm.
Tuesday 29 June 2010
Strawberry jam with a special ingredient
ON Sunday the little GGs and I took a trip out to Willow Tree Farm in Polstead for one of our favourite pastimes – strawberry picking.
Being a country bumpkin through and through, I grew-up spending summers in fields and farms with my parents picking anything and everything – from strawberries and raspberries, through to blackberries and gooseberries (for pleasure I must add – they didn’t make me work!).
Now I love nothing more than taking my tots out to do the very same.
There’s nothing more pleasurable on a hot summer’s day than picking berries under blue skies with the sweet scent of strawberry blossom lingering in the air.
Plus, there’s the added bonus that because you’ve picked the fruit yourself, you know there won’t be three or four mouldy berries at the bottom of the punnet (there inevitably always are when you buy ready-packed varieties) ready to spoil the rest of the batch.
The variety grown at Willow Tree Farm is Elsanta. Shiny, plump, heart-shaped berries stained an impossibly scarlet red and gifted with the most fragrant and sweet flavour I’ve ever come across.
We came away with two massive punnets piled higher than high, ringing in at the till for only £3 .
Last night, after coming home with a serious scone craving I decided I really needed to turn one of those punnets into jam, so I threw together a strange concoction that’s turned out to be a complete winner – strawberry and rhubarb jam with balsamic vinegar!
Try it. Very delicious and ideal warmed and drizzled over vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry and rhubarb balsamic jam
Ingredients:
450g ripe strawberries hulled and halved
1 large stick of rhubarb sliced into 2cm wide chunks
270g dark muscovado sugar
2 lemons, pared (peel taken off in slices) and juiced
2tbsps Balsamic vinegar
Do it:
1. Sterilise a jam jar by either placing it in the oven on it’s lowest setting (without the lid) for 10 minutes or filling with boiled water, draining and turning over until you’re ready to use it. Also, place a small china plate in the fridge.
2. Place the sugar, vinegar, lemon peel and lemon juice in a large pan with a splash of water and bring to the boil.
3. Add the strawberries.
4. Continue to boil the mixture until thick and syrup-like, stirring constantly. If you have a sugar thermometer test the jam to see that it’s reached the ‘jam’ marker. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer take the chilled plate out of the fridge and pour a teaspoon of the mixture on. It should instantly solidify to a soft set. If it doesn’t, boil the mixture for a further five minutes and try the test again, carrying on until you reach the desired consistency.
5. Ladle the jam into the jam jar, place the lid on securely and turn the jar over, creating a seal.
6. Enjoy with scones and fresh clotted cream.
Being a country bumpkin through and through, I grew-up spending summers in fields and farms with my parents picking anything and everything – from strawberries and raspberries, through to blackberries and gooseberries (for pleasure I must add – they didn’t make me work!).
Now I love nothing more than taking my tots out to do the very same.
There’s nothing more pleasurable on a hot summer’s day than picking berries under blue skies with the sweet scent of strawberry blossom lingering in the air.
Plus, there’s the added bonus that because you’ve picked the fruit yourself, you know there won’t be three or four mouldy berries at the bottom of the punnet (there inevitably always are when you buy ready-packed varieties) ready to spoil the rest of the batch.
The variety grown at Willow Tree Farm is Elsanta. Shiny, plump, heart-shaped berries stained an impossibly scarlet red and gifted with the most fragrant and sweet flavour I’ve ever come across.
We came away with two massive punnets piled higher than high, ringing in at the till for only £3 .
Last night, after coming home with a serious scone craving I decided I really needed to turn one of those punnets into jam, so I threw together a strange concoction that’s turned out to be a complete winner – strawberry and rhubarb jam with balsamic vinegar!
Try it. Very delicious and ideal warmed and drizzled over vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry and rhubarb balsamic jam
Ingredients:
450g ripe strawberries hulled and halved
1 large stick of rhubarb sliced into 2cm wide chunks
270g dark muscovado sugar
2 lemons, pared (peel taken off in slices) and juiced
2tbsps Balsamic vinegar
Do it:
1. Sterilise a jam jar by either placing it in the oven on it’s lowest setting (without the lid) for 10 minutes or filling with boiled water, draining and turning over until you’re ready to use it. Also, place a small china plate in the fridge.
