Cherry cake

This is adapted from a basic recipe in ‘The complete farmhouse kitchen cookbook’ – now a very old and rebound book with stains on the pages. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 175g margarine or butter – room temperature
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 125g self-raising flour
  • 75g plain flour
  • 50g ground almonds or almond flour
  • 175g glace cherries, washed, dried and cut into halves and quarters

METHOD:

  • Set the oven to 160C, and grease a 18cm square tin or 20cm round tin, and line with baking paper. I have also used a large loaf tin in an emergency, but the square tin works the best
  • Beat the fat and the sugar together to form a cream
  • Beat in the eggs one at a time
  • Sift the flours together and mix in the cherries so they are well coated (this keeps them apart in the cake) then stir in the ground almonds
  • Add the flour/almond/cherry mix to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, and fold until well mixed, and pour into the tin
  • Bake for 1 1/4 hours until firm and slightly shrinking from the sides of the tin

As a PS – if you sprinkle a little demerara sugar on the top just before putting into the oven…

 

 

Blackcurrant Jam

The secret of soft fruit jams is to cook the fruit before adding the sugar. The fruit should be tender; try simmering very slowly for around 15 minutes. Blackcurrants are very flavourful, and full of pectin, so this is a very straightforward jam to make.

For jars, I wash these in the dishwasher, and then put the lids into boiling water and the jars into the oven at 80 C.  

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 kg blackcurrants
  • 1.25 kg granulated sugar
  • 800 ml water

METHOD:

  • simmer the fruit and water until the blackcurrants are soft
  • stir in the sugar and cook slowly until the sugar has dissolved
  • Boil rapidly to the setting point. I use the cold saucer technique, so that a drop of hot jam on a cold saucer forms a wrinkle when pushed with a finger.
  • Pour into heated jars, and put the dried lids on. 

Blackcurrants go well with blueberries, blackberries, figs, grapes, lemon, lime, passion fruit, pears, raspberry, redcurrent, strawberries, ginger, mint, rosemary and thyme. You can also add rose or vanilla essence. If I am mixing flavours, I usually stick to two. Blackcurrant and mint is a favourite. 

Potato and green bean salad

Adapted from the BBC website to suit my ingredients.

I made this because I had Jersey Royal potatoes, some green beans, lots of open jars of stuff in the fridge, and fresh herbs in the garden. 

INGREDIENTS: 

  • 750g Jersey Royal or Charlotte potatoes, cut into chunks
  • A packet of long green beans, with the tops off and chopped in half
  • A bunch of mint leaves, chopped
  • A bunch of parsley, chopped
  • A sprig of lovage (optional) chopped
  • 50g capers, plus 1 tbsp brine from the jar
  • 50g cornichons, roughly chopped
  • 4 perello pickled green chillies, roughly chopped
  • juice of a lemon
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 180ml virgin olive oil
  • 4 spring onions, chopped

METHOD:

  • Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, and boil the potatoes for 12 minutes. 
  • Make the dressing; put the mint, parsley, lovage, capers, cornichons, chillies, lemon juice, mustard and olive oil in a blender with the caper brine, and blend to make an unctuous green and chunky dressing. You can adjust the ingredient list to taste and availability. 
  • Season the dressing with salt and pepper and stir in the chopped spring onions. 
  • When the potatoes have cooked for 12 minutes, add the green beans, simmer for another three minutes, and then drain, letting everything cool down and dry off. 
  • After 15 minutes, put the potatoes, beans and dressing into a bowl and fold together so everything is evenly mixed. 

