Light and Lemony

The weather here yesterday was glorious, a beautiful day for the garden but we'd run out of cake. So I wondered what I might make that was quick yet a little more unusual than a plain sponge cake. I decided to leaf through my baking books whilst enjoying my morning coffee sitting in the sunshine.

My search revealed an old favourite that I haven't made for many years and this brought memories flooding back of when my boys were boys - so feeling warm from the sunshine on the outside and the memories on the inside I went dreamily back into the kitchen to make...

Lemon Crunch Squares
Makes 12 squares
Ingredients
For the cake
4ozs soft margarine or butter
4ozs castor sugar
4ozs self raising flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp lemon juice

For the topping
2ozs castor sugar
1 generous tbsp lemon juice

Method
Grease and line a square baking tin 7"x7" and preheat the oven to 180C. Put all the ingredients for the cake in a large bowl and whisk together until light and creamy. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes until the top of the cake is golden and springs back when lightly pressed.

Whilst the cake is baking, mix the topping ingredients together. As soon as the cake is out of the oven lightly prick over the top and then cover with the topping. The lemon juice will sink into the cake and the sugar will create a lightly crisp topping. Leave the cake to cool in the baking tin then when the cake is quite cold remove from the tin and cut into 12 squares. Delicious eaten with a nice cup of tea or coffee or serve as a dessert with blackberry coulis and vanilla icecream.

Tomato Fest Soup

The tomato harvest is coming in thick and fast now, even with the lack of sunshine they seem to be ripening well. This year I've grown several varieties; some old, reliable friends and others new and untried, by me anyway. The range of colours, sizes and shapes has provided a very interesting harvest.

This season I've grown cherry tomatoes in the following varieties: Tumbler, Yellow Tumbling Tom and Sun Belle - supposedly a yellow plum tomato but looking far more like an orange cherry variety. I've also grown the ever reliable Shirley and Money Maker varieties of 'standard' tomatoes and Totem, a bush variety. All of these have cropped and ripened well despite the cool, cloudy days of July and August.

The final variety in the greenhouse is Principe Borghese, a plum tomato, grown from seed. This is also cropping well but is slower to ripen, the first fruits are only just beginning to redden whilst the other varieties have been producing fruits for the table and pot for about 3 weeks.

All in all a pretty good year for tomatoes. So having made batches of tomato sauce and passata for the freezer, what to do with this latest colourful bowl? With the weather turning a little chilly how about a creamy tomato soup? Light and fresh in flavour but warm and comforting too...and so pretty to look at...

Dreamy, Creamy Tomato Soup
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 celery stick, chopped
7 ozs carrots, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 large sprig fresh thyme, tied in a bundle
1.5 lbs mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped
0.5 tsp sugar
salt and black pepper
7 fl ozs passata
17 fl ozs vegetable stock
3 fl ozs Greek yoghurt mixed with 2 tbsp milk
splash of dry sherry, optional

Method
Heat the oil in a large pan and gently cook the onion until soft but not brown.

Add the garlic, carrots, celery, bay leaf and thyme and continue to cook gently for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chopped tomatoes and sugar and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes and then add the passata and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer then cover and cook for 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the bay leaf and thyme and blend the soup. Pour the blended soup through a sieve into a clean saucepan then stir in the yoghurt/milk mix and sherry, if using. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.

Pour into bowls and, if desired, top with a teaspoon of tomato salsa and serve with bread rolls.

Note: I'm pleased to say that the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, tomatoes and thyme used in this recipe were grown at Holly Grove and the passata was homemade from Holly Grove produce.

Tomato Salsa

This summer I've used this salsa as a starter with pitta bread sliced and dribbled with olive oil and then crisped in the oven for 5 minutes, an accompaniment to barbequed chicken and sausages and added as a topping for soup...and occasionally, because I just love the fresh taste of this, on its own by the teaspoonful! It's also incredibly easy to create and requires absolutely no cooking, so here goes...

