GLUTEN FREE LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

Who doesn't love a lemon drizzle cake?

They are always immensely popular at cake stalls.

I made this gluten free version recently for a cake stall at a local village event and it sold really well.

The recipe comes from a handy little book called "200 gluten free recipes" published by Hamlyn.  It lists using brown rice flour but I used Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour with a little extra GF baking powder.

It was a simple, all-in-one kind of recipe, dead easy to make, and looked stunning.  I wouldn't normally include lemon zest in the drizzle, just lemon juice, but it looked great and was very lemony.  I don't often get to taste the cakes given for a cake stall but I was keen to try this one.  The recipe made a huge cake and with the lemon zest in the drizzle did not need any further adornment.  Definitely a keeper of a recipe and one to use again.

Ingredients

For the cake

250g butter, softened, or baking spread

250g caster sugar

250g gluten free self raising flour

3/4 tsp gluten free baking powder

4 eggs, beaten

1 lemon, zest and juice

For the topping

100g granulated sugar

2 lemons, zest and juice

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Butter a large, 2lb/900g loaf tin or use a paper liner.

Place all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat together with a hand held electric whisk until well combined and fluffy.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the top.  Tap on the worktop a few times to release any trapped air.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and firm.  Remove from the oven and prick all over with a skewer, cake tester or cocktail stick.

To make the drizzle mix the lemon zest, juice and sugar together in a small bowl.  Spoon the drizzle evenly over the cake and leave it to cool in the tin.

Cuts into 10-12 generous slices.

GLUTEN FREE BANANA AND WALNUT CAKE

In making cakes for a recent cake stall I took on the task of baking for people who like a slice of cake but need it to be gluten free.  This banana and walnut cake turned out really well using Doves Farm gluten free flour.

I didn't get to taste it but it smelled lovely when baked and it seemed nice and moist when I sliced it to serve to customers.  Sometimes gluten free cakes can seem a bit dry and crumbly.  Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour already contains xantham gum, something which helps to avoid the sandy, crumbly texture.

I do worry a bit when making gluten free cakes.  Being a vegan seems to me to be a voluntary lifestyle choice but requiring a gluten free diet is a serious health issue and it only takes a small amount of contamination to make people quite poorly.  Consequently I always bake gluten free cakes using a brand new pack of butter and sugar, to make sure there has been no accidental dipping of a spoon used for ordinary flour into an opened pack.  I also made sure there were separate knives and tongs for serving the gluten free and the vegan cakes, something that can be easily overlooked and cause problems.

It was an easy cake to make and it sold well.  I adapted a recipe on the website "Coeliac by Design".

Ingredients

For the cake

140g butter, softened, or baking spread

140g caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, beaten

140g gluten free self raising flour

2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

50g chopped walnuts

For the topping

1 tblsp demerara sugar

banana chips or walnut halves to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk4.  Butter and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin or use a paper liner.

Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat together with a hand held electric mixer until well combined.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.  Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and decorate with the walnut halves or banana chips.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until done.  Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully lifting out (GF cakes can be slightly fragile) onto a cooling rack.

Cuts into 8-10 slices.

VEGAN BANANA AND WALNUT CAKE

There is an annual autumn event in a nearby village that requires a few cakes, raising a good amount of funds for the village entertainment committee.  The French it seems are fascinated by, and very fond of, English baking.

For a few years now I have been contributing a cake or three and for the last two years braved the selling of cakes which requires a certain amount of French speaking.  It was challenging at times but light hearted and fun until last year when my friend and I were chastised in French by a couple of ladies asking for vegan cakes.  We didn't have any.  

All the cakes are donations towards village funds by local people, mostly English.  The classic English cakes are usually the best sellers and for the last two years everything sold out down to the last crumb.

This encounter with the two vegan ladies stung a bit.  On the day they opted for a slice of gluten free cake as if that would do instead and there is often a selection of those to choose from.  So, this year I decided to try to redress the balance by making a couple of vegan cakes.  Then at least we could say we had had some even if they had sold out by the time the two vegan ladies turned up!  As my friend said, you can't control who buys them and some none vegans will try a slice just to see what they're like!  

I opted for easy recipes and discovered that it essentially requires oil instead of eggs and butter with maybe a bit of extra baking powder.  I was surprised how good this one looked and it smelled divine (as banana cakes usually do).  I didn't get to taste it but it sold well.  You can see the recipe I adapted here.

