Dutch Apple Cake

Recipe courtesy Rachel Allen

Total Time:

1 hr 45 min

Cook:

35 min

Yield:

12 squares

INGREDIENTS

·         2 eggs

·         150g caster sugar, plus extra sugar, for sprinkling

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         85g butter

·         75mls milk

·         125g plain flour

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

·         2 cooking apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS

The fruit sinks to the bottom as it cooks, leaving a light sponge on top with a lovely sugary crust.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line the sides and base of a 8 by 8-inch square cake pan with parchment paper. 

Using an electric whisk or hand held mixer, whisk the eggs,  caster sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl, until the mixture is thick and mousse-like, and the whisk leaves a figure of eight pattern, this will take about 5 minutes. 

Melt the butter in a saucepan with the milk, and then pour the mixture onto the eggs, whisking continuously. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder, and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, and smooth the surface. 

Peel and core the apples, and cut them into thin slices, and then arrange them over the batter. They will sink to the bottom. This is meant to happen! Sprinkle the cake with sugar, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake until well risen and golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. 

Allow the cake to cool in the tin, cut into squares and serve warm. It is delicious with cream! 

Variation: 
Raspberry and Pear: Instead of the cinnamon, mix the finely grated zest of 1 orange into the batter. Instead of the apples, sink a half pint of fresh or frozen raspberries, and thin slices of 2 pears into the batter, and cook in the same way.

© Recipe courtesy Rachel Allen

New Years Eve Soup

Chickpea Soup

A simple soup flavoured with cumin and coriander. Made utterly delicious by adding salbitxada sauce to the bowl when ladled out. Recipes from Ottolenghi, The Guardian.

Chickpea soup

This needs a little something stirred into it at the end, to give it an edge. Make coriander oil, as here, or use some salbitxada. Serves four.

90ml olive oil
2 onions, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
4 celery stalks, cut into 1cm dice
2 tbsp harissa (or to taste)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
500g cooked chickpeas
1½ tsp salt and black pepper
1.2 litres vegetable stock
25g coriander, leaves and stalks

Heat two tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based saucepan, and sauté the onions on medium heat for five minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic, carrots and celery, cook for eight minutes, then stir in the harissa and spices, and cook for two minutes. Stir in the chickpeas, salt and plenty of black pepper, add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

If making the coriander oil, blitz the coriander in food processor with a pinch of salt, then slowly pour in 60ml of oil and process until smooth

Ladle soup into bowls and drizzle over the oil or salbitxada.

Salbitxada sauce

Salbitxada is a sharp and lightly sweet Catalan sauce that's traditionally served with calçots – spring or salad onions, grilled whole, make a good substitute.

1 red pepper
2 red chillies
5 garlic cloves, skin on
40g flaked almonds, toasted
4 ripe tomatoes (400g), blanched, peeled and deseeded
2 tsp sherry vinegar
Salt
100ml olive oil

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the pepper, chillies and garlic on an oven tray and roast for 10 minutes. Remove the chillies and garlic, turn the pepper and roast for 20 minutes more. Once the skin is blistered, put the pepper in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. When cool, peel and deseed both the pepper and chillies, and peel the garlic.

Grind the almonds to a coarse powder in a food processor. Add the pepper, chilli, garlic and tomatoes, and whizz to a paste. Add the vinegar and a quarter-teaspoon of salt, then slowly add oil to make a thick sauce

Sweet Potato Gratin

SWEET POTATO GRATIN WITH Cheese

prep time: 30 minutes

cook time: 50 minutes

total time: 1 hour 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1½ cups double cream
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8-inch thick (easiest to do in food processor)
1½ teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1tsp dried thyme
salt
ground black pepper
grated cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. In a small pot bring cream and garlic just to a simmer. Remove from heat and set aside. Butter a shallow casserole dish or gratin dish of similar size and set aside. Stir the cooling cream occasionally to help prevent skin from forming.

2. Build the Gratin: In the buttered casserole dish, spread one quarter of the sliced sweet potatoes out in a single, overlapping layer. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt, pepper, and thyme and then some grated cheese. Using another quarter of the sliced sweet potatoes, build a new overlapping layer. Again sprinkle with the seasonings and shredded cheese. Using half of the remaining sliced sweet potatoes, make another layer and sprinkle the last third of the seasonings and more cheese. Use the last of the sweet potatoes to make one final layer on top. Stir the garlic cream mixture then pour it evenly over the top of the gratin, being sure to cover the top layer of sweet potatoes. Shake the dish gently to distribute the cream. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.

4. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, move the gratin to the top 1/3 of the oven and bake, uncovered, for an additional 20 minutes or until the top is nicely browned and the potatoes are tender when pierced with a sharp knife. You may also place it under the broiler for a few minutes if you wish the top to be a deeper brown (but watch it closely!). Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes (or not!) before slicing.

*Note: Make Ahead! You can slice your potatoes and completely submerge them in ice cold water, cover and refrigerate up to a couple of days. Then drain, pat dry and assemble the dish

We first ate this in a local restaurant. quite rich and very moreish

Damp lemon and almond cake

225 g soft unsalted butter

225 g castor sugar

4 large eggs

50 g plain flour

225 g ground almonds

zest and juice from 2 lemons

Butter and line a 21 cm cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cream together the butter and sugar until almost white. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a quarter of the flour after each addition. When all the eggs and flour have been incorporated, gently stir in the ground almonds, then the lemon zest and juice.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 1 hour. Cover with foil after about 30 minutes, once the top is lightly browned. The cake is ready when the top is firm, and a skewer, inserted, comes out cleanish - you want dampness, but not gooey batter. Take the cake out and let it stand for 5 minutes or so in the tin. Then turn it out on a wire rack and leave till cool.

This cake lasts well, and even possibly improves, over the next two days, if wrapped well in foil. Sift icing sugar over the top when serving, and add raspberries and perhaps creme fraiche if they're on hand.

Chicken in dried mushroom and tomato sauce

adapted from Marcella Hazan

25g dried italian or french mushrooms

4 chicken thighs, skinned

8 tablespoons dry cider or dry white wine

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

butter or oil

Place the dried mushrooms in 150mls lukewarm water. Allow to soak for 15-20 minutes. Line a sieve with a piece of kitchen paper. Filter the water in which the mushrooms have soaked into another container. Rinse the soaked mushrooms, making sure to remove any grit, then chop into small pieces.

Heat oil or butter in frying pan. Brown the chicken pieces on both sides. Add the cider and turn up heat to evaporate. Then add the chopped mushrooms, the soaking water, chopped tomatoes and salt and pepper. Cover the pan and cook gently for about 30-40 minutes, until chicken is tender.

This is another quick and easy dish. The dried mushrooms, cider and tomatoes give it a lovely rich flavour. We eat it with plainly cooked Basmati rice.

CHRISTINE'S BROWNIES

adapted from Nigella Lawson

375g unsalted butter

200g Fairtrade or Green and Blacks milk chocolate

200g 70 per cent dark chocolate

6 large eggs

15mls vanilla extract

500g castor sugar

225g plain flour

2.5mls salt

300g chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180degC. Line pan with baking parchment. Melt butter and chocolate together in a heavy pan or microwave. In another bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.

When the chocolate and butter have cooled a little, mix in the eggs and sugar and then the nuts and flour and salt. Pour into the lined pan.

Bake for 30 minutes until the top is crackled brown and the top gives slightly when pressed. Cut into pieces when cool.

I use a roasting pan measuring 14" long, 12" wide, and 2" depth. This mixture makes a lot of brownies. They freeze very well. I use 2 types of chocolate because I find it too intense with just the 70% chocolate.

Peppers and tomatoes

A simple vegetable side dish

I used 1 green, one yellow and one red pepper. Cut into strips, fry in a small amount of olive oil until starting to blacken and caramelise. Then add cherry tomatoes cut into half- about the same quantities as the peppers. Cook for about another 10 minutes.

Simple, but very nice- nice mixture of coloured peppers and syrupy tomatoes.

Yoghourt marinated spiced chicken

This makes a mildly spicy, creamy, tomatoey dish. I didn't use a recipe, but was thinking of chicken korma.

Marinade:

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2" knob fresh ginger, peeled and crushed

1 sliced onion

plain yoghourt, enough to cover chicken pieces

Other Ingredients

4 free range chicken thighs, skin removed

garam masala, 10mls

turmeric, 5mls

ground dried coriander, 10mls

ground cumin, 5mls

paprika, 5mls

salt and pepper

6 cardamon pods

1tin chopped tomatoes

200mls double cream

chopped coriander leaves

Put the chicken and marinade into a china bowl. Mix around well, and leave to marinade at least 6 hours. You can prepare it in the morning, or the night before.