2. Place the sugar, vinegar, lemon peel and lemon juice in a large pan with a splash of water and bring to the boil.
3. Add the strawberries.
4. Continue to boil the mixture until thick and syrup-like, stirring constantly. If you have a sugar thermometer test the jam to see that it’s reached the ‘jam’ marker. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer take the chilled plate out of the fridge and pour a teaspoon of the mixture on. It should instantly solidify to a soft set. If it doesn’t, boil the mixture for a further five minutes and try the test again, carrying on until you reach the desired consistency.
5. Ladle the jam into the jam jar, place the lid on securely and turn the jar over, creating a seal.
6. Enjoy with scones and fresh clotted cream.
Tuesday 22 June 2010
Am I just too fussy?
A FEW friends have said it. Mr GG has definitely said it. And I impart the description on my daughter all the time. Am I too fussy?
After a weekend of fun and frolics in Middle England, I’ve come away feeling a little bit ashamed of my foodie behaviour – perhaps I just expect too much?
It all began on a blustery Saturday morning, when we packed our clan into the car and hitched-off on a jolly to the NEC for the BBC Good Food Show – truly amazing.
I ate my way from A to not quite Z. Artisan cheeses, cardamom and black pepper scented single estate oil, chocolate pizza, crepes, chutneys, pickles – the list goes on. Mr GG was especially pleased with his purchase of a posh-looking bottle of toffee-flavoured vodka, which even I (a non-drinker) enjoyed.
Then we arrived at a fudge stall. There were several, and being a connoisseur of this confection I made it my mission to try them all – well, someone’s got to do it.
At this particular stall I tried a smidgen of chocolate fudge and happened to mutter under my breath and out of earshot to Mr GG that it ‘wasn’t very chocolatey’.
Unfortunately my bad review was overheard by the fudge maker who spent the best part of five minutes trying to convince me that hers was the best fudge in the UK. Let’s just say, she didn’t win.
Hands-down the best on the day came from the Fudge Kitchen. I know it’s a chain (albeit a small one), but the fudge from the stand was creamy, gooey and divinely chocolatey. Mmm mmm.
Other purchases on the day included a special plate that grates/purees garlic, a teriyaki and chilli rub (ideal for the BBQ), a jar of Anila’s Spicy Korma Curry Sauce, a bottle of garlic-infused Balsamic glaze, and a gourmet chocolate pizza – to name but a few.
My next gripe came at our ‘four star’ hotel, where the restaurant menu (which was trying to be pretentious by mixing all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients together) rang alarm bells.
We decided instead to try out the bar. But, having seen the micro-kitchen complete with several microwaves and hygiene that could at best be described as basic, I made Mr GG and the kids retreat and we made our way back to the equal uncertainty of the main restaurant.
“You’re too fussy,” Mr GG taunted. “But I wouldn’t bloody eat there either,” he added.
After an agonising '15 minute’ wait, which actually turned into 40 minutes, resulting in bedraggled and over-hungry toddlers, we were shown to our table in the not-too-bad restaurant.
The little ones started with a nice tomato soup, sploshing it with bread and covering their faces in red gloop.
I had a melon trio – cantaloupe puree, watermelon sorbet and a few slivers of honeydew. Apart from the underripe honeydew, it wasn’t too bad.
Mr GG started with gravadlax, which he enjoyed, despite its rather unsavoury white sauce coating – we still don’t know what it was.
For mains, the children tucked into dry-looking pizza, cardboard chips and beans, which, of course, they loved.
I had belly of pork, which was described as coming with a duo of bean jus. I asked the waitress what this meant, as a jus is a sauce. Was it going to be a bean puree?
After enquiring with the kitchen it transpired that the pork just came with peas and broad beans. I suppose the menu author didn’t really know what a jus was?
It wasn’t too bad. The top of the pork was lightly crackled and moist, while the bottom part was unfortunately frazzled beyond chewing. The beans weren’t cooked enough, and the sauce was unplaceable, with no real flavour.
