A Set At Last!

Having had two recent attempts at jam making with neither providing a decent set I was beginning to think that I'd lost the knack.  Two batches of Opal plum jam have failed to set properly, though we are using it poured over icecream and added to plain yoghurt; which has proven a real hit.

sampling!

But I was longing for some proper jam...then whilst doing the weekly shop yesterday I bought a couple of punnets of British strawberries reduced in price for a quick sale.  My initial intention was just to eat these, they were beautifully ripe and smelt delicious.  Then whilst wandering down the baking aisle I saw some jam sugar with added pectin and, thinking of my recent failures and my need for jam, I bought a kilo and headed home to defeat the setting gremlins.

I didn't have quite enough strawberries for the recipe so I added a small box of Holly Grove raspberries that I had in the freezer. I have to say that I was exceedingly nervous, however...we have jam!  Can't wait to try it on my toast this morning, I may even make some scones later today...ooo, with a dollop of double cream...yummee!

all set and jarred up

Strawberry Jam with a Touch of Rasberry
Ingredients
Makes about 3.5lbs
800g strawberries
100g raspberries
1kg jam sugar
knob unsalted butter

Method
Hull the strawberries then put in a preserving pan with the raspberries and mash the fruit to extract juices.  Add the jam sugar and place the pan on a medium heat.  Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved - do not allow the fruit/sugar mixture to boil at this point.  When the sugar has dissolved add a knob of butter and stir until the butter has melted.

Gradually bring the mixture to a rolling boil stirring all the time.  When a rolling boil is achieved stop stirring and boil rapidly for 4 minutes - by this time the jam should be at setting point, I used a sugar thermometer to check.

Immediately remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jars and seal.
Et voila! strawberry jam with a touch of raspberry.

Rediscovering Passione

Recently I've been reviewing my cookbook collection and have rediscovered an Italian cookbook that's been languishing at the back of the larder. I keep a few books close to hand in the kitchen; my most frequently used ones - Delia's Complete Cookery Course, Hugh's Everyday, Mary Norwak's baking book etc and in amongst these I found Passione from Gennaro Contaldo.  From the condition of the book I 've obviously leafed through it many times but I don't recall using any of the recipes until recently...

It's become one of my favourite books in less time than it takes to whizz up a torta alle pere - recipe to follow in another post.

So far I've been tempted by the chocolate and red wine cake (sounds so much better in Italian - torta al cioccolato e vino rosso); a lovely dense and rich, but not too rich, cake.  It makes an ideal dessert served with summer fruit compote and icecream. 



with a sauce made from Holly Grove's first raspberries of the season, yum, yum!

 On the savoury front we've tested the peperoni ripieni - stuffed baby peppers.  I'll definitely make this one again with a couple of tweaks to the recipe - simple and delicious with a green salad. 

Very soon I'm going to attempt the fagottini di zucchini when my courgette plants start to mass produce, any time now, and then there are the delicious sounding Italian salads: insalata di zucchine con menta fresca, insalata di arancie e finocchio.

So a book to keep us well fed through the summer months and dreaming of the Amalfi coast!

Torta al Cioccolato e Vino Rosso
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
25g cocoa powder
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I didn't include this)
100ml red wine
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
150g plain chocolate drops (I mixed plain, milk and white chocolate drops as I didn't have enough of the plain ones)

Method
Heat the oven to 180C and grease and line an 20cm cake tin.

Cream the butter and sugar together then gradually beat in the eggs.  Sift in the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder (and cinnamon, if using) and fold in gently.  Mix in the red wine and vanilla extract and then fold in the chocolate drops.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 1 hour until the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.  Cut into wedges and serve with a summer fruit compote and good vanilla icecream.

First Post of 2011

I was wondering what my first post of 2011 might be: sweet or savoury?  Perhaps it's the winter weather making me long for summer days or just that I had some Holly Grove raspberries from our July harvest lingering in the freezer and some mascarpone cheese in the fridge, a remnant of Christmas plans, that made me consider a cheesecake.  The cheesecake recipe I usually follow is a no-bake version but this one is baked in the oven for an hour - which is where it is as I write this post.

It took about an hour to prepare for the oven and I've had to substitute a few ingredients, so I'm a bit nervous of the outcome - which I'll add to this post later.  In the meantime here's the recipe annotated with my substitutions in italics...

ready for the oven

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake
Ingredients
For the base
50g unsalted butter
225g ginger nut biscuits (225g digestives with 1tsp ground ginger)
50g chopped walnuts 

For the filling
275g mascarpone cheese
175g fromage frais (140g creme fraiche with 35g Greek yoghurt)
2 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp caster sugar
250g white chocolate, broken into squares
225g raspberries (frozen from July's harvest)

For the topping
115g mascarpone cheese
75g fromage frais (75g Greek yoghurt)
white chocolate curls and raspberries to decorate (white chocolate drops and raspberries)

Method
Heat the oven to 150C. Melt the butter in a large saucepan then mix in the crushed biscuits and nuts. Press into the base of a 9" spring form cake tin.

To make the filling beat the mascarpone and fromage frais (or substitutes) together in a bowl.  Then beat in the eggs and the caster sugar.  Meanwhile melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water.  Stir the melted chocolate and the raspberries into the cheese mixture.  Pour on top of the biscuits base and place the cheesecake in the oven for 1 hour or until just set.  Switch off the oven but leave the cheesecake in the oven until cold and completely set.

Release the cheesecake from the tin and place on a serving plate.  Make the topping by mixing the mascarpone and fromage frais in a bowl, then spread over the cheesecake and decorate with chocolate curls and raspberries.

Here's the update on the finished item...

Above is the cheesecake as it came out of the cold oven.  I decided to forego the topping (this time) and just add a few raspberries - the very last of the HG harvest until July - and a dusting of icing sugar.  

The base of this cheesecake was lovely and crumbly, but needs a bit more ginger next time.  It is a soft set cheesecake, probably due to changing the fromage frais for the creme fraiche and yoghurt, and quite sweet, I think I'll reduce the caster sugar to 2tbsp when I next make it.  It turned out to be a lovely light dessert, less rich than I anticipated (a good thing) and very delicious.

Ooh, Another Sweet Treat

'Tis the season of cakes and sweet things...well, it is here at Holly Grove and today's treat makes use of some raspberries frozen from our summer harvest. This makes a lovely fresh, zesty and moist cake..delicious and possibly one of your 5-a-day!

Raspberry and Blueberry Lime Drizzle Cake

Ingredients

For the cake

225g softened butter

225g caster sugar

3 large eggs

2 limes, zest and juice

250g SR flour

25g ground almonds

100g each raspberries and blueberries

For the drizzle

1.5 tbsp lime juice

70g caster sugar

Method

Line the base and sides of a 20cm/8in square cake tin (not loose-based) with greaseproof paper. Set oven to 180C.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light. Gradually beat in the eggs. Beat in the lime zest, then fold in the flour and almonds. Fold in enough lime juice - about 3 tablespoons - to give you a good dropping consistency (the mixture should drop easily from the spoon when tapped). 

Fold in three quarters of the blueberries and raspberries and turn into the prepared tin. Smooth the surface, then scatter the remaining fruit on top - it will sink as the cake rises. 

Bake for about 1 hour, a skewer pushed into the centre should be clean when removed.  

To make the syrup: put the lime juice, zest and sugar in a small saucepan. Put over a gentle heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick all over with a skewer then spoon the syrup over it. To store, cool before wrapping in paper and/or foil.

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.