When you are ready to cook, take the chicken out of the marinade, removing any bits of onion. Pat the pieces dry on a piece of kitchen towel. Put all the ground spices onto a large plate, mixing them together. Pat each side of the chicken pieces in the spice mixture. Meanwhile heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan. When just smoking, put the chicken pieces in and brown lightly on each side. Take the chicken out of the pan. Reduce the heat and add the cardamon pods. After a couple of minutes add the yoghourt and onion marinade. Cook gently for about 15 minutes until onion softened. Then put the chicken back into the pan, add the tomatoes and a little water. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat, cover and cook gently for about 35-40 minutes. 5 minutes before end of cooking add the cream and let it bubble into a delicious sauce. Just before serving add chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with rice and green peas.

Vegetarian supper tonight. Every year around this time I like making harissa vegetable stew. Harissa is the delicious spicy red paste from North Africa. This is not an exact recipe and quantities and ingredients can be varied. Sometimes I add chickpeas, sometimes a handful of chopped coriander leaves. 1 teaspoon harissa paste is fairly mild. Lemon juice is another nice addition.

Harissa vegetable stew

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

8 small potatoes peeled and diced

2 small courgettes cut into small chunks

1tsp harissa paste

1 tsp ground coriander seeds

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tin tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree

handful of green beans cut into short lengths

handful of cooked haricot and kidney beans

feta cheese, cut into dice, or grated parmesan

First soften the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Put in the harissa paste and spices and stir briefly. Add all the other vegetables except for the green beans. Add the tin of tomatoes and enough water to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer 15 minutes. Add the green beans and the haricot and kidney beans. cook for another 15 minutes. For serving, use soup bowls and scatter the feta on top.

22 year old son cooked main dish tonight. He had eaten something similar in Costa Rica 3 years ago. He's turning out to be a good cook. The leftovers were very yummy eaten for lunch the next day. The coriander gave the lovely creamy coconut sauce a delicious piquancy.

Chicken thighs in coconut and coriander sauce

6 chicken thighs, skinned

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

knob of ginger, peeled and grated

coriander leaves, small bunch, chopped

coconut milk, 2 tins

juice half a lemon

Heat a little oil. Quickly brown the chicken thighs, then remove them from the pan. Soften the chopped onion and garlic in the same oil. Add the grated ginger, sliced chili pepper to taste, chopped coriander, lemon juice and the coconut milk. Put chicken back in the pan, season, and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer. The chicken will take about 40 minutes to cook. Reduce the liquid at the end if necessary.

We ate this with plain rice and:

Green beans with fried onion

First prepare the fried onions. Thinly slice 1 large onion. Sprinkle with salt and leave for 10 minutes then blot with kitchen roll to remove excess moisture. Heat 2" oil in pan. When oil starts to smoke, add the onions. Remove when light brown, draining on kitchen paper.

Cook the green beans in salted`water. Drain, add a little butter and some balsamic vinegar. Mix in the fried onions.

Shepherds pie, another variation with beef

500g minced beef

1 large chopped onion

1 large carrot, cut into small cubes

2 stalks celery, cut into very thin slices

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 tsp harissa paste

dry cider, 4 tablespoons

1 medium courgette cut into 1/2 " cubes

Worcestershire sauce

soy sauce

mashed potato mixed with cooked broccoli and grated cheddar cheese

First brown the beef in a little oil. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Put the liquid in a separate bowl so the excess fat can be removed. Put a little oil back in the clean pan, add the onion, celery. chopped carrot and garlic. Soften for about 10 minutes. Pour in the cider and reduce until pan almost dry. Put in harissa paste, beef, courgettes and the liquid from the earlier browning of the beef. Put in several good shakes each of soy and Worcestershire sauce. Cover the pan and cook for about half an hour. Add more of the 2 sauces if needed.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 180C. Put the cooked meat in a pottery dish, spread the flavoured potato on top, sprinkle a little more cheese on top and put in the oven for about 30 minutes.

This quantity made enough for 6 servings- enough for a main meal for the three of us, and lots of delicious leftovers.

Tonight I prepared lamb chops a new way. They are the delicious tender ones we buy through Somerset Local Food Direct: http://www.sfmdirect.co.uk/. With them we had mildly spicy potato and carrot wedges.

Spicy lamb chops

4 large lamb chops

2 tsp ground coriander seeds

1 tsp ground cumin seeds

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2" cube grated ginger

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp honey

2 tsp oil

Mix all the dry ingredients with the oil, honey, garlic and ginger. Spread the paste over both sides of the chops, and leave for about half an hour-1 hour. Preheat oven to 180C. Lay chops on a rack and cook for about 40 minutes.