Ingredients 

3 ripe bananas, peeled

75ml vegetable oil (I used sunflower)

100g soft light brown sugar

225g plain flour

3 tsp baking powder

3 tsp ground cinnamon (or mixed spice)

50 chopped walnuts 

walnut halves or banana chips to decorate

1 tblsp demerara sugar (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200° / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Oil a 2lb/900g loaf tin or put in a paper liner.

In a large bowl, mash the peeled bananas.  Add the oil and sugar and mix well.

Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and mix well.  Add the chopped walnuts and mix well.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.  Add walnut halves or banana chips to decorate.  Sprinkle over the demerara sugar if using.

Bake for 20 minutes and cover loosely with foil if the cake is already nice and brown to prevent scorching.  Bake for another 20-30 minutes until done.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cuts into 8-10 slices.

COURGETTE, CAULIFLOWER AND BLUE CHEESE SOUP (soup maker recipe)

With a large chunk of our giant courgette still in the veg drawer I decided to make soup for lunch.  Courgettes have very little flavour so I added about half a cauliflower and the usual mix of soup veg, stirring in the cheese once it was cooked.

I used the spreadable blue cheese that I get in France (delicious on crusty bread, crackers or toast) and I don't know if anything similar is available in the UK as I have never looked for it but any blue cheese crumbled into the just cooked soup so that it melts would work.  It was a delicious, delicately flavoured soup, perfect for the season.

You may also like another blue cheese soup recipe, using cauliflower leaves and broccoli stalks which you can see here.

Ingredients

1 large onion

2 medium potatoes

1 courgette

½ a cauliflower

1 vegetable stock pot (I used garlic and thyme)

a squirt of garlic paste (optional)

1 tblsp blue cheese spread (or a chunk of any blue cheese, crumbled)

Method

Prepare and chop enough veg to fill the machine to the bottom line.

Add the stock pot and garlic paste and enough water to fill to the top line.

Cook on the smooth setting

Makes 4 generous servings

CARROT AND GINGER SOUP #2 (soup maker recipe)

Having appeared to have died a few months ago, my trusty soup maker decided to spring into life just as normal when I made this soup.  Maybe it just needed a rest!

This is a light, delicately flavoured soup, just right for the early autumn, a bright and cheery colour that reminds me of the sunflowers that have only just been harvested and the warmth of late summer days.   The starlings are gathering on the electricity wires and spontaneously treat us to the beauty of a graceful murmuration, a sure sign that summer is over but I'm not quite ready yet for hefty soups and casseroles and hang on to the remnants of blue skies and sunshine.  

Ingredients 

4 large carrots

2 medium potatoes 

1 onion

2 sticks of celery

Zest and juice of 1 large orange

1 vegetable stock pot

1 tsp ground ginger (or a squirt of ginger paste, add more to taste once cooked)

salt and pepper to taste

Method 

Wash and peel the veg and chop into large chunks.  Add enough veg to the machine to reach the bottom line.

Add the stock pot, ginger and salt and pepper then water to fill to the top line.

Cook on the smooth setting.

Add a swirl of cream if you like.

Makes 4 generous servings.

SALMON WITH BRAISED CABBAGE AND BACON

The weather has cooled down a lot and although there are some warmer days forecast it definitely feels autumnal now and we feel more like "proper cooking" as opposed to barbecues, quiches and salads.

This is a version of something I cooked a few years ago to a much more involved recipe.  

The sauce is one we make regularly which also works well with chicken or pork.  It’s a method we call "camp cooking" as that’s how we used to cook ourselves a decent dinner while on holiday - chicken in a creamy sauce done in a frying pan, having brought a separate pan of potatoes up to the boil and left to cook by themselves.  It’s amazing what you can do with a one burner camping stove with a little imagination.

For this version, the cabbage was cooked until just done then stirred through the hot sauce.  The salmon fillets were cooked plain and simple in the air fryer, or you could oven bake or fry them.  I added some courgette just because we have so many to use up but you could leave that out.  We had ours with plain boiled potatoes as the dish is already very rich - and delicious!

