Forced Rhubarb and Pistachio Cake

February isn’t anyones favourite month of the year but, it is a time when the rose pink stems of forced rhubarb are in season, which, along with bunches of daffodils and snowdrops popping up everywhere, provides a welcome reminder that spring is on its way.

Rhubarb lends itself particularly well to orange and is perfection combined with this rich, buttery, green tinged pistachio cake and cool marscapone icing.

This mouth-wateringly tart and floral vegetable (not fruit!), is customarily used in fools and crumbles but can stand up to a range of flavours and effectively cuts through the richness of roast pork or lamb. Stewed, it works nicely on porridge or with a dollop of greek yoghurt. When roasted it keeps its shape and can be used to adorn tarts or accompany smoked mackerel for an easy supper. Dan Lepard suggests using 100g sugar to every 800g rhubarb, and roasting at 170C for about three quarters of an hour. Word of warning though – the leaves can be poisonous when consumed in large quantities and rhubarb shouldn’t be cooked in aluminium as it will react with the acid in the stems.

I made up this cake for my grandmother’s 87^th birthday and it made a yummy and unusual end to a long and boozy lunch.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

3 eggs (beaten)

2tsp orange blossom water

1 tsp vanilla essence

230g shelled, unsalted pistachios (pistachios can be quite pricey so some can be substituted with blanched or flaked almonds)

50g plain flour (sieved)

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

120g ground polenta

zest of 2 oranges

3 Rhubarb Stems

200g sugar

5 tbsp water

250g marscapone cheese (alternatively use cream cheese)

zest 1 orange & squeeze of its juice

1tsp orange blossom water

60g icing sugar (sieved)

The night before you want to make the cake, cut the rhubarb stems on a slight diagonal into 1/2 cm slices.  Dissolve the sugar in the water and pour over the rhubarb slices. Leave to macerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and line a cake tin

Place the rhubarb slices on some greaseproof paper (reserving the syrup).

Bake for about 15 minutes until just tender and leave to cool. If you don’t have time to macerate the rhubarb overnight you could skip this stage but it helps it to keep its shape and gives the syrup a lovely pink tinge. Pour the reserved syrup into a little pan and simmer until the quantity has been halved and it is viscous and syrupy. Leave to cool.

Lay out the pistachios onto a baking tray and toast in the oven for around 3-5 minutes until fragrant.  Once cool, blitz in a food processor until fine. Set aside. (Remember to reserve a few roughly chopped pistachios for decoration).

For the sponge, cream together softened butter and sugar with a wooden spoon, electric whisk or food processory until light and fluffy. Slowly trickle in the beaten eggs and once combined add in the vanilla essence and orange blossom water. Then fold in the ground pistachios, flour, baking powder, salt, polenta and orange zest. 

Once combined, spoon into the prepared cake tin, smooth over the top and bake for about 35 - 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Whilst the cake is cooking, whisk together the marscapone, icing sugar and zest. Add a squeeze of orange and adjust to taste.

Once the cake is cool smear on the marscapone icing and place the rhubarb slices on top in concentric circles. 

Brush with the syrup and sprinkle with the reserved chopped pistachios.

Peppers Piedmontese

A delicious, simple starter or light lunch. The recipe is a classic by the legendary Elizabeth David whom, I was intrigued to find out, my grandmother once had to lunch. She made roast pork, one of David's own recipes, which apparently went down a treat and I am trying to track down the recipe.

I made these roast peppers whilst in Andalucia and we ate them with a salad, some crusty bread and homemade guac - from a glut of avocados off the tree in the garden.

Ingredients

3 red peppers
3 medium tomatoes quartered or a handful of cherry tomatoes
6 tinned anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Fresh basil

Preheat the oven to 180C.

First cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds, keeping the stalks intact. Lay out the peppers in a roasting tray and share out the anchovy fillets, garlic and tomatoes amongst the peppers. Spoon one dessertspoon of olive oil into each pepper and season with pepper and only a little salt as the anchovies should provide enough.