Mr GG however, was quite happy with his chicken supreme, accompanied by a cream sauce and slightly undercooked black pudding tortellini.
It was after 9pm when dessert time came around so, not wanting to subject the other diners to the wailing of our kids any longer, I asked to take my pudding (a cheese board) up to my room.
“No problem,” they said. “We’ll bring it up to you.”
A whole 40 minutes later and it arrived – I wish I’d waited.
On my plate were oat cakes (not the Bath Olivers stated on the menu), an OK chutney, no bread (again, as promised) and three waxy loafs of cheese, all looking rather limp and sad. Two of them, a double washed rinded red, and a local cheese, I had chosen, but there was a quite smelly and ominously liquid brie-type cheese I hadn’t expected on the plate. Where was the Shropshire Blue I’d craved, and paid for?
I called reception who assured me that it would arrive soon. Ten minutes later (at past 10pm) I was called and told that the kitchen had run out of Shropshire Blue and had put a substitute on the plate.
“But there was another blue on the menu, why didn’t they give me that?” I asked, now getting slightly irate.
“I’m sorry, we’ll bring that right up to you,” was the answer.
I never did see my blue cheese, and fell asleep hot and bothered at 10.30pm.
I did feel slightly bad, even though I’d been polite to all involved. But when you pay for something, shouldn’t you get what you pay for?
My question was answered at breakfast when the meal (included in our bargainous £88 last minute room rate) involved us having to sit next to a partition wall coated in chocolate, strawberry jam and other undistinguishable stains.
It seems you really do get what you pay for!
After a weekend of fun and frolics in Middle England, I’ve come away feeling a little bit ashamed of my foodie behaviour – perhaps I just expect too much?
It all began on a blustery Saturday morning, when we packed our clan into the car and hitched-off on a jolly to the NEC for the BBC Good Food Show – truly amazing.
I ate my way from A to not quite Z. Artisan cheeses, cardamom and black pepper scented single estate oil, chocolate pizza, crepes, chutneys, pickles – the list goes on. Mr GG was especially pleased with his purchase of a posh-looking bottle of toffee-flavoured vodka, which even I (a non-drinker) enjoyed.
Then we arrived at a fudge stall. There were several, and being a connoisseur of this confection I made it my mission to try them all – well, someone’s got to do it.
At this particular stall I tried a smidgen of chocolate fudge and happened to mutter under my breath and out of earshot to Mr GG that it ‘wasn’t very chocolatey’.
Unfortunately my bad review was overheard by the fudge maker who spent the best part of five minutes trying to convince me that hers was the best fudge in the UK. Let’s just say, she didn’t win.
Hands-down the best on the day came from the Fudge Kitchen. I know it’s a chain (albeit a small one), but the fudge from the stand was creamy, gooey and divinely chocolatey. Mmm mmm.
Other purchases on the day included a special plate that grates/purees garlic, a teriyaki and chilli rub (ideal for the BBQ), a jar of Anila’s Spicy Korma Curry Sauce, a bottle of garlic-infused Balsamic glaze, and a gourmet chocolate pizza – to name but a few.
My next gripe came at our ‘four star’ hotel, where the restaurant menu (which was trying to be pretentious by mixing all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients together) rang alarm bells.
We decided instead to try out the bar. But, having seen the micro-kitchen complete with several microwaves and hygiene that could at best be described as basic, I made Mr GG and the kids retreat and we made our way back to the equal uncertainty of the main restaurant.
“You’re too fussy,” Mr GG taunted. “But I wouldn’t bloody eat there either,” he added.
After an agonising '15 minute’ wait, which actually turned into 40 minutes, resulting in bedraggled and over-hungry toddlers, we were shown to our table in the not-too-bad restaurant.
The little ones started with a nice tomato soup, sploshing it with bread and covering their faces in red gloop.
I had a melon trio – cantaloupe puree, watermelon sorbet and a few slivers of honeydew. Apart from the underripe honeydew, it wasn’t too bad.
Mr GG started with gravadlax, which he enjoyed, despite its rather unsavoury white sauce coating – we still don’t know what it was.
For mains, the children tucked into dry-looking pizza, cardboard chips and beans, which, of course, they loved.
