Died and Scone to Heaven

After years of searching for the perfect scone recipe I have found it. No more explanation needed - check out these babies:

Jam of choice is blackcurrant.

Ingredients

450g self raising flour
175g cold unsalted butter
2 large pinches of salt
75g caster sugar
2 large eggs
6 tbsp butter milk (or full fat milk with a squeeze of lemon)

Preheat oven to 190C, put on the kettle and turn on radio 4.

Rub butter into the flour until it looks like fine breadcrumbs and the butter is entirely dispersed. The easiest way of doing this is in a food processor. Stir in the sugar and salt.

Next, whisk the eggs and buttermilk together until well combined and fluffy. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until it comes together. The less the dough is handled, the better the scones will come out so as soon as the dough has come together, gently roll out until it is 3cm high and cut out the scones.

Place on a lined baking tray, brush with milk and put in the oven for around 25 minutes until light gold.  Devour whilst warm with lots of cream and jam and tea.

Cream to scone ratio of 5:1

Caspar was a fan

The perfect Sunday afternoon tea.


If you prefer a savoury scone use only 40g sugar and add 2 pinches black pepper.

Cheese and Wine Night: Rosemary and Almond Crisp Bread & St. Clement's Cake

Last weekend I had some friends round for a cheese and wine night. I made a few things to go with the cheese and wine but didn't have to spend all night in the kitchen, which allowed some time to work on my table laying skills:

Rosemary and Almond Crisp Bread

These bakes are incredibly moreish and the whole batch were consumed at great speed. I came up with these after single handedly eating a whole bowl bought by someone for a party I went to.

I used almonds, currants and sunflower seeds, but you can use any combination of fruit and nuts you like. Pecan, pumpkin seed and cranberry or chopped dried figs and hazelnuts would work well.

Ingredients:

300g plain flour (can also use wholemeal or 50/50 plain/wholemeal)
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
500 mls buttermilk
2tsp brown sugar
2tsp honey
200g currants
200g skin on almonds (chopped)
50g sunflower seeds
1 1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
3tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. 

Add the buttermilk, sugar, honey and olive oil and mix until combined. Then stir through the dried fruit, nuts and rosemary until evenly distributed. 

Pour the batter into two lined and greased bread tins - the wider the tin, the thinner the biscuits will be. Bake for around 40 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Once cool, slice the loaves as thinly as possible.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C. Lay out the slices on a baking tray.

Bake for around 15 minutes. Turn over and bake for a further 10 or so minutes, or until crisp and browned. 

These went down particularly well dipped into garlicky, molten baked camembert.


I also made a big green salad with pumpkin seeds fried in a little olive oil, some shaved red cabbage and crumbled feta (in case there wasn't enough cheese already). 

The food went down a treat - except for with Dan, who unbeknownst to me doesn't like cheese...or cake. 

St. Clement's Cake


You know the song - 'Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's' ... well for pudding, I wanted to make something relatively light to offset all the cheese. This cake is adapted from an Ottolenghi recipe. It is moist and citrussy and goes well with a dollop of creme fraiche. 

Ingredients:

For the caramelised orange top:

100g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter
3 oranges

For the sponge:

50g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
3tsp orange blossom water
200g ground almonds
120g ground polenta
zest of 2 lemons and 3 oranges

For the syrup:

Juice of 2 lemons (used for the zest in the cake) and 1 orange
3 tbsp caster sugar

Apricot Jam or marmalade to glaze

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin - it is best not to use a loose bottomed tin as it will leak.

First off prepare the caramel. Add the sugar into a heavy bottomed pan with 2 tbsp water, stir until combined. Turn on the heat and slowly dissolve the sugar syrup, do not stir the mixture - as caramel is notoriously temperamental and this may make it crystallize. Brush down any crystals that form on the side of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in some water. Bring the sugar to the boil and make sure you keep watching as it can burn very suddenly. As soon as the caramel is golden, add in the butter and swirl into the pan, but watch out as this can spit. 

Pour into the the cake tin. 






Next, zest the oranges and set aside. Slice the top and bottom off the oranges, and slice off the skin. 
Then finely slice them, removing any pips or pith. Lay out in the tin on top of the caramel.

I tend to do this with a hand whisk as it gives a bit more control than a food processor. Once light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time and continue beating until incorporated. If the mixture starts to curdle, add in a bit of flour. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well. Finally, stir in the citrus zest and orange blossom water, which adds an interesting floral dimension to the cake - but can be left out if you don't have any.

Dollop the batter onto the oranges and smooth out the top. Bake for around 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 

Meanwhile make the syrup by mixing the citrus juice with the sugar and bubbling until reduced slightly. Taste and adjust the sugar depending on how tart the lemons are. Once the cake is ready, whilst still hot and in the tin, poke it all over with a skewer and pour over the syrup. Leave to cool slightly and turn out onto a wire rack. Heat the jam or marmalade with a little water and brush over the top of the cake. 