Tomato, Cucumber and Red Onion Salsa
Ingredients
10 cherry tomatoes, diced
half a small cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced
half a red onion, peeled and diced
half a green chilli, deseeded and very finely diced
juice of half a lime

Method
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together well. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least half an hour and no more than 2 hours. Remove from fridge about half an hour before serving then put into a small serving bowl and enjoy!

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!'

Blackberries and Tomatoes?

This time of the year I'm running to try and keep up with all the produce from the garden and hedgerows around our plot, and trying to find recipes to use up the various gluts that we benefit from, tomatoes being the current crop of the moment.

Yesterday I spent just a few minutes in the garden and came back to the kitchen with a strange concoction in my trug...huge blackberries from our thornless plant (a real boon as I can gather the fruits without getting by arms scratched to bits), lots of lovely tomatoes and a solitary courgette...now how to use these offerings...


The blackberries were easy, I'd make an apple and blackberry crumble, just needed to get a few apples from the tree in the garden, a little underripe but sharp flavoured and delicious in a crumble. Now for the tomatoes; I had already taken some chicken thighs from the freezer earlier in the day and I had a paprika sausage in the fridge crying out to be used, so Spanish Chicken it had to be...


Spanish Chicken with Tomato
Serves 2-3
Ingredients
2 tbsp light olive oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
1/4 tsp pimenton or smoked paprika
100g Mangalika Hungarian paprika sausage, thickly sliced
(you could use any chorizo type sausage)
4 large chicken thighs, cut into large chunks
200g cherry tomatoes or larger tomatoes halved or quartered

Method
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the onion. Gently cook for 3 minutes until the onion begins to soften. Add the paprika sausage and the pimenton to the onion and cook together for another 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the onion and sausage mixture from the pan and set aside. Add the chicken pieces to the oil in the pan and fry until browned; this should only take a few minutes.

Place the chicken in a shallow ovenproof dish, cover with the onion and sausage mix and then place the tomatoes on top. Drizzle a little olive oil over the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and bake at 180C for about 25-30 minutes ensuring that the chicken pieces are cooked. The tomatoes should be soft but not mushy. Serve with plain boiled rice and a green salad.

Note: I don't have a photo of the finished dish as it smelt so lovely we couldn't wait to taste it.

Sweet Tooth Heaven!

I'm sitting here with a guilty secret - latte and vanilla fudge for breakfast!

Decadent and delicious, this is the second batch of this fudge I've made in just over a week. The recipe comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's 'River Cottage everyday'; fast becoming one of my favourite cookbooks.

We love this fudge as a sweet treat and it tastes even better when eaten alongside my lemon gingerbread and ginger mascarpone cream dessert - recipe to follow in future blog.


A sugar thermometer is essential for this recipe and the use of double cream instead of the usual condensed milk of most fudge recipes makes, I think, for a lighter creamier texture and a more delicious fudge.

Vanilla Fudge
Makes 30ish squares
Ingredients
300g caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
100g unsalted butter, diced
100ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract (not vanilla essence)

Method
Put the sugar, syrup, butter and cream into a large saucepan, you need plenty of room for the mixture to bubble as it boils. Melt and combine over a low heat stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat, stop stirring and bring to the boil with the sugar thermometer in the pan. Boil until the mixture reaches soft ball stage - 116C. Remove the pan from the heat, remove the sugar thermometer and leave to stand for 10 mins.

Meanwhile lightly oil a 15cm x 22cm baking dish and get out your electric whisk. After resting the mixture for 10 mins, add the vanilla extract and beat until the mixture thickens and starts to come away from the base of the pan. (This will be obvious when you see it. The whisking took me 10 mins for my first batch and 7 mins for my second.)

Put the fudge mixture into the baking dish, smooth the top and leave to cool. When quite cold mark it into squares and leave for about 4 hours to firm up, then take out of the dish and store in an airtight tin.

Note: I don't know how long the fudge will store for; our first batch was only around for four days and there are only two of us - look out waistline!