Ingredients 

half a small hard white cabbage, roughly shredded

1 small courgette, diced (optional)

a splash of vegetable oil

1 onion or shallot, chopped

a small pack (125g) lardons (we prefer smoked)

2-3 tblsp full fat crème fraîche

2 small salmon fillets

a few snipped chives

Method

Cook the shredded cabbage in boiling water until just tender.  Drain and set aside.

Cook the salmon fillets separately using an air fryer or by baking in the oven or in a frying pan.  They will  take 12-15 minutes.  Keep your eye on them as it’s easy to overcook and they’re best if just done and flaky.

In a deep sauté pan or large frying pan heat a splash of oil and add the onion, courgette and lardons.  Cook on medium heat until the onion and courgette are just tender.

Add the crème fraîche a spoonful at a time, stirring on low heat, until you have plenty of sauce.  Season with black pepper but very little salt.  Tip the drained cabbage into the pan and stir through the sauce.

Place the salmon on the bed of cabbage, sprinkled with snipped chives.  Serve with plain potatoes or pasta.

Serves 2.

COURGETTES ON TOAST #2

Blogger friend Angela recently posted about leftovers, how not to waste them and how to make a delicious meal from what could easily be just thrown away.  Sometimes it takes quite a bit of imagination to do that.  See here.

Whilst on holiday in our gite in Brittany on a rainy day we decided to stay indoors and do some painting.  The gite was a long way from any shops so I aimed to produce lunch from what we had in rather than go on a long trek for supplies.  What we really fancied was beans on toast but we had no beans!  We did have sliced bread for sandwiches but also had half a baguette from the day before, so I decided to use that.

It turned out really well, almost like ratatouille on toast!  Very tasty and something I would do again.

However, on return from our holiday we found that our rogue courgette plant had produced these monsters!  Even with quite a bit of imagination I'm not sure we can keep them from the compost heap!

Ingredients 

A splash of olive oil

Half a small courgette 

Half each of a small red and a small green pepper, de seeded 

Four mushrooms 

Two small tomatoes 

1 tsp herbes de Provence (or a dash of chilli flakes or Worcestershire sauce would work)

A sprinkle of grated parmesan

Two eggs

Half a stale baguette

Method 

Wash and dice all the veg.  Heat the oil in a small saucepan and add the veg and herbs, adding the tomatoes last and cooking gently until soft.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut the baguette into four chunks.  Slice through into halves vertically and remove the crust.  Toast.

Serve the veg piled onto buttered toast, sprinkle with parmesan and topped with a fried egg. (Or poached, or scrambled if you prefer, but sometimes only a fried egg hits the spot.)

Serves 2.

TOMATO SAUCE

Our tomato harvest has been less than normal this year, as we only planted four plants, but we are still not keeping up with the supply.  So as per previous years I have been hunting for ways to use them and this time, I decided to make tomato sauce.

I found a recipe for a simple tomato sauce on the internet and adapted it, as always, to what I had in stock.  I used most of our home grown tomatoes, reserving a small dishful for use in salads and sandwiches.  The original recipe was for 500g of tomatoes but I had three times that when I weighed the ones that were ready for using so I scaled it up.  You can see the recipe here.

1½ kilos of tomatoes made a full litre of the most delicious garlicky sauce, perfect for pasta or for adding to pies, stews and soups.  After using some straight away I divided the rest into 300g portions using ziplock bags for the freezer.  If you flatten the sealed bags before freezing they take up less space in the freezer.

Ingredients 

500g / 1500g ripe home grown tomatoes 

2tblsp / 6tblsp extra virgin olive oil

4 / 12 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped 

a good handful of fresh basil or 3 tsp dried basil

Salt to taste

Method

Roughly chop the tomatoes, removing any scarred or damaged bits.  No need to peel.

Heat half of the olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat.  Add half of the tomatoes, turn the heat down to low and add the garlic.

Add the remaining tomatoes and cook gently until they begin to break down, stirring regularly.

Add the remaining olive oil and salt to taste and cook on a low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring regularly.

5 minutes before the end of cooking add the torn basil leaves and/or dried basil.

When cool transfer to a food processor and process until as smooth as you want it, or use a stick blender in the pan (be aware it may splatter and tomato stains can be very stubborn).

Makes 33cl / 1 litre of sauce which will keep for a week in the fridge.  Freezes well.