We finished off the evening with my favourite game - Articulate.

Quince Cheese

The quince’s heyday in Britain centred in the 16^th and 17^th centuries and the first quince preserves originated way back in Roman times. The Ancient Greeks associated the quince with Aphrodite, the goddess of love and it was believed that it was the forbidden fruit that lured Eve in the Garden of Eden.

So the quince’s glory days may be long gone, but there has been something of a revival in recent years and rightly so, as these fruit are versatile and well-worth picking up if they can be found. Surprisingly the trees fare very well in Britain - my sister has one, which grows very happily in her garden in York and produces the most delicious tart and fragrant quinces I have had.

The quince comes from the same family as apples and pears, but is eaten exclusively once cooked – the raw fruit has a bitter flavour and tough flesh. They have a distinctive tart, perfumed flavour that works very well with all sorts of meat. I ate it with belly of pork once, which brilliantly cut through the richness of the fatty meat. It can be roasted or poached until tender and eaten for pudding with Greek yoghurt, added into a fruit tart or pickled. 

Most commonly quince is eaten as a paste-like preserve - Quince Cheese, known in Spain as Dulce de Membrillo. The Spanish tend to eat Membrillo with hard cheeses such as Manchego. It can also be cubed, rolled in sugar and eaten as a sweet, or added into savoury recipes to add a degree of tart sweetness. Nigel Slater suggests using it as a fruity alternative to marmalade to glaze a roast ham.

This recipe takes a bit of patience, but is absolutely worth it and makes a great present. The only difficulty is to know when to stop the cooking, as it can become tough and gluey if taken too far. I made it when I was in Spain, and was lucky enough to be given access to a neighbour’s tree. We ate it outside in the sun, with a big salad, some Jamón and a hard sheeps cheese from a charming local shop.

Quince Cheese

Ingredients:

1.5kg Quinces

Juice 2 Lemons

Approx 1kg Granulated Sugar

Wash the quinces thoroughly, scrubbing to remove any dirt or blemishes. If the quinces are furry, this is a sign that they are under ripe. Chop into segments and add them - skin core and all - into a large saucepan. Pour cold water into the pan, until the fruit are just covered, add the lemon juice and bring to the boil. 

Note: Keeping the seeds, skin and core on the quinces when cooking will add to the flavour and increase the amount of pectin, which will help it set.

Simmer for a couple of hours, or until soft and almost falling apart, then push the soft quinces through a sieve until all that is left is the seeds and skin. 

Measure the quince purée and pour it back into a clean saucepan. Then add 450g sugar for every 500ml of purée. 

Stir until the sugar has dissolved and bring to the boil. Then you will need to stand and stir constantly for around 30 minutes or until the mixture is a rust red colour and leaves a clean line when you pull a spoon through it. 

This takes patience and a radio will help. Watch out though, as it can spit and easily burn your arms – rubber gloves are a good idea.

Prepare suitable moulds – I used loaf tins, lined with foil and oiled lightly. You can also use sterilised and oiled kilner jars, or any shape mould you wish but make sure you will be able to turn out the paste at a later date. Pour in the paste and leave to set. Seal when cold. This can be kept for up to a year.

Cavalo Nero and Herb Filo Pie

This was inspired by a vegetarian filo tart I had whilst at Filmore and Union, a really great café in the centre of York, which is definitely worth a visit. Cavalo nero is an Italian dark green leaf, similar to Kale, it can be easily substituted for other vitamin rich greens, such as spinach or chard. This made a perfect light weekend lunch - I made it for some girlfriends, who gave it their seal of approval!

Ingredients

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

¼ tsp Chilli flakes

½ tsp Turmeric

½ tsp Ground Coriander

¼ tsp Cumin

2 Sweet potatoes

1 large Red (or white) onion

500g cavalo nero (or Swiss Chard / Spinach) stems and leaves thinly sliced but kept separate

1 clove garlic (crushed)

3 spring onions (thinly sliced)

20g (small bunch) flat-leaf parsley, chopped

20g (small bunch) mint, chopped

250g ricotta

100g feta (crumbled)

100g cheddar (grated)

grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

2 eggs

100g toasted pine nuts (these can be substituted for roughly chopped toasted almonds)
50g currants (or raisins)

1 pack filo pastry (usually around 270g)

Preheat oven to 210°C/190°C fan/ gas mark 6

First peel and chop the sweet potatoes into small cubes. Place on a baking tray and toss with a tablespoon or so of olive oil, salt and pepper and the spices until evenly coated. Place in the oven for around 20 minutes, until cooked through.

Note – the turmeric in this is to add colour, it also has anti-carcinogenic properties, but be careful, as it will stain most things on contact.