Yet Another Savoury Tart

I think I'm addicted to savoury tart/quiche recipes at the moment. I love the crisp pastry case against the soft filling of the tarts and they are making good use of the increasing flow of ripe tomatoes, the diminishing peas and the stored red onions, amongst other veggies, from the Holly Grove kitchen garden.

Last night I tried out a recipe I had picked up on a shopping trip to Waitrose earlier in the week, modifying it to use HG produce but retaining all the main ingredients. I made a tomato, red onion and cucumber salsa and some chunks of deep fried new potatoes to go with the tart which we ate served warm from the oven - delish!

Into then out of the oven

More Cherry Tomatoes, Pea and Ricotta Tart
Serves 4 (or 2 very hungry gardeners with a little left for next day's lunch)
Ingredients
7"-8" savoury pastry case
(make your own or do as I do and buy readymade)
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 courgette, diced
glug of light olive oil
3-4 ozs freshly podded peas
(you can use frozen peas if you can't get fresh)
2 medium eggs
2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
250g tub of ricotta cheese
3 tbsp finely grated parmesan
250g ricotta cheese
8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half horizontally


Method
Gently heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and courgette. Cook for about 5 mins until softening and beginning to colour. Meanwhile put the peas in a saucepan of boiling water and simmer for 2 mins, then drain. Add the peas to the onion mix and stir to combine. Put the mixture to one side.

Beat the eggs with the milk in a large bowl, then add the ricotta and beat together. Add the pea and onion mixture and stir to combine, then pour the mixture into the pastry base.

Place the tomatoes cut side up around the tart and push gently into the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with the parmesan and place the tart on a baking tray in the oven at 200C for 30-35 mins.

Like almost all savoury tarts this can be eaten warm or cold.

Herbs by the Jar Full

The kitchen garden at Holly Grove has a now very established herb bed producing all the herbs we need in the kitchen and more! I'm going to try making herb infused oils using a variety of herbs on a range of oils, if they are successful they may find their way into Christmas stockings later in the year.

The process appears to be very simple and so I'm starting my experiment with two versions - an extra virgin olive oil flavoured with rosemary, a strongly flavoured oil with a strongly flavoured herb, and groundnut oil with fennel, I'm thinking of using this oil in fish dishes.


The process is the same regardless of the oil or herb...

Herb Infused Oil
Take a clean jar and pack it loosely with the herb of your choice. Fill the jar with the oil of your choice. Mix the herb and oil together and cover the jar with two layers of muslin secured with a rubber band.

Place the jar on a sunny windowsill (a bit tricky given the weather at the moment) for two weeks, stirring daily. After two weeks strain the oil through muslin and taste. If the flavour is to your liking then decant into clean, sterile bottles, seal and label. If you want a stronger flavour refill the jar loosely with fresh herbs and cover with the oil and repeat the process.

The oils can be used for cooking or salad dressings or simply for dipping.

Windfall Apples

Our two old apple trees continue to fruit heavily despite the vagueries of the British weather. However every year since we've been at Holly Grove we've consigned heaps of apples to the compost bins as the unripe fruit falls from the trees.










An attempt at cider is on the cards for later in the season when more fruit has matured and we have gathered together the basic equipment. In the meantime, what to do with these under-ripe windfall apples? Whilst browsing on the web I came across a recipe for an apple jelly with ginger - I love ginger and so the scene was set to try the recipe...

Windfalls and Ginger Jelly
Ingredients
a bag of windfall apples, washed and cut into chunks
(remove any damaged parts of the apple but do not core or skin)
cold water
white granulated sugar
stem ginger, finely diced










Method
Place the chopped apples in a large saucepan or preserving pan with enough cold water to just cover the apples. Cover and bring to the boil, then simmer until the apples are soft and mushy.

Put the apple pulp into a jelly bag suspended over a large bowl and leave overnight for the juice to drip through. Do not squeeze the bag or the jelly will be cloudy.