You might be interested in other ways I have used tomatoes:

airport potatoes

preserved roast tomatoes

ratatouille

roast salmon with courgettes and tomatoes

gazpacho soup

smoked salmon and halloumi stuffed courgettes

roasted cod with potatoes and tomatoes

stuffed chicken fillets

tomato, ham and goat's cheese tart

noggle end tomato tarts

roasted tomato soup

courgette and tomato gratin

easy tomato and cheese tart

green tomato chutney

QUICK AND EASY LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Lemon meringue pie was a real treat when I was a child and my mum usually made it using a Green's pie filling mix.  I was reminded of this when reading a recent post in "Lavender and Lovage" about the Be-Ro recipe for it (see here).

Hence, on my recent trip to the UK I bought some of the packet mixes and I was keen to relive the memories.  Using ready made pastry it was done in no time at all and was exactly as I remembered it, especially as I made it in my ancient Pyrex pie dish, just like Mum would have done.

Of course, she always made her own pastry as I'm not sure there was any other option in the 50’s and 60’s and in any case, shop bought would have seemed far too extravagant!

It’s a delicious, quick and easy dessert and there was that glorious crunch when I cut the first slice - something that I always think of as a "Mary Berry moment"!

Ingredients 

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry

one sachet of Green's lemon pie filling (each pack contains two sachets)

2 medium eggs, separated

280ml (half a pint) cold water 

110g caster sugar

Method 

Remove the pastry from the fridge about 15 minutes before you start to bring it up to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Grease a 20cm pie dish and line it with the unrolled pastry.  Trim and crimp the edges then prick the base with a fork.  Line it with the baking parchment that comes with the pastry, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk 3.

While the pastry case is baking, make the filling according to the packet instructions:  

Tip the sachet contents into a small saucepan and stir in the water until it's smooth.  Add the egg yolks and heat gently until it comes to the boil.  Cook for one more minute and allow to cool slightly.

Remove the pie dish from the oven, remove the baking paper and beans and pour in the lemon filling.

To make the meringue, put the egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk until stiff.  Add the sugar one spoon at a time and whisk again until stiff and glossy.

Spoon the meringue mixture over the lemon filling beginning at the edges.  Spread the meringue out to fill in the gaps and swirl to level and make a few peaks.

Bake for 25 minutes until the meringue is golden brown.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 5-6 portions.

BEEF STROGANOFF

Back home in the UK for one of our regular visits, I met my brother at a quaint little Italian restaurant near Nottingham where I chose beef stroganoff from the menu.  I hadn’t had this for years and it was utterly delicious.  The steak was as tender as tender could be and the sauce rich and silky.  The restaurant owner said it’s not very Italian but when they try to take it off the menu people ask for it so they have to bring it back!

Back in France I was keen to recreate it for Nick and myself at home.  A short break in the current heatwave gave us a cooler evening when we could sit out in comfort and enjoy it.  Followed by cheese (using my new cheese plates) and plum and apple crumble using fruit from our own trees.  

I adapted this recipe from the Good Food website.  The break in the heat was all too brief and we were soon back to bbq and salad.

I found these cheese plates in a UK charity shop and acquired a second set so eight in total.  Perfect for a dinner party!

Determined to get them back to France I carried the boxes of them in my hand (under the seat in front) luggage and as predicted, they caused some confusion at the security scanner.  I suspect they might have looked like land mines!

Ingredients

1 tblsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, crushed or grated

1 large knob of butter

a handful of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 tblsp plain flour

300g fillet steak or good quality frying steak, sliced

2 tblsp crème fraîche

1 tsp French mustard

100ml beef stock (or dry white wine) I used ½ a beef Oxo cube dissolved in boiling water

Method

Fry the onion in the olive oil on medium heat, until softened.  Add the garlic and fry briefly.

Add the butter to the pan then the mushrooms.  Fry until soft (about 5 minutes).  Tip everything out of the pan onto a plate or dish and set aside.

Put the flour into a dish and tip in the sliced steak, toss around to coat the steak.

Add a little more olive oil to the pan and fry the steak for 3-4 minutes until browned.  

Tip the onions and mushrooms back into the frying pan and add the crème fraîche, mustard and beef stock or white wine.  Stir and cook for another 5 minutes, season well and serve with chopped fresh parsley if you have any and an accompaniment of your choosing.  This could be rice, mashed potatoes, chips or pasta.  Anything goes.

