If Chocolate be the Food of Love

So...Valentine's day is here and what could be better than a chocolate pudding, only a pudding with chocolate, fudge and banana!  Being a celebration in February, pudding rather than dessert is the thing, served with a rich chocolate sauce.

roses are red...always

Banana Chocolate Fudge Pudding
Ingredients
2 ripe bananas
75g caster sugar
75g butter
200g self-raising flour
4 tbsp milk
1 egg
2 tbsp plain chocolate chips
2 tbsp fudge pieces

Method
Place all ingredients except chocolate and fudge pieces in a food processor.  Process until a smooth batter is achieved.  Add the chocolate and fudge pieces and stir through the cake mixture.

Put the mixture into a lightly greased 1 litre pudding basin.  Cover the top of the pudding mix with a circle of lightly oiled greaseproof paper, then cover the basin with a double layer of kitchen foil.  Place the pudding basin in a steamer and steam for 2 hours.  Remember to check the water every  half hour and top up as necessary.

When the pudding is ready run a palette knife around the top of the bowl and turn the pudding out on to a warm serving dish.  Serve with Rich Chocolate sauce.

love at first spoonful...hmm!

Rich Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients
115g caster sugar
4 tbsp cold water
175g plain chocolate broken into pieces
30ml unsalted butter
30ml Tia Maria or brandy

Method
Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the chocolate pieces a few at a time and stir until melted.  Once all the chocolate has been added, now add the butter and stir through until melted.  Do not allow the sauce to boil.  Finally stir in the Tia Maria or brandy and put sauce into a warmed jug and serve with the Banana Chocolate Fudge Pudding.

Scots Wha Hae!

It's January, it's the 25th, it must be Burns' Night; the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Scottish poet and lyricist.  I'm not so patriotic but I do love a good Burns' supper and the Handyman and I look forward to our annual haggis fest.

If you've never tasted haggis please give it a try, it's a spicy concoction, not too pretty to look at but very, very tasty; and available from most supermarkets here in England and at butchers and supermarkets in Scotland. 

Served with the traditional neeps (swede - if you're English/turnip - if you're Scots, mashed with butter and black pepper) and tatties (creamed potatoes) and, a not so traditional, onion gravy it makes for sturdy January comfort food.

So no bagpipes or Scots poetry for us, but a generous helping of haggis, neeps and tatties with a wee dram to toast the Bard's 253rd birthday - happy birthday Rabbie!

Where Did That Year Go?

A very special family occasion occurred last week - the first birthday of my lovely grand-daughter!  I can't believe that a year can have passed so quickly, but there we are.

So time for a birthday cake - just a victoria sponge covered in a thin layer of marzipan and then fondant icing - still it seemed to go down well at her official birthday party yesterday.

My other contributions to the buffet feast were: vegetarian 'sausage' rolls, tomato and mushroom quiche, scones and jam, and mini double chocolate cakes.

We had a lovely afternoon and little M really enjoyed being centre stage.  Happy birthday my darling and thank you to Nanny and Grandad W for hosting the event!

Another Hogmanay

New Year's Eve again...how quickly the months go by!  And an eventful year for us at Holly Grove: a new roof on the Goat House destined to become a garden studio...

New windows for the house to keep out the winter chill...

Then all the garden produce through the summer and autumn...

Memories of sunny days and meals with friends...

 

And two little people very special to me...

Farewell 2010 and forward on to 2011...wishing you health, wealth and happiness (and lots more cooking) in the coming 12 months!

December Freeze and Christmas Fare

The weather outside remains frozen and white but it's cosy and warm in HG's kitchen and the thought of spending Christmas with loved ones makes it warmer still - so safe journey to those travelling and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!

Holly Grove at Christmas time doesn't mean a traditional Christmas lunch; what it does mean is a Christmas table of home baked and cooked delights - all being well.  I moved away from the traditional raost turkey and all the trimmings some years ago when my boys and the Handyman's children were teenagers and we couldn't guarantee who would turn up when.  Add to that mix my sister and her vegetarian brood and the result is my, now much anticipated, Christmas buffet.

The core of the feast remains the same most years - people seem to like a bit of  predictability - so a capon and a gammon joint, mince pies and Christmas cake, the remainder of the food varies each year.  This year I'm adding two new dips - a white bean dip and an avocado and cumin dip - and some homemade parmesan biscuits.