Roast for around an hour. They should be yielding and dark around the edges. Sprinkle over some basil leaves and eat with the bread to mop up the juices.

Green Pancakes with Lemon Basil Butter and a Poached Egg

These Dr Seuss inspired verdant pancakes are adapted from a recipe of my ultimate food hero Yotam Ottolenghi. They make a healthy alternative to American Pancakes and can be whipped up quickly for a yummy brunch.

Ok - enough with the food porn and onto the important stuff:

Ingredients

For the pancakes:

110g self-raising flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1 egg & 1 egg white
50g melted unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
150ml milk
8 spring onions, finely chopped
1 chilli or 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
Handful of mint, basil and coriander
250g baby spinach
Olive oil for frying

For the Herbed Butter:

50g unsalted butter
Squeeze of lemon & lemon zest (lime can be used)
Small bunch of finely chopped basil & mint
1/4 clove of crushed garlic
Salt and Pepper

Serves 3-4

First, beat the butter until soft and add a squeeze of lemon and its zest. Stir in the finely chopped basil and crushed garlic and season to taste. Set aside.

Fill a wide heavy bottomed pan with water, add salt and a couple of capfuls of vinegar, which will help the egg to set whilst poaching. Bring to the boil.

For the pancakes, wilt the spinach in a pan with a spoonful of water. Once cool, put into a sieve and squeeze out as much water as possible. Chop the spinach finely.

For the batter, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, 1 egg, melted butter, cumin, milk. Beat until smooth.

Stir in the spring onion, chilli, spinach, finely chopped herbs. Whisk the egg white into soft peaks and fold into the batter.

At this point this little fella gave me the fright of my life:

Pour a little olive oil into a wide frying pan and place on a medium/high heat.

For each pancake place 1-2 desert spoons of batter into the pan, smooth out and cook for around 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.

For the poached eggs, turn the heat down under the pan of water until it is still. Crack an egg into a cup and carefully drop into the water. It should take around 2 minutes to cook. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place onto some kitchen roll.

Serve the pancakes topped with a smear of herby butter and an egg.

 YUMMM!!!

The Best Chocolate Cake

No chocolate cake I have tried has beaten this one. Dense, rich and mousse-like, a slither will do. It uses an obscene amount of chocolate and is a must for any chocolate lover. 

Ingredients

300g good quality plain chocolate

230g unsalted butter, softened

300g caster sugar

60g plain flour

8 eggs (separated)

Ganache Icing:

300g good quality plain chocolate

350g double cream

Chocolate Leaves:

100g good quality plain chocolate

Bunch of mint leaves

 Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a cake tin.

Melt the chocolate in a bain marie (heatproof bowl placed over a pan of simmering water). Don’t stir the chocolate at this stage as it can go lumpy.

Stir in the cubed butter until melted. Leave to cool slightly then add the egg yolks, sifted flour and add the sugar.

  

Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff peaks. Make sure the bowl is clean otherwise they won’t whip. 

Fold half the whites into the chocolate mixture with a spatula or metal spoon. There is no other raising agent in this cake so keeping in as much air as possible is essential. Fold in the remaining egg whites.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for around 45 minutes. It should be slightly underdone in the middle. If tested with a skewer it may appear under cooked, but it will firm up as it cools. The cake is prone to sinking slightly in the middle so it should be iced upside down.

Meanwhile, make the icing by placing the cream and chocolate in a bain marie and stirring until melted.

 Once the cake is cool, pour over the ganache and leave to set.

Chocolate Leaves

Melt the chocolate in a bain marie. Pick the mint leaves off the stalks and with a paint brush, paint the underside of the leaves with a thick layer of chocolate. Leave to set in the fridge and carefully peel the leaf off the chocolate. Some of these will break, so it is wise to make extra.

Arrange the leaves on top of the cake. In summer it looks pretty to add some crystallised rose petals.