I had belly of pork, which was described as coming with a duo of bean jus. I asked the waitress what this meant, as a jus is a sauce. Was it going to be a bean puree?
After enquiring with the kitchen it transpired that the pork just came with peas and broad beans. I suppose the menu author didn’t really know what a jus was?
It wasn’t too bad. The top of the pork was lightly crackled and moist, while the bottom part was unfortunately frazzled beyond chewing. The beans weren’t cooked enough, and the sauce was unplaceable, with no real flavour.
Mr GG however, was quite happy with his chicken supreme, accompanied by a cream sauce and slightly undercooked black pudding tortellini.
It was after 9pm when dessert time came around so, not wanting to subject the other diners to the wailing of our kids any longer, I asked to take my pudding (a cheese board) up to my room.
“No problem,” they said. “We’ll bring it up to you.”
A whole 40 minutes later and it arrived – I wish I’d waited.
On my plate were oat cakes (not the Bath Olivers stated on the menu), an OK chutney, no bread (again, as promised) and three waxy loafs of cheese, all looking rather limp and sad. Two of them, a double washed rinded red, and a local cheese, I had chosen, but there was a quite smelly and ominously liquid brie-type cheese I hadn’t expected on the plate. Where was the Shropshire Blue I’d craved, and paid for?
I called reception who assured me that it would arrive soon. Ten minutes later (at past 10pm) I was called and told that the kitchen had run out of Shropshire Blue and had put a substitute on the plate.
“But there was another blue on the menu, why didn’t they give me that?” I asked, now getting slightly irate.
“I’m sorry, we’ll bring that right up to you,” was the answer.
I never did see my blue cheese, and fell asleep hot and bothered at 10.30pm.
I did feel slightly bad, even though I’d been polite to all involved. But when you pay for something, shouldn’t you get what you pay for?
My question was answered at breakfast when the meal (included in our bargainous £88 last minute room rate) involved us having to sit next to a partition wall coated in chocolate, strawberry jam and other undistinguishable stains.
It seems you really do get what you pay for!
Thursday 10 June 2010
Turkey chilli, sweet rhubarb crumble and toothsome fudge
After a sloth-like week throwing together odds and ends from the dark depths of the fridge and trying to identify frozen chunks of green in the freezer (which turned out to be spinach by the way) last night the cook in me came out again.
That’s not to say Mr GG and the little ones have been starving. They’ve had fish and chips, a couple of pub dinners and a few slapdash but delicious picnics thrown together after a mad dash around Waitrose.
Last night saw the return of a family favourite – chilli. It wasn’t my usual recipe, which I’ll share at another time, but a quick, chuck-everything-in affair.
I made the dish with free-range turkey mince, which is incredibly healthy, and served it with a sprinkling of organic farmhouse cheddar (not so healthy), a flutter of coriander and a side of brown basmati rice.
Afterwards there was a sharp, sweet rhubarb crumble made with fruit from my old man’s allotment, and served with vanilla bean ice cream.
I absolutely adore rhubarb. Especially when it’s been lightly stewed with a hint of cinnamon and sugar and strewn with buttery crumble that sinks in at the edges to create a jammy, stodgy, caramelly mouthful of yum.
Later on in the evening it was time to bring out the chocolate fudge. Now, anyone who knows me will know I have a real obsession with fudge (and ice cream) and can probably tell you the best places across the country to buy this confection.
Linden Lady in Essex does a fantastic fudge, with a real chocolately hit, the Fudge Kitchen brand that has a few outlets in the UK is OK – a bit too soft for me. But my absolute favourite of favourites has to come from Justin Chocolaterie in Whitby.
My mum, knowing how much of a chocolate fiend I am, brought me back some of their chocolate fudge last year after a jaunt in Yorkshire, and I am now so infatuated with it that it seems to appear at every birthday, Christmas, anniversary and any other occasion I can think of.
Made tablet-style (just like it should be) the fudge is crumbly but soft, with a rounded sweetness and a rich, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate flavour.
In fact……I’m off to eat some now!