Roast potato and carrot wedges

For 3 people I prepared about 4 large potatoes and 2 large carrots. The carrots and the potatoes were peeled, cut into wedges, and blanched in boiling water; 5 minutes for the carrots; 7-8 minutes for the potatoes. After draining they were spread in a roasting tin in hot oil and cooked for about 40 minutes. Before serving I sprinkled them with some paprika, cumin and salt.

At the moment it seems as though my courgettes are doubling in size when I inspect them every day. So I have lots of courgettes to use up. I'm unable to bring myself to pick them at less than 6" long. In practice, mine are at least 10", sometimes longer. They do stay nice and tender and are not bitter, even at a larger size.

Tonight I cooked chicken thighs on a bed of courgettes. It used up a 10" courgette. Even better it was a delicious way of cooking them.

Chicken thighs with courgettes

quantities for 3-4

6 chicken thighs

1 large courgette, thinly sliced

2 medium onions, chopped

2 big cloves garlic, crushed

2 big tomatoes, sliced

olive oil

juice 1 lemon

oregano, salt, pepper, ground coriander berries, ground cumin, paprika

Mix all vegetables in a wide shallow ovenproof container. Add 2 tsp oregano, lemon juice and enough olive oil to moisten. Roughly level off the veg. On top place the chicken thighs which have been coated with a mixture of 2tsp paprika, 1 tsp coriander, 1/4 tsp cumin, salt and pepper. Put into oven at 180C for about 45 minutes.

This was really delicious. The vegetables still retained some texture. There was enough liquid thrown off to make it nicely moist, and the combination of the flavourings was really tasty. A definite recipe for next years glut of courgettes.

The plum crumble was made with plums given to me by a neighbour. I used wholemeal flour and brown sugar for the topping.,

Many years ago I had a delicious potato salad in the French Alps. I remember cubes of potato, cubes of cheese, possibly bacon and some salad greens. But what really made it outstanding was the flavouring of walnut oil. This is my attempt to create something similar.

Potato and walnut salad

Potatoes cooked in their skins. Skins taken off when cooled slightly, then cubed.

Toasted walnuts

French beans, cooked al dente

Walnut oil

Walnut vinegar

salt and pepper

Mix all together, adding the vinegar and oil to taste.

This worked well taste wise. It looked slightly untidy because I used potatoes I had grown, Kestrel, which aren't a salad variety. Still, they the cubes held together well enough.

Shepherds Pie

This was really nice. I had some leftover mashed potatoes, cooked broccoli, a small bowl of cooked courgettes with coriander and tomato, and another small bowl of tomato sauce with olives and anchovies. I browned a mixture of lamb and beef mince and drained off the fat. Meanwhile I softened chopped onion, garlic and carrots. I reheated the meat, adding a tablespoon of curry powder. Then I tipped in the two tomato sauces and the onions and carrots, added some water, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Then spread the meat in an ovenproof dish. In a separate bowl mix the mashed potato, chopped broccoli, and a good handful of grated cheddar. Spread on top of the meat mixture. Put into a hot 180C oven and cook for about 25 minutes.

Courgette risotto

from a recipe by Sophie Grigson

1 onion, chopped

2 nine inch courgettes, one grated, one cut into small pieces

1 cup arborio rice

1 clove garlic, chopped

white wine or dry cider

chicken stock (cube is fine)

grated parmesan

Soften chopped onion in a little olive oil. Tip in the grated courgette and the chopped garlic and cook for a few minutes. Brown the chopped courgette separately in olive oil and reserve. Stir in the rice then add 2-3 tablespoons wine or cider and let evaporate. Add the hot stock, top up at intervals until rice almost cooked. Stir in the cooked chopped courgette and warm through. When rice is ready stir in parmesan to taste.

With this we ate:

Chicken thighs roasted with lemon juice and black pepper

Brown the thighs in butter. Put in a small roasting pan pour over the juice of a lemon and some salt and black pepper. Cook at 180 C for about 35 minutes. The skin was very crisp and brown.

and:

Tomato and spring onion salad

Halved golden cherry tomatoes,mixed with chopped spring onions and a little sugar.

My birthday meal tonight- cooked by me!

However, special but not complicated. The Osso Bucco follows a simple Elizabeth David recipe. Risotto is easy. The special ingredient tonight was fresh peas from the garden. Afters: fresh raspberries, again from the garden, with yogurt. Oh yes, and a bottle of 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape!