The following day measure the juice and add to a pan with 1lb of sugar for each pint of juice. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a fast boil and check for setting point (105C) using a sugar thermometer. When setting point is reached remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, remove any scum with a slotted spoon. Add the chopped ginger and stir through the jelly. Put into small sterilised jam jars and cover and seal when the jelly is cold.

The result a lovely pinkish amber jelly infused with the warmth of ginger and a few less apples on the compost heap.


Note: I had a few 'challenges' getting the ginger evenly distributed through the jelly. In the end I filled the jars and then waited until the jelly was just warm and beginning to set and then stirred each jar of jelly to distribute the ginger and...phew...it seemed to work! Be careful not to introduce any air bubbles into the jelly when redistributing the ginger or your jelly won't keep well.

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.

More Raspberry and Blackcurrant Fare

The soft fruit harvest continues; so much this year that I foresee lots of jam making, freezing and possibly an attempt at bottling looming.

So far I have gathered ten pounds of raspberries and just over four pounds of blackcurrants. The redcurrants should be ready around the end of July; sadly the whitecurrants have been taken by the birds, but I can't really complain as they seem to have left the raspberries and other currants alone (for the moment!).

So more baking and preserving; this time a raspberry and blackcurrant jam. I used the same method as the Almost Seedless Raspberry jam with two pounds of raspberries and one and a quarter pounds of blackcurrants. This produced a slightly tart jam, just the way we like it.

I found a recipe on another blog for a cake using raspberry and blackcurrant jams with chocolate, so using Holly Grove R&B jam I got out the baking tin and tried out the recipe for Chocolate, Raspberry and Blackcurrant Cake. The result is a rich and dense cake, not too pretty to look at, to accompany the cake I made a raspberry couli and the Handyman added a little cream drizzled over the coulis. The resulting dessert tasted delicious - not sure the photo does it justice.


Raspberry Couli
Makes about quarter of a pint
Ingredients
8ozs raspberries, rinsed
1.5ozs castor sugar

Method
Place the raspberries in a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Then place the contents of the bowl in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add more sugar if required and blend again for a few seconds. Strain the liquid through a fine nylon sieve to remove the seeds. Put into a container, cover and store in the fridge until needed.

The coulis can be stored for several days and used over cakes, icecream, pancakes etc.

Note: if you don't want to get the blender out you could just press the fruit and sugar mix through a sieve, a bit more work but the same result.

Scones and Jam

Holly Grove kitchen garden has been swinging into full production; amongst the produce have been raspberries and blackcurrants...lots of the little blighters! Yesterday, though the garden was tempting me out, I remained resolute and stayed in the kitchen for a bit of baking and preserving.

Starting with the raspberries, I made a very simple fruit yoghurt - basically greek yoghurt layered with raspberries. I used the ripest berries for this, leaving it overnight for the juices to run into the yoghurt and ready for my breakfast this morning. One and a half pounds of raspberries I used to make raspberry jam, only a small quantity, but full of fruit. The remainder of the raspberries together with some of the blackcurrants were used to make another Berry Crumble cake.

Then on to the blackberries; aside from the small quantity in the cake, one pound of fruit was used to make Blackberry jam and the rest, about two pounds, was juiced.

With the jam gleaming at me through the glass jars I felt that I really ought to make some scones - you can't spend time making jam and not have scones to eat it on.

So a productive day in the kitchen and here are the recipes for scones and jam...

Almost Seedless Raspberry Jam
Makes about 1lb
Ingredients
1.5lbs raspberries
1tsp lemon juice
12ozs granulated sugar

Method
Put the raspberries in a heavy-based pan and bring slowly to the boil, mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon to release the juices. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the fruit is very soft and lots of juices have been released.

Press the fruit pulp and juice through a fine sieve into a bowl, this may take a while and you may end up with a few pips in the pulp if, like me, you press too hard to release the pulp for jam. Discard the raspberry pips left in the sieve and measure the pulp in a measuring jug - I had about three quarters of a pint.

