Orange Sponge Cake with Dark Chocolate Icing

 After I had posted a photograph of this cake on social media I was asked for the recipe, so here it is.

Ingredients

4 ozs lightly salted butter
4 ozs sugar (we use unrefined granulated sugar)
2 eggs (medium to large)
4 ozs gluten free self-raising flour (standard flour works just as well if you don't have a gluten intolerence)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 pinch sea salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons orange extract (if you don't have this, use the finely grated zest of one large orange)

For icing
1 oz lightly salted butter
icing sugar
cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 375F, 190C, Gas mark 5 and grease and flour two 7 inch cake tins

Cream the butter and sugar together
Add the eggs and stir well until combined
Add the vanilla extract, salt and orange extract
Add the self-raisng flour and fold in carefully.
Divide between two cake tins.

Bake in the centre of the oven until golden.
Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave until cool.

For the icing.
In a bowl combine the butter with some icing sugar and cocoa powder at a ratio of approximately 50:50, this should give you a dryish mixture. Add vanilla extract and a very little cold water. Mix to a smooth paste, adding drop by drop of water if your icing needs to be smoother or less dry.

Cover one layer of cake with icing, put the second layer on cake on top and carefully cover with icing.

Gluten Free Naughty Salted Caramel Cake

Gluten Free Naughty Salted Caramel Cake

Ingredients

6 ozs Butter
4 ozs Caster Sugar
2 ozs Black Treacle
3 fresh Eggs
1 tspn Salted Caramel Flavouring
pinch of Sea Salt
7 ozs Gluten Free Self Raising Flour
up to 3 fl oz Milk

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C, 350 F or gas mark 4 - 5. Grease and flour 2 x 7 inch cake tins.
Cream the butter and sugar.
Beat in the black treacle and eggs.
Add the sea salt and caramel flavouring.
Gently stir the flour into the mixture.
Add milk if required to make a thick but smooth cake batter.
Spoon cake batter into tins and bake in centre of oven until deep golden brown and a knife comes out of it clean.

When cooked, leave to stand for a couple of minutes to allow cake to shrink away from tin sides and then turn on to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

For filling and topping (see my video of making the topping here)

3 ozs Salted Butter
3 ozs Caster Sugar
2 tblspns Golden Syrup
1/2 tin of Sweetened Condensed Milk
Generous pinch of Sea Salt

Put butter, sugar, golden syrup and condensed milk into a heavy pan over a medium heat.
Stir continuously to prevent toffee/fudge from sticking to the pan.
When light golden brown and it coats the back of a spoon, remove from heat and sprinkle salt into topping.

To make up cake

Place one cake layer onto a plate, gently pour the toffee mixture over and allow to spread to the edges. 
Put top layer of cake on and pour toffee mixture over it.
Allow toffee mixture to cool before serving to prevent burns.

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Hindsight Celery Soup

Last year I planted celery seeds, it's the first time that I've attempted to grow celery and was delighted with the results. We had about twenty good sized plants of a variety called 'Red Soup', which as autumn gave way to winter, I cut the heads and froze a few pounds of celery.

I have been using the frozen celery in stews and trays of roasted mixed vegetables, but a couple of days ago I started thinking about cream of celery soup and today I decided to have a go at making it.

Now usually I am a pretty good cook, my children and Mr J can all recall the dishes that were disasters and, as there are very few total failures, I think I'm safe in saying that the rest of the meals must be either in the category of passable or jolly nice (or somewhere between the two).

Here's how I made the cream of celery soup.

I weighed about 12 ounces of frozen celery.

I put it into approximately half a pint of hot water in a saucepan.

 Then I added a small pot of lamb stock (because that was the first pot of stock I pulled from the freezer).

Once the celery was soft I whizzed it up in the liquidiser to make a puree and returned it to a large pan.



Then I made a thick white sauce from ghee, milk and gluten free flour.
I added the white sauce.

And stirred it into the celery puree.

So far it all seemed to be okay. Then I tasted it. Hmmm, it needed seasoning.

But also it needed more time in the blender to make it less stringy in texture, so I put it back into the liquidiser and blitzed it for longer. Well that didn't work either, the texture was still bitty and off-putting, there was certainly nothing creamy about it.

Next I thought sieving the soup might remove the bittiness and yes, it did, or at least it did with the small amount that managed to pass through the sieve. 

It didn't really matter though because when I tasted it again I realised that I really didn't like the taste. It looked like stagnant pond water, it smelt like stagnant pond water and although I've never tasted stagnant pond water (SPW), the soup was pretty much how I imagine SPW would be.