And ready to serve

Beef curry in the oven

This is a very easy recipe from ‘Curry Easy’ – a regular source of inspiration. I made a smaller version than the recipe in the book. I served it with rice and a side serving courgettes, sliced into finger-sized lengths, quickly fried and sprinkled with salt, pepper, coriander, a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, 

INGREDIENTS:

  • vegetable oil
  • 3 green cardamom pods
  • a stick of cinnamon
  • 450 to 500g diced beef, in large chunks
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 200ml plain unsweetened yoghurt, whipped to smoothness
  • 1 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt

METHOD: 

  • Preheat the oven to 180C
  • Heat the oil in a casserole pan, and add the cardamom and cinnamon for a few seconds, before adding the meat, and stirring to ensure that each side is browned. Transfer the browned meat to a bowl .
  • Add the onions and cumin seeds to the casserole pan, and fry over a medium heat until the onions are beginning to brown.
  • Add the meat back to the pan along with the coriander, ginger, cayenne pepper and salt, then stir in the yoghurt. 
  • Cover the casserole dish and bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. Madhur Jaffrey suggests covering the dish with tin foil before putting the lid on, and this will keep the moisture in more effectively. 

 

Persian Chicken in a tomato sauce

This is a simple dish on its own, best served with rice or fried potatoes, or even chips. The main recipe I tried was from ‘Nightingales and Roses‘, one of my favourite sources for ideas. I made a smaller version than the one in the recipe book. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Vegetable oil or ghee
  • Jointed chicken, around 600g
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 3 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
  • 250ml stock or water
  • Juice of 1/2 a lime (or to taste)

METHOD:

  • Heat the oil in a casserole pan, and sear the chicken pieces until golden on all sides. Remove these from the pan and set aside
  • In the same oil, fry the onion until it is beginning to brown, before adding the turmeric, salt and pepper, and the tomato paste. Stir to combine and heat through for a minute or so, before adding the stock and bringing to a simmer.
  • Add the chicken back to the pan, cover with a lid, and leave to simmer slowly for 30 minutes. 
  • At the end of cooking, remove the lid, and add the lime juice to taste. Simmer for another 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked and tender. 

 

Kuku-ye Lubiya Sabz – Persian bean and potato fritata

This Persian dish is delicious hot or cold; a slice is excellent in a packed lunch, equally good as part of a lavish spread of food, as a side dish. There are a lot of traditional kuku recipes in Persian cookery, depending on seasonal vegetables. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • vegetable oil
  • 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced, and then rinsed in cold water and drained
  • 600g green beans, chopped into short segments
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 6 large eggs, lightly beaten

METHOD:

  • Heat some oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok, and cook the potato cubes over a medium heat for around 10 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oil and set aside. 
  • Fry the beans and diced carrots in the same oil for around 10 minutes or until they are starting to brown at the edges. Remove from the oil and leave to cool. 
  • Preheat the oven to 200C. While the oven is heating up, mix the salt, baking powder, spices and flour. In another bowl, mix the vegetables with the eggs, mix well and sprinkle in the flour and spice mixture. Stir the ingredients togehter
  • Oil a flan dish or other oven-safe dish, and then put it in the hot oven for a couple of minutes to heat the oil up. When it is really hot, take it from the oven and pour in the egg mixture, smoothing it level with a spatula. 
  • Bake for around 30 minutes, until the top is golden. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes before cutting into servings. 

Turkish chicken and lentil stew/soup

This is a very comforting, delicious soup. The flavours are simple, but it does take quite a bit of preparation. There’s a lot of fine chopping, as well as making some bread dough and noodles. I cheated a little bit with the dough and the noodles but it was still great. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 250ml olive oil 
  • 100g bread dough (I made the dough for one loaf in the bread maker, pinched off 100g and then nade a loaf of bread with the rest)
  • 80g clarified butter or ghee
  • 80g carrot, finely diced
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 300g boned chicken thighs, diced (I actually just put in 6 whole chicken thighs with the bone in, and it was great, making sure each serving had one thigh in it)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 80g green lentils
  • 1 litre of water
  • 1 litre of chicken stock
  • 200g potatoes, finely diced
  • 80g egg noodles (I used linguini, but the original recipe states these should be home-made)
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 bunch fresh coriander

METHOD:

  • Make little flat dumplings with the bread dough. I made a long thin sausage, and then pinched off bits about the size of a small marble.
  • Fry the little balls of dough in hot olive oil for around 5 minutes each. Remove them to drain on paper towels or a tea towel. 
  • In a large saucepan, heat the butter over a medium heat. Fry the carrot, onion and garlic for around 3 minutes, then add the chicken, salt, white pepper and green lentils in that order, stirring them in as you go. Cook for another 5 minutes. 
  • Pour in 1 litre of hot water and bring to a simmer, and cover the pan. Cook for 20 minutes.
  • Add the 1 litre of chicken stock, bring to a simmer again, cover the pan, and cook for 10 minutes. 
  • Add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes, still covered
  • Add the noodles, and cook with the lid off for around 7 minutes
  • Add the fried dough balls and cook for 3 more minutes. 
  • Remove from the heat, stir in the turmeric, and then serve garnished with chopped coriander. 

This is not quite a soup, not quite a stew, messy to eat, and very comforting. 

Beef meatballs with lemon and celeriac

I love celeriac, and was very sad when it was not available for a while. This is a deliciously tasty dish that I have been waiting to try, and now celeriac are back, I am busy hunting out the recipes. This one is from Ottolenghi’s book, ‘Simple’.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 450g beef mince
  • 1 onion, very finely chopped or grated (a food processer works well)
  • 120g plain breadcrumbs
  • 20g chopped parsley
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 3/4 tsp allspice
  • olive oil
  • 1 small or half a large celeriac, peeled, quartered and each quarter sliced into fans 1cm thick
  • 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 1/2 tsp lightly crushed fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 500ml stock
  • 3 to 4 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Put the mince, onions, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley and allspice in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and kneed the mixture together and then form into meatballs, about the size of a pingpong ball, or slightly smaller. Each ball should weigh around 40g
  • Heat the oil in a large saute pan that has a lid. Once the oil is hot, add the meatballs and fry them off over five minutes, turning them so that they are browned all over. Transfer them onto a plate so the pan is free for the next step.
  • Turn the heat up and add the celeriac, the rest of the spices and the garlic, and fry for a couple of minutes.
  • Once the garlic starts to colour, add the meatballs, stock, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and bring to the boil. Adjust the seasoning to taste. 
  • Simmer with the lid on for around 30 minutes, then take the lid off and reduce the sauce for around 10 minutes. 
  • Once cooked, remove from the heat for around 10 minutes. This gives you time to sort out any accompaniments. 

I served this with rice, and with some Greek yoghurt that I had seasoned with salt, pepper and mint. I garnished the dish with more parsley. 

Lamb and squash tagine

There’s always room in my life for more tagine recipes. This was prompted by the arrival of a large squash. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp ras-el-hanout
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 600g diced lamb
  • 1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced
  • 200g soft dried apricots
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • 500ml stock
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • coriander leaves, chopped
  • Salt and pepper

METHOD:

  • Heat the oven to 200C. 
  • In a casserole dish, heat the oil and cook the onion for five minutes until it is softening. Add the garlic and the spices and cook for another minute or two, stirring so the mixture doesn’t catch. 
  • Add the lamb, squash and apricots to the dish, mix and pour over the tomatoes and stock. Season wtih salt and pepper, bring to a simmer, and then cover. Transfer to the oven. 
  • After one hour, take it out to check progress,and to give it a stir and to check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. If it is a  bit too wet, take the lid off, and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes
  • Before serving, add the lemon zest and check the seasoning. 

Serve with rice and yoghurt, and a garnish of chopped coriander. 

Hot cabbage salad

This recipe came from a dear friend, who said it was Austrian. I’ve never had anything like it before or since, and I can’t find any reference to it anywhere. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/4 green cabbage
  • olive oil 
  • white wine vinegar (ratio = 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar)
  • chopped garlic
  • a little mustard
  • salt and pepper
  • Cumin seeds or Caraway seeds

METHOD:

  • Shred the cabbage and steam it for five minutes
  • While it is still hot, mix the dressing ingredients (everything else, according to your taste) and pour the dressing over the hot cabbage.