Osso Bucco

2 slices shin of veal

4 tablespoons dry cider

1 tin chopped tomatoes

stock, or water and a chicken stock cube

Brown the veal on both sides in vegetable oil. Pour off the excess oil. Add the dry cider and let it bubble until almost dry. Put in the tomatoes, add stock, or water and stock cube, to cover the veal. Let simmer for about 90 minutes with the pan covered. Reduce the liquid, if necessary, when the veal is cooked. Just before serving sprinkle with gremolata. (See labels)

Risotto with fresh peas

Arborio rice- about 300g- makes 4 servings, but I like to have leftovers

1 onion finely chopped

4 tablespoons dry cider

chicken stock(stock cube is fine)

peas

grated parmesan, about 100g, or more to taste

First soften the onion in a little olive oil. Put the rice in the pan. Stir around for a couple of minutes, put the cider in and let evaporate. Add enough hot stock to cover, turn heat down and let the rice absorb the liquid. Add more liquid as it evaporates, and stir rice occasionally. After about 15 minutes, with the rice still tasting slightly chalky, add the uncooked peas. Add more liquid as necessary, and cook for about another 10 minutes. When the rice is cooked turn off the heat and stir in the parmesan.

Successful first course, second course edible but not that enjoyable

Globe artichokes, one each for the first course. Shame they are so expensive in the UK. These were big ones that I steamed in a little water in the microwave for 15 minutes. Eating them is an enjoyable ritual: first pull off individual scales and dip it in a mixture of melted butter and lemon juice; the inner scales don't have much flesh, so they are just discarded; you need asbestos fingers to pull off the hairy choke; then the reward, the slightly cupped disc at the heart eaten with more butter and lemon juice.

The omelette was less successful. I fried some mushrooms, then added some chopped parma ham for another couple of minutes. I then added the beaten eggs. The parma ham made the omelette too salty, and the flavour was too strong.

Starting point tonight: sitting in my chair at 6pm. What are we going to have? I know: mangetout in the garden. But we need more. I found a pork fillet in the freezer, so decided on a stir fry. This is typical of my cooking: making a meal of what we have in the house or garden. I don't very often pre-plan.

The stir fry was pretty standard. Sliced onion, red pepper, and carrot sticks were separately stir fried, as was the thinly sliced fillet of pork. Then, to a little heated oil in the wok, I added crushed garlic and ginger. After 1 minute I splashed in chinese rice wine and soy sauce. I put the pork and vegetables back in the pan, covered it and gently reheated. The mangetout were stir fried separately in a very little oil. Once cooked I flavoured them with some soy sauce and a teaspoon of sesame oil. They remained nicely crunchy, patchy blackness along their green sides. I served the food with plain noodles.

To follow: the first raspberries.

I've got more gooseberries on my bushes than I know what to do with. So far we've picked at least 12lbs of them. Last week I made gooseberry and elderflower jam. Tonight I've made a cake with some of them. First course was:

Broccoli and cheese sauce for pasta

(adapted from Antonio

Carluccio)

2 heads broccoli chopped

2 cloves garlic

4 slices bacon

300mls milk

good handful grated`parmesan

First cook the broccoli in salted water until tender. Cook the bacon slices in a little olive oil . Remove from the pan, and cook 2 cloves chopped garlic in the same oil until just brown. Put the cooked broccoli in the pan, add the milk and chopped bacon and simmer while the pasta is cooking. Carluccio said orrechiette, but I just had penne. When the pasta is cooked mix it into the broccoli mixture and stir in the parmesan.

This tasted`surprisingly good, and was given a nice bite by the garlic.

Gooseberry and almond cake

125g chilled butter,chopped

250g plain flour

10mls baking powder

125g greek yogurt

125g ground almonds

125g light muscovado sugar

350g gooseberries

85g castor sugar

flaked almonds

Heat oven to 180C. Line a 27x18cm baking tin with baking parchment.

Put the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and sugar into a bowl. Rub in the butter to make crumbs, then stir in the yogurt. This makes a moist dough. Form the dough into a sausage. Use two thirds to line the base and sides of the tin. I just pressed it out with my fingers. Put the gooseberries on the dough. Sprinkle with the sugar. Roll out the remaining dough, drape over the gooseberries, and seal the edges. In practice the dough broke into pieces. I just patched them together, leaving a few berries showing through. Sprinkle with flaked almonds. put in the oven for about 45 minutes.

This recipe was adapted from a streusel recipe on the BBC Good Food site. Instead of using 250g butter, I used half butter and half yogurt, in a bid to lower the fat content. The result was very good: a tender dough with slightly biscuity edges; the gooseberry juices nicely soaked up by the ground almonds.