Serves 2-3 portions. 

NOGGLE END TOMATO TARTS

Our tomatoes have started to ripen but although they taste delicious they would not win any beauty contest!  They are a bit "noggly" - lumpy and bumpy with the odd split.  With a pack of puff pastry in the freezer I decided to use some of them for little tarts.

There was also a selection of bits of cheese in the fridge - we call those "noggle ends" - bits you would put under the grill on toast or in a quiche.  I used Camembert and something called Tome aux Fleurs, a hard cheese with a crust of flower petals, which you can read about here.  Grated cheddar would have worked well.

Also lurking in the fridge was a small pack of cocktail frankfurters, purchased for some long forgotten event and never used but fortunately well within date. 

I used my free Yorkshire pudding tin (see here) to make four tarts but this time used a slightly bigger template to cut the pastry allowing me to crimp the edges more neatly.  (It's actually something I spotted in Ikea, is meant to be the base for one of those stainless steel kitchen tool holders and I had a hunch it would be just the right size.)

My pastry made four tarts and eight cocktail sausage rolls (recipe here) from the trimmings.  All fun to make and very tasty - a nice way to entertain children on a wet afternoon in the school holidays I think - they are very adaptable and bake in just the right amount of time to clear up then heat up a tin of baked beans!😋

Ingredients 

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled, oblong puff pastry

2 tsp French mustard (or brown sauce, onion chutney or ketchup if you prefer)

6 thick slices of tomato

Thin slices of any cheese you have (or grated cheddar if you prefer)

1 egg, beaten (optional but worth using if you are also making the sausage rolls)

Fresh or dried thyme

8 cocktail frankfurters (or one large frankfurter cut into bits or the filling from a sausage)

Method 

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk6.  Grease the four holes of a Yorkshire pudding tin or four small tart tins (or use four ovenproof saucers placed on a baking sheet).

Allow the pastry to thaw and come up to room temperature.  Unroll and cut four circles about 2cm bigger than the holes using anything you have that’s the right size as a template.  Lay the pastry into the holes and crimp the edges.

Using the back of a teaspoon spread 1/2 tsp mustard over the base of each tart.  Add the slices of tomato, cutting to fill the pastry.  Arrange thin slices of cheese on top but leaving gaps as the cheese will melt and spread.

Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg (optional).  Sprinkle with fresh or dried thyme and bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and the cheese has melted and bubbled.

Use the pastry trimmings to make little sausage rolls which can go into the oven at the same time.

Makes 4 tarts and 8 cocktail sausage rolls

APPLE CHUTNEY

Every year our apples fall from the tree too soon, heaps of them.  Most are unusable due to insect damage and end up in the compost but most years I manage to salvage some.  This year I decided to make some chutney.

I adapted a recipe on the Good Food website to what I had in stock, using Melfor vinegar instead of cider vinegar, demerara sugar instead of light muscovado and a mixture of raisins and sultanas.  You could also add other spices than just ginger: maybe cinnamon or even curry powder.

Peeling and chopping so many apples is not my favourite pastime so I've given it two stars for the amount of tedious work but it's a delicious chutney.  It goes well with our new favourite French cheese - Laguiole, which is not dissimilar to a strong cheddar and can usually be found amongst the Cantal cheeses as it’s from the same region of France.  

I'm sure it would go equally well with pork pie, sausage rolls and cold meats.

It’s ready for eating straight away but can be left to "mature" for a few weeks.

There was such a huge quantity of ingredients that I had to cook mine in two separate pans, dividing them equally between the two.  Interestingly, one lot cooked quicker than the other, the wider, flatter pan finishing first by several minutes!

I remembered a tip from, I think, a James Martin recipe on how to tell if your chutney is ready.  It should be nice and thick and when you drag your spoon through it there should be a clear trail which only fills with liquid very slowly.  If it refills immediately cook for longer, in five minutes intervals.

At the time of writing you can see the original recipe here.  The comments suggest it’s a very popular and successful recipe and there are interesting tips and ideas.

Ingredients 

1.5 kg cooking apples (prepared weight) I had about 1.7kg.