So the experimental cream of celery soup was relegated to the food recycling bin and we'll be having baked fillet of fish for supper instead.

This just goes to show that you can't win them all and in hindsight I should have strained the puree before I added the white sauce or perhaps, I should just stick to making cream of leek soup!

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The Whole Hog Part 3 Braised Hock

Image Credit Porc Wales

 In my continuing effort to try preparing and eating as much of a half a pig as possible, today I cooked some hocks. The hock is the portion of the leg above the trotters and below the knee. I had four to cook and this was the first time I've prepared them. 

 I cleaned them by covering them with cold water in a deep pan which I brought up to the boil and then drained after 3 minutes of rapid boiling. 

I drained them and refreshed them under cold water. I have a washing up bowl that I keep purely for food preparation and I sterilise it with vinegar after I have used it for meat or fish products.

I scored the skin to allow all the flavours to infuse.

I then returned them to the pan, covered them again in water and added some seasoning. These included pink peppercorns, fennel, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, paprika and bay leaves. In hindsight I should have added the cloves later in the cooking as I didn't want the meat to taste too strongly of clove so scooped them out after half an hour. It would have been easier to just add them later on!

I brought the water to the boil and then turned it down to a simmer. 

After an hour I added two small diced onions and two small cored apples and continued to simmer gently the hocks for a further two hours.

I lifted the hocks from the stock (they were hard to pull out as the meat was falling away from the bones) and using a knife and fork removed the skin and fat from the meat. They didn't look terribly pretty or appetising at this stage, but they did smell wonderful.

I returned the bones and fat to the pan and continued to reduce the liquid to create some stock.

 Mr J and I had well filled hock & BBQ sauce sandwiches for lunch and after it had cooled,  I froze the remainder of the meat for use at a later date. As this was pork (rather than having been cured to make ham), I think next time I would add some salt to the stock during cooking.

The four hocks cost around £12 and yielded 1lb 6oz of lean cooked meat, which is enough for four meals for the two of us (8 good portions of meat). I will certainly be buying hocks again and next time will try curing them.

I bought this free range pork from Martha who I know and like the way she cares for her animals. 

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The Whole Hog Part 2 Liver Pate

When we bought half a pig from Martha last week I stored most of it in the freezer with the idea that, bit by bit, I would experiment with cooking the pork in different ways. I also want to explore just how much of a pig we will enjoy eating and which parts are just too funky for us to want to eat again. So Martha bought us some offal together with the muscle cuts to start our experiment. Next time she will bring us other parts of the pig to try, I find it frustrating that generally we eat such a limited percentage of an animal.

I've called this blog part 2 because I've already talked about roasting the large joints. After they were roasted I sliced and cubed the meat and froze it in two-people portion sized containers to use in meals at a later date. I also saved the jelly from the roasting trays, freezing it to use as a stock and gravy base. The dripping has been frozen while I've been looking for the best way to use it and store it. Curiously a video has very recently been uploaded to YouTube about how to do just this by Guildbrook Farm. It's an American video so the dripping is called 'drippings' (which gave us the giggles for the entire video), but it was a timely answer to my query.

Anyway, I have started with some of the easier dishes like a rich and creamy liver pate. I used around 2.5Kg of pig's liver in this recipe and the results are very tasty.

 First I chopped three large onions and softened them in a frying pan with ghee, adding some dried mixed herbs, mixed spice (which is usually used in fruit cake but add a rich, round warmth), salt, pepper, a pinch of paprika. When the onions were soft and the seasonings well incorporated, I removed the onions from the pan draining them as much as possible and put them into a heavy based deep saucepan.

 I gently cooked the liver pieces a few at a time and then added them to the onions and added some boiling water (not quite enough to cover the livers) Then I added some other flavourings including a shot of brandy, 1/4 pint of Kopparberg elderflower and lime cider, tomato puree, lots of garlic, the zest of an orange and a lemon, more black pepper, gluten free Worcestershire Sauce and a dash or two of balsamic vinegar.

 I also added a large handful of frozen hedgerow blackberries. Then I added 500g of butter. The mixture was cooked on a medium-low heat for 30 minutes to allow the butter to melt and blend into the liver mixture and for the flavours to infuse. I checked the taste and adjusted the seasoning a little by adding more salt and more balsamic vinegar.

 After the mixture had cooled for a little while (but not cold), I spooned some into the food processor leaving enough room for it to expand and blended it into a coarse pate for Mr J.