The rest of the menu looks like this:

• roasted potato wedges
• vegetarian Christmas tart
• mushroom pate
• ginger and mustard cocktail sausages
• vegetarian 'sausage' rolls
• cheese straws
• assorted cheeses
• roasted pitta breads
• assorted nuts
• shortbread
• raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle cake (for those who don't like Christmas cake and even for those that do!)
• and, of course, Christmas pudding with brandy sauce

Avocado and Cumin Dip

Ingredients

1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and then ground

2 cloves garlic, pressed and ground with 1/2tsp salt

2 avocados

3tbs tahini paste

juice of 2 lemons

2 tbs olive oil

Method

Scoop out the flesh from the avocados, clean out the skins and rinse and dry them - reserve for later. Place the avocado flesh and all the remaining ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Serve the dip in the avocado skins garnished with strips of red pepper - very fast and very festive!

Family Event

I had the most lovely news yesterday afternoon - my first granddaughter was born!  My overnight bag has been in the car for about 10 days awaiting this event, so off I went to Yorkshire to meet Maya Susan for the first time.  

So what has this got to do with a cooking blog, not a lot other than, as you can see, she's a real sweetie and I want to share my joy...oh, and whilst staying at my son's house I baked a large chocolate cake to serve to all the inevitable and welcome visitors.

Someone's Two!

Another cake decorating challenge, though not on the scale of the Wedding Cake, my grandson JM's second birthday approaches and I've a birthday cake to make. My cake decorating skills are limited so I needed something simple yet effective and using ingredients and cake tins in my cupboards.

Bright colours and simple shapes seem to be the thing for 2 year olds, so out come the fondant icing, natural food colourings and shape cutters. I thought I'd make the decorations before the cake just in case I had to change plans should the decorations prove a disaster...the results can be seen below...not too bad, so then on with the cake baking...

I wanted to use an 8" cake tin and make a single sponge that I could cut into 2 sandwich sponges but all my recipes for a Victoria sponge used 7" tins and having made the mistake before of using the wrong sized tin for a recipe I wasn't keen on guessing whether this would work or not. Then my Mum's edition of Good Housekeeping Cookery Book came to the rescue again with the answer...

Fill the cake tin with water to the depth that you want your sponge and then measure the quantity of water used and for each pint of water make a multiple of the quantities below:

2ozs castor sugar
2ozs softened butter or margarine
2ozs self-raising flour
1 egg

I wanted 3 pints in my baking tin, so I used 6ozs sugar, butter and flour with 3 eggs and combined as for any Victoria sponge recipe, set the oven to 180C, the timing had to be judged (35 minutes for my 8" cake)...et voila...

Now for the most important part of the challenge, would young JM enjoy his cake? Well the blowing out of candles was a great success. I think he had at least three goes before we got to the cake cutting and finally the tasting...


















And the verdict...in JM's own words...'more pease Daddy!'

The 2nd Annual Cherry Berry Day

My niece, V, instigated Cherry Berry Day last July after being inspired by Hugh F-W's Strawberry Day. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the inaugural day last year but did manage to get along to this year's celebration.


There were sweet treats galore including V's Strawberry Chocolate fudge - interesting! The winning entry on the day, voted for unananimously, was a very delicious Summer Fruit Pavlova - to die for, to coin a phrase! Other contributions to the event can be found on A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit - the host for this year.


I thought I'd stretch the cherry theme a little and make a savoury tart with cherry tomatoes, all grown at Holly Grove and in various shades of yellow, orange and red. To accompany the tart I made a warm cherry tomato chutney. Both were taken cooked and cold to the Cherry Berry Day venue and warmed in the oven for 15 minutes before serving.

On the sweet side my contribution was a jar of Holly Grove Raspberry and Blackcurrant jam, a pot of very thick double cream and some homemade bite-sized scones, traditional yet surprisingly popular.


It was a lovely afternoon spent sampling fine cooking and baking and the odd glass of Elderflower Champagne courtesy of the host, S and my sister, J - sparkling!

Cherry Tomato and Four Cheese Tart with Warm Cherry Tomato Chutney
Sufficient to make 2 x 6" tarts
For the Tarts
Ingredients
2 x 6" savoury tart cases
(Make your own or do as I did and buy readymade)
a few stalks of broccoli, broken into small pieces
10 cherry tomatoes
(mine were quite large so I cut them in half horizontally. If yours are small then you'll need about 20)
300ml double cream
3 large eggs
1 tsp whole grain mustard
25g soft blue cheese, cubed
(I used Dolcelatte)
25g feta cheese, cubed
25g parmesan, grated
25g strong English Cheddar, grated
salt and pepper

Method
Arrange the broccoli, cherry tomatoes and the cubes of cheese in the pastry cases. Sprinkle the pamesan and cheddar over the tarts. Whisk together the cream, eggs and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the egg mixture between the tarts and then sprinkle over a little more parmesan.