Return the pulp to the clean pan and add the lemon juice together with the sugar - 1lb of sugar for every pint of pulp and juice. Bring slowly to the boil stirring to ensure that the sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly until a set is achieved. Remove from the heat and stir in a knob of butter, this will help to clear the jam. The pour into prepared jam jars and seal and label.

Plain Scones
Makes about 8
Ingredients
8ozs self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
2ozs butter
1oz castor sugar
a little milk

Method
Sieve the flour and baking powder into a food processor. Add the butter and blitz to fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and pulse to mix through the crumb mixture. With the processor running, slowly add a small amount of milk until the mix comes together forming a soft dough. Be careful not to over process or you'll end up with dry scones.

Turn out the dough onto a floured board and bring together into a ball. Gently press the dough out into a round about two inches deep and cut out scones with a two inch cutter. Place the scones close together (but not touching) on a baking sheet and brush the tops with a little milk.

Place in the preheated oven at 230C for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet and place on a clean cloth on a cooling rack and cover with the cloth. This will ensure that your scones stay soft, that's if you can resist eating them almost immediately with that delicious raspberry jam that you've just jarred up!

Note: You can, of course, make the scones without a food processor. Simply create the crumb mix by rubbing in the butter with your fingers to make the fine breadcrumbs. Then add the sugar and stir in. Finally bring the dough together by hand using a little milk.

Travellers from the North

My cousin, E, and her husband, S, live way up in the north east of Scotland so we don't see them very often; in fact only about 3 or 4 times in the last 20 years! So when they stopped over with us on their way to Spain it was reason enough to search out a dessert recipe for a celebration.


After much searching through my cookery books and favourite websites and perusing what might be available from Holly Grove's kitchen garden, I found Rachel Allen's Cherry Crumble Cake and modified it to use the berries available from the garden supplemented with some market produce.

The cake was served warm with softly whipped double cream. I'm already thinking about a rhubarb and/or apple version of this cake or what about plums?


Berry Crumble Cake
(Serves 6)
Ingredients
350g (12oz) ripe fresh berries (I used HG blackcurrants, raspberries and strawberries)
150g (5oz) self-raising flour
pinch of ground cinnamon
50g (2oz) caster sugar
1 egg
30ml (1fl oz) milk
100g (4oz) butter, melted
Icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

For the crumble topping
25g (1oz) plain flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
25g (1oz) caster sugar
25g (1oz) butter, cubed
20cm (8in) diameter spring-form/loose bottomed tin

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas mark 4. Butter the sides of the cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.

Prepare the fruit removing the stalks etc. Keep the fruit whole unless the strawberries are particularly large then half or quarter them. Set the fruit aside.

Sift the flour and cinnamon into a large bowl, add the sugar, mix together and make a well in the centre. Then whisk the egg, milk and melted butter together in another bowl. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix together to make a thick, smooth mixture, then spoon into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Scatter the berries over the mixture and gently press them in.

To make the crumble, put all the ingredients into a bowl. Rub in the butter to make a crumb-like mixture and scatter the topping over the berries.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the top is lightly golden and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave in the tin for about 10 minutes until cool enough to handle, then run a knife around the edge and remove the cake from the tin. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Lightly dust with icing sugar and serve with softly whipped double cream or creme fraiche.

After a Day in the Garden...

As we spend more and more time in the garden through the spring and summer the challenge to produce tasty but quickly-made food ensues. A favourite standby is any variety of tortilla, this is the Spanish version of omelette, but much easier to produce.

Basically anything available in the fridge or kitchen garden can be used to create Spanish tortilla. Last night we used some bacon, mushrooms, herbs and cheese; and the whole process, including a green salad, took just 20 minutes.


Fridge and Plot Tortilla
Serves 2
Ingredients
a glug of light olive oil
1 thick (or 2 thin) rasher of bacon, diced
5 large chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
4 eggs, beaten with a little cream or milk and salt and pepper
2 ozs strong Cheddar, grated
a few chives, chopped

Method
Heat a small, heavy bottomed frying pan (about 6"-8" diameter) add the oil and the bacon. After a few minutes add the mushrooms and continue frying until the bacon is cooked. Meanwhile make the green salad and heat the grill to maximum temperature.