  This photo shows the texture of the pate for Mr J. I then blended another batch for myself that was much smoother. To help make it smoother I added some cool water to the blender. 
 I blended it until it was velvety smooth and then poured it into ramekins and jars.

I melted some more ghee (clarified butter) very gently and poured it over the pate making sure that no pate was protruding through the butter. Once cold and set, I covered the ramekins with greaseproof paper and then food wrap and froze them for later use. The jars had the lids put onto them and I've stored the pate in the fridge as these are not mason jars and there is a risk that the glass would crack in the freezer. I also put some into small plastic freezer tubs and put them into the freezer. It made around 5Kg of pate which should last us a few months.

Next I am going to render the leaf fat (from around the kidneys) into lard and I'll let you know how I get on when it's done.

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Lemon Drizzle Cake (improved)

Having practiced this Lemon Drizzle Cake many times, I have adjusted and improved my old recipe.

Lemon Drizzle Cake (improved)

Ingredients

4oz lightly salted Butter

2oz unrefined Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
Finely grated zest and juice of unwaxed Lemon
1 tspn Vanilla Extract
4oz Besan Flour (or chick pea flour)
2oz finely ground Cornmeal
1 level tspn gluten free Baking Powder
1/2 tspn Xanthan Gum
pinch Sea Salt crushed

For drizzling

2oz Icing Sugar

Finely grated zest and juice of unwaxed Lemon

6 fl oz hot Water

Method

Preheat oven to 375F, 190C, 170 fan, gas mark 5.
Grease and line or flour a 9 inch round tin or flan dish.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla extract and mix well. Stir in grated zest and juice of one lemon.

Sir in cornmeal, besan flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt and mix well
Pour into prepared tin or dish.
Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 25 minutes. Check that it is fully cooked using a skewer (if it comes out clean, the cake is ready).
Prick the top liberally with a cocktail stick or fork.
Prepare drizzling liquid by combining the icing sugar, zest and juice of lemon and hot water.
Drizzle the liquid over the cake while it is still hot (it should absorb most of the drizzle very quickly).
Leave to cool.
Turn cake onto a serving plate or serve from the flan dish.

Variations

If I don't have fresh lemons I substitute the lemons with Sicilian Lemon Extract or bottled lemon juice.

This cake also works well with 2 large tablespoons of lemon curd stirred into the cake mixture just before putting into the flan dish or tin.

You can use limes or oranges rather than lemons.

Served hot it makes a great sponge pudding.

o-o-o

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Beetroot & Apple Relish

I made some relish today, so thought I'd share the recipe.

Beetroot and Apple Relish

Ingredients (all measurements are approximate)

1lb raw beetroot, peeled

1lb cooking apples (I used windfalls)

10 medium small green tomatoes

1 large onion

large handful of flat leaf parsley

3oz sultanas

1lb unrefined granulated sugar

9 fl oz balsamic vinegar

cold water

1/2 inch cube fresh ginger

1tspn sea salt

1 tspn coarse ground black pepper

optional -

2 tblspn cooking brandy

2 tblspn ground cinnamon

Method

Wash the apples, core and chop into pieces approx. 1/2 inch in size. 

Chop peeled beetroot to similar size as apples.

Finely chop onion.

Roughly chop parsley.

Put all chopped ingredients and the sultanas into a heavy based deep pan and add enough cold water to cover the base of the pan and not quite cover all the ingredients.

Add the salt, pepper, very finely grated ginger

Bring to the boil stirring regularly with a wooden spoon and then add the sugar.

Once the sugar is dissolved add the vinegar.

I also added the cooking brandy and cinnamon, but it would be fine without them.

 Boil (but not too fiercely) until the beetroot and apples are soft and most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. 
Be careful when you stir the mixture as it may splash.
Once cooled serve as an accompaniment to cheese or cold meats.
Can be stored in the fridge for about a week or up to 6 months in the freezer.


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Abundance and Fruits of the Forage Jam recipe

As   we head towards the end of the first summer on our smallholding, the rhythm of my days is changing. Although I am up at around five each morning, I am no longer out in the garden right away because it's still dark. So for the first hour I'm now reading, watching and researching instead of doing that in the midday heat.

I've been gathering as much food as I can, to eat fresh and also to preserve. I have frozen kilos of mirabelles, fat juicy plums, elderberries, blackberries from the hedgerows, sliced runner beans, broad beans, chunky rainbow chard stems and mangetout.