750g demerara sugar

500g mixed raisins and sultanas

2 medium white onions

2tsp mustard seeds

2tsp ground ginger

1tsp salt

700ml Melfor or cider vinegar 

Method

Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan (or divide equally between two), bring to the boil gently then simmer uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until thick and ready (see picture above).  Stir frequently and adjust the heat so that that the chutney doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.

While the chutney is cooking sterilise eight suitable jars by washing in hot soapy water.  Rinse well and put jars and lids on a baking sheet in the oven set at 140°C for 20 minutes.

Allow the chutney to cool then fill your jars and seal tightly.  Once opened they should be kept in the fridge.

Makes 6-8 jars of chutney.

COLESLAW

Red cabbage and carrot slaw.

Coleslaw is a great accompaniment for a bbq, or with cold meats or quiche, but I sometimes find shop bought coleslaw disappointing; too sweet and runny with not enough crunch.  Some years ago I started making my own and have an easy recipe that can be adapted to your own taste.  The essential ingredients are hard cabbage, white and red, carrot and red onion.  I add a few sultanas for a hint of sweetness and occasionally some celery or celery seeds and chopped walnuts.

The word "slaw" means shredded cabbage so that's the basis of all variations.  Often I use simply red cabbage and carrot as the base.  The idea is to add ingredients, mix and taste continuously until it tastes as you like it.

It’s easy to make but make enough for just two days as it begins to lose its crunch after that.  Sometimes I chop, grate and shred by hand but admit that it’s quicker and has a more even texture if I use the slicing and grating disc on my food processor.  Quantities of ingredients are flexible and can be added to as you go along.

Ingredients 

1/4 each of a small red and white cabbage

1/2 a large red onion

1 large carrot

1 tsp French mustard 

A handful of sultanas

Salt and pepper

A splash of white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)

Mayonnaise, low fat versions work well (see notes below)

Optional additions 

1 stick celery, wiped and sliced

Chopped spring onion

1 tblsp chopped walnuts

1 tsp celery seeds

Other seeds you might like such as pumpkin seeds

Lemon juice

Chopped apple

Anything else you fancy!

Method 

Remove the outer leaves and core of the cabbage and shred or chop finely (or use the fine slicing disc).  Make sure the strands are not too long as they can be awkward to serve and eat!

Peel and finely chop the onion (or use a grating disc).

Peel the carrot and grate or chop finely (or use the grating disc).

Tip everything into a large glass bowl, add the other ingredients and any extras and stir well.  

Now add mayonnaise one good squirt or tablespoon at a time, stirring every time, enough to coat the ingredients and bring it altogether but not so much as it pools or makes the slaw runny.  French mayonnaise often has mustard added already so you might not want to add extra.  Go steady with the vinegar or lemon juice as that can make it too sharp but if so, add a teaspoon of sugar to compensate.

Stir and taste, add more seasoning, mustard, vinegar and extras until it's as you like it.

Chill in the fridge until needed.

Makes roughly 8 small servings but there are people that would eat the whole lot if you don’t keep an eye on them!

SALMON KEBABS

We are having a more typical summer here in the middle of France so plenty of barbecues.  Much as I love a well cooked Toulouse sausage, the occasional steak and a good burger, I really fancied something lighter.  Looking at some twin packs of chunky salmon fillets I decided to go off piste.  Cooking fish on a bbq can be tricky.

The trick is to construct kebabs with chunkyish slices of courgette between the pieces of salmon so that the fish itself barely touches the grill because the courgette "wheels" raise it up.  Then the fish does not stick to the grill, you don’t have to scrape it off and it doesn't fall apart. Huzzah!!

The marinade is simple and the excess can be used for slices of aubergine or kebabs of courgette and tomato.  All very quick and easy to put together.

As an aside, we decided to go gas with our barbecue a few years ago, during lockdown in 2020 to be exact.  Cooped up in our little UK back garden during unusually good spring and summer weather (a saviour for our sanity that year) we lashed out on a reasonably priced one from Argos and it revolutionised our success rate with the food!  Predictable cooking times and no more burnt chicken!

We were so pleased with it that back in France the next summer (2021) we decided to get one there and ordered something that looked similar from Amazon.  It was more expensive but nowhere near as good, being flimsy, cheap looking and a self assembly nightmare.  We were very disappointed with it.  That’s the trouble with Amazon, you have no idea of the quality until you get it!  We repaired and repainted it each summer but when we wheeled it out of the barn in April this year we looked at the flaking paint and rust and decided it was time for a new one.  