When the bacon and mushroom mix is cooked, add the eggs and mix gently. Leave to cook until the eggs are set around the edges, this should take only a few minutes as the pan is hot.

Spinkle the chives and grated cheese over the tortilla and then place under the hot grill. The tortilla will rise like a souffle and when the eggs are set and the cheese is golden remove from the grill and serve with the green salad and a good bottle of wine.

Note: The filling for the tortilla can be varied according to what you have available and vegetarian versions are simple. Other fillings we've tried include combinations of: spinach, red and green peppers, onion, chunks of cooked ham, leftover chicken; topped with almost any cheese you can think of!

Food with Family

Two of my nieces, G&V, came to stay for a few days last week. They are city girls so a few days in the countryside proved a novel experience. The weather was very kind to us and we made the most of it with garden games, a BBQ, a picnic and a trip to our county town for some retail therapy.

Then on Sunday we were joined by their Mum and Dad - J&J - and their sister, O. This called for some lunch for the family. My sister and her family are vegetarian so I decided to try a new tart recipe - Kale, Olive and Gruyere tart. However I had no kale and no gruyere, so a variation was concocted - Spinach, Olive and Mozzarella Tart. The spinach, chard, sage and garlic used in the recipe came from HG kitchen garden and the tart was served with a green salad of lettuce, rocket, chives and sorrel from the HG herb beds.

Dessert was a classic Eton Mess (with a few raspberries added to the usual strawberries) from Delia's Puddings cookbook.

It must have been okay as we had no leftovers!

Before Baking

Spinach, Olive and Mozzarella Tart
Serves 4
Ingredients
8" tart case made with shortcrust pastry (I cheated and bought mine from Morrisons for 87p)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
200g spinach and chard, washed and coarsely chopped
2 or 3 sage leaves, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 egg, beaten
half a dozen olives, quartered
150g grated mozzarella (or 100g mozzarella and 50g soft blue cheese cut into small cubes)
grated parmesan to finish

Method
Put the onion in a large,deep frying pan with a good knob of butter and cook gently until softened. Add the garlic, sage and spinach and cook for a few minutes until the spinach is wilted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Add the cheeses (not the parmesan), olives and the egg and mix well. Put the mixture into the pastry case and sprinkle over the parmesan. Put on a baking sheet in the middle of the oven at 190C for 20-25 minutes.

Out of the Oven

Serve warm or cold with a green salad and some simply boiled new potatoes.

Another Cold and More Soup

My second cold of this winter and I'm feeling bleary eyed and in need of comforting. In the vegetable rack is a small cauliflower and some broccoli, the ubiquitous onion and potatoes - thinking of a cauliflower soup...


Cauliflower (and Broccoli) Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
I medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
! medium potato, peeled and diced
450g cauliflower and broccoli florets
900 ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp double cream (or yoghurt)

Method
Heat the oil in a soup pot and add the onion, gently cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the potato and cumin seeds and cook gently for a further 6-8 minutes. Add the cauliflower and broccoli and vegetable stock. Simmer until cauliflower is softened. Remove from heat and blend using a hand-blender. Stir in the cream and serve in warmed bowls.

Delicious!

Traditional Pud with a Twist

Conscious of the amount of food wasted in this country I try wherever possible to use up all of our leftovers and mostly do this quite successfully. However the one area where I struggle to avoid waste is with the common loaf.

A standard loaf of bread proves to much for the two of us and, more often than not, is stale before we're half way through it. Freeze it in two halves I hear you cry, but I have a small freezer and to fill it with bread would be wasteful. So with my conscience pricking me I have made a bread and butter pudding for our meal tonight...a pudding with a twist...