In  the piggery I've stored the garlic bulbs and the onions will join them once they have ripened. Yet to come are the apples, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and a myriad of other vegetables. Some crops will stay in the ground over winter and should give us freshly picked vegetables throughout the winter and early spring.

By  sheer good fortune, my neighbours have a glut in some crops that either have failed in our kitchen garden or we haven't very much of and we have a glut of crops that haven't done too well in their garden. Being the sensible bunnies that we are, we have started to swap the excesses meaning that both families now have a wider selection of foods to eat now and to store for the winter.

Yesterday evening our neighbour dropped by with a carrier bag filled with plums which were a swap for runner beans that they have been having for the last few weeks. 

They've also said that I can help myself to windfall cooking apples which I am delighted about as I have been foraging blackberries from the hedgerows and can now make blackberry and apple pie filling to freeze. If there are enough cooking apples I will also make some blackberry and apple jam or jelly. The apples on our young trees are eating apples and there are not very many of them as yet because the trees are only four or five years old.

The success of some vegetables has inspired me for next year. I will plant many more beetroot (Boltardy) which have been very sweet and flavoursome this year, to make wine from next year. In the area between the perennial flower border and the vegetable garden I had planned to have cut flowers and herbs, but I will now have fruit instead. I will plant some fruit trees, underplanted with currant bushes, fruit canes and strawberry plants together with some complementary herbs. Some mint in a pot buried in the ground to go with the strawberries, some sweet cicely to help take the edge off the rhubarb, some licquorice roots, tarragon to go with the raspberries.

This afternoon I have made some of my favourite mixed fruit jam, which I'm calling 'Fruits of the Forage' Jam.

Fruits of the Forage Jam

Ingredients

3lbs of foraged fruit (I used 1lb cored windfall apples and 2lbs of stoned plums, blackberries and elderberries)
Juice of 1 Lemon
2lbs unrefined granulated sugar
1 glass red wine (optional)
7 fluid oz boiling water
1tblspn ground cinnamon
1tblspn ground ginger
2 dried cloves (ground in pestle and mortar)
1/2 tspn grated nutmeg

Method

Wash jam jars and put in heated oven to sterilise and put lids in a pan of boiling water, boil for 10 minutes to sterilise and leave in water until ready to use.

Wash and prepare the fruit, squeeze lemon juice over the fruit and put in a heavy based large pan with the glass of wine and boiling water. 

Cook until the fruit is soft stirring regularly to prevent it sticking to the pan. 

Add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. 

Stir in the sugar until dissolved.

Cook rapidly stirring to prevent sticking until setting point.

Remove jars from oven and leave to cool a little.

Spoon or ladle the jam into the jars (be careful because the jars will be hot).

Wipe the outside of the jars if necessary to remove any spilt jam, but avoid putting your cloth into the jar.

Using tongs, remove the lids one at a time from the pan of water and seal jars.

Once the jam has cooled in the jars, remember to label them to help avoid confusion later.

Use a deep pan to avoid splashes

Ready to put jam into jars

Use tongs to remove lids from hot water

Don't forget to label your Fruits of the Forage Jam

Creamy Pasta Chicken Italia recipe

Last night I made a lovely pasta dish, so thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Gluten Free Creamy Pasta Chicken Italia

Ingredients for 2 hungry folks or 4 for lunch

125g Tesco gluten free dried fusilli (or any other GF pasta)
Pan of boiling water
1 pack Heck Chicken Italia sausages cooked
1 small tub of Philadelphia cream cheese
2 large cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press or chopped very finely
Little grated nutmeg
Large pinch (or more to taste) coarse ground black pepper
Splash of milk if required
50g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
Sea salt to taste

Cook the sausages in your preferred method (I like to cook them in the oven)
Cook the pasta as per the manufacturer's instructions until al dente (cooked but still firm, you don't want soggy pasta in this dish!)
Cut the cooked sausages into small bite size pieces.
Drain the pasta once cooked and put in a medium large saucepan, add the chunks of sausage and crushed garlic and stir over a low heat for a few minutes to release the flavours of the garlic.

Turn off the heat, but leave the pan in place to use the residual heat on the cooker.
Stir in the cream cheese and it will start to melt and coat the food.
Add grated nutmeg and black pepper.
If the mixture is too thick and gloopy, add a little milk to make the sauce smoother, keep stirring gently so that it doesn't stick to the base of the pan.
Add the grated Cheddar cheese and stir gently until melted. Taste to check for seasoning and add a pinch of salt if required.
Serve with salad.

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