Bricomarché had just set up their display of this year's barbecues so we swooped on a small Camping Gaz model, about the same price but infinitely more well made. Small but perfectly formed!  We're hoping it will last much longer! 

As a temporary measure we shoved the old one round the back of the house (where nobody sees it) until we feel up to heaving it into the trailer and taking it to the tip.  I hesitate to say it, but there seems something very "rural France" about that!

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets

2 tblsp olive oil

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1tsp dried dill 

1 tsp dried parsley

Salt and pepper

1 courgette

½ a red pepper, deseeded

Method

To make the marinade mix the lemon, oil and herbs together in a medium sized bowl.

Remove any skin and bones from the salmon fillets and cut into large chunks.  Add to the marinade with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir well, cover with cling film or a lid and chill in the fridge until needed.

Wipe and thickly slice the courgette and pepper.  Assemble the kebabs by alternating salmon and courgette/pepper slices.  Pour residual marinade over the kebabs and grill on gentle heat, turning frequently until cooked through.  Check after about 5-6 minutes.

Any excess marinade can be used for aubergine slices or veg kebabs.

Serves 2.  

PLUM (OR NECTARINE) TART (can be gluten free)

The nectarine version.

The recipe for this popped up in my FB feed and comes from one of Nancy Birtwhistle's books, the one about gardening.  

The plum version before baking.

There is no pastry involved so some would ask - how can it be a tart?   I spent a happy few minutes looking up the definitions of cake, tart, torte and gateau and came to the conclusion that although it was definitely not a cake, a flan or a pie I still had no idea!  In any case it went down well for dessert at a BBQ one very hot June evening.

The plum version when cooked.

The first time I made this it was definitely a bit overdone - the plums looked a bit crozzled and it was a devil to get out of the tin.  Only when I made it the second time did I realise that I had baked the first one at 160° fan instead of 160° C.  A casualty of the debilitating heat - it had reached 39°C during the day and my concentration withers exponentially over 30°C!

The nectarine version - much less crozzled.

For the second time I used nectarines, didn't cram quite as much fruit in, and kept the slices away from the sides of the tin, which definitely made it easier to turn out, baked it at the right temperature and kept my eye on it.  With its apricot glaze it had that patisserie glamour.  It tasted great too.

Stoning the fruit can be a bit fiddly.  An old fashioned grapefruit knife came in handy for getting the stone out of some of the firmer fruits.  Changing the ordinary flour for gluten free flour (e.g. Doves Farm) will make it a gluten free dessert and a handy recipe to have instead of pavlova.

Ingredients

For the cake base

zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp lemon juice

30ml whole milk

125g softened butter or baking spread (I used Le Fleurier)

125g caster sugar

1 egg

125g plain flour or gluten free flour

125g ground almonds (or half and half ground almonds and ground rice)

For the topping/fruit

10-12 ripe plums or 3 large nectarines

2 tblsp apricot jam

Method

Butter the base and sides of a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Put the milk and lemon juice into a small bowl or jug, mix together and set aside

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, lemon zest and sugar.  Add the egg and beat well until well combined.

Fold in the ground almonds (or almonds and rice), then the flour followed by the thickened milk.

The mixture will be quite thick so transfer it to the prepared tin and level with the back of a spoon or small palette knife.  Smooth the surface as much as possible then put the tin in the freezer while you prepare the fruit.

Cut each plum or nectarine in half and remove the stone.  Cut into quarters and slice thinly.  Plums  should make 8 slices each, nectarines 12 slices.

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk3.  

Remove the tart case from the freezer and arrange the slices of fruit neatly in circles on top of the cake base.

Stand the tart tin on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 1 hour.  The fruit should be tender and the cake base lightly golden and cooked.

Remove from the oven to cool slightly.  Remove the tart from the tin and place on a serving plate.

To make the glaze, warm the apricot jam in a saucepan with 1 tblsp water.  Brush over the fruit.

Serves 8-10.

This is my gluten free version, made with apricots.  The cake base is as per the recipe above but using half and half ground almonds and ground rice, plus gluten free flour.