Place in a hot oven, 200C for 25-30 minutes. The tarts should be well risen and golden on top. Remove from the oven and cool. Serve warm or cold with the cherry tomato chutney and perhaps a few new potatoes.

For the Chutney
Keeps for up to 2 days and can be reheated if required
Ingredients
a gulg of light olive oil
a handful of cherry tomatoes (about 6-8 tomatoes), sliced
a small courgette, cut into matchsticks
a large red onion, very finely sliced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp sugar

Method
Put the olive oil in a large frying pan and heat. Add the onion and courgette and cook gently with a lid on for about 10 minutes until the onion is beginning to soften. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking gently with the lid on for another 10 minutes, until the onions and tomatoes are very soft.

Remove the lid and turn the heat up slightly. Then add the balsamic vinegar and sugar and stir. Cook for another couple of minutes and then remove from the heat. Place in a serving bowl and leave to cool until warm and then serve with the Cherry Tomato and Four Cheese Tart.

Note: This warm chutney is also good with rustic fried saugages or even BBQ burgers.

The Great Day Dawns!

By the time you read this, dear readers, the wedding cake will have arrived at its destination and the wedding celebrations will have begun.

It's been a real challenge to produce a cake good enough for my son's wedding, I hope that I've managed to make the best cake that my skills will allow. The hardest part of all, of course, is the icing as its on show, and this was also the most traumatic part of the preparations. All the cake lacks in these photos is the Bride and Groom topper that my niece, O has made and will be bringing along on the great day - more photos to follow.


So raise a glass of your favourite tipple (mine's champagne) and wish G & K a joyful and fulfilling life together - good health and happiness!

Christmas Cheer!

The Handyman and I have had a lovely Christmas with our family - we hope that each and everyone of you has had an equally enjoyable festive season. So lovely to spend time together, chatting, feasting and playing. Here's to a successful and joyful 2010!

No recipes today, just a few Christmas images...




Twinkling Christmas cake!



Deck the halls and the tree of course!



A family feast...

Happy Birthday Dear GW

Happy birthday to my elder son, GW! A bit awkward to have a birthday in December, it can be in danger of being overshadowed by the Christmas celebrations. However we ensure that no sign of Christmas is visible in or around the house until after the 8th of December, so no tree, no lights and definately no birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper! This has been the rule since GW was born thirty-one years ago - where has the time gone!

GW doesn't live locally so a birthday cake for him is out of the question and he doesn't have that much of a sweet tooth, so I'll be making his favourite dessert when he visits us over the Christmas period - apple pie. Here's a favourite recipe...

Festive Apple Pie

Ingredients
For the Pastry
4 ozs butter, cold and diced
7 ozs plain flour
1 tblsp icing sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tblsp orange juice and 1 tblsp very cold water

For the Filling
4 large HG cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 HG eating apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tblsp cornflour
1 tblsp soft brown sugar
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
grating of nutmeg

Method
Place all the ingredients for the pastry, except the egg yolk mixture, in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together. Remove from the processor and form into a ball, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 30 mins but no longer then a couple of hours.

Meanwhile prepare the apples and place in a bowl of water with a good squeeze of lemon juice to keep them from going brown.

Then roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of clingfilm so that it is large enough to line a deep 7" pie dish and fold over the top of the apple filling. Place the pastry in the lightly greased pie dish with the excess overlapping the sides of the dish.

Drain the apples and place them in the pie dish in layers, sprinkling some of the cornflour, sugar and spices between each layer of fruit. Finally pull the pastry over the top of the apples so that they are covered leaving a gap in the middle for the steam to escape. Don't worry if the finished result looks a little untidy, it will look scrumptious when it is baked.

Brush the pastry with a little beaten egg or milk and place in the oven at 190C for about 30-40 mins until the pastry is golden. Serve warm with custard or, as it's Christmas, cider cream.

Remember, remember...

the fifth of November
gunpowder, treason and plot.

Or in this case the 6th of November...we have set the bonfire, placed lighting around the garden and prepared the food:

1. Carrot and Butternut Squash Soup
2. Vegetarian and Sausage Rolls with Chutneys
3. Spicy Bread and Apple Pudding with Custard or Cream
   

All that's left to do is make the warming Winter Punch to welcome our guests...whilst the Handyman gets the bonfire going.