Turkey Chilli
Ingredients:
450g turkey mince (preferably free-range)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1small tin tomato paste
2 small onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2tbsps fresh oregano, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2tsps ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/4tsp ground cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1/2tsp sea salt
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Do it:
1. Gently heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions, garlic and chilli. Saute on a low heat until the mixture is softened.
2. Add the turkey mince and brown.
3. When the mince is brown, add all of the spices, the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, cocoa and oregano. Add a mugful of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for one hour.
4. Add the fresh coriander, lime zest and juice. Simmer for a further five minutes and then serve.
Summer rhubarb crumble
Ingredients
Filling:
5 large sticks of rhubarb
1tsp cinnamon
2tbsps caster sugar (or to taste)
Topping:
100g butter or margarine
200g plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
75g caster sugar
Do it:
1. Make the crumble mixture by placing all of the ingredients together in a bowl and mixing them into breadcrumbs.
2. To make the filling, chop the rhubarb into bite-sized chunks and simmer it in a pan with the sugar and cinnamon with ¼ mugful of water until it softens.
3. Place the rhubarb mixture into an ovenproof dish that it will fill about half way. Cover with the crumble mixture.
4. Cook in the oven at 200c for 25 to 30minutes until the topping is golden.
That’s not to say Mr GG and the little ones have been starving. They’ve had fish and chips, a couple of pub dinners and a few slapdash but delicious picnics thrown together after a mad dash around Waitrose.
Last night saw the return of a family favourite – chilli. It wasn’t my usual recipe, which I’ll share at another time, but a quick, chuck-everything-in affair.
I made the dish with free-range turkey mince, which is incredibly healthy, and served it with a sprinkling of organic farmhouse cheddar (not so healthy), a flutter of coriander and a side of brown basmati rice.
Afterwards there was a sharp, sweet rhubarb crumble made with fruit from my old man’s allotment, and served with vanilla bean ice cream.
I absolutely adore rhubarb. Especially when it’s been lightly stewed with a hint of cinnamon and sugar and strewn with buttery crumble that sinks in at the edges to create a jammy, stodgy, caramelly mouthful of yum.
Later on in the evening it was time to bring out the chocolate fudge. Now, anyone who knows me will know I have a real obsession with fudge (and ice cream) and can probably tell you the best places across the country to buy this confection.
Linden Lady in Essex does a fantastic fudge, with a real chocolately hit, the Fudge Kitchen brand that has a few outlets in the UK is OK – a bit too soft for me. But my absolute favourite of favourites has to come from Justin Chocolaterie in Whitby.
My mum, knowing how much of a chocolate fiend I am, brought me back some of their chocolate fudge last year after a jaunt in Yorkshire, and I am now so infatuated with it that it seems to appear at every birthday, Christmas, anniversary and any other occasion I can think of.
Made tablet-style (just like it should be) the fudge is crumbly but soft, with a rounded sweetness and a rich, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate flavour.
In fact……I’m off to eat some now!
Turkey Chilli
Ingredients:
450g turkey mince (preferably free-range)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1small tin tomato paste
2 small onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2tbsps fresh oregano, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2tsps ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/4tsp ground cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1/2tsp sea salt
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Do it:
1. Gently heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions, garlic and chilli. Saute on a low heat until the mixture is softened.
2. Add the turkey mince and brown.
3. When the mince is brown, add all of the spices, the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, cocoa and oregano. Add a mugful of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for one hour.
4. Add the fresh coriander, lime zest and juice. Simmer for a further five minutes and then serve.
Summer rhubarb crumble
Ingredients
Filling:
5 large sticks of rhubarb
1tsp cinnamon
2tbsps caster sugar (or to taste)
Topping:
100g butter or margarine
200g plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
75g caster sugar
Do it:
1. Make the crumble mixture by placing all of the ingredients together in a bowl and mixing them into breadcrumbs.
2. To make the filling, chop the rhubarb into bite-sized chunks and simmer it in a pan with the sugar and cinnamon with ¼ mugful of water until it softens.
3. Place the rhubarb mixture into an ovenproof dish that it will fill about half way. Cover with the crumble mixture.
4. Cook in the oven at 200c for 25 to 30minutes until the topping is golden.
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