LEMON DRIZZLE BUNS

For a friend's birthday I gave her a pretty tin of eight home made lemon drizzle buns.  She and her husband are not regular consumers of cake so lemon drizzle seemed like a safe option.  They could have a bun each for birthday tea and freeze the rest to be enjoyed later.

The fashion for cupcakes seems to have passed but these could easily be called cupcakes, or fairy cakes, and decorated with buttercream or icing and sprinkles if you like.  When I was a little girl my mum often made things like this and they were always called "buns".  She rarely had a lemon in the house, except at Christmas, so would have added a few chopped glacé cherries or currants - in which case they would have been called cherry buns or currant buns (sometimes called Queen cakes).  Even more occasionally she would have swirled some simple icing on the top and maybe a few hundreds and thousands left over from the Christmas trifle, especially if aunts and uncles (and assorted cousins) were coming to tea which would have warranted something a bit more fancy than usual.

My mixture actually made nine buns so one served as "quality control" and consequently I can confirm that they were lovely.  My friend sent me a message the next day to say she and her husband really enjoyed them and none of them made it to the freezer!

Simple buns never go out of fashion.

Ingredients

For the buns

115g baking spread or softened butter

115g caster sugar

2 eggs

115g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

zest of 1 lemon

For the drizzle 

juice of 1 lemon

2 tblsp granulated sugar

Method

Put 10 paper cake cases into a muffin tin.  Preheat the oven to 200° C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.

Put all of the cake ingredients into a medium sized bowl and beat well with a hand held electric whisk, or a wooden spoon, until well blended.

Divide the mixture evenly between the bun cases filling each one to about two thirds full.  Using an ice cream scoop with a lever action can help to make them all about the same.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and springy.  While they are in the oven make the drizzle by mixing the sugar and lemon juice together.

While the buns are still warm, prick holes in the top and spoon the drizzle over.  Remove from the tin to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 8-10 buns.

RHUBARB FOOL

This gorgeous old fashioned dessert has a wow factor well beyond its simplicity.

The recipe has its origins in a book by Simon Hopkinson called "roast chicken and other stories" and I found it on a blog called "The Rhubarb Fool". 

The simplicity lies in the cooking of the rhubarb which is just baked in the oven with sugar until tender and processed in a food processor to a slightly lumpy purée. This is swirled into softly whipped double cream to give a marbled effect rather than blended to a homogenous pink.

We were having six guests for dinner on a June evening and it was Nick's idea after he spotted red rhubarb in a local supermarket.  I normally balk at the price of shop bought rhubarb but it does look so pretty for a special occasion.  This rhubarb was mostly a deep red with a little green on the stems which produced a very soft pink colour when cooked.  There was plenty of it so I put a layer in the bottom of each glass before topping with the actual fool mixture.

I happened to have some vanilla sugar on the go, long forgotten at the back of the cupboard from the last time I used an actual vanilla pod, which was a few years ago.  Otherwise I might have stirred a teaspoon of vanilla extract into the rhubarb before baking, or might have used plain caster sugar.

The recipe suggests swirling the reserved juice into the cream along with the purée but instead I served it separately as I was also making a chocolate torte and thought it would also be nice drizzled over that.

I decorated each one with a tiny sprig of mint.

Ingredients 

1.3 kg rhubarb 

500ml double cream

350g vanilla sugar or caster sugar

Grated zest of 1 orange (optional)

small sprigs of mint for decoration (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170° fan / gas mk 5.

Wipe, trim and roughly chop the rhubarb.

Tip it into a baking dish or roasting tin, spreading out into an even layer.  Sprinkle over the sugar and orange zest and stir in.  Do not add any water and cover with foil so that it bakes and does not roast or become brown.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until soft and tender.  Drain through a colander over a jug to retain the juice.

Allow to cool before transferring to a food processor and blend to a slightly lumpy purée.

In a large bowl, whip the cream until softly thick, i.e. not stiff but holds its shape.

Spoon a layer of puréed rhubarb into the bottom of eight glass dishes.  Fold the remaining purée into the whipped cream to give a marbled swirl effect and divide this between the dishes.

Decorate with a small sprig of mint (optional) and chill on a tray in the fridge for at least two hours or until needed.  Serve the reserved juice alongside.

Serves 8