Next finely chop the onion and soften in a shallow pan in some more olive oil. Once soft, add in the Cavalo Nero/chard stems and the garlic and continue to cook on a low heat for a little longer. Take off the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, add a little oil into a large pan and add in the Cavalo Nero/chard leaves, stirring for about 5 minutes on a medium heat until wilted and softened.  It will look like a lot at first, but these greens contain a lot of water and will shrink in volume quite considerably.  When cooked, turn off the heat and leave to cool. Once cool enough to handle, place into a sieve and squeeze out as much liquid as you can – in order to ensure the pastry stays crisp underneath.

Mix together the ricotta, cheddar, feta, eggs and lemon zest in a large bowl. Add in the chopped spring onions, parsley, mint, pine nuts and currants and season with salt and pepper. Combine with the greens and sweet potato. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Lay out a sheet of filo pastry, brush with some olive oil and lay in a deep loose-bottomed tart tin or a baking tray. It should be metal though as this will conduct the heat more effectively, making the base and sides crisp. Cover with another sheet of oiled filo until you have around five layers of filo evenly distributed over the tin, like the petals of a daisy, with the excess hanging over the sides. Don't worry if the filo cracks and breaks, this is the nature of the pastry.

Place the filling on top of the pastry, spread out and bring the overhanging filo up to join in the centre of the pie. 

Brush with some more olive oil and cook in the oven at 210°C/190°C fan/ gas mark 6 for 45 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. 

Serve with a green salad.

Frugal Food: Le Cassoulet

In the spirit of January and my list (catalogue) of New Year's resolutions, who could do better than look to Delia's Frugal Food for edible inspiration.

  

This recipe is inspired by her 'Poor Man's Cassoulet' and uses lots of store cupboard essentials so is perfect for whipping up for a quick weekday supper. Pulses are brilliant, packed full of good things like protein and fibre and are very economical to buy. This is virtuous food, but most importantly, c’est délicieux!!

Sausage Cassoulet

(also known as sausage and beans)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

8 good quality herby sausages or 16 chipolatas or a sliced chorizo sausage

300g smoky bacon or pancetta

Olive oil

2 preferably red or white onions (finely chopped)

1 large carrot (finely chopped)

1 stick of celery (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic (crushed or finely chopped)

Sprig Thyme and/or Rosemary

1 Bay leaf

300 mls red wine (leave out and replace with extra tinned toms if you're on a budget)

1-2 tin tomatoes (chopped)

300g dried cannellini beans or 1-2 cans ready cooked beans

parsley (optional)

Do note that there is no exact science to this recipe - it can be altered to taste and to what you have at hand. 

First, if you are using dried beans, soak them overnight, drain then cover with a generous amount of cold water and bring to the boil for 15-20 mins (don't add salt to the water - this will toughen them), drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200˚C/400˚F/gas 6.

Next, cook the sausages in a large, deep frying pan or heavy bottomed casserole, turning occasionally until well browned all over (because nobody likes a soggy sausage). Remove and set aside.

Slice up the bacon and fry off in the same pan until golden. Once the fat is golden, add in the finely chopped onion, celery and carrot and sauté on a low heat until soft. (You may need to add extra olive oil to the pan at this stage, if the bacon has not rendered enough of its own.) Once the vegetables have softened and are almost done, add in the garlic and cook for a few more minutes.

Note: I always add garlic in after the onions are cooked as garlic takes less time to cook than onions and can burn easily, which turns it bitter and takes away the glorious pungency which is needed here. Also make sure your onions are finely chopped and well cooked because prominent pieces of firm onion are not what we’re after – all of this forms part of the flava base!

Finely chop up your rosemary/thyme, dried herbs would also work, but fresh is usually better. I used a sprig of both rosemary & thyme for a strong aromatic kick, do this to taste (not as much as in the pic though - that might be excessive). Alternatively add in a sprig without chopping, for a more subtle flavour, but remember to fish it out later!

Add the Herbs to the pan with the bay leaf and red wine and bring to a simmer, reduce slightly.

Add the tomatoes to the pan along and season with salt and a generous amount of pepper. 

Finally add in the beans and stir well. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins. Taste and give it a final seasoning, before arranging the sausages on top.

Place in the oven for around 40 minutes until the sausages are golden and some of the liquid has evaporated. 

Sprinkle with parlsey et voila!

For extra greenery you could also stir through some raw spinach at the end, which will be wilted by the residual heat.

Serve with: crusty bread / polenta / mashed potato / steamed kale / green salad

Variations:

- for a Spanish version, add some paprika to the cooked vegetables at the start and use chorizo or a spiced sausage

- this can be made with a variety of different beans and lentils so try what you have to hand

- use fresh tomatoes and water in place of tinned, or tomato paste and water