Boozy Bread and Butter Pudding
Serves 4
Ingredients
butter, for greasing
castor sugar
4 thick slices of stale bread, cubed
3 tbsp apricot preserve, heated to make a glaze
a good handful of sultanas, soaked in 3 tbsp Port for at least 2 hours

Creme Anglaise
3 egg yolks
3 tbsp castor sugar
16 fl ozs milk
1 tbsp Port

Method
Butter the inside of the dish you will be using to bake the pudding and then dust with castor sugar. I used my favourite 6" pie dish.

Make the creme anglaise by beating the egg yolks and sugar together in a large measuring jug. Heat the milk until almost boiling and then add to the egg mixture beating all the time. Return the egg mixture to the pan and heat gently until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Note: the custard will be quite liquid at this point, do not allow the custard to boil or the eggs will scramble. Leave to cool and when cool stir in the tbsp of Port. Set aside.

Spoon the apricot preserve into the bottom of the dish. Then add the cubed bread, sultanas and custard in layers until you have used up all the ingredients. Leave the mixture to settle.

Heat the oven to 180C. Put the dish in a roasting tin and fill the tin 3/4 full with boiling water (a bain marie). Sprinkle a little demerara sugar over the pudding and bake in the oven for 10 mins then turn the heat down to 160C and continue to bake for another 15-20 mins. Remove from the oven, the pudding will continue to cook in the bain marie. Wait 5 mins and then serve with single cream or creme fraiche.

More Chocolate Consolation

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything..so much to do, so little time.

Anyway whilst sorting through my emails I came upon this recipe from my elder son G - he's turning into quite a baker! I haven't managed to try it out yet but am planning on making it for a weekend away with my special girlfriends in March - probably should have a test run before then...

In the meantime here's G's recipe and his photo of the result...


Chocolate Goo Cake
Ingredients
oil for greasing
300g dark chocolate, broken in pieces
150g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
6 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Grease the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin and line with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
3. Whisk the yolks with two tablespoons of the sugar until pale and light. Stir in cooled melted chocolate.
4. Whip the whites until they resemble soft peaks and gradually whisk in the remaining sugar.
5. Gently stir one-third of the whites into the chocolate mixture followed by the remainder. Transfer the cake mixture into the tin.
6. Bake for 20 minutes in the middle of the oven, until just firm to the touch. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out and transferring to a wire rack.
(It states 20 minutes but I ended up cooking mine for around 30 minutes until firm to touch)
7. Leave to cool.

I found leaving it over night allowed it to set properly, although you can eat it once cooled that day it tends to crumble quite a bit.

For the chocolate coating
200ml double cream
200g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
25g butter

Method
To make the chocolate coating, bring the double cream to the boil in a pan. Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until melted then pour in the heated double cream, mixing together well.

You then have a couple of choices to choose from to serve the cake.
1. Serve cake with the warm chocolate sauce to be poured over the cake with a little double cream.
2. Spread the chocolate coating over the cooled cake using a palette knife or spoon. Allow to cool and set, then serve.

Offline for a Time

Just to let you know that I've been off-line for a while now...will be returning soon...

Baking Day

Aah, the appeal of a warm kitchen, Rayburn running and the prospect of homemade biscuits and cakes - a real tonic on a Winter Sunday!

I don't often use the oil-fired Rayburn in our kitchen but with snow outside and time to spend a day in the kitchen I thought the prospect of baking in a warm kitchen was irresistable, so I fired up the Rayburn, put a pot of soup on the hotplate and a gammon joint in the oven and headed for the baking tins.

Ginger Choc-Chip Cookies
Ingredients
8 ozs butter, softened
3 ozs light soft brown sugar
9 ozs SR flour
2 tbsps golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 ozs dark chocolate drops
2 ozs preserved ginger, roughtly chopped

Method
Butter 2 large baking sheets and cover with baking parchment. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Stir in the remaining ingredients to make a soft dough. Roll the dough into walnut-sized pieces and space out generously on the baking sheets. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6. Bake the cookies for 12-15 mins, until light gold in colour -they will still feel quite soft in the middle. Leave on the baking tray for about 5 mins then transfer with a palette knife to a wire rack to cool completely.